Chương 28: The Loop

The next several days Andy woke up with a smile on his face. Veronica showed up early. She brought flashcard equivalents of common words. Things used to teach someone a language, and began doing exactly that. Every day she had nothing but genuine excitement about teaching him her language and slowly his unease about her hesitation began to fade into the back of his mind. Buried in a pile Andy labeled, "stupid-needless-concerns-made-up-due-to-anxiety" or SNCMUDTA for short.

(He never called it that because usually it involved him thinking of the long name several more times than necessary to get the acronym right, plus it didn't matter anyway as it was a pile meant to be forgotten, right?) Andy was elated. He was picking up her language fairly easily. Rather than measurements they'd begun a new routine. Andy would rise with the sun. He, Auri and Gustave would pop by and say hello to Barnacle. They would train the Barnacle speed trial several times.

They would run this trial and then the 2km trial until they were all ready for breakfast. Andy would dine on clover or whatever else he could forage while Auri and Gustave left to find their own respective breakfasts. After Andy spent three or four hours foraging around for breakfast Veronica would show up. Veronica and Andy would spend hours studying from flash cards while Auri napped on her rock nearby. They began with simple objects, progressed into colors, numbers and other descriptors.

By the second or third week they'd moved onto complete and simple sentences and the immersive learning was doing wonders for his vocabulary as that's literally all she could speak. When she would leave in the afternoon Guatave would return. They would go on a hunt or two practicing their party moves. Now that he was bigger they'd incorporated several new moves. First there was Cloudy With A Chance of Horn: Gustave's storm magic had been improving and he could now call clouds and winds.

The enemy would look up at the impending storm while Auri would sneak in from one side, and Andy would sneak in on the other. They'd trap the enemy between them and finish it off in close combat. The Threesome: Simultaneous attacking Auri with psychic beams, Gustave with Wind blades and Andy with the horn. Usually one of them ended up getting left out due to area of attack, so they didn't use it very often.

Edging: Auri would repeatedly lure the enemy into traps, Andy and Guatave would take turns attacking it but never finishing it off. This was really the move they would use when they couldn't find a worthy opponent but wanted to train anyway. This loop (yes we brought back the Loop from chapter one of Andy's head story) went on for quite some time.

"Gustave. Gustave? Have you seen Auri?"" Auri sleeps by you."

"Right, but she wasn't there when I woke up. Have you seen her?"" Negative. I will do a perimeter sweep." Andy watched Gustave take flight from his branch. Wind magic built up behind him and shot him above the canopy within seconds. While he was searching high Andy figured he'd check low. He started with their usual haunts. He took off at a steady gallop toward Barnacle.

"Barns! Hey bud, have you see Auri?" Barnacle filtered.

"Yeah, didn't think so. Thanks anyway." Andy raced down Barnacle's trial, headed over toward the 2km trial when he got an inkling. Instead of heading right toward the trial he headed south east toward the thicket he'd used for his evolution. He picked up on Auri's presence within minutes and quickened his gait. As Andy arrived he was hit with a wall of concentrated psychic magic. Even the air tasted like Auri's magic. Gustave was resting on a branch above the thicket.

He'd gotten here first having been drawn to the same overwhelming magic as Andy. They waited patiently outside the thicket, quiet sentries, as morning turned to afternoon to evening. Andy practiced the spoken language of the bipedal races. He'd learned that the continent they were on was Edaphia and was a feudalistic society. Magic was little more than legend. The language, uncreatively, and a bit disappointing to Andy, was called the Common Tongue.

There were other races of bipedal peoples and each came with their own language as far as Veronica was aware. She, not being of a noble or high birth had very little information on any of this. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. A noise broke Andy out of his thoughts and he whipped around quickly, getting caught up in a bush and ending up on his side. Amusement sent the creature standing before him.

Its silver white fur was the first thing he noticed. Her silver white fur. Auri had grown slightly large standing nearly to Andy's shoulder. Andy and Gustave were equally entranced. Auri's fur flowed around her, each strand drifted and moved as if suspended in water. The silver white was tipped in faint gradients of moonlight blue and when the sunlight caught it a hint of lavender. Five tails trailed behind her, each moving independently, weaving lazy patterns through the air.

Occasionally a tail would dissolve into spirit fire before reforming moments later. While her eyes possessed the same ornery twinkle the golden amber was gone and replaced with silver pupils that if you looked close enough actually was made up of a galaxy of small white, blue and purple strands interwoven in the silver.

"Auri," Andy breathed. Gustave added helpfully,"The horse was concerned about you." Auri giggled." Silly pony. It was time for my next form. I'd waited long enough."

"Why didn't you tell us you were close to evolving?"" I lost track of the years, and did not realize until moments before it began."

"Years?"

"Five hundred." Andy blinked and waited for her to continue. She did not.

"Let's go to the river, I'm hungry." The party made its way over to Barnacle where Auri waded out into the river. She remained incredibly still until… Snap. She grabbed a sizable fish out of the river and trotted happily over to the shore to eat it. Andy continued to watch Auri in amazement.

"Why didn't you tell us you were five hundred years old."

"You didn't ask."

"That's because any time I asked you questions you wouldn't answer."" Okay." Now it was Gustave's turn." Miss Fox, (he still hadn't called her Auri in spite of Andy openly doing so) may I just say, you look amazing. Far greater than acceptable."

"Thank you Gustave, you both have evolved since we joined the party, what is the big deal?" That was a good question. What was the big deal? The big deal was, Andy realized, how hard had he tried to get Auri to open up? Not very.

"Auri, tell us about yourself." Auri sighed, licking the last of the fish from her paws." I arrived five hundred years ago." unhelpful sarcasm dripped from her words.

"Yeah, Auri, you already told us that." She rolled her eyes, " I am a kitsune. I was a minor kitsune at tier 5, and chose to keep my spirit fox form. I am a shape shifter along with an illusionist. When I was much younger I became friends with a human. If I'm being honest, we were more than friends. He betrayed me, I was captured, and kept as a pet to a monarch for many years. Humans don't have magic because they don't deserve it. They lie, they steal, they destroy.

I have watched this story play out for hundreds of years, in a hundred ways, and it always ends the same."" But I started out as a human. Does that make me terrible in your eyes as well?"

"Did you? Are you sure?"

"Y…yes of course I am sure."" Well, if you're sure. Either way, the answer is no. You've been yourself Andrew Ponyboy Snodgrass for far longer than I have been a kitsune. I can tell when I look into your eyes."

"I don't know what you mean."" I don't know how to explain it more than that. Is there more you want to know?"

"Who are you? Who were you before you became a Kitsune?"

"I am Auri. Who I was over five hundred years ago, Andy? That person is long gone, and is not who I am now. Who I am now, is who you know, I'm just a fox, I'm your friend. and you still can't beat me in a race." With that she took off running down the speed trial. Andy followed behind her his horn trumpeting as he loudly projected, "That's not fair Auri, you had a head start!" Gustave shook his head and resumed his normal duties as gallop coach.

And once they were spent and headed back to their clearing to sleep, Auri resumed her russet brown fox form and took her usual spot curled up next to Andy's leg. [SPECIES: HORSE (MAGICAL BEAST)] [PURITY AFFINITY: ACTIVE] [VIRGINAL STATUS: MAINTAINED] [CONTRIBUTING FACTOR WEIGHT: 23%] [PARTY MEMBERS: 4] [1. MAGICAL HORSE (MAGICAL BEAST) - TIER 6 - ROLE: TANK] [2. GREATER KITSUNE(VULPINE ADEPT) - TIER 6 - ROLE: DPS] [3. SKY HERALD (RAPTOR ADEPT) - TIER 5 - ROLE: RANGED DPS] [4. TIDAL CRUSTACEAN (SESSILE) - TIER 3 - ROLE:???] [PARTY BONUS XP: +25% (CRUSTACEAN DOES NOT MODIFY BONUS)] [HERD BONDS: COMPANION -> HERD (VULPINE ADEPT), COMPANION (RAPTOR ADEPT), COMPANION (TIDAL CRUSTACEAN)] [SOCIAL BOND: BONDED (HUMANOID, RANGER-TYPE)] [XP: 2469/?] [GALLOP EFFICIENCY: 71%]