Self-preservation or Fun?

“Look Bookworm! It’s shiny!” Mithos showed her the silver sphere on his sword. This was approximately the hundredth time he’d pointed out its shininess.
No, Bookworm. Don’t kill him. Indigo told her irritated Rider. This was approximately the thousandth time Bookworm had gotten annoyed enough to try to strangle Mithos. (At least, it felt like a thousand times.)
“Mine’s shinier!” Shade yelled, holding up her multi-colored sphere. “Bow before the awesome shininess, mortal fools!” When no one bowed, she glared at them and muttered something that sounded threatening.
“No! Mine’s shinier! Are you gonna bow for mine?” Mithos whined. When everyone ignored him, he wailed, “I hate you humans! You’re all meanies!”
“Who said we’re humans?” Keyblade grinned and shifted into drake form.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH! The lizard thingy ate Keyblade!” Mithos screamed. Keyblade rolled her eyes and shifted back into human form.
“How did you do that?” Ty Lee asked curiously.
“I have the essence of a drake in my sphere, so I can turn into a drake whenever I want,” Keyblade explained.
Somehow, Shade managed to understand this explanation. “Can I turn into a shiny flying lizard?”
“Umm… yeah, I guess so…” Bookworm said, hoping Shade did not decide to try it. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what Shade did.
“Hey! I look like Keyblade! …Now I’m purple! …And blue! …And green! …Now I’m like Mithos’s not-shiny marble!” Shade seemed to be enjoying herself as she shifted into various drake forms.
Bookworm had a sudden idea. “Hey Shade! Do you think you can shift into something else? Is there another essence in your sphere?”
Keyblade guessed what Bookworm was thinking. “If this is about the squirrel again…”
“What squirrel?” Bookworm tried to look innocent, but as usual, she failed miserably.
“Wow… You must really want Shade to kill you later,” Keyblade shook her head in amazement at Bookworm’s complete lack of self-preservation.
“Well, I figure she’s probably going to kill me anyway, so I might as well have some fun first,” Bookworm grinned. Keyblade did not think this was a good way of thinking, but was interrupted before she could say so.
“Ooooh! There is another essence in here! You were right Bookworm! You’re smart!” Shade said happily.
“She is definitely drunk,” Keyblade said in amazement. Shade calling Bookworm smart was almost as weird as Mithos calling Keyblade tall.
“YES!!!” Bookworm cheered as Shade finally shapeshifted into a squirrel. Unfortunately, her excitement was short-lived. She stared in horror at the giant squirrel that now towered over her. She really should not have been so surprised. Why would evil Shade have settled for a small, harmless squirrel when she could be a giant one, big enough to squash a certain very annoying friend?
Shade’s transformation distracted Bookworm and Keyblade. They did not notice Mithos playing with the Mage’s Ring. “Shiny! Oooh! What does this do?” He accidentally activated the ring and vanished to Derris-Kharlan.
Shade returned to human form, looked around in confusion for a moment, and decided to try setting a cactus on fire. She missed, of course, and hit Bookworm instead. Poor Bookworm had just been crushed by a giant squirrel and then hit with a fireball. So now she just lay on the ground in extreme pain, listening to Indigo mentally lecture her about why self-preservation is important.
Keyblade glanced uncertainly at her companions. They would probably face a battle with Kratos and the Symphonians when they returned to Derris-Kharlan. And they were definitely not ready for a battle. But Kratos would try to kill Mithos as soon as he appeared. There was no way he would wait to discover that Mithos was drunk and (relatively) harmless. Keyblade decided she couldn’t just abandon him. She activated the Sorcerer’s Ring.