"Damn damn damn!" Elliot cursed the fates vehemently. Not only was he too late to save the Great Sage, a powerful enemy was already upon him!
"I need to find his son! Where is he?" Elliot quickly scanned the giant cavern and found no trace of the little monkey. There were also no passageways leading out of the cavern. The Great Sage was so powerful and so dominant over the area that he never really felt the need to have one.
"It must be near the Great Sage. He wouldn't stray far from his son's hiding place." Elliot thought.
He glanced at the Great Sage's corpse and searched behind it.
"Gotcha." Elliot whispered as he found a loose looking rock that clearly saw movement recently. He pushed the rock aside and found a little hole with a curiously calm looking baby monkey hiding in it.
"Come." Elliot held out his hand urgently and bent forward to pick him up.
However, before he could do that, the monkey took one look at Elliot and immediately leapt into his embrace!
"Good! My high affinity with monkeys is finally making itself useful." Elliot said as he turned around and started to run towards the cave's entrance. "Primal Feline Warrior Transformation, activate! Rex! Ellie! Return!"
Within seconds, the Primal Feline was running at full speed down the cave's wide passageway.
GRAHHHHH!!
Brock's roar was getting louder and louder as the Primal Feline drew closer to the cave entrance. Thankfully, Brock was only roaring. He wasn't locked in battle yet.
"Hawk, I need to store Brock into my personal space. How many points do I need to invest in my skill?
[You can do that by learning a new skill called [Summon Large Beast] at level 25 for 20 points. Would you like to learn it?]
"Yes! Learn it!" Elliot commanded.
GREEEEAAAAAAAKHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
An impossibly loud reptilian roar rang out from somewhere behind the volcano just as the Primal Feline burst out of the cave's entrance. It would reach them within seconds!
"Store Brock into my personal space!" Elliot commanded the AI as he continued to speed away from the giant cave.
GRAAAA- WHOOSH!
Brock suddenly disappeared mid-roar.
"Tiger! Summoned Wolves! Attack the enemy! The rest of you, follow me!" Elliot shouted as he shot across the large open space filled with monkey corpses and dead baby Armored Kaijins
GREEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
The new enemy had arrived!
The Primal Feline turned around to glance at the new enemy and blanched in fear.
It was a massive Armored Kaijin! With WINGS!
Thankfully, the new Armored Kaijin was glaring accusingly at the wolves and the tiger, thinking that they were the culprits behind the massacre of its tribe.
ROAR!
The fearless tiger roared at the Armored Kaijin.
Boom! The Armored Kaijin launched a dive attack and landed heavily at the spot where the tiger was a moment ago.
The tiger was able to dodge the obvious attack very instinctively and immediately counter attacked by leaping onto the Armored Kaijin! Its sharp claws managed to penetrate the Armored Kaijin's thick scales and it bit down on the beast's right shoulder with its powerful jaws.
However, the Armored Kaijin simply stretched out its left arm and grabbed the tiger's neck with its muscular left hand.
And then it squeezed.
CRACK!
The tiger immediately grew limp.
Once the tiger died, the wolves quickly died as well without doing much other than stalling for time. However, they did their part to perfection.
After killing the wolves, the giant Armored Kaijin looked up and saw nothing but the carcasses of its offspring mingled among half eaten monkeys.
GREEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
It roared mournfully.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
"Ahhhh! What a thrilling fight and an even more thrilling escape!" The Void Walker sighed in satisfaction and relief. "They would have died for sure if the Armored Kaijin Matriarch noticed them."
"Hmmmm." The Monkey King merely gave a moody, non-verbal response.
"Hey, you couldn't be upset over the death of mere low level monkeys, could you?" Void Walker glanced at the Monkey King in surprise. "You? A powerful King level beast of the mighty Monkey God Clan, upset because of such a small thing? My oh my… What would the universe say to that?"
"It's always a sad day to watch your brethren, even lowborns like them, die a horrible death." Monkey King sighed deeply and looked at the Void Walker. "And apparently, you missed an important observation while rooting for the Elliot boy so passionately."
"Hohoho. I am passionate indeed. Not for the little boy, but for my 3000 resource planets riding on his victory!" Void Walker chuckled. "What observation though?"
"The Armored Kaijin Tribe was planted within Planet Earth before the main invasion because they require time to breed and grow strong enough to make an impact in the Games. By killing almost all of the baby Armored Kaijins, Elliot had effectively destroyed a powerful alien beast tribe for the region he lives in. The balance is broken. California will have many, many more survivors this time around compared to the previous timeline." Monkey King explained.
"Ah yes, yes that's right! But still, it wouldn't make much of a difference. If they don't die to the Armored Kaijins, they'll die to each other, to the alien fugitives, or to the neighbouring Black Venom Bloodbats. I remember the Armored Kaijins and the Bloodbats ended up fighting a massive battle at the end of the year. Maybe this time the Bloodbats will rule over California in addition to Arizona." Void Walker dismissed the issue lightly.
"It will take time before the Bloodbats can stabilize in Arizona and invade California. Who knows what will happen in California by then?" Monkey King smiled mysteriously.
"And would you look at his absurd luck!" Monkey King laughed and pointed at the screen.
"What? What?" Void Walker asked as she stared eagerly at the screen showing Elliot reuniting with Winter and his sisters. "Oh my. Is that really what I think it is? Did you just say that the balance is broken? What would THAT do to the balance then?"
Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
"Phew, that was a close one!" Elliot thought to himself as he smiled at his sisters and Winter. "Hey ladies. I'm back!"
"Hey big bro! Look at what we found!" Jessica shouted excitedly from atop Winter. Jennifer merely grinned at him happily and pointed at the ground next to winter.
"Huh?" Elliot looked at the direction where Jennifer was pointing and was rather surprised to find…
"Why are there so many grey eggs? There must be at least ten of them! And why are they so big! They are as big as… Oh my god." Elliot's eyes widened in shock as he figured out what eggs they were.
"Armored Kaijin eggs? They actually found Armored Kaijin eggs??" Elliot's mind was already racing. If he could tame them…
"We have no idea! But they look really big and tasty, so we brought them with us when we found them while exploring a little while back. I can cook us a massive and delicious omelet using just one of these eggs!" Jennifer explained proudly.
"Grab two eggs each, and let's go. Fast! If I am not mistaken, the eggs' mother should be on its way here soon." Elliot ordered seriously. He immediately tossed four eggs to Jessica and Jennifer who caught them easily, grabbed two for himself and clambered up Winter's back.
However, just as he was about to leave, he saw that one of the remaining eggs was actually slightly larger than the rest, and had a deeper shade of grey.
Elliot hesitated for a moment before leaping down and grabbing the egg before going back up to Winter's back.
"We have to leave this place, and fast!" Elliot said urgently. "Winter, your top speed back home please!"
Winder nodded gravely and immediately began to sprint back home.
For a long minute, all three of them sat quietly atop Winter, looking at their rear intently.
After Winter had sprinted for a full minute without any signs of pursuit, Elliot could finally relax. And when he breathed out in relief, the girls relaxed too.
"Are we safe?" Jennifer asked Elliot in a low voice.
"Yes we are." Elliot smiled at her. "All good now, don't worry."
"Good." Jennifer smiled back at him.
"Ooooh, that little monkey is so cute! Can I hold him? Please, please, pleaaaaaseee!" Jessica stretched out her hand, her eyes wide open and locked on to the Great Sage's son."
"Sure! Hey little buddy, this is Jessica, she's very cuddly like you. Wana go and hug her?" Elliot said to the baby monkey.
The baby monkey looked at him with his large round eyes and frowned lightly.
"No, I am not driving you away." Elliot explained patiently as he stroked the baby monkey's head. You can come back to me anytime you want, alright?"
The baby monkey nodded intelligently and hopped onto Jessica's arms.
"Kyaaaaa… You're so cutee! Please don't grow big too fast like Ellie okay?" Jessica said happily as she hugged the baby monkey gently.
Elliot and Jennifer smiled warmly at Jessica.
Ever since Jennifer formed a mind link with Winter, Jessica had been feeling a little down. Although she hid it very well, Jennifer caught on to it almost immediately.
Elliot was, of course, completely oblivious to it.
Seeing her truly happy with the baby monkey warmed Jennifer's heart to no end.
"What sort of eggs are they, brother? And what does their mother look like?" Jennifer asked Elliot as she turned to look at the eggs curiously.
"They are eggs from a fearsome lizard-like beast. And their mother definitely looks like it wants to eat us up for its breakfast." Elliot chuckled as he made a joke to try and lighten the mood which had turned serious after Elliot rushed them away so urgently.
"It's not funny." Jennifer pouted. "And if it's true, then it's definitely more than not funny. You must have met with the fearsome mother. It's dangerous!"
"Yes brother." Jessica frowned even as she was petting the baby monkey's head. "It's dangerous!"
Elliot looked at his two sisters for a moment as the forest began to pass them by at ever increasing speeds. The wind blowing against them grew stronger and stronger until it was practically howling past them.
Winter was giving her all in racing back home.
"Jessica. Jennifer. I've told you this before, but I guess I wasn't too specific and too clear with my words." Elliot said seriously.
"From now onwards and for the next twelve months, we would be in extreme danger. We can die anyday from a thousand different causes. There will be packs of fearsome beasts, teams of evil aliens and thousands of other human beings who will be out for our blood and resources."
Elliot could see Jessica's and Jennifer's countenance fall into solemnity.
"We need to gain strength, and sometimes, we need to take risks to gain that strength. What I did just now was an example of a risk I took to gain strength. I fought with a bunch of dangerous beasts, and risked getting caught by their mother for the sake of gaining strength in the form of recruiting a powerful beast.
If I don't take risks to gain strength, then it would only be a matter of time until we die." Elliot said. "I need you girls to understand that when I do more dangerous things in the future."
At the thought of their beloved brother doing more dangerous things, tears began to well up in both girls' eyes. However, they bravely fought down the urge to cry and merely nodded.
Elliot could feel his heart breaking slightly at his sister's forlorn faces. "Don't worry though, with Winter, Brock, Ellie, Rex and all of my other beasts, there wouldn't be many beasts or evil aliens that could kill me. In fact, I can confidently say that I am currently the strongest in all of California!"
"Truly? You're not lying to make us feel better?" Jessica asked Elliot while blinking back her tears.
"Truly, truly the strongest. Look, who could kill me when there's a huge five-meter tall bear and wolf protecting me?" Elliot tried to convince Jessica.
"That fearsome beast mother could." Jennifer immediately replied with a pout.
"Yes, she could kill me." Elliot conceded. "IF she could catch me! See? Aren't I making good my escape now while she is dealing with my little summoned beasts? I am really good at running away! You should know that very well. Remember how quickly I ran after I accidentally stepped on our Grandma Jane's little dog's tail? Ha ha ha!"
Jennifer had to smile at her brother's reminder of that funny memory.