The following morning, Lloyd opened his eyes and turned to where Red was, only to notice something different. There was someone there instead. A young woman with long black hair, red markings on her cheeks, a wolf headpiece on her head, wearing a white robe, red leggings, and black shoes, as well as having a cloak similar to the wolf's three tails. She soon woke up, making Lloyd gasp out of shock before getting up. "Who are you?" He asked. "Where's Red?" The mystery woman soon stood up before Lloyd noticed she had a bandage on her right leg, the same bandage he put on Red. "That's the bandage I put on Red." He then looked closer to see that she had teeth like a wolf and the red markings on her cheeks were similar to Red's. "You're Red? You're a wolf? Uh, I mean, a girl?"

The woman soon looked back at Lloyd. "I... I can explain." She said.

Lloyd became a bit skeptical. "I'd like to see you try."

"I am Akita, a Formling."

"A shapeshifter? All this time, you were tricking me? You just let me tell you all those things? You let me go on and on, thinking you were just a wolf?"

"I did not know if you could be trusted."

"You didn't know if I could be trusted?" He sarcastically laughs. "That's rich, considering you're the one who can't be trusted."

"I meant no harm."

"Well, too late." He sarcastically spoke. "Harm done." He sighs a little. "I can't believe all the things I told you." He turns around, completely dumbfounded as Akita looked at him curiously. "About my father, and... and Harumi, and-"

"I never asked for your life story." Lloyd was shocked by what Akita had said. "It is not my fault you talk so much." Lloyd becomes angered. "Like, SO much."

Lloyd then turned around, insulted. "'So much'? At least I'm honest. I don't pretend to be something else."

Akita moves forward, angered. "Are you calling me a liar?"

Lloyd came forward as well, angered. "Maybe I am."

"Take it back."

He soon backed away. "No."

"I saved your life! You should be grateful!"

Lloyd moves Akita aside as he started to move ahead. "And I saved yours. So we're even." He starts to head toward the mech. "Now, stay the hell away from me. I only travel with people I trust." He picks up the heat lamp.

Akita looks down, frowning a little before turning back to Lloyd. "Fine, you too." She sarcastically spoke. "Stay the hell away from me!"

Lloyd starts up the mech to make it stand up straight. "Fine!" It started to move forward, passing over Akita, who becomes angered before soon glowing pink and moves in the direction Lloyd was taking, changing into the wolf's form and the glow fades as she moved along, passing by the mech, controlled by an irritated Lloyd, who sees her. "Hey, what the hell are you doing?" He has the mech stop. "I told you not to follow me."

Akita reverts back to her original form. "I am not yours to command. I go the way I wish to go. And that is this way." She points toward the direction they competitively were taking.

"That's where I'm going. Why are you going this way?"

"I am going to face the Ice Emperor."

"Well, that's where I'm going. To free my friend Zane from the Ice Emperor."

"How? By boring him to death with stories about Harumi?"

Lloyd was completely shocked. "Well, what are you gonna do? Fetch his slippers?"

"You know I can turn back into a wolf anytime, right? And bite you?"

"Maybe you'll get lucky, and he's allergic to pets."

"Leave me alone!" She turns back into her wolf form before taking off.

"You leave me alone!" He has the mech start running along the direction, only for Akita to stop and whine in pain from her injured foot. Lloyd soon stopped and turned the mech around before opening the hatch, completely concerned. "You shouldn't run on that. You're still hurt." Akita looks up at Lloyd and whimpers.

A few seconds later, Akita, back in her human form, was having her leg tended to by Lloyd, who replaced the bandage with a fresh one. "I am sorry I deceived you."

"I'm sorry, too."

"You told me everything about yourself, and I told you nothing. I will share my tale with you, if you will still hear it." Lloyd soon smiled and nods.

At the Ice Castle, banging was heard as it turned out to be the Ice Emperor, banging his sceptre while atop a sentry post with Vex by his side, smirking before roaring is soon heard.

In the dungeon, the prisoner hears the banging and roaring before getting up and jumped to grab hold of the bars on their window to check out what is going on before a dragon flies by.

Back by the lake a few hours later, Lloyd and Akita were sitting by the heat lamp while the mech was knelt down. "My story begins long ago. A time before the Long Winter. A time when our realm was still lush and green."

Many Decades Earlier

"A time... before I lost everything." A crow flies across a snowy field.

Somewhere ahead, a white rabbit emerges from a bush, holding a tree twig with berries on it before hopping out. The rabbit passes by three deers as one eats a leaf.

A crow flies up to a nearby tree before landing and picked up a twig with berries on it with its mouth before throwing it down, squawking like it was a signal. A man in a brown robe catches the twig before putting it in a sack full of apples being carried by a deer, and held his elbow out for the crow to fly down and perch on his arm.

A rabbit pushes a log of wood onto a pile of wood being carted by a deer before it started to move, carting the pile as it did so. "We lived and worked in the forests together, happily." Two men watch as a bear stands up to push a tree stump down before they soon roll it away.

An elderly man sits by a lake, holding a fishing pole before the line started to move, making him get up and tries to reel in his catch, only for a bear to emerge with some fish in its mouth, making the man smile.

Another bear comes up to a man with a sack of apples before suddenly transforming into a man and helps the man carry it away. "We were Formlings, and we lived in peace."

A wolf and a crow comes across a hill before transforming into humans and slide down it. "And at the end of the day, we returned to our village."

Three Formlings look at each other before the woman on the left spins backwards and transforms into a bear. The man in the centre spins backwards and transforms into a deer. And the man on the right spins backwards and transforms into a rooster. "It was a beautiful place, built deep in the forest."

In a village, Formlings in human or animal form move along doing duties. "It was my home." Akita and a young man wearing a white robe, black leggings, and grey shoes, walk along the village. Akita had a feeling of irresolute. "But my brother and I, being younglings, had not yet found our animal forms." Akita stops to look at a couple of kids transforming into a pair of deer and take off. "And despite what I told my brother, I was nervous."

A snowball soon hits her, making her gasp in shock, and turned to the boy, who was holding another one. "What is it?" He asked, passing by her, acting innocent. "Don't tell me you're still nervous." He tosses the snowball in the air, catches it while turning to Akita and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"No." Akita replied, trying to lie.

"I can see it in your eyes."

"Well, I cannot help it." She started to walk away from him. "What if something goes wrong, and I do not find my animal form? The Choosing is a week away." She turns back to the boy. "What if I am not ready?"

"You are ready." He turns away while tossing his snowball in the air. "All who are pure of heart find their animal form." Akita soon threw a snowball at his, shocking him, making him turn to her.

"Not all."

"That was a long time ago." He comes up to her and placed a hand around her. "And it only happened a couple of times. Trust me, we will both find our animal forms. And we will run together in the forests all day and night. You'll see." Akita smiles at him.

A week later, three Formlings with their animal form headpieces on were playing instruments with one whose animal form is a rabbit played a horn, one whose animal form is a bear played a bongo, and one whose animal form is a deer played a flute. "The week passed, but my anxiety did not." Akita said.

All Formlings watch as Akita and the boy come up to an elderly man with a falcon headpiece, holding a bowl full of crushed berries. They both knelt down before him and held their heads up, eyes closed as the elder dipped his fingers into the bowl and rubs marks on the boy before turning to Akita, who had briefly looked at him before closing her eyes again as the elder soon rubbed marks on her. Akita then touched them while smiling until gasping is heard, making them all turn to see the Formlings glaring at Vex, Prinz and Tilika, who approach them with Vex sighing out of relief. "Just in time for another Choosing." He sarcastically said as they start heading toward the elder. "Such a brutal, savage tradition." Vex then grabbed hold of Akita by her jaw, angering the boy while shocking Tilika. "And what will you do with these innocent children if their animal form does not come to them? Will you reject them? As you did me and Tilika?"

"We did not reject you, Vex." The elder replied, coming towards him as Prinz and Tilika move aside. "Nor my daughter. Your exile was of your own choosing. And Tilika vowed to never return until she finds her animal form."

"Lies! When we did not find our forms, you turned against us." He turned to point at the villagers, some of which were shocked while other still glare. "All of you. You mocked us in secret, you whispered behind our backs. But mainly at mine. Vex the Pathetic, Vex the Shameful, Vex the Fromless."

"That is your fear speaking. You distrust the world, Vex. You see the worst even when it does not exist."

"Unlike your daughter, I have had years to dwell on your betrayal. Years of resentment, alone, in the wilds, and I realise now, it is time for your power to end." His eyes soon glowed before turning to the villagers. "In my journeys, as well as catching up with Tilika and meeting Prinz, I have discovered a power that dwarfs your Formling abilities. An Elemental Power." This got the Formlings to talk amongst themselves and Akita and the boy turn to each other in fear. "You can bow to me now, willingly, just like Tilika." He waves his hand to Tilika, who shamefully stared at her father. "Or when we return, in force, unwillingly. In either event, I will assume my rightful place over you. The choice is yours."

The elder hands the boy the bowl before banging a staff to the ground. "You are a fool, Vex." He spins his staff and poises. "You may have turned Tilika against us, but we will not abide your threats."

"You will regret this." Vex, Prinz and Tilika started to walk away.

"Daughter." Tilika stops and turns back to her father. "Must you follow him? Must you go against your own kind?"

"I am sorry, father." She said. "But it was out of duress, reluctance..." She then looked at Prinz. "...and love. Please understand. Goodbye, father." Prinz and Tilika resume walking as the elder looked on with sadness while watching the two of them hold hands.

"Vex returned to the forests from whence he came with Prinz and Tilika." Akita said. "And we resumed the Choosing. But I was uneasy."

Later that night, Akita sheathes a dagger while the boy sheathed a sword before they head for the path. "Kataru and I entered the wilderness, unsure of where our journey would take us, fearing that Vex's return was a bad omen." Kataru and a seemingly nervous Akita wave at the Formlings, who do the same before they leave.

Later on, Akita and Kataru trek through a snowy field. "The Choosing must pass in silence. So we did not speak."

Sometime later, Akita and Kataru walk along a mountain. "We waited. And waited."

Further ahead, Akita and Kataru start to walk along a bridge. "For what, we did not know." Akita slips halfway along the bridge, but managed to grab hold of the rope railing as Kataru looked back at her, shocked, but she managed to recover and they continue. "A sign, a vision, something to guide us to our animal forms."

Akita and Kataru pass a waterfall and were soon walking up another mountain as a blizzard was occurring. "And every day we travelled further into unknown lands." Akita soon slips on the snow, but Kataru turns back to help her up. "And the further we travelled, the more concerned I became that I would never find my form."

A few hours later, Akita and Kataru have made camp somewhere in the forest. Kataru was asleep, while Akita just lied down, looking at the sky, unable to sleep. "That I would turn angry and bitter, like Vex the Formless." She looks at Kataru as he was sleeping. "Or even vowing to never return until I do, like Tilika." She soon turned over to try and get some sleep before eventually managing to do so. "But then, finally."

Akita gasps as she gets up. "Akita." A voice whispered her name, making her put her hands on her mouth.

"Huh?" Akita asked herself before noticing that Kataru, her dagger and their supplies were gone, and their campfire was out, except for Kataru's sword as it laid by some logs.

An eerie wind soon surrounds her before she start to move forward. "Akita." The voice made Akita stop, scared before she soon noticed a tree up ahead. She soon heads toward it and started to climb it. "Akita."

Once she had reached the top, which was completely over the clouds, Akita looked ahead before jumping down, and gasped, thinking she would fall through the clouds, but she didn't, making her amazed. She started to walk along them before jumping from one to another, until a trail of clouds suddenly appeared in front of her. Taking in a breath of determination, Akita started to move along the trail, jumping from cloud to cloud before reaching a cloud at the top. "Akita." She comes to a complete stop before noticing a mist in the shape of a wolf emerging underneath her feet and moving up around her. Akita looked on in amazement as the mist soon went through her, and a white wolf with three tails comes out of her. Akita falls down on her backside as she watched the wolf land in front of her and turns to her as she was getting up, knowing it is what she was after. The wolf soon takes off before Akita started to chase after it, bouncing along the clouds and running as she chased the wolf along before jumping along a nearby trail of clouds to catch up with the wolf, giggling as she did so, and jumps off the last one, somehow merging with the wolf as a bright light engulfs her.

When the light faded away, only the wolf remained, surrounded in the forest as dawn broke. Looking at itself curiously, the wolf then went to a nearby lake that was frozen, but there was a hole to show a little reflection before looking down at it. But, instead of the wolf's reflection, it was Akita's human form, with a wolf headpiece. Seeing her animal form for the first time, the reflection of Akita smiled in amazement. Rustling soon occurred close by, making Akita turn to some trees nearby. The sound of the rustling made Akita growl in warning before a bear soon emerged and growls at her. The bear then noticed the markings on her cheeks before turning to the lake out of curiosity. It looks to see its own reflection, which was actually Kataru's with a bear headpiece. "Kataru." Akita's reflection said as she came up to him.

"Akita." He replied as they both turn to each other and revert back into their human forms, but with the headpieces, and hug each other. "We did it! We found our forms. I told you they would come to us."

Akita playfully scoffed while folding her arms. "I should have guessed you would be a bear. It fits you."

"Because I am so strong?" Kataru flexes a muscle, making her laugh.

"Because you are loud, always hungry, and sleep half the year." She counts the many traits he does before they both laugh.

"And look at you, a wolf." He knelt down while raising his hands in a fierce way. "Cunning and sharp." He soon moved his hands close to his teeth with his index fingers held out to resemble fangs. "With big teeth."

Akita lightly laughs. "Come on. What are we waiting for? See if you can keep up!" She soon rushes off, changing into her animal form. Kataru soon chased after his sister while turning into his animal form.

Across a field, Akita and Kataru run along it with Akita jumping onto a rock as Kataru stopped to look at her before she jumps off and they keep running. They both soon jump into a giant pile of snow and emerged, completely covered in snow before they shook it off. They both smile at each other before Kataru pushes some snow into Akita's face and takes off.

At dusk, Akita and Kataru run along the field before Kataru jumps to a nearby tree and pulls on it to bring the berries on it down on the ground into a pile. They both soon came up to it before digging in to eat them.

Later that night, Akita and Kataru come at the edge of a cliff before Akita soon howled and Kataru roared.

Later on, as they pass by a tree, Akita and Kataru revert back to their human forms. "I cannot wait to get back and show the others."

"You go ahead. I want to go on one more run."

"You have the restlessness of a wolf now." Akita soon turned into her animal form and takes off. "See you soon, sister."

Akita runs along the forest, moving across a small river before coming onto some rocks, and howls before reverting back to her human form. She soon sat down to look at the moon before noticing a small shape in it and looks on curiously. It soon became bigger, and she realises it is a dragon, which flies over her. She turned around, realising it is heading toward her village. "No!" She quickly turns back into her animal form and rushes to get back to the village, completely concerned.

Upon reaching the path toward the village, Akita reverts back to her human form to find out that she was too late. All of the huts were frozen, even the Formlings, some were looking in fear while some were attempting to prepare to fight the dragon. Akita rushes over to the elder and touches the ice block he was encased in before shedding some tears and puts an ear to it, until she hears his heartbeat and backs away. She soon turned around to see Vex, Tilika, Prinz and the Ice Emperor looking down upon the village with only Tilika showing a look of shame. Set for revenge, Akita gets out her dagger and prepared to come at them, only to stop when she hears roaring and turned around to see the dragon coming towards her, making her scared. But as it neared her, Kataru, in his animal form, appears between them and roars at the dragon. "Kataru!" The dragon roared as it charged at Kataru, who soon scratched it. The dragon screeched in pain upon being scratched at its left wing, leaving tears in it before turning away to circle back around and charges. "Kataru, run!" Kataru turns to his sister as she sheds some tears. "Please." Looking at her briefly, Kataru turned back to the dragon, growling, as it did the same before it fires a beam of ice towards him, engulfing him in it. Akita rushes toward him in shock, only to stop and shield herself when the attack's blast blows snow at her. Once the snow had died down, Akita looked back up to see a pile of snow where her brother should be. "No." She rushes toward it and knelt down to it while dropping her dagger. "Kataru." She grips it tightly. "Kataru!" She started to cry at the loss of her brother before the dragon's roar made her turn to see it fly away just as Vex and the Ice Emperor start to leave. Tilika and Prinz look down on her with sympathy before they too turn to leave as Akita looked on while sobbing and shedding tears before covering her tear soaked eyes.

Akita soon started to walk along the frozen village, head lowered. "I walked out of the village and never looked back." Akita said.

Akita, in her animal form, depressingly walked away from her village.

Present

"I will not return again until Vex, Tilika, Prinz, and their master, the Ice Emperor, are brought to justice."

"I had no idea." Lloyd said, feeling saddened from hearing what had happened.

"Now you know."

Lloyd soon stood up. "The Ice Emperor captured my friend, Zane. I'm going to get him back. Not just because he is my friend, he is my brother. Which means you and I, we're on the same quest."

"Not the same. You seek to rescue your friend." Akita gets out her sheathed dagger and stands up. "I..." She unsheathes her dagger and looks at her reflection on the blade with determination. "…seek revenge."

(A/N: While it wasn't a fighting scene, doing Akita's path to chase her animal spirit was hard. Of course, you already know that Tilika is a Formling, but I thought I would make her the elder's child)