With his bloodied brother behind, Lilo had to direct his scattered attention to the urgent task at hand.
This was not going to be a field trip. What was meant to be a training regeime and a simple tag along with the pros was now a life endangering mission.
The wind rushed past Lilo's face as he hopped out of his window.
Bubbles was not far ahead, her pink hair flowing like a warning sign and the glutton cloak catching air to lift and reveal her tight under suit of cursed gum.
Before reaching the ground, she bit into the helm of her suit around her neck and blew into it; causing the suit to inflate and become a cushion for her fall.
'Oh shit. How the hell am I supposed to land?'
The fall lasted mere seconds, and it would not have been lethal… if he was a seasoned urban parkour master.
But he was far from nimble on his feet. He was not an acrobat or a stunt man. He was a mere fighter and even then he was in a body that was not capable of much….
"Geee thanks." Soda's mocking voice brought Lilo back but by then it was too late.
Bubbles landed gracefully in her versitile suit, while Lilo landed like a sack of rocks, his knees taking the brute of the impact.
His craver body healed before Bubbles could notice the badly battered flesh but she still looked over in concern from the chilling thudding sound.
"You okay?" She asked through her mask.
Lilo dusted his freshly healed knees off and nodded nonchalantly.
"Yeah… I uhhh. I'm actually a pretty decent parkour guy." He said in unconvincing confidence.
"Really?" Bubbles raised a brow but accepted his tale nonetheless.
"Well that's a relief. We're going to need to traverse the tops of buildings on our way there. Burberry doesn't like to be in crowds so he'll want to leave early."
With those parting words, Bubbles suit deflated back to its tight form, and she hopped between two buildings; using her sticky suit to grab on and inflated souls of her feet to bounce.
Lilo gulped. It wasn't fair. Even if he hadn't lied and really was a pro parkour guy; he couldn't keep up with her insane suit perks.
He reluctantly did his best to follow along, falling from large hieghts with no proper technique and clawing his way up buildings with wreckless abandon.
Every hut and building carved along the mountain was made from the smooth blue limestone, so having any grip was incredibly difficult on the smooth surface; not to mention each landing from a jump obliterating his shins from the hard impact.
His body was littered with shattered bones and swollen joints; but it mended itself just as fast as he was creating these wounds.
By the third building, he was sort of getting the hang of traversing such heights.
He was still deathly afraid and had to force himself not to look at how heigh they were.
Bubbles was already far ahead, but her bright pink hair glistened in the sunlight and was a shining beacon for him to trace.
His limbs shook from exhaustion and his breath was uneven from a mixture of anxious energy and fatigue.
But he didn't hesitate to push through. His craver body being forgiving for all of his mistakes.
Finally, they reached the gate, and Lilo could see a stream of shepherds and cravers behind them in the streets struggling to catch up.
Indeed, having to traverse the tops of the roofs was very dangerous and reckless; but it saved them the traffic of others and brought them to the rendezvous point much quicker.
Bubbles halted on a tall clock tower that was near the gate, perching under the bell that was on the highest peak above the clock.
The large bell was being rung by a Wiper, signaling the emergency of the sudden call for all personnel to be gathered at the citadels hall.
Bubbles had given Lilo the heads up even before the officials had made the call to everyone else, giving them even more of a head start before the crowd began to gather.
With a deep sigh, Lilo tested his hands on his knees as he caught up beside Bubbles about half a minute later.
She seemed to be heavily invested in scanning the area below, and the wiper was startled by her close proximity.
Why would he be? Cravers were savages and one roaming about without a shepherd was not only unusual but extremely dangerous.
Within these walls, they were usually chained to their shepherd and monitored by their collars; until late at night when they were returned back to their dens to wash up and settle down.
So to see such a bright and boisterous Craver standing nonchalantly on the town halls bell/clock tower was certainly a surprising sight for the wiper.
But as soon as the wiper noticed Lilo wearing his herder colors, the sense of panic seemed to ease.
"Is she yours sir?" The wiper asked with a hint of concern.
Lilo shook his head.
"I'm just a herder. I believe Burberry is the name of our shepherd?" As soon as that man's name escaped Lilo's lips a chilling expression washed over the Wiper's face.
"B-b-b… Burberry?!" The wipers eyes grew wide and he stopped ringing the bell entirely, leaving his post in a panic with a histerical scream.
'What the hell? What a total wacko, being scared of a regular human like that… wait, Pepper did mention that this shepherd was unique. But he can't be that different. I've seen plenty of terrifying shit.'
"Yo Bubbles!" She didn't turn to face Lilo when he called her name, but he still continued.
"Who is this guy and why is everyone so-"
Lilo traced the gaze of Bubbles onto a tall menacing figure in the midst of the currently empty courtyard and the sight of the man made him hold his breath.
A crowd of shepherds were approaching quickly behind him, but they paused briefly when they noticed his presence.
The crowd split around him - avoiding and ignoring him - and faced the town hall where someone would make the announcement and guide them out to the emergency mission in the outskirts.
The tall menacing shepherd wore the colorful skull of a glutton and the same patchy cloak of the cravers.
The only distinguishing factor of this mysterious shepherd was the black uniform he wore underneath and the symbol of the shepherds emblem etched onto his skull with shards of black obsidian.
The skull itself was that of a mix between a bull with short thick protruding horns and a crocodile with rows of razor sharp teeth.
All gluttons had extravagant flashy colors that marred every element of their body, so this skull was plastered with a tie dye pattern of bright colors; making for a striking aura of mystique.
He stood a couple heads taller than the entire crowd and his eyes were also locked onto Bubbles.
'Psh what a poser. Okay I get it, your outfit is edgy, but like you're probably not even a match for Wonka's cohort. The Fien's should've let me join them instead. Not this wack duo of miss pink aloof and rainbow horn man over here.'
Lilo could spot Lemon and Jawbi in the crowd. Pepper and Wonka were most likely nearby but with the overwhelming crowd of shepherds, their herders and cravers, it was very hard to make out individuals; except for the tall masked shepherd of course.
Burberry motion a friendly wave to Bubbles but she didn't wave back. Instead, a large creatures shadow engulfed the crowd gathered in the town hall.
The air around them shook followed by the sound of flapping wings, and a large circle cleared around Burberry as the people parted to make room.
Lilo's jaw hit the floor as in the next moment a glutton that resembled a Griffen landed in front of Burberry.
The tall mysterious shepherd mounted the majestic creature, and they both flew over to the tower where Bubbles and Lilo were.
Lilo took an involuntary step back, almost falling off the roof, but Bubbles grabbed his shoulder to steady him.
The Griffen landed in an awkward position by the bell tower, and the crowd repossessed the circle they left open for it earlier.
They ignored the ordeal entirely and went back to focusing on the entrance of the town hall, as if this were a normal occurrence.
"You're late." The menacing tall shepherd's voice sent a chill down Lilo's spine as he saw the glance of distian Burberry threw at the crowd gathered below.
Bubbles ignored his comment and hopped onto the giant creature back, behind Burberry.
She turned to Lilo and tilted her head to motion him onward.
"Hop on." She said with her usual aloof even tone.