New Chapter!

Yay!

Jackie went flying down the stairs, taking the steps two at a time. Harvar was right next to her. He could tell she was pissed. And worried. But mainly pissed. They hurried through the empty hallways. It was pitch black, no lights to be seen in any of the rooms. Harvar couldn't help but think that it was a little irresponsible for Nygus to leave two injured weapons unattended at night in an empty school.

He'd bring that up later.

Right now, he was following after Jackie, who seemed set on getting Anya, Meme, and Tsugumi.

"You think they did something stupid?" Harvar asked as they stepped out of the doors of the school.

"Probably," she muttered under her breath. "Wait, no. Definitely. They definitely did something stupid."

"Are we going to do something stupid?" Harvar questioned her as he pulled her to a stop.

"Nope, cause we have a plan," Jackie said as she shook of his hand and kept walking. She stopped at the top of the stairs and squinted, looking at the horizon around her. Harvar came up next to her.

"Want to tell me this genius plan?"

"Find them, kill the witch and the kishin egg, eat their souls, and then leave," Jackie said.

"That's not a plan," Harvar frowned. "That's a to-do list."

"Then I've just crossed off the first thing on my list," Jackie said, pointing to the left. From the top of the stairs, they could see the outline of an enormous plateau. It wasn't really special, other than the enormous black tentacles sprouting from it. They were swinging around wildly, criss-crossing over the laughing moon.

"Jackie-"

"Come on Harvar! We're wasting time!"

...

"We're gonna die!" Spirit yelled as Anya and Tsugumi pulled him around a corner.

"I really don't know what we're going to do," Tsugumi muttered. Meme was providing a distraction to keep busy: She was running back and forth, bouncing off the walls, screaming her head off. Karen somehow resurrected Holmes and was now directing one of eight giant tentacles at her. And Tsugumi had never been prouder of her friend.

"Mr. Albarn, can you fight?" Anya asked gently. Spirit just shook his head.

"I don't know what she did to me, but I'm not going to be much use to anyone for a while," Spirit said. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Tsugumi muttered. She jumped as Meme went flying past her, slamming into the wall.

"Come on," Anya said, grabbing Tsugumi. "We need to fight."

"Right," Tsugumi said with a nod. She changed into her halberd form, which Anya caught easily. She ran out from behind the corner, swinging the halberd out severing a tentacle as it rocketed towards her. She dodged a second one that shot down from above. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Meme, barely avoiding one, only to have it wrap around her leg.

"Meme! Here!" Anya shouted, jumping a tentacle and throwing the halberd across the room at her. Meme caught it and sliced through the tentacle, getting splashed with ink in the process. The severed portion thrashed on the ground for a few seconds before turning into a pile of goo. The base of the tentacle retracted towards Karen, disappearing at her feet. She let out a screech of rage when she saw it and sent two others hurtling at Meme, who dodged out of the way.

Anya let out a cry as a third tentacle knocked her aside. Meme didn't hesitate as she flung the halberd back to her friend, embedding it into the wall. Anya yanked it out and slashed the tentacle, chopping it to pieces. Meme was still dodging the two tentacles that Karen had directed towards her, but now one peeled off, aiming for Anya, who handled it with ease. Meme jumped atop the remaining tentacle, running along it as the end chased her. She hopped off, ducked under, and squeezed through, tying the end in a knot. It still reached for her, though, causing it to burst.

Karen pulled back the tentacle attacking Anya, leaving four to sway behind her like tails. She let out a low growl and Holmes ran at Meme, who ran right at him. At the last second, she rolled, making him run into a wall. The kishin yanked himself off, his chest rumbling unhappily. Anya threw the halberd as Holmes charged at Meme again, hitting him square in the back. He fell to the ground with a thud, twitching slightly. Meme jumped on his back as he tried to get up and pulled out the halberd. She raised the dripping weapon high above her head, swinging it down and decapitating the kishin egg.

Karen howled in rage. The four tentacles raced towards Meme like lightning. Anya, weaponless, did the first thing that came to her mind: she ran forward and tackled Karen. Apparently, the tentacles were controlled by focus, something that Anya found out as she sat on top of the downed witch. The tentacles had stopped and now shrunk in size, looking like branches now instead of thick trees. Meme broke through them with ease.

The witch lay underneath her, panting with exhaustion and rage. She hissed at Anya and started to try and throw her off. She stopped once Meme pressed the blade of the halberd to her throat.

"Great fighting, guys!" Tsugumi exclaimed, her reflection appearing in the blade. "You were totally in sync."

"With help from you, of course," Meme said with a sheepish grin. Anya felt herself smile, too. They did awesome.

"Good job, girls," Spirit's voice came from behind as he walked slowly forward, still clearly damaged from his ordeal. "Now we just have to figure out what to do with this witch." Karen snarled at him as he drew up next to them, his arm turning into a scythe blade with some effort.

"What are we going to do with her?" Anya asked, looking up. Her eyes shot back down as Karen began to chant.

"What is she doing?" Spirit shouted as he looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. The glowing witch script outside of the monster cages vanished. The creatures inside noticed and began screaming and banging against the glass. They were still locked in, but it'd only be a matter of time before they'd start escaping.

"No!" Tsugumi shouted in horror. All their work getting the key had been for nothing. Karen's head flopped back on the ground as she began to laugh.

"Undo what you've done!" Spirit shouted.

"It's too late for that," Karen laughed. They looked up as they heard the shattering of glass. She looked up at Spirit with a crazy glint in her eye. "It's too late now. For you, for your city, and for your precious daughter Ma-"

She didn't get to finish her taunt before Spirit separated her head from her shoulder.

Anya jumped off the witch as she was splattered with inky blood. Meme stepped back, Tsugumi held loosely in her hands. Collectively, they looked up at the rows of cages. They could hear glass breaking and could see disgusting appendages begin poking out, grasping for freedom.

"Can we take them?" Meme asked Spirit. He shook his head.

"There are too many of them. We'd be overwhelmed. And there's no way we can outrun them," Spirit muttered, looking angry and resigned. "Once they've finished with us, they'll storm the city and spread across the country."

"Can't we find a way out?" Anya asked desperately. "There has to be some way."

"And there is," Spirit said, giving the girls hope, "but the tunnel is on the other side of this cavern, and I certainly don't remember the way out." Tsugumi looked at her friends, who shook their heads. They weren't sure how to get back out, either. They had gotten lost countless times coming in. Coming out the opposite way would be just as difficult and time consuming.

Anya opened her mouth. "Isn't there another way out?"

"Of course there is!" a voice behind them exclaimed. "We made one coming in!"

Chapter done!

I haven't touched this story in months.

Or any other story, for that matter.

Oops.