"Stop here," Amanda shouted as they zoomed past the landscape.
Sabira, as if hearing her words flapped his wings hard as they slowed down to a relatively slow cruising speed. "What is it?" Juda asked as he glanced down at the scenery below. "Are we here? Sure as hell doesn't look like it!"
On the ground below there were numerous houses but each one looked like it had gone through hell, as if each one was on the brink of collapse. The floor around the houses looked just as bad, with garbage and scrap metal strewn about, making the houses seem even more abysmal. It was a sorry place and seemed completely devoid of life, not a single soul was seen moving around.
"Yep, this is the place, home sweet home." Amanda smiled, a wisp of sadness evident in her eyes, but since she was in front of him, Juda didnt notice it.
"Okay, if you say so, Sabira take us down!" Juda shouted, and they started their descent, slowly moving downwards in small circles as Sabira moved his head left and right, looking for a place to land until finally setting down over a bare spot of land.
Juda began to feel a slight chill, his instincts informing him that although it seemed like a pitiful and empty array of houses, it most definitely wasn't. However, he was willing to trust Amanda's judgement as she didnt seem like the type that would set him up. It was just that, as they landed on the ground, the sensation of being watched kept growing stronger until eventually a voice rang out in his head.
"Bro, you feel that too? Seems as if we're being watched." It was Sabira, talking through the mental link that they shared. The link allowed them to converse while Sabira was in wolf form and, while the link could be switched to others, he mainly kept it connected to Juda's consciousness allowing him to feel what he felt and vice versa.
"Yeah," Juda replied, his eyes scanning the surrounding houses one by one before coming to rest on the one closest to them. It had been very slight, almost imperceptible, but it was there. One of the curtains on the house had been pushed to the side and someone had been peeking through it.
"Amanda theres someone in that ho.... Amanda where are you going?" asked Juda as he watched the young Sympto walk towards the house where he had noticed the curtain.
Amanda stopped in front of it, took a deep breath, tilted her head back, cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted as loud as she could. "HEY, I GOT FOOD!!!!"
There was a moment of silence, followed closely by yet another shout, this time from inside the building. The door burst open and out ran multiple people, dashing towards them at a rapid pace. Juda tensed up and instinctively grabbed the hilt of his hidden dagger. Sabira gave a low growl and crouched low as if preparing to pounce, which Juda put a stop to by mentally relaying a message to him.
The figures kept running at them, but it soon became apparent that they weren't hostile in the slightest as they ran up to Amanda and tackled her in hugs, burying her in hugs.The mound of bodies piled up as more people of various colors came running out of that small house. Juda was amazed that so many people could even fit inside the tiny looking structure.
The heap of people slowly began moving, each person moving off to the side and letting the person below them stand up. Juda walked forward with a little hesitation, and almost as soon as he took a couple of steps, every single eye was trained on him, some with barely concealed hostility while others had frightened or curious stares. There was one odd fact though that Juda noticed and he thought was rather odd. Every single one of them were girls and they were all Symptos. None had the same shade of color so it was easy to tell them apart but it was clear that the race they belonged to was Sympto as they were all half a foot shorter then his own 5'6.
Juda silently grit his teeth and walked forward, stopping in front of Amanda who was still on the ground.
"Damn Amanda, you sure know how to party." Juda exclaimed, reaching out his hand, a smile spreading across his face. Behind him he could hear sounds of muttering and rude words, but he ignored them. He wasn't the least bit concerned about making friends with these girls.
Amanda blushed a little and reached out her hand, allowing him to help her up. "Yeah, but this is normal for me, as they always jump all over me whenever I bring food home."
"Hey, weakling," a voice shouted from behind, one that was clearly pointed towards Juda. Amanda glanced over his shoulder and saw a yellow girl with purple colored charging at Juda intending to stab him from the back.
"Juda, watch out" Amanda exclaimed as the yellow Sympto neared them. Juda, who had already been warned by Sabira through their mental link, didnt pay it much attention. There were always people who wanted to fight him because they thought he was weak, but then there would always be someone who could sense others powers with their element.
The girl was just a couple of feet from them when 3 of the other Symptos stepped out and grabbed her by her clothes, yanking her back a couple more feet. The girl cried out in protest and struggled a bit, but eventually gave up once she realized that it was futile.
"You should already know better then to attack an unarmed oppenent." a light blue sympto with navy blue hair explained. She glanced towards Juda, who had turned around to watch, and gave him an apologetic nod.
"Sorry about her mister Derantum, she didnt know any better," The light blue girl bowed in apology, which was followed by various mutterings of confusion. The fact that she had called him a Derantum greatly confused them as Derantum Kazekuzians were regarded as a strong race, and this young man with no pigmentation of skin color seemed average and too weak to be a Derantum.
"What are you talking about Sya?" asked a girl with skin that resembled pink cotton candy. "This boy is clearly not a Derantum, just look at his skin color."
"Actually I'm a Silf, one of the weakest races around," Juda explained with a small smile. "I'm really not all that strong."
"You don't have to lie to me," Sya said, a look of total denial on her face. "Part of my ability is to see others powers through their auras, the larger somones aura, the bigger their power and combat ability. Theirs no way someone with such a huge aura such as yours could ever be a Silf."
Juda laughed a little. "Oh I have something else that is huge," muttered Juda, snickering under his breath. The faces of the girls that were closer to him seemed to blank for a second before blushing at the audacity of the young man.
"I'm sorry did you say something?" asked Sya, though she had clearly heard exactly what he had said. She didnt want to show him any disrespect however as the boy in front of her was by far the strongest person here, he had to at least be a level 12 or maybe even a 15.
"Its nothing," Juda said with a smile as he walked towards Sabira, who had taken to lying on the ground, closing his eyes. The girls surrounding Sabira had begun a game of rock-paper-scissors to see which one of them would attempt to go up and attempt to pet him. "I already did what I set out to do, so let's go Sabira, lets go back to training."
"Not so fast," shouted Amanda, a sudden gust of wind blasting into Juda's face. Amanda was frowning and walking towards him with a serious expression.
"Dont tell me you and Sabira are just gonna up and leave without at least staying for dinner." Amanda complained as more wind blasted into his face.
'Its seems that she has the ability to control the wind, though its not very strong.' thought Juda, until he noticed that everyone except for him was getting pushed down by the constant hurricane force winds that were swirling around her.
"Hey, you might wanna lessen the winds or your friends might get mad at you." Juda said with a small smile and placed a hand on her shoulder. Amanda's face blushed from the contact and immediately retracted her winds, relieving her friends from the destructive force.
"Well, at least stay for dinner, I have to thank you for saving me back there when I needed you." Amanda explained, clearly embarassed.
"Well if you really want me to stay I guess I can. However, only if soem of the girls brush Sabira's fur, he rather likes that." Juda said with a wicked smile, knowing full well that Sabira hated it just as much as he hated baths.
"Its a deal. Miley, Ray, Juia, can you do that please," Amanda asked three random girls, who, after hearing their names, ran inside and came out with numerous brushes in hand. Sabira opened one eyes and then closed it, and Max cursed under his breath, not expecting Sabira to be so docile.
Suddenly Sabira tensed up, opened both eyes, and let out a sharp growl, his golden eyes turning a deep shade of red, however just as he was about to stand up, a small object flew and struck him from the side, landing in his neck. Sabira stood up completely before wobbling once and falling onto his side.
There was dead silence for what seemed like a long time, until a single voice broke through it. "Don't worry, he's not dead, thatd be a shame and a loss of profit for us. We just needed him out of the way long enough to snatch the rest of you up."
The voice seemed to be emanating from everywhere but yet there wasnt anyone in sight. Yet Juda could feel them, and they were close and getting closer. Juda reached under his cloak and pulled out his dagger, getting into a figjting stance.
"Oh look, the weskling thinks he can stand up to us, what a cute thing. I'll tell you what, I'll give you a chance, how about we fight you head on and if you win, we'll let you all go." The voice sounded both cruel and rather cocky as it drew closer and closer to them before stepping out from the shadow of the building.
About twenty guys stepped out of the shadows from every direction, surrounding the Juda and the girls, blocking every escape route. The figures were covered in black and carried various sharp metallic weapons, one even carried a weapon made out of Lv 2 Emerald, a highly sought after piece of metal that cost millions of qin per ever pound.
"Slave traders," shouted Juda, as the figures began tightening their circle. "Amanda, get the girls inside right now, thats an order." Juda's figure vanished from the spot and reappeared next to one of the men who had grabbed a small girl who looked to be about 10 or 11.
"What do you think your doing with that hand," shouted Juda, his knife coming down and slashing the man's wrist. Blue blood gushed out and sprayed over him as he slashed across the man's neck before kicking him away. The black figure clutched at his neck and fell to the floor, choking on his own blood.
"Whose next, step up. I'll take you all on!!! Amanda, I told you to get these girls out of here, NOW!" Juda shouted, his figure disappearing again. The shout snapped most girls out of their daze as the began running towards their house, all of them jamming themselves into as best they could.
"Alright you lowly pieces of shit, I guess its just you and me." exclaimed Juda, twirling his dagger in his hand. "Lets get this shit started."
"You really think that your a match for us?" said one of the black figures. "Your just an ordinary kid with slightly above average combat skills, you dont have any elemental ability. There are nineteen of us, not counting the one whose throat you slit, and each one of us are at the Mastery level of our elemental abilities."
The figure walked over and kicked the large shape of Sabira who was still unconscious from their earlier sneak attack. "Furthermore, we knocked out your precious S class mutt. Without him, your last hope of winning vanished just like your life will soon be."
Two of the figures stealthily walked up behind Juda as the front one talked, but the trap was so obvious that Juda simply turned around and threw his dagger at the heart of nearest one and then struck the other one with a simple palm strike, straight at the chest, sending him flying back about 2 meters.
"Okay, now whose next?" Juda asked, taking a fighters stance, his hands raised and poised for the onslaught.