The Goth Wotch
Issue 2: Schizophrenia
"Remember to read pages 234 to 248 over the weekend, class," Professor Sorgaz calls as his last students of the day leave the room. As Cassie walks by, he says, "Wait a second, Cassie."
"What is it?" Cassie asks after ceasing her walking.
"I need you to make up that test you missed last week. Is today at four good?"
"Today at four, got it."
"Hey, Cassie," Katie says as she approaches the girl, who is putting her books in her locker. "Don't forget, you need to be at my house at four to work on that science project."
"Today at four. I'll be there." Katie walks off and as Cassie closes her locker, another redhead, wearing a pink T-shirt and a purple skirt, walks up.
"Are you Cassie SinClair?" the girl asks.
"Yeah. Do I know you?"
"My name's Anne Onymous. I just moved here. Anyway, Robin sent me to remind you that you need to watch Kirk today from four to seven."
"Babysitting at four, gotcha. I'll be home." Anne walks off and Cassie does the same in the opposite direction. As she walks onward, Wolfie runs up behind her and begins walking alongside her.
"Hey, Cass. You still on for Smash Bros. at my house at four?"
"You bet," Cassie answers.
"Good. See you then."
"See ya." After Cassie says this, Wolfie walks onward. After Wolfie is gone, Cassie realizes what she's done.
"It's times like this I'm glad to be the Wotch," Cassie snickers as she stands inside of a janitor's closet just after school, spellbook in hand.
"Shanayim Persona Et Persona!" Cassie cries out, another copy of her appearing on the spot.
"Great! Alright, let's just cast it two more times… Shanayim Persona Et Persona! Shanayim Persona Et Persona!" And as a result, there are now four Cassies standing in the janitor's closet.
"You," the original points to the first copy, "You go watch the kid."
"Gladly!"
"You," the original Cassie says whilst pointing to the second copy. "You help Katie."
"Always happy to help a friend!"
"And you," she points to the last one, "Take the test."
"Oh come on! Why do I have to take the stupid test?"
"We'll meet back at my house at seven, got it?" the original Cassie asks, drawing a nod from the first two and some grumbling from the third.
"Cassie-chan!" Kirk starts just after the door is closed and Robin is walking away. "I have forgotten my DS. Do you have anything else to do?"
"You bet! We can do whatever you want, Kirk! Oh whoops, it's Kirkashi now, isn't it?"
"Are you feeling alright?" Kirk asks while staring at her quite peculiarly. "You've never called me by ieither/i of my names before. In fact, you usually call me 'kid,' 'brat,' or my personal favorite, 'the ninja midget.'"
"What a kidder! You know how much I love kids!"
"One of us is very confused right now, and I honestly don't know which one it is…"
"Hey, Cassie? Are you alright?" Wolfie asks. "You don't look so good."
"I kind of have a headache," Cassie moans in response. "I'm gonna go get an Aspirin. You keep them in the bathroom, right?"
"Uh… yeah…" Wolfie answers, sounding worried. "You want me to get it?"
"I'm fine," the ever-stubborn Wotch answers before getting up and heading for the bathroom.
"Cassie!" Wolfie says as the girl returns some ten minutes later. The goth doesn't respond, instead simply picking up her controller and unpausing the game. Almost immediately…
"Player 2, defeated!"
"No fair!" Cassie shouts before thrusting the controller to the floor and crossing her arms in a huff.
"Chill out, Cass! It's just a game."
"Bbbbttttzzzhh!" The noise emerge's from the girl's mouth, which has the tip of her tongue sticking out.
"Um… are you okay?"
"Err… it's so hard getting these headers perfectly centered," Katie sighs as sheerases the title of the project for the forth time.
"Let me try," Cassie says as she reaches over. "Hey, you and Wolfie wanna go to the mall tomorrow? I'll pay!"
"You seem… friendlier, than usual," Katie observes. "Did you break something?"
"Course not, Katie. I'm just wanting to do something nice for my best friends!"
"Are you feeling alright?" Katie asks of the goth while staring at her strangely.
"Um… Cass? Any reason you're, uh, coloring on the walls?" Wolfie wonders before turning around. "And why there are more of you walking out the door?"
"I… can… explain that," Wolfie hears, causing her to turn her head and see another Cassie, this one looking ready to pass out.
"Cassie-chan! Could you bring me another bottle of Coke?"
"Be right there kiddo! I'm finishing up ordering those games you wanted!"
"I don't know what happened to her," Kirk says to himself, "but I like it!"
"Ms. SinClair, I'd like to speak with you about this test," Professor Sorgaz says, sounding furious.
"What about it?"
"You marked every answer after 20 as C, and you wrote some rather unflattering comments on the essay questions! I'm going to have to report the matter to the office first thing Monday morning."
"No, I don't think you will," Cassie laughs sinisterly, as both her hands start to glow with blue fire. A blast from them hits Sorgaz and-
"What did you do to me?" Sorgaz asks while looking down to find himself now a fifteen-year-old Asian girl.
"What's it look like?" Cassie snaps in response.
"You have to change me back! Please! I'll let you pass just change me back!"
"I feel unusually generous so… Memoris Corpus Kie!" Cassie says as she walks out of the room.
"Well, now that you ask, yeah, you should definitely give volleyball a try. Wolfie got me to join and I'm having a good time," Katie says to Cassie as the two of them sit on her couch, each eating a bowl of ice cream. As Katie is about to continue, the phone rings.
"Hello?" Katie asks.
"Hey, Katie."
"Oh, hey, Wolfie. I was just talking to-"
"Katie, you need to get over to my house right now. We've got a problem. And bring Cassie with you."
"I cast a spell to help get things done…" the real Cassie says weakly while lying on Wolfie's couch. "A cloning spell… I made three, but it didn't stop. I could barely stand up on my way out of the bathroom. I think these are personified parts of my personality."
"I didn't mean to hurt you," Friendship says, grabbing the real Cassie's hand so as to hold it as a sign of just what its name implies. This causes Cassie to re-absorb the persona and gives her enough energy to sit up.
"Hmm… looks like we need to find the rest of these personas then!" Wolfie says.
"I'm still too weak to help out right now," Cassie says before grabbing onto the hand of Immaturity, who is sitting on the floor next to her. She absorbs that persona as well. "But I should be able to help if you bring back a few more."
"Don't worry Cassie, we're on it!" Katie says in response.
"Alright, so how many more are there anyway?" Katie asks Cassie an hour later as the two of them, along with Wolfie, walk out of Wolfie's house.
"I recall there being twenty of them that left. We have eighteen…" Cassie answers. "The ones we need are at the school and at my house."
"Alright, let's get over to the school then," Wolfie says. "We can come back for the last one and save ourselves a trip."
"Stupid original…" Anger mumbles as she stands in the gym, killing time. "If I had my way, I'd…"
"You know, you take her place," she hears a woman say behind her. Anger turns around to see Agents 29 and 32 standing behind her.
"Hmm… she should be out of Professor Sorgaz's room by now, so where would she be?" Cassie wonders as her, Wolfie, and Katie walk through the otherwise empty halls of Tandy Gardens High.
"Let's check the gym," Wolfie suggests. Having nothing better to do, the three do so and inside…
"Confinos!" A bubble incases both Katie and Wolfie and floats about five feet into the air. In front of the three floats Anger, now in a black silk shirt over her other shirt.
"Are you ready to die?" Anger asks.
"What? I'm the original, how can you hurt-" But Cassie breaks off when she has to dive out of the way of a blast of blue fire emerging from Anger's right hand. As Cassie rises off the ground after dodging that, she gets hit with a similar blast that sends her flying back-first into a wall.
"Face it, you can't beat me!" Anger taunts as she creates another ball of fire with the words, "Firos." She throws it, and Cassie ducks and tries to touch her. No good. Anger kicks Cassie in the face, sending the goth to the ground once more.
"Cassie!" Katie shouts through the bubble. "You're going to have to fight back!"
"That's not going to work," Anger answers, before trying for another blast. "I know everything you know! You will not escape this battle with your life!"
This causes Cassie to start to chuckle for some reason.
"What's wrong with you? Has the thought of your demise driven you mad?"
"If you know everything I do," Cassie says with a sort of smirk across her face, before her eyes narrow and her smirk turns into a frown, "You'd know I don't need you to get angry!"
"You're a joke, gi-" but Anger is interrupted as she gets shot with a blast from Cassie, knocking her down. As Anger tries to get up, Cassie blasts her once more, then Cassie runs over and simply lays one hand on her, taking back her anger. This also causes the bubbles around Katie and Wolfie pop.
"So you don't remember anything?" Wolfie asks Cassie the next day as the two of them and Katie walk to school.
"Nope. I can't remember anything my other personas did. I did remember to erase the kid's memory of the night after he saw me take in the last personality."
"Hey, I forgot to mention it earlier," Katie says, "but there's this new exchange student named Ming living with me. You two wanna come over this evening and get to know her?"
"Sure," Wolfie answers, and Cassie nods as well.
"So, what'd they say?" 32 asks of 29 as he comes walking out of the building wherein he was to explain their choice to launch an attack now.
"I convinced the Counsel that it was to be a test of her power. They said they were pleased with our methods, and told me to ensure that the Wotch tries her hand at a magical virus."