*About 20 minutes ago*

They moved differently now than when they had first started their exploration. Alejandra took the lead, her fancy rifle up and ready, the butt against her shoulder and the barrel sweeping left and right, covering her sectors, watching for threats. Her feet fell instinctively into a shooter's walk, the one that looked ridiculous to an observer but allowed her stability of form and readiness of movement if she needed to dart in just about any direction.

Beside her, Bel was imitating her walk, but changing it slightly as well. Instead of the short steps that allowed her to keep her upper body steady and supported, her eldest daughter instead leaned into her stride and kept on the balls of her feet, ready not to dart into cover but instead to spring forward and close the distance between her and whatever might appear in front of her.

Dinah… Moved like a huntress, quiet and shadow-smooth. The younger girl caught Alejandra glancing at her, and gave her a quiet grin. She really was in her element out here, wasn't she?

"So, do we have a plan?" whispered Olivia, who was trying to copy Alejandra's movements with moderate success. "Because 'let's go kill a thing we can't see and eats horse-sized critters in one bite' is not exactly high on my list of 'easy things to do today'."

"We do," Alejandra replied, a corner of her mouth quirking at her daughter's tone. "First rule of combat: gather as much intel as you can before you have to commit. Threat Assessment, we called it. So, first part of the plan: figure out what we're up against."

"And how the heck are we supposed to do that?" Bel asked, keeping her voice low as they moved back towards the clearing with the Zone Keeper. "We can't even see it."

"No camouflage is perfect," Alejandra said. "I am betting that if we take a real good look, we will be able to see inconsistencies in its appearance now that we know it is there and where it sits."

"'Stare hard at it until something breaks' isn't the coolest plan I've ever heard of, Mom," Olivia muttered.

"No, which is why it is only our first tactic. After that, we will see if any of our new magical abilities can combat its camouflage and give us an edge."

"And if that doesn't work?" Dinah asked, not looking away from the jungle.

"Then Olivia sets it on fire," Alejandra said with a toothy grin.

"I love this plan," Olivia said, deadpan. "I am excited to be part of it."

"Wait, really?" Bel blinked and looked at Alejandra in surprise. "Set it on fire? Seriously?"

"Si," Alejandra nodded. "Perhaps its camouflage will be good enough to defeat our observation, perhaps it may even be proof against any of our abilities. But I have yet to see a camouflage, and cannot imagine even a magical camouflage, that would continue to be effective when it is on fire and screaming."

"Jeez Mom, that's kinda dark," Bel said, frowning.

Alejandra blinked, then held up a closed fist, signaling them to stop. They did, probably recognizing the gesture from movies they'd seen because Alejandra had never used it at home.

"Yes," she said, looking right at Bel. "It is dark. But if that is what it takes to win this battle, then that is what we will do."

She turned from Bel and to the other two, who had drawn in close at her signal. "Listen to me now, ninas," she said quietly. "We are not defending our home from invading forces, we are not protecting each other from things that actively mean us harm. We have identified a military objective and decided to destroy it because at some point in the future it may threaten us.

"We," she said, looking from one face to the next, "are marching to war. We are going to invade the territory of another being and use every method we can think of to kill it. If all goes right, it will not be a fair fight. It will not be an honorable fight. We will catch it unawares, utilize overwhelming force, and kill it before it has a chance to fight back."

Olivia's and Isabel's eyes were wide as Alejandra spoke, and wider when she finished. Dinah, however, just nodded like she understood exactly what Alejandra was driving at.

"How are we supposed to feel good about that?" Bel asked after a long second. "You're telling us we're basically the bad guys here."

"To the thing in the clearing, we are," Alejandra said simply. "We are the invaders, come into its home to kill it. But that does not make our task any less necessary, nor the completion of that task any less of a good thing for us."

"We're the bugs," Olivia said, looking down at the jungle floor. "We're doing the same thing that the bugs did to us, only we're doing it to the Zone Keeper. That doesn't seem… Right." She looked up then. "Bel's right. How are we supposed to feel good about this? I mean, it'd be different if it was a fair fight or something, but this is just… It's butchery, Mom. If we do it your way. That seems wrong."

Instead of answering directly, Alejandra looked over at Dinah.

"Dinah," she said quietly, "tell us about hunting."

Dinah jerked, suddenly the center of attention, but after a second she took a breath and nodded.

"It's basically the same thing you're talking about, Mrs. Albright," she said, glancing at the other girls briefly. "You go into a critter's home, blast its brains out, and go home. Ain't no fair fight, ain't no chance the critter has, not with high power rifles and all the huntin' tricks we've got back on Earth."

"And do you feel good at the end of the hunt?"

"Well yeah. 'Course. Wouldn't go out and do it if I didn't relish it, y'know?"

"Do you also feel good about killing the 'critter'?" Alejandra asked, steering the girl towards the answer she was looking for. Liv and Bel were focused squarely on Dinah now, hanging on her words.

Dinah took a second to compose her response, eyes going unfocused as she thought it through.

"The actual killin', takin' the life of a critter what never did me no harm…" she sighed. "No, that's the only part of the hunt that's hard to feel good about."

"Uh, isn't that kinda what a hunt is?" Liv asked, raising her eyebrows at her friend.

"Naw," Dinah drew the word out as she shook her head. "The hunt is the searchin' for a critter, the trackin', the stalkin', the lining up just the right shot to bring it down… It's in all the skills ya need to get to tht one trigger pull. And then it's makin' sure that the critter's sacrifice ain't wasted. You skin it, butcher it, use all the bits of it you can so that it ain't just senseless killin' for 'fun', but for actual reasons. A deer can feed a family for a week or more, give 'em some fancy duds, even be used in some modern industries.

"It ain't about the kill," she said, looking first Olivia then Isabel in the eye almost defiantly. "It's about the skill needed to make the kill, and then everything that comes after to make sure the killin' wasn't in vain."

"It's not about the killing," Alejandra echoed, retaking control of the conversation. "It's about the skills we need to make the kill, and the aftereffects of the kill. In a hunt, it's for food, and whatever else you can get from the prey. Here, it's to make this island safer for us all, and making sure we all get home again safe."

She turned to look at Bel and reached out to lay a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "That is how we feel good about it." She looked over at Olivia as well. "Do you understand?"

She watched as her girls processed what they'd heard. They exchanged glances, then looked back at her. Bel gave a fierce grin and hefted her swords.

"Well what are we waiting for then? Let's go make the island safer for everyone."

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"Olivia?"

Olivia didn't smile, but she squared her shoulders and gripped her staff. "Let's go do this."

"Good." Alejandra squeezed their shoulders one after the other. "And thank you, Dinah, for your help," she added, squeezing her adopted daughter's shoulder as well. "I do not think I could have said it better."

"Well yeah, that's why y'all asked me," Dinah said with a grin. "'Cause I'm just so dang good at talkin'."

Olivia snorted and leaned over to cuff her friend and new sister affectionately on the back of the head.

"Are we good to keep moving then?" Alejandra asked them. She received a trio of firm nods, returned them, then hefted her rifle and started moving again.

It took them only a few minutes to return to the edge of the clearing where they had first seen the Zone Keeper. It was quiet now, the sounds of chewing could no longer be heard. In fact, the whole jungle seemed to be silent around them.

"They know there's a predator out there," Dinah whispered as they hunkered down in a copse of trees about opposite where they had seen the Keeper.

"Makes two of us," Bel said, crouching and glaring out at the clearing. "I can't see it. Can't even tell if its moved or not."

"Keep an eye out for that little glowing child thing," Olivia murmured, also staring hard around the clearing. "It used it like an angler fish, luring the predator in. Means it's an ambush predator, waits for prey to come to it."

Alejandra lifted her rifle and peered through the scope. Back on earth, it had been a simple ACOG scope; durable, effective, and easy to use. The shape and size of the scope had changed when her rifle had become a legendary weapon after she had received her Calling, but it was still functionally the same. The only difference was the magnification could now be varied, and if anything the image through the scope was even clearer than it had been before.

At least, right until this moment, she had thought that was the only difference.

Now, sweeping it back and forth across the opposite edge of the clearing, she discovered that it had changed more than she thought.

"I can see it," she whispered, and all other conversation immediately ceased. "Sort of." She lifted her eye from the scope and peered at the same area with the Mk I eyeball, and confirmed. She couldn't see anything except jungle. But through the scope, there was a certain part of the jungle that blurred just slightly. If she didn't know the quality of her scope, she could have attributed it to imperfections in the device, it was so subtle.

"Here," she passed her rifle to Olivia and pointed. "It's about where it was last time. Take a look."

She waited until Olivia handed the rifle back and reached up for the scroll Hoolio had at the ready. "I can barely tell its shape, but it's huge. It's almost like if a frog the size of a semi-truck decided to camp out there." She took the scroll and started reading down the words. "I still can't tell exactly what we're looking at, but the list has been narrowed down some."

"I think maybe I can help with that," Dinah said, frowning at her scroll. "Hang on, I'm gonna try something." She took a deep breath and her hands glowed softly as she accessed her coins.

[Consul Arts: Ally Of Nature]

Power flowed out of Dinah and dissipated like mist into the air. Alejandra raised her eyebrows.

"It's supposed to call on the spirits of the surrounding area to aid me," Dinah said, looking around. "I figure, if there's something around here like that, maybe it can outline the critter for us, or do something to mess with its camo, or…"

She trailed off as a small mound of earth started to push upwards right in front of her sneakered feet. Everyone took a step back, Alejandra keeping an eye on the Keeper through her scope, the others watching the mound grow like an anthill as something burrowed up from below.

A moment later a pair of long digging claws poked through the jungle floor, followed quickly by a pointed pink nose. The nose was attached to a chubby round face, about the size and shape of a chicken egg. A moustache almost as big as the creature's entire head adorned its lower lip, and a flat cap like something a new york cab driver might wear was on its head. It looked up at Dinah with two narrowed black eyes, used one of its digging claws to tilt the brim of its hat back, and squinted.

"Somethin' you need, toots?"

Everyone blinked.

"Uh, you're a nature spirit?" Dinah asked, staring.

"Earth fairy. Yeah. You called, I was the closest one, so I came to answer. We ain't heard from you Consuls in a long time, so the other sent me to make sure it wasn't some kind of trick. Thanks a lot you assholes," the little creature added, glaring back down the hole it had just dug. Then back up at Dinah. "So you're a real Consul. Awesome. What do you want?"

"Uh…" Dinah looked up at Alejandra, eyes wide, then back down to the Earth Fairy. "There's something invisible in that clearing. I was hoping, uh, you'd have some trick to make it visible, or at least so we can kinda see it?"

The earth fairy turned in its hole and squinted out into the clearing. Then it whistled through its two prominent front teeth.

"Whoooo, Zone Keeper. Ain't seen one of them in a long time." He stopped and turned back to squint at Dinah again. "You ain't gonna ask us to fight the thing with you, are you? Us nature sprites, we ain't exactly set up for that kind of thing, you know…"

"We will not ask you to fight for us," Alejandra interrupted, earning a squint for herself. "We conduct our own battles. All my daughter is asking is if you can help us overcome this single obstacle."

"You sure? You ain't gonna ask us to hold it in place for you, or distract it, or nothing like that?"

"Of course not," Olivia said, getting a squint for herself as well. "What do you take us for?"

"Last one of you types wasn't so particular," the little sprite grumbled. "Just want to be sure, is all." The squint swiveled back out towards the Zone Keeper again. "Naw, I can't do nothing about it. But I know some folks who can. Hang tight."

With that, the little creature zipped back underground, closing its hole behind it as it went.

Everyone blinked at everyone else.

"Okay, what the heck?" Bel asked. "Did that really just happen?"

"I am so gonna have to do more research on this," Olivia muttered, and Hoolio added an affirmative hoot.

"Sounded like he didn't much trust us," Dinah said, frowning. "I wonder who 'the last guy' was."

Further conversation was forestalled by a soft buzz of wings, and a small blue fairy alighted on a branch above them. It looked exactly like how Alejandra would have expected a fairy to look, except everything about it, from clothing to hair to wings, was blue. Different shades, granted, but still very blue.

"Hi," the fairy said, not coming closer. "I'm Bindea. Peat said you were okay and needed some help?"

"Pete?" Olivia said, blinking. "As in… Oh, oh no. No no no. Please tell me it's not–"

"Peat. Like Peat Moss?" Dinah snorted. "I love this place."

"I'm gonna go let that thing eat me now," Olivia growled.

"Hush," Alejandra said, quelling the noise. Then she looked back up at the fairy. "We do need your help. Your friend said you could do something to help us negate the Zone Keeper's camouflage?"

The fairy frowned and fidgeted on her branch. "You're not gonna ask me to fight it, are you? Peatey said you wouldn't but…"

"The last guy must have been a real jackass," Dinah muttered.

"No, we will not," Alejandra assured her. "Once you help us see it, that's all we will need of you."

"Okay," the fairy said after a second. "I've got a spell I can use to outline any creature in fae fire."

"Finally something I recognize," Olivia said. "And once I can see it, I can analyze it and figure out what it is and how to fight it."

"Perfect," Alejandra said. "Then here is our plan. Senorita fairy, you will light the thing up so we can see it. If it doesn't move or react, Olivia you will read the scroll for us and tell us how we take it down. If it does move, Dinah and I will lay down covering fire. If it runs, we give chase. If it attacks, Bel, you will need to engage with it at close range and keep it busy. Either way, Olivia, your first task is to find out the best way to kill it and tell us about it. After that, we will see what must be done. Good?"

"Good," the girls said, all determination and cold smiles.

"Alright. Dinah, behind that tree," she pointed. "I'll take position here. Bel, that tree, be ready to charge in, and mija watch out for its mouth. Attack from the side or the rear, and avoid those tentacles."

"Words to live by," Bel grinned. "Just say the word."

Alejandra nodded, trying not to think about how she was about to attack a monster with her children by her side, and pulled her little radio from her belt. She'd promised Matty she'd call when they were ready.

She never got the chance.

"It's moving!" the fairy whispered urgently, pointing. "It's coming right towards us! I think it's seen you!"

Alejandra jerked her hand away from the radio and used it to raise her rifle. The scope showed blurry motion sidling into the clearing and shambling straight towards their hiding place.

And the little child thing appeared.

"Light it up!" She barked the order without thinking, and a blink later pulled the trigger. The sound of the rapid-fire gunshots was like God hammering in a dozen nails as fast as He could, and the bright red tracers slammed into something invisible, causing ripples in the air and gouts of green blood to suddenly explore out of nowhere.

The Keeper shrieked, its great maw opening like a pit in midair. Tentacles lashed out but fell short by at least a dozen feet.

And then the whole of the Keeper was limned in blue dancing flames. It was the size of a semi truck, but wider and bulkier. The outline was too strange for her to draw any other comparisons.

Then the rat-tat-tat of Alejandra's gun was joined by the flat crack of Dinah's hunting rifle, and the wild roaring battle cry of Bel.

And the battle was on.

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