Chapter 2 – Origins
Some years previously...
"Hey, are you two ready?" enquired Pypski, knocking at the doors of JapansAce's and DayBunny's dorms with both hands simultaneously. DayBunny and Japansace were good friends, and the Headmaster of the Dragon School had granted their wish to have their dormitories next to each other.
"One second, I can't find my toaster..." replied JapansAce, whose voice was muffled by sleep, several blankets and the door. She had been sleeping rather soundly when Pypski's loud knock forced her awake, and she now laid groggy in bed, but she couldn't tell Pypski that she was still asleep.
"Well, hurry up, the Headmaster wants to see us. I've booked all of us to take the Fourth Grade promotion test, and he's organised it for today."
"I'm coming, I'm coming," JapansAce groaned. She had stayed up the previous night studying for the exam and had completely forgotten that it was today. She quickly got dressed into her Striker gear, placed her trusty claws on her back and began to look in earnest for her toaster.
Meanwhile, outside her room, Pypski had started to focus her attention on DayBunny.
"Hurry, Day, we don't want to be late. The Headmaster had the test starts at 9am sharp and it's already 8:45!"
"15 minutes? Just enough time for a hot shower." replied DayBunny from inside his dormitory.
Pypski groaned in frustration. They only had fifteen minutes to meet the Headmaster. DayBunny's shower will take up at least five to ten of them. It seemed that they were going to be late, and she knew the Dragon Headmaster has never appreciated lateness. She definitely didn't want to end up the same way as the previous students who were late for a grading exam...
At that moment a distressed wail resonated from JapansAce's dormitory.
"I can't find my toaster anywhere! Someone must have taken it in the night! It was here before I went to sleep!"
"What?! Are you sure?! But we need your toaster!" replied Pypski urgently.
"Oh, sorry, I borrowed it last night. I felt a bit hungry and wanted some bread, but all the bread had been in my fridge so it was really cold... and I wanted hot bread... and your room was unlocked, so..." yelled DayBunny over the noise of his shower.
JapansAce pulled open the door of her dormitory with so much force it swung back 180 degrees and slammed into the wall with an ear-splitting bang. She stormed out of her room, pushed a startled Pypski aside, took out her 100t Hammer and banged violently on DayBunny's door using the hammer as a knocker.
"GIVE ME BACK MY TOASTER!"
"Go ahead and take it, the door's unlocked, it should be in the kitchen sink," replied DayBunny over the noise of the running shower.
Just as JapansAce retrieved her toaster from the kitchen sink, the sound of running water stopped. She looked nevously towards the direction of the bathroom and to her surprise saw that the door had been left open. DayBunny stepped out of the shower and emerged, a towel around his waist.
JapansAce immediately hurled her toaster towards DayBunny in a fit of rage. It bounced off his head, leaving a deep red bruise. DayBunny yelled out in surprise and agony. Pypski suddenly rushed in and held out her arms between JapansAce and DayBunny.
"You two, stop it, we only have..." she checked her watch. "...seven minutes before the exam starts! Jace, you're ready now, right?"
"I am now, thanks to him..." JapansAce glared at DayBunny.
"OK, Jace and I will start going. Day, for goodness's sakes put some clothes on. We'll meet you in the Headmaster's office. But don't be late! If one of us is late, he marks everyone as late, and you don't want to know what he did to the last group of latecomers to a grading exam..."
"What did he do?" enquired DayBunny inquisitively.
"He tossed their toasters in the fishing pond and fed the fish in it roasted bunny using a bloodstained hammer," replied an irritated Pypski, walking off with JapansAce towards the Headmaster's office.
A couple of minutes later, JapansAce and Pypski located the Headmaster's office. However, DayBunny was nowhere to be seen. There were only two minutes to go before the official starting time of the examination.
"Where is that rabbit?!" Pypski was annoyed - she was going to be late, and it'll all be DayBunny's fault.
At that moment the Headmaster rang a bell from inside the office, signalling that there was one minute to go before the examination. At that moment, a bedraggled DayBunny rushed up to them, his clothes torn by what appeared to be brambles and scratch marks peppered his gun.
"What the heck happened to you?!" Pypski asked, almost horrified. After all, they had only left their dormitories several minutes ago.
"Got... caught up... by something." DayBunny panted out of breath, sitting down to recover his energy.
"Looks to me like you've been dragged through brambles or something..." JapansAce said.
"Pypski? DayBunny? JapansAce? It's time for your Fourth Grade exam," announced the Headmaster from inside his office.
The trio entered the office, DayBunny still groaning in minor agony.
"Good morning... and what happened to you?!" The headmaster asked, looking at DayBunny.
"Oh... nothing... a Meep stole my gun on the way here and kept biting and scratching it... almost as if it had thought that my gun was something else... I chased it through several long hedges before I finally killed it."
Both JapansAce and Pypski began to snigger, but soon the snigger had evolved into a full scale laugh. Even the Headmaster, who isn't known for laughing, smiled a little.
"Oh, I see how this is, everyone mocks me! It's not funny!" protested DayBunny.
"Anyway, your test will be a virtual, practical one. You will be escorting a virtual Engineering Student through a virtual cave. It will be filled with virtual Skalari which you must virtually kill with your virtual weapons. If the virtual Engineering Student dies, you virtually fail the virtual practical exam. I will monitor your virtual progress using my virtual computer. Do you virtually understand?"
The trio looked confused - the Headmaster appeared to be weirdly obsessed with virtual things of late... but nevertheless agreed. This was one exam they cannot afford to skip out on, or fail. They observed, however, that the computer was very much real - it was sitting on the Headmaster's desk, and the trio wondered whether he'd gotten carried away with his virtual obsession.
The Headmaster handed them virtual reality helmets, which the three students wore. Immediately they found themselves in a dark cave. They turned around and saw a student dressed in the uniform of Dragon School.
"Are you the Engineering Student?" asked JapansAce.
"Yes, I have to fix several machines inside this cave, it is vital they are fixed, but unfortunately the cave is full of Skalari... please protect me from them!"
With that, the Engineering Student took off running. DayBunny, JapansAce and Pypski hurried after him, eliminating the Skalari as he ran blindly onwards...
Back in the office, the Headmaster watched on, satisfied, as the trio in their virtual reality helmets did various actions with their hands. DayBunny appeared to hold an invisible gun in front of him, mimicing the actions of various skills he had learnt during his time at the School. JapansAce's hands were balled into fists and performing acrobatic movements, which nearly gouged out the Headmaster's eyes. Pypski violently ran around the room bringing her fists down on everything which was in reach, and pretty soon the very real computer was just another virtual image, forever imprinted in the memories of the Headmaster, along with everything else in the room.
After what seemed like an age to the poor Headmaster, the trio took off their helmets.
"How did we- wow, what happened in here?!" asked JapansAce, after she had looked around the office.
"Erm... nothing... it was... a tornado... of cows... very large cows..." The Headmaster tried to make excuses for their actions during the exam. After all, he can hardly punish them for something they did in the name of education: that was the whole point of the two schools, Owl and Dragon, after all.
"Note to self: in future, NEVER hold examinations in my office," he thought. Then he spoke out loud, "Congratulations, without the need to check your results on my ex-real-but-now-virtual computer, I know that you three have a fine grasp of your new skills. I have thoroughly... ahem, enjoyed that most excellent demonstration, and therefore you all pass with flying colours. You have been promoted to the Fourth Grade, and I have a new mission for you, effective immediately."
The trio glanced excitedly between one another. They had all passed, and even better, a new mission right after their promotion!
"You will explore a new area, called the Forest of Silence. Be careful, it is full of Spiders, Mushrooms and other wild beasts. There is also rumour of a cult who has a base there by the name of the Dark Oracles. Look for the local citizens and do everything in your power to assist them. DayBunny's cousin, BlissBunny, will be joining you. She will watch your back to prevent you from being knocked unconscious too often. That will be all."
This was a rather short briefing, even for briefing standards, but the trio were used to this by now. The Dragon Headmaster was not well known for his speeches. They met up with BlissBunny at the front entrance of Dragon School and proceeded to walk to the Forest of Silence.
If only they had not walked... things might not have turned out the way it was... only if they had taken a plane... but it was too late for all that now... far too late.
DayBunny noticed a mysterious well as they neared the entrance to Sunset Pier. It was glowing a weird, eerie green. He approached it with a curious look on his face.
"You guys go ahead, I want to check this out. I'll catch up with you."
"No, don't do it, it doesn't seem right..." his cousin warned him.
"Yeah, Day, come with us, it's the mission that's important! Besides, you've passed that well lots of times and you've never shown an interest in it before!" Pypski yelled after him.
"I'd never noticed it before," replied Day simply. He had already reached the mysterious well, and the next second had stuck his head into it.
"What does he think he's doing?!" a horrified JapansAce said, her toaster at the ready should she need to knock DayBunny away from the well.
"He's crazy... let's go, he said he'll catch up," Pypski told the others.
"But..." protested JapansAce.
"Let's go. It's his own fault if something bad happens to him."
The three of them reluctantly left DayBunny with his head in the well, but they still had time... if only JapansAce had knocked him away from it... maybe that would have changed what was to come... maybe everything could have been prevented...
DayBunny gasped. As soon as he had stuck his head in the well, everything was green. It was somewhat creepy, but nothing could have prepared him for what happened next.
"Who dares intrude?!" boomed a voice. DayBunny jumped, for it was definitely loud enough to wake up things which never can be woken again. Yet somehow, only he could hear it, as if there was some telepathic link between him and the voice.
"W-who's there?" squeaked DayBunny, frightened out of his wits, about to do something very involuntary.
"I am the spirit of the Scorpion King, Overlord of Kasmari. Ever since I was sealed by your Headmaster's ancestors I have been hiding out here. The green light is meant to act as a deterrent to everyone to stay clear and was placed there by the two Headmasters. Fortunately for me, though... it doesn't seem to deter everyone."
The voice laughed an evil laugh, and DayBunny felt a shooting pain in his head. he clutched at it furiously, digging his fingers into his scalp, but the pain did not stop there. DayBunny screamed, but nobody was around to hear him. His friends had already departed for the Forest of Silence and was likely to be in Greenville by now. DayBunny finally could not stand the pain any longer, and at last, he fainted.
But it was still not too late... everything can still be prevented...
After a while, DayBunny woke up to find himself next to the well, which was strange, as he recalled that he had fainted with his head still in the well. Shrugging the whole incident off and thinking that the spirit had been a hallucination due to the fumes from the well, and that he also was eventually knocked out by the same fumes and fell backwards onto the grass, he jumped onto his Hoverboard and quickly rushed to the Forest of Silence to rejoin his friends.
"Ah, there you are, Day! What kept you?" Pypski asked, as soon as he showed up.
"Pretend nothing has happened. Say you are fine." A voice in DayBunny's head said. DayBunny jumped - he had not seen this coming. He realised now that it wasn't the fumes from the well which had knocked him out, but something more sinister... he tried to disobey the voice, but found that he could not... almost as if he had been hypnotised...
"Everything's fine. There's nothing wrong with me. Let's continue the mission," DayBunny found himself saying reluctantly.
"OK then, let's party up and help some civilians," BlissBunny said.
DayBunny felt the spirit become more and more active as he helped more and more people with his friends. At some points, his head was hurting so badly that he had to sit and rest while everyone else hunted Skalari. He didn't like this one bit and blamed the spirit for what happened to him, but the spirit would not reply, and definitely did not leave. He had to sit out while everyone else raided the Dark Oracles in the Abandoned Nest, watch as everyone defeated the leader of the Dark Sorcerers, Nevanth, without him. He felt more and more left out. "If only I hadn't stuck my head in the well," he found himself thinking, "then everything would be fine... I wouldn't be subject to this torture!" This thought, however, was quickly silenced by a force out of his control.
"All right, we're almost done with this area. We still need to investigate a really odd well though, it seems to have green light pouring out from it," Pypski informed everyone.
At this point the spirit inside DayBunny's head suddenly became active once again.
"Volunteer yourself," the spirit told DayBunny, and although his mind worked furiously to resist the spirit's influence, the control over him was too strong, of course DayBunny was helpless to disobey.
"I'll do it," DayBunny found himself saying, against his will.
"Are you sure? You don't look so good..." BlissBunny told him out of concern for his cousin.
"Yes, I'm sure. Let me do it. I can handle it," the spirit said through DayBunny's voice.
"I have a bad feeling about this, Day, let me do it," JapansAce offered.
"No thanks. I'll be fine. Trust me." DayBunny replied with the spirit's words.
"But..." JapansAce began to protest, holding up her toaster should she need to use it. Pypski put out a hand, forcing the toaster down.
"Let him do it. If he thinks he's fine, then there shouldn't be anything to worry about. He can take care of himself, Jace, don't worry. Everyone in my club can take care of themselves. Besides, it's only a little well, nothing to be afraid of."
And that was mostly true... although not here, and definitely not now...
The spirit forced DayBunny to stick his head inside the eeriliy glowing well, and DayBunny had no choice but to oblige. He was immersed in eerie greenness once more, and this time the spirit laughed. It was a maniac's laugh, a laugh of sweet victory. A laugh of success.
"Thank you, DayBunny. You have helped me greatly."
"What... what did I do...?" thought DayBunny, for he was incapable of words. He almost did something involuntary again as the spirit replied. Meanwhile, the spirit continued his explanation...
"Long ago, the ancestors of the two Headmasters - Owl and Dragon - captured the infamous Scorpion King from the heart of a cave in Mara against all the odds. After they captured it, the Scorpion King was cruelly slaughtered and as a result his spirit was bisected. The two ancestors decided on what to do with the spirit. Eventually, they each took one of the two halves and hid each piece inside a different well (don't ask me why; maybe they were too lazy to dig a hole deep enough or something). The well was made to glow green as a warning to future generations to stay clear. As I have said before, this did not deter you. By looking into both of these wells, you allowed both parts of me to posess you, you have reunited the spirit of the Scorpion King. I am now one step closer to ressurrection, and it is all... because... of you."
"Allow you!? I never allowed you anything!" DayBunny retorted inside his head.
"You allowed me entrance into your head when you stared down that well in Fortville, although it is too late now for that discussion. Remember, your own curiosity got you into this, it is not the fault of others, and it will definitely not be easy to escape my grasp."
And with that, DayBunny felt, once again, a burning sensation inside his mind as the two halves of the malevolent spirit fused inside his head. His brain emitted a fierce shockwave which sent his fellow TeamRocket members blasting off into the distance as he himself was also forced out of the well. He fell backwards onto the grass, and he knew no more.
"Day, wake up!" shouted a familiar voice in his ear.
"Are you OK?" asked another.
DayBunny slowly opened his eyes. He could see BlissBunny and Pypski looking down at him. JapansAce was standing not far off, inspecting the well for herself.
"You fainted... what happened?"
"I... don't know... it was the-"
The psychic connection suddenly started again out of the blue.
"The what?" Pypski asked, worried.
"The... toast I ate last night... it must have been the toast... or the toaster..."
Upon hearing this, JapansAce's eyes glared furiously.
"Don't blame my toaster for your abysmal cooking skills!"
DayBunny blacked out again as the toaster hit him squarely between the eyes.
The spirit was already gaining a hold on poor DayBunny. Several days later, when he finally awoke from his JapansAce-induced coma on a healing pad next to a Nurse at school, he felt oddly separate from the world. He gradually grew detached from his friends under the influence of the spirit, and spent the last years of study by himself, as he progressed through the missions of Neo Kansas and finally Mara. As time passed, the spirit became more and more quiet, until finally it seemed to have left him. A year passed, then two, then before he knew it, it had been a full seven years. During this time, he became social again, and went back to being on good terms with his fellow TeamRocket members.
Present day...
One day, DayBunny was awoken by a loud hammering on his door.
"Did you hear?! Some farmers have reported missing livestock from their farm! Apparently, a creature attacked their chickens in the night. Farmer Favian can swear some of his are missing!"
DayBunny jumped out of bed with a start, but somehow he was still tired. He opened the door to his dormitory to reveal Kalysto, one hand shoving a newspaper in his face with the headline "Favian's Far-Fetched Fowl Fantasy", the other holding a slice of pie, which looked as if she had just taken a bite from. At the same time, JapansAce emerged from her dormitory next door.
"What's going on, Kaly? Why is there a newspaper in my face?" DayBunny enquired sleepily.
"Read the story!" Kalysto demanded, still eating her slice of pie.
Before DayBunny could move, JapansAce had already snatched the paper from Kalysto's hands and was reading it with wide eyes.
"It says here that a mysterious green creature was reported by Favian last night... and this morning some of his chicks are missing. Professor Lemerande found some remains and analysed them over at Owl School... and you won't believe what she found...!"
"What?" asked DayBunny, whilst Kalysto looked grim.
The reply hit DayBunny like a knife, and he remembered that fateful day seven years ago.
"...scorpion venom." came the reply.
"But there aren't any scorpions in Greenville... something doesn't seem right here," Kalysto said, munching on a new slice of pie from her bag.
"Wait, there's more. Some farmers in Neo Kansas also reported some cows to have disappeared. They also found traces of scorpion venom. The descriptions seem to match... eerie green glow... green eyes... anyway, Professor Wong analysed these remains and cross-referenced it with Professor Lemerande's, and concluded that even the antigens on the venom molecules appear to be identical," JapansAce informed the other two.
"Meaning that the two attacks are likely to be caused by the same creature?" asked Kalysto
"Exactly," JapansAce replied.
DayBunny began to back away. He suspected- no, he KNEW- that he had been the culprit. No doubt it was the result of the Scorpion King's spirit being reunited and telepathically controlling his mind. The Scorpion King was making him kill all these livestock and he had no control over it. He slammed the door and collapsed on his bed, distraught.
Little did he know the Scorpion King's true potential.
"What's gotten into him?" Kalysto asked, staring at the closed door of DayBunny's dormitory and taking the newspaper back from JapansAce.
"No idea, but we should investigate this. Gather everyone we can, Kaly, and tell Owl School to do the same. The only places with livestock are Hillville, Fortville, Greenville and Neo Kansas. If the creature can attack all the sites in one night, then we need to ambush him somewhere, splitting up may be a good idea. Once someone finds it we can tell the others and regroup there. Keep Buddy Link cards at the ready, as we might need it. And whatever you do, don't let it break your ressurrection device in your armour, or you won't regain consciousness until it's fixed, and that might be a while."
To her indignation, JapansAce takes a bite out of Kalysto's slice of pie. Kalysto immediately hits JapansAce in the face with her newspaper.
"I'll do it, but keep off my pie!"
"Fine, fine..." JapansAce walked out of her dormitory and locked the door behind her. Oblivious to her, a toaster sat on her bedside table...
Later that night, the Owls and Dragons had gathered everyone they can possibly find. Hillville and Fortville each had three parties - as JapansAce felt sure this was where the creature was most likely to attack, whereas Greenville and Neo Kansas only had two.
Stationed at Hillville were StrangerD3RK, MagicsOwner, Noemig, Kilai, and Domennico in one party, while Yuumei, xxLilBunny, Kimina, CristinaSollo and Fuchsia were in a second, and KariShadowWolf, HuguesdePayens, XKooriXChan, SnowOwl and CptTatsumiya made up the final five. At Fortville's farms were YoukiKonpaku, Sahara, BlissBunny, Pypski and HidekiHinata as one party, Spycer, Zulfequar, Hatake, AgSilver and Roulette as the second, and Roozaey, Axlrose, MysticLove, Nightwolf and Rhainbow as the final party. In Greenville, the two parties each looked after one of the two farms in case of attack. One party consisted of Kalysto, RiqHoshiro, Confucius, PillBox and RunariaNewbreak, and were guarding Colin's farm; while the other contained Birou, TeaTime, Opacus, Alyse and Nightzs looked after Favian's. Finally, the two parties in Neo Kansas were Tamani, Gemini, NatsukiKuga, Lushen and Chinami, and MaximusArk, Bui, Viewtifulboi, Mirabella and Uiiiiiiiiiiiiii. Both parties were circling Neo Kansas at opposite ends, keeping an eye out for the creature. JapansAce was wandering partyless by herself in the middle of Neo Kansas, searching all the farms in case the creature tried to attack there, making particularly sure to check the abandoned ones, which had been ravaged by tornadoes.
Suddenly, a flash of green lightning appeared to strike DayBunny's dormitory. Pypski pointed out the flash, but had no idea about its origins.
"Warn the others, quick, I think it's starting. Tell them to get ready and prepare themselves," said Pypski hurriedly.
Sahara immediately took out a Megaphone, placed it to her mouth and broadcast the message for everyone to hear. Unfortunately, the possessed DayBunny also heard it.
A bolt of green lightning flashed close to Pypski, and the next moment Sahara lay unconscious on the ground, her Megaphone now a puddle of molten plastic and electronics. BlissBunny immediately revived her, but the possessed DayBunny was just getting started. Within seconds, five more lightning bolts had struck the area. Some struck the chickens, which immediately vanished in a puff of green smoke, while others came dangerously close to striking the parties on watch. One bolt pierced the armour of YoukiKonpaku and shattered his respawn device. Youki was immediately taken back to school so that the nurses could try to repair it.
Nobody had seen this coming. They all anticipated a tangible creature they could fight, not a supernatural being carried by lightning which they can barely touch at all. Everyone at Fortville began to panic, and some people were knocked unconscious by the friendly fire. Amidst the confusion, the Scorpion King left and targeted a new area.
"Stop!" shouted HidekiHinata eventually, "it's gone."
As the priests ressurrected RunariaNewbreak, AgSilver and everyone else which had been caught in the friendly fire, HidekiHinata used his Megaphone to warn the others about the new discovery.
Had it not been for that crucial day seven years ago... all of this could have been prevented...
The posessed DayBunny targeted every area possible. Despite the Knights' best efforts, they could not prevent casualties both of the livestock and themselves. The Scorpion King was simply too strong and unpredictable for them.
"I'm afraid we'll have to call this a night... we can't do anything against it... We haven't even seen the creature itself, just these bolts of lightning!" said Magics.
"We can't do nothing against lightning..." CristinaSollo said dejectedly.
"It's just too powerful for us... it even managed to take Chinami out in one hit!" Tamani sat down, her head in her hands, looking at the floor.
"NOOOOOOOOO! CHIIIIIIII!" yelled Kilai in despair.
"We can't give up...!" The Momo Overlord told them, taking a bite from a giant Momo fruit stash she was holding in one of her arms, "We have to try, at least!"
Meanwhile in Neo Kansas, JapansAce was making one final check of the farmhouses. It was nearly daybreak and she knew that the creature would have to seek refuge soon. As she walked past a deserted building with boarded-up windows and brick walls, a flash of green lightning struck it. She quickly whirled around and stared cautiously at the house, wondering if she should ask for help using her Megaphone... but she decided against it.
That was her last chance to prevent her destiny.
She pushed open the door quietly and snuck inside, claws at the ready. She looked around the room, but can see nothing so far. The door slammed shut behind her, leaving her in pitch darkness.
An eerie green glow suddenly illuminated the room. JapansAce's eyes quickly darted around. There was a single pillar holding up the ceiling and looked to be a vital support beam for the house. She made a mental note to never touch that pillar at all times. She then glanced around for the source of the glow... and...
She found it behind the pillar. It looked so much like DayBunny, yet so different. His hair was still purple, but apart from his general outer body anatomy the rest of his features resembled a scorpion. He still had visible fingers, but JapansAce could see what looked like half of a claw growing from the back of his hand. His gun was still on his back, glowing a brilliant white, but also growing from was a huge scorpion tail with a giant poison sac. One look at the sting made JapansAce a little queasy. Both of them knew that as long as it stayed near the pillar, she wouldn't dare touch it for fear of bringing down the house on them both. However, this meant that it now had the advantage...
JapansAce immediately reached in her bag for her toaster, but couldn't find it anywhere. She suddenly remembered with a jolt that she had left it on her bedside table. The excitement caused by Kalysto's news article had made her forget all about bringing it with her. She visualised it sitting on the table in her mind's eye with a horrified expression on her face.
Meanwhile, the posessed DayBunny took out his gun and aimed it carefully at JapansAce. The next second, JapansAce had also readied her claws, which glowed a bright blinding yellow. She dashed towards it, but before she can perform another skill she had been frozen by four blasts of cold ice from DayBunny's gun. The Scorpion King then took this chance and slashed at JapansAce with his tail, inflicting a deadly poison on her, which broke the ice encasing her. Finding herself able to move again, JapansAce quickly used Ultimate Evasion and dodged the lightning bolt from the gun. Enraged, the Scorpion King immediately ascended into the sky as a bolt of green lightning.
Thinking that the worst was over and that the Scorpion King had gone, JapansAce breathed a sigh of relief, and took out a Megaphone.
"Help me, I've found the creature, it was in a deserted farmhouse in Neo Kansas, look for the one with brick walls and boarded-up windows! I don't know where it is now, but it might come back!"
She had no idea whether it had worked or not. All she could do now is hope... and hope that the creature, whatever it was, didn't come back.
Outside the house, the Scorpion King had managed gained control of all of the tornadoes of Neo Kansas. The Neo Kansas patrol parties were immediately flung into different maps, falling unconscious as they landed heavily on the ground after their ride.
"T-this is madness! Stop!" DayBunny tried to yell to the Scorpion King now controlling his soul.
"Never!" replied the Scorpion King through his telepathic link, "I will never rest until I am ressurrected once again, and then all of Kasmari will be at my command!"
"But that's going to be impossible!"
"Yes... you're right... I will need a new host if that goal is to be accomplished... someone... more fitting..."
"Wait... what're you saying?!"
"You will help me find a new host, after which your duty will be complete. I shall dispose of you accordingly."
DayBunny fell silent. What had he done...? The thought went over and over in his head, but was quickly vanquished by the Scorpion King's telepathic link.
"Do not think about it too much. It will be nothing. It may not even hurt... who knows... I have never been struck by green lightning before..." The Scorpion King finished with an evil laugh, as he controlled the tornadoes with more and more vigour.
The six parties in Hillville and Fortville had heard JapansAce's cry for help and had set off towards Neo Kansas, but had no idea of what the Scorpion King had done. Upon reaching Neo Kansas they found it to be an impenetrable wall of tornadoes.
"What do we do now?!" Zulfequar asked desperately, clearly panicking.
"We have no choice... maybe we'll to dodge through them if we want to reach Jace...?" Hatake wondered.
"Are you sure about this, Hatake?" Spycer sounded uncertain.
"Do you see another way?" Hatake replied grimly.
JapansAce sat down inside the lonely house, knowing full well if she went outside, the creature would be waiting for her. However, she couldn't remain inside either... but she had to... she had no idea whether her call for help had worked or not, no idea about anything going on outside the brick house she had escaped to... she curled herself in a corner close to the pillar, scolding herself for forgetting her toaster on her bedside table, hoping that the creature would not attack her for fear of bringing down the whole house...
How wrong she was...
The bolt of green lightning struck the house again, passing cleanly through the ceiling, and JapansAce saw it for a brief second before the creature materialised before her very eyes and she was caught off guard. Before she can react, she had been hit by a lightning attack from DayBunny's gun, and the electric shock made her drop her claws involuntarily near the support pillar. The next thing she knew, the creature had withdrawn a bazooka from his bag. It dashed behind JapansAce as a lightning bolt, reforming behind her. The Scorpion King then forced DayBunny to jump up into the air, aim his bazooka at JapansAce, and pull the trigger. A fireball enveloped JapansAce as she was knocked into the far corner of the room, away from her claws, letting out a high-pitched scream.
"Did you hear that...!" StrangerD3RK was the first to notice the faint scream, dodging past several tornadoes.
"It sounded like Jace..." Kilai observed, as a tornado narrowly missed her
"We have to hurry!"
The beast quickly transformed back into the lightning bolt and hurled itself at JapansAce, striking the pillar as it went, which, thankfully, remained standing. The bolt struck JapansAce cleanly in the chest, knocking her forcefully into the wall. JapansAce screamed again and fell into a heap on the floor, utterly defenceless, as the creature rematerialised, and DayBunny aimed his gun at her. Despite JapansAce's pleads to what she thought was DayBunny, and DayBunny's pleads through the telepathic link, the ruthless spirit has all control and forces DayBunny to pull the trigger, destroying JapansAce's respawn device, sending her into a coma, as the first rays of daylight passed through the gaps between the boarded windows...
The spirit eyed the giant mob of people gathered at a huge hole they had blasted in the wall near the pillar through DayBunny's eyes, looking for a suitable new host. It made DayBunny's eyes dart quickly between one person and the next - Kalysto, Kilai, StrangerD3RK, Hatake, BlissBunny... until it finally landed on Pypski. Pypski took one look at the spirit and her eyes widened in shock. She broke her gaze and shook her head slightly, then looked back at the spirit again.
The spirit forced meaningless words through DayBunny's mouth, and then made him take out his bazooka and shoot the already weakened pillar. Under the cover of everyone's confusion and horror, the creature transforms into the green lightning bolt and escapes the house, grabbing Pypski with it. The Scorpion King deposits Pypski on top of a pyramid in a desert, surrounded by Jackals and Mummies, circling the base, frustrated that they cannot attack.
"You are no longer needed," the spirit said to DayBunny via the telepathic link.
The Scorpion King emerges from DayBunny as a cloud of green mist and fuses with Pypski's mind, forming a new telepathic link. In doing so, the spirit releases the energy of its previous link as a massive shockwave which dazes both Pypski and DayBunny and throws them off the pyramid in opposite directions. The spirit, controlling Pypski's body, walks away with its new host, until its eerie glow fades into the night, while leaving DayBunny lying dazed at the bottom of the pyramid, as the circling undead begin to crowd around him...