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Quincey, Daxton, Kenny and Laila are no exception. Even with Epheral bearing down on them, or maybe because of it, they are still forced to confront their own weaknesses for new strengths.", "description_bbcode_parsed": "Any hero has skeletons in the closet, or personal demons to conquer. Quincey, Daxton, Kenny and Laila are no exception. Even with Epheral bearing  down on them, or maybe because of it, they are still forced to confront their own weaknesses for new strengths.", "writing": "Natalie leapt out from the mirror in Kelvade’s apartment so quickly she tumbled out onto the floor. “Carrie, Epheral’s attacking Harbington and--!”\n\nNatalie stopped her frantic explanation short when she realized that no one was in the room with her. Picking herself up, she darted from the room into the hall. With her ears pricked up, she listened for any sound that might have indicated someone’s presence, but she heard nothing. There was no time for that! She ran for the door while tapping on her PET to call Carrie again.\n\nOnce again, she stopped short, as she stepped outside to see Epheral’s constructs lumbering about in the streets. Natalie’s arm fell to her side, loosely clutching her PET as she stared, shaking her head.\n\n“Oh, you clever girl.”\n\n-\n--\n-\n\nAs the crystalline shards of charcoal prana rolled across the floor to take their place perfectly constructing the feminine form of Epheral’s protective prana body, she scowled. Her features formed an angry, fearsome glare of blank white eyes out from under the shape of her long hair. “Everywhere I turn, I am reminded of my failures,” She growled, picking herself up off the ground no worse for wear. That was the benefit to leaving behind all that prana from the constructs; it was all too easy to recycle it for whatever else she needed. She turned her attention up to Garrison, who was dragging his body across the rail on the second floor of the mall, leaving some smeared crimson on the glass in his wake. “And now there’s you, is that right?” Epheral called up to him, “You’re going to play hero like these children?”\n\nGarrison ignored the monster’s jibes. Panting for breath past the taste of iron on his tongue, he made his way to the stairs and began to descend them, one hand gripping hard to the rail as every step down put a crushing, folding weight on what used to be his chest. It still was his chest, only reconstructed with gelled-on false skin to spur the healing process onward. It felt a little loose under the wrappings and bandages he wore, ones that were soaking through with blood even then. He hadn’t been given much time to rest and recover. The only thing standing between exposed pectoral muscle cords and a little bit of his rib cage was basically a manhole cover made of artificial meat strapped on by cloth.\n\nHis breathing was perhaps understandably hoarse, and he coughed now and then. His stiff movements could have been from pain, though the doctors had put him on suppressants that were masking the worst of it. The worst he had to feel in that drug cocktail euphoria were both the feeling of skin flapping over skin awkwardly, and his tremendous resentment over the events that had led to that moment. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, droplets of blood pattered against the floor. He turned, his boots smearing the red across the tile, and made his way toward the underground entrance.\n\n“What are you doing?” Epheral asked, annoyed. “Honestly, you should stay in bed if you’re in that bad of shape. This is only making killing you that much easier.”\n\nAgain, she was met with silence. Garrison had made his way to the pile of appliances and metal that had buried Yvette. The cat still lay beneath it, crushed under the weight of it all, her arms sticking out from below at either side. Garrison set his weapon down and carefully grabbed hold of the largest item – a whole refrigerator – and bent his knee to squat and lift. He heaved the massive thing off Yvette’s body, and as the weight came off her chest, she wheezed just barely, staring up through her shattered visor at nothing. Her eyes were blank. Odds were her body was in total system shock. Garrison tossed the fridge aside, and its landing echoed through the mall as a thunderous boom.\n\nKenny stared on as well. From where he sat on his knees, tears drying on his face and mucus crusting under his nose, he was helpless but to watch if only because Epheral did so as well. Garrison had never looked quite so strong as he had in that moment. With no shirt on, it was clear as day that his arms were muscle on muscle. His shoulders were big, his biceps were huge, and it was all too fitting for his giant hands. He would have been barrel-chested, had his chest not been blown apart by a flak cannon, and his prodigious gut hung over his belt, appearing only to serve as more weight for his powerful torso to lug around with ease. He was bloodied and injured, but still moving nevertheless. One could only wonder if all super soldiers were once like him, or if his pig-headed stubbornness was unique among even his time.\n\n“So… have fun playing soldier, kid?” He asked Yvette, standing over her. The cat barely turned her head and whispered a choking sound.\n\n“You’re dying,” Garrison said, “Even that armor wasn’t made to withstand all of that. Did you save any of them?”\n\nShe couldn’t answer.\n\n“I told you they’re not worth it,” The grizzly bear frowned, “… But I can respect that you lived and died doing what you thought was right. Even if you were wrong. In my day, you’d be punished for disobeying an order, but… this is punishment enough.”\n\nYvette’s pale eyes widened a moment, and she sputtered a cough that left blood on her lips. Her fingers twitched and slackened. Garrison watched as life just drained out of her right then and there and left her dead at his feet. Her faint breathing stopped entirely, and she was left little more than a corpse, joining the others littered around the entrance to the underground tram station. Garrison knelt and carefully pushed two of his fingers through her shattered visor, sliding her eyes shut.\n\n“Seeya around, kid.”\n\n“How melodramatic,” Epheral said, finally stepping forward to confront Garrison, “In the end, this won’t matter.”\n\nGarrison grabbed his weapon, stood, and turned quickly to point it at her. She didn’t so much as flinch as she stepped forward, walking at a casual pace to approach him. “You don’t seem to understand that even if they were a bunch of soft moderners, you killed [i]my[/i] men,” Garrison said, “Big mistake.”\n\n“The chain of command is such an archaic model,” Epheral shrugged as she stood before him, a foot and some change shorter than he, and not worrying in the slightest that the barrel of his rifle was trained at her forehead. “And so often it’s simply wrong. Those who don’t deserve power and those who would misuse it are at the top, where those who can make real change are left to rot.”\n\nEpheral grinned at him, though there was no joy in it. “I have to say I’m not a fan of your elitist policies. When I finally amass the means to easily travel anywhere I wish through those mirrors, I will ensure that such mindsets are wiped clean from all existence.”\n\n“Gonna change the world?” Garrison grunted.\n\nEpheral smiled, holding her arms out in a grand gesture. “It’s already started!” She declared, gesturing around to the spots that had spread out over the surface of the mall, blank spots characteristic of her passing. The white, empty void was spreading out from the resting places of her old construct soldiers. Garrison didn’t take her eyes off her for a second, but he grimaced knowing what she meant. It didn’t look natural.\n\n“Everything has prana, Mr. Soldier,” Epheral explained, “I’m going to take it all and make something new. New places, new people; like I was meant to from the beginning. This is my purpose, Mr. Soldier, my super power. Creation.”\n\nGarrison spoke through his teeth. “Looks more like a disease to me.”\n\n“Well,” Epheral relaxed. She lifted her hand and pushed her finger into the barrel of his gun. “What you believe is inconsequential. You’re a speck in the face of progress.”\n\nPower surged into the weapon before Garrison could pull away. Fractures spread out over the gun, blazing white, until it hit the fusion core of the weapon. She must have ruptured it, because after about one second, the weapon exploded. Garrison jerked his hands back, cursing as the weapon’s rubber-plastic shell and metal parts scattered like shrapnel in his face, his fingers burned by the energy dispersed from within. He stumbled backward, blinking in surprise, quickly rubbing his face to find a jagged edge of the rifle’s chassis sticking out of his cheek. He pulled it out carefully, tossing it to the floor.\n\n“I am tired,” Epheral scowled, “Of people like you, who believe in some supposed strength they carry, seeing it as justification to stand in the way of [i]my[/i] destiny. I have had to crush so many like you, and it’s clear now that I’ll need to extinguish each and every one of you before I can take my place as the rightful ruler of it all. Humans, Inklings… you will learn the wrath of a god.”\n\nGarrison sneered and spat blood onto the floor. “Sorry lady, not many people believe in gods these days.”\n\nThe grizzled grizzly then reared back with no warning to strike at Epheral. He threw a wild haymaker, one that lacked speed or finesse but made up for what it lacked in raw power. A strike from Garrison’s large fists could break bone if placed just right. None of that mattered though. Epheral just danced around it, twirling gracefully out of the way and standing just aside. She spun on her pointed toe into a roundhouse kick with her other leg. It may as well have been a toothpick trying to strike a watermelon in terms of size difference, but even with Epheral coming up smaller, her kick struck Garrison’s side and bent him nearly in half, sending him flying across the mall to land and slide four yards away. Garrison curled up in a coughing fit, wheezing as pain from his chest wound shocked his system.\n\n“Raaaahhh!” Kenny, unable to watch any longer, took up his sword and charged blindly at Epheral, who had more than enough time to see him coming. She sighed, turning into his attack to thrust her hand out and intercept his sword swing. She caught his wrist, stopping him dead as she kicked his feet out from under him and twisted his wrist to force him to release his blade. The boy fell onto his back on the floor, and with a spinning flourish, Epheral turned his blade down and plunged it through his open palm, impaling it cleanly and pinning him to the floor by it.\n\n“GYAGH!” Kenny screamed, his fingers clamping reflexively around the blade, blood squirting from the wound as he twisted it involuntarily. He arched his back, eyes shocked wide open as his mind reeled to register the pain his flesh and tendons were suddenly experiencing. He stared at his hand and the polished, blood-stained steel that kept him pinned to the solid tile flooring, almost unable to believe it was his hand he was seeing. He’d never seen so much of that familiar shade of red pooling from his own body before.\n\n“Hn-Ha, god…!” Kenny rolled onto his side, grasping his pinned wrist with his other hand, in a panic to free himself. “GNNGH… AHH!”\n\nEpheral stomped on Kenny’s ribs, silencing his cries of agony by robbing him of breath. The boy choked on his next sound.\n\n“Fuck you!” He cursed her breathlessly, trying to sound tough through his sobbing, “You murdering psycho-bitch! You stupid…! You fucking bitch! I’ll kill you, I’ll…!”\n\nEpheral twisted her foot, shutting Kenny up with a gross snap. He wailed in pain, but it only came out as a hoarse rasp.\n\n“Disgusting animal,” Epheral growled, “I don’t think I will even break you down. I’m simply going to destroy your body piece by piece, and then tear your Inkling apart. Murderous little boys and brainwashed lapdogs have no place in my perfect world.”\n\nA high-impact ball of force crashed into the side of Epheral’s head, jerking her body and causing her to stumble. She bounced back from the blow, spinning to shoot Garrison a fiery glare where he stood all that distance away, a new, damaged rifle in his hands. He breathed slowly, deeply, steadying his shaking body, his heart skipping only a beat when Epheral launched herself toward him. With careful precision, he fired three more shots that connected with her even as she tried to veer around them, then he met her charge with his shoulder, striking early. He drove his weight into her, shoving her back before he brought the rife up under her chin to clip her and throw her back further. He followed it with a strike from the butt end of the gun, shattering the side of her face.\n\n“UNH! YOU…!” Epheral roared as she was thrown back. Garrison coldly trained his rifle at her center mass and unloaded the thing into her chest, compensating for the recoil with nothing short of expertise to have them all hit roughly the same area just beneath her sternum. The softball sized blasts of hard-force energy shattered chunks from her middle until her torso and legs were barely holding together, but the ceramic-like prana was regenerating at just a fraction of a second slower than the damage could be done. The sounds of her shattering cracked like thunder through the dead, empty mall, and Garrison kept it coming until the barrel of his weapon was red hot.\n\nThe automated cooling kicked in, venting the heat from the sides of the weapon and ceasing the firing mechanism. Garrison threw the weapon away and stepped in to continue the assault with hand-to-hand combat. He threw one punch, and it was over. Epheral caught his fist in her much smaller hand and stopped his entire momentum in that single moment. As her charcoal body filled back in, she twisted the soldier’s arm, forcing him to a knee before simply flipped him over onto the ground, throwing him aside like he weighed little more than a stuffed toy.\n\nWhen Garrison hit the floor, Kenny’s sword impaled Epheral through the back, the blood-tipped blade jutting out from her chest, just barely missing her core. She stared down at the weapon before turning to see a battered Kenny barely on his feet, holding his injured hand protectively against his middle. Epheral’s glowing white eyes blazed with anger as she used Polaris’ power to pull the sword out of her back and send it sailing like a javelin back at Kenny. The boy dove to the side, taking himself to the floor to avoid the cold steel. He used the same powers as the weapon passed by to have it circle back around and rush toward Epheral, who met it by turning her arm into a pointed prana-blade. The two sharpened edges clashed, sparks flying as they began striking and parrying one another.\n\nA sword with no wielder was no match for the power behind Epheral’s strikes however, and she soon smacked the blade away, sending it across the mall.\n\n“You’re no match for me,” Epheral announced, “Enjoy your last moments while you can. It’s merely the two of you against worlds of prana. You don’t stand a chance!”\n\n“Hey! Epheral!”\n\nEpheral, Kenny, and Garrison all turned their attention to the second floor, where another Inkling stood. She seemed to swirl with yellows and blues, the colours shifting even as she held still She leaned over the half-wall that made up the floor’s inner guard rail, shouting down at the prana monster to interrupt her fight. At first, no one really recognized her, not even by the sound of her voice. The identity of the girl hit them all roughly around the same time, looks of realization and surprise plastering their faces.\n\n“You!” Epheral shouted.\n\nKenny blinked his eyes, clearing the tears away from them. “Quincey?” He called to her, “Is that you?”\n\n“How did you survive?!” Epheral demanded, “You should have withered away by now!”\n\n“I had a nap!” Duplex yelled back at her.\n\nEpheral huffed in frustration, relaxing herself to keep from flying into an absolute rage. “No matter,” She said, “You can join your fellows in death. I’ll simply unravel you once more and be done with you, you traitor.”\n\nEpheral raised her hand and extended her finger toward Duplex, who winced in preparation of the pain that was being ripped apart once again. Her one yellow and one blue eyes clamped shut and she tensed her body, steeling herself for the event… but nothing came. Seconds ticked on by and Epheral impatiently swirled her finger in a winding motion. Quincey did feel something in her, in Duplex, react to the gesture… but it was a small, tiny ache, far from the burning torture that she expected. She grasped her chest with one hand, gasping in surprise at the sudden stinging sensation, but the longer she waited for it to worsen, the less substantial the pain seemed to be. It ebbed away to a persistent, annoying throb.\n\n“What?!” Epheral shouted, “Fall apart! I gave you life, I can take it away!”\n\nDuplex looked over herself in confusion. Eventually, it clicked. “That’s not going to work!” She proclaimed, stepping back up to the rail and leaning over it to shout at the would-be despot. “There’s more of my prana in here than there is yours now!”\n\nEpheral retracted her finger, jerking her hand back into a fist raised above her. “That’s not possible!” She shouted, “You had nothing left! No one host could save you!”\n\nUrgai may have helped her, Dormence, and Tranquil bear the worst of Epheral’s assault, but Quincey had no qualms against taking credit for it. “Well I did!” The girl said, indignantly, “So there!”\n\n“Grr!” Epheral’s fists trembled with anger as she squeezed her fingers as tightly as she could, cracking her own prana chassis with the effort. “Well it doesn’t matter! Even with your disgusting self, the three of you can’t possibly match my power!”\n\nDuplex clenched her own fists, seeming to tense up in giddy, terrified excitement. “I-I think you should count again!”\n\nAnother inked pig girl stepped up to the overhang; then another, one flanking each side of the original. They were joined by two more on the outside, and then those two were flanked by yet two more. In pairs, copies of the rotund yellow and blue lava lamp looking Inkling girl stepped up, lining up shoulder to shoulder to surround Epheral from above. There had to be almost two dozen Duplexes all leaning over to look down at the scarred battlefield that was the mall’s ground floor. A final few more stepped up to create a high-risen half-circle around Epheral, staring down at her like a crowd in a colosseum. They started yelling down at Epheral, shaking their fists and blustering, all yelling over one another so their voices became a garbled mess of noise that drowned out Epheral’s own angry shouting.\n\n“This is impossible!!” Epheral screamed, frantically turning to try and keep her eyes on which Duplex would move first.\n\n“You’re impossible!” One smugly shouted back over the crowd. The other pig girls yelled back at her, cheering for themselves for having such a zinger in their back pocket. Then, one voice rose above the others once more.\n\n“CHAAAARGE!”\n\nThe inked pigs in jumping distance of Epheral did just that; they climbed up over the rail and threw themselves over the precipice and to come crashing down onto the floor below. They rained down around and over Epheral, who gave a frustrated cry before being flattened under an opportune belly flopping Duplex clone. Whichever girl didn’t hit the mark jumped onto Epheral, creating a pile. The rest roared a battle cry, running to the nearest stairs and marching down, their feet sounding like the boots of a battalion coming through. They joined the others, leaping and flopping their weighty bodies on top of the growing pile of inky pig girls that was then smothering Epheral’s jagged prana body.\n\nEpheral fought tooth and nail under the pinning mass, throwing claws and elbows, kicking her feet, and trying to get some leverage to get out from underneath them all. To say nothing of Duplex’s strength-in-numbers tactics, she had weight on her side. Even Epheral, for all her supposed power, couldn’t simply shrug off the combined several-hundred pounds of weight that many Quinceys provided. She came close several times, wresting an arm free, rolling one of the girls aside, only to have that very same copy jump back on.\n\nOne Duplex was apart from the chaos, nervously stepping over pieces of debris and gawking at the strewn-about bodies of the Harbington citizens and Eos soldiers alike. She hurried past the writhing pile of wrestling copies of herself to run right over to Kenny, her high steps awkwardly lifted, as if the cracked tile of the mall’s flooring were hot coals of some sort. She rushed over and stopped, staring at Kenny as she ran in place, her fists balled up in front of her face in a panic. “Oh! Oh! Oh no!” She whined, “Kenny, are you okay?!”\n\nKenny ripped his attention away from Epheral’s predicament, taking only a second to glance at his profusely bleeding hand. “No! I’m not okay!” He yelled past his tears and snotty sobbing, “Quincey? You’re awake?”\n\n“Yeah!” The fidgety inked girl nodded, still lifting her knees high as she marched in place, a bundle of nervous, excited energy who just couldn’t keep still. “I-I just woke up! I, um! What happened?! Why is everybody… laying on the ground? What’s wrong with your hand?”\n\n“They [i]dead[/i], Quinn!” Kenny answered, “And we’ll be dead too if we don’t do something!”\n\n“Dead?!” Duplex shrieked, “Wh... D-Dead?!”\n\nKenny growled in frustration. “Yeah, dead, that thing you do when you stop living. What’re we gonna do?!”\n\nDuplex quickly checked on her numerous copies. They were holding Epheral down admirably, but it had gotten to the point where Epheral would throw one off just long enough to impale another with a jagged blade she’d made of her arm. That copy would pop like an inky balloon, spraying blue and yellow ink all over the place that would then vanish. They’d jump Epheral again only for the process to repeat one pig at a time every half-minute or so. Epheral was tearing them off herself like a cornered animal, downright viciously even. She would be free eventually, that much was inevitable. Duplex finally stopped bounding in place as she returned to Kenny, shaking her head.\n\nKenny grimaced in pain. “Look,” he said, “If we don’t stop her now, there’s going to be a whole lot more people dead, or… whatever she’s gonna do, change the world or something, I dunno. We gotta fight her, but… ngh… I’m getting dizzy.”\n\n“You’re bleeding a lot.” Duplex stated, “You need to get help!”\n\n“It hurts to breathe too,” Kenny winced, “But I’m not spoiled for choice here.”\n\nVery suddenly, with a powerful surge of raw power and strength, the pile of Duplexes were thrown off as the monster broke free. Epheral had forced them all off, launching them away, and was up on her feet in seconds, roaring in triumph. The inked piggies cried out as they sailed through the air, flailing and splatting on the ground in all directions. Ignoring all the others, Epheral cast her fiery gaze on Kenny and the one Duplex who stood with him; she had taken careful strides to stay out of the fight, so it was reasonable to peg her as the original Duplex, bonded to Quincey and ensuring her own self-preservation. “YOU!” Epheral roared, “I’LL END YOU FOR GOOD.”\n\nThe other Duplex copies were back on their feet and weren’t having any of that. They charged in all at once from their varying distances to throw themselves between Epheral and the original Duplex. The first one jumped in only to have the blade of Epheral’s arm impale her face cleanly. That Duplex popped after her gruesome demise. Three more came running in, and Epheral twirled, shifting the shape of her other arm to match the sharp, curved edge of the first. She used the two blades to dissect the oncoming inked pigs, slicing off limbs and cleaving through their bodies with ease. They, too, burst into inky goop that swirled with yellows and blues. More came still, surrounding Epheral on all sides in a circle. Kenny and Duplex watched in horror as every single one of them was cut clear through the middle, torsos disconnected from their hips, falling into pieces before popping.\n\nShe came for the original at last, running forward, arms outstretched like twin scythes ready to reap their souls. Duplex gasped, and Kenny tried reaching for his sword with his good hand only to remember it was somewhere across the lobby. They panicked, and as Epheral closed in and swung her arms to cleave them, they only barely moved out of the way. Kenny fell back onto his butt on the floor, so short that Epheral’s swing went right over his head, slicing off only a few stray strands of fur. Duplex awkwardly shuffled out of the way, tripping to the side and clumsily stumbling to fortuitously avoid the killing blow. She fell onto her hands and knees and checked to make sure Kenny was alright even before worrying about herself.\n\nThe thoughts registered at light speeds in Quincey’s mind. Kenny was fine, so her only course was to attack Epheral. While normally every muscle in her body would be seized with fear, she felt oddly fluid as she took a hips-raised sprinter’s stance, then launched herself at Epheral. She crashed into the prana-beast’s side with the full force of her enhanced, inked strength. Backed by something shy of two hundred pounds of pig, the effect was like being hit by a truck. Epheral’s construct body cracked loudly where Duplex’s shoulder drove in, and she failed to find her footing before Duplex just carried her away. There was too much power behind too much mass, so Epheral practically folded as Duplex stampeded forth like a juggernaut. The pig girl’s feet thump-thump-thumped as she ran, Epheral’s glass-like body dangling from her.\n\nDuplex ran her right into a wall, ploughing through debris and rubble to do so. Epheral’s body was crushed and compressed, splintered fractures spreading out from her middle to cover her face and arms and some of her legs. Had she any lungs, any air in them would have been forced out. Even without them, she reeled as her construct body was squeezed around her core. Duplex let off, pulling back with dust and duraplastic flaking off from the impact crater she left using Epheral’s body. Epheral was still recovering when the girl stepped back, pulled her arm back as far as it would go, and then swung it open-hand. She slapped Epheral across the face so hard that half of her construct head shattered on impact and was thrown across the area.\n\nDuplex stepped back, staring Epheral down. The construct’s neck had snapped with the force and her head was simply dangling there by a thread. It should have looked far more visceral than it did, and had it been more organic it would have been gratuitous… but Epheral’s constructed body, made of solid prana, was so utterly unnatural that she looked like little more than a plastic doll that had been broken. She blinked her blazing, white eyes at Duplex, confusion and shock plastered all over her expression.\n\nThat was soon replaced by anger, as Epheral collected herself. The blades on her arms were cracked and crumbling, one shedding away to reveal her hand anew, though her fingers were shattered and not all the proper length. She used that hand to pull her head back into place, her body regenerating as she put it in place, her neck sealing back to her collar, her body making jerky, erratic movements as she put herself back together.\n\nThe process seemed to slow when only two-thirds of Epheral’s face had reconstructed. She looked at herself, at her one still-cracked hand and the broken, jagged blade on her other arm. They were no longer repairing themselves. “What??” She bellowed, “This isn’t… I have more power than this!”\n\n“Something… wrong…?” Duplex panted, trying to look menacing still.\n\nEpheral chuckled, building a slow laughter into a cackle of madness. She leaned into her crater and rested a hand against her head, sighing. “No, no… everything is fine. I’m going to have to put your destruction on hold, for now.”\n\nDuplex blinked, puzzled. “What??”\n\nPushing herself to her feet, Epheral stepped aside, strolling into the storefront she had been so ferociously smashed against. “I’m sparing you, for the moment,” Epheral said, “But only because we were friends, once.”\n\nDuplex shook her head rapidly in confusion, standing up straight and proceeding to follow Epheral into the store. “You can’t just run away!”\n\nEpheral ignored her at first, strolling through the aisles of clothing and apparel hanging on their racks and folded on their shelves. Her eyes searched the store, stopping as she reached as junction and taking a left. She made her way toward what could have been considered the back-end of the outlet. Duplex followed her the entire way, scampering after her, no less confused than before.\n\n“I am not running away, simpleton,” Epheral rebutted, “I am simply delaying your end for something of greater importance.”\n\n“Well, stop!” Duplex said, “I was kicking your butt!”\n\n“Oh please,” Epheral scoffed, “If you call having your pitiful army cut down ‘kicking my butt,’ then I’m not sure what to tell you.”\n\nDuplex glowered angrily, following along with Epheral’s power-walking pace. “You wouldn’t be running right now if I wasn’t!”\n\nEpheral stopped as she stepped into a changing booth, her hand resting thoughtfully on the edge of the door. Duplex stepped behind her, watching her turn around to face her. Pulling back her hand, energy seemed to surge from Epheral’s entire construct form, ebbing from the core nestled in the center. When she threw her hand forward, that energy rushed out, striking Duplex’s body and all at once peeling the ink off Quincey beneath. The girl went from inked to not in milliseconds, exposing the turtleneck-and-jeans-wearing red-head. Quincey blinked her eyes, her glasses crooked from the blow, trying to absorb what had just happened to her. In an instant, all that strength and power granted by her Inkling was simply… gone.\n\n“I could rip you limb from limb this exact second,” Epheral spat, “Instead, I’ll save that energy for something far more important.”\n\nQuincey shook. “W-What are… what are you going to do?” She asked, fearfully.\n\n“Dormence, Tranquil… it’s finally time.” Epheral smiled, turning to step into the changing room. She looked at herself in the mirror within the small confines of the booth, happily admiring her broken, fractured body in the reflective glass.\n\nShe reached up and pressed her hand against the mirror, and its surface rippled like water. Right away, Quincey knew what had happened, and she gasped in shock.\n\nEpheral pulled her hand back, watching the gentle ripples settle until the glass was once again solid. “Yes…” She spoke, “This is Echelon’s Mirror Slide… what a strange power. Strange, but useful. Who knew that mirrors were the direct link to Canvas? Osoth had used Parthal so much, I had no idea that this was right under our noses this whole time. I could have done this centuries ago.”\n\nQuincey glared at the monster. “You have to stop this.”\n\n“I am going to rip it apart at the seams,” Epheral chortled, “Tear everything down and build it back up. I’ll build on top of the ruins, a new, more beautiful world. I’ll bury Osoth’s ugly legacy. I’ll finally save everyone.”\n\n“That’s not saving them!” Quincey argued, “That’s not how it’s supposed to work!”\n\nEpheral frowned. “You just don’t want me to end your precious Empress’ little game. You’re just like all the others, so attached to your tyrannical rulers. You don’t even know what you’re saying.”\n\nQuincey grit her teeth. “Epheral, I mean it!” She said, “E-Even if you do it, then what? Even if you make everything new again and rule it all, what are you going to do to the next person like you who comes along?”\n\nEpheral paused. “There won’t be anyone else…” She said, calmly, “I have always been, from the very beginning of my life, better off on my own. Other people, other Inklings, other creatures, they’ve all rejected me. [i]You[/i] rejected me, in the end. So, if you’re so against my new world, you will not live in it. If you are so attached to this one and its lies, then you can burn with it.”\n\n“Epheral,” Quincey said, “You can’t…”\n\n“I’ve had enough of you telling me what I can and cannot do!” Epheral shouted, “I will destroy Canvas, and when I’m done with that I’ll take all the prana there and come back here, and I’ll end this pitiful world too! All of you will know that at the end of it all, I was the beginning and the end. The alpha and the omega. Osoth tried to stifle me, you all tried, but it was futile. I want you to know this, to think on it in the coming days. I want you to know your mistakes before I take it all away.”\n\nEpheral pushed her hand against the mirror again, letting her palm sink into its surface. “Goodbye, stupid Earth girl. Dormence, Tranquil.”\n\nQuincey reached out to stop her, but Epheral brushed her off and simply stepped through the looking glass and into another world. The mirror rippled with her passing, settling as Quincey stepped up to see her own reflection there. She placed her hand on it and felt it as solid, pushing her palm against it flat and forcefully before just letting it slide off with a sad squeak.\n\n“Oh no…” Quincey murmured.\n\nShe stood there staring at her reflection for a while. She looked like a mess, her hair tangled and strewn about like she had been sleeping for several days… which was appropriate=. She came back just in time to see the end of it, she supposed. As she stared at her reflection, however, it began to slightly ripple. She squinted at it, watching as that rippling got more and more wild. It occurred to her almost too late that she should move, and she had just barely gotten out of the way when Epheral came flying back out of the mirror, slamming into the wall of the booth.\n\n“UGH!” Epheral shouted, her construct body looking even worse than when she’d gone inside. A lot of it was simply burned away, she was missing an entire arm and most of her head was gone. The charcoal of her body, the scratchy silhouette, was barely being held together by burned-in white, kind of like glue that just barely kept her from falling apart. Of course, she was fine – the only really living part of her was the then-exposed core at her center – but she looked absolutely devastated. Her core seemed to undulate and vibrate angrily.\n\n“T-That place!” She cried, “Canvas… it…!”\n\nQuincey’s ears perked up. “That’s right!” She remembered, “Canvas is a [i]nightmare[/i] on prana!”\n\nEpheral panted, seething and huffing and hissing with anger. She turned her one burning eye to Quincey, staring at her with animalistic ferocity. Quincey locked up, swallowing hard as Epheral lumbered to her broken feet and lurched toward her.\n\n“U-Um!” Quincey tensed up, “AH!” Epheral swung at her with the broken blade her one arm was made into. Quincey turned to run away and flopped onto the carpet on her front. She scrambled to her feet again and ran out of the store screaming, arms out in her desperation to escape. She was seen running out of the store like it was the Haunted Castle simulation, Epheral limping out seconds after her, collapsing against the entryway frame and digging her blade into the wall to hold herself up.\n\n“This isn’t working out as I had planned.” Epheral grumbled, “Need to gather my strength… should be soon.”\n\nQuincey stumbled out into the lobby, panting to catch her breath as a shadow passed by from overhead. She gazed up toward the ceiling, which past the three stories had a broken-in sunlight casting light down into the middle of the mall. Normally that would have been a warm, pleasant sunbeam surrounding the mall’s fountain, making it a pleasant place to laze around in… but instead it was a cold, drafty, broken window that seemed to just let the muggy outdoors pour in. Quincey saw the massive form of the blackened prana dragon settle at the sun light’s edge, its clawed talons digging, its mere landing shaking the building and causing her to trip and fall.\n\nThe creature pushed its head through the opening and down into the building. Quincey screamed, running to hide. Epheral stepped out into the open and gazed up at the beast, which returned her attentions. She reached out toward the dragon, and then lifted off the ground, quickly floating up to meet the dragon and latch on to its head. Her broken construct body seemed to crackle and smash as its was sucked into the dragon, the blazing core at her center being absorbed and drawn into the dragon’s middle.\n\n“I’ll find out how to get into Canvas yet!” Epheral roared, “And I’ll deal with you later!”\n\nQuincey peeked out from her hiding place amongst the broken-down rubble of the fountain, which was leaking water all over the mall’s floor in a growing pool. She watched as the dragon lifted itself out of the broken hole and then took off, its ascent shaking the foundation of the roof, sending more debris and glass falling into the building and opening the hole wider.\n\nQuincey trembled fearfully. She waited until she was certain that Epheral was gone and the danger had passed before stepping out from her hiding place. All that was left was silence. She looked around the broken, ruined mall, observing the scene for the sheer disaster that it was. Bodies were strewn about among rubble and human blood. Some of them still moved, barely. Burning white patches of Epheral’s strange influence had spread out over spots, melting them away, burning holes into reality. When she saw Kenny laid out on the ground, she hurried to help him. The boy was curled up on his side, unconscious, as pale as a boy with fur all over his body could be. He’d lost so much blood from his limp and trembling hand. He could have been anemic for all she knew. She dropped to her knees and collected him, picking him up off the floor.\n\nIt was just then she heard the stomping footsteps of boots echo through the mall, and the much lighter tapping of much smaller shoes. She turned to see Natalie having returned, and she had Sam with her in tow. The little white bat’s normally prim and proper coif was frazzled, and the two of them looked a little beat up. Sam’s designer capris and little baby-tee were torn in a couple of places. They hurried toward Quincey, clearly under some urgency. Sam’s run slowed to a trot, then to an almost aimless wandering as she stared gawking at the scene, especially at the people. She squeaked when she saw the bodies, holding her hands over her mouth to keep from simply screaming.\n\nNatalie too slowed to a stop as she approached, horrified at what she was seeing. She looked around, then at Quincey holding the bloody, unconscious Kenny.\n\nQuincey’s expression screwed into a frown holding back tears – and failing to do so. They dribbled down her face as she cried. “Where were you??”\n\n-\n--\n-\n\nThe wind whipped by Daxton and Sylph’s faces as they came upon the mall, shocked to see it in its ruined state. Even from a distance the destruction that Epheral’s still-lingering armies was clear. Holes were torn into the roof of the building, the cars and vehicles that had been gathered were smashed and crushed, unusable by their owners. Solid prana was scattered like shrapnel, sticking out of walls and sidewalks, trees and anything at street-level. The sight of it filled the teens with dread, and Sylph did her best to put more speed into her flight, to arrive faster, to help.\n\nThe black prana dragon rose from the roof. It picked up and darted through the sky, rushing forward with a powerful thrust of its wings, sending it into a screaming flightpath right toward the teens. “Whoa nelly!” Sylph cried, having to veer out of the dragon’s path lest it crashed right through her and Daxton both. She narrowly avoided the full weight of the beast as it passed by, its bulk cutting the air around it, silencing sound momentarily as it brushed past. The buffeting of its wings tossed Sylph around like a paper bag, sending her and Daxton spiraling through the air and forcing her into a desperate recovery. She managed to right herself long before they hit the street, holding on to Daxton still, who managed to keep his grasp on her rifle and keep it safe. They paused to watch the dragon disappear past the apartments, its roar echoing in the distance like a gale.\n\n“Hot damn,” Sylph said, turning her attention to the mall below. “I hope everyone’s alright!”\n\n“Let’s check it out!” Daxton said, and the two descended into the mall’s parking lot. Entire chunks of the pavement were missing from the ground and several fractures made the ground uneven beneath their feet. Sylph put Daxton down, who took up her rifle as the stragglers from Epheral’s army turned on them. Archers, knights, an ogre too; the gang was all there.\n\n“Okay, how do you work this thing?” Daxton asked, checking the mechanisms for the APSR-20 for the first time despite having been holding onto it since they left the school.\n\nSylph gave him an annoyed look. “Are you kiddin’ me?!” She shouted. She had to cut her scolding short as prana arrows arced through the air to descend upon her and Daxton in a volley. The inkling girl thrust her hands out and sent a rush of air to meet them, scattering them uselessly around. They hit more cars and street signs than people.\n\n“Maybe you just sit this one out, pardner,” Sylph said, “For once.”\n\nDaxton continued to fiddle with the weapon, finally just pulling the trigger when he was studying the safety controls. The weapon revved up and fired, jerking the butt end of it back into the boy’s sternum and smacking a hoarse cough out of him. The projectile hit the pavement, scattered some pebbles and dirt, and that was it. “Oghf!” He coughed, “Got it!”\n\n“Good job,” Sylph said, “Real swell.”\n\n-\n--\n-\n\n“Quincey, I am so sorry.” Natalie followed the pig girl as she stumbled through the rubble, carrying Kenny over to Sam. Sam, who had been so distracted by the horror that was strewn before her, had her attention ripped away, and upon seeing a more familiar face in danger, immediately inked over. The bubblegum pink of Mhend’s membrane spread out around her body and covered all but her mechanical right leg whose joints and creases moved so lifelike and keen. Not long after her blonde bob formed a bouncy bubble of pink ink did she reach up and simply pluck a piece off the end. What she tore away reformed, and she rolled the ink into a ball before gently depositing it into Kenny’s gaped mouth, her hands gently coaxing the boy to ingest it while Quincey held him.\n\nThe boy’s trembling seemed to subside in moments, and Mhend had Quincey lay Kenny out so she could patch up the wound on his hand.\n\n“Epheral was attacking Locksmouth,” Natalie explained, “I couldn’t get anyone back here in time!”\n\n“I see that!” Quincey shouted at Natalie, startling her. They both paused, Quincey tearful and upset, Natalie alarmed that she’d upset the girl. Quincey calmed down, her anger deflating into something more familiar. She was afraid.\n\nNatalie could handle afraid. She placed her hands upon Quincey’s shoulders and tried to calm her down. “Let’s check on everyone else.”\n\n“Bring them here if you’d please!” Mhend insisted.\n\nA commotion started outside, but the teens didn’t hesitate even a moment to spread out and start checking on the visible casualties of Epheral’s attack. Natalie and Quincey delicately paced around, almost afraid to touch anything. The devastation to the mall was one thing, familiar structures broken down and ruined; the human blood was entirely another. Crimson gashes of liquid were sprayed over the stonework and tile were drying in, and the girls were afraid to even go near them, let alone actually touch them. Some people were face-down in small pools of the stuff. They didn’t make it. Yvette’s body was battered and broken, and Quincey could tell she’d succumbed to her injuries, no doubt suffering a puncture in her lung at the very least. Kris Procsman, the gecko that had first attacked the Harbington teens when they left the dome, had been nearly decapitated.\n\nThe deaths were almost all Eos soldiers. The ones that had turned around and stood up to defend the people paid the ultimate price. Comparatively few civilians had suffered fatally at the hands of Epheral. Many were hurt, each one who hadn’t made it underground had been incapacitated in some way. The girls focused on them. The dead were lost, and they were so deeply, darkly afraid of the bodies that they couldn’t bring themselves to so much as touch them. The sight of their lifeless corpses made their stomachs churn. The survivors moaned in pain. They needed the help more.\n\n“Ungh…” Garrison stirred where he rested sat up against the tile wall under the stairs leading to the second floor. Natalie heard him and came running, stopping short only when she noticed just who he was.\n\n“It’s you,” She said, trying and failing to hide the disdain in her voice, “Are you alright?”\n\nGarrison clutched his chest, the patchwork of gel and flesh had peeled under the bandages and was essentially coming off, crooked under the bloody wrappings. Still, he breathed, the wound heaving with his breaths, blood dripping down over his round gut and arms to the floor. He gritted his teeth, shutting his eyes tight and grunting as he pushed himself to sit up straighter. “I’ll live,” He grunted, “Civvies need more attention. Go to it.”\n\nHow uncharacteristically paragon of him. Natalie studied his wounds. The damage was too severe for her to help, not with Echelon’s weaker grasp on Mhend’s powers. She had no idea what had happened to change his tune, but she couldn’t even look at him without thinking of the hell he’d put her through. She ignored the small part of her that didn’t want to help him and instead just nodded. “I’ll get a doctor,” she said. Then, she simply hurried off to the next person. She could help those with smaller wounds. A simple touch, bodily contact, and Mhend’s soothing, healing powers flowed through her to seal cuts and scrapes and ease the pain of twists and bruises. One by one she helped people to Mhend, who had started to create something of a little clinic in the middle of that broken-down mall, trying to tend to each person based on the severity of their injuries.\n\nQuincey at least had the medical know-how to know who was in the most danger. She prioritized, hauling people in the most need back to Mhend as quickly as she could. She shook, however, trembled and quivered. Duplex had once again been struck a blow by Epheral, her prana was out of whack and she felt weakened on top of the shock that had settled in around the situation. It was fortunate that someone had come up to check and see what was happening since things had gotten so quiet. Seeing that the immediate danger was gone, they called in the doctors and the police who immediately started to help. It wasn’t long before they’d gathered everyone, though it was Mhend who had her work cut out for her.\n\n“Quincey!” Paula cried out to her daughter, and she came running with her husband to nearly bowl the girl over with parental love. They hugged out their concern and worry for their child, the porcine pair squeezing the dickens out of her. Quincey was overwhelmed, but the warmth of their touch was soothing. She gave herself to it, letting herself relax into their arms.\n\n“My baby girl!” Walter sniffled and snorted, tears running down his face. Like father, like daughter. He looked terribly worse for wear. The unwashed man, portly and stout with greasy black hair had sweat stains so ingrained into his wrinkled and frumpy old button-down that they may have never come out. His tie was loose and his collar crooked, and his slacks were dirt and food stained. His wife did her best to keep up appearances but her long white coat was likewise dirt-covered and some of the buttons on her blouse had broken off. Her long red hair was frazzled, her eyes were baggy and tired, and her pencil skirt was torn. At least she wasn’t broken – her arm had been healed for well over a week.\n\nIt didn’t matter how dirty and gross they were, Quincey hugged them all the same, not much better off herself. “Mom, Dad!” She gushed, not knowing at all what to say.\n\nGerald shoved his way past the gathering crowds around the injured to find his son unconscious and laid out. He gathered him up, checking for fever and pulse before simply hauling him up to rest on his shoulder and with no hint of fear or insecurity just took him away. He held his son, terrified for him but not showing it, not at all embarrassed to walk with his seventeen-year-old in his arms, head on his shoulder. If anything, he seemed angry, storming past Natalie on his way to who knew where.\n\nNatalie stepped through. Mhend had just tended to a young penguin boy, smoothing her hands over his arm, feeling for irregularities. The boy sobbed but stood so very still and let her work. “There you are,” She said, “All better.”\n\nThe boy began to bawl right there. Mhend rose to her knees and hugged him, tenderly stroking his back. “Shhh, shh, shh, it’s okay,” She said, though she sounded on the brink of tears herself, “You’re alright. It’s okay. Don’t cry.”\n\nIt was hard to watch. Natalie looked around for the boy’s parents, any older people of the same penguin sub-species, but no one came. Natalie fidgeted. Her composure was crumbling. A wave of relief washed over her when a group of adults, a panther male and steer female, and most fortunately a penguin woman, came and collected the boy.\n\nMhend let the boy go back to his parents. “Natalie,” She spoke, looking up at the girl, “How many are…?” She dared not finish the question. The words had a tough time leaving her lips.\n\nShe didn’t have to finish. “Eight,” Natalie answered, direct and brief, “Eight that I could see.”\n\n“Oh no…” Mhend whispered. “Eight people.”\n\n“… Mostly adults.” Natalie glowered.\n\n“Mostly.” Mhend covered her ears and closed her eyes, shaking her head, “No. No. No, no, no. This is unacceptable!”\n\nWhen she was composed enough, she opened her eyes and stood to stare up at Natalie. “We’ve dealt with monsters before, but… what kind of [i]hideous creature[/i] would do such a thing?”\n\nShe didn’t wait for an answer, lowering her gaze to stare at the ruined floor. “I have to help these people,” She said, “[b]I have to[/b].”\n\nThe little inked bat continued to mumble as she turned away and immediately began tending to more wounded. Natalie was frozen, locked up, unable to come up with anything to say to assuage the situation. All she could think about was that Locksmouth had… no fatalities. Not one. She and her pack, with Jacent’s help, they’d protected everyone from the chaos that was spreading through the streets of her home. She should have known, it was so unorganized. Every second she was doing that and doing it well, Kenny and Quincey – who she was still surprised was even awake – had been forced to defend their home with less experience and less help. And they’d failed.\n\nShe lifted her head and looked to the doors just in time to see Daxton jog in, weapon in hand, with Sylph just behind him. “Alright we’re…! We’re…” Daxton’s voice echoed over the distressed mumblings of Harbington’s citizenry and his jog slowed to a dazed walking state. “… What the…”\n\nSylph receded into her host, revealing Laila’s big, wide blue eyes taking it all in. With a start, she shoved Daxton out of the way and ran into the mall. “Where’s my family?!” She cried, “Mom! Dad! Val!”\n\nQuincey squealed, dragging the sound out to a sob as she ran across the mall to leap into Daxton’s arms, holding him for dear life. “Daxton!” She cried, “It’s terrible! It’s so terrible! Horrible!”\n\nDaxton stumbled to close his arms around her and not just fall over, looking all around slack-jawed. “I, uh… I…” He was so overwhelmed, by the destruction and the chaos, by Quincey being awake again, that he couldn’t register a single emotion. For the first time in a long time, he was speechless.\n\n“Where are they?!” Laila shouted at those she passed by, “Where are my parents?! Where’d they go?! Are they okay?!” She rushed past people, almost knocking down anyone in her way. She grabbed others, demanded answers out of them. Many didn’t know. Some pointed, and she just ran. She found herself stomping down the inoperative escalators and into the underground tram station, calling out for her family again. She stood head and shoulders over most of the people around her, and was finally able to find her family huddled together on a bench where people would normally have sat waiting for the next train to come. Laila stepped over some of the smaller people in her way, dropping to her knees, scraping them across the faux-snow and crystal on the ground.\n\nHer parents didn’t get a word in, as Valyrie, Laila’s little sister, sat on the bench wearing only one of her boots. Her other foot was purple and clearly injured, and she had been crying. Laila threw her arms around her sister and pressed their foreheads together, rocking her back and forth as she swore she’d never leave her alone again. Ever.\n\nNatalie, in the lobby, felt distant. She watched the goings-on around her, detached from it all.\n\nWhat kind of hideous creature would do such a thing? The question continually racked her brain until she came to a simple conclusion.\n\nWhat kind of creature would do such a thing? The kind who just [i]declared war[/i].\n\n-\n--\n-\n\n“AAAAGH!! I’M SORRY, I’M SORRY!!” Kenny cried as his bloodied mother shook him by his throat from the edge of his old apartment building. She screamed at him, incomprehensible, anguish and rage in her voice and in her milky white, blank eyes.\n\nA red foot planted itself on her face, silencing her screams. Kenny tried to turn his head, scraping his mother’s nails across his throat to do so, to see himself – or rather Polaris in the shape of himself – standing with his weight supported on his mother’s face. He leaned down, resting an arm on his knee, peering down at the dead woman calm and collected.\n\n“If you could excuse us for a moment, darling.” Polaris said politely. Then he shoved his foot down, kicking the woman away from her son. Kenny gasped, grabbing for her and missing. He watched as she fell so many stories as he had once before, until her body hit the street with a red splat.\n\n“NO!” Kenny cried, reaching his arms down over the edge, futile a gesture as it was. Polaris grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and simply picked him up, throwing him back onto the roof. Kenny landed on his back roughly, coughing on his tears. Polaris stepped around him as he writhed to sit up, and the inked lemming perched himself on an air vent, seated slightly slouched.\n\n“Alright, real talk,” Polaris spoke, “You and I have a few things to work out.”\n\n“Uh! Buh…! You…! A fuh…!” Kenny blinked in confusion, looking all around the familiar dreamscape nightmare of Anchorsway, seeing the familiar lights in the distance, the familiar Ferris wheel.\n\n“You’re dreaming, Kenny,” Polaris sighed.\n\nHe leaned out and smacked Kenny across his face, stopping Kenny’s freak-out mid burble.\n\n“Pull yourself together, man.” Polaris said, “You and I just got thoroughly and rigorously trounced!”\n\nKenny stretched his eyebrows, rubbing his face. “What?” he asked.\n\n“The only reason you’re even asleep right now is because Epheral just got done handing us our own backsides on a silver platter!” Polaris said, “And she [i]didn’t[/i] provide any silverware. Am I jogging your memory yet? How’s your hand, hm?”\n\n“My hand…?” Kenny raised his right hand up, and was able to peer straight through the gaping wound there to Polaris’ blue, grumpy pout on the other side. “Guh!” The boy jumped, eyes getting big.\n\n“Kenny,” Polaris sighed, “We messed up. I can’t even dress this up in pretty words or humor. We lost. I suppose you’re not dead however, so that’s a bonus.”\n\nThey sat in the airy silence of the rooftops, the breeze blowing Kenny’s old shirt and pants around as he lowered his hand to keep his balance sitting up. The memories came back to him in a trickle. Epheral’s arrival to the mall, his struggle to defend the people of Harbington, his failure to stop her metallic whirlwind from tearing some of those same people to bits… his following beating was painful, as the unsatisfied feelings of rage boiled up inside him again. Vengeance undelivered. All those dead people. Kenny grit his teeth and slammed his fist onto the roof. “Shit!” He shouted into the void, “Damn it!”\n\n“I know, buddy,” Polaris said, “I know.” His voice was level in comparison, his entire disposition relaxed, but gloomy.\n\n“Fucking bitch!” Kenny jumped up to his feet, fists clenched in anger.\n\n“Temper that,” Polaris said, snapping Kenny’s attention out of his anger with the ringing sound of his sword digging into the roof of the apartment building. Kenny looked to see Polaris seated there in old, tattered armor, a much larger blade than the gladius Kenny used dug into the building. Polaris gripped the handle of the sword tightly in both hands and he stared at the pommel angrily. “Why are you so mad?”\n\n“Epheral! She…!”\n\n“She killed people.” Polaris cut him off, “Yes. That’s what you do in battle.”\n\n“They didn’t deserve it!” Kenny yelled, “They were innocent!”\n\nKenny fell to his hands and knees again, his tears dripping onto the roof. He kind of huddled up. Polaris nodded. “Yeah.” He said, “I know. Trust me. I know.”\n\n“Why does this happen?” Polaris asked, “Why do people who don’t deserve to be hurt, get hurt? That’s what you’re asking yourself. That’s why you’re so angry. That’s why I gave up on my people and that’s why you’re giving up on yourself. Sit the hell up you little prat.”\n\n“What?!” Kenny bolted up onto his knees, glaring at Polaris. “Fuck you!”\n\n“How’d you feel when your mother died?” Polaris dug in. Kenny sprung to his feet and stepped forward, punching Polaris across his face as hard as he could. The inked lemming’s head jerked aside, turned to barely roll with the blow. Kenny reared back to punch him again but stopped. Polaris just turned his head back straight, looking up at Kenny with a deep sadness behind his eyes.\n\n“Yeah, that’s about what I thought,” He said, “It hurts. A life lost hurts so, so much. Trust me, I know.”\n\nPolaris stood, his armor clinking and clanking with his movements, chain mail beneath the leather pieces made of rings shaking with his movements. He stepped over to the edge of the roof, looking down over the streets of Anchorsway, a cloak upon his back fluttering in the wind. Kenny squinted at him. The boy stepped forward to follow him, moving to the edge to stand beside him. He looked down to see where his mother fell, the red stain on the sidewalk he turned her into so many years ago. His gaze wandered over the streets, which to his surprise were littered with graves. Countless stone slabs cluttered the streets, from building to building, road to road. They trailed off into the distance where their gray slate seemed to cluster and make a mass, appearing almost as concrete to coat the landscape in the distance.\n\n“None of them deserved it either.” Polaris frowned.\n\n“Wh…” Kenny stared, unblinking, “Why?”\n\n“Because at the time, I thought nothing of it.” Polaris explained, “At the time I believed I had no other course. You’ll find that taking a life only really has a few reasons for doing so. Many of them are mistakes.”\n\nKenny stared intensely at Polaris. “[i]You[/i] killed all these people?”\n\nPolaris huffed. “Yes,” He said, “And this is just one side of the building.”\n\nKenny raised his hands in disbelief, trying to box the vision of the city of graves in to see less of it. “Why?!” He shouted.\n\nPolaris smirked, though it wasn’t without its pain. He chuckled a little, and shook his head. “I was going to be a great hero, you see,” He said, “There were going to be parades in my honor, celebrations, dancing, sex. So much sex. As soon as we found the perfect hosts, as soon as the fighting was over. I believed this with every molecule of my being. I heard the whispers in my ear day in and day out. Osoth promised. She told me everything I wanted to hear.”\n\nKenny stepped back. “You killed people because of her?”\n\n“They were against our freedom, or so I was led to believe.” Polaris swept his hand over the landscape, gesturing to the thousands, tens of thousands of unmarked graves. He didn’t know the name of any one of them. “I only learned later that not a damn one of them wanted to take my freedom, my right to live away. They were merely defending theirs with everything they had. I ripped it away! A killing machine.”\n\nKenny thought back, rubbing his eyes. “That’s what you said with that Vor guy, right?”\n\n“Can’t escape what we are, yes.” Polaris nodded, turning to face Kenny. “I want to know something, and I want a very honest answer out of you. Don’t think about it. Don’t give it even a split second of thought. No hesitation.”\n\nKenny looked Polaris up and down curiously. “What?” He asked.\n\nPolaris canted his head toward the streets. “What do you think?”\n\nKenny furrowed his brows. “What do you mean what do I think?”\n\n“Don’t think about it, just answer the question,” Polaris repeated, “What do you think?”\n\n“This is…!” Kenny eyed the streets again, then Polaris once more.\n\n“Come on!” Polaris said, “Out with it!”\n\n“You ruined people’s lives!!”\n\nKenny paused, stepping back. Polaris had said the words at the exact same time as he did. “The fuck?” He asked, “What the heck was that?”\n\nPolaris stepped up, and prodded a finger into Kenny’s chest. “That,” He said, “Right there. That’s you. That’s us.”\n\nKenny shook his head. he didn’t understand. “What the heck are you talking about?”\n\nPolaris gestured out into the streets with both hands, not taking his eyes off Kenny. “What did you think I ruined [i]their[/i] lives?! Of course I did! But they’re dead!” He shouted, “You didn’t mean them! You never mean them! They can’t be ruined, they’re dead! And I killed them!”\n\nPolaris shoved Kenny’s chest with his finger, prodding him harshly. “It’s the people left behind!” He shouted, “It’s their pain and their broken hearts that hurt, isn’t it Kenny?! How does it feel, Kenny?! The dead, they don’t have to suffer anymore but the people who live? The people who get to wake up with that person gone, forever, how do they feel, hm?! You know exactly how it feels!”\n\n“Grh!” Kenny bared his teeth.\n\n“That’s why you’re so goddamn pissed off!” Polaris yelled. He stepped forward then and grabbed the sides of Kenny’s head to lock him into direct eye contact, staring him down. “Well, no more.”\n\nKenny grabbed Polaris’ head back, knocking his helmet off his head.\n\n“Kenny, we are about to wake up into a world where human beings are suffering, because someone they knew or loved is going to be dead. Not just dead, killed. Murdered. Taken away.” Polaris said, calmer in tone, “Those worlds? Out there? There’s no one around to feel the pain anymore. The only person left to know their pain is me. I get to carry that forever. You know how this feels, and it doesn’t feel great, does it?”\n\nKenny winced. “No!”\n\n“There are human beings out there who are going to hurt,” Polaris said, “Just like we do. They don’t deserve it. Maybe we do. Maybe we get to remember either to serve as our punishment or to serve as something more. But they don’t deserve that.”\n\nKenny eased up, shifting his hands from Polaris’ head to his shoulders instead, grabbing hold. “No,” he said, “They don’t. I never… I never wanted [i]anyone[/i] to hurt like that. [i]Nobody[/i] deserves that.”\n\nPolaris gently slapped Kenny’s cheek a couple of times. “Then enough of the punishment. This doesn’t have to be a ball and chain. We are going to take that ball and chain and smack the hell out of that prana bitch with it. Okay?”\n\nKenny barely had to think about it. He nodded his head, eagerly. “She deserves it.”\n\nPolaris released the boy and moved back to his sword, yanking it out of the metal roof. He walked back to Kenny and thrust the sword out, gripping it lengthwise and presenting it to Kenny. “To mine enemies, the sword. That’s part of what a knight does. The other?”\n\nKenny took the sword, holding it in one hand, studying the well-worn, bloodstained blade, with all its nicks and dents. He shifted it in his hand, feelings its weight. Then, he looked to his other, empty hand. “Sword and… shield?”\n\n“To mine brothers, the shield.” Polaris nodded. “The original protect and serve. Under Osoth’s command, I never protected anyone. It was all taking, razing, pillaging. I was no knight, I was a criminal.”\n\nPolaris raised his shield. Where it had come from, Kenny had no idea. It was a glorious steel plate, carved intricately and delicately with the blazing emblem of a pink skull lacking a bottom jaw practically shining off its surface. Polaris grinned, thrusting the shield out to bump Kenny with it, causing the boy to stumble. “I’ve been up here for a while,” Polaris said, “And amidst all the fantasies of giant-breasted butterflies and the unyielding grumpy rage, I find the only thinking you do of yourself is to beat yourself up. Personally, I think we’ve both had well enough time with that nonsense.”\n\nKenny checked his footing on the roof, then stepped forward to shove Polaris back. “Yeah well maybe… shut up.”\n\n“So eloquent, Master Baxter,” Polaris teased, “Yes, I quite think Madam Iverson will be quite smitten with your [b]shit attitude[/b].”\n\n“I think I’ve got bigger problems than that right now if I’m talking to an alien in my head.” Kenny said. He pushed forward and yanked the shield off Polaris’ arm. “Give me that,” He grumbled, getting a grip on it and stepping away from the edge of the building. He walked back to the service entrance and for the first time ever, he opened the door to the stairway below. “Maybe if I get to be a big hero, then I can care,” he said, marching down the stairs, “Until then, fuck it. I got other girls to literally slay.”\n\n-\n--\n-\n\nKenny woke up seated uncomfortably on a crystal bench nestled into an alcove. He was propped up against the faux-cave wall and felt weak when he lifted his head off it to sit up straight. Next to him sat his father, Gerald, who noticed him wake up and nudged him for his attention. Gerald handed him some food – a few cookies, and a carton of juice. Kenny accepted them without a word, a little confused but not about to decline an offer of free food.\n\n“You have to keep your strength up if you’re going to bleed all over the place like that,” Gerald gruffly said, almost mumbling, “Gonna give me a heart attack. You have to be more careful.”\n\nKenny stared at the cookie – some oatmeal and nut concoction. Macadamia maybe? He took a bite out of it and chewed it up, nodding his head. “Yeah. But if I didn’t do anything, it would have been worse.”\n\nGerald spread his fingers over his mustache and down around his lips to tug on the bottom one. “I already lost my wife, I’m not losing my son too,” He said, “That Inkling of yours better take better care of you, or I swear I’ll pull it out of you myself.”\n\n“Well, I wouldn’t worry about that,” Kenny said before switching gears, “Where’s Quincey at?”\n\n“I don’t know.” Gerald shrugged, “Right now Eddie and the other Arbitrators are trying to decide what to do. I figure she can’t be too far.”\n\nKenny rose from the bench, knocking his sword over with his foot. He didn’t realize it had been set down there resting against the base of the bench. He knelt to pick it up, but Gerald stopped him and said, “I was wondering if you’d let me have a look at that for a while.”\n\n“Why?” Kenny asked.\n\nGerald raised his hand in a firm and dismissive motion of not wanting to continue the line of questioning. “Just, let me hold onto that for you for now.”\n\nKenny stood back up. “Alright, well… I have to go find the others. Thanks, Dad.”\n\n“Yeah,” Gerald said, “Go on.”\n\nThe voices of Harbington’s citizens echoing throughout the underground snow-themed tram station grew readily apparent after a few steps. The alcoves themselves had a sort of noise-dampening field around them, which had blocked out the crowded garbage sound of hundreds of voices all mixing together. Just rounding a corner, Kenny saw everyone he ever knew and everyone he didn’t all packed together almost shoulder to shoulder in the underground, trying to vie for space. People were so close together, so distressed, that they were pitting themselves against each other. They pushed and shoved and yelled at one another. The police among them failed to keep any semblance of peace among the crowd, but were at least able to place themselves physically between people before fights broke out. Adults almost ran over children trying to get places, any courtesy or consideration for each other thrown entirely out the window in the interest in self-preservation.\n\nThe dome had never been so divided in Kenny’s entire life. Even when people disagreed on things, they could usually sort it out amicably, or even hold a big Town meet to settle differences if they were important enough. People talked in the Harbington he knew, but it didn’t look anything like that now. People were withdrawing into themselves. He could see it everywhere he looked. He was rather intimately familiar with the feeling. People didn’t know who was or wasn’t inked, or maybe they just didn’t care anymore. No matter who it was, they were keeping one another at arm’s length. Some of them had been hurt so much that day that they didn’t trust anyone not to make it worse.\n\nKenny stepped carefully into the mess.\n\n“Back off!” A rather squishy-looking slug woman tried to look threatening in the face of a taller wolf man.\n\n“Outta my way, lady!” The man yelled back at her. The two of them had no room to maneuver around one another, the crowds around them pushing them together to their increasing frustration. When Kenny approached them, that changed immediately. They stopped arguing to look at him, and then they both just moved aside. Not just them, everyone moved aside. They found space, squishing one another to part and give the lemming boy a clear path and a noticeably wide berth. He was granted his own little bubble. People closed in again a few feet behind him, but nobody would dare get close.\n\nThat’s right, everyone had seen him fight Epheral, hadn’t they? They saw him and Polaris struggle and fail, therefore outing him as having an Elite Inkling, complete with magical superpowers. Even without his sword, it seemed Kenny was frightening enough to command a level of caution. It felt more alien still with how small he was compared to many other citizens. There were people head and shoulders taller than him that backed off when he got close like they were afraid he’d just break them in half. Kenny huffed and then slurped noisily through the straw of his juice box. He tried to just ignore it as he carried on, trying to find Eddie or someone and just get together with Quincey again. Being with someone in a comparable situation would have helped make him feel a little better.\n\nFLOOSH.\n\nQuincey stepped out of a nearby bathroom, the flushing of the toilet announcing her presence to the world. She breathed in, then sighed it out as she slumped in a minor relief that, for a moment, made her feel just a little better about the situation she was in. When she opened her eyes, she saw Kenny standing there, and she perked up. “Oh!” She said, “You’re awake!” She hurried over to him, the people giving her a similarly large area to walk in, despite their initial crowding.\n\n“Are you okay?” She asked, her eyes falling to his left hand that held his cookies. Kenny raised it, staring at the white, slightly stained bandages that were wrapped around it, housing the injury via impalement he had suffered at Epheral’s hand.\n\n“It only huts a little I guess,” Kenny confessed, “What about you?”\n\nQuincey pulled on her turtleneck top to ease the constricting feeling around her throat, just so she could gulp. “I’m okay…” She said, a little shaky, “A-A little sore, but… I-I’m fine.”\n\nOnly the sounds of a few gasps lost in the crowds warned Kenny before he was hit with a beverage cup that opened on impact and splashed juice all over his shoulder and the side of his head. Quincey squealed in surprise, and Kenny suffered a bit of whiplash as he dropped his own food to the floor and snapped back to root out the culprit of such a sudden and abrupt attack against his person. “What the fuck?!” He yelled, only to be answered by a screaming, crying child running full tilt right at him.\n\nThe toad-girl’s features were scrunched up into a blubbering, wailing, angry mess of an expression as she ran into Kenny, nearly bowling him over. She balled up her little fists and started slamming them against his chest, pounding on him relentlessly, surprising him and knocking a little wind out of him. She bawled, screaming out hate and anger as she beat on him. Quincey tried to get her to stop, but the girl was a wild fireball in small blue shorts and a pink shirt with a daisy on the front. She was so frantic and erratic, she couldn’t be contained.\n\n“RRRAAAAHHH!!” She screamed at the top of her lungs until they got choked out by her sobbing. Kenny was too surprised to really react, but her buffet of fists to his chest were weak despite all the fury she packed behind them. She beat on his chest to trivial effect other than expressing her anger.\n\n“Hey! HEY!” Daxton emerged from the crowd, still in his torn-up clothes, so tattered by Epheral’s previous beating on him that his sticker was visible from a hole near the center of his pants. He rushed in to try and break the fight up.\n\n“YOU KILLED MY MOMMY!” The girl screamed, “IT’S YOUR FAULT! YOURS! I HATE YOU!”\n\nEven Daxton took pause at that. Everyone did.\n\n“I HATE YOU, YOU’RE STUPID! AAAAAGH!” She struck him over and over until her arms got tired. Then she just grabbed his shirt and shook him, her head hung as she cried. “I – hic – I want my mommy!!”\n\nQuincey snorted, tears running down her face as well as she covered her mouth and nose with her hands. “Oh no…”\n\n“Hey, stop.” Daxton finally stepped in, trying to wrest the girl away from Kenny. “Knock it off, it’s not his fault!”\n\n“Daxton, stop.” Kenny said, surprisingly calm. “Just let her go.”\n\nDaxton stepped back. Kenny let the girl shake him around, hit him, and scream at him for several seconds, not doing a thing in retaliation. Eventually, she just fell onto the floor like her knees gave out and she laid there. She tried stopping her tears but she couldn’t. She’d screamed until her throat felt hoarse. All she had the energy left to do was lay there and whine in her sadness. Kenny made no effort to help her, or talk to her, or anything that might have absolved him of her blame. He just watched her until someone came and collected her. It didn’t seem like a parent. Maybe it was her teacher.\n\n“Her mom died,” Kenny said, “Fault doesn’t even mean anything anymore.”\n\nDaxton awkwardly stepped forward again. “Kenny, look, it’s gonna be…”\n\n“Don’t be a moron, Daxton, it’s [b]not[/b] going to be fine.” Kenny cut in, looking Daxton right in face. The small flare of anger washed away into something more somber as he added, “Not for her, anyway. Not ever. Being killed is different than dying.”\n\nFrustrated, Daxton shook his head. “I’m just saying Epheral did it!” He gestured at Kenny, “Not you!”\n\n“No, she’s right, we did it.” Kenny said, jabbing a finger into Daxton’s chest, “If you hadn’t gone to the school we might have been able to stop it!”\n\nDaxton reeled back. “What? Are you blaming this on [b]me[/b]? Seriously?! Someone had to go!”\n\nKenny sighed. “I know,” He said, “But because we didn’t have enough people to fight, other people died. That’s just the reality of it. We screwed up, Daxton! Maybe those people could have lasted a bit longer, or maybe Natalie shouldn’t have gone back to Locksmouth or… anything else. It was a [b]wrong [/b]decision. [i]We[/i] underestimated Epheral.”\n\n“We have to take responsibility for this one.” Kenny crossed his arms.\n\n“That’s bullshit,” Daxton argued, “We did everything we could!”\n\n“Oh yeah? Did we?” Kenny stepped up to Daxton, “Mister Never-Give-Up is trying to make excuses now? You can blame whatever you want, it doesn’t change what happened! You fucked up! You failed. We all did! That’s the end of it.”\n\n“What?! No!” Daxton bared his teeth and balled his fists, “You’re starting to get on my nerves, what’s wrong with you? You’re always ‘we have to take responsibility’ and shit, for things that aren’t even in your control!”\n\n“She used my powers to fucking kill people!” Kenny shouted, “We should have been here! We should have stopped it!”\n\n“W-What powers?” Quincey asked, “What…?”\n\n“We can’t be everywhere at once!” Daxton growled, “What do you think I am… her?” He thrust a finger out at Quincey. “And I guess you’re gonna blame her for being asleep this whole time, huh?”\n\n“Wait,” Quincey said, “Stop.”\n\nKenny knit his eyebrows into an angry glare. “If anything her being asleep should have made us re-evaluate! I’m not saying it’s not my fault too!”\n\n“And I’m not saying that’s not what you’re saying!” Daxton almost shook in anger, his knuckles whitened under his fur.\n\nQuincey ran into them, knocking them both out of the way. She duplicated, one Quincey for either boy, and she shoved them back away from one another and got into their faces to shout a loud, collective “STOP” at them both. Surprised, the boys’ anger withered away, and they were stunned. The pigs were identical down to their jeans and boots, and seeing Quincey separate into a yellow and blue gelatinous blob that then solidified into an apparent flesh-and-blood replica pig startled everyone who had gathered around for the spectacle.\n\n“This is [i]terrible[/i]!” Quincey sniffled, “Why do you two have to make it worse by fighting? Stop it right now!”\n\nThe crowds were reacting every bit to the collection of superheroes having a heated argument as they should have. Their anger had subsided and turned into actual, real fear for their safety. Just by getting into a fight, Daxton and Kenny had managed to break down the division of Harbington’s people and turned it into a collective concern for their well-being as they huddled together for protection.\n\n“Yeah, you’re right.” Kenny surrendered.\n\n“Fine.” Daxton took Quincey’s hands off his chest and held them tenderly. “Alright.”\n\nThe two pig girls sighed in relief. “Good,” They said together; then the one holding Kenny back popped like a cartoon balloon into a spray of blue and yellow ink that just vanished into the air.\n\nDING-DONG\n\nThe PA system in the underground chimed. “Attention Harbington,” a man’s voice spoke over the intercom, “We are currently in the process of bringing more trains to the central mall station for boarding. When they arrive, all citizens are instructed to board and await departure to Locksmouth Dome City. More trains will arrive to the station and all citizens will board for departure to Locksmouth Dome City. You are advised to prepare and wait calmly for this time.”\n\nPeople stared at the ceiling, as it wasn’t obvious just where that voice was coming from. “Huh? We’re going to Locksmouth?” Murmurs began through the crowds as the news settled in with everyone. Confused, none made any attempt to begin their preparations right away, but they did begin talking among themselves about the development. During the confusion, Natalie and Samantha emerged from the sea of people to approach Daxton, Quincey, and Kenny. They looked more serious than ever for a moment, but Natalie attempted to dispel her own dour mood by carelessly shrugging her shoulders. It became readily obvious that she was the one who came up with this plan.\n\n“We’re going to Locksmouth?” Quincey asked.\n\n“Again.” Daxton added.\n\nNatalie nodded, putting her hands on her hips as confidently as possible. “Yep!” She said, “Until this whole Epheral thing is sorted out, Harbington’s going to have to stay in Locksmouth. Cedric is just going to have to make room in that crummy neighbourhood of his for a little while.”\n\n“This is to protect you all, of course,” Samantha added, “We thought the best way to ensure this kind of thing doesn’t happen again would be to pool our resources. If we all fight against Epheral together when the time comes, we’ll stand a much better chance of not repeating this horrible incident.”\n\n“It was the same when Osoth was in town,” Natalie said, “Even Cedric helped out with that. Things always get better when superhero teams team up together! And now that every single one of you guys has an Inkling, we stand an even better chance than before.”\n\n“Every one of us?” Quincey blinked, “Wait, did… Laila fly here?”\n\nDaxton looked quizzically at his girlfriend. “Oh, you didn’t know? Yeah, uh… while you were out, Kenny got Polaris’ powers and Laila got some new wind Inkling named Sylph. I got Harley’s Inkling, Lumina, too.”\n\n“…” Quincey blinked her eyes a few times. “Whaaaat?! But Polaris is…!”\n\n“Yeah, we know.” Natalie grinned sheepishly.\n\nQuincey looked all around for Laila, who she couldn’t find. “And who is Sylph? I don’t understand!”\n\n“I think we found her at the CCC,” Kenny rubbed the back of his head, “I guess she bonded with Laila somehow.”\n\n“S-Somehow?! W-What do you people do when I have naps?!” Quincey flustered.\n\nSamantha curled some of her hair around her finger. “Well, to be fair, darling, your nap did last an entire day from what I heard.”\n\n“It did?!” Quincey squealed. She sighed and leaned into Daxton, hugging him close. “I think I need to sit down.”\n\nNatalie laughed. “Haha! W… Wow. Yeah, alright, maybe there’s some things we need to go over just to be safe,” She said, “But you guys should probably get ready. You and Sam are going to be looking after the trains.”\n\nKenny raised his eyebrows. “We are?”\n\n“We are?!” Samantha’s eyes bugged and she shot Natalie a look. “We did not go over this!”\n\n“Harbington Team, go?” Natalie raised her fist meekly. “I mean, we have to make sure everyone lives long enough to get to Locksmouth. This is super important. It just kind of came to me right now.”\n\n“And [i]you’re[/i] our [i]leader[/i]!” Samantha exasperated, almost able to feel the ends of her hair splitting with her frustration. She raised her hands in surrender however and sighed. “I mean, I see your point and it’s a very good one, but… I wish you’d have just a little more forethought than this, Natalie.”\n\nNatalie gave Samantha a cheesy grin. “Heheh.”\n\n“Wait, what are you going to do?” Quincey asked.\n\nNatalie looked confused, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Me? I have to go back to Locksmouth, obviously. Someone’s gotta get things ready for when you get here and if I really am going to use Cedric’s space, I’m going to have to fight him for it. I’m going to have to bring Jacent and Carrie…”\n\n“Oh my god you didn’t think any of this through.” Daxton blanked.\n\n“Oh look,” Kenny huffed, “Another thing you two have in common.”\n\nDaxton shot the boy a look. “Tch, shut up.”\n\nNatalie threw up her hands in another shrug, turning on the heels of her boots. She instructed them one last time before she made her way probably towards the nearest mirror. “Okay then! Sam, make sure they don’t get into trouble.”\n\n“Natalie, wait a moment!” Samantha pleaded, but Natalie just waved her off. Samantha sighed in defeat. “She could have at least let me get my comb.”\n\n-\n--\n-\n\nDaxton pulled his shirt out and looked down at it. The blue top had big, bold letters on it that drew attention to his chest. That wouldn’t have been so bad if the letters didn’t spell “I’M WITH STUPID” and the accompanying arrow wasn’t pointed right up at his face. He had also changed into a brown pair of shorts, a baggy sort with some loose buckles hanging off the sides. It would have been a little too wide around for him, but his butt filled the back and his muscular thighs filled the legs just well enough to keep them from sliding too far down. Of course, that did show off a bit of the cleft under his lack of a tail. He looked up at his parents then and said, “You guys are real funny.”\n\nEdward hugged Eddie around his middle. “If you’re going to throw yourself into danger constantly, then you’re going to do it with my harsh criticism,” Edward said, “Besides, you’re not that upset.”\n\n“I’ll own this shirt! I don’t care!” Daxton boasted.\n\nEddie laughed and rubbed Edward’s arm, holding the beaver close. “It’s just a little reminder about how worried your parents are for you.”\n\nDaxton was ready to tell them not to worry, but he stopped himself short of that and just accepted it. With everything that had gone on, he had to be more mindful of other people’s concerns.\n\n“So, you know the plan?” Eddie asked.\n\n“Yeah, the injured go into the first train with the doctors so that they get there first,” Daxton said, “And each train will have one of us on it to protect them in case Epheral comes running.”\n\n“The police too, don’t forget,” Eddie reminded his son, “And some of the left-over Eos people.”\n\n“What? Them?” Daxton gasped, “Why?”\n\n“They volunteered,” Eddie shrugged, “Even that big one. We were all set to say no, but Mrs. Procsman was incredibly… vocal about letting them help if they wanted to. Poor woman lost her son when that… thing… attacked us, she basically wouldn’t take no for an answer. She might be old and have the shakes, but I think if it came down to it she would have thrown me and every other Arbitrator onto the floor to get her way.”\n\nDaxton grit his teeth over the idea of Garrison helping. “Call me crazy, but I don’t think I’m comfortable working with the asshole who threatened to kill me just to get his way. Isn’t he too injured to do anything?”\n\n“Maybe, but if he decides to get up and do anything, don’t expect me to try and stop him.” Eddie held up a hand and shook his head, “An ex-Tackle Tosser isn’t much against an ex-super soldier. Besides, he can’t do anything. Things have gone too far for that, fighting you and your friends is pointless. None of the other Eos soldiers even want to consider it. You’ve effectively beat them into submission.”\n\n“Well, good!” Daxton relished in the accomplishment, “I guess even those idiots are smart enough – just barely – to know that Epheral’s the bigger problem.”\n\n“Well, I mean, look around.” Eddie said. He looked around the clothing store where several parts of it had been eaten away by the white blankness Epheral left behind from the charcoal prana shards that were stuck into the ground. It spread at a mercifully slow pace, allowing people to navigate around the empty patches in such a way as to avoid any immediate danger. Many weren’t brave enough. Eddie and Edward were only above-ground at Daxton’s insistence that nothing bad would happen to them, and even then, it took them a long time to be convinced. Now that they were up there, the image was simply surreal. It was an eerie calm among the emptiness and the debris scattered around the clothing store.\n\n“If this isn’t the bigger problem, I don’t know what is.” Edward frowned, “Even when Quincey gave us the ink scare, it wasn’t anything like this. We were really stupid to think Duplex was so dangerous. Clearly we didn’t know what we were dealing with.”\n\n“Duplex is fine anyway,” Daxton said, “It’s… practically just like Quincey now.”\n\n“And what about yours?” Edward asked, “That… Lumina? How are they?”\n\nDaxton paused. “She’s… fine,” He said, “We’re still kind of getting used to things. I used a lot of her power back at the school, I really need a nap before we get on those trains. We’re really going to be packed into those things like sardines, huh?”\n\n“Yeah, well, what choice to we have?” Eddie shrugged, “The skiffs will keep us up, the weight limit isn’t so low that it can’t be handled. Locksmouth is only, what, twenty minutes away? It’s not a lot of time for things to go wrong.”\n\n“Yeah, well, just in case…” Daxton put his hands on his hips and eyed some of the ethereal patches Epheral had left behind. “Epheral’s spiteful to the core. I think she’ll come at us again for sure.”\n\nEdward got flustered. “T… That doesn’t fill me with confidence, sweetie.”\n\n“No, this time… this time I’m not screwing around.” Daxton scowled, “If she shows her face around here one more time, I’ll destroy her.”\n\n“That… is a scary look on your face.” Eddie said, “You be careful, alright? Let’s… just go back downstairs.”\n\nDaxton and his parents left the store to return to the underground, where things had gotten much more organized over the span of a few hours, into the evening. Some of the trains had arrived from the other stations already, and there were only a couple more to get into position and loaded up before they could start leaving. All the tracks were set for the inter-dome between Harbington and Locksmouth, and from what people had been saying it seemed Locksmouth was expecting them. Natalie was no doubt doing work back home, so they at least didn’t have to worry about their destination. Still, Daxton couldn’t shake that the journey would be bothersome. Epheral’s construct goons had already tried attacking a couple more times. Him, Laila and Kenny smashed them all up.\n\nThey were getting tired though. Daxton yawned and was reminded that he desperately needed somewhere to sleep.\n\n“Daxton!”\n\nHe’d only just gotten to the bottom of the stairs before Harley came running, which was hard for her small, but generously overdeveloped frame. She had a big fat smile on her young face though, one that spread her beauty mark out to the far end of her cheek. She ran and jumped at Daxton, grabbing onto him with arms and legs and hugging him tight against her body. “Thank yoooou!”\n\nShe was followed by Sophie and Vernon, from the school. Looking at Sophie’s long black hair and Vernon’s slate gray fur, it became pretty apparent that the shrew and opossum pair were her parents. “You saved momma and papa!” The girl squeaked, “Thank you so much! And thank you, too, Lumi!”\n\n“Lumi?” Daxton held the girl up, cupping under her rear to do so, “You gave her a nickname? Are you sure you don’t want her back?”\n\n“Oh no, I’m sure,” She said, “A-Absolutely sure, I could [i]never[/i] fight like you. But shhh, my parents don’t know.” She whispered the last part, looking at Daxton with pleading eyes.\n\n“I won’t tell a soul.” Daxton grinned, looking past her at her parents.\n\n“You’ve got a fan,” Vernon said, still dawned in his old gray jumpsuit for his janitorial duties. Like Laila though, he’d undone the top and ties the sleeves around his waist. Was it just normal for people in suits to do that? “You best be a good role model.”\n\n“Your daughter is doomed.” Edward sassed.\n\n“Whoa, dad, please.” Daxton laughed.\n\n“But Daxton’s a real super hero!” Harley smiled so bright, “He saved me, then he saved my parents! You’re my hero forever!”\n\n“Hm… I try.” Daxton nodded, trying to avoid the reality that he couldn’t, in fact, save everyone similarly. Harley was so happy, but that girl from before was so, so sad… it didn’t level out the way he wished it would. “I have to try harder though.”\n\nHarley, young though she was, nodded in complete understanding. “I know, but you never ever quit, so I know you’ll try your best.”\n\nHarley then kissed him on the cheek, very fast and very suddenly before she got down and giggled, shuffling off a blushing and nervous wreck. Vernon and Sophie were speechless, though they tried to stutter some response to stop their daughter from running off. They hurriedly thanked Daxton again and ran off after their daughter, leaving Daxton a bit flush, but grinning ear to ear himself. Harley’s happiness, while she was usually so meek, was infectious… and slightly enlightening. Not everything was bad, even if most things were.\n\n“Well? How about that?” Daxton turned to his parents and crossed his arms in haughty pride, “Real hero business right there. You can’t argue with that. Complete with kiss from girl.”\n\n“I never said you don’t so amazing things, sweetie,” Edward said, “I just said your decision to do amazing things is stupid and dangerous. I stand by my statements.”\n\n“Maybe you should go have that nap before you’re swarmed by more of your adoring fans,” Eddie suggested, “Try an alcove.”\n\n“Right. Alright. Thanks dad.” Daxton turned to head that way, pushing past people who either seemed to revere or detest him, or just laugh at his shirt.\n\nHe made his way to one of the alcoves where, when he turned around the corner toward them, the sound just seemed to die away from outside the bubble. Sitting there was Kenny. He’d gone off on his own, cleaned up his shirt, though his pants still had some rips and slices in them where Epheral had cut him. He didn’t look too worse for wear. Daxton approached him. “Hey,” He said, “You get the feeling Epheral’s going to attack the trains too?”\n\n“If she didn’t, I’d be surprised and almost disappointed in how far she’ll go to flip the bitch on us.” Kenny said, hugging one knee to his chest. “Hey, I’m sorry for yelling at you.”\n\n“Great, you’re sorry for a single time. Only about a thousand more to go.” Daxton rather scornfully responded. While he may have been a little justified in doing so, he dialed it back a bit. “Yeah, well, you’re not wrong. This whole super power thing kinda started out fun, but… it’s not really that fun anymore.”\n\n“You’re [i]such[/i] an idiot…” Kenny groaned.\n\n“Man, I shoot lasers from my hands,” Daxton said, “If I can set aside for like five seconds that half of Harbington is being absorbed into an infinite void, that is pretty awesome. I didn’t even know I wanted to shoot lasers this bad. Look, I can sparkle too.”\n\nDaxton snapped his fingers, and glittering lights formed around him to indeed sparkle for a few moments before disappearing. “Sparkles!” He repeated.\n\n“… I have a sword,” Kenny said, “And with Polaris’ help it’s like, I have this guy who’s fought a hundred wars moving me around. He knows how to use it. I’ve never been more badass in my entire life. It’s… pretty cool, I guess. It just sucks when it doesn’t work out.”\n\n“Does Polaris kinda drive that whole thing?” Daxton asked, “I’ve never noticed that with Lumina.”\n\n“Yeah well if you haven’t noticed? You’re kind of always in the driver seat for everything you do and everyone else is forced to just follow your lead.” Kenny gave Daxton a sidelong look and grinned, “It’s so bad that even a symbiote can’t keep up.”\n\n“I… huh.” Daxton lowered his gaze thoughtfully. “I’m learning a lot about myself today.”\n\n“Yeah, that’s what happens in situations like these.” Kenny sat back and crossed his legs. “What about Quincey, huh? Isn’t she something?”\n\n“She’s… the leader of our pack,” Daxton said in almost a revelation, “She’s just so… take-charge sometimes and it’s really weird and different. She’s gotten into real actual fights!”\n\n“Don’t like it?” Kenny asked.\n\n“Hell no, I wish she’d do that when we OC!” Daxton laughed, “It’d be way different!” Kenny just rolled his eyes at the notion.\n\n“You can’t take anything seriously, can you?” Kenny asked.\n\nDaxton looked at Kenny and grinned. He kicked up his feet and threw his body down to plant his head onto Kenny’s lap, face-down at first then turning to lay on his side and get comfortable. Kenny squeaked in alarm and got all flustered. “Kenny, you don’t want to see me get serious about this,” Daxton sighed, getting comfortable, “I don’t wanna scare you.”\n\n“Oh please.” Kenny grumbled.\n\n“Seriously.” Daxton wiped the smile off his face. “You don’t just come into my town and kill people. I’m going to tear Epheral apart. Piece by piece. Then when we get at her core, I’m gonna tear that apart piece by piece.”\n\n“Huh.” Kenny pushed his hand under Daxton’s hat and pulled it off his head. In the same motion, he ran his fingers through Daxton’s blonde hair. “You’re gonna have to beat me to it.”\n\n“I don’t mind handicapping myself to bare hands while you’re using a sword,” Daxton yawned, “I gotta give you a chance, after all.”\n\n“… I think protecting people is going to be more important though.” Kenny somberly said, “You gonna help me with that?”\n\nDaxton nodded, rubbing his cheek against Kenny’s lap. “Any finger she lays on anyone, I’ll shatter. Now shut up and be my pillow for a while.”\n\n“Yeah, whatever.” Kenny blushed, raising his hands to hold them behind his head and lean back.\n\nDaxton laid there for a while, relaxing, his breathing slowing down. A few moments of silence and he broke it by saying, “You’re different.”\n\n“And you’re the same as ever.” Kenny blushed, “Always liked that about you. Never change, stupid.”\n\n“You got it, bitch.” Daxton chuckled.\n\n-\n--\n-\n\n“Laila darling, I just don’t know,” Gunther stroked his goatee with one hand and dotingly pet Valyrie’s head with the other. His little girl rested in his lap while his not-so-little girl had been trying to convince him that the whole Sylph thing was a good thing. She was finally able to stop sitting around on the sidelines and do something, but naturally her parents had reservations like all the others. “I got half a mind to ground you for the rest of your life. Super powers? Everything I’ve seen from these super powers spells trouble. You can’t be a superhero and a farmer at the same time, you have to pick just one!”\n\n“While I would happily disagree with your father on a good many things, honey, I can’t disagree with him on this.” Eden, Laila’s mother, sat next to Laila’s father and joined in on talking her out of her madness. While her husband still wore his work suit like Laila did, Eden wore a rather quaint dress. Proper southern fashion, a lavish purple with a band around her middle, the skirt only reaching above her knees. It offset her golden waterfall of cascading honey-blonde hair. “This is just dangerous! We don’t want you to get hurt like your sister.”\n\n“And I don’t want YOU to get hurt like my sister!” Laila argued, “Y’see, if I got these powers I can protect ya’ll a whole heck of a lot easier than if I don’t. That ain’t just hot air, that’s common sense!”\n\n“Well I’m putting my foot down,” Gunther lifted his chin, “No adventuring escapades for any daughter of mine.”\n\nLaila narrowed her eyes at him. She put her hands on her hips and leaned over him. “Oh yeah? Stop me.”\n\nGunter and Eden paused, looked at each other, then back to Laila again. “Laila honey, be reasonable,” Eden said, “Now isn’t the time to rebel against your parents, this is serious!”\n\n“I’m dead serious!” Laila insisted, “And I ain’t no stranger to doin’ things ya’ll don’t want me to do none, so what?”\n\n“That was a phase, you know better!” Gunther rose his voice a little.\n\n“Nuh uh!” Laila said, “Look at Val. Look at her foot. It’s purpler than an eggplant in the fall! Look at that n’ tell me I ain’t supposed to do everythin’ I can to make sure that don’t happen twice!”\n\nGunther did not look, nor appreciate being told what to do by his own daughter. He got defensive. “Laila, I am your father and you will listen to me.”\n\n“I’m takin’ your farm when you kick it,” Laila hit him back with the cold, hard truth, “Ya’ll are always gonna be my father and I love you like nothin’ else. That’s why I ain’t listenin’ to another word of all this and I’m gonna take my boot and stick it up Epheral’s butt! I don’t wanna have to run that farm [b]tomorrow[/b]! So, stop tryin’ to stop me already and just let me do what I wanna do!”\n\nEden placed her hand daintily on her husband’s shoulder. “Gunther… let her go.”\n\n“I’ve never been able to get you to do what I want before, why start now?” Gunther grumbled, turning his attention to Valyrie instead. “Git.”\n\n“Hmph!” Laila turned on her heels and strode away angrily. Once she was far enough away from her parents, she exhaled the breath she’d been holding and started to get uncomfortable. She looked out over the sea of people bustling about to get ready, unable to keep from shifting her weight from one leg to the other, rolling her hips back and forth. She was getting mad, and worried, and it was making an emotion soup inside her that came out the same way it always did – flush heat. It was a discomfort she always felt in the very pit of her body, and she had the sudden need to work it all out. She scanned around until she saw Quincey. She was with some younger kids who seemed to be crowding around her. Laila wasted no time clearing a path to her.\n\nShe stepped right over one such child and then leaned down behind Quincey to take the portly girl into her arms. “Quincey darlin’, can I borrow ya’ll for just a few minutes?”\n\nLaila let her tongue hang out like she was trying to be a cute puppy. The fact that it hung out from Quincey’s shoulder to her breast presented a very different image, however. “O-Oh! Laila! Um, okay!”\n\nLaila hauled Quincey off in a hurry, leading her by the hand to make a beeline for a bathroom. She slammed the door open as she stepped inside with Quincey in tow, and she pushed Quincey up against the counter with the sinks and pinned her against them with her taller body. She hugged Quincey close, then pulled her small white tank top away from her chest to stuff Quincey’s head up inside of it. Quincey’s hair and ears pushed out of the neck hole in the top, those ears red as her face blushed like a tomato. “Mrph?!” Quincey muffled a cry.\n\n“Quincey baby, tell me ya’ll got some sorta plan or idea in mind for this kerfuffle,” Laila shivered, “I just got done hollerin’ at my dad over all this and he’s right! I’m as jittery as a cat on a hot tin roof! What’s gonna happen when everybody gets their keisters to Locksmouth? Are we gonna fight Epheral or what? Does Duplex know anything at all about how this thing normally goes, or what?!”\n\nQuincey wrestled her way out from Laila’s bosom, pushing her head out of the neck of her top. “Pwah!” She gasped, blushing scarlet, glasses crooked. “I… I see you’re very nervous about all this…” She said, rather nervous herself suddenly. She pat Laila’s side though and forced a smile. “It’s alright though. Natalie seems to think we’ll be fighting, so… maybe we will.”\n\n“Guh, I ain’t keen on that,” Laila leaned into Quincey, smothering her again, “I’m getting’ ants in m’pants.”\n\n“L-Laila, please!” Quincey fussed, “Just… Just try!”\n\n“I can’t!” Laila whined, “I can’t stop worryin’, it’s drivin’ me nuts. Reckon I need a distraction.”\n\n“Laila, come on… we can’t get distracted now!” Quincey tried to reason with the giraffe, while also trying to get away from her. “It’s going to be okay, s-surely!”\n\n“It ain’t supposed to be this way!” Laila complained, “I knew from the moment ya’ll got that Duplex in ya that everything’d gone to heck, but this is beyond heck! It’s like super heck! It’s like if heck fell into a vat of super growth fertilizing formula, and got super enormous n’ twice as mean! People’re gettin’ hurt! It’s a bit too much, even for me! I just… ah!”\n\nLaila gasped, feeling Quincey’s hand push down under her tied-off work jumpsuit to slip between her legs and began ministering the only distraction Laila would respond to when she got all worked up. Laila let out a sigh and leaned over Quincey, breathing out another, more calm exhalation and closed her eyes. “Ooooh…” She moaned, “I’m sorry, porky. I just… whew…”\n\n“It’s okay to be worried,” Quincey said, all wrapped up in Laila’s body when the giraffe wrapped her arms around her head. Pinned to Laila, she had little choice but to continue to manipulate her fingers, gently gliding her fingertips along and pressing in places like a button to make Laila’s hips move involuntarily backward and up in small, bucking motions. “If it’s too much, I… I won’t ask you to do anything. You can sit it out… if you want. But I’m going to try. I promised I would.”\n\n“Quincey, I ain’t… ever… gonna let you do somethin’ like this all by yourself… I… I promised I’d be there for ya’ll n-no matter what.” Laila crooned, leaning most of her torso on the other girl so she could push her hips back at just the right angle. Her thighs squeezed around Quincey’s hand, trapping it. “A-Ahaha… I guess… it’s just too crazy. Everythin’. A-Aliens, clone pigs, wind powers… e-e-everythinnnn’.”\n\nLaila’s tongue spilled out from between her lips again when she tensed and shuddered, the very tip of the long muscle tickling Quincey’s ear. She squeaked out stifled sound, and then relaxed again. Quincey gave her a moment to recover, then curled her fingers in for a firmer rubbing. “I’m glad… I’d want you there with me,” She said, “We’ll both try our best. T-That’s all we can do.”\n\nLaila reeled her tongue back in. “That ain’t all you can do…” She cooed, teasing Quincey’s hair with her fingers, “If’n ya’ll feel so inclined, I could trouble ya for a spell to spend a little time with me. Just… to settle my fears, is all. Ease my frustrations. Ya’ll’re so good at it, y’see. Yer very… comforting. Always have been. I could just… use a little bit of that right now.”\n\nQuincey squeaked, her heart beating like a drum. “Y-You know, um… when this all started, I… was kind of wondering what good I am to all of you.” She said, nuzzling against Laila’s chest affectionately, “So it makes me really happy to hear that.”\n\n“I was worried about you, piglet.” Laila confessed in a pleasured sigh, “But ya’ll don’t seem so delicate anymore. Ain’t about to shake the leaves off ya with just a breeze.”\n\n“Thanks, Laila.” Quincey smiled.\n\n“Now, c’mon.” Laila grabbed Quincey and pulled her, leading her away from the sinks. She backed into a stall instead, and didn’t even bother to close the door behind them. “Show me what ya’ll are good for to me.”", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Natalie leapt out from the mirror in Kelvade’s apartment so quickly she tumbled out onto the floor. “Carrie, Epheral’s attacking Harbington and--!”

Natalie stopped her frantic explanation short when she realized that no one was in the room with her. Picking herself up, she darted from the room into the hall. With her ears pricked up, she listened for any sound that might have indicated someone’s presence, but she heard nothing. There was no time for that! She ran for the door while tapping on her PET to call Carrie again.

Once again, she stopped short, as she stepped outside to see Epheral’s constructs lumbering about in the streets. Natalie’s arm fell to her side, loosely clutching her PET as she stared, shaking her head.

“Oh, you clever girl.”

-
--
-

As the crystalline shards of charcoal prana rolled across the floor to take their place perfectly constructing the feminine form of Epheral’s protective prana body, she scowled. Her features formed an angry, fearsome glare of blank white eyes out from under the shape of her long hair. “Everywhere I turn, I am reminded of my failures,” She growled, picking herself up off the ground no worse for wear. That was the benefit to leaving behind all that prana from the constructs; it was all too easy to recycle it for whatever else she needed. She turned her attention up to Garrison, who was dragging his body across the rail on the second floor of the mall, leaving some smeared crimson on the glass in his wake. “And now there’s you, is that right?” Epheral called up to him, “You’re going to play hero like these children?”

Garrison ignored the monster’s jibes. Panting for breath past the taste of iron on his tongue, he made his way to the stairs and began to descend them, one hand gripping hard to the rail as every step down put a crushing, folding weight on what used to be his chest. It still was his chest, only reconstructed with gelled-on false skin to spur the healing process onward. It felt a little loose under the wrappings and bandages he wore, ones that were soaking through with blood even then. He hadn’t been given much time to rest and recover. The only thing standing between exposed pectoral muscle cords and a little bit of his rib cage was basically a manhole cover made of artificial meat strapped on by cloth.

His breathing was perhaps understandably hoarse, and he coughed now and then. His stiff movements could have been from pain, though the doctors had put him on suppressants that were masking the worst of it. The worst he had to feel in that drug cocktail euphoria were both the feeling of skin flapping over skin awkwardly, and his tremendous resentment over the events that had led to that moment. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, droplets of blood pattered against the floor. He turned, his boots smearing the red across the tile, and made his way toward the underground entrance.

“What are you doing?” Epheral asked, annoyed. “Honestly, you should stay in bed if you’re in that bad of shape. This is only making killing you that much easier.”

Again, she was met with silence. Garrison had made his way to the pile of appliances and metal that had buried Yvette. The cat still lay beneath it, crushed under the weight of it all, her arms sticking out from below at either side. Garrison set his weapon down and carefully grabbed hold of the largest item – a whole refrigerator – and bent his knee to squat and lift. He heaved the massive thing off Yvette’s body, and as the weight came off her chest, she wheezed just barely, staring up through her shattered visor at nothing. Her eyes were blank. Odds were her body was in total system shock. Garrison tossed the fridge aside, and its landing echoed through the mall as a thunderous boom.

Kenny stared on as well. From where he sat on his knees, tears drying on his face and mucus crusting under his nose, he was helpless but to watch if only because Epheral did so as well. Garrison had never looked quite so strong as he had in that moment. With no shirt on, it was clear as day that his arms were muscle on muscle. His shoulders were big, his biceps were huge, and it was all too fitting for his giant hands. He would have been barrel-chested, had his chest not been blown apart by a flak cannon, and his prodigious gut hung over his belt, appearing only to serve as more weight for his powerful torso to lug around with ease. He was bloodied and injured, but still moving nevertheless. One could only wonder if all super soldiers were once like him, or if his pig-headed stubbornness was unique among even his time.

“So… have fun playing soldier, kid?” He asked Yvette, standing over her. The cat barely turned her head and whispered a choking sound.

“You’re dying,” Garrison said, “Even that armor wasn’t made to withstand all of that. Did you save any of them?”

She couldn’t answer.

“I told you they’re not worth it,” The grizzly bear frowned, “… But I can respect that you lived and died doing what you thought was right. Even if you were wrong. In my day, you’d be punished for disobeying an order, but… this is punishment enough.”

Yvette’s pale eyes widened a moment, and she sputtered a cough that left blood on her lips. Her fingers twitched and slackened. Garrison watched as life just drained out of her right then and there and left her dead at his feet. Her faint breathing stopped entirely, and she was left little more than a corpse, joining the others littered around the entrance to the underground tram station. Garrison knelt and carefully pushed two of his fingers through her shattered visor, sliding her eyes shut.

“Seeya around, kid.”

“How melodramatic,” Epheral said, finally stepping forward to confront Garrison, “In the end, this won’t matter.”

Garrison grabbed his weapon, stood, and turned quickly to point it at her. She didn’t so much as flinch as she stepped forward, walking at a casual pace to approach him. “You don’t seem to understand that even if they were a bunch of soft moderners, you killed my men,” Garrison said, “Big mistake.”

“The chain of command is such an archaic model,” Epheral shrugged as she stood before him, a foot and some change shorter than he, and not worrying in the slightest that the barrel of his rifle was trained at her forehead. “And so often it’s simply wrong. Those who don’t deserve power and those who would misuse it are at the top, where those who can make real change are left to rot.”

Epheral grinned at him, though there was no joy in it. “I have to say I’m not a fan of your elitist policies. When I finally amass the means to easily travel anywhere I wish through those mirrors, I will ensure that such mindsets are wiped clean from all existence.”

“Gonna change the world?” Garrison grunted.

Epheral smiled, holding her arms out in a grand gesture. “It’s already started!” She declared, gesturing around to the spots that had spread out over the surface of the mall, blank spots characteristic of her passing. The white, empty void was spreading out from the resting places of her old construct soldiers. Garrison didn’t take her eyes off her for a second, but he grimaced knowing what she meant. It didn’t look natural.

“Everything has prana, Mr. Soldier,” Epheral explained, “I’m going to take it all and make something new. New places, new people; like I was meant to from the beginning. This is my purpose, Mr. Soldier, my super power. Creation.”

Garrison spoke through his teeth. “Looks more like a disease to me.”

“Well,” Epheral relaxed. She lifted her hand and pushed her finger into the barrel of his gun. “What you believe is inconsequential. You’re a speck in the face of progress.”

Power surged into the weapon before Garrison could pull away. Fractures spread out over the gun, blazing white, until it hit the fusion core of the weapon. She must have ruptured it, because after about one second, the weapon exploded. Garrison jerked his hands back, cursing as the weapon’s rubber-plastic shell and metal parts scattered like shrapnel in his face, his fingers burned by the energy dispersed from within. He stumbled backward, blinking in surprise, quickly rubbing his face to find a jagged edge of the rifle’s chassis sticking out of his cheek. He pulled it out carefully, tossing it to the floor.

“I am tired,” Epheral scowled, “Of people like you, who believe in some supposed strength they carry, seeing it as justification to stand in the way of my destiny. I have had to crush so many like you, and it’s clear now that I’ll need to extinguish each and every one of you before I can take my place as the rightful ruler of it all. Humans, Inklings… you will learn the wrath of a god.”

Garrison sneered and spat blood onto the floor. “Sorry lady, not many people believe in gods these days.”

The grizzled grizzly then reared back with no warning to strike at Epheral.  He threw a wild haymaker, one that lacked speed or finesse but made up for what it lacked in raw power. A strike from Garrison’s large fists could break bone if placed just right. None of that mattered though. Epheral just danced around it, twirling gracefully out of the way and standing just aside. She spun on her pointed toe into a roundhouse kick with her other leg. It may as well have been a toothpick trying to strike a watermelon in terms of size difference, but even with Epheral coming up smaller, her kick struck Garrison’s side and bent him nearly in half, sending him flying across the mall to land and slide four yards away. Garrison curled up in a coughing fit, wheezing as pain from his chest wound shocked his system.

“Raaaahhh!” Kenny, unable to watch any longer, took up his sword and charged blindly at Epheral, who had more than enough time to see him coming. She sighed, turning into his attack to thrust her hand out and intercept his sword swing. She caught his wrist, stopping him dead as she kicked his feet out from under him and twisted his wrist to force him to release his blade. The boy fell onto his back on the floor, and with a spinning flourish, Epheral turned his blade down and plunged it through his open palm, impaling it cleanly and pinning him to the floor by it.

“GYAGH!” Kenny screamed, his fingers clamping reflexively around the blade, blood squirting from the wound as he twisted it involuntarily. He arched his back, eyes shocked wide open as his mind reeled to register the pain his flesh and tendons were suddenly experiencing. He stared at his hand and the polished, blood-stained steel that kept him pinned to the solid tile flooring, almost unable to believe it was his hand he was seeing. He’d never seen so much of that familiar shade of red pooling from his own body before.

“Hn-Ha, god…!” Kenny rolled onto his side, grasping his pinned wrist with his other hand, in a panic to free himself. “GNNGH… AHH!”

Epheral stomped on Kenny’s ribs, silencing his cries of agony by robbing him of breath. The boy choked on his next sound.

“Fuck you!” He cursed her breathlessly, trying to sound tough through his sobbing, “You murdering psycho-bitch! You stupid…! You fucking bitch! I’ll kill you, I’ll…!”

Epheral twisted her foot, shutting Kenny up with a gross snap. He wailed in pain, but it only came out as a hoarse rasp.

“Disgusting animal,” Epheral growled, “I don’t think I will even break you down. I’m simply going to destroy your body piece by piece, and then tear your Inkling apart. Murderous little boys and brainwashed lapdogs have no place in my perfect world.”

A high-impact ball of force crashed into the side of Epheral’s head, jerking her body and causing her to stumble. She bounced back from the blow, spinning to shoot Garrison a fiery glare where he stood all that distance away, a new, damaged rifle in his hands. He breathed slowly, deeply, steadying his shaking body, his heart skipping only a beat when Epheral launched herself toward him. With careful precision, he fired three more shots that connected with her even as she tried to veer around them, then he met her charge with his shoulder, striking early.  He drove his weight into her, shoving her back before he brought the rife up under her chin to clip her and throw her back further. He followed it with a strike from the butt end of the gun, shattering the side of her face.

“UNH! YOU…!” Epheral roared as she was thrown back. Garrison coldly trained his rifle at her center mass and unloaded the thing into her chest, compensating for the recoil with nothing short of expertise to have them all hit roughly the same area just beneath her sternum. The softball sized blasts of hard-force energy shattered chunks from her middle until her torso and legs were barely holding together, but the ceramic-like prana was regenerating at just a fraction of a second slower than the damage could be done. The sounds of her shattering cracked like thunder through the dead, empty mall, and Garrison kept it coming until the barrel of his weapon was red hot.

The automated cooling kicked in, venting the heat from the sides of the weapon and ceasing the firing mechanism. Garrison threw the weapon away and stepped in to continue the assault with hand-to-hand combat. He threw one punch, and it was over. Epheral caught his fist in her much smaller hand and stopped his entire momentum in that single moment. As her charcoal body filled back in, she twisted the soldier’s arm, forcing him to a knee before simply flipped him over onto the ground, throwing him aside like he weighed little more than a stuffed toy.

When Garrison hit the floor, Kenny’s sword impaled Epheral through the back, the blood-tipped blade jutting out from her chest, just barely missing her core. She stared down at the weapon before turning to see a battered Kenny barely on his feet, holding his injured hand protectively against his middle. Epheral’s glowing white eyes blazed with anger as she used Polaris’ power to pull the sword out of her back and send it sailing like a javelin back at Kenny. The boy dove to the side, taking himself to the floor to avoid the cold steel. He used the same powers as the weapon passed by to have it circle back around and rush toward Epheral, who met it by turning her arm into a pointed prana-blade. The two sharpened edges clashed, sparks flying as they began striking and parrying one another.

A sword with no wielder was no match for the power behind Epheral’s strikes however, and she soon smacked the blade away, sending it across the mall.

“You’re no match for me,” Epheral announced, “Enjoy your last moments while you can. It’s merely the two of you against worlds of prana. You don’t stand a chance!”

“Hey! Epheral!”

Epheral, Kenny, and Garrison all turned their attention to the second floor, where another Inkling stood. She seemed to swirl with yellows and blues, the colours shifting even as she held still She leaned over the half-wall that made up the floor’s inner guard rail, shouting down at the prana monster to interrupt her fight. At first, no one really recognized her, not even by the sound of her voice. The identity of the girl hit them all roughly around the same time, looks of realization and surprise plastering their faces.

“You!” Epheral shouted.

Kenny blinked his eyes, clearing the tears away from them. “Quincey?” He called to her, “Is that you?”

“How did you survive?!” Epheral demanded, “You should have withered away by now!”

“I had a nap!” Duplex yelled back at her.

Epheral huffed in frustration, relaxing herself to keep from flying into an absolute rage. “No matter,” She said, “You can join your fellows in death. I’ll simply unravel you once more and be done with you, you traitor.”

Epheral raised her hand and extended her finger toward Duplex, who winced in preparation of the pain that was being ripped apart once again. Her one yellow and one blue eyes clamped shut and she tensed her body, steeling herself for the event… but nothing came. Seconds ticked on by and Epheral impatiently swirled her finger in a winding motion. Quincey did feel something in her, in Duplex, react to the gesture… but it was a small, tiny ache, far from the burning torture that she expected. She grasped her chest with one hand, gasping in surprise at the sudden stinging sensation, but the longer she waited for it to worsen, the less substantial the pain seemed to be. It ebbed away to a persistent, annoying throb.

“What?!” Epheral shouted, “Fall apart! I gave you life, I can take it away!”

Duplex looked over herself in confusion. Eventually, it clicked. “That’s not going to work!” She proclaimed, stepping back up to the rail and leaning over it to shout at the would-be despot. “There’s more of my prana in here than there is yours now!”

Epheral retracted her finger, jerking her hand back into a fist raised above her. “That’s not possible!” She shouted, “You had nothing left! No one host could save you!”

Urgai may have helped her, Dormence, and Tranquil bear the worst of Epheral’s assault, but Quincey had no qualms against taking credit for it. “Well I did!” The girl said, indignantly, “So there!”

“Grr!” Epheral’s fists trembled with anger as she squeezed her fingers as tightly as she could, cracking her own prana chassis with the effort. “Well it doesn’t matter! Even with your disgusting self, the three of you can’t possibly match my power!”

Duplex clenched her own fists, seeming to tense up in giddy, terrified excitement. “I-I think you should count again!”

Another inked pig girl stepped up to the overhang; then another, one flanking each side of the original. They were joined by two more on the outside, and then those two were flanked by yet two more. In pairs, copies of the rotund yellow and blue lava lamp looking Inkling girl stepped up, lining up shoulder to shoulder to surround Epheral from above. There had to be almost two dozen Duplexes all leaning over to look down at the scarred battlefield that was the mall’s ground floor. A final few more stepped up to create a high-risen half-circle around Epheral, staring down at her like a crowd in a colosseum. They started yelling down at Epheral, shaking their fists and blustering, all yelling over one another so their voices became a garbled mess of noise that drowned out Epheral’s own angry shouting.

“This is impossible!!” Epheral screamed, frantically turning to try and keep her eyes on which Duplex would move first.

“You’re impossible!” One smugly shouted back over the crowd. The other pig girls yelled back at her, cheering for themselves for having such a zinger in their back pocket. Then, one voice rose above the others once more.

“CHAAAARGE!”

The inked pigs in jumping distance of Epheral did just that; they climbed up over the rail and threw themselves over the precipice and to come crashing down onto the floor below. They rained down around and over Epheral, who gave a frustrated cry before being flattened under an opportune belly flopping Duplex clone. Whichever girl didn’t hit the mark jumped onto Epheral, creating a pile. The rest roared a battle cry, running to the nearest stairs and marching down, their feet sounding like the boots of a battalion coming through. They joined the others, leaping and flopping their weighty bodies on top of the growing pile of inky pig girls that was then smothering Epheral’s jagged prana body.

Epheral fought tooth and nail under the pinning mass, throwing claws and elbows, kicking her feet, and trying to get some leverage to get out from underneath them all. To say nothing of Duplex’s strength-in-numbers tactics, she had weight on her side. Even Epheral, for all her supposed power, couldn’t simply shrug off the combined several-hundred pounds of weight that many Quinceys provided. She came close several times, wresting an arm free, rolling one of the girls aside, only to have that very same copy jump back on.

One Duplex was apart from the chaos, nervously stepping over pieces of debris and gawking at the strewn-about bodies of the Harbington citizens and Eos soldiers alike. She hurried past the writhing pile of wrestling copies of herself to run right over to Kenny, her high steps awkwardly lifted, as if the cracked tile of the mall’s flooring were hot coals of some sort. She rushed over and stopped, staring at Kenny as she ran in place, her fists balled up in front of her face in a panic. “Oh! Oh! Oh no!” She whined, “Kenny, are you okay?!”

Kenny ripped his attention away from Epheral’s predicament, taking only a second to glance at his profusely bleeding hand. “No! I’m not okay!” He yelled past his tears and snotty sobbing, “Quincey? You’re awake?”

“Yeah!” The fidgety inked girl nodded, still lifting her knees high as she marched in place, a bundle of nervous, excited energy who just couldn’t keep still. “I-I just woke up! I, um! What happened?! Why is everybody… laying on the ground? What’s wrong with your hand?”

“They dead, Quinn!” Kenny answered, “And we’ll be dead too if we don’t do something!”

“Dead?!” Duplex shrieked, “Wh... D-Dead?!”

Kenny growled in frustration. “Yeah, dead, that thing you do when you stop living. What’re we gonna do?!”

Duplex quickly checked on her numerous copies. They were holding Epheral down admirably, but it had gotten to the point where Epheral would throw one off just long enough to impale another with a jagged blade she’d made of her arm. That copy would pop like an inky balloon, spraying blue and yellow ink all over the place that would then vanish. They’d jump Epheral again only for the process to repeat one pig at a time every half-minute or so. Epheral was tearing them off herself like a cornered animal, downright viciously even. She would be free eventually, that much was inevitable. Duplex finally stopped bounding in place as she returned to Kenny, shaking her head.

Kenny grimaced in pain. “Look,” he said, “If we don’t stop her now, there’s going to be a whole lot more people dead, or… whatever she’s gonna do, change the world or something, I dunno. We gotta fight her, but… ngh… I’m getting dizzy.”

“You’re bleeding a lot.” Duplex stated, “You need to get help!”

“It hurts to breathe too,” Kenny winced, “But I’m not spoiled for choice here.”

Very suddenly, with a powerful surge of raw power and strength, the pile of Duplexes were thrown off as the monster broke free. Epheral had forced them all off, launching them away, and was up on her feet in seconds, roaring in triumph. The inked piggies cried out as they sailed through the air, flailing and splatting on the ground in all directions. Ignoring all the others, Epheral cast her fiery gaze on Kenny and the one Duplex who stood with him; she had taken careful strides to stay out of the fight, so it was reasonable to peg her as the original Duplex, bonded to Quincey and ensuring her own self-preservation. “YOU!” Epheral roared, “I’LL END YOU FOR GOOD.”

The other Duplex copies were back on their feet and weren’t having any of that. They charged in all at once from their varying distances to throw themselves between Epheral and the original Duplex. The first one jumped in only to have the blade of Epheral’s arm impale her face cleanly. That Duplex popped after her gruesome demise. Three more came running in, and Epheral twirled, shifting the shape of her other arm to match the sharp, curved edge of the first. She used the two blades to dissect the oncoming inked pigs, slicing off limbs and cleaving through their bodies with ease. They, too, burst into inky goop that swirled with yellows and blues. More came still, surrounding Epheral on all sides in a circle. Kenny and Duplex watched in horror as every single one of them was cut clear through the middle, torsos disconnected from their hips, falling into pieces before popping.

She came for the original at last, running forward, arms outstretched like twin scythes ready to reap their souls. Duplex gasped, and Kenny tried reaching for his sword with his good hand only to remember it was somewhere across the lobby. They panicked, and as Epheral closed in and swung her arms to cleave them, they only barely moved out of the way. Kenny fell back onto his butt on the floor, so short that Epheral’s swing went right over his head, slicing off only a few stray strands of fur. Duplex awkwardly shuffled out of the way, tripping to the side and clumsily stumbling to fortuitously avoid the killing blow. She fell onto her hands and knees and checked to make sure Kenny was alright even before worrying about herself.

The thoughts registered at light speeds in Quincey’s mind. Kenny was fine, so her only course was to attack Epheral. While normally every muscle in her body would be seized with fear, she felt oddly fluid as she took a hips-raised sprinter’s stance, then launched herself at Epheral. She crashed into the prana-beast’s side with the full force of her enhanced, inked strength. Backed by something shy of two hundred pounds of pig, the effect was like being hit by a truck. Epheral’s construct body cracked loudly where Duplex’s shoulder drove in, and she failed to find her footing before Duplex just carried her away. There was too much power behind too much mass, so Epheral practically folded as Duplex stampeded forth like a juggernaut. The pig girl’s feet thump-thump-thumped as she ran, Epheral’s glass-like body dangling from her.

Duplex ran her right into a wall, ploughing through debris and rubble to do so. Epheral’s body was crushed and compressed, splintered fractures spreading out from her middle to cover her face and arms and some of her legs. Had she any lungs, any air in them would have been forced out. Even without them, she reeled as her construct body was squeezed around her core. Duplex let off, pulling back with dust and duraplastic flaking off from the impact crater she left using Epheral’s body. Epheral was still recovering when the girl stepped back, pulled her arm back as far as it would go, and then swung it open-hand. She slapped Epheral across the face so hard that half of her construct head shattered on impact and was thrown across the area.

Duplex stepped back, staring Epheral down. The construct’s neck had snapped with the force and her head was simply dangling there by a thread. It should have looked far more visceral than it did, and had it been more organic it would have been gratuitous… but Epheral’s constructed body, made of solid prana, was so utterly unnatural that she looked like little more than a plastic doll that had been broken. She blinked her blazing, white eyes at Duplex, confusion and shock plastered all over her expression.

That was soon replaced by anger, as Epheral collected herself. The blades on her arms were cracked and crumbling, one shedding away to reveal her hand anew, though her fingers were shattered and not all the proper length. She used that hand to pull her head back into place, her body regenerating as she put it in place, her neck sealing back to her collar, her body making jerky, erratic movements as she put herself back together.

The process seemed to slow when only two-thirds of Epheral’s face had reconstructed. She looked at herself, at her one still-cracked hand and the broken, jagged blade on her other arm. They were no longer repairing themselves. “What??” She bellowed, “This isn’t… I have more power than this!”

“Something… wrong…?” Duplex panted, trying to look menacing still.

Epheral chuckled, building a slow laughter into a cackle of madness. She leaned into her crater and rested a hand against her head, sighing. “No, no… everything is fine. I’m going to have to put your destruction on hold, for now.”

Duplex blinked, puzzled. “What??”

Pushing herself to her feet, Epheral stepped aside, strolling into the storefront she had been so ferociously smashed against. “I’m sparing you, for the moment,” Epheral said, “But only because we were friends, once.”

Duplex shook her head rapidly in confusion, standing up straight and proceeding to follow Epheral into the store. “You can’t just run away!”

Epheral ignored her at first, strolling through the aisles of clothing and apparel hanging on their racks and folded on their shelves. Her eyes searched the store, stopping as she reached as junction and taking a left. She made her way toward what could have been considered the back-end of the outlet. Duplex followed her the entire way, scampering after her, no less confused than before.

“I am not running away, simpleton,” Epheral rebutted, “I am simply delaying your end for something of greater importance.”

“Well, stop!” Duplex said, “I was kicking your butt!”

“Oh please,” Epheral scoffed, “If you call having your pitiful army cut down ‘kicking my butt,’ then I’m not sure what to tell you.”

Duplex glowered angrily, following along with Epheral’s power-walking pace. “You wouldn’t be running right now if I wasn’t!”

Epheral stopped as she stepped into a changing booth, her hand resting thoughtfully on the edge of the door. Duplex stepped behind her, watching her turn around to face her. Pulling back her hand, energy seemed to surge from Epheral’s entire construct form, ebbing from the core nestled in the center. When she threw her hand forward, that energy rushed out, striking Duplex’s body and all at once peeling the ink off Quincey beneath. The girl went from inked to not in milliseconds, exposing the turtleneck-and-jeans-wearing red-head. Quincey blinked her eyes, her glasses crooked from the blow, trying to absorb what had just happened to her. In an instant, all that strength and power granted by her Inkling was simply… gone.

“I could rip you limb from limb this exact second,” Epheral spat, “Instead, I’ll save that energy for something far more important.”

Quincey shook. “W-What are… what are you going to do?” She asked, fearfully.

“Dormence, Tranquil… it’s finally time.” Epheral smiled, turning to step into the changing room. She looked at herself in the mirror within the small confines of the booth, happily admiring her broken, fractured body in the reflective glass.

She reached up and pressed her hand against the mirror, and its surface rippled like water. Right away, Quincey knew what had happened, and she gasped in shock.

Epheral pulled her hand back, watching the gentle ripples settle until the glass was once again solid. “Yes…” She spoke, “This is Echelon’s Mirror Slide… what a strange power. Strange, but useful. Who knew that mirrors were the direct link to Canvas? Osoth had used Parthal so much, I had no idea that this was right under our noses this whole time. I could have done this centuries ago.”

Quincey glared at the monster. “You have to stop this.”

“I am going to rip it apart at the seams,” Epheral chortled, “Tear everything down and build it back up. I’ll build on top of the ruins, a new, more beautiful world. I’ll bury Osoth’s ugly legacy. I’ll finally save everyone.”

“That’s not saving them!” Quincey argued, “That’s not how it’s supposed to work!”

Epheral frowned. “You just don’t want me to end your precious Empress’ little game. You’re just like all the others, so attached to your tyrannical rulers. You don’t even know what you’re saying.”

Quincey grit her teeth. “Epheral, I mean it!” She said, “E-Even if you do it, then what? Even if you make everything new again and rule it all, what are you going to do to the next person like you who comes along?”

Epheral paused. “There won’t be anyone else…” She said, calmly, “I have always been, from the very beginning of my life, better off on my own. Other people, other Inklings, other creatures, they’ve all rejected me. You rejected me, in the end. So, if you’re so against my new world, you will not live in it. If you are so attached to this one and its lies, then you can burn with it.”

“Epheral,” Quincey said, “You can’t…”

“I’ve had enough of you telling me what I can and cannot do!” Epheral shouted, “I will destroy Canvas, and when I’m done with that I’ll take all the prana there and come back here, and I’ll end this pitiful world too! All of you will know that at the end of it all, I was the beginning and the end. The alpha and the omega. Osoth tried to stifle me, you all tried, but it was futile. I want you to know this, to think on it in the coming days. I want you to know your mistakes before I take it all away.”

Epheral pushed her hand against the mirror again, letting her palm sink into its surface. “Goodbye, stupid Earth girl. Dormence, Tranquil.”

Quincey reached out to stop her, but Epheral brushed her off and simply stepped through the looking glass and into another world. The mirror rippled with her passing, settling as Quincey stepped up to see her own reflection there. She placed her hand on it and felt it as solid, pushing her palm against it flat and forcefully before just letting it slide off with a sad squeak.

“Oh no…” Quincey murmured.

She stood there staring at her reflection for a while. She looked like a mess, her hair tangled and strewn about like she had been sleeping for several days… which was appropriate=. She came back just in time to see the end of it, she supposed. As she stared at her reflection, however, it began to slightly ripple. She squinted at it, watching as that rippling got more and more wild. It occurred to her almost too late that she should move, and she had just barely gotten out of the way when Epheral came flying back out of the mirror, slamming into the wall of the booth.

“UGH!” Epheral shouted, her construct body looking even worse than when she’d gone inside. A lot of it was simply burned away, she was missing an entire arm and most of her head was gone. The charcoal of her body, the scratchy silhouette, was barely being held together by burned-in white, kind of like glue that just barely kept her from falling apart. Of course, she was fine – the only really living part of her was the then-exposed core at her center – but she looked absolutely devastated. Her core seemed to undulate and vibrate angrily.

“T-That place!” She cried, “Canvas… it…!”

Quincey’s ears perked up. “That’s right!” She remembered, “Canvas is a nightmare on prana!”

Epheral panted, seething and huffing and hissing with anger. She turned her one burning eye to Quincey, staring at her with animalistic ferocity. Quincey locked up, swallowing hard as Epheral lumbered to her broken feet and lurched toward her.

“U-Um!” Quincey tensed up, “AH!” Epheral swung at her with the broken blade her one arm was made into. Quincey turned to run away and flopped onto the carpet on her front. She scrambled to her feet again and ran out of the store screaming, arms out in her desperation to escape. She was seen running out of the store like it was the Haunted Castle simulation, Epheral limping out seconds after her, collapsing against the entryway frame and digging her blade into the wall to hold herself up.

“This isn’t working out as I had planned.” Epheral grumbled, “Need to gather my strength… should be soon.”

Quincey stumbled out into the lobby, panting to catch her breath as a shadow passed by from overhead. She gazed up toward the ceiling, which past the three stories had a broken-in sunlight casting light down into the middle of the mall. Normally that would have been a warm, pleasant sunbeam surrounding the mall’s fountain, making it a pleasant place to laze around in… but instead it was a cold, drafty, broken window that seemed to just let the muggy outdoors pour in. Quincey saw the massive form of the blackened prana dragon settle at the sun light’s edge, its clawed talons digging, its mere landing shaking the building and causing her to trip and fall.

The creature pushed its head through the opening and down into the building. Quincey screamed, running to hide. Epheral stepped out into the open and gazed up at the beast, which returned her attentions. She reached out toward the dragon, and then lifted off the ground, quickly floating up to meet the dragon and latch on to its head. Her broken construct body seemed to crackle and smash as its was sucked into the dragon, the blazing core at her center being absorbed and drawn into the dragon’s middle.

“I’ll find out how to get into Canvas yet!” Epheral roared, “And I’ll deal with you later!”

Quincey peeked out from her hiding place amongst the broken-down rubble of the fountain, which was leaking water all over the mall’s floor in a growing pool. She watched as the dragon lifted itself out of the broken hole and then took off, its ascent shaking the foundation of the roof, sending more debris and glass falling into the building and opening the hole wider.

Quincey trembled fearfully. She waited until she was certain that Epheral was gone and the danger had passed before stepping out from her hiding place. All that was left was silence. She looked around the broken, ruined mall, observing the scene for the sheer disaster that it was. Bodies were strewn about among rubble and human blood. Some of them still moved, barely. Burning white patches of Epheral’s strange influence had spread out over spots, melting them away, burning holes into reality. When she saw Kenny laid out on the ground, she hurried to help him. The boy was curled up on his side, unconscious, as pale as a boy with fur all over his body could be. He’d lost so much blood from his limp and trembling hand. He could have been anemic for all she knew. She dropped to her knees and collected him, picking him up off the floor.

It was just then she heard the stomping footsteps of boots echo through the mall, and the much lighter tapping of much smaller shoes. She turned to see Natalie having returned, and she had Sam with her in tow. The little white bat’s normally prim and proper coif was frazzled, and the two of them looked a little beat up. Sam’s designer capris and little baby-tee were torn in a couple of places. They hurried toward Quincey, clearly under some urgency. Sam’s run slowed to a trot, then to an almost aimless wandering as she stared gawking at the scene, especially at the people. She squeaked when she saw the bodies, holding her hands over her mouth to keep from simply screaming.

Natalie too slowed to a stop as she approached, horrified at what she was seeing. She looked around, then at Quincey holding the bloody, unconscious Kenny.

Quincey’s expression screwed into a frown holding back tears – and failing to do so. They dribbled down her face as she cried. “Where were you??”

-
--
-

The wind whipped by Daxton and Sylph’s faces as they came upon the mall, shocked to see it in its ruined state. Even from a distance the destruction that Epheral’s still-lingering armies was clear. Holes were torn into the roof of the building, the cars and vehicles that had been gathered were smashed and crushed, unusable by their owners. Solid prana was scattered like shrapnel, sticking out of walls and sidewalks, trees and anything at street-level. The sight of it filled the teens with dread, and Sylph did her best to put more speed into her flight, to arrive faster, to help.

The black prana dragon rose from the roof. It picked up and darted through the sky, rushing forward with a powerful thrust of its wings, sending it into a screaming flightpath right toward the teens. “Whoa nelly!” Sylph cried, having to veer out of the dragon’s path lest it crashed right through her and Daxton both. She narrowly avoided the full weight of the beast as it passed by, its bulk cutting the air around it, silencing sound momentarily as it brushed past. The buffeting of its wings tossed Sylph around like a paper bag, sending her and Daxton spiraling through the air and forcing her into a desperate recovery. She managed to right herself long before they hit the street, holding on to Daxton still, who managed to keep his grasp on her rifle and keep it safe. They paused to watch the dragon disappear past the apartments, its roar echoing in the distance like a gale.

“Hot damn,” Sylph said, turning her attention to the mall below. “I hope everyone’s alright!”

“Let’s check it out!” Daxton said, and the two descended into the mall’s parking lot. Entire chunks of the pavement were missing from the ground and several fractures made the ground uneven beneath their feet. Sylph put Daxton down, who took up her rifle as the stragglers from Epheral’s army turned on them. Archers, knights, an ogre too; the gang was all there.

“Okay, how do you work this thing?” Daxton asked, checking the mechanisms for the APSR-20 for the first time despite having been holding onto it since they left the school.

Sylph gave him an annoyed look. “Are you kiddin’ me?!” She shouted. She had to cut her scolding short as prana arrows arced through the air to descend upon her and Daxton in a volley. The inkling girl thrust her hands out and sent a rush of air to meet them, scattering them uselessly around. They hit more cars and street signs than people.

“Maybe you just sit this one out, pardner,” Sylph said, “For once.”

Daxton continued to fiddle with the weapon, finally just pulling the trigger when he was studying the safety controls. The weapon revved up and fired, jerking the butt end of it back into the boy’s sternum and smacking a hoarse cough out of him. The projectile hit the pavement, scattered some pebbles and dirt, and that was it. “Oghf!” He coughed, “Got it!”

“Good job,” Sylph said, “Real swell.”

-
--
-

“Quincey, I am so sorry.” Natalie followed the pig girl as she stumbled through the rubble, carrying Kenny over to Sam. Sam, who had been so distracted by the horror that was strewn before her, had her attention ripped away, and upon seeing a more familiar face in danger, immediately inked over. The bubblegum pink of Mhend’s membrane spread out around her body and covered all but her mechanical right leg whose joints and creases moved so lifelike and keen. Not long after her blonde bob formed a bouncy bubble of pink ink did she reach up and simply pluck a piece off the end. What she tore away reformed, and she rolled the ink into a ball before gently depositing it into Kenny’s gaped mouth, her hands gently coaxing the boy to ingest it while Quincey held him.

The boy’s trembling seemed to subside in moments, and Mhend had Quincey lay Kenny out so she could patch up the wound on his hand.

“Epheral was attacking Locksmouth,” Natalie explained, “I couldn’t get anyone back here in time!”

“I see that!” Quincey shouted at Natalie, startling her. They both paused, Quincey tearful and upset, Natalie alarmed that she’d upset the girl. Quincey calmed down, her anger deflating into something more familiar. She was afraid.

Natalie could handle afraid. She placed her hands upon Quincey’s shoulders and tried to calm her down. “Let’s check on everyone else.”

“Bring them here if you’d please!” Mhend insisted.

A commotion started outside, but the teens didn’t hesitate even a moment to spread out and start checking on the visible casualties of Epheral’s attack. Natalie and Quincey delicately paced around, almost afraid to touch anything. The devastation to the mall was one thing, familiar structures broken down and ruined; the human blood was entirely another. Crimson gashes of liquid were sprayed over the stonework and tile were drying in, and the girls were afraid to even go near them, let alone actually touch them. Some people were face-down in small pools of the stuff. They didn’t make it. Yvette’s body was battered and broken, and Quincey could tell she’d succumbed to her injuries, no doubt suffering a puncture in her lung at the very least. Kris Procsman, the gecko that had first attacked the Harbington teens when they left the dome, had been nearly decapitated.

The deaths were almost all Eos soldiers. The ones that had turned around and stood up to defend the people paid the ultimate price. Comparatively few civilians had suffered fatally at the hands of Epheral. Many were hurt, each one who hadn’t made it underground had been incapacitated in some way. The girls focused on them. The dead were lost, and they were so deeply, darkly afraid of the bodies that they couldn’t bring themselves to so much as touch them. The sight of their lifeless corpses made their stomachs churn. The survivors moaned in pain. They needed the help more.

“Ungh…” Garrison stirred where he rested sat up against the tile wall under the stairs leading to the second floor. Natalie heard him and came running, stopping short only when she noticed just who he was.

“It’s you,” She said, trying and failing to hide the disdain in her voice, “Are you alright?”

Garrison clutched his chest, the patchwork of gel and flesh had peeled under the bandages and was essentially coming off, crooked under the bloody wrappings. Still, he breathed, the wound heaving with his breaths, blood dripping down over his round gut and arms to the floor. He gritted his teeth, shutting his eyes tight and grunting as he pushed himself to sit up straighter. “I’ll live,” He grunted, “Civvies need more attention. Go to it.”

How uncharacteristically paragon of him. Natalie studied his wounds. The damage was too severe for her to help, not with Echelon’s weaker grasp on Mhend’s powers. She had no idea what had happened to change his tune, but she couldn’t even look at him without thinking of the hell he’d put her through. She ignored the small part of her that didn’t want to help him and instead just nodded. “I’ll get a doctor,” she said. Then, she simply hurried off to the next person. She could help those with smaller wounds. A simple touch, bodily contact, and Mhend’s soothing, healing powers flowed through her to seal cuts and scrapes and ease the pain of twists and bruises. One by one she helped people to Mhend, who had started to create something of a little clinic in the middle of that broken-down mall, trying to tend to each person based on the severity of their injuries.

Quincey at least had the medical know-how to know who was in the most danger. She prioritized, hauling people in the most need back to Mhend as quickly as she could. She shook, however, trembled and quivered. Duplex had once again been struck a blow by Epheral, her prana was out of whack and she felt weakened on top of the shock that had settled in around the situation. It was fortunate that someone had come up to check and see what was happening since things had gotten so quiet. Seeing that the immediate danger was gone, they called in the doctors and the police who immediately started to help. It wasn’t long before they’d gathered everyone, though it was Mhend who had her work cut out for her.

“Quincey!” Paula cried out to her daughter, and she came running with her husband to nearly bowl the girl over with parental love. They hugged out their concern and worry for their child, the porcine pair squeezing the dickens out of her. Quincey was overwhelmed, but the warmth of their touch was soothing. She gave herself to it, letting herself relax into their arms.

“My baby girl!” Walter sniffled and snorted, tears running down his face. Like father, like daughter. He looked terribly worse for wear. The unwashed man, portly and stout with greasy black hair had sweat stains so ingrained into his wrinkled and frumpy old button-down that they may have never come out. His tie was loose and his collar crooked, and his slacks were dirt and food stained. His wife did her best to keep up appearances but her long white coat was likewise dirt-covered and some of the buttons on her blouse had broken off. Her long red hair was frazzled, her eyes were baggy and tired, and her pencil skirt was torn. At least she wasn’t broken – her arm had been healed for well over a week.

It didn’t matter how dirty and gross they were, Quincey hugged them all the same, not much better off herself. “Mom, Dad!” She gushed, not knowing at all what to say.

Gerald shoved his way past the gathering crowds around the injured to find his son unconscious and laid out. He gathered him up, checking for fever and pulse before simply hauling him up to rest on his shoulder and with no hint of fear or insecurity just took him away. He held his son, terrified for him but not showing it, not at all embarrassed to walk with his seventeen-year-old in his arms, head on his shoulder. If anything, he seemed angry, storming past Natalie on his way to who knew where.

Natalie stepped through. Mhend had just tended to a young penguin boy, smoothing her hands over his arm, feeling for irregularities. The boy sobbed but stood so very still and let her work. “There you are,” She said, “All better.”

The boy began to bawl right there. Mhend rose to her knees and hugged him, tenderly stroking his back. “Shhh, shh, shh, it’s okay,” She said, though she sounded on the brink of tears herself, “You’re alright. It’s okay. Don’t cry.”

It was hard to watch. Natalie looked around for the boy’s parents, any older people of the same penguin sub-species, but no one came. Natalie fidgeted. Her composure was crumbling. A wave of relief washed over her when a group of adults, a panther male and steer female, and most fortunately a penguin woman, came and collected the boy.

Mhend let the boy go back to his parents. “Natalie,” She spoke, looking up at the girl, “How many are…?” She dared not finish the question. The words had a tough time leaving her lips.

She didn’t have to finish. “Eight,” Natalie answered, direct and brief, “Eight that I could see.”

“Oh no…” Mhend whispered. “Eight people.”

“… Mostly adults.” Natalie glowered.

“Mostly.” Mhend covered her ears and closed her eyes, shaking her head, “No. No. No, no, no. This is unacceptable!”

When she was composed enough, she opened her eyes and stood to stare up at Natalie. “We’ve dealt with monsters before, but… what kind of hideous creature would do such a thing?”

She didn’t wait for an answer, lowering her gaze to stare at the ruined floor. “I have to help these people,” She said, “I have to.”

The little inked bat continued to mumble as she turned away and immediately began tending to more wounded. Natalie was frozen, locked up, unable to come up with anything to say to assuage the situation. All she could think about was that Locksmouth had… no fatalities. Not one. She and her pack, with Jacent’s help, they’d protected everyone from the chaos that was spreading through the streets of her home. She should have known, it was so unorganized. Every second she was doing that and doing it well, Kenny and Quincey – who she was still surprised was even awake – had been forced to defend their home with less experience and less help. And they’d failed.

She lifted her head and looked to the doors just in time to see Daxton jog in, weapon in hand, with Sylph just behind him. “Alright we’re…! We’re…” Daxton’s voice echoed over the distressed mumblings of Harbington’s citizenry and his jog slowed to a dazed walking state. “… What the…”

Sylph receded into her host, revealing Laila’s big, wide blue eyes taking it all in. With a start, she shoved Daxton out of the way and ran into the mall. “Where’s my family?!” She cried, “Mom! Dad! Val!”

Quincey squealed, dragging the sound out to a sob as she ran across the mall to leap into Daxton’s arms, holding him for dear life. “Daxton!” She cried, “It’s terrible! It’s so terrible! Horrible!”

Daxton stumbled to close his arms around her and not just fall over, looking all around slack-jawed. “I, uh… I…” He was so overwhelmed, by the destruction and the chaos, by Quincey being awake again, that he couldn’t register a single emotion. For the first time in a long time, he was speechless.

“Where are they?!” Laila shouted at those she passed by, “Where are my parents?! Where’d they go?! Are they okay?!” She rushed past people, almost knocking down anyone in her way. She grabbed others, demanded answers out of them. Many didn’t know. Some pointed, and she just ran. She found herself stomping down the inoperative escalators and into the underground tram station, calling out for her family again. She stood head and shoulders over most of the people around her, and was finally able to find her family huddled together on a bench where people would normally have sat waiting for the next train to come. Laila stepped over some of the smaller people in her way, dropping to her knees, scraping them across the faux-snow and crystal on the ground.

Her parents didn’t get a word in, as Valyrie, Laila’s little sister, sat on the bench wearing only one of her boots. Her other foot was purple and clearly injured, and she had been crying. Laila threw her arms around her sister and pressed their foreheads together, rocking her back and forth as she swore she’d never leave her alone again. Ever.

Natalie, in the lobby, felt distant. She watched the goings-on around her, detached from it all.

What kind of hideous creature would do such a thing? The question continually racked her brain until she came to a simple conclusion.

What kind of creature would do such a thing? The kind who just declared war.

-
--
-

“AAAAGH!! I’M SORRY, I’M SORRY!!” Kenny cried as his bloodied mother shook him by his throat from the edge of his old apartment building. She screamed at him, incomprehensible, anguish and rage in her voice and in her milky white, blank eyes.

A red foot planted itself on her face, silencing her screams. Kenny tried to turn his head, scraping his mother’s nails across his throat to do so, to see himself – or rather Polaris in the shape of himself – standing with his weight supported on his mother’s face. He leaned down, resting an arm on his knee, peering down at the dead woman calm and collected.

“If you could excuse us for a moment, darling.” Polaris said politely. Then he shoved his foot down, kicking the woman away from her son. Kenny gasped, grabbing for her and missing. He watched as she fell so many stories as he had once before, until her body hit the street with a red splat.

“NO!” Kenny cried, reaching his arms down over the edge, futile a gesture as it was. Polaris grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and simply picked him up, throwing him back onto the roof. Kenny landed on his back roughly, coughing on his tears. Polaris stepped around him as he writhed to sit up, and the inked lemming perched himself on an air vent, seated slightly slouched.

“Alright, real talk,” Polaris spoke, “You and I have a few things to work out.”

“Uh! Buh…! You…! A fuh…!” Kenny blinked in confusion, looking all around the familiar dreamscape nightmare of Anchorsway, seeing the familiar lights in the distance, the familiar Ferris wheel.

“You’re dreaming, Kenny,” Polaris sighed.

He leaned out and smacked Kenny across his face, stopping Kenny’s freak-out mid burble.

“Pull yourself together, man.” Polaris said, “You and I just got thoroughly and rigorously trounced!”

Kenny stretched his eyebrows, rubbing his face. “What?” he asked.

“The only reason you’re even asleep right now is because Epheral just got done handing us our own backsides on a silver platter!” Polaris said, “And she didn’t provide any silverware. Am I jogging your memory yet? How’s your hand, hm?”

“My hand…?” Kenny raised his right hand up, and was able to peer straight through the gaping wound there to Polaris’ blue, grumpy pout on the other side. “Guh!” The boy jumped, eyes getting big.

“Kenny,” Polaris sighed, “We messed up. I can’t even dress this up in pretty words or humor. We lost. I suppose you’re not dead however, so that’s a bonus.”

They sat in the airy silence of the rooftops, the breeze blowing Kenny’s old shirt and pants around as he lowered his hand to keep his balance sitting up. The memories came back to him in a trickle. Epheral’s arrival to the mall, his struggle to defend the people of Harbington, his failure to stop her metallic whirlwind from tearing some of those same people to bits… his following beating was painful, as the unsatisfied feelings of rage boiled up inside him again. Vengeance undelivered. All those dead people. Kenny grit his teeth and slammed his fist onto the roof. “Shit!” He shouted into the void, “Damn it!”

“I know, buddy,” Polaris said, “I know.” His voice was level in comparison, his entire disposition relaxed, but gloomy.

“Fucking bitch!” Kenny jumped up to his feet, fists clenched in anger.

“Temper that,” Polaris said, snapping Kenny’s attention out of his anger with the ringing sound of his sword digging into the roof of the apartment building. Kenny looked to see Polaris seated there in old, tattered armor, a much larger blade than the gladius Kenny used dug into the building. Polaris gripped the handle of the sword tightly in both hands and he stared at the pommel angrily. “Why are you so mad?”

“Epheral! She…!”

“She killed people.” Polaris cut him off, “Yes. That’s what you do in battle.”

“They didn’t deserve it!” Kenny yelled, “They were innocent!”

Kenny fell to his hands and knees again, his tears dripping onto the roof. He kind of huddled up. Polaris nodded. “Yeah.” He said, “I know. Trust me. I know.”

“Why does this happen?” Polaris asked, “Why do people who don’t deserve to be hurt, get hurt? That’s what you’re asking yourself. That’s why you’re so angry. That’s why I gave up on my people and that’s why you’re giving up on yourself. Sit the hell up you little prat.”

“What?!” Kenny bolted up onto his knees, glaring at Polaris. “Fuck you!”

“How’d you feel when your mother died?” Polaris dug in. Kenny sprung to his feet and stepped forward, punching Polaris across his face as hard as he could. The inked lemming’s head jerked aside, turned to barely roll with the blow. Kenny reared back to punch him again but stopped. Polaris just turned his head back straight, looking up at Kenny with a deep sadness behind his eyes.

“Yeah, that’s about what I thought,” He said, “It hurts. A life lost hurts so, so much. Trust me, I know.”

Polaris stood, his armor clinking and clanking with his movements, chain mail beneath the leather pieces made of rings shaking with his movements. He stepped over to the edge of the roof, looking down over the streets of Anchorsway, a cloak upon his back fluttering in the wind. Kenny squinted at him. The boy stepped forward to follow him, moving to the edge to stand beside him. He looked down to see where his mother fell, the red stain on the sidewalk he turned her into so many years ago. His gaze wandered over the streets, which to his surprise were littered with graves. Countless stone slabs cluttered the streets, from building to building, road to road. They trailed off into the distance where their gray slate seemed to cluster and make a mass, appearing almost as concrete to coat the landscape in the distance.

“None of them deserved it either.” Polaris frowned.

“Wh…” Kenny stared, unblinking, “Why?”

“Because at the time, I thought nothing of it.” Polaris explained, “At the time I believed I had no other course. You’ll find that taking a life only really has a few reasons for doing so. Many of them are mistakes.”

Kenny stared intensely at Polaris. “You killed all these people?”

Polaris huffed. “Yes,” He said, “And this is just one side of the building.”

Kenny raised his hands in disbelief, trying to box the vision of the city of graves in to see less of it. “Why?!” He shouted.

Polaris smirked, though it wasn’t without its pain. He chuckled a little, and shook his head. “I was going to be a great hero, you see,” He said, “There were going to be parades in my honor, celebrations, dancing, sex. So much sex. As soon as we found the perfect hosts, as soon as the fighting was over. I believed this with every molecule of my being. I heard the whispers in my ear day in and day out. Osoth promised. She told me everything I wanted to hear.”

Kenny stepped back. “You killed people because of her?”

“They were against our freedom, or so I was led to believe.” Polaris swept his hand over the landscape, gesturing to the thousands, tens of thousands of unmarked graves. He didn’t know the name of any one of them. “I only learned later that not a damn one of them wanted to take my freedom, my right to live away. They were merely defending theirs with everything they had. I ripped it away! A killing machine.”

Kenny thought back, rubbing his eyes. “That’s what you said with that Vor guy, right?”

“Can’t escape what we are, yes.” Polaris nodded, turning to face Kenny. “I want to know something, and I want a very honest answer out of you. Don’t think about it. Don’t give it even a split second of thought. No hesitation.”

Kenny looked Polaris up and down curiously. “What?” He asked.

Polaris canted his head toward the streets. “What do you think?”

Kenny furrowed his brows. “What do you mean what do I think?”

“Don’t think about it, just answer the question,” Polaris repeated, “What do you think?”

“This is…!” Kenny eyed the streets again, then Polaris once more.

“Come on!” Polaris said, “Out with it!”

“You ruined people’s lives!!”

Kenny paused, stepping back. Polaris had said the words at the exact same time as he did. “The fuck?” He asked, “What the heck was that?”

Polaris stepped up, and prodded a finger into Kenny’s chest. “That,” He said, “Right there. That’s you. That’s us.”

Kenny shook his head. he didn’t understand. “What the heck are you talking about?”

Polaris gestured out into the streets with both hands, not taking his eyes off Kenny. “What did you think I ruined their lives?! Of course I did! But they’re dead!” He shouted, “You didn’t mean them! You never mean them! They can’t be ruined, they’re dead! And I killed them!”

Polaris shoved Kenny’s chest with his finger, prodding him harshly. “It’s the people left behind!” He shouted, “It’s their pain and their broken hearts that hurt, isn’t it Kenny?! How does it feel, Kenny?! The dead, they don’t have to suffer anymore but the people who live? The people who get to wake up with that person gone, forever, how do they feel, hm?! You know exactly how it feels!”

“Grh!” Kenny bared his teeth.

“That’s why you’re so goddamn pissed off!” Polaris yelled. He stepped forward then and grabbed the sides of Kenny’s head to lock him into direct eye contact, staring him down. “Well, no more.”

Kenny grabbed Polaris’ head back, knocking his helmet off his head.

“Kenny, we are about to wake up into a world where human beings are suffering, because someone they knew or loved is going to be dead. Not just dead, killed. Murdered. Taken away.” Polaris said, calmer in tone, “Those worlds? Out there? There’s no one around to feel the pain anymore. The only person left to know their pain is me. I get to carry that forever. You know how this feels, and it doesn’t feel great, does it?”

Kenny winced. “No!”

“There are human beings out there who are going to hurt,” Polaris said, “Just like we do. They don’t deserve it. Maybe we do. Maybe we get to remember either to serve as our punishment or to serve as something more. But they don’t deserve that.”

Kenny eased up, shifting his hands from Polaris’ head to his shoulders instead, grabbing hold. “No,” he said, “They don’t. I never… I never wanted anyone to hurt like that. Nobody deserves that.”

Polaris gently slapped Kenny’s cheek a couple of times. “Then enough of the punishment. This doesn’t have to be a ball and chain. We are going to take that ball and chain and smack the hell out of that prana bitch with it. Okay?”

Kenny barely had to think about it. He nodded his head, eagerly. “She deserves it.”

Polaris released the boy and moved back to his sword, yanking it out of the metal roof. He walked back to Kenny and thrust the sword out, gripping it lengthwise and presenting it to Kenny. “To mine enemies, the sword. That’s part of what a knight does. The other?”

Kenny took the sword, holding it in one hand, studying the well-worn, bloodstained blade, with all its nicks and dents. He shifted it in his hand, feelings its weight. Then, he looked to his other, empty hand. “Sword and… shield?”

“To mine brothers, the shield.” Polaris nodded. “The original protect and serve. Under Osoth’s command, I never protected anyone. It was all taking, razing, pillaging. I was no knight, I was a criminal.”

Polaris raised his shield. Where it had come from, Kenny had no idea. It was a glorious steel plate, carved intricately and delicately with the blazing emblem of a pink skull lacking a bottom jaw practically shining off its surface. Polaris grinned, thrusting the shield out to bump Kenny with it, causing the boy to stumble. “I’ve been up here for a while,” Polaris said, “And amidst all the fantasies of giant-breasted butterflies and the unyielding grumpy rage, I find the only thinking you do of yourself is to beat yourself up. Personally, I think we’ve both had well enough time with that nonsense.”

Kenny checked his footing on the roof, then stepped forward to shove Polaris back. “Yeah well maybe… shut up.”

“So eloquent, Master Baxter,” Polaris teased, “Yes, I quite think Madam Iverson will be quite smitten with your shit attitude.”

“I think I’ve got bigger problems than that right now if I’m talking to an alien in my head.” Kenny said. He pushed forward and yanked the shield off Polaris’ arm. “Give me that,” He grumbled, getting a grip on it and stepping away from the edge of the building. He walked back to the service entrance and for the first time ever, he opened the door to the stairway below. “Maybe if I get to be a big hero, then I can care,” he said, marching down the stairs, “Until then, fuck it. I got other girls to literally slay.”

-
--
-

Kenny woke up seated uncomfortably on a crystal bench nestled into an alcove. He was propped up against the faux-cave wall and felt weak when he lifted his head off it to sit up straight. Next to him sat his father, Gerald, who noticed him wake up and nudged him for his attention. Gerald handed him some food – a few cookies, and a carton of juice. Kenny accepted them without a word, a little confused but not about to decline an offer of free food.

“You have to keep your strength up if you’re going to bleed all over the place like that,” Gerald gruffly said, almost mumbling, “Gonna give me a heart attack. You have to be more careful.”

Kenny stared at the cookie – some oatmeal and nut concoction. Macadamia maybe? He took a bite out of it and chewed it up, nodding his head. “Yeah. But if I didn’t do anything, it would have been worse.”

Gerald spread his fingers over his mustache and down around his lips to tug on the bottom one. “I already lost my wife, I’m not losing my son too,” He said, “That Inkling of yours better take better care of you, or I swear I’ll pull it out of you myself.”

“Well, I wouldn’t worry about that,” Kenny said before switching gears, “Where’s Quincey at?”

“I don’t know.” Gerald shrugged, “Right now Eddie and the other Arbitrators are trying to decide what to do. I figure she can’t be too far.”

Kenny rose from the bench, knocking his sword over with his foot. He didn’t realize it had been set down there resting against the base of the bench. He knelt to pick it up, but Gerald stopped him and said, “I was wondering if you’d let me have a look at that for a while.”

“Why?” Kenny asked.

Gerald raised his hand in a firm and dismissive motion of not wanting to continue the line of questioning. “Just, let me hold onto that for you for now.”

Kenny stood back up. “Alright, well… I have to go find the others. Thanks, Dad.”

“Yeah,” Gerald said, “Go on.”

The voices of Harbington’s citizens echoing throughout the underground snow-themed tram station grew readily apparent after a few steps. The alcoves themselves had a sort of noise-dampening field around them, which had blocked out the crowded garbage sound of hundreds of voices all mixing together. Just rounding a corner, Kenny saw everyone he ever knew and everyone he didn’t all packed together almost shoulder to shoulder in the underground, trying to vie for space. People were so close together, so distressed, that they were pitting themselves against each other. They pushed and shoved and yelled at one another. The police among them failed to keep any semblance of peace among the crowd, but were at least able to place themselves physically between people before fights broke out. Adults almost ran over children trying to get places, any courtesy or consideration for each other thrown entirely out the window in the interest in self-preservation.

The dome had never been so divided in Kenny’s entire life. Even when people disagreed on things, they could usually sort it out amicably, or even hold a big Town meet to settle differences if they were important enough. People talked in the Harbington he knew, but it didn’t look anything like that now. People were withdrawing into themselves. He could see it everywhere he looked. He was rather intimately familiar with the feeling. People didn’t know who was or wasn’t inked, or maybe they just didn’t care anymore. No matter who it was, they were keeping one another at arm’s length. Some of them had been hurt so much that day that they didn’t trust anyone not to make it worse.

Kenny stepped carefully into the mess.

“Back off!” A rather squishy-looking slug woman tried to look threatening in the face of a taller wolf man.

“Outta my way, lady!” The man yelled back at her. The two of them had no room to maneuver around one another, the crowds around them pushing them together to their increasing frustration. When Kenny approached them, that changed immediately. They stopped arguing to look at him, and then they both just moved aside. Not just them, everyone moved aside. They found space, squishing one another to part and give the lemming boy a clear path and a noticeably wide berth. He was granted his own little bubble. People closed in again a few feet behind him, but nobody would dare get close.

That’s right, everyone had seen him fight Epheral, hadn’t they? They saw him and Polaris struggle and fail, therefore outing him as having an Elite Inkling, complete with magical superpowers. Even without his sword, it seemed Kenny was frightening enough to command a level of caution. It felt more alien still with how small he was compared to many other citizens. There were people head and shoulders taller than him that backed off when he got close like they were afraid he’d just break them in half. Kenny huffed and then slurped noisily through the straw of his juice box. He tried to just ignore it as he carried on, trying to find Eddie or someone and just get together with Quincey again. Being with someone in a comparable situation would have helped make him feel a little better.

FLOOSH.

Quincey stepped out of a nearby bathroom, the flushing of the toilet announcing her presence to the world. She breathed in, then sighed it out as she slumped in a minor relief that, for a moment, made her feel just a little better about the situation she was in. When she opened her eyes, she saw Kenny standing there, and she perked up. “Oh!” She said, “You’re awake!” She hurried over to him, the people giving her a similarly large area to walk in, despite their initial crowding.

“Are you okay?” She asked, her eyes falling to his left hand that held his cookies. Kenny raised it, staring at the white, slightly stained bandages that were wrapped around it, housing the injury via impalement he had suffered at Epheral’s hand.

“It only huts a little I guess,” Kenny confessed, “What about you?”

Quincey pulled on her turtleneck top to ease the constricting feeling around her throat, just so she could gulp. “I’m okay…” She said, a little shaky, “A-A little sore, but… I-I’m fine.”

Only the sounds of a few gasps lost in the crowds warned Kenny before he was hit with a beverage cup that opened on impact and splashed juice all over his shoulder and the side of his head. Quincey squealed in surprise, and Kenny suffered a bit of whiplash as he dropped his own food to the floor and snapped back to root out the culprit of such a sudden and abrupt attack against his person. “What the fuck?!” He yelled, only to be answered by a screaming, crying child running full tilt right at him.

The toad-girl’s features were scrunched up into a blubbering, wailing, angry mess of an expression as she ran into Kenny, nearly bowling him over. She balled up her little fists and started slamming them against his chest, pounding on him relentlessly, surprising him and knocking a little wind out of him. She bawled, screaming out hate and anger as she beat on him. Quincey tried to get her to stop, but the girl was a wild fireball in small blue shorts and a pink shirt with a daisy on the front. She was so frantic and erratic, she couldn’t be contained.

“RRRAAAAHHH!!” She screamed at the top of her lungs until they got choked out by her sobbing. Kenny was too surprised to really react, but her buffet of fists to his chest were weak despite all the fury she packed behind them. She beat on his chest to trivial effect other than expressing her anger.

“Hey! HEY!” Daxton emerged from the crowd, still in his torn-up clothes, so tattered by Epheral’s previous beating on him that his sticker was visible from a hole near the center of his pants. He rushed in to try and break the fight up.

“YOU KILLED MY MOMMY!” The girl screamed, “IT’S YOUR FAULT! YOURS! I HATE YOU!”

Even Daxton took pause at that. Everyone did.

“I HATE YOU, YOU’RE STUPID! AAAAAGH!” She struck him over and over until her arms got tired. Then she just grabbed his shirt and shook him, her head hung as she cried. “I – hic – I want my mommy!!”

Quincey snorted, tears running down her face as well as she covered her mouth and nose with her hands. “Oh no…”

“Hey, stop.” Daxton finally stepped in, trying to wrest the girl away from Kenny. “Knock it off, it’s not his fault!”

“Daxton, stop.” Kenny said, surprisingly calm. “Just let her go.”

Daxton stepped back. Kenny let the girl shake him around, hit him, and scream at him for several seconds, not doing a thing in retaliation. Eventually, she just fell onto the floor like her knees gave out and she laid there. She tried stopping her tears but she couldn’t. She’d screamed until her throat felt hoarse. All she had the energy left to do was lay there and whine in her sadness. Kenny made no effort to help her, or talk to her, or anything that might have absolved him of her blame. He just watched her until someone came and collected her. It didn’t seem like a parent. Maybe it was her teacher.

“Her mom died,” Kenny said, “Fault doesn’t even mean anything anymore.”

Daxton awkwardly stepped forward again. “Kenny, look, it’s gonna be…”

“Don’t be a moron, Daxton, it’s not going to be fine.” Kenny cut in, looking Daxton right in face. The small flare of anger washed away into something more somber as he added, “Not for her, anyway. Not ever. Being killed is different than dying.”

Frustrated, Daxton shook his head. “I’m just saying Epheral did it!” He gestured at Kenny, “Not you!”

“No, she’s right, we did it.” Kenny said, jabbing a finger into Daxton’s chest, “If you hadn’t gone to the school we might have been able to stop it!”

Daxton reeled back. “What? Are you blaming this on me? Seriously?! Someone had to go!”

Kenny sighed. “I know,” He said, “But because we didn’t have enough people to fight, other people died. That’s just the reality of it. We screwed up, Daxton! Maybe those people could have lasted a bit longer, or maybe Natalie shouldn’t have gone back to Locksmouth or… anything else. It was a wrong decision. We underestimated Epheral.”

“We have to take responsibility for this one.” Kenny crossed his arms.

“That’s bullshit,” Daxton argued, “We did everything we could!”

“Oh yeah? Did we?” Kenny stepped up to Daxton, “Mister Never-Give-Up is trying to make excuses now? You can blame whatever you want, it doesn’t change what happened! You fucked up! You failed. We all did! That’s the end of it.”

“What?! No!” Daxton bared his teeth and balled his fists, “You’re starting to get on my nerves, what’s wrong with you? You’re always ‘we have to take responsibility’ and shit, for things that aren’t even in your control!”

“She used my powers to fucking kill people!” Kenny shouted, “We should have been here! We should have stopped it!”

“W-What powers?” Quincey asked, “What…?”

“We can’t be everywhere at once!” Daxton growled, “What do you think I am… her?” He thrust a finger out at Quincey. “And I guess you’re gonna blame her for being asleep this whole time, huh?”

“Wait,” Quincey said, “Stop.”

Kenny knit his eyebrows into an angry glare. “If anything her being asleep should have made us re-evaluate! I’m not saying it’s not my fault too!”

“And I’m not saying that’s not what you’re saying!” Daxton almost shook in anger, his knuckles whitened under his fur.

Quincey ran into them, knocking them both out of the way. She duplicated, one Quincey for either boy, and she shoved them back away from one another and got into their faces to shout a loud, collective “STOP” at them both. Surprised, the boys’ anger withered away, and they were stunned. The pigs were identical down to their jeans and boots, and seeing Quincey separate into a yellow and blue gelatinous blob that then solidified into an apparent flesh-and-blood replica pig startled everyone who had gathered around for the spectacle.

“This is terrible!” Quincey sniffled, “Why do you two have to make it worse by fighting? Stop it right now!”

The crowds were reacting every bit to the collection of superheroes having a heated argument as they should have. Their anger had subsided and turned into actual, real fear for their safety. Just by getting into a fight, Daxton and Kenny had managed to break down the division of Harbington’s people and turned it into a collective concern for their well-being as they huddled together for protection.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Kenny surrendered.

“Fine.” Daxton took Quincey’s hands off his chest and held them tenderly. “Alright.”

The two pig girls sighed in relief. “Good,” They said together; then the one holding Kenny back popped like a cartoon balloon into a spray of blue and yellow ink that just vanished into the air.

DING-DONG

The PA system in the underground chimed. “Attention Harbington,” a man’s voice spoke over the intercom, “We are currently in the process of bringing more trains to the central mall station for boarding. When they arrive, all citizens are instructed to board and await departure to Locksmouth Dome City. More trains will arrive to the station and all citizens will board for departure to Locksmouth Dome City. You are advised to prepare and wait calmly for this time.”

People stared at the ceiling, as it wasn’t obvious just where that voice was coming from. “Huh? We’re going to Locksmouth?” Murmurs began through the crowds as the news settled in with everyone. Confused, none made any attempt to begin their preparations right away, but they did begin talking among themselves about the development. During the confusion, Natalie and Samantha emerged from the sea of people to approach Daxton, Quincey, and Kenny. They looked more serious than ever for a moment, but Natalie attempted to dispel her own dour mood by carelessly shrugging her shoulders. It became readily obvious that she was the one who came up with this plan.

“We’re going to Locksmouth?” Quincey asked.

“Again.” Daxton added.

Natalie nodded, putting her hands on her hips as confidently as possible. “Yep!” She said, “Until this whole Epheral thing is sorted out, Harbington’s going to have to stay in Locksmouth. Cedric is just going to have to make room in that crummy neighbourhood of his for a little while.”

“This is to protect you all, of course,” Samantha added, “We thought the best way to ensure this kind of thing doesn’t happen again would be to pool our resources. If we all fight against Epheral together when the time comes, we’ll stand a much better chance of not repeating this horrible incident.”

“It was the same when Osoth was in town,” Natalie said, “Even Cedric helped out with that. Things always get better when superhero teams team up together! And now that every single one of you guys has an Inkling, we stand an even better chance than before.”

“Every one of us?” Quincey blinked, “Wait, did… Laila fly here?”

Daxton looked quizzically at his girlfriend. “Oh, you didn’t know? Yeah, uh… while you were out, Kenny got Polaris’ powers and Laila got some new wind Inkling named Sylph. I got Harley’s Inkling, Lumina, too.”

“…” Quincey blinked her eyes a few times. “Whaaaat?! But Polaris is…!”

“Yeah, we know.” Natalie grinned sheepishly.

Quincey looked all around for Laila, who she couldn’t find. “And who is Sylph? I don’t understand!”

“I think we found her at the CCC,” Kenny rubbed the back of his head, “I guess she bonded with Laila somehow.”

“S-Somehow?! W-What do you people do when I have naps?!” Quincey flustered.

Samantha curled some of her hair around her finger. “Well, to be fair, darling, your nap did last an entire day from what I heard.”

“It did?!” Quincey squealed. She sighed and leaned into Daxton, hugging him close. “I think I need to sit down.”

Natalie laughed. “Haha! W… Wow. Yeah, alright, maybe there’s some things we need to go over just to be safe,” She said, “But you guys should probably get ready. You and Sam are going to be looking after the trains.”

Kenny raised his eyebrows. “We are?”

“We are?!” Samantha’s eyes bugged and she shot Natalie a look. “We did not go over this!”

“Harbington Team, go?” Natalie raised her fist meekly. “I mean, we have to make sure everyone lives long enough to get to Locksmouth. This is super important. It just kind of came to me right now.”

“And you’re our leader!” Samantha exasperated, almost able to feel the ends of her hair splitting with her frustration. She raised her hands in surrender however and sighed. “I mean, I see your point and it’s a very good one, but… I wish you’d have just a little more forethought than this, Natalie.”

Natalie gave Samantha a cheesy grin. “Heheh.”

“Wait, what are you going to do?” Quincey asked.

Natalie looked confused, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Me? I have to go back to Locksmouth, obviously. Someone’s gotta get things ready for when you get here and if I really am going to use Cedric’s space, I’m going to have to fight him for it. I’m going to have to bring Jacent and Carrie…”

“Oh my god you didn’t think any of this through.” Daxton blanked.

“Oh look,” Kenny huffed, “Another thing you two have in common.”

Daxton shot the boy a look. “Tch, shut up.”

Natalie threw up her hands in another shrug, turning on the heels of her boots. She instructed them one last time before she made her way probably towards the nearest mirror. “Okay then! Sam, make sure they don’t get into trouble.”

“Natalie, wait a moment!” Samantha pleaded, but Natalie just waved her off. Samantha sighed in defeat. “She could have at least let me get my comb.”

-
--
-

Daxton pulled his shirt out and looked down at it. The blue top had big, bold letters on it that drew attention to his chest. That wouldn’t have been so bad if the letters didn’t spell “I’M WITH STUPID” and the accompanying arrow wasn’t pointed right up at his face. He had also changed into a brown pair of shorts, a baggy sort with some loose buckles hanging off the sides. It would have been a little too wide around for him, but his butt filled the back and his muscular thighs filled the legs just well enough to keep them from sliding too far down. Of course, that did show off a bit of the cleft under his lack of a tail. He looked up at his parents then and said, “You guys are real funny.”

Edward hugged Eddie around his middle. “If you’re going to throw yourself into danger constantly, then you’re going to do it with my harsh criticism,” Edward said, “Besides, you’re not that upset.”

“I’ll own this shirt! I don’t care!” Daxton boasted.

Eddie laughed and rubbed Edward’s arm, holding the beaver close. “It’s just a little reminder about how worried your parents are for you.”

Daxton was ready to tell them not to worry, but he stopped himself short of that and just accepted it. With everything that had gone on, he had to be more mindful of other people’s concerns.

“So, you know the plan?” Eddie asked.

“Yeah, the injured go into the first train with the doctors so that they get there first,” Daxton said, “And each train will have one of us on it to protect them in case Epheral comes running.”

“The police too, don’t forget,” Eddie reminded his son, “And some of the left-over Eos people.”

“What? Them?” Daxton gasped, “Why?”

“They volunteered,” Eddie shrugged, “Even that big one. We were all set to say no, but Mrs. Procsman was incredibly… vocal about letting them help if they wanted to. Poor woman lost her son when that… thing… attacked us, she basically wouldn’t take no for an answer. She might be old and have the shakes, but I think if it came down to it she would have thrown me and every other Arbitrator onto the floor to get her way.”

Daxton grit his teeth over the idea of Garrison helping. “Call me crazy, but I don’t think I’m comfortable working with the asshole who threatened to kill me just to get his way. Isn’t he too injured to do anything?”

“Maybe, but if he decides to get up and do anything, don’t expect me to try and stop him.” Eddie held up a hand and shook his head, “An ex-Tackle Tosser isn’t much against an ex-super soldier. Besides, he can’t do anything. Things have gone too far for that, fighting you and your friends is pointless. None of the other Eos soldiers even want to consider it. You’ve effectively beat them into submission.”

“Well, good!” Daxton relished in the accomplishment, “I guess even those idiots are smart enough – just barely – to know that Epheral’s the bigger problem.”

“Well, I mean, look around.” Eddie said. He looked around the clothing store where several parts of it had been eaten away by the white blankness Epheral left behind from the charcoal prana shards that were stuck into the ground. It spread at a mercifully slow pace, allowing people to navigate around the empty patches in such a way as to avoid any immediate danger. Many weren’t brave enough. Eddie and Edward were only above-ground at Daxton’s insistence that nothing bad would happen to them, and even then, it took them a long time to be convinced. Now that they were up there, the image was simply surreal. It was an eerie calm among the emptiness and the debris scattered around the clothing store.

“If this isn’t the bigger problem, I don’t know what is.” Edward frowned, “Even when Quincey gave us the ink scare, it wasn’t anything like this. We were really stupid to think Duplex was so dangerous. Clearly we didn’t know what we were dealing with.”

“Duplex is fine anyway,” Daxton said, “It’s… practically just like Quincey now.”

“And what about yours?” Edward asked, “That… Lumina? How are they?”

Daxton paused. “She’s… fine,” He said, “We’re still kind of getting used to things. I used a lot of her power back at the school, I really need a nap before we get on those trains. We’re really going to be packed into those things like sardines, huh?”

“Yeah, well, what choice to we have?” Eddie shrugged, “The skiffs will keep us up, the weight limit isn’t so low that it can’t be handled. Locksmouth is only, what, twenty minutes away? It’s not a lot of time for things to go wrong.”

“Yeah, well, just in case…” Daxton put his hands on his hips and eyed some of the ethereal patches Epheral had left behind. “Epheral’s spiteful to the core. I think she’ll come at us again for sure.”

Edward got flustered. “T… That doesn’t fill me with confidence, sweetie.”

“No, this time… this time I’m not screwing around.” Daxton scowled, “If she shows her face around here one more time, I’ll destroy her.”

“That… is a scary look on your face.” Eddie said, “You be careful, alright? Let’s… just go back downstairs.”

Daxton and his parents left the store to return to the underground, where things had gotten much more organized over the span of a few hours, into the evening. Some of the trains had arrived from the other stations already, and there were only a couple more to get into position and loaded up before they could start leaving. All the tracks were set for the inter-dome between Harbington and Locksmouth, and from what people had been saying it seemed Locksmouth was expecting them. Natalie was no doubt doing work back home, so they at least didn’t have to worry about their destination. Still, Daxton couldn’t shake that the journey would be bothersome. Epheral’s construct goons had already tried attacking a couple more times. Him, Laila and Kenny smashed them all up.

They were getting tired though. Daxton yawned and was reminded that he desperately needed somewhere to sleep.

“Daxton!”

He’d only just gotten to the bottom of the stairs before Harley came running, which was hard for her small, but generously overdeveloped frame. She had a big fat smile on her young face though, one that spread her beauty mark out to the far end of her cheek. She ran and jumped at Daxton, grabbing onto him with arms and legs and hugging him tight against her body. “Thank yoooou!”

She was followed by Sophie and Vernon, from the school. Looking at Sophie’s long black hair and Vernon’s slate gray fur, it became pretty apparent that the shrew and opossum pair were her parents. “You saved momma and papa!” The girl squeaked, “Thank you so much! And thank you, too, Lumi!”

“Lumi?” Daxton held the girl up, cupping under her rear to do so, “You gave her a nickname? Are you sure you don’t want her back?”

“Oh no, I’m sure,” She said, “A-Absolutely sure, I could never fight like you. But shhh, my parents don’t know.” She whispered the last part, looking at Daxton with pleading eyes.

“I won’t tell a soul.” Daxton grinned, looking past her at her parents.

“You’ve got a fan,” Vernon said, still dawned in his old gray jumpsuit for his janitorial duties. Like Laila though, he’d undone the top and ties the sleeves around his waist. Was it just normal for people in suits to do that? “You best be a good role model.”

“Your daughter is doomed.” Edward sassed.

“Whoa, dad, please.” Daxton laughed.

“But Daxton’s a real super hero!” Harley smiled so bright, “He saved me, then he saved my parents! You’re my hero forever!”

“Hm… I try.” Daxton nodded, trying to avoid the reality that he couldn’t, in fact, save everyone similarly. Harley was so happy, but that girl from before was so, so sad… it didn’t level out the way he wished it would. “I have to try harder though.”

Harley, young though she was, nodded in complete understanding. “I know, but you never ever quit, so I know you’ll try your best.”

Harley then kissed him on the cheek, very fast and very suddenly before she got down and giggled, shuffling off a blushing and nervous wreck. Vernon and Sophie were speechless, though they tried to stutter some response to stop their daughter from running off. They hurriedly thanked Daxton again and ran off after their daughter, leaving Daxton a bit flush, but grinning ear to ear himself. Harley’s happiness, while she was usually so meek, was infectious… and slightly enlightening. Not everything was bad, even if most things were.

“Well? How about that?” Daxton turned to his parents and crossed his arms in haughty pride, “Real hero business right there. You can’t argue with that. Complete with kiss from girl.”

“I never said you don’t so amazing things, sweetie,” Edward said, “I just said your decision to do amazing things is stupid and dangerous. I stand by my statements.”

“Maybe you should go have that nap before you’re swarmed by more of your adoring fans,” Eddie suggested, “Try an alcove.”

“Right. Alright. Thanks dad.” Daxton turned to head that way, pushing past people who either seemed to revere or detest him, or just laugh at his shirt.

He made his way to one of the alcoves where, when he turned around the corner toward them, the sound just seemed to die away from outside the bubble. Sitting there was Kenny. He’d gone off on his own, cleaned up his shirt, though his pants still had some rips and slices in them where Epheral had cut him. He didn’t look too worse for wear. Daxton approached him. “Hey,” He said, “You get the feeling Epheral’s going to attack the trains too?”

“If she didn’t, I’d be surprised and almost disappointed in how far she’ll go to flip the bitch on us.” Kenny said, hugging one knee to his chest. “Hey, I’m sorry for yelling at you.”

“Great, you’re sorry for a single time. Only about a thousand more to go.” Daxton rather scornfully responded. While he may have been a little justified in doing so, he dialed it back a bit. “Yeah, well, you’re not wrong. This whole super power thing kinda started out fun, but… it’s not really that fun anymore.”

“You’re such an idiot…” Kenny groaned.

“Man, I shoot lasers from my hands,” Daxton said, “If I can set aside for like five seconds that half of Harbington is being absorbed into an infinite void, that is pretty awesome. I didn’t even know I wanted to shoot lasers this bad. Look, I can sparkle too.”

Daxton snapped his fingers, and glittering lights formed around him to indeed sparkle for a few moments before disappearing. “Sparkles!” He repeated.

“… I have a sword,” Kenny said, “And with Polaris’ help it’s like, I have this guy who’s fought a hundred wars moving me around. He knows how to use it. I’ve never been more badass in my entire life. It’s… pretty cool, I guess. It just sucks when it doesn’t work out.”

“Does Polaris kinda drive that whole thing?” Daxton asked, “I’ve never noticed that with Lumina.”

“Yeah well if you haven’t noticed? You’re kind of always in the driver seat for everything you do and everyone else is forced to just follow your lead.” Kenny gave Daxton a sidelong look and grinned, “It’s so bad that even a symbiote can’t keep up.”

“I… huh.” Daxton lowered his gaze thoughtfully. “I’m learning a lot about myself today.”

“Yeah, that’s what happens in situations like these.” Kenny sat back and crossed his legs. “What about Quincey, huh? Isn’t she something?”

“She’s… the leader of our pack,” Daxton said in almost a revelation, “She’s just so… take-charge sometimes and it’s really weird and different. She’s gotten into real actual fights!”

“Don’t like it?” Kenny asked.

“Hell no, I wish she’d do that when we OC!” Daxton laughed, “It’d be way different!” Kenny just rolled his eyes at the notion.

“You can’t take anything seriously, can you?” Kenny asked.

Daxton looked at Kenny and grinned. He kicked up his feet and threw his body down to plant his head onto Kenny’s lap, face-down at first then turning to lay on his side and get comfortable. Kenny squeaked in alarm and got all flustered. “Kenny, you don’t want to see me get serious about this,” Daxton sighed, getting comfortable, “I don’t wanna scare you.”

“Oh please.” Kenny grumbled.

“Seriously.” Daxton wiped the smile off his face. “You don’t just come into my town and kill people. I’m going to tear Epheral apart. Piece by piece. Then when we get at her core, I’m gonna tear that apart piece by piece.”

“Huh.” Kenny pushed his hand under Daxton’s hat and pulled it off his head. In the same motion, he ran his fingers through Daxton’s blonde hair. “You’re gonna have to beat me to it.”

“I don’t mind handicapping myself to bare hands while you’re using a sword,” Daxton yawned, “I gotta give you a chance, after all.”

“… I think protecting people is going to be more important though.” Kenny somberly said, “You gonna help me with that?”

Daxton nodded, rubbing his cheek against Kenny’s lap. “Any finger she lays on anyone, I’ll shatter. Now shut up and be my pillow for a while.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Kenny blushed, raising his hands to hold them behind his head and lean back.

Daxton laid there for a while, relaxing, his breathing slowing down. A few moments of silence and he broke it by saying, “You’re different.”

“And you’re the same as ever.” Kenny blushed, “Always liked that about you. Never change, stupid.”

“You got it, bitch.” Daxton chuckled.

-
--
-

“Laila darling, I just don’t know,” Gunther stroked his goatee with one hand and dotingly pet Valyrie’s head with the other. His little girl rested in his lap while his not-so-little girl had been trying to convince him that the whole Sylph thing was a good thing. She was finally able to stop sitting around on the sidelines and do something, but naturally her parents had reservations like all the others. “I got half a mind to ground you for the rest of your life. Super powers? Everything I’ve seen from these super powers spells trouble. You can’t be a superhero and a farmer at the same time, you have to pick just one!”

“While I would happily disagree with your father on a good many things, honey, I can’t disagree with him on this.” Eden, Laila’s mother, sat next to Laila’s father and joined in on talking her out of her madness. While her husband still wore his work suit like Laila did, Eden wore a rather quaint dress. Proper southern fashion, a lavish purple with a band around her middle, the skirt only reaching above her knees. It offset her golden waterfall of cascading honey-blonde hair. “This is just dangerous! We don’t want you to get hurt like your sister.”

“And I don’t want YOU to get hurt like my sister!” Laila argued, “Y’see, if I got these powers I can protect ya’ll a whole heck of a lot easier than if I don’t. That ain’t just hot air, that’s common sense!”

“Well I’m putting my foot down,” Gunther lifted his chin, “No adventuring escapades for any daughter of mine.”

Laila narrowed her eyes at him. She put her hands on her hips and leaned over him. “Oh yeah? Stop me.”

Gunter and Eden paused, looked at each other, then back to Laila again. “Laila honey, be reasonable,” Eden said, “Now isn’t the time to rebel against your parents, this is serious!”

“I’m dead serious!” Laila insisted, “And I ain’t no stranger to doin’ things ya’ll don’t want me to do none, so what?”

“That was a phase, you know better!” Gunther rose his voice a little.

“Nuh uh!” Laila said, “Look at Val. Look at her foot. It’s purpler than an eggplant in the fall! Look at that n’ tell me I ain’t supposed to do everythin’ I can to make sure that don’t happen twice!”

Gunther did not look, nor appreciate being told what to do by his own daughter. He got defensive. “Laila, I am your father and you will listen to me.”

“I’m takin’ your farm when you kick it,” Laila hit him back with the cold, hard truth, “Ya’ll are always gonna be my father and I love you like nothin’ else. That’s why I ain’t listenin’ to another word of all this and I’m gonna take my boot and stick it up Epheral’s butt! I don’t wanna have to run that farm tomorrow! So, stop tryin’ to stop me already and just let me do what I wanna do!”

Eden placed her hand daintily on her husband’s shoulder. “Gunther… let her go.”

“I’ve never been able to get you to do what I want before, why start now?” Gunther grumbled, turning his attention to Valyrie instead. “Git.”

“Hmph!” Laila turned on her heels and strode away angrily. Once she was far enough away from her parents, she exhaled the breath she’d been holding and started to get uncomfortable. She looked out over the sea of people bustling about to get ready, unable to keep from shifting her weight from one leg to the other, rolling her hips back and forth. She was getting mad, and worried, and it was making an emotion soup inside her that came out the same way it always did – flush heat. It was a discomfort she always felt in the very pit of her body, and she had the sudden need to work it all out. She scanned around until she saw Quincey. She was with some younger kids who seemed to be crowding around her. Laila wasted no time clearing a path to her.

She stepped right over one such child and then leaned down behind Quincey to take the portly girl into her arms. “Quincey darlin’, can I borrow ya’ll for just a few minutes?”

Laila let her tongue hang out like she was trying to be a cute puppy. The fact that it hung out from Quincey’s shoulder to her breast presented a very different image, however. “O-Oh! Laila! Um, okay!”

Laila hauled Quincey off in a hurry, leading her by the hand to make a beeline for a bathroom. She slammed the door open as she stepped inside with Quincey in tow, and she pushed Quincey up against the counter with the sinks and pinned her against them with her taller body. She hugged Quincey close, then pulled her small white tank top away from her chest to stuff Quincey’s head up inside of it. Quincey’s hair and ears pushed out of the neck hole in the top, those ears red as her face blushed like a tomato. “Mrph?!” Quincey muffled a cry.

“Quincey baby, tell me ya’ll got some sorta plan or idea in mind for this kerfuffle,” Laila shivered, “I just got done hollerin’ at my dad over all this and he’s right! I’m as jittery as a cat on a hot tin roof! What’s gonna happen when everybody gets their keisters to Locksmouth? Are we gonna fight Epheral or what? Does Duplex know anything at all about how this thing normally goes, or what?!”

Quincey wrestled her way out from Laila’s bosom, pushing her head out of the neck of her top. “Pwah!” She gasped, blushing scarlet, glasses crooked. “I… I see you’re very nervous about all this…” She said, rather nervous herself suddenly. She pat Laila’s side though and forced a smile. “It’s alright though. Natalie seems to think we’ll be fighting, so… maybe we will.”

“Guh, I ain’t keen on that,” Laila leaned into Quincey, smothering her again, “I’m getting’ ants in m’pants.”

“L-Laila, please!” Quincey fussed, “Just… Just try!”

“I can’t!” Laila whined, “I can’t stop worryin’, it’s drivin’ me nuts. Reckon I need a distraction.”

“Laila, come on… we can’t get distracted now!” Quincey tried to reason with the giraffe, while also trying to get away from her. “It’s going to be okay, s-surely!”

“It ain’t supposed to be this way!” Laila complained, “I knew from the moment ya’ll got that Duplex in ya that everything’d gone to heck, but this is beyond heck! It’s like super heck! It’s like if heck fell into a vat of super growth fertilizing formula, and got super enormous n’ twice as mean! People’re gettin’ hurt! It’s a bit too much, even for me! I just… ah!”

Laila gasped, feeling Quincey’s hand push down under her tied-off work jumpsuit to slip between her legs and began ministering the only distraction Laila would respond to when she got all worked up. Laila let out a sigh and leaned over Quincey, breathing out another, more calm exhalation and closed her eyes. “Ooooh…” She moaned, “I’m sorry, porky. I just… whew…”

“It’s okay to be worried,” Quincey said, all wrapped up in Laila’s body when the giraffe wrapped her arms around her head. Pinned to Laila, she had little choice but to continue to manipulate her fingers, gently gliding her fingertips along and pressing in places like a button to make Laila’s hips move involuntarily backward and up in small, bucking motions. “If it’s too much, I… I won’t ask you to do anything. You can sit it out… if you want. But I’m going to try. I promised I would.”

“Quincey, I ain’t… ever… gonna let you do somethin’ like this all by yourself… I… I promised I’d be there for ya’ll n-no matter what.” Laila crooned, leaning most of her torso on the other girl so she could push her hips back at just the right angle. Her thighs squeezed around Quincey’s hand, trapping it. “A-Ahaha… I guess… it’s just too crazy. Everythin’. A-Aliens, clone pigs, wind powers… e-e-everythinnnn’.”

Laila’s tongue spilled out from between her lips again when she tensed and shuddered, the very tip of the long muscle tickling Quincey’s ear. She squeaked out stifled sound, and then relaxed again. Quincey gave her a moment to recover, then curled her fingers in for a firmer rubbing. “I’m glad… I’d want you there with me,” She said, “We’ll both try our best. T-That’s all we can do.”

Laila reeled her tongue back in. “That ain’t all you can do…” She cooed, teasing Quincey’s hair with her fingers, “If’n ya’ll feel so inclined, I could trouble ya for a spell to spend a little time with me. Just… to settle my fears, is all. Ease my frustrations. Ya’ll’re so good at it, y’see. Yer very… comforting. Always have been. I could just… use a little bit of that right now.”

Quincey squeaked, her heart beating like a drum. “Y-You know, um… when this all started, I… was kind of wondering what good I am to all of you.” She said, nuzzling against Laila’s chest affectionately, “So it makes me really happy to hear that.”

“I was worried about you, piglet.” Laila confessed in a pleasured sigh, “But ya’ll don’t seem so delicate anymore. Ain’t about to shake the leaves off ya with just a breeze.”

“Thanks, Laila.” Quincey smiled.

“Now, c’mon.” Laila grabbed Quincey and pulled her, leading her away from the sinks. She backed into a stall instead, and didn’t even bother to close the door behind them. “Show me what ya’ll are good for to me.”", "pools_count": 1, "title": "Issue 27: Breakthroughs", "deleted": "f", "public": "t", "mimetype": "application/msword", "pagecount": "1", "rating_id": "2", "rating_name": "Adult", "ratings": [ { "content_tag_id": "5", "name": "Strong Violence", "description": "Strong violence, blood, serious injury or death", "rating_id": "2" } ], "submission_type_id": "12", "type_name": "Writing - Document", "guest_block": "f", "friends_only": "f", "comments_count": "3", "views": "143" }