Divine Intervention

"Milk."

"Here you are, Sister."

"Thank you, Dear." Scanty said, finally pouring all ten gallons of water into the vat.

"And now for the finishing touch..." Scanty said, pulling another vial of Dark Matter out of her chest pocket. She tosses it into the vat, and a heavy cloud of smoke bellows out. Scanty and Kneesocks cough and splutter as the smoke invades their lungs.

When the smoke finally clears, and Scanty and Kneesocks both compose themselves, they look at the smoke. A shadow emerges from the vat, and lands in front of both of them.

"Why does it look so pitiful?" Kneesocks asked.

"I'm...not sure..." Scanty said, picking up the little mess of a thing off of the ground. It wasn't bigger than a soccer ball, and the only thing it had close to facial features were eyes.

"Did we forget something?"

"No."

Scanty became frustrated. "All of that hard work...and for what?!"

"D-Don't worry, Scanty..." Kneesocks said, comforting her sister. "...We'll think of something." She looks back at the blob. "It does look quite cute..."

Scanty looks at the blob dead in it's eyes. The blob's eyes grow bigger and start to sparkle, as if it's trying to play the 'cute' angle that Kneesocks brought up. Scanty wasn't sure of what it was trying to do...but she couldn't stop her heart from melting as well.

"Well...It's cuter than Fastener...I'll tell you that." Scanty said, laughing at the thought.

As Scanty continued to have a conversation with her sister, the blob looked at Scanty's chest and saw the little vials of Dark Matter. It's eyes grew wide with ravenous intent. It leaped out of her hands and onto her chest, and Scanty unknowingly let out a moan.

Kneesocks was flustered. "A-Are you okay, Dear?" She looked down at the blob, which (from her perspective) was mooching off on her sister's best parts.

"Kneesocks! G-Get it off of me!" Scanty said.

"Don't worry, sister! I'll save you!" She grabbed the blob, and pulled as hard, earning louder moans from Scanty. The blob finally came off, ripping Scanty's chest pocket from her shirt. The Dark Matter vials that were stored there fell all across the floor. Kneesocks and a heavily breathing and blushing Scanty stared at the blob as it ate all of the vials in one...well...motion...Then, it a flash of purple light, it grew a pair of stubby hands.

"Did you see that, Dear?" Kneesocks said, pointing to the blob. "It grew hands!"

"I...*huff*...see..."

"Do you know what this means?" Kneesocks asked.

Scanty shook her head, which surprised Kneesocks a bit. "Well, it means that this...creature...grows and survives on Dark Matter...so the more we feed it, the bigger it'll get!"

Scanty lazily looked to her sister. "I understand..." she said. "But I can't concentrate with this warm feeling in me..."

Kneesocks blushed a light red. She knew what she had to do. "We...can deal with the blob later...right now..."

Kneesocks laid her sister down on a nearby couch.

"You're my patient."

Scanty smiled as they started their...activity.

"Found anything yet?" I asked Stocking.

"Nope..." Stocking replied, looking at each warped building.

I sighed. "We'll never get anywhere at this rate."

Stocking walked away. I turned to my side to see that Stocking wasn't next to me anymore.

"S-Stocking? Where did you go?" I looked around. She wasn't that hard to find, thanks to the outer layer of Dark Matter. I found her talking with another ghost.

"Excuse me?" she softly asked. The ghost looked at her, slightly annoyed. "Do you know where the Hair Salon is?"

The ghost looked skeptical at first, then answered her question. "Just keep walking down this path here...you'll find it." His voice was gruff.

"Thank you." Stocking said with a bow. She came back to me and told me that we just had to keep going.

"I'd never think about asking one of these guys..." I said, giving Stocking a smile. "That was a really smart move Stocking...pretty brave on your part too."

Stocking blushed and looked away. "I-It was nothing, really."

"Come on, let's turn back and catch up with Panty and Brief, then we can all go to the Hair Salon together."

Stocking grabbed my arm. I looked at her. She didn't look back.

"How about we just go...together?"

"But what about Panty and Brief?" I asked. "They're still part of the team."

"We'll save time like this."

I was about to answer back, but I realized at how right Stocking was. Time was of the essence...and knowing Panty...she probably wouldn't be an task, anyway...at least...that's what Stocking told me.

"...All right, fine." I said, me taking Stocking's hand. "We'll go."

Stocking smiled.

A couple minutes later, we arrived at the Hair Salon. It wasn't as clean and pretty as I thought it was going to be. The only lights there were dimly lit lanterns, and it smelled horrible...what kind of hair products are they using? I mean, when Ingrid does her hair every now and then, it actually smells good. Too much of it is kind of hard to live with.

"Let me handle this." Stocking said, motioning for me to stand back.

She entered the salon, and asked for a seat. Luckily for us, business was going slow for the owner, so we didn't have to wait that long for one.

"So...what do you want today, little boy?"

Stocking sat upright as soon as she heard that. "Little...boy?"

"Alright, alright...Big Man?" The ghost mocked.

Stocking looked at me. I mouthed the words 'just roll with it'.

Stocking sighed. "A little off the top, please..."

As the salon owner got to work on "Stocking's" hair, Stocking started a conversation with him.

"So...how long have you been down here?"

"About 3,000 years, I opened this salon about 500 years ago."

"Business thriving for you?"

"Yeah...but I don't know what's going on today..."

"Do you know anything about a pair of Demons named Scanty and Kneesocks?"

The ghost was shocked at the question. "Why would you want to know anything like that?"

"I'm just curious...I've heard a lot about them...and I just wanted to know if you knew anything about them..."

"...Well, they are High Class Demon Commanders-"

"I've heard that part already...have you seen them around?"

"They aren't exactly running up and down the streets of Hell...but they are here currently."

My eyes slightly widened.

"Do they have a base of operations in Hell?" Stocking continued to ask.

"You know, I used to be a Soldier in their vast army..."

"Like the ones that go up to the surface?"

"Yup. I was never picked for a job...so I was discharged. Not that it bummed me out too much. So, I became a Salon owner...because that was the only other thing that I liked to do."

"That's too bad..."

"Well, if you mean bad as in getting a fair amount of money every day...then I'm not sure of what your definition of bad is." The ghost replied.

"I assume if you were discharged, if they did have a base of operations, then you would know about it, correct?" Stocking asked.

"Yeah...?"

"Then would you mind telling me where it might be. I can amaze my friends with this information!"

"Oh, all right..." The ghost said, finally giving in. "In one of the alleyways on the far east side of the Entrance Gate, there's a small switch...if you flip it, a slide will open, leading you to the main underground chamber. You might not want to check it out, though...dangerous things are down there."

"Thanks so much, sir! My friends will never believe this!" Stocking said.

"Don't mention it...you both are welcome here anytime." The ghost said when he was finished with "Stocking's" hair.

Stocking hopped off the chair and came over to me, and pulled me out of my seat.

When we left, she didn't look too amused. "Why am I a little kid?" She asked. "A boy for that matter!"

"I don't know! Honest! I just made us look like ghosts, I never gave any of us a definite ghost shape."

Stocking huffed.

"If it hurt you that bad, then I'm sorry..."

Stocking looked back at me and sighed. "Fine...I forgive you..."

"Thanks...let's go get Panty and Brief now...they must be wondering where we are." I said, going in the opposite direction.

Stocking was reluctant at first...but decided to go with me.

"Where's Luke and Stocking?" Brief asks.

"I don't know...but I'm bummed out that we didn't find anything about where Scanty and Kneesocks are."

"Let's hope that they had better luck than we did."

When Stocking and I came back, Brief came over to greet us.

"Hey guys! Did you find it?" he asked.

"Yeah, and now we know where to look." I said.

"Panty and I didn't find anything...but I knew you two would pull through."

"Figures." Stocking mumbled under her breath.

"Well, now that we know where to go...let's go!" Panty called out, already heading in the wrong direction.

"Wrong way, Panty!" I called out. "It's this way!"

Scanty and Kneesocks cleaned up the lab after the explosive climax of their affair.

"That was fun...wasn't it, Dear?" Kneesocks asked.

"Oh, yes...I feel much better now...let's go feed that...um...blob thing."

Kneesocks looked around. "If only we could find it..."

Scanty's eyes shot open. "W-Where is it?"

Kneesocks looked around more frantically. "I don't know!"

"Lock the door! We can't let it escape!" Scanty ordered her sister.

Kneesocks locked the door and continued to look for the blob.

Scanty turned over pots and pans, and looked under the table.

Kneesocks looked under the couch that she and Scanty were on and took a huge sigh of relief.

"Scanty, I've found it!"

"Where, Sister, where?"

"Under the couch! Come on, help me lift it!"

Scanty and Kneesocks got on opposite sides of the couch, and lifted the couch to reveal their unlikely creation, more bottles of Dark Matter surrounding it. It started to look more humanoid, like a small infant.

"We need to feed this thing more." Scanty said. "We're going to have to scavenge every ounce of Dark Matter in Hell in order to power this thing."

"There's a small forest away from the mainland, it's said to carry huge amounts of Dark Matter in it's trees."

"Then that's our first stop." Scanty said. "Grab the stroller...we're going hiking."

"...Wait...we have a stroller?"

"...No..."

"Then what are we going to carry this with?" Kneesocks asked.

"What about those carts that we found at that supermarket?" Scanty pointed out.

"Oh yeah...I brought one of those back!"

"...Might I ask, why?"

"It was hard getting all of the materials we needed here, so I put it all in a cart and pushed it in," Kneesocks said, pointing to the far wall. "It's over there."

Scanty picked on the humanoid blob and put it in the cart. "Now we can go hiking."

"Let's do this, Sister."

"Agreed."

"Well, where is it?" Panty asked.

"Right...here." I pointed to the alleyway in front of us. It looked like a regular alleyway. No one would be any wiser to look here.

"They did do a really good job of hiding it, I'll give them that." I said.

"Well, the ghost said that there was a switch," Stocking said, looking around. "Let's start looking."

Panty and Brief pushed a dumpster to the side, while Stocking and I turned over trash cans and bags.

"Anyone find anything?" Brief asked.

"Nope."

Panty leaned against a wall, only to jerk forwards when she felt a bump on her back. "What the hell?" She turned around and saw the bump in the wall. "Hmm, I wonder..."

She pressed the bump, and it was actually a button. It split open to reveal a small switch. "Hey, you guys, I think I found the switch!"

"Where, Panty?" Brief asked.

"Right here." She said, pointing to said switch.

"Great job, Panty!"

"It was nothing...really, it wasn't."

Stocking and I came over. "Hopefully it works." I said.

Stocking flipped the switch without hesitating. A small circle that led into something that looked like a dark room opened up from the far side of the alley.

"That was anti-climatic." I said.

We walked over to the hole. I picked up a bottle cap and dropped it in the entrance. A sliding sound was heard.

"It's a slide!" I exclaimed, grabbing Stocking's hand and pulling her in with me. "Your turn! GEEERRRROOOONIIIMMMOOOO!"

"What the fuuuuuuuuuu...?!" Stocking's voice echoed as the two of went down.

Panty and Brief looked at each other and gulped.

"Ladies first?"

"Ha ha...very funnyyyyyyyyyy!"

Brief pulled Panty in with him, making Panty hold on to him. "Woooohooooo!" They both yelled.

Stocking was holding onto me as well, and she was holding onto me tightly.

"Isn't this fun, Stocking?!" I asked over the roaring wind.

"At least tell me that you're going to pull me down with you into a hole!" Stocking bitterly replied. Her voice softened though. "But I am having fun..."

"That's great!" I replied, looking if front of me. A small light began to grow bigger and bigger. "Get ready!"

Stocking looked forward and noticed that the end of the slide was coming near. She put her head closer to me and held on tight.

Panty and Brief were still a couple of yards behind us. "I wonder why Garterbelt didn't install a slide in the Church," Panty said. "This is fun!"

"I'm glad that you're enjoying yourself, Panty." Brief said, tone getting more serious, "But we have to get more serious...I mean, we have to prove ourselves as a valuable asset to this team."

"You're right," Panty said. "We can't let Luke and Stocking outmatch us!"

"All right, then," Brief glanced ahead and saw the slide ending.

"P-P-P-P-P-P-PANTY! WATCH OUT!" he yelled, holding her close.

Stocking and I rolled out of the slide, and my back slammed into the far wall of the chamber.

"Luke! Are you okay?"

"Oh, don't worry about me, the more important question is, are you okay?"

Stocking blushed again. "I'm fine."

"Remember that you and I are a makeshift team now...so I have no other choice than to look out for you." I said.

"Thanks...but I can take care of myself." Stocking reassured me.

"I know you can."

At that moment, Panty and Brief came whooshing down the slide, landing on a cushion that was placed in front of it.

I stood up with Stocking still in my arms. "Stocking, you can come down now."

Stocking didn't say anything as I set her down. "Wait...where did that cushion come from?"

"I think we missed it." I sheepishly answered.

"Score one for us!" Panty exclaimed.

Brief was still recovering from the ride. "Where are we?"

The chamber we were in was completely colored red, and there was only one door.

"I guess that that's the only way out." I said, pointing to the door. "Let's continue, friends!"

I pulled open the door, and a huge bulldog-shaped ghost roared at us through the door. It charged toward us.

The four of us scattered all over the chamber.

"Fuck!" Panty exclaimed, firing Backlace at the dog. All the bullets bounced off of the ghost, making its shield of Dark Matter visible for a second.

Brief grabbed Panty and opened a portal that took them back to Stocking and I. "Woah..." Panty said when Brief put her down.

"Looks like I've finally got the hang of my powers." Brief said, setting the smokescreen on his PKE meter to 'High'.

"The three of you distract the ghost so I can destroy the Dark Matter!" I exclaim, rushing to the ghost with my sword drawn.

Stocking summoned Stripe II. "Panty, distract it with some gunfire! Brief, when Luke strips the ghost of his Dark Matter, fire your smokescreen when I say so, got it?"

Panty and Brief nodded their heads and got into their respective positions.

I dodged the ghost's swipes, which were - despite his size - were quite fast. "Come on, I need an opening!"

The ghost suddenly moved its attention away from me. "EAT THIS, FAGFACE!" Panty yelled, firing rounds of bullets at the ghost, which aggravated it even more.

"Thanks Panty!" I said, the ghost back finally facing me. I took my sword and shoved the entire length of it into the ghost's back. It howled in pain, and threw me off. I landed on the wall, and jumped down to Brief, who was trying his best to keep the element of surprise on his side.

"Did you do it?" Brief asked me when he noticed my presence.

The Dark Matter flew from the ghost's body, answering Brief's question. The ghost dog was now enraged, flinging his huge paws everywhere. Panty and Stocking soon found themselves cornered. Panty kept firing at it, but it didn't seem like he wanted to give in. Stocking noticed Brief and I standing behind the ghost.

"BRIEF! NOW!" Stocking yelled.

Brief heard Stocking's cry, and shot a burst of smoke out from his PKE meter. The ghost was blinded. Panty and Stocking kept to the wall and came out from the smoke, breathing heavily and coughing.

Brief ran over to Panty. "Panty! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, *cough* I'm fine. But what I need to know is what you put in that smoke! *cough* *cough* It's making it hard to breathe!"

"S-Sorry...I just haven't used it in a while...so it's kinda dusty."

I ran over to Stocking, taking glances at the smoke cloud, making sure that the ghost hasn't figured out what's going on. "Stocking, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine...just a little winded." Stocking said while I helped her up.

"Stocking, are you ready to make this fucker repent?" Panty asked when she saw that her younger sister was okay.

"When you are."

Angel halos and wings appeared and faded away on the sisters as they ran into the cloud.

"REPENT MOTHERFUCKER!"

A second later, a huge explosion shook the chamber, signifying that the ghost had been killed.

The dust cleared, revealing the Anarchy Sisters triumphant once again.

"Ahhh, that felt good...wouldn't you agree, Stockin'? Panty sighed.

"It has been quite a while." Stocking replied.

"Well, with that out of the way...let's finally continue, guys!" I said.

This time, I checked for anymore ghosts. "It's clear, guys!"

The four of us walked down a spiral staircase, which seemed like it was going to take forever.

"Ugh! What happened to the slide?" Panty groaned.

"I've never walked down this many flights of stairs." Stocking said.

"It's almost over, guys...see the light?" Brief pointed out when we finally reached the bottom of the last flight of stairs. The lights flickered on with our presence, and another long hallway was put into view. A single red door was at the end of it.

"This is it, guys..." I said, "It's time to put and end to Scanty and Kneesocks's plans."

"Foolish."

We all quickly turned our heads to the source of the voice.

"You toilet angels don't know when to quit, do you?"

"Scanty and Kneesocks..." I said through gritted teeth.

Scanty took a step back when she saw me. "They brought the grey-haired boy with them."

Kneesocks also took a step back, realizing what that meant. "He's probably the reason of why they're in Hell in the first place." she said.

Scanty summoned her revolvers. "Just what are you?" she asked me.

"What I am is none of your business...what will become of you two is what you should be worried about." I said, summoning both of my swords.

"Whatever you do, Sister," Scanty said to her sister, "Don't let them get their hands on the blob."

"Right, Dear...let's condemn these hooligans."

Panty asked for her second Backlace from Stocking, and Stocking summoned both Stripes I and II. Brief's eyes went purple.

It was a stalemate...Two against Four...Scanty and Kneesocks against Panty, Stocking, Brief, and I...they had the home advantage...though strength is in numbers.

A circe enveloped the cart behind the pair of sisters, and reappeared behind Brief.

"What the...?" Scanty and Kneesocks both looked behind each other. Their cart was missing.

"Where did the cart go?" Kneesocks asked.

Scanty spotted the cart behind us. "How did they get it so quickly?"

"Because we're awesome." I said.

Scanty had enough. She shot a round at a button on the far side of the room, starting a lockdown.

"What's going on?" Stocking asked, looking at the flashing red lights.

"This place is going to lock down and self destruct!" Kneesocks said, "You'll be trapped and blown to bits!"

The four of us just stared, nonplussed.

"You do know that you've just made our job much easier, right?"

Scanty took a second to realize what she had done. "DAMN IT!"

A robotic voice boomed throughout the chamber. "5 minutes until lockdown, 10 minutes until self destruct."

"Kneeocks, get the blob at all costs!" Scanty said, rushing toward us. "Right, Scanty!"

Scanty formed her revolvers into a RPG, and shot an wildly aimed rocket at us. It barely missed us, and it skimmed over the the cart where the blob was in.

"Watch out, Scanty!" Kneesocks cautioned. "You'll hit it!"

"We've gotta get out of here!" I said, looking around for a possible way out. I saw a chute behind the flight the stairs.

"There's a chute behind the stairs! Make a run for it!" I exclaimed.

Brief fired another smokescreen, blinding the Demon Sisters.

It all was worthless, because as soon as I force open the chute, all the smoke was sucked through it.

"They're going down the chute!" Kneesocks exclaimed.

"Slide, guys, slide!" I said, pulling Stocking in with me once more. Brief took the blob out of the cart and entered the chute, with Panty closely following behind.

Scanty shot another rocket, and Panty saw it coming just in time; she shot the rocket, blowing it up instantly. The chute started to collapse behind us, making it impossible for the Demon Sisters to slide down, but they weren't ready to give up yet.

"Up the stairs, sister!" Scanty ordered, sitting on the balustrade. Kneesocks did the same, and they started sliding up the stairs.

"Scanty, dear, doesn't this defy the laws of physics?"

"Anything to catch up with them!"

The chute's roof opened up, revealing a huge room that looked similar to the first slide we to get down here. Flashing red lights lit up the dark chasm.

"Luke, how are we going to get out of this one?" Stocking asked me.

"Hopefully at the end of this chute, things will become clearer..." I unsurely replied.

"Three minutes until lockdown."

"We've got to find a faster way down this chute, or we'll never make it out!" Panty said, getting nervous.

I looked ahead of me, and saw another small light. The end of the chute was coming near, but it was so far away that if we were to continue like this, we wouldn't make it.

I continued to stare at the light...wondering what I could do to speed things up. That's when it hit me.

"I think I have an idea...but everyone has to do exactly what I say in order for it to work."

Stocking looked at me. "What exactly do you have in mind?"

"I'm going to shoot a light arrow...and hope that it goes far enough to stick onto the entrance...then I could fuse all of us with the trail of light, so we can get to the exit much faster than at the pace at which we're going at now."

"Fuse with light?" Stocking was apprehensive. "Wouldn't something bad happen?"

"You, Panty, Brief, and I are perfectly capable of surviving the fusion." I reassured. "It'll be just fine..."

Stocking took a deep breath. "All right...I trust you..."

"Thanks." I said, with a wink. "You'll won't regret it."

I summon a bow of light, and draw an arrow fixed to a string of light that extended from it.

"Close your eyes...the light show might be a bit bright." I cautioned.

Stocking closed her eyes, and I fired the arrow. It was a streak of white light that sliced through the air.

"Got it!" I said, putting the brakes on our little slide-fest.

"Panty? Did you see that?" Brief said, staring at the sudden flash of light.

"It's perdy..."

"Wait...look down there! Luke and Stocking stopped!"

Panty squinted. "What the hell are they doing?"

"I don't know..."

My right hand glowed, holding onto the beam of light that the arrow made.

"One minute until lockdown."

"COME ON, YOU TWO!" I yelled.

"He's telling us to speed up!" Brief said. "Panty, use your gun as thrusters to propel us forward!"

"Gotcha!" Panty said, rapidly firing behind them. They started to pick up speed.

"30 seconds until lockdown."

"Stocking, hold onto me, I wouldn't want to accidentally let you go during the trip."

Stocking obliged, gripping onto me as tight as she could.

Our bodies turned into light, and as soon as Panty and Brief crashed with us, we fused with the beam of light and proceeded down the rest of the chute faster than you could say...

"We made it!" I said when we finally reached the end of the chute. We landed in a small, empty room, with no way of getting out.

"Lockdown complete. Initiate Self-Destruct...Self-Destruct in 5 minutes."

"Is there any way out of this place?" Panty asked, frantically looking all round.

"No...no...no no no no no no no no!" Brief said.

"You know, one 'no' was fine enough, Brief." Panty said.

"What happened, Brief?" I asked.

"The blob!" he exclaimed. "It's not with me!"

"WHAT?!" we all exclaimed.

"Calm down, everyone...I don't think I thought this though well enough." I said. "The blob is completely comprised of Dark Matter...so it couldn't have made it through the beam..."

Stocking put two and two together. "So...it's dead?"

"That could be a very high possibility..." I said. "And I'm not sensing anything."

"Then our work here is...done?" Brief said, unsure.

"Yes...but before we celebrate...we need to find a way out of here!" I said.

"4 minutes until Self-Destruct."

"And we need to think of one quick." I said.

Panty tapped her foot...trying to remember something...anything that'll help us leave this place.

"We could see of there's a vent on the ceiling..."

"There's no ventilation in this room...which is another reason why we can't stay in here." I said.

Panty snapped her fingers. "Brief!"

"Y-Yes, Panty?"

"You know that portal thing that you did when we were fighting that ghost dog?"

"Oh! Why didn't this come to me sooner?"

"Exactly! Do you think that you could make a portal that could reach the surface?"

"I-I've never traveled that far..."

"Just try!" Panty egged on.

"I can help!" I said, listening in on their conversation.

"How...?"

"Well...I can give you some of my power...but only temporarily."

"That's cool!"

"I know...but you have to use it quickly...because the transfer is overwhelming..."

Brief's face darkened.

"Don't worry, it's not like you're going to die! You'll just feel weak for a bit."

"2 minutes until Self-Destruct."

"Come on, Brief...you can do this!" I said.

Brief nodded his head. "I'll do it..."

"Then take my hand!" I said.

Brief held my hand as my eyes glowed white. "Are you ready for the transfer?"

"Yeah..sure."

"Here we go!" I said. "I haven't done this before...so keep your fingers crossed!"

"WAIT, WHAT?!"

It was too late for Brief to turn back now. His eyes were flashed purple, and the transfer commenced.

"Please let them hurry up..." Stocking said, hearing the groans and roars coming deep within the bowels of the chamber.

Back on the surface of Hell, it was a state of emergency. The whole ground started to shake as if a huge earthquake was taking place.

"Get in your shelters! The Underground is about to self-destruct!" The two gatekeeper ghosts yelled from the Gate's entrance.

Ghosts filed into their respective homes and buildings, and some of the remaining ghosts hid in the Hair Salon where Stocking and I were in earlier.

The owner ghost stood on a counter and yelled to his fellow condemned. "Everyone calm down! If I'm correct, the Lab won't explode for another two minutes, so stay calm...we're gonna make it!" He then looked out the window.

"What is going on down there?"

"Transfer complete."

Brief let go of my hand and got down on his hands and knees, breathing heavily. Panty rushed to his side.

"Brief? Are you okay? How did it feel?" she asked.

Brief lifted his head up and answered plainly. "Good."

I held my head, a tad bit winded from the exchange. Stocking came over to me and asked the same thing.

"Never been better...now Brief has the power to get us from here all the way to the surface!"

"1 minute until Self-Destruct."

"Do it now, Brief!" Stocking exclaimed.

A blue circle appeared on the wall. "Come on, you guys!" Stocking said, jumping through the portal.

Panty and Brief entered as well, and I was just about to enter when a secret tunnel opened...you'll never guess you popped out.

I heard something slam into the ground behind me. "Ah! My ankle!"

I whirled around to find Scany and an injured Kneesocks behind me.

"How did you two get here?" I said, taking a step back.

Their clothes were tattered and dirty. Their hair was tacky and undone. Burn marks were strewn all over their bodies. Scanty looked at me, pain stabbing through her body with every movement.

"There's no time for that...just...help us...please..." Her voice was hoarse.

"Why should I help you?"

"The blob...is on the surface...if Corset finds it...he'll open another Hell's gate in Oten city..."

"30 seconds remaining."

"If he succeeds...Heaven...along with most of the Universe...will be under his...control."

I didn't have enough time to think this through...if they knew that a greater power was behind all of this...and if they knew how to take it down, then we're going to have to become allies.

"I'm going to do what Ingrid would have done." I mused, making my final decision.

"15 seconds remaining."

After I heard that, my mind went into sixth gear.

I rushed to Scanty and Kneesocks, who've both fainted from the injuries that they've suffered.

I threw both of them over my shoulder. They were both surprisingly light.

"10 seconds remaining."

I ran back to the portal, flaming debris falling all around me. I dodged all of them the best I could. When I got close enough to the portal, I threw Scanty and Kneesocks inside. They were safe. I ran for my life for the remaining couple of yards left, when a portion of the wall covered the only way out.

"5..."

I summoned my sword, slashing through the material.

"4..."

"Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on!" I screamed, repeatedly hitting the wall. I was significantly weaker after transfering some my powers to Brief. He drained more of me than I wanted to let him have.

"3..."

Almost done...

"2..."

The wall finally broke, revealing the my way out of here.

"1..."

I couldn't move...I was way too weak...

"0..."

"I'm sorry, guys..."

I fainted.

"Boom."