This is the updated version, so you'll noticed some differences here, enjoy!
The run-down looking cab drove through the road like a speeding bullet, dodging the passing cars in sharp turns without slowing down, while the passengers so far... fearing for their lives after realizing who the cab drivers were and not feeling so safe with three old hags with only a single eye.
"Oh, I know! Didn't like how it showed my nose. Awful pictures." Lachesis didn't seem to notice that they were startled by their grotesque appearances while they were too busy driving, tires screeching against the road as the cab made a sharp turn to the nearby corner. Tossing the teenager's onboard to the sides with each turn
"That we took when we set up this cab business," Clotho added after her.
"And we do so have an eye we make use to travel." Atropos finished while keeping her eye on the road. The passengers calmed themselves down until they realized they were on a busy road and saw a truck coming towards them and again screamed.
"LOOK OUT!" Ben was the first to shout and pointed towards the coming right at them.
"Clotho, time to split!" Atropos exclaimed to Clotho. She reached out to the lever and turned it from one side to the other. The passengers behind them didn't know what was going on when the cab started to split between them and saw the truck up ahead, with Ben in the middle clinging to both sides for dear life and couldn't hold on to either side much longer.
Taren latched on to his arm and pulled him to his side of the cab right in the nick of time before he could've been a human pancake. The two halves of the cab returned to being a single vehicle and a great relief to the three.
"You ok?" Mal asked him, trying to hide her concern for the brunette with the blush on her cheeks for bringing it up. He looked at her and smiled while keeping his breathing steady.
"Yeah, I'm good. Thanks, Taren." Thanking his best friend for saving his life.
Taren waved his hand while trying to hold on to his breakfast. "No prob."
"We pay extra for that option." Clotho pointed, and with that out of the way, they were still a little worried about the driving. "Let me use it and see where we are so far." She reached out towards Atropos and pulled the eyeball RIGHT of her eye socket before inserting it in her eye socket before turning to the bearers. "No need to be frightened. We haven't had an accident in 45 years."
"46, if you remember that time we were in Russia after making the wrong turn." Lechesis countered.
"Oh, but that was when we started getting used to driving. Not as difficult as keeping our eye since the incident with Perseus."
The three were a little grossed out at seeing her put that eyeball in her, Mal was the first to speak up while a little discomfort. "Uh, yeah, but I don't understand why the Three Fates of Olympus be-"
"Doing a taxi service?" The Fates chorused, finishing his sentence.
"It's to expand the business for our services," Lechesis answered her question.
Taren had thought of something that may sound important. "Um, not to sound rude but shouldn't the driver get the eye?" That was something the other two agreed by nodding their eyes.
Mal eagerly nodded her head. "Yeah, there's health and safety regulations for that."
"Bah, she's doing fine." Waving her hand before her as if it was of no concern.
But Atropos had thought of what Taren said. "Hold on a moment, he has a point! The one behind the wheels should have the eye."
"You couldn't reach the peddle without those books!" Clotho responded, pointing her green finger.
Lechesis gave out a mocking "Ha!" at her statement. "She didn't get us lost in the middle of the ocean floors on our first day." She suddenly receives a smack on the face by the back of Clotho's hand. The keybladers winced after seeing what the middle fate did. Lechesis gasped and glared at her. "Ooohh, you did NOT do that!"
"I certainly did!" Then suddenly all three of them were slapping each other even though ONE of them should be driving the cab and started arguing over who should have a turn with the eye.
"Gimme the eye! It's my turn!"
"You had it too long!"
"No way, you dropped it in the car and took us ages to find it!"
They were beginning to wonder if this was such a good idea after all.
"Oh, we're gonna die before we even started." Mal was starting to have doubts about this already.
Taren couldn't agree more. "Yeah, and all because over an eye."
Atropos pulled away while trying to get a hold of Clotho to prevent her from trying to reach for the eye the blue Fate had. "Oh pipe down." She proclaimed. "The prophecy said you will find the Dragon's Flame in the end."
The keyblade wielders looked at each other after she said something about a prophecy. Did they know of the events beyond their dimension?
Ben was the first to speak out to know what this prophecy they were aware of. "What prophecy? You know of the Dragon's Flame?"
The Fates paused for a moment and looked at the teenagers when they inadvertently revealed what they weren't supposed to know. Clotho gave a nervous chuckle and was about to speak until both her fellow sisters clamped her mouth before she could say anything.
"Oh, no!" Lechesis narrowed her gaze at her. "Mortals aren't supposed to know their future."
"What about Hades? We told his future of wanting to overthrow Zeus." Atropos mentioned, Clotho agreeing by nodding her head.
"That was different! He's a god, but even he could not change his." Lechesis argued when suddenly Clotho smacked the back of her head, projecting the eyeball out of her socket, and bouncing all over the back seat as the trio tried to feel it, only to it bounce onto Mal's lap, causing her to yelp and swat it aside, Ben accidentally grabbed it but slipped from his fingerless gloved hands as it once again bounced against the window and landed on Taren's seat. Without hesitation, he reached out, grabbing it in his hand, ignoring the feel of it when holding it out from the pleading Fates that want their eye back.
"Give us back the eye!"
"Don't drop it!"
"It's all we have left!"
"Tell us about the prophecy, and you can have it back." Taren held it close to the window, making it as if he was going to drop it to earn a reaction from them, they could tell the Fates were a little hesitant and ceased their pleading.
Watching them huddled together, muttering and whispering to each other over whether or not they should give in to his demands. It didn't take long until they had made their choice and turned to the teenagers with frustration. "Oh, Alright, you win! So heed these words well 'cause we're only saying it once." Lechesis didn't like it, yet they could not afford to lose the eye. "To find the flame that lies within, the last child of Domino is whom you seek."
"And when the power of the flame be unleashed, so shall the army of darkness be freed." Clotho spoke out. "But only the strength of many united can challenge them."
"A word of caution for you to remember most important." It was Atropos' turn, narrowing her 'eye' at them to listen to her warning. "Should Tezzeret be defeated? The Fallen shall rise again."
Listening to the prophecy the Fates told them, yet it made no sense. Will they be successful in their mission? Or fail, and who was the last child of Domino? Taren couldn't understand what they meant, especially the last one. But why did it sound familiar to him. "What? What's all that mean?"
"You got your answer! now we want our eye back!" The eye appeared in Atropos' hand despite any struggle to reach for him, allowing her to place it in her single eye. The Fates were relieved and resumed their driving.
"Almost there now!" One of the Fates said. Mal noticed the rising price of the taximeter, far above the amount of cash they could afford. Leaning over to the boys, whispering to avoid the Fates from hearing her.
"I think we might be a little low on cash."
"WHAT?!" The Fates, however, did indeed hear her and were not so happy about it. All three instantly slammed their feet onto the brakes, causing the tires to stop, screeching against the road until the wheels hit the pavement by the side before it made a 260 flip in mid-air. The keyblade wielders let out a scream, Grabbing onto whatever they could for their dear lives until the cab made a safe landing on its wheels without any damage or harm to the passengers, much to their great relief, and tried to regain their bearings together. The Fates turned around and were most displeased over the fact that they wasted the trip without pay.
"What are you-"
"Think we're-"
"Running here?"
"A CHARITY?!"
"Get your cheap butts out!" The Fates Chorused before throwing them out of the cab and immediately took off on the road until the cab turned into smoke, flying into the distance. The three teens looked at each other and noticed the sign that read "Welcome to Gardenia".
"Well, at least we've made it," Taren felt relieved to finally exit the cab, which he considered a death trap. He believed walking would be a safer alternative.
"We still need to find Magix, which can only be done by a fairy," Mal explained. She wished their task could be simpler and that Master Yen Sid had used his magic to open a gateway for them. However, she remembered that traveling between dimensions is risky and requires strong magic, which could reveal their hideout to the Grimm.
Taren suggested that they try to sense the fairy's magic since they know what she looks like and are waiting to meet her. They worked out a plan and decided to try the park, an ideal place. Mal and Taren were skilled at this and had practiced before. Ben could sense others who were closer. However, they had to be careful not to use their magic in public to draw attention as this world has not seen magic in centuries, as Macbeth said.
As they walked through town, they passed by people without drawing attention to themselves. Taren had a feeling that something was nearby as if he had sensed it before. "Hey guys, why don't we look for her in the park?" he suggested, pointing to the nearby park around the corner.
Both Mal and Ben wondered and looked at him. "Uh, what makes you think that?" Mal asked.
Taren simply shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe it's where she could be. There's plenty of space, trees to cover, and we don't hear anyone shout fairy right now." In truth, he had no idea why, but he felt something nearby. It strangely felt like he needed to go there, but he couldn't just say things like that, or they'd think he was acting strangely... well, more than usual.
"Seems like a nice idea. That could be the place Yen Sid told us about," Ben agreed.
Mal expressed her frustration with the difficulty of reaching the Magic Dimension. She suggested that Master Yen Sid could open a gateway for them to pass through, but she remembered from their previous conversation that traveling between dimensions is challenging and requires powerful magic. This could risk revealing their hideout to the Grimm.
Taren suggested that they try feeling the fairy's magic to find her. He had done similar exercises during their first month of training. Ben understood and added that he could sense others in closer range at the moment.
Mal agreed to meet with the fairy, but they were worried about revealing their magical abilities in public. As a solution, they decided to use their magic to sense the fairy's presence instead of openly displaying their powers. Since they knew what the fairy looked like, they believed it would be easy to identify her without anyone else noticing.
Taren felt that the park could be an ideal place to find the fairy. They walked through the town, passing by citizens without taking notice. Taren had a familiar feeling that something was nearby. Both Ben and Mal agreed to check the park.
"Pointing her finger towards a large forest within the city, she said, "We should reach it in a few minutes, but...". Taren asked, "But what?". She replied, "I'm not sure. It feels faint, yet something about it feels like nothing I've ever felt before." She couldn't describe it, but she knew that something very powerful was there. Even the boys were confused by what she meant, but she didn't have time to explain it further. "Can't waste any more time, we need to go."
The trio made their way towards the city, taking note of the many people going about their daily business in the morning. They had to be careful not to use magic in public. Although it seemed like a nice place, they had a mission to complete and couldn't waste time sightseeing. The source of magic was coming from the park up ahead, but they couldn't pinpoint her exact location.
"OK, what if we split up to find her? It might make it easier," said Mal.
"Sounds good to me. Best of luck," replied Ben, before making his way in one direction while Mal went in another.
Taren was already ahead of them, searching in one direction, while the other two went their separate ways to find her. Mal could feel the magical power radiating within the area, but he was unable to determine her exact location. He thought, "If I were a fairy and came to Earth, where would I hide in a large park?" He looked up at the sky, shielding his eyes from the sun, wishing to use magic to fly or jump high to get a better view of the area, but he knew it would be a bad idea. They were not to reveal any magic or existence of other worlds to people who have no understanding.
Taren sighed, finding this mission much harder than he thought. "Sometimes I wonder how Dad did it when he first started this whole keyblade thing?" Trying to pinpoint the whereabouts of the magical source, he felt something powerful close by. This was strange. It was as if he felt it somewhere before like it was familiar to him in a strange sense."
Receiving a call, he brought his phone up to his ear to answer it. "Taren, it's Mal. Anything from your end?"
"Nah, I'm having a hard time pinpointing her location. It feels like something stronger is close by, but I don't know what it is."
"Weird, it's the same for me. Let's hope we figure it out soon before we head off. We don't want to attract anything bad and-"
Taren couldn't hear the last part of Mal's sentence because a roar and strange noises came from the dense forest. It didn't sound good from his perspective. "I think I just found her. Get Ben and put a lock on my signal."
"Just don't get your ass kicked before we get to have some fun!" Mal said before hanging up.
Taren ran towards the source of the noise. He could hear it much more clearly and see figures through the trees. The red-haired teenager saw the blonde-haired fairy due to her obvious wings. She was wearing a glittering orange top and miniskirt with a pair of boots, and she held a staff with a sun-like emblem on top. He noticed she was fighting a group of small, gremlin-like creatures surrounding her. Taren knew he had to do something to help out before it was too late.
Elsewhere in the park...
While things were calm and peaceful in the park, a teenage girl named Bloom carried her bike with her pet rabbit by her side. She had long red-orange hair that flowed down to her waist. Bloom wore a teal-colored top with yellow sleeves, a pair of blue flared jeans with stars printed on the bottom, and sandals on her feet. She was 16 years old and it was the first day of her summer vacation since school had ended. Bloom wanted to have fun and then spend her summer working at the flower shop. However, her friends were away with their own plans. Bloom's parents suggested they go to the beach, but she wished to go someplace other than the beach house her family always goes to every year. Despite being a teacher and old enough to take care of herself, her parents still treated her like a child. They bought her a bike as a gift, but her dad was overprotective and chose a bike instead of a scooter.
Bloom arrived at the park to relax and found a tree to sit under. Her pet rabbit wandered off, but she told him not to go too far. She sat down and took out an apple to have a snack. She wanted to do something different, to have an adventure or maybe meet new people and go to new places to celebrate her summer vacation. If only she had her book to read more about fairies. She had loved fairy tales, fantasies, and myths since childhood. Despite her mom thinking she was too old to believe in fairies, she couldn't stop believing in them. It was as if there was something more to them, and she wanted to know more.
While Bloom was attempting to unwind, her pet bunny suddenly dashed over to her in a frenzied state, yanking at the hem of her trousers and trying to convey something important. "What's the matter, Kiko?" She wondered what had scared him so much and could tell something was wrong. She decided to follow her rabbit to see what he had found, and what she saw was like something from a fairy tale. A blonde-haired girl was fighting against small imp-like creatures that were trying to attack her.
"Solar Wind!"
Slammed her staff into the ground and released a powerful blast of light energy, throwing them across several feet. Taren saw it happen and was impressed by how she took on several of those ghouls without help, thinking she had this in the bag and no reason to intervene for the moment. He didn't even need to summon his keyblade and make his introduction to the fairy named Stella when something in the shadows caught his attention, a large yellow-skinned ogre with brown sideburns and wearing only a pair of brown pants. He saw one of the creatures fall into his large hand, crushed instantly, and vanished as they were possibly summoning creatures.
Taren saw the girl take a fighting pose with her staff, glaring at the monster, who he assumed was the leader. "Go away, villain, or you will feel the magic of the Sun and Moon fairy!" she proclaimed to her opponent.
The young wielder of the keyblade was quick to notice the ogre's expression, indicating that he was not going to back down. With a loud roar, the ogre charged towards the woman, determined to knock her off her feet. However, the young keyblade wielder was resolute in his mission to protect her, knowing that he was the chosen one to wield the keyblade.
"Aero!"
As the ogre approached her, a swirling tornado lifted him from the ground, causing him to spin and fly several feet away. Although he groaned in pain upon impact, he quickly shook off the dirt from his face and stood up.
"Who did that? Show yourself!" he demanded.
Stepping out of the trees was Taren, glaring towards the ogre while making his way to the fairy.
"That would be me. I don't usually like those who bully someone smaller than them. Ya big dumb brute," he said before turning to the blonde girl, recognizing her as the fairy named Stella.
"I have a name, you know, and it's Knut. So don't you forget it!" The ogre gritted his teeth and glared at the boy for interfering, sensing him to be a threat. "I don't know who you are, kid. But you made a big mistake. Get him!" Ordering his ghouls to attack him with their numbers. Noticing that the red-haired teenager wasn't moving, thinking he was too scared to move.
Stella wondered who he was and didn't want him to get hurt. But unaware of someone else who was watching and she too feared for his safety, they leaped towards him, ready to sink their claws and teeth into his body.
"Look out!"
He didn't have time to know whose voice it was, but he raised the corner of his lip. In a split second, a flash of light streaked past the ghouls within arm's reach. The ghouls felt nothing until their bodies split apart. The only thing they saw was a key-shaped blade in the boy's hands before fading away.
"Really? I'm surprised how weak those critters are," Taren said, lifting his Light's Rebellion over his shoulder, ignoring the shocked looks he was receiving. He was surprised at how easily he took them out. He turned to face the fairy he just saved and checked if she was okay. "Stella, right? Name's Taren. Sorry for butting in, but I thought you could use a hand."
"Stella didn't seem bothered and smiled in appreciation. "No problem," she said. "So, you're one of the three people I was told to meet in this world? I have to say, that's a powerful-looking sword you have there." She looked at the key-shaped blade in his hand and sensed a strong magical energy emanating from it."
Nodding his head to confirm her question. "Yeah, they should be on their way, so we should be able to handle these critters."
The ogre spoke up, calling for their attention once he had fully recovered. "Oh, you think so, huh?" he said. "Then how about some friends of mine who would love nothing more than to sink their teeth into you?" He then pulled out a strange-looking red and black amulet, which was too far for them to see until it suddenly began to glow a bright purple color. Taren couldn't quite understand what was happening, but he felt every nerve in his body warning him of danger. Suddenly, two swirling portals appeared in the ground, and a large black paw with bone-white claws emerged from one of them, followed by the rest of the creature's body emerging from the swirling darkness.
They had black fur and bony spikes on their backs and arms, as well as white, bone-like masks with red detailing, the two of them were large and stocky built. They had cold yellow eyes glaring at their newfound prey as they stood in position, ready to attack them with a simple command.
The surviving ghouls trembled in fear when they felt the strong negative energy emanating from the newly summoned beasts. Stella was unsure of what the creatures were, but she tried to remain brave when they appeared. She turned to Taren, who looked shocked, and asked, "What are those things?"
"Grimm. Very bad and very dangerous so be very careful." Although he had seen such creatures before, he had only encountered one of them in real life and read about others in books during his training. He wanted to be prepared for them. The memories of the incident still clung to his mind, especially Tezzeret? Could this Ogre be associated with him? "But how could this guy control them?"
Knut smirked with confidence and eagerness to get the scepter from the fairy, now that he had brought reinforcements and saw the boy's look. he had seen them before and was concerned. "Not so confident? Too bad, Ursa, tear the guy with the key sword to pieces! But don't destroy the scepter." With the Grimm doing the work, he could just sit back and wait to snatch the scepter from her when she was down.
Both the Grimm, now called Ursa separated to attack their targets, and the Grimm let out a beastly roar before charging toward Taren. The two had no choice but to split up to avoid their claws, but they were more focused on Taren, making sure to block him from helping Stella. Taren tumbled to the side when one of the Grimm in front of him tried to swipe its claws toward him but missed by a few inches from his cheek. Remembering the training he had taken from Macbeth, he knew as much about the Grimm as he could and how to fight them. 'Ok, they're Ursa, just like the big log said. They seem fast but not strong, so they must be young ones if they have fewer spikes.'
As the creature stood on its short legs, it attacked with its sharp claws. This left its vulnerable belly open for Taren to strike with his keyblade, cutting from its shoulder to its chest. Although the wound was not fatal, it caused the creature to stumble, allowing Taren to deliver a powerful kick to its chin. The creature howled in both anger and pain. Suddenly, a beam of light shot out and blasted the creature. The impact sent it flying, crashing into another nearby monster. Taren looked over to see that it was Stella who had fired the beam. She smiled at him.
He smiled at her with a nod. "Thanks."
"Now we're even," she said before the ghouls joined in, surrounding them. Knut approached them as the Ursa recovered. "It's only a matter of time for you to surrender," he said. The two glared at him, refusing to back down, knowing their friends were on their way and it shouldn't be long before they arrived.
Bloom witnessed an incident where someone was being harassed and felt compelled to intervene. Without hesitation, she stepped forward and called out to the harassers, demanding that they stop. "Leave them alone!" She caught their attention and stood with a confident smirk, hands on her hips. However, in the heat of the moment, Bloom realized she didn't quite know what she was going to do next. "Or else I'll... wait what am I going to do."
"Uh oh, you're in trouble now, buddy! We've got backup!" exclaimed Stella with joy, seeing more reinforcements arrive.
However, Taren didn't share her enthusiasm. "There's a problem, though. She's not with us," he declared, causing the Grimm to take notice of the newcomer.
Stella quickly understood the situation and turned to the redhead. "Quick, get out of here! It's not safe."
Knut was irritated as more teenagers appeared out of nowhere, and he had no idea who the girl was. He decided to get rid of her too, and shouted, "GET HER!" The ghouls were the first to attack the girl, but Taren and Stella tried to save her by pushing the monsters away. However, Bloom surprised everyone when she raised her hand and created a magical barrier that surrounded her body. The barrier repelled the ghouls and prevented them from coming close. Taren and Stella were amazed to see that Bloom could use magic.
Bloom felt something flowing through her body, it was unlike anything she felt before and wondered how she did that. "Did... did I just do that?" Ask she asked herself, looking at her hand was still glowing with a red aura for a moment.
Kiku, who was quivering beside her saw them taken out, he jumped with excitement and threw his tiny paws as if he were a boxer. However, he didn't realize that a ghoul had sneaked up behind him. When Kiku finally noticed the ghoul, he fainted in fear. Just then, Bloom appeared, looking angry and holding a branch in her hand. She shouted, "Hands off Kiku!" and used the branch as a bat to swat the creature away. The ghoul hit a nearby tree and then burst into magical lights.
She was smiling after taking care of one of them when suddenly she saw a large shadow looming over her. She spun around and gasped in fright at the sight of the black monster that was looming over her. That's when Knut came up without making a sound and grabbed her arms. "You wanna cause trouble, girly?"
Bloom closed her eyes tightly and a red aura encircled her. Soon, her entire body was glowing and she felt an overwhelming power growing within her. "LET GO!" She was caught off guard, and emitted a powerful wave of energy that threw everyone away. The force was so strong that it caused Knut to let go of her. For a brief moment, anyone watching would have seen the wave of energy taking the shape of a dragon, flying into the sky until it exploded like a firework.
Taren was amazed and mesmerized as he watched her release that much power. She took down the entire group, even the Ursa were thrown away, not expecting a girl to possess such power. Taren was sure that it was her, the same feeling he had sensed before.
"Whoa, such power!" Stella was awed and amazed when she never saw anything like it.
Taren rose to his feet and agreed with her. The two of them were the least injured from the blast. Knut was barely getting up, trying to reach out for the scepter that had fallen to the ground. Taren ignored him and went to check up on her after what she did. "Yeah, that was awesome! How did you do that?" he asked.
After what she had done, she looked up at him and said, "To be honest, I have no idea. It just felt natural."
"I swear I've felt that power somewhere before, and it's coming from this girl. It's really powerful!" He took a good look at her while thinking. For some reason, he couldn't take his eyes off of her; she was really beautiful. However, he knew he had to stay focused and not get easily distracted, especially when there were monsters present, particularly the Grimm.
"I got my scepter back! You don't scare me," Stella exclaimed as she fired her scepter at Knut, who was still down and taking care of the ghouls. However, she soon realized that one of the Grimm had moved away from the blast.
Bloom looked up and smiled at the fellow redhead when he reached his hand out to help her until she saw one of the black monster bears charging at them. Stella also noticed, after taking care of the remaining creatures, that one of the two Grimm was coming at them.
"Watch out," Bloom warned. He didn't flinch as the creature swiped at him with its paw in an attempt to swat him with its claws.
SHUNK!
The clawed paw missed its target completely. The girls noticed that the Grimm's forearm had fallen to the ground. The Ursa paused for a moment, staggered, and cried out in pain as Taren's keyblade severed its right arm completely. The keyblade's magic appeared to cause great pain to the creature of darkness, and it seemed to be very angry. The Ursa roared with rage and glared at Taren for cutting off its arm.
Taren glared at the Grimm, watching as it clutched its wound. He wasn't happy about what he had done, but he hardly cared. The Grimm was going to hurt him and the girl he had just met, and Taren wasn't going to let that happen. "You stay there, I'll handle this fella," he said, determined to take care of the situation. Bloom didn't understand why, but despite having only recently met him, she didn't want him to get hurt. However, Taren seemed to know what he was doing and seemed to care more about her well-being than his own.
Taren was determined to approach the current fight differently from the last one. He carefully studied the physical form of the creature, noting that it had only one arm left and would likely focus more on defending than attacking. Taren knew that once he defeated this one, he would have to confront the last one next.
With a quick sprint towards the Ursa, Taren ducked under the remaining arm and slashed across its exposed stomach. The attack left another deep wound, causing the creature to lose its balance and stumble. Taren then grabbed hold of the bone spikes on the creature's back, using them to launch himself over the Ursa's body. He followed up with a powerful kick, causing the Grimm to lose its balance and use its paw for support.
However, the Ursa wasn't going to give up easily. It turned its head, snarling and attempting to surprise Taren with its claw. But Taren was too quick for it. He swiftly dodged the attack, causing the creature to search for him with its yellow eyes.
"Hey, down here."
It turned to the left and saw the boy standing before it, waving his hand and smiling. A bright flash appeared suddenly, and the creature fell to the ground. The Ursa, caught off guard, had been killed. The beast of darkness slowly evaporated as its body faded away.
The girls were amazed at the boy's skills as they took on the monster despite its large size. Bloom was without words as her eyes gazed at the boy who bravely took down one of the monsters, it sort of reminded her of the stories of a knight coming to the rescue.
Knut, on the other hand, was in disbelief that a Grimm had been taken down so easily. "No way! He took down a Grimm?"
"Hah, not so tough without them, monster?" Stella taunted him as he seemed less confident with one of his top monsters defeated.
Taren had just killed his first Grimm, and the rush of power and adrenaline surging through his body felt incredible. Although he had trained against simulated monsters, nothing compared to the real thing. As he was about to check on the girl he was with, he suddenly cried out in pain. Something was biting his leg. "What the hell?!" he exclaimed, looking down to find one of the gremlin-like creatures biting his leg. Though it hadn't pierced his skin, it was still painful. He tried to remove it but felt it tear the bottom of his pants.
Bloom rushed over to help and kicked the creature away from the keyblade wielder. The creature ran back to its master, holding a piece of torn cloth in its mouth. Taren couldn't believe how he had let his guard down. He could see the bite marks on his lower left leg, but they didn't seem too deep. Bloom knelt and checked the leg that the creature had bitten. Taren winced as she touched it but tried to ignore the pain. "Are you okay?" Bloom asked.
Taren replied. "Yeah, I can't believe that thing bit me." He needed to use Heal to recover and not let himself be vulnerable.
The remaining Ursa seized the opportunity to charge in with full force. Taren was unable to get up properly and use his keyblade. The girl was right beside him and saw the Ursa charging towards them. Without thinking, he threw himself over Bloom, forcing her to the ground and using himself as a human shield to protect her. But an unexpected moment came when a human-size blur shouted out of the forest and came straight at the unsuspecting Grimm, colliding into the side of its face by a powerful impact and hurtling it across the field and leaving it buried in the debris of earth it made.
"Damn, if it wasn't for this magical aura protecting my body, that would've seriously broken my fist." Taren opened his eyes and slowly raised his head, letting go of Bloom when they both saw Ben standing a few feet across, shaking his hand after using it to throw a punch.
Ben looked at them and smiled. "Sorry if I took the fun but figured you could use a hand."
Taren grinned and couldn't be glad to see his best friend. "I could've taken that thing if it wasn't for that stupid imp biting me." Sat himself up and dusted the debris off of him.
Ben let out a chuckle at Taren's tough-guy act. "Yeah, sure you did. And that gave you the chance to save a damsel in distress."
Bloom couldn't help but feel her cheeks flush by the comment, uncertain why but was more grateful for him trying to protect her from the monster.
Knut couldn't believe what he had witnessed, not just one keyblade bearer but two, and defeated the Grimm with incredible power. Decided not to chance it and make a retreat, receiving the torn cloth from one of the creatures. "We'll meet again." Raising both his hands together, and a thick purple cloud enveloped his body, the remaining ghouls with him vanished to make their escape.
The Ursa was left behind, not knowing the others had left, but that hardly seemed to matter for the creature of darkness. Slowly bringing itself up on its feet, feeling the side of its face fractured by the impact it received, and now prepares to attack the second keyblade bearer.
"Are these monsters that tough?" Stella asked as she joined them, but was feeling weak through exhaustion and uncertain if she could keep up.
However, it felt something sharp run down its back, staggered for a moment as it received their attention to what was going on until it collapsed. Standing behind it was Mal with her keyblade. She walked around the corpse, not bothering to cast a glance at her kill, and carried her keyblade in one hand with the other in her pocket.
She saw her friends present and spotted the blonde-haired girl who they were searching for. "Do you have any idea how big this forest is just to find you? Next time why not come to the front door to save us the trouble."
Stella didn't take her tone well and huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Well, it's not like I asked to be chased by monsters. And those clothes, ugh, so tacky, seriously have you looked in a mirror?"
Mal instantly felt a twitch from her eyebrow and didn't like how the blonde girl just commented on her taste in clothing. "Well look who's talking, that outfit shows too much glitter it could blind someone with that."
The two glared at each other with intense gaze, sparks of lightning danced between them. The boys could only sigh, they only just met and already arguing over their choice of outfits.
"Sometimes I wonder why girls can be so obsessed over fashion." Taren muttered next to him, not wanting to draw the girls' attention.
"That's just something we may never understand in our lifetime." Ben agreed. The two didn't know whether to intervene or leave them be then risk.
Bloom, on the other hand, didn't want to see anyone fighting after what happened. She was happy it was over but couldn't help but think about what power she used just earlier, Kiko was beside her and was glad he was safe and sound.
"Hey, you alright?"
She snapped out of it and looked up to see Taren beside her. "Uh, y-yeah but thank you for saving me just then." Stroking her arm and felt herself very nervous all of a sudden. "But, what about your leg?"
"It's fine, doesn't seem much but I'll fix it up."
Received a smile of relief from her, but noticed the blonde girl looked drained and collapsed but was caught by Mal before she hit the ground. They witnessed her clothing change into a dress after losing consciousness. "Is she ok?"
Mal check on the girl she caught from falling. "She just fine. Only exhausted after that fight." Knowing she won't be strong enough to take them to her home dimension, they're stuck on Earth until she gets better.
"Well, we can't stay here, too risky for us to stick around if they come back." Ben said.
Bloom had an idea and spoke out to get their attention. "You guys can bring her back to my place, she'll be safe there."
The three looked at each other and felt a little uncertain. However, Taren seems ok with it. "Ok sounds good to me." He came up to pick her up from the shoulders while Ben took her feet.
"Hold it! First up, we don't even have a clue who this girl is and isn't with her!" Mal stated and looked at the red-haired girl, clearly felt something very off about her and didn't know what it was. Something about her aura was way off and didn't like it;.
Ben sighed and knew she had a point. "I understand how you feel, but we got no choice as we can't leave this girl out in the woods by herself."
Taren nodded and turned to Bloom. "Ok listen, we'll explain everything after we take her to your house. But it's gonna be hard for you to believe us."
Bloom understands him completely, it is not every day someone meets magical creatures and people wielding large key-shaped swords. "Ok, follow me." She picks up Kiko and heads back to her bike before she returns home with four people she just met.
Mal let out a groan as they walked, having a bad feeling that neither Yen Sid, nor Macbeth would be happy when they found out. "How did I get dragged into this mess?"