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I Don't own YGO
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Through their assistants they learned to show up "comfortable." Their bodies would be stationary, and their vitals monitored, and, different from last time, they would be given a nutrient shake to eat before they went in.
Celine spawned in her burrow and she couldn't help but smile as she sat up. She was glad to be back. It felt like how Narnia would feel from the books she'd read as a child. Those had been a favorite of Jason's at bed time.
Jason.
Part of her wanted to summon the boy again… but that didn't seem right.
But something else hit her. She could summon his characters… they could play together again.
A small creature, only about 3 feet high appeared before her. Sharp pointed ears to either side, he had bare feet, and a mischievous smile.
TippyTom, the monk. As a kinder, or halfling, he was naturally mischievous and up to trouble. Except around Grumish. The stern Paladin kept the 'boy' in line.
"Hey! Who are you? Where's Grumish?" Barked the kinder.
"Should I fetch him for you?" Asked Celine with a smirk.
"Yeah! And get me a sandwich while you're at it, I'm starved!"
Celine's laughter morphed into a rumble as her form shifted. "What have I told you about that tongue of yours, Tippy?"
A wide sheepish grin came over the halfling's face. "Eh, nothing you won't say again, boss! What are we up too?"
"I think today we'll do a bit of exploring. I'll need sand for more glass."
TippyTom smiled wide with a mocking salute. "You got it! Lead the way, I'm right behind!"
Exploration of the river found a path up the sharp cliffs feeding into the mountain set that ran along the edge of the island. The higher they went, the more she could see, and Celine noticed the mountains circled the island in a ring, forming a wall with only tiny stretches of the sea around them peaking through with sandy shores and beaches.
The marshes were a clear run off of the mountains, collecting in stagnant lazy pools. The benefit being access to the many streams and rivers that ran along the island. Celine could see Carson's fanboat bobbing along at a dock.
Tucker started a farm, and was charging for resources like wood and food, he had a sign freshly posted to the side of his base. Everyone had a hustle if there was profit. Yugi had finished his pyramid, with a notable black dragon gargoyle perched on it's peak. The Chinese had built a fence around their base. This wouldn't be a bad scout post. You could see the whole island up here without fear of being spotted.
"Tippy! Scout ahead and see if you can find a cave. I want to build an outpost." Said Celine. Tippy gave a bouncing nod before bounding up one side of the cliff face. She watched him go, but continued on the path, a few moments later he called down to her.
"Hey! Up here! I-"
A loud roar cut him off and Celine was immediately scrambling to find a way up. Sheer strength drove her heavy hands into holds as she clambered up to the opening.
"Hey ugly! Let me go! You don't know who you're dealing with!" Squeaked the halfling, stuffed in the palm of a large white dragon. Forced still for the moment.
"Wait'll my buddy gets his hands on you! Grumish! Come put the fear of god into this jerk!"
Celine had to chuckle, drawing the gaze of the dragon. A deep hum left it as it moved to meet her in the center of the large cavern.
"I wouldn't eat it. Gave me the worst indigestion." She offered. A deep chuff left the creature before it's palm opened and Tippy was released.
"Yeah, that's what I thought buddy! You don't want this!" Said the halfling as he bounced on his heels and waved his fists before strutting back to the paladin's side. A moment later the beast shifted and before her stood the man.
"And who is this?" He asked, smirking down at Tippy.
"Who are you buddy? You were better looking as a dragon, and that's not saying much."
Celine gave out one of Grumish's deep, rumbling burrs.
"This is TippyTom. He's a Kinder. You'll forgive the mouth, it's in their nature."
Kaiba's brow raised as he studied the boy.
"You made this?"
"Yes… well… sort of. Tippy belonged to Jason."
Kaiba turned his gaze to her and she shrugged her heavy shoulders.
"I… can… justify it this way. Tippy played with Grumish… he says things I remember him saying… this is good." Said Celine, drawing Kaiba's nod.
"Yes, it is. Have you tried others?"
Pairs. She did have more pairs. Jason loved playing with her when Vick ran the games, and they usually buddied up.
Her body shifted, and so did Tippy's.
Celine shrank, and retained her scales, but they shifted into a dark green with a bright orange ridge that ran down her back. She lost definition, but gained nimbleness. A bow was strapped to her back.
Tippy's shape turned tall, and feminine, with dark black hair and haggard green robes
"And who are you?" Asked Kaiba, poking the upright lizard woman.
"I am Silara. The lizardfolk ranger." Said Celine, pointing to her flat chest and then to the woman.
"Regina the hag druid." Said the Lizard.
"Sil, do you have those toad tongues? You promised." Keened the hag.
"Fresh from my snack bag." Said Celine, digging into her bag to pull out a wet organ and toss them over.
"Pay up old woman."
"Yes, yes, here's your finger food." The hag threw a bag back, the drawstring falling open to show various human fingers of different shapes and sizes.
Kaiba curled his lip and Celine snickered as she yanked the bag up
It almost felt crazy, conversing with something she manifested, but these were real memories, acted out originally over a dining room table.
They shifted again, this time with Celine as a large bird person, her face in the shape of an eagle owl with heavy robes draped between large wings and long talons on her fingers.
Regina turned into a 4 foot tall upright raven, with flightless wings and a crossbow in his grip.
"Minesus, the Aarakocra Wizard. Dumpling the Kenku Rogue." Said the Owl with a smooth level voice and a motion to the Kenku.
"Dumpling. Dumpling." Mimicked Dumpling.
A book manifested in Celine's hands and she studied it as she walked.
"I can't believe the cost of spells anymore, Dumpling, it's as though to be a Wizard is a rich person's sport." She lamented.
"It says I need to sacrifice a Ruby worth 1500 gold! As if It could be of no other use…" She manifested a large pile of ice before her with a wave of her palm.
"What else do I need, Dumpling?"
A perfect rendition of the owl's voice was replayed back to her from the beak of the Kenku. "Ice in quantities sufficient to make a life-size copy of the duplicated creature; some hair, fingernail clippings, or other piece of that creature's body placed inside the snow or ice; and powdered ruby worth 1,500 gp, sprinkled over the duplicate-"
"Yes, yes, alright." The owl pulled a feather free and dropped it on the ice before pulling a Ruby from her component pouch and crushing it.
The pile began to glow and shift, before shaping into an icy copy of the Wizard. Celine studied it and shook her head. "No no! This will not do! Be gone with it, Dumpling, it's not worth the ruby I paid for it!"
The Kenku let out a loud 'CAW!' and fired a bolt at the ice creature, causing it to shatter. A barrier stopped the projectiles from firing back and they sailed out into the mountainside.
The pair shifted again before returning to Grumish and Tippy.
"This… was a favorite…" Said Celine firmly before looking around. It was clear this was where their leader had set up his base. There were caves leading off the main cavern, probably leading back to his spawn point.
"I was looking for a scout post. I thought the view was good. Clearly you had the same idea."
"Unfortunately, this cave is taken." He replied smugly. "If you're lucky you'll find one higher up. Bundle up, it gets cold."
Celine snorted, expelling smoke from her nostrils. "We'll be fine. Let's go Tippy."
TippyTom stuck his tongue out at Kaiba as they left.
It would take a few more hours of searching, but they did find one. A ways up from the white dragon's lair.
It was cold, but a basic fire and Celine shifted to the Druid. Stone shape would do for basic halls and rooms, there weren't even doorways, simple openings into caverns. It was just meant to be a satellite camp. For now.
While she was here she did want to see if the mountain had anything worth mining. It's possible there was ore buried nearby.
The first day back in VR was spent shaping the base. Tippy faded or shifted forms depending on what character Celine was using. As SwiftWind, Tippy vanished. He wasn't in that game. She built a room for storage, and a respawn room with a bed, and the last as a common area, but with her openings hidden by large stones with only her knowing the exact way in.
She stayed the first night up there, but 'awoke' freezing. Even in her tiny den she could smell the snow that had fallen outside. She needed supplies to mine, but she had no intention of lugging things up by hand. No. If she were to use this nest she'd need to follow Kaiba's lead and take a dragon shape. But which one? Red Dragons roosted in caves, so did Silver.
Oh! Silver! Yes! She played one named Celanon. A strong ally against Tiamat.
Celine smiled and crawled out into the foyer. A brushing of snow had blown in, and it was chilly under her toes, but she didn't feel it long. Her body began to shift. At first glance, her silver dragon appeared very similar to the white dragon. However, her wings were more curved than the white's, and she held two talons on her wings rather than the single talon of most dragons. As a silver dragon she also had a beautiful frill that began at the top of her head and flowed all the way down her neck and body to the tip of her tail. The frill lit silver towards the body, fading to a purple hue at the edge. Two long, smooth silver horns with black tips, arched up and back from her head. She also had a pronounced sharp frill under her chin, which had the rough appearance of a goatee. The smell of rain filled the small cavern, radiating off of her in waves.
There was just enough room to get in a gallop before she took off out of her den. Stretching her wings for the first time.
There was nothing like flying. She'd found that out early, but flying as a giant was satisfying. She understood why Kaiba enjoyed his dragon shape so much.
Speaking of.
She twisted in the air in a playful loop around the white dragon so he knew her to be friendly.
This one was different. A far distant cousin to the ones she knew. This one breathed lightning, and didn't care for the cold, staying farther down the mountain than her.
Celine swooped in and fluttered down to a clearing near her base, shedding her dragon skin for her own and giving a playful wave to the white form as it passed.
She giggled as the dragon gave a call before swooping east to tend to… whatever Kaiba did during the day.
Celine packed a crate of 'to-go' supplies, and used the dragon to haul it up the mountain. She'd still be using tunnels, so ventilation would be a requirement. Tools to mine, some basic food. She was just getting settled when a set of screaming roars filled the air outside, and drove her to look.
The blue eyes white dragon was tangling with the red eyes black dragon that Celine had shaken up the first week. The one that belonged to Joey. A glowing red glyph on the ground was driving up hard chains that were tangling in the white dragons legs and forcing him to the ground.
That was a trap.
She dove head first off the cliffside and immediately moved to intervene.
Silver dragons never went out of their way to help, but if they saw an ally in trouble they'd offer assistance. Kaiba could be an ally, if she played her cards right.
Celine slammed into the side of the black dragon and let out a howling roar as her body stood between the pair. Shock drove the black creature back, before it turned and studied her. She flashed her frill and hissed before a sweep of noxious paralysing gas spewed from her mouth. Everything froze in place, even the dragon tangled in the trap.
Using her claws to break the seal, the trap vanished, and Celine scooped up Kaiba before taking off. Back in the direction of the mountains.
The gas didn't last long, by the time they landed at his den he was able to shift his feet under him and get comfortable. That didn't stop the glare pointed her way. Celine tried for sheepish, and it came out as a toothy grimace.
Shifting to her natural shape, she offered a shrug to the large creature.
"Sorry boss, just trying to help."
The dragon chuffed and dropped it's large face against her chest to shove her back.
I didn't ask for your help.
"I know, I know, but he had you pinned. I saw it from my den. I suppose that was kinda dumb, you probably have all sorts of Admin abilities to get you out of PVP. To be honest I didn't really think about it."
The creature seemed to give a deep sigh, but shifted his arms forward to settle his head on them.
"I have a druid that could probably clear the status… do you want me to try?"
A low hum left him and Celine shifted to her druid, dropping a lesser restoration on the ailing dragon.
Rich green magic swept over his form, and the dragon shifted and stretched. A long tail arched around and pressed her close.
Celine giggled into the thick white scales and gave the creature a warm embrace. A shriek left her as the large head she was squeezing lifted her tiny form and dropped her in the center of the circle of his body. The long neck and tail wrapped together, and the dragon quickly settled around her.
Stay.
Celine smiled. Awe. Okay. Twist my arm about it.
She settled into the crook of the creature's arm and belly, feeling the deep breaths as the animal quietly dozed off. Herself quickly following.