"So, what's the monster we're going to fight?"

"The app said it was a Nürfl, which is quite weird considering they usually drop near coastline cities, but there's a first for everything, right?"

"Uhuh... And what does this Nürfl looks like and do?"

"You remember when I showed you those online videos of axolotls, right? They're kinda similar, just bigger, and greener, and their frills go around their whole neck, like a mane, so that they may work as a megaphone."

"Ah?"

"You see, they have a single, massive lung, and extremely stretchy skin, so when they inhale air they blow up like a balloon, before letting it all out in a screech that would probably rupture eardrums at point-blank, and their mane is used to amplify that sound! Oh, we're already at the gate, hand me your ID please, I need to show it to the guards." I follow her instructions while sipping my juice. This Nürfl sounds oddly familiar, but I can't quite put my finger on it... Well, I'll recognize it once we reach the drop. We're let through the gate, though we had to park the car inside the walls, so we walk to the Nürfl instead.


Upon arriving, I notice there are a couple other hunters standing around the drop, and wave to them while sipping my juice. They don't seem to be enjoying my presence though, as none of them wave back, except for a short white-haired girl, seemingly of Korean descent, who also has... fox ears and nine long fluffy tails? Did the Takhans run other successful experiments? I look at Adelheid in confusion, and she picks up on it almost immediately. She gets close to my ear and begins whispering into it. "Some people just started being born as half monsters after the first few drops happened 20 or so years ago, but they're different from you, they can't retract their monster parts, so there's a lot of racism for them..." I look at Adelheid confused. "What's racism?"

"...I'll explain it to you back home. Anyways, let's go take a closer look at the drop, see if it's actually a Nürfl." Right, Adelheid had mentioned to me that monsters drop encased in giant crystals, but this is my first time seeing one. It's very... blue. It feels as if its inner folds amplify just how vibrant and hypnotizing it looks, I've never quite seen something so... beautiful. "Excuse me, miss? You seem quite distracted by the crystal, something wrong?" The young fox-girl pulls me by the shirt. "Oh? Uh? I... No, everything's ok." That was... weird. I couldn't stop looking at that crystal... Anyways, this Nürfl... I recognize it, that's for sure, but... I thought they were aquatic beings? Certainly not amphibians, I've never seen one that wasn't at least half submerged. Adelheid said they usually drop near coastlines, so maybe the humans thought they could live on land despite that not being the case? Well, guess this'll be easy then. "Adelheid, could you hold my sippy juice, please?" I hand over the thermos to her. "Sure, why?"

"You'll see." I walk towards the crystal and clench my fists. With a single punch, a good bit of the surface breaks, so I continue digging my way through hit after hit, until I reach the Nürfl's head. One of the other hunters grabs my arm right before I could swing at its head to free it. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?! We haven't even had the time to prepare and you want to get up close to the thing?!"

"Yes, I'm planning to expose the head of the sea creature. The creature that can only breathe in water. Any issues?"

"They're amphibians! I'm not gonna get killed because of a cocky newbie who thought she knew some secrets about monster biology!"

"You better let go of my arm, if you don't want to get killed by her." He scoffs. "Your fucking funeral. Let's go, we're out of here, let's come back when they send more people because this moron got herself killed." Him and everyone else starts heading back to the city, only me, Adelheid and the fox-girl from earlier remain. As soon as I break the crystal around the monster's head, an ear-piercing scream fills the air for a few seconds, shattering the rest of the crystal. The Nürfl gets ready to attack, but before it can lunge, it falls to the ground, unable to breathe, and I crush its throat under my foot. "Could I have my sippy juice back?" Adelheid hands it to me. "Now what?"

"Now we mark the task as completed, and report that the rest of the team dropped out so they don't get any of our paycheck."

"I mean, it's not like they would've done much anyways, eh?"

"Um, miss, excuse me?"

"Ah, you're still here. I don't mind sharing, since you at least stayed."

"That's not what I wanted to ask..." She replied shyly. "I just wanted to know, what kind of hybrid are you?"

"Oh, a wyv-" Adelheid shuts my mouth quickly. "What are you talking about? She's clearly a full human!" The girl diverted her gaze. "Well, she looks like it, but the way she was entranced by the crystal... Only monsters and hybrids do that."

"Ah." Me and Adelheid say in unison. "Well um, what's your name, little one?" Adelheid asks. "Well, uh, I was thinking of Seung-yeon Gwon..."

"You were... thinking of it?"

"Yes... It's not the name my parents gave me... I don't like that one, they didn't really like that I had turned out a hybrid, so..." Adelheid bends over "Seung-yeon, how old are you?"

"17..."

"17?! You look 12?!"

"Well, my parents don't really feed me well, I'd say." She cackles a bit. Adelheid's eyes seem filled with a fire stronger than the one I could spit back then. "Seung-yeon. I'm Adelheid Lanzinger, and that's Vivienne Lanzinger. Now I'm gonna ask you a very important question. Do you want to stay with your parents?" Seung-yeon begins blushing. "N-no, not really... Why? I don't think social services will do much, I'm a hybrid after all..."

"Do you want to come live with us?" Uh?! "Uh?!" Me and Seung-yeon had the same reaction. "I, but, no, they'd... probably... hopefully notice..."

"Listen Seung-yeon. Today you're gonna go home, and if you want to move to my place, you're gonna pack all that's important to you, and go to the address I'm gonna send you once you add me on the association's app, alright?" She nods. "We'll explain more about Vivienne's situation only if you decide to come, so you're gonna have to wait for that. I assume you're a half kumiho?" She nods again. I do remember seeing some big white fox-like beings with many tails, though only rarely near mountain tops. But it feels like she's missing something... I walk up to her and squeeze her mouth open before looking into it. "Where's your marble?"

"My what?"

"Odd, maybe you're just too young for it, or it might have to do with your underdevelopedness..."

"Viv, that's not how you treat a child." I let go of her mouth. "Uh? But I was just curious! The kumihos I saw held a giant marble in their mouth that they'd often grab with their tails and use as a hammer or mace! And not only does she have nothing, she's also too tiny for the marble to deal any damage!" Adelheid grabs my hand. "We're going back home. Sorry Seung-yeon, Vivienne is a bit unused to talking to people. See you soon!" I get dragged away by my girlfriend as I continue sipping my juice.


Once we're back home, a question enters my mind. "Adelheid, do hybrids usually not have the same biology of the monster that's part of them? Seung-yeon didn't have her marble, and I can't spit fire or lightning or acid or all the things I could spit before." Adele puts a hand to her chin. "Well, I have heard of hybrids who had full on extra limbs, some who had a toxic breath that broke stones around them and there have been rumors of someone who was able to come back to life after getting lyn-" Adelheid stops for a second, almost as if she was about to say something she didn't want me to hear. "Anyways, you're different from them, you're able to retract your hybrid parts, so maybe you have to find a way to... manifest the internal organ that allowed you to do those things? As for Seung-yeon... Maybe your theory was right, and it's due to her malnourishment? Although people have manifested these genetic anomalies since birth, so something else might be at play..."

"Manifest the internal organ? When my scales showed up, it wasn't exactly something I did on purpose, I just... felt like I was back home when it happened. I was able to let my thoughts go for the first time since I got captured."

"So, if you were to free up your thoughts again maybe you'd be able to let your Wyvern parts emerge?"

"Maybe, but I wouldn't know where to begin." Suddenly, Adelheid grabs my face and smashes our lips together. As she slips her tongue into my mouth, a feeling of warmth fills my body, and my mind starts to drift again, going back to memories of the rivers I used to drink from... Adelheid lets my head go as suddenly as she grabbed it. "Please tell me that helped and I didn't rush things for nothing."

"I'm... unsure. I think something's missing, back on my planet I needed to drink from a certain river to be able to-" A little flame burps from my mouth. "Oh. That's odd, the river I drank from certainly wasn't water, so..." Both me and Adelheid turn to look at my thermos. "You're kidding, right? Blueberry and peach juice is what you need to spew fire and all those things? Seriously?!" I shrug. "Well, I can't seem to spit anything more, so I think my organs are back to normal..." Adelheid looks severly disappointed. "Does this mean we'll have to make out every time you want to spit something?"

"Looks like it." Adelheid's expression turns from disappointment to resignation. "I guess this one is on me for rushing things..."

"I don't understand. Making out, as you called it, feels nice, so why don't you want to do it? And aren't you the one that started it?"

"Well, I was just hoping it'd have been a one-time thing to help your weird biology, not a reoccurring event. We've been together for 2 days." Humans seem to value time much more than efficiency when it comes to relationship. How have they even been able to survive this long? "I suppose we could always minimize the number of times we do it until you feel ready." Adelheid's face lights up. "That's... unusually patient of you. Thank you." It also seems humans value the happiness of their mate over their own. Interesting. "Hey Viv, out of curiosity, how much sleep do you need?"

"Well, I didn't sleep as much when I was a Wyvern, but it does seem that my biology has changed to be more similar to that of a human. Why do you ask?" Adelheid smiles. "Oh, don't worry about it." Right as she finishes her sentence, the doorbell rings. She immediately goes to open it, and figuring it was gonna be Seung-yeon, says hi to her before even fully opening the door. "Welcome, Seung-yeon!"

"Who's Seung-yeon?" The voice of a man angrily replies. Clearly something is wrong, so I decide to take a look at who's at the door and... it seems Seung-yeon's parents decided to tag along with her.