42: A Sister’s Guild of Hunters

At the edge between a towering mountain range and an expansive set of plains, a pseudo war had broken out. On the right, in the distance, a massive dragon torched the waves of misshapen monsters rushing towards it. The rider atop the dragon wielding a lance made of light cut down the survivors. Near the pair sat a bear. By now, it had grown to a size comparable to the emperor dragon. It swept its paws and cleaned up any stragglers attempting to escape.

On the left side of the battlefield, two people sat in meditative-like positions. Behind one sat a mystical gate reaching into the sky. Its doors sat wide open as a random assortment of spirits came rushing through. The other, acting as a guard, manipulated the ground to send waves of nature cascading into the enemy lines. Wooden spikes, poisonous seed bombs, carnivorous flowers, and more. Their attack covered all the bases.

Together, these four kept the two flanks under control. They funneled as many monsters as they could to the center of the battlefield. Here, in the centermost section of the battlefield, a storm of glimmering lights and carnage filled the scene.

Roxanne stood in the center of the battlefield, an orchestra conductor as she remained unarmed. Green light flooded out from her eyes and wreathed her hands. Her mouth, though, murmured orders to the twelve spirits she controlled.

“It’s rare to see Roxanne go full out,” The woman manipulating nature sighed. She sent a wave of vines forward, wrapping, then throwing a wave of enemies in Roxanne’s direction. “How are your spirits doing, Deuce?”

“They’re doing well... I think,” Deuce grimaced as a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead. “The mental load of hundreds of spirits is nothing to scoff at, even if they’re all weak.”

“I mean, among the hundreds, there’s got to be some strong ones, yeah?” The woman scratched her chin.

“So far, no, I think some of the stronger ones might’ve been scared off by Roxanne’s spirits,” Deuce shook his head. “Not that I really know though, I only control the gate, it's random what comes out.”

The woman raised an eyebrow before focusing back on her job. “Well, just let me know I guess. I’m just here to guard you. Close the gate if you need to rest, the battlefield is under control, even though we’re probably losing against Gideon and Alara.”

“No, no, here’s what you don’t understand, Hazel,” Deuce shook his head. “I can’t close the gate now. I’ll push through. It’s only a matter of time before a stronger spirit comes out. It’s as they say, most people quit right before they hit it big.”

“... Worrying, but you do you,” Hazel let out an exasperated sigh. “I just want to go home...”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield, Gideon and Alara began wrapping up. Gideon, the bear, flopped forward onto the ground, crushing several monsters beneath him. Tensing all four of his limbs, he shouted “BEAR VACUUM!” before transforming to expand his mouth by several magnitudes. Once transformed, he rushed forward and shoveled any enemies in his path into his mouth.

After a few laps around their section of the battlefield, he had cleaned up most of the enemies. Standing up onto his hind legs, he shouted “BEAR VOMIT!” and regurgitated the enemies in a huge mass, sending them flying towards Roxanne in the center of the battlefield.

“Where does everything even go during... ‘Bear vacuum’? I’m still so confused,” Alara mumbled as she walked up to Gideon—who had now returned to his human form. “And must you shout out these moves?”

“I must, who else will represent the bear population?” Gideon flexed his arm before patting his stomach. “I’m also confused as to where things go during ‘bear vacuum.’ The running theory is just... a pocket dimension, but I’ve never cared enough to find out. I could just do it one day so I’m not gonna question it.”

“... Cool, remind me to uh... not get bear vacuumed,” Alara used a hand to shade her eyes as she looked over to Roxanne’s chaotic battlefield. “Glad I’m not over there.”

“Me too...” Gideon rubbed his arms before looking around. The red dragon had disappeared into thin air. “Surprising to see you not with Cael though, where is he? Did you unsummon him?”

“I sent him to fly around a bit,” Alara shrugged. “Let him do some reconnaissance while we clean up things here. The rest of the team is also investigating the abandoned lab we found, so I sent him in their direction in case a fight broke out over there too.”

“Very smart of you, admirable as always,” Gideon crossed his arms and chuckled. “What do you want to do now then?”

“Let’s just wait, I don’t feel like helping the gambler,” Alara grumbled. “Mr. ‘I just haven’t won it big yet’ can keep trying to win it big, I don’t care.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Gideon laughed before shouting “BEAR SIT” and sitting down.

“Just sit down...”

Meanwhile, the battle hit another gear in the center of the battlefield. Roxanne, the Zodiac’s Emissary, proved once more why she deserved the title. Threads of green light connected her to twelve translucent spirits. A dog-sized rat ran around the battlefield, drawing the attention of an entire pack of animals. It ran right to an ox and tiger. The ox plowed forward, straight through the pack leaving a trail of carnage behind it. The tiger, like a surgeon's scalpel, zipped around, taking the heads off the strongest few.

A super-sized rabbit leapt around, crushing monsters underneath with each movement. A master of hit-and-run. Overhead coiled a massive dragon, sweeping through and dominating the battlefield with its size and power. The rest, the snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig all followed suit, carving out their own sections of the battlefield. Each a deadly weapon under Roxanne’s control.

Minutes ticked by, and after another ten minutes of fighting, everything cooled down. Deuce’s gate closed with a BANG and Roxanne unsummoned her twelve spirits. Hazel cleaned up the last of the stragglers by summoning giant carnivorous plants right beneath them. Chomp. Chomp. Chomp. With chomp, another monster disappeared, never to be seen again.

“Good work everyone,” Roxanne wiped her forehead as everyone gathered around her. “Brilliant strategy as always, Alara, thank you for your advice.”

“Of course,” Alara bowed. “It's my honor.”

“No need to be formal,” Roxanne laughed while letting her brown hair down from its ponytail. “Any updates from the investigation group?”

“I sent Cael over there after the battle ended,” Alara spoke up, “He just let me know that they finished their investigation just a little while ago. They’re packing up their evidence right now.”

“Cool, cool, so let’s just meet them at our base camp,” Roxanne thanked Alara once more. “Now, Gideon, do you still have enough energy?”

“Of course!” He laughed, taking a few steps back to put some distance between him and everyone else. He shouted “BEAR CAR!” and transformed into a... large bear with an exhaust pipe. The sound of an engine revving filled the air as he smiled. “Hop on!”

“What kind of bear is this...” Alara shook her head in confusion as she, along with everyone else, hopped on. The bear car took off the moment everyone grabbed on, zipping across the field at race car speeds. “I’ve never heard of a bear with an engine? What is this fictional bear nonsense...”

“Just don’t question it,” Roxanne laughed, “You’ve seen more crazy things from my younger sister.”

“But I expect it from her, it fits in her power! I never expected that Gideon would actually be able to recreate the random transformations she came up with...” Alara facepalmed. “At least it helps our team...”