Smiles

  Atreya was such a cute girl.

  While her boobs were very small, her hips and thighs were deliciously thick. Her feathers were a bright cyan color, contrasting nicely with my ice-blue feathers.

  As we walked, I began to pick up on little habits of hers that were very cute.

  When she got really excited about something, her tail flicked up and began shaking back and forth. When she was impatient, her tail fred out and pointed down. When she saw food, she grinned widely and her tail buzzed with happiness.

  It was so cute.

  Another thing I noticed as we walked was the slow build-up of... suspicious-looking people.

  Darkly dressed shadows flitting between the crowds, always nearby. A few times I even saw them looking at me.

  Odd.

  I put it out of my mind and focused on Atreya.

  "Do you notice anything off right now?" She asked. "I feel like someone's watching us."

  "I don't want to arm you, but there've been people following us for a while now," I replied in a soft voice. She bnched and turned to face me.

  "Let's go," She said. "Fly away, right now. They won't follow us."

  "The type of people who'd go after you and me are prepared," I told her. "They're going to have a way to follow us." Her eyes widened.

  "What do we do?" She asked, panicking. She began to hyperventite.

  "Hey," I said, pulling her toward me. "Calm down. We're going to be okay."

  She slowed her breathing, calming herself. After that, she looked up.

  "What are we going to do?" She whispered.

  "We wait," I whispered back. "Let them expose themselves. I bst them with magic, create a distraction, and then we fly away. If they do manage to follow us, we attack them midair."

  "Okay," Atreya said, nodding. "So, until then, just act natural?"

  "Yep," I murmured.

  We continued walking, pretending to look at the shops and stores. Eventually, we ended up in a mostly empty portion of the street. One person stood in the middle of the road, turned to the side. As we approached, they turned to us.

  They wore a dark cloak covering their whole body. I noted that they didn't seem to have rge ears poking up, which ruled out most of the mammalkin. I didn't see a tail either, which meant they weren't a reptilian or avian.

  "Hello little birdies," They spoke in a raspy voice. "It seems you've fallen for our trap."

  "And what would that trap be?" I asked sarcastically

  The person ughed and snapped their fingers. Instantly, a rge amount of people emerged from the shadows around us, forming a rge haphazard circle.

  “You’re not getting away,” They said with a grin.

  Atreya was tense beside me, looking at those around us nervously. I cast a silent spell, creating an invisible magic barrier around us. Following that up, I began preparing my magic to form a gun.

  Instead of a simple pistol, though, I was going for something much more powerful.

  One of those around us stepped forward. They had a hunched appearance and the little skin I could see was wrinkled and dark blue.

  A whalekin. Known for their powerful muscles and water magic.

  This might be tricky.

  “Just come with us,” They spoke in a deep, rough voice. “We don’t want trouble.”

  “I’m good,” I said. “We were pnning on leaving soon. It’s getting te.”

  “Sorry, I should have phrased that better,” The whalekin replied, straightening up and looming above everyone else. “Come with us peacefully or you’ll get hurt.” I could see they were a man now.

  “I understood what you meant,” I expined. “I’m not stupid. I’m saying no thanks.”

  “Well, guess you’ll learn it the hard way,” He growled. He raised his hand into the air and punched me. Or, tried to at least.

  His fist collided with the barrier, bouncing off with a loud ringing noise. I finished the gun spell and pulled out the rge weapon.

  Shotgun time.

  I aimed and pulled the trigger, sending a rge projectile directly into the whalekin’s gut. It burst outward with a loud bang, throwing the tall man backward without doing much damage.

  He smmed into the bricks behind him, crushing two others under his bulk before colpsing on the ground.

  “Like I said, what trap?” I taunted. “You think you can stop me?”

  “Yes, actually,” The first person from before said. “Boom.”

  Immediately, I forced a bunch of magic into my barrier as something hit it with extreme force. The tiny projectile left a huge crack spider webbing across the shield before it stuck the cobblestone underneath me, narrowly missing my arm.

  “When the barrier disappears, we fly,” I whispered to Atreya. She nodded shakily.

  “I’m impressed,” A feminine voice called out from above. “You made your own gun and blocked mine.”

  I looked up to see a woman on the rooftop. Instead of arms, she has rge wings reminiscent of a dragon’s with long spokes connected by webbing. Two rge triangur ears stick up from her head.

  A batkin. And a Blessed on top. With her exceptional hearing and echolocation combined with her flight, she would make an excellent sniper.

  Which is what she was doing. I could see the rge gun held in her hand-like feet.

  “Well, I’m sorry to cut this short,” I said. “But this can’t go on any longer.” I stomped my foot down, creating a huge bst of ice all around us, forming a rge bowl structure obscuring us from everyone on the ground and the batkin’s sights, for now.

  I dropped the barrier and Atreya and I shot into the sky. I quickly formed another one around me and a separate one around her, to protect us from more attacks.

  “Get back here!” The batkin shouted. I heard soft fpping behind us and guessed that she was following.

  A loud, piercing screech came from below, momentarily stuttering the barriers I had put up.

  Shit.

  A bst of wind shot by my ear, narrowly missing my head. This girl was a good shot. Scarily good.

  “Dive,” I said, tucking in my wings and spiraling toward the ground. I thudded into the ground by the forest's edge while Atreya fluttered beside me. She clung to me, her heart beating fast and her body shaking.

  Our chaser touched down as well, nding somewhat awkwardly on the grass.

  “You’re a toughie,” She said with a grin. “But if you can’t keep that barrier up then you won’t be able to stop me.” She paused and appeared thoughtful. “I won’t kill you, though.”

  I gred at her as Atreya shook more. I wrapped a wing around her, pulling her small body into my side.

  “I don’t know what you want, but leave us alone,” I growled.

  “No can do,” The batkin replied. “I have orders. Nothing will stop me from-”

  She was cut off as a figure appeared beside her. I saw a bright array of colors moving in a blur as an explosive bst appeared.

  The batkin flew into a tree and slumped to the ground, unconscious.

  “Sorry, it looked like you were in trouble,” Our savior said with a grin. It was Fyxe, the Mantis Shrimpkin.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “Not a problem,” Fyxe replied. “I recommend you head back to the academy. It’s getting dark, and the forest is dangerous.”

  “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” I said. “Will you be fine?”

  “Yeah, I know a quick way in,” Fyxe told me.

  “Thank you,” Atreya mumbled as we prepared to take off.

  “Anytime,” Fyxe replied. “See ya.”

  Atreya and I leaped into the air, flying back toward our rooms.

  This had been a long day.