Chapter Ten: The Chapter after the Shortest Chapter?
So, that morning, we all met up in the Lounge. Ranma had been happy enough to provide food for us, so we sat there munching on a really cool chicken dish he'd prepared for us. Terra was well fed and fixed up, and Trisha appeared to be over my influence, as did Laura, more or less. Thank god for that, I guess.
"So when do we start?" I asked. Terra smiled, putting down her tea. "Now." She said, standing up.
"Whoa, right now?!" I said, surprised.
"Yes. Right now. I hope you've all enjoyed your stay here, cause things are going to get a lot darker before the day is out." She said. "Let's go." She said, walking out of the house. I frowned, stood up, and followed her. Laura seemed to be a bit less talkative than normal... Maybe she was embarrassed by what she had said under my influence?
"...You okay there?" I said, looking over my shoulder at Laura. She nodded, looking away. "I'm fine..." She managed.
"Yay! Let's go kill some monsters!" Trisha said, punching the air enthusiastically. I frowned, and facepalmed. Oh well, at least she was trying to liven up the place. When was the last joke, like, chapter freakin' two? It's time to take this story out of its Cerberus Syndrome status, if you ask me.
"Alright!" I said, punching the air alongside her. "Time to have fun and kick some monster ass, maybe pull out a spine or two!" I said, enthusiastically.
"...Don't remind me about that, I might throw up." Kate said, looking green. Okay, maybe that was a bad joke.
"Nyeh! Lighten up!" I said, smacking Kate lightly. "Is that your new catchphrase? Nyeh?" She said, looking amused.
"Hey, I like that specific abridged series! Nyeh!" I said.
"...Well, whatever. It fits, I guess." Kate said, folding her arms.
"Nyeh. Lets go, guys! We need a name for our team! Any ideas, Trisha?!" I said, enthusiastically. She jumped up and down, obviously trying really hard to think about one.
"Ooh, ooh, Team Deltaforce Alphastrike!" She said, enthusiastically. Did I mention she was enthusiastic?
"Good for me. Let's go, Team D-A!" I said, punching the air again. "Woo, Team D-A!" Ella said, rolling her eyes and snickering.
"...This story used to be comedy. What happened to comedy?" I said, facepalming. "It got replaced with angst?" She suggested. "No. Bad angst. Rule one for this stories continuation: NO MORE ANGST. This means you, Kate. I'm so changing your character to be much like she was before in personality!" I said. "You can do that? Rofl." Kate snickered. "I'm the freaking author, I can do anything." I said. "Oh crap, they just repaired that fourth wall... I guess it was broken just enough for the dramatic elements of the story to change! What were we all talking about again?" I said, forgetting what had just happened, but keeping a light hearted tone.
"Lesbian Bimbos?" Kate suggested. "I somehow doubt that..." I said, facepalming. "Anyway, that was a very, err, Jeremy-like thing to say. Finally over your 'ohmigod-I'm-a-girl-now-and-I-have-boobs' induced angst?" I said, holding out my hand for a high five. "Yeah, somehow. It was there one second, and gone the next. Woot." She said, receiving my high-five enthusiastically.
"Let's go kill some monsters! Yeah!" I said. God, it's good to be the author...
So, with increased bravery and morale, we left the Dojo, and Ranma behind. We were following what appeared to be traces of dark energy, when Laura said something unexpected.
"...Do you really find me attractive still?" She said, blushing. "Yes." I said, simply, nodding.
"I kind of do too... Been wrestling on these feelings for a while, and have decided to accept them." She said, smiling.
"Oh... Umm... Good news?" I said.
"Thanks... Woot! I got over my angst! This is like a dream come true!" She said, brightly, holding my hand.
"Angst?" I said, questionably.
"Oh, shut it, you." She said, smiling. I beamed. Today was surprisingly a good day, one I didn't expect to see for at least a few months after being turned into a girl and all. Surprisingly, I didn't actually care about that part, I was more concerned about killing these monsters I was hearing so much about. Go figure.
"People are staring at you guys. Some guys are also blushing." Ella pointed out to me. Laura quickly let go of my hand, looked away, and blushed. "...I see." I said, and I must have been blushing too because my face felt really, really hot.
"...You are so obviously a couple you don't need to be holding hands for them to know!" Ella laughed. I facepalmed, as we continued walking--- err, at least in the case of most of us. Trisha was skipping.
"Ahh, being in Tokyo is so fun!" She said. If she were Japanese, I'd say she would have added a Desu or something to the end of that sentence. It just seemed to fit her.
"Okay, we're getting close..." Terra said, after a while. I frowned, folding my arms. "How do you know?" I asked. She frowned. "I can, you know, feel the dark energy getting thicker... It's a bad feeling indeed." She said. "...Why can't I feel it?" I asked. After all, I WAS the freaking Queen, of course.
"It takes years of training and experience to do it, even if you ARE the Queen, you're still a newbie. Remember that." She said, as we walked forward, albeit more curiously.
"...I'm scared." Laura said, looking up at me. I smiled, and patted her on the shoulder. "We'll be okay, Laura. And if anything happens, like we get separated or something, I promise I will come find you. Okay?" I said, smiling down at her.
"Thanks, Rebecca. You have no idea how much that means to me." She said, smiling.
"...Stop, guys. This is it." Terra said. "Ohmigosh really?!" Trisha said, eagerly.
"...What do you mean, this is it?" I asked. All I saw was a gigantic rock wall blocking our path randomly in the middle of the city. "...Oh." I said, nodding.
"What do we do, punch it down?" Kate said, getting into her fighting stance. "...You look so cute as a cat girl!" I said, smiling. She facepalmed.
"No... It's opening up for us already. Look." Ella said, taking a couple steps back and looking up. I did the same, and gasped. Small red lines were formulating in weird digital-like patterns on the rock, and they grew from top to bottom until we saw what appeared to be a door or something there. Ella approached it, and touched what appeared to be a button with her hand. Red energy shimmered, and the door vanished. "...Time to kill some monsters?" I said, somewhat less enthusiastically than I had before.
"...Downwards is the only way forwards." Trisha said brightly, skipping down what appeared to be stairs that had appeared when the door vanished, going down.
"...Ladies first." I said, smiling at Kate. "Oh, shut up." She said, going first anyway, probably due to my influence or whatever the hell it was called these days.
I stepped down after her, and Laura kept close to me, obviously not wanting to get too far away.
"...How are we going to see?" She said after a while, as we continued downwards. The lights did indeed appear to be dimming.
"...Like this." Trisha said, and her palm started glowing blue, illuminating the immediate area. We were still going downwards, for what felt like ages.
"...Okay. Since the Queen learns fast, does that mean I can fly out of here if it turns ugly?" I asked Ella, whom nodded. "A natural ability of the Queen is learning fast. That's what makes her one of our most valuable assets in a war." She explained. I frowned. "War... One of the things that precedes the 'crowning' of a new 'Queen', right?" I said, as we continued deeper.
"...Unless prevented by said Queen, than yes." Ella said, nodding. "...That sucks." I exclaimed.
Suddenly, what sounded like a trumpet blew. It was like Inception all over again.
"What's that?!" Laura said, covering her ears. It was unusually loud.
"They know we're here... and are warning us!" Ella said, her ears also covered too. In a couple more seconds, the trumpet stopped suddenly.
" ...Choices: A), we ignore the warning and continue forward, and B), we head back and blow the place from orbit." I said, shrugging.
"We are not blowing up Tokyo in the back draft, so no; downwards and forwards." Ella said. "Lead the way..." I said, as we continued down.
"...If worst comes to worst, I'm kissing you so I'll be too infatuated to care. Got that?" Laura said to me. I facepalmed, grumbling. "Sure." I said, as we continued forwards. That seemed to brighten Laura up a bit, which was all good in my books. She was now holding my hand again, now that there were no onlookers gawking at us.
"...You're quite a cute couple, aren't you?" Trisha said, after a while. I nodded, blushing. "Umm... Thanks." I said in unison with Laura, whom was also blushing.
"...I'm still going to follow you wherever you go, Becks. That's a promise." Trisha said, looking up at me as if I had forgotten.
"...That's okay. What, do you have some debt to another queen or something?" I asked, eyebrows raised.
"...Kinda. Well, my family does. The previous Queen, well, she employed one of my family members as a maid. After a year though, she was fired, and the Queen said that the first family member to see the next Queen must become her maid and follow her everywhere she goes or else a curse of sorts would be placed on our family..." She said, slowly. I frowned.
"Sounds like a bitch." I said, shuddering.
"Quite... But the curse still remains, if you don't employ me as your maid." She said, looking away, obviously a bit nervous and shy.
"...Well, how's this then. I now employ you, Trisha, as my own maid." I said, taking her hand. Suddenly, blue energy seemed to seep from my body and into Trisha, and it formulated into a maid outfit.
"...Did you know that would happen?" Trisha asked, obviously being overcome by some spell.
"Nope." I said, standing up.
"Mistress! I suddenly have a burning desire to serve you!" She said, bowing.
"...What just happened?" I asked. "Mistress!" She said, hugging me tightly.
"...A lingering spell of the previous Queen must have activated, turning her thoughts and personality into those of a maid." Ella said, looking at me directly.
"...Part of the curse or something?" I asked.
"...An alternate spell that activated in its place." She said, frowning. "Mistress!" Trisha repeated, looking desperate to please. I sighed.
"...What is it?" I asked Trisha.
"...It would mean ever so much to me if you gave me one of your famous kisses..." She said, looking away and blushing. I facepalmed, and obliged. Since she had the mind-frame of a maid, if I didn't give it to her she would have thought she'd failed me. I shuddered, and gave her one of my kisses. She was immediately under the influence, but something else happened.
An image of the previous Queen appeared behind Trisha. She was tall, clothed in bright white robes, had long, flowing blonde hair, held up in the air as if it were by wind.
"...What the..." Ella said, stepping back.
"...If this message is playing, than the next Queen must have kissed the first family member of the Gohera family that had seen her, to keep in our arrangement. By now, you must know the situation behind this family, and have honoured their arrangement by turning this girl into your maid. For that, I am thankful, Comrade. The weeks I had spent with Isabel Gohera were some of the best in my life, and this is my last gift to the Gohera family." She said, looking at each one of us blankly, as if she sensed our presence but wasn't too sure.
"Yes, I had a... Relationship, with dear Isabel. However, it was not meant to last. War had come, and I knew my time had come. To spare her the mental anguish of losing her lover, I had fired her as a maid from my house so she didn't have to follow me into war. It was a... necessary sacrifice. So now, I present unto you, present Queen, this girl. I have blessed her with some of my powers, and moreover, her appearance has now moulded into an immensely attractive figure, to rival that of the Queen herself. This is my last gift to the Gohera family, who has served me well despite everything; reconciliation. Their prayers have now been answered, through this girl. Treat her well, Queen, and she will reward you greatly." The image of the Queen said, fading into nothing. I frowned, and looked back down at Trisha and gasped. She was... well, how do I put this... Beautiful. No longer was she the scrawny little cat girl I had found after we'd arrived at Headquarters, she was a truly beautiful girl, staring up at me with deep purple eyes, smiling at me as if she were indeed in a relationship with me.
"...Mistress?" She repeated, as if she hadn't heard the Queen's message. I blinked several times. "Whoa..." I said, startled. "...So cute!" Trisha said, just noticing her new body. I smiled. It was the same old Trisha, after all. Only now, with a burning desire to serve (as she put it), which was still kinda creepy.
"...Do not think of cheating on me with her." Laura said, looking up at me, noticing my expression.
"...We could always be a threesome?" I suggested, which was received with a slap on my cheek.
"Ow." I said, rubbing that spot. "I was joking!" I said, offended a little bit. "Oh, I guess I can forgive you; she IS hot, after all." She admitted, blushing.
"Moving on, we're here for a reason? Girls? Girls?" Terra said, arms wide, as if she were trying to pull attention away from the immensely attractive Trisha. "...So hot..." Kate mumbled.
"Girls! We kind of have a mission to do!" I said. Suddenly, they all appeared to snap out of a trance. "...Right!" Kate said, now continuing to walk down the stairs. "....What?! N—No, I wasn't mesmerised by her beauty..." Ella said, blushing, obviously lying. We all continued to walk downstairs, until we reached another door.
"...I'll give you the honours, Queen." Terra said, stepping away from what appeared to be another button-thingy.
"No! Let me! I'm her maid!" Trisha said, offended. She then walked up and put her palm on the flat button, which sunk into the door, as both the door and the button flashed red and vanished.
"...Shall I go first?" I said, looking around at everybody. "No! Mistress! I can't let you!" Trisha said, entering the room ahead. "...Nice maid." Kate said, snickering. "I can make you my maid too, if you want." I jokingly threatened. "Umm, as nice as that sounds, no. I'd rather keep my current mentality, thanks." She said, blushing, as if she had been thinking about it for a while.
"...Wow." I said, as we entered the room that was behind the previously visible door. We emerged into this massive coliseum of sorts, gigantic threatening looking pillars were everywhere, and it looked like that coliseum that was in Rome, or whatever. The horrifying thing was that it was brand new.
"...Got a bad feeling about this." I said, as we walked out into the centre of the coliseum.
"...It's a trap." Ella said, slowly looking more and more stressed. A gigantic metallic thud was heard, and when I looked behind myself, I saw that a gigantic gate had appeared out of nowhere, blocking our one and only exit. "...Crud." I said. IRL, it was actually something much more vulgar, but I'm trying to keep this all PG-13 here, despite all my failing to do so.
"...Fuck." Kate swore, appropriately. "...Dude, what about the PG-13 level this story needs to keep?!" I complained, thinking of the children.
"PG-13? Please. We're all lesbian cat girls, ripping monsters spines out! How is that PG-13!" She said, facepalming.
"...Point taken." I said, turning back to the gate. "Fuck!" I swore again.
"...As entertaining as breaking the fourth wall is, we have a bigger problem than a locked gate to deal with." Ella said.
"...That's right, girls!" A loud obnoxious female voice said. I turned around, and saw another gate, and then what looked like a throne chair above it, where a near-naked girl was sitting, laughing like a villain. Probably because she was so obviously a villain.
"...Why is she wearing next to nothing?" Trisha said, concerned. "Hey, Ask me no questions and I will tell you no lies!" She said, laughing, now standing up.
"...Who are you, why are you here, why is all this dark energy everywhere, and what the hell are you doing?" I said, folding my arms.
"Well, you see, we're here to entertain. The Dark Energy is just a side effect, you know. The monsters down here are very, well, dark, so to speak." She said. "And as for my name... Call ne Charlotte." She said, leaning over a rail and looking down on us, as if a show was about to start and we were the circus.
"...What do you mean, 'we'?" Kate asked, going into her trademark fighting stance.
"Oh, me and my monsters. We entertain other monsters, you see. After we're done with you, we let the, err, shall we say 'feeding' commence." Charlotte said, laughing.
"...I command you to stop." I said, holding my hand out.
"...Your influence doesn't work on everyone, Queen." She said, laughing. "...And you didn't answer my last question; why are you hardly clothed at all?" I asked, folding my arms.
"Let's just say, clothes are overrated for this place." She laughed maniacally, pressing a button in front of her. Suddenly, a gigantic mist came out of grates at the base of the nearest wall, and I felt a strange feeling of being, well, exposed.
"...oh my god, my clothes are being disintegrated!" Ella squealed. I looked down, and sure enough, mine were too. "What the hell?!" I said, outraged.
"...Me too. Dear god..." Kate said, blushing. "...Fabric eating particles... Goddamnit." Terra said. Soon enough, we were all completely and totally naked.
"So much for PG-13!" Kate said, disappointed.
"Hey, hey! If we don't describe anything, we can leave it all to the readers imagination. Then, it just becomes fanservice!" I said, punching the air. "...Kate, is your nose bleeding?" Ella said, looking a bit worried.
"...Umm, no!" Kate said, obviously wiping her nose, blushing. "What the hell, Charlotte! We're all girls here, so it doesn't really matter if we're nude!" I complained to the laughing girl, sitting on that throne-like chair, now completely naked like the rest of us.
"...Let's just say I'm weird that way. Anti-Clothing, if you will!" She laughed. "Anyone who enters my lair, clothed or no, must conform to my demands! Even you, Queen!" She said, pointing at me. I frowned.
"...And what are those?" I asked, folding my arms, looking up at her.
"...Basically, fight or die?" She said, shrugging, pushing another button. The grate below her disappeared, revealing a gigantic monster, who then entered the field.
"...Girls?" I said, nervous. "Yeah. Time to kick ass." Terra said, and launched herself at the monster. "Oh god, not at that angle!" I said, looking away. Then, I got swiped by the monster for not looking at it, and was flung across the room and into the nearest wall.
"Ow!" I said, standing up, rubbing my back which now hurt quite badly.
"...This is all a part of her trick! We're too embarrassed to look, so it gives the monster the advantage!" Terra said, fighting against the monster bare-handed.
"...What do you suggest?" I said, looking away as the monster swung this way.
"...Look goddamnit! We're all girls here, even if you used to be a dude beforehand! You loose no dignity by looking, now fight!"She yelled. I looked up, blushing, and dodged another swipe by the monster.
"She's right! We're too embarrassed by our current state of nudity to fight—that's what she wans! We must overcome our embarrassment just this once, and beat the hell out of that monster!" Ella yelled. I nodded, gulping. This all had to be a weird dream, didn't it? No way would a guy like me ever get into a situation like this...
Another swipe by the monster confirmed the reality of the situation to me, and I then got serious.
I spoke into the fabricator 'Big gigantic epic katana', and it appeared in my hands. I then launched myself at the monster.
"Oh god, Kate!" Ella yelled, as Kate fainted due to overexcitement. Dear god, this really was an awkward situation.
"...Focus on the monster!" I yelled, slashing at it with my new Katana. I managed to get a scrape on its leg, but not before it slammed me into the ground with its tail.
I was pretty banged up, especially for a Queen. I closed my eyes, and assumed my Queen form. I opened them, and launched myself into the air to try and get my bearings. Ella was fighting with a gigantic stick of sorts that she had found on the ground, defending an unconscious Kate. Terra was riding the monster like a bull, trying to damage its eyes with her fists alone. Trisha was trying to cut off the monster's tail to throw it off balance with a sword that suddenly appeared, probably due to the previous queen's spell. Laura was protecting Kate also. "That's cheating!" Charlotte complained from her chair.
"Oh, get over it, you perverted freak!" I yelled, flying at her with my Katana. She grumbled. "So that's the way you want to play it, huh?!" She said, pulling out a sword from nowhere, to block my attack.
"Nyeh! Prepare to die!" I yelled, constantly swiping at her, midair. Flying was kinda cool and all, but I was too focused on beating the crap out of this bitch to realise that I was actually flying.
"Nyeeeeeeeeeh!" I yelled again. Then, I received an idea.
"...Come at me with all your might, you still won't beat me! I'm an expert magic swordsman, you know!" She said. I was only slightly distracted by the state of her nudity. Slightly.
"Then, if I can't beat you... Will you join me?" I said, leaning over the sword and kissing her. She dropped her sword, and encased her arms around me as we kissed. I blushed slightly, as we pulled back.
"You have a good kiss..." She said, obviously wanting more.
"...Pg-13?" I said, making air quotes. Her eyebrows raised.
"Kissing is PG-13!" She said, kissing me again. "Mmpfh!" I groaned, as she pounced on me. We toppled over the edge and onto the ground. Ella facepalmed.
"Damnit, Rebecca!" She said, pulling Charlotte away from me.
"Thank you..." I said, stepping back. "...You can't solve all your problems by kissing people." Laura said, facepalming. "Apparently I can." I said, pointing at Charlotte, who was now unconscious and drooling. "Point taken." Laura said, facepalming. "Now get that freaking monster!" She yelled. I turned around, and saw the monster staring at me with evil red eyes, and pawing the floor menacingly.
"Oh... Gotcha!" I said, running up at it with my sword in hand. I noticed that Terra was lying on the floor, obviously incredibly injured due to the monster.
"Nyeh!" I yelled, and caught the monster by surprise as I leapt into the air, helped with by my wings, and landed on its head. I then sliced its freaking neck off in its confusion.
"...That good enough for you, or do you want more?" I said, leaping off the head as it crashed to the ground.
"...Not good enough." Charlotte said, standing up. She held her hands out, and everyone except me suddenly became bound in ropes, and were yanked to the ceiling. "What the--!" I said, fighting off the ropes as they tried to trap me, too. I simply cut them away with my sword.
"...Want to play hard-to-get, huh?" Charlotte said, walking up to me, and cancelling the ropes on me. However, the rest of our gang were now tied to the ceiling of the room, unconscious.
"...Is this all just because you want another kiss?" I said, folding my arms. Charlotte laughed, and shook her head.
"I want to MARRY you, sweetheart." She said, tackle glomping me.
"Nyeh! No thanks, Nya!" I said, pulling away from the glomp.
"...Let me put it this way. Marry me, or I will kill your friends." She said, pointing up. I frowned, standing up.
"...There has to be another way." I said, folding my arms. Charlotte laughed.
"Sweetie, there is no other way. Kill me, and your friends die. Marry me, and they live. Do nothing, and well, they become my pets." She laughed. I growled. "That's sick." I said, standing up.
"Okay, fine. I'll make a compromise for you." She said, smiling unnaturally happily.
"...Go on." I said, folding my arms. Normally, the Queen would be able to beat a lowlife like her, but I was completely untrained, undefended, naked and a newbie to top it all off. I had no chance, and my kiss didn't seem to work aside from her obvious motives.
"On the other side of Tokyo, there is a rival coliseum stealing my viewers. Incapacitate them, and your friends leave peacefully." She said, laughing.
"Or, I could just kill you right now." I said, rolling my eyes, and I thrust my sword into a surprised Charlotte. Suddenly, the binds keeping my friends tied to the ceiling untied automatically. Charlotte smiled, evilly.
"Remember, kill me, and your friends die." She said, clutching the blade that is now impaled in her arm. I smiled.
"I'm not going to kill you. Just hurt you enough to free my friends, then kill you, and make a run for it before whatever your plan is to kill us is unleashed." I said, as my friends dropped from the ceiling, waking up, and hitting the floor with a thud.
"...Sorry guys!" I yelled. I then pulled out the sword from Charlotte's arm, as they recovered from the fall.
"Oww... No! Don't kill her, we need to take her back with us!" Ella said, as I readied another stab. I sighed. "Thanks for saving me all the mental anguish, I guess!" I said, sheathing the sword.
Ella ran up to Charlotte, and put her hands on her wound. She closed her eyes, and healed it, most likely taking energy from Charlotte to do so, because Charlotte fell limp.
"There... all patched up. Mission accomplished. Now spawn us some freaking clothes!" She said, looking up at me. "Wha..." I said, dazed by the question. "Your fabricator, dummy!" Terra said, whacking me over the back of my head softly. "Oh, right." I said, and morphed my watch into the PDA.
I typed in "Bikini's for all of us", and they appeared. This warranted a well deserved slap from Ella, as she put them on.
"...Pervert." She said. I laughed, and got dressed, more or less.
"Well at least we aren't nude anymore." I pointed out. "True. I don't know whether or not to thank you or hug you." She said, rolling her eyes. "Cool colours though." She said, looking down. Trisha was wearing yellow, Ella was wearing green, I was wearing brown, Laura was wearing blue, Kate was wearing red and Terra was wearing black.
"...You can hug me; I just saved your lives." I said, in response to Ella's comment. "Oh, well. Guess you're right. Thanks, Becks!" She said, giving me a hug.
"...Umm, you're welcome?" I said amazed that she actually did it.
She pulled back, not blushing at all, and Laura slapped me. "Ow!" I said, rubbing my cheek. Then, she hugged/kissed me.
"...This, I could get used to." I said. I guess it was an appropriate reaction from my girlfriend after I just saved her life—again. What, that time where I pulled that monster's spine out didn't count?
"...Weird. That didn't affect me, by putting me into a trance like it normally would." She said, pulling back. I frowned, and turned to Ella for an answer. "Well, you don't HAVE to put them into a trance every time you kiss someone! It's optional! Like, kiss her again, consciously thinking of putting her into a trance. Go ahead, do it." Ella said. Laura shrugged, and kissed me. We pulled apart half a minute later, and she was defiantly in a trance. "...That's the stuff..." She slurred, clinging on to me like I was a lifeboat.
"...See?" Ella said, pointing. I nodded. "So I don't have to worry when I kiss someone that they will end up in a trance, and can choose whether or not they do? Why didn't that come up earlier?" I asked, facepalming.
"Well, you were always consciously thinking of the trance, so you tranced them. It didn't come up earlier because the author hadn't thought of it way back when." She said, shrugging. "Author?" I asked, eyebrows raised. "Sorry. I have an IRL habit of breaking my own fourth wall. If someone were writing my life, they would be surprised at my knowledge of them. That's right, Mr Author!" She yelled at the skies. I facepalmed. "...Weird." I said. "Defiantly..." Laura slurred, giggling.
"...Anyway, lets get back to the headquarters, and tell them that the mission has passed." I said, motioning towards the unconscious Charlotte. "Yeah, hang on and I'll teleport us there. Don't worry, we don't need to be touching or anything; The spell I'm using teleports everyone in a radius directly back to hq." She said, closing her eyes. Then, she glowed blue; and the glow expanded, encasing all of us. Within seconds, we found ourselves back at the council, right where we were earlier.
"...Oh? You're back?" Yumi said, looking up. I nodded. "Beach party?" She asked, looking at our bikinis with her eyebrows raised, as if she were checking us out. Not that that wasn't farfetched or anything. "No, sadly. We got Charlotte though—the girl behind all the dark energy and stuff there." I said, as Ella held up the unconscious Charlotte. Did I mention she was still naked? No? Well, the fabricator didn't make any clothes for her, which was kind of odd.
"...Why is she naked?" Yumi asked, shaking her head. "Fabric eating particles. Luckily, my fabricator made us some new, err, clothes. However, it didn't make any for her, which is kinda weird." I said, shrugging. "I see." Yumi said. "Now, let me take this... Charlotte... to her prison cell, until she will be trailed for her crimes against humanity and stuff." Yumi said, stepping down from her chair, walking up to Erin and grabbing Charlotte. She then hauled Charlotte over her shoulder, and walked out of the council room, leaving us all alone.
"So... Beach party?" I suggested. "Eh, why not." Terra shrugged.
"First, we've gotta teach Laura and, err, Kate, how to hide their cat features. Follow me." Ella said, but Laura didn't want to stop hugging me.
"...Any cure for this?" I asked, pointing to the tranced out Laura. "...Kiss her again, with the intention of removing the trance." Ella said. I shrugged—made sense, I suppose. I leaned down, and kissed Laura again, this time thinking only about lifting the trance.
Half a minute later, for that was how long my kisses seemed to last for some odd reason, Laura was back to normal. "Whoa... I just realised how much I love you!" She said, smiling. I smiled back. "Time to learn how to hide your ears and stuff." I said, motioning to Ella and Kate. "Right." She said, walking over to Ella. The group sat on a nearby bench, and I smiled.
"Need anything, Mistress?" Trisha said, next to me. I shook my head. "Just be near me and look gorgeous, like you always do." I said, smiling. Trisha blushed, and nodded. I sat down on a nearby bench, and Terra and Trisha sat next to me.
"...Eventful couple of days, huh. Hopefully now things will calm down a bit." I said, sighing.
"...You sure you don't want anything, Mistress?" Trisha asked, concerned. I smiled, and said "No, I'm good."
"I wouldn't trust that suspicion, but maybe for a few weeks, until we know more, things might calm down a bit around here and we can send you back home for a while. By the way, your parents will act as if you'd never left, as to cover for your absence." Terra said, sighing. "...So you had a thing with Ella?" I asked, leaning back. Terra sighed. "Yeah... We were partners for a while. It was good." She said, reminiscing.
"...What happened?" I asked.
"...Well, I was called away on another job for a couple of weeks. I heard of Ella having trouble beating some monster, and came to her rescue, but it was already too late; you were made, and the monster was defeated. Now, she's your partner. Pretty much sums it up." She said. "Why can't we have more than one partner? Why can't we all just be partners, you know? We have a big enough group." I said. Terra laughed. "Most partners are, well, involved with each other, in many ways. I suppose I could become a part of your little group, but it would be a toned down version of what Ella and I had when we were together." She said, frowning, looking at Ella teaching Kate and Laura.
"I get that..." I said, nodding.
"...Mistress? Would you mind if I ran home and told my family the good news?" Trisha asked. "Yeah, sure. How long are you going to be?" I asked.
"About half an hour, tops." Trisha said, blushing. I could tell it was going to take more than that. "I'll give you an hour." I said, smiling. "I want to explore this place anyway."
"Thank you, Mistress!" Trisha said, first bowing, then running out of the council place. I just noticed how much she'd changed, in the way she looked and acted... It was weird, but a bit refreshing. I was unsure whether or not she liked it, but it appeared she had no choice, because I had no idea on how to undo the spell, or if she even wanted it undone in the first place.
"...Anything else I should know about the previous Queen before another of her spells activate via me?" I asked, sighing.
"...Well, she was quite laid back, that Queen. She also held many secrets, of which I'm sure you will find out in due course. Many say she could have her own private Celestial Army somewhere, frozen and awaiting her return for the coming war. It's been theorised that if that were the case, it would be to help the next Queen in her coming battles, but so far there have only just been rumours." Terra said, shrugging. "Not much help, then..." I sighed.
"...Damn, I lost a lot of energy in that fight..." I sighed, nearly falling asleep. Terra smiled. "Hey, you were the one who suggested a beach party! Here, have some of my celestial energy, that will perk you up. Don't worry, I have a lot in reserve, and it wasn't all used up in the fight." She said, placing her hand on me.
"...Now how do I do this?" I asked, confused.
"You don't need to do anything, for now. Just let my energy flow into you." Terra said, smiling.
Suddenly, I felt rejuvniated, and extremely awake.
"...Wow, it's like caffeine, sorta." I said, blinking several times. Terra laughed. "Not really, but I can see where you get the idea." She smiled.
"Hey, we're done!" Laura said, walking over to me, now looking like her old self again, aside from a few almost unnoticeable differences. Kate was walking over too, holding up a mirror and looking at herself, blushing. "Dear god, I'm CUTE." She exclaimed, brushing her hair. I laughed. "Quite the girl, you are." I said, nodding. "Oh, shut it, you. You're kinda cute too... Not just cute, I'd even go as far as to say you're hot." She said, looking at me closely. Coming from Jeremy---Err, Kate, that was a massive compliment. "Um... Thanks." I said, honestly flattered.
"Now, which beach are we going to again?" Ella asked, stretching. Terra smiled. "The Gold Coast, in Australia." She said. "Oh, wicked! Hey, where's Trisha?" Kate said, noticing her absence.
"She's gone to let her family know about what's happened to her and where she will be for the next while or so..." I said, frowning. "Oh, look, there she is now!" I said, looking as Trisha ran over to us, smiling.
"...Awesome! They're so proud of me... And hell, things are starting to look up over there too! I guess instead of a curse, the previous Queen gave us a blessing!" She said, beaming.
"...So before we go any further, we're all going to be in the same neighbourhood for a while whilst Ella trains me, right?" I asked. They all nodded. "Where are you guys gonna sleep?" I asked Terra, Trisha and Ella. "I figured I'd be sleeping at your place." Trisha said, shrugging. "Me too." Terra said. "I'm gonna be in the Lair." Ella said.
"...Now, how the hell is my mom and sister going to deal with you two living with me?" I asked. Trisha shrugged, and Terra laughed.
"Well, I've warped reality for that, just temporarily. I'm now your long-lost cousin, and so is Trisha." Terra said, patting me on my back. "...What." I said, flatly.
"Oh yeah, and we'll be sleeping in the same room too." Trisha said, brightly, glomping me. "...How is that going to work, exactly?" I asked. "You can spawn a couple beds with your fabricator, can't you?" She said, smiling. "...Oh, good. Just don't get any ideas..." I said, facepalming.
"Don't worry, we won't jump on your bed or anything like that." Trisha said, beaming.
"....Or attempt to encourage a relationship with you by sleeping in the same bed with you, if that was what you were asking." Terra said. "...Good to know." I said. "Hey! The only bed Becks will be sharing is mine!" Laura said, hugging me. I grumbled something along the lines of 'this has to be a dream', before we all appeared at the beach with no warning.
