"Wow you two are dressed in some really heavy coats." I said, looking over at Akari and Alice whose jaws had both dropped for whatever reason.
I looked back at Steven, "is there something on my face or something?"
He shook his head, "nothing that I can see."
I turned back around just in time to feel her fist connect with my nose, sending me rolling backwards into a tree.
"What was that for?!" I shouted.
Alice opened her mouth to shout something but her face changed into an expression of uncertainty, "I… uh… it's nice to see everyone again."
I jumped up, rubbing the back of my head as I approached her, "Yeah. I get the feeling we're nearing our end goal now. How about it, Bea? We close to your maker's base?"
She nodded her head, "Mm."
Aoi stepped forward, "If we follow the trail, we'll find a fork in the road. One leads to a northern island of snow and the other leads to a small town located beside another island. From what I've heard from the villagers, it's always storming there."
"Akari and I came from that northern island as I'm sure you can tell from our clothes."
Steven stepped forward, "so stay away from there then?"
The group nodded, conversing about what our next plan of action was. We discussed all of our experiences and traded knowledge about the monsters we had faced so far. We were almost assuredly going to face these monsters again.
"So… a monster that adapts, a slime monster, Godrick, and the monster who I assume is the one commanding them all." My mind flashed back to that hooded monster and how his presence alone froze me in place.
Aoi rested his hand on my shoulder, "you'll be fine."
I nodded, "yeah… yeah you're right."
"We'll probably need to split into teams to handle the commanders. Best we avoid a battle all in one place to avoid complete chaos." Akari crossed her arms, closing her eyes to think of other strategies.
"I'll have Steven and Felix to take on Godrick. We beat him before while being tired and now that we're stronger," I looked down at my clenched fist, "I'm sure we can take him down easily."
Akari stepped up, "that slime monster is mine to take down."
Alice grabbed her arm, "not alone. I'll come with you."
The two nodded to each other, sealing that they would work together.
Aoi and his crew nodded before Vylan stepped up, "Aoi here is real focused on having that adapting monster join our crew so we'll take that one on."
We all looked over at Emma and Fang, "well? Is there any group here you think you'd do good in?" I asked.
Emma shook her head, "I'll tag along with Alice and Akari. I'm no good in a fight but if I can find a weakness to exploit I'll find it."
"Me and Emma been workin this long together, no point separating. I'll make sure to keep you safe while you study the opponent."
Emma gave Fang a thankful look.
We all nodded, acknowledging each other's decision.
"Let's get moving to that town then. We've got a big fight ahead of us and need to be at one hundred percent. I won't take anything less or you'll be left behind." Aoi stepped ahead, taking the lead towards our march.