The sun hadn't even peeked over the mountain's shoulder when Pip, Lula, Penelo, and Sera snuck away from camp, giggling like kids ditching chores.

Pip led the way, beeping excitedly, a chirpy little melody of adventure, while Lula flew lazy loops overhead, glimmering scales catching the first light. Penelo skipped along barefoot, her ears flopping as she hums a tune about "early morning mischief," and Sera just cracked her neck with a grin and muttered something about needing a splash to wake up her thighs.

The four wandered uphill until they stumbled upon a bubbling spring bursting from a mossy cleft in the mountainside. Water trickled down into a shallow rock basin the size of a big salad bowl.

The girls gathered around, hopeful, then collectively groaned.

"That's it?" Penelo asked, poking a toe into the puddle. "This is barely enough to soak my toes."

Lula scoffed. "This is a cruel tease. I want a hot spring. This is a hot… puddle."

Pip let out a thoughtful breep, tilted his head, then stepped forward.

He raised both hands, his fingers glowing a gentle blue. Water coalesced around him in swirling tendrils. With a quiet hum of magic and a delighted chirp, he sent the tendrils into the puddle… and the mountain answered.

The spring surged, water bubbling up in thick, steaming waves. Stone shifted, vines unfurled, and within moments, a deep, steaming pool shimmered under the morning light.

Penelo clapped. "Oh Pip, you magical metallic marvel! This is perfect!"

Lula squealed with glee, did a little midair spin, and cannonballed in with a splash that soaked Sera.

"Last one in is a grumpy demon-kin!" Sera shouted, shoving Penelo aside and diving in.

"Wait, I'm not ready—" Penelo shrieked, but it was too late. She slipped and flopped in headfirst with a wet splat.

Pip beeped a victorious tune, tossed off his cloak, and stepped into the water, strategically placed runes glow and sacred geometric panels hiss with divine energy.

The girls welcome him with open arms.

Soon the water echoed with laughter and shrieks. Pip summoned playful water blobs to pelt them like soft water balloons. Sera retaliated with splashy waves. Lula conjured floating flame-petals that sizzled in the water and seared Penelo's behind.

Vines slipped up from the pool edge and tickled knees, hips, and whatever else Pip could mischievously aim at.

Everyone was slippery, giggly, and suspiciously touchy.

Naturally, that's when Vuvi, Veena, and Zora arrived.

"Well well well," Vuvi said, hands on hips, staring at the water-logged orgy of chaos. "You all ran off to do this?"

Penelo froze mid-splash. "This isn't what it looks like."

"It looks like you're all naked," Vuvi said flatly.

Sera gave a sly grin. "Technically, we're always naked underneath our clothes."

Pip beeped a cheeky tune, and a vine squirted water at her.

Vuvi huffed. "You didn't even invite me?"

Veena just rolled her eyes and, without a word, vanished in a puff of violet smoke. A moment later, she reappeared in the pool with a fwomp, floating in a regal recline.

"...That's my girl," Sera muttered.

Zora shuffled up behind them. "So, uh, is this a girls-only thing or—"

All heads turned.

"It's a girls-only thing," Penelo said, arms crossed.

"What? Pip's in!"

"Pip doesn't count," said Lula, sipping steam from her hands like tea. "He's made of magic and questionable morals."

"I'm a skeleton," Zora whined. "You've seen me naked. I don't even have nipples!"

"Exactly. We don't trust you," Veena said.

Zora slumped dramatically and dragged his bony feet away, muttering, "I hope a boulder falls on you all."

Seconds later, his skull peeked around the edge of a tree, just as a spark of violet demonic energy zapped it clean off with a loud POP!

"OW!" Zora's body scrambled after his bouncing skull. "I was just checking. For science!"

Back in the pool, Vuvi finally relented and stripped down, stepping into the water with a sigh.

"Alright, five minutes. Then we pack and move."

The water play continued, slower now, steam rising like lazy ghosts. It turned more affectionate. Gentle caresses, floating cuddles, Lula laying her head on Pip's shoulder, Penelo straddling his chest like a boat captain, Sera resting against his side and tracing idle patterns on his glowing chest.

Eventually, Vuvi and Veena climbed out, wringing their hair dry.

"Wrap it up," Vuvi called over her shoulder. "We're moving out in ten. No funny business."

Penelo, Sera, and Lula gave innocent smiles in perfect sync.

"Ten minutes," Veena repeated, looking at them like she was already disappointed in their life choices.

The moment the two turned the corner…

Splash!

KER-SPLASH!

BE-BEEP! BEEP-BRRP!

"Mercy! He's beeping for mercy!" Lula giggled.

"Grab his legs! It makes his hips shake!" Sera howled.

"I just wanna check if my visions are better underwater!" Penelo shrieked, halfway hanging upside down off his shoulders.

Twenty minutes later…

Vuvi looked up from her travel bag as the familiar trio shuffled into camp.

Pip led the way, carrying a starry-eyed, limp-limbed Penelo on his back. Lula flapped behind him in full dragon-baroness form, wings fully unfurled, her tail wagging smugly as she twirled flames in graceful spirals. Sera strolled behind, effortlessly juggling two giant moss-covered boulders, whistling innocently.

"What. Did. You. Do?!" Vuvi barked.

Pip beeped an embarrassed stutter.

"Suckeling Pip's secret sauce again?" Veena asked with a cocked brow.

All three women looked away.

"They look like they just walked off the cover of a chaotic romance novel," Zora mumbled. "I'm jealous!"

The skeletal lich leaned forward from his rock perch. "What's Penelo doing? Is she… vision-questing again?"

Sera smirked. "Yep. Probably soaring through the sky as an eagle or something."

Pip beeped nervously, poking Penelo's cheek.

She jolted upright with a gasp, eyes wide and glowing with residual green-gold energy.

"Someone's in danger!" she cried. "I saw them!"

Vuvi and Veena rushed over, calming her with firm hands and softer voices.

"W-Wait, Bunny, start from the beginning," Vuvi said.

Penelo blinked, then grinned sheepishly. "Okay, so! Sera, Lula, and I had a tiny bit more of Pip's, uh... nectar. Just a taste. For science!"

Lula nodded sagely. "My hypothesis has been confirmed."

Sera added, "I may have reached a new form of enlightenment."

Pip looked like he was trying to shrink behind a bush.

Vuvi narrowed her eyes. "You girls are going to break his core one day."

"Worth it," Penelo said with a dreamy sigh.

"But this time," she continued, "my nature-control powers kicked in stronger. I felt animals. Dozens. Birds, deer, frogs, a really judgmental beetle."

"A beetle?" Zora echoed.

"It knew things," she whispered.

She straightened up, the dreamy haze fading into urgency. "I ended up inside some kind of huge creature. Like a wolf, but bigger. Shaggy white fur, glowing blue eyes. I think it was a Frostmane Hound. There was a whole nest of them… and a child. A girl. She was surrounded and she looked scared."

Everyone froze.

Pip let out a distressed bwoooorp.

Sera dropped her boulders. "We need to move."

"I don't know how far," Penelo added quickly, "but it felt close. Same range as last time. I'm sure I can find them."

Vuvi closed her eyes and groaned.

"Here we go again..."

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