[2/24/20, 3rd POV] It had been a full week since Ximen's defeat. All ten who had fought were pretty close to being fully healed. They rested in their own rooms at the UAKD being cared for by Diana, Dan, Raylee, Beth, and Mitzi.
The six animals who weren't used to the cold were doing well. Warty also went around encouraging the others. The five who Magical Bear originally recruited had officially declared that they want to live permanently at the UAKD. The reason was they had nothing special to go back to and they had already spent a lot of time with Magical Bear.
"I can't believe I missed the awesome battle." Warty would say.
"If only you could of ... Then you'd be in a bed just like me. It's worth it though." someone would say.
"Yeah, woah. That storm and all that must of been pretty strong to force all of you into bed for so many days."
"True, if we are in bed for this long, imagine how long Ximen must be in bed. Hopefully we'll be out the bed soon."
[2/25/20] "Yea, hopefully, then I won't be the only one on four legs."
"True, buts its nice to be able to talk and not just having the others monitoring our health."
"Also true, anys I need to have this speak with the others, bye."
"Bye, Warty."
The first to be fully healed was Yui, she is a toad after all. Next was Yejide, she fainted earlier and thus suffered less. Then was Lutia, she was mostly immune to the storm. Following that Shane, Denny, Gerald, and Tiger fully recovered within hours of each other. The day after that Abigail was back to normality, Ximen finished her off, but he was in a severely weakened state when that happened.
Two and half weeks after the battle Magical Bear had recovered fully. It was the first real time he had unleashed the power of The Three Mythical Bear. Three full weeks after the battle Lightning was finally back and able to do things.
"At last everyone has fully healed from the battle Ximen as well as the other battles all of you faced in succession.[2/28/20] The battles you guys faced in Canada, all of them. The deities have smiled on us, each and every one of us." Diana said.
"We have done it. We have triumphed over the Poachers. This time there is no and I mean no chance that the poachers will return and that is final." Dan said reassured.
"Now it is time to decide how we live life moving forward." Raylee begun. "Mark already lives here, and Warty, Shane, Denny, Gerald, and Tiger, you all have stated you want to live here right?" they all collectively said yes, "What about you three, Yui, Lutia, Yejide?" All three of them said they would also live at the UAKD.
"Well then its settled. We are now one big family, united in our belief in the deities." Abigail said excitedly.
"Let's celebrate that all of you have healed up. Come on let's go and prepare our food to sacrifice the correct portion to the deities." Diana told them as she led them to the kitchen of the UAKD.
Thus all fourteen of them fell in to a daily routine, one very similar to the [2/29/20] Magical Bear, Dan, Diana, and Abigail fell into after Xander and Aimée's defeat.
They would wake up at varying times, eat breakfast together. Then they'd rest, do exercise. Diana and Dan would alternate between each other to take Magical Bear to his old home & to fish. Lunch would follow that. Afterwards they'd go group training. That would get them hungry enough for dinner. Since the deities (mostly Beth) provided the food, a portion of their dinner was sacrificed to the deities (mostly Beth). Lastly, they'd think on things before heading to bed and sleeping til morning.
Like the previous daily routine some days they'd do a quest for Beth. That went on for nearly two months. It all come to a shattering end one night. Beth said she had a special quest for Lightning, Mitzi, Yui, Yejide, & Lutia.
The next morning Diana approached Lightning. "My mom said that the reason this quest is special is because it's possible none of you return. So as a farewell gift I have this." She leaned in and gave him a kiss on the [3/1/20] cheek. She pulled back and they both blushed. "May the deities be with you and protect all five of you on your special quest. Adios, comarada."
"Thank you, Gracias y adios." He said, and he quickly hugged her and headed back to join the others. "Alright, let's go into the teleporter. Destination: some forest in the United States." They went in and were sent to the location.
They began walking Northeast headed towards their goal. Any minor enemies they encountered, they mainly let Mitzi do them. Battles were no longer turn based role-playing matches. Also, Mitzi unlike the others didn't have battle experience.
Onward they went going through the forest using their attacks. Lightning Slice-n-Dice, Snow Al, Squad Summon, Lick X10, and now 1-2 punch now 4. They no longer had to wait their turn and could attack freely.
"Is this how battles usually are?" Mitzi asked.
"Ribbit ... actually before this quest battles were turned based." Yui said.
"Yeah, except the final part of my [3/2/20] with Ximen. We attacked at the same time." Lightning said.
"Since you did that, who is our opponent on this quest?" Mitzi asked, "Is it a poacher or what?"
They were quiet for a while,"I don't know. I guess we just keep following the map." The five of them walked around trees and kept moving. Mitzi was easily learning the ways.
Farther and farther they went. All five of them had a strange feeling of an extreme danger. Signal was near zero, so Lightning sent a final message to the Union of the Animalia Kingdom and Deities Head Quarters. "This is likely the last message I'll be able to send. From all five of us, thank you, this has been the highlight of our lives and we are so grateful for it. We wonder who our real opponent is, but we probably won't make it back. Anyway, we appreciate everything. May the deities bless all of you. woah what the heck is that?!" Right as he was about to end the message they were attacked by a masked person with yellow-ish blonde-ish hair. The message sen in time.
[3/6/20] All ten of them were deeply saddened and full of grief. They mourned the possibility that Lightning/Wally/Greg/Fuego/Polly/Erina, Lutia, Yui, Yejide, and Mitzi were gone forever.
Eventually that phase passed. The five missing were gone but not entirely forgotten. Diana, Dan, Raylee, Abigail, Gerald, Warty, Denny, Tiger, Shane, & Magical Bear (real name Mark Thorn/Mary Thorn) fell into a different daily routine along with the deity Beth.
A couple weeks of that the eleven of them had a celebration of life and death. To commemorate it Diana wore a sombrero and had a guitar. She sang song while playing music and having tears from her eyes. The amount of skill she had play and sing surprised everyone.
That night they sacrificed food as usual and prayed for their lost companions, they felt that maybe they were alive. These ten were united in their beliefs and their past with the poachers. Despite the hardships they had faced they lived happily (for now), full of hope for the future, enjoying life to the fullest, loving it all especially Diana's music and singing.