Risen World

Joshua along with everyone else that he had brought along for Thomas and Celia's training were now standing on the plains just outside of James Town. At the moment Joshua could see several of the robots that were previously out here shooting down ants and invaders were now collecting the materials from the thousands of ant bodies that were piled up around the area. They were stripping the bodies for anything that was useful before transporting the rest to the stables. Several of Lily's beast that helped out in the war would be having a feast for the night with the amount of food that was going to be coming their way. This was especially the case for the praying mantises and the lizards that loved to eat insects.

They moved away from the wall and found a wide open spot that was out of the way of all of the cleanup effort. Outside of the robots that were cleaning up there were also some new recruits that were being shown the ropes so that they'd know what would be worth gathering during an expedition, but these were the extremely young new recruits that hadn't gained all that much experience outside of fighting. Joshua watched the activity going around just for a brief moment before turning his attention to what was more important.

He looked over to Thomas who had a big grin on his face and could only imagine how exciting it must be to gain a new beast companion to fight by your side. He had seen how Lily always reacted whenever she gained a new companion and knew that it was always an exciting time for her even when it came to gaining regular beast that she planned to have stay in the stables to help defend James Town. In this case they all knew that the beast that had unknowingly bonded with Thomas was definitely not a normal beast. Not only did it come from the canyon dungeon that was filled with all sorts of powerful beast, but it also happened to be mutated and different from its already strong bat brethren.

While Joshua was thinking along those lines Thomas brought out Tails to sit nearby and meet their new partner before another beast was brought into the clearing. At first the bat was covered in the usual bright light that accompanied coming out of a soul realm before it shot up into the air and flew around in a circle above them before quickly gliding down and flapping its wings so that it would stay above them. The bat was large with a body that was around two stories tall on its own, but more on the thin side, however its wings were each at least twice as long as the bat was tall if not more. Its huge body fluttered above them as its beady eyes peered down towards Thomas.

The thin skin on its wings was pitch black with the segments in between being a slightly lighter tone. It was clear that the coloring was designed to make it almost invisible in the sky at night. At the tip of the wings Joshua could see clawed hands with long nails that were just as good at clinging on to things as cutting through them with a burst of speed. For the most part the creature looked like a giant fruit bat in Joshua's opinion with darker coloring, but the amount of aura that was pouring off of it told him that there was something more to this bat than just being big and stealthy. It was when Joshua was thinking along these lines he suddenly heard a new voice speak out.

'Are you my partner? Mom always said something about gaining a friend when the time was right, but I thought I'd have to be awake for that.' The voice spoke. It was obvious it came from the giant bat from the way it yawned and looked down towards Thomas. It stretched its wings out before its body began to shrink down until it got to the point where it was around the size of a normal fruit bat. It flew over and landed on Thomas's shoulder as it started cleaning its wings.

The voice was even more childish than Tails and was extremely high pitched and feminine in a similar vain to Cinder. Joshua was starting to think the younger that an intelligent beast companion sounded the more likely it was going to be able to evolve further in the future. After all evolution is a process of maturing when it comes to most powerful beast on the planet according to Tank. That being the case this bat and Cinder were the youngest sounding beast companions around while Titus and Tails both sounded closer to being young adults or teenagers than actual kids. Tank of course sounded extremely old for all the years he had lived, but he was still far away from regaining his full former strength.

'Name, mother said my partner would give me a name.' The bat said with a sleepy voice confirming that she had just woken up from sleeping since they had found her in the canyon dungeon. Joshua didn't really understand why such a creature could be found in the dungeon since the bat boss in the dungeon wasn't nearly as intelligent as the snake or spider had been. It was odd to see a mutation come from a weaker beast so it was likely that the mother didn't actually come from the dungeon in the first place. The entire area had several bats in it so the little child could have wondered into the dungeon on its own at some point.

"A name huh?" Thomas said bringing Joshua out of his thoughts. "Well since you're not a boy I guess I can't call you Dracula."

Joshua face palmed at the naming sense of his companions. The lack of imagination had already been obvious when it came to Tails and Nuts, but now he was just going to pick the only thing he could think of in relation to bats. Before the poor little girl could end up with a horrible name for the rest of her life Joshua decided to jump in an offer his opinion on a name for a change. It was hard enough to convince Lily to try to pick decent names, but he hoped Thomas would at least listen to his advice.

"How about something like Imperia?" Joshua asked as he looked at the bat on Thomas's shoulder. "It fits her in a way while keeping in mind the noble aspect of vampires to a degree." The little bat looked towards Joshua with its black eyes as what looked like a small fanged smile appeared on her face.

'I like it, can that be it.' The bat's voice rang out once more as she turned to look at Thomas.

"It's fitting. Well Imperia you can call me Thomas and we'll be partners from now on." Thomas said with a grin as he started rubbing the bats head. The bat nuzzled his hand and seemed content with the current situation. It was odd seeing such a powerful beast be able to shrink down to the size of an ordinary animal, but in the case of the bat it almost seemed fitting for her to be able to do so. "Now let's get a look at what kind of abilities you have, after all you're definitely different from all of the other bats we came across in the canyon."

Thomas started searching through the system to look up information on his new beast companion and quickly found some of the skills that the bat had that set her apart from all of the others that they had come across while going through the canyon and its dungeon. There were currently three skills that the bat had that stood out from what all of the other bats could do and they explained just how powerful Imperia could become in the future.

[Night Shroud (Active) - When activated this ability creates a shroud around the user making it so that they become completely invisible for a period of time. This skill last longer and is more effective at night. It will hold as long as the user maintains it and isn't hit.]

This was the first of the three abilities that made the little bat stand out. It wasn't a camouflage like so many other creatures tended to use, but was instead true invisibility. With how silently Imperia was able to fly through the sky it would be extremely difficult to notice her approach at all. Joshua could try to sense her aura in such a situation, but he could already tell she was a natural at hiding her aura. Even now while not paying attention to it, Imperia's aura had shrunken down to match her current size unlike so many other beast that seemed just as powerful no matter their size.

[Illusion wings (Active) – When activated the wings of the user will glow brightly creating illusions around the area. These illusion can take any form the user wishes as they blend in with reality. The illusion will end when the user closes its wings or is drained of energy.]

This skill immediately got Joshua to thinking of some of the techniques that Vince was able to use with his illusions, but he didn't think it was nearly as elaborate. However a fast moving creature that could blend in with different illusion that were constantly on the move could be extremely tricky to deal with.

[Shadow Minions (Active) – This skill allows the user to create a small squadron of shadow like beings that can take a similar form as the user. These creatures will each have half the stats of the user and will last as long as the user still has the energy to maintain them. Each of these figures will have the basic abilities of the user for combat. (At the moment the user can create five shadow minions)]

The last ability was the one that most stood out to Joshua. When fighting bats in the canyon it was their numbers that truly gave them strength. Judging from the size and the stats of Imperia she was going to be even more powerful than the bat boss when it came to stats alone. All of her special abilities would let her thrive, but she wouldn't have other bats around to help her fight if it weren't for the Shadow Minions ability. Not only could she create subordinates that she could control completely to fight for her she could also layer it with her illusion ability to hide amongst them. There were so many little tricks she could use in combat that could give her an edge along with all of the other abilities she had from being a bat such as sonic shrieking or syphoning of energy from the blood of her opponents. She was going to be a huge help to the group..