Chapter 461 ( Zodiac - VI )

"I guess I'll have to prepare more food" - muttered Menchi as she sighed regretfully.

"Don't worry, we'll pay for our expenses" - replied Cheadle with a smile.

"OK" - nodded Menchi as she shrugged her shoulders.

"This trip is getting a little weird" - Kyoko said as she shook her head, only to notice how Kyōka seemed to get bored seeing that the rabbit girl wasn't going to fight.

"Kyu ~?" - Sora slowly as she heard how the commotion was getting more and more annoying, only to be surprised to see how the humans had multiplied.

"He's so cute!" - Piyon exclaimed as she squealed with excitement at the sight of the little horned rabbit.

"Kyu!" - but to her annoyance, Sora seemed none too happy with this strange human acting familiar with her.

Sora quickly jumped into Cloud's arms and looked fearfully at the women who had appeared from a place she was unfamiliar with.

"Uh" - Piyon honestly didn't know how to react in this situation, after all, she never thought a rabbit would be so afraid of her.

"Is that the Jackalope we heard about?" - Cheadle asked while raising an eyebrow at such a strange creature - "I was expecting something different, but it's just a rabbit with horns."

"Kyu!" - Sora seemed to be less than happy with this comment, so she bared her front fangs at the woman with dog-like features.

"She looks cute to me" - Clook replied, only to notice how Sora nodded at her words - "But she's missing more feathers for my taste."

"Kyu!" - Sora seemed to be unhappy with this comment as well.

"Easy, Sora, you're cute" - Kyoko replied as she tried to hug the little bunny, only to notice how she hid even more in Cloud's arms - ". . ."

"Nice try" - said Cloud with a smile as he noticed how Sora's ears twitched slightly - "But I recommend you don't try to take advantage of him because you'll only make him move further away from you"

"OK" - nodded Kyoko with annoyance.

Sora looked curiously at the woman before snuggling into Cloud's arms.

"We're back!" - Shio exclaimed, who was coming dangling from Sapphire's 'claws'.

The two girls were flying around the area, and hunting with a smile on their faces.

"Huh? Two girls?" - Clook asked in surprise when she saw a normal little girl, and another girl who appeared to be a harpy - ". . ."

"Who are they?" - Shio asked as she tilted her head in confusion at the sight of so many unfamiliar women - "Uh? Two of them aren't human?"

"!" - Gel and Cheadle's eyes widened in surprise when they heard this.

"For the record, they are [Magical Beasts]!" - Cloud said calmly - "Shio is an unknown race, and Sapphire is a [Harpy]"

"Unknown race?" - Cheadle asked curiously.

"I don't remember my true form" - Shio answered honestly.

"I see, that makes sense" - nodded Piyon as she started to think - "We could help you find your true identity, but you have to tell us your eating habits, where you lived, what kind of characteristics you remember from your true form, etc."

"Uh" - Shio didn't know what to say at this because the only thing she remembered, was that she had scales, but this was a memory of her second form, not her original form - "I eat everything, but I like pizza, I lived on the moon, and I have scales."

". . ." - the zodiac members were silent because nothing the little girl said, made any sense at all, more the part about how she lived on the moon.

"Dinner is ready" - said Menchi, ending once and for all this strange conversation.

* * * * *

Two hours had passed, and presently the group was sitting around talking.

Cloud had set up the tent so he could sleep while Piyon and the others continued to talk amongst themselves.

"Is there anything you have to report to us, Menchi-san?" - Cheadle asked curiously as she took a sip of her tea - "Delicious."

"Thank you, it's a family recipe" - Kyōka replied calmly as she poured tea for the others.

"I never thought you had such a refined handle on the traditional art of tea" - Piyon said with surprise.

"I know, many people tell me the same thing when they first discover it, but it's not so strange when I find out that I come from a traditional family that has been around for centuries" - replied Kyōka as she continued making tea - "Besides, this is a good training to control my movements and train my patience."

"Interesting" - muttered Clook while taking a sip of tea and marveling at the taste - "Hearing about a bit of your life, I'm a bit confused as to why you're traveling with that man."

"Because I like to fight" - answered Kyōka while looking at the woman who symbolized the zodiac sign of the Rooster - "Cloud not only defeated me, which is a marriage proposal in my clan, but he helped me to see that there was much more than the borders that covered my hometown."

"I see" - nodded Clook as she looked at Kyoko - "And what's your story?"

"Me?" - Kyoko said in surprise as she started to think - "I've known him for much longer, it all started when he saved me from some strange creatures."

"Strange creatures?" - Gel asked as she frowned.

"Well, calling them creatures is not the right term" - said Kyoko as she sighed regretfully - "After all, they were the corpses of people who had come back to life."

"Zombies?" - Cheadle asked with surprise - "Wait, you mean your city was affected by a zombie virus?"

"Exactly" - replied Kyoko as she sighed as she remembered the past - "At that time I was a normal woman, one who didn't even know how to defend herself, and those things had at least 3 times the power of a normal human."

The women were silent as they listened to Kyoko's story, only to be surprised to hear how Cloud had saved her and another group, and how they had survived for quite a while.

"Wait, that doesn't make much sense" - Piyon said as she frowned - "Not to treat you as a liar, it's just that something doesn't add up in your tale."

"Right, Cloud should have annihilated everything in his path" - said Gehl as she nodded at her companion's words.

". . ." - Kyoko fell silent when she saw that she had spoken too much, and worse, there was no way to explain the situation without leaving holes in her account.

"It's because at that moment I couldn't use any of my abilities" - Cloud replied as he gained the women's attention - "It was just at the moment where I was most vulnerable."

"The most vulnerable moment?" - Cheadle asked curiously, after all, this was information that could serve them well in the future.

"Exactly, it was when I had first taken on my human appearance" - Cloud answered calmly. He had already thought of an excuse for situations like this, after all, he knew that some of them could talk out of turn after letting their guard down - "I don't know if it's the case for the others [Magical Creatures], but for my race, transforming into a human causes us to momentarily lose much of our power"

"Momentarily?" - Piyon asked this time.

"Exactly, in my human form, I'm much weaker than in my original form, 50% to be more specific" - Cloud answered as he started to think. He was leaving out some important bits of information so he could relax these women, after all, he didn't want them to be on the defensive all the time or their trip would be horribly awkward - "But during my first transformation, not only could I not return to my original form, but my power had been reduced so much that I could only use less than 1% of my real power."

"If you are weakened, why do you wear this appearance?" - Gehl asked seriously as her companions nodded curiously.

"Because the human appearance is more useful than they think" - Cloud said as he made his spear appear and set Sora and Mimi on the ground, not noticing how they puffed out their cheeks because he was 'abandoning' them.

Cloud quickly closed his eyes as the women felt his aura change drastically to a much sharper and wilder one, only to watch as he began to practice.

The girls stood frozen as they watched Cloud's graceful movements, not understanding why he was doing this.

"I see you don't understand" - said Kyōka with disdain as she noticed how the women were confused and intrigued - "Cloud says that his human form is convenient, not because he can move among normal people, but because this way he can learn to fight like humans."

"I don't understand" - Piyon said while shaking her head.

"I see, so not only can it adapt these kinds of movements to its original form, but it can also understand how to fight against opponents who fight in the same way" - said Cheadle while Kyōka nodded.

Cloud stopped to carefully pick up Sora and Mimi, not noticing how Sapphire was miring the two little creatures with jealousy.

--

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