Monkey Business in Gravesfield 5 (Patreon)

Monkey Business in Gravesfield 5 - or ‘A Tale of a Saiyan, a Basilisk, and a Human’ (Post-DBZ Xenoverse x Pre-Finale The Owl House, Saiyan!OC)

“A-Are you sure I should be keeping this?”

Vee had plenty of reasons to be very nervous about this task. Yes, she had been a very reliable guide for Hunter and co. and yes, she also had some awareness on handling Palismans due to her species’ diet but… but this was a bit out of the blue.

The large egg-shaped ‘totem’ as the Grimwalker had called it was meant to be a ‘bout of inspiration’ he had while carving it. He had looked into carving another egg-shaped Palisman after his good efforts that resulted in Waffles, his current Palisman.

Now, the big reason why she was actually handling it in the human world was-

“I think some old rival to Mr. Clawthorne has been looking to steal some of his works. So, since I don’t want any of them getting close to this piece, I would like for you to just keep an eye on it.”

And as the Basilisk asked that question again, Hunter shrugged.

“You’ll be fine, Vee. I can trust you with this one because they will not be hatching anytime soon.”

This amount of trust was fine, but it was the last detail that drew a frown on her face. “How do you know that it will not hatch while I handle it?”

“Mr. Clawthorne taught me how to discern when a Palisman Egg is close to hatching. This one has yet to be anywhere close to their partners, so it will definitely take a while for this one to come out.”

Vee nodded at this, glad that this trouble was out of the window of possibilities and… realizing that she just had to babysit the equivalent of a witch-tier pet rock. She didn’t need to feed it or anything, but she had to keep it out of harm’s way.

“I guess I can do it. I will not disappoint you, Hunter.”

The boy smiled. “Thanks.”

“So… how are things with you and Willow?”

The red-faced Grimwalker was swift to leave with a quick-thought excuse, giving Vee some peace to look at the egg… and realize she was going to be late for school if she didn’t get moving.

She made space in her school bag, shifting the head with a blanket to cover it from anyone checking inside. Once she was done, Vee bolted to get to the car where Camila had been waiting for a few minutes, and soon both Noceda ladies were off for school.

“So, what was Hunter up to this time?” The bespectacled woman asked, noticing how bigger Vee’s school bag was for the day.

“He gave me a Palisman Egg to keep watch over since someone has been looking into his workshop to steal things,” The basilisk calmly answered, quickly continuing as she saw the quizzical look Camila was giving her. “The Egg is far from hatching, so it’s just a matter of not letting the bag be hit or anything. It will be fine.”

“You know I trust you, mija. Just don’t get too distracted with it.”

“I will not, mami.”

The woman smiled at the response, and the conversation died there. Vee was already relaxing as she expected this to be a relatively easy day. She didn’t plan to get much done around Masha, she was going to just follow the lessons and enjoy the normal day.

She failed to notice that glowing cracks had started to appear on the egg’s surface the closer the car got to the school.

It took them less than ten minutes to reach their destination, with Vee soon stepping out of the car and walking up to the entrance without any worry… beyond a huff as she felt a sudden gust of wind pull a bit at her bag.

She failed to notice the bag had grown lighter, as only shards of the egg’s shell remained within the blanket.

Vee hummed quietly as she walked up to her locker, unlocked it and checked for the books she had to use today. Nodding as she fished out what she needed, she tilted the bag to exchange the new books with those she didn’t need and…

…

Where’s the egg?

…

Her face paled considerably as she quickly looked around, no sign of any bizarre animal in the school. Nothing came up visually, and as she tried to sniff out the Palisman, she realized the school was too densely smelly for a Basilisk like her to pick up where it could have gone.

Oh no.

Panic swelled, Vee contemplating looking around for the Palisman, but soon the bell rang and she had to get to her classroom. Unease was growing within her as she waited for some emergency call through the school about some bizarre wild animal attack, or anything that could help her track down what came out of the egg.

Nothing did, she was further unnerved when she noticed someone had sent her a message to her phone. Opening it,

Jay here. Masha gave me your number. Meet me at the same storage room as last time.

Realization sunk in Vee’s mind and, to some extent, she was relieved as this meant one thing.

I guess he found them.

That was going to be awkward to explain to him and Hunter. And as the first class ended, Vee paced swiftly out of the classroom and towards her destination. Door was soon shut behind her, and she caught sight of Jay looking mildly annoyed. And a tiny Chinese dragon-like Palisman with red eyes and light-brown horns.

“Hello Vee.”

Gulping nervously, the Basilisk stood upright as she recognized that voice.

“H-Hi Jay.”

“Little noodle. Explain.”

The angry squee from the green-scaled dragon Palisman was ignored as the creature nibbled but failed to hurt the non-human’s hand, the other one rubbing onto their scaly belly.

“So… a friend of mine gave me an egg containing that.”

Jay frowned, yet his eyes glowed for a moment. “You have a Dragon Tamer as a friend?”

“M-More is like a Palisman maker.”

The frown deepened, his excitement mostly killed by that correction.

“The heck is a Palisman.”

“What you’re holding,” Vee blurted out. “They are… they are partners to magic users, witch.”

“And why did it come for me?”

“Well, you are… the one they consider your partner.”

“I am not a magic-user.”

“You have energy,” Vee argued, and Jay groaned. “And while you may think little of it, they are more than just a pet.”

“Well, if Chibiron was able to track me down a few times as I shifted around the school, I can tell they truly are.”

The basilisk ignored being the ‘caught multiple times bit’, and paused at another interesting detail.

“You named them?”

“Yeah, he looks just like the dragon we had in that other place, just tinier, adorable, and brattier.”

Another annoyed squee came from the chibi dragon.

“So… how does this work?”

“You take care of it-”

“No shit, Vee,” The boy replied dryly and she growled.

“Look, the point is- I am not the expert here. I can ask him to come by and you two can talk but… but you have to promise me that you will not cause trouble.”

Jay shrugged. “And you could drop the fact I am not some sort of mobster ready to murder new people.”

“Good, then you can handle that for now. I will call you when he is at my house and-”

“Vee?”

She paused mid-walk towards the door, giving Jay a rather flat look. “Yeah?”

“Nice shirt.”

Her flat look melted into an embarrassed look and she quickly left with the reddest hue possible for her face to conjure.

If things weren’t getting worse in handling this secret, now she was getting weird feelings for two people at once… Dammit!

—--------d-d-d-d—----

AN

Next time, Jay learns to live with his Palisman… despite not knowing what Chibiron’s purpose is all about as of now. I mean, how difficult can it be for a Saiyan to handle a mini-dragon?