Chapter 133 - Heart Of The Forest

"I can't speak human anymore! Damn it!" Petunia complained to the only person, rather an animal who was the only one left who could understand her.

"Petunia, what's happening??" Monica moved closer to her and pecked her forehead to keep her sane.

"I lost my voice! I can't talk to them!" Petunia said in panic which almost made Monica panic too.

"What?! How are we going to talk to them now?!" 

"I don't know!" Petunia meowed aggressively which caught everyone's attention at the forest, the birds who flew away after her shout included.

"Petunia? That's enough, you can talk to us now," Von said with mixed feelings of annoyance and concern towards Petunia who used to always challenge him with logic.

"I can't! I don't know what happened!" Petunia tried to shout again but no response.

"Try chatting with us," Fily offered, which Petunia then agreed on.

[Petunia: I can't talk to humans anymore! I'm afraid the next would be my understanding of your language!]

"What happened?" Fily murmured after reading Petunia's message.

"We're almost there, guys," Gem said and led the group to the heart of the forest.

"We're in trouble, Gem! Petunia can't speak anymore!"

"Shh, we're here," Gem covered Fily's mouth to silence her while pulling her to the bushes simultaneously.

"Gem! We're in trouble!" Fily muttered under her breath but Gem did not let her mouth go.

"Shh, can you hear that?" Gem said, mentioning the low growls and breathing of a hungry monster close to them.

When Gem looked to the branches of the tall trees, she immediately saw Lei and Von hiding from one of them and signaling them that there was something heading towards them.

"It's the wolf," Monica said, recognizing the hungry and nasty growls of that wolf.

"But Venedette said they're heading to the front gate-" Petunia said and stopped when she came to a realization.

[Petunia: Don't hurt those wolves! I think they're the kids, transformed as something else by this alpha in front of us.]

[Venedette: Where are you again? Why aren't you helping us and what nonsense are you saying?!] Venedette immediately sent, sounding angry based on her rushed message.

[Petunia: The kids! I think they've been transformed into wolves or other animals! Don't hurt them please?]

[Venedette: How can we let these beasts wander around the town?! Just come here and help already!]

[Fily: As I was saying, we're dealing with the alpha!]

Fily said, fishing off the conversation just before the alpha lunged into their direction but found nothing instead.

"You okay?!" Gem mouthed to Fily on the other side of the now halved bushes where they hid in.

"Over here, wolf!" Lei shouted from a distance, capturing the wolf's attention and leading it to the exit of the forest where Petunia's traps were using his control over his presence, concealing it when needed to make a distance with the angry wolf and slipping some of his scents for it to follow.

"Now!" Gem signaled the raven to proceed and went ahead with Petunia, shooting potion pebbles to the wolf's way and eventually trapping its feet to the now frozen ground.

"Woooof!" the wolf howled, which made Gem's group move twice as fast as he was now calling for reinforcements.

"This better work," Petunia whispered while watching Gem walk confidently towards the now trapped wild wolf.

"Let's see how you jump through Solitude, mister." Gem said and picked up her phase, speeding up to the wolf with the Salamandite gem in her head and eventually punching it to the wolf's forehead that was also glowing with some kind of black pearl. "Solitude!"

"Aha!" Gem said after landing inside a black space with a damp floor.

"You have it," the wolf said and howled while watching Gem from the darkness being shone upon by her blue crystal gem.

"I knew it! But why is this black? I thought all Solitudes are white?" Gem took her necklace back and watched her back while searching for the wolf inside.

The wolf had this sinister feeling that allowed Gem to tell where his movements were coming from but not its current position.

"I'll take it from you now," the wolf growled in a low voice before jumping to Gem from behind but Gem immediately dodged his movement, making him land on the damp floor and disappearing into the dark again.

"My body is better here than in the outside world, and since there are no obstacles, I can beat you easily with my new skills, but before that, tell me what's your goal? Why are you kidnapping kids and why are you after Monica?"

"I need that necklace! Give it to me!" the wolf said, ignoring Gem's question which made Gem impatient.

"If asking nicely doesn't work then I must force the answers from you instead," Gem said, putting her countless hours of training for good use while looking for the wolf's weak spot.

"I knew it, she's just like Petunia. He's probably desperate to obtain Energy slimes already since judging from its appearance, he's old enough to reach the certain point of disappearance that Petunia was talking about."

"I will give you Energy slimes, I just need your cooperation. Where did you take the kids you kidnap and what did you do to them?!" Gem tried to settle the situation by proposing a peaceful way of getting to an agreement but the wolf was not listening.

"I just need a little bit of that and I'll be free. Give it to me!" he growled and charged Gem using his shadow clone but Gem has already read through his tricks.

"You're making this harder for the both of us," Gem said, pulling a big bubble of Energy slime from her necklace and manipulating it using the movements she learned from the astral training manual.

"That's it, give it to me!" the wolf said cheekily before showing himself to Gem, seemingly fascinated by the Energy slime's glow, floating between Gem's hands.

"I will give you another chance, Sir. Surrender now and no one gets hurt or we'll have to do this the hard way. Oh, and just so you know, Solitude is my domain, mister."