Resonance Days

by TakerFoxx

Falling their mutual demise at each other's hands, Kyoko and Sayaka wake up in a strange world. Now, with Kyoko's soul gem missing and Sayaka's humanity and personality only partially restored, they must band together to survive.

34. Monsterland, Part 5

Monsterland, Part 5

"Valkyrie One, this is Valkyrie Two. Negative on Area G-3. No human readings at all, living or otherwise, over."

"Copy that, Valkyrie Two. Negative on Area B-7 as well, though the local nasties are definitely restless. You ask mean, the spiders got them, over."

"Probably. Any of the animals got them, there'd be some kind of trace. Unless the dockengauts are doing one of their damned games again, chasing them out into the valks' territory again, over."

"That could be. I'll hold off on telling the wife or the girlfriend though. They'll probably jump out to storm the tunnels themselves. Then we're back to square one, over."

"They do and we're letting them. No sense in risking our hides for the hysterical or the stupid, over."

"Might want to hold off on that. We just got word back from HQ. Turns out those bounty hunters' story checks out, over."

"So wait, they're actually wanted? Over."

"Looks like. If so, watch your back. These guys could mean trouble. Over."

"Oh, I'm so scared. Look, we'll keep this up until sunset, then we're calling it quits. No sense in drawing this out. Out."

"Copy that, Valkyrie One. Good luck out there. Out."

…

They ran.

Together they ran as fast as they could through the alien marsh under the brightening alien sky. They dodged murky pools, avoided suspicious looking plants, and vaulted over what rocks they could and skittered around the ones they couldn't. The whole time, there was no sound save for their labored breathing, sloshing footsteps, the humming of insects, and the occasional cry from some far off monster.

Of the valks there was no sign.

Kyoko didn't believe for a second that they were in the clear. No, the pack was hot on their heels, silent and unseen. She just had to keep her eyes and ears open and hope she caught some hint of the attack before anything managed to take a bite out of her. That was the whole point of the running, after all. She already knew that they didn't have a prayer of actually escaping the homicidal Spielbergian nightmares. So instead they were going to have to draw them out.

Then Kyoko diverted her attention from her surroundings long enough to shoot a glance over to Charlotte. Thanks to her longer legs, better wind (Kyoko was still a little sore about how that footrace had gone down), and fewer times of having to fight for her life the day before, Charlotte had a considerable gain on her. In fact, to Kyoko's eyes, she didn't seem to be paying much attention to anything save for what was right in front of her, and her gait was just a little too frenzied to be-

Shit, Charlotte was panicking again. Kyoko felt hot anger rise up inside her gut, and her eyes narrowed. She redoubled her speed, closing the gap between them. "Hey!" she called hoarsely. No point in keeping quiet. The valks already knew exactly where they were. "Charlotte! Get a-"

And then the attack happened.

There was no warning. One moment Charlotte was rounding around a tall chunk of stone, the next the valk was simply there, lunging out from the other side to ram its armored head right into her side. Letting out a gasping cry, Charlotte was sent tumbling into a nearby pool with a loud splash. Kyoko's eyes bulged. How in the hell had it even gotten there without being seen?

Then the thick tail caught her in the stomach.

Kyoko had been so focused on the valk attacking Charlotte that she had completely failed to notice the one darting out of the nearby tall grass to slam its tail into her. Her back slammed into the rock, her backpack fortunately absorbing most of the blow and keeping her from cracking her head. It still sent shockwaves through her body. Her head swam for half a second, and as her senses recalibrated she had just enough time to see the valk lunging for her, mouth open and ready to rip off her face.

Instincts took over and Kyoko seized a shelf of rock over her head with both hands and yanked up, bringing her body up out of the way just in time to avoid the teeth. The valk hit the rock hard, and Kyoko suddenly found herself splayed out over its face, legs flailing down its neck and its horns poking into her ass.

The valk let out a bewildered cackle and flung its head back. Kyoko tumbled down onto its back. She managed to twist herself around and, by pure luck, found sitting upright on its back, facing forward, like she was riding a horse.

Well then. Yippee-kai-yay.

Had she the time, Kyoko would have probably burst out laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of it all. Alas, before she could start whooping and shouting out cowboy clichés, a high-pitched shriek reminded her that she was at something of a numbers disadvantage.

A third valk was crouched on top of the rock she had been thrown against, ready to lunge. Kyoko made a rather unimpressive squeaking noise, and hastily grabbed the valk she was riding by its curling ram's horns and yanked back.

The valk above her leapt…and plowed right into its sibling's face.

The next few were a confusing tumble of thrashing limbs and sharp spikes. Kyoko scrambled out from underneath the two enraged reptiles before they could crush her and crawled away on all fours as fast as she could.

Once she had put enough distance between her and the valks, she turned to see that her luck was improving. Apparently, the valk she had been riding had not appreciated having its face tackled by its brother (sister? Miscellaneous? Whatever) and the two were currently engaged in a rather spirited sibling dispute. They rolled over one another, snapping with their jaws, slashing with their claws, and clubbing with their tails. Kyoko considered just leaving to fight to the death, but such disagreements were probably common among valks, and it wouldn't be long before they came to their senses and were after her again.

So she smacked them both with the weighted end of her spear.

The fighting siblings were flung into the same rock she had been thrown against with shrill shrieks of surprise. Before they could process what had happened, Kyoko had already leapt onto the rock, shoved the point of her spear straight down to split the stone, and gave the rock face a kick.

She wasn't sure exactly how heavy the slab of stone was, but it landed upon the valks with a most satisfying crunch, so she assumed that it was heavy enough.

Kyoko might have straightened up, put her hands on her hips, and smirked in satisfaction as she surveyed the damage. She might have jumped down and shoved a couple of spears through the rock to be sure. She might have gotten her ass bitten off by the valk that was, unbeknownst to her, sneaking up from behind, murder in its eyes.

However, there was no time for any of that, as her elevated vantage point had caused her to take notice of the damnedest thing.

The pool that Charlotte had been flung into no longer contained a Charlotte, which was worrying. It did, however, contain the valk that had attacked her, another one of the juveniles. That was a problem, as it had apparently leapt right in after her. However, rather than messily ripping apart chunks of pale white flesh and pink hair, it was currently struggling against…what was that thing? It looked like a weird cross between an octopus, one of those glass spider aliens (Kyoko had quite forgotten what they were called), and a pincushion. Whatever it was, it had an entire forest of spindly, three-jointed arms that ended in grasping hands. What it had for a body, she couldn't tell, as it was underwater. And apparently, it didn't at all appreciate having a terrified human and an angry valk leap into its pool at that godforsaken hour. The two monsters were locked in mortal combat, with the hand-thingamajig trying to claw the raptor to pieces while the valk shrieked and tore off several of its opponent's arms in an enraged attempt to get to the core. Unfortunately for it, no matter how many stick-like arms it snapped, there were always more.

To her relief, Kyoko saw Charlotte a second later. The witch was fine, and in fact had somehow gotten all the way into the drooping branches of one of those corkscrew trees, where she clung to the top like a petrified monkey, mouth gaping wide and terrified eyes fixated fully on the battling monsters.

And apparently, she was completely unaware of the remaining three valks that were currently approaching her from three different directions. And from the look of things, the two adults were among them.

Kyoko breathed out through her teeth. Wow, this day was really something.

Then she leapt down off the rock, just in time to avoid having her ass bitten off by the lunging valk that she herself never knew about and never would, and bolted to save her useless companion.

As she ran, Kyoko was already formulating a plan. Snatching Charlotte out of the tree wasn't going to cut it; the valks would overrun them in seconds. And she obviously wasn't about to take on all three of them at once. She had been lucky so far, but luck had a nasty habit of running out when you tried to test it.

So instead, she decided to change the game.

Focusing on the valk currently engaged in mortal combat with the arm-thingy, Kyoko bolted right for it, spear in hand. It was so engaged with its battle that it never saw her approach.

It did however take notice when she leapt onto its back and plunged her spear into the back of its head.

Unfortunately, not even that was enough to kill it. Her magical spear, which had split stone like it was soft cheese and torn through concrete, metal, and the Worm's goop with ease had its momentum blunted by the thick, bony plates that covered the back of the valk's neck and the skull underneath. She still got a good half a spearhead in, but it wasn't enough to put it down.

So, as the valk thrashed and screamed, she summed up another spear from the ground, right under its jaw. It shot up like a stabbing spike from a 90's platformer game, piercing the unprotected flesh where its throat met its jaw. At the same time, she jabbed in again and again, pounding away at the back of its head like a jackhammer. Black blood spurted out from under its crest and dribbled down from its jaw.

That did the trick.

The freaky arm-thingy wrapped its arms around the dying valk in and drew it underwater in an almost intimate embrace. Not wanting to be the awkward third wheel of that relationship, Kyoko leapt off and retreated into the shallows, ready to go after Charlotte.

A second later she was screaming and beating at her leg, which had suddenly flamed up around the knee. Kyoko looked down, expecting to see it bitten clean off, or at least on fire. Instead, she saw that it had been splattered with some of the valk's inky black blood.

"Are you serious?" Kyoko exploded to no one in particular. "Its blood too?" She hastily washed it off the best she could with the muddy water. In doing so, she saw that the entire pool was quickly darkening as the valk's blood spread through the water like the flow from a ruptured oil line. The arm-thingy had started trashing in agony, as its victory turned into agonizing torment. She hastily retreated back and spun around to see how the other valks were reacting.

Apparently they hadn't liked what she had done at all. All three of them had forgotten Charlotte completely and were now glowering at her with acidic green eyes. Their maws were open, venomous saliva dripping from their rows and rows of teeth. The largest of them started moving toward her with deadly intent, a low snarl emanating from its throat.

In response, Kyoko held out one hand and beckoned. Come and get me.

The lead valk reared its head charged forward with an echoing shriek. The other two echoed the cry and followed.

They closed the distance incredibly quickly. Kyoko held her ground, waiting as they circled around the pool from both sides. Then, when they were halfway through, she squeezed her hand into a fist and thrust it into the air.

Two shield walls went up, one on each side and both angled toward the pool. Unprepared, the valks slammed into the walls, slipped on the slick ground, and all three tumbled into the black water.

Their deceased spawn's blood wasn't any danger to them of course, and the arm-thingy was already in too much pain to be a threat. But vicious killers or not, they still needed to breathe. So before they could right themselves, Kyoko through up another shield barrier.

Only this one was laid flat. And covered the entirely of the pool.

The valks screamed and thrashed, trying to rise up, but Kyoko's barrier kept them submerged. Grinning, Kyoko looked down at them in grim satisfaction.

Then Charlotte screamed, "Kyoko, look out!"

Too late. Something heavy slammed into Kyoko's back. She sprawled out over the cage, and found her face just centimeters away from one of the imprisoned valk's center eyes, glaring up at her from just above the blackening water's surface.

She rolled to the left, just in time to avoid a pair of snapping jaws that otherwise would have taken half of her head off. Kyoko hopped back onto the shore to see, to her dismay, yet another valk standing on the cage covering the pool, glaring at her with evident malice.

All right, fine. That was fine. These things weren't so tough. She had taken out all the others already, so one more shouldn't give her any trouble. "Okay, you want some?" she demanded, summoning up a spear from the ground. "You some of this? I'll line you up right next to-"

With a roar, the trapped valks ripped out of her cage, the diamond-shaped shields dissolving away like burning paper. Kyoko swallowed and started to back away.

Suddenly she was snatched off her feet and yanked screaming backward. For a moment, she was convinced some new monster had grabbed her to gobble her up.

Then she found herself surrounded by long, boneless limbs. Kyoko kicked and screamed, desperate to get free. A moment later whatever it was that was holding onto her gave her a rough shake.

"It's me, it's me!" Charlotte said. "Get a grip!"

Kyoko blinked. She wasn't being held by some monster. Charlotte had grabbed her with those golden wires of hers and pulled her into the tree. The pink-haired witch silently retracted her wires and pulled her onto one of the branches. Then she pointed back to the ground.

Craning her neck, she looked back to see the valks still gathered around the pool. However, there were more of them than there had been. Two, to be exact, both of which were pacing over the spot Kyoko had been yanked from, growling in frustration.

Kyoko understood then what had happened. While she had been focused on the valks right in front of her, those two had been sneaking up to take her from behind. If Charlotte hadn't grabbed her when she had, they would have gotten her.

But where had they come from? By her count she had all the remaining ones right in front of her. Was the pack even larger than they had thought?

Then she noticed that the two new ones looked like they had been roughed up. Several of their horns had been broken off, and one was noticeably favoring its left leg.

It was the valks she had buried under the rubble. Damn, these things were tough.

All six valks then turned to the two girls in the tree. The two adults moved forward to stand in front of the juveniles and stayed there. They swayed back and forth on their heels, clawed forearms clenching and unclenching as they stared unblinking at the one responsible for their spawn's demise.

Then Charlotte lashed out with one hand. Her wires whistled through the air and struck the ground in several places around the valks. "Go!" she screamed hoarsely. "Get out of here!"

The valks scattered like roaches fleeing before the light. One moment they were there, glowering at the two girls with violent intentions. The next they were simply gone, leaving nothing but the unmoving corpse still blackening the pool with its blood.

"Run!" Charlotte cried. She jumped down from the tree, practically dragging Kyoko with her. Snapping out of her daze, Kyoko followed the best she could, as fatigue dragged down her limbs and unseen monsters stalked their every step.

…

"You know, you really need to cut down on the magic," Charlotte said, her voice low and dull, almost a monotone.

Kyoko shot her a furious glare. "Oh, that right?"

Charlotte wasn't even meeting her eyes. "You don't have grief seeds, remember? If you use too much on the valks, you won't have anything left for the dockengauts."

"Oh yeah? Well, I'm so sorry. I'll keep that in mind for the next time when the space raptors are ganging up on me and my so-called partner's screaming in the trees."

The two had wound up in a part of the bog that had less grass and a lot of weirdly shaped rocks that surrounded what honestly looked like a high-walled garden of rock. Or rather, a sheer, natural wall of dark blue rock rose up out of the ground, surrounding an area about a square kilometer in size, over which several jagged sharp spikes rose up like a thicket made of rock. There were a few gaps in the wall, leading into what looked like a narrow alleyway passing under the thicket. Charlotte mentioned that actually going in was a bad idea, as areas like this often turned out to be natural labyrinths, with the paths twisting and turning under the spikes. Once inside, they would be easy prey for the valks, who probably knew every step of the area. Kyoko had readily agreed.

At this point, Kyoko had no idea how far they were from the dockengauts' lair, but she had a sinking feeling that their fight with the valks was taking them further and further away. If this kept up, they were just going to end up being chased into some other monster's territory with little hope of getting back.

And to top it off, the girl that was supposed to be helping her fight their way back was being all sorts of useless. Again. Charlotte winced visibly at the retort. "Yeah. Uh, are you going to hit me again?"

"Is it going to make a difference?" Kyoko said. "Because the first time around didn't really do much."

Charlotte's lips thinned out to a straight line. "I'm sorry."

Sighing, Kyoko turned away to look out over the bog. She couldn't see any sign of the valks, but the last few hours had taught her how little that meant. "Charlotte, look. I don't have time for speeches, okay? Are you with me or not?"

There was a pause, and then Charlotte said, "Yes. It won't happen again."

"Better not," Kyoko muttered. Moving on from that, she said, "So, valks. You said they're smart. And after seeing how good they are at sneak attacks, I'm gonna have to agree."

"They're going to be even sneakier from now on," Charlotte said. "Now that they've seen what we can do."

"Ditto. You think maybe they might just give up, decide we're too much trouble or something?"

"Maybe," Charlotte said in a dubious tone. Brushing her sweat-slicked hair from her face, she cast a wary glance at the damp and narrow paths and byways through the stone. "But then again, you killed one of their kids, and they're probably taking that personally. If we were too big to take down they might just write that off as a loss, but seeing how small and soft we look, they're probably going to try to even that score. They're a vengeful bunch."

"Of course," Kyoko breathed out. "And that armor's a problem. I've cut through solid concrete without much trouble, and it's still stopping my spears."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Charlotte said with a shiver. "There's some places that sell valk bones for that reason. Stuff's so tough that they make a killing in-"

"Yeah, yeah, save it for trivia night." Squinting, Kyoko scanned the landscape. Actually going into the stone labyrinth was straight out. Either it was part of the valks' territory and they knew it better than the girls ever could, or something else did. And running through the open was proving to be a bad idea.

However, maybe splitting the difference was the key. There was a solitary tower of rock not too far from where they were. It was tall enough to give even those powerful legs of their pursuers trouble, and far enough from the rest of the labyrinth to prevent them from hopping across. The pair of them should have little trouble climbing it though.

"Okay," Kyoko said, pointing to it. "Let's try this. See that tower? We'll get to the top and lure them out. They won't be able to sneak up on us there. And when they get close, use your wires flip them over and hold them still, and I'll send a spear through their guts. If we work fast, I figure we can knock off at least a couple of them before they back off."

"And then what?" Charlotte said. "They're just going to try to wait us out."

"We'll blow up that bridge when we come to it. But I figure, if we can take out the adults, the kiddies'll probably have trouble coordinating. Maybe it'll make it easier to take them out too."

Charlotte frowned, but she reluctantly nodded.

"Good." Kyoko took a deep breath. "Okay. Ready? One…two…three…go!"

The pair bolted out into the open, tearing through the grass toward the tower. Kyoko focused on the stone spike, her legs pounding the mud as a frenzied mixture of fear, determination, and exhilaration spurred her on. She didn't even bother glancing to either side for surprise attacks. Her eyes were fixed straight ahead. She and Charlotte reached the tower and immediately began scrambling up, using a combination of wires, shields, and their powerful legs to boost them straight up its height.

They were about halfway up when the attack happened.

With a shrill shriek, two valks came charging across the bog and threw themselves at the girls. One managed to claw high enough to jab the horn on its nose against the bottom of Kyoko's boot. Holding onto her perch, Kyoko kicked it hard right in its center eye. The surprising power of her kick stunned it a bit, but it didn't let go. Growling, she drew her leg up and kicked it a second time, followed by a third. That last one succeeded in dislodging it, sending it tumbling back to the ground.

Kyoko immediately began searching for the other valk, but then something whizzed by her head. Charlotte had secured the wires from both hands to the top of the pillar and was now swinging on them like freaking Tarzan, though her yelling was less of a proud declaration of triumph and more of a straight-up scream of terror. Still, she managed to guide it around and slam both of her heels into the side of the second valk and knock it right off the side of the pillar.

"Here!" she said, retracting the wires back into one hand and reaching it toward Kyoko. Kyoko took it, and the pair scrambled the rest of the way to the top.

Once there, Charlotte sprawled onto her back and tried to get her breathing under control. Kyoko crouched on the edge and looked down. Sure enough, four of the valks, including both adults, were circling around the pillar, hissing and snarling with evident frustration. She then scanned their surroundings and was able to pick out the other two, hanging back a bit in the tall grass. From the look of things, it was the two she had injured in her makeshift avalanche.

"Okay, we got 'em,"

"Oh joy," Charlotte groaned. "Stuck on the top of a piece of rock surrounded by angry valks. Yeah, we got them right where we want them all right."

"Stop bitching." Kyoko took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm gonna try to get them to start climbing again. When they do, try to knock them on their backs, and I'll shish-kabob them."

"And when they put two and two together and stop taking the bait?"

"Bridges. Blow up later." Kyoko readied a spear and called down, "Hey! Up here, you featherless freaks! Come and get us!"

Apparently they took exception to their lack of evolution, as they immediately stopped circling and started jumping. Though their horizontal bodies weren't exactly built for jumping straight up, the strong, bulging muscles in their legs still launched them pretty high up the pillar's length. From there, they dug in with their claws and started climbing again.

As predicted, one of the adults was in the lead. "There," she said, pointing at it with her spear. "That one first."

Charlotte gulped, but she crept closer to the edge and looked down.

Then, seeing the valk, she froze.

A few moments ticked by, and then Kyoko hissed, "Charlotte…"

Charlotte jerked out of her stupor. Then, her face hardening, she thrust both hands downward.

Ten shimmering gold wires shot down toward the valk. They seized it by the horns, the arms, and the tail. It stopped climbing, the bloodlust in its green eyes momentarily displaced by a look of bewilderment.

Then Charlotte yanked, and the valk was sent wailing back to the ground.

Kyoko tracked its fall, waiting for its underbelly to be exposed. As planned, Charlotte managed to flip it around so that it landed on its back, claws thrashing at the air.

Pinpointing its stomach, Kyoko hurled the spear.

Her aim was perfect, or it would have been had the valk not suddenly rolled onto its feet just in time to avoid getting skewered. The spear thumped harmlessly into the soft ground.

"Shit!" Kyoko swore. She quickly turned around, intending to find another valk before they reached the top.

Too late. One of the juveniles thrust its upper body onto the top of the column and roared. Kyoko yelped. Charlotte shrieked, and instinctively shot all of her wires at its face. They slid off the thick, bony plates without penetrating, but the force was enough to shove it off and send it tumbling back.

This time Kyoko didn't wait. She bolted for the other edge and hurled another spear while the valk was still falling.

The valk's angered shriek cut off in a gurgling whine, and when it hit the ground it weakly clawed at the spear now stuck fast in its guts. Black blood leaked out into the grass.

The other two valks still clinging to the pillar's side froze. They stared at their dying companion, the second one they had lost that day.

Just as well, as that gave Kyoko enough time to zero in on the second adult. As soon as it redirected its gaze back toward her, she already had a spear lined up.

And when it opened its mouth to roar, down it went.

The remaining juvenile hastily released the side of the pillar and retreated. Kyoko grinned at the two dying predators lying at the tower's base.

"See?" she said to Charlotte, who looked dumbstruck by the sight. "These things are tough, but they're just animals. While we're hot, immortal chicks with superpowers. No contest."

The remaining adult, the one that had narrowly avoided getting speared, hung back, its surviving children gathered behind it. It looked first to its now-dead spawn, then slowly turned its attention to its mate, which was still breathing very weakly.

Then it started to move forward.

Kyoko readied a spear.

The adult valk walked over to its mate. The mortally wounded animal tried to turn its head toward it, but instead it just jerked once. A soft gurgle came from around the spear still stuck in its throat. Then, with a final twitch, it lay still.

The adult valk lowered its head to prod its dead mate's crest with its nose. When it got no response, it let out a low, mournful groan. Then it silently rose up and tilted its head back to stare up at the killers of its family.

Kyoko tensed up. She drew her arm back to throw, and…

…hesitated.

A strange moment passed between the two warriors, as Kyoko's scarlet gaze locked with the valk's emerald eyes. She found herself reluctant to kill this vicious creature. After all, in a way she was sort of the bad guy in this fight. This wasn't an intentionally cruel monster like the dockengauts. This wasn't a manipulative asshole like the Incubators. Like she had just said, it was just an animal. Maybe one that was nastier than most, but it was still an animal. And it had been Kyoko and Charlotte that had invaded its territory and methodically slaughtered its children one by one. And to top it off, Kyoko had just killed its mate right in front of it. Granted, it was all about survival, but when you took all of that into account, Kyoko found herself oddly hesitant to finish the job.

"Kyoko, what are you doing?" Charlotte whispered.

Kyoko's face hardened. Gritting her teeth, she readied her spear again. Uncomfortable or not, it was still about survival of the fittest. Once upon a time that had been her creed in life, and while she was working to move away from that mindset, there was still some truth to it. She couldn't afford to get all sappy now.

Then the valk looked back down at its dead mate and snorted. It turned and walked away with a low, clicking snarl. The three remaining juveniles fell in place behind it.

Kyoko let them go.

"Well, okay then," Charlotte said as she watched the valks saunter off. "We're trapped in the land of monsters, the ones we love are probably getting eaten alive at this very moment, and you want to get all sappy over a bunch of killer lizards. Fantastic."

Kyoko breathed out through gritted teeth. "Shut up, Charlotte."

"Is it my turn to slap you? Because it really feels appropriate right now."

"Shut up, Charlotte!"

"This isn't a kid's movie, Kyoko," Charlotte said, her voice low and almost dangerous. "You think they've given up? You think they're just going to let us pass through? Mark my words, they'll be back. And you're just going to have to end up killing them anyway."

Kyoko shot her a fierce glare. She opened her mouth to respond, but whatever it was she had to say was lost.

Because that was when the valks came back.

A shrill shriek of rage tore through the air of the alien world, and the two girls stopped bickering to see a dull red blur shoot across the landscape, headed right for the pillar. However, this time it wasn't interested in going up after its elusive prey. It was going to bring them down to it.

The valk slammed its armored head into the pillar's base, shaking its foundations. Kyoko immediately hurled her spear at it, but it just glanced off the predator's side as it whipped around and fled. Moments later another came charging to strike the pillar in turn, followed by another. The stone tower shook under the repeated blows.

Charlotte, her face waxen with terror, shot a pleading look at Kyoko, silently begging her to do something. Rather shaken up herself, Kyoko made a curt gesture, and a barrier of shields sprang up between the valks and the base of the pillar.

Two valks immediately ran into the wall in quick succession. It shuddered under the first hit and collapsed entirely at the second, allowing a third to leap over them and attack the pillar again. This time there was a loud sound of a crack, and the pillar started to tilt toward the labyrinth.

Shit, shit, shit, shit. Given that the fight against the dockengauts still lay before them, Kyoko had been holding off on bringing something really big out, but it looked like she wasn't left with a choice. Digging deep into her well of magic, she readied a final, fatal trap for merciless predators.

Too late. The pillar's foundations chose that moment to fall to pieces and tilt precariously, breaking Kyoko's concentration. She looked down just in time to see the remaining adult valk hurtling across the swamp and throw itself at the crumbling base of the tower.

The valk hit, and with one last groaning shudder the tower began to fall.

"Okay, hold on!" Kyoko shouted as the two of them struggled to keep their balance. "Get ready to jump!"

"I know, I know!"

Before the top of the tower went completely vertical, she and Charlotte leapt off. They hit the ground running, heading into the stone labyrinth with the valks in hot pursuit.

…

"Valkyrie Two, this is Valkyrie One, come in. Over."

"Copy Valkyrie One. Go ahead, over."

"We're over G-10 marsh, and looks like she might've come through here. I've got a dead valk with a ripped up sandster in a puddle, plus a lot of wreckage on the landscape. Over."

"Is it just her or did the other one make it out? Over."

"Don't be stupid. No one goes into those tunnels and comes out again. Still, three out of four ain't bad. Over."

"Wait, WHAT did you say? No. Not three out of four. You assholes better find Kyoko or I'll-"

"Uh, say again, Valkyrie Two. I didn't quite catch that. Over."

"Sorry about that. The fish was throwing a fit. Anyway, continue your sweep. I'll regroup with Valkyrie Three and join you. Nothing out here but giant worms and miscus. Out."

"Copy that. Out. And you better stay where you are, because if you jump me again I'm dumping your fishy ass right out-"

"Valkyrie Two, your radio is still on."

…

"Stop, stop," Charlotte panted. "This is suicide."

"Can't," Kyoko shot back as they rounded another tight corner. "They'll catch us if we do!"

"They're not chasing us anymore."

That actually made Kyoko pause. "What?" Then she looked back.

Sure enough, the passage behind them was empty, though given how cramped the labyrinth was it was hard to tell. The deeper they went in, the more narrow the passages became, and the twists and turns just kept coming.

It was probably the worst possible place they could have been herded into. The dark blue stone of the walls was slick, hard, and smooth, like obsidian. In the narrow openings overhead there was a thicket of twisting stone formations covered with sharp spikes and jagged edges, making jumping out next to impossible. The floor was cracked like cobblestone and fortunately rough enough to provide plenty of traction, but that was of small comfort. In that dark, alien maze, the valks had every advantage. Kyoko and Charlotte had been lucky thus far, but if they made so much as one mistake, the valks would tear them to pieces. And the longer this went on and the deeper they went, the chances of them slipping up steadily increased.

They couldn't afford to draw this out much longer. Sayaka and Mami still needed rescuing, and Kyoko was wasting valuable energy with this nonsense. Unfortunately, they were now lost within a labyrinth as perplexing as Knossos of legend.

And the valks were gone.

"Where'd they go?" Kyoko whispered, her hackles raising

Charlotte shook her head. "They chased us part of the way through the maze, then vanished. I don't know where they went."

Kyoko inhaled sharply through her teeth. "So, either there's something so nasty in here that not even they want to tangle with it…"

"Or they're taking shortcuts," Charlotte said. "Rushing ahead of us to cut us off. Literally cut us off."

Kyoko cursed under her breath. Then she said, "Okay, you're the resident expert. Which one's the most likely?"

Charlotte grimaced and shrugged. "Er, no way to really tell. Probably the second one though. Valk territories tend to be pretty big, and not even the bigger predators mess with them. Besides, they tend to nest in jtuts."

"They what in what?"

"Jtuts," Charlotte said, pronouncing as jay-tut. She motioned to the labyrinth around them. "That's what they call natural mazes like this. The dockengauts I mean."

Kyoko stared at her. "So, you're saying we're not only still in their territory, but practically on their front doorstep?"

"Yeah," Charlotte sighed. "More than likely."

Okay, screw this. Kyoko was not about to let them get led into another ambush. She looked up at the thicket of stone spikes overhead. Leaping through it would be suicide, but…

"Okay, back up," she said, eyeing a part of the thicket that seemed less dense than the rest. "We're getting out of here."

Charlotte shot her a dubious look. Then she took a few steps back and pressed her back against one of the walls for good measure.

The magic spent to create one of Kyoko's weighted, segmented spears was insignificant. It took a prolonged battle and the creation of several dozen of the weapons before she started to feel the loss of power, which was probably why she had been able to go longer between grief seeds than Mami had back when they were a team. However, the big spears, the massive ones as thick as grain silos and as tall as apartment buildings, those took a lot out of her.

Back in the day, when she had been living from grief seed to grief seed, she had used them sparingly. In fact, most of the time she hadn't needed them much at all. Most witches could be dispatched with only one spear, three at the most, so why waste energy bringing out the big guns? Of course, all that had gone out the window during that final, tragic battle against Oktavia von Seckendorff, but by then she had resigned herself to death anyway, so why not throw everything into a spectacular finale?

But it hadn't been the finale. An unexpected sequel had come around, and now magic was harder than ever to replenish. Kyoko had already been forced to use a couple of the big guys the day before in quick succession, and along with everything else she had ended up expending more magic than was safe. Sure, she had gotten some rest and recovery since then, but not enough. Charlotte was right. She really needed to conserve her energy and only really cut loose during an emergency.

Unfortunately, this qualified.

Kyoko thrust her hand up, and a giant spear ripped up from the ground and thrust itself into the spiky thicket. It smashed through, shattering the spikes and opening a hole wide enough for the two of them to escape through.

"Climb up!" Kyoko called as she scampered up the spear's pole. This time Charlotte didn't hesitated to obey, and the two of them swiftly rose up out of the labyrinth and into the open air.

Above, day had fully dawned, or what passed for it around here. The sky was still an ugly grey, but at least there was light. And all around…

Kyoko's heart fell. The labyrinth was even bigger than she had first estimated, and they had gone in pretty deep. Surrounding them on all sides were spikes, spikes, spikes, like the barrier around Sleeping Beauty's castle. Only these were made from hard stone instead of plant matter. And they were everywhere.

Beyond the end of the labyrinth Kyoko could see the valks' marsh, which also turned out to be pretty big. And beyond that…

There was nothing beyond that.

"Um, Kyoko?" Charlotte said as she looked around. "You do know the way back to the dockengauts' lair from here, right?"

Kyoko's mouth thinned out. She said nothing.

After a pause, Charlotte sighed and said, "All right. Look, once we're done with the valks, we'll have some time to get our bearings. From there we can-"

Suddenly the spear jolted. Yelping, the two girls lost their grips and slipped off, just barely catching themselves on the next segment down.

The spear violently shook again. Hanging on for dear life, Kyoko looked down. What she saw made her choke.

The valks were there, attacking the spear much like they had the stone pillar. Only now they were slamming their heads into a single spot, forcing the metal to bend inwards. Its base failing, it was starting to lean in towards the center of the jtut.

"What are you doing?" Charlotte said as she wrapped her wires around the spear's pole to give herself a better anchor. "Stop them!"

"How?" Kyoko demanded. The repeated pounding continued to threaten to loosen her grip.

"Bring up more giant spears and skewer them from beneath!"

"At this distance? I can't concentrate long enough to-"

The spear's tilt deepened.

"-oh, fuck me."

The spear was going down, and that was that. Hell, since it was magic, it was more likely to simply dissolve once it had taken enough damage. And into the spikes they would go.

Kyoko hastily scanned their surroundings, looking for a place to land that wouldn't result in them looking like they had insulted Vlad the Impaler's mother. A bit far off, she saw a place where the spikes weren't nearly as dense, with several noticeable gaps.

"Get up on the spearhead!" Kyoko said. She was already climbing, moving over to the large, triangular blade. "Then jump for those holes! Hopefully we won't land on something sharp!"

Charlotte's eyes widened when she saw what Kyoko was talking about. But instead of arguing, she instead started to move higher as well.

By then the blade had tilted enough for them to stand on. They crouched, waiting for it to go low enough for them to leap the distance.

Then the spear's descent started to accelerate. "Screw it," Charlotte said as she took off running. "Go for it!"

The two of them jumped as hard and as far as they could, Charlotte going straight into a swimmer's dive while Kyoko's arms and legs beat the air like she was running. Even in the exhilaration of the fall, Kyoko still kept her eyes on the stone thicket below them, ready to throw up a shield barrier if it looked like they wouldn't be able to clear the distance.

Fortunately she didn't need to. They cleared the spikes and plunged into one of the gaps. The ground rushed up to meet them.

Instinct took over, and they twisted around to take the landing in a pair of parkour roll, displacing the force of the impact.

Unfortunately, as skilled as they were, physics still reigned supreme. The ground where Kyoko landed turned out to be slightly tilted, and apparently it had rained recently or there was a natural geyser nearby, because it was slick with water. Her feet slipped as she came up, causing her to fall on her ass and go sliding down the incline.

Which, as it turned out, led right to the mouth of a cave.

Kyoko went in at least a couple meters before the souls of her boots hit a rock, bringing her to a stop. She scrambled around, flipping over to her hands and knees to look up at the cave's entrance.

"Shit. Kyoko, you okay?" Charlotte said as she slid down to join her.

"Yeah, yeah," Kyoko said as she gingerly stood up. "Come on, let's get out of here. Caves are not good places to-"

Then an enraged howl filled the air right outside.

Kyoko and Charlotte froze. Then, as one, they turned and ran further into the cave.

Together they fled into the dark, not even bothering to bring out those light-up bracelets. The tilt of the ground was enough to guide them. In the back of her mind, Kyoko knew how stupid this was, that fleeing blindly into the dark was just going to put them in more danger, but she couldn't bring herself to stop. The dam holding back her fear had broken, and it had flooded forth, mixing with her fatigue, exhilaration, pain, despair, and gnawing worry for those she still had to rescue to create a deadly cocktail of emotion that drove her to keep running, to keep sliding, to go deeper and deeper into the dark

Kyoko didn't know how long and how deep they went. It was almost like the slide that had taken her into that dockengaut's cavern. But, just like before, she suddenly found herself tumbling into a wide open space.

This time around her landing was a little more graceful. She somersaulted onto her palms and kipped up, landing in a ready crouched, hands splayed on the sandy ground, imaginary heart pounding and ears straining for any sound.

For a moment all she heard was her own breathing. Then out of the dark Charlotte's worried voice said, "K-Kyoko?"

"Here," Kyoko said.

Again, just like before, there came a sudden hum and light filled the room, only this time it came from Charlotte's light-up bracelet instead of overhead lights. Charlotte and Kyoko exchanged a silent glance. Then Kyoko shrugged her backpack off and opened it to pull out her own bracelet. There was no telling what was going to happen, and two light sources were better than one.

"Where are we?" Charlotte whispered.

"The hell should I know?" Kyoko said. "You know this place better than I do."

"Are we…does this look like the dockengauts' caves?"

That was actually a very good question. Kyoko shone her light around. "No," she said at last. "Too rough. No holes in the walls for them to swarm through. No weirdass decorations. And…" She then glanced down at the ground. "Too many bones to be one of their lairs, not enough to be one of their dumping grounds."

Indeed, the remains of long dead animals littered the ground, though not nearly as many as the graveyard they had fallen into the day before, and they had mostly been cleared away from the center of the room. What was more, she saw several hard lumps that looked like dry animal stool, and the whole place had strong, pungent smell, one that reminded her of the sickly sweet stench of vomit mixed with dried sweat.

Kyoko continued to shine her light around. A bit further off was a dark pool of water, the size of which was hard to tell, but it looked big. The ground itself was sandy and damp, and near one end a mound had been raised up.

And resting in the mound were four black, oblong objects, the size of footballs. They were shaking gently, rocking back and forth in the dirt. Surrounding them were several hard chips of the same color.

Kyoko gaped as she realized what that meant. She glanced over to Charlotte, who inhaled sharply. "No way."

"Way," Charlotte said glumly. "Time to go."

"Yeah," Kyoko said, reaching for her backpack. She opened it wider and fished around for a SolBlanc syringe. "Yeah, just let me get some juice in me. I'm probably going to need it."

No sooner had she depressed the needle and filled her body with the sickening stuff than the clicking snarl came out of the dark. Dropping the syringe, Kyoko immediately brought up one of her spears and swept her light around. A rush of fever blurred her vision and swayed her balance, but she ignored it.

"Probably not a good time to use that," Charlotte whispered. "Given what it does to you."

"I can handle it," Kyoko hissed back. "And I need every edge I can-"

Two dark shapes shot out of the darkness with the speed and grace of striking snakes. Kyoko swung her spear around, the segments separating and whipping the blade like a whip. Next to her, Charlotte launched her wires out bind them up.

Unfortunately, the valks had learned from their previous tussles. The one Kyoko had been aiming for ducked her spear. It threw itself onto its side and slid across the sandy ground. Before Kyoko could recover, it came up and spun around, slamming its tail into her midsection. Kyoko gasped and was flung back against the wall. She came down into a heap of bones, and with a screech, the valk threw itself at her, jaws wide and claws grasping.

Kyoko hastily threw up a barrier. The linked shields bent inward as the valk lunged, but it still stopped it cold, its claws and teeth protruding through the gaps. Venomous saliva dripped from its predatory maw, sizzling down over the shields.

Kyoko stiffened at the close call. Then her face hardened. Snatching up her spear, she swung it again, this time with the weighted end first. The pole tore through the barrier, the shields evaporating in its wake like paper. The heavy ball slammed into the valks' side and it was sent screeching away over the pool. A moment later there was the sound of a splash.

As Kyoko tried to regain her bearings, it occurred to her that in her fever-addled haze, she had made a mistake. With the valk's open mouth caught in the shields directly in front of her, she should have stabbed the spear forward right down its gullet instead of slamming it into its side, and there would be one less valk to worry about. Shit.

Oh well, there was time to correct that error. Kyoko dropped the barrier and turned to see what Charlotte was doing.

It seemed that the pink-haired witch's aim had been better than hers, at least partially. She had managed to tie up one of the other valk's legs with her wires. Unfortunately, as strong as she was, the valk also had power to spare, and the two of them were engaged in a fierce battle of tug-of-war, with Charlotte straining to yank the valk off its feet and the predator aiming to do the same.

Charlotte had her hands squeezed into fists, her wires wrapped around her fingers and her feet digging furrows in the sand as she tried to find something to brace against. The valk cackled and hissed, yanking its entrapped leg this way and that, trying to free itself.

It snarled and pulled hard, nearly taking Charlotte off her feet. She gasped and regained her balance, but the valk pulled again, this time hauling her to her knees.

Sensing that the end was near, the valk crouched low, jaws spreading as it prepared to pounce. Charlotte's eyes went wide.

Kyoko held up her spear to throw, but suddenly she didn't have to. With a scream, Charlotte rolled away and yanked with all her strength, finally managing to pull the valk off its feet. She stood up, secured her grasp on the wires, and hurled the big lizard like she was tossing a sling. The valk was sent tumbling.

Right at Kyoko.

Kyoko quickly dodged to one side as the valk's body smashed through the nest and hit the pile of bones with a crunch. Before either of them could rise, Charlotte was there, a heavy rock clutched in her hands.

"No!" she screamed as she pounced onto the thrashing predator. She slammed the rock into the soft part of the valk's throat. It shrieked in pain.

"You! Are! Not! Taking! My! Family! Away! From! ME!" Charlotte cried out, driving the rock down with every word. The valk tried to ward her off, but then something crunched, and it went stiff.

That didn't make Charlotte stop hitting it with the rock though. If anything, she started hitting it harder.

"Whoa, whoa, ease up Charly!" Kyoko said, hastily pulling her off before she ruptured an artery and they were sprayed with the acidic blood. "You got it! It's dead!"

Charlotte was breathing heavily, every bit of her sweaty body tensed, her hands gripping the stone like she wanted to shatter it. Black blood dripped its bottom.

"Charlotte," Kyoko said as she tried to ease the rock from her hands. "Loosen up. You got it, okay? Drop the rock before it drips on you."

Charlotte blinked. Her gaze went down to see the black smear coating the bottom of the rock she was holding. She let out a cry and quickly dropped it, jerking back away from it.

"Easy, easy!" Kyoko said. "You're good, okay? It didn't get you."

"Good? I'm…good?" Charlotte stared at her. Kyoko did not like the look in her eyes. Even in the weird light, they looked frayed. Ragged. Haunted. "No, Kyoko Sakura. I am not good. I am not good in the slightest. I am so very far from being good that I have quite forgotten was good feels like, and if you feel good in this rotting pit of Hell, then I worry for you."

Shit, she was losing it. Which meant that Kyoko couldn't afford to lose it. Shame, she had really been looking forward to a nice, cleansing emotional breakdown. "Charlotte," she said, her tone firm. "Keep it together. We're almost done, okay? Once we take out the rest of the valks, we'll rest up, recharge as much magic as we can, and then we'll go save our girls. You aren't going to lose your family, got it?"

Charlotte didn't close her eyes, but she did inhale deeply through her nose and let it out through clenched teeth. "Okay. That's…I can work with that."

"Four down," Kyoko reminded her. "Three to go. Then we'll have some breathing room." Though speaking of which, where was the valk she had launched into the pool? She was pretty sure the nasty things could swim.

Lifting her light, Kyoko searched the nest for some sign of it. If it was dazed, then they could quickly add a fifth to the total.

Then she heard the sound of scratching.

Kyoko frowned. Something small and sharp was rasping against something hard. This was following by a chipping sort of sound, and then she heard something like a harsh chirp.

That was weird, it almost sounded like…

Uh-oh.

Kyoko redirected her light toward the broken nest. The valk's body had smashed it up pretty good on its way past. Three of the black eggs had gotten swept up for the ride, and now lay in slimy ruins around the bones, their contents as dead as their elder sibling.

One egg, however, had survived. It had been knocked over and looked to be cracked, but it hadn't been destroyed.

And it wasn't still. It was still shaking, rocking back and forth in the ruins of the nest. The cracks were widening, sections of the shell being forced open. Apparently, the thing inside had decided that it wanted out.

Then the top of the egg fell open, and that something wriggled out.

It was about the size of a large rat, and covered with sticky slime. Its tail was about the length of Kyoko's index finger, its back smooth and free of horns, and its head about the size of her thumb. Tiny nubs poked out where the curving ram's horns would one day grow, with another small bump at the end of its nose.

The tiny creature let out a small, frustrated whine. It struggled to its feet, its needle-thin arms clutched to its chest. Then, despite being seconds old, it managed to stand up fully. Three tiny glowing green lights blinked inquiringly out at the dark world and it chirped again.

Charlotte inhaled sharply. Kyoko was frozen in place. No way was this happening.

The baby valk looked this way and that, trying to make some sense of its surroundings. Then it saw Kyoko and cocked its head in curiosity. It hopped kangaroo-like over to her, stopping in front of her foot. It looked up at her and chirped.

Kyoko had no idea what to do. The smart thing would be to just smash it flat. With the rest of its family already slated to be killed it was pretty much doomed anyway. A quick death was probably merciful, as opposed to leaving it to starve or get picked off by some other predator.

Instead, she found herself slowly kneeling down in front. She carefully extended her hand. The baby valk didn't retreat. It merely watched the approaching hand with interest. Then, when it was close enough, it reached over to gently close its mouth over her fingertip.

It didn't have much in the way of teeth yet, and apparently its venom sacs hadn't grown. It wasn't trying to bite down anyway, merely tugging playfully on her finger.

"Kyoko," Charlotte hissed. "What are you doing? Get away from that thing!"

"Take it easy," Kyoko said. Keeping her eye on the baby valk, she reached over with her other hand and fished around for her backpack. From within she pulled out one of her last strips of beef jerky.

"Hey, you like this?" she said, peeling away the wrapped with her teeth. She held the spiced meat out to the baby valk. "It's the good stuff too, none of that weird, processed stuff with all the chemicals. You want some?"

The valk released her finger and sniffed it. Kyoko tore off a piece and offered it. "Come on, I know it smells funny but it's all I got."

Then the valk's head darted forth, snatching the tiny bit of beef jerky and gulping it down. Kyoko felt a smile forming.

"Kyoko, you idiot!" Charlotte snapped. "Stop it! You can't take it with you and the other valks are still-"

Then a very familiar snarl filled the room.

Kyoko immediately stood to her feet, eyes searching the dark for green eyes. It sounded like it had come from the pool, probably the one she had knocked into the water earlier. "Okay, just let me-"

She glanced down. The baby valk was gone.

Well, that wasn't a surprise. There were literally a hundred different hiding places in the nest. Fighting the feeling of disappointment, Kyoko tossed the rest of the beef jerky back into the backpack. Zipping it up, she put it back on and readied herself again for action.

There was a gasp, and then Charlotte pointed. "There."

One of the valks was crouched on a stone shelf, one that was right over their heads, presumably where they had come. There still was fairly comfortable distance between them and it, enough to give them time to react should it attack, but it didn't. It just stared at them.

Then she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. Another valk was rising from the pool, probably the one she had knocked in there in the first place. And it did not look at all happy about it. It opened its mouth, revealing all of its armory of teeth, and hissed.

There was a very deep growl, and the third valk appeared, up on the stone shelf behind the first. In the dim light it appeared mostly as a huge silhouette pacing back and forth, much larger than the other two. The adult.

With its two remaining offspring standing guard, the adult hopped off the stone shelf to the sandy ground of the nest. It emerged fully into the light, larger than a man and longer than a pickup truck. Unlike the baby or even the smaller juveniles, this was a fully grown nightmare, all sharp horns, powerful muscles, tearing claws, and malicious eyes.

And it had caught Kyoko and Charlotte in its den, further destroying its family.

The adult looked first at the two girls, all three of its eyes narrowing. Then it looked to the body of its spawn, still lying dead against the wall where Charlotte had killed it. Its eyes then turned toward the limp forms of the other babies among the crushed eggs.

For an agonizingly long moment nothing moved, the living as still as the dead. Kyoko stood frozen with Charlotte unmoving behind her. None of the valks moved to attack. Whether due to some unspoken order from their parent or perhaps from being stunned at what had happened to their home, the two juveniles stood in place. As for the adult, its eyes bore holes into the limp bodies of its offspring.

Then, so suddenly that it made Kyoko jerk back with alarm, the adult closed its eyes and bowed its head. It snorted once through its nostrils before throwing its head back and bellowed.

Out in the open air, the sound would be loud, intimidating, and downright terrible. Skin would crawl, teeth would be set on edge, and everything within a dozen kilometers would be sent scurrying for cover. But in that dark cave that stank of death, deep beneath the earth, the sound was simply unearthly. It filled the room, bouncing off the walls, the echoes building off each other. Kyoko and Charlotte both instinctively clapped their hands over their ears. It didn't do much good though. The valk's cry hammered into their heads, full of fury, hate, pain, and, yes, even grief. It was the roar of a monster that had lived its whole life being the biggest and the baddest beast in the land only for a couple of strange, soft looking animals to come along and take away everything that was important to it. Within the space of a few hours, it had lost its mate, it had its home violated, and it had lost nearly two generations of its children.

It was the roar of a monster now with nearly nothing left to lose. And it wanted revenge.

Fuck that.

Before the valk could finish wailing, Kyoko summoned up a spear and threw it right at its throat. Unfortunately, the thing was damned fast, and it had learned. Its bellow quickly cut off as its body moved in a fluid, rippling motion that took its soft underside down away from the spear's trajectory and caused it to skip off the armored plates on its back.

That was enough of a signal for the two juveniles. They lunged forward with twin ear-splitting shrieks, fully intending to avenge their fallen parent and siblings. Kyoko empathized, but that was outweighed by her disinterest in becoming anyone's dinner.

She threw up a barrier to stop the adult while Charlotte ensnared the juvenile charging from the pool. With a grunt, she hurled it over Kyoko's head. Kyoko ducked and, as it passed by, slashed up with her spear.

It wasn't the killing blow she had been hoping for, but she did managed to gouge a very painful cut across its flank. Unfortunately, that sent drops of black blood onto her bare arm and over her neck. "Ah!" she cried as the burning began. She furiously wiped at it with her remaining sleeve, all the while praying that it wouldn't eat through the fabric. "Damn it, Charlotte!"

"Sorry, I didn't think…Kyoko, look out!"

The adult slammed its head into the barrier, rupturing several of the shields. Snarling, it clawed its way through. Even with her mind distracted by the pain, Kyoko still had the time to be dismayed by this. Those shields had stopped Brooklyn's magic hammer cold, and now an animal was tearing through them like they were nothing. Damn it, why was everything on this damned planet so freaking tough?

While the adult was still struggling to pull its entire body through, Kyoko readied a spear. But then its head lunged forward and it shrieked at her, which would have been the perfect time to throw had it not been for the spray of saliva it spat out at her.

It hit Kyoko full in the face, and her world dissolved into agony.

…

As Kyoko fell back screaming and clutching at her face, Charlotte found herself experiencing one of those strange peaceful, zenlike moments that occur seconds before one's body hits the ground, before the incoming automobile slams into flesh, and in between the squeezing of the trigger and the striking of the bullet. It was one of the moments in which it feels like the whole world just stops moving, in which every little detail becomes crystal clear, and one has time to examine the situation and realize, "Huh. So this is how it ends."

She saw Kyoko falling in slow motion. She saw the individual droplets of venomous valk spit still hanging in the air. She saw the adult valk still struggling to rise out of Kyoko's barrier. She even caught a fleeting glimpse of one of the juveniles falling into a charge, the top of its armored head aiming right for Charlotte's midsection.

She saw all of that, and in that single, crystallized moment, she found herself contemplating just letting the valks kill her, just letting her guard drop and allow them to rip her and Kyoko to shreds. Kyoko was done: defeated and blinded. And there was no way Charlotte could defeat three valks by herself. They had lost. Might as well just accept it.

And after that, who knew? They were going to resurrect eventually. Maybe it would be at a time when the valks had left the nest. Or, better yet, at a time when they were fast asleep. Then she and Kyoko could silently kill them all and be done with it.

It was a testament to the overall hopelessness of the situation that Charlotte seriously considered doing just that.

But no. Maybe, on some level, it would be the smart thing. But she wasn't going to give up. She wasn't going to lie down and let the valks get her. If this was it, if they really were moments away from being devoured, then Charlotte was going to make them pay for every bite, because she did not overpower her fear to just let the damned things get her now!

The moment then ended, and time sped up again.

There wasn't enough time to stop the valk from charging, so Charlotte did the next best thing. She turned to face it and shot all ten wires right at its face. Of course they were unable to penetrate its bony crest, but the force of the wires shoving off of the valk was enough to launch her backward, right into the bones that lined the cavern. It was a sloppy, ungraceful way to land, but at least her stomach was wasn't crumpled.

As Charlotte scrambled up out of the dry bones, she turned her attention to Kyoko, who had fallen to her knees, hands still tearing at her face. In her haze of pain, she wasn't even paying attention to the adult valk, which had risen fully and was looming over her, maw opening to tear off the back of her head.

Again, Charlotte didn't have time for an elegant response. So she did went with the first option that presented itself: picking up a crumbling skull the size of a basketball and throwing it at the monster.

The skull bounced off the valk's neck, and it paused, looking over to it in confusion. Charlotte snatched up a rib and hurled it at the valk's head as well.

"Hey!" she called. "Over here, you three-eyed piece of shit!"

The adult valk focused on her then, the three eyes in question narrowing in annoyance. As for the juvenile that had been charging her, it seemed unsure of what to do. It glanced over to its parent, as if asking if it had permission to attack or if the elder wished to call dibs.

"Yeah, I know you see me!" Charlotte said, standing fully up. "And guess what?"

Then her wires shot out, each one wrapping around a bone, a rock, or any debris small enough to be lifted.

"I smashed your nest!" she said, hurling her missiles at adult and juvenile alike. They winced under the onslaught, the juvenile even retreating a few steps. "I killed your babies! You wanna settle with someone?" Then she glanced ever so briefly at the still corpse of the valk she had managed to kill earlier. "Well, come and get me then."

And with that, she snatched up the dead valk and hurled it right at its staring parent's face.

This time the adult dodged before the body hit. The dead valk hit the ground, bouncing limply a bit before lying still. The adult regarded it for a moment. Charlotte could literally see the hate rekindling in its eyes.

So she used all ten wires to scoop up a trash bag's worth of garbage and hurled it right at the monster.

This time it flinched back and hissed. That was the break Charlotte needed. She shot her wires out and wrapped them around Kyoko and yanked her out of danger.

"Sorry guys," she said, holding Kyoko's thrashing body close to her. "Dinner's canceled."

Then she leapt high, up and over the valks' heads. Surprised, they tried to leap and snap at her, but couldn't turn in time. She angled herself into a dive and held her free arm out toward the approaching ground and fired off her wires. They hit the ground, bent under her weight, and then sprang back, launching Charlotte back up, taking her to the front of the cave, right onto the stone shelf.

Not even bothering to check the valks' reaction, Charlotte took off running into the tunnel that led to the surface, one arm holding tightly to Kyoko, who had gone worryingly limp, the other shooting wires every which way, ripping off every stalactite, stalagmite, and seizing up all the loose stones she could find and hurling them all behind her, hoping to block the path, hoping to do anything that would slow the valks' she heard shrieking in the dark behind her.

…

…

Now there was nothing but darkness.

Kyoko stumbled forward, lost and alone. The light she had been chasing was gone, her parents were gone, Sayaka was gone, Elsa Maria was gone, and now she had nowhere to go.

Out of the cold dark she could hear them, the dry rasp of thousands of tiny legs skittering over the ground. But now they had been joined by something new. Low, clicking snarls and growls rumbled from all around, evidence of unseen predators. She couldn't see them, but she knew that they were there, moving among the horde of spiders that continued to dog her steps. They were in front of her, they were behind her, they were to either side, moving in closer, boxing her in, and there was nothing she could do to escape them.

The air had grown even colder, a deathly chill that bit into her skin like daggers, slowing her steps even further. The ground had changed beneath her feet, going from soft dirt into some hard and unstable, something that shifted and crunched beneath her feet, like oddly shaped brittle stones, or…

They're bones, she realized. I'm walking on bones.

Monsters surrounded her. The dead were beneath her. The cold was biting into her flesh while the darkness blinded her.

She was lost in Monsterland, and there was no getting out.

Gritting her teeth, Kyoko willed her freezing, sluggish legs on, ignoring the crunching of the bones. She had to keep moving. If she stopped they would get her.

"Sayaka," she muttered under her breath. Then, breathing deep of the bitter air, she called out with all her strength, "SAYAKA!"

The sound of her voice echoed throughout the black, but Sayaka did not answer.

However, something else did.

A shrill cry rose up, as alien as it was merciless. Another answered it, and soon the air was filled with the sounds of inhuman shrieks.

Wincing, Kyoko lifted her leg to take another step and…

She paused. What was she doing? There was nowhere to go. The light was gone, and the monsters were already in front of her.

She was done. And soon her bones would join those currently beneath her feet, just another dead girl to join the pile.

Kyoko let her foot drop. She stood in place.

The shrieks drew closer and the skittering grew louder. They had sensed her despair and were drawing in to finish her off.

Kyoko closed her eyes. In the dark it didn't make any difference, but she closed them anyway as she waited for the end.

Suddenly she was yanked sharply to the side and fell to her hands and knees. She gasped. It was happening. The monsters had caught her, and now it was over.

Then, just as predicted, the pain hit.

It felt like Kyoko had been set on fire. Her neck, face, and hands all burned relentlessly the skin searing like they were pressed against a white-hot bar of steel. But the worst of it were her eyes. Hot lances of pain dug deep into her eye sockets, burning and burning and burning and burning!

It had to be the spiders. They had caught her first, and were now eating her alive. Kyoko collapsed to her stomach and lay still, praying that the end came soon.

It didn't.

Soon, curiosity managed to crack through the agony. The pain wasn't lessening at all, but it wasn't growing any worse. She noticed that she couldn't actually feel anything crawling over her. And there was nothing biting into her for that matter. What was more, it wasn't piles of cold, hard bones she was lying on. Rather, it was something soft and springy.

She blinked and found that she still had eyes. The darkness was receding, and she could see a cold, white light, but nothing else.

"Kyoko, are you okay?" said a voice close to her ear.

Kyoko jerked back with a cry. "What's that?" she said frantically. "Who's th-there?"

"It's me! Charlotte, remember?"

Charlotte? Kyoko found herself frowning. "Am…am I st-still d-d-dreaming?"

"Afraid not. Can you stand?"

Stand? When her skin shivered with agony and her eyes found nothing to see? "Ch-Charlotte? I…I think we're in tr-trouble."

There was a pause, and then she heard Charlotte sigh. "Okay, what's new?"

"I think I'm bl-blind."

…

Charlotte wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. It was just getting ridiculous. Dockengauts. Mami and Oktavia both missing and probably getting eaten alive at that very second. An entire valk pack that refused to give up. And now Kyoko, unquestionably the better fighter between them, was blind.

God, when did it end? When were they going to get a break?

"Are you sure?" she pressed as she helped Kyoko sit up. She knew it was a stupid question. That valk had hit her right in the eyes with its spit. But she had to ask anyway. "Can you see anything at all?"

Kyoko shivered. "J-Just a big wh-wh-white blur. And…And it hurts. Ev-v-verything hurts!"

Charlotte winced. She had managed to find a pool of water and had cleaned the saliva and blood off of Kyoko the best she could, but the venom had already sunk in its fangs. "Uh, can you…" Her question trailed off. Kyoko was blind. How could she do anything?

Kyoko sat still for a bit, staring blankly off into space. Her normally sharp crimson eyes were now bright pink, with the whites flushed with black veins. Her face and neck was covered with a blistering red rash, as were the palms of her hands, which were shaking violently as she held them to her chest. "Where…" she whispered hoarsely. "Where are we?"

"Out," Charlotte said simply. They were currently in another field of that springy, purple weed, right on the outskirts of the labyrinth. Nearby was a stony gorge, similar to the one they had first fought the valks in that morning. There were no signs of any other monsters, so presumably they were still in the valks' territory.

Presumably.

"Out?" Kyoko said, her ravaged face twitching. "You mean…"

"I mean out of the nest, out of the labyrinth," Charlotte told her.

"How?"

Charlotte looked down at her fingertips. "Er, wires. Turns out they're strong enough to lift us both up. I can even use them as springs. It made getting over those spikes…workable."

There was a pause, then Kyoko let out a hissing sound that wasn't quite a snarl and wasn't quite a bitter laugh, but rested somewhere in between. "Well, g-gee Ch-Charlotte. Would've b-been great if you u-used that earlier!"

"Sorry, sorry," Charlotte said. "I'm still getting used to these things."

Kyoko's mouth moved silently, but whether she was muttering under her breath or just twitching in pain Charlotte couldn't tell. Then she asked the million talent question. "Valks?"

"No sign," Charlotte said. "But they'll be here before too long."

Kyoko bowed her head. She wasn't able to fully close her fingers, but she still fumbled clumsily around her shirt's neckline, tugging on the black cord that wrapped around her neck and dipped beneath the fabric.

"Here," Charlotte said, reaching over to pull Kyoko's necklace out. It had already become apparent that holding it gave her some kind of focus.

Nodding her thanks, Kyoko cupped her blistered fingers around the red stone and black obsidian arrowhead and closed her eyes. Charlotte had a good idea how she felt. Valk venom was deadly potent, even when it only touched the skin without entering the bloodstream (or soulstream, as the case was). And even with the horrific wound Charlotte had suffered herself all those years ago, even she couldn't imagine how it must feel to have it spat in her eyes.

Kyoko muttered something under her breath. "What?" Charlotte said.

Taking a deep, shaking breath, Kyoko stammered out, "I s-s-said, if w-w-we're going to k-keep copying that d-damned m-m-movie, why can't we g-go all the way and have those v-v-valks eaten by a surp-prise T-rex?"

Charlotte just stared at her. "What?" she said again.

Then Kyoko stood up. "Whoa, hey," Charlotte said, rising with her. "Slow it down. You're not-"

"Fuck that," Kyoko said in a raspy whisper. "I'm s-s-sick of this. Sick of getting b-beat up. Sick of f-f-feeling so tired. Sick of running."

"But-"

"So you know what?" Kyoko suddenly shouted. "Not this time! I don't care if I'm blind, I don't care if I'm hurt, and I don't care if I killed your family because you guys attacked us first! Screw that! You think this is a Disney movie, where the native critters fight off the big bad invaders? Hell no! Man is in the fucking forest, and I'm about to go all Gaston on your extinct asses! No one kicks ass when she's cornered like Kyoko, no one refuses to give up like Kyoko, and I will use your fucking horns in all of my decorating, do you hear me?"

Charlotte really didn't have a clue of what Kyoko was referencing. She had heard of Disney. There were several studios dedicated to remaking classics from the world of the living, and Disney films were apparently popular, but she had never been much into movies. Either way, that didn't matter. What did was that Kyoko was bound and determined to keep fighting, and Charlotte, while impressed, was less than convinced of her ability to deliver on her promises.

"Kyoko, you're blind," she said. "And you're all screwed up from valk venom. You can't fight when you're like that."

"Shut up," Kyoko snapped. "Pain's pain. I've f-fought through worse. And so w-what if I c-can't see? I still got a f-few tricks up my…" Her bare arm, the one she had said had been torn off by a dockengaut, twitched a bit. "Well, sleeve."

Charlotte shot her a dubious look. "Okay, but the fact that you're shouting at an empty field sort of worries me." She put her hand on Kyoko's shoulder and turned her a few degrees. "The labyrinth is this way."

"Oh, whatever," Kyoko said, shaking Charlotte's hand off. "I'm still…I'm still gonna f-fight. Like I have a choice anyway."

Charlotte couldn't really disagree with that, but reality had always meant more to her than insubstantial things such as honor, bravery, or determination. Not that those weren't important, but the fact of the matter was that without her sight, Kyoko didn't stand much of a chance. And while Charlotte was more than capable of handling herself, these were valks. Sure, there were only three left, but that was three too many.

Charlotte looked down at her hands. She flexed her fingers as she thought to herself. She couldn't feel the wires contained within, but she knew they were there, just waiting for her command to be unleashed. As their escape through the labyrinth had proved, they were far more versatile than she had believed. They didn't have a prayer against valk armor, but perhaps they might be able to punch through that thick skin of theirs. Unfortunately, that meant she wouldn't be able to retract them without cutting off the parts covered with blood first, but desperate times and all that.

Even if she couldn't, they did give her an edge that the valks lacked: range. Thus far, every time the valks managed to outmaneuver the girls and press in close, Kyoko's skills at a midrange fighter had been enough to shut them down.

But now Kyoko was practically out of the picture, which left Charlotte to fight on her own. She was going to have to keep her wits about her and use her abilities to keep the valks at a distance. If she saw them coming, she had a chance.

And therein lay the problem.

"Come on," she said, taking Kyoko by the shoulder and leading her away from the labyrinth.

"Where are we going?" Kyoko said as she limped after her.

"Into an open field," Charlotte said. "I'm not giving them any cover."

Kyoko nodded. "And th-then what?"

"Then? Well, then we wait."

…

"Valkyrie One, Valkyrie Three, this is Valkyrie Two. Do you copy? Over."

"We copy, Valkyrie Two. Sit tight, we're almost there, over."

"Good to hear. Our girl definitely came this way. I'm getting two more dead valks and a busted pillar. No sign of anything else though. I think she went into the jtut. Over."

"If she did then that's it. That place is second to the dockengaut tunnels. Over."

"You wanna say that a little louder? I don't think the wife heard you. Over."

"Er, sorry about that. Anyway, see if you can pick up any human readings. We'll be there in five. Out."

"Copy that. Out."

…

"How much longer do we gotta wait?" Kyoko growled.

Charlotte inhaled deeply and slowly let it out. "Until they show up."

"G-Groovy. What time is it?"

Charlotte honestly had no idea, but it was probably close to early afternoon. The weird sky made it really difficult to tell, but the light was at its highest. She really missed her watch, but unfortunately it had been lost some time ago. Just a well. Dockengaut days lasted an hour and a half longer than human ones anyway.

The pair were standing together in the purple field, close enough to the labyrinth to easily be seen but far enough away to give them time to react when the valks started charging. Charlotte kept her gaze mostly fixed on the labyrinth's entrance, though she did periodically steal glances to the field around them. It wouldn't do to have some other monster show up and pick them off while they were waiting for the valks to show up.

And there was their problem. They had been standing there for what was increasingly feeling like an overly long time, waiting for their opponents to show up. Unfortunately, for once the scaly assholes were declining to take the bait.

"I don't know," Charlotte said to Kyoko.

Kyoko was leaning awkwardly on one of her spears, her mangled fingers unable to close fully around the pole. That was definitely going to make fighting even more difficult. "How long have w-we b-been out here?" she rasped, unseeing eyes staring out into space.

"No idea. At least half an hour, I think. How are you holding up?"

It was Kyoko's turn to take a deep breath, and she did so painfully. "W-Well, this would hurt no m-m-matter what I do, so I m-might as w-well do this." Then her red, blistered face twisted into an agonized grimace. "But I r-really, really wish they'd hurry up and-Wait. Wait, d-do you hear that?"

Charlotte did, actually. It was a weird buzzing, mingled with high-pitched squeaks. And it was getting closer.

Her heart falling, she turned to look out over the field. Something like a dark cloud was approaching from afar. It wasn't a cloud though. It was too low for one, and moved against the wind. Furthermore, the way it rolled and writhed made it seem almost alive. And she had never heard of a cloud that shrieked before.

Then Charlotte swallowed. No, it definitely wasn't a cloud. As it drew closer, she saw that it was actually a swarm of flying creatures, at least a couple of hundred of them. They were practically rolling over one another as they flew, their four wings undulating in and out. What was more, Charlotte knew these creature.

"Miscus," she breathed. Then, grabbing Kyoko's hand, she shouted, "Run, Kyoko! It's a flock of miscus!"

The eel-like creatures were flying madcap right for the fleeing girls. As they ran, Charlotte shot a look over her shoulder. As frightful as the sight was, the miscus didn't look like they were really attacking. Rather, they seemed fearful, swarming over and around one another in a desperate attempt to get away from something.

Well, whether it be from the miscus themselves or the thing they were trying to get away from, it wasn't safe to stick around. However, as Charlotte turned toward the shelter of the gorge, she noticed three figures striding through the field, just behind the miscus flock.

It was the valks. They were chasing the miscus, shrieking loudly while occasionally leaping at snapping at the frenzied beasts.

With a flash, Charlotte understood. The valks had caught on. They had seen her and Kyoko standing out in the open and figured out that it was a trap. So instead of falling into it, they had sprung a trap of their own. They had gone around the girls entirely to kick up a miscus nest and send them right at Charlotte and Kyoko.

There was a reason why the valks were so feared. Other predators were bigger. Other predators had more teeth. Other predators had nastier implements of death. But none could match the valks for their cold, calculating cunning. And their tough armor and venomous blood made them all but unkillable by the competition. Unless they had some manner of killing from afar, simply wounding a valk would have dire consequences. The miscus knew this. They couldn't attack the valks because they had knew of the agony it would bring. So instead of fighting back, they preferred to flee in hopes of outflying the monsters.

And now they were all coming right for the two human girls.

Cursing their abominable luck, Charlotte lugged Kyoko along as she sprinted for the gorge, the panicking miscus getting closer and closer. "Okay, jump!"

"What!"

"Jump, Kyoko! And hold on!"

Kyoko obeyed, and the two of them leapt over the edge of the gorge. Mere seconds later, the miscus flock shot overhead, flapping and screeching as they blanketed the sky. Charlotte didn't even have time to look at them, the stony ground was rushing up so fast. Holding tight to Kyoko's waist with one arm, she extended the other and released her wires. They spread out and struck the ground at five points. As Charlotte and Kyoko fell, the wires bent under their weight, slowing their momentum to a stop right over the ground. Charlotte then tentatively dropped to her feet and put Kyoko down.

"Th-The hell?" Kyoko panted.

"We jumped into a gorge," Charlotte explained. "The valks kicked up a flock of miscus and used them to-Shit!"

Some of the miscus had noticed them, and despite their terror, their feeding frenzy instincts had seized control, sending them down toward what looked like easy prey. Charlotte frantically looked this way and that, searching for any sign of cover, but she saw nothing they could reach in time.

Fortunately, Kyoko had them covered.

The redhead suddenly seized Charlotte by the arm and yanked her down. The next thing she knew, her world plunged into darkness.

For a brief, terrible second, Charlotte feared that she had been struck blind too. But no, a moment of investigation showed that the light had simply been blotted out by what appeared to be a low metal dome. She and Kyoko were crouching together beneath it, with the miscus angrily shrieking and banging their wings against its hull.

A few moments passed, then Charlotte said, "Uh…huh?"

"Shield barrier," Kyoko rasped. "Double-thick. Doesn't work g-great against valks, but…" She coughed, and then said, "Stops th-these guys pretty good."

Charlotte reached out with one finger to touch the wall. Sure enough, she found the diamond-shaped grooves, indicating where the outer layer plugged the gaps from the inner layer.

"Hey," Kyoko said. "Charlotte. Miscus blood ain't ven-venomous, yeah?"

"I don't think so," Charlotte said.

"C-Cool. Okay, I'm gonna…I'm gonna drop the outer layer, and wh-when I do, send those wires out as fast as you can, try to skewer as many as you can."

Charlotte gaped at her. "What? Are you crazy? Just 'cause their blood isn't venomous doesn't mean I want it inside me!"

"Then I'll cut them off and let you make new ones! You c-can do that, yeah?"

"I…well, probably, but that doesn't-"

Then she felt Kyoko's forehead shove against her own. "Look, m-my face f-feels like it's on f-f-fire and my eyes are f-fucked up. I am in no m-mood. Just do it!"

Charlotte grimaced, then she reluctantly nodded. "Okay."

Outside, the miscus continued to screech their bloodlust and slam themselves against the dome's exterior. Charlotte heard Kyoko mutter something to herself, something that sounded like a prayer. Then the redhead said, "Okay. One, two, th-three, go!"

Suddenly a grid of diamond-shaped windows appeared in their shelter, letting the light in. Beyond Charlotte could see the miscus' wings flapping and their maws snapping as they tried to force their mouths into the gaps. For a brief moment, she envied Kyoko's blindness.

But there was no time to reflect on that. With a silent prayer of her own that this was going to work, she held out her hands and shot out ten wires through ten gaps.

It worked. And it was disgusting.

The shrieks of several of the miscus turned from rage into agony as golden metal threads pierced through their bodies, cutting through flesh, fat, and organs. Charlotte gagged but kept pushing them out further, directing them to keep circling out and skewer as many as possible.

"Okay," she said, trying not to look at the collection of dead miscus she had suspended over their heads. Already their brethren were succumbing to their cannibalistic instincts. She could feel the tugging on the wires as the corpses were torn apart. "Get these things off of me."

Kyoko nodded. She waved a hand and the outer layer of shields returned, blocking out the light and, more importantly, severing the wires. Charlotte could hear the thuds of the bodies hitting the dome. With a shudder, she retracted the remaining strands.

There was a pause, and then the shrieking resumed.

"They're not gone," Kyoko observed.

Charlotte sighed. "Yup. They're cannibals. And we just gave them a feast."

There was another pause. Then, in the cramped confines of the dome, Charlotte felt Kyoko's body start to shake.

"Kyoko?" she said.

"Stupid," Kyoko muttered under her breath. "This is stupid. We can't win. Nothing we do matters. And this…and this pain. I can't take it anymore! I feels like my face is burning, and my hands…I can't even close my hands! This is stupid, this is stupid, this-"

Before either of them really realized what they were doing, Charlotte had grabbed Kyoko and embraced her tightly, one hand behind the redhead's head and the other sliding behind the backpack to hold onto her waist. She held the younger girl to her, Kyoko's face buried into her shoulder, waiting for the trembling to stop.

"It's okay, it's okay," she murmured as she stroked what little remained of Kyoko's ponytail. "Just take it easy. We'll be fine."

Kyoko muttered something into her shoulder but didn't pull away. Then, slowly, tentatively, her own arms came up to wrap around Charlotte in turn, her mangled hands gently lying against her back.

They held each other while the miscus continued their grisly feast outside. At last Kyoko stopped shaking and drew away.

"Thanks," she muttered.

"Don't worry about it," Charlotte responded.

Kyoko was silent for a bit. Then she said, "You tell anybody…Sayaka, Mami, anyone…and I swear I will…I will…"

Though Kyoko couldn't see her, Charlotte still held a finger to her lips. "Not. A. Word," she promised.

Then something made her frown. "Hey, Kyoko? Did your backpack just move right now-"

Suddenly something hard and heavy struck the top of the dome with a deafening clang. Kyoko and Charlotte both cried out as they covered their ears.

"What was that?" Charlotte shouted.

"I don't know, something hit us!" Kyoko responded. "And…" Then she let out a growl. "Oh, fuck this."

"What?"

"I'm not waiting around for it to break through! Okay, get ready to split."

"What?"

"One…two…"

"Kyoko, what about the-"

"Three!" With that, the dome disappeared. Apparently there had been a fair splattering of miscus blood and guts on its surface, which immediately came pouring on their heads when it was gone. But as disgusting as that was, neither of them had time to be repulsed. Kyoko had already been scrambling to her feet, and after a few milliseconds of hesitation, Charlotte did as well.

It was easy to see the thing that had slammed into the dome. A huge boulder that had not been there before now in several large pieces next to where the dome had been, with several ravaged miscus bodies lying all around. No sooner had Charlotte and Kyoko bolted out of the way did another huge rock slam into where they had been, squishing what was left of the miscus.

The two girls fled to the other end of the gorge and turned to look for whatever the hell it was that was dropping rocks on them. The answer quickly became obvious. Standing up high on the top of the gorge's sheer wall crouched three reptilian figures, glowering down at the pair.

"It's the valks, isn't it?" Kyoko whispered.

"Yup," Charlotte said, her eyes narrowing. "Guess those thick skulls push as well as they break."

Coughing, Kyoko pulled herself back up to her feet. "What are they doing?"

"Watching us. I think…" Charlotte frowned. "I think they're done with the direct attacks. We've whittled them down too much. So they're trying to find ways to get at us from a distance."

"Like the miscus?"

"Yeah." Charlotte could see the last of the swarm rushing away, far in the distance. "And the rocks. In fact, with us trapped down here, I think next they'll be probably find something to stampede right through the gorge."

"Perfect," Kyoko muttered. "I should've known all those Disney references would give them ideas."

"Yeah, well, I don't think they'd get them anymore than I did. But you know what?"

Kyoko turned her sightless eyes toward the sound of Charlotte's voice, her head tilted in bemusement.

"I'm not interested in waiting," Charlotte said, her fingers balling into fists. "Cover yourself with shields and sit tight. I'll be back."

Kyoko's pink eyes widened in alarm. "Char, wait-"

Charlotte's wires shot out at the ground. They hit, and just kept pushing, lifting her up higher and higher.

Her ascent wasn't as graceful or badass looking as she would have hoped. Again, she was still learning what her newfound abilities were capable of, and more than once she had to widen her base and readjust where her hands were to keep from flipping around or falling over. Still, she managed to bring herself fully out of the gorge to stare the valks in the eye.

For their part, the two juveniles looked surprised by their quarry's ever increasing well of abilities, with the wounded one noticeably backing up a little. However, the adult just looked frustrated. Its nostrils flared in and out, all three of its emerald eyes tracking her as Charlotte rose up.

Charlotte brought herself to a stop. She took a deep breath to shout a challenge, but then her right hand started to wobble as the pinky and ring finger wires began to slip. Wincing, she hastily deposited herself on solid ground across from the valks before she did something embarrassing.

"Yeah, that's right!" she called out to them. She spread her arms wide, daring them to try something. "You missed again! Come on!"

The adult growled. It stated to stride forward, head bobbing and clubbing tail held stiffly out, but before it could accelerate to a full gallop it stopped suddenly, a few meters away from the edge.

A tiny voice in the back of Charlotte's mind quietly but insistently told her that she was being ten shades of stupid. Sure, the score of the continuing battle between dead teenagers with superpowers versus psychotic alien dinosaurs still overwhelmingly favored the visiting team, but these were still valks. For years they had shone in a starring role in her nightmares, ones full of sharp teeth, rending claws, and oceans of venom. And now here she was, standing alone before them, taunting them into attacking her while her more capable partner was still on the bench.

But Charlotte had been fighting the things all morning. And not too long ago she had beaten one to death with a rock. It was hard to top something like for therapy.

"Hey!" she shouted, clapping her hands several times in quick succession. "You deaf or something? I said come and get me!"

The adult remained where it was, silently watching her. Its offspring moved forward to join it, one on each side. None of them came any closer than that.

Now Charlotte was getting annoyed. "What's wrong, huh? Come on! Lunch is ready! Do I got to stick an apple in my mouth or something! Come and get me, you inbred salamanders!" She turned around to present her ass to the trio and gave it a hard smack. "Toro! Toro, you daughters of an Incuba…" Then she froze. "Oh."

In turning around, she got a good look at what had been behind her, presumably keeping the valks at bay. It looked like a cross between a grizzly bear and a silverback gorilla, a massive, hulking form with an unbelievably broad chest and shoulders balanced on a pair of short, stubby, but very strong looking legs. Its arms hung all the way to the floor and ended in thick, sausage-shaped fingers that could have closed around her head with ease. Three rows of sharp spines ran down its back, and it was covered with short, glossy black fur, all save for its head, which seemed to be completely fleshless and looked like the skull of a turtle, its beak open and slavering.

The…thing (gorizzly? Bearilla?) was standing about a basketball court's distance from her, its shoulders hunched forward and its knuckles resting on the ground as it watched her. When it saw that it had been spotted, it reared back, its arms stretching wide as it let out a hoarse, bone-rattling bellow.

Then it began to charge.

One would think that given its mass and short legs the gorizzly wouldn't have much in the way of speed, but it clear the distance between her and Charlotte frighteningly quickly, using its hands to pretty much push off the ground and move its legs forward in long, leaping strides. Charlotte choked and quickly shot her wires into the ground. Unfortunately, the ground there was considerably softer than the stone of the gorge, and the wires just ended up burrowing into the dirt for at least three seconds before hitting something solid enough to push her upward. By then, she had just enough time to launch herself over the gorizzly, her soles missing its head by centimeters.

Unfortunately, Charlotte had no time to feel relief, as while her desperation maneuver had taken her out of the gorizzly's path of rampage, it still ended up barreling right into her wires. She pitched forward with a gasp, landing ungracefully onto her face.

Spitting out a mouthful of weed, Charlotte scrambled around as fast as she could. Her wires made that difficult, as they seemed to be caught on something. Fighting through the tugging on her arms, she managed to flip around onto her butt and look back to take stock of the situation.

As predicted, the gorizzly had gotten itself tangled in her wires, and was now thrashing this way and that in a frenzied effort to free itself. Charlotte was yanked right up to her feet and tried to brace herself. The gorizzly paused then. Turning around, it took notice of her and put two and two together. Then, with an enraged roar, it wrapped the wires around its arms and used them as a lasso to hurl Charlotte up over its head and back down again.

The landing was actually one of the softer ones Charlotte had experienced that day. The springy weed had a lot of give and cushioned her fall rather well. It still wasn't fun though, and as Charlotte tried to collect her swimming thoughts, she came up with an idea of how to regain control of the situation.

Again the gorizzly tried to throw her around, but this time Charlotte was ready for it. Wrapping the wires around her own hands to give her a better grip, Charlotte yanked back with all her strength. Surprised to find that its foe had comparable strength to its own, the gorizzly was hauled off balance. It tried to right itself, but another hard yank brought it tumbling down.

"Ha!" Charlotte crowed. "Who's got the superpowers? Charlotte's got the superpowers! And it's going to take more than an overgrown monkey to-"

Then she froze. Every instinct within her was screaming at her that this was not right, and she was now in very real danger.

Turning, her eyes went wide when she saw a maw full of teeth bearing down at her, ready to take her head off. She hastily rolled out of the way as the adult valk barreled past.

So that was why the valks had been so hesitant to attack. They had spied the gorizzly approaching her and had decided to let it wear her out first. And once she was preoccupied, they had swept in for the kill.

Charlotte gritted her teeth. Damn, these things were smart. A second later and it would have had her.

Well, two could play that game. As the valk spun on its ankles to come at her again, Charlotte took off running. She vaulted over the valk's head, her leap taking her high to land on the other side of the bewildered gorizzly.

As the massive creature lumbered to its feet and tried to get its bearings, Charlotte did it a favor by hastily unwinding her wires from its arms. Suddenly free, the gorizzly reared up, knuckles planted on the ground, bony head cocked to one side as if it were sniffing the air.

Then Charlotte dropkicked it right between the shoulders.

Arms flailing, the gorizzly tumbled forward to slam into the angry valk. Sputtering, the valk swung its head to the side, knocking the gorizzly off its feet. With a roar the gorizzly bounced back, swinging its arms to smack the valk and sending it flying as if it weighed no more than a cat.

Despite the severity of the situation, Charlotte found herself grinning. Finally things were starting to go her way.

However, the pause gave her time to catch sight of the two juveniles, which were still gathered on the other side of the gorge. Apparently they had been hesitant in following their parent in leaping across, but upon seeing its attack go awry, they looked like they were about to make the attempt.

As Charlotte watched, they retreated a fair distance from the huge gash in the earth. Then when they turned around again, she tensed up. Here they came…

The juveniles broke into a charge, gaining speed as they came closer and closer to the gorge. As they reached the edge, they leapt forward with a defiant shriek.

The one in the lead managed to clear the rift cleanly. Its foot slipped a bit on the edge, but it recovered quickly and was soon standing across from Charlotte, teeth bared in challenge.

Its sibling wasn't so lucky. It was the one Kyoko had wounded, and from the look of things, having a chunk of stone dropped on its back followed by a deep gouge in its side had taken a fair bit out of it. It hit the side of the gorge, tried to grab on with its claws, but slipped off to fall wailing into the deep.

The other one froze. It turned and, seeing its sibling's plight, suddenly seemed at a loss of what to do, torn between attacking anyway and rushing to the other's aid.

Charlotte tensed up, ready to take advantage of that momentary distraction and send it tumbling after the first.

Then she had to leap back to avoid being barreled over by the adult valk.

For a brief second she was convinced that it was back on the attack, but then she saw that it was off balance, reeling from a heavy blow. One hoarse roar later and the gorizzly came loping into view, its thick, muscular arms slamming into the ground as it carried itself around.

The gorizzly swung down with its fists, pounding the valk's neck. It was a blow that would have pulverized any creature from Earth. As it was, it only knocked the valk to the ground. Without wasting any time, the gorizzly scooped the large creature with both hands and lifted it up. Hoisting it high over its head, it bellowed a call of victory and defiance.

Unfortunately for it, valks were considered only one step below the dockengauts for a reason. And the gorizzly seemed to recognize that. As Charlotte stared into its beady eyes, she could literally see the rage melt away to be replaced with a very humanlike look of surprise and fear, as if it had only just then realized what it was fighting and how foolish laying hands on a fully grown valk was.

The valk then showed exactly why.

Before the gorizzly could drop it, it managed to wriggle around in its grasp and snap down, sinking its teeth into the gorizzly's meaty wrist. The apelike creature screamed in anguish and tried to hurl the reptile away, but the valk was having none of that. It slashed with its bladed limbs, sinking its claws into the gorizzly's arms. Purplish-red blood dribbled down its thickly knotted muscles.

The gorizzly screamed again and lurched back, managing to finally fling the valk off of it, but it was too late. The wounds around its wrist were already swelling, the venom having entered its bloodstream.

The valk landed neatly on its feet. It strode calmly up to its thrashing opponent, taking its time. Then, after regarding the suffering gorizzly with something not unlike contempt, it swung its head into the creature, knocking it down.

Then it set to work.

Charlotte stood frozen in horror. The valk was clawing all over the gorizzly, opening gaping wounds everywhere. None of the cuts were deep enough to do much damage, but they were long and they were blinking.

Then the valk moved in with its mouth. But instead of biting the creature, its long, black tongue came out, sliding across the gashes, lapping up the blood.

To most creatures, licking was a sign of affection. Not so with valks. It was forcing its venom into the gorizzly's body, ensuring that when it died, it would do so in burning agony.

Charlotte felt her gorge rise. She knew all too well what the gorizzly was experiencing.

But the valk wasn't content to stop there. It was having a very, very bad day and was now determined to take its frustrations out on something. As the gorizzly continued to writhe, the valk got its head under the simian's chest and shoved up, forcing it to stand. Then it abruptly retreated, putting a few meters of distance between the two monsters before doubling back. And when it did, its head was lowered, the center eye closed, its legs swiftly accelerating to ramming speed.

The gorizzly was knocked sprawling, stopping just before the edge of the ravine. It tried to rise again, but the valk was there. It spun on its ankles, slamming the thick club on its tail right into the simian's chest. The gorizzly fell screaming into the abyss.

The valk glowered down at its fallen opponent. It snorted in a manner that practically screamed, "So there!"

Then it looked up and noticed its stupefied offspring, also perched on the edge of the gorge. It let out a cackle, one that sounded like an angry reprimand.

What are you doing? Charlotte's mind translated. Where's your sibling?

The juvenile bowed its upper body submissively and whined, its head tilted toward the gorge.

Down there. They fell.

The adult glanced down again. It snarled dangerously.

Oh goddamn it. Really?

Charlotte snapped out of her own trance then. Okay, there was no time to waste, and the valks' familial dispute was providing a much needed distraction.

She ran, her long legs picking up speed, her teeth bared as she focused on the preoccupied juvenile. Her left hand darted out, wires lashing toward a nearby rock and snatching it up. She hurled it right at the adult.

The adult neatly dodged, flinching back and allowing the rough missile to sail past harmlessly. That was fine. Charlotte hadn't been expecting to actually hit it. She just wanted its attention diverted for a few seconds.

And in those few seconds, she sprang forward and hit the surprised juvenile with both feet, sending it wailing after its sibling.

Charlotte flipped back and landed neatly on her feet.

Then the adult's tail slammed into her back, throwing her in as well.

Arms flailing, Charlotte fell.

The ground rushed up to meet her. Screaming, Charlotte instinctively threw her hands in front of her face in a vain attempt to protect her from the body-breaking impact.

When far more time passed than the fall would have taken, Charlotte opened her eyes. She was lying suspended less than a meter from the ground, hands still outstretched. Her wires were extended every which way, digging into the ground and creating a sort of cage, one strong enough to slow her momentum to a stop.

Charlotte breathed out. Okay, now she really regretted never going to those magic classes with Mami, because these wires freaking rocked!

She quickly retracted them and dropped the remaining distance to the ground. Then she looked around.

A second later she was huddled behind a tone pillar, back and palms pressed to the rock, illusionary heart pounding away. The two juveniles had been right there, close enough to reach her with one leap. Apparently they hadn't noticed her, but that could change in a split second.

Charlotte remained where she was for nearly ten seconds. When nothing came around to eat her, she forced her limbs to loosen. Slowly and carefully she moved around the pillar to take a peek.

Sure enough, the two juveniles were still there. One was on its feet with its back to her, seemingly none the worse for the wear from its fall. The other, however, had landed badly. It was still alive, but its hurt leg now looked broken, and it was moaning in pain. It kept trying to rise, its sibling doing what it could to help, but it was unable to support its own weight.

Charlotte jerked back out of sight, her mind racing. Okay, that one was effectively out of the fight, more-or-less. If she could get its sibling out of the way, then taking it out should be a snap. That just left one juvenile and-

Then there came the dull thud of something heavy landing nearby.

-gulp.

Charlotte slowly edged around the pillar to peek out the other side. She couldn't see anything living, but she did note a large shadow being cast on the nearby cliff wall. It was hunched over and moving, like that of a giant bear stirring from hibernation.

The gorizzly, still alive despite everything. Well, it wasn't any threat. Charlotte was far more interested in the victor of its fight.

Then another shadow came into view, one large and reptilian. Charlotte froze.

She watched as the silhouette of the adult valk slowly and deliberately sauntered over to the wounded gorizzly. It looked down at its dying opponent for a moment, as if debating what to do with it.

Then its head dipped, its jaws opening wide. It closed around the gorizzly's fleshless beaked head and pulled it up. The gorizzly let out a low moan.

The valk abruptly turned its head to the side. There was a loud crack of shattering vertebrae, and the gorizzly went still.

Charlotte grimaced. Okay, big daddy or mommy or whatever was still in the game. Both it and its healthy spawn were now down in the gorge, with her. That in itself wasn't too bad (and wasn't it just a perfect illustration of how incredibly screwed up her day was when she didn't consider being trapped in a ravine with two valks to be a total disaster?), but Kyoko was still down here somewhere as well. Charlotte hadn't seen her yet, so presumably she was hiding somewhere. Hopefully it would stay that way.

Okay, okay, okay. So, how was she going to finish them off? She wracked her mind for some winning strategy, some brilliant play that would leave her more-or-less unscathed and the valks dead at her feet.

There was nothing there. Try as she might she couldn't come up with anything. She was too tired, too twitchy, and too scared. And the more she tried to gather her wits, the more scared she got. That was more than enough to throw off any sort of planning.

Gritting her teeth, Charlotte actually started whacking her own head with her palms, as if that would knock her mind working again. Damn it, think! Think, Charlotte, think!

She had to do something. Kyoko was still down here, somewhere. If Charlotte didn't do something soon the valks would find her blind partner and rip her to shreds. Then they would do the same to Charlotte.

How could she look Mami in the eye after that? How could she even dare to try to rescue her when her own cowardice had kept her from beating a handful of overgrown lizards? She had fought through her fear so far, and had done very well. She just needed to do it again.

She just…she just needed something. A new trick, a new plan, a new break, something!

Then, as she stood there, rendered almost helpless by her rising panic, Charlotte suddenly doubled over by a wave of nausea. For a moment she thought that she had worked herself into throwing up, but nothing came out. She tried to straighten up again, but another wave shoved her down again.

What was happening? Was she sick? Had she contracted some weird dockengaut planet disease? Charlotte couldn't figure it out. Rather than clear, her head was growing even fuzzier, her vision starting to swim.

Cheese.

Wait, cheese? Why was she thinking of cheese all of a sudden? Sure she was hungry, but now was hardly the time or place to-

Cheese.

Something was coming up through her throat, something that wasn't vomit. It felt long and slimy, like a slug.

Cheese.

Charlotte tried to hold it back, tried to keep it down, but the thing was quite insistent. It pushed up through her throat, trying to get into her mouth, trying to break free and escape. Charlotte clamped her teeth shut in an effort to keep it in, and in doing so she bit her tongue.

Her teeth sliced right through the flesh.

Gasping, Charlotte reeled back. She reached in with one hand to feel her teeth. To her horror, they weren't the normal set of human canines, incisors, and molars she usually had. Now she just had two rows of sharp, triangle-shaped blades.

NO!

Now that she knew what was happening, Charlotte managed to regain control and force the thing back down. As she did so, the fog that had been clouding her mind lifted and her vision cleared. She fell back trembling.

Damn it, that had been too close. She had almost completely lost control right there. And while unleashing that part of her would solve her problems handily, she was not about to let it loose. Not here, not now, not ever.

But even as she shakily pulled herself to her feet, she found, to her horror, a small, dark part of her clamoring for her to do just that, to give in and introduce the valks to an even bigger predator, to bite their heads off like chocolate rabbits and feast upon the corpses.

She wasn't, of course. Logically speaking, the blood would have paralyzed her no matter what body she wore. Besides, she had no guarantee of being able to turn back. It was just not a risk she was willing to make.

But damn, for a moment there, she wanted to. She really wanted to. And that scared her more than the valks ever could.

Breathe, Charlotte, she told herself. Just breathe. You got this. You got this. You got this.

For one brief moment, everything was still.

And then the pillar exploded behind her.

Charlotte screamed as the force knocked her staggering. When she straightened, she saw the adult valk standing in the pillar's remains. It was panting in the way that suggested not exhaustion, but barely controlled rage. Its center eye was closed, likely to protect it from the impact that had just blown the pillar to bits. But now it opened and focused, zeroing in on Charlotte. Charlotte had never known that it was even possible for one creature to have as much hate as she saw in that monster's eyes, but there it was.

Unfortunately for it, while fear was a major detriment when it came to constructing a plan, it was amazing when it came to running for one's life. Charlotte bolted, using her wires to vault over the valk. She landed already in a run, legs pounding in outright panic, as the ravine behind her filled with bloodthirsty howls.

…

Charlotte ran. And ran. And ran some more.

She could hear the valks closing in from behind. Like her, they had completely abandoned strategy, and were now just trying to run her down. Which was a pretty good strategy in of itself.

They were gaining too. Charlotte was fast, and sheer, raw panic gave her an extra boost of speed she wouldn't otherwise have been capable of, but she wasn't that fast. They were going to catch her before too long.

Still, her mind raced, eyes searching the gorge for something, an eleventh hour advantage she could use.

Then, as she passed a large alcove, she saw it.

Within was what looked like a grove of white, flabby, leafless trees, ones tipped with bulging pods on waxen branches. Kyoko had mentioned passing by a similar grove after leaving the dockengaut tunnels and had given them a wide berth, reasoning that anything that grew out in the open like that were probably bad news.

She had reasoned right. They were called valboa trees, and the local denizens had long learned to leave them well alone. Charlotte wasn't about to dart into them herself, but with a flash of intuition she finally stumbled over an idea.

Ignoring them for now, she ran right past them. After a moment the adult and healthy juvenile followed suit, charging past the pale growths. Charlotte kept going and going, her mind racing with calculations.

Then she jumped.

She sprang onto a nearby pillar, landed lightly, and then jumped to the next, using her wires for propulsion. She doubled back, passing over the heads of the two frustrated valks, moving toward the valboa grove.

Which, it should be noticed, had just been reached by the wounded juvenile.

Despite its broken foot, it had still made a valiant effort to join in the chase, though it had slowed considerably. Still, valks were valks, and once it was standing it was still able to limp along faster than most living beings could run.

Unfortunately, its wounds meant that when Charlotte zeroed in on it, there was little it could do to stop her.

Her wires lashed out like snakes. And each and every one of them wrapped around the body of the injured valk.

Like its recently deceased kin, the valk immediately started to pull away, pitting its considerable strength against Charlotte's. Unfortunately for it, the wounds Kyoko had inflicted upon it had weakened it severely. Its broken leg provided little in the way of footing, and the gash on its side further crippled it. Charlotte braced her feet against a nearby rock and heaved, yanking it off its feet.

Unfortunately its parent and sibling would be along soon, so Charlotte didn't have much time. So instead of wrestling it down, she drew the wires as taut as she could, checked herself, and then lifted the valk off the ground.

It was heavy, yes, and its constant thrashing did not make the job easy. But it wasn't that heavy. Grunting, Charlotte lifted it as high as she could.

Then she hurled it into the grove of valboa trees.

Now, valboa trees weren't actually trees. They had no leaves, didn't photosynthesize, produced no fruit or seeds, and were completely lacking in the chlorophyll department. In truth, their actual genetic makeup bridged the unusual gap between fungus and animal, a bizarre lifeform that shared characteristics of both. Like fungi, the "grove" was actually a single organism, one that had taken root in the hard stone and spread its tendrils throughout the ground, extending its flabby, bulbous appendages into the air. And like animals…

The valk landed roughly among the pale grey "trunks," bouncing a bit before stopping. It was a bad landing, with its wounded leg and bleeding side absorbing too much of the impact. It let out a squeal of pain.

Then, as it struggled it right itself, its three eyes suddenly noticed its surroundings. They widened a bit, and even with the distance between it and Charlotte, she could still see the fear.

The valk attempted to flee, but even without its injuries slowing it down it was far too late. The closest valboa suddenly reared back, its trunk and branches bending away from the valk like it was winding up. Which, as it turned it, was exactly what it was doing.

Before the valk could scramble away, the valboa tree lashed out, slamming its thick, bulging pods onto the wounded creature, right onto the bleeding gash. It let out a shriek of pain, but the impact alone wasn't what it needed to be worried about. The pods were rather soft, and the trees themselves didn't have much in the way of striking strength. Honestly, it was as if it had been hit by a bag of popcorn. But when the pods hit, they stuck fast, molding their puffy shape to spread over as much as the valk's body as they could. The valk bellowed as it frantically tried to get away, but what the valboa lacked in muscle, it made up for in toughness and foundational support. It was going nowhere.

And neither was the valk.

A second valboa tree reared back and hit the valk's other side. A third struck at its head and shoulders, while two more went for its tail and rump. It continued to struggle, but its entire body was now enveloped in large, pillowy growths. Its screams became muffled as the stuff entered its mouth, choking it.

Then, when it became apparent that the valk wasn't going anywhere, a white, milky substance began to leak out of the growths. Charlotte could see it flowing over what little remained exposed of the valk's armored back. It dribbled down its sides, over its thrashing arms and legs.

Then she heard something began to sizzle, and steam started to rise.

As much as she hated the things, Charlotte had to look away. The valk's end was not going to be pleasant.

She wasn't alone. The other two valks were there, the single remaining juvenile several meters to her right and the adult perched on a rock uncomfortably close to her left. They were ignoring her, their attention focused on their doomed kin, entrapped by the valboa grove as it cried piteously for help, calling out to its brethren that stood only a short distance away. But they might have been in another territory entirely for all the good it would do it. There was going to be no help coming from its family on that day.

A more rational creature would have cut its losses right there and then. Actually, most would have given up after the first couple of deaths, deciding that the weird, pink bipeds were considerably more trouble than they were worth. And if that bit of business at the nest still hadn't convinced them, then them surviving the miscus swarm and taking down yet another member of their pack would have given them ample reason to turn tail and flee for good.

A more respectful and less desperate individual might have let them. Between her and Kyoko, they had singlehandedly wiped out the valks' entire family, from the adult's mate to all of the juvenile's siblings to those yet to be born. Their battle with the valks wasn't personal on their end. The dockengauts were their primary concern; the valks were just something to be survived. If they wanted to leave, then let them leave.

But as smart as the valks might be, they had been driven far past the point of rationality, and Charlotte knew it. This was to be a fight to the end.

Charlotte closed her eyes for a moment. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. When she opened her eyes again, both of the valks had stopped staring at the dying juvenile and were now focused on her.

"Right," she said, wearily straightening up. "Come on. Let's end this."

The adult's nostrils flared. The juvenile let out a low snarl.

Then, as one, they charged.

…

"Charlotte?" Kyoko called as she stumbled forward, arms flailing for anything to grab onto. "Charlotte, are you okay?"

What she was doing was tremendously stupid, and Kyoko knew it. She was blind, for Christ's sake! She was blind and in the middle of the land of monsters. Sure, she had power, she had magic, but without the use of her eyes all the spears and shields in the world were next to useless.

Her eyes weren't healing. Why weren't her eyes healing? It had been several minutes, maybe even close to an hour since they had been sprayed with valk venom. And yet all she could see was a fuzzy blur of light.

It was the venom; it had to be. Charlotte had said that it had screwed her up for three days after she had gotten bit before they could get the antidote to her. And even though Charlotte had washed it off of Kyoko's skin, she could still feel it burning, eating at her, creating a distraction.

Kyoko wanted to scream with frustration. She couldn't see enough to fight, and hurt too much to think. The all too familiar drain of fatigue nestled in her core, weighing her limbs down.

But the worst of it all was the hunger. Kyoko didn't do well with hunger. Things like pain, exhaustion, and fear were simple obstacles, as temporary as they were irritating. They were, in of themselves, unpleasant but nothing she couldn't circumnavigate. Even when all taken together she needed simply to summon up the will to fight through them.

Hunger was something different. Hunger was a sign that things had truly gone to Hell. Someone who couldn't even feed themselves danced along the edge of death. Kyoko had once plunged deep into that black pit and, and only a deal with the Devil had brought her back out again. But that ordeal had left its scars.

And now the hunger was back, gnawing on the frayed edges of her mind. Fatigue had stalled her, pain had crippled her, and blindness had trapped her within herself, leaving her easy prey for hunger. It was already playing tricks on her, making her backpack feel alive with all its shifting around and filling her ears with weird chirps. God, what was next, her jacket sprouting wings and flying off?

Charlotte was right; Kyoko couldn't fight like this, and she needed to be able to fight. Well, the pain wasn't going anywhere, she wasn't likely to get a nap anytime soon, and she was all out of snacks, so that left the blindness.

And to that she did have a solution.

Kyoko felt an eerie sense of calm come over her. Yes, there was a way to fix that, or so she hoped. The valk venom had ruined her eyes, sinking in deep and preventing them from healing. That wasn't going to change. So her only option was to trade them in for a new pair.

Even as damaged as her fingers were, she still felt the tingle of magic as it left her soul and took solid form. A moment later she felt the cold, reassuring metal of a spear in her hands.

Her hands were still clumsy, but they were capable of this at least. Taking a deep breath, Kyoko braced herself. Then, holding onto the spear right under the razor-sharp head, she brought it up.

…

A shrill, feminine cry of pain tore through the gorge, bringing the battle to a sudden halt. Charlotte, who was crouched on top of one of the stone pillars, jerked her head around, her chest seizing up. "Kyoko," she whispered.

The valks also heard it. They stopped pulling against the wires long enough to glance in curiosity in the scream's direction, their nostrils flaring.

As odd as it sounded, both she and the valks had come to the same conclusion, and were both worried about it. But Charlotte was scared for her partner's wellbeing. The valks were just concerned about the presence of some new competitor.

Whatever the reason, the pause lasted but a moment anyway. The valks recovered first, taking advantage of Charlotte's momentary distraction to go running off in opposite directions. Charlotte's arms suddenly stretched fully out, jerking painfully in their sockets. Remembering the damage done by snaring Oktavia's wheelchair the day before, she quickly released the valks before her joints could be dislocated again.

Then, though everything in her screamed about how stupid this idea was, she jumped off the rock and immediately ran towards the sound of Kyoko's cry, all the while praying that she wasn't too late.

It was a brave decision on her part, but the reason for how unwise it was quickly became apparent. The valks came shrieking after her, attacking her from two directions. Charlotte wired up a nearby rock and hurled it at the juvenile. It smacked the monster in the face, causing it to draw back with a hiss.

The adult didn't so much as flinch. It charged right for her, head bowed and center eye closed, the thick, armored crest covering its skull bearing down on her. Charlotte didn't have time or room to dodge, so she did the only thing available to her. She took aim for any fleshy bits on the valk's underside and shot out her wires.

It was a desperate gamble. The venomous blood ensured that she wouldn't be able to retract the wires. Even cleaning them off wouldn't guarantee safety. If so much as a tiny bit got under her skin she would be paralyzed. Kyoko was going to have to slice the wires off completely if this worked, and Charlotte was charging forth on the vain hope that Kyoko was even still in one piece. But she had run out of options.

The wires lashed out, striking at the valk's exposed, scaly skin…and slipped right off. Charlotte froze in shock as-

And that was her last thought before the valk's head slammed right into her midsection. All air was driven from her body as her stomach crumpled like an aluminum can and she was sent flying, tumbling head over heels to bounce painfully along the hard stone ground before coming to a disheveled stop against the base of one of the stone pillars.

Charlotte lay back, limbs splayed out awkwardly around her as she tried in vain to draw breath, but she couldn't. Her throat had been closed, and all she could do was gurgle piteously.

Her limbs wouldn't move. Her wires lay like limp, dead things around her. The back of her head throbbed where it had struck the stone. And her stomach…it was broken. Her torso had been crushed inward by the force of the blow. It had happened. She had slipped and the monsters had gotten her.

But she could still see. The adult valk stood in place, coldly regarding its fallen enemy. Though its face didn't have much in the range of emotion, there was no mistaking the satisfaction in its gaze. It had gotten her, and they both knew it.

From her position, Charlotte could see a series of slashes along its chest, stomach, and even a couple across its arms. That's what had happened. Its skin might have been unarmored, but it was still tough enough to prevent her from penetrating. Her wires might have been able to stab through miscus or even human flesh, but the hide of a valk was too thick. It hadn't even drawn blood.

The valk started to advance then, its jowls opening, black saliva dripping from its teeth. Charlotte's eyes went wide. Her nightmares had finally come true. It was going to rip her apart, and she was going to feel every second of it.

"Hey! You!"

The sudden challenge took them both by surprise, but only the valk was capable of looking to see what it was.

And it got a face full of boot for its trouble.

Normally being hit with ninety pounds of human girl wouldn't so much as fazed it, but this was ninety pounds plus a whole lot of magically enhanced strength. The force of Kyoko's kick knocked the valk staggering into a nearby pillar. She flipped around in midair and landed in a ready crouch.

If she had been capable of drawing breath, Charlotte would have cheered.

Kyoko came up, both hands wrapped around a spear. It had to be agony on those burns, but if she was in any pain she wasn't showing it. She thrust the spear at the valk…and missed, the head driving into the stone.

Charlotte' euphoria died. Wait, what?

Growling, Kyoko yanked the spear back and retreated. She spun around, the segments separating. This time she hit, the weighted end smashing into the recovering valk's side and knocking it off its feet.

Kyoko should have ended it then. She should have leapt forward and driven that spear into its guts. But she didn't. Instead she looked this way and that, head jerking back and forth.

Shit, she was still blind. And in that state her element of surprise was going to be lost quickly. Especially since Charlotte could see the juvenile sauntering slowly between the pillars, coming up on Kyoko to take her from behind. And Charlotte couldn't so much as shout a warning.

Though the lack of oxygen was making her dizzy, Charlotte again tried to move her arms. Her fingers flexed and her forearms strained, but then they just fell back again. Gritting her teeth, she focused solely on her right arm. It took all of her strength, but she managed it to lift it enough to flop around and fall onto her stomach.

It sickened her with how far down it went. Her stomach literally curved inward like a radar dish. If she was a living, flesh and blood creature, she would probably be dying from ruptured intestines and a shattered spine. Pushing that from her mind, she instead focused on moving her hand inside her jacket, ignoring how the unrecalled wires trailed over her body. She fished around until her fingers brushed the metal tube of a MedGel syringe.

Meanwhile, Kyoko was still flailing about with her spear, swinging it this way and that in hopes of hitting something. A few of her swipes came worrying close to Charlotte's head. The valks seemed to have picked up on her handicap and were hanging back out of range.

"Charlotte?" she called. "Need some help here! I can see shadows and movement but not much else! Where are they?" Unfortunately, Charlotte could still not reply.

Then the adult made guttural, clicking sound. Kyoko immediately turned toward it.

Charlotte tensed up with frustration. It was a trap! The juvenile was already slowly sauntering around to come at her from behind. She fumbled with the syringe, managing to extract it from its pocket and haul it out over to her stomach. Fortunately, it was already starting to heal, but not nearly fast enough.

Getting the cap off was nearly impossible. She went at it with stiff, clumsy fingers, rolling it between her index finger and her thumb. Little by little it wiggled off. Meanwhile, Kyoko continued to cautiously move toward the adult, which was backing up, leading her on with a series of growls, clicks, and snarls.

Got it! The cap popped off, exposing the needle. Charlotte slid her uncooperative fingers under the metal tube and slowly turned her hand to the side, moving the needle up over her belly.

Too late. Without so much as a battle cry the juvenile valk surged forward. Kyoko cried out as she was knocked to her stomach, the spear falling to clatter on the ground. The valk stood with one foot on her buttocks and the other on her shoulder, pinning her to the ground. It lowered its head, jaws opening, ready to break her neck.

Then, just its lower jaw came within centimeters of her backpack, it abruptly withdrew, hopping off of her and practically standing up straight. It seemed like it had been surprised by something.

The adult also looked confused. Cocking its head to one side, it let out a low snarl, demanding to know what its offspring was doing. In response, the juvenile started honking frantically. The adult jerked back and went still.

Despite her study of valks, Charlotte didn't have a clue of what was being communicated. Clearly the juvenile had sensed something wrong with Kyoko and was warning its parent, but whatever that happened to be was impossible to tell.

The valks were now slowly circling Kyoko, cautiously boxing her in while refraining from darting in for the kill. Coughing, Kyoko tried to stand, only for the adult to dart in and knock her back down.

Grimacing, Charlotte wiggled the syringe around until she managed to get it to slide into her skin. Then she got her hand onto the syringe's injector and pressed down.

Her body tingled as the MedGel was released, mingling with the turbulent vapors of her soul, fortifying them toward regeneration and pushing them towards that goal. Since it was designed for use in battle, MedGel was at its most effective immediately after being injected. Charlotte could feel her torso expanding out, the damage being reversed.

Suddenly her throat opened up and she gasped in her first breath of the world's dusty, acidic air in what felt like an eternity. Her chest expanded, and immediately seized up with stabbing pains. Charlotte coughed but kept breathing in and out, forcing the air into her body.

Her hands twitched, and the wires retracted. She tried not to think of the various dust and debris they had picked up from lying around in the dirt, to say nothing of the bits of valk skin probably still clinging to them. Fortunately, it didn't seem to have the same paralyzing properties as their blood or saliva. Then, though her whole body was moaning in pain, she pushed herself up, using the rock for support.

The valks paid her no heed. Their focus was on Kyoko, though strangely enough they seemed quite beside themselves, unsure of how to proceed. They pretty much had her at their mercy, but something was making them reluctant to rush in for the kill. At one point the juvenile started to advance, claws twitching, only for the adult to growl a sharp warning.

Well, so long as they weren't paying attention to Charlotte she was okay with that. Her body was far from battle ready, but it was enough for this at least.

She waited until the valks' restless circling created an opening between herself and Kyoko. Then she struck.

The wires shot out to seize the blind redhead by the arms, shoulders, and torso and hauled her back. Compared to the valks Charlotte had been throwing around, Kyoko weighed barely anything at all, but she still yelped in surprise and reflexively pulled away from Charlotte, digging her legs into the dusty ground to strain against the wires.

"Kyoko, stop!" Charlotte shouted. "It's me! Let me-"

Then everything went to Hell.

Charlotte's sudden rescue attempt had startled the valks, causing them to instinctively draw back. But as soon as it became apparent that the target of their newfound bewildered fascination was in danger of being snatched away, the juvenile completely forgot that it wasn't supposed to attack. It shrieked in alarm and darted in. The adult roared, but it was too late.

As Kyoko pulled and strained against the wires, the juvenile leapt in, rearing its upper body back and kicking out with one of its muscular legs. It struck in the center of Kyoko's chest, shoving her back and loosening her footing. That was actually a good thing, as it gave Charlotte the opportunity to yank her back out of harm's way.

But before she could, the valk's clawed foot raked down, slicing through Kyoko's shirt and parting the skin beneath like a hot knife through soft butter.

Had Kyoko still been living, her intestines would probably be in danger of spilling out. As it was, four pillars of scarlet vapor billowed up into the sky. Kyoko inhaled sharply through her teeth.

The adult went berserk. It rushed in and swung its armored head to one side, knocking the juvenile sprawling. The juvenile tried to rise, but its parent had shoved on foot against its neck, pinning it down. The adult roared down at its squirming offspring, enraged by its recklessness.

Charlotte still had no idea why the valks were suddenly so protective of Kyoko, but at the very least it gave her the opening she needed. Kyoko was yanked off her feet and into Charlotte's arms.

"Kyoko, it's me, it's me," Charlotte said to the weakly struggling girl. "Stop fighting."

Kyoko's head jerked toward her, finally giving Charlotte a good look at her face.

The blistering rash left by the venom was still there, shining bright red against her pale skin. As for her eyes, they were no longer pink, dead things. Rather, they were gooey, white orbs, with just a hint of a pale red disc in the middle of each. The edges of her sockets were wet with a substance of the same color, as if she had been weeping milk.

Charlotte swallowed. Kyoko had gouged out her eyes. She had realized that the ones blinded by valk venom weren't going to heal, so she had decided to replace them. From a purely rational standpoint, it was the only path to take.

That didn't make it any less painful though. Or any less brave.

Unfortunately, she had jumped the gun, rushing into battle before they had gotten a chance to grow back. Granted, it had saved Charlotte from getting torn apart, but that was increasingly becoming an inevitability anyway.

"Hold on, I'm getting you out of here," Charlotte said, though in the back of her mind she wondered if she was even capable of making good on that promise. She still had a lot of healing to do herself, and just speaking was taking a lot out of her. Still, it wasn't as if she had a choice.

Holding tightly to Kyoko, Charlotte moved away from the valks, slipping behind the pillar she had been leaning against and…

And her foot came down onto nothing.

As it turned out, the pillar had been sitting on the edge of a steep incline, one that led down to a deeper section of the ravine. They fell together, with Charlotte's back and shoulders absorbing most of the impact. Even then she tried to keep herself on the bottom, preventing Kyoko from rolling beneath her.

The incline wasn't that long, but in their condition it took what fight they had left out of them. They ended up sprawled on the bottom, Kyoko collapsed limply on top of Charlotte, whose eyes were swimming and whose head would not stop pounding.

Charlotte felt very strange. Everything seemed strange and unfocused. Something important that ought not be taking hard knocks had been knocked hard.

You don't have a brain, said a faint voice from the back of her mind. Therefore you cannot have a concussion. It's all just gas in there. Fight it off.

Slowly but surely, the voice grew stronger and stronger. And as it did, Charlotte felt her thoughts and vision focusing as the phantom concussion was willed away.

Groaning, she managed to maneuver the two of them into sitting upright. Then she looked up.

As it turned out, the incline they had slid down was anything but straight. In fact, they had somehow managed to hit the only spot that wasn't broken up by a series of jutting rocks and shelves. And on two of those shelves were perched the valks.

They stared down at the girls with hungry eyes, venomous saliva dripping from their maws. Their claws twitched in anticipation, just waiting to rend flesh apart.

"Charlotte?" Kyoko said, squinting up at them. "Are those…"

"Yup," Charlotte said heavily. She was done. That last fall had taken the last bit of fight from her. "We lose."

"Oh."

"B-But hey!" Charlotte said, forcing a crooked smile. "It's okay! We'll come back. And by then the valks will be gone! We can start over, and this time there won't be a full pack hunting us anymore! Hell, if they try again, we'll be all rested up and ready to go!"

"Right," Kyoko said woodenly. She shook her head and chuckled. "Wow. To think I would find that comforting." She took a deep breath and pronounced, "This…is gonna suck."

Charlotte nodded. "Yes. It is."

She looked back to the valks. With a growl, the adult crouched down, preparing to pounce. The juvenile followed suit.

Charlotte closed her eyes. It wouldn't make a difference, but it was all she had.

And when the shriek came, both she and Kyoko flinched, expecting to feel sharp teeth and claws tear into their bodies.

It didn't come.

The shrieks continued though. Confused, Charlotte opened her eyes again.

What she saw didn't make sense. The valks were still on the shelves, but they seemed to have both fallen over. They were lying on their sides, thrashing this way and that, their limbs flailing and their tails pounding the ground while they screamed in agony.

What was more, there seemed to be something covering them, something like a black, amorphous blanket shot through with strands of white that surged and morphed as it spread over their bellies, necks, and up around their claws.

"What?" Kyoko rasped. "What's going on?"

"I…I don't know," Charlotte said. "Something's killing them. Something like-"

Then her chest seized up. Oh no.

The valks stopped thrashing then, their feeble attempts to survive finally giving out. They lay still, the black and white substance having finally finished them off, destroying the last remnants of the once mighty pack.

And then they began to dissolve.

The black and white substance began to ripple, and beneath it flesh disappeared. It ate away at anything and everything it could, heedless of the venomous blood that was spilling over it. Of course it wouldn't care. It wasn't even capable of feeling pain.

Soon nothing remained of the two valks but their bones, picked free of meat. The two black and white lumps sat still for a moment among the grisly remains of their meals. Then they shuddered and began to grow.

Charlotte stared stupefied as the two dockengauts took shape, their thousands of tiny bodies coming together to create the hideous, hulking forms they used when interacting with other species. Their necks grew out, forming faceless heads, while their long, dangling arms formed at their sides. As one, they turned their horrific visages down toward the two humans.

"And here ve arrrreee, zzz," buzzed one of the dockengauts. "Oh, zzzat vhas…ezzzhilarating." It lifted its two hands and sarcastically clapped them together. "You make a mozzzt rezzzourceful pair."

Kyoko went stiff. "Dockengauts?" she whispered.

Charlotte swallowed. "Yeah."

"Ve vere rooting for you," said the other. It reached down and picked up the empty skull of the valk adult and held it up like a Shakespearean actor. "Zzzeven on two and you zzztill almozzzt von."

Charlotte gritted her teeth. "You were watching us."

"Eh, zhe dayyyzzzz pazzzz zo zzzlowly," purred the first. "You hazzz to vvvind what entertainment you can, zzzz."

"Pity zhey got you in the end," said the other. Spiders were now skittering out of the skull's empty eye sockets to crawl over its face. The larger ones stuck their barbed legs through the nostrils. "But zhe day izzzz young. And zhere is zzztill entertainment to be had."

Kyoko stirred. "Y-You…" she coughed. "You're the assholes that chased me yesterday!"

The one that had devoured the juvenile let out a dry, rasping chuckle. "Ah, yezzzz. You made quite zzzhe mezzz of my home. Had my friendzzzz here and I not…dizzzagreed, I vould have had you."

"Fortunazzzely, ve reached a…zzzhall ve zzzay a compromizzzze," said the other as it leered down at Charlotte. "Zzzzhey vill take you, and I getzzz your friendzzzz. My meat zzzzlave hazzz been getting zzzo lonely, zzzz."

This was it. This was really it. They could survive being torn apart by the valks. Their bodies would regenerate. But the dockengauts knew that. They anticipated it. And they would enjoy feasting on their flesh over and over again, until the end of the universe.

All of Charlotte's nightmares came rushing back to her, images of being trapped and helpless deep underground, chained naked to a rock, waiting to be eaten alive, to be slowly devoured by millions of tiny mandibles that tore her body apart little by little. That was the fate that awaited them.

She was never going to go home again. She was never going to see Mami, her love, ever again, never going to hold her and feel her skin on her own. They had ventured into Hell, and it was about to devour them.

Maybe…maybe we can fight back, she found herself thinking. Then she almost laughed. Of course they couldn't fight back! They were stretched to the point of breaking, faced with two dockengauts! It was absurd in its hopelessness.

It was over. They were done.

…

It all went black.

Kyoko's head lolled back as darkness rushed in to claim her, the light and shadows fleeing before a solid screen of black. She lay back on the piles of bones, surrendering to the inevitable.

The monsters were all around her, closing in. Millions upon millions of tiny legs scratching over the dead as they rushed toward the defenseless girl, racing each other for the first bite.

Kyoko wondered how long it would take. Bullets ants could strip a person's skeleton bare in minutes, or so she had heard. Being picked apart by piranhas was painful, yes, but at least it was quick. She would die in agony, but with any luck it wouldn't last very long.

It didn't matter anyway. She had failed. Sayaka was gone, and she had failed to find her again. She deserved this.

Then, as the spiders moved in for the kill, the sound of their legs now as deafening as a hailstorm, something caught her attention. Directly over her head a single pinpoint of golden light appeared. Kyoko's brow furrowed in confusion. It was the same light she had been following earlier, the one that the spear had pointed her towards. But now it was right over her, shining like a solitary star.

And it was growing bigger.

The sound of the spiders suddenly grew frantic. They squirmed and hissed as the light drew nearer and nearer. Kyoko watched in fascination as it filled the sky, chasing away the darkness with its golden rays, coming down to envelop her like-

…

"Calliopes!" Charlotte all but screamed. "Kyoko, those are calliopes!"

It was indeed. Nearly two dozen of the glimmering beings, each one deep, golden amber, rushed down from above. They swooped into the gorge and zeroed in over where the two girls were huddling, forming a circle over their heads. A single calliope hovered in the middle of the circle, like a guiding star. The air filled with a loud, rushing sound.

Before Charlotte could process what was happening, a beam of golden light came down and struck the center calliope. Its body dispersed the beam like a prism, shooting a ray to each of its companions. They in turn directed their beams downward, surrounding Charlotte and Kyoko, creating a protective cage.

Still slumped in Charlotte's arms, Kyoko jerked abruptly. "Huh?" she muttered, squinting her still-healing eyes up at the display. "What in the…"

"I…" Charlotte shook her head. "I think it's the border guard."

"The what?"

Before Charlotte could respond, the rushing sound grew large, and the source of the beam became clear.

A trio of gunships, similar to those employed by the Persephone Protectorate, were descending from above. Each one had what looked like a large, glowing egg of gold strapped to its bottom, with the one in the middle shooting the beam straight down into the calliopes. The other two flanked the cage, their many guns pointed straight at the two dockengauts.

"ALL RIGHT, BACK AWAY FROM THE HUMANS!" boomed a harsh, croaking vekoo voice from the center gunship's loudspeakers. "RIGHT NOW!"

For their part, the dockengauts didn't seem all that concerned about the large amount of artillery being pointed at them. In fact, they looked like they were debating whether or not to attack. "Oh, zhizzz is juzzzt annoying," one of them complained. "Ve had zzzhem, fair and zzzquare."

Without warning six honey-gold beams of light shot out of the calliopes. They cut through the dockengauts, bisecting it into several pieces. The mass of spiders collapsed, swarmed, and reformed its body, only noticeably smaller.

"I'M SORRY, DID I STUTTER?" demanded the vekoo. "BEAT IT, OR WE'LL SHOW YOU WHAT HAPPENS TO BUGS WHEN YOU STICK A MAGNIFYING GLASS OVER THEM!"

The dockengauts let out a dry hiss. Or maybe it was a chuckle. Charlotte tensed up in anticipation of an attack.

Instead, the dockengauts dispersed, their bodies dissolving into two swarms of spiders that scattered into the rocks, vanishing from view.

"What…What's going on?" Kyoko muttered. She sounded like she was holding onto consciousness through sheer force of will alone. "Light. All I see is light."

"They're gone," Charlotte said, partially to herself. "The…I think it's the border guard." She almost couldn't believe this was happening. It felt like a dream.

One of the gunships floated down close to the ground next to the cage. The three beams closest to it deactivated, opening the cage. On board, Charlotte could see several figures wearing blue and silver armor frantically motioning to the pair.

"Come on!" one of them said as she leaned out of the gunship's open side, her hand extended.

"Come on," Charlotte said as she seized Kyoko by the bicep and pulled her up. Both of their legs almost buckled, but they managed to stumble the short distance out of the cage and close enough for strong hands to grab them and haul them aboard. As soon as that happened, they collapsed onto the floor of the gunship.

"Got them!" said the guard that had pulled them in. "Go, go, go!"

The cage vanished, the golden beam from the center gunship deactivating. As one they rose up out of the gorge, the three gunships falling into a triangle formation and the calliopes forming a circle around them.

Charlotte stared slack-mouthed at the rapidly retreating ground below. She could still see the bones of the valks devoured by the dockengauts, lying abandoned on the slope. Then the gunship lifted higher, taking them over the valboa grove, where the corpse of the third valk remained trapped by the valboa pods. They went higher still, passing over the jtut, passing over the collapsed stone tower, passing over the swamp.

It almost didn't feel real. It couldn't be real. Charlotte was almost convinced that she was hallucinating, her mind conjuring this illusion of rescue to protect her from the overwhelming agony she would otherwise be experiencing. The dockengauts were probably feasting on them right now, or the valks were. Something most certainly was. And in time, this nice little dream would fade, and they would be right back-

"CHARLOTTE!"

-and she no longer cared.

Charlotte jerked around to see an angel rushing toward her from the back of the gunship. A moment later a pair of strong arms had swept her up into a tight embrace.

"You…" her love whispered as she held Charlotte warmly. "You're okay. I can't believe it. You're okay, you're okay…"

Charlotte felt all of her remaining hesitation dissolve as she melted into Mami's arms, her own encircling her wife's waist. She had no words; she didn't need them. She just needed to hold Mami for as long as it took to ensure that this was real.

"What's…What's going on?" Kyoko said. The redhead squinted her still-healing eyes. "Holy hotsauce hells, Mami? What are-"

Then one of Mami's arms released Charlotte just long enough to snatch Kyoko by the neck and crush her into her chest.

"You're okay," Mami wept as she kneeled down with them, her head slumping into Charlotte's shoulder. "I thought you were gone. Both of you. I thought I'd never see you again."

"Mmmph," Kyoko mumbled into Mami's breast. She turned her head and mumbled, "Okay, this hurts like hell. But…I think I'm okay with it."

Mami laughed, which set Charlotte off. They couldn't help it. Too many feelings were swimming together, and with such a volatile emotional cocktail stirring inside them, there was nothing they could do but laugh.

Then something caught her eye, and she sobered up. "Kyoko, what happened to your face?" Mami said.

But before any of them could exchange stories, another voice, one shrill and frantic, broke into their reunion. "Mami? Mami! Move. Move, move, move, give her, give her, give her, give her…"

"Oh." Laughing softly, Mami released Kyoko and drew away. "Kyoko, I'd brace myself if I were you."

Kyoko inhaled sharply. "Is that-"

Then she was tackled by a fish.

Oktavia didn't weigh much, but she still managed to knock Kyoko down, causing them both to fall to their sides. They landed on the floor of the gunship, arms wrapped tightly around one another.

Oktavia was a mess. She looked like she hadn't slept a wink since they had been separated in the boneyard. Her face was flushed and filthy, her hair in complete disarray, and her eyes red from crying. But as bad as she looked, with her burned face, partially formed eyes, and lopped off hair, Kyoko looked so much worse.

Neither of them cared.

"You…" Oktavia choked out as she seized the sides of Kyoko's face. "It…It can't be. I saw you disappear. I saw the dockengauts take you. How are you here?" Her eyes teared up. "Damn it, Kyoko! How are you here?"

In response, Kyoko merely stared numbly, as if trying to tell if the blue and pink blob before her really was who she hoped it was. "Is this real?" she said, reaching up to gently touch Oktavia's cheek. "Or is this just another freaky dream?"

In response, Oktavia placed her hand on the back of Kyoko's, pressing it to her face. "What do you think, you magnificent idiot?"

Kyoko blinked. Then a slow, shaky smile spread across her mangled face, making the blisters weep. "Heh," she said. "Heh, heh, heh. I found you. Goddamn it, I actually found you."

Oktavia looked like she was torn between kissing Kyoko and smacking her senseless. She inhaled deeply in through her nose and slowly let it out through her teeth. "No, you twit," she said, relaxing into Kyoko's arms. "I found you."

Still holding each other, Charlotte and Mami watched them, neither of them saying anything. Charlotte bit her lip and leaned into Mami. All four of them were bursting with questions, but that could wait. For now, all they needed was for each of them to hold their beloved, to reassure themselves that this was real, that they were together again. Nothing else mattered.

The gunships and their calliope escort sailed on under the grey sky shot through with orange sores. A swarm of miscus passed by, thankfully giving them a clear berth. In the distance, a bahemont bellowed, its trumpeting voice sounding a warning to all those who would hear it.

Up ahead, the towering monolith of the wall loomed, over which the sky simply split, abruptly changing from grey and orange to the blue and white of a human territory. They headed right for it, flying into the safety of home and leaving the land of monsters behind.

…

"You four," clacked an armored vekoo as she lightly dabbed at Kyoko's face with a damp cloth, "have no idea how insanely lucky you are."

Charlotte, Mami, Kyoko, and Sayaka were all seated together in the back of the gunship. Mami and Charlotte were strapped into their seats, hands clasped and heads leaning warily into one another. Sayaka was in her wheelchair (and good God, someone needed to reverse-engineer that thing to find out what made it so indestructible) with Kyoko in her lap. It wasn't the most secure position, and the guard had tried to maneuver her into one of the harnessed seats, but after an exchange of harsh words and bared teeth they had at last let her be.

If the Kyoko from before her death were to see her thee, she might have had a few choice words to say. Hell, if the Kyoko from a few days ago were to see her, she probably would have been laughing her ass off and cracking jokes about wedding dates while obnoxiously singing songs from The Little Mermaid. Both of them could kiss her ass. After everything she had been through to get Sayaka back, she was far beyond caring about appearances.

"Trust me," Kyoko muttered, her arms around Sayaka's neck for support. "We know." Then she flinched back with a hiss. "Damn it, what is that stuff? It burns like a motherfucker!"

The vekoo sighed. "No, you don't. Last month five vaskergoros snuck in as part of some kind of challenge. They were all suited up and armed to the teeth. They were there for all of four hours before we managed to pull one of them out. One." She reached forward with the rag again. "And hold still. This is some antivenom for the burns. It'll kill what the valk spit did to you and let your face heal up."

"Oh." Kyoko relaxed as much as she could as the vekoo cleaned the rashes, though her face twitched involuntarily. It's a good pain, she told herself. That just means it's killing the bad pain. Suck it up.

At this, Charlotte stirred from her doze. "Wait, there's an antivenom? When I got a dose of that stuff it put me down for three days!"

"Dose of…" The vekoo tilted her head at her in curiosity. "When did this happen?"

Charlotte shrugged. "A few years ago. A couple captive valks got loose from their cages and snuck into our town. One of them ripped out my shoulder."

This drew the attention of a human that was manning one of the gunship's large cannons. "Wait, was this at Freehaven?"

Charlotte's head jerked up. "You heard about it?"

"Couple valks escape from a private owner, go on to attack peaceful civilians? Of course we did. Exporting animals from dockengaut territories was made illegal in fourteen different territories as a result of that!" She shrugged. "'Course, that never stopped them from trying anyway."

"Yeah, I remember that," the vekoo said. "So, you're saying that was you? Small world." She poured more of the antivenom into the rag and held it out to Kyoko. "Here. Soak your hands in this. It'll help." Kyoko hesitated, but then brought her arms out from around Oktavia's neck and gingerly took the rag. She winced again at the touch, but kept her hands pressed in. Damn, the stuff was meaner than iodine.

"To answer your question, did your doctor so happen to have any valk antivenom on hand?" the vekoo said to Charlotte.

Charlotte shook her head. "No."

"Did the venom get into your soul vapors?"

"Yes…"

"Well, there you go. You did get it, it just took some time to get there and even more to flush you out."

Charlotte held up her hands in surrender. "Fine, fine. I'll stop whining."

"Yeah, seriously. You're going to hurt our feelings, sounding all ungrateful like that. You know how rare it is that we get all of the idiots out?" The vekoo stood up and straightened out her uniform. "When we got the call that four humans plowed had right through the Velocity Terminal and drove headfirst over the wall, we were set to just leave you there to make a point."

Kyoko let out an exhausted sigh. "Wasn't exactly by choice," she muttered, though she sounded too tired to make more of an issue than that. "Fucking Annabelle Lee."

"Right," the vekoo sighed as she put all four of her hands on her hips. "I still can't believe we got you all out. That just doesn't happen."

They had spent the last several minutes catching up and filling in the holes. As it turned out, Mami and Sayaka had been rescued almost immediately after fleeing the boneyard, with Sayaka finding a space in the rift large enough to lift herself and Mami out. That had been the yelling Charlotte had heard. They had encountered the gunships immediately after. Charlotte herself might have been picked up as well in short order, but the dockengauts, irritated at having their hunt disrupted, had chosen to attack. By the time they had managed to get clear, Charlotte had disappeared in the chaos.

They had been looking for her ever since. As for Kyoko, no one had expected to find her again. As one of the border guards had described it, that trapdoor in the boneyard should have been game over for her, the point of no return. No one ever came back from that.

And yet, here she was. Injured, exhausted, and driven past the breaking point, but alive and free, with nothing but a few healable wounds to show for it. The border guard seemed wholly unsure of what to make of her. A few seemed to regard her with something akin to awe.

To be truthful, Kyoko strongly suspected that most of them couldn't really bring themselves to believe that she had truly fallen into the depths of the dockengauts' lair. Her story, which had been gathered in bits and pieces through her fatigued mumbles and half-answers, had left them incredulous. But she didn't care. They were out, free and together again.

"Well, first time for everything, right?" Sayaka said, her brow deepening into a scowl, as if daring the avian alien to contradict Kyoko's account.

"Guess so," the vekoo said, sounding wholly unconcerned about the mermaid's wrath. "Either way, you're out now, and that's the important thing."

Mami wearily raised a hand. "Excuse me, but where are we going now?"

"Back to headquarters. Safe or not, you kids need some serious patching up. Besides, we've got warm beds, hot showers, and plenty of food."

At this, Kyoko let out an almost sensual moan. "Oh God, reverse that order and I swear everyone will have to knock me out to keep me from proposing."

"Thanks, but I'm already married. Besides, you smell awful." With that, she turned and walked over to the cockpit to talk to the pilots.

Kyoko glowered at her back. "I don't smell that bad, do I?" she muttered as she sniffed her arm.

"Actually, yes. Yes, you do," Sayaka responded. "It's hideous, actually. Like you escaped a garbage dump by climbing through a sewer right after the diarrhea epidemic swept through the city."

"Ha, not too far off. But why are you cuddling me then?"

At this, Sayaka frowned. "Because I swear to God, if I let you out of my sight for one freaking second, something awful is going to happen. So I won't. You are not going out of arm's distance ever again. I'll put you on a leash if I have to."

"Damn, Swordfish," Kyoko said with a cocky grin. "Didn't think you were into that."

Sayaka's scowl deepened. Realizing that the blunette was being quite serious, Kyoko's smirk wavered under its pressure before dying completely. Sayaka held her gaze a little longer before swallowing and saying in a low, slow voice, "Kyoko. Look. Watching you go down that hole was…well, it was the single scariest thing that's ever happened to me. It's…I haven't slept since, okay? All this time I thought you were…" Her voice cracked, and she quickly turned away, one hand hiding her face.

Kyoko pursed her lips. Images of those freaky dreams flashed through her mind, of tramping through the darkness desperately trying to find her friend. Then she said in the same tone, "Look. I thought they got you too. Me and Charlotte were planning on sneaking back into that hellhole if that's what it took to save you and Mami. And I actually got a good look at what dockengauts do to the people they've caught. So all this time, well, it was kinda hard not to keep picturing you in that spot. You know, getting eaten and stuff." She took a deep breath. "So what I'm saying is, I do kinda know how you feel, okay?"

At this, Sayaka turned her wet, angry visage to glare at the bedraggled girl in her lap. "Don't you ever scare me like that again, okay? Never again."

It wasn't exactly a promise Kyoko was confident she could keep, but screw it. After all that she would take the leash. "Promise," she said, holding up her balled fist, the pinky hooked. Her fingers still stung, but at least now she could curl them without screaming in agony.

Sayaka quirked an eyebrow at the childish gesture. Then, with a roll of her eyes, she hooked Kyoko's pinky with her own. "Okay, glad we got that clear. By the way, you look weird with short hair."

Kyoko wasn't sure whether to laugh at the out of left field comment or wince at the memory of tiny, sharp legs digging into her skin. "Yeeeeaaaah," she drawled, giving the pathetic remains of her ponytail a flick. "Not a good look for me. But it'll grow back."

"Well, until it does, at least take that ribbon out," Sayaka said, reaching for the back of her hair.

"Hey!" Kyoko clamped both hands over the back of her hand. "Hands off the goods."

"Oh, relax," Sayaka said, easing her fingers under Kyoko's to start working at the filthy, black ribbon. "I'm not stealing it, I'm just…There we go!"

She gently pulled the ribbon away, causing what remained of Kyoko's hair to fall around her face. "Huh," Sayaka said, looking her up and down.

Kyoko sat frozen, her hands still hovering over where her ponytail had been. With a sigh, she forced her arms to relax. "Huh what?"

"You need a barber." With that, Sayaka stuffed the ribbon into Kyoko's jacket pocket. "There. For when it's long enough again."

Kyoko nodded but didn't say anything. She fingered the greasy, uneven strands with her healing fingers. She didn't particularly care for the look, but all things considered, a bit of hair wasn't much of a loss. It could have been much worse.

Then her gaze dropped to focus on her left arm, which was bare from the elbow down. Her jacket sleeve ended in a ragged tear where dozens of dockengaut legs and mandibles had ripped into the fabric to get at the flesh underneath. Her eyes twitched as recent memories of being burned by the valk's saliva grew in intensity, followed by sharp agony of having to dig them out with her spear.

But there was more. The valk's claws, cutting into her flesh. The burns on her legs, face, and hands. Getting slammed around hard enough to induce multiple concussions. Being pounded by Brooklyn's fists and hammer. Being shot in the head. Annabelle Lee's claws slicing into her. Being ambushed and drugged, twice. Having her mind fucked around with, overwriting her will with someone else's. And most of all, that persistent, never ending hunger, the surest sign that things were not okay.

She had lost more than a few strands of hair. Every place they had come to had taken a piece of her, pieces that had been replaced but were still lost. What happened when every part of her had to be regrown, when everything she had been reborn with was destroyed?

Another memory chose that moment to resurface, one from before her death. She saw Sayaka Miki, garbed in her Puella Magi uniform, blood streaming down her face and a deranged smile slashing its way across her features as she hacked away at the witch she had been fighting, all the while laughing manically. She had been ranting about how nothing could hurt her anymore, how she had severed herself from her humanity to keep fighting. Mere days later, despair had consumed her completely. And now she no longer existed.

Kyoko prayed it that it wouldn't come to that. She had just started to get her humanity back. She wasn't ready to let it go again.

It will happen, whispered the small, insistent voice from the back of her mind, the one that only showed up when she was second-guessing herself, which was becoming depressingly often those days. You know it will happen. You've been on this idiotic adventure for what, a few weeks? And already you're on the verge of snapping.

Shut up, she told it.

Don't be a fool. You survived this mishap by sheer luck. What are you going to do when it runs out?

Keep fighting. Keep pushing on. Then, after a pause, she added, Duh.

Fight all you want, it won't make a difference. Every step of this journey is going to cost you something. What happens when it's something you can't afford to lose?

Kyoko didn't have a comeback to that.

What happens when it's your new family? Are you so eager to sacrifice them for your sister's sake? Will you trade their lives for hers?

No. I'll fight for them too. Tooth and nail if I have to.

The valks, too, fought tooth and nail for their family. Look where it got them.

Kyoko swallowed.

What happens when your friends are taken from you for good? Or when they decide to leave? Charlotte is almost ready to give up and surrender, you know she is. Mami will too before too long. And Oktavia-

Kyoko's jaw clenched. Sai. Yah. Ka!

You really are a fool. Sayaka is gone. Dead. And she is never coming back. The dream was right. You didn't find her, you find the thing that devoured her.

"Kyoko?"

Kyoko jerked at the mention of her name. Sayaka was staring at her, her brow knitted in concern. "You…okay there? You went all blank and you face started doing weird things."

"Me? Yeah, yeah I'm fine," Kyoko said. "Just…you know. It's been a rough day."

"Yeah," Sayaka sighed. "Yeah it was. But now it's over."

Kyoko shot her a warning look.

"What?"

Shaking her head, Kyoko turned her attention to the open sky. It was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen, just an expanse of pale blue and wispy white. Outside a flock of ducks were flying in V-formation. Just a bunch of harmless birds going about their way, ones that meant no harm to anyone.

And that, Kyoko thought, was how everyone ought to be.

…

Charlotte sat still in her harnessed seat, her head leaning into Mami's where it rested on her shoulder, her left hand entwined with Mami's right, eyes staring straight ahead.

As exhausted as it was, her mind was racing, trying to piece everything together. On the one hand, she was elated, or as elated as she could be in her condition. They had ventured into a dockengaut territory and survived. That simply did not happen. And not only did they survive, they had kicked all sorts of ass. Kyoko had fallen deep into the belly of the beast and returned to have nightmares about it. She and Charlotte had faced down an entire valk pack, the stars of Charlotte's own black dreams, and nearly wiped them all out.

And Mami was here. Mami was here, seated right next to her: real, warm, free, and alive, or at least by local standards. One moment she had been staring into the horrific visage of the dockengauts, fully convinced that all four of them were doomed to spend the rest of their long existences in perpetual torment, and now here they were. Free. All of them. Mami suffering in the dark. Oktavia wasn't being eaten alive. She and Kyoko weren't about to be ripped to pieces. They were free. They were out. They were together. It was over.

Except…

Charlotte anxiously gnawed on the inside of her mouth. It hadn't been too long ago that they had a similar such reunion, their missing friends rescued in defiance of the odds. That time it had been ruthless criminals and violent upheaval. This time it had been a collection of the galaxy's most vicious killers. And both times they had escaped only by the skin of their teeth, after fighting through immense pain, suffering, fear, and even death.

Charlotte didn't want to do this anymore. She didn't want to take another step into the unknown only to find it populated with monsters. It seemed every place they visited was more horrific than the last, and they ended up suffering. And who was to say they would pull through their next misadventure? Sooner or later, their luck was going to run out.

Tears welled up in Charlotte's eyes, and she had to bite down on her lip to keep from crying. She wanted to go home. She wanted things to go back to the way they were, to waking up every morning in their bed to a smile and a kiss. To spend the days swimming together out in the open ocean, bringing in the day's harvest. Poker nights with the dock workers. Weekends visiting Freehaven's other outposts and their friends there. Christmases in Pinespire. Walking the streets of Freehaven, hand in hand as they visited the shops, strolled through the parks, getting dinner at their favorite restaurants, sharing ice cream on hot summer's days, spending rainy nights cuddled up together on the couch, just being together safe at home, where no monsters could come and get them. And at night, she would lie in Mami's arms, feeling her love's skin on her own, listening to her breathe as they drifted off to sleep, blanketed in each other's warmth.

Charlotte was ready to put an end to things, to call off this mad quest. After everything she had just been through, Kyoko had to be ready to call it quits as well. She had to see reason. Then they could go home together, all four of them. She and Mami could adopt Kyoko and Oktavia much as Natsuru and Shizuku had adopted the two of them, and they could all live out their afterlives in peace and happiness. Besides, it wasn't as if it were the end of things. Momo, if it truly was her, obviously wanted to reunite with Kyoko as well. Maybe a way could be found to reach out to her, to convince her to abandon Oblivion and join them in Freehaven. There had to be something better than this madcap idea of sneaking into the Withering Lands and kidnapping her!

Her head lolled a bit to the side as she looked over to the wheelchair. Kyoko looked kind of silly sitting in Oktavia's lap like that, but nobody with an ounce of tact would begrudge her. Honestly Charlotte was surprised that they hadn't kissed already. Though to be fair, they had only been around for a few weeks.

That was another thing that wasn't fair. Those two ought to be relaxing together in the safety of Freehaven, letting things build slowly and naturally like it had with her and Mami. Instead, they were out here, needing to be plucked from leechers, gangsters, dockengauts, and valks!

Surely by now Kyoko would see reason. Surely by now she would agree to go home.

Except…

Except Reibey was still after them.

Except the Brothel was likely still holding a grudge.

Except Annabelle Lee and her companions were still out there, likely plotting revenge.

Except the Alliance still thought them traitors.

It had to be the Void Walkers. That or the Brothel. One or the other. One of their enemies had to have connections within the Alliance, high enough to get the four of them declared renegade and put a warrant out for their arrest. If they were caught, then there would be no clearing this up as an unfortunate misunderstanding. Someone would claim them in the end. And this time, there won't be any gunships swooping down for the rescue.

Okay Charlotte, get a grip, she thought to herself. It wasn't the end of the world. Close, but they still had options. For now all they needed to worry about was getting better. And to be honest, spending a few days getting patched up at the border guard's HQ sounded fantastic. From there, they could…whatever.

Then she felt Mami's head moved from where it rested between Charlotte's shoulder and cheek. "Oh no," her wife whispered.

Charlotte frowned. The two of them raised their heads and exchanged glances, Charlotte's pensive and questioning and Mami's dark and troubled. With a grimace, Mami's gaze drifted toward the front of the gunship. She subtly tilted her head.

Trying to avoid looking obvious about it, Charlotte turned her attention in that direction. The vekoo was exchanging hushed words with the multi-limbed pilot. Charlotte couldn't hear what they were saying over the hum of the engines, but she did manage to get a glimpse of the control panel.

There were a series of screens lit up, and even with the bodies in the way, even with the bad angle and distance, Charlotte still managed to see four profiles displayed. It was their own: hers, Mami's, Kyoko's, and Oktavia's. Though she couldn't make out any details, she doubted that any of them were smiling. In fact, they all looked like mugshots.

Of course, none of them had ever been formally arrested, so that wasn't possible. Still, Charlotte intuitively knew exactly what they were looking at. It was their wanted posters. Charlotte only saw them for a couple of seconds before the vekoo adjusted her position, moving herself between them and the screens. But it didn't matter. They all had seen.

Someone had contacted the border guard. The Alliance maybe, or the Brothel. Somebody. Which meant that as soon as these guys finished patching them up, they were to be shipped off to a nice jail cell somewhere, and this time there wasn't going to be any convenient riots or daring rescue parties.

What was more, something else popped into Charlotte's memory. The vekoo had mentioned getting a call about their plight. But who had put in the call? They had been in the Velocity Terminal, with no other living being in sight. Maybe there were cameras or something, but the vekoo had specifically said that it had been a call.

No one had been in there to see them. No one, that is, except for Annabelle Lee and her crew.

It had to be them. And odds were they were waiting for them now, back at the border guard's HQ.

Charlotte's free hand squeezed into a fist. Even the one holding onto Mami's tightened noticeably. It just wasn't fair. After everything they had been through, after everything they had fought to survive, didn't they deserve some kind of break? Hadn't they earned one day of rest without something going spectacularly wrong?

Apparently not.

Her jaw clenching, Charlotte exchanged glances with Mami again. Her wife's lips were set in a straight line. Then, as one, they turned their heads to look over to Kyoko and Oktavia.

The kids were both staring solemnly over at the cockpit. Then, also in unison, they turned to look over to the Tomoes. They had seen as well.

For one brief moment, Charlotte strongly considered just letting things take their course. Fine. Let them be arrested. Let them be hauled back to Cloudbreak in chains. An honest jail cell was at least a step up from what they had been experiencing. At least there were going to be regular meals and a bed. Besides, sooner or later they would be let out. Then they could just fade away to some other community and start over. Hell, maybe even Freehaven would take them back. Every town had its ex-cons. They could make it work.

Except…except it wasn't going to work out that way, was it? The books were cooked, the bribes were paid, and even if it was the Alliance that the border guard handed them off to, they would in turn be handed off to someone else, someone much worse.

That wasn't going to happen. They weren't going to escape the freaking dockengauts just to disappear at the whims of a megalomaniac.

Though nobody said anything, an understanding passed between them through simple glances alone. Kyoko's still-healing face had hardened, her newly regrown eyes cold and resolute. She slowly shook her head. Charlotte nodded in agreement, and after a moment of hesitation Mami did too. They all understood the blade they were now under.

Then Kyoko glanced down at the mermaid whose lap she was still sitting in. Charlotte and Mami did as well. After a moment of bewilderment, Oktavia realized what those looks meant. She grimaced, her fingers tightening on the armrests. But, though her teeth remained clenched, she gave a quick nod.

Then their attention went to the open sides of the gunship and the armored guards that were practically hanging out of them. They were passing over gloriously human forest, one that was as plain and vanilla as one could be.

Tightening her arm around Oktavia's neck, Kyoko stealthily held up a hand and raising her fingers one by one. One. Two.

On three everyone leapt into action. Charlotte and Mami threw off their harnesses, with Charlotte diving for the straps that held Oktavia's wheelchair in place. Mami lassoed the two guards on the left side of the gunship with her ribbons and hurled them out of the way, though she took care not to send them flying through the other side and out into the open air. As for Kyoko, she pushed off of Oktavia and slammed her foot out into the helmeted face of the guard standing between them and the cockpit, knocking her sprawling.

"Hey!" shouted the vekoo, but it was too late. Oktavia's wheelchair was free and Charlotte had already grabbed it by the handles, swinging it around toward the open sky. She shoved it forward, dumping it, Oktavia, and Kyoko out while she and Mami dove after them. And as gravity took hold and the forest rushed up to meet them, she heard Kyoko scream something that was impossible to disagree with.

"Fuck! This! DAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!"

…

This chapter. Goddamn, this chapter.

It started off with a serious case of Writer's Block, one that lasted almost two weeks. I just couldn't get things rolling, and that annoyed me. I mean, it was dead teenaged lesbians with superpowers fighting space raptors on an alien planet! That should've been the easiest thing in the world to write!

But no. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't get the ball rolling. I fought and fought and procrastinated and fought some more.

And then it finally clicked. The train left the station, and at last it settled into a groove.

But then, all of a sudden, I had the opposite problem. I was getting too many ideas. I thought this chapter was going to be short, violent ball of fun. But instead, the ideas just kept coming, and it just kept getting longer and longer and longer and longer, to the point where it is now as much a monster as the ones the girls have been fighting. It was like it knew the hiatus was coming up and was bound and determined to keep me trapped as long as it could.

Still, it's finally done, and Resonance Days is almost at a close (for now at least). Next up will be the epilogue, and I'll finally be able to bow out of fanfiction for the time being. Lots to talk about there, so I'll save it for then.

So for the last time in a long while, until next time everyone!