xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Train, 1:11 p.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"...I can't believe this..." Bernard said as he sat in his seat on the train with a look of complete despair.
Four days had passed since the trio of Bernard, Corvus and Vulp had left the capital on the way to Magnolia in an attempt to find to Lucy Heartfilia for assistance. With their time being spent between eating food that had been purchased at different junction points and playing odd games of cards and dares, fatigue had begun to set in.
"Hey, don't be glum. At least the photo was pretty decent." Corvus said as he sat next to Vulp in a nearby seat.
"I have every right to be glum! Look at this!" Bernard said as he held up a magazine and showed the cover to the Celestial Spirits.
In his hands was a copy of the recent issue of Sorcerer Weekly, a magazine detailing the latest news and gossip in the world of wizardry and magic. On the front of the magazine, however, was something that confused and angered the young beanie-sporting man as the cover photo showed a photo of Bernard standing in front of his newly acquired slime monster, Formosa, alongside Corvus and Vulp with a headline that read; "Monster Controlling Man defeats Vampire and saves Capital City."
"They gave me all the freaking credit!" Bernard said aggravated at the notion that the royal family publicized his involvement in stopping the Blood Dragon Slayer.
"Yeah but hey, look at the bright side. Your name is out there as a hero and not as a criminal that got executed like they originally tried to do to us." Corvus said as he tried to calm down Bernard.
"They couldn't be bothered to name Kamika or Uosuke!? And try to not make it look like we did everything!?" Bernard said as he complained and flailed the magazine violently in his hands.
"I don't mind it. I got my name out there and now all the silver key Celestial Spirits back home can read and weep at how awesome of a job I did fighting a Dragon Slayer of all things." Corvus said with a happy smirk as he gloated about his involvement to Vulp who looked at the crow with indifference. "Hey, don't you look at me like that, you helped too." Corvus said as he tried to avoid angering the fox.
"Nice to know you guys are enjoying the publicity..." Bernard said sullenly after he handed the book to Corvus who proceeded to skim to the article about himself and the events back in the capital.
"Hey check this out; "During the attack by the vampire-like man, a lone wizard appeared to confront him, controlling a trio of creatures in the form of a giant fluid monster, a blue dog-" Hahaha! Vulp got called a "dog!"' Corvus laughed while pointing a wing at Vulp who was getting angry at the crows mocking until Bernard reached over and picked up Vulp and putting him on his lap to calm him down.
"Calm down Vulp, watch this. Keep reading..." Bernard said as Vulp proceeded to lay on his lap in a comfortable way.
'"Giant fluid monster, a blue dog and a... black and purple chicken..." Seriously!? I am not a chicken!" Corvus screamed in frustration as Bernard and Vulp smiled at the crows angry tirade. "This magazine is written by a load of hacks!" Corvus shouted as he threw the copy of Sorcerer Weekly on the ground.
"The guy in charge of it is some real weirdo from what I heard. Can't stop shouting "cool" at everything." Bernard said as he petted Vulp on his lap.
"Ugh..." Corvus sighed in discontent. "How long left on this stupid train...?" Corvus questioned annoyed.
"Less than a day." Bernard said with similar annoyance.
"Ugh... We have to spend nearly another day on this stupid thing?" Corvus said with continued annoyance.
"You guys want to play cards again?" Bernard suggested as Vulp shook his head left and right is signify a "no."
"No thank you... We've played every card game known to humankind already; poker, gin rummy, blackjack, crazy eights, go fish! I am tired of playing cards!" Corvus complained as Bernard breathed a bored sigh.
"...Oh I got an idea." Bernard said with some renewed vigor as he reached into his backpack that was on the floor.
Sticking his arm into a pouch, Bernard pulled out a small jar that was full of multicolored peppers that had a label on it that read; "Blitz Peppers: Bound to Make You Cry!"
"Oh, those the spicy peppers you got at that one junction yesterday?" Corvus said as he and Vulp looked at the jar in Bernards hand.
"Got a new game we can play to pass a few minutes." Bernard said to the Celestial Spirits who were interested. "Very simple. These peppers are designed to not be eaten as the way they are, they are supposed to be cut up and served with food because they are too spicy while whole. We each put a full pepper in our mouth and chew on it." Bernard explained as he pulled out a water bottle from his backpack.
"A stamina game?" Corvus said with a raised eyebrow as Vulp moved to the seat next to Bernard.
"Losers are decided by the first person to try and get the water bottle." Bernard said as he placed the water bottle on the ground as he opened up the jar of peppers. Pulling out a yellow pepper, a green pepper and a red pepper, he handed the green one to Vulp, whose tail was now a blue hand to hold the pepper and the red one to Corvus who held it in his wing.
"Winner gets anything?" Corvus questioned as he sniffed the pepper as Vulp did the same.
"The right to call themselves a person who handles spice better than the others?" Bernard responded with no clear idea of what to answer with.
"Not much of a reward..." Corvus said with an unenthusiastic voice as Vulp made a similarly disinterested expression at the winners prize.
"Okay, fine. If one of you two win, I'll give the winner anything they want in Magnolia." Bernard said with frustration as he didn't personally want to give a real prize.
"Works for me." Corvus said as he shrugged his shoulders with Vulp nodding in compliance.
"Okay, open wide guys." Bernard motioned as he, Vulp and Corvus opened their mouths and begun to eat the peppers.
As they chew, Corvus has begun to feel like his tongue was being set on fire. At the same time, Vulps eyes widened to the point it looked like his eyes would fall out of his skull while Bernards face had brightened like a cherry tomato from the heavy heat making him feel like he was sitting in an active furnace.
"Okay! Maybe this wasn't a good idea!" Bernard mentally screamed as he continued to attempt to chew the pepper.
"I need water! Now!" Corvus thought as he held his nose holes on his beak as the hot peppers caused his nostrils to flare.
Giving up, Bernard and Corvus both quickly rushed for the water bottle on the ground as they scrambled to get a sip. With Corvus pecking at Bernards head to get a drink, Bernard quickly took a swig of the water bottle before passing it to Corvus who stopped pecking Bernard to swallow the rest.
"Dear god!" Bernard exclaimed as he gasped for air after drinking the water.
"Bless the stars! That was awful!" Corvus shouted as he breathed hard.
"Okay! That was... not a fun game!" Bernard said with regret as he continued to pant.
"Yeah... We are never... Doing that again..." Corvus said as he copied Bernard.
Turning their heads, they noticed Vulp was still chewing the pepper in his mouth. Shocked, Bernard and Corvus couldn't help but feel defeated as the fox looked at them with a look of superiority.
"Guess we know who the winner is." Bernard said as he got back up and looked at Vulp with a bewildered look.
"Unbelievable!" Corvus shouted as he looked at Vulp, still chewing and handling the spiciness. "Damn it, I am going to the bathroom in the next car." Corvus said as he flapped his wings and flew over to the door to leave the train car.
"Whats wrong, need to vent over Vulp beating you?" Bernard said with a smirk.
"No! I need to crap out this stupid pepper before it rips my butt to shreds before we get to our destination!" Corvus screamed as he pulled the door open with his feet and closed the door to the next car.
As Bernard watched Corvus be frustrated, his attention turned towards Vulp. Spitting out the pepper onto the floor that was covered in spit, Bernard looked at it and noticed the suspicious lack of bite marks around the spicy vegetable.
"You didn't even really bite into it, you just rolled it around your mouth and pretended. Didn't you?" Bernard said as he looked at Vulp with a look of agitation.
Look at him, Vulp proceeded to smirk at his victory as he looked at Bernard.
"...Guess I have to buy you whatever you want in Magnolia." Bernard said with a defeated smile on his face as he petted Vulp once again.
As they chatted, Corvus entered the next train car in an effort to go the bathroom.
"Damn pepper game..." Corvus grumbled to himself as he flapped his wings and moved through the train car. "Next game, I'll decide what we play and- Huh?" Corvus talked to himself until he turned his head and stopped to see a peculiar group of people sitting in two sets of seats facing one another.
One of the individuals was a young tan man with a chimp-like face with sideburns. His red and yellow hair stood tall on his head in spikes as he was oddly dressed in a pair of white baggy pants that stopped at his ankles, a pair of black arm bands and black bands around his ankles that his pants were stuffed in. Not wearing a shirt, his tone chest was exposed as his bare feet were propped up on a large yellow ball with a pair of googly eyes and a drawn on sharp tooth smile on it. On his exposed right shoulder was a logo of a red smiling clown face.
Another was a woman with pale skin and turquoise wavy long hair on her head that stopped at her upper back. She was dressed in a long loose sleeved white and blue dress that ended in a miniskirt with a black belt around her waist and white strap shoes. She appeared pretty but there was notably odd aspects to her visually. Her skin was scaled and blotchy with marks that were similar to a chameleons skin, she had a pair of snake-like fangs sticking out of her mouth and her eyes were terrifyingly unique as her sclera appeared black and her irises were blue swirls. On the back of her left hand was a turquoise smiling clown face that matched the monkey mans.
Next to her was a large, chubby and yet muscular-looking older man with a bald head and a handlebars moustache that was sporting a white button up shirt and a pair of black slacks with a set of suspenders. Laid over his shoulder was a large ornate golden belt that appeared similarly to a wrestling championship that had a large golden clown face on it that matched the logo the other two had. Sitting with his eyes closed and his arms crossed, he appeared like he was deep in thought.
"The heck kind of party is this?" Corvus thought as he passed by the group as he headed towards the entrance to the bathroom in the train car. Entering the bathroom, he closed the door to the latrine.
"The hell's wrong with the conductors on this train!? They almost didn't let me on!" The monkey faced man said with annoyed fury in his voice to the group.
"Anatoli, you don't wear shoes or a shirt to most places. You ever heard the term; "no shirt, no shoes, no service?"' The chameleon-like woman said in response to the monkey man named Anatoli.
"Oh shut up Marlene! That motto refers to food places, not trains!" Anatoli said with continued annoyance to the chameleon woman named Marlene.
"Not my fault you like to just go to everywhere half-naked, you weird chimp." Marlene said as she stuck out her tongue at Anatoli, revealing her forked tongue to the chimp-like man.
"Bare feet and no shirt is not half naked! I don't walk around places with just my underwear like some oddball!" Anatoli shouted in his defense.
"I don't think "walk around" is the appropriate term to use for you since you like to stand on your weird rolling ball." Marlene said as she pointed at the large ball Anatolis feet were on.
"I don't normally go on trains! And after this is over, never again..." Anatoli said as he crossed his arms.
"You most assuredly are." Said the large bald man as he opened his eyes with Marlene turning her head towards the bald man and Anatoli looking up at him. "Remember, we are here for a reason and hopefully it can be handled calmly."
"Yes, Pietro..." Anatoli said to the large bald man named Pietro.
"We can't become too distracted by this trip. You know who we are looking for and we have to be careful not to startle him so he runs away." Pietro said with a serious tone.
"What makes you so sure he will run? He knows who we are, there's a chance he might not run." Marlene suggested in a way that sounds like she wanted to avoid conflict.
"I kind of agree with the lizard." Anatoli said as Marlene looked at him with anger over his comment on her appearance. "It's not like he could fight back against any of us in his condition." He continued.
"Didn't you read the article from Sorcerer Weekly?" Pietro said as he pulled out a copy of Sorcerer Weekly from behind his back. "He has a pair of animals with him and some kind of slimy monster as well."
"He... He wouldn't sic those things on us... That'd be too cruel, even for him." Marlene said with some hesitation.
"Any ideas how he might have gotten them? My guess is that he has spent the last number of months in the woods and became an animal whisperer." Anatoli said as he put his hands over his mouth like he was trying to whisper to the confusion of Pietro and Marlene.
"It doesn't matter..." Said a female voice next to Anatoli and across from Marlene and Pietro that caught the groups attention.
Sitting next to Anatoli was a young and beautiful woman that was looked out the window with a disgruntled look on her face. Long brown hair flowed down her backside that stopped past her waist, she was dressed in a dark red tank top and a pair of blue jean-like shorts that exposes much of her legs with a grey jacket wrapped around her waist and wearing a pair of brown boots. She had an impressive figure that appeared fit and slender with an impressive pair of shapely breasts that had a brown clown face logo on the left side breast underneath one of the straps of her tank top.
"Even if he has help, we are going to knock them out and force him to come with us..." The young woman said without looking at her comrades.
"We don't have to resort to violence." Pietro said to the young woman as she glanced towards him. "He knows who we are, it makes no sense to try and attack him." He said in an effort to calm down the agitated girl.
"I kind of have to agree." Marlene said as she spoke up. "We don't know what he is like now. Plus he still has that problem with his heart, it might not be the best call." She continued.
"You guys don't have to do anything if you see him." The young woman said as she formed a fist with one of her hands. "But when I find him... I'm going to shatter his nose into a billion pieces..." The young woman said with an enraged expression as she continued to look out the window.
"Really am hoping we find him fast and before she tries to deck him..." Anatoli thought with some cold sweat dripping down his face as he looked at the young woman become more and more angry.
Emerging out from the bathroom was Corvus, a look of irritability on his face as he rubbed his chest with his left wing.
"Blurgh… Gonna have a "hot pepper dump" again later..." Corvus thought as he begun to flap his wings to get into the air.
Flying towards the ceiling, Corvus moved towards the direction of the car that Bernard and Vulp were in as he passed by the group of people once again.
"Man this is an odd crew- Whoa!?" Corvus thought about the oddly looking group until his attention was towards the beautiful looking brown haired girl who was staring out of the window. "Holy wet dreams! That's what I call a smoking hottie!" Corvus mentally continued as his nose begun to have a trickle of blood dripping out of one of his nostrils.
Turning away from the window, the young woman looked up towards the ceiling to notice the birdlike creature looking at her lustfully, followed by Pietro, Anatoli and Marlene. With the group turning their heads in his direction, Corvus proceeded to shake his head to regain some of his composure and wiped off the nosebleed coming out of his beak.
"Oh! Uh, sorry about that. Pardon me." Corvus said embarrassed as he begun to flap his wings and headed back to the train car his friends were in.
"Was that a talking bird?" Anatoli said bewildered.
"Why are you surprised? You're practically a talking chimp." The young brown haired woman said jokingly, causing Pietro and Marlene to chuckle as Anatoli made a disgruntled look in response.
"So you can crack a smile, Camilla!" Pietro said with a content look on his face as the young woman named Camilla cracked a slight smirk from the humorous distraction they had witnessed.
Coming through the door to the train car, Corvus flew over to the seats Bernard and Vulp were occupying as Bernard was drinking a water bottle.
"Hey, welcome back. You managed to crap out the pepper?" Bernard said as he continued to try and drink his water in an attempt to get the feeling back in his tongue.
"Nope, gonna definitely need another bathroom trip later." Corvus said as he sat down next to Vulp. "Oh but we got some real characters in the next car over. Real odd lookers I saw as I headed to the can." Corvus said as he caught Bernards attention.
"Oh let me guess, it's that guy with piercings and black clothes who was puking his brains out with a cute blue haired girl and his weird pet black cat with a sword right?" Bernard said as he looked over his shoulder towards the other car. "I thought they got off at the last junction?"
"No! It's a bigger group, way odder." Corvus said as he waved off Bernards guess.
"More weirder than us? Hehe?" Bernard said jokingly.
"Hey! I ain't weird! I am a Celestial Spirit!" Corvus said in defense of himself. "The guys I'm referring to looked way stranger than we do!"
"Okay, describe them." Bernard said as he continued to drink his water.
"There's four of them. One of them is this large bald guy with a handlebar moustache. Got big muscles where his arms are but he has a bit of a bulging gut." Corvus said as he described one of the group.
"How's that weird?" Bernard said as Vulp looking at Corvus as he explained the group. "That doesn't sound like a dude that's "out of the ordinary" to me." Bernard said as he voiced his opinion as he had his water bottle in his mouth.
"Well, this other guy was odd. Dude had a monkey face and no shirt or shoes. And his feet were sitting on a large ball with a set of googly eyes drawn on it- Huh?" Corvus described another of the group until he suddenly stopped as he heard a crunching noise that sounded like someone biting on plastic.
Looking at Bernard, Corvus noticed that he was now biting down on the top part of the water bottle he had in his hands as he made a disgruntled and nervous face.
"Uhhh… Something wrong?" Corvus said as he looked at Bernard.
"N-No! I'm fine! Just keep talking... What else did they look like?" Bernard exclaimed as he motioned to Corvus to keep talking as Vulp even raised an eyebrow as he looked at Bernard. "It can't be... It's not them... It can't be them. I'm just overthinking." He thought as he went back to drinking the water.
"There was a girl with them. She looked kinda cute but she had some skin blotches and these weird swirly eyes. I could have confused for her for some human/lizard hybrid-What the?!" Corvus described another individual until he noticed another peculiar sight.
Bernard, spitting out his water with intense force from his mouth, had covered the entire window on the side of the seats with his backwash following Corvus describing another one of the people in the nearby train car.
"What the hell was that?" Corvus said bewildered as he and Vulp looked at Bernard panting after spitting out his drink.
"Oh crap... Oh crap... It's... Wait... Is she?!" Bernard thought as he turned his eyes towards Corvus as the beanie sporting young man had started to drip a cold sweat of fear.
"Corvus..." Bernard said as he stood up from his seat and picking up the crow Celestial Spirit with his two hands. "Was there someone else with them?" He questioned while swallowing his spit.
"Y-yeah?" Corvus thought as Bernard looked him in the eye.
"Was it a woman? About the same age as me?" Bernard said as he continued to make grim looks on his face.
"Yeah! Real smoking body on her! Nice rack, a cute face, smooth legs! Major hottie!" Corvus said as he made a lustful face as he thought about the girl with the group that stood out amongst the odd looking party. "Be-Bernard?" Corvus said as he looked at Bernard with sweat profusely dripping off his face.
Legs shaking, a look of dread forming on his face and his eyes twitching. He made a face of complete despair and looked as if he was fearing for his life as Corvus and Vulp watched him make looks of complete and total dread.
"We need to go... Now!" Bernard said as he put down Corvus and begun to put stuff back in his backpack haphazardly.
"What?! Why?!" Corvus said as he and Vulp stood up in surprise at Bernard sudden declaration for them to run.
"We aren't safe!" Bernard said as he put his backpack on and started to spring out of the seat with Corvus and Vulp rushing behind him to catch up.
"Kid! What the hell is wrong!?" Corvus said as Bernard turned around to face the two Celestial Spirits.
"Get inside me..." Bernard said as he motioned for the two to go inside his pacemaker Lacrima.
"Now?! Why?!" Corvus said as he looked at Bernard who was panicking.
"Just get inside or we are all doomed!" Bernard said to the Spirits as he pointed towards his heart.
"...Okay! Fine!" Corvus said as he and Vulp turned themselves into particles and entered into his Lacrima.
Looking back towards the direction of the train car that had the group of people in it. Gulping down and swallowing spit, Bernard opened the door to the outside area between the train cars. Standing in-between the train cars, Bernard looked out into the woods as the train moved past the forest.
"Okay Bernard... Time to try jumping out of trains..." Bernard said to himself with hesitation as he looked out at the woods.
Suddenly, one of the doors opened as a train conductor emerged from the door to the train car next to the one Bernard had been staying in.
"Excuse me, sir? What are you doing out here, shouldn't you be in your train car?" The conductor said to as he looked at the nervous and panicked face of Bernard.
"...This!" Bernard said as he jumped from the train into the woods. Rolling down the hill near the tracks and into the woods to the shock of the train conductor.
"Whoa!" The conductor said as he watched Bernard jump from the train. In shock, the conductor ran to the trains locomotive engine where other workers were stationed. "Stop the train! A guy just jumped off!" Following his exclamation, one of the workers quickly rushed towards an emergency break in an effort to stop the train.
"Guh! What the hell?!" Marlene said as the train begun to stop, causing the group to shake in their seats. Looking over towards the entrance to the car, the conductor who saw Bernard jump had arrived.
"Don't be alarmed folks but we just had someone jump from the train into the woods." The conductor said to inform the passengers.
"Someone jumped?" Anatoli said in surprise as he looked at the group he was with.
"Maybe someone needed to go somewhere else?" Marlene said unsure.
"A person jumping off... And there was a bird on the train too... Wait a minute..." Camilla thought as she turned her attention towards Pietro. "Hey Pietro, can I see that copy of Sorcerer Weekly again?" She said as she motioned for Pietro to hand her the copy of the magazine.
Skimming through the pages, she stopped on the article about Bernard from the Capital and looked at the image of him standing with Corvus, Vulp and Formosa. Eyes widening in surprise, Camilla looked at the image and noticed the physical similarities between the bird that stared at her and the bird in the picture with Bernard. Turning her head, Camilla brushed passed her allies and proceeded to rush to the area in-between the train cars as she looked out into the woods.
"Guys!" Camilla shouted as Anatoli, Pietro and Marlene followed her to the outside. "I think the jumper is who we are looking for." Camilla said with a serious expression and a twitch in her eyes as she looked out into the woods.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Woods near Magnolia, 7:02 p.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"God damn, I knew that was a bad idea to jump from the train..." Bernard thought as he clutched at his side as he rubbed a slightly wounded area of his body.
"Yeah no kidding... We could've been in Magnolia two hours ago if it wasn't for you making us jump." Corvus said disgruntled as he flew over Bernards head as he rubbed his wound while Vulp sniffed around on the ground.
"I know already..." Bernard said as he sat next to a tree. "Vulp, are we going in the right direction?" Bernard asked of the fox Celestial Spirit as it turned towards him and nodded.
"Okay, good. Corvus, you see anything?" Bernard said as he looked up at the overhead crow.
"Nope, I don't see anyone." Corvus said as he flew down to where Bernard and Vulp were, landing on the ground.
"Alright... Which means we are ahead by a good amount of distance..." Bernard said to himself. "But if what Corvus said was true and that one is here, he couldn't see her but she can't keep herself from making noise." Bernard pondered as he looked around.
"Okay, I didn't question it until now but I gotta know, who are we running from?" Corvus asked as he flew up as Vulp started to move forward with Bernard following the fox Celestial Spirit.
"It's... Best you don't know." Bernard said with some hesitation as Corvus made a suspicious look towards him.
"I think it's best I do know so that we can deal with this kid." Corvus said as he flew next to Bernard.
"We aren't "dealing" with anything. We are sticking to the plan and heading to Magnolia." Bernard as they continued to follow Vulp.
"When I saw them aboard the train, I saw some symbols on their bodies that looked like clown faced guild logos, so you have to tell me now if they are wizards or not?" Corvus asked as he continued to have growing concerns.
"...Yes, they are wizards." Bernard said with a sigh as he knew Corvus was going to keep questioning him.
"Okay, next question; how do you know that?" Corvus said as he continued to look at Bernard who was making a serious face as they trekked through the woods.
"...Alright, I'm not telling you absolutely everything for specific reasons but I can tell you who they are..." Bernard said as he stopped walking, causing Vulp to turn around to look at Bernard and Corvus to fly in front of him and meeting Bernard at eye level.
"Good enough for me..." Corvus said as he looked concerned.
"They are wizards that are part of a... dark guild. Called "Psycho Circus." Bernard said with slight hesitation. "If the descriptions of the people you mentioned are true, then I know exactly who the people are." Bernard said with a serious look on his face.
"Monkey faced dude, lizard chick, handlebar baldy and the hot brunette?" Corvus said as he ran off the list of people from the train. As he mentioned the last person, Bernard bit down on his lip in what looked like an attempt from saying something.
"Anatoli, Marlene, Pietro and... Camilla." Bernard said, with the last persons name having some agitation in his voice. As he finished speaking, Bernard motioned for Vulp to continue leading the way.
"They are all wizards? What can they do?" Corvus said, continuing to question Bernards relation to them.
"Anatoli has a large magic ball that can channel Wind Magic that he likes to ride on. Marlene is incredibly flexible and can use something called "Camouflage Magic" that can make her turn invisible to the naked eye. With Pietro, he has a giant wrestling belt you might have seen he likes to carry around, when he wears it; it shifts the muscles in his body and makes it so he is stronger physically than he already is." Bernard explained as he continued to walk.
"Okay so they are dark wizards and have a bunch of odd magics. Good to know but they don't sound all that threatening to me, nothing us and the big monster slime can't handle." Corvus said with confidence.
"We are not fighting them, I don't want anyone to fight! I just want to go to Magnolia and get this over with!" Bernard shouted as Vulp and Corvus noticed the commanding and angry tone in his voice.
"Okay, jeez, calm down." Corvus said as he noticed the aggravation in his voice. "What about the hot girl? Camilla, you said her name was?" He continued.
"...She is... Strong. Real strong…" Bernard said concerned.
"What can she do?" Corvus said with a raised eyebrow.
"She-" Bernard spoke until he noticed a sound that caught his attention. The noise of a tree branch breaking caused Bernard to turn around and look in the direction of where they came from. Swallowing spit, Bernard proceeded to increase the pace of his walking as he walked past Vulp and Corvus in the direction Vulp was leading.
"Hey kid! Wait!" Corvus said as he attempted to catch up to Bernard with Vulp following suit.
"We can't slow down for a second." Bernard as he walked past the trees.
"Shouldn't we get some rest? And so I can take a dump to get rid of that pepper from this morning?" Corvus said as he attempted to keep up.
"Just crap like a normal bird does! Overhead and onto the ground as you fly!" Bernard shouted a suggestion to the crow.
"I am not some average bird!" Corvus said with annoyance as he waved off Bernards suggestion for him to crap while moving.
"Just do it! I am not slowing down!" Bernard shouted as they continued to walk.
As they walked, they had failed to notice that someone was watching them from overhead. Standing atop his googly eyed yellow ball was Anatoli as he looked down in the direction Bernard and his Celestial Spirit allies were walking while floating above the air.
"Looks like I win the "split up and find him" game." Anatoli said to himself with a smile as he watched Bernard fast walking through the woods. "Better go inform the others the direction he is going." He continued talking to himself.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Magnolia Outskirts, 6:15 a.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Daylight had broken overhead in the town of Magnolia as the sun had risen over the Fairy Tail guildhall that stood at the edge of town. Far in the opposite direction of Magnolia was the woods where Bernard and his Celestial Spirits had finally managed to get through the thick woods and made it to their location.
"Remind me again... Why we couldn't just have Formosa give us a ride in that weird puddle speed form it has?" Corvus said tiredly as he laid on Vulps backside as he rode the fox while exhausted.
"Because, for the 300th time I've explained it... It would leave a residue trail one of them could have spotted..." Bernard said as he rubbed his heavy eyes from the lack of sleep.
"Well... At least we finally made it..." Corvus said as he looked around as Vulp and Bernard managed to make it inside the city limits.
Walking around the stone covered streets, Bernard and the spirits looked around at the towns plain and simple architecture before walking over to a lake canal that ran through Magnolia. Putting his hands in the water, Bernard took handfuls and brought them into his face to keep his eyes open with Corvus and Vulp doing a similar action with their wings and paws, respectively.
"Oh god did I need that!" Bernard exclaimed happily as he splashed the water on his face.
"Feels good!" Corvus said with similar enjoyment as Vulp shook off the water. "Alright, now that we finally made it here, lets go see "dummy" and get everything squared away!" He continued as he looked at Vulp and Bernard.
"It's too early in the morning, no one from Fairy Tail will be at their guildhall just yet." Bernard said as he stood up. "I think we should find a hiding hole first. Someplace we can hide from Psycho Circus since they know we are in town." Bernard suggested as he started to move away from the canal.
"Oh that reminds me, been meaning to ask this. Whatcha plan to do with Formosa after we are gone?" Corvus said as Vulp looked at Bernard for his answer.
"Dont know, was thinking of maybe making it go inside a jar or something like the flask we found it in and just put it under a rock somewhere." Bernard said with a plain expression.
"That... Seems like a waste of a powerful Etherious Demon of all things." Corvus said with some confusion with Bernards answer.
"What do you expect me to do with an Etherious Demon of all things?" Bernard said plainly to the crow.
"Something a little more than just "put it under a rock somewhere."' Corvus said, weirded out by Bernards choice.
"Well with your new owner, you can ask if they want a giant slime-mrpgh!" Bernard was talking until his mouth started to feel odd. "The hell!? What's this weird taste in my mouth?" Bernard thought as he felt something over his mouth.
"Huh? Kid!? What's wrong!?" Corvus said as he and Vulp looked at Bernard holding an area around his mouth.
"Mregh-mrph! Kglph-faaa…" His eyes rolled into the back of his head as Bernards voice was muffled by the feeling of something numbing his senses until his eyes closed and his shoulders slumped as he fell to the ground.
Looking down at Bernards unconscious body, Corvus and Vulp were so surprised that they had lost sight of someone approaching them from behind. Grabbing both of their heads, the person behind them had grabbed the two Celestial Spirits and slammed their skulls deep into the concrete of the streets.
"Clurg!" Corvus exclaimed in pain as he and Vulp had lost consciousness just like Bernard did.
Laid out on the ground, Marlene had appeared as her body was invisible as she stood behind where Bernard originally stood after knocking him out with a napkin in her hand that had a yellow substance on it. Standing behind where Corvus and Vulp originally were standing was Pietro who had his large belt strung over his right shoulder as the pair stood over the unconscious trio.
"Damn, you guys beat me to the punch!" Said the familiar voice of Anatoli as Marlene and Pietro looked up to see the monkey-faced young man descend down to them on his large ball.
"Glad I made this salve in the woods to knock him out without a struggle..." Marlene said as she looked at the napkin.
"Bet he isn't going to be happy when he wakes up to find you being the one who knocked him out." Anatoli said jokingly to Marlene.
"Oh shut up!" Marlene exclaimed while looking at Anatoli who was sticking his tongue out at her.
"Enough! We must go... I'll take him." Pietro said to stop their bickering as he picked up Bernard and strung him over his left shoulder.
"What about them?" Marlene said as she looked at the Celestial Spirits that were laid next to cracks in the ground.
"...Bring them as well. They are his so he would want them to be with him." Pietro suggested as Marlene and Anatoli picked up Corvus and Vulp, respectively. "Now then..." Pietro said as he turned his head towards Bernard who was over his shoulder. "Let's bring you home, Lil' Bern..."
A boring train ride had devolved into an obnoxious nightmare for the group as Bernard and his animal allies have become prey to Psycho Circus, a group Bernard claims to be a dark guild that are after them for an unknown reason. Now out like lights, the gang has been captured by this band of oddly looking wizards that are attempting to bring Bernard "home." What could this mean? Find out next time on Menagerie!