TWENTY-TWO

"Hurry up," Phos urged while we walked briskly, "we're already late as it is."

"Sorry, I didn't keep track of the time. Hey Phos, do clocks exist here?"

"Huh?"+

The peppermint glanced at me.

"What's a 'clock'?"

"It's something we humans use to keep track of time. I don't suppose it carried over here?"

"No, not at all. Hey, we'll talk about that later, morning meeting first."

We took a corner.

"Sensei wants us to tell the others about that time the Lunarians almost took me and Antarc?"

"Yep."

"No problem, but I'm kinda nervous when it comes to presentations..."

Phos chuckled. "Don't worry, with me around you don't need to feel awkward or anything. I'll probably do most of the talking anyway, you fainted, right?"

"Eheh, yeah..."

"I think we'll have to run now," Phos commented, moving into a sprint. "Try to keep up?" she smirked.

"Hey, wait up!"

-----------------------

"No fair!" I shouted as I finally caught up to Phos, who had just arrived too.

"Sorry for being late," I apologized to everyone in front of me as I caught my breath.

Looking up, I noticed everyone staring at Phos in surprise.

"Alongside Antarcticite, Phosphophyllite and Danburite handled the rest of winter," Sensei continued from the announcement both the peppermint gem and I had just missed.

"What?!" was the reaction from the other gems.

"Inform everyone as to the details of the attack," Sensei instructed to the both of us.

"As you wish," Phos replied as she made her way to the table.

"Sure," was my reply as I followed.

The other gems were whispering among themselves as Phos walked.

"Something seems different..."

"Yeah."

"And that hair..."

"Those arms..."

The both of us stood behind the table, which had the map usually used for such meetings neatly opened up on top.

"Antarcticite and Danburite were almost captured trying to protect me," Phos began. "Allow me to explain what occurred."

The peppermint gem extended their right arm to grab the wooden pieces.

A collective gasp came from the other gems.

"Antarc engaged with and defeated a new form of Lunarian carrying Pink Fluorite on the Chord Shore," Phos went on, placing a normal piece and a Lunarian piece at the positions. "Another appeared immediately afterwards. It was small, but unlike anything in Alex's reports."

Phos took out the wooden Lunarian piece and placed a smaller one down at the same position.

"At the center stood a vessel surrounded by ordinary Lunarians and eight larger than any seen before. Uh, something like this."

Phos used her other arm's alloy to form a rough, gold mock-up of the Lunarian she was talking about in front of everyone.

"Something like this."

Everyone was either fascinated or terrified at the sight. I can't tell.

"They were set around the vessel, shooting their arrows down. Antarc was hit with the first arrow and broke apart, and Dan immediately stepped forward to defend all of us. They fought well, but eventually they were also hit and fell right in front of me... huh?"

The younger gems had already proceeded to hide behind their seniors and Sensei.

Yep, terrified.

Phos stared at the scene, unsure of what to do.

"Phos..." Dia asked, hiding with Benitoite behind Bort, "is that... your arm?"

"Y-yeah... I lost both arms to the ice floes, but was lucky to get this gold and platinum alloy. Mostly gold, judging from its color," she replied, looking at her retracted right arm while her left arm has receded into a small puddle in front of everyone. "So I've just been using it. I... it's not dangerous or anything..."

Phos turned towards me.

"Hey..." she whispered, "I think I'm scaring them, what do I do?"

"Maybe try making something that they like?" I whispered back. "What do you guys like anyway?"

"Flowers," was the reply. "Oh, got it."

Phos made out a few small flowers in front of everyone out from the puddle.

"See?"

Everyone just ran off and hid behind the pillars, save from a few. Dia was still behind Bort, while Alex was peeking out in interest behind Sensei. Rutile was just standing there, surprised but otherwise interested.

Phos sweatdropped. "Oh, come on..."

The peppermint gem turned towards me. "What did I do wrong? Are my arms really that scary?"

I shook my head. "Not to me. So, what now?"

Phos retracted her left arm. "I'm not too sure myself. Sensei?"

-----------------

"Are my arms really that scary to everyone else?" Phos complained as Rutile applied powder to her legs. "Antarc and you don't seem to have any issues to them."

I gave a comforting smile. "It's probably just for a short while, I'm sure everyone will be okay with it after some time has passed."

"I hope so..."

"Aw come on Phos, cheer up! The new you is moodier than the old you, can I have some of that old cheerful behavior you used to have?"

The peppermint gem smiled. "If you say so. You're such a sweet, sweet junior!"

She proceeded to hug me tightly.

"Woa- hey, some warning would be fine!"

The both of us giggled.

"Some things just never change," I heard Rutile comment. "Hey, Phos, stay still."

Phos let go of me, still smiling.

"I hadn't given it much thought before," Phos uttered, "but it's kind of embarrassing having such a weird body like this."

"You're fine the way you are," the doctor replied, "don't keep thinking like that."

"Ah, don't do it for my arms," Phos said as Rutile wanted to move on to the peppermint gem's arms. "They'll just stretch and all that powder will fall off anyway."

"All right then."

Rutile stood up.

Phos felt her gold stiletto heels.

"Hey," I asked, "how did you get those?"

"Oh, the just popped out of my shoes when the alloy began to flow through me. That's where I let my alloy flow to create those platforms. You didn't notice?"

"No, not at all."

Phos giggled. "Pay more attention next time."

"Yeah..."

"Hey, Rutile, how's Cinnabar?"

"Just like always," was the reply. "Entirely uninterested in joining our meeting. If you're worried, why not go out and pay a visit?"

Phos blushed. "I-I have nothing to say anyway, so it's a no. Besides..."

She blushed even harder.

"I don't know, but these days... I find myself embarrassed whenever I think about them. What is happening to me?"

I smirked. "Could it be love?"

The peppermint gem's cheeks went red.

"I-it's not that!"

"It apparently is," I replied, resting back. "See, even your face is showing it."

Phos covered her face. "W-why must you..."

I chuckled. "I honestly didn't know that was actually the case, that was just a wild guess."

The peppermint gem looked up at me, smiling lightly.

"Still, other than that, my arms too..."

She looked at her hands.

A twig appeared out of nowhere and poked the peppermint gem's left arm.

"Huh?"

Turning right, I noticed a few gems that have arrived, most likely to check out at Phos' alloy.

Understatement. Seven of them are here. Morg, Goshe, Dia, Zircon, Yellow Dia, Benito and Neptunite. Dia was the one poking with the twig.

"Wow!" They all exclaimed in unison.

"Uh..."

A flurry of words engulfed the peppermint gem.

"What?" was what Phos could utter as she turned to face them.

"Stretch!" Dia requested.

"Eh, that really takes it out of me, you know-"

"Listen you!" Red Beryl shouted as she appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the peppermint gem from behind by the shoulders.

"How could you do this?!" the red tailor shouted as she shook Phos hard. "Your winter clothes are a mess and now you aren't even the same size as before! I'll have to make you a brand new summer uniform! And don't just go changing your hairstyle like that!"

Red Beryl whipped out a measuring tape and began to quickly measure Phos' size as the others grabbed onto the alloy right arm and stretched it.

"I designed your outfit with my own image of you in mind! ARGH! See! You're so much bigger now! AIEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The tailor sat down on the floor and threw a small tantrum, frustrated at the changed dimensions.

"Phos' body is now home to large quantities of alloy and has grown to accommodate it," Rutile explain as she searched for something in her cupboard.

"Look how much it stretches!" Morg shouted excitedly as Yellow Dia pulled the arm further and further.

"It's not done yet!" Dia shouted, equally excited.

"Not even close!" Yellow Dia replied.

"Keep going!" Dia urged.

"Phos!" Obsidian called out over the commotion from Phos' left as she arrived and gently grabbed the peppermint gem's left arm. "About your sword," the blacksmith began to ask as Red Beryl went back to taking measurements and shouting in frustration, "why not just take this and combine it right with your arms here or something crazy like that? Can you strip down for me right now?"

"What?!" I exclaimed, amused at everything that was going on.

"Oh!" Rutile called out. "If you do just stay that way for me too!"

She pulled out a few tools.

"I was just thinking how I wanted to dissect you!" the doctor replied cheerfully.

"You quack!" Phos shouted, alarmed.

The alloy grabbed me as Phos suddenly sprinted into the school, giving the other gems a decoy.

"We're out of here right now!"

"Hold it right there!" I heard Red Beryl shout from behind.

Turning a corner, Phos extended an arm to the ceiling, grabbed onto a pillar and pulled both me and herself up. After making sure I was grabbing on too, she retracted her arm.

"Let me squish you some more!" Dia called out, also chasing Phos.

"Let me take you apart!" Rutile said, following suit.

"Let me fix you up!" Obsidian followed.

"I haven't finished taking your measurements yet!" Red Beryl shouted.

All of them ran past, not noticing Phos and I watching from above.

Phos sighed.

"Told you they'll not be afraid anymore," I replied, smiling.

"This wasn't what I had in mind. Oh."

Looking down, I noticed that Bort was looking up at us.

"Happy with yourself now that you're stronger?" the black diamond-class gem called up.

"It's mixed," was the reply.

"I'd imagine so."

Phos leapt down, cushioning her fall with the alloy. I followed suit, but landed on my feet.

"That alloy of yours," I heard Bort say.

Looking up, I was shocked to see Bort with a slasher grin, her sword out and held above her head.

"How does it feel to slice through it?"

Phos dodged just in time. "Wait-"

"Bort!" a voice called out from the left.

"Dia!" Phos replied in relief.

"You big meanie! Let me stretch it out some more first!"

"Hold Phos down, then," was the reply from Bort.

"Okay!"

The peppermint gem's smile faded to shock as Dia leapt up, about to pounce.

With quick thinking, she grabbed me with one arm and dropped a decoy with the other, and began to run.

"Gotcha! Oh! It was a fake!"

"Run, Dan, Run!" Phos shouted as she set me down and let me move on my own. "Follow me! We need to hide!"

----------------------------

"Phos, those arms really are something!" Euc commented. "I'd love to measure the malleability and extendibility of them! Can I stretch them out to their limit?"

"Phos!" Alex called out. "Show me the shape of the Lunarian again! And all the rest! Go at it!"

"I'm being assaulted... by every last one of them..." Phos muttered to Sensei, hiding with me underneath the table."

Sensei looked down. "Popular as always."

I stifled a laugh.

"Ah?! Did I stutter or something? I'm asking you to tell them off for me!"

"There you are!" Neptunite called out from behind.

Phos yelped, grabbed me, hid behind Sensei and placed me on the side of Neptunite..

"Stretchy stretchy!" Dia went.

"Breaky breaky!" Rutile went next.

"Fixy fixy!" Obsidian continued.

"I still need your measurements!" Red Beryl shouted.

"Stretch!"

"Break!"

"Fix!"

"Your measurements!"

Everything went into a flurry of incomprehensible jumble.

"Enough," Sensei said, and silence arrived.

Phos sighed in relief.

"There must be order before any of you tamper with Phos."

"What?!" Phos yelped, staring at me.

"Line up first," Sensei instructed.

"Okay!" was the reaction while everyone got into a single file.

"Sorry Dan, you stay here," the peppermint gem said as they quickly ran off.

"I jest," Sensei said.

"Phos is gone," Jade replied, watching Phos run off.

"It was a joke," Sensei said again, turning around.

"Again, Phos is gone," Jade answered.

Everyone watched Phos run off.

"Well. With great power comes a sense of solitude," Sensei said.

"If that's so," Jade asked, "do you feel lonesome too, Sensei?"

"Mh?"

Sensei turned to face Jade before picking her up.

"Woah!" all the others went.

"That's a secret," Sensei replied to Jade.

"Hey, that's not fair!"

"Sensei, me next!"

"Oh, before that," Sensei went, putting Jade down and looking at me. "Dan"

"Y-yes?"

"There is something that everyone has tried before but failed, I would like you to do what they did."

"S-sure thing," I said, standing up, "but what is it?"

Sensei pointed at the very-familiar instrument that I had not noticed on the table.

"Try to play this. You have 3 days to figure it out."

"Alright," I replied, looking at the instrument.

I decided to feign ignorance. "What is this?"

"It's called a trumpet," Sensei explained. "None have managed to figure out to play this so far."

"Sensei," Benito asked, "you sure this is not broken? None of us managed to play it at all, after all."

"It is in pristine condition."

"Don't mind me if I asked," Jade chimed in, "but where did you get this?"

Sensei paused for a moment. "It was made on request, for the first gem I met and the senior of all of you."

Yellow Dia blinked. "Red Dia?"

"Indeed," was the reply. "Red Diamond wanted this particular instrument, so I made it for them. They are, so far, the only ones who can play this instrument."

I picked up the brass trumpet. "So, Sensei, I have 3 days to figure it out?"

"Yes."

"Don't bother, Dan," Sphene commented, "no matter what we did it just won't play."

I smiled. "I still want to try. I'll figure it out overnight."

-------------------

I spent the rest of the day walking around the island, trying to find a place where nobody would hear me.

But I still don't feel safe enough.

"Hey Nicole, want to join the band? I just signed up."

"Hmm, sure."

Phos was off doing her stuff, so I'll leave her be.

Soon, the sun began to set.

I still don't feel safe.

"Nice! We're both playing trumpets!"

Night came.

Nobody's around.

I checked the Cave of Emptiness.

Cinn is out.

I stood on the cliff, trumpet in hand.

"Heya Nicole, we're playing this piece that I happen to like for the upcoming performance!"

"Nice. What piece, though?"

"It's called 'Jupiter, the Harbinger of Jollity', written by Gustav Holst. Here, hear this arrangement on YouTube."3

I looked around the horizon. It was a beautiful night.

"Nice," I commented, impressed.

"Heheh, you like it too, don't you?"

"Yeah. The middle section especially."

"Same here, that particular part has been made into a standalone hymn called 'Thaxted'. Speaking of which, we can practice that after school at my house, how's that?"

I smiled. "Yeah, that's fine."

She beamed. "That's great! They're giving away these trumpets to their players so that they have space for the new ones, so a personal instrument won't be an issue."

I looked at the moon.

I hope you're okay out there, wherever you are. These days, I've been thinking more and more about of you, probably because I stopped crying about myself.

Jane, I really miss you.

I looked down at the trumpet.

"This was your favorite instrument too," I muttered to myself. "I can never forget how to play that hymn, thanks to your guidance."

I looked back.

They won't hear me, the school is far enough.

I raised the trumpet.

Jupiter or Thaxted?

Thaxted, Jupiter's way too long and won't work in a solo.

I think I'm a bit rusty though...

The notes automatically came to my head as I began to play.

No. Not at all.

----------------

That felt satisfying, I thought as I headed back to the school.

We ended up earning a full round of applause for that performance, which cemented the school's idea of buying new trumpets. Jane and I were really looking forward to it.

I sighed. What's the use when Jane isn't around?"

"Hey! Dan!"

Looking up, I noticed the only other twin-tailed, white-haired girl in the area running towards me.

"Hey, Katsumi."

"Were you playing a trumpet? Oh, yeah, you were," Katsumi noticed.

"Yeah. What's the matter?"

"I heard you playing, that's why I ran over here."

"Ehehe, why?"

"I heard you from the school. Everyone else heard you playing."

Beat.

"Wait," I asked, "what?"

Katsumi grinned. "I don't know how you did it, but literally everyone heard you. How far were you?"

"I was at the cliff."

"What?! That's far!"

She thought for a moment.

"Well, there are certain occasions when sound travels much, much further than usual, but they're rare. Guess you're the lucky one."

"Dammit," I muttered. "Now what?"

"I was waiting for you to ask that! Follow me!"

----------------------

"So, we've basically put the trumpet at somewhere I don't frequent that much, and now I'm pretending to be sleeping?" I asked, lying on my bed in my sleeping robes.

"That's right!" the butterfly on the ceiling replied. "Oh wait, here comes someone."

I quickly turned towards the wall and closed my eyes.

The footsteps got louder, then stopped outside my room.

"Dan?" I heard Jade ask.

The footsteps entered the room.

"Dan, are you sleeping?" Jade asked as she shook me.

I slowly rolled over and conveniently yawned while slowly opening my eyes. "H... huh?"

"Oh, you're sleeping," Jade said, looking at me, with Euc behind her. "Sorry, we thought you were playing that instrument. Where is it, anyway?"

"I don't remember..." I muttered, feigning both tiredness and ignorance. "I... I think I left it on a table somewhere."

"Oh, is that so? Well," Jade replied, turning towards Euc, "we'll go look for it then. See you in the morning, Dan."

"Yeah, see you."

"Sweet dreams," Euc wished me, smiling.

I returned the smile. "Thanks."

After the two of them left for some time, I sat up.

"Damn, that was close."

"Yeah," was the reply from Katsumi. "I didn't know you play the trumpet, by the way."

"Yeah, I never mentioned it here."

"Well, that's good to know. Hey, why not let's spar later tonight?"

"Oh, that may be a good idea."

"Great!"

-------------------------

"So," Katsumi asked as we got ready, "you ready?"

It's in the middle of the night now, where we're sure everyone will be asleep.

"Yeah," I replied, whipping out my butterfly knives and feeling the familiar warmth grow onto me.

Katsumi whipped out her daggers, the glowing lines on her body out.

"Alright, let's- wait!"

"Huh?"

"You know this is friendly, right?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Yeah, no problem," Katsumi giggled. "Alright, let's go!"

Katsumi charged towards me.

I waited till the last moment before jumping out of the way.

"Good reflexes," she commented as she lunged towards me.

This time, I leapt to the ceiling and went downwards, preparing to strike.

Katsumi leapt out of the way, and I rolled on the ground a few times.

"Watch you landing, Dan," Katsumi advised as I got up.

"Alright, let's play in close quarters," she said as she ran.

Running towards her, we began to actually start sparring.

"You're good," Katsumi commented as she let me attack her, doing nothing but blocking and dodging.

She stopped my knives with her daggers.

"But you're not used to them at all," she continued, throwing me back.

Now she began to go all-out, and I could barely dodge and block her attacks.

A sudden idea popped up in my head, and I quickly bent down while she swung towards my chest and gave her legs a spinning sweep kick, intending to catch her off-guard.

Katsumi simply hopped over it and grabbed my leg, pulling it upwards.

"Ah!"

I fell on my back as Katsumi pointed one of her daggers at my face.

There was silence for a moment....

... which was broken with the other twintailed, white-haired girl giggling, and I followed suit.

"You think I haven't used that move before?" she cheerfully asked while putting away her daggers and offering me a hand, which I took.

"Well," I replied as I stood up, "anything's possible."

Katsumi smiled. "Well, not this one."

I picked up and kept my knives. "I really should start to sharpen myself."

"Yes you should, but on the bright side, your fundamentals are there. Hey, Phos, how long do you intend to stand there?"

Turning left, I noticed the surprised peppermint gem peeking out from behind a pillar.

"I couldn't sleep, so I was just walking around." Phos explained. "Hey, Katsu, I think you can take on Bort yourself."

Katsumi giggled. "Aw, you think so? Wait, 'Katsu'?"

The peppermint gem grinned. "Right on! Can I call you that from now on?"

"Sure! I like it!"

"Great! Oh, right, Dan."

"Yeah?"

"I'll be teaming up with Bort from tomorrow onwards, I'll apologize for not deciding with you on this. Will you do fine alone?"

Phos looked down in guilt.

"Well..." I replied, "this is sudden, but sure."

The peppermint gem looked up. "Really?"

I giggled. "Of course. But please find any other time to spend with me, or I'll not forgive you."

"I will, for sure!"

-----------------------

Thank god for this perfect memory, I thought as I sketched.

It's the start of a brand new day, and since I have nothing to do, I've decided to entertain myself by doing something. I couldn't figure out what that "something" would be last night, but when I woke up I realized what I really wanted to do.

I'll draw out the world map.

Behind me, Katsumi watched from the wall in her butterfly form.

"So, what is it that makes you so confident you won't get most of the map wrong?"

"Well," I replied as I "rounded" the American east coast, "I realized that we gems aren't that bad when it comes to remembering stuff. Although we lose memories when parts of us fall off, we actually have perfect photographic memory as a balance. Of course, memories from my past life are pretty much the way it is as a human, but the ones I got as a gem stuck well."

"Well, that's great, but why do you think you can get the map right?"

I thought back to last night's dream, where God flashed me a world map.

"Trust me on this, don't worry," was my reply. "Now, that's North and South America down, now for the rest..."

A few minutes later, Katsumi looked at the finished map in amazement.

"Wow, you really did get everything right! Let me guess, you saw the map in a very recent dream?"

"Well, you can say that."

Katsumi giggled, passing me back the map. "Knew it. You might want to hide it somewhere though, would be bad if anyone comes across this. Fold it up and put it inside your diary, maybe?"

She reached under the mattress and pulled out the book, passing me the key too.

"Yeah, that'll be a good idea," was my reply as I opened it up, folded the map and placed it in between the last few pages I used.

Locking the book, I passed it back to Katsumi, who helped stuff it under the mattress again.

Out of the blue, the school's bell rang.

Six times.

"Hey, Dan," the dimensional observer uttered, "what does that mean?"

"I don't know," I replied as I grabbed my sword. "I'll go take a look, alright?"

"Sure, be safe."

"I will."

--------------------

I walked around, noticing an unusual air alongside the usual feeling of emptiness.

Something's off...

From afar, I saw two figures running towards me. Or rather, in my direction.

One cyan gem and one peppermint gem.

"Phos!"

"Am I glad to see you!" was the reply as Phos stopped, and Alex followed suit. "Did you see a large Lunarian pass by?"

"Huh? No, what large Lunari-"

A loud crash behind interrupted me mid-sentence. Turning around, I was shocked to find something much larger than anyone of us, with two arms on is left and grasping a pillar just behind me.

"What?!" the peppermint gem blurted out as the creature turned to look at us, revealing a second eye at where its mouth should be.

Hey, doesn't the head resemble that of a dog, with those ears?

"Is it just me, or does this thing look way different than a minute ago?" Phos cried out.

The "animal" jumped down and smacked both Alex and I, throwing us a good distance back.

"Ow!" "Ah!"

Getting up, I saw Phos pushing back at the creature, which had one arm on its left side.

The peppermint gem had extended the alloy in their arms, and now proceeded to try extending it from her right heel.

"My... sword..."

The alloy extended further.

"My..."

The alloy reached the sword and tied around its hilt, but little movement was seen.

"D-dangit! I don't have enough alloy left! I can't lift it! Dan, finish it!"

"Y-yes!"

Grabbing my sword, I charged towards the creature.

All it did was suddenly release the grasp of its top right arm, made Phos stumble and use that free hand to smack me. Hard.

I flew back, slamming into a pillar.

I swear I felt something crack.

I tried to push myself forward.

Oh, great.

"Phos, I'm stuck!"

The peppermint gem looked back for a moment.

"I can't keep this up for long!" she cried back in panic. "Alex! Do it!"

"Hm? N-no way no way no way no way no way!" was the reply as Alex looked away.

"Alex!" was the annoyed shout from the peppermint gem.

"No way no way no way no way! I'm not supposed to even look at the Lunarians, Sensei's orders!"

"You just swing and slice! It's easy! Come on!"

"But..."

"I'm begging you!"

As Phos struggled, Alex stood up.

"Fine then."

Is that her hair turning red?

Alex ran forward and brutally sliced the Lunarian multiple times.

Phos was thrown back as a large amount of steam was emitted, and the now-red gem let out a boiling-red shriek of rage, surprising both me and the peppermint gem.

I turned my attention back to my current situation tried to push myself out of the pillar.

"Come on, come on!"

I suddenly shot forward, yelped, and landed face-down on the floor, being suddenly freed from the crater.

A cry from Phos made me look up at the two, as the peppermint gem dragged in four smaller Lunarians in from the window, allowing Alex to brutally cut them up.

As the steam began to clear, I stood up, brushing off the dust on my clothes.

Bort leapt onto the window as Alex sat there, looking up towards the ceiling and shaking.

"So it was red Alex," the black diamond-class gem commented, "was it?"

"You knew about this?" Phos uttered softly as I walked over to her.

"That's what happens when Alex sees Lunarians. A real nutcase, that one."

"Look who's talking."

Alex suddenly laid down, her hair becoming cyan again.

Phos stood up just as I arrived. "It's finally over..."

"We're not finished yet," Bort replied, pointing towards the small white spots beginning to move.

"You've got to be kidding..."

"Get ready for it."

Bort raised their sword.

The white spots began to form shapes...

... which turns out to be these little puppy-like things.

The closest one panted excitedly at Phos.

The three of us watched, confused.

That "puppy" sprinted over to a confused Bort, jumping onto her chest. It tried to hold on, but struggled and fell on its back on the ground.

It moved its legs, unable to roll itself back on its feet.

"... What?" I uttered in confusion.

The whole group then ran towards us, jumping on and attempting to climb us.

"I'm... not really sure I can swing a sword at these..." Phos muttered, holding up one that was crawling up her chest.

I gently grabbed the one that had crawled up to my shoulders. Light.

Mine looked at me, its fluffy little tail wagging.

"Cute," I commented.

"Hey, Dan, look."

"Huh?"

Turning right, both of us looked at Bort, sword raised but unable to move.

"Whaddya know? I guess even Bort has a soft side."

A "puppy" climbed onto the peppermint gem's head.+

I giggled. "These little things are pretty energetic, aren't they?"

Phos smiled. "Yeah, they are."

The little creatures suddenly turned around, heading towards the rest of the school.

The one in my arm squirmed, eager to follow its companions, so I released it, letting it catch up to the rest.

"They... just ran off." Phos uttered in surprise.

"That's it!" Bort shouted behind, "That was their plan!"