V The Village by the River

[Kokonoe]

"Danger... huh... So there are dangers in the cave..." She talked to herself as she used her natural cat-like reflexes to evade, she noticed the look in his eyes... Similar to the glow in the caves, she concluded that his warning was about something in the gem stones themselves... Gemstone had been used in magic and a living life-form or control using them wasn't uncommon where she was from... She'd rather investigate them but there is no way she could and evade at the same time... She'd float above her attacker on higher ground which was mostly standing rubble. She knew that the bull man had no control of himself, she'd have to get to the cave herself without killing him... Thankfully she trained in hand to hand combat, "You know... you remind me of a friend and I don't want to harm you... but if you attack me again... I'm going to have to knock you out and I'll go into that cave danger or no danger. Of course if something in that cave is affecting you... I'll put a stop to it, we'd be happy to take you in." She said sticking a lollipop in her mouth, she intended not to kill the creature since he was intelligent which was her plan from the get go.

"Pre-warning, I can fly... So I can evade you fairy easily... That or we could talk this out... your call. I just want to rebuild and re-purpose this area, in which case I'm sure my friends wouldn't mind having a strong guy like you around. I also don't want to take away your home and I know one of my close friends wouldn't want that either."

---

Shifting scenes... Beta tossed sword for the Formica, thankfully Nola was saved near instantly... Though the screech was heard for Beta to turn to a three-headed Venus Fly Trap that looked like it was from the era of dinosaurs. Beta didn't have much time to react not being near his swords so he put up a barrier for the time being. "AH CRAP! I'm okay for now!" A muffled yell from the inside, "Get the workers to safety I'll distract this head with my energy shield!"

Alpha wasn't too keen on that looking at the ten workers they were down, and she couldn't leave the ship since it left the injured in danger, she was hoping Kokonoe would be back soon...

 

[Sosina]

As Nola seen the thing coming through the trees and above the trees her workers became aware of it themselves thanks to the Hive mind and they all looked up in time to get out of the way of the coming vines, and Nola herself had easy early warning about the oncoming vine thanks to her Workers sensing it then seeing it long before she did, and she was already burrowing into the ground and the vine sailed over her, she then popped out of the ground as she looked to the large plant creature.

It looked tough and it would be tough to fight, but they had numbers and tools that could make short work out of the thing, she was glad it wasn't one of those large Lizards as they had nothing that would be handy against them, with an enemy like this though their farming implements could be used as effective weapons, and so she gave the order through the hive mind.

It was clear that if they were out here, she couldn't wait till her workers were older, this place was already proving more dangerous then where her old colony had lived, she may have to awaken the Hive mind in her Workers sooner rather then later, especially if she wanted to make sure that Mister Squishy would be safe when they brought him to the new home.

So since she couldn't give exact words through the unawakened Hive mind link of her workers, she spoke "Okay Girl...HARVEST TIME!!" she shouted as her workers all charged the large plant farming implements at the ready to bring it down as they all started to attack the large plant, some attacking it's reaching vines while others went for the body. They attacked with no fear as they had to deal with this thing as it would more then likely be able to pick them off if they headed for the cliff, and they began to climb over it as well as they attacked and hacked at it with their improvised weapons.

 

[Ricter]

Reasoning with the big bull man seemed to be obsolete as no sooner did she fly out of reach would he move over towards a building and then pick up a solid piece of the foundation, lifting a wooden pillar and ripping it from the ground with ease. Then with the posture of an Olympic athlete he would aim then chuck the object strait at her with surprising strength and speed, the object was still water damaged but Kokonoe knew that something like that could still knock the wind from her as even after this he would follow up by jumping from the side of a building and springing off it to get into the air, as if trying to grab her from the air and follow where she may evade towards.

-----------

ON the other side of things the large plant monster would only nibble and naw at Beta who was trapped inside one of the heads. Its acids would sizzle against the barrier that he had made, not damaging it but making it so that lowering the barrier would ensure that he would feel every bit of pain from being inside one of these things. On the outside however the creature was more focused on the numerous Formica that had formed around it, wielding all manner of farming equipment as they were both organized and knew what to do in this situation.

But the monster held no fear of them, even as they scrambled and began hacking at its vines and climbing on its body, the thing only hissed as soon another one of its heads would aim to gobble up three of the workers. Mean while the vines would slowly be regrowing themselves, if Nola noticed this she could see it was all coming from the heads instead of the main body of tangled vines and plant matter, which would lash out again, this time coming from underground as the tendrils burrowed through the earth and would spring up around Nola to try and grab at her ankles to limit movement.

 

[Kokonoe]

"Bad move..." She said before deciding not to punch it at all but stop it in mid-air, watching the bull's movements as she tossed the wood back at him... She knew he could break it with his bare hands as she could despite her petite stature... But that was part of her plan.... She tossed a volley of fireballs... surprisingly igniting the wooden pillar despite the wetness of the wood as it continued to ignite which eventually dried the wood out... It'd break apart on impact. She was aiming to distract him or have him blow back on impact due to the weak burst of heat that'd easily be put out by the muddy water below. Then came step two of her plan if this worked, thankfully with the flames snuffed by the water there wasn't any burns that'd be scarring but the pain was very real.

Her plan was to keep the Minotaur from moving using the water around to buy her sometime to get into the cave and see what was actually wrong. She put a lollipop into her mouth to fuel her mana and thoughts so she could think faster in the mean time, "I'm used to fighting guys like you, lucky that that's the type I like to be around... So why don't we dance to know who the abstract DEAD SPIKE you're dealing with!"

---

"Well, Nola I am a bit stuck in this one... so deal with the other two heads first!" Beta yelled muffled from the mouth of a nibbling Venus Flytrap head, annoyed that he couldn't lower his barrier but at the very least he didn't have to worry much. After all once his swords were in range he could fight back, Alpha of course was a bit more worried as she had the ten injured to worry about... And Kokonoe was out of range for a voice connection.... She decided to contact Ricter the best she could.

"Come on... connect.... connect....! I hope we are still in range. I'd probably need the megaphone what do I do..." Alpha looks towards the scanner, if she couldn't connect then she'd scan the giant flora monster looking for any of the Tri-headed Venus Flytrap's weak points... If there were any that is.

 

[Sosina]

Nola watched the attack going on and she noticed the vines where growing from the main flower, and she sent the information to her workers, as well as the incoming attack from the head that was trying to eat three of the workers, allowing them to get out of the way thanks to the change in air pressure and the early warning from their Queen, and the Workers all started to swarm up the creature as they were given the information of where to attack as well.

However the vines coming from underground didn't give her a chance to see or sense them through air pressure, and the vines grabbed her ankles "oh no you don't..." she said as she used the blade from Beta and hacked at the vines rapidly mulching them before moving, she couldn't stay still that was obvious, she also shared the information with the workers so they would know to keep moving if they were on the ground like her, the others that were rapidly running and climbing up the plant headed for the heads of the thing to attack them.

hearing Beta yell from the one head, it was more information sent to her from a worker, the hive mind growing stronger due to her starting to open her workers mind, and she nodded a bit to herself, as the workers did without a spoken order started to move to attack the other two unoccupied heads with their weapons, while Nola herself started to run around watching from a distance, to keep over watch for her workers as she kept the blade to cut any vines if they came after her again.

 

[Ricter]

The bull man would subsequently miss his target thanks to Kokono's swift movements, the fire balls that hit his frame seemed to do little more than sizzle across his bulky frame, but didn't slow him down any. Propelled by what ever power he would begin rushing after the neko as she went towards the cave. Once she got into range of the cave however she would feel a tinge in the back of her mind as it began to grow stronger the closer she went towards the cave, it was memorizing, and seemed to leave ones mind foggy if they didn't have protection against mental disturbances. However thanks to her earlier deductions she could tell that the cause was coming from the glowing in the caves as when she kept moving towards there fatigue would slowly enter her body, which as a charging bull was after her tail, was not something that she might want right now.

-------------------

The large plant monster seemed to hiss even more and swipe regularly at the Formica that scaled it, at best only pushing them away, while others evaded its attacks and attempts at holding them down. As Nola was stuck for only a brief moment she would see one of the mouths lung at her, its 'neck' stem extending outwards as it tried to eat her. But it also left the head venerable as its 'neck' was exposed. In the mean time though the vines would begin to turn in on themselves, aiming to roll up and wrap around those who were climbing on it as the monster seemed determined to have Formica for lunch, and maybe some androids but they weren't as tasty and eventually the head enclosed around Beta would spit him out. Shooting him strait towards the ground rapidly.

As Ricter was called however unfortunately they were out of contact range, many miles away in the jungle, they would need a stronger connection as the weasel had little idea about what they might be doing right now and expected Kokonoe to call him using her item.

 

[Kokonoe]

"Part two... You're covered in water... and surrounded by it..." She turned around and froze the ground on the Minotaur before freezing his body causing the fire's pain into a relaxing sensation until it started to feel so cold it burned, the second part of her plan was put into action as she went towards the cave. The tinge in her brain started to greatly annoy her... the stronger it got the more pissed off at the cave she grew. She hated the feeling of a foggy mind, she quite literally slapped herself. "These glowing things... they are supposed to be safe according to the Formica... but it's mentally disturbing... which Ants are susceptible, too. Is it a spell...? A neurotoxin? If it's magical I might be able to disable it... but if it's making something biological then what turns a crystal into something of a gaseous nature? Then again... What was I- FOCUS!" She yelled at herself slapping herself again as she lifted the Minotaur with gravity so he got to float weightlessly in the air behind him... She was heading away from the cave, she had to get them away from it for now, "Whatever it is... it's in the cave so getting away from it should give some time... Don't worry as you're floating you can shed the ice and warm up." She growled at herself, forcing herself to stay focused and didn't look back. She was hoping the effects wore off, "Maybe... they are creatures? Original to Kraw to weaken Formica? In that case there would have to be a similar creature on Kraw..."

She decided to call Ricter, "Is there any info on.... Crystals that control your mind over there...?" She said watching her large friend under the effects of said crystals.

---

Alpha called from the ship, "It's neck seems to be a weak spot!"

Beta fell to the ground with a thud flying towards Nola, his swords reacted to him almost like a magnet. Thankfully that allowed him to fight, "I'll cover you with shields." He said figuring her could make an opening by protecting Nola.

 

[Sosina]

Nolahad already identified the weak point then again Alpha had no way to hear her so it made sense she would speak up once she found it to, actually Nola realized that she should have spoken up when she realized it so Beta would know, but it was a little late now and at least he knew now. So with that bit of info gained for Beta Nola continued to focus on giving her workers a over watch of what was going on, which was helping them all move and get clear of the curling vines and any swipes the creature made at them.

Then she seen the one head lunging at her and she dodged to the side, thanks to her pressure senses and the eyes of the other Formica she had seen the attack coming just in time, and as the neck was exposed she was prepared to strike....sadly it was at the same time that Beta got lose and flew towards her, the weapon ripping out of her hand as the Android got close, taking the only weapon Nola had away from her, gritting her teeth she grabbed a chunk of her armor and ripped off a jagged piece and dived on the stem just behind the head and started to stab and hack, all her claws and the ripped off jagged piece of armor now turned weapon all slashing and digging into the neck of the plant as Nola was determined to end at least one head.

The Formica climbing and swarming over the plant meanwhile were started to get closer to the other head that had been unoccupied and where starting to hack and cut at the main stem of it, the vine strikes that did hit was slowly wearing away at their armor, but they held fast, digging their claws into the side of the plant to prevent it from knocking them too far down if down at all as they continued the relentless assault the plant, they had to kill it, they had no ability to flee, good news was it could be used for resources after it was overcome.

Hearing Beta call her a strategy Nola shook her head as she was carving her way into the main stem of this head "No Go attack another head...I can defend myself, My workers are not Soldiers, they will require the aid" she called to him, her workers were still new born, they hadn't developed the near inexhaustible stamina that workers normally had, and she knew that after this fight they would more then likely have more workers that would be unable to move or work from the exertion the faster this ended the less would be in that state.

 

[Ricter]

As the large monster was suspended in the air, giving Kokonoe time to do what she wished, she would find that Ricter would pick up pretty quickly as she was throwing questions his way. Making the weasel confused, and even more so just scratch his head as he looked around, "I don't know, I know there is certain magics that could maybe do that, even more so that certain magical elements could be comprised of that type of effect if near by it. But I have no clue if crystals in a random cave could do the same thing." He explained, trying his best to be helpful as the sensations would persist. If anything Kokonoe was slowly losing her sanity and grip on reality as she inspected the crystals and simply floated by the cave, the items shined and kept up their glow however. At the same time Kokonoe was becoming more and more mentally fatigued.

------------

Due to the swift actions from the workers and Nola they would notice the heads of the monster falling down as their hacking away ensured that two of the three heads would fall to the ground and be no longer moving. However there was one head left and as the monster could see that they were all a very formidable group it would begin looking for an escape, which was bad if he wished to return again as it no doubt would aim to eat them whole as their heads didn't regrow like their vines. Looking towards the cliff, the plant monster was now making strides. towards it, as if aiming to jump off the edge, with whom ever was on it at the time, knowing it could survive a fall, but the meaty flesh sacks around it probably couldn't if they fell in an odd manner.

 

[Kokonoe]

"I see... well this cave is getting draining on me... I'll have to rush in. Otherwise I might end up a danger to the group. I'll try to be safe but it's getting foggy, I'm trying to stay focused... If need be... I'll break a limb to stay focused. You'll have to warn Nola, I can't get her to answer... It messes with the mind which will be bad if an entire colony gets effected." She stated as she quickly rushed into the cave gripping an arm using the pain to keep her mind from going completely out of it, the grip got tighter the further she went. Looking for that glow, then tried talking to the minotaur, "Hey, you said dangerous... are they all... or one in particular...?" She was mostly talking to keep herself busy, keeping her mind on the subject, "I'll blow this place sky high if I have to." She said inspecting the crystals to get any signs on what was happening continue to grip her arm. She'd have to fly up the cliff and back if it got to be too much, eventually she'd look towards the Minotaur to see if he was still aggressive. Eventually she would swing her wrench into the crystal seeing if it'd break at all to see what would happen.

---

Beta swung his arms and attracted his blades and flew full speed to the beast... He was flying for the neck of the giant monster of a Venus Flytrap, "Got it- No, you don't! Getting away isn't in your future!" He tossed out three blades... one to cut off the gargantuan flora carnivore from fleeing, one to stab into the creature to hinder it's movement... and one as a fake out to use his other three to both slash the jaw in two that would no doubt try to bite down on him without a shield... and the last two like scissors for the head... Plant parts flew everywhere, it was a rather gruesome execution as Beta shredded the beast into plant fibers and fertilizer... Venus Flytraps has a tendency to regrow and he wasn't taking any chances... plus the supplies would be useful. "I hate plants... when they try... to eat me and my friends... It attacked right after Kokonoe left so it must've been able to see us or sense us... Come to think of it... Nola did Kokonoe try to contact us yet? She's been gone longer than I had anticipated..."

Alpha took over with a sigh of relief to help the Formica heal in the ship, wondering if Kokonoe got injured.

 

[Sosina]

As the plant started to retreat, Nola and her plants were going to chase after it as it headed for the cliff, but then Beta dived at it and started to shred the plant, so rather then chase after it she sent the command through the hive mind and the Workers all started to abandon the beast as it made it's escape, not that it would get far, but the Workers needed to end the fight and break away to reduce the fatigue they would suffer, and they left it to Beta as the workers fell back to Nola and a couple started to check to see if Nola was injured.

Through the hive mind she assured them she was fine, even as they started to clean her carapace, before she gave the order to look after the tired and exhausted Workers, as well as also gather the supplies once more, to which all her workers started to do so as Nola herself started to help as well to take count on how many where disabled due to the fight and exhaustion.

All told she had lost another ten Workers to Fatigue and the Workers started to collect them, the tired Workers had curled up to make it easier to carry them, they started to gather them into once location, as well as the supplies that got scattered from the scramble at the start of the fight, Astra and Sonna doing an inventory as well as making count of all the Workers, wounded, exhausted, and able to work, as Nola kept and over watch on the area for now due to her being the closest thing they had to a Soldier.

 

[Ricter]

As Kokonoe would aim to strike one of the plants with her wrench she would crack it, causing it to ripple along the crystal and soon it would begin spilling out some odd substance from the cracks formed. The substance was gas like and would probably cause a coughing fit for a moment, but she would know it was simply powdered magical essence, which wouldn't' harm her at all. After a few moments the crystals would no longer give such a deep glow and instead simply had a blue shimmer that was very light and was similar to a night light.

The sensation in the abck of her mind would begin to stop, and no longer would she feel her mind being clouded, instead she was clear minded and over all could see things clearly. Additionally behind her the minotaur who had made his way very close to her had stopped fighting, and instead would have a more natural brown eye color as he looked around and noticed Kokonoe who had damaged the crystals. "You...female, let me down."

He asked, his voice was deep, however he was asking in a more so polite yet forceful manner as he was above her still thanks to the gravity, looking down at the woman as he seemed to be fully aware it was her magics that caused his weightlessness.

-------------------------

Focused on fleeing the plant monster would aim to evade the cuts made towards it, but only successful in making sure they wouldn't get clipped along the jaw as right before they would bite down on Beta again the scissor like blades would chop its head clean off as it fell to the ground. Its vines doing the same as it laid there lifeless, none of it shriveled up however, so it did still seem alive however easily enough it seemed to have useful supplies in the form of an exotic plant as it fell to the ground with a somewhat loud crash.

Suddenly, Ricter would call Nola, "Nola?! Are you okay? Whats happening?" Worried as always.

 

[Kokonoe]

Kokonoe exhaled with a smile, her mind getting less foggy, "And they said breaking stuff doesn't work, hah. I showed them... breaking stuff fixes everything... just like duct tape!" That's when the coughing started as she waved the dust away, "As... I inhale rocks and gases... like an idiot... Bleck.... Disgusting..." She peered into the crystals inspecting... it seemed to be fixed,the shimmering blue glow was beautiful to say the least.

Her ears perked as she heard a deep voice speak, shifting her golden gaze over to him. "Oh, yeah... the good looking tall one... I almost forgot." She dragged him closer and set him down gently near by, "You were right... these things were dangerous. Sorry I had to bind you... I really didn't want to get muddy, and I didn't want to hurt you significantly. Also, you can call me Kokonoe. Do you know anything about these crystals, or why they were working in such a manner?" She looked over to stare at his abs being used to interacting with shorter people, "Oh right, you're not short like every one else I came here with." She said before shifting her gaze upwards, "I hope you feel better." She shifted her spectacle upwards to get a better look at his face, "I feel short again, it's just like I am back at home." She said looking at his eyes, they weren't blue any more which she took as a good sign, "Also you have any questions for me, big boy?" She said referring to the Minotaur as he hadn't told her a name, the Minotaur's speech was more polite sounding than her own. She sounded like she was on business but was extremely casual sounding.

"Also don't give me orders... I get competitive and if that happens well... neither of us will get anywhere. But I'll win, you might, too." She meant that as more of a joke... but with her sarcastic tone it sounded more like flirting, not that she understood what flirting was. Normally she was just blunt and dirty which was her so-called flirting.

"Oh... I should tell the others I am okay..." She was about to call Ricter and Nola before turning back up to the Bullman, "Are there more people here..? We kinda wanted to fix up the town, if it's only you it'll be easy to make you a home. But... I don't know if you prefer solitude or..." She scanned over his body, "You know."

Then clicking the call button to contact her comrades, "I am okay for the moment, and made a friend. He makes me feel short."

---

Beta landed turning off his battle armor covered in plant juices, starting to gather the supplies, "Where am I putting all this stuff, Nola? I'm sure you want to finish with the stairs... Anyone hurt to take into the ship? Also... this is slimey." He was pretty rapid at his question asking as Ricter came on... followed by Kokonoe soon after... though Kokonoe's connection was staticy... Sounded as if she was in the cave system. Beta had the urge to get a bath as Alpha sighed a long sigh of relief, hopefully it'd get easier from here.

"You can tell him about how I am covered in plant goop... I hope these green stains come out." Beta commented jokingly as he passed Nola.

 

[Sosina]

Nola's Workers had started well before Beta was able to join in gathering the supplies, he was only really able to pick up a few things, what with the effeciency of the hive mind. Personally Nola was seeing that she would need to open their Hive minds fully sooner rather then later, and as they finished gathering the supplies and exhausted Workers, and other Workers where already collecting the body of the plant for additional supplies and they where working efficiently.

It was then that Ricter got through, well he was getting through before as was Kokonoe, but Nola had been heavily focused on the fight and the hive mind, so she hadn't noticed but now when he seemed panicked she picked up on that "Oh Hello mister Squishy, yes I am okay so are my Workers, they are just tired from having to fight a large plant that attacked us, Beta asked me to let you know he is apparently covered with plant goop, but we are all fine other then more workers being exhausted and having trouble moving. Good news is we killed the plant that was attacking us and now we are taking it apart for easy transport to the town as additional supplies, and we haven't lost any Workers, just have a lot of tired ones and some injuries but nothing severe" she said quite happy to make her report to Miser Squishy that they were okay.

"how are you doing Mister Squishy?" she asked as she helped to collect the remains of the plant as Beta was helping them collect "Oh Beta if you could start putting the exhausted Workers in the FLoating thing that would be helpful we can finish the stairs and collect the supplies and additional resources" she said as even as she was talking a few Workers was already going back to work building the stairs while the others continued the gathering work.

 

[Ricter]

The womans random array of questions were almost ignored till he was placed down, but the large creature would no sooner try his best to explain as he walked into the cave, seeming picking up things that looked like personal items and objects. "I would ask who are you but you seem to be very focused on something else." As indicated she was staring at his sstomach rather than his eyes, when corrected he would go about answering her questions as a good look inside of the cave showed that this was partly where he had been keeping many things. From simple weapons to chests, and what looked like food.

"I happened on this settlement some days ago, it seems the crystals cause creatures to spring violent tendencies, over all though no others live here. Many evacuated, which if you and your possible friends wish to stay I would be happy to let you have these grounds, not like I could stop you." The large bull man obviously knew she could defeat him in a fight, and so he was gathering things together. Preparing to leave them.

-----------------

The plants parts were easy to carry, and with the path way ahead being clear, they would have no more issues on the way to the small village only a few miles away from their location. "Oh thank goodness...I was so worried." Ricter said over the line, obviously relieved that she and the others were doing alright. But for the time being he was still antsy about them being outside when night was going to be falling in a few hours or so. "Please be safe, and get to the village before night falls, I know its mostly destroyed but its better than being out in the jungle at night." He advised as he sighed and would relax finally, thinking that they had this now.

 

[Kokonoe]

Kokonoe would adjust her specs as she stared upwards towards the bull man, "I don't know... With a body like that many people would pause given the chance... However; I would love to ask why you're gathering your things. Also I am Kokonoe, pleasure to meet 'cha. Truthfully we need a strong guy like you, we need a lot of stuff carried to make a foundation and repair this place... We need to move food before it spoils and to make houses for the residents, I assume you're going to stay here? It'd be no issue on that part, but I might ask you to carry my lab equipment... Doing it myself would take me ages...

That's of course if you're staying, of course we'd be giving you a better place then... a dank cave like this. We only want to move here, not take your home. Also before you ask... I'll fix the water damage, I'll make this place nice. Now that I think about it... Ricter didn't give me any information about edible wild crops we could grow... So I don't really know how to make it nice like that. You might, I lived in a lab most of my life on a dying planet... so lush flora is foreign to me." She admitted, rambling on. Probably guilty from feeling like she was chasing the guy out, when she just wanted to make a habitable living space for everyone including this Minotaur. "Trust me, my friends won't mind." She said reassuringly.

She took out her megaphone to speak to the group, "Hey guys, I have a new friend... His name is- actually I forgot to ask your name, what is it?" She waited for a response, "He lives here... so I figured we could make him a house... If it wasn't for him here... these magic enhanced plants would've taken over everyone's mind with spores which would turn everyone into an aggressive mess... I really don't want to kick him out for helping me find the source of the problem... and well save all of us. How does this sound to you both, Nola, Ricter? Also is there anything you need help with while I am down here? The settlement is all water rotted... we are going to need to morph the land to make a foundation we can build on that won't turn to mud and break the houses apart over time... I expect this place is also easily flooded while means making a drain system... That's my report so far. So how about it... do you want to stay? Trust me... it's worth the food my friend makes." Kokonoe smiled, shifting her lollipop to a new position.

 

[Sosina]

Nola and her workers continued to make the stairs, with the work going quite rapidly and they were nearing the bottom, and as Ricter seemed to be quite happy to hear they were okay, and Nola was glad she was able to set him at ease, then Kokonoe spoke up and Nola listed as she allowed her workers to continue their work and begin to transport the supplies down the staircase.

"I don't see a problem with that if he wants to help he can" Nola said as she traveled through the jungle towards the ruins as she took note of what they had "oh and Mister Squishy we made a staircase to help you get down once we bring you to the village" she said quite happy that that one thing was done "and we will be making a bridge to cross the river easier as well, and if it would help, we can make a more solid path to the town to" she said as they walked into the ruins.

She then gave silent commands through the hive mind and the workers started to repair one of the buildings using the materials that they can make as well as use it for storage for a while, they used one of the less waterlogged ones, using their materials to keep the stuff off the floor, and as they worked on it Nola looked to Kokonoe "For materials we have some...oh what was in the mine by the way?" she asked as she walked over and seeing the crystals her eyes grew wide "AURALITE!!"

The little ant ran into the cave and she took a chunk off the wall and looked at it "I..it's not glowing....but it's Auralite..." she said not really noticing the Minotaur till a few moments later, and she looks up at him "oh hello, I'm Nola" she said as she lifted the Gem to her mouth and started to nibble on it like it was rock candy, oddly easily able to break it in her mouth and chew on it like it was just a cookie.

 

[Ricter]

Hearing the scientist ramble for a bit as she would no sooner mention what he wished to hear he would raise a brow, the large monster would wonder why they were offering such a thing. Maybe they were settlers looking for a new home and they felt bad they were kicking out someone, not that he minded it, after all he spent well around a few minutes actually living here before his mind was bogged down by the glowing crystals. Either way as the offer was given he would give a soft sigh before nodding, "If you feel this is necessary then I may stay, small feline woman." The bull man stated as he placed the things down into a bag for now and would reach out a hand of truce, waiting for her to no doubt take it. "My name is simple, Ad'ayam. Most just say Adam."

Moving closer he would no sooner begin sniffing Kokonoe, his large nostrils flaring as he began to catch her scent, inspecting her in a more curious manner as they seemed oddly different than the raptors, wolves, and other plant life that surrounded this location. Sure he had met a few normal people before but this as obviously different in terms of circumstances, which as he reached out he aimed to try and ick her up by the hips but promptly place her back down, testing a few things about his friend. "You're very odd, and colorful."

Once Nola and her group got there he would look surprised, seeing so many of her species in one place, especially traveling around, it was completely out of the ordinary. "You never mentioned that your friend was the leader of such a large group, I see why you were all looking for a new home to settle into." Which as she no sooner would begin eating the crystals and moving over too him he would begrudgingly give a soft smile and wave back to the much smaller creature bellow him. "Hello small one." He said back nicely as he looked around and no sooner would just simply wait

 

[Kokonoe]

Kokonoe smiled placing her hands one her hips before taking his hand, her grip was pretty strong for such a lithe build she was used to tightening her mechanisms after all... But she was extremely limber like most felines. "Ad'ayam, huh? Well Adam is a fine name regardless for a friendly nickname. Welcome to the crew... without you those spores would've got me and the others..." She sighed a relieved sigh, before she was grabbed by the hips and sniffed, "Yeah, I am a super short paper weight. I probably could be carried by you and you wouldn't notice a thing. And yeah... odd and colorful is my thing, I am a scientist. Enhancements are my game..! If you need any sort of upgrades I can make them. Body, weapons, defense systems, GIGANTIC TAGER!s I do it all! And yeah... We have a fairly big group, I'll have to run some tests on you for the defense systems planned later. Of course the other group is larger in numbers... and much smaller than me." She said with a nod, pulling out some chips which she had stored for the bull man, "Something to snack on as we wait."

"This mine here is filled with a substance Nola would probably like... The exoskeletons they form for battle were similar in structure, similar to snails making shells from rocks and gem stones they eat. Bug life is fascinating, but you're a mammal like me which means you'll be that much easier to run medical check ups on! Also you're the only wild creature in this forest besides my lab's mascot pet that hasn't tried to eat me, which makes me very happy." Seems the scientist was one to make trouble... and find it, too. An accident prone reckless twin-tailed feline lady with an addiction to snack food and sweets.

Hearing Nola, "Well in the mine is structure like your-" She was cut off by Nola's sudden outburst of what it was, "So you call it Auralite, huh? Well that explains your exoskeleton... The crystals here aren't glowing because I broke them... They has some type of plant spores using it to take over living creatures... I assume to kill things. Mushrooms need decomposing substances to grow well... and ants are highly susceptible to the effects... If any of your colony starts acting odd... come to me straight away. Adam here probably knows the dangerous tunnels, I don't know how infected this mine is... but the entire town was infected... It's likely that many were evacuated... but I assume many also didn't make it. I want to set up my lab to start making anti-spore counter measures... Otherwise I'd have to do brain surgery on the victims if it got bad enough... though the spores seem to grow slow, it'd take a week to get to that extreme. If it gets faster we have a real issue... But this part is safe now, so don't worry too much, Nola." She smiled as her lab landed with the twins floating out. They looked normal minus the floating.


The two looked at each other and spoke in unison, "Your new friend makes you look short-"

"And you all make me feel tall so it balances out."

"Rude, well he seems nice... It's a pleasure to meet you." Alpha spoke up first, "I am Alpha the sister." Then following, "And I'd be Beta the brother." They pointed to the lab, "Would you like to see the lab for a medical checkup? It's crowded but with the Auralite here I'm sure we could liquefy some and give the ten worker Formica their strength back."

Kokonoe was gathing the auralite on the ground as they spoke, "We won't need a lot... So I'll have extra samples for testing, too. Of course with your size... I'll need to make some adjustments to my machinery... Everyone else is fun-sized." Thus proving Adam was the tallest and everyone else was in-fact shorter than the already almost dwarfed size of Kokonoe herself.

 

[Sosina]

Nola continued to nibble away at the Auralite as Kokonoe mentioned something about spores and she looked a bit puzzled, "Auralite collects magical energy and stores it, when it builds up to much it can emit random magical effects, my people are immune to it's affects, Glowing Auralite means it's heavily saturated in magical energy and is needed for some processes that a larger hive would need, it's also used as a defense for larger hives as other races seem to have no protection against the built up magical affects" she explained as she finish nibbling away the Auralite she had broken off the cave wall, she then walked up the wall and grabbed another.

"With this Much Auralite I should be able to produce some Soldiers to protect the Colony, and to protect Mister Squishy when he comes down" she said before she raised her Antenna a moment as she nibbled away at the Auralite chunk she had "Mister Squishy we made it to the village, the wrkers are refurbishing one of the broken houses and we found Auralite, I will be able to provide you with a proper guard for when you make your way down, to the village" She said to Ricter as she was quite happy to be able to provide him with the protection he would need. She then finished the second large crystal of Auralite and grabbed another as her other set of hands started to create a glowing ball of mana already starting the process of making soldier eggs.

Outside the Workers were rapidly building up one of the buildings, the other ten worn out workers were placed in the ship with the other ten, twenty total were to exhausted to work and so they were left in the safety of the ship for the time being as the other thirtytwo workers built and stocked the new storehouse, the floor was made higher then normal using their naturaly made building material, making it thick and stable for temporary use, they then made shelves out of the same material as well as filling in the holes in the walls and ceiling even going so far as to make a door for the building that would work. All of this was being directed silently by Nola through the Hivemind as she walked out of the cave carrying more Auralite as she continued to shape the slightly larger egg.

"We will need to consider Sleeping barracks, me and my workers can make some rooms in the cave, and clear it out a little, the water in the cave isn't much of an issue for the time being as we can make our own floors or just walk on the ceiling" she said to Kokonoe as she looked up at the Minotaur "Welcome to the Colony...." she said as she nodded to him in greeting as her antenna twitched at him before she walked over to where her workers were building up the store house to make sure everything was done correctly.