Marrie and Hurdson huddled together to discuss something, the boy wanted to go over there and see what was going on but Marrie had shooed him away. Instead, he decided to play with the animals that were very friendly, for some strange reason.
"It's going to take some time for me to create another one"
"How did somebody steal it in the first place?"
"I would have never let him escape if I had known-"
Before Hurdson could continue speaking, he heard a giant roar and huge footsteps rushing towards the park.
"WHERE IS MY LITTLE ONE!?"
As soon as the boy heard that voice, he jumped up and ran towards Hurdson, taking cover behind his back.
"Hey, hey what are you doing pipsqueak! You'll get me killed! Get off me!"
"HURDSON!!"
"Aieeeee!"
Hurdson held his hands up to his face, trembling.
"Don't hurt me! I haven't done anything!"
Teresa rushed straight past Hurdson cowering in fear and captured the boy behind him in a death embrace.
"Ackkkkkk...."
"You had me worried sick! Why were you here all this time?"
"Ackkkkkkk"
"How did you even end up here?"
"Ackkkkkkk"
Alex walked up to the ensemble.
"Told you he'd be okay Mama Rhino, we didn't have to come"
"Ackk?"
"I think he might choke to death at this rate, so we really shouldn't have come"
"Oh! So sorry dear!"
Teresa dropped the boy, gasping for breath, to the ground. He fell to the ground with a thud, and knocked the already limited wind out of him.
"Haaaaaa..."
"Hahahaha-"
Teresa gave Hurdson a death glare, stopping him from chuckling. He averted his eyes and scratched his chin, as if he was contemplating some deep wisdom.
Teresa sighed and shook her head, before turning to Marrie to find out whether the boy had suffered any injury. Marrie took her away to tell her what happened.
"WHAT?"
"Shhhh....don't alarm them"
"....."
"I know this is confusing, and it might come as a shock to-"
"No"
"Huh?"
"I am not confused. I have known him for a while and know this as well, but hearing it from a doctor has made everything seem more.....real"
"I don't know what he could have experienced to have something like this"
"mmm...."
Teresa absentmindedly looked at the boy, who was now talking to Alex.
"Why did you call Aunt Teresa, 'Mama Rhino'?"
"You've been with her this long and you don't know that she's a rhino?"
"She's a rhino?!"
Teresa was suddenly not so absentminded anymore.
"Uhhh....little one, there is something I did not tell you"
The boy looked toward her.
"What is it?"
Alex facepalmed. Hurdson looked at the boy incredulously.
"How are you this close with her, when you don't even know that she's a Titan? Or maybe it's because you don't know?"
Teresa looked toward the boy, a little nervous.
"He is correct, I am a Titan as well, a rhino"
Saying so, Teresa slowly started transforming, her legs becoming stubbier, her arms shrinking as well. Her nose slowly elongated into a horn and her skin turned tough and grey. Soon Teresa was no longer there, instead, there was a white rhinoceros.
"Woah, you really are a rhino! Great! I can call you Mama Rhino as well"
"Huh? But what about you not wanting to call anyone your mother?"
"That's only for humans"
"Oh.....I see. That's great then, I thought you would be a lot more...disturbed by this"
"No, no, why would I be disturbed"
"....Thank you dear"
"Oh great! What a letdown! I wanted some drama!"
"Yeah! Booooo!"
Hurdson and Alex were eating some leftover popcorn and sitting on foldable chairs, waiting for the drama to unfold, but were disappointed. Teresa just needed a few seconds to plant a few fresh bumps on their heads.
Teresa then turned to Marrie.
"I can't sense his magic, what happened?"
"It was stolen"
"Stolen? Do you even have the right to be called a Titan if people can steal from you this easily?"
Hurdson hurriedly defended himself.
"If I knew he had stolen my magic, I definitely wouldn't have let him escape! I was going easy on him, cause he seemed really weak, and he had also not done anything that bad"
".....He caused the ferris wheel to disengage and killed a lot of people in the park"
"See? Nothing too bad! Plus, he had some weird way of running away, something about a bathtub? I can't remember the details. He did leave using a bathtub though....Maybe"
"What will you do without your magic?"
"I'll just have to create a new one, but that will take time. The park will have to run without that for a while"
Marrie made a dark face.
"The real question is, what will the person who stole the orb do with it"
Teresa's face also turned serious when she said that.
"An orb with hypnotism applied to it....a lot of things could be done with it, and none are good things"
Hurdson looked at them with shiny eyes.
"Except what I was using it for, right guys?.....Right?"
"....."
"..."
"Why aren't you saying anything?"
Teresa harrumphed in anger.
"No matter whether you were using it to keep everyone happy, it was still hypnotism"
"Hey! It was a really weak hypnotism, just to make people a little happy when they're in the park. It doesn't completely change their personalities. No one can change what it does either! That part of my Art has no other emotions attached to it, even I can't attach anymore emotions to it"
Marrie scratched her head and sighed.
"It was stolen, which means the people who took it will use it for something....something that requires your dangerous magic..."
".....Teresa, I might need your help when that person returns"
"What will I get?"
"...I don't have much due to our previous bets"
"Who asked you to bet?"
"YOU ASKED ME TOO!"
"I am not going to help if I don't get anything in return"
"Marrie! Help me!"
"This is your problem"
"Arghhhh! Pipsqu-"
"Don't you even try involving my little one in this"
"Haaaaa.....I'll give you 2 Diano fruits..."
"Hmmm....deal. Come on little ones, we are going home!"
"It's about time"
"I want to chat a bit more with the animals"
"No, you don't"
Teresa grabbed the boy by the back of his collar and dragged him away from the animals around him. Alex chuckled as he walked beside him.
"Bye bye everyone!"
The boy waved both his hands to bid farewell to his new friends. They all waved back, and said their goodbyes with a series of chitters and squeals.
"Get better at fighting Pipsqueak! It'd be great to have you as a sparring partner", Hurdson waved at the boy.
"Make sure to take care of yourself, the next time you get hurt I'm gonna bandage your entire body to make sure you can't even move for at least a year", Marrie said while crossing her arms and smiling.
"ROAR!", Bern roared at the boy as a farewell.
"Bye byeeee, I'll miss you all! I'll never forget youuuuu"
"No need to be so dramatic, you can visit them anytime you want..." Alex mumbled