It was crazy to say that he missed Fiama.
He left her with May just a few hours ago and now he regretted agreeing with tha deal of her's.
It's been only two days and he had already gotten used to her presence.
It was strange not having her around now.
And Helena was feeling pretty much the same with Sky's absence.
All core members of the guild were discussing when to go to the ranch and scout the area, but the guild master herself was all gloomy.
"So you think we should for some time?" The Barbara asked Eli.
"Yes" He answered "It would be good to-"
He was interrupted by a sweet melody that made everyone freeze, it came from the phone by Helena's side.
Helena had the habit of putting specific songs for each contact, even when is the same person but with different contacts.
And everyone knew who's song was playing now.
With a curious expression she answered the phone.
"Yes?"
She stayed quiet for a few moments, then she suddenly became serious.
"This decision needs to be revised by everyone" She said "Mind if I put you on the speaker?"
A pause, then she put her on speaker and put it on the table.
"You may speak" She said.
{Hello to everyone}
A male voice, serious and objective.
That was the voice of Sunflower Auberon, World Tree's guild master.
Soaring Sky and World Tree had always been in good terms, especially at Friedrich's time as the guild master, so when Helena, Friedrich's granddaughter assumed the position, Sunflower was pretty welcoming.
He was even the first to suggest sharing a quest that needs specific conditions to be done.
He and Helena did talk a lot from time to time, but he didn't call from his casual number.
He called from his work number on a weekend, a weekend they all knew was reserved to his nephew's birthday.
Something must have happened for him to do that.
{I have called to request Soaring Sky's help with a unexpected quest} He said {It might look ridiculous, but it will bring great benefits to both guilds}
It was one of the things Aiden expected.
A joint quest.
{You all must know how lucky Lane is} He said.
They all cringed at that.
Lane Shane luck was a forbidden territory for many, Soaring Sky had once joined World Tree to test how far his luck whent.
Nowadays no one is allowed to try it again.
But if Lane's luck is being mentioned, it must be a big opportunity.
Last time something like that happened, the two guilds found a pair of golden goblins.
Golden goblins!
One of the best Demonic Beasts to loot in all history!
They bring treasures from outer realms in their bags that would put an SSS rank spatial bag to shame.
It was unfortunate that they had to share the treasures with the emperor.
But now a new opportunity appeared!
"What did he find this time" Eli asked eagerly.
{A ranch with Beast-like creatures in Tide Hill}
They all froze in place.
That…
{Lane found the place by chance while trying to find a present for Raff} Said the elf {The owner is-}
"A boy with green hair?" Aiden interrupted.
There was a beat of silence.
{You know Nate?}
Helena and Christopher started to laugh, Alex was snickering, Aiden smiled, along with Deborah and Barbara, and Eli sighed while burying himself in his chair.
Seems like they'll be coming back sooner than expected.
***
May was preparing lunch for everyone when her phone came to life.
"Bri, dear, could you answer for me?"
"Yes grandma!"
A girl, around fithteen in age, with fair skin, short dark purple hair and golden eyes approached her, she had a phone recording May cook on her hand.
That was Bria, her only granddaughter.
"Hey uncle" She heard the girl say.
May immediately assumed to be Aiden.
She received some messages from him during that day as the morning passed, a few asking about Fiama (said chimp was having the time of her life while playing with the pans and pots with Cedar) and Sky.
The children had gotten a bit gloomy without their guardians, but they got better when she and Maverick explained that they would stay only during the weekend, and that their guardians would come to take them back after this.
They soon were playing with Bria as she recorded vídeos to her channel.
"Uncle wants to talk with you grandma" Bria said.
"Put on speaker"
And so she did.
"Need anything dear?" She asked.
{Not really} Aiden said {Just wanted to know if you're free tomorrow with all the kids, Bria included}
She raised a brown, ignoring an offended Maverick grumbling.
What was this kid up to?
***
Bria was very surprised when her grandma arrived with these cute Beasts, but she didn't say much.
Her grandma has the habit of collecting strays, so the surprise was cut short.
She did get along with them all, Maverick was sulking about something for some time, but joined in after some coating and proved to be a nice guy, he even told them about the place they came from.
So she got really excited when her grandma agreed to visit said place on the next day.
They were on their way using her grandma's motorcycle, she and Maverick were on the sidecar, the rest of the pokemon were on their pokeballs.
"Why don't you go on the pokeball?" Bria asked.
"Not a fan of closed spaces" He said "I go if it's needed, but I prefer not, besides, there's no way I'm going to miss such a good breeze"
Maverick was standing in the front of the sidecar, wings spread wide.
She had seen his state, but did not ask.
Great uncle Richie had many scars, and he always got sad when someone asked about them.
"What's happening at the entrance?"
Bria turned to look at where Maverick was pointing, and there stood many people, some were even people she knew.
"What are World Tree and Soaring Sky doing here?" Her grandma said.
Hunters from Soaring Sky were very familiar to Bria since great-uncle Richie was the former guild master and aunt Helena was the new guild master, and Hunters from World Tree were not strangers to her either, as her friend's family worked there, but to see cars leaving many of them here was strange.
"The entrance?" Bria asked.
"Yeah" Maverick answered, a bit tense "That's the entrance of the visitors path, the path leads to the ranch"
Oh, so that's why he's tense.
If many strange people with weapons appeared in the way of the place you used to leave, you too would be tense.
But…
"Don't worry" She said "These guys are good!"
It didn't seem to calm him, not even a bit.
They approached the entrance, slowly stopping where the Hunters were as they noticed their approach.
"M-Mis Benedict!" Some of Soaring Sky said with a simple bow.
"Bria!" Some of World Tree greeted warmly.
Both guilds looked at each other confused as they stopped.
"Good morning" Grandma said "Why are Soaring Sky and World Tree here so early?"
Both sides exchanged helpless looks.
"We received a joint quest" One of Soaring Sky said.
"There's a guy here that offered some really precious materials just to put up some fences" Someone from World Tree added.
She saw how confused Maverick was at that.
"What's a quest?" He asked Bria as he got off the sidecar, not noticing the surprised looks from the Hunters.
"It's a mission given by the government or anyone that can pay the mission fee" She explained.
"And a joint quest?"
"It's a quest that is executed by parties of different guilds or two or more parties that belong to the same guild, a party is a group of Hunters that work together, like a Team"
He nodded, satisfied, and resumed to stare at the Hunter's souls, making them uncomfortable.
She discovered that Maverick was curious about everything, be it a cellphone, or the stove, he asked as many questions as he could, and some were interesting, making her get curious and ask her grandma or search the answer on the internet.
That's how she discovered he is illiterate.
"Why are you bringing weapons if you're only putting fences?"
He finally said it, the reason why he was tense and staring at their poor souls.
Hunters hardly go anywhere without their weapons, it's just that they are normally stored in their bags, but since they're out of the city, having their weapons in hand was more practical.
The Hunters hesitated a little before answering.
"Tide Hill is full of Demonic Beasts" One said.
"We just want to be prepared in case anything attacks us" Another added.
"Nonsense!" Maverick barked with crossed arms "Unless you're stupid enough to leave the visitors path without protection or attack any Demonic Beasts that appear there, you'll be safe"
The Hunters didn't seem to truly believe what he said, and it was clear that they would start to discuss this with Maverick, but were interrupted by a strange cry.
"Cyclizar!"
They all turned to see giant lizards coming down the visitors path, all with strange saddles on their backs that made them look a bit like motorcycles.
It was pretty funny, and actually cute.
"Guys!"
Maverick opened a warm smile as he jumped off of the sidecar and ran to where the lizards were stopping to greet him.
"Cy!"
"Cyclizar!"
"Clizar Cy!"
The lizards (Cyclizars, apparently) stopped to greet Maverick excitedly, some even jumping around a bit or standing on two legs to gesture like a human while one or two got to the ground to rub their faces against the Hawlutcha that started to laugh.
"Calm down guys!" He said "I can't understand you all if you keep talking over each other!"
It took a few minutes for the lizards to calm down.
"Now" Maverick started "To answer some of your questions: No, I'm not being returned, no, Lyka is not dead, where did that even come from? Think so little of us? No, I was not taken by any shady person, yes, the capital is really big and noisy and yes, I'm fine, now can you guys guide us back to the ranch?"
With a series of cries, all the Cyclizars got to the ground, looking at them with expectation while Maverick climbed to the head of one of them.
"Get on the saddles" He said "These guys will take us to the Ranch!"
***
May had to admit, riding in a Cyclizar was more fun than riding on the motorcycle.
They were fast, agile and pretty strong too. She saw the biggest of them, an alpha species according to Maverick, carry a half-blood orc happily even if it was a bit awkward and it was a bit behind the group.
"I think a Mudsdale would be a good mount for that big guy"
Maverick was at the top of the head of the Cyclizar carrying May and Bria and dragging her motorcycle that was attached to the saddle, he was looking at the group behind her with amusement.
The group was a bit nervous at first and were even caught by surprise when the Cyclizars started to move, some even stupidly fell from their backs, making Maverick laugh like he had heard the best joke ever.
It took a short while for them to reach the Ranch, and May had to admit, it was pretty.
They stopped past the small gate and the Cyclizars laid on the ground, giving them the chance to get down as a familiar voice echoed.
"May!"
Before May could even see who was talking, a familiar knight came from her pocket as Fiama came out and ran to Aiden, who kneeled on the ground to get her.
"You two act as if you haven't seen each other for months" May said.
Aiden only chuckled while Fiama buried her face on his shoulder.
"Aiden!"
Maverick jumped from the Cyclizar head walking to Aiden as the man got up.
"Is it true that Nature called these guys to put up some fences?"
Aiden gave him a helpless smile.
"As ridiculous as it sounds, yeah"
"Not as much as you think" Maverick said with a huff "Ridiculous would be had you said that Nature stepped out of the Ranch!"
All the Pokemon around them nodded in agreement.
May raised an eyebrow at that.
Nature was the owner of the Ranch, if she remembers it right.
She was quite curious about the person in charge of such a place.
"Indee!"
He attention was caught by a pair of voices and she found herself staring at two sheep-like creatures at the door, one with more white fur with a cute violet scarf on its neck while the other had more navy blue fur and a wooden sword tied to its waist.
The white one gave them a gentle smile and a simple bow while the blue one crossed its arms with an annoyed look and held its head high.
"Indee"
"Indeedee!"
Maverick snorted at them.
"Yeah yeah, we're going"
He then turned to them.
"Let's go before the boy over there tries to stab someone"
The one with a sword took offense at that.
"Deedee!"
"Once it's enough!"
"Indee!"
"Oi! Now you're just being rude!"
"Indeedee~"
"Who are you calling an old man!? I'm just nineteen!"
"Dee!"
"Oh I'm gonna show who's ancient!"
Oh, and out to chase the new boy in the forest he goes.
"Dee"
The one that was left smiled helplessly while gesturing to the Ranch, obviously inviting them over.
Well, Maverick and the boy obviously knew the forest better than them, and the sheep in front of them didn't seem nervous at all, so why not?
She moved forwards, ready to discover the mysterious owner of this place.
---------------------------
Autor note: Sorry for not updating for ao long! I've been fighting with this chapter for some time, I even rewrite it at least four times, it was suposed to take a completely different direction, but ended up like this.
Whish you like it!