Chapter 22- the hungry, hungry Azure Dragon
Meanwhile, back in Asgard Sky City
Kurama stood gleefully before a writhing creature screeching and emitting FURIOUS whale-like cries and whistles, its tentacles striking an indivisible wall that only rippled and sparked with each contact its tentacles made and preventing them from reaching out of its cell. The angry creature, the Blue Arcobalenopod, was imprisoned in Asgard Sky City Prison after he was hauled back by Daffodil the Leopard Water Dog, Nero the Wampus Cat and their underlings like a poached animal. Asgard Sky City Prison was one of the prison and dungeon buildings that did not utilise solid doors for their cells to keep inmates from escaping. Instead, it used force field generators which resembled crystals to hold their inmates. Gandalf and Seresute the First Kitsune and parents of the entire Magical Fox family and race had something similar in their base centuries ago during the Age of Winter, normally in their dungeon compartments. Prisons and dungeons that used force field generating crystals to keep inmates imprisoned in their cells were common on the Sky Domain, the Cardinal Kingdoms and the Narnian Moon while other Domains like the Land and the Narnian Sun, preferred to use the more basic prison doors to keep their inmates in their prisons and dungeons or equivalent. Asgard Sky City Prison was normally used to keep criminals serving jail time for their crimes locked up and it had been used justly by wise rulers such as King Lightning-Bolt before Kurama came and usurped his throne. The most dangerous criminals of particularly dangerous species, like centuries old Magical Foxes were kept in a compartment with the strongest force field crystals, those force fields strong enough to withstand the foxfire blasts of Magical Foxes, including Nine-Tailed ones. However, now that Kurama had done away with King Lightning-Bolt and taken over Asgard Sky City, the prison was now used as an animal cage with the aim of keeping one of the seven UTTERLY important creatures bound. Kurama also used the other wings of the prison to keep heretics against his false cult imprisoned until he decided what to do with them but the wing in which the strongest force fields were projected; he had reserved for the Arcobalenopods until the seventh one was caught.
The Blue Arcobalenopod which resembled a glowing sea cephalopod with a large rounded head coloured vivid aqua blue and possessing two large darker blue eyes, two butterfly-like antennae with blue clubs on the tips and a thin torso branching out into three appendages with two forming its arm-tentacles and the remaining, trifurcating into three tails and all five of these tipped a deep blue, continued thrashing like an angry kraken and striking the force field only to be shocked and pained with each strike, the invisible wall ripping and sparking each time the creature made contact. The Blue Arcobalenopod had not been treated well as he was brought into Asgard Sky City by his captors and when Nero and Daffodil, together with their underlings, took the creature from his cage to throw him into what was now his cell; they had beaten and abused the poor creature to force him into submitting. However, the powerful Arcobalenopod had managed to cause several casualties and one death in his wrath; Daffodil's male helper, the other Leopard Water Dog had been fatally struck dead by a bolt blast from the Blue Arcobalenopod. Like Magical Foxes, the seven Arcobalenopods had the ability to shoot lightning bolts, those bolts matching their main colour and that lightning was VERY powerful, as powerful as the foxfire from a Nine-Tailed Fox. They also had other magical abilities as we shall see much later. And as soon as that Water Dog was struck down, the rest of Nero's group had to hastily shove the creature into his cell and quickly turn on the force field crystal to prevent the creature from escaping. The maximum setting of the strongest force field crystals in the building was just enough to contain the creature and it was resistant even to his lightning blasts. The job done, the casualties which were several Nestri Primi, Blue Elves and a Yellow Homunculus were carried away along with the corpse of the male Leopard Water Dog. Now with the Blue Arcobalenopod contained, Kurama and his group were free to resume their activities and plans.
Kurama continued to admire the caught creature gleefully as his Sphinx assistant, Imhotep, walked in with Budzo the Dragon Lizard (Talking Komodo Dragon though they weren't called this in Narnia). The pair were briefly stunned by the beauty of the glowing blue cephalopod-like creature the moment their eyes spotted him but they flinched at the rage of the creature.
"Seriously, Kurama, how are you gonna get that creature to submit to your bidding?" asked Imhotep quite worriedly.
"You know just how powerful these creatures are, right?" asked Budzo, "Nero and Daffodil lost one of their underlings trying to get that thing into its cell and a number more of their underlings ended up injured."
Kurama turned to the Sphinx and Dragon Lizard with a sly smirk.
"Oh, I have a way of gettin' those stubborn octopus creatures to submit, you two," he oily spoke in a wily tone, "In fact that idea will apply to the other six Arcobalenopods too once they are caught and brought here."
Imhotep and Budzo gazed at their leader in wonder but Kurama refused to tell them but he had an evil plan of how he was going to force the Arcobalenopods to submit simmering in his mind but it wasn't ready to be served right now. Then the three turned and left the poor Blue Arcobalenopod to struggle in his cell until finally, he gave up, floated to the back of the room and settled down sadly, seeing that the force field was too strong for him to destroy, even by his lightning. As the Kitsune, the Sphinx and the Dragon Lizard exited the prison, the former spoke to the latter two.
"Do you know where Siveth is?" asked he.
"Watering the garden behind the Gathering House," replied Imhotep.
"Well, go to her and tell her to start constructing the next sermon for the upcoming Gathering House meeting this coming Seventh Day in the library," Kurama commanded, "Last night while I was sleeping, I had a trip to Aslan's Country on a rainbow path, sort of like the Bifrost Transporter but flat like a road with the approaching sky visible, and when I arrived, Aslan met me and spoke to me..."
At the Gathering House in a fenced off garden behind the building, Siveth was watering some Sky Domain flowers that grew in the area, among them cloud hibiscus and sun daisies. Unlike the plants that grew out of brown dirt back on the Land Domain, the plants of the Sky Domain grew out of 'dirt' resembling the texture of clouds. This 'dirt' came in the colours of white, yellow, grey and pink. Another sort of dirt, golden coin dirt, existed but it was entirely exclusive to the restricted access area guarded by three VERY dangerous gates, the Rainbowberry Orchard, contained within the golden pots from which the rainbowberry vines grew. This type of Sky Domain dirt was golden and resembled a pile of golden coins from a distance and it existed nowhere else outside the Sky Domain's Nine-Realms Potion ingredient garden. Siveth continued watering more of the Sky Domain flowers until she stopped and put the watering can down and turned to some flowers she had grown herself, some sunset lilies, to transplant from their pots into the garden. Sunset lilies resembled regular lilies but their flower colours were reminiscent of the sky at dawn or dusk and they were one of Siveth's favourite types of flower. Siveth had been trying to find any chance to do her hobbies, one of which was gardening, as these were one of the few things that kept her spirits up in this severely oppressed city. Admiring the REAL Aslan's creation and diversity of flowers in the different domains had always been one of Siveth's favourite things. Siveth then took one of the potted sunset lilies and was about to take the flower out of its pot to place into a well she had dug into the cloud dirt in a space by a Sky Domain shrub, the sparkling cloud shrub, but before she could do this, her name shouted by someone seized her attention, and the caller sent a wave of disgust coursing through the Nine-Tailed Kitsumiho Vixen. She knew whose voice that was and it was the same underling of Kurama who had destroyed her treasured wedding picture.
"Siveth, you're needed," called Imhotep as he and Budzo entered the fenced off garden via the open gate, "Kurama wants you to start building the next sermon for this week's Gathering House event."
Siveth turned to face them but as she did that, Imhotep spitefully walked over to the pots of sunset lilies the Vixen had grown and to the Vixen's distress, the rotten Sphinx seized the lilies from their pots and began to shred them.
"Hey, I've spent FIVE MONTHS growing THOSE!" cried Siveth but before she could lash at Imhotep to stop him destroying more of her beloved sunset lilies, Budzo rushed in between her and Imhotep and threatened to give her a poisonous bite if she EVER did that to the Sphinx. Being Narnian Komodo Dragons, Dragon Lizards possessed a venomous bite but venom was not the only poison these fierce Lizards possessed. Their saliva was also saturated with a deadly cockatiel of blood poisoning bacteria that can seriously infect wounds such as bite marks left by the Dragon Lizard's own teeth. Good behaved Dragon Lizards loyal to Aslan only employed these bite weapons in hunting or taking down enemies in combat but because Budzo was anti-Aslan, he employed these weapons as a form of torture on those who disobeyed or were branded as heretics by Kurama (that is, those who questioned Kurama's cult teachings and rules). A Dragon Lizard bite was EXTREMELY painful but it was also deadly. Some creatures such as Nine-Tailed Foxes, however, can recover from this type of bite due to their excellent healing abilities but even they experienced SHEER agony and this can last for several days even in Nine-Tailed Foxes. Siveth had faced this torture before when she threatened to put to death one of Kurama's higher-ranking assistants with her foxfire for 'punishing' some young Blue Elves for 'misbehaviour' (which was really serious abuse and several of the poor Blue Elf kids suffered nasty injuries such as a broken leg). She had been thrown into Asgard Sky City Prison and bitten by Budzo on the tails and subsequently left to suffer the SHEER agony of the Dragon Lizard's bite. As a result, Siveth was nervous around Budzo and not wanting to face such a torturous bite from him again; she did not attack Imhotep as he continued to destroy her beloved sunset lilies. Siveth watched on tearfully as Imhotep finished destroying the last of her lilies by crushing them under his front Lion's paws. This done, the Sphinx turned to Siveth.
"Gardening time is over, Siveth;" he barked, "To the library and make a start on the sermon NOW."
"Or my fangs will be sayin' hello to your tails like last time, Vixen," put in Budzo threateningly, the tone of his voice as venomous as his bite and bacteria-laced saliva, and his lips dripped grossly with the latter. Siveth, intimidated and frightened by the pair of spiteful assistants of Kurama, immediately obeyed and left the garden with the pair following her.
As Siveth left the garden behind the Gathering House building, Kurama was confronting a certain male Wampus Cat and a female Leopard Water Dog accompanied by a few Nestri Primi, Blue Elves and some Yellow Homunculi. He was UTTERLY furious with them when the former two, Nero and Daffodil, had told him that they had to deal with a group of interlopers during their capture of the Blue Arcobalenopod.
"WHAT DO YA MEAN YOU HAD TO DEAL WITH SOME INTEREFERIN' NUISANCES!?" the tyrannical Kitsune usurper demanded, making Nero and his group flinch with some of them fearing that he may flare a paw with his powerful foxfire and blast them to instant death, "YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO HAVE CARRIED OUT YOUR TASK without ANY PESTS SPOTTIN' YA, ESPECIALLY UNDER THE COVER OF DARKNESS OF THE NIGHT!"
"L-l-look, Master K-K-K-Kurama," Nero stammered, "W-w-we didn't expect t-t-to be spied on..."
"But, we have managed to deal with those interlopers," said Daffodil quickly, hoping to quell the evil Kitsune's temper and prevent an explosion of foxfire at them. She then turned to one of the Yellow Homunculi, "Stumpy here has managed to destroy them with a powerful Electroshroom bomb as they were escaping."
"Hopefully, the red bomb synthesized from the electrified mushroom creatures that live on the Narnian Moon will have left them toast," said the Yellow Homunculus named Stumpy gleefully. The other assistants nodded in agreement. Kurama shot the Homunculus a glare to his flinching. Daffodil, Nero and the other Nestri Primi, Blue Elves and some Yellow Homunculi also flinched and braced themselves for the worst but to their relief, Kurama's temper cooled.
"Good," growled the wicked Kitsune satisfied with the news, "At least we will NOT have any pesky interlopers reporting back to any outsider authorities which would critically endanger our cult. After all, Aslan has told me that this cult is UTTERLY important and it is vital that it thrives. Plus Aslan has told me that this cult will need all seven Arcobalenopods; the catching of the Blue one thanks to you has been an excellent start..."
As Kurama said this, Siveth walked past in the direction of the library with Imhotep and Budzo right behind her, acting like a pair of security guards frogmarching a suspect into custody. Siveth heard Kurama mention the Blue Arcobalenopod getting caught but was forced to continue when Budzo threatened to biter her with his poisonous jaws if she ever disobeyed so she continued. However, hearing what one of Kurama's groups had done had UTTERLY horrified and troubled the Kitsumiho Vixen and it shook her to the core like a violent earthquake. THAT was NOT at all what she wanted to hear and she dreaded what plans Kurama was simmering in his crooked brain regarding the next step of his evil, egregious cult. Sadly, she continued to the library with Imhotep and Budzo marching her on right behind her.
Not too far away, a group of more of Kurama's lower-level underlings consisting of several Eagles, Falcons, Yellow Homunculi, Apes, a Terror Bird and a few Centaurs including a type of Centaur called an Onocentaur (which was a Centaur that had the body of a donkey but no Donkey's front legs so they used their hands as front feet to walk instead unless they were pulling a cart or equivalent) walked along, several dozen bags clutched in their hands, paws or claws with the Terror Bird carrying a large one in his beak, and a few carts being dragged behind them. They were one of the food shopping groups that had been on a shopping trip and they have purchased a large batch of food for the city. The Onocentaur who dragged one of the food carts by a rope with his hands while using his Donkey's hind legs to walk lead the group towards the city, relieved to have finally finished the trip for now. He turned to his underlings for he was the leader of this group.
"Alright, once we get to the main kitchen building, we're gonna sort the food and..." the Donkey-Humanoid creature began but he was interrupted when a dishevelled dull blue-grey Dragon with a long, lithe, serpentine body came in, his face and upper body crisscrossed with tiger stripe scars. The unexpected and rude appearance of Shenron startled the Onocentaur and his food shopping group into stopping and the former shot the dishevelled, sickly and dull blue-grey Azure Dragon an annoyed look.
"Gimme some food," the faded Azure Dragon demanded, "I'm starvin' an' my stomach's as EMPTY as a DEEP chasm."
Some of the shopping group members including the Terror Bird backed away nervously, knowing what Shenron was like and had become but the Onocentaur stood his ground.
"Look, Shenron, this food is for everyone in this city including our leader Kurama," the Donkey-Humanoid growled, "YOU have ALREADY had probably the ENTIRE CITY'S supply of food several times over for in the PAST FEW DAYS..."
As the Onocentaur continued to confront Shenron, the sickly, bottomless-pit-for-a-stomach Azure Dragon's temper's temperature rising dangerously fast to boiling point, some of the Onocentaur's assistants quickly broke away from the group at the back and dashed for cover for the buildings with their food supply to stop Shenron from seizing it. Among them was a friend of the Slugcat family with the severely disabled and ailing son Cloudy, one of the Yellow Homunculi and he had sneakily brought some medicine for the Slugpup. However, getting that medication to Cloudy was going to be a challenge for Kurama had eyes in the form of watchers up and down the city who ALWAYS checked what came into Asgard, including medication. Another friend of Cloudy's family had tried to sneak medication for the ailing Slugpup, a Talking Rat, had been caught by Kurama's watchers and severely punished with confinement in his den with his family for several weeks with NO permission whatsoever in leaving his home similar to a house arrest. In fact it WAS a house arrest and the Rat and his family were kept prisoner in their own home but I digress.
"Listen, Shenron," the Onocentaur continued despite stoking the fires of Shenron's boiling, hunger-fuelled temper, "THIS FOOD," he gestured to the bags and carts held by him and the rest of his group with a Humanoid's hand, "Is for EVERYONE in this city and its surrounding country, NOT JUST YOU..."
Suddenly, Shenron released an ENRAGED snarl like a feral dumb lion and launched himself like one at the Onocentaur to the HORROR of the Onocentaur's assistants. Many of them scattered including the Terror Bird who dropped his bag from his beak as Shenron, his hunger-fuelled anger propelling him pounced onto the Onocentaur and began to viciously attack him. The Onocentaur seized his club he had been carrying in a belt tied around his waist where it melted from his Humanoid upper half to his Donkey lower half and gave the beastly Azure Dragon a mighty wallop with it. Screams erupted from his underlings as the dull blue-grey serpentine Dragon flew a few feet from the Donkey-Humanoid and several citizens came running from the buildings and towards the scene upon hearing the commotion. Shenron crashed to the ground, shot the Centaur a FIERY look and shot a lightning bolt from his mouth at him. The Onocentaur immediately dove to one side as the bolt zapped the spot where he had been standing, blackening the spot and creating a small, smoking crater there. Then Shenron turned and drove the other group members away with fireballs, sending them scattering like frightened mice from a cat, screaming. Because he had devoured at least one of Aslan's apples, his breath weapons were powered up so these fireballs exploded powerfully when they struck the ground. Some of the assistants were flung up by the blasts with a few of them getting badly burned by the flames and some of the bags and a cart of the food were singed. Once the Onocentaur and his group were away from the remaining bags and carts of food, Shenron darted over to one of the big bags, seized and tore it open with his claws to expose its contents which were large lumps of meat purchased from a butcher's, and began to shove the first lump of it down his throat like a gannet to the disgust of the onlookers. Shenron truly ate like a dumb animal and he had ABSOLUTELY NO table manners whatsoever like he used to before he pilfered from the Garden of Youth. Being one of the Four Cardinal Beasts which were among the noblest Talking Beasts and Magical Creatures which included the Centaur variants and Magical Foxes, Azure Dragons were normally well-mannered when it came to having meals. However, due to Shenron suffering the severe consequences of pilfering and eating of the forbidden fruit in Aslan's Garden of Youth when he should have been helping to guard the Garden as the secondary Guardian with constant and bestial hunger being one of them, he ate in a way that was UTTERLY unbecoming of his species.
As Shenron continued to gorge himself on the food, immediately seizing the next bag the moment he emptied the first one, tearing it open like a dumb scavenger with a carcass and beginning to shove the food, this time fruit and vegetables, down his throat as well, some of the Onocentaur's remaining underlings quickly darted in along with some onlookers, seized whatever they could and darted out, wary that if Shenron saw them, he could lash at them like a dumb animal. They did NOT want to be at the mercy of his jaws and front claws, not to mention his powered up breath weapons. The Yellow Homunculus friend of Cloudy's family, particularly his father Slim, also rushed in and began to desperately search for the bag containing the medication for the Slugcat by going from one bag to the next. A bright blue and yellow Nestri Primus and a green Candy Fairy (which were a type of Fairy whose common colour was bright blue and their extremities were yellow and their wings, pink; they resembled a certain creature from another world but resembled desserts as well) came in to help.
"The medication's in a blue toolbox-like container in one of these bags," the Yellow Homunculi replied in response to the Candy Fairy's question on what the medication was contained in. Immediately, the pair began to search amongst the dropped bags for the medication before Shenron could seize it or worse, see them and drive them off with a deadly attack. Having consumed the apples from the Garden of Youth, Shenron's powers were MUCH stronger, an effect of those magical fruits alongside immortality and in most, eternal youth. While the three did this, the others continued to watch on as Shenron continued to stuff himself on the food, his cheeks often puffed out like a hamster's and his front and face smothered with juice and residue. One of the Apes, a Talking Chimpanzee, shot the Onocentaur a FURIOUS look.
"This is GETTING utterly REDICULOUS, I can tell you," he grumbled.
"That Azure Dragon's behaviour makes me SICK, JUST like his looks," grumbled another, a Gorilla.
"His parents, together with his sister Moana, had been brought up to be well-mannered as every Azure Dragon and other Cardinal Beast, should," put in a third Ape, an Oran-utan, "NOT this," he gestured to Shenron as he shoved a HUGE bunch of grapes down his throat in its entirety and then pulled out its stalks like a stick. Then an Oran-Pandek, which was a little bipedal Ape that possessed reddish or ginger fur and was closely related to the bigger Sasquatch or Bigfoot, turned angrily to a cloud-rock and kicked it, hurting his foot in the process and making him seize it and hop on the other, his face contorted in pain. Some of the others saw him and said nothing but they agreed with the little reddish Ape. As the crowd continued to watch Shenron gorge himself, Kurama came in for he had a task set up for his Azure Dragon underling regarding the Wish Potions. With him were two more of his assistants, Nicholye the Vermillion Bird and Carpathi the White Tiger. When the pair saw Shenron gorging himself, Carpathi was about to take a step forward.
"Master Kurama, shall I-?" began the White Tiger but Kurama raised a front paw and stopped him and shook his head as if to say, 'don't intervene'. Carpathi obeyed and abandoned the idea and watched on as Shenron continued to stuff himself with the food. Kurama and Nicholye, however, looked on nonchalantly. They didn't care about Shenron's consequences of eating the Garden of Youth apples and only saw his enhanced powers as a tool. Some of the onlookers to Shenron's animalistic behaviour with the food turned and saw Kurama, Carpathi and Nicholye looking on. A few began to beg the three to come and stop Shenron but they didn't move and continued to look on to their anger though they didn't show it or Kurama would deal with them. Then Kurama spotted three certain individuals then try to creep away with one of the bags in the direction of the city itself.
"Nicholye, can you intercept that Yellow Homunculus, the green Candy Fairy and the blue and yellow Nestri Primus over there please?" the evil Nine-Tailed Kitsune commanded. Immediately, the elegant but evil red-orange and blue Cardinal Phoenix spread his wings and with a powerful downward flap of them and a pushing of his legs, he was aloft. The trio, upon seeing Nicholye fly in their direction, began to accelerate their getaway intro the city, the bag containing the medication for Cloudy in its blue box, in their clutches. However, Nicholye continued to chase them down and plunged into the buildings after them like a deadly Bird of Prey.
Shenron continued stuffing himself on the food from the remaining bags and carts, going from one container to the next until finally, all that was left was a pile of empty carts and food with small food pieces and crumbs interspersed between them. As Shenron began to look around for every last piece and crumb to eat, one of the Falcons cautiously came forward and checked his cart. Two more Falcons came in and peered into the wheeled container as well while a few others checked their bags and carts.
"That Azure Dragon's devoured EVERY CRUMB of bread that we had in there," cried the speedy Bird of Prey angrily.
"The bags of fruit and vegetables," cried one of the Eagles of the Bald sort as he held up an empty, torn-open bag, a few pieces of green leaves, the only things left of the leafy vegetables that the bag contained, falling out. The others also uttered angry groans and growls over their emptied carts and bags as Shenron glared at them once again.
"Have you ANY more food, ya SLUGS!?" he demanded, "I'm STILL STARVIN' 'UNGRY!"
That ignited anger within the Onocentaur and his group and they glared at the Azure Dragon furiously.
"We went into ALL THAT HASSLE of TRAVELLING to places OUTSIDE THIS CITY... with the RISK OF gettin' spotted with the arousal of suspicion... JUST TO BUY THAT FOOD," the Donkey-Humanoid snapped, "And NOW YOU have PUT OUR EFFORTS to WASTE by SHOVING IT DOWN YA THROAT!"
"JUST GIMME MOOOORE FOOOOOOD NOOOOOOOOW!" cried Shenron like a spoilt brat, his stomach, which STILL felt as empty as a void chasm despite that HUGE meal, fuelling his anger. On the sidelines, Carpathi and Kurama looked on and didn't move. Behind them, another group of creatures, some of Shenron's underlings with most of them being Talking Lizards and a few Apes, came in with a bigger cart. That cart contained C-shaped flasks painted in various metallic colours and stopped at one end with a cork-like stopper. Kurama saw them and told them to stay there until Shenron was ready to see them. Shenron continued to boil in his temper tantrum and YELLED at the Onocentaur loudly to feed him more food. Finally, the Onocentaur leader snapped BIG TIME.
"If YOU HADN'T have SUNK YA GREEDY CROC'S TEETH into those FRUITS IN THE LAND DOMAIN'S Nine-Realms Potion ingredient AREA, YOU WOULDN'T HAVE ENDED UP IN THE MESS YOU'RE NOW IN..." the Donkey-Humanoid bellowed but then Shenron, all control of his temper immediately vaporised, launched at the Onocentaur once more with a MASSIVFE snarl and this time, the Onocentaur was not as fortunate. Screams erupted from the Onocentaur's assistant and they all drew back as the Azure Dragon began to brutally attack the four-legged Donkey-Humanoid like a savage dumb animal. Kurama, Carpathi and Shenron's assistants looked on nonchalantly as the poor Onocentaur was mauled and roasted by the ENRAGED Azure Dragon, his still-empty chasm-like stomach driving his wrath. However, a few of Shenron's assistants, three Lizards, another Dragon Lizard and a Talking Chimp, exchanged looks, turned and left, having had enough of Shenron's bestial behaviour. Then after Shenron had finished attacking the Onocentaur, Kurama stepped in but his concern was not for the Onocentaur.
"Shenron," called the Kitsune, pulling the feral Azure Dragon his way. Kurama then gestured to the group of Talking Lizards and Apes with the cart containing the cornucopia-shaped flasks.
"Your group has finished making more Wish Potions, Shenron," Kurama continued, "and they're ready to go to the Bifrost Transporter with them to sell."
Immediately, Shenron left the brutally injured Onocentaur and headed over to his group, his mind taken off his demand for more food for now to the relief of the Onocentaur's assistants. However, they were devastated to see their leader and friend badly injured and immediately, three Sasquatches came forward, picked up the badly injured Donkey-Humanoid who was barely alive, and quickly carried him off in the direction of the medical building. Most of the others followed while the Terror Bird, who had been UTTERLY frightened by Shenron's savage behaviour, began to direct the remaining Apes, Eagles, Falcons and a Yellow Homunculus to clean and tidy up the empty bags and carts. As they did that and as Shenron left with his group for the Bifrost Transporter pad, Carpathi looked up and saw another group heading for the pad as well. They were Voldemort the Komainu and his group, one of the hunting parties for the Land Domain. Carpathi turned to his leader.
"I think a little hunting trip for some biped bugs down on the Land Domain will do me good," said he.
"Your feral instincts could do with being put into good use, Carpathi," Kurama said. The White Tiger smiled as he left and joined Voldemort's group as they continued after Shenron's Wish Potion lot. As Voldemort and his group left with Carpathi now with them, Kurama left for somewhere else.
Meanwhile, the friends of Cloudy the Slugcat and his family, the Yellow Homunculus, the blue and yellow Nestri Primus and the green Candy Fairy continued their frantic escape from their pursuer sent after them by Kurama, Nicholye the Vermillion Bird. Clutched in the hands of the Yellow Homunculus was the medicine he had brought for Cloudy and his deadly internal condition. As the three charged along, several of the citizens dove aside to avoid getting knocked down. Then they shot a stunned look after the trio as a red-orange and blue blur shot by after them, pursuing them like a predatory bird. The Homunculus, Candy Fairy and Nestri Primus continued their frantic escape with Cloudy's medicine until the former's right foot struck an elevated cloud-stone. The male-only creature released a cry of shock as his right foot was stopped from coming forward for the next speedy step. Without his foot to break his fall, he was sent into a violent tumble which caught the Candy Fairy and the Nestri Primus. The three continued tumbling violently to the horror of the onlookers until they finally came to rest in front of an entrance to a hair trimming shop owned by another Yellow Homunculus. The Homunculus hairdresser flinched as the three then struggled to get up but before they could do that, a large red-orange Phoenix appeared and drove back any onlooker who would dare to intervene. This done, Nicholye slammed a talon onto the back of the Yellow Homunculus holding Cloudy's medicine and seized the bag. The onlookers including the Yellow Homunculus hairdresser, stood rooted to the spot by fright as Nicholye then apprehended the trio.
"What's this box, Lemon!?" demanded the Vermillion Bird. Then the Homunculus named Lemon replied, "It-it-it's medicine for Cloudy the Slugpup. He's almost out of his medication for his internal condition..." he daren't lie to distract the Phoenix as he knew how easily the magnificent but evil Phoenix cock saw through his attempts to disguise his disobedience with excuses.
"You were supposed to have brought FOOD, Lemon," Nicholye snapped and with that, he seized Lemon by the head hair, making the Homunculus release a cry of pain. In his other wing, he held the bag containing the box holding the medication, "NOT meds," he then whirled round and seized the Nestri Primus and the Candy Fairy as well.
"Cloudy does NOT have much medication left and if he runs out of it, his internal condition could be DEADLY to him..." Lemon protested but Nicolye shook him by the hair to cause him agony and to shut him up. The Homunculus screamed again.
"Explain THAT to Master Kurama when we meet him, you insubordinate YELLOW RAT!" snapped the Vermillion Bird. Then before Lemon, the Nestri Primus and the Candy Fairy could protest, they were hauled away by the ruthless Phoenix along with the bag containing the box of medicines. Then the Homunculus hairdresser tried his luck.
"If it's true that Slugpup is running low on his meds then he may need that..." he began but Nicholye shot him a fiery glare, making him flinch and shut up.
"You know," the unsympathetic Vermillion Bird retorted, "Weeds sure do cause UNNECESSARY distraction from the rest of the crops that need the attention."
That made the hairdresser, the onlookers who heard what Nicholye just said and especially Lemon, Nestri Primus and the Candy Fairy who were friends of the Slugcat family wince violently. They just could NOT believe what Nicholye had just used to describe creatures like Cloudy but it was one of the attitudes of many of Kurama's higher-ranking underlings like Nicholye. They saw those with disabilities and sickness as an inconvenience that had no faith in Aslan to say the least but that is an understatement. Then Nicholye continued to drag the three away with the bag of the box containing the medicine meant for Cloudy the Slugcat.