[Terminé] Not Anymore.

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                                                                                      -
Numb and senseless.
Nothing was everything.
No struggling, no moving, no thinking and moving, no threat.
No longer was potion a danger to her. EVER AFTER. 
 
So, was she dead? Not really…
Her rebellion was on its post- living for not dying, even though everything to her was already lifeless. She wouldn’t surrender; even that meant losing all her feeling to this world.
And there was a place left for her obstinate. Not a big space, just her LEFT EYE. Before the potion submerging the head, a power stung around her left eye, the same feeling as the masked man put the spell on her. As if there were a hand covering up the eye all along, eliminating every chance that water could penetrate in , which was damned painful, until the magic surrounded it with a full protection.
WHO?
After that, only through her eyeball, a tiny bit of… message could she get, numbly.
 
Potion deep moment potion deep moment potion deep moment potion deep sound of water flow wave the water two up and down dive in and out move back and forth behind up and around two dark black candle out deeper deeper deeper gulp gulp gulp gooloo gulp gulp gulp goolooo lower lower lower lower from the depths comes the bride of tides…………together they are the seeker of truth PURE sea retreating ten-story high hill formed water stop tsunami or WAVE PUDDLE hi-hi-hicupp anhydre a pat anhydre a grasp.
 
A twist! Sea water-

OUT
OF
AND
  RUSH RUSH
      RUSH DOWN
         DOWN DOWN DOWN!

Claws plundered to the beach, like grabbing prays brutally, chasing everything front from behind. Clenching the ground vertically, on that spot- SPLASH- water crawled forward aggressively, scooped up down deep of sand ground and then a PUSH! Wiping everything out, wave bounced itself, leading lines of white blades. The thundering crash sound-----roaring---- even sprays let out shrill screams.
While, however deafen the sound seemed to be or marvelous view should be, to Anhydre was- WAVE. Simply a wave.
Following a wave was SHAKE. Just shakes. To her.
At the top spot, water gave a direct spike, like an attack in volleyball, quick-set kill, soon swarming in the masked man’s openings, every “entrance” connected to heart. Like a mini tsunami happening in his body, almost every organ was broken through, mixing with blood and flesh. Vessels bombarded like tunneling. Bones like bridges collapsed. A hard push of water move gave huge shakes inside… and suddenly-
PUMP.
Water broke in the “space”, flooding in with strong force. The wall smashed.
PUMP.
Great amount of water hit on Anhydre’s body straightly.
Thanks to her heaviness, she didn’t pump to-
PUMP.
Something hit on the other side of wall.
-the wall
 
At the first hit of bulk water, her eyeball started to roll… as if water were its remote control, changing the channel, and stopped as it detected another signal… the same one, another self on the beach. Decryption!
Soaking in another pool of water, Anhydre could FEEL the potion inside her body flew out, releasing the “tense” of mushy sand, which was “washed” by water. The more the potion was diluted and carried away, the lighter she felt. Both feeling and consciousness were installed back in a flash. Memories!
What’s more, this time was totally not like before, even different from the moment she was robbed in. She felt “cleaner” than ever. That “pure” was she hadn’t experienced before since her born. Ever!
More to say, her body construction was rearranged, seemed to reborn again- getting denser, dryer, finer. Although she was still around the water, she didn’t feel unease or painful or nearly choked.
 
After fighting water with water, Water-proof Anhydre poof!
 
Energy came back…
Memories set up…
Consciousness lodged in…

Behekine? That chant.

Even though everything went well in her body, Anhydre still couldn't move, except for her head and neck. Highly possibly, the other body parts got too much harm and hit he ground straightly. It might take time to recover the operation of "muscle"

Light Green-blue water flew up and down. Opening her eyes under the water and turned to another side, she saw Coi was also there and another "lightened  creature" on his face.

Why are they here? How did they get inside?
PUMP! Both of them had been here for a while and water rushed in that broken the wall so they pumped to the wall! And the hand covered her eyes would be one of them right?!

Failing to say a word, failing to move an inch, only one thing she could do was- staring at them.
Under the water, she could sense the masked-man’s pulse tapping on her skin… very feeble. 

Is he in coma?

Then, the space beginning…
TILTING.

The sand-girl was lying down, not reacting to the boy’s attempts to wake her up. Bob looked at his face, curious with the emotions it showed, but somewhat unfazed by the whole situation.
Then, just like his four brothers knew what Behekine was about to do, Bob knew what would soon come to them, even in this peculiar pocket of space within space. The link he shared with the Demon of Mist was absolute, and couldn’t be shattered nor affected by a petty thing like dimensionnal transitions.
So Bob knew that a tsunami enhanced by magic was about to crash down on the masked-man, and would certainly invade their space too. Remembering that the boy obviously didn’t like being wet, the summon descended from his perch and leaned against the wall to get support before launching himself at the boy !
But he was not like his brothers, and his physical abilities were lacking compared to them. He missed his initial mark – the boy’s chest – and landed on Coi’s face instead.
Kiss.
Foam.
Bubble.
Water. Everywhere, coming from all sides, whirling, cleaning, cleansing, as if they were stuck inside a working washing-machine. The shield of foam and bubble Bob created starting from the boy’s face was akin to a silk cocoon, sticking them to the wall behind. It was solid enough to protect them from the water’s wrath at least.

Finally, water calmed down, turning the room into a waist-deep pool. Bob let go of the boy, letting the foam shield dissipate itself. The little summon stood there, slightly floating above water like a cloud of mist.
With foam still in his hair and face, the boy looked like he was wearing a white wig, like nobles of ancient times. Turning his unblinking gaze to the sand-girl that seemed fine, even if stuck on the ground, Bob gave her a small hand gesture « Hi ».
Suddenly, the room tilted to the side, like a sunking ship. Water inside followed the inclination change, still showing where was up and where was down.
Then, he felt a tug on the link that attached him to Behekine…
Maybe it was time to abandon this ship, and get to the lifeboat. Bob held out his hands to the sand-girl and the boy, looking like a child asking for his parents to hold hands. The tug repeated, becoming more insistant by the second, and a spasm shot through his misty form.
When the sand-girl didn’t reach for his hand with her own, Bob tilted his head to the side, confused. What was wrong with her ? Yes, her body was more pile of sand than limbs, but that didn’t stop HIM from moving around, cloud of condensed mist that he was.
Bob looked at the boy, his unblinking eyes full of questions. Then, a voice resonated around them :

- The space you’re in will soon collapse. I can maintain it for now, but not for long. I suggest you grab Bob fast and brace yoursleves… i’ll reel you out of here.


The tsunami hit the beach like the fist of a titan, aimed at the masked-man’s position, but reaching far more ground around that. The coil of mist that tied him to the ground disappeared at the contact of water, but that didn’t mean he could move, anchored to the ground by the weight of the wave that fell on him.
The ocean invaded the beach, and climbed the cliff up to the sky, ending in a beautiful tower of water that shone with sunlight, before coming down in rain. Water that couldn’t make it to the cliff ended up running on the beach instead in a whirling torrent.
Behekine stood his ground, entirely submerged, his claws sunk deep in the sand, his eyes locked on the masked-man. The Demon’s mastery in water magic helped him to endure the ocean’s assault, bending the currents around him to avoid being thrown away like nothing. Behekine felt the purification water on his fur, tingling, sparkling, like inquisitive fairies. He had nothing to fear from it.
The masked-man, however…
With his vision spell still active, he could see that entire chunks of the man seemed to be washed away by the current, his Essence escaping his body, diluting in the power-enhanced water. His body stayed whole, but the process still looked absolutely painful, if Behekine believed in the man’s expression, stuck in a mask of anguish and suffering.

A few steps from there, the four summons too, stood their ground. They were encircling the two immobile childs, hands held to share their strengths.
The shield they created with their sparks of power endured the first hit of the wave perfectly, and was now submerged, shining below the surface in pale blue light like a fell moon. It was like a small capsule, just big enough for the six of them. They couldn’t see what was happening outside, and could just hear the sound of water moving along the barrier.
The water was running around them in chaotic motions, and the four summons needed their full concentration to sustain the shield strong enough to resist the flow.
They were good with keeping their focus on one task.
Except Screechy. Who was shaking, more and more, until he couldn’t stay still any longer :
- Screeeeeeee !
The scream tore apart the group’s focus, and a crack appeared on the shield, then another crack, then another…
Itchy and Bitey were the fastest to react. Breaking the circle, they threw Scratchy to the childs. It took half a second for the startled summon to understand what his brothers wanted, then he grabbed the boy and the sand-girl in his oversized hands.
Itchy tore a spine from his back, used his powers to turn it into a long javelin of pure mist before planting it in the sand like a flagpole. Bitey grabbed Scratchy’s legs in his jaws and took hold of the pole, just as the shield cracked for good, collapsing on them all, water right behind.
They braced for impact, and endured the impact of the flow rushing in. They held to the pole, their chain keeping the childs from being sent away with the current. Screechy flew around, with a joyful and bubbly « Screeeeeeeeee ! » indicating the summon felt like a child in a waterslide.
Itchy tried to grab his noisy brother, but he went out of reach too fast.
Finally, the flow calmed down a bit, and they were able to swim to the surface, using the two childs as buoy to climb on.

The beach was still submerged, and the purification water, heavier than normal one and more visquous, would need some time to go back to the ocean. The tsunami chased away the cloud of mist Behekine had conjured there, and the sun was shining brightly on them, reverberating rays of lights turning into rainbows that danced right below the surface.
Behekine now stood in waist-deep water, drenched but perfectly safe. His eyes moved to the side to see the three summons working together to keep the childs afloat, heads and all, before returning his gaze to the masked-man.
The sight was not pretty. Already bruised, his flesh was now dried up like an old mummy. He looked thirty years older, if not more. The purification water had cleaned him of all trace of this potion, and it seemed that he had got a lot of it in him. He was still alive, which was impressive considering the harsh treatment he just received, but he was clearly unconscious too.
When his enhanced vision noticed that the different spaces inside the man’s body started to shrivel down and disappear one after another, he reached for the link he shared with Bob, tugging slightly on it before speaking aloud :

- The space you’re in will soon collapse. I can maintain it for now, but not for long. I suggest you grab Bob fast and brace yoursleves… i’ll reel you out of here.

Stare…
Below the water, everything was swaying.
Bob dropped itself off Coi, making a sound of “dooooon” and floated after the calm silenced the green-blue wave…
It looked down at the button of water and raised its small hand to hi her. Anhydre couldn’t wave back even though she was thirst to do that. Instead, she smiled back. Their coming wasn’t a pure coincidence, she guessed and according to its funny brothers, it probably also had an amused talent and was assigned by Behekine… She pretty liked them anyway.
How to let them know I cannot move?
Unable to move meant she couldn’t escape on her own. Then, every hope was on them… While her thought stocking at the ways to transform herself, the water tilted. No! It was the space. The space was sinking, from the wall Coi stood. Although it was in a slow motion, it was hard to say it wouldn’t overturn in one second after getting the whole weight of water.
Damn!
Through Bob’s look, she could slightly feel it knew something and was connecting with someone, Behekine?
She’d better do something. At least, let them know what her inability was. A small hand stretched into the water and wanted to hold her. Howeverrrrr, she couldn’t hold it. As if there were no muscle or nerve inside her limb, not to mention speaking, Anhydre stayed motionless instead.
 
“The space you’re in will soon collapse. I can maintain it for now, but not for long. I suggest you grab Bob fast and brace yourselves… I’ll reel you out of here.”
 
Turning herself into a pile of sand was only solution she could come up with but one stuck point- no wind. Under no wind situation, she was unable to loose herself off the body figure. The same situation as that evening she encountered in Behekine’s room…

That evening! Someone
That evening! Was
That evening! There, too.
 
Anhydre soon turned her gaze on
Coi
And knocked her head on the ground.

After everything calm down- water no longer crushing in, the fragment of wall stopping falling down, the clear mind returning back- Coi made several times of sure of seeing whether he had fallen asleep or not…
No, not in a dream!
Bob released itself on his head once everything got a bit of still and back to the water again silently.
Oh my God… I was done!
Closing the eyes, he felt really annoyed now.
His sensibility told him to hit himself on the wall while his reason stopped him. Fist was in an empty anger. So far, since he born, no one dare to touch him without his consent, even a simply brush. And this guy… this small creature… this mini mist…had just touched him TWICE in a day without any asking. One was during the fight and the other was present. Behind that kiss was out of good intention he knew, which made him more “damned”. With its innocent look and kind heart, Coi failed to have too much blame on it but it didn’t know how broken-down he felt at all.
It just didn’t know and would never understand!
 
Foam on his head soon flew lines of water into his mouth. Either the water spirit or saliva, he buried his head into the water directly, SWANG, quite like a dog shedding water off after a shower. Coi scratched the hair and washed the face as “clean” as possible. Suddenly, a feeling of backward nearly slid him down…
Am I going to sleep again?
However, the fact was that water gradually rose up to his chest. The room was tilting! He soon searched his glance on Bob and Anhydre. Thanks to their appearance, he knew they had been aware of sinking. Bob gave out its small hand toward him…in its unblinking look, asked him to hold its hand….
HOLD?!
TRIGAIN?!
Due to the small body, it was unable to focus on the both side, especially another one was under the water. Thankfully, it went to Anhydre first. However, something consistently went through its body, like shocks, tugging its shape.
What’s wrong with it? Behekine?
Then, it turned to him…
Looking into its eyes, a similar question was thrown to him: What’s wrong with her? Its confusion was also his. Only the stare there, since he saw her, without any move.
 
The emergent moment was pushing further as Behekine’s voice came:
“The space you’re in will soon collapse. I can maintain it for now, but not for long. I suggest you grab Bob fast and brace yourselves…I’ll reel you out of here.”
 
She couldn’t move?
Coi looked at her. Only his guess.
Next moment, to his surprise-
Anhydre knocked her head on the ground.

A hint or an answer?
One knock for yes. Two knocks for no…
No, how could she know my thought? OR…

This time, Coi seemed to know what happened after tracing back his memory. If he wasn’t mistaken, at that evening, Anhydre couldn’t get out of Behekine’s house because of lacking of wind, which stuck her. Behekine had blocked the wind before taking the shower and that was why at that moment, the masked man sent him into the house. Now she knocked her head…block?!
Din!
WIND!
 
Certainly, he had no any difficulty in crafting wind but concerning in masked man’s body, he was afraid the man might know where they were or find out there was not only Anhydre. BUT, more to think was tilting… the space really in forced. Behekine was outside there holding the collapse, if they didn’t catch up time…that would be NEVER.
Not to lose any second, he grabbed Bob’s hand straightly and tight, hoping the strength wouldn’t hurt it…because in next moment, he used another hand gave a slight twist downward in the air.
Wind was immediately in form and drew in lots of water. Not in a tornado way but a typhoon style. Aiming the center of mini typhoon at her, which was clam, peaceful and windless while beside was super strong wind around, in order not to disturb the sand arrange, Coi ended it once Anhydre was really in a pile of sand, in a pyramid shape.

So now… should I collect them?

Just about to draw a cloth or something else…
Bob tapped his hand with the other and 
“Help?”
gave him
a “back soon” mission nod.

Then, he let it go.
Wait for Bob with an opening palm.

Coi had compromised anyway
Maybe, to Bob.
Maybe, to his fate.

Bob understood when Coi used his magic to make a small typhoon and turn the sand-girl into a pyramid of sand.
She couldn't move on her own.
She needed their help to get out.
They just needed something to carry her and take her back with them, when Behekine would pull them out of this space...
But they had nothing to contain her with. He was the only one who was entirely in this room, the boy and the sand-girl being here as ghosts... and Bob was not really a physical being either.
What would his brothers do ?

Suddenly, Bob got an idea - which showed in his form with a small flash of light within his head  - turned to the boy to show that he knew what to do, and let go of his hand, before stepping closer to the more-sand-than-girl.
Crouching down and bringing his muzzle close to the sand, as if he wanted to smell her...
He opened his mouth and started to chow down on her !
Nom !
Nom !
Nom !
Bob ate all the sand after a few seconds, taking it all inside his mouth like a starving wolf. But he swallowed nothing, keeping it all in his cheeks, who bulged from the mass inside. He even used his tongue to lick the floor clean of all traces of sand, making sure he forgot nothing.
The small summon didn't know if he could take the sand-girl deeper inside his form, by swallowing her, or what would happen if he did, but he somewhat guessed she wouldn't want him to test it right now.

The tugging on the link he shared with Behekine was becoming more insistent now, and the spasms within his shape were turning more violent too.
The room started tilting again, the floor not far from being a wall now.
Taking a second to put the sand-girl in the right spot inside his mouth - she tasted weird ! - Bob rushed to grab the hand the boy was still holding up for him.
He took it between his own two hands and squeezed tight. He leaned forward, over the boy's hand, and... stopped.
Bob was immobile, his eyes unblinking gazing vacantly into space. With his cheeks full of the sand-girl, he almost looked like a hamster.
A praying one, with his hands held together like that.

Then, after a few seconds, a current appeared within the light in his chest ; it went in circles, faster and faster, and expanded into an oval of shimmering mist.
Dong !
The sound came from within Bob, as the light became painfully bright, circling inward like a whirlpool.
Dong !
The circle inside Bob opened, revealing a tunnel, leading to even brighter light.
Dong !
A fragment of time later, the tunnel sucked the boy inside.
Into the mist.
Into the light.
The Tear of the Stars...

Bob disappeared from the space within the masked-man, with a weird sound :
Plop.


This spell was tricky.
Turning an emotionnal link into an "Ariadne's thread" between two dimensionnal pockets... it required a lot of concentration from Behekine.
Even if he was getting used to weird rituals and time-space modifications - it was not something he did every day though - he felt like his brain was tying itself into a knot from the strange wordings he had to use in his incantation.
No time to test it beforehand, he could feel the space pocket the three were in starting to lose its integrity.

The Demon tugged again on the link, felt it slightly... heavier.
He released the spell.
On the water surface, mist appeared and started to go in circles, drawing a small oval. A portal that opened on the calm, reflective water.
In his mind, he felt several threads like hands go and grab the link he shared with Bob. They pulled on it, hard, like a fisherman does to reel up a big fish.
Something was starting to come up the link. With a weird incantation, Behekine bound the portal to his emotional link, for there was no exit if they kept going through something as ethereal as the link he had with one of his summons.

A shimmer of light. Then...
Plop.
Bob got thrown out of the portal, jumping a few feet into the air, before rolling above the water, stopping in a sitting position just below Behekine's face that observed him with worry.
The frail summon lifted his head to meet the Demon's gaze, opened his mouth as if he had to expel something, then he tilted his head to the side.
He was still shining from the inside, full of the energy the potion gave him when he drank it.
Behekine smiled, reassureed to see that his summon was visibly alright.
The childs, though... were they able to come back as well ?

He turned to look at the two inconscious bodies that his other three summons were still holding above water.
Itchy, Bitey and Scratchy cheered him, happy too to see their brother safe.
Screechy was moving with the current in the background.
"Screeeeeeeeeee !"

Coi stared at Bob’s back, sight following it without any blink. He was CURIOUS about what it would do. Maybe, Behekine had sent it magical power or it intended to use its own mist spirit, something except for the “sleeping touch.” Trust it, doubtlessly.
Bob walked close to Anhydre and squatted… like a detective investigating the case. However, next moment- its solution totally blew his mind far and far away- He looked at it in surprise. Heart gave a big leap; body gave a shocking tremble; goose bumps jumped on his skin ….Bob ATE the sand.
Nom! What!
Nom! The!
Nom! Hell!
Coi swallowed hard while looking at Bob.

It seemed Bob really enjoyed having a big meal in this space. Eat the sand one bite after another.
A sudden moment, his reflex action was to go forward and stop it but… leftover?!… wasn’t a good idea, either. It was impossible to stop halfway.

Does Bob know it’s Anhydre.?
Does it have any digest organ inside its body?
Won’t it feel hard to swallow or chock because the mouth was too dry?

One thought flashed on: Hang it upside down and keep patting to force it to throw up!

Just when Coi moved forward, he saw its two sides full check. Suddenly, he got its point… Bob didn’t swallow her but put her inside the mouth!
Gosh!
No word could give a proper description for Bob’s behavior or for Coi’s present feel. Surprise, astonish, admire, awesome? Far much to either of them…Bob IMPRESSED him. In order not to miss any particle, Bob licked the ground, as if a little child licking the plate, again and again.
The space started to tilt once again and this time moved faster and more tilt. Coi touched the “floor” to strike a balance and stretched out his hand forward to reach shaking Bob. Seeing its ball-shaped cheeks, he felt the urge to give a big clasp toward them. It would be definitely an very interesting scene IF he could do that.
“You are Mouthy not Bob.”
Bob looked at him and shook its head a bit.
 
Then, they handed together. Like prayers, Bob closed its eyes and so did Coi. He bowed his head toward Bob, calming down his mind. They clenched tightly… in the dark, not to lose each other. Through its little hands, burning one, he could feel a mighty power. Despite of closing eyes, the bright light still went through his eyes made him frown to against it. Unlike falling in sleep paralysis, a circle and circle light halo rounded in his front, like getting into a time channel… Another dizzy feeling! From yellow to lemon yellow to yolk yellow to ivory to pale yellow to primrose and then-
WHITE. Sunshine white.
PLOP.

Weightless...as if being launched as a bullet, flying in the sky.
Light, both of weight and brightness.
Getting out of darkness and entering a bright world really hurt his eyes. Suddenly, a PUNCH. He felt himself was thrown to the ground heavily. Go blank for a while.
Few minutes later, he moved his fingers, rolled his eyes, raised his eyebrows and licked his lip to feel the world he came back. A sandy touch jumped him up, sitting him as if jumping out of nightmare. He opened the eyes immediately.
The first sight was Behekine. He put his full gaze on him, and then four summons, lighted Bob, Anhydre the last…
Now he realized what happened to three of them, no, FOUR would be precise. Anhydre was still in coma… while Bob’s cheek was back to normal but still like a lantern or light bulb(Bob), sending out the blue light.
He smiled again at Bob. He would never forget this small creature, semi-enemy and semi-friend. Touch and Smile, two things were he came to compromise for it.
 
Coi stood up slowly and looked at Behekine and Bob:
“Thanks, bro and you, little soul carrier.”

Will he know what I mean?
Anhydre. paused for a while, regarding herself as a fool knocking the head on the ground. As she pushed harder on herself in thinking another way to hint them before the space really turned over, a strong wind swept up around her body. Typhoon!
Coi made it! Perhaps, a stalker could do a favor if he wasn’t on your opposite side. The powerful wind like a wind washing machine, twirling around…. Not in a minute, she was out of human shape and because of the speed, she got into an unclear state. Never would she know, a pyramid she end up being…
Except for consciousness, she was quite clear in her sense. The sensation wasn’t messed up due to the well-organized sand order.
STILL. Motionless…
 
Suddenly-
Separation.
She could feel part of herself were like on the cloud or cutton candy, soft and fluffy while the other part still on the hard ground, pain and tough. However, with time passing by, more and more herself squeezing in until there was no any solid feeling. Completed. What the hell? Flossy as the place she stayed was, it didn’t drop her, as if there were a big hand propping down below, giving her a sense of security.
Then-
A stir. Wait, Tongue?
Failing to examine… she fell into a sound deep sleep.
 
In the sleep, what she could only feel from the outside was SPEED.
The faster the speed became, the lighter she felt herself but more pain placed on her. It was as painful as pupa struggling to get out of its cocoon and as hard as opening the door of elevator, which was about to close up. Sandwiched between two side of black magic, she nearly used up all her sand element power to tear it apart and draw herself out…
Damnnnnnnnnnn…
That feeling was like… skin torn up from the flesh without anesthesia or several nails torn off fingers in a second. Potion, blood-like, sprang out. Deep and hurtful wounds revealed. Again and again…However, every time the skin-peeled goddamn pain screaming inside her, she got more sand-color than before.
The price of fading her hair color- black- into the original one was like thousands of hands pulling the scalp. Goshhhhhhh…. As for eyes, instead of being pierced like before, they rolled themselves in a fast speed automatically, searching the right color among the color plate.
What made her ache to scream out was the sigil on her arm. The sand wanted to fill up the sigil but it burned as if she were truly standing among the fire, tortured by the damn scorching temperature.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”
Anhydre. roared, not in a beast way but in a baby shrieking way…..
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”
Her left palm was out of control again. It was exactly the same symptom as that one in the panther-man’s house. A strong power forced her hand to clench into fist… but after learning from the last lesson, she followed it instead. Without putting much more strength to against it, the ache of spasm didn’t get so serious but it was still painful enough to be worth of yelling out.
 
Once she fisted…everything turned back to normal, her clothes, skin, hair, eyes and even voice a bit. Different from the former self… she felt sand inside her body was rearranged, lighter and firmer. It was the same brand-new feeling, that one after the WAVE.
Eventually, Anhydre opened her eyes. The first sight was the summons on her body. Apparently, her body had been “washed” by WAVE because of the sign of scratch on her body. They did protect her. Tickling Itchy, she laughed. It was amused and flipped down to the sea… It was now that she realized she was “on the sea”
Hurried to stand up but fell to water again because of her missing step…
“Damn!”
Swallowing lot of water, in order not to get drowned, she held a spine stuck on the sand and balanced her. WATER.
“Damn!”
She saw her hand “held” a pole and backward a few steps…couldn’t believe it was true. HOLD.
Her firm body and new arrangement! She saw Coi look at her in curiosity-
“Thank you.”
She gave him a big smile, and then surprising sand was poured on his face, not a strong one.
“And all you guys.”
Looking at those summons, sand splashed on their face too.
She turned her gaze on panther-man:
“P…panther-man, That wave… It’s you made, right?”
A firm sight on Behekine.
 
Her finger rounded the sea.
It was so soft and clean, flowing between her fingers.
No pain, no ache, no death…
 
A water splash on panther-man’s face, Anhydre. laughed again.
Yeah, she made it.

After a minute or two, the boy woke up, soon standing by himself and... smiling ?
Behekine was surprised to see the most vindicative of his two agressors smile warmly while looking at Bob. It was a nice change, after the sneers he got from the boy, but an unexpected one.
What exactly happened inside this space ? The Demon got an impression of it via the link he had with his summon, but the details eluded him.
Still, his tail swished slowly from side to side, showing his curiosity.
The few words that came out of the boy's mouth made him stop instantly :

- Bro ? Even if it's an improvement over you using my name recklessly, I'm afraid we are not to the point of little nicknames like "bro." You should at least wait for a day in which you have not tried to kill me before calling me that.

It sounded a bit harsh, but there was the hint of a smile on his face and warmth in his eyes, even if it was hard to read. There was also his choice of words : he wasn't dismissing the possibility of being enough at ease with Coi and share "nicknames" one day.
Just... today wouldn't do.
Bob still took the compliment with joy, even slightly bowing to the boy, before turning back and climbing Behekine's head to perch himself like a children on his neck. A shining children made of mist, with unblinking and eerie eyes. Cute.

The other three summons were still holding the sand-girl above the water, and they too seemed surprised to see the boy act all nice.
Screechy was... still a dozen of meters away, trying to swim toward them in the now calm water, but couldn't advance due to his misty body. That didn't stop him from trying though.
Suddenly, a scream.
A shriek.
Of Pain.
Agony.
Coming from the sand-girl, whose skin was tearing apart like a shell.
Her outer self seemed to just melt away from her, revealing underneath the girl Behekine met in a room a while ago.

Itchy, Bitey and Scratchy retreated a little from the screaming girl, before coming back to inspect her once the transformation ended, like curious kittens. She woke up suddenly, and instantly went to tickle Itchy, surprising him and making him fall in the water. Then, she realised where she was, fell in water...
Looking both in shock with the changes in her, and quite happy about it.
Her laugh - and the scene - was contagious, and Behekine started to laugh too, the sound booming on the beach :

- Yes, it was me. It worked apparently, even if I might have overdone it a little. This color better suits you, though.

He saw with his vision spell that she had been changed deeply with the purification water, her aura was sturdier, the elements of sand and wind within her core more balanced together. Water was no more a problem for her. And she happily took advantage of this, by playfully throwing water at the Demon's face.
First taken aback by the childish move, Behekine half-growled with a mischievous grin :

- You play a dangerous game, child.

Behekine retaliated, swishing his tail around using it like she did use her hand to send water her way, in a much bigger quantity.

Bro.
Coi was pretty surprised at himself for calling Behekine bro after words flowing out from his mouth by accident. It sounded quite weird. However, he knew he would do the same thing even if chances restarted itself again. “Thanks” was too simple to fully express his appreciation and admiration to Behekine…
After all, what brought them together was a misunderstanding killing. Surely, he had plenty of choices and reasons not to save Anhydre and him. Nevertheless, he chose the other way. Perhaps… this was what Coi thought of “bro” in his mind, something just like this.
For reply, he was well-prepared for anything harsh or unpleasant from Behekine. He might not accept and scold him for his rude “bro.” but it didn’t matter. Accept or not, appreciation was what he wanted to say.
 
Even say so…. He still strung up his ear as soon as the first word came. Literal meaning gave him a tough lecture while the more he digested, the more interesting he felt it was.
So-called Behekine style.
The key word- at least. At least.
Behekine didn’t exclude the possibility of sharing nickname with him, just not today and not bro. Coi narrowed his eyes, seeing a sign of warmth revealing through Behekine’s small eyes, a hideous one. As its owner, Bob shyly climbed up his neck, as if it were a shiny necklace and stared at him. Few hours ago, he came to give him the last breath, but now, they faced each other like a comrade… ILLOGICAL.
 
Suddenly, a shriek jumped him out of his thought. Anhydre… nearly forgot her.
She seemed to be caught in a demon torture. Yell, shout, and scream. Everyone’s eyes were on her. Coi covered up his ear, not to be deafened by her high pitch. Obviously, this time, only she could save herself. It was a hard battle between her and the masked man. From the painful look, he highly doubted the masked man used the magic to seal her true self under the black suits and different color of eyes so melting all away would be really tormenting.
A fist. A fatal punch.
Finally, she opened her eyes, returning back to herself, the one who was afraid of darkness, the yellow one. He suddenly aware everything had been changed dramatically in this morning. Totally changed. Totally not as they expected.
In the water!
How could she stay in the water?!
Just as he wanted to go up and drag her to the sand land, she had been fallen down in two times on her own… but nothing happened. She was alive.
A sand splash came to his face all of a sudden. The particles hit him itchy and made him unable to open the eyes. He washed his face AGAIN.
What the hell. It’s the way to express her “thank you”?
So called Anhydre style.
Spitting out the sand in his mouth… it tasted weird.
Does Bob know that? Or maybe, it’s the reason why Bob didn’t swallow it.
 
The wave.
Anhydre mentioned the wave.
Now, he got the whole point for why Bob would squeeze itself in the corner and launch itself before tons of water following up. It probably knew the wave was approaching… so “bubbling” and protection…
Spit. Sand out. Spit, spi..spit.
What’s more, from Behekine’s answer, the wave seemed to be a cure for Anhydre. Wave purified her, removing the potion inside her, which was mentioned in the interrogation. A round story, he hardly believed himself was also included… everything connected with each other.
So after the wave, a water-proof Anhydre. poof!
 
Watching Anhydre throw a sudden splash on Behekine’s face… childish! She was the real one he peeped in the chimney.
Then, coming from the sky, a pour of water showered them… A TAIL OF WATER as if they were in the amusement park. Everyone immersed in such joyful atmosphere. However, while sinking in their own laugh and plays, someone opened the eyes.
 
As Coi moved forward and wanted to raise Scratchy up to catch the water Anhydre stir up, something stroked his left calf. Outch! He looked back and down to his calf, he found a small creature- Scratchy. Then, turning back and looked in front- Scratchy.
Two! The same one!
Coi then gave the back one a skillful back kick, sending it to the shore.
Not far away, behind Anhydre’s back, the water grew up another creature- Itchy. There, he saw a slightly differences… The copied ones all had buck teeth.

“Watch out!”

Coi soon snapped to slow down its movement and fast drew a board, throwing at P-itchy, who was about to shoot spines to Anhydre from its back. The copies had exactly the same ability as Behekine’s summons.
Three more!
On the sand land, the same spot P-Scratchy fell at, P-Bitey appeared and ran toward them in a fast speed. It seemed to have an invisible potion pipe stretching out underground and “grew” them up suddenly. Coi crafted a strong wind…
P-Scratchy. P-Itchy. P-Bitey.
 
“Hahahaha… Gonna be an exciting games huh. Good boys. Let’s kick it off!”
The masked man now stood up and walked in an imbalanced way.
P-Screechy and P-Bob followed behind his back.

The panther-man then swung his tail and rose up a heaven of shower. WET. No one was excluded. The happiness and laugh grew to even greater heights. Summons seemed to feel it’s a right thing to have fun so they made water fly in the air in their own way.
Bitey filled its jaw with lots of water and then…..booooooo….. shot it out continuously.
Scratchy waved its hands up and down, having a circle of splash around itself.
Itchy had sit-up to slosh water with its back spine and rounded itself in different directions to make sure no places were ignored.
Back away, Screechy "screeeeeeeed" the surface of water. Continual frequency vibrated the water.
They were in full amused, so was Anhydre. The first time touching water was playing water. Quite memorable!
Wearing a sunshine-like smile, she was eager to stop the time, at this moment, at this happy moment. Seeing Béhékine and Coi's look, she got to let them know how enjoyable this time was.

Water moved back and forth…Anhydre kicked, patted, waved, turned around. SPLASH!
However, as she gave a still glance at her reflection in water… a sound:
Watch out!
Without turning back, through the reflection, she saw Itchy jumped high and was going to attack her with its back spine… Wait!
She soon threw herself into water.…
Doesn't it play with them? the sit-up one.
But nothing came. Then, she stood up. Staying in water for such a short time, she saw another two summons were on the sand.
Until now, she realized there were not only five summons… Why?
The question soon got the answer once the masked man's voice came. It's he made another five "fakes".
With P-Bob and P-Screechy behind, the masked man looked like he was a hero or a real demon but he was simply a fucker, a true one.
Seeing him, she was afraid kill wouldn't satisfy her hatred to him! No way to compensate her hurt. NEVER!
Thankfully, the panther-man had left him to let them, three of them, decide how he would be in the end. She would like to cut his flesh piece by piece… or threw him into a paper shredder, watching him scream and ask for help.
He looked very different, in a poor way than before. Maybe, the panther-man had given him a harsh punishment during her coma. Old, dry and skinny… so ridiculous lament. However, his viciousness didn't drop a bit.

As soon as the words had ended, those fakes were like losing mind creatures, going crazing... rushing around as if they were detecting signal sign...
Suddenly, they all ran toward them savagely while the masked man stood at the original position. He smiled in evil satisfaction, seeing after the "fakes" dashing to them like hungry peck of wolves.
Looking back, she found P-Scratchy had been overpowered by Scratchy. Its claws put on the P' s neck... waiting for another commend from Béhékine.

Anhydre fisted secretly in back, a hard clench.…
Combining with the wind Coi made, the coastline started to sink down. She sucked the sand inside her body.
After the whole fakes peck cross the line, it soon turned out to be hollow, a deep, endless and black seam, which could completed separate the "fakes" from the masked-man.
The masked man had no possibility to come here, so did the facks go back because she had changed the normal sand into "anti-potion" sand.
She was pleasant to see what would happen if any of them overpassesed the invisible line… probably bye forever.

From digging to mending up only took few seconds, she didn't know whether anyone noticed.

Final fight was kicked off.
Now.

Behekine almost drowned them all with the water thrown by a mere flick of his tail, but what was he supposed to do ? Not participate in this moment of childish joy ? He was old, yes, that was actually another reason for him to get involved ; he was old enough to still be a child when he chose to !
His summons partook in the game too, each with their own way of doing things.
Even Bob, still riding on the Demon's neck like a child, was moving from one side to the other, in rythm with the water projectiles flying in the air.

The sudden apparition of the potion clones took them all by surprise, even Behekine but, thanks to Coï's reaction and Scratchy who jumped on his "evil" twin, none got hurt from the initial opportunistic attack.
The Demon understood what was happening a second before noticing the masked-man back on his feet a few meters away, copies of Bob and Screechy on his side : it was a coward plan, but needed if the man wanted to even the numbers. Still, using this potion again when he knew that Behekine could destroy it with purification water... maybe he had his back on the wall now, and grabbed every options he could find...
To be honest, the purification water was diluted on all the beach's surface and sand now, so the clones were unaffected by it, and Behekine certainly had not enough time on his claws to make a fresh batch of it.

The best way to get rid of the puppets was to get rid of the puppet-master.
Their buck teeths were ugly anyway.
Behekine let his summons act on their own to battle against their counterparts, sensing they had no need for directions or orders. And indeed, after a few seconds, they all intecepted one of the clones and were fighting like dogs right above the water, slowly going farther from the four living beings.
Screechy had found out that he could walk right above the surface, instead of trying to swim, and had ran toward his twin at full speed, ramming into him with an excited "Screeeeee !" and sending the two of them rolling on the waves.
All were fighting, except Bob, who was... not on his head anymore ? Behekine looked around, and discovered the frail summon several feet away from him, walking toward the battle. When did Bob leave his side ? He felt no movement at all !

Then, Anhydre separated them for good, using her powers over the sand and the wind conjured by Coï to form an intangible wall, which Behekine's enhanced eyes saw full of what was left of the purification water. An invisible frontier... who would cause the clones real harm if they ever tried to cross it !
Behekine chuckled. Clever girl...
The fight was down to three versus one then.
Fair enough.
A growl formed in the Demon's throat as he turned his gaze to the masked-man. A powerful rumble, emanating from his chest, making the water tremble around him in waves. When he spoke, the growl made his words hard to decipher :

- I won't be gentle this time. If you want to be the ones that kill him, I suggest you attack first.

On his vision's side, he noticed that the fight between his summons and their clones had... changed.
All five of them were standing in front of their twin made of potion.
Itchy and p-Itchy were fighting alright, using one spine like spear and sword, thy moved like martial artists during a demonstration of their skills, exchanging clashs or barely dodging every attacks.
Bitey and p-Bitey were standing in front of each other. And Bitey was beatboxing like he never beatboxed. Once he finished, he made a hand gesture toward his potion twin, and p-Bitey started beatboxing. A beatbox fight.
Scratchy and p-Scratchy were sitting cross-legged, facing each other too. And they were humming a simple lullaby in rythm with their hand moves : clapping together, high-five, left, right, up and down slaps, and again, faster and faster. A child's game of marabou.
Screechy and p-screechy were... dancing in front of each other, going crazy on a music only them could hear. Of course, they were screaming too, every few seconds, the "Screeeeee !" adding emphase to some of their most flashy moves. A dance contest.
Finally, Bob and P-bob. sat close to each other, staring into their respective eyes. Unmoving. Unblinking. The black orbs that were their eyes were like two onyx gems. A staring contest.

The growl within Behekine's throat died from seeing the peculiar spectacle.
They were fighting. Technically.
So unpredictable...

- They are good copies. Delivered with all accessories...
Alright, enough of this nonsense...

Behekine straightened his pose and faced the masked-man before opening his mouth.
He breathed in.
Deeply.
Magic pulsed from his body, vibrating the air.
A blue light appeared at the tip of his horns and soon, an electric arc sparkled within the two, crackling in the air.
From within his throat came a warmer glow, which revealed itself as a blue-ish flame that exuded from the Demon's mouth.
His posture tensed and, suddenly, the electricity moving between his horns, surged inward to go hit the flame, which instantly grew both in size and intensity, even turning more visquous...

Manipulating and fusing fire and thunder magic to create the new plasma element... Behekine was still not used to the way of making it work perfectly. But his powers held the chaotic spell pretty well ; sheer force fueled by anger able to take the place of mastey and finesse.
Still, once he felt that the plasma was becoming unbearable to hold, he channeled another spell, and gave it a way to get free from his maw : a tunnel of air, pointing straightly at the masked-man.
The plasma fire shot out like a beam of heated destruction, an explosion following a small corridor, rushing and fizzling to their foe.
The water below the ray of magic turned to steam instantly.

If this connected to the masked-man, he would surely become a mere cloud of ionised particles...

Spoiler:

Command ended. Copies ran…toward them.
Wind he made didn’t get the upper hand. The masked man had given them power to against it. However, he found Anhydre. fist her hand in secret, and then the wind went up straightly, which carried the purified water with sand to “draw” a frotier.
Those copies didn’t know what happen behind their backs at all; apparently the masked man didn’t notice either. All they wanted was to meet their “twin-bros”, acknowleding none of them- Anhyhdre, Behekine and him- Perhaps, it was not a bad thing.
Seeing Behekine’s summons find their copies’ coming and showed a fighting stance, a strange and hilarious feeling suddenly flashed to his mind. To his stun, not only their appearances were similar, but also the actions…
They shared the same personalities.
They could communicate.
They even fought in their own silly way.

Sight swept through their battle fields, what caught his attention the most and the second were the team of Bob and Screechy. Their styles were like two ends of pole while they positioned themselves beside. It made a “black and white” contrast.
(P-)Bob looked each other face-to-face, eye-to-eye. In their zone, motionless was the best way of strategy. Silent. Unmoved. Unblinking. However noisy the team beside was, they could still be themselves. It was really incredible and they were Bobs anyway.
Soon, his glance turned to their noisy neighbor: (P-)Screechy. In their place, not a moment was stopped. Mess and busy was what they wanted. Regarding the battle field as the disco, by shaking their flat butt, hands, and head, Screechys enjoyed themselves very well even though there wasn’t a judge there; themselves, maybe. “Screeeeee!” could be heard from time to time.

What could he say after seeing those “game-like” fights?
Certainly, they were not humans so they wouldn’t carry guns or knives. Perhaps, later on, they would see them three like some kind of “Yahoos” or barbarians. No, it’s not later on. It’s now.
He saw Behekine prepare for launching the first attack after making his comment to the nonsense. An amount of air was drawn into his mouth. Magic worked and vibrated particles of air. His horns were circled by blue arcs, linking up the electric track. (What’s inside his mouth?)
With the greater magic growing, it was harder for Behekine to handle. Nothing changed in his appearance but Coi could sense something was going to blast out inside his mouth.
As he expected, in next moment-

MAWWWWWWWWW

A white tunnel of light, which directly aimed at the masked man, made Coi’s eyes harsh, barely to open… The “plasma” fire! The same material used on the “girl” intruding the room and its death almost boomed the whole city out. In other words, Behekine had made all this inside his mouth…UNBELIEVABLE.
Wind backward because of the pushing of fire. Coi turned his center of gravity immediately and blocked himself with arms. Unfortunately, although the high speed of fire flashed and the power consistently increased, far distance still gave the masked man enough time to react. Instead of having any protection, he dodged it. Watching the light pipe rushing in sight, he lay back and flattened…
Putting his knees on the ground with toes pointing outward, arching his back to let his shoulder touch the sand land, the masked man caught himself on the ground and saw the “fire” across his body with satisfaction.

“DAMN!”
Once the fire passed, he stood up right away… Smiling at them.
“Ha, only this kind of play? Behekine!”
After his flowing performance, Coi knew what he was going to do now to his “potion” watery body.
LOCK HIM.
Soon, the masked man surrounded himself with the black whirl, the same one used on Anhydre’s attire and transformation. It ran faster and faster… If it was in formed, the mighty power would it be and the masked man would be like Michelin in black. Coi ran forward, even went across the line and swung his yo-yo behind-
Shooooooooooooooooo-
The rope penetrated into the black rolls and gave several rounds on the masked man’s body and tied up his limbs. Catching the time, Coi pulled back hard. He knew it’s rather easy for him to cut the rope but first of all, he needed to stop his “black wheel” movement.
Then, he used his left hand, which was attached to a mini “air-sucker” to draw the air. Three sides of dense air concentrated around the masked man in one second, before he was able to free himself from the rope.

Perfect!
The man was fixed by three sides of air wall, unable to move an inch, neither cut the “leash”… but still, he couldn’t treat him lightly. Coi looked back at Behekine and Anhydre, gave them a nod and walked back. The connection between “air-sucker” and dense air were like a holder with millions of kites lines, making him hard to move but he had to make sure it was in its biggest tension.
Now, the problem was- if the masked man was pushed miles away, even to the sky, he would also fly with him due to the rope tie while if he cut the rope before the man was on the sky, he would shoot himself in a conversed direction.- All in all, he would “fly” once the masked-man moved.
While thinking how to deal with his flying issue, the tail came into his sight, in front of his eyes, swinging…
BEHEKINE!
He knew his worry?!
But if he really fastened himself on his tail, he was afraid he would be in “damned” hurt… However, except for this, there seemed not to have other ways. In order not to make his tail suffer so much pain, or ass… remote end control would be better; that way, he could pull him back or strike the balance through “mind”, instead of heavy cord.
Coi stuck a white gel on his tail and the other on his own chest. Now, he had enough qualification to be a kite.

Then,
“3!”
Shout out through his mouth,
and
Thanks!
In his HEART.

Those fakes hurried to find their half.
Thinking there would be a fierce battle among summons, the war belonged to them, she peeped back, wondering would someone be eaten or swallowed; however, she found they fought one on one, according to the specialties.
Anhydre. was stun to be speechless. Usually, it’s she to be the one made people not know how to react but now, she just met her master. Superb master summons.
(P-) Itchy were having a martial art contest. Spine as weapon, they exchanged their pokes, showing the excellent paces. Skilled. They were in almost the same level; it’s hard to tell who would be the winner. Between them, non-written rules existed to follow, or to say a secret agreement.
What if she kicked the fake one out suddenly?
Not far to them was (P-)Bitey. The beat boxing one. Even though she had seen its talent under a senseless condition few hours ago, this time, the duo performance was more impressive. Instead of messing up the other, they took turns showing off.
What if she screamed beside the fake one’s ear?
Next to them was (P-)Scratchy. They were likely playing not fighting. In the same rhythm, they clap and slap. No any mistake allowed. Facing each other with cross feet, they were like friends.
What if she put a hand in the middle?
 
Nothing in her mind but all possibility that could ruin their games, she laughed. Perhaps, they were too innocent to know what’s enemy and what’s friend. It’s really hard to tell sometimes.
Her attention was drawn back to “their” battle field once a huge sound deafened her ear, harsh light thrown from behind and strong wind blowing the hair. Nearly forgot the real damn enemy was at the front, waiting them to kill, Anhydre turned back and just saw a “plasma” fire running forward. The plasma fire! The plasma fire! The plasma fire! Something could blow the whole city away…
She saw Behekine’s stable stare at the masked man, saying “fighting to death” in his pair of mean eyes. However, due to the distance and rolling of sand wave, she couldn’t sure what exactly made the masked man flatten out of sight. Beaten or…
But the voice answered her immediately. Dodge. An ironic tone brought the masked man back to their eyes and he started to bind himself with the black whirl, which reminded her of the controlled times. It was used only in transformation. If they couldn’t stop him immediately, the black magic might arm him later. It’s would be a disaster for them surely.
Coi ran forward and “tie” him with the yo-yo to stop the masked man’s “blacken” action. However, it was really dangerous to stop magic like that and Coi should know that! The black smoke haunted in the air. It stopped growing because of a sudden block of power supply. However, it was only temporary.
Coi rose up his hand, switching the hand direction, seemed to balance the aura between two sides. The air began to collect itself around the man’s back, right and left side.
Anhydre walked forward… Through the masked man’s look, she knew he was in a harsh suffering. The air pressed him pretty hard. The feeling might be alike when she struggled to overpower his control but to him that’s not enough!
Coi gave them a nod, telling them everything was in control. He stared at her for few seconds more, hinting it was her turn to do something. Since knowing Behekine’s plasma attack and Coi’s fix control, Anhydre came up with a great idea that could combine everything together and send the masked man to the hell straightly.
 
She moved forward further to the sand ground…
Then, she closed her eyes. Feeling the heat particle among the sand, with her palms down, and her bare foot to the ground, she started to “extract” the radiation particles from sun through the sand on the ground. Thanks to her construction, the heat wasn’t harmful. Somehow she was a person unable to feel coldness and hot.
“3!”
The more she extracted, the more powerful she got. Rather rising them up, she depressed them down with her palm…
She was waiting…
She was waiting the panther-man struck out the second plasma shot, and then she would rise up the heat to evaporate him. Since now he was unmovable, his death was in the sight.
 
“2!”
The wave of sand rolled up not because of wind, but
Because of
The voice of sand.

Spoiler:

The plasma fire missed.
Or at least, Behekine guessed, since he didn't hear the sound of flesh burning or smell any stench of it. It was hard to see anything through half-closed eyes, with the electric arc shining between his horns and the fire heat coming out of his mouth.
The beam kept going way past the masked-man location, and went through the cliff stone like a red-hot knife cut through butter. After a few seconds, the flow of plasma died out, growing thinner and weaker until all was left was a small flame coming out of the Demon's mouth, and a trail of vitrified sand.
The masked-man got up from the weird pose he got himself into in order to dodge the beam, and mocked Behekine.

The Demon coughed a bit of smoke, unfazed really by the taunt, and lowered his head to drink some water. God his throat felt dry after that !
Note to self : aim lower next time.
Right now, he wasn't sure he had another of these beams in him. The strain of maintaining plasma and focus it properly was just insanely huge, even for his level of power and magic mastery ! He held his head high, spitting water on the side, and breathed deeply.
The masked-man had a black swirl around him, obviously using more and more of this damned potion to enhance himself. If they didn't want to have a pointlessly long battle on their hands, they ought to do something and stop him before he finished...
The boy did, using the same strange object Anhydre once tried to attack him with, to entangle the man with a thin rope, effectively stopping the black swirl. Behekine saw the air move around the masked-man, forming a triangular prison around him, the boy holding his hands as if he held the rope that tied their foe.

“3!”

Then, something sticky and cold hit Behekine on his tail. The old, mighty and powerful Demon yelped and jumped to the side, swishing his tail around to try and get rid of the cold feeling. To him, the sensation was like having an icecube put on his butt !
He calmed down when he saw that the boy was being jerked around, mimicking the movement of the tip of his tail...
With a sheepish smile, the Demon got back to a still position, understanding what was that sticky gel for. A security line, of sort.
Still cold though...

"2!"

Anhydre shouted, her voice full of power. She looked ready too, to do her part and combine her powers with theirs.
Behekine showed an evil grin.
The masked-man couldn't move now. It was about time to end this.
Hardening his stance again, the Demon faced th mastemind that manipulated Anhydre and Coi for a long while to try and kill him, the man that knew many of his own secrets, the man that was not shy about dwelling with dark magic and taint infants to see his plans come to success...
The man that was stopping him from pursuing his mission.
The Pact woke up and the slave marks on his foreleg shone brightly, giving him a fresh amount of magic from the ether.
Behekine's grin grew wider :

- 4...

He breathed in. Deeply.
Magic hummed from within his body, the air around him vibrating.
Between his horns, an arc of electricity formed.
He opened his mouth, revealing the bluish-glow that started to come out of his throat...


On the other side of the battlefield, things were on hold. each of the pair of summons unable to beat one another, since their strengths were the same.
Itchy and P-Itchy were at a status quo, their fight a show of skill and martial prowess, but none of the two able to hurt the other.
Bob and P-Bob stood immobile, lost in their staring contest.
Bitey and P-Bitey stepped up their beatboxing so much it was now at the point where they sounded like a full orchestra.
Screechy and P-Screechy were now more whirling tornados than dancers. "Screeeeeeeeeeeeeee !"
Scratchy and P-Scratchy had their hands moving so fast it was a blur in front of them.

Really, it looked like they could go like this for hours.
Except they had no plan too.
Behekine's summons were older, by only a few hours, but it meant a lot : they knew better what they could do, and were better with initiative.
One subtle look was all it took to change the tide of the battlefield.
Bitey and Scratchy exchanged a look and suddenly, two pairs were not even.
They switched place, instantly, using the mental links they shared with Behekine to transfer their spark of Essence from one misty body to another. Their form adjusted to reflect the being that now inhabited them and they attacked.

Scratchy rushed to a startled P-Bitey and thrusted his claws forward, stabbing the clone deeply in his chest.
Bitey stepped back for a second and let P-Scratchy entangle his own arms with all his frantic movements, before jumping and go for the clone's face, finally biting his face off.
The devious duo then casually dragged their victims to the sand frontier that separated them from the other side of the beach, and dropped the bodies on the "purification sand" before they could regenerate.
In an instant, the potion clones dissolved in the air, gone for good.

Bitey and Scratchy ran to the "Screeeeee !" pair of dancers and, with great efficiency, started to properly dismember P-Screechy who soon fell silent. They casually went to get rid of the clone the same way they did the first two, while Screechy bowed to an invisible public.
P-Itchy saw his brothers get mauled and his eyes opened wide, but there was not much he could do, stuck with his duel with Itchy who smiled and doubled his attacks.
Bitey, Scratchy and Screchy were on him in a flash of misty claws and teeths and, he too, fell down and was dispatched.
Bob and P-Bob stood immobile, lost in their staring contest.
The four Behekine summons came to their side, and two for each one, they lifted up the staring pair, transporting them to the purification sand, before dropping them back down. P-Bob instantly started to disappear, leaving Bob somewhat confused and looking at his brothers, who cheered him before turning to what was happening on the "fleshbags" side.


The plasma was even hotter this time, almost hot enough to sizzle the fur on his face and make his eyes water.
Behekine growled, waited a few seconds more... and let the spell go free.
The beam was pure white this time, and shone bright as the sun as it rushed to the masked-man. The sand beneath returned to red-hot temperature, and kept increasing in heat until it was liquid, akin to lava. The heated air pressure pushed aside the water, turning the closest wave into steam.
The Demon's aim was better, targeting the masked-man stomach instead of his head. No crouching down to dodge this time...

On the side, the five summons created small notice boards in the mist, and they held them above their heads.
9.7
9.3
9.4
8.6
After a second, Screechy looked up and turned his notice board upside down.
9.8.

Staring at the front without blinking, Anhydre had prepared for activating her “heat-up” attack once the panther-man gave out his OK countdown. She had waited this moment for a long time, this time- no miss, no lose, not again.
Control. The masked man had fully took advantage of her SAND specialty just for killing the panther-man and the most disgusting thing was he had planned it for a long time, maybe since she was born. That night in the panther-man’s house, he sent Coi to kidnap her, stole her fragment memories and used the fire event to mislead her. Cheating her Behekine wasn’t panther-man, abducting her on the street and even locking her soul inside his potion space… everything coming through piled up her hatred. Now, time to destroy them all. and-
 
Thanks to his USE, she was cured totally.
 
“4…”
The panther-man’s firm voice came out, boosting morale. Although…
4?
A second, she thought the panther-man said “for”. For what? or For whom? Could it be he didn’t catch up and didn’t know what their countdown was for?
However, an idea of four flashed out made Anhydre. laugh again. Maybe in panther’s world, the number was in 423, rather than 123 or he thought it was “3 to 4”. No matter what’s the real reason, thanks the joke. And truth was…
If counting those summons as one group, then they were really in 4 because they were having their own war too. Feeling her “purified frontier” was putt-putt working, she turned to their field and saw P-Scratchy “bye”… in the air.
Putt-putt.
Putt-putt.
Putt-putt.
Putt-putt.
Five times in total. Like clearing a stage in a game, putt-putt sound transmitted to her left hand. Winners! A big hand!
Now, it’s their turn to
PUTT-PUTT!
 
From her right-side back, the white beam flew across, more like a comet, shadowing a stream of red-fire sand, burning it alike as a red snake moving on the ground. The air vibrated and shaped rolls of air clouds along the beam’s track. Wave turned into a stream line because of hard push from the air pressure.
Shoooooooooooooooo-
Shiny white beam was pitched at the masked-man’s stomach… at the half-way; the man’s figure was replaced by the shone halo, out of sight. Then-
BON-
BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ….
White beam dissolved.
The masked-man was still there but more like a creature with several tentacles. PLASMA. A fluffy and colorful species. His body kept vibrating and face was distorted. Electrical power flared his eyes, mouth, nostrils, and perhaps butt also. A huge power of plasma…
All the potion inside his body flew out and turned into black smoke at once, covering up the blue sky and surrounding them. In few seconds, they were like at night. Darkness contrasted to the plasma light around the man. Quite beautiful.

Anhydre caught the time and gave her hands a turn- upward, then lift the radiate particles up. Because of the heavy smoke pressure, it’s hard to start in. However, once every particle floated on the ground, she waved up-
As if activating the elevator, the power of radiate surged up to the sky. Both of panther-man and Coi supposed to feel a blast of hot air burning up but it was only a moment. Hot was all drawn toward the masked man, thanks to plasma. Now they got a larger, brighter and dancing puffy creature. The hot air stream went through his body and toward the heaven, dismissing the black smoke, sending a BBQ smell… The man became unclear…
After sunshine back, the peaceful beach returned, the man was only a pink spot left. Suddenly, it cracked up into vanish. The concentrated air exploded. Thankfully, it blasted in the other direction. It’s still calm and serene on their side.

Just turned back and gave "they made it" gesture to panther-man and Coi, Anhydre turned pale...
Someone was pulled forward into the sky with the air explosion…
“Heaven!”

It’s Coi.

Coi found he had done something wrong, very wrong…He assumed he drew a white gel that could stick on Behekine’s wing stably and only “thought” could control him. However, the gel kept emitting the smoke after attaching on the wing…
It’s not the same as the one on his chest.
Damn…!
It’s Dry Ice.
Some fur soon was stuck on the gel…The temperature in -80℃ was sent from his tail to the butt and to brain. It was hard to imagine someone was “colded” in that way. Sorry for this big kitten. Besides, to his surprise, when Behekine jumped to aside because of shock, he suddenly cramped and “collapsed”. His feet gave several empty strides in the air. Truth was the “movement” of tail could give command to his body. He tried to stand up…
Gosh, what did I make?!
But…
Without knowing it, eager to get rid of the frozen feeling, Behekine kept swinging his tail with no mercy. Meanwhile, Coi stayed behind his butt and was like a plummet swaying left and right with tipping one foot to another. Every time was in “collapsing”. Several times, he was almost down below the butt, afraid of fart. He hands still pulled the “string” tight and did his best not to tangle them.
Until, Behekine found his existence and realized his influence on him, he stopped and gave an embarrassing smile. Anyway, he couldn’t blame him. It’s his drawing mistake. Apparently, at that time, Behekine’s swinging wing was only a coincidence, appearing in his front but no intention to help him.
 
“2!”
Anhydre had done her preparation, shouting out the number like a bullet out of a gun. Coi left the shadow under Behekine. Three pair of eyes stared on the masked-man at the same time.
Now, nothing could lose and be lost.
Everything was free.
Kill was in the front.
Nothing was behind.
He saw the slave mark on Behekine’s foreleg shone AGAIN. It was a special mark, full of power. A glance on it was enough. The white light really hurt his eyes.
“4…”
4?
4!
Where did he get the idea of 4?
It’s tricky of him… Coi grinned. A child heart, maybe.

While Behekine crafting another plasma beam, Coi kneeled down and dragged the “strings” down to the ground to fasten them tighter. He didn’t want to be launched as a rocket; even a kite was too much. When he looked aside, through Behekine’s abdomen, he saw those figures of summons. They were very busy and two of them often rushed to a certain place… Now he remembered the place was the “purified frontier.” 
Would it be possible Behekine’s summon…?
To look more clear, he squatted down lower. He saw Bobs were lift to the frontier and the P one disappeared at once. Under this test group and comparison group, he got how everything happened on the other side of field. A Summon War.
 
It was too late for him to stand up when Behekine gave out his attack. The shone bight light made his face turn aside. He could feel the heat on the ground was about to explode but the beam shot on the masked man’s chest ran faster. Instead of having a big bang like last time, the man’s body seemed to swallow it and extended lots of tentacles. The reason why he wasn’t blasted out was because of the potion inside. The potion had diluted the fire in plasma…but electricity in plasma weakened his muscle seriously and even damaged the nerve, which caught him in “myasthenia gravis”. The masked man couldn’t control his muscle, only watching his potion leak into the air and turned in smoke helplessly.
That was not the end. Anhydre then lift radiation particles from thesand. A hot stream boosted as if lava were going to spring from the crater. Just at the moment that the stream swept over them, Coi suddenly “flipped” into the air a bit. He escaped it in time.
Tail!
However, air was in a scorching temperature that even made people hard to breathe. Seeing the half of dry ice on the tail had gone, Coi was put to the ground and stood up. If he weren’t mistaken, that hot flowing passing by was made of αβγ, carrying positive and negative electric charge. It could greatly help the growth of plasma, and also the heat from nuclear fusion was able to get back the firing power.
As his expectation, the masked man was really in some kind of ionizing.
That feeling would be far much painful than the skin was peeled off without anesthesia, even than the flesh was shaved piece by piece. It was the combination of both.  
Coi snickered.
He let go a bit of air, forming a “tiny” wind, to spice up his pain. Wind blushed to flesh without protection of skin. It would be really exciting. The wind ran itself around and sometimes went through his “ionizing” body.
Ssssssssssssssssssss…..
 
More and more parts disappeared, more and more satisfaction he got. Until the man was as big as a pink spot, Coi had realized it’s time to fasten himself.
However, to his stun… the dry ice had melted into not bigger than a piece of nail. Suddenly, the spot vanished. Air soon got back to its original place. The force was strong enough to draw the sea dry and Coi was pulled to sky, as if an iron was held by powerful magnet. The height was over the cliff…
 
Dry ice…
There is only one hope,
Only if dry ice could be big enough to act on him, before it was gone completely…

The plasma beam hit his target this time, Behekine was sure of it.
Again, he could not keep his eyes open due to the sheer amount of heat coming out of his mouth, nor hear much anything past the sizzling, crackling and hissing of the ionizing air around plasma, but still, he somewhat felt the impact of the beam on the man.
Smelled it too.
The scent of burning flesh came to his nostrils, making him feel conflicted ; the scent was a marvel to the carnivore he was but, at the same time, he felt disgust for he knew who was producing the smell. Not that he would be interested in eating any human flesh ever but, he was getting hungry after the fightings and all...
An empty stomach knows no bounds, like the saying goes.
He was getting tired now.
Even with help from the Pact, plasma magic was taking its toll on him, no matter how strong this body was.

When the beam died out, he saw the masked-man, body convulsing in pain, sparks coming from all sides of him, his face contorted with pain - turning it even uglier than before - and the potion that shot out of him into the sky, as if plasma had ejected it from his body.
The great and mighty Demon just stared at the scene, breathing hard from exhaustion, a bit wobbly on his legs even. Gosh his throat hurt now !
Behekine did his part, and was unable to do anything much for the moment. It was the kids turn to go and finish what they were intent on doing.

And so they did.
Anhydre moved her hands around, commanding the heated sand to rush at the man and into the sky like a wave of radioactive particles. The heat hit them too in a shockwave, and Behekine winced, his eyes watering. He knew that it was the masked-man that took most of it, though.
He did not feel sorry for him. Not anymore.

The potion mist soon dissipated after being overcharged and cooked like that, the unnatural night disappearing after a few seconds to restore the day, as if nothing had happened.
It took a few more seconds for the masked-man to disappear in turn. SOme long seconds of agony, as his body became a critical mass of ionised particles. His skin pelted, fuming, the water in his body vaporised.
Just as Coi brought up wind currents to unnerve the fire eating him, his flesh started to burn, white flames eating at it in instants.
Soon he was no more than a limbless torso, desintegrating faster and faster like a meteorite fading away once reaching the high atmosphere.
A mashed-potato turned into a shooting star.
Make a wish...
"I wish you die for good, and your corruption dies with you."

A head, then a single spot.
In a last spark, all was gone.
Nothing left.
The air rumbled, like a distant thunder, and magic dissipated, the atmosphere becoming lighter.

With a suddent sound like the crack of a whip, wind rushed around them, and Coi got ejected into the sky !
Wait... what ?
With his fatigue, it took some time for Behekine to understand what happened, enough for the boy to become a small spot in the sky.
Of course, the wind ropes he used to cage the masked-man ! They had snapped with his death, and the after shock had now launched the boy like a balista, or an ejector seat...
How to bring him back down without breaking his bones ?
Ha ! The security line !

Behekine swished his tail down.
Nothing happened.
Surprised, the Demon looked at his tail, and saw no traces of the cold gel the boy had placed on it. Now that he thought about it, he had stopped feeling the cold bite for a while now...
He could still feel the spell on him though.
Bringing his tail down to get the tip underwater, Behekine used a small amount of magic to freeze the tip of his tail again, wincing when he felt the cold bite his butt-nerve, before turning his attention to the smallish point in the sky that the boy was now.

Focusing his last bit of power into the spell on his tail, he carefully swished his tail down, wishing for Coi to do the same. It was hard to see because of the distance but, after a few seconds, it looked like it was actually working.
Coi was effectively coming back down to them.
Growing bigger and bigger as he approached.
Fast.
Faster.
Faster.

Behekine lifted his tail up.
Nothing happened.
The boy was going too fast for the spell to work.
What now ? The boy turn into a crater ?
Behekine could catch him with mist, but he wasn't sure the frail element would be strong enough to resist Coi's weight at this falling speed.
The Demon yelled to the sand-girl :

- Anhydre ! Join your sand to my mist : we have to catch him together !

His summons cheered him from the side, which gave him the little push he needed to gather one last spell to summon mist and make a tower at the trajectory of Coi's fall. At the top of the tower of mist, a flower-shaped mass formed.
The tower was something like five or six meters tall, and there was holes in its structure, as if missing something inside it.
Coi would fall right into it, hopefully the mist would slow him down enough.

Coi was flying. How come?
The concentrated air that Coi fastened on his body had disappeared and a small blast rushed forward. Even though it didn’t cause any disaster to them, the huge sand storm in front said everything- the impulsive power of air, so did the impact happening on Coi.
He became a spot, getting too high to be seen by the naked eyes. Anhydre roofed her hands on the eyelids to avoid the shorn sunshine; also, narrowed her eyes to see it clear. However, now he was merged with the sky completely.
Sending a sight of SOS, Anhydre turned back, hoping Behekine could come up with an idea, before Coi fell down as a meteorite. After all, hanging in the sky was not a way.
But quite to her surprise, the panther-man was tipping his tail in the water, as if a brush was sinking the paint. Not for a long while, it started to “smoke”.
ICING himself.
 
Anhydre still couldn’t get his point. Perhaps, the ice on his tail could…
The panther-man swished his tail down in caution, staring steadily at the spot Coi probably at. Eyes switching between them, she found a slight trace that the panther-man was doing.
Finally, the spot became bigger, which mean he was in the panther-man’s control. Anhydre couldn’t help herself screaming out, like a child seeing the Christmas gift descend from the heaven. Coi was coming back.
Slow…
Slow
Slow. Fast.
Fast.
FAST…
“DAMN!”
Something didn’t work as they had expected. The tailed soared up once they found Coi fell in an accelerated speed but nothing changed… Faster, faster…
The cruel fact was the faster the speed was, the shorter time they had!
 
“Anhydre! Join your sand to my mist: we have to catch him together!”
A shout pulled her frighten mind back to a calm state but it was a NAME call that bundled it tight. ANHYDRE.

Did I hear wrong? He called me Anhydre?
Few people know my name. Where did he get my name?

The name called from the panther-man’ mouth sounded weird. However, she couldn’t take care of so many things in one time: Save first, Name second.
The panther-man rose up a mist tower with flower shape on the top. Hollowness inside it was to let Coi pass through but she wasn’t sure whether mist could bear so much weight and so damn fast speed in one time; for sure, slowing him down had no problem. It would be a great help if mist blended with sand just like he said.
 
Suddenly, a nowhere idea came…
Anhydre kneeled down, touched the ground with three fingers, drew out three sand strips and gave a finger throw at the tower. Sand strips from the ground like three ropes flying out- One ran in clockwise, another in counterclockwise while the other went straight. At the middle-lower part of tower, they combined together.
Then, Anhydre began to “cross” in the air with her two index fingers quickly.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

BRAID.
She was braiding the half mist tower. As she finished tying mist, Coi was about to enter in… 5 meters left. Anhydre gave a huge pulling strength toward the both side. Crossed yellow sand strings with white mist in check, after a pull, it turned to be layers, layer by layer, the same shape of wafer.
Coi’s fallen speed apparently had slowed down much through the upper part of mist tower. Now, the “wafer” needed to zero his speed.
Fuuf
Fuuf
Fuuf
Fuuf…
The layers were like installed in air cushion system. Once Coi pressed through, mist bound by the sand would turn his speed into a force and released off by oppressing itself out of sand block. The tower “collapsed” fantastically. White mist as fluffy cloud, yellow sand as golden powder, Coi was much like lying on a cozy bed, than being caught from the ground.
Finally, everything stopped as the last layer “dispersed”.
Coi opened his eyes and sit up…like a boy just waking up in the early morning, rubbed his eyes.
 
"Yahooooo!"
Anhydre laughed. She was so happy that it was her first time rescuing someone throughout the messy fight. Looking at the panther-man reminded her of second thing!
“Panther-man, How did you know...., gosh, yeah, panther and man!”
It was quite hard to recall what exactly look the panther-man was, even though she was calling him “panther-man”. Seeing him as panther-man look was in his house last time and thanks to the masked man’s magic, she missed the last chance to see his figure. 

Now, she just remembered something!
 
Anhydre narrowed her eyes and said:
“How did you know my name? OMG..I nearly forget….I mean… damn…so you’ve met...”
She couldn’t find other ways that panther-man could get her name. Only her-Tata!  
Her eyes expressed excitement and the sound grew thinner as the thought carried her to the past.
That scene she would never forget- Her first time confessing to the "five-fingered" monster due to Tata's trick: My name is Anhydre... I wanted to learn how to make a fish bone on my hair... Which made both of them laugh so hard, stomach so hurts.

FISH BONE!
And she nearly forgot… the braid she used last moments…she suspected it was braid that surfed upon the subconsciousness and reminded her everything about Tata.
Why does braid need three strips but ended up two half pieces?
Hands cuffed in the braid.
"Tata!"
Blur memory became more and more vivid after narrowing her eyes and squeezing her brain.
Something she almost forgot ...
Anhydre walked to the panther-man and saw the slave mark on his foreleg, white shone still.
"She told me she was fear you will be enslaved again ...."
 
A cloud of sadness across through her thought. She felt very sorry for Tata seeing this mark. Tata was a friendly, lovely and funny company she met in Expedition, a person who could turned into different animals, a person she liked to play tricks on, a person who could made her unload the self-defensive mind. Lots of things happened in that night. She liked being with her...
 
"Tapapari, … Could you tell me what's her reaction to this…mark?"

Somehow, she knew the answer, probably.…

The boy was coming down to earth.
Following his call with haste, Anhydre conjured her sand and joined it to the tower of mist, building long streams of sand that joined together in a braid-like formation.
Clever girl... that structure was probably the most solid one she could have formed in such limited amount of time !
Their forces combined, sand and mist slowed the boy's fall like a succession of nets and parachutes, ending in a cushion and a cloud for him on the ground, as the whole tower collapsed on itself all around.
The boy was safe and sound, looking puzzled by what just happened, but safe nonetheless.

Behekine sighed, and let himself fall in a laying position, just like the big tired cat he was.
Note to self : this body had limits and, apparently, a plasma explosion the previous night, the summoning of five mist beings, the conjuration of a tsunami, the creation of a portal and two plasma beams were a sure way to reach these limits !
The water was retiring faster, and it was reaching just above his paws now.
The Demon brought his head low to drink some of the water, his throat still painfully dry. The summons ran to him, excited like kids and started jumping on his back, pressing their little hands on his body, chirping for those that could, swinging at the end of his tail...
Behekine endured their shenanigans with good will. Even Bob was near his front paw and acted more vivid than usual : he was tapping on his slave marks, the light within him shining brightly.

When Anhydre called him, asking about how he knew her name, it took a few seconds for Behekine to understand what she meant. Then he remembered that he had never used her name, calling her "sand-girl", until the moment he called for her help to save Coï.
He had not realised that he had used her real name. Weird... probably just the urgency of the situation...

Actually, it had been the boy that gave him her name at first, while under Bob's spell of sleep-paralysis. Then, the masked-man had confirmed it during their exchange.
Behekine lifted his head up, spat the water he still had in his mouth, and Anhydre said the most strange things ever. Tata ? Who was that ? He knew no one that was being called like that. It almost sounded like a nickname !
Anhydre looked excited and happy in the prospect of him having met this mysterious person.
...
The full name came soon after, and Behekine coughed in surprise, nearly choked himself before finding his voice again :

- What ? Tapahari ? But how... when did you...

He coughed again, and took some more time to find his bearings before saying :

- It's been years since I last saw her. How did you meet her ? Did you travel to her island, you that feared water ?

Tapahari was the only person in the entire world that had summoned him, freed him once the mission she asked of him was complete, and was still alive to tell the tale. She had been respectful, helpful, kind and pleasant to talk to. The ritual she used to summon him had been a call for help to which Behekine had responded on his own volition, rather than a forced pull that ended up with him in chains.
How did she meet with the sand-girl ?
The DEmon was looking at Anhydre, expecting her answer After a few seconds, the five summons mimicked him and it was six pair of eyes that were locked on her.

After learning that Tata hadn’t met panther-man, a wave of depression crushed on her. She wasn’t quite sure whether it’s a bad thing or not, since it meant she hasn’t seen this cruel mark. Anhydre would never forget how desperate Tata was when she found she had a slight information about panther-man and would never forget the look on Tata’s face as she told her panther-man was a “free” slave. It was the same expression as a mother eager to find a child but only found a sign of “missing” or “dead” worse. 
So-called Maternal love, Anhydre guessed. Facing the missing child, it’s no better thing than bringing him to Tata now.
 
Back to the six pair of eyes on her…she felt quite unease.
There was a long story behind each question. Where should she start from? How to describe everything Tata told her? More important was, how much did she still remember since last time they met?
Never did she know one day, she would be a carrier pigeon or to the base, she thought she would no longer meet panther-man after the fire accident!
“Uh…”
Search the chief point- Expedition.
“Ok..so, we met at an expedition to Crannsliabh half year ago. Lots of damn adventurers. Wind brought me there. I didn’t have a chance to visit her island but she did tell me where she lived and about her happy families.”

She nodded while finding words.
Almost forgot what panther-man’s question, Anhydre kept going:
“A riot brought us together. And…”
She made potion and gave me a dry bath to save my rotten sand body, I played tricks on her for return. She mentioned MIST, MAN, FELINE and I dare not to imagine it was you. I ate rock, she had a ponytail, later we braided  together. Cuffed in the hair, a serval as an aid and my trick came up again. Five-fingered monster and her trick. The huge sky-torn laugh. Tremble hands. I braided. Finally, we made it. FISH BONE.

The snake-crossing part and everything, she laughed and continued:
“We shared many things and found- She is seeking someone whom I know. That is YOU. Panther-man! She told me she saw you in her vision and got wounded and was a prisoner. Something about... Spirits of the Veil."
 
Then, she started to “chop” the air with her finger:
“So she wants to find you and fears you will be enslaved AGAIN.”
Opening her palms toward the sky:
“B..but, truly, you are. However, I didn’t know who your current master is so I only told her, you are a “free” slave. That’s it. I guess…oh and… I also told her, how we met and what we did in Phobos desert. That way, she might come near Rhadamanthe. But I thought we wouldn't have chance to meet each other!"
 
Fragments.
Anhydre tried her best to put them together and picked up in completion.
“Tata cares about you. She worried you were getting in trouble or got hurt again. She is a cute shaman and a nice company in the expedition. And also a lovely snake and a cute serval. That fish bone, oh no, braid, is what she taught me...and I love it very much."
Smile.
"What's interest is now I found we were actually like a fish bone, braid needs three strips but ends up two half pieces. Three of us fought but turned into two sides."

Anhydre laughed as she recalled the first time she met Tata: A PSYCHO?

Turn to her side-
“Since you didn’t meet her, then how did you know my name?”
 
Wave, wind and sand.
Coi was walking to them...

The Demon listened to the sand-girl words with all his focus.
The last time he had heard about Tapahari was several years ago, even before he got the plan to make himself a new body. To learn that the shaman might have foreseen his enslaving and left her island to try and find him was... a bit overwhelming to be honest.
He heard about the Expedition into Crannsliabh, but did not think twice about it, stuck with his own " forced expedition". Tapahari did participate in it then... did the shaman thought he could be hidden within the jungle ?
No matter...
If like Anhydre said, she was on her way to Rhadamanthe, he ought to do something to find her and to warn her about his next destination, and arrange their meeting. He owed her that much, for leaving everything behind her to go after him.
Behekine had an idea for this, but it would have to wait for after some rest !

The last question from the sand-girl brought a smile to his monstrous face, and he gestured in the direction of Coï walking towards them with a flick of his paw :

- Hmmm... that's thanks to the boy right there, I suppose. But he was unconscious when he told it. The mashed potato said it too when he got here.
I'm not one to use names lightly, especially when they were not given by their respective owner in the first place. Might have been the urgency of the situation. Since you used my name first, I'd say we're even.

After a small pause, he added :

- Thanks for telling me about Tapahari. I'll do what I can to find and meet her, so that her search can end.

He chuckled a bit for himself, thinking that the shaman was in for a big surprise if she met him like he was now.
The Demon sighed, and suddenly he was serious when his gaze fell on the two childs in front of him :

- What do you plan to do now that the masked-man is no more and your body lost its fear of water ?
And what about you, boy ? Will you try to kill me again to steal my powers ?
- Screeeeeeeeee !

Screechy merrily swayed from the tip of the Demon's tail, Itchy was inspecting the burnt fur on Behekine's face, Bitey looked slightly bored and Scratchy was playing in the retiring water with his claws. Bob sat betweeen Behekine's front paws, one hand on the slave marks and trying to match his inner light with the glow of the accursed symbols.
Neither of the summons seemed to pay attention to the childs now, which was quite curious after all that happened.

The panther-man’s gesture brought Anhydre’ s sight to the coming of Coi. He looked rather fatigue and weak. His shadow on sand slowly moved toward them. It would be a miracle if someone didn’t feel exhausted after everything happened like this, so crazy and so savage. To be honest, Anhydre had fought so hard and non-herself that she nearly forgot how yesterday started, let alone how she made her breath lasting until the present. Just like the panther-man said, they are even. This thought made Anydre grin. However…
Looking at the panther-man, she felt a sense of guilty. There were a million of sorry owed him. She knew were it not for him, she wouldn’t live now; maybe, also for Coi.
What’s complicated to decipher was: whether this event was a fortunate or unfortunate or not? She wouldn’t get cured if she didn’t meet the panther-man, so did the fireball get explanation and her memories return back and the misunderstanding be solved between she and him, not to mention the words she had promised to Tata!
Despite of the shock Tata might get after seeing the panther-man wasn’t a panther-man, she was happy to know she had gave “a little” hand.
 
After hearing the panther-man’s caring ask, Anhydre reached her right hand out and said:
“Sorry for all of this… I’m glad to know everything is simply false and fake… Hardly do I know we can have this kind of ending. I mean we can talk each other like now. I confess I had told Tata that I won’t meet you again and don’t want to, never and ever… after the fireball event… BUT! Not anymore now, panther-man. By the way, can I call you panther-man still? Even though you’re not that mixed now… you are always the same one blocking the wind out.”
An innocent laughing came, Anydre continued:
“I might go to other places and have other adventures. Perhaps, in some days… we three, might encounter on the street again! NO KILL THEN!”
 
Upon her hands, another hand got on.
Her sight moved to Coi…

The height was over the cliff…
The hope was out of the reach…
Coi felt himself weightless and awfully lose control. The situation would be worse once the pulling force ran out. Eye-piercing sunlight was so bright that even squeezing eyes close couldn’t reduce its hot pressing in, which baked him dizzy and painful. The wind speed flapped on his face so hard enough to put him in a coma.
Nothing could he hear, nor see… but it was better to lose the feeling too…
 
Through the felling to the speed and direction of force, he could generally sense what situation he was in. Without know how much height he was, he felt his chest got strength to lift him up… and the power grew stronger and stronger, as if someone was pulling his collar tighter and tighter.
Behekine? Does he find the way out?
Before finding where the force came from, a sudden pushing down nearly threw his entire organ and bones out… The chest tugged down straightly and fast, which had his head and leg fold up in half.
Fast…. Fast... Fast…
It was a good sign to know he was getting the ground near again. However, the downward speed accelerated in multiple ways… in a weird and horror increasing number. Is he still in Behekine’s control?
All he could know was the wind sound “hoooooooon” in his ear thunderously and his heartbeat was drowning with his body and gravity. He felt heavy… heavy… heavy… like pounds of air loaded on his chest.
In the messy air circulation, a few words sent from a far, far, far place… Low voice as it was, he still could pick up them: Join….catch him together!
 
Those words got proven as he “fell” into a tower of mist. The misty wall helped him block out the thundering and face-twisted wind, even though he was still in a high speed. Ears were saved, and also the eyes.
Coming into the eyes first was white mist… he was clouded in, awed in this misty work… Unable to look down, he couldn’t know how far he got to the sand ground… but NEAR!
Puff…
An air cushion! Combining the mist with the sand, his pulling speed was caught by it through…
Puff… layer!
Puff… layer!
Puff… layer!
EFFICIENTLY.
However, some of sand dispersed and flew into his eyes, nose, mouth… which made him unable to open the eyes and keep sneezing without opening his mouth.
Eventually, as he reached the last layer, the speed was cut down to zero/km. He was saved by the mist and sand!
With robbing his eyes, tears carried out the sand. Sitting up to make his breathe smoother and robbing his nose, he couldn’t help himself sneezing and coughing… Besides, he found his hair and clothes wet due to the “water” cushion… Drops rolling from the end of hair, he touched the chest… he could even touch the thumping heartbeat… that flying scene nearly caught him a deadly breath. He needed time to cool down himself.
 
Looking at the far place, it seemed Anhydre and Behekine were talking about something incessantly; maybe, it was better to join them later. Watch them far, thank you, two words floated closer to the sight.
 
Wave, wind and sand…
He propped himself up with two hands, squatted and stood up. Dragging slow steps in the sand… it’s wonderful to stand on solid ground again… He smiled and walked toward them.
As he drew near, he did find they were talking where Behekine got the name of Anhydre… A question from Behekine hit on his face as soon as he formed up the third angle of a triangle.
Kill?!
After listening to Anhydre’s apologize and seeing her hand stretch, Coi gave out his hand without a second thought…
“……NO KILL THEN!”
 
He followed up the last word of Anhydre’s automatically-
“Not anymore. Not interested in being a demonslayer, anyway. So count me in, sand-girl! NO KILL THEN! and thanks you guys too, for everything.”
Watching those five little summonses playing, he chuckled a bit and looked at Behekine:
“No.6! I'll call you No.6, deal?”

The Demon nodded when the two childs said they didn't want to kill him anymore, bringing him some relief. Killing childrens was not something he had looked forward to in glee, and he felt better now that there was no risks of it to happen.
They all looked so exhausted from the fight against the masked-man anyway : if they had any intentions of attacking each other right now, the result would be more hilarious than dangerous.
Behekine looked at the hands held in front of him. He glanced down to his own front paw, with claws that could split a grown man in two.
His eyes went up again, and Itchy suddenly made his move. The serious summon stepped away from the Demon's face and approached the two childs to put his misty hands upon theirs, carrying Behekine's good will with this gesture.

- You're welcome, childs. Call me whatever you like, as long as you keep my real name a secret. And try to keep away from fights in the future, it pains me to see that childrens choose violence instead of talking things out.

He shook his head to chase away a sudden need to yawn, before adding :

- I look forward to a future meeting, and I hope it won't be as explosive as yesterday was.
- Screeeee ?

Screechy's intervention sounded so much like "why not ?" Behekine started to laugh. His laughter ended in coughs though, thanks to his sore throat.
Then, Behekine stood up slowly, groaning when his tired muscles protested about the effort.

- I'll be going now. Keep yourself together, sand-girl. And you, boy... I don't know... stay out of trouble ?

Sensing that Behekine would soon leave, the five summons stopped what they were doing and jumped on his back, in line like weird childs riding a weird elephant. They all nodded their heads in unisson to salute the two childs, Screechy adding a joyful "Screeee !" to the mix.
The once panther-man turned monster started walking on the beach, away from the two childs he almost fought to the death.

Coi looked at No.6 and noticed the cheer-hand gesture made him hesitate when No.6’s sight moved on toward his front palm…compared to theirs…
Not to put the scene in embarrassment, he intended to move over his hand but a grab! Itchy, grabbed his hand back and held it tight, by putting self-hand upon smoothly.
 
Then-
Coi, like pupils who had just made a blunder, lectured by a strict teacher, looked down at the ground with full hear and plain face. Even he, himself, didn’t know what happened with himself yesterday… So cruel that he dare not to believe. Somehow, he felt frighten to himself…
Thinking his mission was KILL making him stand back a bit. Thanks to No.6’s concerning words, he didn’t get lost in his thought. Instead, he cast back a genuine smile.
It was really hard to say “good-bye” when the moment indeed came.
 
He found no way but simply said:
“Bye, No.6! and you, you, you, you, you, No.1,2,3,4,5.” with hands waving.
 
Looking at their figures got blur away the path
He shouted out loud: GOOD BYE! The wind echoed…
Soon,
His sight went to the one walking back to him, Anhydre.
“And thank you too. Sorry too.”
The reply from Anhydre was quite surprised, followed by laughing sound…
Coi smiled and said: “Yeah, you too, 13 girl”
 
He hinted the direction back.
“This way?”
Another surprising answer flew back, he laughed this time:
“You’re an interesting one, you know that?”
Anhydre couldn’t help rolling eyes at him… and pushed him forward…
“Haha….ok, ok, bye sand-girl!”
 
Coi waved, turned around and left in silence.
He knew more clear than anyone. What waited him in front would be much more bitter than any of these two days…
 
The peaceful waves moved on… with peaceful tempo...