The Peach Spirit

The Pawprints

At night, Inside a lab with multiple large screens, Red Son lead his mother and Taro through his lab with a smile. "Alright, you said your animal friends' powers originate from the stone fruit growing your head." He said with a grin as he slammed his hand onto a desk. "If that's the case then we can easily triangulate their position by sending pulses of your power and measuring the response signals."

"You'll be with your friends shortly, Peach Boy." Added Princess iron fan calmly as she stood beside her son.

Red Son nodded with a confident grin. "And all we need for that is a lock of your immo-" he said cheerfully before noticing the panicked look on Taro's face and pausing. He glanced at his mother who raised a brow as his sudden pause and cleared his throat. "Impressive hair!  That's obviously what I was going to say! It's in great condition and...no doubt has, er, traces of your friends'...powers! Yes, that's it hehe."

Princess iron fan stared at the two boys skeptically, narrowing her eyes in suspicion, before shrugging. Red Son and Taro sighed in relief before they quickly put a lock of Taro's hair into a glass chamber. Red Son dramatically pressed buttons on what Taro classified as a fancy keyboard before the process started with a hum. Suddenly, a large radar screen appeared on one of Red Son's giant monitors showing three red dots. While one of the dots moved around, the others were as still as ice. Taro stared at one of the unmoving dots on the verge of tears.

Taro's hallucination of himself appeared next to him with an angry frown. "Poor Zuzu. All alone with the Lady Bone Demon because of US" He said in disgust at Taro as he grit his teeth. "You could've stopped this. You could've done better. You SHOULD HAVE!" Taro's body shook as he he held his arm tightly enough to crush a steel beam, suppressing his feelings as much as he could as his hallucination's words penetrated his heart like a venomous spear.

"Wait- this isn't right." Said Red Son in confusion, not noticing Taro's state. "One of them is right on top of us?" Taro's eyes sprung open before the Peach Boy dashed to a nearby window and climbed outside before climbing to the tallest point on the demon bull family's home.

"ZI! ZAO! WHERE ARE YOU?" The peach boy called out, desperation clear in his eyes as he scanned the area for one of his companions.

"Hold up!" Exclaimed Red Son as he quickly climbed up to Taro's location. "Warn a demon before dashing off like that, will you?!" He said in frustration before pulling out a radar from his pocket. "That's odd. Your friend's signature disappeared." The peach boy's heart sank. "Oh! It appeared again and it's moving! And now it's gone again. Your friend must be in an area that's messing with the signal. That could mean a few things. Another realm, deep caverns, it could take weeks, even months before we find them."

Red Son wracked his brain for a way to get around the problem with a serious expression before he heard a voice crack. He turned to its source with a raised brow before he was met with a teary eyed Taro. The inventor panicked as Taro started crying in front of his eyes before he awkwardly tried patting the peach boy on the back in vain. "Hey! Don't worry! I, Red Son, will be able to accelerate the process to a few short days!" He said trying to comfort Taro, but the peach boy was unaffected by the inventor's words as he continued crying. Red Son continued trying to comfort Taro, even offering sweets, and was met with nothing but failure. "Can you at least TELL me what's wrong?!" He asked holding his face frustration.

Taro sniffed and tried to calm down as he spoke. "S-sorry, *sob* i-i don't what came over me. *sniff* it just happened *hic* all of a sudden." He said wiping his tears with his sleeves before Red Son started patting him on the back.

"Don't worry your sad little brain about your friends. I already told you I'll find them." Said Red Son with a smile before donning a serious expression. "So save me the need to listen to your depressing crying and stop the waterworks. Please!" Taro nodded with a sniff before Red Son sighed before turning to the one of the red dots on his radar. It was moving away from the eastern sea where it had just been.