Three months had passed since Roland's team integrated with Thirteen's battalion.
There could only be one leader, so the Hero Party decided to merge with Thirteen's army, forming a united front.
In the past three months, they traveled to the location of the Temple of Courage, often making detours whenever Thirteen's scouts found hordes of Jinns, whom they attacked without fail.
The teenage boy didn't care even when the leaders of these Jinn Hordes were Rank 6 up to Rank 7 Sovereigns.
His Monster Army would always deal with the High-Ranking Monsters, leaving the annihilation of the small fries to the Wanderers.
Due to the accumulated combat experiences, even the shyest members in Thirteen's Battalion had now become a seasoned fighter.
With Rocky, Giga, Blacky, Hercules, the Ogres, Trolls, and the Hero Party acting as the Vanguard, they didn't suffer any casualties in battle.
Siri had challenged Thirteen many times, each battle leading to her defeat.
Sometimes, she didn't even bother to challenge him and just simply launched sneak attacks.
Due to this, Shana gave the battle junkie girl a warning that she would no longer heal her injuries if she attacked Zion out of the blue.
The only saving grace was that Siri never attacked Thirteen whenever they were dealing with a monster army.
If she really went ahead and did that, Thirteen would no longer show any mercy and cripple her for insubordination.
Unlike Shana and the others, who still treated Siri as a human, Thirteen saw her for what she truly was.
Of course, he didn't tell anyone that Siri wasn't human because he still had his reservations.
He simply decided to ignore her for the time being and focus on the things that he needed to do.
One day, the teenage boy woke up inside his wagonband saw two ugly birds sitting on his chest, looking at his face with dumb look on their faces.
Erica and Sherry were still asleep beside him, their arms wrapped around his body.
Because of this, he wasn't able to move right away, so he simply stared at the two birds who were also staring back at him.
Thirteen blinked once then twice, as he observed the two hand-sized Pocopocos, who were looking down at him in disdain.
"Hey, are you stupid?" the First Pocopoco asked.
"We hate stupid people!" the Second Pocopoco declared.
Instead of answering their question, Thirteen propped himself up to a sitting position, making the two small Pocopocos fly toward the other side of the wagon.
"What are you two dumb birds looking at?" Thirteen asked.
"This dumb human is calling us dumb?" the First Pocopoco scoffed.
"This Junior is courting death," the Second Pocopoco sneered.
Erica and Sherry, who were woken up by the commotion, glanced at Thirteen, who was talking to the two Pocopocos, each the size of the teenage boy's hand.
"Zion, do you know these birds?" Erica asked as she propped herself up, making the corner of her nightgown slip from her shoulder.
"Maybe," Thirteen replied as he casually reached out to fix Erica's nightgown, unfazed by what he saw, before shifting his attention back to the two dumb-looking birds, who reminded him of his two loyal companions.
"Didn't your parents tell you that you shouldn't talk to humans?" Thirteen asked.
"They did," the First Pocopoco nodded.
"Then why?" Thirteen inquired.
Just like he expected, he sensed the presence of four creatures descending from the sky.
Two adult Pocopocos and two young ones landed on a boulder beside Thirteen.
The teenager boy smiled and reached out to pat the two adult Pocopoco's head.
"It has been a while, Vassago and Poca," Thirteen said.
"What took you so long, Zion?" Vassago asked. "You've been away for years."
"I thought you're not going to return," Poca commented. "The Spirits of the Wind, who is always traveling the world, haven't seen you."
"Well, many things happened," Thirteen replied. "But I'm glad you found me."
Thirteen then shifted his attention to the two smaller Pocopocos, who looked surprised that their parents were allowing a human to pet their heads.
"Are these your kids?" Thirteen asked with a smile. "It seems that the two of you have been busy since I was away."
Vassago and Poca glanced at each other before nodding their heads.
"Yes, we decided to have a family," Vassago replied.
"What are their names?" Thirteen inquired.
"Their names are hard to speak in human language," Poca answered. "So why don't you give them a nickname, just like the names you've given us?"
"Are you sure?" Thirteen smiled, while rubbing his chin.
"Give me a good name, human!" the First Pocopoco said.
"That's right. I want a good name!" the Second Pocopoco demanded.
Thirteen pondered for a bit before pointing his finger at the First Pocopoco, who seemed to always be the one to initiate the conversation.
"Your name will be Pica," Thirteen said. "And yours will be Pico."
"Pica?"
"Pico?"
The two little Pocopocos tilted their heads to the side before nodding their heads at the same time.
"I am Pica!"
"I am Pico!"
Vassago and Poca were happy that the human boy, whom they had served once as their Master, had bestowed their children their nicknames.
Words had power.
And the Pocopocos use this power in their everyday lives.
They may possess many names in their lifetimes, but they would only allow people, whom they truly trust,to bestow names upon them.
"Well then, Vassago and Poca," Thirteen said with a smile. "Are you interested in going off into another adventure?"
"We wouldn't have traveled far to find you if we didn't want to travel together," Vassago replied. "Isn't that right, Darling?"
"Yes, Husband," Poca replied. "Take good care of us and the kids, Zion. I look forward to having another adventure with you."
The teenage boy smirked before shifting his attention to the two troublemakers, whom he believed would make this journey more interesting due to their peculiar personalities.