Jones followed Zephel as he asked for her to follow. The Acquizari was confused as she walked away, then it follow her, and at the same time made laps Jones's head, it was quite the exercise in frustration for Jones. It floated in front of her when they arrived where Zephel had motioned for them to go. "Excuse me," she asked at last, "but my monster seems to be useless. I don't think it's going to be an effective fighter." Jones admitted as the Acquizari buzzed in front of her.

Zephel sighed once again. He looked at the Acquizari Jones had. "It's a simple creature for a reason." He pointed to the grass on the ground. "But it will understand a few basics. Attack, defend, and its ability 'Absorb' which is a way it feeds itself. But it also can double as an attack. Not only that it can grow more beneficial abilities and change over time depending on what it absorbs and how much of it." He kept his finger to the ground for her to follow. "The grass for example. If it absorbed the grass it may gain the ability to feed itself with sunlight like a plant. If it successfully absorbs from an enemy it may gain a new trait as well."

@Mogget

@Mogget

Hurrah appeared at his sisters right side, taking her hand and entwining his fingers between hers.

There was an excitement on his face. It could have been from the gifts he was shoveling in her bag, the weird, oversized armoured glove he held tightly on his right hand, or the monster fight that was about to take place.
”Why are you making them fight?” he asked curiously.

Bidzl wasn't too keen on fighting his monster against another person's monster. If it was self defense, sure, then it would be called for. However, Bidzil guessed that this was just some training for the road ahead, so he nodded and followed Zephel to the clearing. "Are you up for this?" He asked the water spriggan. Though she looked uncertain for a moment as she looked out to the bug, she turned back to Bidzil and gave him a warm smile and a nod. "Oh by the way! Before you go out there, I want to give you a name," Bidzil said with a grin. The spriggin undulated happily as is floated down to bidzil and sat on her watery legs, awaiting what name she would get. "How aboooout..... Sedna?" he asked.

The water spriggan's eyes widened and then she broke eye contact, bouncing the name around in her head. She then looked up and nodded with a smille again, a watery voice trickled from her mouth as she attempted repeating the name, "Sed-na...Sed NA.....Sedna!" once she got it she spun around, happily accepting the name.

Bidzil nodded with a big smile, "Alright! Sedna it is! Get ready for the bug thing, I know its just a little practice, but no point in not being careful. Nix and I will be right here if anything goes wrong, okay?" he assured her. She nodded timidly after looking over to her challenger again.

Nix stood next to Bidzil, anxiously shuffling her feet. "If it hurts her I'm eating it..." Nix said, not liking where this was going.

"You can't eat that! That's gross!" Bidzil started, "Besides, I don't think Zephel will let it get that far......and you really shouldn't eat their pet..."

"I know, I know...this just seems...odd is all." Nix replied as she squatted down on her haunches to watch the impending practice battle.

So this thing while useless now had the potential to become useful later on, how far could this "adsorb ability be taken?" Jones thought to herself. Then Hurrah appeared by her side, and held her hand. Jones squeezed Hurrah's hand, to give reassurance to her brother. "I don't know." She admitted, "it's just something that's done, perhaps to make them stronger?"

The Acquizari landed down in front of her, the buzzing stopped as it folded it's wings behind it's back. It looked curiously at the Sedna.

"It may not be immediate but over time your tamed monsters will grow more capable and some may undergo changes." Zephel looked at Bidzil and Nix. "Listen." He paused and looked up at the sky at his dragon which was high above in the clouds. "In the wilds fights happen all the time. But among tamers our battles are a conversation. Between tamer and monsters. An amalgamation of various wills facing off. This is ideal. For in the wilds there will be no mercy. In battles like this we keep our monsters alive." He crossed his arms and looked back to their monsters.

"So you've named her Sedna." He said to Bidzil. Then looked to Jones. "Have you chosen to name yours too?" He looked at the ground between them. "Use your instincts. The winner will receive a free monster book. BEGIN!"

@Mogget@Jollan@Dark Light

"Uh..." Jones thought of a name, it would be important when giving commands to a monster she realised, she scrounged up any ideas on what to call it, anything that fit her monster at all. "Ack?" She suggested lamely, a mere shortening of the word "Acquizari"

Ack looked back at her, then turned back to Sedna. "Ack!" Jones said, "use 'adsorb?'" She ordered uncertainty, unsure of what Ack might do. Ack looked back at her, and strangely enough it looked like it shrugged. It opened its wings, they buzzed as it flew towards Sedna. Once it reached Sedna, Ack would try to drink the Water Spriggan.

@Jollan

"Absorb?" Bidzil repeated the command he heard. That couldn't be good, especially if Sedna was pretty much all water. Bidzil had to think fast. He didn't know any particular moves for Sedna, so he had to go with telling her simple instructions. Bugs normally didn't fly well in the rain, so he had gotten an idea to maybe thwart the atrack. "Sedna! Quick! Try to spray him down so he can't fly!" She nodded as she heard the command, and with a faint glow around her body, she raised her arms at her sides and water seemed to swirl from her body and then out at the bug coming toward her in retaliation of its advance towards her

Ack meeped in shock as its wings were drenched in water. With a wrustle it crashed into the grass as it lost it's flight. It began to frantically waddle away from Sedna, the meekness known to its kind at this stage showing itself as plain as day. Jones sighed, "that didn't hurt you, Ack, go back and adsorb it."

Ack looked up at her with mournful eyes before it waddled back. It would try to adsorb Sedna once more.

It was a simple concept, the more they fought, the stronger they grew. The stronger they grew, the more they could protect. This was something that Hurruh could comprehend, and with this simple notion he suddenly understood the intent and reasoning of his bug fairy friend’s actions.
Hurrah decided if he got the chance, he would go back and try to find him again. Until then he wanted his monsters to get stronger too. But neither looked ready or interested (even able) to fight.

So instead he got them both to just watch. He scooped Honey, the small golden slime, out of his rucksack and held it out, unsure which way was front or back, to observe the battle.
As for the armis, that Hurruh was still not convinced was a monster, it fumbled loosely around his small hand as the slime bobbled around in it. Hurrah had even less idea how this one would be able to see anything.

Either way, just incase they could see or learn anything, the young boy fought to hold his arm out high so the two might be in a position to do so. It didn’t take long for this to put a strain on his arm but he fought through it. Squeezing his sisters hands tight for strength and in support of her battle.

”Go Ack!” he shouted.

Bidzil jumped excitedly when the poor hosed down bug turned and went back to its master. "Great job, Sedna!" Bidzil congratulated the water spriggan. She turned to him with a smile on her face.

Did good?" Seda asked, though it was more of a confirmation of her understanding.

While Bidzil was busy congratulating her however, Nix noticed the little bug on its way back. "Bidzil! It's coming back!" She warned.

Bidzil turned was caught off guard. For some reason when the monster ran back to its owner, he had thought that maybe it may have been over, but it seemed like that was not the case. He gritted his teeth, knowing that he should have been more aware. He tried to hastily think of something again. She didn't have time to build up another water surge like last time, so he just tried to call out the best he could to her. "Sedna! Defend yourself! Try a shield of water!" Sedna had just enough time to gather water again much like she she summoned it forth to spray the bug down, but since she didn't have time to launch it, she ihstead made somewhat of a shield in front of her to try to defend herself. Bidzil wasn't sure what this absorb attack entailed, but he hoped that Sedna may be able to guard against it.

Ack stopped when it was confronted by the water shield. It looked up and down it, before it turned back and looked at Jones, the monster didn't know what to do. Jones frowned as she looked at what Sedna had conjured up to protect herself from Ack, it was a shield. Jones wondered if Ack would be smart enough to walk around it, but she doubted that. "Ack, attack the shield!" She commanded him, she pointed at the shield of water that Sedna had created.

Ack turned back to face Sedna, and he would begin to bite the shield.

@Jollan

There was a sound of worry from the spriggan as the bug launched itself into the shield, splashing into the currentless water as if diving into a pool. Bidzil, however, already had an idea ready. "It's ok Sedna, pick it up with your water and try to slam it to the ground!" Bidzil recalled how he had seen some water manipulators fight. Though Sedna didn't seem to have the ability to fortify her water yet or make anything complex, she could still move a mass of water where needed. She didn't seem like an offensive heavy monster, but maybe this could be enough for now?

The shield of water would collapse towards Ack where it hit, aiming to surround it in a ball of water which then Sedna would manipulated with Ack in it to slam into the ground.

Nix continued to wait as patiently as she could. She anxiously clawed into the dirt and pulled up grass at her feet, even outside of her true dragon form the claws at her fingertips were decently sharp. Sitting on her haunches, she was ready to jump in, though she knew it wasn't allowed. She wasn't to keen on these one on one battles, her nature wanting to protect her little group from harm.

Ack meeped in confusion as the water from the shield began to surrounded him, it looked left and right. Ack then meeped in confusion as it was slammed down onto the ground inside the ball of water. It looked dazed inside of it, and afraid. "Ack!" Jones shouted, he was so close to Sedna, to give up now would be a mistake. "Attack now, nothing's changed!" The monster quivered, and then spurred on, began to run at it. However, for an Acquizari it was only a fast waddle, if it broke out, it would pounce on Sedna and try to adsorb her.

@Jollan

Ack made contact with the attack. The absorb ability was quite effective against the water spriggan, which was followed by an outcry of pain from Sedna. She rapidly withdrew from the bug, retreating from what injured her and sat low in the grass, trying to draw the water from it, though it didn't seem to be working fast enough to heal her efficiently.

Bidzil noted her speed, but kicked himself for his poor decision. He hoped that wouldn't effect Sedna's trust in him. Bidzil took stock of the situation. He didn't see any sources of water around them and he didn't know of any skills the spriggan could use. "Hold on!" he shouted waving his arms as he started towards Sedna. He rushed over to her and knelt down next to her, Nix right behind him. "Are you alright?" he asked, but she shook her head. An absorption based attack seriously hurts water spriggans, and now she didn't feel well after that. "Here, take this, it should be better than trying to pull it from the ground. I'm sorry I didn't lead you properly. I will try my best not to make such mistakes again," he continued as he took off his pack and handed her his water canteen from it. She took it and drank from it, replenishing part of what she lost, though she took all of the water from it, meaning he would have to get more now. Bidzil looked to the others, "I think I will concede defeat. She doesn't seem to be a fighter and I am unsure with her skills. I don't want to continue in my uncertainty and make things worse for her," he said as he sat down next to her.

Nix then looked at the spriggan and then the bug. She thought about the situation herself and then asked Bidzil excitedly as she came up with an idea, "If the water is now inside the bug, wouldn't she be able to move the water inside of it and then beat the bug against things? OH! Or she could pull the water in two different directions and split the bu-"

"WHAT!? N-No, Nix! Geez, we aren't trying to kill it! And where do you come up with such morbid methods anyway!?" Nix was a bit crestfallen, and Bidzil noticed it. He truly didn't think of that, and in a real survival situation it would probably work, but not here. It made him question just what kind of stuff she had seen on her travels with his mother when she was still a dragonling. "Okay, maybe the first option, but I didn't think of it so its still my fault. Besides, I already called it, its fine. I think Sedna might be better with support anyway. There is a lot of healing methods with water elementals that she may be able to do. I just don't think fighting is in her blo-....well, water." This seemed to cheer Nix up a little.

Jones nodded once at the mention of her opponent conceding defeat, he had been unlucky, that water Spriggan wasn't meant for a fight like this. It was surprising too, she had expected Ack to lose, but he had proven himself to be determined at the very least. Ack lay down on the grass, and snoozed a bit, with a large belly from all the water that he had drunk. "Come here, Ack, let's go." The Monster grumbled and turned over, "NOW!" She shouted at him, with a start Ack jerked up, and with reluctance he began to slink over to Hurrah and Jones.

Zephel silently watched them as Bidzil and Jones got a feel for their chosen monsters. It was fun to watch. Yet the winner was soon decided. Given the match up Bidzil would have needed a different strategy and his Spriggan isn't a wild one. Thus it didn't instinctively know what to do against such an opponent. Zephel walked forward between the two tamers and their monsters. "Here." He tossed a small potion to both of them. But to Jones he gave a free along with it. They were lightly tossed and the grass was thick enough to land them on the ground safely, though needing a bit of brushing off.

"You both did fine. I'm actually surprised it went so well." He looked to Bidzil with an assuring nod. "You aren't seasoned yet. But you certainly care about your monsters, even one you've just met. I think that will take you far. However since you do not know your monsters capabilities it would have been best to let her act on her own. Sometimes a monster will know what to do." He looked to Jones and crossed his arms. "If you keep up the commands your monster will grow accustomed to your preferences. Keep that in mind."

"Now you both are ready to go out and explore the lands for greater monsters and adventures. I will remain here for others who wish to become tamers." He began to walk back to where all of his belongings and the giant tent was. He no longer was directing their path.

@Mogget@Jollan

After a quick squeal of glee for Jones’s win Hurrah chased after the man. ”Wait mister, what can my monsters do? How do I know if I’m looking after them properly?” he politely asked. Holding them out before the esteemed tamer.@Rai

Zephel sighed looking at the young boy whilst scratching his head. "It seems your monsters are all very low in level. It may be best to grow by following and aiding your sister while in the wild. That way your monsters will gain experience." He pointed to each monster as he spoke. "That slime is good for healing, though for its size it can do minor wounds. That bug fairy is able to find sleeping, poison, paralysis or other spores or naturally grown plants to help reduce an enemy's strength. While the last one you got is perfect for defending, though it needs to grow bigger to defend better. Right now it should help defend what it can."

@Dark Light

@Rai@Mogget@Jollan

”Right!” Said Hurruh. Looking down at his expressionless monsters cradled against his chest.
”Defending and healing, that’s what we’ll do!” He spun around and ran back to his sister.

”Jo-Jo, I wanna go find my fairy friend Jay-Jay and make sure it’s alright. I think it would have gone back to its friends in the forest.” He grabs her hand and starts tugging on it.
”C’mon, it’s not too far. Just in between here and Sunfire.” He had a slight worry and urgency to his actions.

Just then one of the remaining bystanders, an elderly simple man who overheard Hurrah’s plea, decided to interrupt with some news and wisdom.
”Youngins, dem roads ain’t the safest path at moon light right now, some bad stories been coming out of em and the next few nights will be the worst. Ain’t got much moon left right now. Best ye be getting a guide, going by cart or waiting till the nights are brighter. At the very least, and as you always should, travel in a group.”

As the siblings turned to look to each other, Jones knew they couldn’t afford a guide or carriage on short notice and Hurruh made it abundantly clear he didn’t want to wait. Turning their heads to look back towards the man they would notice he was gone. Nowhere to be seen. Completely out of site.

Instead, about 10 feet behind where he stood was the young mage, his female friend and the water spriggan...

”well, go ask him.” Hurruh says to Jones nudging her along in the direction of Bidzil who may have just heard everything.