//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 // Story: Lone wolf in Equestria // by Xinrick //------------------------------// I woke up with a yawn, stretching as my joints popped into place and my head began to wake up. The scent of coffee hit my nose and once I opened my eyes I saw mom holding out a mug to me. "Morning, and happy eighteenth birthday." She chuckled. “Eighteen already?” I yawned, taking the mug and lightly sipping from the miracle drink. “Feels like yesterday when I was still just a pup.” "Time flies when you're enjoying your life." She chuckled. "Breakfast is downstairs, and after that we can get to your Eighteenth Birthday gift." “Awesome.” I said with a smile. I got up and followed mom downstairs, coffee in hand and sat at the table where various plates of eggs, pancakes, bacon and sausages all sat waiting. We quickly ate and once the dishes were cleaned mom gave me a folder. “A folder?” I inquired, taking the folder and opening it up to see what she had in mind. "You're eighteen now, so you are receiving a deed to your own personal dimension where you will own and be able to build and create your own home however you see fit." Mom said. The papers inside were in fact a type of deed and such. "Your apprenticeship should also be ending soon, meaning you'll be a full fledged Reaper too." “Uh…right…” I said slowly, blinking at the fact that I just…now have my own dimension. “And uh…what about my adventure back on Equis? Will that change at all?” "You'll be able to return there at any time with this." Mom said, pulling out a globe from behind her and giving it to me. "This is the Equis you were at originally. With this you can return to the planet and back whenever you want." “Alright.” I nodded, gently taking the globe. “Just…need to go back and get back to training in that world to become the Avatar.” I chuckled. "First you should make your dimension. Maybe Invite Alex over for some private fun~" Mom teased. “Mo~m!” I whined, blushing brightly at that. “But…how do I make my own dimension?” "Here." She said, handing me one of those mini bite sized cupcakes. "Once you eat this the power and knowledge on how to customize your new house dimension will be sent right into your mind. It's much easier than explaining it." “Sure…that works.” I said, taking the cupcake and eating it to see what divine nonsense I’m going to get. It tasted like dark chocolate. I felt a slight migraine as I… knew, what to do and how to do it. I snapped my fingers and a portal opened to an all white, blank dimension. That definitely was easier. "Alright, don't forget to visit just because you have your own place now." Mom said. “Jeez, just turned eighteen and you're kicking me out already?” I joked. "Would you rather I walk in on you and Alex again when you sneak them in overnight?" “I told you to knock!” I whined in embarrassment. “Fine, I’ll pack my stuff…jeez, this is gonna be…really new…” "Look on the bright side, you can embarrass your own kids just as much when they're growing up." Mom chuckled. "And I'll visit my grandbabies." “Well…maybe.” I said honestly. “I mean, I do have a kid you can visit…kid weirdly loves horror movies…” "Maybe once you finish up your mission sweetie." “Alright.” I nodded. “Gonna still take a while to get done with my adventure though…can’t wait to get home though, I miss everyone.” I said honestly. "Alright." With a nod I went into the portal and got to work. First, grass, ground, trees, blue sky, maybe a river here… lake here… house. Need a good sized house here… for Derpy, Polkadot, Alex and I plus the kids… plenty of space, kitchen, some playground equipment, master bedroom, kids bedrooms, spare and guest rooms, living room, dinning room, maybe an entertainment room here, library, garage, hmm… I guess this is okay for now… I looked at my new house, yard and everything around me. This works. With that I walked inside my house, careful setting the globe down on the desk in my personal room. "Soon…" I said, sighing. I still need to finish my apprenticeship, and kick Rust's ass… seriously how is that old hare so damn strong…”Soon, when I kick that guy’s ass…I’ll finally head home…hmm, I wonder if Lillinette is also like me…” I hummed, given that she did technically come from my psyche into a physical being… With a shrug, I snapped my fingers, my Reaper outfit appearing over me as a new portal opened. I walked through it to Purgatory Prime where I saw Rust laid back against a tree. "You're late." He said. “Sorry, was in my new home decorating the place.” I said honestly. “So, what’s on the docket for today?” "Nothing much. Figured you'd want to see if you'd win this time around. You won't but I'll humor you. My gift to you." He chuckled. “Just be glad I’m technically fighting at half my true strength.” I said honestly. "Alright." He said, standing up. "Now that you're an adult I guess I can stop doing the same." Wait what? Before I noticed I was suddenly ten feet in the ground with a skull splitting headache and… ouch! "Come on kid! Get your ass out of the dirt already!" He called from above the me shaped hole he punched me into… “Oh…” I frowned, raising a hand and firing cero claw bullets at the bastard rabbit. I heard them whizz by but then felt small metal things hit me… he caught them?! "Come on kid this is just sad." He laughed. “Seriously, how are you so strong?” I asked, getting out of the hole and trying to think of what I can do cause he was not this strong before…”Damn it, still hate how I can’t use my Resurrección without Lillinette…” I mentally grumbled, still technically being in my ‘sealed state’ due to that. "Kid, I'm over three million years older than you. Ya don't live as long as I do without learning things and being tough as nails." He chuckled. "Maybe you can win when you're three million and I'm six million and even stronger." I groaned. “Cause of course I’m fighting someone old as hell…” I grumbled. "In some realities, I'm older." He laughed. "Anyway, here." He said, handing me a rolled up paper. "This will be your first official Bounty as a Reaper Bounty Hunter. Pass this and you're apprenticeship is over." I sighed, grabbing the rolled up paper and opening it up. “Hate how I’m locked out of a lot of my power because of Lily…” I grumbled, looking to see who my bounty was. Bounty: Rank B Request: A soul has escaped the Hell's asylum and is hiding out somewhere in the Purgatory Prime Fog Valley area. Capture or kill. Right… the Hell's asylum is where they torture the damned before resetting the soul for reincarnation… “Right…” I grumbled. “Now let’s see who this bastard is…” I muttered, or at least hoping there was a scent to this specific soul so I wasn’t just wandering around aimlessly like a jackass screaming- “You can’t catch me assholes!” I was going to think ‘where the fuck are you’ but that works to! “So, what’s special about this guy besides being an idiot?” "Anyone who can escape the Hell's asylum is an abnormally powerful soul. Careful, whatever he was in life he's probably stronger in death." Rust said. “Goodie…” I grumbled, sniffing the air for his scent as my race had a stupidly good sense of smell. I caught the scent of a human soul and was off. Finding them was easy, they were a bit of an overweight, balding man with his remaining hair being a curly orange, he wore a tattered lab coat and cracked glasses. “Seriously, how the hell did he manage to escape?” I thought to myself, as I aimed my pistol carefully with a silencer on it, aiming a tad forward of his overweight run, aimed towards his legs and fired, the silencer doing wonders to keep the gunshot quite against my prey. The impact downed them, sending the man screaming as they quickly began to pull themselves towards the trees. Not quick enough though… I was on top of them immediately, claw’s touching their neck and imbued with my spirit energy. “Now, you either come with me quietly, or you can watch me eat your still beating heart.” I growled. "... Wait how?" He asked. "I'm already dead how would I still have a beating heart?" “That’s a good question, want to find out?” I growled, putting my claws down to their chest to prove my threat. "... Look a squirrel!" I didn't fall for it but he gripped my arm and- fuck! I backed up as some… lines of neon gray appeared from his hands onto mine and he began to make his escape. The strange magic eventually fading from my arm… shit, what was that?! “Right…that’s new…” I muttered, seeing him still limping like a bitch. “Alright chuckle fuck, you asked for this.” I said, digging my feet into the ground and cracking the ground as I started to run…something I have done so few times…is run for the hunt. As I quickly caught up to the tub of lard, suddenly I noticed he was holding onto a baby bird. Suddenly I was head-butted by something huge. Looking back up that baby bird now had grotesque mechanical limbs and was almost ten feet tall, odd glass, camera like eyes in it's skull and metallic feathers as it hissed a mechanical growl at me. So… that's how he escaped. No wonder it hurt me too, this is some new necromancy like shit… I think it's merging Necromancy with Technomancy… no wonder it hurt. As a Reaper and a Death Wolf, I'm weak to that kind of magic… “That motherfucker…” I growled, drawing a blade and lightly cutting my finger, as the blood dripped into the palm of my hand as bladed wind’s started to swirl around it with my Spirit Energy. “Fuck this, fuck you, I’m not dealing with this shit at the moment.” I said, raising my hand. “Gran Tempestad Cero.” I said, as the fat bastard was behind the bird a giant tube of wind blasted forth, cutting off the mecha birds wing’s, a rush of bladed winds cutting it and my target thousands of times, the pain stunning them as I fired the Cero portion, the energy cracking the ground underneath me as a line of pure energy practically atomized anything and everything in this line of destruction. After a minute, the energy vanished into the air, a gentle breeze settled into the air as I walked over to where his corpse, or whatever might be left of it. There was nothing. I can do this but not still can't beat Rust… “Fucking damn it…” I groaned. “Alright…so how the hell do I get my bounty if there’s literally nothing left?” "They'll know." I jumped at hearing Rust behind me. The old rabbit chuckling at my spook. "Don't worry if there's nothing to collect for proof, Reaper archives can fact check to see if his soul was obliterated or not." “Right…” I said slowly. “So, what the hell did that guy do? Some weird necromancy and technomancy nonsense…never seen it before.” "Yeah. According to his file he was working on making some creatures out of corpses and merging them with tech and I don't know all the details aside from one of his creations killed him so, karma." “Yeah, that makes sense.” I nodded. "Well, congratulations to you're an official Reaper." “Awesome.” I nodded. “Got a job, got my own realm house…and I’m finally going to be heading home…” "Yeah yeah. I'll see ya around when you're done playing roleplay in ponyland." Rust said with an eye roll as they walked off. “I’m not ‘roleplaying’, and when I get Lillinette back me and her are going to kick your ass old man.” I frowned. "Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night." I huffed as he walked off. Well… guess I should at least tell Alex before I leave. Not sure how long time wise I'll be gone from here. “This is not going to be a fun conversation.” I thought to myself, bringing up my assistant and dialing Alex…”Well…technically I could bring him with me now that I think about it…” "I'd love to, Mike but I have a lot of work now that my apprenticeship is up." Alex said as we sat in my new place's living room. I sighed. “Yeah…I thought that would be the case.” I shook my head. “Fucking…hate how work is going to get in the middle of this…but do you have enough time to meet Polkadot, Derpy and our daughter?” "Maybe I can visit a little later on. Since I'm new I doubt I can just ask for vacation time. Maybe in a week when I get my day off." “Alright.” I nodded. “Now a problem…I…I don’t know if Time works differently between here and Equis…what could be minutes here…could be years for you…” "Or vice versa." “Yeah…” I groaned. “Of course…yet another significant other I have to not be with for possibly years on end…’ "Don't worry Mike, it's not like I'll grow old while you're away. Besides, if it may or may not be a long while til I see you again… would you rather it be a more memorable moment over this sadness~?" “I’d like it to be a memorable moment yes.” I nodded. “Just…wish this wasn’t a third time I had to leave loved ones…” "I'll visit you when my day off comes. Once I do, you tell me if there is a time difference or not. Until then… how's about we break in your new bed~?" “Well, I did make it to be sturdy, just haven’t tested how sturdy.” I said with a growing grin, picking up Alex bridal style. After a memorable night, morning, morning shower and breakfast, Alex left for their work with the Cherubs, and I kissed them goodbye for I'm not sure how long. Once they were, I walked over to the globe that held Equis. Alright… time to go back..  I placed a hand to the orb and took a breath. … … … I woke up with a huff. What… I looked around my metallic surroundings… right… the air ship… I'm on my way to the… Dragon Lands… Christ… eighteen years of a whole new life really… makes you forget stuff. “Right…I’m going off to become the Avatar if memory serves.” I said. “Well…I’m pretty sure I’m a lot faster than this ship…” I sat up, and upon doing so nearly fell over. What the? I looked myself over… I'm in my Coyote Starrk body again? Huh… that works I guess… great, gotta get used to walking all over again… “Who would have guessed I had to deal with getting used to my own body again…” I frowned, lightly bending my knees to get used to them not being reversed. “I miss my fluff…” I muttered, just stretching a bit as I really felt my powers…and it felt like they were somehow increased than back home in my wolf form…”Alright, so maybe it’s because of this body that I’m stronger than before? Hmm…got a lot to get used to…” I thought to myself, clenching my fists. “Hey, can you hear me Lillinette?” I mentally called out to my other half. "I'm napping, what do you want?" She replied. Haven't heard that rather ever annoyed voice in eighteen years… “One…glad to hear your voice after eighteen years.” I said with a smile. “There’s a lot I have to tell you about…also, why the hell are you napping? That’s my schtick.” "Eighteen? Wait hold on- OH SWEET GOD WHY?!?" The mental scream from her knocked me back. “No need to scream.” I groaned. “Why is there so much Angel boy ass!?!” She mentally asked me incredulously. “There’s not that many memories of Alex’s ass come on.” I mentally huffed. "It is when it's at the top of your most recent memories!" I heard some thumps and slammed open doors, and Lillinette kicked the door to my room then… then socked me in the jaw.  First. Ouch! I think our connection means she got a power boost two… also, hey this mental dent I made in the wall is comfy. "While I'm glad you finally realized you were Bi, what the actual hell?!" “Do you want the long version or the short version?” I asked. “And sorry about Alex’s mountain of a butt being in the front…” I said sheepishly. “He really wanted to make the last day before some stupidly long hiatus memorable…” "Yeah… I could tell… also, I'm not even gonna ask why your dick looked like that, so, give me a medium version length wise and please censor out whatever ass blasting sexcapaids you and that femboy angel got up to." “Alright.” I said. “So…to make a long story medium, Eclipsa, Crescent as we know them…became my mom after they took me to a new world.” I said. “I was a special breed of Floof Noodle because I both had legs and my race of Dire wolf were the Death Wolves.” I explained. “So why did they want this? Well after my conversation with Nightmare about how Earth kind of sucked and their race turned into murderous sociopaths…well they threatened to blow up Earth…and well, mom wanted to give me a good life after all that depression bullshit.” I shrugged. “So then I got to spend eighteen years enjoying a new life, finding new friends with Sophia and Alex early on, and when I got older I joined the Reaper’s Guild as a bounty hunter…Rust the Rabbit is an asshole but a decent teacher…and then I started dating Alex because their adorable and they were my closest friend…Mom was amazing, Grandma was even better the morning after I learned that Santa both exists and there being an entire guild of Santa’s…oh boy, it’s hard to go through all the details…but it was an amazing life that got me a hell of a lot stronger…oh and also I have my own dimension that I can do god like things in and a brand new house and area for our family.” "... Holy crap…" She said, poking me in the face. "Is that genuine happiness? All your depression and anxiety is gone… You… aren't the same Mike I was made from…" “Yeah, I literally only needed to be isekai’d a second time before thing’s actually went better.” I chuckled. “I mean…my first life is still going to bug me but…I have a new life and I am legit better for it.” "... Nightmare Moon is fucked…" “That’s still up for contention if Pain hasn’t done something.” I said sheepishly. “But, while I am indeed a hell of a lot stronger and fully understand my powers…I still need some training for the rest of what this world has to offer.” I said honestly. “Also because you want to be the Avatar?” “...Yeah…” I admitted sheepishly. “Nerd.” Lilinette chuckled. “And proud of it.” I said with a smile. "I have to admit, seeing you so positive and chipper is… different. Like, wow a before and after shot just…  two completely different people. So, you're now Crescent's son?" “And you’re technically Crescent’s daughter because…well, obvious reasons.” I said honestly. “And yes…also, I will probably stumble a bit getting used to knee’s bending forward.” "Welp, you were always a furry so, finally got to be a furry." “Oh shush you.” I chuckled. “Though one thing I have to train with is our released form, given that I couldn’t do it in the new world without you.” I admitted. “Do you even need it if you’re basically a god and grim reaper?” “And I’ve fought someone that’s a grim reaper but not a god and constantly got my ass kicked.” I answered. “And, when I encountered a soul that was just a kind of overweight guy, he was able to hurt me because of his technomancy ability.” I explained. “Yeah…going through your memories, Rust was not kind…” “No…damn rabbit had a hate boner for the race I was because it killed some of his family…” I shook my head. “Now…while my sense of smell and hearing are shot…my energy sense should still be through the roof here…” I muttered, closing my eyes as I tried to let my energy sense go wide, as wide as it could as I have trained really hard to be stupid good at energy sensing. I could sense… everything. If I could compare this, it’s how the Legend of Kora’s Toph sees the whole world with her overpowered earthbending sight. Ah, there they are, sleeping in a pocket in a mountain… “Alright, there’s the dragon…wait…” I muttered, focusing on the Zebra lands where I felt the two…but…one felt weirdly familiar…like… “Mike?” I heard the familiar voice, which made me take a step back. “O-okay…how did I hear that and…two…there’s no fucking way…” I muttered. “I…felt that to…” Lillinette said carefully. “She…she can’t be here…can she?” “I…we’ll figure it out after we find the Dragon…” I said weakly. “Just…there’s too much to process with that…” It took a while and I had to dig through the mountain to reach the Dragon, and they were… not what I was expecting. “Who are you?” The drake asked, their head was a complete skull with bone white scales and spines down their back and tail. Their wings were leathery, black and the only flesh aside their eyes and mouth I could see. They were also four feet tall. “Uh…hi there.” I said honestly. “My name's Mike…who are you?” I asked, honestly surprised that my dragon teacher would be four foot tall. “Krost. How did you even get in here?” “A lot of digging.” I said. “You dug through my hill?” Hill? “Uh…hill? This is a mountain.” I said honestly, now confused as to what he thought a ‘hill’ was. “Why do you think this is a hill?” “It’s a mountain now? Huh, guess I’ve been down here longer than I thought.” They shrugged. “So, what brings you down here to my lair?” “I want to train under you, in the ways of Fire.” I said honestly. “Hmm… Alright, now let me ask you something… what in the great egg are you talking about?” … what? “Uh…what do you mean?” I asked carefully. “Well…better question is…when were you last outside?” “I dunno. How long ago was the Wendigo attack on the pony tribes?” Oh… Oh… “Oh…uh…” I said slowly. “That was…a long ass time ago…I think over a thousand years ago…what was the last thing you remember before being stuck in your lair?” “I fell asleep… woke up, saw the entrance was caved in, and then I shrugged and went back to sleep.” “You uh…how old were you before it caved in?” “Twelve.” He’s a kid?!  “Oh…oh no…” I muttered. “Uh…I’m sorry to say this but…you’re kind of…dead…” I said nervously, now wondering how this twelve year old is going to train me when they’ve barely been alive technically. “I know.” He said. “I’ve been down here a while and even before I didn’t need to, ya know, eat or breathe so… it’s not that hard to figure out…” “But what you didn’t know, is that you are a very powerful undead, known as an Vasto Lorde.” I answered. “So…want to get out of here and see the world?” “Do I have to? I got my stuff here…” I looked over to what he was motioning at. A collection of rocks shaped like dragons, ponies and even what I think is a centaur. “Wow, did you create these?” I inquired, looking down at the figurines and see how detailed they were. “Yeah. All the time to do it in between naps.” “That makes sense, and these do have some neat detailing to them.” I said honestly. “So why does a… whatever you are, want to learn about fire?” “Because I need to get stronger to stop an upcoming threat to this world.” I answered. “And right now, I have so far learned Air powers from an old Griffon King that is…no longer with us.” “Hm. But why me? Can’t any dragon teach you about fire?” “Well, that is correct…” I said. “But as far as I’ve learned, given my unique existence as an Arrancar, a race like you that’s ‘broken off’ their mask,” I motioned to the part of my Hollow mask around my neck. “You are the only one that can do fire and have the spiritual power to show me how to do things.” I said, and…I probably need to find an older dragon cause I don’t know if Krost could teach me given he was only twelve. “Oh, is that why I came back to life and don’t die?” “Uh…kinda?” I said nervously. “I don’t actually know, because technically you’re unable to die due to being an undead and…well there might not really be anything in this world that can kill our race of Undead.” I said honestly, now thinking about how either that’s how our regeneration works or if there’s something else at play here. “Huh… but what did I do to become this? I remember before I turned into this I was just digging for gems then… then… huh, what was I doing before this happened? I remember… hmm…” I frowned, knowing he was just a child but finding this especially weird…another instance where someone’s spirit jumped from either a spirit or a Hollow to a Vasto Lorde and not have a single idea how or why it happened. “What was the last thing you remember before digging for gems?” I inquired. “I… don’t remember…” He said, sitting down. “Why can’t I remember?” “I don’t know, and that is concerning.” I said. “Hmm…I have an idea.” I said, haven’t really tried this in my Arrancar body but given I was powered up by a crap ton I could probably read his ‘Death Records’. Gently, I placed a hand on the kids head, using what Rust taught me and retrieving his ‘Death Record’. The scroll appeared in my other hand, and I opened it. Name: Krost Species: Dragon Age: 12 Status: Deceased Soul Status: Uncollected Cause of Death: Blood Clot Causing Internal Cranial Hemorrhaging. Type of Death: Natural, Instant. “Ah…that’s…sad…” I sighed. “Right, so says here, you died of natural causes…blood stopped going to your brain and it caused…a lot of damage…” I sighed. “Oh… So, it just happened by chance? Huh… Still, not sure why I’m a… whatever you said.” They said, scratching their head.  “This world hold’s many surprises.” I said honestly. “But…I’m sorry you had to die at such a young age…a child shouldn’t suffer something like this at such a young age…” “Well, I don’t think I suffered. Mostly I’ve just been bored and sleeping.” “Well, congratulations, you will no longer be bored, or sleeping as much.” I said honestly. “Now come on, let’s get you out of here for a while to see the outside world.” “Alright.” He said. It took a bit but I got us out of there and the sunlight made Krost blink a lot.  “This is the Fire Vasto Lorde you were looking for?” Lillenette asked. “Yes…” I said carefully. “Just uh…poor kid died of a brain hemorrhage when he was only twelve…an instant, natural death…” “Ouch… Also… how? How is he… how did he even… become a Vasto Lord?” “I don’t know…” I said honestly. “I don’t know if I can see how he became such a powerful undead but…he just is.” I said with a frown. “Well, how is a kid going to train you?”  “I…don’t know…” I frowned, looking over to see Krost looking around with…an adorable look of wonder in his eyes. “Well…I suppose I could also just…adopt the poor little guy…he’s spent over a thousand years stuck inside that cave…he deserves a family…” “Eh, why not.” Lillenette shrugged. “You did adopt that griffon kid if I remember?” “Gallus, yes.” I nodded. “Which…that’s gonna be a whole thing when I get back…” I rubbed the back of my head, trying to see if I could glean anything else from this awe struck child’s soul to see if there was anything special about him and why he was such a powerful Undead. I looked at their soul aura… oh my fucking gods… Their aura was like… a small sun resting inside the kids body… In the reapers, souls that radiate power like this are powerful, ancient… they were destined for greatness… and he… he died… long before that could be recognized… “Right…” I muttered. “So…apparently he was destined for greatness…it’s like staring at a small sun…” I told Lillinette, feeling even worse that this little guy couldn’t do what he was meant to…that his life ended before he could stand proud over his achievements. “... Well, what do we do now? Your teacher is kind of… too young… and probably doesn’t even know how their powers work.” “Right…” I said carefully, trying to think of how this could work or should work. “I doubt I could just call mom to help…” “That’s your call.” I sighed, scratching my head. “Sadly I might have to call mom, cause at least then she can teach the both of us and help me figure something out here…probably what his destiny was meant to be as well now that I think about it…” I hummed, scratching my chin as I thought about how this could actually work. “Well, I suppose I should call in Mom to see if either she or someone we know can teach us how to do Fire…” I managed to use my assistant and called mom. She appeared in her mini form. “Hi honey.” She said, but her mouth didn’t move. “Hey mom.” I said with a smile. “So I need your help with something…I know I shouldn’t but…got a bit of a situation here.” I said while motioning to the child dragon vasto lorde. “Oh, the poor baby.” She said. “Gone before his time should have ended.” “Yeah, and apparently he had a great destiny…” I sighed. “So…I was needing your help…with Training our Spirit Fire stuff…cause something about his destiny feels…off to me.” I said, not entirely sure but I couldn’t shake the feeling whatever his destiny was, it still hasn’t been fulfilled even by some random happenstance. “Hmm… Well, there isn’t much I can do here with this without causing more problems…” She admitted. “I can alter his body to allow him to age, and maybe leave you with an instructional guide into how Vasto Lords of Fire develop and learn their powers, but anything else and… Pain might end up noticing…” “Yeah, let’s just go with that.” I said, cause I’d really like to not have Pain on my ass. “I know you're stretching your neck out for me mom…” “It’s okay. Much as I’d like to do more… well, you know, Infinity contained within a bottle.” She said. I nodded, having learned the truth and…really concerned about all of that. “Yeah, best to just get a book to at least get somewhere to start.” I said simply. “Hey uh…mom?” Lillinette said, a little nervous as to the fact she wasn’t sure if mom was…well, mom to her given that me and Lillinette technically related. “Hello Lillinette.” Mom said. “Well, you are… more or less my child, you are like Mike’s twin sister. Would you like to make that official? You’d get to experience your own life, and for Mike here, you’ll only have been gone a few minutes.” “Well…I suppose that would be nice.” Lillinette said. “I’d love to know what made him go from being turbo depressed into having a happy lease on life.” She said honestly. “And hey, maybe you’ll get a significant other out of it.” I chuckled, getting an elbow to the gut because of that. “I’m not as horny as you Mike.” She huffed. “The choice is yours.” Mom said. “I’d like to join your family.” Lillinette said readily, tomboy arrancar preparing herself for whatever nonsense is going to happen soon. Mom held out her hand, and Lillinette took it. The two then vanished, leaving a rather thick book in their place. I picked it up. ‘Vasto Lord of Flames Training Guide for Beginners’ By… Hru… huh… “Alright.” I nodded. “Hey, want to learn how to breathe super fire?” I asked my new dragon buddy. “Sounds really cool.” Krost said with a smile. I opened the book and began reading… huh, this is actually similar to my Air training… At least, the fundamentals are similar. “Alright, so the fundamentals are similar at least.” I admitted. “Alright, so what do you know about using fire?” Krost let out a puff of pure white flame. “That. I just know how to do it, I don’t think I can explain it.” “Probably because you’re a dragon and can just naturally do it.” I shrugged, as I raised my hand and tried to use the fundamentals I had driven into my body that I could literally do in my sleep…still hate how most of my training with Grover was in a half asleep daze…. I managed to start it off with some wind forming. Applying the new information… The wind around my hand ignited into blue flames. Woah… cool. This is… easier than I expected. “Well…at least it’s an easy start.” I said, looking over the flames and smiling a bit. “Now, let’s see what fun thing’s we can do with this book.” To be continued...