Jason and Xev entered the inn. They were surprised to find not that it was crowded and busy but that along with Rina there was now a two Human teenaged helpers, both of which were fairly attractive. The Tik’rs didn’t need any more help as far as they knew so these two new helpers seemed a bit out of place, especially when you took into account their appearance. Certainly these two could get better jobs doing something less strenuous. It didn’t take long for Rina to notice that there were new people and went to greet them and perform her other hostess duties.

“Please wait a…, ” she started to say before she noticed that it was Jason who had entered, “... Welcome home!”

“New help?” he asked.

“Huh? Oh! Them! That’s Frisxea and Dork.”

“Didn’t the look a little different the last time we were here?”

“Hai! They transform. They’re magical girls.” she said happily.

Xev’s face scrunched up as though she had heard something that confused her. She looked from Rina to the two summons and back, “That’s… unusual”

“Well that solves the problem we might have had. You want to come with us on an adventure? Leave them here to handle your job duties,” Jason said.

“Okaay~,” Rina said as she skipped merrily back into the crowd of hungry patrons to go inform the Tik’rs of what was going on. The two summons meanwhile caught sight of Jason and Xev. Jason waved towards them. Frisxea blushed and turned away trying to act natural as she took care of one of the many patrons. Dork meanwhile held his fist up gesturing to the both of them that he’d win in their next fight. This didn’t fit his current appearance, nor did any of his movements. Despite looking like a handsome young prince he still had all the mannerisms of the brutish Orc. Before too long Rina came running back through the crowd, jumping right before reaching them, and sticking the landing in front of Jason and Xev, “Ready!”

The three of them set out from the city to look for a new dungeon. The first few days was nothing special. The territory that they were traveling through was ground that they had previously covered, but as Xev had done with Jason, the two of them used the time traveling to help get Rina acclimated to her role to support them. No problems occured, but there wasn’t much for her to do. It was hard for Jason to intentionally make errors so that she could cover for him and it wouldn’t be good for him either as they could turn into habits. They could only move onward, deeper into areas that Jason hadn’t experienced before and hope that Rina could keep up with him.

Life was never simple as to smoothly let you do whatever you want without troubles. A buzzing noise could be heard quickly approaching from all around them. Jason remembered that on this world there were Human sized wasp aliens that were not pleasant to deal with. Jason would have retreated if given the option, but it seemed they were approaching from all direction. They could only stand their ground and hope that they encountered the approaching wasps in small enough groups that they could manage them.

The first group came charging out of the bushes from in front of them. There were only three of them. Jason felt a moment of relief before taking the initiative and attacked head on. Xev found a tree to lay against and watched the show unfold while Rina’s grip tightened around the cross waiting for any signs that Jason may need help. The wasps were taken by surprise, not expecting to be rushed, they were unprepared for Jason’s sword slash. one instantly fell to the ground dead. The other 2 followed haphazardly thrust their blades at him. He blocked one with his dagger, but the other drew a crease across his back, unable to cut through the ARMS armor as he twisted to avoid the thrust blade before spinning towards the wasp he had dodge, slicing its neck, decapitating it in a single move.

While he was dispatching the wasp its comrade had started floating quickly towards Rina who took several steps back as it came closer to her. Jason through his dagger at it, missing. The daggers stuck into the tree just above Xev’s head. “Hey!” she shouted at him before tossing an ARMS over to Rina. It landed at her feet. Jason rushed to catch the wasp but he would not catch it in time. Rina raced to pick up the ARMS and activate it. A small formed over her fist and she thrust it upwards, positioning to block the attack just as the Wasp’s blade came down. Her eyes shut tight as she braced for the impact. It didn’t come.

An aura of white light faded as Rina slowly opened her eyes to see what had happened. Steam rose from the wasp-like alien before it dropped to the ground lifeless. The group was confused as to what had happened. There was no one that they could see anyone in the vicinity and the buckler ARMS Rina was given didn’t have any special abilities. They didn’t have time to think it through figure out though. The buzzing was growing louder by the moment with not even a break where the group of wasps fighters had come from. They had dispatched the trio simple enough, but it sounded as though there were hundreds were surrounding them and coming ever closer.

All around the clearing the bushes and trees began to rustle. Suddenly a wall of yellow and black surrounded the group, but something was strange. Stranger than being surrounded by a wall of man sized wasp aliens. Half the wasps seemed to be furry and have a much more stout build. Rina was the first to reach a conclusion, “Happy Fuzzy Bees!” she shouted a moment before what appeared to be the leader of the Bees shouted for his cohort to attack the wasps. Seconds later the clearing was completely filled with Bees and Wasps clashing with each other, ignoring the group as if they didn’t even exist.

The situation presented itself that they could get away easily without having to fight their way out. All of these aliens seemed to be preoccupied with each other. Had this been a few short months ago Jason would have chosen without question to get out of the situation as quickly without confrontation as possible, but now he was different. He shot towards a Bee that seemed to be in trouble, shouting to Rina to heal as he jumped into the air and cleanly took off the Wasp’s sword wielding arm. The Bee was covered in a green glow that healed the various cuts and knicks across its body. This gave the Bee the opportunity to plunge its sword through the thorax of the Wasp ending its life. The Wasp was stuck on the sword briefly, but only a moment as the Bee swung it causing its body to become dislodged and crash to the ground. The Bee gave Jason a nod before flying off to engage the next Wasp.

Jason’s presence hadn’t been acknowledged by the Wasps yet, allowing him to freely move around the battlefield unimpeded. Where ever he could he jumped into the fray, surprising both combatants but being deadly only to the Wasps. The only problem that he had was that all the fighters had the ability to fly and they were engaged at different heights. It didn’t take long before his legs were beginning to tired and complain. They burned with muscle fatigue, but he persisted in helping the Bees wherever he could find an opportunity.

Rina for her part first only followed what Jason said, healing only who and when he said to do so, but soon she fell into her own rhythm and began healing any injured that she saw. A number of the Bees surrounded her. At first she was worried, but then she saw them turn away from her and heal their allies. One of them held a sword, guarding against any Wasp that came near them. They had formed a blockade around her, protecting her from any attack that came her way. It was almost as if they recognized that she young and inexperienced even though it was likely they had never seen a Human. When she realized that they were protecting her she became that much more confident in her healing. She found herself integrated into the unit of Bees, each of them forming a rhythm of healing that created a near continuous stream of healing that the Wasps had no chance of overwhelming. It became clear that the attacks of the Wasps were futile. They couldn’t break the healing of the Bees.

Had Jason not been there this battle would be at a standstill. The stamina of the two sides would be the deciding factor. Whichever side had more would eventually overwhelm the other and slaughter their opponent. But Jason was there and he actively took out the Wasps with surprise attacks. One would think that the Wasps would notice what was happening but they were so focused on the targets in front of them that not even when the final Wasp fell did they notice his presence. He had been the deciding factor, but the moment the last of their enemy fell it was possible that they could and would turn on the group. With this in mind Jason had no time to rest. He landed and went back on guard, watching for any incoming attacks and trying to think up plans for how to get him and Rina out of there. When he saw that Rina had been surrounded a cold sweat came over him. If they wanted to kill her there would be nothing that he could do to stop them. Xev likely couldn’t get to her either even though having not moved the entire time from her spot under the tree the entire time meant that she was completely rested. Even that being the case didn’t mean she could get to Rina before they struck Rina with a mortal wound. Now all that he could do is hope that these Bees were not hostile, but they were bees Jason thought and he couldn’t imagine Bee aliens that weren’t a bit crazy.

The Bees floated down and back, landing on the ground and forming up into what appeared to be military ranks with a single Bee standing center and forward from the others. It stepped a few feet forward as it sheathed its sword. Unlike the Wasps he fought and many of the Bees he could see this one wore armor. “I thank you for your assistance Lady....?” she said asking for his name.

“Jason… Gideon, but I think you’re confused. I’m not a lady,” he said taken aback. He was reminded how confusing the sexes of some of the aliens he had met were.

“Lord Gideon? I mean no offence to our benefactor. I am Lady Apisis and I bare welcome to you and your men?” she spoke formally, trying to get things correct as to not offend.

Jason chuckled, “We Humans are new to this world. Jason or anything you want to call me will be fine for me. The one who was helping to heal you is Rina, she’s female, and the one laying, doing nothing is...Xev, she’s not Human, and whether you want to call her a lady or not is debatable.”

“I see. It is strange to see a male fight. Is it common in your species?”

“It’s the norm for us Humans. You are an odd sight to me, but I imagine, comparatively, we’re a much odder sight for you if what I think is true of your species is the case.”

“Will you be traveling through these lands long? The Crita are all over and as you seem to know they can be very violent.”

“Dunno. We’re looking for a dungeon that contains treasure enough to help me with a problem I’m having and trying to acclimate Rina to battle.”

“Would you allow me to accompany you? I would not wish for harm to befall you when we can be of help. I also know a place that might be what you are in search of.”