Chapter 7: Midnight Battle
"Are you sure you're not going crazy?" asked Duck for the 10th time that night.
"For the last time, Duck," said Tech, angrily, almost growling at the lovesick mallard, "Sophie and I are not going crazy. If we're going crazy, then those 2 girls aren't Lexi and Ace's sisters."
"Well, we don't have nay proof of that so--" Duck groaned and Sophie let go of him with her ungloved hand. Her power usually hurt them somehow.
"Thanks, Sophie," said Tech as she put her glove back on.
"No problem," said Sophie, "I get kind of tired from hearing his whining, too, anyway."
"You know what?" asked Duck, "You're all despicable." (He never gets tired of saying that, does he?)
Sophie giggled. "So, where exactly is this 'Legion of Darkness'?" She was looking at Tech, but she was obviously asking Paige since she couldn't see her. She looked around when Paige finally spoke up.
"Actually, I have no idea of where their exact location is," said Paige as they continued through the forest, "I just stumbled on them the first time and the dogs were coming at me so fast when I left that I wasn't able to pinpoint it. But there are other Ghosts who saw them unnoticed and could help us find them."
"'Other Ghosts'?" asked Tech, "Where?"
Paige whistled and the trees rustled slightly as more Ghosts began to appear before him.
"OK, that answers my question," said Tech.
"Tech," whispered Sophie, "exactly how many are there?"
"Uh, let's see…" Tech began to count them, "1…2…hey, that wasn't fair!"
Some of those Ghosts kept disappearing and making him lose count. Some of them giggled, others laughed, and some stopped after Tech had spoken.
"Guys, you're not really helping right now," said Paige, "Just help us find these guys."
"Do you have a way of turning them invisible?" asked one of the other Ghosts, gesturing toward the confused anthros.
"No," said Paige.
"Then you're on your own with me," said the Ghost girl, disappearing.
"Shoney!" called Paige, "I know they're living, but they need our help and 2 of them can hear us!"
The Ghost girl named Shoney came back. "You found the Listeners?"
"Better," said Paige, "1 Listener and the Seer."
The Ghost girl gasped and turned to see Tech staring at her and Sophie looking around for the voice while the other Loonatics waited for something to happen. "You can see us?"
"I can, she can't," said Tech, pointing at Sophie.
Shoney gasped. "They can help us get rid of the Shadow guys!"
"That's why they're here," said Paige, "They crash-landed here and their friends were taken captive. We have to help them!"
"Fine," said Shoney, turning to Sophie afterward, "And if the Listener must know how many there are, this group alone had 14."
"FOUR--" Sophie stopped speaking when Shoney grabbed her muzzle and wouldn't let go.
Tech crossed his arms at her. "Get your hands off my wife."
Shoney rolled her eyes and let go.
"If you ever grab my snout again, I'll--" Sophie started.
"Do what? Kill me?" asked Shoney, "You can't see me and I'm already dead!" She and every other Ghost (except Paige) laughed hysterically. "Follow me." She began to walk through the forest.
"Guess we're following Ghost girl," said Tech, walking behind her with the other Loonatics and Sophie and Bridget and Camille following him (Tech had to be in front since he was the only one that could see where she was going).
They eventually came to a clearing. It had a few torches lit here and there on top of a pedestal, but there was nothing and no one there.
"I-I don't get it," said Shoney, "They were here, like, 12 minutes ago."
"Did you see where they went?" asked Tech. Shoney shook her head. Tech looked around and saw all the other Ghosts shaking their heads, too, including Paige. But there was one other one, another girl.
"I saw them," said the girl who seemed about 5, "They went that way." The little girl pointed to the other side of the clearing. "Or did they go that way?" She pointed over her shoulder. "Well, either way they went east."
"Thanks," said Tech, "but I'm not certain that helps."
"They don't have any idea where they are, do they?" asked Lexi.
Tech shook his head.
"Well, this is great," said Duck, "First my wife and Rev's wife get kidnapped…Witch-napped...and now we're lost in a forest looking for them by following a bunch of dead people that we can't even see!"
The bushes began to rustle slightly.
"Uh, Duck?" Lexi said.
"I mean we can't just go wandering through the forest looking for someone when we don't even know where they are!" Duck said, "For all we know they sacrificed them early!"
The Ghosts all ran away except for Paige.
"Duck, maybe we should--" Tech said, backing up.
"I know, 'not give up' and 'keep looking' but we can't just keep on chasing Shadows! I mean--"
"Duck!" Ace cried, turning his friend's head to face the dogs now coming at them.
"Uh, forget what I said," Duck said, "Everybody RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"
"No, Duck!" Tech said, keeping his friend from running away, "Keep your voices low and no sudden movements."
"Tech, I can't see them," Sophie whispered.
"I know," Tech whispered back.
One of the dogs got closer than the others and jumped at them. The others attempted the same. The first dog narrowly missed them and the others were too far away.
"OK, forget what I said," Tech said, "EVERYONE RUN!"
They all attempted to leave the clearing but more dogs came out and cornered them. Sophie looked around desperately in hopes that she could see at least one of them. Before she could figure out were they were, one pushed her away from the group and pinned her to the ground.
"Sophie!" Tech cried, running to her, "Get away from her!" Tech pulled the dog away from his wife and noticed that the fur where he had touched it was burnt. He dropped the dog and it dropped to the ground, slowly dying and turning to dust.
"Tech!" Lexi cried.
"How did you do that?" asked Ace.
"I don't know," said Tech, "I-I didn't do anything, I just…touched it. Paige said that the only thing that can kill these things is the Touch of the Seer, and that's me!"
More of the dogs began to draw close to his friends. He ran at them and grabbed onto 2 of their tails, causing the same effect as the others slowly backed away. Tech touched one more dog and the others ran away after it was gone.
"I can't believe you can do that by just touching them, Tech," said Lexi, "That was amazing!"
"Thank you," Tech said, standing up from the ground, "But we still have to find--"
"Looking for this?"
The 9 anthros turned to see Orthane and Slindra holding back Daniella and Wendy.
"Daniella!" Rev cried at the same time Duck cried, "Wendy!"
Slindra took out a dagger and held it to Wendy's throat. "Take one more step and they're both dead."
Duck and Rev backed up.
"Let them go!" Tech said.
"Or what?" asked Orthane, "You may be able to kill the dogs, but you can do nothing to us. And since you can't--" Before finishing that sentence, his eyes glowed slightly and Tech began to ache all over.
Tech backed up right into a tree, so weak that he couldn't open his eyes. He fell to the ground, writhing in pain, and eventually stopped moving completely.
"Tech!" Sophie cried. The team went over to see what had happened to the coyote. His body was motionless, colorless, soulless…and lifeless. His fur and even his uniform were as cold as death, and, yet, he was still alive. "What did you do to him?"
"The deal was that you give up your souls in exchange for their freedom," said Orthane, releasing Daniella, who ran into Rev's arms, not looking back for a second. Only then did he realize that Sophie had gotten out the flask of tears. He used Tech's power (which he apparently had taken, too) to bring the flask closer and then smashed it on the ground, breaking it in half. "Nice try."
"Who said the tears had to touch you?" asked Sophie.
Orthane looked down to see the tears eating away at the ground. They drew too close to Slindra's foot. She recoiled in pain and dropped the dagger, releasing Wendy to the safety of Duck's arms as she fell to the ground and slowly died. Orthane didn't need to see anymore before attempting to run away into the forest. He stopped when Sophie held out her hand, using her magic.
"Where do you think you're going?" asked Sophie, "You've got something that's not yours." She held her hand to her heart and Tech's soul was removed from Orthane's possession. She threw her hand out at Tech and he was restored to his normal self.
Tech got up slowly as he regenerated. "What happened?"
"You don't want to know," said Sophie.
"Well, where did the other guys go?"
"Slindra's dead and Orthane's right the--" She turned around to see that Orthane had left into the trees. "Well, he was right there."
"Oh, we can fix this," said Daniella, holding out her hand to reveal that she still wore the bracelet with the gems that represented the colors of the rainbow. It symbolized that she was a daughter of the Light Guardians. She and her sisters did a simple spell and the Light Guardians (other than their parents) appeared in the forest and got rid of Orthane. "I thought that would work."
"So," said Paige, "now that he's gone, I can cross over and be with my family."
"Really?" asked Sophie, still unsure of where she was.
"I was positive," said Daniella.
"Not you," said Sophie.
"Oh, right, Ghost girl," said Duck.
"Yeah," Paige answered Sophie, backing up to give herself some room, "It was nice knowing you 2, and thanks for helping. Next time you see me, if you ever see me, I'll be with my family. Thanks for the help. I couldn't have done it without you." With that, a light shone brightly that only Tech and Sophie could see and, when it was gone, so was Paige.
"Well," said Tech, "now that that's done and over with, I believe you 4 have something to tell us?"
"Right," said Daniella as she, Lexi, Wendy, and Sophie grouped together in front of the guys, ready to finally tell them without any interruption, "Tech, Ace, Rev, Duck…we're pregnant."
Duck fainted.
"What…all 4 of you?" asked Ace.
"At the same time?" asked Rev, at a normal speed due to shock.
"How did that happen?" asked Tech.
"Oh, well, you see, after we got married--" Wendy started.
"No, not that!" Tech shouted.
"I have no idea how we all got it at once," said Daniella, "I think it's just some freak coincidence."
"Well, in that case," said Tech, "how on Earth are Wendy and your kids gonna turn out if they're half-breeds?"
"I have no idea," said Wendy, "You and the rabbits will get litters, we'll each have one. If you make us lay eggs, Tech is gonna be the only one able to see you."
The group laughed.
"I'm serious," Wendy said.
They stopped laughing.
"Really?" asked Duck.
