Etinnei and Noru sat on the seashore and watched the crabs fighting over a small yellow stone.
"You see, there are only crabs here," the Arctic fox girl lifted the sleeve of her fur top up, from which two fingers appeared. "There are no animals here."
"But then there's the sea," Noru frowned. "They should be here. Maybe they are afraid of us that are why they don't come out of the water?"
Etinnei scratched her hand behind her arctic fox ear and made a short wheeze.
"Maybe they think we're their yum-yum?" Noru continued. "We look like animals that eat other animals."
"Uh..." Etinnei turned away. "I saw those animals on the other side."
"What?"
Noru instantly rose to her feet, looked at her friend, and her hair caught fire.
"Are there different shores here?" the dog girl asked.
"Have you seen the map?"
"Yup, Itinit showed me some drawings, but I didn't understand anything about them."
Etinnei summoned a virtual screen and then opened a map of the surrounding area.
"This shows the water and the shore," Etinnei said. "The blue is the water, and the yellow is the sand we're sitting on."
"Why aren't there any animals?" Noru looked at the map.
Etinnei zoomed in on the area with her fingers, but the map only became slightly more detailed, causing treetops to appear on the green background.
"There are no animals here," Etinnei said. "But that's on my map. Maybe they'll show up on yours."
Noru swiped her finger in front of her, causing a virtual screen just like her friend's to appear.
"I don't know where the map is," the dog girl groaned. "It's all a bit confusing here."
"There it is," Etinnei pointed her sleeve at a rectangle with a blue dot on a green background. "Click on it. I can't."
Etinnei touched Noru's map icon with her finger, but it went through the surface of the screen.
"Only the creature itself can press the buttons on its screen," the Arctic fox girl explained.
"I know," Noru stuck out the tip of her tongue for a moment. "Itinit often did this to make me leave him alone."
The dog girl pressed her index finger on the icon with a blue dot on a green background, and soon another virtual screen appeared in front of her, with a map.
"It worked..." Noru looked at the blue and green backgrounds, separated by a yellow stripe, in confusion.
"Now do this," Etinnei spread two fingers and then brought them together. "The image will get closer, and you'll be able to see if there are any animals there."
Noru did as Etinnei told her. The image became more detailed, but even the crabs that were fighting on the shore at the time did not appear on the map.
"This is some kind of wrong map," Noru waved her hand, causing the screen with the map to disappear. "It doesn't have the most important thing. These are animals."
"I haven't seen maps with animals on them."
"These sticks with leaves that don't burn are there, but there are no animals."
Etinnei looked at the forest, the only trees in which were identical tree ferns, and then turned her gaze to the map in front of her.
"We're not there either," the Arctic fox girl noted. "Maybe the map only shows creatures that walk?"
"We can test that!" Noru jumped up, landed on all fours, and started wagging her tail. "We could bury someone in the sand and leave them there, and then look at the map!"
"I can't be buried in the sand," Etinnei looked at the sleeve of her fur top. "I'm hot here. I'm afraid Minniges will show up and try to cool me off with ice cream."
"I can't be in the sand either. I can't sit in one place. Even if I want to, my legs and arms will carry me out of there themselves. It's too bad that there's no dinosaur here."
"Tuot cannot be used. He's good."
Etinnei looked at Noru with fear, causing the dog girl to sit on her knees and stop wagging her tail.
"Maybe we should find someone else?" Noru asked almost in a whisper.
Etinnei looked at the crabs, which for some reason stopped fighting and began to burrow into the sand.
"We need someone big so that the map will notice and show us," Noru continued. "There's no one like that on the shore. Maybe there's someone in the forest?"
The animal girls looked at the forest that bordered the shore and noticed a tail with gray feathers that disappeared into the thickets.
"There's a bird there!" Noru's eyes widened with joy. "Let's catch it!"
"But..." Etinnei tried to object.
As always, Noru was unstoppable. First the dog girl's pupils turned into flames, and then the flames engulfed her completely. Etinnei could only watch as the fiery comet disappeared into the forest.
"I hope that wasn't Tuot's tail."
Soon the arctic fox girl became afraid for her feathered friend. She opened the virtual screen to see if he was online or not, but she didn't have time to reach the messenger button.
An explosion shook the air, after which a column of smoke appeared over the forest. Etinnei jumped back a few steps in fear and stood with one foot in the water. The screen moved behind her.
"What is this?" Etinnei looked at the forest in fear.
Soon the answer was found. The tree ferns closest to the shore began to shake, after which something gray flew out of the forest and fell into the sand a few steps from the Arctic fox girl.
An icicle instinctively stuck out from the sleeve of a fur top, through which a wave of current then passed.
Gradually, Etinnei began to understand what kind of creature lay before her. It turned out to be a dinosaur with gray feathers and a long tail, in gray plate armor.
"This is not Tuot," Etinnei sighed, but did not put the icicle away. "It's another dinosaur. It must have attacked Noru to eat her."
The dinosaur poked its head out of the sand and tried to get up, but it was stopped by a fiery comet that flew over its head and fell, as usual, into the water. Etinnei jumped back a few steps. The current stopped transmitting through the icicle, but it wasn't going to return to her hand.
A green energy aura surrounded the dinosaur, after which it stood up and covered itself with a small semicircular purple shield with a black symbol, which hung on its elbow.
"It has a shield and an aura like Tuot," Etinnei felt alarm. "But it's definitely not Tuot. Then why does it have this?"
The dinosaur looked at the sea, but saw no enemy there. Noru appeared from above, from a barely noticeable spark, and fell in the form of a small comet...
The dog girl, covered in a fiery aura, was thrown towards her friend, but managed to stay on her feet.
"Who is it?" Etinnei asked.
"I don't even know who," Noru looked warily at her opponent. "It's some kind of dinosaur."
"I see."
"He wanted to eat us."
Etinnei looked at the new creature. The dinosaur covered its head with a shield, which obviously prevented the attack. It didn't seem to notice the animal girls.
"This is definitely not Tuot," the Arctic fox girl guessed. "Tuot would be scared, but it one is just standing there."
"Why doesn't he attack?" Noru showed her teeth. "I'm waiting!"
"There's something wrong with him," Etinnei said. "Maybe he can't feel fear."
"That's even better. We'll grab him right away and then bury him. Just how are we going to bind it? Your ice will melt. But that's not important. The main thing is to grab him."
"I think it's better to leave here and look for someone who is more suitable."
But Noru didn't hear her friend's words. She ran to attack again, but this time she exploded right in front of the enemy, so that he wouldn't have time to block her with his shield.
It helped. The explosion tore the dinosaur into several pieces. Etinnei saw part of the arm with the shield on the elbow rise into the air and then land on the sand. Other parts of the body were scattered in different directions – some fell into the water, and some into the forest.
"Hey, did it work?" Noru's voice was heard next to Etinnei.
The arctic fox girl turned around and saw her friend surrounded by sparks that dissolved in the air.
"Not really," Etinnei answered. "You destroyed him."
"What?" Noru looked around. "Where is he?"
Etinnei pointed with her sleeve to the hand with the shield, which lay on the sand a few steps from the animal girls. Noru walked up to the body fragment, got on all fours, and then sniffed it.
"It smells like something non-living," the dog girl noted. "There's not even blood. Maybe I should show Itinit?"
Noru rose to her feet to summon her inventory, but she didn't have time. Something moved under her feet.
The dog girl looked down and noticed that one of her feet was on the shield, and the symbol that had been black was glowing green.
"Uh," Noru was confused.
"Noru, go away!" Etinnei shouted. "This is..."
The dog girl jumped up to her friend, who had an icicle sticking out of the sleeve of her fur top. The Arctic fox girl warily looked at the hand, which was moving more and more actively.
"This is not an ordinary dinosaur," Etinnei continued. "This is a doll."
"Is this a dinosaur doll?" Noru grabbed a strand of hair, which was already smoking. "Do such dolls exist?"
"I don't know. But only dolls can fall apart and then come back together. Living creatures just bleed and then they don't come back together."
"But we don't need to destroy it." Just shove it in the sand and that's it. I even know how to do it. If you hide one part of the body, it won't fully assemble?"
"Probably."
Noru howled with joy, then lit up and jumped towards the dinosaur's hand, which was already rising into the air. The dog girl managed to grab it, but could not hold it. The shield flipped over and hit Noru on the head, causing her to fly back to her original place.
"This shield reflects everything," the dog girl guessed. "I should have chosen something else."
But it was too late. The doll's body parts rose into the air and connected above the water. The hand with the shield flew there too.
"Eeeh, it's gathering!" Noru growled like a bear.
"You can blow it up again," Etinnei tried to console her friend.
But Noru didn't like it. She turned into a comet and flew at the enemy again, so that he wouldn't have time to recover.
The remains of the doll were engulfed in a white glow, which connected them into a silhouette. The comet passed through it and flew towards the horizon.
The glow left the silhouette. Now a dinosaur in gray plate armor was "hanging" above the water. Of course, it didn't "hang" for long, but it didn't fall into the water. It was saved by a shield that reflected one of the waves, as it mistook it for an enemy attack. Soon the dinosaur was already standing on the shore almost in the same place.
"I'm not edible," Etinnei's heart began to beat faster.
"I don't eat creatures like you," the dinosaur answered. "I'm a doll, so I eat meat only when I want to remember its taste. This is not the situation now."
"You weren't going to eat me?"
"No. I'm looking for the doll with red hair. I saw you talking to her from that mountain."
The dinosaur pointed with his wing at the blue mountain peak almost on the horizon.
"Can you see that far?" Etinnei fell to her knees in surprise.
"Yup," the dinosaur answered. "Dinosaurs see well, and dinosaur dolls especially."
"If you saw her, why didn't you catch up?"
"I have little energy. Besides, I'm very slow. It's because I'm a dinosaur and a doll."
"Now it makes sense why he didn't resist," Etinnei guessed. "He just doesn't have enough energy. I guess I can trust him."
"The doll was standing next to you," the dinosaur said. "Did she talk to you about something?"
"I don't remember," Etinnei grabbed a strand of hair with her hand and turned away. "Why do you need it?"
"I can't explain it for long. Tell me what the doll told you, and I'll leave. I want to know where she went."
"You saw for yourself where she flew."
"I saw it, but I don't know this continent. She flies in a strange way: first one way, then the other. Like your friend."
As soon as the dinosaur finished his sentence, a fiery comet fell on him from behind. But this time, he did not cover himself with a shield, but simply activated his aura and jumped back to the forest.
Noru landed on the sand next to Etinnei and began to look around chaotically.
"Where is he?" the dog girl exhaled fire and smoke from her mouth.
"He ran away again," Etinnei pointed to the forest, where a tail covered with gray feathers flashed.
Noru looked up at the sky and howled. The dog girl was engulfed in flames, which then turned into smoke.
"Why?" the dog girl looked at her chest, which was smoking along with her fur top.
"You probably have low energy," Etinnei suggested.
Noru looked out to sea. Streams of smoke were coming out of her nostrils and open mouth, but her expression was no longer angry and spiteful.
"Are you tired?" Etinnei asked.
"I'm tired," Noru fell to her knees. "That dinosaur doll was too much prey for me. I overestimated my strength and now I'll have to wait to chase it again."
"I don't think you need to chase him."
"Why? He's my prey."
"Look over there."
Etinnei pointed towards the forest again. Noru turned her head and saw the same dinosaur, which was slowly walking forward on the sand. A green aura surrounded him, and his hand with a shield covered his face.
"Don't hit me," the dinosaur said. "I came to ask something."
Noru tried to run to attack, but due to lack of energy, she simply fell on her breast.
"My name is Ustumut," the dinosaur introduced himself. "I was next to the doll with red hair, but when we crossed the sea, she flew forward and disappeared."
"I don't have her," Etinnei admitted.
"Just tell me the last thing she said to you," Ustumut said. "If you remember, of course..."
"I seem to remember..." Etinnei moved her arctic fox ears.
"Don't tell him!" Noru growled. "He's a dinosaur! He asks you one thing and thinks another!"
"If I were an ordinary dinosaur, this would be so," Ustumut agreed. "But I'm a doll. I don't feel hungry."
"What?" Noru tried to get up, but fell back on her breast.
"I don't want to eat because I'm a doll," the dinosaur explained again.
Noru rolled over onto her back and then looked at her former opponent.
"You don't look like a doll," the dog girl said after a few moments.
"Dolls can look different," Ustumut looked at the shield attached to his elbow. "Their body is artificial, but it looks like the body of a creature that was turned into a doll."
"Au..." Noru grimaced.
Etinnei said nothing, but not because the dinosaur's words did not impress her. The arctic fox girl simply could not believe that such a thing could actually happen.
"That's why when you blew me up, I was able to recover," Ustumut continued.
"Au..." Noru turned over on her side.
Etinnei looked at Ustumut, but suddenly felt fear and turned away.
"The creator is also a doll. Her hair turned red. But she created me when she had black hair."
Etinnei could no longer look at the dinosaur, but she tried to answer his question somehow.
"Hey, dinosaur, what's your name…" the Arctic fox girl began.
"Ustumut," the dinosaur said. "I am mister Kuttanai's doll."
Etinnei could no longer speak. The mention of the creature, which she feared with all her body and mind, deprived the Arctic fox girl of the ability to think. She fell to her knees, closed her eyes, and pulled her hood up to her nose so that she would not accidentally see what should not be seen.
"What's happened?" Noru looked at her friend and suspected something was wrong.
Etinnei was almost curled up and trembling. Noru gathered the last of her energy and in one jerk she was at her friend's side.
"What's happened?" the dog girl asked. "If that dinosaur did anything to you, I'll explode, but I'll burn it, and it doesn't matter if it can burn or not."
Not only did Etinnei not answer, she didn't even turn around. The Arctic fox girl simply couldn't do anything else but tremble.
But Noru didn't understand it. She lifted her friend's hood and saw her face, with her eyes closed and her mouth slightly open.
"Etinnei, speak!" Noru shouted. "You are like a sis to me, only cold. If you're gone, who will cool me down so that I don't burn completely?"
"Minniges…" Etinnei answered quietly, after which she stuck own finger in own mouth.