"What are these things?" Paltio asked, his eyes wide as everything around him began to illuminate.
"I don't know, Paltio, but they look like some kind of cockroaches with faces… extremely malevolent faces," Golden replied, pointing toward the creatures crawling across the ground.
The young prince looked around, his breathing rapid. "And now what do we do? Those things have my friends, and probably the others who were in those carriages too."
Golden watched as the tiny creatures spat globs of slime in Paltio's direction, forcing him to dodge with quick but clumsy movements. There were over a hundred of the creatures surrounding him, advancing slowly like an unstoppable dark tide.
"Can you give me some of your power to fight them?" Paltio asked, taking another step back.
Golden shook his head firmly. "You must flee, Paltio."
"Flee? To where?" the boy retorted desperately, spinning around to search for an opening among the swarm of insects.
"If I give you my power, you won't be able to withstand it. Remember what happened last time: you passed out? If that happens now, you'll never find your friends."
Paltio nodded, understanding the logic behind Golden's words. "Then what should I do?"
"Toco-Toco, come out, lad. There's work to be done," Golden recalled. From the hologram emerged the talking cat once again, his playful eyes gleaming mischievously.
"Meow, my lord, what is your command?" Toco-Toco asked, bowing slightly.
"Quickly, take the prince away from here. Then we'll plan a strategy to rescue his friends," Golden ordered.
Toco-Toco nodded decisively and, without wasting a moment, grabbed Paltio by the collar of his shirt. With surprising speed, both shot forward, leaving behind a trail of light emanating from the prince's boots. Hundreds of small creatures began chasing after them, emitting high-pitched screeches that echoed through the night air.
"You'd better turn off your boots, lad. Meow," Toco-Toco suggested as they ran.
"I can't! You're choking me the way you're carrying me!" Paltio protested, his voice strained from lack of air.
"I'm very small to carry you; I don't have much strength—I'm just fast," the cat explained, not slowing down.
"But if we keep going like this, I won't be able to turn them off!" Paltio insisted, gasping for breath.
From the hologram, Golden interjected: "Toco-Toco, friend, why don't you enter your FELICA form?"
"Oh no, sir! I don't like that form. I look too fierce and primitive. Plus, the boy might get scared, and I can only maintain it for a short while," the feline argued.
"It's the only option, Toco-Toco, unless you want to keep strangling the prince," Golden replied patiently.
"Hmph! Fine," the cat grumbled. Without warning, he flung the boy several meters into the air.
"Whoa! I'm going to die at this height! Or at least it's going to hurt a lot!" Paltio shouted as he soared upward.
"FELICA form," Toco-Toco murmured. At that moment, the ruby embedded in his collar began to glow an intense crimson red. His body started to expand, growing until he reached the size of a panther—or even larger. His voice deepened, and with a prodigious leap, he caught Paltio midair before the boy could hit the ground.
"Hold on tightly to my back with all your strength, and don't let go under any circumstances," the giant feline warned in a deep voice as he placed the prince on his back.
Paltio obeyed immediately, his fingers gripping the animal's fur desperately. The transformation had completely changed the cat's appearance: his eyes now gleamed with a wild spark, and his fangs protruded menacingly. The young prince swallowed hard, nervous.
"Incredible… you're a super-cat," Paltio stammered, trying to steady his trembling. "Uh… you're not going to eat me, are you?"
The feline let out a guttural laugh. "Meow, relax, lad. For now, you're still alive."
Instead of his usual "meow," Toco-Toco unleashed a roar so powerful it made the entire forest tremble.
"Wow!" Paltio commented, impressed by the cat's transformation.
"No," Toco-Toco replied in a deep, authoritative voice, "but if you don't turn off your boots, I might."
"Alright, I'll do it," said Paltio, attempting to bring his feet together to deactivate them. After a few moments, he managed to turn them off. "Now we won't see anything," the boy muttered, concerned.
"Don't worry, I can see," the cat assured him. "Just hold on tight."
Toco-Toco, in his feline form, began moving agilely between the trees, leaping from branch to branch with astonishing precision. Finally, after several minutes of frantic running, he announced, "I think they're no longer following us."
"How do you know?" Paltio asked, still clinging to the enormous feline's back.
"I can smell their scent," Toco-Toco explained. "Plus, with this red eye, I can see perfectly in the dark."
After a while, the cat returned to his original form and added, "Yes, with my red eye, I can detect anything at night. By the way, kid, don't step there. We're on a branch. Stay where you are."
"Okay," Paltio responded, trying to orient himself in the dim light. "And the other eye? The green one?" he asked, holding tightly to the branch.
"That one predicts movements and detects sources of light," the little cat explained.
"Just as I suspected," Toco-Toco continued, his voice returning to normal and leaving behind the raspy tone of his feline form. "Those creatures are heading toward the light. Now you can turn on your boots, lad, meow."
Paltio, still clutching the branch, nodded. A moment later, he turned on his boots, illuminating the surroundings. They realized they were perched high up in a gigantic tree.
"And now, how am I supposed to get down from here?" Paltio asked, looking down anxiously.
"The same way we got up: branch by branch," the cat instructed calmly.
"I'm not good at that," the prince protested.
"Fine, then go," said Toco-Toco, and without warning, he gave Paltio a light swat on one of his legs. The boy went flying toward the ground, screaming in panic as he imagined the impact. But just before crashing, something stopped him midair.
"What was that?" the boy asked, confused, as he felt his boots gently touch the ground.
"I can fly!" he exclaimed excitedly.
"No, Paltio," Golden interjected from the hologram. "You can't fly. I used my telekinesis to keep you floating and prevent you from smashing into the ground."
"Thank you, Golden," the prince replied, relieved. However, he added with a hint of frustration, "But flying would have been really cool—and helpful."
The cat descended from the tree, and Paltio confronted him, irritated. "Hey, Toco-Toco, you almost killed me! And I almost… well, you know!"
"But you didn't die, meow," Toco-Toco retorted indifferently. "Besides, that got rid of your fear of heights and climbing."
"I'm not afraid of heights, just of climbing and falling," the prince clarified.
"Yeah, sure," the cat said, shrugging as he returned to Golden's hologram.
"And now, how do we save my friends, Golden?" Paltio asked, visibly distressed.
"I've noticed that light attracts those creatures," Golden explained. "So you'll have to fight in the dark."
"And how am I supposed to do that?" the prince asked, bewildered.
"I don't know, lad, but I'll think of something along the way. I'll let you know when you need to turn off your boots."
Golden observed the vast terrain they had covered with Toco-Toco. "It's a long way," he murmured thoughtfully.
While Paltio made his way back to rescue his friends, in a large, glowing cave, numerous individuals were trapped inside a viscous amber-colored substance. They appeared to be encased in liquid-like structures resembling eggs, and adhered to every wall of the cave. In the center of the room, Paltio's friends remained in stasis, motionless, plunged into a deep-induced sleep. Only Pax, thanks to his armor, had resisted the lethargic effect—but now he was trapped within one of those sticky cocoons, unable to move, though he could still speak.
"Oh no! This is disgusting!" Pax exclaimed, his voice faintly echoing within the cocoon. Through the translucent substance, he could see that tiny cockroach-like insects were responsible. These creatures laughed among themselves with a sharp, chirping sound.
"Well, we have more guests," one of the insects said, rubbing its tiny legs together maliciously. "Soon the queen will awaken and have a grand feast."
Pax tried to move, but his body was completely immobilized by the viscous substance enveloping him like a suffocating embrace. The cave glowed with a faint luminescence, caused by the amber-like substance coating the walls and holding the prisoners. The air was thick with a sickeningly sweet smell—a mix of rancid honey and something indefinable—that made it hard to breathe. Despite being trapped, Pax felt his skin crawl at the grotesque sight of the small creatures surrounding him.
Trapped in that sticky prison, Pax fought an internal battle against despair. Finally, with a tone full of anger and frustration, he muttered within the cocoon:
"It's those damn insects Tejod created… those disgusting things called…"