Chapter 2: "Discovery"
It was only a mere forty minutes ago that he had left his home village of Breezegale and went for a refreshing nighttime run in the distant outskirts of the village. And then, it happened. A gigantic red meteor had arrived from the starry night sky and crashed into the village, wiping it from the face of the planet forever.
Now he was here, sitting on the grass in a fetal position and in front of a huge crater where Breezegale once was, audibly sobbing as well. Much like the landscape itself, he, too, looked different as well, with white fur and spiked up bangs. A result of the intense pain and grief he was feeling that had finally unlocked the dormant power within him.
For about ten minutes straight after his transformation, Klonoa had been sobbing. He didn't care that he was in his newly unlocked Vertian form, only the loss of his home, his friends, and his family. The pain was just too great for him.
"Why...? I... miss them... I miss... all of them..."
The white cat continued to sob, until he stopped a few seconds later. He opened his ruby red eyes, still tearful as ever, and looked upon the crater ahead, lowering his legs and exiting the fetal position.
"Now... now it's just a giant crater of emptiness..."
Staring at it for a bit, he then sighed.
"I... I can't stay here and keep grieving like this," he calmly said in his teen voice, wiping the tears off with his arm and hand, sniffing as well. "I... I got to move on."
The long-eared cat stood up a second later. He sighed again, and then he looked at the grass.
"Huh? Wh-where's my collar...?"
Looking around for a few seconds, he then found it a long way ahead on the grass.
"Hm, guess my... explosion blew it all the way over there..."
Before he could move, Klonoa then heard and noticed something coming from his right. He looked, seeing a black sedan car approaching with its lights shining on him and hearing its engine grind to a halt as it stopped near him. The car and its lights shut off, and its two front doors opened outward, revealing the green cat brothers who stepped out.
"...Klonoa? Is that you?" asked Ensis, wearing only his accessories and scarf.
Klonoa slowly nodded, looking over his white-furred arm.
"Yeah... It's me."
"Whoa, holy crap!" exclaimed the silver-eyed cat, looking surprised. "So, you..."
"Yeah." Klonoa looked ahead. "And you can easily guess how it happened."
"Yeah, we saw the meteor, the explosion, your explosion, everything while we were driving on our way home," said Koec, wearing his chef outfit. "The authorities will be all over this place soon, and if they see you here in your Vertian form, the entire world will be all over you. So you better come home with us, Klonoa."
He went back into the driver's seat.
"And do something about your appearance as well!"
"He's right. Klonoa, can you turn yourself back to normal?" asked Ensis. "If the research is accurate, just try and calm yourself and your energy inside."
"...Hm, I'll try," Klonoa said, looking down at his arms. He then looked ahead. "But my collar is out there ahead, though."
Ensis looked to his right and saw it.
"I'll go get it. You just focus on bringing yourself back to normal. And then, get in the car after."
"Right."
The green cat ran off towards the crater.
Still looking down at his arms and clenching his fists, Klonoa then closed his eyes, relaxing and trying to calm his body and the wild energy inside of him down. A few seconds later, his spiked hair bangs dropped downward and his white fur turned back to black at the same time. Feeling that the energy was slowly moving and shrinking down from his entire body to the center of his chest, Klonoa then opened his eyes, their color back to yellow. He glanced all over himself, finding himself back to normal. The energy was now condensed to a small spot in his chest, he felt, being calmer but still wildly swirling where it was. He looked down and touched his chest.
"I got it. Here," said Ensis to his left, tossing the collar to Klonoa.
The black cat caught the collar.
"Now let's get outta here!" exclaimed the green cat, running off towards the car.
Klonoa began to run off, but stopped a second later, glancing at the crater and frowning at it sadly. Then, he ran off at last toward the car.
I was a total wreck for a few weeks after that. I couldn't get over that everyone I grew up with was gone in an instant like that. So much that I didn't care that I had a wild powerful energy swirling inside of my chest here, waiting for me to use it to transform into my new white self. The pain of loss was just too great for me.
But as they say, time heals all wounds. After a few weeks, I got over it. Since that night, you guys decided to take me in, and a new life began for me from there on. As much as I miss my village, their strict rule of having to wear clothes all the time was something I didn't miss. Though I rebought that blue outfit, for some of these past few weeks, I had nothing on my body except for my own black fur... and my accessories, of course.
And the wild energy inside of my chest? It never left after all that time since. And when I finally decided to tap into it for the first time since that night... heh, little did I know that it would be the biggest, most positive change in my life. And one that made me fully accept my destiny, my fate, as the hero of dreams.
1:00p.m.
On the upper floor of this two-story house in one of Hikari City's urban neighborhoods, there lay the long-eared cat on the bed that was positioned right below the large rectangular window that was the same length as the bed itself, equipped with adjustable hard blinds. The cat was on his side, facing the modern widescreen TV ahead of him, and he was wearing his blue outfit with only his shoes off.
The room he was in was a bit larger than his old room in Breezegale. Facing the bed, to the right of it and on the adjacent wall, a slightly open door leading into a bathroom was seen. To the right of the door itself was a large piece of furniture that was composed of several rectangular clothing drawers, taking up most of the wall's space. In the corner leading to the next adjacent wall was a life-sized mirror with a dark, polished wooden trim around it. Taking up half of the next wall was the TV sitting on top of a large shelf-stand, with a pair of game consoles on the shelves as well as a variety of other stuff. The room door was on the next wall, and next to it on its right was a stand with a large lamp on it.
Watching the TV ahead of him, Klonoa sighed with his eyes half-closed.
"Nothing's interesting on, of course."
The cat sat up on the bed, with his feet down on the ground now. He picked the remote up from the ground and switched the TV off, dropping it afterward.
After a few seconds, he sighed, picking his shoes up and putting them on one by one. Then, he sat there, staring at the floor for a few seconds.
"...Been a few weeks now," he said in his kid voice, sighing again. "I still miss everyone... but I know that even they would say that I should move on. I did, but... the memory still burns in my head. I will never, ever forget that night. And..."
He looked at his right hand, bringing it up and clenching it into a fist.
"...I will make sure that no one else will suffer the same fate as them, now that I know who and what I am."
Saying that, he realized something, blinking and widening his eyes a bit.
"Which... reminds me..."
Looking down, Klonoa slowly touched his shirt-covered chest with the same hand, remembering something else that happened that night. And it still persisted within him to this very second.
"Wow, I... I can't believe I totally forgot about this. This wild energy inside of me here... It never left me since that night."
After a second, the cat stood up from the bed and took a few steps forward. With his hand still on his chest, his tilted his head upward, thinking.
"...'Once the first transformation happens, a Vertian's power remains free from its inner shackles,'" he said, recalling some of the research he studied with Ensis. "'From there on, he or she could switch between the normal self and the transformation as he or she desires.' Hmm...'"
He looked down again and let go of his chest. Bringing up his other hand, he looked at both of them.
"When I gave in to my grief that night and screamed at my loudest with all of my strength, this wild energy popped out of nowhere. I could feel it spreading to every part of myself. I could feel myself exploding from within, and that caused me to scream again with it exploding out of me after. And I transformed from there... Maybe... maybe I could command the energy to spread all over me again to transform, just like how I told it to shrink to turn myself back to normal that same night."
Clenching his fists, Klonoa leaned slightly forward a bit and formed a determined look on his face.
"Yeah, let's try it."
The cat began to concentrate, beginning to tense up both his body and his mind. He began to reach out for the energy within his chest. And after exactly three seconds, he felt the energy stir.
"...Uh, unh...! Wh-whoa..."
Unexpectedly, however, the wild energy quickly began to spread from his chest to every single corner of his body, to his head, his arms, and to his legs. He felt a large rush of strength going through his body, causing him to feel increasingly stronger while still appearing to look the same on the outside. Feeling the sudden rush of strength and energy caught the cat off guard, causing him to unclench his fists and stumble back a bit.
Then, he felt an extreme burst of energy from within. His body exploded from inside, causing his chest to suddenly strut outward.
"Waaah!"
And with this sudden strut, a large burst of white particle energy occurred both upward and outward, going towards his surroundings and rocking everything the white energy came across. The TV ahead of him tilted back, causing it to rock back and forth for a second. The blanket on the bed swiftly flew back and hit the immediate wall. The cat's own shirt and shorts briefly flapped upward as the particles shot up, turning his own fur to pure white, his eyes to ruby red, and causing his hair bangs to spike upward as they did.
Stumbling back a bit again, Klonoa quickly stood straight and regained his composure, seeing everything rock around him as he looked to his left and right.
Everything around him calmed down after a few seconds, and he began to look all over himself, seeing his white-furred arms and legs. As he noticed, an army of tiny white particles was constantly surrounding him, moving his clothes, bangs, and long ears along and in a slow back-and-forth motion.
With a stunned, amazed look on his face with his mouth open, he then brought up his hands again. Standing there transformed now, the cat was feeling powerful like this. Despite appearing the same other than the fur and eye color change, his entire body felt stronger than before, yet oddly lighter at the same time. He felt like he could lift an entire giant boulder with ease, yet he also felt like he could throw that same boulder as fast as he could.
"...Whoa... This is... amazing," he said, in a teen voice. "I... never felt this powerful before... Wow. Unh...!"
Noticing his voice had changed, Klonoa touched the bottom of his muzzle with his hand.
"My voice! Wh-why do I sound older like this? It's still years away before it actually, naturally gets deeper... Huh, what a weird thing to be changed by this form. Hm..."
Letting go of his muzzle, Klonoa then looked at his white-furred arm.
"Well, never mind that. I wonder how I look like in this form...?"
Glancing toward the life-sized mirror in the corner of the room, the long-eared cat walked over to it and stopped as soon as he saw himself in full. As soon as he did, he gasped, standing there in shock.
"...Whoa...!"
With his pure white fur, ruby red eyes with the shape of them being slanted and pointy that gave him a perpetual mean look to him, spiked bangs, and an ethereal-looking particle aura around him that was moving his long ears, clothes, and bangs back-and-forth, Klonoa stood there in awe of himself. He became breathless at his new appearance, getting a strong ethereal and holy feeling from it. To him, with the aura around him, he looked as if he descended from a heavenly realm.
"...Woooooooooow... I... I look completely different like this. And my eyes... They're red! Huh... How awesome. Man, talk about completely taking my breath away. Wow..."
After a few seconds of staring at himself in awe, he then noticed a glimpse of his body fur from underneath his constantly moving shirt, making him recall his first transformation where he was unclothed at the time.
"Hmm..."
With his eyes on himself in the mirror, Klonoa reached for the zipper on his shirt and slowly pulled it downward, revealing his white fur. Once it separated at the end, he then slowly pulled the right side of his shirt off and down his arm, watching himself as he did and seeing more of his white fur. Then, he slowly did the same to the left side of the shirt, taking it off completely and tossing it to his left.
Seeing the upper part of his body being all white awed him even more. With no shirt on, the white fur blended in neatly with his aura, giving off the illusion that he looked "brighter" without his shirt on.
"Wow, just... wow," he said, touching his chest with his left hand. "So... with the shorts off, then..."
His left hand still on his chest, Klonoa then used his other hand to grab the shorts, pulling each side of it down at a time with just his hand until his tail popped out, falling straight to his shoes afterward. He kicked them off to his right.
He lowered his left hand and stood straight, now looking at himself unclothed in the mirror. Just as he remembered from that night, Klonoa's body was entirely white all over. He turned around to look at his back and then faced himself towards the mirror again. Apart from the zigzag lines on his ears and the patch lines between his eyes, not a single strand of black fur was seen on him. And just as he expected, he looked even "brighter" without the shorts on.
"How... how gosh darn awesome this is!" he exclaimed, looking happy and laughing a bit. "It's... it's as if you became someone else completely. Yet you're still you... Wow, with my clothes off, I look like a beacon of light like this! ...Wait a minute..."
Klonoa suddenly recalled something from a year ago: the prophecy from Somnium that everyone heard thirteen years ago. He looked down and to his left, remembering something from it.
"...'Will he truly arise... as the Dreamer of Light...!'" he said, widening his eyes a bit. "'And if he is already arisen... the light in the darkness...!'"
He looked ahead at himself in the mirror, finally realizing why he was white.
"So this is what the prophecy was referring to after all... The Dreamer of Light. Wow, Ensis was on the right trail, then."
After a second, he smiled, putting his hand on the side and leaning slightly on it.
"And... heh, I guessed right a year ago when I said that maybe I was going to be pure white."
Just then, the room door opened inward, and there entered Ensis with only his scarf and accessories on, walking in with a snack bag of fish flavored chips.
"So, uh, as I was gonna ask," he said, turning around and closing the door. "You haven't forgotten about your new Vertian form, have you, Klonouuuuhhhh...?"
As soon as he turned around after closing the door, the green cat immediately saw the transformed Klonoa ahead, causing him to drop the snack bag and his eyes to widen in surprise.
"...Yeah, I did forget about it," said Klonoa, looking over at his friend with his hand still on his side, smiling as well. "Until now. Hehe."
Ensis continued to stare at him in surprise for a few seconds.
"...Ooooookaaaaay... I guess I didn't need to ask after all," he said, blinking his eyes.
The green cat picked up the snack bag from the floor and put it next to the TV on its shelf stand. He walked over to Klonoa and stopped next to his right. Observing the white cat's particle aura, Ensis put his gloved hand into the aura itself, seeing if he could feel anything from it. A constant wind was blowing along it, he felt, as well as a wild stream of energy that was constantly emitting from Klonoa's own body.
"Huh... so that's what an aura looks and feels like up close," he said. "Wow."
"Aura...? So that's what this glowy stream around me is called?" Klonoa asked, his hand letting go of his side and with him looking all over at the aura surrounding him.
"Yeah. But it's not exclusive to Vertians, though. Just extremely prominent among them, it seems, and also kinda unique to them in terms of colors," answered Ensis, lowering his hand. "An aura like this happens when a magic user, any magic user, pushes themselves to a high enough power level. So much that excess energy starts to emit out of their bodies and, in turn, interact with the environment around them. Vertians are said to have extremely high power levels, so... yeah, that's why you have an aura there, Klonoa.
"An average magic user would have a blue aura around them, though," he continued, walking around Klonoa and observing him. "But the aura of a Vertian matches their transformed fur color. So having white fur means..."
"The aura will be white. Right," said Klonoa.
Ensis nodded. Stopping to Klonoa's left, he then noticed the clothes on the ground and smiled.
"You wanted to see what you looked like without the clothes on, huh? Heh."
"Yep. And now I realize why Somnium called me the Dreamer of Light. You were right, Ensis," Klonoa said, looking ahead at the mirror. "He was definitely referring to this."
"Yeah... And maaaan, you look awesome like this, Klonoa," Ensis said, smiling with awe at the mirror. "I mean... gosh, look at you here. The brilliant white fur, the mean red eyes, your white long ears, and everything moving along with your aura there. It's so... ethereal. And breathtaking."
"Hehe. Yeah, that's what I thought, Ensis. This is really something else."
After staring at the mirror in awe of the white cat, the green cat then began to think, putting his hand on his muzzle.
"Hm, well, now you got my curiosity going here, Mister Dreamer of Light. I wonder what you can do in this form? I wonder if a Vertian really is as powerful as they say? Other than the aura, of course. But the stories and research of them wielding incredible strength, speed, and that they can... fly. Oh gosh, this is gonna be so awesome...!"
Hearing him, Klonoa brought up his hands and looked at them.
"Hehe, now that you've brought it up, I'm getting curious myself," he said.
Lowering his hands, he then faced Ensis.
"About being able to fly, though... That reminds me."
"Oh...?" The green cat faced him, lowering his hand as well.
"Yeah. When I first transformed, after the second explosion that blew all the smoke and fire away, I found myself floating two feet above the ground. Along with finding myself transformed, that really surprised me... Now that I think about it, it felt... it felt like I was somehow pushing the air around me downward, causing me to hover like that.
"And... when I wanted to just sit there and cry," he said, frowning briefly. "When I was trying to move myself towards the ground, somehow, I calmed the air around me and I went down. Somehow... Hm, I guess I must've relaxed myself and it did the trick."
"...Oh, so... like a helicopter or an airplane, then," said Ensis. "You know how the blades of a helicopter can push air down so that it can fly up, right? Same thing with a plane's back thrusters?"
"Yeah, like that," nodded Klonoa.
"Hmm, then..."
The green cat looked around, observing the room as well as the ceiling above.
"You think you can try to fly now, Klonoa? As long as you... don't... break anything in here?" he asked, shifting his eyes left and right with a bit of a nervous look.
"Uh, heh... I almost kinda broke some stuff in here just by transforming alone," said Klonoa, glancing around the room with a nervous smile. "But sure! I'll try flying."
The white cat brought up his fists and looked at them.
"Just gotta learn how, though..."
"Hmm, well..." Ensis stepped back a bit. "If calming yourself lets go of the air around you, then maybe using your energy to summon the air to you will do it."
"Yeah, that's my thought here. Hmm..."
With the wild energy coursing through his entire body now, Klonoa began to focus, frowning a bit. For a few seconds, he tried to use his energy to get the surrounding air to move in on him. Then, he felt a stream of surrounding air that was coming from above him, keeping close to him and going downward, hitting the ground and going under his shoes.
As the green cat watched, the back of Klonoa's shoes appeared to lift upward, going back down after. It lifted again a second after, only to back down again as well. Then, at last, they lifted completely up from the floor, and Klonoa was now floating upward, stopping three feet from the floor and staying there.
"...Wow... Yeah, you have to use your energy to control it," Klonoa said, slightly moving up and down as he stayed there. He then looked happy, looking down and to his left and right. "Gosh, I... I can't believe I'm actually floating here."
"Huh, amazing... Try to actually fly, then. Slowly, though?"
"Sure."
The white cat looked around the room.
"So... if going up is just like how a helicopter goes up, then... actually flying should be..."
Positioning his arms close to his sides, Klonoa then "fell" forward while keeping the air shooting towards the shoes. He was now flying forward slowly, going past Ensis' own head below him. Reaching the bathroom door ahead, he stopped there and set himself upright, turning around as well.
"...just like a plane! Haha, wow!"
Ensis chuckled, facing him. "Yeah, so it seems to be! Hm, fly around some more, like..."
The green cat looked back and pointed towards the spot above the TV where the ceiling and the adjacent wall meet.
"...right there. And then fly back down towards the bed. See if you can get the hang of it completely by ascending and descending."
"Hm, alright!"
The long-eared cat flew again, this time pointing himself upward so that the air was going downward. He slowly flew up to the ceiling and the adjacent wall, turned around, and then flew down towards the bed, stopping there and setting himself upright again.
"Haha! This... this is awesome!" Klonoa exclaimed, with a happy grin on his face. "I mean, I've been shot out of a bunch of cannons when I had my dream adventure in Lunatea and I flew from them. But actually flying on your own like this is on another level! Haha!"
"Hm, so you've told us once... Hmm, I bet you'd find it even more awesome once you're actually flying outside."
Hearing him, Klonoa's eyes widened a bit. He turned around and faced him.
"Oh, heck yeah! That'd be awesome, alright!"
"Mm-hmm. Only one problem with that, though. You'd be exposed to everyone that'll see you. And when that happens, as Koec said that night..."
"...Oh, right. Hmm." Klonoa frowned.
"Ah, but never fear, Klonoa. I've got an idea or two where you can fly without being seen," said Ensis, with him pointing his index finger up. "As well as test the rest of what you can do."
The green cat moved and walked towards the room door, opening it.
"I'll see if I can't get Koec's boss to lend us the large old warehouse that they don't use anymore," he said, exiting the room.
"...A warehouse...? Hm, hope it's large enough, then," said the white cat.
Klonoa brought up his hands and looked at them, grinning again.
"Gosh, man... This is really freakin' awesome...!"
One week later... 2:10p.m.
"...Soooo this used to be a warehouse for the Magna Festum, Koec?"
"Yep. And the current warehouse we're using is even larger than this."
Along with the green cat brothers, the long-eared cat, in his normal form, was now standing in the center of a large and tall, brown-tinted warehouse. A long chain of large windows situated themselves on both sides of the warehouse near the sloped ceiling, letting in rays of sunlight. Dust could be seen everywhere, and cracks could be seen along the once-paved floor with grass sprouting out here and there. Large entrance doors that were closed were seen both ahead of Klonoa and behind him in the distances, with several regular-sized doors to the left and right of him. Scattered all over the place were various piles of concrete blocks and walls of varying sizes, and a large tennis ball machine was seen several feet ahead of him.
"Wow, I've never seen a warehouse this big before," said Klonoa in his kid voice, looking around. He stood there still unclothed with his accessories on, but now with his collar on as well.
"Yeah. Big warehouses like this are only for those that can afford it," said Koec, still wearing his chef outfit with black pants.
"Huh, I see."
The long-eared cat took a few steps ahead of him and stopped, still looking around.
"Sooo this is where I get to test my new powers, huh...? There sure is a lot of that concrete stuff here."
"Uh, heh, yeah. Wasn't easy getting them all in here," said the chef cat, nervously smiling and rubbing his head. "But I'd do anything for my own brother here as long as it's reasonable."
"Heh, sorry, Koec," said Ensis, nervously smiling as well. "But I'm really curious and excited to see what Klonoa can do here!"
"Hey, me too, Ensis. But I gotta get back to the restaurant now. The whole staff's on busy mode today, so... call me when you're done, guys."
Koec turned towards one of the side doors and walked towards it.
"Yeah. Later, bro," said Ensis.
As they watched him exit with the sounds of the door opening and closing, Klonoa turned and faced the green cat with the scarf.
"So what do you want me to do first, Ensis?" he said, smiling.
"...Uhh, transform?" replied Ensis, chuckling at him.
"Oh, right. Hehe. Okay, then."
Klonoa brought up his hands and clenched them, looking at them as well with a determined expression.
"Gotta say that it was so sudden when I first tapped into it at will. The energy quickly spread all over me like wildfire, and it also made me fall, haha. But now I know what to expect this time."
"Huh, really? Then... you must've forced it to activate that quickly," said the green cat, facing him.
"Uh, I guess...? Hm, then again, I did just decide to reach in without thinking about the speed."
"Yeah... Various eyewitness accounts from the past say that some Vertians sometimes chose to do it slowly for that dramatic effect. You know, that slow effect we see all the time on TV?"
"Yeah, I get what you mean. I'll try, then. But, uh..." Klonoa looked ahead at Ensis and smiled. "You might want to back up from here a bit."
"Oh, right. Heh."
Ensis took a few steps backwards and stopped.
"There. Now do it."
Klonoa nodded, looking down at his fists and putting a determined frown on his face.
The black cat began to concentrate, trying to slowly tap into the wild energy swirling inside of his chest this time. Just as he commanded, the energy slowly began to spread and flow across his body instead of at the fast speed before. For a few seconds, nothing happened around him on the outside. Then at last, gusts of wind started blowing upwards from his feet and surrounding him as they blew, causing his long ears and hair bangs to flow upward with them.
After several seconds, the great winds began to blow into the area, reaching and swaying Ensis' own green fur along as he watched.
"Well, this feels good..."
Soon, the winds sped up and grew bigger. As Ensis noticed, a shine of light gleamed across Klonoa's yellow eyes, turning them into a ruby red color. His black fur began to flash white every three seconds. As the energy then finished its course through his body, all Klonoa needed to do now, he felt, was to give himself a little tense-up.
And tense himself up, he did, finally exploding with a wave of white particle energy going out of him and into his surroundings. With the winds at their strongest, he now stood there with his fur staying all white, a surrounding aura, and his long ears flowing along with them at a swift speed.
The winds soon died down, only continuing around Klonoa now with the speed of the flowing ears slowing down a bit. He proceeded to look all over himself.
"...Well, that was dramatic, alright," said Ensis, grinning. "Wow. That was actually awesome! I mean, your fur actually kept flashing white for a bit before it finally stayed white."
"Huh, yeah. Unh...! But, uh... Ensis? Is it normal for a Vertian to change their voice when they transform?" Klonoa asked, noticing his own teen voice.
"Huh...? Oh, yeah! Your voice is different now!" exclaimed the green cat. "...Ah, yeah, that's right. Some Vertians do change their voices when they transform. They say they sound a lot more serious when transformed..."
"So it's normal, then?"
"For some, yeah. I guess you're one of them, huh? Heh."
"I guess... Hmm."
The white cat continued to look all over himself, smiling with a firm, slanted-eye look.
"Yeah... This is awesome, alright. I feel really powerful like this, Ensis. Stronger, yet weirdly light like this. It feels like... like I could punch a giant boulder with ease, yet I could also move around quickly at the same time."
Lowering his fists to his sides, Klonoa looked back at the many blocks of concrete scattered around the warehouse as well as the tennis ball shooter.
"And I guess that's why you brought all these here, huh?"
"Yep, exactly. To test your strength and speed," said Ensis. "But first, as promised, I want to see you flying freely, Klonoa, now that we're not in a cramped room anymore."
Klonoa looked at him. "Oh, right. Okay, then!"
The white cat looked down at his own feet, remembering how to fly from last week. A second later, he began to float up a few feet and stopped there.
"So, go all out, or...?"
"...Hmm..." Ensis looked around. "I'd say start from a decent speed first, and then go all out if you want. Just try not to accidentally crash out of here, though."
"I won't."
Ensis nodded. "Then have at it, Klonoa!"
The white cat nodded as well. He faced the big door ahead past Ensis and looked above it. With the air around him shooting downward towards his feet, Klonoa then used his energy to fly forward at a moderate speed. On the way to the big door, he tilted himself upward, ascending towards the spot above the door, near the ceiling. He stopped there and turned around, seeing how high he was now.
"Haha, wow! I'm way up high here," he said, grinning a bit as he looked down. "I've been at high places before, but not like this, floating on your own and all."
"Yep, that sure looks high. Try flying around like a jet now, turning as you fly."
"Okay! Might as well do it faster, too."
Klonoa began to fly ahead again, this time picking up the pace and descending a bit. Halfway through the warehouse, recalling how a jet turns while flying, the cat rolled himself to the left and flew himself in his upward direction, doing a slow 180 turn as he flew.
"...Ha, like that, then," he said as he did the turn.
For a while, Klonoa flew all over the place, ascending and descending, rolling and turning. Over time, he slowly increased his speed, and he soon found it exciting and thrilling as he flew, with the winds constantly swaying his white fur all over.
"Wahooooo! Yeah! This is awesooooome!"
"...Hm, looks like he's doing about 60 miles per hour here. Maybe 80," said Ensis, with his hand on his muzzle, watching Klonoa. "Aaaaand here he comes."
Descending as he turned around, Klonoa flew ahead and zipped past Ensis, flying right by him and causing a gust of wind that blew the green cat's bangs and fur upward.
"Yep, seems about right."
Upon reaching the big door ahead of him again, Klonoa made a quick sharp turn and flew towards Ensis again, slowing down and stopping next to the green cat's right, floating a few feet above the ground.
"Whew! That was really darn awesoooome! So exciting to fly on my own like that!" exclaimed Klonoa, grinning.
Ensis chuckled, lowering his hand. "Yeah. But I bet you weren't even using a lot of energy to fly at that speed, huh?"
"Oh, uh... come to think of it, no, I wasn't. Still felt like I was only using a bit of it."
"Heh. Then I guess you'd know by now that the more energy you use, the faster you'll fly, right?"
"Huh, I guess...? Did the research tell you that?"
The green cat nodded, facing him. "It's called burst flying. At a certain energy percentage, Vertians can fly faster than the speed of sound, often leaving a trail of their own aura behind them as they fly."
"Faster than the...? Oh wow, really?" Klonoa asked, growing wide-eyed at this. "I can do that?"
"Yep. But I don't think you can do it here, though. You'd crash out of this place in an instant, heh."
"Hmm, yeah, I guess so," the white cat said, looking around.
Ensis looked towards the various concrete block piles and walls scattered around the area, beginning to walk towards one of them.
"That's enough flying around for now, huh? What do you say we, ahem, test your might, as they say?"
"Oh, uh, sure," Klonoa said, following the green cat while still in the air.
Walking towards a single concrete block lying on the ground, the green cat stopped to the left of it and turned around, using his hand to point Klonoa towards it. Seeing the ten-inch block there with two square holes in it, Klonoa stopped and landed in front of it, looking at it.
"You ever lift one of these before, by the way?" asked Ensis.
"A few times, back in Breezegale when it was..." Klonoa sighed. "...Still around. Had to help this one fat guy who was building houses. These things are really heavy to lift and carry around."
"Yep, they are. But are they still heavy to your newfound strength?" asked the green cat, smiling.
"...Hmm..."
Using both of his hands, the white cat proceeded to pick it up by its bottom. Expecting to struggle with it, he began to lift it up, only to notice that it was light. Much lighter than before, he noticed.
"Huh...? Oh..."
Pulling it up further with him standing straight, he moved it up and close to the midpoint of his body, with him blinking in surprise at the ease of it.
"Huh... That was much easier than before! I didn't even have to struggle as well... This feels really light to me, Ensis!" he exclaimed.
"Hm. So I see...!"
After a second, Klonoa let go of his left grip on it and began to hold the bottom midpoint of it with only the palm of his right hand, moving it ahead a bit. After a few seconds, he began to slightly toss it up and down with his hand, as if it was a ball.
"Wow... Hmm!" Ensis exclaimed.
"I know, right?"
The green cat nodded. "Just so we're not dealing with a fake somehow, can you drop it? It should make a loud..."
Klonoa tossed it forward. It fell to the ground and hit it, causing a loud and heavy thumping sound that resonated throughout the warehouse.
"...sound... Eep."
The white cat grunted in surprise. He looked at his hands.
"Yeah... I'm definitely strong now. No doubt about it."
"Yep... But... just how strong are you really? That's what I'm really curious about here," said Ensis.
"Hmm..."
Klonoa looked around. There were a few large towers of concrete blocks around him, including one that was past the green cat.
"I'm guessing you want me to lift that, then," he said, pointing towards it.
"Yep."
Ensis turned and faced it. As he did, Klonoa went and flew towards it, landing in front of it. He looked up, seeing that it was about 20 feet in size.
"Some buildings are around that size, you know," said Ensis, smiling. "So... this'll be a true test of your strength here."
"Hm... Lifting almost 20 times the size of just one block which was really light... Think this might be a little harder, honestly."
Klonoa looked down at the bottom of the tower. Bending over, he reached for the bottom of it and put his hands underneath it, proceeding to lift it up.
'This is much, much heavier than just the one block which was already heavy to begin with,' thought the green cat. 'Really hope he doesn't break his-'
Upon lifting up the tower, expecting to struggle this time, Klonoa felt some weight as he lifted. But not that much, he quickly noticed, as he then lifted the tower over his head with almost the same amount of ease as before. Looking up and lifting it up and down a few times, he felt that it was at least twice the weight of the single block, still feeling that it was light to him.
"...I'm... I'm holding up a tower of concrete blocks, and it still feels light to me?! Holy cow! Just how strong am I, really?!" Klonoa asked, looking wide eyed.
Hearing him, the green cat became just as surprised with his mouth open. "Really?! It's still light to you?!"
Klonoa turned around, facing him. "Yeah! I mean..."
His left hand let go of the tower, placing his right hand in the center of it.
"Look! I can even hold it with one hand!"
Ensis' mouth opened up more at this, shocked at the fact that this tower wasn't even causing Klonoa to struggle at all.
"...Huh. So that eyewitness account that said that Vertians were titans of strength is true after all. That they could move even a giant whale if they wanted... Holy cow, alright! Wow," he said, looking happy at this.
"A giant whale? Really?! Wow..."
After staring up at the 20-foot concrete tower he was holding up with ease, with both hands, Klonoa slowly lowered it back to the ground, making a small thumping sound as it hit the ground. He looked at his hands again, stunned by his own newfound strength.
"Huh... I... never thought I'd become this strong, honestly. It's crazy!"
"Crazy, alright. But it's definitely what you need to beat the bad guys, Klonoa," said the green cat. "Especially if there are those that are just as strong as you. I mean, they did say that there were Vertians that were evil after all. Those who spread destruction on an unprecedented scale..."
"Ah, yeah, we did read more on that earlier. Hmm."
"Speaking of destruction, go ahead and knock over that tower. If lifting it is easy, then so will destroying it."
"Hm, yeah..."
Klonoa looked up and then ahead at the bottom part of the tower, forming a firm look on his face.
"Gotta say I'm not much of a puncher, though," said the white cat, bringing up and forming a fist with his right hand. "But here goes!"
Pulling his fist back, he then quickly thrust it forward, punching straight through the concrete and instantly breaking it into pieces. The sheer force of his punch caused some of the broken pieces to instantly fly back, going as far as the back of the warehouse itself and at half the speed of a bullet. With its base shattered, the tower quickly collapsed, and all of the blocks fell straight to the ground, causing a chain of loud landing noises as they fell.
Still in the punching pose, Klonoa stood straight, lowered his hand, and looked all over, noticing the broken debris at the end of the warehouse.
"Wow, they went all the way over there...! Dang, I'm literally a tank, then," he said, looking surprised.
"Yep... and that's even more proof to what history tells us," said Ensis, walking to Klonoa's left and stopping there. He nervously chuckled, looking at him. "At least you're on our side and also not mindless. 'Cause if you were..."
"...I-I'd be going on a total destructive rampage if I was. Geez, heh... Wow."
The white cat rubbed the side of his head with his finger, still surprised at the enormous strength he had now. He looked at both of his hands again, both at his palms and the back sides of his hands.
"Well, we know about the strength aspect of your super form now, but what about your speed?" asked Ensis, looking at him. "Not only were they strong, but Vertians were said to have enhanced reaction times and, once trained enough, can dodge even bullets. I didn't get a gun for obvious reasons, heh, but..."
"...You got the tennis ball shooter, instead, huh?"
"Yep. Fastest one I could find as well."
Further ahead in the warehouse, there sat a large, orange-colored tennis ball shooter that resembled an outdoor garbage container with its tall and square-like shape. A large pile of tennis balls sat in its insertion point on the top of it, and in the front of it was the round-holed shooter itself, aimed slightly upward.
The green cat walked to behind it where the controls were, while Klonoa floated fifteen feet ahead of it, hovering above the ground.
"Had to borrow this from a friend, by the way," said Ensis. "The guy knew I wasn't a tennis player, though, so when he asked why I needed it, I said, 'Oh, my friend's machine broke, so he was asking around if he could borrow someone else's.'"
"...Heh, I see," Klonoa said, smiling.
"Yep."
With the shooter's knob controls in front of him, Ensis began to fiddle with it, setting the speed as well as the number of balls needed to shoot.
"Like I said, fastest one I could find. Try not to end up like those on TV who get trapped in a ball storm, huh? Hehe."
"...Heh. Yeah, I know what you mean," Klonoa said. Bringing up his arms and clenching his fists, he formed a determined, smiling look on his face. "Alright, ready, Ensis."
"Okay. Fastest speed... hm, let's try one ball every two seconds to start with."
After adjusting the knob, the green cat moved his finger over to the start button.
"Starting in 3... 2... 1..."
He pressed it, turning it on with the sound of a motor starting up from within. After two seconds, the machine shot out a tennis ball straight at Klonoa ahead, flying at him at a very fast speed.
"Oh, whoa! ...Huh?"
Seeing the ball coming straight at him surprised him, making him jump a bit. But as soon as the ball almost reached him, suddenly, it slowed down to a crawl. The ball still moved toward him, but at a very slow speed.
"What...? It slowed down... Hey, Ensis, you... Huh?"
Klonoa looked ahead at him, only to notice the green cat's eyes closing themselves at a slow speed. Seeing the speed of his eyes as well as the ball itself, he realized something. Time had slowed down, and it was his own Vertian energy-powered reaction time that was causing it.
"...Holy...! Wow... Then, this means... Hm!"
Klonoa swerved himself to his right, getting out of the ball's way and watching the ball fly past him as time then sped back up to normal.
"...W-wow, I just...! Uh oh!"
Hearing the machine shoot out another one, the white cat looked towards it and saw another ball coming towards him at the same speed as before. As soon as the ball neared him, time slowed down to a crawl again. Seeing the slowdown, now he knew what was going on.
The white cat swerved himself to his left this time, dodging the ball again. Two seconds later, the machine fired another one at him again, only for him to dodge once more. As he continued to dodge and move out of the way, Klonoa began to smile, finding some fun out of his new speed.
As the machine continued to fire, Ensis watched on, with his mouth slowly opening as Klonoa continued to avoid the balls effortlessly. The green cat glanced down at the machine, seeing that it was set to shoot at 150 miles per hour.
"Uh, wow... It's set to 150mph, and you're easily dodging them, Klonoa," he said.
"Wow, really? 150?" Klonoa asked, still dodging the balls.
"Yeah."
"Huh...! Well, to be honest, this is kinda fun, Ensis. Ha! Hm!"
Klonoa continued to dodge the balls effortlessly for a while, then he looked at the green cat while still dodging.
"Hey, I think I can do better than this. Can you turn it up a bit, Ensis?" he asked. "Actually, why not turn everything all the way up? I think that'll really test my speed here."
Hearing him, the green cat looked at the machine's settings again. The maximum rate of fire, he noticed, was at 0.5 seconds while the maximum speed was at 200mph.
"Everything at max, huh? You sure about this?"
"Yeah. Bring it on."
"...Okaaaaaay, then."
Ensis turned the knobs all the way to the right. Immediately, the machine started firing the balls at every half second as well as 50 miles faster than before.
Seeing the increased speed and rate, Klonoa was slightly startled. But as soon as the first ball neared him, time slowed down for him again, and he dodged it. Another ball came at him again after half a second, only for his reflexes to activate once more. He continued to easily dodge the balls, despite the max settings on the machine. And this only made it more fun for him, making him grin.
"Wahoo! Can't catch me here!"
Ensis opened his mouth all the way in shock at this.
"...Yeah, no living being can do this. No way," he said, blinking his eyes. "So everything they've said and researched about Vertians is... true, then."
The long-eared cat continued to dodge the balls for a long while, until the machine was nearly empty.
"10 balls left, Klonoa!" exclaimed the green cat.
"Hm, watch this, then."
Klonoa dodged to his left, up, right, down, up, right, down, and left, until he stopped and let the last two balls come straight at him. With time slowing down, he put his right hand up in the way of the incoming ball, letting him stop and grab it. The final ball came at him, only for him to stop and grab it with his left.
"Oh, whoa! Y-You actually stopped them yourself?!" asked the green cat, looking wide-eyed after seeing the speed of Klonoa's hands.
"Yep! Hehe... Whew, that was really fun to do, Ensis! Much more than just lifting up those concrete blocks, really," Klonoa said.
"...Wow, heh. Yeah, you looked like you were enjoying yourself there."
Ensis walked up to the still-floating Klonoa and stopped in front of him.
"So, during all of that dodging, was your reaction time constantly kicking in, or...?
"If it had time slowing down around me a lot, then yeah," Klonoa said, casually tossing the left ball up and down. "I was surprised by it at first, though."
"Hm, so... as if you were constantly in accidents, then. 'Cause I keep hearing that time slows down for people who are in accidents or are about to hit the ground from a fall in various controlled tests. Huh, that's really cool, then."
"I guess it's like that... Heh."
Ensis nodded. He sighed.
"Well, safe to say that you've satisfied my curiosity, Klonoa. At least, until we do more Vertian research, that is."
Klonoa chuckled, still tossing the balls. "Yep."
The green cat looked around. There were still numerous concrete towers, walls, and blocks that were scattered around the warehouse.
"Well, there's still a lot of concrete left in here, so... feel free to use them to further test yourself. Unless you're gonna call it a day already."
The white cat looked around.
"Hmm, nah, I'm gonna stay here for a while," Klonoa said. "See if I can't put both my new speed and strength together. Besides..."
Recalling something the green cat said a year ago, Klonoa turned to his right and stopped while still floating, tossing the balls away as well. He looked at his right hand.
"Didn't you say that, once I became the Dreamer of Light which I am now, I'd be able to fully use the Wind Ring? And that I'd unlock its hidden form or something like that?"
"...Oh yeah, I did!" exclaimed Ensis.
Beckoning it to appear, the white cat's hand then briefly flashed white, and the Wind Ring sat firmly in his grip.
"Wow, I'm surprised you remembered that, Klonoa," said the green cat, smiling.
"Yeah. Well, people did say that I have a good memo- Huh?"
Suddenly, the Ring glowed bright white again. After two seconds, it dimmed, and now something completely different was in his grip.
"What...?"
What used to be the Ring was what now appeared to be a gold-and-white sword hilt of sorts. The main grip itself was white, and it had a single large, arched, white-and-gold guard on the side of it with a separate yellow guard that led to the hilt's bottom. The hilt's bottom had a round green gem embedded within, and the top of the hilt had a thick, round, yellow part to it, resembling the top cap of a bottle. On top of this part was a round hole.
Before the both of them could say anything further, the top hole of the hilt began to glow bright green from within. And to their surprise, it suddenly shot out a long jagged stream of green energy from the hole that went about two and a half feet ahead of it, with it at its thinnest on its end.
"Whoa!" exclaimed Klonoa, having jumped at the hilt's sudden formation of its energy blade. "Huh...? W-what is this...?"
"...Well, that was sudden," said Ensis. "Is that...?"
"...A laser sword? The Ring's hidden form is a laser sword?" asked Klonoa.
So it appeared to be, with the blade's jagged energy constantly streaming up to its thin end. Klonoa rotated it around a bit, pointing it straight ahead afterward.
"...Huh. So it is," said the green cat. He chuckled. "Wow, so... Somnium really does want you to be the vanquisher of nightmares, huh?"
"I guess... Heh, I've gotten used to throwing enemies around with the Wind Bullet, but this'll definitely make things easier," the white cat said, bringing it closer to him. "What should we call this thing, by the way?"
"Hmm... well, since its normal form is the Wind Ring, how about... the Wind Saber? 'Cause that hilt and its guards resemble a regular saber's."
"...Wind Saber... Yeah, that makes sense."
Klonoa glanced over to his right, towards one of the concrete blocks on the ground that fell from the collapsed tower. Floating over to it, he picked it up with his other hand.
"So laser swords can pretty much cut through anything, right?"
"Yeah, unless they come into contact with materials that are stronger or equal, like another laser sword for example. They'll stop on contact like a regular sword."
"Hm, in that case, then..."
The white cat tossed the concrete block upward. As soon as it started falling, he quickly pulled the Saber upward and swung it down towards the block, slicing it into two with both halves falling to the ground.
"Hehe. Gotta say I'm liking this already," Klonoa said, grinning.
"Can't say I disagree with you there, Klonoa," the green cat said, smiling and folding his arms. "You just keep on impressing me here, my long-eared pal."
Klonoa chuckled. With a determined smile, he looked onward to the rest of the remaining concrete towers and walls.
"Guess I'm testing myself with this new weapon, then."
A few days later... 1:20p.m.
"'With fine-tuned control of their power, Vertians can stay as their transformed self for as long as they desire. The threshold for doing so, according to several studies on them, seems to be just an inch above the point where it's needed to grant them their Vertian appearance. Their power level is at its lowest here, but they are still extraordinary strong and agile even at this low point...' Huh."
Klonoa, in his normal form and still unclothed while wearing his accessories and red collar, was back in Ensis' room, sitting on the floor with his back against the bed and reading a brown-covered book that he held with his hands. Piles and piles of different-colored books were around him. Some of them had to do with Vertians while others had to do with magic in general, evident by their titles on them.
"Soooo this means I could eat, sleep, take a shower... Do all that while never reverting back to normal?" Klonoa said, in his kid voice. "Huh, that's awesome. So I could be white forever if I wanted to, then. Could help as I continue to explore what I can do as well."
As the cat continued to read his book, up ahead, the TV was on with sounds of a loud audience and two people speaking from the TV's speakers. A large, dark, yet flashy-looking arena was being shown on it with a wide overhead view of it. With tons and tons of people all over, the audience was surrounding a small-sized, round fighting cage that had a branded mat across it.
"And now, with the Swift One in the cage and getting ready, here comes his competitor," said one of the commentators.
The camera cut to another overhead view, this time covering the cage and the narrow walkway that led to it from the arena entrance. From the arena entrance, someone walked in, and the crowd erupted in cheers towards the competitor that stepped in.
"Hailing from the southeastern regions," said the booming arena announcer. "It's the one! The only! Le Rooooooooche!"
Standing there at the entrance, with the camera cutting to a close view of him, was that of a red cat with normal ears. He sported the same determined-looking eye shape as Klonoa in his Vertian form, but lacking any face fluffs, leaving a fluff-less white muzzle. He wore a grey branded shirt and some black fighting gloves. He was pantsless with his red-furred crotch and long tail being visible, and he was barefoot with white cat feet.
The red cat proceeded on the way to the cage amidst cheering crowds and the commentators talking about him. He stepped into the cage and the door closed behind him as he looked towards his opponent ahead: a long-tailed, yellow spotted leopard who wore only the same black fighting gloves.
"...What is going on here on the T- oh," said Klonoa, lifting his head up to look. "It's the AFC."
While the leopard was in a constantly-hopping fighting stance with his fists up, the red cat was walking left and right constantly while his assistant was tending to him, with him keeping an eye on his opponent as well. After a bit, the assistant signaled him with her hand and she walked away. The red cat stepped forward a bit, proceeding to take off his shirt with his hands, pulling it upward and over his head. He threw the shirt away and looked onward, still looking determined as well.
"Ahh, there's that buff chest on him," said one of the commentators. "You know, one way to tell if these anthro animals have some strength or have been working out at least is if you look at their upper body. If it's wide and their chest has that big ol' mound on them..."
"Yeah. Not only that," said the other commentator. "But I would also say that their big chests make them look confident. I hear that in some anthro groups, showing off such big chests means that you have the confidence to overcome any obstacle that life throws at you."
"Really? That's interesting."
"Yeah, I mean, it's a common thing in superhero movies and comics where they have to be confident. If not their own bare furry chests, then it's through the skin-tight suits they wear that you can still see them."
"Ahh, yeah, good point there. Never noticed that... So then, with Le Roche taking his shirt off there..."
"Yeah, with that buff chest of his that he's baring, he's showing the world that he's confident he will beat the Swift One tonight."
"Heh heh. Well, let's not underestimate the Swift One here. While he may lack some strength as evident by his lack of a buff chest, he more than makes up for it with his sheer leopard speed... The match is officially about to get underway, folks. "
The red cat went into a fighting stance of his own, ready to fight the leopard.
"...Hmm..."
Watching the event and hearing them, Klonoa looked down at his own buff chest, partly obscured by his collar. He touched it with his hand.
"Strong and confident, huh? Like a superhero..." He smiled. "With these powers, I may as well be one, honestly. Just... unknown to the world for now."
He moved his hand up to grab his collar.
"Showing off your chest... Hmm."
Seeing the life-sized mirror in the corner to the left of the TV, the long-eared cat lowered his hand, placed his book aside on the ground, and stood up, walking to the mirror and stopping there. After three seconds of staring at himself in the mirror, he quickly tapped into his inner energy, instantly bursting into his Vertian form with his aura around him and a mean look on his face. His ears and spiked bangs were moving along with the aura.
With one hand, Klonoa unbuckled his collar, grabbed it, and slid it off, moving it away and dropping it to the ground to his left. With it off, his buff chest was now in full view.
Staring at himself for a few seconds, he then stepped back a bit, putting himself in a 3/4th view in the mirror. With the collar off, he noticed that his chest stood out better, making him look confident at least.
"Huh... I get it now," he said, in his teen voice. "It does make me look that way. Like I'm confident enough to beat the bad guy and whatnot."
After a second, he turned around, standing there with a 3/4th view of his back and with his chest peeking out a little.
"...Oh, huh... My back looks a bit buff as well. Never noticed that until now..." He smiled. "Yeah, guess I do look strong like this, huh? Without the collar on... Wow. Hehe."
The white cat turned to face the mirror again.
"Guess I'm not wearing the collar when I'm like this, then," he said, smiling and looking at the collar next to him on the ground.
The white cat began to lean over to pick it up, but he stopped himself as he was reminded of something, making him look back at the books.
"Oh, right. Might as well try the 'low power level' thing while I'm transformed here."
With his smile fading, he stood straight and faced the mirror again, bringing up his hands and clenching them into fists.
"Just an inch above, huh...? Yeah, I think I know what to do here."
Klonoa closed his eyes and began to calm himself, willing the wild energy to condense back inside of him. He felt the power leaving him as his aura faded, with his ears and bangs no longer moving around. But as soon as he felt the last few ounces of his power beginning to leave him, he stopped it there, still feeling the now-weaker-but-still-wild energy coursing through his body.
Having adjusted his power, Klonoa opened his eyes, now their normal round shape and no longer looking mean with slanted eyes. He blinked a few times and then looked all over himself and towards the mirror, still as his white self.
"Huh... I guess it worked. Haha! Awesome!" exclaimed Klonoa, looking happy. "...Wow, yeah, I no longer feel restless like this. It kinda felt like I was always angry or determined to do something. Now I feel normal, but still powerful like this. Hehe, wow."
Putting his fists to the sides of his body, the white cat smiled at himself, tilting his head once as well. Then, letting go of his sides, he turned around, picking up his collar from the floor as he walked back to where the books were.
Tossing the collar onto the bed, Klonoa turned around and sat back down on the floor where he was before. He sighed.
"Alright, let's see how long I can stay in this form, then," he said, picking up the book and resuming where he left off, smiling as well.
A few minutes later...
The room door to the right of Klonoa opened, and in came Ensis, still wearing his unclothed attire.
"So, have you decided what element of magic you're going to use?" he asked, closing the door afterward and walking to Klonoa.
"Hmm, yeah, I think I've decided," said the white cat, still reading the book. He then lowered it and looked up at Ensis, smiling as well. "But first... Notice anything different about me?"
"Huh?"
The green cat stopped in front of him and looked.
"...Oh. You're transformed. But... where's the aura? And... your eyes kinda look normal as well. They don't look mean."
Staring at him, Ensis then realized it.
"Ohhh, yeah... Vertians can put themselves at a low power level while staying transformed. I forgot about that!" exclaimed the green cat. "You figured it out that quick?"
"Yeah, after reading that part in this. I've transformed and turned back to normal enough times now to get a feel for it, so I thought I should try it," said Klonoa. He looked all over himself. "And yeah, I no longer feel restless like this, so that explains my eyes here."
"Huh, I see." Ensis smiled. "That's awesome. Sooo, what, you're going to try to stay like this from now on, or...?"
"Yep. Especially as I continue to learn what I can do."
"Hm, yeah, that's a good idea, then. Just remember to change back whenever we go outside, yeah?"
"Of course," nodded Klonoa. "I got the hang of it now, so I can do it in an instant if I need to."
The white cat placed the book aside on the ground and stood up.
"As for what type of magic I'm gonna use," he said. "Well... as much as I like the idea of using fire, earth, and others... I can't ignore the fact that I was given a magic ring that shoots wind bullets. Plus, me being born in a village named after the wind... And then, there's my ears here."
Klonoa looked and grabbed his long right ear with his hand, bringing it upward.
"They're shaped like maple leaves. Leaves that fly off into the wind in the fall... There's no doubt here, Ensis. I am meant to be one with the wind here."
"Hmm, I see. Yeah, that makes sense," said Ensis. "I mean, if that's what Somnium wants you to be..."
"Yeah," nodded Klonoa.
"Hm, okay, then. Fire magic is the easiest to do out of all of them, though. But if you want to go all-in on the wind motifs as Somnium wants, then I won't stop ya." The green cat smiled again.
Ensis looked at the books on the floor.
"The 'Magic 101' book there should teach you how to do it, by the way."
"Yeah, I'll get to that after I'm done reading this one," said Klonoa, looking down at the open book. He then looked at the room door. "I'm gonna go get a snack first."
Floating up a bit, Klonoa began to fly over to the door. He opened it and exited the room.
The green cat chuckled at this, looking back.
"I'm never gonna get over the awesomeness of this."
An hour later...
Klonoa was back in the room, sitting in the same spot with the "Magic 101" book in his hands this time, with Ensis nowhere to be seen. The white cat's red eyes moved left and right as he continued to read.
"Hmm, so let me get all of this straight," he thought aloud, lowering the book a bit. "Magic is basically thoughts and spirit energy, which is magic energy by another name, being brought out into the physical world. All of us have spirit energy within, ever since the Awakening thousands of years ago. And our ability to wield any one of the elements depends on our bodies' composition and tolerance. So someone who hates the cold can't wield ice magic and so on."
He looked at his hand that he brought up.
"Huh, never knew this kinda-watery feeling that flows within me is my spirit energy. That tutorial on TV back then didn't say anything about it, just that they said to go with the flow. Well, now I know what they meant by that."
He looked down and put his hand on his chest.
"And this other energy, this wild energy, is my Vertian energy. It simply makes everything more powerful, including the spirit energy. Even before it becomes active with the person's first transformation, it still makes the spirit energy stronger, making magic easier to wield... Huh, so that's why I was able to easily do the 'inner space' magic at the beach back then. Wow, Ensis was right back then. Heh."
Placing the book aside on the ground to his right, the white long-eared cat then stood up.
"Hm, okay, then. Let's try out wind magic," he said. He looked around the room. "Let's levitate something in here. But what, though?"
Looking around, Klonoa then noticed the open bag of salmon-flavored chips next to his left on the ground.
"Hm, maybe this."
The white cat hopped a bit, hopping over the mess of books and facing the bag on the ground. He brought up his hand to look at it.
"'Remember the breezy feeling of the wind... and use that as your thought when you try to levitate an object,'" he recalled.
Gazing toward the bag of chips on the ground, Klonoa moved and aimed his hand towards it, with a semi-focused expression on his face. He concentrated, remembering how the wind felt like and using that feeling towards his target. He felt both his watery-like spirit energy and his wild Vertian energy stir a bit within.
After a second, the bag of chips began to float a few inches up above the ground, staying there.
"Huh... That was easier than I thought," he said, blinking a bit in surprise. He smiled. "Now to bring it to me. Just by focusing my thoughts..."
Klonoa focused again, beckoning the bag to come to him. The bag floated over to his hand. He flipped his hand over with its palm facing upward, and the bag of chips floated right above it, stopping there.
"...Just like that, then. Hm!"
He relaxed his energies and the bag landed right into his palm.
"Heh, awesome."
With his other hand, the white cat dug into the bag and grabbed a chip, tossing it into his mouth and chomping on it.
"Hmm..."
Klonoa looked around the room.
"Let's try... floating the TV over there."
Gazing at the TV across the room, he aimed his hand at it, focusing again while still smiling. After a second, the TV began to float up, but stopped after an inch upward. The cat was feeling a heavy force from it that was interfering with his spirit energy.
"Hmm? Feels heavy to me," he said, his smile fading. "Of course it's heavy... Hmm, just needs a little push here."
Klonoa focused a bit harder, feeling that his Vertian energy was strengthening his spirit energy a bit. The TV floated up further, stopping a feet above its table.
"Oh, there we go." Klonoa smiled again. "Just needed some power, that's all. Hehe... Now to put it back down before I accidentally break it."
The cat slowly floated the TV back down, making a small thump sound as it did. He lowered his hand down as well.
"Hehe... Looks like I'm definitely gonna have some fun here with my magic."
Glancing back at the bag he still held in his palm, Klonoa brought up and aimed his other hand at it. A chip slowly floated up from the bag and flew fast into his mouth a second after. He chomped on it, chuckling afterward.
A few weeks had passed. As the days went by, the long-eared cat continued to study and train, putting his nose into as many books as he could and using his newfound knowledge to the test in the same warehouse. The green cat brothers continued to supply him concrete to destroy as well as other stuff needed for him to continue experimenting and discovering what he could do.
Now he was here in the warehouse once again, sitting in the middle of it and reading a book that he picked out of the pile of books in front of him. He sat there in his normal black form, with his eyes going left and right, and wearing only his hat, gloves, and shoes.
Just then, to his left and back, the far warehouse door opened and in came Ensis, still in the same unclothed-with-scarf attire as before. Closing the door behind him, he walked towards Klonoa.
"Alright, I'm here," he said, stopping next to him. "You said you came up with something. What is it? You gonna try and become even faster, or...?"
"Nah, I think I'm good with where I'm at for now," Klonoa said in his kid voice, closing his book, dropping it, and then standing up, facing the green cat.
"Heh, fast enough for now, huh? Alright. So... what is it, then?" asked Ensis, smiling and putting his hand on his side.
"Well, I've been reading and thinking. Vertians like me are powerful enough to take on a whole entire army, right? So much that they have attacks that can take out as many enemies as they can using Chaos Magic? Well... I thought I should try and come up with an attack of my own here, in case I ever do need to take out multiple enemies at once."
"Hmm, and I'm here to be the first person to see such an attack, huh?"
"Mm-hmm!" nodded Klonoa, smiling.
"Heh heh. Okay... Um, remind me what Chaos Magic is, again? I kinda forgot," said the green cat, rubbing the back of his head with his hand with a semi-confused smile. "Um, was it a wilder form of elemental magic or...?"
"Yeah, a more chaotic form of it. 'Bred for destruction,' said one of the books."
Klonoa moved up his right hand and looked at it. As he did, he quickly tapped into his Vertian energy and exploded into his white-furred, spiky-haired, red-eyed form, with his particle aura surrounding him and a determined smile on his face. His long ears moved along with his aura.
He faced his palm upward and concentrated a bit. A light blue ball of energy appeared above it, its size being the same as the hand itself.
"Take any discipline of elemental magic, fire, water, wind... and transform it into a more destructive form that will explode on impact with the same properties as its base form," said the white cat, with his teen voice. "With wind magic, it'll make things fly farther after they explode into bits."
Glancing around, he then focused on a pile of concrete blocks to his left that was arranged in the shape of a pyramid. Facing it, he swiftly threw the ball towards it. A small light blue explosion occurred on impact, blowing the pyramid up with pieces of concrete flying everywhere and as far as both ends of the warehouse.
"Ahhh, right. Now I remember," said Ensis, smiling. "Yeah, wind causes things to fly, fire makes things burn continuously, water turns things soft like rocks weathering down... No matter the element, though, Chaos Magic makes things explode. And live up to their rep for being the 'magic of ruin,' alright."
"Yep."
"Mm." Ensis nodded. "Okay, then. So what is this anti-army attack you've come up with, then?"
After a second, Klonoa turned and faced the pile of books again, looking ahead at the end of the warehouse.
"Heh... You might want to step back, Ensis. Probably to that corner over there behind you," Klonoa said, smiling. "And uh, try not to get shocked."
"...Uhh, alright..."
Looking back, the green cat turned towards the corner and walked over to it, stopping and turning around to watch.
"Okay, go for it, Klonoa."
Nodding again, after a second, the white cat's smile turned into a frown as he tapped further into his energy and powered up. His aura increased in size, making his ears and bangs move more wildly along.
Klonoa stretched his right arm all the way to his right. The palm of his hand briefly flashed white, and the hilt of his Wind Saber appeared in the grip of his hand. A green glow was seen in the hilt's top hole, and soon enough, the green jagged blade itself protruded outward.
The long-eared cat positioned it in front of him and grabbed it with both hands. Entering into a stance with his legs, he then positioned it to his right side with the blade pointing to behind him.
Klonoa powered up further, again increasing his aura with his ears moving even faster. After a few seconds, bolts of blue and yellow electricity began to crackle all around his aura.
"...Whoa, the lightning around him," said Ensis, his mouth a bit open as he watched.
Reaching the power level he needed to do this, Klonoa was ready.
"I call this one... the Thunder Hurricaaaaaane!"
With that yell, the long-eared cat suddenly began to spin himself around over and over, quickly increasing in speed until he became blurry, almost resembling a tornado with a green light within. Suddenly, to Ensis' surprise, giant bolts of blue and yellow lightning began conjuring out of nowhere, violently striking down to the ground from the ceiling. As they struck the ground, Klonoa's tornado began to move around swiftly. The tornado quickly went into the nearest pile of concrete, knocking them all over and destroying some of them, while the giant bolts decimated some of the piles scattered around the warehouse into mere debris.
A huge blue bolt struck the ground right in front of Ensis, scaring him with his eyes wide open and making him hug the corner with his back and hands.
"Whoa! Eep!" he exclaimed with gritted teeth.
With Klonoa continuing to tornado around and the bolts still striking, soon, all the piles of concrete were destroyed. He came back to where he was and stopped his spinning to a halt, leaning over with one hand on the ground and with his Saber pointing to the air behind him. As he did, the bolts ceased themselves.
Still wide eyed, Ensis slowly calmed himself down and stopped hugging the corner behind him.
"...W-w-wow...! Holy... W-wow..."
He walked up to the charred spot in front of him where the bolt struck and stared at it in awe.
"Huh... So that's your attack. The... Thunder Hurricane, you said?"
"Yep," said Klonoa, smiling and standing up. He turned around and looked. "Oh wow! Hehe. I almost got ya, huh? Told you that you should step back.'
"Yeah, no kidding! Wow... Vertians are powerful, but I never thought that they would be THIS powerful!"
"Heh, yeah, I'm kinda surprised myself, honestly," said Klonoa, rubbing the back of his head and grinning.
After a second, the green cat looked ahead.
"Yeah, and it's a darn miracle that those books survived your attack here, Klonoa."
"Huh? Oh..."
The white cat looked back. The pile of books were now scattered all over the place, albeit still in one piece.
"Uhhh... Whoops! Hehe!" Klonoa nervously grinned.
A few hours later, back in the room at the house...
"Welp, this is the last book I can find on Vertians. You've pretty much learned everything there is to know about them, Klonoa. The rest is up to you to discover, my friend."
Klonoa, still as his white self but with his eyes as their normal round shape, was sitting on the side of the bed and looking down at the lone book on the floor that Ensis just dropped in front of him.
"So I'm on my own after this, huh? That's okay. I think I got a good grip on my power now," said Klonoa, smiling. "I don't mind discovering the rest of what I can do on my own."
"Heh... I think the last chapter of this may catch your eye, by the way. It's about a... nah, I won't spoil it for ya."
"Really? I'll give it a read soon, then."
After a second, Klonoa sighed, proceeding to lie himself on the bed with his legs on it as well, with his shoes still on. He put his hands behind his head and began to stare up at the ceiling with half-closed eyes.
"...You wanna know what I really want to do in this form, Ensis?" he asked, frowning.
"What?"
The white cat looked at the window to his right, at the blue sky.
"I want to fly up there. Freely. As far and as high as I can go. And like this with no clothes on. I imagine it'd feel awesome up there, flying with the winds constantly cooling my fur here. I'm... kind of sick of flying in the warehouse only, to be honest."
Hearing him, Ensis smiled and looked ahead at the window.
"Heh... Who wouldn't want to fly up there on their own, honestly? But... you know..."
"Yeah, I know. The whole world will know that there's a floppy-eared cat with a super form among them if I tried to do that now..."
Klonoa sighed and stared at the ceiling again.
"Ensis... I'm ready. Now that I know everything about myself and all, I'm ready to reveal myself to the world... But only if you and Koec say it's okay."
The green cat stared at him, frowning.
"...Hmm..."
Ensis turned to his left and began to think, putting his hand on his muzzle. Then, he faced Klonoa and smiled again.
"Well, I'll have to speak with Koec first. But... if you're gonna reveal yourself to the world, then you're going to need a name for this form, I'd say. In fact, this last book says that almost all Vertians had sort of a prefix or a title to their names when transformed, whether they came up with it themselves or the public chose it for them. Some of them were just called 'Super,' but others based their titles on the color of their fur or their main elemental branch of magic. So, putting myself as an example, it'd be stuff like, 'Fire Ensis,' 'Red Ensis,' 'Blazing Ensis,' so on and so forth.'"
Klonoa looked at him.
"Sooo, what, I should call myself Super Klonoa while in this form, or...?"
"If you want to, heh. But nah, I think I might have a better name for you, instead. Let's see."
The green cat went into thinking mode again, looking up with his hand on his muzzle again.
"...My name, Ensis... It's actually Latin for sword. My parents named me that because they thought I'd grow up to be swift and strong as a sword. Heh, I dunno about being strong, but I'm swift enough at least. And admittedly, I do have a fascination with swords such as that Wind Saber of yours, so... heh heh. So then... what is Latin for Dreamer of Light? I know 'somnus' is dream, so... somniator...?"
The green cat's eyes grew wide for a bit, looking at Klonoa afterward and lowering his hand.
"Lux! Somniator Lux, in full. Yeah, that's it. You should call yourself Lux Klonoa! It's perfect!"
"...Lux... Klonoa...?"
The white cat slowly sat up, thinking about it. After a few seconds, he glanced towards the life-sized mirror in the corner, seeing his white-furred self on the bed.
"Huh... yeah. You're right, Ensis. It really does fit me here!" he exclaimed, smiling. "I like it! I mean, I did say I looked like a beacon of light the other day after all."
"Heh heh, yeah..."
Just then, someone called from downstairs.
"Hey, Ensis, I need you down here!"
"Oh, coming! Aaaaaand that's my cue to ask him, I guess. Be back in a bit."
The green cat turned and ran towards the open door, exiting the room.
Letting his legs off of the bed, Klonoa looked at himself in the mirror once more.
"...Lux Klonoa... I really like it. Hehe."
After talking with him, you and Koec agreed that it's time. That I should let the world know that I'm the one the god of dreams spoke of. The Dreamer of Light. But only when there's an event that needs me to appear, you guys said.
Two years had passed by since, making it three full years since I first discovered myself as the Dream Traveler. That event never came... until finally a few days ago, when a group of bank robbers tried to rob Hikari City's largest bank.
A month before that, though... I had another visit to the dream world of Lunatea... and met an enemy there that would put everything I've learned as Lux Klonoa to the test. As well as awaken something in me that I've never thought was possible.