AnnouCurrently w on:

  The AMA ReponsesBook 3 Finale (Current Patreon Release: Ch. 239)

  The private jet soared through the air, headiward. The improvements to the vehicle Amos had made during what he called ‘hobby time’ had extes range by a siderable amount and re impervious to attacks from anything up to an unon-tier force. Besides that, the interior was much of what Sonya remembered from her trip to and from Las Vegas. She hadn’t used the jet in a while, discretely using portals when she could and taking advantage of other forms of transportatio was avaible.

  The reasons were obvious, of course. The st two times she had been i she had been sitting across from A and reeling from the fallout from Vegas respectively. She would have rather used a portal but she was bringing Alex, Snow, and Lily with her and that meant using her own portals wasn’t an option. As for the alternative, this was not an official visit or business reted to the Pandora ittee and hero work. Certainly Sonya could call in a favor from Euclidia but she would rather not abuse her es like that.

  Not yet anyway.

  Marta strode up to her from where she had been standing at the small kitette at one end of the and handed her a mug filled with fragrant tea. Sonya sipped it and smiled, “Thank you, Marta,” she said. Her friend bowed politely befng down at the thing in Sonya’s p. She gnced up a Sonya’s gaze with raised eyebrows and Sonya smirked right back at her.

  Marta rolled her eyes before turning to look at the other passengers, “How do the four of you take your tea?”

  Cass, Alex, Lillian, and Snow were all in various states of attentiveness when she asked the question. Cass was lounging on one of the couches lining the inner with a zy expression, staring out one of the windows and yawning. Alex was on his phoapping away at what was likely a game. Snow was staring pointedly at Sonya’s p with big eyes while Lillian mirrored her expression, her gold-plumed hahonse on her shoulder. None of them reacted to her words.

  Marta shook her head, “Miss ovna’s usual blend, then,” she said and stepped away.

  The object of at least half of the young heroes’ attention was the rge fuzzy creature ying sprawled across Sonya’s p. It was for all is and purposes a Siberian husky, rgely white with dark lines framing its eyes and gradients of gray running down its back. It rested quietly in its spot, most of its body sitting fortably on the couch to Sonya’s side. Across from Sonya, Snow crept forward and its ear twitched, one eerie white eye opening and gng in her dire. She pulled back as the faint hiss of static preceded a giggle of delight.

  “What’s his name?” Lillian asked, looking up at Sonya from where she had been admiring the majestic dog.

  “I’m calling him Levi,” Sonya said, scratg behind the dogs ears. It barely shifted to give her a superile.

  “He’s very calm for a husky, did he gh training?” Lillian asked as Snow crept fain, with eager steps. Levi opened his eye and stared at her again before looking away aing out a long suffering huff. Lilin ughed, “Full of personality though.”

  “Well he’s ly a husky, e over here, you’ll probably be able to tell if you get close enough,” Sonya said gently. Lillian and Snow squi her befng at one another and grinning. They got to their feet and made their way across the , stopping to kneel o the dog. Levi raised his head and turned slowly to look at them, his ilted up a bit as if having them approach was some manner of minor slight.

  Lillian and Snow didn’t seem to notice, but Alphonse did. The hawk let out a small sound of protest and flicked its head to the right to fix Levi with a stare. They held one anazes as Snow reached out to run her hand down Levi’s back. Levi huffed again, this time sounding disied auro resting his head on Sonya’s p. Lillian reached out to join Snow iing him and froze. She blinked and looked up at Sonya, “He’s not a dog.”

  “Not a natural one, no,” Sonya said with an easy ugh, she tilted her head to look into the creature’s eyes, “He came out of an egg, if you believe it.”

  Snow was the o react with Alex gng up with her, “An egg?”

  Sonya tilted her head and looked into Levi’s eyes, smiling at him, “Didn’t you little buddy?” she asked merrily before flig her gaze up towards the others, “A friend of mine is a bit of a collector of ies out of dungeons. Odd resources, dungeon rewards, that kind of thing. The egg was a reward and he gave it to me as thanks for some help I gave him.”

  Sonya let out an exhausted sigh, “The egg draws mana through your body to feed it, it’s like stantly using your powers. I’ve been feeding it for a while now and a familiar came out.”

  “Your eyes are always on, that must have been exhausting,” Lillian said.

  Sonya snorted, “You’re tellihough the rewards are worth it, I have a bodyguard in case Marta has to go running off. Once he grows up a little of course.”

  Snow ran her fihrough his fur, “There’s an illusion on him. I barely se, it’s more powerful than mine by one hell of a margin,” she said with a crackle of static.

  Marta returned with a pair of mugs and hahem to the girls who took them gratefully, “He has to keep his cover somehow,” Marta said, “One of his defense meisms, I imagine. We still don’t know everything but given what he really looks like currently, I’m gd this is an option.”

  Levi raised his head and glowered at Marta. She met his gaze and smirked, “What? You’re scary like that. I ’t imagine Sonya walking you. It’d cause a panic.”

  The twave her a quizzical look as she turned away, “He’s a hound.”

  Alex hopped to his feet, “I knew I smelled something familiar,” he said and made his way over, kneelio Levi with the others, “Wow that is one hell of an illusion. Even knowing doesn’t break it. Handsome dog.”

  “You smelled him?” Lillian asked.

  “Course I did, I’m literally a giant monster-hunting snake,” he said.

  “Only when Cass and Ollie are around,” Snow teased.

  “N-not true! I’ll get there eventually!” He shot back, flustered. He looked back at Cass, “You think I will, right?”

  “Mhm,” Cass said nonittally as she tinued flipping through her phohout looking up. Alex let out a defeated sigh as the irls giggled at him.

  “This is what happens when you go on vacation with a bunch of beautiful women, Alex, trust me, I uand,” Sonya said fly.

  “Levi’s a dude!” he protested, “You’ve got my back, right buddy?” he asked the familiar. Levi flicked his pale eyes in Alex’s dire and sat up slightly giving him what could only be described as a pitying look before turning back to rest on Sonya’s p once more. Alex sat ba the floor of the and ran his fihrough his hair, “Dude, an. Brht?”

  Laughter filled the as Alex took his lumps. He and Sually migrated back to their side of the jet a back to what they were doing. Lillian stayed with Sonya and Levi, admiring the familiar. “What’s it feel like?” she asked quietly, “He’s your familiar, so is he ected to you or something?”

  Sonya tilted her head, “It’s odd, it’s like having a little sense of self outside of me, I know where he is and what he’s feeling to a degree. I imagine you feel something simir with Alphonse?”

  “Sort of, Alphonse was a normal hawk when I met him,” Lillian said, reag up to run her fingers down the back of the bird on her shoulder who was still givihe stink-eye, “I feel him now and his body has ged slightly. It happened while we were in the dungeon. He’s stronger, faster, and he’s got those gold feathers he didn’t have before,” she looked back to Levi, “I’m guessing it was from hunting monsters. Maybe that’s what you’ll have to do with him.”

  Sonya shrugged, “Well, we’ll be able to ask the expert on familiars once we get to Japan. We’re meeting him on nding as I uand it.”

  Lillian looked up at her, “Expert?”

  Sonya grinned, “Somebody fairly knowledgeable about having a magical creature as a partner. He’s an old hat with it now.”

  Lillian’s eyes went wide, “You’re joking.”

  Sonya pursed her lips and looked away ily, “Hm? I didn’t firm or deny anything”

  “What’s up?” Alex called over from his seat, he had a pair of legs in his p and looked a lot happier after being teased relentlessly. Sonya gave Cass a look and she retur with her own i expression that Sonya suspected looked a lot like her own. “Who are we seeing?” Alex asked obliviously.

  “Do we really get to meet Inky?” Lillian asked, excited, “Seriously? Seriously?”

  Sonya let out a mirthful ugh, “I would assume so, given that it and Bandit are never far apart.”

  “Bandit’s in Japan?” Alex blurted and even Cass looked up to pay attention.

  “There were several talented bow-using light-touched in their camp program. Japan borrowed him for the duration aayed to assist with a few dungeons and walk them through some of the steps we took during the development of the ASTA Guild,” Sonya expined, “He and Sapporo have a good rapport so it retty easy to make it happen.”

  Lillian squi Sonya, “We’re going to meet Bandit and he’s been helping out with dungeons, huh? Are you sure this is a grace-period vacation trip?”

  Sonya met her eyes and grinned.

  –

  Bandit shifted on his feet, rubbing his neck as they stood oarmac. He squinted up at the clear blue sky and frowned a little. It was too damn bright out. He felt Inky stir in his shadow and he sent a reassuring hrough their e. The little creature had engaged him in a fairly transaal retionship when they first met but it had steadily evolved into a bond that surpassed friendship. Inky was his familiar now, a rare occurrence for someohout an ability fun for creating a familiar but apparently not unheard of.

  He gowards Sapporo, the big guy was imposing as ever. He had the vibe of a mountain that always seemed to make his shifts tood humor a little uling. Bandit wondered if that was the point. He leaned forward just a little to gnce past Sapporo and the ente of Japanese representatives. There were people from the tral gover, the local Pandora branch, and even a representative from the Imperial Family. That was a little weird but given how big a name was showing up he supposed it wasn’t that surprising.

  “Restless?” Sapporo asked in his gravel-against-steel voice.

  Bandit stood up straight and shrugged, “It’s been a while since I’ve seen her. She looked after me and the others when we were getting started but sihen I’ve been go go go, y’know?”

  Sapporo nodded quietly, turning his head to look up at the horizon, “It will be good to have her here. Her presence is a balm in troubled times.”

  “You do remember that she’s kind of a koht?” Bandit pointed out, “Like, she’s probably gonna e out there like a superstar diva and do or say something eous.”

  The big man’s expression shifted into araordinarily rare smile, “Yes, I’ve met Sonya ovna before.”

  Bandit ughed, getting a few looks from the other more stoic representatives that he ighe two of them had met at the same time Sapporo had first entered Sonya. It was an awkward meeting, looking bad he wondered how they had mao bond the way they had despite the horrors they’d seen not long after. He shoved his hands into his pockets, “Inky’s not liking the direct sunlight.”

  “Your stratle friend will be in more fortable environs soon,” Sapporo said before l his voice a little, “The third man to my left is a representative of a media studio. He’s here for you.”

  Bandit pressed his lips together and leaned back to get a view of the men arrayed waiting for the arrival of the pne and the celebrity inside. He caught sight of a man with a thick mustache and hard eyes on a slightly pudgy face. He squi the man’s shirt and sain marking him as a member of a popur media pany in Japan. Bandit shifted baore fortable pose and shot Sapporo a ghanks for the heads up. Not ied in turning Inky into a kids toy. I’m fih franchising, it's what ASTA does for me anyway, but I don’t want kids seeing what Inky really does to living things on TV while holding an effigy of him.”

  Sapporo nodded, “A very kind mi. Better he be a figment of mystery and danger.”

  “Couldn’t agree more, big guy-” he froze and Sapporo did as well. They both looked up at the horizon and frowned, “I fot what Handmaide like,” Bandit said.

  “Imposing indeed,” Sappreed, “There was something else there for a moment but it receded. Perhaps a trick of the mind?”

  “Dunno, there’s another odd du the pne. A growth-type hero,” Bandit said.

  “Growth-type?” Sapporo asked, “Those are very rare.”

  “You’re right, what makes it more pelling is that this kid trained under Bck Lotus and has simir funs to her ability,” he said, “She just joihe East ASTA Guild the other day. Bluestar gave me a heads up that she was ing.”

  Sapporo raised his eyebrows, “A cultivator. That expins the sensation. Very trolled.”

  The mao Sapporo turo face them, he was an older man with thinning gray hair. Despite that, his eyes had a sharpo them that always made Bandit wary, “I was unaware you possessed a sensory power, Sapporo.”

  “I do not, Mister Takehara,” Sapporo said before looking up at the sky where the pne roag. Takehara frow Sapporo before turning away to speak with one of the others.

  “They still want you to overtake BL?” Bandit asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Are you going to?”

  “Not iionally, no.”

  Bandit gnced past him towards the officials speaking amongst themselves. “They're not happy,” he said with mild amusement as he listened in from a distanbsp;

  Sapporo chuckled, “No, they are not.”