Chapter 51: Underwater Cavern
When Amber woke up she was in a cold damp underwater cave. The faint glowing light of the algae reminded her she was back in the beast world. She thought of Blue Tang and he instantly appeared in front of her. He reached out and hugged her.
"I was so worried. I stayed up all night to watch over you. As soon as you fell asleep you disappeared. I tried to call you, but it didn't matter. I could only wait for you to call me to you."
Amber wondered what happened to Nick. Suddenly he appeared in front of her as well. He joined in on the hug. Amber was feeling a little overwhelmed, "Um guys. It's ok. I'm fine. I just woke up."
Blue Tang stepped back first. Nick still wanted to hug her. He was a little traumatized by her absence. Blue Tang remembered the original reason he wanted to mate with Amber.
"When will we know if you are pregnant?" Amber was a bit surprised at Blue Tang's question, but then she remembered the extinction of the merfolk in her world.
"It's still too early to tell. We should go back to the Beast City. Oliver can check my pulse to see if I am pregnant sooner than most doctors."
Amber remembered when Oliver told her she was pregnant for the first time. Nick was unhappy to hear Blue Tang talking about Amber being pregnant.
"If she is pregnant it might be my child. We mated again yesterday." Blue Tang took Nick's words in silence. There was nothing he could do but keep trying.
Amber was embarrassed to hear them talking about mating so openly. She tried to change the subject.
"Let's go back to the Cheetah Castle. I miss Eli and the others." Nick knew how much she loved her cub and her family. He agreed immediately.
Blue Tang was a little hesitant to allow Amber to leave. What if she was pregnant with his child? She would need to come back to give birth if it were mermen.
"If you are pregnant with mermen, you will need to give birth here in the shallow waters of the beach. This is the safest place for mermen to grow."
Amber asked, "How long is the pregnancy for Mermen?" Blue Tang responded, "Male mermen eggs take 6-8 weeks to mature before the female lays the eggs. Female mermaids take 9-10 months to fully develop and are birthed not in an egg."
Amber nodded. She remembered that cheetah male cubs took 3 months while females took 10 months. She assumed she would know in 4 weeks what she was having if she was even pregnant.
"Let's go to the Beast City. We can have Dr. Tony visit us and see if I am pregnant. We can return in a month if I am pregnant with male mermen. If not, we will spend the cold season in the castle."
Nick and Blue Tang agreed with Amber. It would be colder underwater. Amber would be more comfortable in the castle during the cold season. Nick announced, "I will go up and find Tom or Tyler to fly you back to the castle."
Nick was about to leave the cavern, but Blue Tang stopped him. "I will blow a bubble for both of you. We are too deep. You cannot hold your breath the entire way up."
Nick nodded. He didn't know how far down they were. Since Amber summoned him down here, he didn't have to swim. He waited for Blue Tang to blow a bubble and helped Amber into it while he held her in his lap.
Blue Tang pushed them out of the cavern and the mermen who were standing guard almost had heart attacks seeing their long-lost leader and mermaid queen after she went missing for so many months.
Blue Tang addressed them, "Fear not, we returned, but your mermaid queen wants to go to the Beast City. We shall return for her to give birth."
They collected themselves quickly and nodded in understanding. Blue Tang pushed the big bubble to the shore of the nearby island. Fred was amazed to see the large bubble containing Amber and Nick come to shore. He was in his fox form gathering nuts and berries.
He jumped for joy and started to yip loudly. Tom was flying overhead catching smaller birds for lunch. He heard Fred's excitement and his hawk vision was excellent at long distances. He could see Amber getting out of the bubble!
He was so excited he almost flew into a tall coconut tree! He shook his head to clear his mind and flew down to meet Amber. Nick and Blue Tang helped Amber out of the bubble. She dug her toes into the wet sand near the shore.
It felt good to be back. She missed this place even though it had only been a day for her. She saw Fred jumping in the air and thought of her pet dog from her childhood.
Her puppy used to get so excited to see her when she would visit her grandparents it would wag its tail so hard the entire back end of the dog would wag. Fred's fluffy tail reminded her of a cat, but his actions reminded her of a dog.
Tom landed and transformed back into his 2-legged form. He approached Amber and almost hugged her. He remembered at the last moment that he was not her mate, but still her beast guardian. He asked, "Where did you go?"
"I was back in my world. Since Nick and Blue Tang leveled up past four stripes I was able to call them over to my world." Fred stopped jumping in stunned silence. He transformed back into his 2-legged form as well.
Fred and Tom looked at each other and silently agreed they needed to work harder to level up. Fred had a long way to go compared to Tom, but he was determined. Tom knew her other mates had left to hunt behemoths. That was the fastest way they knew of to level up.
Not only would they get experience from killing the behemoths, but if they wanted to, they could consume the crystals to level up faster. it was tricky to level up with crystals alone because the beast men needed the experience and stamina to match their level.
The crystals could give them energy or heal them if they were badly injured. They saved most of them for females. A lot of females died during childbirth, so if a female had a strong mate she could consume a crystal and be healed almost instantly.
Thinking about crystals, Tom remembered the others and informed them. "I will go find the others and let them know that Amber has returned." Amber nodded and Tom took flight to go find the others. He knew they would not be too far away.
Fred offered Amber some nuts and berries while she waited in the shade. "Thank you. You are the best at gathering nuts and berries, Fred." Fred blushed at the compliment. Nick took the small bird that Tom had hunted and made a fire to roast the bird.
Nick made a simple roasted bird for Amber. She ate as much as she could and they ate the rest. She was still not used to eating an entire bird in one meal. To the others, it was like a snack. They didn't waste food, so they each had a bite.
After they finished eating breakfast, Tom returned carrying Ray in his claws. Tyler flew in front of them. He was so excited to see his mate again. He was so close to breaking through to level five. Ray had about half a level to go.
They both saw Nick and remembered when he disappeared shortly after he reached level five. Their theory was confirmed that he had gone to wherever Amber was at. Tyler landed and did a roll as he transformed. He was so excited to see his mate.
He ran up to her and hugged her as he spun her around. Amber giggled and hugged him back. She noticed his fourth stripe and congratulated him. "Congratulations on reaching your fourth stripe. If you level up to five, I can call you to me wherever I go."
All of them heard her and looked at Nick for confirmation. He nodded and explained, "I went to the other world with Amber. It was only a few hours for us, but it was months here." He could tell the cold season would come soon. The weather was a little cooler and the leaves were starting to change colors.
Ray transformed and was still a little shy around Amber. He waved at her and whispered, "I'm glad you are back." Amber smiled at his shyness. She remembered how bold he was back in the castle, but he has been awkward and shy since then.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone