That morning they hadn't waited for their gracious host to wake up. Xofamai wrote the Kitsubi a thank you letter and they immediatly left while eating some ration food for the road. It was around noon when the group finally arrived in a familiar town in ruined. But this time they were ready to face the horror the town would throw at them.

''Scorch, Aqua come out!'' A pair red and blue beams shot out of Xofamai's belt. The red beam formed into the same red anteater the teens had seen when they were saved from Boreas a month ago, but the other one was new. It was a slime-like Elestia that had a body mostly composed of water but it had a shape almost similar to a fox and it had three tails also made of goo trailing behind it.

Clara looked at the new Elestia with a slighlty disgusted expression. ''Is that Elestia made out of goo? And why does it look like a Kitsubi?'' She asked while trying to back away from the messy creature.

Xofamai sighed. ''Kitsubi are a special species of Elestia. Unlike other Elestia they can change their Nature depending on what master they serve. The Kitsubi from yesterday was from the Gaia tribe and it had an Earth Nature. Aqua here is from the Amphirite tribe and she has a Water Nature.''

''So wait they named their tribes after the Dragons?'' Oliver asked with a frown.

''Yes it does make sense does it not? They are the ones that gave us our power. That is until Xofamai here became my Dragon.'' The Elestia named Aqua suddenly spoked. Which made Oliver nearly jumped out of his skins.

''Geez! Another Elestia that can talk? Wait a minute did you just call Xofamai a Dragon? You must have a few screw loose. He doesn't look anything like a Dragon!'' Oliver exclaimed loudly.

The water Kitsubi cocked it's head. ''Ah yes forgive me. You see in the old Elestian language the word Dragon has a different meaning. It means master, which is the name we give to the ones that give us our power. Nowaday thought you would be hard pressed to find any Elestia outside of the Kitsubi that still know the meaning of the word. ''

''You have a language? But I thought most Elestia only made basic animal noise, no offense.'' Clara said with a curious expression.

''Our language is not understandable to most humans because it is a combination of sounds and energy. Since humans cannot see life force with the naked eye they could never hope to understand us. You however seem to have what it take to understand the Elestian language. You would only need to learn how to read the life force we emit.'' The Kitsubi replied. Clara flinched slightly as she was reminded that she was not really human anymore.

''This is all interesting and all but our client is waiting for us, we should move along. Clara you should drop the diguise right now before our enemy get the drop on us and Oliver you should call out one of your Elestia.'' Xofamai said to the two teens.

Oliver nodded before calling out the name of his first and strongest Elestia. Sandy was happy to see Oliver and pranced in front of him the boy chuckled before petting the top of her head. The Fawna cried out happily at the attention she received.

Clara reluctantly dropped her illusion. She didn't know if she would ever get used to see herself with white fur covering her entire body. But at least Oliver didn't seemed as weirded out as before about it.

''Okay then let's go, but be careful. Death Elestia tend to be weak on their own but they can reanimate the corpses of the dead and use them as meatshield. Fortunately their reanimation are very weak and dumb so they should be easy to deal with as long as we're careful to not let them overwhelm us.'' Xofamai said with a grim frown on his face.

Oliver and Clara were clearly nervous about returning to the this town ,but they nodded at each other. This time they were ready... Right?

As they entered into the limits of the town it was quiet. Way too quiet, normally you would at least hear the sound of the birds Elestia flying around. But as they walked around they didn't hear a single sound not even crickets. Then as they round the corner they came face to face with three undead. As soon as they saw them, the rotting corpses made guttural moans and started to shuffle awkwardly toward the group.

''Scorch burn these things.'' The giant anteater made a grunt of acceptance before creating a stream of flames that engulfed the three abominations. Then Xofamai turned toward Clara. ''Use your Rodair to make the flames bigger!''

Clara looked at him in confusion. ''Rodair?''

The man dressed in black sighed in exasperation. ''That's what the species of your Elestia is called, just use her!'' He snapped at her.

Clara nodded. ''Alright silly name aside, Marie fan the flames on those monsters!'' The winged mouse chittered in approval and then send out a large gust of wind toward the undead corpses. As predicted the flames became more intense as the wind caught in the flammes. But the undeads were still coming toward them without slowing down.

Xofamai turned toward Oliver. ''Use your Fawna to trap them in place!'' Oliver nodded and ordered Sandy to created vines to trap the monsters.

The vines immediatly caught on fire. But they still managed to trap them long enough to finish the job and reduce the monsters to ashes. The two teens celebrated their victory by cheering and praising their Elestia. But pretty soon they heard more moaning sounds coming in the distance and more undead creatures were rounding up the corner of the street and shambled in their direction.

''There's much more of them than I anticipated look like we'll need to get to the source and quickly.'' Xofamai said before motioning to Oliver and Clara to follow him. They ran throught the streets as fast as they could. They met other undeads on the way. But Marie was kind enough to push them away with her newfound wind powers. It wasn't long before they found themselves in front of the familiar library they had seen a month ago.

As soon as they were in front of the door Clara used her power to turn back into her human form. Xofamai rolled his eyes at her, but quickly got over it and knocked at the door. A familiar old man quickly opened the door and led them inside. Once he got a good look at Oliver and Clara a smile developed on Timothy's lips. ''Oh my I did not expected to see the two of you so soon. So it seem like you joined the Ding Dong Resistance just like you wanted to.''

Xofamai raised an eyebrow at the exchange. ''So I assume you know these kids?'' He asked in usual emotionless voice.

The old man nodded. ''Of course! Oliver is my great-nephew. Unfortunately I only learned he was still alive last month when he found me here. If I had known I would have taken care of him much sooner.'' He said in a tone of regret.

''I see...'' Xofamai replied not really sure what else he could say to the old man. ''Anyway I guess we should start by the begining. Do you know anything about the Elestia you want to get rid of?''

Timothy scratched his beard thoughtfully. ''Well I don't know much. But I'm pretty sure it has a Death Nature. Oh and I think it's located in the town's graveyard because every nights I can see the undeads leaving the street and they all seem to head there. For what purpose, I still don't know. But I don't recomend trying to find out, there's at least a hundred of them. It would be suicide to try to take them all out at the same time.''

Xofamai was reeling at the number. ''A hundred?! Most Death Elestia can only reanimate around a dozen corpses at most. What kind of monster are we facing here?!'' He asked in disbelief.

The old man shrugged with a guilty expression. ''I'm sorry but I really don't know much about Elestia in general. But if it's as powerful as you say, are you sure it's a good idea to bring these two children into the fight?'' He asked with a worried frown.

Xofami frowned, he was begining to think the same thing. But before he could reply Oliver interupted them. ''We can do this! I'm a Chosen now, if I can't do this what hope do I have to change the world? Right Clara?'' Oliver said confidently, the girl on the other hand looked away uncomfortably.

Xofamai sighed and crossed his arms. ''This was supposed to be a rank C mission, this was supposed to be an easy mission for you two to learn the ropes. But this has clearly turned into a rank B mission. The General would be pissed at me if she learned I continued the mission with two Rookies like you under me.''

Oliver scowled and crossed his arms. ''You just don't trust us to do a good job admit it! Ever since we met you, you haven't stopped underestimating us! You can't stop saying I'm a kid and that I'm too young and innocent. Well newsflash, I saw the fucking end of the world! I saw entire towns go in flammes and there's nothing I could do about it! I had to live with scraps for almost four years while being treated as nothing more than a vermin! This was the one chance I had to finally do something about this shitty excuse of a world and you're trying to take it away from me!'' He screamed before running away downstair and slamming the door behind him.

''...I'm going to talk to him.'' Clara said before she went after Oliver.

Xofamia rubbed his face and let himself fall on a chair. ''I really can't get along with these kids. What was the general thinking making me show them the ropes?'' He said in an exasperated tone.

Timothy sat across from him and gave him a reassuring smile. ''Kids are not that hard to understand. They wanted to get threat the same way you treat grown ups. I'm not saying you shouldn't be careful with them, but handling them with kid gloves all the time will make them think you belittle them.''

''So what, you want me to continue the mission with them?'' Xofamai asked with an incredulous expression.

Timothy frowned at that. ''If you think they're not ready then no, but ask yourself this. If you were in charge of Rookies, but adults ones instead of teenagers would you go with them or not? If the answer is yes then maybe you should change your stance. It's hard being treated like a kid when you experienced things that would break most adults.'' Xofamai sighed but he guessed the man had a point if they were adults he wouldn't be so adamant about finishing the mission with them. After all the adults of the Reistance swore an oath to risk their life for the greater good.

And that's when it hit him. Those kids swore the exact same oath. They were the ones that wanted to join the Resistance, no one forced them. Despite their age they had chosen to become soldiers. Maybe it was time he started treating them like it.

Xofamai made his way downstair. As soon as he saw him Oliver looked away an angry scowl was plastered on his face. Clara on the other hand looked at him with a patient expression awaiting his next words. ''After much reconsideration... I decided we should continue the mission.''

Both of them looked at him in shock. ''R-really?!'' Oliver asked excitedly.

''Yes, but don't get me wrong. From now on I will try to treat you like adults, but you are still Rookies of the Resistance. If this become too dangerous I will immediatly cancel this mission and we will try again with a more reasonable job.''

Oliver was a bit sobered by the news, but he was still excited to get started on his first real job as a Resistance member.

- - - - -

Dust was flying everywhere as a cool breeze blew throught the entire town. The temperature was still pretty cold for the middle of spring. The group saw a few birds Elestia flying overhead. Fortunately most Wind Elestia weren't interested in human's meat. The few that did were one of the biggest threat to settlements with the protection of a wall.

Xofamai looked around and noticed a few rodents who instantly scurried away once they noticed them. ''The Elestia of this town are pretty harmless. This must be why our target is using humans corpses. Normally Death Elestia wouldn't bother with humans bodies. We don't really have many natural defenses that we can use in a fight like claws or sharp teeth. And the undeads are too dumb to use weapons like we do.''

''Hey wake up!'' Oliver shouted to Bolt. The small Squirrel had fallen asleep on the boy's head just a few minutes after being called out to be alert of any threats. ''This is not the time to sleep we could get attacked at any times.'' The small squirrel woke up with a start and looked at him grumpily. Sudenly the electric Elestia ears perked up and he jumped down from Oliver shoulder and started running in a back alley. ''Hey come back here!'' Olver yelled before giving chase.

Clara looked at the scene worriedly. ''Oliver this could be dangerous, wait!'' She was about to run after him too, but she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

''Stop, look at that.'' Xofamai said while pointing in the distance. A horde of undead were advancing toward them, there were at least thirty of them. ''This back alley is a dead end, if we go there we'll all die.''

''But what about Oliver?! You're not thinking of just abandoning him are you?'' She asked with narrowed eyes.

Xofamai frowned and seemed to think about it for a while. ''We should create a distraction make them follow us so that Oliver isn't going to get overwhelmed in there. It's the only way to get out of this situation without too much risk.'' Clara reluctantly nodded and the both of them went to work.

- - - - -

''Bolt come back here! What are you doing?!'' The squirrel abruptly stopped in front of a undead woman who had her back turn to them. Oliver took a defensive position and glared at the shambling corpse. ''Be careful Bolt, it's one of those monsters!''

Then with a moan the undead creature turned around to face the duo and Oliver heart froze when he saw the face of the undead creature. ''M-mom?!'' He asked in a unbelieving shaky voice.

Bolt instantly was engulfed in a a cloak of electricity and was about to tackle the creature in front of him. Seeing this Oliver's eyes widened and he began to panic as he fumbled to retrieve his yellow Draconid Gem. ''No don't hurt my mom! Bolt return!'' The Shockrirrel sent back into his Gem against his will. And Oliver looked back at the corpse of what used to be his mother.

''M-mom it's me Oliver, you recognise me right?'' His only response was a moan as the creature slowly advanced toward him. ''Snap out of it! You can't let a Elestia control you, you're much stronger than this, right? You were always so kind to me and everyone you met. W-when y-you died it was hard for both me and dad. But now I'm all alone since the Invasion so please snap out of it!'' He yelled at her.

The undead interupted his speech by pushing him to the ground. The creature then opened her mouth and stood there above Oliver. At first the boy was confused about what she was doing. But then he felt something leave his chest area and his body began to feel numb and cold and the sensation got only worse with every seconds.

''M-mom what are you doing?! It's me!'' But the creature continued to absorb the energy that came out of him with no response. ''Please stop! It feel like... I'm dying.'' His vision was begining to fade to black and the last thing he saw was the abomination her mother had become. Tears streamed out of his eyes as he remembered how beautiful she used to really look like and he finally realised that what was standing before him wasn't really his mother just another monster created by the Elestia. Before his mind could completely fade to black Olive managed to utter one last word. ''S-sandy.''

The Fawna burst out of the Draconid Gem and instantly tackled the undead woman on the ground. Seeing her master unconscious on the ground filled the young Elestia with an indescribable rage. She began to stomp angrily on the ground. The earth bellow her began to tremble until cracks appeared in the concrete and lift itself from the ground.

The Fawna cried loudly before sending the mass of dirt and concrete toward the undead woman. A loud crunch could be heard as the huge grey hunk fell on the undead. Once it had been dealt with the Elestia instantly ran toward her master and poked his unconscious body with her nose in concern. When she got no response she created a pair of vines to lift him and putted him on her back. Once she was certain he was secured, the Fawna galloped out of the back alley in hope of getting some help.

- - - - -

The horde of undead moaned loudly as they were assaulted with stream of flames and gust of winds. Clara also helped by throwing everything she could find at them with her telekinesis from rocks, to disgarded can of food and even trashcans. She had even tried to throw an old rusted car at them but her power had not been strong enough to lift the heavy object.

Xofamai nodded as he looked at the horde slowly approaching them. By this point half of them had caught fire and at least ten of them had perished in their assault. ''I think it's time we retreat our Elestia are getting tired, we did all we could.'' He said before recalling Scorch into his Draconid Gem.

Clara nodded and called back Marie who instantly plopped down inside Clara's pouch and then both of them ran away leaving an angry mob of undead in their wake. ''I hope Oliver is okay'' Clara said in a worried tone once they were far enough from the horde.

As if to answer her they heard the sound of hooves on concrete coming toward them. Both of them turned around. Clara gasped when she saw Oliver slumped on the back of the Fawna. ''Oliver! What happened?!'' She asked in concern but got no response from the boy. Xofamai turned him around and touched his chest area. Clara looked at him with a weirded out expression. ''What are you doing?!''

Xofamai turned toward her with a grim expression on his face. ''He got attacked by an undead. His chest area feel cold and his heart rate has slowed down. Which mean someone has drain some of his life force away.''

Clara face paled at the older man words. ''Is he going to be okay?!''

Xofamai crossed his arm and his lips turned downard. ''He doesn't seem to have aged so he should be fine.''

Clara looked at him with another bewildered expression. ''What do you mean by aged?''

Xofamai sighed before shaking his head at her. ''Don't worry about it, for now we should get out of the streets and return to the library until Oliver recover.'' Clara wanted to ask more question to Xofamai but when she heard moans in the distance she decided to comply and helped drag Oliver back to the library.