The doll's face like a mask fell onto the boards that made up the roof. A white void, reminiscent of steam, took its place. Despite this, the back of her head, along with her hair, remained where it was, as if nothing had happened.
"Uh," Unana turned away.
"She's non-living," Yueret closed his eyes. "She's not in pain."
In fact, Yueret was also disgusted, but unlike his sister, he couldn't turn away, lest he give the enemy an opening for a surprise attack.
"If your eyes leak out, I'll restore them," Unana promised.
Yueret looked at the face the doll had thrown onto the boards and saw it evaporate.
"I'm afraid you won't make it," the brother thought to his sister, then turned his gaze to his opponent and noticed the black ribbons that wrapped around her lower legs.
"This is rubber," Yueret said, looking at the apron-like armor, composed of dark blue plates. "It doesn't conduct electricity, so this doll can strike lightning without crumbling."
Unana aimed her bow at her enemy, drew back the purple energy string, but didn't manage to fire. Nyonyokyo's body turned to vapor, the same vapor her head had turned to earlier.
Yueret saw an apron of rubber plates where the doll's legs had been, with electrical discharges sparkling around them.
"What?" Unana looked around. "Where is she?"
Yueret covered himself and his sister with a spherical barrier of blue energy. The next moment, an electric bird crashed into the barrier, exploding upon contact with the vibrating energy, filling the air with electric discharges…
… Unana heard a crackling sound behind her and turned to shoot, but saw no enemy.
"Uh! She makes these birds appear out of nowhere!"
"Not exactly," Yueret explained. "She just turned invisible."
"What… how?"
Unana fell to her knees. She knew about strange abilities related to air, but she had never imagined that someone could vanish into it.
"She's a doll," Yueret suggested. "No one knows what she's made of. I think she combines her abilities with the properties of her body."
"Let her unite her head with her backside. How will the arrow detect her if it can't see her?"
Unana aimed her bow at a random spot and fired an arrow. It first passed through the barrier, but then stopped in mid-air.
"I thought so. It can't see that doll."
Another electric bird flew at the barrier, but from the opposite direction. Just like the previous time, there was an explosion accompanied by a crackling sound.
"You could shoot where the birds are flying from with an arrow that doesn't aim itself," Yueret suggested. "I'll distract her for a bit."
An energy copy of the shield separated from the shield, then passed through the barrier and struck the air in a random place.
The next electric bird crashed into the barrier from above, but also failed to break through it.
Unana soon realized where the enemy was hiding and fired a white-and-blue arrow upward. Yueret created an energy ball in his hand and directed it upward, pretending to take aim…
…The archer looked at the shards of ice falling from the sky with an angry expression on her face. Meanwhile, the next bird, a larger one, exploded right in front of her.
"It's too fast," Yueret noted. "My plan didn't work. She probably wants to drain the barrier's health and then attack us."
"How long will we have to be here?" Unana looked at her brother with a displeased expression.
"That's true, if she doesn't use any abilities that reduce the stats. Do you want to remove the barrier?"
"Yup, that will end the fight faster."
"But if I do that, the electric birds..."
"I'll dodge. I'm an archer, after all. I know how to dodge arrows and animals."
"I'll have to trust Unana, even though it looks dangerous," Yueret thought. "But if I don't, the fight won't end until tomorrow. Unana won't wait that long; she'll die of hunger."
... Yueret waited for another electric bird to hit the barrier, then called up the skill icons screen and tapped the large blue pulsating ball.
The barrier disappeared. Unana leaped upward, somersaulted, and fired several purple energy arrows in all directions. They missed, of course, but it was enough to distract the enemy.
Yueret remained where he was and activated another barrier, this one for one person, by pressing the small circle. Combined with the shield, it provided good protection from any attacks except the signal.
But the electric birds seemed to have found a higher priority target. Instead of crashing into the barrier like before, they headed towards Unana. The archer was forced to somersault in the air, firing homing energy arrows that homed in on the enemy's attacks.
Yueret could only watch his little sister from the rooftop and periodically fire beams from the accumulated energy in his hand.
"Unana was right. Now all that's left is to wait until she hits the doll or accidentally touches her. This plan works in games, but will it work in real life?"
The aerial battle continued. Unana would land on the rooftop's edge, then rise into the air again, firing purple energy bolts. Electric birds appeared from all directions, as if teleporting from invisible holes in space.
Such intense activity caused Unana to suddenly feel weak. One of the electric birds exploded directly above her head after encountering a homing arrow, followed by a flash of light that streaked past her.
"Why can't I fire arrows that restore energy?" Unana looked around. "That doll is getting closer. The birds are getting closer too. Just a little bit more, and…"
A crack of lightning sounded behind her, signaling that a new bird was forming somewhere nearby. A blue-white arrow appeared in Unana's bow and was then released into the air…
The electric bird dodged the arrow and approached its target, but Unana somersaulted past its attack. The white-blue arrow stopped in midair, then vanished…
…An ice statue of a doll with long hair appeared out of thin air on the roof. One of its arms was extended forward, as if releasing something.
Unana landed on the edge of the roof, and then turned around. The electric bird flew in the opposite direction, straight at its summoner…
…The ice statue shattered into numerous fragments, which then landed on the planks and even beyond the roof. One of the fragments flew past Yueret, bounced off the vibrating barrier, and disappeared.
"Unana defeated the doll?" Yueret looked in confusion at his younger sister, who stood on the edge of the roof, bathed in a purple aura.
In fact, the victory turned out to be rather conditional. The archer had lost so much energy that her aura was dissolving into thin air. Moments after the ice shards melted, the girl fell to her knees, closed her eyes, and bowed her head.
"Don't sleep little bear, or you'll fall," a sudden voice made Unana open her eyes and realize she was standing on the edge of the roof.
"That voice doesn't sound like Yueret's. Who are you?"
"Don't you remember me? I'm Unachan, your little bear."
Unana turned her head to the side and noticed in the air the very same plush bear with red glowing eyes that she had forgotten about during the fight.
"Thank you, Una..."
The archer didn't have time to finish her sentence. Her aura completely vanished, and her eyes closed. Only Yueret's intervention prevented the worst...
... Unana fell onto a stretcher of blue energy, which lowered her to the ground...
"You need to eat, sis."
"Sis…" Unana tried to open her eyes, but couldn't. "That was Yueret's voice. Did he call me that again?"
"Open your mouth... Ah, you can't. Then I'll open it myself."
Unana felt something hard touch her lower face, but she couldn't do anything. Her body seemed paralyzed, barely able to maintain consciousness.
"It's Yueret, so everything's fine," Unana could only think. "He'll put something tasty in my mouth."
Something cold parted the girl's jaws. Unana tasted a taste she'd almost forgotten.
"It's something sweet and crunchy. Yueret used to give me that when I was little, when he called me Unachan."
"This is honey syrup made from bee meat," a voice in the girl's head answered. "It's the bear cubs' first food. You don't need to chew it. A tongue is enough. It's good at chewing wings."
"What? Did Yueret feed me this?"
Unana opened her eyes. Yueret was kneeling before her, holding a blue and white plush bear with glowing blue eyes in his mouth. His hands rested on the ground, apparently busy parting her mouth. A jar of something yellow hung in the air, surrounded by a purple energy aura.
"Yueret, you're stupid. Why did you say it was tree sap?"
"Because I didn't know," Yueret said, pulling the toy out of his mouth. "They're very similar. It's easy to confuse them. But now I know."
"Did your plush bear tell you?"
"Yeah, it's like you read my mind."
"It's not hard when you're stupid. I don't want a big brother like that."
"Uh, I'm not always good at being a big brother. Sometimes I can only be your little brother."
"I'm the little sister. Someone in the family has to be the big and take care of the little one. I'm definitely not cut out for that role, since I can't even take care of a plush bear."
"Your plush bear looks like it can take care of itself. Look."
Yueret pointed to the side. Unana looked there and saw a brown bear cub with red eyes in the air.
"Ah... That's Unachan."
"You named it after your childhood name," Yueret smiled.
"Uh, that's how it happened. What did you name your plush bear?"
"I didn't name it at all."
"What do you mean?" Unana frowned. "It needs a name. Didn't it ask you to name it?"
"No. The first thing it said was... I don't remember."
"It's definitely Yueret," Unana looked at the blue and white bear cub lying on the ground. "I was wondering why it doesn't forget anything lately."
"Pick up your bear," Unana said. "Otherwise you'll forget, and some doll will take it."
"Exactly," Yueret grabbed the blue and white bear cub by the paw and then lifted it to head level. "I still don't understand why we need them. Is it just a gift?"
"Ask it. Maybe it will answer?"
"Talking to a toy is childish."
"But it's a gift from... well... from her."
"From mom…"
Unana blushed. She didn't remember her mother, but for some reason she was afraid to talk about it, as if her brain held terrible, hidden memories.
"I don't remember mom, so I can't say anything," Yueret said. "It's so strange. I remember dad a little, but it's like mom never existed."
Unana shuddered and tried to sit up, but due to a lack of energy, she fell onto her side.
"Maybe I just don't remember," Yueret said. "It was a long time ago, so long ago that I don't even remember when mom and dad were."
"Maybe dad used special skill on you?"
"No. Skills can't last that long. But maybe there was a skill first, and then I just forgot, or..."
"Did dad delete your memories?"
"Yeah, that explains why I don't remember mom at all. If that's true, then there's something terrible connected to mom that's best left unsaid to children."
"But we're grown up now. Maybe dad will tell us if we find him?"
"If we find him..."
Yueret looked around, but apart from the wooden wall of the station on one side and the "wall" of the forest made of tree trunks on the other, he saw nothing.
"The lizard hasn't come yet," the older "bear cub" said. "Is she really looking for the deer?"
"It would be better if she stayed there," Unana said, looking at the forest.
"Then we won't find dad."
They didn't have to wait long. Unana managed to eat the bag of human food, after which she saw the tree branches begin to move unnaturally.
The girl hid behind her brother, wanting to keep eating, but she didn't stop looking at the forest.
... The branches parted, as if something enormous was about to emerge from the forest...
... But out of the forest emerged the same lizard girl, this time riding a horned deer.
"She did it," Unana lowered her head and buried her face in own breast.
"Why did you bring the deer here?" Yueret asked. "Did your creator say so?"
"No," Timnichan smiled. "It came itself."
"But you're sitting on it," Yueret noted.
"Yup," the lizard girl grabbed the deer by the antlers. "It's warm. I need to recharge sometimes. If I don't recharge, I can't move."
"Lizards are cold-blooded, so they hibernate in winter," Yueret recalled a phrase from a monster's description in the game.
"I need to warm up because we're going to the mountains later, and it's cold there," Timnichan leaned down and pressed herself against the deer's neck. "Deer are very warm."
"Now it's clear why she climbed under my blanket and slept there," Yueret guessed. "But I can't tell Unana about this."
"For some reason, I'm charging slowly," Timnichan raised her upper body and looked down. "Ahh, my clothes are in the way. I need to take them off. The First Creator said it's better to charge naked."
"I hope she just got confused," Yueret thought.
Timnichan climbed off the unfortunate animal and summoned her inventory. After a few moments, the deer realized no one was sitting on it and turned its head toward the forest.
The spirit of cold lizard only managed to take off her jacket, behind which was her suit, after which she noticed an empty space in front of her.
"Deer, where are you?" Timnichan began to turn her head chaotically and finally saw the back of the animal, which disappeared into the forest.
"She's so stupid that even deer run away from her," Unana noted.
"Yeah," Yueret agreed. "But if she were smart, she probably wouldn't wait for some 'bear cubs' and then lead them who know where."
Timnichan, in her scaly dress-armor and hat, ran after the deer, but this time she was stopped by an electric bird that flew past with a crackling sound.
The lizard girl instantly forgot about the owner of the horns and began to look around. The electric bird landed on the top of a young coniferous tree growing at the edge of the forest, and then began to transform into something large...
... The air filled with such a loud crackling sound that even Unana and Yueret, standing near the station wall, heard it.
"That's that doll's skill," a rectangular-oval shield appeared in Yueret's hand. "Perhaps that's her sister?"
"Now it's your turn to protect us," Unana hid behind her brother, and then pressed herself against him. "I can't anymore."
"Don't be afraid. We have the lizard now. She won't leave us in danger, will she?"
Yueret looked at the forest, but instead of spirit the cold lizard, he found the electric silhouette of a humanoid creature at the top of one of the trees.
"Unana, we have to run," Yueret said. "Let's hide in the terminal."
"But the doll will find us there, too."
"We'll buy ourselves some time. I need to think about what to do with her."
Unana climbed onto her brother's back, and he ran to the other side of the terminal, to the main and only entrance.
Meanwhile, the transformation process was complete. A doll with long purple hair and a blue bandage on its nose stood at the top of the tree. Her large breasts did not move inside the apron-like armor made of dark blue rubber plates, which meant that this creature was not breathing.
"Where did you run off to?" the doll looked around. "Don't you want me to tell you about that man?"
No one answered. Despite this, the doll continued its monologue.
"This man deceived me and my sister and turned us into dolls. But that's not why we're looking for him. He took our sis from us and fled north. That's all."
Nyonyokyo activated a purple aura, lifting her above the forest and carrying her away from the mountains.