Chapter 068 – Sturdy
Blu was introduced to the rest of the group, but Mira’s wish to keep its real powers hidden was busted the moment her daughter took as much as a single glance at it. Chloe instantly noticed that Blu was beyond powerful, but she luckily bought the excuse of it just being a random bird from her domain because she could see how the teal fox’s place was full of animals like the parakeet. Afterward, Sophia took everyone to the floating island of her newly created cherry blossom biome because she got the overwhelming urge to boast about it. After all, she can't function without being at the center of attention at least once a day.
“HOW?!” Steph was the first to react when she realized that they were on a floating island as she glanced down at the side of it. “How does it float?!”
“Magic, of course~.” Sophia smiled at her. “It’s quite easy to make things float with it.”
“IT IS?!” Her sister got even louder.
“You didn’t know about it?” The blonde got even smugger about it.
“I didn’t!”
“Don’t worry,” Mira smiled at Steph. “Sophia was even more surprised than you are right now when she first saw it earlier.”
“T-There was no need to mention that part!” She glared at her in return.
“Ha!” The dog-girl’s expression turned into a smirk.
“Wait, if she didn’t know about it, how did Sophia do it, then?” Chloe tilted her head. “Sophia created the area, right? That means she should’ve wanted this floating island to happen, doesn’t it?”
“Well,” The short tiger scratched her cheek. “I wanted a viewing platform to overlook the forest and take in its whole glory. Magic interpreted that into this.” She simply gestured around.
“Ahh, I see!” The pink fox nodded a few times. “Your ambiguity when it comes to using magic really leads to the most amazing results!”
“Ehehe~.”
“Circumstances aside, I think I have to admit defeat, though.” Steph was looking down the island and at the cherry blossom forest below again. “Even the palace area of my kingdom of eternal coldness looks like slums compared to your biome.”
“There’s a palace area in your hellscape?!” The blonde didn’t like those words.
“I was planning one before, but I need to redo everything!” The dog-girl raised her voice. “I was playing things way too safe! I need to get way more extreme! Now I have a benchmark and have to respond accordingly!”
“You really don’t have to.” Sophia shook her head. “Your ice hell is fine the way it is!" She hated it enough already, after all.
“Too late! I’m already fired up!” There was no stopping her any longer. “Chloe, you’ll still help me fill our kingdom with raw magic, right?”
“I’ll not only help you, but I’ll also make sure to help you surpass her creation!” She was just as motivated.
“You’re the best!”
“That being said,” The pink fox also moved to the edge of the island. “It is amazingly beautiful!”
“Thank you very much~.” Sophia was happy to hear that. “I absolutely love how it came out.”
“You have all the reasons to be proud!” Chloe smiled at her. “I don’t think it’s possible to make a better cherry blossom forest than this. It’s simply perfect!”
“Yeah,” Steph nodded. “I still love all things pink more, though! No one can beat me in that regard!” She kept glancing at Chloe.
“Are you sure about that?” Sophia smirked at her before pointing down the island. “I think my love for pink burns a little hotter than yours~.”
“Never!” Raising her voice, the dog-girl then leaned over to Chloe and gave her a quick kiss on her cheek.
“I mean,” The blonde tilted her head before glancing at Maya.
“Cheek is fine~.” The cat-girl gave her a thumbs up.
“See?” Sophia then also leaned over and kissed Chloe’s other cheek. It was a lot lighter than Steph’s, though. “Your dedication to pink is lacking~.”
“Grr!” The little sister wasn’t a fan of losing, so this time, she wrapped her arms around the fox's neck, pulled her close, and gave her a full kiss on the lips. “It is not!” She stared at the short tiger with a serious expression after parting.
“Hmm,” Sophia paused for a moment. Then, she shook her head and started smiling. “Fine, your dedication to Chloe is slightly bigger than mine is. How about that?”
“I’m not happy, but it’s a compromise I can accept.”
“Our daughter sure is popular, huh?” Mira smiled at Fey next to her while watching their exchange.
“Not happy.” The full fox shook her head. “Especially when she’s popular with those chaotic sisters!”
“She’s popular with all of us girls, though.” Maya decided that she didn’t want to help.
“Yes.” Ari and Anna felt the same.
“Ehehe~.” Chloe got even happier.
“Also, our girl is about as chaotic as the sisters.”
“Not helping!” Fey raised her voice. “All of you, I want to add!”
“Uhh,” Once they were done lightly flirting with Chloe, Anna, Ari, and Maya slowly went closer to the edge of the floating island. “Is it, uhh… really safe…?” They didn’t feel like wanting to fall down.
“I’ll catch you if any of you trip~.” Sophia smiled at the trio.
“That’s not necessarily overly help-, WOAH!” The jaguar wanted to complain about her reply, but she had a very different reaction once she was close enough to the edge to see the cherry blossom forest below in all its glory.
“Woah!” The other two felt the same.
“That’s exactly the reaction I wanted!” The blonde was a big fan of the exchange. “I’m glad you all like it.”
“This is absolutely gorgeous!” Maya praised her some more. “Almost as beautiful as the things we did while you were getting your magic ready for this~.”
“Ahaha.” Sophia had to chuckle at this very typical response. “True, though.”
“It is indeed very stunning.” Ari and Anna nodded a few times. “How about some railing on this island, though?” They were still not fans of standing so close to the edge.
“It makes you nervous, doesn’t it?” The short tiger agreed with them. “It’s on the list.”
“I wanna go down!” Steph got excited. “How do we do that? Jump?”
“Sure, go ahead~.” Sophia pointed down the edge.
“How about no?!” The other girls had something against that idea.
"Don't worry, Steph's pretty sturdy," Fey reassured them. "A small drop like that won't hurt her.”
“Yeah!” The dog-girl nodded. “And she would know, after all.”
"Exactly." The full fox nodded.
“How would she know that you won’t get hurt from such a height?!” Chloe got loud.
“Who knows?” Both decided to feign ignorance.
“Oi!” The pink fox raised her voice even more. “From now on, the two of you aren’t allowed to do any of your little training sessions without supervision!”
“Ah.” The duo had nothing else to say.
"Do I count as supervision?" Sophia pointed at herself. "I'm getting really curious about what the two are up to all the time and how Steph became fireproof, among other things."
“No!” Ari immediately shot her down. “I don’t even want to imagine the consequences there.”
“Fey and I mostly train in Mira’s domain, so the consequences are minimal.” Steph smiled at her.
“Oh!” The jaguar’s expression changed. “If that’s how it is, Sophia definitely counts as supervision! Everything that powers her out from going crazy in the regular world is a good thing!”
“Nice!” The blonde was happy to get the permission in the end.
“Only I count as supervision!” The pink fox thought otherwise. “The supervision is meant to keep Steph from gaining even more questionable features!” She was concerned about her girlfriend.
“Aww.”
“If you want to, I can show you the things Steph and I usually do.” Fey looked at the disappointed tiger. “Just the two of us have some nice training together.”
“Oh, I don’t care about that.” Chloe started smiling again. “Go wild, you two!”
"A little more love for the older sister would be appreciated!” Sophia didn’t like how fast her attitude changed.
“I love you a whole lot, but I also know that Canir went so wild with you that you’re basically indestructible.” Missing love wasn't the issue. She simply had complete faith in her survival rate when paired with Fey.
“Oh, okay, fair enough.” The short tiger looked relieved. “I mean, I even kissed you earlier and all that, so that would’ve been quite the shock!”
“And I enjoyed that a lot!”
“Wording!” Ari shook her head while listening to them.
“You’re the last who’s allowed to make comments on that!” Multiple people in the group immediately retorted when they heard the jaguar’s words.
"A-Ah.” She awkwardly turned her head to the side because there was nothing she could say to defend herself.
“I’ll think about it!” Sophia smiled back at Fey. “I definitely wanna try it someday!”
“Anytime you’re ready to learn some manners and restraint~.” The full’s voice was full of smugness.
“I don’t think Steph learned either so far, though?” The blonde glanced at her sister while tilting her head.
"Nope!" She just gave her a thumbs-up in return.
“Well,” Even though she started saying something, Fey didn’t finish her sentence.
“Alright, let’s go down already! I want to see the forest up close!” Steph returned to her previous request. “Sophia, portal please!”
“Sure thing!” Doing as told, the short tiger created a portal that led towards the actual cherry blossom forest and gestured the group to go through it before following after them, as well.