The early hours of the morning had Kia bustling with energy, a morning person in contrast to Aqua, who preferred to linger in bed until midday.

It seemed Kia had made her mission to drag him out of his slumber, a mission she took with a mix of determination and amusement.

On this occasion, Kia had already tried to wake him up three times, and as she felt aggrieved and flustered by his refusal, she decided to tease him a little.

She employed her water manipulation abilities to ensure Aqua's hands were unexpectedly wet, a mischievous attempt to elicit a comedic reaction.

“Kia I won’t fall for it again.”

“Just give me five more minutes.” He muffled as he lazily covered his face with his hands.

“It’s the fourth time you’ve said that!”

Aqua rolled his eyes in exasperation. “You’re such a mom, stop nagging me.”

‘Shouldn’t have said that’ he thought to himself.

The casual comment, uttered without much thought, cast an unexpected chill over the warm and playful atmosphere. The air seemed to thicken with a newfound heaviness, the levity of their interaction replaced by an uncomfortable silence. Kia's expression shifted from playful to contemplative as she averted her gaze, seemingly lost in her thoughts as she began to wash up.

The unspoken weight of their untold experiences weighed down on both of them. Aqua’s accidental comparison had brushed against a sensitive topic – their parents. Despite the joy they found in each other’s company they weren’t quite there yet to share their sorrows. Sometimes memories would be like wounds that hadn’t healed yet. If they resurfaced the scar would open. They didn’t know if they could trust each other with the stiches.

The cave once alive with their back and forth grew silent. Aqua rose from his spot and changed into a new set of clothes, crafted from the hides of their defeated foes. The rugged appearance of the outfit seemed to echo the challenges they were facing. Washing up and showering with their respective abilities became a way to restore a sense of normalcy, a silent affirmation that their connection remained intact despite the emotional ups and downs.

Everything turned back to normal as they began to eat breakfast together.

‘Everyone has their own problems, why am I feeling so down about hers?’

These days Aqua had been feeling something for Kia he couldn’t quite describe, it wasn’t admiration or sympathy, it was something else. Yet, he didn’t know what it was.

He approached her and playfully tapped her forehead with his finger, a gesture he often used with Shio.

“What was that all about?” she asked feeling her cheeks flush crimson suddenly.

He just shrugged and didn’t give any more thoughts to it. Aqua had his own unique ways of showing affection, and this was one of them. He had used it a lot with his brother over the past years. Shio often felt down, so Aqua had developed this habit as a way of saying, "I'm here with you," without words.

Kia’s perspective:

What was that all about? How can he be so shameless? Wait for tomorrow—I'll drown you if you don't wake up the first time I ask you to. Argghh, so shameless, so, so shameless. Why isn't he even a bit flustered?

She continued her silent tirade as they shared breakfast in a companionable silence.

Aqua and Kia had already passed through the part of the jungle where the leaves curved and the water lakes had formed. Just now, they had entered the natural maze.

“How will we orient ourselves here?” The complexity of the maze proved an issue to both of them as they didn’t have any means to orient themselves here.

“We just need to keep going towards the place with the strongest beasts” Kia said with a sigh. With that sudden understanding their journey came to a halt. As Aqua proposed to search for the shadow creatures he needed to defeat in order to gain his new form.

He was well aware, that they wouldn’t be able to keep up if he didn’t get another ability, his water manipulation was lacking, and he couldn’t help but feel powerless when he saw Kia’s mastery over her own power.

"Alright, not like anyone's waiting for me out there," Kia muttered the last part of her sentence, her voice a mere whisper that Aqua just managed to catch.

"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that. Could you repeat it?" Aqua inquired, his curiosity piqued by her almost inaudible remark.

“Oh, no it’s nothing.” She avoided the issue and kept jumping from branch to branch.

Meanwhile, Shio was fighting against the giant ape. The fight had just begun, and things seemed to be getting rougher with each minute. The ape was much stronger and bigger than his former foes, so he couldn’t use the same tactics.

The first problem was how to reach the monkeys soft tissues. Being 6 meters tall was a huge advantage against Shio and it didn’t help that his chains wouldn’t be able to restrain it.

Shio had started to use his chains to move around the maze with tremendous speed. He formed a sharp edge on the end of his ice chains and used it to attach them to the branches around him. So far, his tactics to evade the monkey had worked but all his attempts of hurting it had proved to be fruitless.

‘Crap’ that’s the first thought that came to his mind when one of his chains broke midflight. He managed to evade the ape’s fist by a hair’s breadth. But he fell backwards awkwardly when he touched the ground. The fist smashed in front of his face with a loud bang, breaking the branch he was standing on.

‘One hit and I’m dead’ both of them started falling as the next branch beneath them was a few meters away. The realization dawned on him, if the ape got a chance he wouldn’t be there to tell the tale.

The cub had been waiting for the perfect moment to strike and found it when the branch broke. He launched at the ape’s back and sunk his ice fangs into it.

Trying to get a hold of the creature in his back the ape grabbed the cubs water armor. Confusion and surprise met the beast as it couldn’t understand why his hand didn’t grab anything and passed through the armor as if nothing had been there be

The three fell to the ground at the same time, Shio cushioned the fall with a water bubble, while the ape sustained grave injuries.

Even so, it managed to graze Shio’s shoulder with an unexpected punch during their fall.

A groan escaped Shio’s mouth as he lost the feeling of his left shoulder. His shoulder now all bloodied couldn’t move at all. An ice arrow shot for the monkeys ice and slid right through it’s eye socket. A shrill cry reverberated through the jungle.

“Why the hell didn’t you die with that.” Far from being dead it seemed to be more furious than before as it took a boulder from the ground and threw it at the tiger that was still stuck in its back.

The cub couldn’t help getting hit and stumbled sluggishly falling deeper into the maze.

“That’s it your so dead.” Shio said anger and resentment burning in his gaze.