Rain showered down on the lands of Metrei. It was the yearly monsoon season in Zipangu and the Mist, as the gods, spirits, and mythos of coastal lands engaged in their annual conflict to decide who would rule the waterways for the coming year. It is a long and arbourous fight, and as a result, mortals must deal with the watery fallout that happens as a result. The Mets also have their fair share of squabbling since anyone who commands there can make quite a small fortune.
Geo's castle was just another casualty, especially since the omnibus decided to throw their hat in the ring for control of a few key waterways passing through their country. Layers of clouds pelted the castle as a result, partly as retribution, others as a side effect.
However, something else was amiss that evening, and everyone shackled up heeding Geo's warning. In the graveyard in the castle's shadow, the ground stirred as the constant mana-fueled rain turned everywhere into mush. Sediment flowed down the gentle hillside as thunder crackled in the background. Then, with a flash of lightning, a scaley, yet half-melted hand, shot through the muddy surface.
A few days later…
"Please just babysit them for a few hours, that's all we need," Lalu said. Lily hid behind the blue jeans of her newfound father, looking anxiously around at her surroundings. Her New York Giants beanie hid her fox ears, while her blue tail was merely stuffed under her clothes, hoping it wouldn't pop back out. Warlf, one of Lalu's newfound werewolves, was also with him, stuffed in hockey gear instead. Lalu was hoping Ola would double as a good test run on hiding their mamono parts without magic, but Ola only needed two guesses to figure out both of them down to the species.
"You know Mom doesn't know about you and Issia yet!" He pointed out. "And she sure as hell isn't going to fall for tails stuffed under an abnormally large jacket!"
"She fell for Issia lying about being black."
"Wait, she isn't?" Ola asked, thrown off a bit before shaking his head out of it. "Ah- never mind, what happened to the mage's humanizing drink?"
"Potions have to pass Sabbath testing before they can be used on smaller bodies," Lalu said, as if it was the biggest inconvenience in the world. Ola narrowed his eyes. "S-sabbath? You mean the…A-ayo?"
"Say what you want, but apparently their medical wing takes magic safety very seriously. Either way, S-O-L."
"Fine fine, but who is him?" Ola said, pointing to Warlf.
"It's…a long story," Lalu said, rubbing his neck. "Let's just say…one's biological and one's adopted." Ola scoffed, squatting down to the both of them. He took a good look at Warlf, a werewolf boy with a complexion of a darker beige. His ears were hidden under a football helmet, his yellow eyes somehow glowing from within it like a soft flashlight. His hands were concealed in mitts, and he had a full-body jacket on. He looked younger than Lily, only coming up to around her shoulder. "What is he, three?"
"He is now," Lalu said. "If she asks, they are friends."
"And what if she asks about you? We haven't seen you since you were 'sick.'"
"You're not wrong…." Lalu said. "Alright, once I finish, maybe we can all plan to go out to eat or something."
"You say that like we can just ask…." Ola said, sighing. The moment his eyes were closed, he felt a weight land within his afro. He opened his eyes, seeing Abith now sitting on top of his head, a good portion of his body tucked within his follicles. He didn't seem to fall off as Ola stood up, holding clumps of his hair like handles. "Fine. Besides, this monster you all are about to hunt may fu-" Ola caught himself. "Mess up an outing anyways if we let it roam. Just make sure to come back for dinner at least."
"You know it, alright I'll try to rush this!" Lalu said, jogging back to Virto's place a block away. Ola and Lily watched him run off, Lily now clutching tight to the most familiar thing to her father. "And you two, are coming with me to Old Navy," Ola said, picking up Lily and carrying her. With Abith having tucked himself deep into his Afro, it was easy to take them to his Ferrari and drive off into the city. Middle child activity, it's always interrupting my plans, he swore, as his engine roared to life.
As Lalu walked into Virto's home, he saw how the entire living room had been turned into a war room. A table had been moved to the center, along with a lamp that served as the only light source inside. Everyone around it was ready for combat, all adorning army clothing. Virto had an army commander's jacket hanging off their shoulders, using a pointer to move various figurines.
"We're hunting a monster, the hell's going on here?" Lalu said, walking over to peer on the table.
"Ah, Lalu came! Now that we are all here," Virto said. "We have a dangerous situation on hand. Another monster girl has found their way over, and this one's feral."
"If it's feral, can't we call animal control?" Leana said, having lines of face paint on her face.
"Human countermeasures will do little," Issia said. "I should know."
"Wait," Lalu said. "What do you mean by tha-"
"Then we should lure them to our house!" Becky said. She was the most dressed, wearing a business suit. "If we can find a good enough bait-"
"Then we can subdue her in the lab, correct." Virto put down a new figurine, which was very obviously a Monopoly piece. "That leaves the problem of finding the mamono's actual location."
"I'm still on that countermeasures part," Lalu said, trying to catch up. "Issia, what happened?"
"No time!" Issia interrupted. "We must focus on the now."
"And transporting the PS5 to the townhouse," Becky said.
"Huh?" Lalu exclaimed.
"Lalu, you were better at setting honeytraps," Leana said. "Do you have any ideas?"
"A-W-ok." Lalu accepted that no one was going to clarify anything looked at the table. "Well…if they are "feral", they wouldn't go too far. Do we know any hot men?" Becky and Leana looked at each other, then looked back at Lalu shaking their head.
"What about your brother?" Issia asked.
"Ola!?" Lalu said, astonished. "If you think that I would dare, sacrifice my own brother, my bro, my man from day one, to lure in a dangerous monster girl….you are absolutely right. Although…" Lalu looked at the map, seeing where he and Ola were going to go later. "Whatever you guys go with, I won't be able to make it."
"Oh right, you did say something about a dinner with your family," Virto thought out loud.
"Yeah, let's just say I can't afford to miss this one…"
"Aww, I thought we were going to go on our first bounty together," Issia said, pouting disappointedly. "Should I come?"
"Unfortunately not…" Lalu said. "I just wanted to come to confirm the plan. Unfortunately…" he turned and walked to the window, lightly pulling down one of the blinds and looking out at the front lawn. "...This is something I must tackle on my own." He felt a hand reassuringly pat him on the shoulder, turning to see Becky crying at such loyalty. "You're such an honorable man…fine, we will take care of the war front in your name!" She then saluted, wiping away a tear with her handkerchief.
"You know, we don't go to war every time we do bounty hunts."
"Go forth to victory!" Becky continued on. Lalu sighed but thanked her and gave her a hug. Oddly enough, the walk back home did feel a bit lonely without the thrill of adventure with family. As he pondered, he saw Ola pull up beside him, with the two kids in the back.
"Yo," Ola said, rolling down one of the front windows. "You want a ride? I thought I should drop off Lily and Abith before we all head to the restaurant."
"How was babysitting them, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Well…"
"Get down from there!" Ola said, chasing Warlf around the kitchen. He lept back and forth between dining tables and counters, bouncing around like a baby on steroids. Finally, he was able to catch the toddler midair, feeling his claws gently press into his skin as he had to come to a stop.
"Seriously, why can't you be more like Lily?" Ola said, going to place him back down beside her. He spotted her drawing in his notebook, although it was more like random lines that were strewn across the paper. He sat down in front of her, seeing her look up at him as he blocked the light to the paper a bit. "Hey Lily," he said in his most pleasant voice. "How are you…" he trailed off as Lily moved to the side, only stopping once the light was completely covering her paper again. "..doing." He tapped her shoulder, seeing her look up again.
"How are you doing?" Ola asked again. Lily thought about it, and looked at her hands, forming it into a thumbs up and looking back at Ola.
Now why can't you be more like Warlf, now that I think about it…Ola thought as he gave a thumbs up back. She nodded and went back to drawing, all without uttering a word.
"...It was not as hard as I thought it would be," Ola said. "I'm wearing a sweater next time though." Lalu gave a thumbs up and hopped in, instantly, hearing a scuffling happening in the back seat. In a matter of moments, both Lily and Abith had hopped the center box into his lap, Abith giggling as he dropped down to sit on the seat floor. Lily just curled up in Lalu's lap, instantly falling asleep.
"Well god dang, she was never that lively when she was around me," Ola said.
"Yeah, that's that father-daughter bond you know?" Lalu said, gently patting Lily's head and ears. "Maybe once you get your own kids, you'll get it." Ola shrugged, continuing down to Virto's place to drop off the kids before the outing.
When they got back, they saw everyone already filing into the car. Their little brother's friend had even come over, a senna-colored kid with a medium-cut side fade and wearing a sweater. "Hey Dami, Hey Kunmi," Ola waved to the two walking over. Dami waved back, wearing himself a white and gold jacket with a high-top fade.
"Well, look who decided to show up," their mom said as her oldest two got out of Ola's car. She plucked blue hairs off of both of their clothes, looking at the similarities. "I see Virto's home is still a pigsty."
"Just some hair dye," Lalu said. "Trust me, I am avoiding the portal as much as possible." Glaring, she looked at Ola, who shrugged.
"Both of you don't seem to know what you messing with. That boy is dangerous!" She said, plucking the hairs away. "I've been telling you to stop going there, and after that sickness you had, you don't need to be even hanging around there."
"Especially after that sickness," their dad said, coming out having finished getting dressed. "You know how many hospitals we called, and then by some sort of magic your friend is able to cure you just like that?"
"I wouldn't say-" Lalu started to defend, but Ola put a hand up in front of him. Ola had taken a glance back to Lalu, seeing how he had started to get angry.
"I'm just glad Virto was able to fix him. Look, we don't even know that they were the cause of it. It could have been some rare disease that the local area didn't know," Ola explained. "Where are we going anyways?"
Their mom wanted to redirect it back, but now, it just seemed stubborn to do so. "We found a hatian restaurant beside where we get our suya," she said. "It's an open restaurant, so we all can get some air outside. Have a normal dinner together."
"Sounds great!" Ola said, looking to Dami and Kunmi to agree. "Right?"
Of course, with the both of them being in middle school, and having no context, they just nodded. Lalu nodded reluctantly, holding his fist up to his chest. "Yeah…" he said, still able to feel his hand press into his bound chest.
"Silently, everyone clambered into the family SUV." As they started the car and started to back out, everyone was busy in their own thoughts, until a sudden love tap shook the car and made everyone's eyes widen."
"Um, Oluwale," their mom started. "Did you happen to park your-"
"Ferrari behind you….arrraa…." he groaned as he undid his seatbelt and went outside the check the damage. Everyone else chuckled, mostly glad the air in the room was back to normal.
"HELP, HELP!" Becky said, running through an alley. She carried a net that was scratched to shreds, the net hanging on by a thread. Behind her was something so despicable, that she had no time to get a good look for a visual. "THE TRAPPING HAS GONE WRONG!"
"So why did we send Becky on her own to do this again?" Mortoii said, running with Leana to meet Becky in the middle. Both of them had their own nets, Mortoii carrying a crossbow with him as well. "Also, I know I keep saying this, but love that I can do stuff with you all now!~"
"Well, we are in the city," Leana said. "Brad and I know this place way better than Virto."
"Besides, you are kind of our Lalu for today, and Becky could use some more experience if she wants to go on bounty hunts with us," Virto said, surveying the area on an apartment roof.
"I thought you said you wanted to test Becky's luck since she survived the Velle thing unscratched," Gracie radioed in. She was on a skyscraper with Isuka, who was bundled up in a winter coat again. Under Gracie was an unconscious guard, as she was on the lookout and guard duty while Isuka did a much better survey of the entire downtown.
"Well….she doesn't know that," Virto admitted.
"You sent my bestie to die to a feral monster girl!?" Leana screamed in their ear.
"You did say you were a bit jealous."
"...you're right, she'll be fine," Leana said. Mortoii chuckled, getting a light bap in the back of his head. "Ack! What, I think your envy is funny~"
"Whatever. Isuka, where is Becky now?"
"I sense her energy and the creature's moving towards Virto's building," Isuka said, her hands glowing. Her eyes were closed, but she could still see a map of the entire city. "This is surprisingly easy, it seems only us and the monster girl have any spirit energy inside of them."
"SO ARE YOU SAYING YOU CAN FIND ME!?" Becky yelled, crashing into a metal chain fence. She bounced back and got up, grabbing onto the fence as she looked at the freedom of a public road outside. Turning around, she saw that the eerie thing had slowed to a crawl, stalking its prey as the scales glistened in the rays of partly cloudly light. "A-and soon?" she then whimpered.
"We need to maximize its inability to run, so it's going to be pretty close," she heard Virto say in her earpiece. "Just hold on to the fence for me alright?" Virto sounded as calm as ever, yet Becky was the complete opposite. She watched the stalking mamono approach further, her body starting to come into the light pouring in over the building heights. A skull-like exoskeleton covered her face from view. Wings extended from her back, its edges lined with grey, sturdy-looking bones. Her skin tone was a chilly grey-ish blue. Her hands and feet were encased in a rough exoskeleton, ended with fingers with rounded, but still pointed fingers within bones.
Becky watched her tail sway back and forth, hearing the bones knocking against each other like joints. She started to press into the fence harder, wanting badly to noclip past the barrier, leaving her chaser behind to run off into the streets. "Help!" she screamed one last time, screaming progressively louder until she peaked once it pounced.
"Geronimo!" Virto yelled, landing with its bo staff square on its head. They hit it straight into the ground right before Becky's feet, landing on it as if it were a carpet. "Ah, there we go," Virto said, checking that the mamono was still breathing. "Thanks Becky! Becky?"
"Oh…thank god…" Becky said, clutching her heart. "These clothes…and heels…were a mistake…"
"We tried to tell you, after the whole planning thing we all put clothes and shoes we could run in," Virto said, lifting up his shoes to show her grey vans. She screamed again, but this time from how ugly the shoes were.
"What!? It's a perfectly functional choice for-" Virto almost tripped, suddenly rising up from the ground. The dragon's wings spread back again as it slowly rose back up, panting through the cracks now appearing in its skull. "Oh sh-iIIIIT!" Virto said, being grabbed by the leg and swung into Becky. They were thrust into her, breaking the fence clean off and sending them landing in an awkward pile into the ground. Leana and Mortoii arrived by then, gasping as Virto and Becky started scooting backward, wincing from the bruises now along their backs and limbs. "G-good dragon…" Virto said. "We're fine, right? Just a little, er, roughhousing, hehe…" It didn't take too kindly to its cracked armor, ready to dive once more if she didn't hear the sound of a drawn arrow past them. She hissed and started backing away, keeping her purple, reptilian eyes focused on the imp and the weapon he was pointing at it.
"Alright now, I know we both don't want to get hurt," Leana said to the feral monster girl, starting to approach the creature. She stepped in front of Becky and Virto, keeping one of her hands in her pocket as she got within its lunching distance. "I'm not even good for your diet anyways, I know you want some of that nice, juicy, man essence right?"
"Errrr…." thinking that the woman in a fall coat had some in supply, she took one step closer to her. It still kept one eye on the barrel, Mortoii squinting his eyes for the first chance he had to shoot.
"Well too bad!" As fast as she could, Leana through out seeds to the dragon's feet. Instantly, it grew into a prison of vines and roots, various vines twisting around each other. The dragon cried and started swiping at the vines to tear away, but each tear was healed with double the vines. Leana put on foot on the cage and cackled, whipping her hair back and forth. "I guess you could say that, you've been caught in quite the bind!"
"Or vine!" Becky said, sitting up now that she wasn't in mortal danger. "Boom!"
"Neither of those made sense," Virto said. "It has to be a good pun, like…Mortoii, you have anything?"
"I'm not getting between any of these terrible lines," he said full of disappointment as he put down the crossbow.
"Regardless, the dragon appears to be captured," Isuka radioed in. "I will be moving in to transport it back to our world off Earth…wait a moment-"
"Why doesn't our world have a name?" Isuka said, standing idly on top of the skyscraper, about to leap off before she stopped in her tracks. "If you humans call your home "Earth", certainly there should be a name for our world as well!"
"I thought you were coming over," Virto said.
"Not until I know what our name is!" Isuka said, suddenly perturbed about this. Gracie, listening in from the door, realized she heard other noises as well. The sounds of more footsteps approaching. "Uh, Isuka-"
"There's no time for this!" Virto said. "We have what seems to be a dragon zombie held down only by petals and flowers."
"Uh, are you calling my seeds just flowers?" Leana said, turning her head back to Virto. Becky, still keeping an eye on the dragon, started to hear it whimper.
Gracie: "Um, guys-" More noise at the door
Virto: "I didn't mean it like that, I just didn't want Isuka-"
Isuka: "Didn't want me what, not knowing the truth? Well, how do you name a planet then?"
Mortoii: "On Leana's device, it says 'Earth' is a mix of German and English that just means 'the ground.'"
Leana: "When did you get my phone? And I still take offense to that-"
[Dragon Zombie]: Whimpers and extends a claw for support, "Please, let me out…I won't bite too much~"
Becky: "Awww, although I'm not sure this group has a good track record with dragons…"
Isuka: "What about Mars, Venus, Jupiter!?"
Mortoii: "Gods of…Leana, what is Rome and Greece, and can we go there?" Is currently holding the phone away from her.
Skyscraper Guards: Pushing against the door while Gracie desperately holds it shut. "LET US IN, YOU BOTH ARE UNDER ARREST FOR ASSAULT AND BREAKING AND ENTERING."
Becky: "I think Lalu got the worst of it, apparently he was with a Wyvie once, or how you say it…"
Leana: This close to tackling the imp down. "Give me my phone you dick!"
Virto: Yells to Mortoii and Leana. "Both of you stop arguing!"
[Dragon Zombie]: "La…." Is intrigued and starts sniffing the air, getting more urgent with each inhale.
Isuka: "I'm not naming my home planet after one of your fake myths!"
Virto: "And why are you so hostile all of a-"
"Guys!" Gracie practically screamed into the mic. "The roof is getting stormed! Isuka, we need to leave now! We can name our world whatever later!" Isuka left her manavision and reverted to her normal view, turning around in time to see a dozen men break through the door. Gracie got knocked aside and pinned by three of the men, the rest surrounding Isuka and blocking off every way but over the railing. "Freeze, hands in the air where I can see them."
"Drat!" Isuka's fingertips start glowing, to which tasers get aimed at her. "What are you doing!?" one of the guards says. Virto could hear their shouts and screams before the earpieces went static. "Hello, Gracie, Isuka?"
"LAAAOOOOOOO!" Bellowed the dragon. With a herculean effort compared to before, it broke through the top of the flora cage. Everyone, still stunned by Isuka's and Gracie's sudden disappearance, could only watch as it spread its wings and flapped up to the sky. Mortoii frantically picked up his crossbow and aimed up, but snapped his fingers as he deemed the thing too far out of range. They could hear one more blood-boiling screech, its testimony of chaos over the whole metropolitan area.
"So…how long do we have until the government notices?" Becky asked. "Are we going to jail?"
"From experience, not really, we just need to play dumb," Leana said. "But why did it say Lalu's…other world name wowwereallydoneedtonamethatplace…"
"I don't know, but we need a change of plans," Virto said, starting to type something on their watch. "Becky, you go see if you need to bail Isuka and Gracie out of jail. Leana, Mortoii, try to follow the dragon."
"What are you going to do?" Leana asked. Virto looked up, thinking that what they were doing on the watch was obvious. "Hack Twitter, duh, we can't let news spread." Everyone nodded at each other and ran off, Mortoii and Leana doing their best to follow the dot in the sky. "Were my seeds really that weak?" she asked the imp.
"You're still easing into your incubus mana. It's rare for the female to be in the husband's position, so you may take a bit longer to master everything," Mortoii assured her. "I'll help you out though. We can even 'refuel' and try again later~"
"Ugh," Leana said, rolling her eyes. "So corny." He just laughed, watching the sky while Leana made the turns that slowly led them to the bus going outside the town.
"Do you have anything with salmon?" Ola said to the waiter once it reached their table. The family was sitting outside, taking in the relatively warm winter day. Dami and Kumni played bricks, racing to get the best score while waiting for their food. Lalu looked out towards the scenery, already bored with everything.
"How are you doing?" he heard his mom asked. He nodded, tapping his hands against the table. "Doing alright, just thinking about classes, that's all."
"Yeah, I heard one of your professors stopped coming to work," she said, taking a glance at her menu. "It is weird, but now they are probably scrambling to get a new teacher…"
"Hopefully one that's less hands on…" Lalu muttered. "Yeah, I'm just hoping there's less work now. College ain't gonna be paying for itself…" he glanced at his dad, who was talking to someone from his job on the phone. His dad caught his eye, lowering the phone for a second to listen. "Oh, nothing," Lalu said. He looked at Ola, who was still face-deep into his menu scanning all the ingredients. He cares way too much about the ingredients… Lalu thought to himself.
Eventually, the food came back around, and everyone was able to dig in. Ola had finally gotten the staff to mix some of their salmon into his rice. When he opened his phone to take a picture, he noticed something weird when he switched to selfie mode. "Hey," he whispered, nudging Lalu to take a look as well. "Is it me or is something moving back there?" Lalu looked down, also weirded out by the hovering object. He turned around in his seat, seeing something slowly move above them. As he squinted, he could make out a grey and blue humanoid figure, their head looking around before moving again to survey more places.
"What are you two looking at?" Dami said, also noticing. They both shushed him, getting the attention of Mom and Dad who were talking to each other. "What?" their dad said, "Didn't I tell you three no arguing at the table?"
"Oh, we just saw a bird flying by, it went over to the park though," Lalu said, glaring at Dami for him to stay quiet. "But you both were looking up at-"
"We were looking at nothing," Lalu said. "The bird already left, just be quiet…"
"But-" Dami looked up to Ola for support, but he just shook his head and went back to eating. "But-"
"Just eat your food, ah!" their mom said. "Seriously, can't we just enjoy dinner in peace…next thing you know, some internet fad is going to come through-"
"OH MY GAWD WHAT IS THAT?" one couple said, pointing up towards the sky. Lalu dropped his spoon in frustration and got up, leaving his food behind. "Alright, we need to go."
"Why?" his mom asked, looking up. "It's just a dot in the sky, leave it."
"I'm paranoid of the sky?"
"Then be paranoid in your seat," she said. "What, did one of your strange creatures appear in this world now?"
"It's not like that," Lalu said. "I don't even know what that thing is!" Before anyone else could get in, his phone rang, having Virto's number on it. Not sure if he was going to regret it or not, he picked it up, seeing alot of other people around him taking pictures of the descending humanoid now. "Hello?"
"Lalu! Thank goodness," Virto said. "Hey, I just wanted to know, do you happen to have your revolvers on you?" Lalu, with sudden urgency, looked back up to the sky. He was starting to be able to make out the zombie dragon, floating down and slowly flapping wings as it hungrily looked at the crowd of the restaurant. He looked back down at his family. Everyone was absorbed in the sight as the rest of the place, except for his parents, who alternated between it and Lalu.
"Fola…." his mom started.
"I'll call you back," Lalu said, ending the call with Virto.
"What is that demon!?" Another random person said from the crowd, a random scream also being heard.
"I'm totally gonna post this online!" random person #2 said, snapping a picture and going on their phone. "Aw man, who took out twitter?"
Lalu raised his hands in defeat, still getting glares from his parents. "Alright! So a monster girl may be loose in New Jersey, but it's not our fault, there was a rift and-"
"Oh, I know it's not your fault," his mom said. "Because if it was, I would backslap you back over the ocean! What did you get yourself into?"
"That boy was always playing around with things out of his control, and now look," his dad looked, pointing up to her. "For all we know, we could be dying right now."
"We aren't-"
"What's a monster girl?" Kunmi asked.
"You probably shouldn't look at it. In fact, none of you for should be staring at that thing…" Now pretty recognizable within range, their mom noticed how naked she seemed, aside from the exoskeleton. Everyone in the area realized the same thing and was predictably having one of two responses. I don't have to say them. "Well Fola, go, fix it!" she said, more pissed than she was scared.
"I can't just fix everything like it's a lightbulb," Lalu said, straining not to raise his voice. He felt Ola patting his back, trying to nonverbally get him to stay calm, but everything was boiling over too fast. "Why do you hate Virto so much now? Why can't I just take care of anything there without you getting so pissed off about it?-"
"Because he took you away from us!" his dad said, standing up and slamming his hands into the table. Everyone, including his mom, seemed taken aback by the blowup. "Hey-" she began.
"You think that just because you came back we should just be accepting of everything again? We banned you from going to his house because we knew something like this would happen!"
"It was. Going to. Happen. Regardless, that's what I'm saying!" Lalu said, balling up his hands. "And stop, fucking saying him already, she's a girl now!"
"Stop raising your voice at him!" His mom exclaimed, turning back towards Lalu. "If you're going to talk, keep it lower."
"Lower? You know what, I-"
"HEELP!" one of the staff screamed. Unbeknownst to all of them, the zombie dragon had made landfall, having trapped one of the customers under their claw. Its other hand was used to block the onslaught of a broom by them. Annoyed, the dragon caught the broom and snapped it in half, going for the staff worker instead.
"You know what, screw you both," Lalu said. Shaking his head, he turned to go help. "If you don't apologize right now, don't bother coming back," his mother called to him. She held back her husband, watching as he went shoulder first to ram the zombie dragon off the customer. "Step off!" He yelled to the dragon.
The two people quickly ran away as she stumbled back, surprised at the strength. She then noticed the mana that waffered into her nose. It hit her stronger than any of the smells she had found before since getting into this world.
"Huuuubyyyy~" she said, ooozing lust off like an ice cube melting in the sun. She stepped forward, postering around like a robot until suddenly diving for him. Lalu dodged out of the way, moving right into a tumble. When he rolled back on his feet, he saw the table she landed in destroyed. She sliced it to pieces out of frustration, getting back up to face him again, "Stay still!~" She said, pointing her claw at him, jagged and scratched by the wood and metal she had torn apart so far.
"Why is everyone yelling today?" he said exasperated. She launched at him again, Lalu running off as she started to charge even more. Everyone was clearing out now, leaving him more chairs to pull and throw behind him. He could hear how unperturbed she was, brushing off every hit like they were toothpicks thrown against chainmail.
"Come on, we have to go!" Ola said, guiding everyone out. His mom remained behind, frozen in her seat, not wanting to miss a frame of the danger her son was in. "Mommy, we have to go!"
"Y-yeah…" she said, raising a hand for Ola to pull her up, guiding her out of the restaurant. In the meantime, Lalu was still on the run, ducking to avoid a chair that shattered on the cash register behind him. "God damn, you can't fuck someone if they are dead!" He called out, seeing her rise in their air for a dive. He made a mad dash for the bathroom, just getting past the door when the dragon zombie shot straight for him, blasting through the wall itself in a mess of shrapnel and rubble.
"LAAAAAOOOOOO!" She yelled once more, shrugging the fallout off of her. She raised her nose again, looking at the three stalls in front of her. She forced her claws into the wall of the first one and tore it open, seeing an empty stall. "COME, OUT!"
Why does she keep saying that like I should know her!? Lalu thought in a panic, fiddling around with his jacket. He took out the wrist bracelet he used against Velle and slapped it on, feeling a rush of yellow mana start to circulate around his body. It was just in time too, as he saw the claws jut into the wall of his stall claps, pulling a hole through it with enough power to break an excavator. "IF YOU WON'T COME TO ME, ME COME TO YOU!~" She yelled again, licking her lips while she peered through the hole with her purple, draconic eyes. He could watch them dilate, high off the delay of gratification she was going through chasing him around.
"Alright, think think!" Lalu whispered to himself as he heard the massive hands hit deep dents into what was left of the wall. Why would Virto even call me for this to warn me? He thought. Maybe they just lost sight, but that thing could be going anywhere! Plus, Isuka was with them too…right, the only reason that they would ever call me is if-
"LLAAAAAOOOOOOO!" came as a gut-curling screech. It sounded like nails on a chalkboard, and that was what he heard as well for two seconds, until her whole arm broke through the bathroom wall and grabbed Lalu by his waist. "Shit!"
"Found you, now where, is, LAO!" She kept screaming, yanking everything out at once. This basically destroyed the stall, but once she had shaken off the bent metal, she only had a jacket in hand. She looked forward, seeing Lalu clutching his waist. Blood was starting to pool from where his appendix was, his eyes switching between being fully open and half closed. "I got that off in a nick of time," he joked, chuckling to himself.
"You weak now…" she said, licking her lips. "I'll heal you~"
"You wish you could heal this," Lalu said, straining to get into a fighting stance. "Although…I just need to confirm one more thing from you."
"NO CONFIRM, ONLY FUCK," she proclaimed, baring her fanged, madman smile. She lunged again, but this time, Lalu could use his power from the other world. He made his own lunge for her, kneeing the reckless zombie dragon in the bone covering her face. Where there were only cracks running up and down its skull was now broken completely open from the knee. She squealed and went down, Lalu also falling awkwardly on the rubble of the bathroom. As he gathered himself up, he saw her continue to scream. A green, heavy gas was beginning to foam from her mouth, the pieces of her protection held in hand… "My face…my face…was only FOR MY HUBBY!"
"You have…no volume control do you," Lalu said, taking a step forward. She scooted away, spreading her wings like a shield. She no longer was trying to get him, frantically trying to find a new way out. "New hubby…new hubby…ONLY LAO DESERVES ME," she said, in the end busting through another wall of the bathroom.
Caught off guard, Lalu ran outside of the bathroom, watching her fly out clutching the jacket with her. She sniffed around, before launching herself towards the parking lot. "No no no, anywhere but that!" Lalu said, chasing after her for his life.
"Fola is going to be fine!" Ola tried once more. They were all still in the parking lot, staying near the edge so that they could immediately be gone the moment they were ready. "He has probably gone through worse!"
"I said, we aren't leaving this place without him," his mother said quietly. "He gave his word that he wouldn't leave us. I don't care if we stay till dark, he is going to come home with us."
"But, you literally told him not to come-"
"Not the time right now," his father said, stumbling through the words. "Although…we were pretty hardheaded against him."
"I rather know he's safe than lose him again. I don't care if he wants to go back to that forsaken demon world," she stated. "I just pray to God that he is okay…"
As if God had her answer, the zombie dragon landed right on the hood of their SUV. The entire car lurched, everyone backing up in their seats as the monster stood up on it's legs. The mom's heart dropped when she saw Lalu's jacket clutched in the dragon's hands, cloaked in a thin green film, and torn with various holes. A hand rose above her mouth, unable to utter anything in stark disbelief. She took a deep wiff of the car in front of her, nodding rapidly in approval.
"Lao, Lao, more Lao!" the dragon exclaimed excitedly, her scales and bones shining in the setting sun. The entire car screamed as she peeled off the windshield, literally drooling onto the center console. The dad started kicking up, but his feet were just pushed aside, and eventually caught. "No Lao, bad Lao needs bite," she said, opening her mouth ready to chomp down on the foot as he and the mom tried pulling back. "No, get off! You will not take another one of my men today!"
Just then, a bathroom seat hit her square on the jaw and shattered on impact. She dropped the foot and snarled, turning to see Lalu still standing. His white t-shirt was bloody and in his hand, leaving nothing but the breast wrap he wore under to protect his upper body against the elements. "I've had time to think as I caught up to you!" Lalu said low on breath, tossing aside the t-shirt. "And let me just say, you've been a bad dragon…"
"Fola, ah, you are alive!" His mother exclaimed. All of a sudden, it felt like she could breathe again, the hairs on her neck still straightened as she watched the dragon zombie finally jump out of the car. "BACK OFF, THESE LAOS ARE MINE," the dragon zombie said. "YOU ARE BAD HUBBY!"
"And you, have probably been alive for only a few days now right?" Lalu said back, starting to walk over. The mamono looked at where he was bleeding, widening her eyes when she saw that it had completely healed. "W-wait…B-BACK-" Lalu just kept walking forward, smiling as if he were walking through a garden of dandelions.
"You keep saying Lao, as if you talking to someone you loved…" Lalu continued, watching the zombie dragon back into the hood of the car. This time, it was she who was on the defensive, blushing as the dark brown human approached her with a comfort level only approaching that of the demon lord. He was bleeding, but now he was perfectly fine!
"You must miss Lao alot…don't you?" He asked.
"BACK, BACK I SAY!" she said, nearly hysterical now. The watches from the car watched as Lao put a foot up against the car door, right under her wing. "P-please….I don't want bad Lao…"
"I promise I'm not bad," Lalu said, watching her sink down to the ground. Just a few minutes earlier. She was turning solid foundations into party streamers. Now, she cowered beside the tire of the SUV, covering her face with her wings and hands like she had seen her worst nightmare. "In fact, I know exactly why you're doing all this…you're pretty lonely right now…aren't you Seian?"
"S-seian…" she repeated. Her wing parted from her face, just enough to let her eyes look up at Lalu. "S-seian is lonely…and scared…S-seian wants...Lao…"
"Then come here," Lalu said, extending his arms. "Lao has missed Seian too."
"Lao has missed Seian…L-LAO HAS MISSED SEIAN!" She jumped with jubilation, hugging Lalu on the spot while burying her head into the crux of his neck. His family silently looked on, seeing the finger tiredly raised over his mouth as the sign not to utter a word. It was hard keeping her from tearing off the rest of his clothes, but a few scratches behind the ear and she was properly sedated.
The doorbell rang at Lalu's home. Naturally, Ola answered it, praying that it wasn't anyone who came to take pictures of Lalu. Thanks to Virto, the video was seen as fake enough to not attract anyone important, but the clip of Lalu still saving a staff member had still managed to make the rounds regardless.
Luckily, it was Virto, who came with a cake that said 'I'm sorry' and a collar that could handle the raw, unbound strength of a dragon zombie. "I heard that I should bring something if I was ever going to come back here ever again."
"Well, I've been over everything honestly," Ola said, putting his hands up. "It's the older folk you have to worry about right now."
"Figured…" Virto said. They followed Ola inside, walking in on a movie being played in the living room. The dad turned around, seeing Virto awkwardly wave to him. "H-hello, sir." The father gave a 10-yard stare, before turning back silently to the T.V. "He's in the backyard, with the dragon," he stated, without facing Virto.
"Thank you, sir." Virto continued on, Ola opening the door for them to go outside. They walked and looked around, seeing Seian and Lalu sitting with each other. Seian was laying in Lalu's lap, holding his arms around herself as she daydreamed away. Lalu, being her seat of sorts, enjoyed the night sky, and the stars that twinkled around them. "Oh look," Lalu said, seeing Virto sit beside him. "Now I can see two belts around me. Orion's belt, and-"
"My utility belt, yeah…" Virto said. "Back when I actually had one…"
"Yeah…" Lalu agreed.
"Hey, about your family, I…I'm realizing I never did apologize. You know, for all this that has happened…"
"Virto…"
"No, please. I've…I've just caused so much damage to you, Leana. You both would be having normal lives if I never existed…" Virto said, looking down at the grass in the backyard. "And sometimes, I wish I was never smart at all…"
"Well…it was either this, or work at a mechanic's shop all my life, that's for sure," Lalu said.
"Or the scholarship…"
"Yeah…but going to the hospital ended all that," Lalu said, rubbing his nose. "Virto, your portal is the coolest thing in my life right now. I'm sure we would have been fine, but this other world…I like it there. I like being this hero that can come in and save the day…"
"But the pitfalls…"
"Don't compare, at all," Lalu said, patting the undead dragon's head. He had a small chuckle, when he felt her purr and nuzzle against his body. "And besides, I'm sure that once we're older, the portal will be closed off entirely, and we will all go back to our ordinary lives. Until then, as long as I got you and Leana, I wanna keep exploring the world with y'all for as long as we can. A little double life, you know what I mean?"
"Yeah…" Virto nodded, feeling slightly better. "Plus, everyone else that I have unfortunately sucked in…"
"It really does feel alot more homey when everyone there is from Earth, doesn't it?" Lalu asked, getting a chuckle out of Virto. "Yeah, yeah…but um…what about your parents?" Lalu, thinking about it, started looking out towards the scenery along with them.
"About that…once I leave, I don't think I'm ever coming back here again."