Firstly, I must apologize for the long wait. I have been very busy and my over-active mind kept thinking of OTHER stories to make and I've been writing those (specifically one which will be posted later today if all goes well). There's also a huge snowstorm happening right now so I wanted to post this before anything happens to the internet or my power. Enjoy, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!


The next day the group decided to begin their travels to Magnolia, where the Blue Skull guild was located. That morning they returned to the ship to gather any supplies they needed.

"Yuri, I'm going to go get the egg. I'll be right back!" Mavis called out as she went down the stairs, ignoring Yuri's calls to hurry up.

"You guys ready?" Yuri asked Precht and Warrod as he walked off the ship, a pack of supplies and a sleeping bag on his back. Warrod opened his mouth to answer when a horrified scream ripped through the still air. The three men whipped back to the ship. "Mavis!"

The three rushed back on just as Mavis and Zera ran up, a blanket held tightly in the blonde's fists. Warrod frowned. "Mavis, what happened?"

"Th-th-the egg… It's gone!"

The three's eyes widened in varying degrees of shock.

"It was stolen?"

Mavis nodded, tears barely being held in her wide eyes.

"It must have happened while we were in town," Precht said, looking at the stairway door. "The question is who could have taken it?"

Yuri grit his teeth, staring down at the ground for a moment before looking toward Mavis, who was on the verge of an emotional breakdown. He placed a hand on Mavis's shoulder, causing her to look up at him. "Come on, we'll find it. But first we have to get Blue Skull."

"B-but we have to find it!"

"It's possible Blue Skull could have taken it," Precht said, getting everyone's attention.

"W-what do you mean…?"

"Remember yesterday? I don't think they were too happy at what we did." Mavis's eyes widened as she remembered how she and Precht annihilated the bar one of the guild's members was hiding in. They left the guild member alone after that, which was apparently a huge mistake if they really did take it.

"That's only an assumption, though," Warrod said, "It's also possible they weren't the ones who took it."

"Well, we have no other leads. The best thing we can do is head to Blue Skull's hideout in Magnolia and get information from them." Mavis looked down as Warrod placed a hand on her. "I know that you're worried, but it will be fine." She nodded silently and followed them as they walked off the ship and toward the forest.

Zera looked at her friend worriedly. To be truthful, she was upset too. They were so close to seeing what was hidden inside the egg, and it was taken from them!

She could only hope that Blue Skull had it.


The Blue Skull guild hall was loud and full of fighting, laughing, and drinking. Hundreds upon hundreds of mages were put into the large building known as Cardia Cathedral. The large entrance area housed most of the members, along with tables and a bar. On the other side of the entrance was a raised platform that housed the Tenrou Orb, with the strange egg right next to it.

"Master, why is the egg next to the Orb?" one of the members asked.

"Because it houses a powerful being, a creature stronger than any animal outside of dragons." The member's eyes widened.

"That strong? No way…"

"When it finally hatches, we will use its power to expand our territory!" the Master exclaimed with a laugh. A couple members stared warily at the cracked egg.

When the Master walked into another part of the castle, one of the more rambunctious members laughed mockingly and walked up to the egg. "Ha! I think the Master's lost a bit of his mind," he told another group, who laughed as well. "I doubt something so strong would come out of such a tiny eg-" He tapped the egg a bit too hard, causing it to fall off the pedestal it was on. It was as if everything went in slow-motion as the egg fell to the floor, rolled, fell off the raised platform, hit the floor, rolled a bit on the ground before slowing to a stop.

The entire guild hall was dead silent, every single member staring at the egg in pure shock. Said shock turned into horror as large cracks spread around it like a spider web.

The man who hit it over screamed in horror as a few shell pieces chipped off. He rushed over, picked it up, and started trying to put it back together, but stopped when the egg started glowing. Everyone watched with held breath, waiting to see what would happen.

The golden light completely engulfed the egg and it slowly started to change shape in the man's hands. He held it out as he turned his head away to try and flinch from the light until it died down.

When the light dimmed, the members all turned quickly to see this "powerful Creature". Imagine their surprise, and utter disappointment, when they saw a small brown fox-like animal in his hands.

The small creature opened its eyes and blinked a few times before looking around. Its eyes scanned the room before looking to the one whose hands it was in. It smiled. "Vee!" The hands suddenly pulled back, dropping the newborn onto the ground with a thud. It looked up at the person who once held it, their expression one of confusion and disappointment.

Okay, now the poor thing was confused. Why would this human just drop it? Actually, now that it looked more closely, it didn't know who this person even was! Looking around again, it came to the shocking realization that none of the people were even remotely familiar. It may have been in an egg, but it knew the feel, the aura of the ones who held and cared for it. And they certainly weren't here.

"Ha! You're telling me this little thing is supposedly 'all powerful'?" the mocking voice caught the cub's tall ears, and it turned to see one of the humans laughing and pointing at it. "It's just a baby. How pathetic!" The 'baby' growled at the human, feeling energy build up in its body. These people… they were going to-

"Hey!"

The shout caused the cub to lose its concentration and turn toward the two large open doors where a lone man stood.

"Aoki? What is it?" one of the others asked.

"There's three people trespassing into our city and attacking our guild members!"

"WHAT?!" The fox winced at the unanimous shouts of disapproval and anger that came from all two hundred-or-so guild members. They all stood, shouting different threats and promises of pain as they ran out of the room, nearly trampling the newborn Magical Creature.

Thankfully it was able to climb under a table, cowering away from the loud foot stomps. It slowly died down until only a few people were left to supposedly guard the building. The animal looked at the guards before making a break for the door.

"Oi!" A hand reached and grabbed the scruff of the Creature's neck, lifting it off the floor. "And where do you think you're going?" The man smirked, turning the animal to face him. His eyes widened as he came face-to-face with an angry Magical Creature. Sharp claws swiped multiple times on the poor man's face, causing him to let go and grip his bleeding face in pain. The cub landed on all fours before breaking into a mad dash toward the edge of the city.

It continued running for a minute or so before the ground shook from a blast of blue magic, causing the cub to stop and keep balance. It looked in the direction of the magic blast, its eyes narrowed.


"Hey, come on!" Mavis broke out of her stupor and turned to her friend.

"Zera…?"

"We have to get out of here!" Zera grabbed Mavis's arm and started running in Warrod and Precht's direction. The blonde turned her head and watched as Yuri kicked a guy down that was catching up to the girls. He turned and faced the guild master with narrowed eyes. He had to stall him so the others could escape.

"You! Tell me, did you take an egg from us?" he asked, his voice even with the slightest hint of anger. The strange Master raised an eyebrow as he thought for just a moment before smirking.

"Oh, so that little treasure was yours, was it?" Yuri's eyes narrowed more and he clenched his fists. So they did take it… "I must admit, I never thought I'd see a Magical Creature egg again. I can't wait until it hatches."

"Why you…" Yuri reached into his pocket and tossed a red crystal bomb at the Master. "Here's a present just for you!" He smirked for only a moment before his expression turned to shock when the Master merely held up a finger, stopping the bomb mere inches from his face. "N-no way…"

The Master smirked before flicking his finger, sending the bomb straight back for Yuri. Mavis turned around at that time, her eyes widening in horror. "YURIIII!"

BOOM!

A ball of black energy shot down and shot right through the bomb, detonating it before it reached its target, though it was close enough to cause Yuri to stumble back in shock.

"Yuri!" Precht exclaimed, stopping and looking at his friend in worry. "Are you okay?!"

"Y-yeah…" he mumbled back, staring at the smoke in front of him from where the bomb went off.

The group's eyes widened in surprise when, with a loud cry, dozens of star-shaped projectiles shot at the Blue Skull members behind them that blocked their way out. The members fell to the ground, the surprise attack leaving them no room to dodge.

"What the hell…?" Precht muttered.

"Look up there!" Mavis shouted, pointing to a rooftop. Yuri, Precht, Warrod, and Zera all looked up to where she was pointing to see a small brown fox with a cream fur tuft around it neck on the roof, snarling down at them.

"What is that?" Warrod asked.

No one answered as even Blue Skull was looking at the animal in surprise. Finally, the Master tore his eyes away and looked at the distracted group. He smirked and swung his cane, shooting blue magic at one in particular.

"MAVIS! LOOK OUT!"

"Huh-" Mavis looked at the magic as it was coming closer to her, making her frozen in fear.

"VEEE!" Mavis felt a hard something slam into her side, knocking her to the ground and helping her dodge the blast. She slammed hard into the ground, her head spinning from the impact. The Magical Creature landed in a tumble next to her before standing up.

"Mavis!" Zera ran to her side and laid a hand on her side.

"I-I'm fine…"

"Eee..." Both girls looked at the strange animal in front of them who was glaring at the people in front of it.

"What is that thing…?" Warrod asked, staring at the creature.

The cub turned to the group behind it, then looked at Yuri. The man's eyes widened as he stared into the cub's big brown eyes. "Wait...are you…?" The fox's own widened in recognition.

"Don't let them escape!"

The fox turned and growled at the mages before rushing forward, ignoring the worried cries from Mavis. It jumped up, opening its mouth and showing its sharp teeth intended to sink into one of the mage's skin. A burst of magic shot from one of the staffs, slamming into the cub's stomach before it reached the intended target, causing it to scream out in pain before flying back and collapsing to the ground. It skid across the stone path before landing a few feet away from the group, smoke rising from its stomach. Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth in horror.

They all turned toward the large group of mages as they rushed forward. "Come on! We gotta get out of here!" Precht ordered. The others nodded and started running. Yuri scooped up the cub and followed shortly after. They easily passed the unconscious mages and were able to escape.


Magnolia - Western Forest

When they decided they were a safe distance from the city, the new group of six decided to set up camp. They had all come out of the battle with less injuries than expected, though they supposed it had to do with their currently incapacitated friend.

"How's it doing?" Warrod asked, watching as Mavis wrapped bandages around the cub's middle and head. When she finished she laid the cub down on a pillow and sighed.

"It should be fine, though the magic blast it took wasn't exactly merciful."

"I'm surprised it wasn't shot through," Precht said truthfully, looking at the subject of their talk. It was breathing lightly, wincing every so often.

"Magical Creatures have bodies that resemble a mage's. Because their body needs to be strong enough to hold its magic, it's naturally tougher than a regular animal," Mavis explained.

"So this thing's a Magical Creature? What's it called?" Warrod asked.

Mavis hummed in thought. "From the attacks it used as well as its appearance, I believe it is a part of the Eevee line."

"The what line?" Yuri asked.

"The Eevee line." She smiled a little at him. "This Magical Creature is known as an Eevee. This particular one is very different from all others because it has the ability to 'evolve' into many different forms. You see, these animals don't age like humans or other animals. Instead, they physically change into different forms depending on different things, like age or strength. Some even changed forms due to magic stones." She looked down at the animal now knows as Eevee. "This particular Magical Creature can change in every way."

"This is the only one that can do that?" Yuri asked in surprise.

Mavis nodded. "Yes, but it can only choose one form. Once it changes, it stays in that form forever. From what I've read, there have been a total of eight discovered forms."

"And this guy knows Dark Magic?" Precht asked.

"You could put it that way, but that's not all there is to it." She smiled. "There is usually one element that each Magical Creature excels at, but they can perform a wide range of spells based around healing, support, and attacking. There are a lot of magic elements they use, and it rarely matters what element they are based upon."

Mavis grabbed a stick and started drawing a Magical Creature that was fairly common on Tenrou-a tiny mantis-like creature. "What's that?" Yuri asked, leaning forward slightly to get a better look.

"It's known as Fomantis, and it's specialty is Nature Magic." She drew an arrow pointing to a leaf, then drew another arrow. "However, it's able to learn basic spells that fall into no true category." She drew a circle, then another arrow. "And it's also able to learn a few Poison and Dark spells, despite its own body being extremely in-tune with nature."

She turned and started drawing another picture, this one of a lion with wild flame-like mane. "This one's a Pyroar, and it specializes in Fire magic. But it's also able to learn a few Earth spells, along with Nature spells."

"That sounds like it shouldn't be much of a problem," Yuri pointed out. Mavis grinned and held up a finger.

"That's where you're wrong. Unlike humans, Magical Creatures are more connected to their true element, in this case being fire. If a human were to base their entire magic power on one type, say...water." She drew a separate picture of a stick figure holding up two thin arms. Waves were drawn above them. Then a flame was drawn with an 'X' on top. "Then they would be unable to perform fire magic with as much efficiency, if at all; even after years of work, their magic would still be tipped over to water."

"But these beings can used multiple elements efficiently," Precht stated, to which Mavis nodded.

"Exactly!"

Warrod chuckled and shook his head. "Man, these adventures just keep getting stranger and stranger…"

Mavis stood, brushing any dirt off her dress. "I'm going to get us some water. I'll be back."

"W-wait, what do we do if this thing wakes up?!" Yuri asked, reaching out to the girl who had already disappeared. He sighed. "Great…"

The group remained in relative silence for about fifteen minutes. Yuri frowned and turned his head toward the direction Mavis went. "It shouldn't take her this long to get some water. Where is she?"

"I'm sure she's fine," Precht told him, his eyes closed and his back leaning against a fallen log. Warrod nodded in agreement.

Yuri said nothing as he laid back against his backpack, putting his hands behind his head. He might as well get some sleep before she came back.

He woke up a while later when he felt something shuffle by his side. He opened one eye, finding himself staring directly into two big and curious eyes, the rest of his vision colored brown.

"Gah!" He jumped to his feet in shock, causing the brown fox to tumble to the ground with a surprised yip. "W-what the hell!" He heard laughter and saw his two companions laughing at him, though Precht was a bit more subdued.

"Man, I was wondering how long it would take you to notice. That was hilarious!" Warrod exclaimed between laughs.

"Oh shut up!" He ordered, though it went unheeded. He scoffed and looked at the Magical Creature with a scowl. It tilted its head in thought for a moment before standing and crouching, giving Yuri its own scowl, though it didn't have any anger or annoyance that his did and it was much cuter.

The blonde blinked in surprise, his growl disappearing, an action copied by the Magical Creature. The brown cub sat on its haunches and grinned up at him as he squatted down to get a closer look at it. It tilted its head and yipped. "So you're an Eevee, huh…?"

"Vee!"

"Is that all it can say?" Warrod asked, leaning toward the Eevee. It smiled at him. "That's one interesting language barrier…"

"From what Mavis said, it understands human speech," Precht added, "But you're right in one respect. While it can understand us, we can't understand it."

Eevee's ears twitched and it turned its head toward the forest. "Eev?" The other three looked in that direction as well, and were surprised to see Mavis walking over with a man behind her dressed in black.

"Okay, who's this now?" Warrod asked, looking at the man suspiciously.

Eevee tilted its head in interest at the man, who gazed back with equal intrigue. It could feel the negative energy surrounding the man from a mile away; it was just so potent… The other humans around it began asking the strange man and Mavis questions, but they were all muted in its ears. The fox's eyes stared into the unknown wizard's, and it felt drawn to them.

It started walking forward, ignoring the strange look Yuri gave it. The black-haired man looked down at it and his eyes widened in horror, taking a step back for every step forward it went. "Please, you mustn't come near me…" he told it in a soft voice, holding his hands out in defense. Eevee stopped, looking at him with a frown, tilting its head in confusion.

"Vee…?" "Why not?"

"Because I don't wish to hurt you…" Everyone's eyes widened.

"Do you… you can understand it?" Warrod asked.

The man nodded, his eyes never leaving the fox just in case it started walking toward him again. "I have been on this earth a long time… I can do a lot of things many cannot. Including understanding the language used by the Magical Creatures."

"This man has agreed to teach us magic!" Mavis exclaimed happily.

"Magic? No way!" Yuri muttered, though he quickly grinned in excitement.

"Is it possible for us to learn?" Precht asked, looking unconvinced.

"Yes," the man clad in black answered, "All of you are able to learn magic. And with my help you will be able to reach your goal and defeat Blue Skull."

"Well then, what are we waiting for?!" Yuri asked, punching his fists together in excitement. "Let's get started!"

"Vee vee!" "Yeah! Started!" Eevee exclaimed happily, throwing a paw up into the air.