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Art allowed one to express oneself while remaining vague about one's true form, at least what Homare had taught Gali. Of course, being a monster whose true form lurked beneath a floating golden mask and white cloak, Gali loved such a way of self-expression.
However, Gali still had to show his spectral arms when writing his poetry on a piece of paper. How vexing, especially with Homare staring at those arms from beside him.
Gali growled. "Why do you keep staring at my arms?"
"I have always been curious about your true form. Up until now, I have only seen your arms."
Gali humphed and kept his brawny, semi-transparent arms in his cloak. "There is nothing interesting about my true form."
"Even if there is nothing interesting about it, it is only fair if you show it to me. I have raised you since you were a newborn, I will have you know."
"You will not like my true form, Homare. There is nothing elegant or noble about it."
"Is that why you hide your true form?"
Gali's floating golden mask nodded. "It is a complete opposite of this mask and cape."
Homare chuckled. "My curiosity only grows."
"I am not showing my true form either way." Gali turned around and glided away from Homare.
Just as the floating mask and cape reached the door, Homare began, "Would you like to hear a story?"
Gali stopped in his tracks. "You intend to make me show my true form, correct?"
"I will not force you if you still refuse to do so. I understand your feelings very well."
Gali turned. "I do not expect to hear that from you."
"I only understand because we are quite similar in terms of showing our true forms." Homare approaches Gali with a pocket watch in hand.
"A story about Christine again?"
Homare nodded. "This time, I shall tell you why I refuse to show her to many people out there." He opened the cover, revealing the unmoving clock hands behind a slightly scuffed crystal. "Christine is a pocket watch that cannot even tell the correct time. See, she is that broken. However, Hisoka-kun once asked why I refused to show her to everyone."
"Because she is broken?"
"Exactly. I also believe she does not want to show her broken form to anyone." Homare closed the cover and held the pocket watch close to his chest. "I still love her anyway."
"So… If I show you my true form, will you still love me?"
"Of course. No trainer will hate the monsters they have worked so hard to raise."
"Well…" Gali gulped. Slowly, he stretched his arms out of the floating cloak. As his demonic, draconic face left the hideout, Homare smiled broadly.
Then a crash from behind Homare cut him off, prompting him to hide again.
"Who dares intrude into the Arisugawa residence?" Homare shouted, turning around.
A pack of green velociraptors stood before them, sunlight glinting off their claws and the baddie crest on their chest. One of them, the one who stood in the middle, wore a helmet and shoulder pads.
"The Zuum troops!" Gali exclaimed.
"The Arisugawa residence, is it?" The lightly-armored Zuum asked. "Hand over your stash of mystery disks! We know the Arisugawa family keeps a lot of them!"
Homare gave the Zuums a death glare. "The Arisugawa family has collected them for generations through countless trades and explorations…"
"And?"
"Finders, keepers! I am not giving you ruffians anything!"
"Is that so… Then, how about this?" The lightly-armored Zuum whistled, and one of the Zuums stepped forward with an old lady in its grip.
"Grandmother!" Homare shouted, taking a step back with his fists clenched. "Why you…"
"We found her tending to the gardens alone, so…" When a Zuum pressed a claw against the old lady's throat, the lightly-armored one added, "Hand over the disks and we'll set her free. How's that?"
"Homare, do not give them the disks," Homare's grandmother said sternly, only for a Zuum to sink its claw a little deeper into her neck. "Kill me if you want. I have lived a long, fulfilling life."
"Grandmother, no!" Tearing up, Homare finally told Gali, "I have no choice. Please bring the disks here."
"Do you intend to throw away the memories stored in those disks? Your grandfather's, your mother's, mine, and even yours…"
"Your life is more important!"
While Homare argued with his grandmother and the Zuums laughed, Gali left the study and made his way out of the mansion. Then a lightbulb went off in his head.
Those Zuums didn't even send a Zuum or two to accompany him. Though even if there were only a few, Gali could easily take them out and do whatever he wanted…
"What a careless bunch." Instead of making his way to the warehouse, Gali glided around the mansion and stopped over a yard away from the Zuum troops that blocked a massive hole on the mansion walls.
Hiding behind a massive tree, he chuckled. No one even noticed him; they were all too focused on whatever debacle was happening between a grandmother and her grandson.
Gali floated still and pondered. To use fire or lightning spells would harm Homare's grandmother, while a simple Straight or Thwack wouldn't get the job done.
"No trainer will hate the monsters they have worked so hard to raise."
A tinge of doubt plagued Gali's mind; although Homare said so, perhaps to comfort him, the monster wasn't an innocent lad. Many stories of trainers abusing their monsters and treating them as nothing more than fighting tools existed.
However, Homare's story of Christine replayed in Gali's mind. If Homare could even love a useless pocket watch…
"Then he would not mind my monstrous true form," Gali muttered, his mask and cloak radiating with purple ethereal energy. A musclebound draconic spirit - his true form - left the mask and the cloak, leaving them to slump lifelessly into the dirt.
In a flash, the draconic spirit bolted at the Zuum troops fist-first. He punched through the velociraptors, the impact knocking them aside.
"What's that-"
Gali seized Homare's grandmother from a Zuum's grasp and set her down beside Homare.
"Is this musclebound spirit your true form, Gali?" Homare asked.
The draconic spirit nodded. "There is nothing noble or elegant about this form, but…" Gali turned around, grinning while cracking his knuckles. "I cannot wait to finish you off."
The remaining Zuums took a few steps back, trembling and sweating. Then one of the Zuums looked around. "Captain, that Gali took out a lot of our troops in one blow!"
Just as the Zuums prepared to leave, Gali flew after them and punched every single Zuum he caught up with. His punches, strong and massive like a battering ram, sent the velociraptors flying like leaves and transformed them into lost disks upon landing.
Only the lightly-armored Zuum remained, but it didn't take long for Gali to catch up with it. The draconic spirit seized the velociraptor by its neck, squeezing its throat until the monster went limp and transformed into a gray, lifeless disk.
The radiance around Gali faded as he floated still, surrounded by lost disks. "I cannot let you report anything to your master."
"Marvelous!"
Gali turned around to see Homare running towards him, with his grandmother behind him. He felt the urge to flee into his cloak and mask, but Homare caught his brawny arm and pulled him back.
"Don't be shy! Your true form does not need to be elegant or noble to be beautiful!"
Gali remained still, shocked and not knowing how to react, but the dumbfounded look on his face eventually transformed into a toothy smile.
Beside Homare, Homare's grandmother chuckled and smiled as she turned to leave. The draconic spirit blushed.
"Your grandmother smiled… Does that mean she is fine with my true form as well?"
Homare laughed. "Of course. She does not smile often after all."