DragonBonds

Big Plan

It took a shorter amount of time getting back to the "main base", or the Colvi home after Andi had come back from the ethereal realm. Flying was still rather clumsy, but having the original owner of the wings at the ready to control them, as well as an experienced Drake to guide them, really made all the difference. The ringtail and the bicolor landed gently, paw in paw, at the door to the house, Merlot opening the door and peeking in.

"Hello?" she chimed. The group of friends that remained at the house with Pebbles, Heathcliff, and Mittens had been sitting or pacing around the living room, and all at once they either turned or picked their heads up in surprise when Merlot called out. At this point, it had only been around an hour since they had left, so the friends were surprised to see them back home already. The bicolor opened the door a little wider and stepped in, and Connor, Vickie and Khloe immediately rushed over.

Connor stepped up first, worry crossing his face. "Where's Andi? Are they okay?"

"How did it go? Did it work, do we have help?" Vickie chimed in, her voice quiet and nervous.

"Can we save Cloud now?" Khloe mumbled, her finger and thumb gently gripping the edge of Connor's hoodie sleeve.

Merlot held her paws up at the three of them with a smile, motioning for them to back up for a moment. As the three of them took the hint, Merlot smiled and gestured for Andi to come through the door. Their three friends present had no idea what to expect when they saw Andi come through the door, but they certainly didn't expect that.

At the door, the three friends stared at the ringtail, newly adorned with numerous new attributes- they had, most obviously, gained large, white, and prismatic wings, along with large spiraling horns pulling up from the top of their forehead. They took note of the two thick pieces of hair that fell in front of the horns that, too, were changed from their natural state to brightly prismatic. The scales on their paws were also quite an interesting change, but more minor, and their gray-blue eyes now sported a flashy magenta hue instead, with naturally slightly-slitted pupils to match.

The four of them stood like that for a long time, what almost felt like ages, and it took Connor clearing his throat for someone to speak up. The hare smiled at Andi and tucked his hands into his pockets.

"You uh... Look good, I think. Do you... feel okay? Everything chill?"

Andi smiled at Connor and took a deep breath, straightening the sleeves of their dress a little.

"I feel weird, I think. That's sort of the easiest way to put it. I have like... Whole new magic inside me now, and it feels really nice, but there's also just a sentient being nestled right in my brain and sort of all over my body. At the very least I don't feel bad, I just feel... Weird."

They closed their eyes and took another deep breath, shaking the tension out of their body.

"But, what matters is we have the way to get Cloud back probably. I may have uh... Picked up the most powerful Drake in the whole ethereal realm so now I just have a fucking ton of magic at my fingertips." They let out a nervous laugh, ruffling their wings a little to break up the tension, and looked at Merlot.

"What's the plan now? What are we going to do?"

Merlot looked down at Andi, her brows furrowing for just a second, before turning and beckoning to the group to follow her. They followed her through the house to the backyard, and when they passed by the kitchen, Pebbles, who had just been spending some time with Mittens, saw them parade out of the house and gently set Mittens off to play by herself for a little bit while he followed the group outside. The small group that gathered outside was soon joined by Heathcliff and Dr. Timtam as they headed inside the ritual building. The four of them were confused by the family's motives for going into this building, but once Merlot opened the door and lead them inside, it seemed to make sense.