16. Hot spring and Mikage

The next morning Gareth discovered the little creature had crawled onto his chest, watching it curled up it made him wonder if there were others of its species or was it one of the remains few.

It would seem that Gareth's chest was very secure and comfortable as it was so deeply asleep that even when Gareth accidentally made it roll off his chest it was still sleeping. Gareth thought it was very amusing seeing how deeply this fella was asleep despite the unsafe surroundings they were in. It was a reminder that they were sleeping on the ground far away from society out in the open where they were the most vulnerable.

In fact during the night Gareth campsite was in the direction of a large herd of migrating kaineoderms a huge lumbering beast with crusted skin twice a tall as a modern Skyscraper. The campsite was ruined as well as some supplies but Gareth and the little fellow was fine.

Gareth began his regular morning routine of stretches and some light exercise before he started making breakfast. Today was omelette when he found an abandoned burrow it's parents crushed into meat patties by the migrating herd last night.

He made a little extra for the now awake gray furball, this time he could clearly see little stars sparkling in its eyes as it ate happily. Gareth didn't think his food was that amazing as he ate his breakfast but considering that the little animal probably hasn't tried cooked food before he thought it was understandable.

Maybe in the future he could consider learning how to cook to improve the quality of his food, looking back at the now full gray animal he realised that it's presence had imperceptibly influenced his design making and future. He wondered what the future would hold for him, he prayed that his life wouldn't continue being difficult.

After breakfast he packed up the campsite and salvaged anything that could be of use before setting off. He decided that if the small fellow followed him he would keep it as a pet. The little creature noticed Gareth leaving and without my hesitation began following about a meter behind him. Gareth made a silent acknowledgement in his heart.

With his new companion travel was much less lonely however the speed was much slower. Although gets saved it's life, it didn't know it and just followed him out of good will.

About 10 hours in Gareth noticed something that made his eyes lit up, in the distance he had been blessed with a nice hot spring. Hurrying along he immediately surveyed the scenery and upon only noticing that it only had a few small animals he decided to spend the next few hours here.

Checking the water he could see some small fish and aquatic animals swimming in the hot spring and after checking if the water and animals were not harmful. Gareth immediately stripped his clothes and bandages off and slipped in.

It had been so long that he had last taken a wash that he could not help but let out a deep moan. His legs immediately went soft the moment it touched the bottom of the spring and within a moment Gareth had nearly his entire body submerged with his head just out of the water.

As for the Gareth's companion the moment it saw Gareth enter the water it's eyes lit up and jumped in. Gareth soon noticed that a black-grey substance came running off the creature, Gareth picked the happily frolicking wet mass and began to give it a good thorough cleaning.

What emerged after the clean was a pink round animal with a lion tail, two small pink feathery wings with a cute round head that had a fluffy pink neck. It's ears were long and halfway up had little bits of white fur aligning the edge of its ears making them look like small wings. Lastly there was a small diamond shaped white mark on its forehead.

Gareth had never realised that the little fellow was originally pink and so cute, it would definitely attract attention from numerous females and cuteness lovers club members to swarm over if someone were to parade it around.

The pink little animal realised that it wasn't dirty anymore and released a happy cry "burupiya!" Gareth was immediately reminded of an extremely old show where a creature had a very similar appearance to the little fellow. He saw it then dive back into the spring and continued to frolic and relax there he tried hard to think of the similar creatures name and then it hit him it was called a fyulong. However the fellow in the spring didn't have any horns and it's long ears were wing shaped instead of being long.

With so many similarities he decided on naming it Mikage.