Chapter VII: The Snake Queen Strikes

In the night sky, two-faced figure loomed over the city, waiting and watching. Then, the serpent figure came before him.

"Ah, you have returned" said the two-faced figure "What news do you bring me?"

"Libra has been deleted" said the serpent figure "He was deleted by none other than Cyber Star"

"I was afraid of that"

"I did, however find out who she was"

"Oh?"

"She is a red porcupine who lives by herself. She is indeed a lonely heart"

"Very good! Now we can-"

"There was another one"

"Another one?"

"Yes, a blue one… I do not know his true identity, but he goes by… Mega Man"

"Mega Man… hm…"

"He is not really that much of a concern"

"If that is so, then we have a new mission. Before we can continue on to the destruction of this planet, we must get rid of that which stands in our way. Ophiuca, you're new mission is to find a host and destroy Cyber Star!"

"Yes, I shall" said Ophiuca.

"Do not fail me… You are the only one I have left"

"I will not fail you"

Ophiuca descended upon the world to look for a host.

"Cyber Star. She may be more of a threat than I thought…"

A few days after the incident with Libra Scales:

Flaky was at home tidying up. She was wondering if Mark would come over for a visit. Then, again, he might not… she still cleaned just in case. When she decided to take a break, she decided to look for Alpha.

"Alpha?" said Flaky "Where are you?"

"I'm in the living room…" said Alpha.

Flaky went in there. Alpha floated in the center reading a magazine.

"I wish you'd help me clean up around here!" said Flaky.

"Hey! You're the one wants to clean it!" said Alpha "It shouldn't be my problem…"

Flaky was curious what Alpha was reading. She walked over to get a closer look. She was incredibly shocked at it. Alpha was reading an adult magazine!!!

"Alpha!!! What are you reading?!?" said Flaky.

"This magazine!" said Alpha "What does it look like?"

"You shouldn't be reading that!!!" said Flaky.

"Why not? You told me to read books, so, here I am. And now, you freak out over it!"

"I meant a book book! Not that!!!"

"What's so bad about it?!? All it is are pictures of your people posing differently"

"It's what their posing for!!! Where'd you get it anyway?!?"

"Oh, I just picked it up off some shelf at those 'store' places…"

"YOU STOLE IT?!?"

"Hey! It was sitting right there, up for grabs. Geez, you people really aren't that smart…"

"Th-that's not the point!!!" she snatched it from Alpha's hands "It's not for you to read!!!"

"I don't get what you're so freaked out about, it's no big deal"

"Well… don't you know where you come from?"

"What do you mean?"

"How you were born?"

"I wasn't 'born', someone just gather a certain amount of EM radiation in one place and POOF, I came to be" He leaned over and tapped at the magazine "Now what does that have to do with this?"

"N-nothing!!!" she thrust it in his face "All you need to know is that you shouldn't be reading this!!!"

Suddenly, Cuddles burst into the door and said "Hi-ya, Flaky!!!"

Then he saw Flaky, frozen solid in surprise. He saw her holding the magazine. There were a few seconds of an awkward silence.

Finally, Flaky quickly hid the magazine behind her back and said "C-Cuddles? What are you doing here?"

"Eh… what's that in behind your back? …" said Cuddles.

"Oh… I have no idea what your talking about…" Flaky said as she slowly scooted to the nearest trash can and dropped the magazine inside.

"But, there was something in your hands" said Cuddles.

Flaky nervously, but quickly lifted her hands and said "I have nothing in my hands, see? Ah heh heh heh…"

"But, didn't you just… Ah, whatever!" said Cuddles "I came to ask you something!"

"What is it?" said Flaky "If it's another offer from Giggles, then, I'll pass!"

"No! This'll just be you 'n me!" said Cuddles "How about I take you around town?"

"What?"

"Well, you seem to be doing the same thing all day and you seem to miss out on a lot of stuff! I want to take you to town and show you what fun stuff you can do! Come on, you'll love it!"

"I… well…"

"Come on, Flaky! You only get one life!"

"Well, I guess I could…"

"Awsome! Let's go!!!"

"Okay, then…"

Alpha went up next to her and said "I still don't get what the big deal is…"

"We'll talk about it later…" Flaky said quietly.

Alpha went into Flaky's transer and she went with Cuddles outside. They walked all the way to town. Cuddles kept talking about how fun her life could be if she just opened up a little more. Finally, they made it to the town.

"Okay… now what?" said Flaky

"Anything! There's lots of places to go!" said Cuddles "Let's look around and find something!"

They walked around a little bit. They stopped so that Cuddles could discuss some ideas with Flaky. Little did they know that Giggles was in the clothing store right next to them. She glanced out the window and saw them and looked through again.

"Hm? Is that Cuddles?" she said to herself "And is that… Flaky that's with him? What are those two doing?"

Flaky and Cuddles walked around town some more. Then, they saw Toothy biting on a street lamp.

"Hey, Toothy! What're you doing?" said Cuddles.

"Oh, hi, Cuddles. Nothing really…" said Toothy "Hey! You have Flaky with you! A-are you two on a date?!?"

"What? No! Nothing like that! I'm just showing Flaky what kind of fun she can have in town!" said Cuddles.

"Oooo!!! Oooo!!! I know tons of things we can do!!! Can I come?!?" said Toothy.

"Sure you can, right, Flaky?" said Cuddles.

"Uh… well… I suppose he could…" said Flaky.

"I know so many things!!! Like some restaurants with tasty food and things like that!!!" said Toothy.

"Yeah! Maybe we can stop one for lunch" said Cuddles.

The three continued on through the town. They passed by a flower shop and saw Petunia walk out of it.

"Yo!!! Petunia!!!" Cuddles called out.

"Oh! Hi, guys!" said Petunia "How are you! Flaky! Good to see you again! I see you're doing well!"

"Hi, Petunia" said Flaky. She kept her distance from her. She didn't want to be cleaned wildly again.

"So, what are you two doing with her?"

"We're showing her how much fun she could have in town!" said Toothy "Wanna join?"

"I'd love to!" said Petunia "There are so many shops around here, Flaky! Things like flower shops, and decorating shops, and cleaning shops. Maybe, you're home could use a better look!"

"I guess we could look…" said Flaky.

Petunia giggled and said "You're so shy. You need to lighten up! Maybe this is what you need! Come on, boys, let's show her how to have fun!"

"Alright!" said Cuddles.

The four of them went on their way through the town. They reached the park. There, Sniffles was sitting on a park bench reading a book.

"Look! There's Sniffles!" said Cuddles "Hey! Sniffles!!!"

Sniffles looked up and said "Hello, Cuddles, nice day isn't it? Oh! Hello, Flaky! What are you doing with them?"

"I… well…"

"We decided that Flaky needs more time outside in the town. She needs to see how much fun the world can be" said Petunia.

"Oh! I know! We could visit the library!" said Sniffles "There are tons of books that she might find interesting! Books that we'll all find interesting!"

"BOOOORING!!!" said Toothy.

"It's an option…" said Sniffles.

"We'll stop by there" said Cuddles "Now let's go!"

They didn't go very far when they saw Giggles standing there in their way. She had that look on her face.

"Hi-ya, Giggles!" said Cuddles.

"Don't 'hi-ya, Giggles' me…" said Giggles "What are you four doing?"

"We're showing Flaky how to have fun!" said Cuddles.

"Is that so…" said Giggles "Why? She seemed to do fine"

"Uh… Giggles, she could use it…" said Petunia.

"Hmph! So what if she does?" said Giggles "She could do it herself!"

"But then she wouldn't do it at all" said Sniffles "We're helping her"

"You know you can join us…" said Toothy.

"No, no! Go on!" said Giggles "Have fun with your new friend! I don't care! Just don't be concerned about me! I hope you have a real fun time, Flaky!"

She stormed off.

"Did I do something wrong?" said Flaky.

"Naw… Giggles can be a tad sensitive sometimes…" said Cuddles "But don't worry, she'll be back to her old self really soon. Now let's have some fun!!!"

They started flooding in ideas of what to do. The mall? The park? The library? The store?

"What do you want to do, Flaky?" said Cuddles.

"Oh… I don't mind where I go… really" said Flaky.

"Come on! There has to be one place!" said Toothy.

"Geez! Their all over you!!!" said Alpha "Let's bail while we have the chance!!!"

"I… I… don't want… to…" said Flaky.

"… you don't?" said Alpha.

"It's true… I could do this by myself… but… it just wouldn't be the same… This… this is actually kind of nice!"

"Whatever… call me if you need me…" said Alpha.

"Well, Flaky?" said Cuddles.

"I don't know much of what to do here" said Flaky "Why don't you guys show me?"

"Heh! I guess you don't have any ideas! No problem! We've thought up of plenty!!!" said Cuddles.

"There's a whole lot to do out there, Flaky" said Petunia "Let's go show you!"

And so, it began, they all went out through the town and had the time of their lives. Flaky was enjoying this even more and more. She was glad she went with Cuddles and the others. She never would have thought that doing things with others was more fun than doing things alone.

Suddenly, something unexpected happened, they ran into Mark. He was leaning up against the wall watching the cars go by. He had his hands in his pockets.

"Whoa! A human!" said Cuddles.

"Hello there" said Mark.

"Hi, Mark!" said Flaky.

"Flaky!" said Mark "Nice to see you again. I see you've made yourself some new friends!"

"Uh… Flaky? You know this guy?" said Cuddles.

"Yes, his name is Mark Stilter and he and I are friends" said Flaky.

"No way!!! You already had a friend before us?!?" said Cuddles.

"It was just a few days ago…" said Flaky.

"Wow!" said Toothy as he turned to Mark "I can't believe you beat us!!! I don't know what to say… I'm kind of jealous!"

"Now, now" said Petunia "Let's not be rude! This is Flaky's friend, and so, he might as well be our friends, right?"

"Heh… well, this is a surprise" said Mark "What are you all doing anyway?"

"We're showing Flaky what we could do in this town!!!" said Cuddles.

"Is that so?" said Mark.

"Yes" said Flaky "You're welcome to join us…"

"Nah… you go ahead!" said Mark "Besides, you could use the break, right, Flaky?" he winked at her.

"Well… I don't know…"

"Don't worry, if something comes up, I'll take care of it, for you" said Mark "Have fun!"

"O-okay" said Flaky.

"Oh! I just remembered! There's a fair that opened up not to far from here! Let's go!!!" said Toothy.

"Alright!!!" said Cuddles.

They all walked off. Mark chuckled.

"Seems like Flaky's found herself some new friends…" said Beta.

"Yep" said Mark "It seems like she's starting to open up to people. I'm happy for her"

Flaky and the others went to the fair. There was so much to do there. They rode rides, saw shows, and played games. They had so much fun there. Flaky had fun, too. She knew that she would never forget this day ever.

Little did they know that Giggles was watching them. She felt something that she never felt before.

"How could they…" said Giggles "How could they replace me with her… she didn't even want any friends, but they left me for her… I… I've never been so… so… lonely…"

"It hurts doesn't it?" said a voice from behind.

"Wh-who's there?!?" said Giggles.

The voice laughed and said "There is no need to fear, my child. I'm your friend"

Suddenly a snake like figure appeared before her. She was made of a purple electrical flame. Her tail dragged on the ground. She had purple armor on her shoulders and head. She held in her hands a green flute. She also wore a veil over her mouth that Giggles couldn't see through. Just two red eyes peering out from over it.

"Wh-who are you?" said Giggles.

"I am Ophiuca" said Ophiuca "And I'm here to help you"

"Help me?"

"Yes… you seem to be very lonely. Do you know why?"

"I… I used to have friends. But that… that porcupine took them from me!"

"How awful of her! To do such a thing! You're a beautiful girl, Giggles, you deserve more attention than that girl!"

"Really?!?"

"Yes! I've been watching you, and I see that no one could live up to such a pretty face! It would be admired across the universe!"

"You think so?!?"

"Yes, I do. Yet, somehow, that porcupine, Flaky, took your friends away from you. She should be punished for her crimes!"

"Yes! You're right!!! She should!!! She'll pay for what she did to me!!!"

"Yes, and I can help you my pretty! Just join me! Together, we'll give you the reputation you deserve!!!"

"I understand! Thank you! Now, if you don't mind, Ophiuca, we have a little porcupine to get rid of!"

Later on that day:

Flaky and the others were eating at a corner restaurant. They were eating lunch there.

"So, Flaky, how's your lunch?" said Petunia.

"It's delicious" said Flaky.

"Was that fair the best or what?!?" said Toothy.

"Yes, it was a lot of fun! Thank you for doing this for me" said Flaky "I really needed it"

"Aw, it's okay, Flaky" said Cuddles "I hope now you see that having friends isn't so bad, right?"

"I guess so" said Flaky.

"So how about that Cyber Star, huh?" said Cuddles "If she isn't cool I don't know what is!"

"She's so amazing!" said Petunia "She helped us so many times. Yet, who is she?"

"She taught me a valuable lesson" said Sniffles "I'll never forget that day as long as I live"

"You guys know what I think?" said Toothy "I think she's hot!!!"

Flaky blushed.

"Yeah!!! She sure is!!!" said Cuddles.

"I wouldn't say that when there are girls present" Petunia said jokingly.

"Hey, Flaky! You seem to know much about Cyber Star. Why?" said Cuddles.

"Oh… I don't really know that much…" said Flaky "but… she… uh… she saved my life…"

"Whoa!!!" said Toothy "You are so lucky!!!"

"Next time I see her, I'm asking for her autograph!" said Cuddles.

"Screw that! I'm gonna ask her out!!!" said Toothy.

"Heh… you'd better watch it next time, Flaky" said Alpha.

Suddenly, Giggles appeared to them. She glared at Flaky without glancing at the others. Something was different about her…

"Uh… Hi, Giggles?" said Cuddles "Feeling better?"

"Heh heh… yeah… I'm feeling better, alright" said Giggles "I feel a whole lot better now"

"Oh! Well, that's good" said Petunia "Do you want to join us now?"

"Actually, I want to 'talk' to Flaky for a minute…" said Giggles.

"I don't like this one bit" said Alpha "Be careful"

Flaky got up and walked to her. Suddenly, Giggles grabbed her and threw her at a street lamp!

"OW!!!" said Flaky.

"Giggles!!! What in the world has gotten into you?!?" said Cuddles.

"This is something I should have done in the first place, had I known you'd do this to me, Flaky!" said Giggles.

"Giggles! Are you out of your mind?!?" said Sniffles.

"Flaky! Put on your visualizer!!!" said Alpha.

Flaky did as he said and she saw a serpent figure.

"Who's that?" said Flaky.

"That's Ophiuca" said Alpha "The second in command. She's pretty tough, so, you'd better be careful!"

"Giggles! You can't hurt her!" said Toothy "She didn't do anything to you!"

"Oh! Sure she did!" said Giggles "I knew that you would take her side rather than mine! This proves my suspicions correct! You've replaced me with her!!!"

"What?!? That's not true!!!" said Cuddles.

"It is!!! But now!!! No more!!!" said Giggles "I'm going to kill you, Flaky! Once and for all!!!"

"NO!!!" said Cuddles.

"YOU CAN'T!!!" said Petunia.

"That's right!" said Ophiuca "Do it!"

Suddenly, Ophicua dove into Giggles. She changed completely. Her body was covered in purple armor and she had a pink, transparent veil covering her mouth. Snakes wrapped around her arms. And her legs were replaced by a green snakes tail.

"Now, Flaky!" said Giggles "PREPARE TO DIE!!!"

"GIGGLES!!! HAVE YOU GONE INSANE?!?" said Sniffles.

"Giggles? I'm not Giggles anymore. You will now call me Ophiuca Queen!" said Ophiuca Queen.

"This is bad!" said Alpha "You have to wave change now!!!"

"I can't! She'll follow me!" said Flaky.

"Flaky!!! Run!!!" said Cuddles.

It was too late, though. Ophiuca Queen got in front of Flaky and wrapped her tail around her. Ophiuca Queen squeezed her. She squeezed her as hard as she could. Flaky could barely breath.

"STOP!!! YOU'RE HURTING HER!!!" said Toothy.

"Am I?" said Ophiuca Queen "GOOD!!!"

Flaky couldn't get free. She tried her best to get one breath in, but Ophiuca Queen wouldn't let her. Things started getting blurry around her. She started to black out.

"Flaky!!! Stay with me, Flaky!!!" said Alpha "If you black out, you'll die!!!"

Flaky couldn't hear Alpha, she was slowly going deaf. She tried to stay awake. But she started to black out faster and faster with each passing moment. She knew that this was the end.

Suddenly, a miracle happened! A blue streak came out of nowhere and hit Ophiuca Queen! Ophiuca Queen lost focus on Flaky and loosened her grip on her. Flaky fell free from her tail. She gasped for air heavily and was coughing as well. She looked up and saw what it was that hit Ophiuca Queen: Mega Man!

"Mega… Man…" said Flaky.

"Are you okay?!?" said Mega Man.

"AGH!!!" cried Ophiuca Queen "You little insect!" she hit Mega Man and he flew into the buildings.

Cuddles and the others rushed to Flaky.

"Flaky! Are you okay?" said Cuddles.

"Y-yeah… I'm fine…" said Flaky.

"Somebody has to do something!" said Petunia.

"I wish Cyber Star were here…" said Toothy "She'd solve this problem!"

"Flaky, you need to get out of here!" said Cuddles "Run as far away as you can!"

"B-but… what about… you?" said Flaky.

"Don't worry about us! What matters to us right now is your safety! Now get going!" said Cuddles.

"I guess that's your cue to wave change" said Alpha.

Flaky slowly got up and ran away. She got into an allyway where no one could see her.

Flaky weakly raised her transer in the air and said "E-EM wave… change…"

Flaky changed into Cyber Star. She felt much better when she did. Cyber Star rushed over to Cuddles.

"So!" said Ophiuca Queen "You would rather help her than me?"

"But it's wrong to hurt others no matter who they are!" said Cuddles.

"Very well then, I'll just kill you four since you'd rather be with Flaky!" said Ophiuca Queen.

"Oh no you don't!" said a voice. It was Cyber Star! She was aiming Alpha at her "I won't let you hurt them!"

"Cyber Star!" said Ophiuca Queen.

"Giggles, you have to get rid of her!" said Ophiuca "Cyber Star gets more attention than you do!"

"So, Cyber Star, you think you can out do me?" said Ophiuca Queen "Well, you're wrong! You will die with them!"

Then, Ophiuca Queen shot lasers out of her eyes at Cyber Star. She dodged it, but it cut a nearby car in half!

"Phew!" said Cyber Star "That was close!"

"Don't relax yet! Here she comes!" said Alpha.

Ophiuca Queen charged at Cyber Star. Cyber Star quickly sidestepped out of the way and shot her.

"You'll pay for that!" said Ophiuca Queen "Come, my minions! Show Cyber Star what you can do!"

Suddenly, snakes came from all over the place and started to attack Cyber Star. She shot at them as much as she could, but more came. Before she knew it, Ophiuca Queen hit her when she wasn't looking. Cyber Star flew down the street.

"That was cheap" said Alpha.

"I need some battle cards!" said Cyber Star.

"Coming up!" said Alpha.

The battle cards appeared in Cyber Star's hand, but before she could pick one, Ophiuca Queen came at her and wrapped her tail around her! Cyber Star was wrapped again, but this time her arms were free. Ophiuca Queen squeezed her as much as she could. Cyber Star picked a card with a picture of a lizard with a fiery tail on it and put it in Alpha. She then fired a flame at Ophiuca Queen like a flame thrower. Ophiuca Queen quickly let go of Cyber Star.

"Nice job! Looks like fire does the trick!" said Alpha.

"There's no way I'm letting her do that to me again!" said Cyber Star.

She got out another battle card and inserted it into Alpha. She fired a wheel of fire at Ophiuca Queen. It came back and it hit her again. Cyber Star caught it.

"Ugh… Not bad!" said Ophiuca Queen "Take this!"

More snakes came out of nowhere. Cyber Star had to deal with them again! She fired as much as she could at them. She finally killed one. This one dropped something. Cyber Star picked it up. It was a battle card! This one had a picture of a person wielding a fiery sword. Cyber Star decided to hold onto it.

It was at this time that Ophiuca Queen charged at her again! This time, Cyber Star sidestepped and fired at her.

"You can't fool me twice!" said Cyber Star.

"You! I'll get you!" said Ophiuca Queen.

She fired her eye lasers again. Cyber Star pulled her shield up to defend against it. When she lowered it, she fired at her. Ophiuca Queen slithered out of the way. She charged at Cyber Star again. Cyber Star jumped over her and inserted a battle card. Alpha turned into a gatling gun and, while she was directly above Ophiuca Queen, fired rapidly at her. Ophiuca Queen got mad and fired her eye lasers at Cyber Star again. This time it hit her! Cyber Star fell out of the sky and landed on the pavement! Ophiuca Queen slithered over to her and said "Well, Cyber Star, you certainly are a worthy opponent! However, this is the end for you!" She got ready to fire her eye beams again.

"Alpha! I need more battle cards!" said Cyber Star.

"Okay! Here they come!" said Alpha.

Cyber Star quickly got a battle card and inserted it into Alpha. She was immediately healed. Then, she rolled out of the way! Cyber Star looked into her hand and saw the card that she just got. She decided to test it out and inserted it into Alpha. Suddenly, a blade made of fire came out of Alpha's mouth.

"Whoa!" said Cyber Star.

"This looks like it hurts!" said Alpha "Use it!"

When Ophiuca Queen charged at her again, Cyber Star dashed to Ophiuca Queen and passed her, slashing her when she did. Then, Ophiuca Queen started exploding.

"No! I… can't… lose… not to… her…" said Ophiuca Queen.

She exploded one last time in a big bang. When the smoke cleared, Giggles was seen lying there. Cuddles and the others rushed to her.

"Giggles!!! Giggles are you okay?!?" said Cuddles.

"Uh… what happened?" said Giggles as she slowly got up "Cyber Star!" It was silent and she looked around and saw that everyone was looking at her "…….. I… I turned into one of them, didn't I? Into one of those monsters… I guess, I can't blame myself… I got so jealous, guys. We've been friends for so long"

"Giggles! We'd never replace you!" said Cuddles "We just added Flaky to one of our group of friends, that's all. Nothing has changed about you"

"Yes! And if you remember correctly, we asked if you could join us" said Sniffles.

"Th-that's right… I'm so sorry, you guys" said Giggles "Will you forgive me?"

"I think you should apologize to Flaky! She's the one you wanted to hurt" said Petunia.

"You're right. Where is she, anyway?" said Giggles.

"We told her to leave to a safe place" said Cuddles.

Cyber Star smiled.

"Cyber Star… you saved me, didn't you" said Giggles "Thank you so much!!! And please forgive me!!! I promise I'll never do anything like this again!!! Promise!!!"

"Don't worry, I forgive you, Giggles" said Cyber Star.

"And another thing" said Giggles "You saved us so many times. We never got to thank you properly"

"No! It's alright, really!" said Cyber Star "I'm just doing the right thing, that's all"

"Hey, Cyber Star" said Alpha "I'm gonna pulse you out now"

"Okay" said Cyber Star.

"Aw, Cyber Star… You're so AWSOME!!!" said Toothy.

Suddenly, Toothy jumped up and hugged her and said "YOU'RE THE BEST!!!"

"AGH!!!" said Cyber Star in surprise.

"Toothy! Are you nuts?!?" said Cuddles.

"Aw, crap!!!" said Alpha.

Suddenly, Cyber Star reverted back to Flaky right in front of them! Everyone was staring at her. Toothy was still hugging her saying "Cyber Star… Oh, Cyber Star…. Thank-" Then, he looked up and saw her.

There was a long moment of awkward silence. Toothy let go.

"Oh boy…" said Alpha.

"F-Flaky?!?" said Petunia "You're Cyber Star?!?"

"I… uh… I…" said Flaky.

"Are you saying that all this time, that you were the one who was saving us?!?" said Giggles.

"Well…" said Flaky.

"I always wanted to meet Cyber Star in person" said Cuddles "Yet I knew her personally all along. That… is… so… COOL!!!"

"I can't believe that it was you all this time!" said Sniffles "Yet, it explains so much!"

"Oh, man! I hung out with Cyber Star all day!!!" said Toothy.

"Please don't tell anyone! This is an important secret!" said Flaky "Please!!!"

"Well, Flaky" said Giggles "You can rest assured that none of us will tell a soul. This is between all of us. And if I catch any of these four doing so, they'll be severely punished!"

"You mean it?" said Flaky.

"Of course I do" said Giggles "After all, it's the least we could do after you saved us so many times"

"Yeah! This is between all of us" said Cuddles "This'll be our secret"

"Thank you, guys" said Flaky.

"Well, I guess that was a really interesting experience" said Giggles "I say we all head home for the day"

"Right!" the rest said.

They all walked away, yet, Flaky stayed behind. She couldn't believe that they now know that she was Cyber Star. She hoped that they could keep their word.

"Looks like Cyber Star saved the day again" said a voice from behind. It was Mark.

"Mark! Are you alright?" said Flaky "I saw you get hurt to-"

"Yeah, I'm fine" said Mark "I pulsed out at the last minute to heal. I knew that you'd pick it up from there"

"Well, thank you" said Flaky.

"Anytime" said Mark.

"Um… Mark… They know…"

"Know what?"

"The five people I was with… They know I'm Cyber Star! It was an accident!"

"Oh really"

"I don't know what to do. They tell me that they won't tell anyone… but… Oh… what do I do?"

"Trust them"

"Trust them?"

"Yeah, you should know them well enough for you to trust them, right?"

"Well… not really, but, I have no choice but to"

"Heh… well, I guess I should get going now. You should head home and rest up. You had a busy day"

"Right"

Mark walked away.

"I guess we should call it a day" said Alpha.

"Right. Time to go home, now" said Flaky.

She walked home.

After that confrontation with the snake queen, Ophiuca is dead, and now, some people know about Flaky's secret. Can she really trust them that they'll keep it that way? And what will happen next? Now that Ophiuca's gone, what will the FM-ians try next to stop the brave heroin, Cyber Star?