Disclaimer: Kirby belongs to Nintendo and HAL Laboratory.
Vesa spent the next morning continuing her magic lessons with Fecto Elfilis in the tower's training area, mostly practicing with the scalpel spell on a dummy and strengthening her barrier spell. When the lesson ended for the day, she made a quick lunch for herself in the kitchen. After that, she found the tall warrior mage in the library.
"Elfilis?" she called over.
Elfilis was going over a few books, adding some additional notes to them regarding some specific topics when their feelers perked up.
"Hmm?" they asked, "what do you need?"
Elfilis glanced over their shoulder while Vesa approached them. She fidgeted nervously while she placed her hand behind her head.
"Was there anything you wanted to do today?" she clamored, "I'd like to tag along."
Elfilis tilted their head upwards.
"I've been putting off some things for a little while," they admitted, "yesterday, I reinforced the wards, so they should be good for a while. Earlier, considered placing landmines further out from the house."
Elfilis placed a finger on their lower jaw.
"They seemed to be meant for Kirby, so I decided against it," they continued, "since he often comes down that path. I kept the landmines; they might come in handy someday."
They closed their eyes for a brief moment.
"But yes," they added, "there is something off planet I've been meaning to look into eventually. In regards to that planet we explored a while back, I wanted to see how the slime is adapted to the local ecosystem and do some more investigation of the alien life there."
Vesa's eyes brightened as Elfilis shelved the books in their hands.
"Will I need to pack up for the trip?" she inquired.
"If you want to," Elfilis answered, "we can teleport there and back, but at this distance, making a portal would probably be more efficient. We shouldn't be there for more than five hours."
Vesa smiled upon hearing her partner's answer.
"Ok then," she proclaimed, "I'll meet you outside."
Vesa took some time to grab her shoes and jacket before she met up with Elfilis out in the courtyard.
"Did you bring food for yourself and anything else you might need?" Elfilis asked her.
Vesa activated her pocket bangle and showed her partner a bento box, along with a few pieces of equipment.
"Also," Elfilis added, "last time we were there, I detected an odd corruptive pathogen which can affect your health. With long term exposure, it could potentially turn you into a zombie of some kind."
Vesa couldn't help but shudder.
"It shouldn't be a problem," they told her, "but I'd rather you not inhale it at all."
Elfilis reached into their pocket dimension and pulled out a face mask, handing it to Vesa.
"Thank you," she smiled.
Vesa didn't hesitate as she put on her face mask.
"Ready to go?" Elfilis asked.
"Y-Yes," Vesa nodded.
Vesa leaned closer to Elfilis, allowing them to scoop her into their arms. They held her close and with their spear, they carefully sliced a hole in space, a tear in reality forming in front of them. Vesa held on as her partner entered the vortex. The location on the planet they arrived in was still familiar, as the plants in the area had green hues. Still, Vesa noticed plenty of slimes running around; green and blue ones at a first glance. Elfilis carefully lowered her to the ground, even if she still stayed close to them.
Elfilis glanced around a bit more, curiously inspecting the slimes and prodding at them. The tall majestic rodent took small samples to compare from last time. All the while, Vesa examined the nearest strange plants.
"Oh," Elfilis perked up their feelers, "that's an interesting flower."
Elfilis picked one of the flowers in question and inspected it. They noted it only bloomed during the day and seemed to grow rapidly. This could be useful for creating a variety of potions. Awe transformed Vesa's face as she approached the flowers. They reminded her of dandelions— they were more vibrant and didn't become fluffy when they spread their seeds around. She returned her gaze to Elfilis, not hesitating as she continued to follow them.
As far as the ultimate life-form knew, the slimes were kinda small; about the size of a human hand. Elfilis figured that since that wasn't a healthy size, they should introduce some more animals to keep the slimes fed. Elfilis shared a glance with their girlfriend before they knelt to the ground and concentrated.
The tall warrior mage changed the DNA of the rabbits just so they would have enough genetic diversity when they'd breed. Elfilis placed the rabbits a short distance from the slimes, hoping the creatures would take well to the world. Vesa watched the rabbits scamper around while her partner stood back up.
"Hopefully," Elfilis told her, "adding rabbits to the ecosystem will help make a more healthy food chain."
Vesa nodded when she placed her hand behind her head. Elfilis continued to move around and looked over the slimes, some of them trying to eat various rocks among other things. They found a purple variant of the creatures, but they weren't filled with corruptible energy of the odd parasitic life-forms nearby in the wasteland. While she continued to follow Elfilis, Vesa noticed they had a troubled expression.
"Elfilis?" she paused, "is something wrong?"
"No, it's nothing," Elfilis shrugged, "I'm just curious as to the odd coloration of this slime. They seem to be adapting well. This one has an odd form of camouflage to make itself look like it fits in the corrupted area nearby, yet it also isn't corrupted at all. I suspect that may not be the case for all of them, however."
"Ah, I see," Vesa sighed.
Vesa and Elfilis continued to stroll along the terrain. The tall majestic rodent continued to take flora samples in their travels, interested in the many different plants which mostly had potential for dyes or potion ingredients. Vesa scanned her surroundings, wondering if she could spot more animals than just the slimes or rabbits. Of course, there wasn't much save for the exotic insects and maybe birds flying around. This made sense as there were two large masses of corrupt material slowly engulfing the planet. For some reason, Elfilis noted sunflower roots were extremely effective at fighting off the ever encroaching mass of taint. Was it some kind of magical phenomenon? They couldn't figure out the cause yet.
Vesa tilted her head upwards, gazing upon the sky. Well, it was rather blue and cloudy like on Popstar or her own planet. A random thought soon popped into her head.
"I wonder if Kirby and Elfilin are doing ok," she said to herself.
"They'll be alright," Elfilis answered, "I put a tracker on Elfilin so even if he's kidnapped, I can just go get him quickly. He's still at home right now, so I assume things are going well."
Vesa sighed in relief.
"Ah, well," she stammered, "part of me couldn't help but think if there was no other way to cause unnecessary deaths yesterday…or were they necessary? The way that Squeak died was rather…beyond overkill."
"Well, I suppose that depends on your view of the situation and the 'what if' scenario," Elfilis explained, "in that moment before I started fighting and spotted our assailants, I already prepared for such a response ahead of time. In that moment, there were several things they could've been there for."
Vesa swallowed a nervous lump in her throat.
"They would've either killed Kirby, kidnapped one of his loved ones, or made threats," Elfilis continued, "I think that they likely either came to make an attempt on Kirby's life, or to kidnap Elfilin. Likely both. Elfilin is the weakest of us all and he wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight. If they were particularly smart, they might've murdered him. They obviously didn't take me into account before striking, however, and paid the price for their arrogance."
Elfilis lowered their feelers briefly.
By killing two of them so effortlessly, I broke their spirit and resolve to fight by showing the gap between us in power," they continued, "they'll likely not return to fight us again unless they have some kind of sudden boost in confidence, or if they're forced to. Even at risk of death, they might not come back to fight. Now they've returned to their home and likely have spoken of their encounter, making other people less likely to try the same stunt. And by taking their bodies home with them, I have located the Squeaks home city, and if need be can go there and retrieve anyone they do kidnap if I have to."
Elfilis wondered if they should destroy the city, but decided against it, knowing the situation the Squeaks were still in.
"I doubt they were there to advertise a school bake sale or hand out cookies," Elfilis shrugged with a little dark humor.
Vesa lowered her head.
"I-I see."
Elfilis blinked twice.
"I see that you are…uncomfortable with what I did," Elfilis noted, "I don't enjoy killing, but I did it to keep you safe. My primary directive is to destroy Dark Matter, and I was trained at a young age to fight. I'm expected to kill if it's needed to protect myself and to protect others."
Vesa gave Elfilis a confused look, but leaned closer to her partner a moment later.
"I'm not mad at you, though," she assured them.
Vesa wrapped her arms around Elfilis.
"I'm glad to hear that," Elfilis sighed in relief.
Elfilis lifted her into their arms, allowing Vesa to nuzzle their cheek. They let out some happy purrs before pulling her into a kiss a moment later, nudging her face mask down for a bit. Vesa perched one hand on their shoulder and cupped their face with the other. When they broke off the kiss, she put her face mask back on and scanned her surroundings in search of a place to sit. The tall space rodent found a fallen log from a nearby tree and sat down on it.
Vesa felt a soft breeze on her face as she rested her head on their chest. Elfilis gently rubbed her back as their body rumbled with soft and gentle purrs. She ran her thumb along their cheek. The tall space rodent sighed as they blushed.
After several minutes passed, Vesa released Elfilis from her embrace as they both stood up from the log.
"Anything else you wanted to do?" Vesa clamored.
"I wanted to go take a look and see how the different pathogens infecting the planet are spreading and take some samples. I should be immune to any corruption from it but I plan to take it slow just in case. The odd corruption is almost mutagenic in nature, killing its victims and then mutating them into something more powerful post mortem and I want to ensure it doesn't spread much further."
Vesa hugged her arms to herself.
"R-Right," Vesa nodded.
"We can also just spend the day together here," Elfilis mentioned.
Vesa scanned her surroundings, her eyes locking onto the plants in the field. Not much of them seemed to have any significance, though Elfilis took interest in a series of mushrooms, bushes that resembled blueberry bushes and a large number of trees dotting the area.
"Let's see," Vesa said to herself.
Vesa rummaged through her pocket bangle, only to realize she didn't have any baskets with her.
"You can just put them directly in your storage if you're looking to take them with you," Elfilis suggested, "I also made a list of different plants I observed if you want to take a look. I haven't gotten the chance to explore underground or in the other various locations, but I made a comprehensive list of the ones I recognize. I'm curious as to how they ended up here, but I wouldn't dwell on it too much as we likely won't get answers."
Excitement glowed in Vesa's eyes.
"Alright then," Vesa proclaimed, "let's get foraging!"
Vesa followed Elfilis around the field as they set off to collect some samples of plants. The tall space rodent pointed out the various local flora. The human examined the mushrooms before she crouched down and plucked one off the ground. Elfilis perked up their feelers while they examined the mycelium around the fungus, which seemed to stretch out far and wide in thin strands, covering almost the entire grass root network of the plains.
Vesa collected a few more mushrooms before examining the flowers and herbs standing among the grass. Elfilis prodded at the slimes a bit, as they couldn't help but find it endearing when the little blobs tried to melt their own body. They would still make sure to keep the slimes away from their girlfriend.
Vesa shifted her gaze towards the Dayblooms. She carefully picked one before stashing it into her pocket bangle. When she turned, she noticed a dozen slimes clinging to Elfilis's body. They didn't mind as they considered the creatures fun to mess with. Vesa still couldn't help but fidget nervously with a concerned look in her eyes.
"Don't worry about me," Elfilis assured her, "I'll be fine."
Vesa sighed softly before she continued to forage the plains. She got input from the partner on which plants were suitable ingredients along the way. Several minutes later, Vesa checked her pocket bangle again, satisfied that she collected enough plants and mushrooms to call it a successful forage. Come to think of it, Vesa noticed the various fruits and vegetables she recognized from Popstar and the Forgotten Land. She still thought the universe was that bizarre with such consistent details. She stepped over to Elfilis, keeping her distance as slimes still clung onto her partner.
"So when we get back," Vesa asked, "where should we store the ingredients?"
"We have a room set up for an alchemist lab," Elfilis suggested, "we just haven't had a need to do anything with it yet. I've been working on getting the materials we'll need, as most of them are something I already stored away in my own pocket dimension. We just need to prep the room first. I can make a place to store and preserve the ingredients. If you want, that is something I can teach you. Alchemy is likely to synergize well with your affinity."
Vesa took a brief moment to think over the offer.
"Well," Vesa proclaimed, "I guess it would be nice to see alchemy in action sometime."
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