Itinit grabbed Halankuo by the hand and pulled him towards the "metal bird". The flying machine was already surrounded by a purple energy aura, which meant that it was ready to take off.
A dinosaur in gray plate armor jumped out of the forest, surrounded by a green energy aura. In one of its hands, it held a short curved sword, which it had previously used to cut vegetation.
The dinosaur stopped and noticed the flying machine, which was almost off the ground. An energy harpoon emerged from the tail part of the aura.
The "metal bird" took off. The harpoon almost reached it, but it couldn't catch on because of the fiery comet that "accidentally" flew past.
The dinosaur jumped back to the edge of the forest. The comet landed on the sand and took the form of a dog girl in a fiery aura.
A clot of wind appeared in the dinosaur's free hand, but it didn't have time to attack. Kimchan rushed at the enemy and flew around him several times.
The contact between the wind clot and the fire aura caused an explosion. Kimchan, in the form of a comet, rose into the sky and took her previous form there.
The fire and smoke soon dissipated. At the site of the explosion stood a dinosaur, surrounded by a purple aura and a whirlwind.
Kimchan noticed that her opponent was unharmed, turned into a comet and flew at him. The dinosaur jumped towards the sea. The comet landed a step away from him and exploded…
The "metal bird" flew towards the Southern Continent. The coast quickly moved away, and the mountains remained somewhere on the horizon, ahead stretched only the endless gray-blue sea.
"Kimchan will hold him back," Itinit said. "Aren't you scared?"
"I…was scared a little," Halankuo answered. "But you'd better think about your character."
"Nothing will happen to Kimchan. She'll come back when she's done."
Suddenly, the "metal bird" slowed down and then stopped. Itinit looked at the screen that showed the image from behind and saw a doll in a purple aura near the tail.
"There are two of them," Itinit guessed.
Halankuo looked at the screen with the doll and recognized it as Ikte, whom she had met earlier in Yueret's house.
"This doll can move objects with her gaze," Halankuo warned.
"Now it's clear why we don't fly any further," Itinit said. "That means we'll have to hide the 'metal bird' from her."
Itinit pressed the button with the image of a round shield on the control panel. A purple translucent energy barrier appeared around the "metal bird". Then purple energy began to accumulate inside it, which gradually hid the flying machine.
It worked. Ikte stopped seeing the object in front of her, and the "metal bird" broke forward.
"It won't catch up with us?" Halankuo asked.
"She doesn't have enough energy," Itinit answered. "No creature in the aura can fly across the Intercontinental Sea."
"What does she want?"
"I don't know. Maybe she confused us with someone else."
"You're lying."
"Yeah. How did you guess?"
"I'm not Tuot."
"It's not possible to deceive her," Itinit realized. "Maybe I should tell her about the antenna?"
Luckily for Itinit, Halankuo noticed a burning comet moving parallel to the "metal bird" in the window and forgot about the doll.
"Here's Kimchan," Itinit said. "I need to let her in here somehow."
"The metal bird" stopped, but this time because one of the buttons was pressed. The wing-shaped door moved to the side, and a dog girl plopped into the back seat, smoke coming from her.
"It didn't even... didn't... didn't explode," these were Kimchan's first words after reuniting with the creator.
"Who," Itinit asked.
"Dinosaur..." the dog girl frowned. "I set him on fire, but nothing happened to it. Then I flew at it and exploded myself, but missed."
"That's not surprising," Itinit said. "It has an energy aura that is unaffected by elemental skills."
"I couldn't..." Kimchan lowered her head.
"Don't worry," Itinit said. "You'll meet your sister soon."
Kimchan raised her head, looked at her creator, and let out a weak dog-like groan.
"But first I need to take this girl to the Southern Mainland," Itinit pointed his hand at Halankuo.
Kimchan finally noticed Halankuo, who was sitting next to her in the back seat. The dog girl buried her nose in her hair and began to sniff it.
"A lot of current passes through her hair," Kimchan determined. "She has the element of air."
"Well done, Kimchan," Itinit praised. "It's not for nothing that I made you a dog and not a cow."
"There's also someone else in her," Kimchan said. "There's a lot of energy inside there."
"She found out about her mother," Halankuo was frightened. "What should I do?"
The voice inside the girl did not answer.
"Mom doesn't want to be noticed," Halankuo thought. "I shouldn't think about it either. What if this creature can read minds, like Taikuron?"
But Kimchan just laid her head on the back of the creator's chair and moaned quietly with her eyes closed. This dog girl didn't seem like a dangerous creature to Halankuo, like a penguin without legs, but with antennas on its head.
***
Noru was on all fours in front of the burning building, howling like a wolf. Etinnei was peering out from behind a huge snowflake the size of herself. Tuot was even further away, covering his face with his wing.
"What's going on?" the dinosaur asked.
"She's happy that her house burned down," Etinnei explained. "I offered to put it out, but she refused."
"Why? It's her house."
"I don't know. I can't go there. It's too hot. Soon the snow shield will disappear and I'll melt. Let's get out of here."
Tuot agreed. Not only was it hot for him, but it was also impossible to look at the bright flashes of light.
Etinnei and Tuot walked out of the courtyard through the open wooden gate and found themselves on the shore of the lake. It was no longer boiling. It was now an ordinary body of water. Only the blue-green color of the water indicated that it was a crater lake.
"I never thought such places existed," Etinnei admitted. "These mountains look like mountains, but they are not really mountains."
"Yes, these are the slopes of a crater," Tuot said. "But to understand this, you have to go up."
Etinnei looked at the steep slopes from left to right, where coniferous trees and bushes somehow held on, and then turned her gaze to the lake. The expression on the Arctic fox girl's face became unusually serious.
"Aren't you afraid that the one in the bubble will come back?" Etinnei asked.
"I'm a little afraid," Tuot answered. "But it already took the lizard. It's unlikely that it will attack me again."
"It's better to leave here. If this is happening, we can't stay here."
"How can we leave? We're on an island."
"I'll freeze the water and we'll walk across the ice to where the land doesn't end."
"This is naive, even for me," Tuot thought.
Etinnei sat down and saw her reflection in the water.
"It seems to me that there is too much water there," the Arctic fox girl said. "I can't freeze it."
"It's good that she figured it out quickly," Tuot noted.
"But I'd better check," Etinnei changed her mind. "What if I can do it?"
A white-blue icy aura appeared around the Arctic fox girl. Then Etinnei stepped onto the surface of the water. An icy crust formed under her foot.
"Look, Tuot!" Etinnei turned to face her friend. "The water is frozen!"
But Tuot noticed not the ice crust under the Arctic fox girl's foot, nor her ears and tail, but a head with green hair that emerged from the water.
"There is something there..." Tuot pointed his hand to the side.
Etinnei looked around, but by that moment the head had disappeared under the water.
"There was something green there," Tuot said.
Etinnei stepped onto the surface of the water with her second foot. An ice crust appeared under it, which joined with the crust under the first foot and formed an ice floe.
"It worked," Etinnei rejoiced. "Now I can reach the other shore."
The Arctic fox girl went forward. The water froze from contact with the icy aura and formed a kind of "bridge".
In the middle of the lake, Etinnei turned around and waved to her friend: "Come here!"
"I'll fall," Tuot answered.
In fact, the dinosaur was afraid of the head that was peeking out from under the water, because stability on the ice was partly determined by the energetic aura.
"It could just be my imagination," Tuot thought. "But it's better to believe it. What if it wasn't just my imagination?"
Etinnei felt sad that her friend didn't want to go to her, but then the arctic fox girl saw an icy path that formed from the contact of the elemental aura with the water. The character's mood instantly improved and the tears that came out of her eyes by inertia did not fall anywhere.
Etinnei turned around and walked to the opposite bank.
"You don't need my ice cream anymore, refrigerator girl," Etinnei heard a voice in her head. "It looks like you learned to cook it yourself."
The arctic fox girl looked around, but there was no one nearby.
"Minniges, where are you?" Etinnei asked mentally. "Why don't you show up?"
There was no answer. The arctic fox girl began to worry.
"Minniges left me?" Etinnei thought.
The ice path gradually melted. First the very first ice near the shore disappeared, and then the neighboring one. Etinnei noticed this and released a blue and white freezing ball from her sleeve.
The first part of the ice path was restored, but soon disappeared.
"To make ice cream, you have to keep it cold all the time," Minniges' voice was heard. "That's why I live inside you. You are cold and electric, like an ice cream refrigerator."
Etinnei turned her head to the side. This time she saw a penguin with an antenna on his forehead in the shape of an ice cream cone.
"Minniges?" the Arctic fox girl was happy. "Are you with me?"
"It's a good thing you haven't learned how to make ice cream, so I can live inside you," the penguin replied mentally, with his mouth closed.
Etinnei smiled. For the first time, she was glad that this strange creature lived in her head, suddenly appearing and offering ice cream.
"Don't give me to the mushroom," Minniges asked.
"I won't," Etinnei promised.
The penguin dissolved into thin air. All that remained of the icy path was an ice floe on which Etinnei stood. But the Arctic fox girl didn't care. She walked forward, toward the shore.
The animal girl didn't notice how the head of a doll with green hair in a mask of the same color emerged from under the water. Her eyes were closed.
When there were about ten steps left to the opposite shore, one of the doll's eyes opened. It was completely green, without pupils. A stream of green liquid shot out of it at Etinnei.
The arctic fox girl heard the cracking of ice behind her and turned around. Right in front of her, a snowflake had shattered – a passive ability that had recently protected Etinnei from the heat of the burning house.
The animal girl finally noticed a head with green hair in the water, with green liquid slowly flowing out of its eye. The other eye remained closed. Etinnei was scared and bowed her head so as not to see the scary creature.
The ice floe under the character's feet gave way to rocks on the shore. The arctic fox girl jumped back in fear and did not notice it.
"Don't be afraid, refrigerator girl," Etinnei heard Minniges' voice. "She's non-living."
Etinnei noticed a translucent silhouette of a penguin near her, which soon dissolved into thin air. The doll's head was no longer in the lake. An icicle emerged from the arctic fox girl's sleeve and then became covered with lightning.
"Maybe I imagined it?" Etinnei began to doubt. "But Minniges found out about it, so it wasn't an illusion."
Soon the arctic fox girl heard footsteps behind her and was finally convinced that it wasn't an illusion.
A headless body in a metal corset, skirt and boots was slowly moving towards the shore. Etinnei shot an icicle at it, but it was blocked by a small shield that suddenly appeared on the elbow.
The body stretched out its arm. A doll's head with green hair emerged from the water near the shore. Half of the face from which the eye was flowing was no longer there: its place was occupied by a black void. The other half with a closed eye and half a mask remained intact.
The arctic fox girl turned away, but saw Minniges nearby, who was looking at his opponent: for the first time; the penguin did not pay attention to his mistress.
"Minniges isn't afraid," Etinnei thought. "And I shouldn't be either. She's not alive. Her body is artificial. She's just a doll."
While the Arctic fox girl was thinking, her enemy was covered in a pink energy aura. The head snapped back into place, after which half of the face was restored almost instantly.
"Why are you protecting it?" the doll asked. "It's someone, and I'm Aibi."
"What?" Etinnei couldn't understand.
Aibi opened her eyes. This time they were the usual doll eyes: shiny, motionless, but large.
"Give me your brain," the doll offered. "There's an ice penguin in there."
"How does she know about Minniges?" Etinnei was frightened.
"Someone told me to bring your brain," Aibi continued. "If you don't give me your brain, I'll shoot acid at you, and it'll kill you. The main thing is not to hit the head."
"I can't give you my brain," Etinnei replied. "I'm alive, unlike you. I'm not a doll."
"If you can't, I'll help you. Do you agree?"
Silence fell. Aibi and Etinnei looked at each other and didn't know what to say. Finally, the Arctic fox girl heard a voice in her head:
"Don't give me to her. I don't want to unite with it."
"With whom?" Etinnei asked mentally. "I don't understand what you mean."
"My other half wants to unite with me. It sent this doll."
"What other half? You were whole from the start."
"From what start? Do you even remember what happened in the beginning, refrigerator girl?"
Etinnei tried to remember when she first "met" Minniges, but she couldn't.
"I don't remember exactly," the Arctic fox girl admitted. "It was a year ago, or two, or more. I don't remember."
"You don't remember because that part of your memories is stored on my memory card. I didn't show them because I didn't want to scare you. Then you won't eat my ice cream anymore, but you'll cry until you melt."
Tuot saw what was happening on the other side, but he couldn't get there to help his friend. So he decided to go around the lake, but soon came across a purple energy circle with a pattern inside that was "hanging" in the air.
The dinosaur immediately jumped back a few steps, activated its aura, and summoned a sword and shield. But the circle did not attack. Instead, it rose above the ground and released a wide beam of bright purple light.
Tuot covered his face with the shield to avoid looking at the light, and then jumped to the side. A white silhouette appeared in front of the circle inside the beam.
Tuot realized that he had to run, but at the last moment he became curious about who would emerge from the beam of light. The dinosaur lingered for a few moments.
The beam became dim and then disappeared. The silhouette turned into a doll with purple hair and a mask of the same color that covered the lower half of its face. She immediately looked at Tuot with her large, motionless eyes, and then slowly walked towards him.
"It's a doll," the dinosaur guessed mentally. "She has purple hair. Previously, I had only seen the doll next to that nosed one, but never so close."
A sword appeared in the doll's hand, and on the elbow of its other arm, a small purple oval shield with a black symbol.
"She has a shield, almost like mine," Tuot noted. "Where did she get it?"
The doll stopped ten paces from the dinosaur and pointed her sword at him.
"You are someone I don't need," the doll said. "But you're making it difficult to catch the right one. If you continue to do what is not necessary, then I will do what is necessary."
"She's even worse than Halankuo's character," Tuot thought. "But I like the way she talks."
"Who are you?" the dinosaur asked. "Are you a doll?"
"I am Suturu," the doll introduced herself. "And this is my sword and shield. Get ready to take them, chicken."
"I am not a chicken. I am Tuot. But my sword is not against receiving your sword, and my shield is your shield."
Suturu activated a purple aura. The energy circle from which she appeared began to spin and released purple darts.