The explorer trio returned from their expedition of the caves below the cherry blossom forest and the massive crystal cluster that absorbed their magic powers. Blu did something with that cluster, but as it needed time to develop, the results would only be visible the day after. While waiting, the girls made some more plans for Ellie's upcoming birthday and what to do there before taking yet another dip in the underground hot spring after Steph found out about it.

“This better be good, Blu!” Anna, Chloe, and Sophia were together again the day after they explored the caves beneath the cherry blossom forest, and the princess stared at the bird sitting on the blonde's shoulder. In response to that, the parakeet fluffed up its feathers to make itself look more important while chirping a couple of times.

“Someone’s confident, huh?” The fox smiled at Blu. “I can’t wait to see it!”

"That sure are some grand expectations, huh?” Sophia gently patted the bird’s head. “I just hope my beautiful forest is still in one piece.” Hearing that, the bird on her shoulder froze for a brief moment. “Oi!” She didn’t like that reaction. Instead of reacting to her, Blu simply took flight and disappeared through a portal it created just in time before the group.

“I love that parakeet!” Smiling broadly, Chloe also stepped through the portal.

“What she said!” Anna then did the same, as well.

“I don’t disagree, I love that literal bundle of magic the most, buuut…” Not finishing her sentence, the short tiger quickly followed after them.

----------------

“WOW!” On the other side of the portal, all three girls immediately had the same reaction. They didn’t arrive in the cave from before, but in the actual cherry blossom forest above it. Or, to be more exact, what was left of it. Things had changed drastically since the previous day they were there.

A sizeable portion of the forest had significantly changed its properties. Everything, the ground, the grass, the tree trunks, branches, and every single leaf and blossom, crystallized. The shape was still clearly visible, and it still had some resemblance to the original color, like green for the grass or brown for the trunks, but the surface of everything had turned smooth and shiny together with an extra coating of various pink hues on top of it.

“This is the coolest thing ever!” Sophia was the first to say something past the initial wow reaction they all had before.

“True!” The other two nodded a couple of times.

“Where is,- W-Whoa!” The blonde took a few steps around the area and immediately stopped when she heard crunching sounds beneath her feet. Looking down and behind her, she noticed that the crystallized grass she stepped on shattered into tiny pieces. “So brittle! I guess they’re not on the same level as diamonds, huh? That’s a little disappointing.”

“Why?” Chloe and Anna tilted their heads.

“Monetary value!” As usual, the short tiger was completely shameless.

“Are you in need of money?” The fox only got more confused.

“Not at all.” She shook her head. “In fact, the few projects I have going on with the kings and the payments from the inventions I rented out or sold give me more than I can reasonably spend.”

“Then shush.”

“Ahaha.” Sophia smiled at her in return. “Would still be cool if this place would all be diamonds, wouldn’t it?”

“Good point.” Chloe couldn’t refute that.

“While it likely won’t be on the level of diamonds, I think those crystals would still be worth a pretty something.” Anna got closer to a cherry blossom tree and picked a crystallized blossom from it. “Look how pretty it is!” She held up her hand with the blossom on top of her palm. “I’m sure it would sell incredibly well as an accessory or decorations!”

“That’s brilliant!” The blonde liked her suggestion.

“We’d need to destroy this beautiful place to sell it, though.” The fox had a more mixed reaction to the idea and scratched her cheek while looking around. “It seems like a waste to me. Especially when considering that you aren’t in need of money." She slowly shook her head while looking at the greedy, short tiger.

“That’s fair.” Sophia nodded in agreement. “Well, we could still make a separate secluded area for harvesting, but you do have a point there. Yeah, we don’t really have to do that for the time being.”

“We should give some to Ellie, though.” The princess looked at the crystal in her hand again. “She loves cherry blossoms and everything that sparkles. To be honest, I think she’d like this more than any other present we could possibly find when we go shopping later.”

“Really?!” The blonde’s eyes grew wide after learning this valuable information. “Oh, wait, now that I think about it, she absolutely loved the cherry blossoms in the royal garden back in March before we left.”

“Exactly.”

“Hmm.” Sophia then changed her attention to a massive crystallized cherry blossom tree in front of the group. “Interesting~.”

"You're going to place one of those trees in the castle’s garden, aren’t you?” Anna didn’t have a hard time guessing her intention.

“Right in front of Ellie’s room!” The short tiger’s eyes were sparkling.

“Poor Menzor.” Chloe just felt sorry for the king.

“He’ll be fine~.” Both tigers just smiled at her.

“By the way, where has the cave gone?” The fox decided that it was time for a change of topic instead. “It’s still the same area, so it should be somewhere below us, right?”

“Asking all the right questions!” Now that she remembered it, the blonde was wondering about the same. “Blu, where is it?” She turned her head to glance at the usual bird that was sitting on her shoulder and had stayed silent up until now. In return, the parakeet tilted its head for a moment before quickly taking flight soon after. Blu flew around for a couple of seconds before it eventually began drawing circles in the air roughly 20 meters to the left of the girls.

“Such a good guide~.” Smiling at the bird, Chloe was the first to start walking in Blu's direction.

“That’s why we work so well together!” Sophia was right behind her. “Keeps me from getting lost in my own domain!”

“I’m not sure if you should sound so confident here.” Anna lightly rolled her eyes while she followed after the fellow tiger.

"Ohh!" Arriving where the parakeet was, the trio immediately got loud again. There was a small opening in the crystallized ground, and looking down through it, they could spot the massive crystal cluster from before again. It had stopped glowing and returned to its light pink and translucent hue from when they first found it. Everything around it inside the cave had completely crystallized, as well.

“Is it empty again?” The princess tried to interpret the change in the crystal.

“It seems like it.” The fox thought so, too. “I can’t feel any magic from it anymore, either.”

“I guess it was used to change the area, huh?” Sophia gently patted Blu’s head, who had landed on her shoulder again. “Good job!” In response, the bird nodded once and then only further pressed its head against her hand to get pet even more.

“Is it possible to get more of those charging crystals?” Anna looked at the bird with a questioning expression. Pausing for a moment, Blu then nodded again while looking back at the princess. “Awesome! I want one near the cottage so that I can charge it up whenever I’m nearby! Once it’s charged enough, I’ll finally start my own biome for real and kick it off with a bang!”

"A literal bang?” Sophia raised an eyebrow in return.

“Probably!” The princess was in a good mood.

“I’m looking forward to it~.” The shorter blonde was, too.

“I still need to do that, too.” Chloe nodded a few times. “I helped Steph make hers, but I have yet to start my own biome."

“How cold is it going to be…?” Sophia had a bad feeling about it.

“Yes!”

“Ah.”

----------------

Looking at the crystallized part of the forest a little while longer, the group eventually returned to the cottage and met up with Ari, Maya, and Steph there.

“Alright, we have come together here for the most important thing since we’ve left the capital! I want everyone at full attention!” The blonde audibly clapped her hands while her gaze wandered from one girl to another while they were in the living room.

“What’s this about…?” Ari leaned over to Anna to find out what was going on and why the short tiger seemed so serious.

“Ellie’s birthday.” The princess just rolled her eyes while answering the jaguar.

“Ah.” She didn’t seem overly surprised.

“Anna, Chloe, and I already have an amazing present for the bestest girl, but I also want to get her something that’s just from me! Everything who also wants to get her a present is welcome to join us for the capital!”

“Ignoring the part where it was my idea to go to the capital, I’m coming with you, yeah.” Ari wasn’t sure how to feel about her idea having been stolen.

“Well, you know how much she loves to be in the center of attention.” Maya smiled at her.

“True.”

“Hey!” The attention-seeking tiger raised her voice.

Once Sophia calmed down again, the girls made some more plans for Ellie’s upcoming birthday before eventually returning to the beastfolk capital by taking a portal to their mansion there.

 

 

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