The yellow cube floated gently above the goblin’s palm like a soft snowflake in upward wind.

  “How ironically pleasant,” Tanuki thought.

  He had paid little attention to this creature before. It had stuck behind and threw only growls and barks their way. Tanuki imagined it to be a coward, afraid of pain, thus why it remained far from action. Only when it was forced by the other goblin to go ahead did Tanuki realize, its fear might not stem from him or Six, but the cube itself.

  It was afraid to use its own weapon.

  “Six,” Tanuki spoke to him, so calm and soft that the plantfolk knew immediately how important it was that he listens.

  “Yes?”

  “Step away from him. Slowly.”

  Six did so, and hearing Tanuki’s feet shift through the grass, he knew to continue moving away.

  The goblin did not speed up its approach. It kept the same careful pace, occasionally turning to look at the other goblin, standing still and preparing.

  “Six,” whispered Tanuki, “I’m going to ask a question that you won’t like.”

  “Say, Liege,” his voice was barely audible, like rustling leaves.

  “I never asked, but… can you feel pain?”

  “More than before.”

  Though he understood not what Six had meant by those words, nor what they might imply, he knew it meant what he dreaded. The request he was about to make needed not only his companion’s trust, but his willingness to go through extreme pain for a greater good.

  “That goblin is the weakest of the three, it might even be on par with the scouts, yet it’s the one to carry the yellow cube. Why would Soup give a magical object to the weakest attacker? Why not to the other goblins, who must fight with regular equipment?”

  “To help weak,” Six answered.

  “You might do that because you’re kind, but not the chieftess of the goblin tribe. As much as I hate to admit, she looks strong. These creatures combined have not half her muscle. I believe that amongst these savages, strength is everything––but this creature is weak.”

  Behind, Woodrow waved to the other plantfolks to raise their bows.

  When they were practicing, he took note of the distance their arrows could travel. He drew lines on the road of everyone’s personal best.

  He waved to the others when the first of those lines was stepped over by Tanuki, with Six following shortly after. A few seconds more, and the goblin finally reached it, as could one of the plantfolks’ arrows.

  Tanuki knew of Woodrow’s plan, but having practiced alongside the people of Yoshimura, he doubted their aim. These people were created to grow crops, not to fight. Six was an exception that the other plantfolks falsely thought as one of them, having forgotten they were not made equal.

  For that reason, Tanuki came up with his own plan. One that would serve as the best outcome of a difficult situation, both for him and his realm’s resources.

  But not at all for Six.

  Guilt poured into his chest as he breathed in to say it.

  “Six, that thing in the goblin’s hand is a bomb. If I was caught in its blast, we’d have to use our last healing potion. But… I’ve earnt this ring after we escaped Yoshimura, it’s called the Ring of Growth… it can speed up the growth of plants, and I thought if I use only some of our healing potion to…”

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “I will shield you.”

  Tanuki’s foot stopped in mid-air, then slowly descended to the ground. His mouth remained open, but not to speak, but of great astonishment.

  Even before he could explain his idea of combining a healing potion with the Ring of Growth, Six had chosen to shield him, even without knowing it would not require his life as a sacrifice.

  Tanuki could not say a thing. And how could he? A simple thank you could never express the gratitude he felt for his friend.

  The setting sun glimmered in his tears.

  Had he a minute, some form of gratitude might have escaped his tongue, knowing well it would only offer a piece of his true feelings. Unfortunately, his time was cut short as the goblin gathered its courage and suddenly…

  “Murder!” it tried to yell, but the sounds mixed into a hoarse croak.

  The goblin kicked itself off its hind leg and charged forward at an incredible speed neither were anticipating. As if having eyes to see this, the cube gradually gained light, until it was blinding like a lamp in the dark.

  Tanuki jumped away in fear and ran. He called out to Six, but to his horror, the plantfolk raised its shield and walked towards the bomb.

  “Wait, Six!” he yelled to call him away but stopped as whistling grew over his head.

  Arrows.

  The goblin stepped over enough lines for at least half of the plantfolk arrows to hit it, thus Woodrow gave the order to shoot. Having been motivated by Six’s heroics, they greatly overestimated their aim.

  No arrows hit the goblin, Tanuki barely dodged one, while another managed to stab Six in the back.

  Though their arrows were poorly made and could barely penetrate the plantfolk’s wooden skin, it would have been enough to scare him, making him turn around and lowering his shield, giving him no defense from the explosion.

  But Six did not even flinch. He stood upright and raised his chin with pride. The cape of flowers danced behind him in the wind as he stared down the creature with his brave green eyes.

  The goblin fast approached, the thing in its hands grew loud with beeps and shined so bright it could blind a man. Tears coated the creature’s face as he closed his eyes, afraid to observe its fate.

  And as the goblin reached its target, and the cube shot a beam of yellow light into the sky, for the first time Tanuki heard Six shout.

  “For my Liege! For home!”

  The most enormous sound blasted out of the cube, shaking the very core of every creature in the realm. Even the earth shook, and the trees in what tiny forest they had lost half of their leaves. The water of their pond grew waves, splashing out onto the field and into the void. What few void gliders remained on the island flew into the sky out of fear, only to fall back as their bodies could not handle the reverbing sound.

  The light of the cube turned into a ball that blinded Tanuki. He felt grass and mud hit him in the face, and a burst of energy so high it nearly sent him flying away.

  And quickly, like a balloon exhaling all its air, the sound disappeared, and the light was gone.

  Tanuki saw blurry and his ears rang. He fell to his knees but quickly gathered himself.

  “Six,” his fear returned, and he turned to the destroyed field.

  Then gasped.

  Six’s body rested on the ground and so did the goblin. The field was also intact.

  “What the hell happened?” he looked at the Woodrow and the other plantfolks. Some were still on the ground, covering their head, while some had already gathered themselves, confused as to what happened.

  On the far end of the field the other goblin stood with shaking legs, pee running down its knees. Some further away, Soup stood far away from the portal, still shaking and covering her ears.

  Tanuki’s realm might have remained intact, but something had happened. Dark clouds gathered above the realm. The remaining goblin pointed at them and screamed, quickly hiding beneath the barricades.

  Tanuki looked up, then quickly covered his eyes as his eyes met the path of a falling raindrop. More followed, and swiftly like an amazonian rain, it beat down on the dry field. In the last of the sunset, a rainbow emerged over the realm, turning around below to form a circle.

  It took him a while to see clearly what was going on, but when he finally realized, at first he was angry, then that anger turned into a chuckle, which into a full-blown laughter. He raised his head towards the clouds and let the rain cool his face.

  Edgar approached Tanuki, his eyes attentively guarding the yellow cube. Since then it had cooled, flickering only like a dying firefly.

  “What happened?” he whispered, afraid he might anger the cube.

  Tanuki laughed.

  “Answer me, damn it!” Edgar shook him by the shoulder.

  Bells rang out above. A notification appeared in front of Tanuki, but it said nothing he had not already known.

  [ Wave over . ]

  Edgar looked over the field. Both goblins were still alive, yet the bells rang, and the wave was officially over. Even the portal had shrunk until not a trace of it remained.

  Tanuki wiped the rain off his glasses. Having calmed down, he smiled at Edgar.

  “These things might be closer to animal than man.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “They found a box that makes loud noises and made themselves believe it’s powerful.”

  “It’s not?”

  Tanuki chuckled, and after putting on his glasses, looked at the rainbow.

  “You tell me.”