Monster Pet Evolution

Flamy swallowed its catch and said, "I just saw a huge whale flying in the sky. It was flying north."

"A whale?" Silly startled from its sleep on Gao Peng's head and looked around in panic. "Where? Where is it?"

"It flew away," said Gao Peng, pinching Silly's head.

"Oh, thank god," it said, sighing in relief.

It then sprawled across Gao Peng's head, rumpling his hair in the process.

Out of the corner of its eye, Flamy saw a pillar of black smoke rising from a hole. Being a fire-type familiar, it was quite drawn to the heat that was being given off by the smoke.

When it breathed in the black smoke, it started coughing uncontrollably and immediately covered its nostrils with its wings.

Suddenly, a bony black hand clasped Flamy's shoulder. Dumby had appeared out of nowhere behind Flamy with a compassionate look on its face.

"It's not healthy to breathe in smoke like that," said Dumby, fierce flames crackling in its eye sockets.

Silly stared back at it dumbly.

Dumby let go of the bird and plodded towards the black smoke. Suddenly, the fire in its eye sockets burned even more fiercely as Dumby breathed in deeply, sucking in the black smoke through its nostrils.

Dumby turned to Flamy and said, "The smell's a bit difficult to handle, especially for a beginner like you. Come with me."

Flamy's jaw dropped. There must be some sort of misunderstanding here, it thought.

When Dumby saw that Flamy was still standing there, it waved a hand at the bird and said gently, "Relax. I'm not addicted to this stuff. It's just that friends who like the same things I do are so hard to come by these days."

Before it realized what was happening, Flamy found itself staggering over to Dumby's side.

Dumby bent down to open a wooden crate on the ground that was filled with rows of two-foot-long, seven-inch-wide packets. Each packet was mounted with strips of silver and felt rough to the touch.

Dumby took a packet from the crate and shook a small rod-shaped object out of it.

"Here, take a puff of this. It's made from powdered Yin cedar needles mixed with Spirit Fruit juice. Long-term use of it can help sharpen your senses and calm your nerves. Go on, try it," said Dumby, handing the rod-shaped object to Flamy.

Flamy blinked a few at times at it and shook its head furiously.

Dumby didn't try to push the bird to take the joint. "It's cool. I never smoke at home. I only smoke two of these at a time when I'm outside."

"Why don't you smoke at home?" asked Flamy curiously.

"Xiao Hua doesn't like the smell," replied Dumby as it patted a bit of dust off itself. "Sorry, can you help me light this thing?"

With a shrill cry, Flamy spat a small fire at the cylindrical object in Dumby's hand.

Soon, green smoke filled the air.

Dumby leaned back on a stone wall, its black robe billowing in the wind. It leisurely breathed in the smoke while taking in the scenery around them.

"Goldie, why aren't you wearing your feather coat?" asked Flamy when it saw the naked duck passing by.

The seven-foot-tall duck coldly looked at it and patted the prayer beads it was wearing around its neck. "I don't need it!" Then it walked away with a humph.

Has it outgrown its coat? thought Flamy.

...

A Mountain Spirit was standing motionlessly on an empty patch of ground before Stripey.

The Mountain Spirit stirred from its sleep when it sensed Stripey's heavy footfalls. One by one, the black empty holes on its body flickered to life.

"Say, traveler, what brings you here?" said the Mountain Spirit slowly.

Stripey remained silent for a long while.

Gao Peng was growing restless. "Say something, Stripey."

"M-me? Why do I have to..." Stripey sounded nervous.

"Aren't you the one who goes around telling people that you're my bravest familiar?"

"I'll let Da Zi have that title. I'll settle with second bravest familiar," stammered Stripey.

Why bring me into this? thought Da Zi, who was curled up in a corner. I would kick your massive behind for stabbing me in the back like that if you weren't already so massive.

"Just repeat what I say," said Gao Peng.

The Mountain Spirit seemed apprehensive at first about Stripey's proposition. It didn't think that it would have anything to talk about with the other Mountain Spirits.

Mountain Spirits never needed to make deals with anyone or anything.

"We can help you solve your Armadrillo problem," said Stripey.

The Mountain Spirit hesitated for a moment.

"We can also provide blood offerings for you. That way, you won't have to look for food every day, and you can just sleep there to your heart's content.

"We have two Emperor-tier familiars with us. We've also convinced ten other Mountain Spirits of our plan, so you don't need to worry about being attacked by others, and you can concentrate only on your evolution."

The Mountain Spirit nodded slowly. It had finally decided to take part in Gao Peng's plan. Of course, Stripey's Mountain King Spirit aura had played a huge role in convincing it to agree.

"Okay, I'm in," said the Mountain Spirit moodily. "However, if you don't keep your end of the bargain, I'll be very angry."

"You have my word," said Stripey.

Later, Gao Peng had Stripey go around convincing two other Mountain Spirits in the area to join their cause.

Gao Peng frowned at the setting sun. This is taking way too long, he thought.

In truth, the whole process had gone quite smoothly. Stripey's presence had also greatly contributed to this.

However, the Mountain Spirits were all scattered in different areas. They had wasted too much time going from one Mountain Spirit to the next.

"Stripey, can you sense where the nearest Mountain Spirit is?"

Stripey closed its eyes as it began feeling the earth's pulse beneath its feet.

Suddenly, it sensed a powerful throbbing in the ground not too far away. It was as if someone was striking the ground with a huge mallet.

"Master, I have a lead on one," it said.

"Then let's get a move on. We're going to be here for a while," muttered Gao Peng.