It's been a full week since Zenesha and Laura first met, giving the fox time to recover just enough strength to travel. The two of them were walking on an abandoned backroad through a forest of stone trees, their destination being the radio station. It was located on a large hill making the walk difficult for the still injured Zenesha.
"I don't think I'll be much help if we're attacked by a beast." The fox woman said as she sat down to take a break breathing heavily.
Laura stayed silent, simply handing the woman a canteen of water. Seeing the container, the fox silently took the object and brought it to her mouth. The cool refreshing liquid rushed down her throat, reinvigorating her exhausted body. Laura observed her in the corner of her eye while checking their surroundings.
"You know you've been taking care of me for a week and you never asked who I am." Zenesha said after a while.
"Hm?" Laura tilted her head as she thought about her words. "I suppose I haven't."
"You know my identity don't you?"
"Yes I do. Your Zenesha, Warlord and leader of the Zari Legion." Laura paused before adding. "Cute name for a group committing acts of violence."
"Thanks I guess."
"Mhmm~." Laura hummed. "You probably think I helped you because of your identity. You're partially right, but I'm not helping you for the reasons you think."
"Whatever lets ju-" Zenesha was cut off by Laura holding out her hand signaling her to be quiet.
Laura's eyes sharpen as she stared deep into the tree line of the petrified plants. Removing the bag from her back, she held it at her side while unholstering the gun on her hip. Zenesha raised an eyebrow with mild surprise as she saw the gun had glowing marks etched into it. She had an Essence gun, and based on the reddish orange glow of the etches inscribed on the side, it was fire based.
She pointed the weapon into the tree line and fired three times in quick succession. From the gun three glowing projectiles flew through their air disappearing into the trees. It was quickly followed by a pained roar and the sound of heavy footsteps. Laura sighed a little, looking more annoyed than worried.
"Alright looks like this isn't enough to kill the damn thing." She said with a sigh, holstering her sidearm just as the beast came into view bursting through the petrified tree line.
The creature looked like someone enlarged a mountain lion, removed its skin and pumped it full of steroids. Its exposed red muscles pulsed with every movement, looking thick enough to stop most attacks. Such as the three holes in its side, bubbling from the heat as the stench of burnt flesh wafted through the air.
"Zenesha, get back." Laura said as she slowly brought the bag up in front of her while the beast pacing back and forth watching every move she made. "You'll just get in the way as you are now."
"... Fine." Zenesha answered after a brief pause sounding conflicted.
Laura didn't turn around to see if Zenesha followed her orders. She did however hear the woman move further away. She grinned a little as she held the bag in front of her now. Just as she reached inside the bag the beast seemed to grow inpatient and charged at her faster than expected. She quickly jumped to the side, the beast brushing past her causing the bag in their hand to be sent flying.
She tucked in her shoulder to roll on the ground before bouncing up onto her feet, just in time to duck underneath a swipe from the creature. The force of the swing crashing into the asphalt below cracking it. The wolf woman took this chance of vulnerability to unholster her gun and pointed it at the beast jaw before firing at point blank range.
"Rooaarr!"
Crying out in pain the muscle lion staggered backwards as it shook its head. Laura quickly made distance between them. She scanned the area for her bag, and noticed it sitting right by the creature, the tip of a larger weapon poking out from its top.
"Of course it's over there." Laura clicked her tongue. "I hate to do this since I haven't consumed essence all week, but whatever."
The wolf woman sprinted full speed towards the beast, not waiting for it to recover. The muscle lion however noticed Laura charging at it and was ready to face her approach head on. When it tried to lift its large paw up, razor sharp claws at the ready it found that it couldn't move. Its legs were frozen in a thick layer of ice at some point.
Laura smirked seeing the creature frozen. She didn't do it but she figured Zenesha did. Before it could free itself the wolf slid underneath the creature and hit its underside with her palm. Its chest caved in as it was launched high in the sky above.
"I don't have much time." Laura muttered, already losing feeling in her left arm.
She quickly reached into her bag, grabbing the shotgun that was peeking out from inside it. The weapon was much larger than what the bag could possibly conceal, but Laura didn't look too surprised as she loaded a slug round into the semi-automatic shotgun.
The gun's barrel was a whitish blue, crackling with electricity. The power radiating off it was much greater than her fire attribute pistol. Just then the muscle lion crashed into the ground beside her, kicking up a cloud of dust obscuring the vision of anyone outside it. If she was a normal person she might've even stumbled backwards from force.
Laura walked over to it and pressed the barrel of the shotgun into the already blooded creature's head with a smile. "Later." She spoke, pulling the trigger.
*Bang*
The singular shot of the gun resonated in the empty street and the surrounding trees. The wolf woman pulled back just as part of her left arm disappeared. She looked at the limp sleeve in annoyance and grabbed a vial of essence from her bag and downed the entire thing in one gulp, before looking at her empty sleeve again.
"One isn't going to cut it huh? Man, I didn't even use that much power. "Laura sighed and down another two vials.
"Laura, are you okay?" Zenesha called from outside the cloud of dust.
"Yeah… I'll be out in a minute just checking my stuff!" Laura called back as she flexed her left arm that had returned.
She wasn't going to stay with this fox for long so there wasn't any reason to complicate things by revealing what she was. Once she made sure her arm had truly returned and that the rest of her body wasn't about to disappear on her, she grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder. She decided to keep the shotgun out since they already came across one powerful beast.
When Laura stepped out of the dust cloud she was greeted with a worried looking fox. While her face was passive and showed no emotions, her ears and tail were drooping, which the wolf found cute.
"Worried about me princess? That's adorable." Laura said, voicing her thoughts. "Thanks for your help by the way."
"... I wasn't worried about you. Let's just keep going." Zenesha huffed as she walked past Laura.
"Shame we can't stick around to grab the Es organ." The wolf sighed disappointed following the fox.
"We could if you want." Offered the taller woman, turning around.
"Nah, I don't want to risk running into another powerful beast. Let's just go."
=======
Two women found themselves deep inside the old radio station looking over the equipment left behind. Most of it was covered in dust, and the controls were stiff, but nothing looked damaged. This place somehow managed to survive throughout the years without a problem.
"We need power though… Laura, you think this place had a backup generator?"
"... If it does, it probably needs refined essence." She spoke. "It was probably stolen at this point, I can't imagine people just ignoring something like that."
"True, and we don't have any refined essence with us, do we?"
"...."
Laura didn't answer and instead checked how much of the energy compound she had left. She had more than small vials, it was just easier to carry those on her person than an entire canister. After checking her stock she realized she had a fair amount left. Even a tiny bit of refined essence.
There wasn't enough refined essence to be useful at all, but it was a boon for her.
"I'll go see if I can do anything about it." Laura answered as she left the room. "Stay here."
Leaving the building through the back door, she used a trashcan she found to keep it propped open. She quickly found the side building where the generator was kept, its metal door already open by force. Pushing open the rusted metal door Laura stepped inside the tiny room, instantly spotting the generator. It took up half the space, with only a chair and a bucket as company.
"Man, I don't wanna do this, but I'm already helping." Laura cursed. "I should've wished for essence as a thank you. Maybe even raw essence since that'll be more effective to me, even if it tastes gross."
She took out both her bottled essence and the canister holding her extra essence compound and the almost empty canister of refined essence. They were about the same size, meaning there would be enough to power this generator for a little while. Laura looked beside her at the few vials of essence she had left before turning her attention back at the task at hand.
Channeling power she infused both variants of essence with it. A power not from this world allowing her to change it at will. She then poured what remained of the silver-colored refined essence into the blue liquid.
She watched as the blue essence slowly turned silver in color, and after several minutes the entire canister was transformed into refined essence. Moving quickly, Laura took a sip of the liquid to help keep her stable enough to refuel the generator. She scrunched up her face in disgust at the taste as the nauseating feeling to throw up rose inside her.
"Uuhhg. Why does this have to taste so bad? It even hurts going down!" She complained.
After she took her sip of the fuel, she stood up and made her way to the generator. She carefully poured the liquid inside, already losing feeling in her arms and even legs. Soon the canister was empty, and Laura dropped it and dove towards the vials she left on the ground uncorking two at a time drinking it.
"Oh man that was close, my legs are gone already." Laura muttered, drinking another two vials. "I need to get more essence soon or I might really be dragged back home at this rate."