"This is exactly how I pictured I would go, except I figured I would be surrounded by lizard people…" Alex thought to himself.

The three crusaders were in a hard concrete cell. The cold nature of the room filled them with dread for each passing minute. Nothing was in the cell but a few pillows and a small toilet, though the toilet was useless because the three were all in the same cell and it would get awkward if they used it.

"Yeah, lizard people sure are scary, I wouldn't want to meet one of those very real beings," Espio said, rolling his eyes.

"Will you two shut up? I'm trying to make a bomb to blow us out of here," Ted said.

"Woah look out, Ted is going to kill us all!" Espio mocked, "Calm down, old man. We aren't getting out of here. What are you even using to make the bomb anyway?"

"I'm going to cause a chain reaction with the water in this toilet."

"He's officially lost it," Espio said.

"Guys I think the walls are watching us," Alex exclaimed.

"You two are idiots, this is why I work alone."

"You know, Ted, I used to be a lot like you," Espio said, closing his eyes and staring at the ceiling, "Selfish, uncaring, basically a sociopath."

"Well what happened?" Ted asked.

"What? Oh. I just outgrew it, I guess."

"Oh yeah, I forgot you're the oldest one here, Espio." Alex pondered.

The cell door opened and a man walked in with a taser staff. He said no words, but pointed at Ted.

"What do you want with me?" Ted asked, annoyed.

The man merely pointed again. Ted reluctantly got up and walked over to the guard. The guard grabbed Ted's arm and pulled him away, locking the cell behind him.

"Where do you think he's going?" Alex asked.

"Probably being injected with reptile blood."

"You really think so?" Alex asked, excited.

"No, you moron."

The guard led Ted down the halls into what looked like a hospital. All rooms were pristine white with bright fluorescent lights overhead. Ted was led into a room where the guard forced him to lie on a table. The room was dark with the exception of a blinding light above the table. Glass surrounded the room and though he couldn't see through it, he could guess there were observers on the other side. A man with a lab coat walked in, rolling a cart with him.

"Ted was it?" The doctor asked.

"What am I doing here?"

"Shh, just remain calm. You're Ted right?"

"Ugh, yes I am. What's going on?"

"Stress won't help you, my friend. Now Ted, what's your favorite color?"

"Stop with the meaningless questions. Why are you!?"

"Ted, stop worrying."

Metal braces fashioned themselves around his wrists and legs, preventing movement. Guards stood by the door with taser sticks at the ready. He wasn't escaping this one.

/

Meanwhile high above the city Cory began walking through the sky base, trying to figure out just why he was taken here. As he exited the landing bay, he noticed he was in a large science lab. There were many locked and sealed doors along the walls. As Cory walked to one of them he looked through the window only to see a girl sitting still on a bed, facing away from the window. Strangely, Cory felt like he was being watched, even though the girl wasn't facing him. He looked around, but couldn't see anyone else around.

When looking back at the girl, Cory noticed that she hadn't even moved an inch, but something was off. The entire cell seemed to be different, though nothing had changed.

"Help me."

Cory heard a voice, but he couldn't pinpoint where it came from. The voice seemed disembodied almost as if it was in his head. Cory began to scream, believing he was going insane.

"Calm down, Cory. I'm just trying to communicate with you. You see the girl in the cell, that's me."

"B-but how are you speaking to me inside my head?" Cory said, scared.

"It's my Forza, my power."

"W-what's that?"

"The scientists gave me this power, I don't even understand it. It seems like I'm able to go inside people's heads, make them feel ways. I don't know. I can't even move my body, I'm like frozen in place."

"Wait, so what do you mean you can make people feel certain ways?"

"Let me demonstrate."

Cory fell down to the ground and began sweating, breathing heavily.

"I'm able to make it feel like you're having a heart attack, among other things. I'll bet it felt like I was looking at you, but honestly I can only see who you are from your thoughts."

"OH NO! You can read my thoughts!?" Cory freaked out.

"Unfortunately yes."

"Better stop thinking."

"Please help me get out. I just want to kill myself."

"Suicide is never the answer! Hey you could join my crusaders!" Cory shouted excitedly.

"Your... crusaders?"

"Yeah, my friends and I joined together to form the coniferous crusaders, set on taking out Cianada. Hey wait, how did you even end up here?"

"Well I lived here before Cianada was even a thing. I lived in a small town but that changed when they took me away to experiment on me. In fact, they experimented on everyone here."

"What did they do to you?"

"Well… they strapped me to a table in a dark hospital…"

/

Meanwhile in the dark room in the hospital, Ted watched carefully as the doctor grasped as the cloth on top of the cart he had nearby.

"Ted, have you ever heard of Kek?" The doctor asked.

"Kek? Like the god Kek?"

"Precisely. The god of the primordial darkness. Well, I'm sure you're aware of the powers your friends carry. The armor, the sword, the emerald. All artifacts of Kek's magic. What you probably don't know, though, is that this "magic" can be used on humans much like how it is used on artifacts."

"What do you mean?"

The doctor uncovered a syringe, "Within this syringe is a solution that is meant to inject a human with the magic of Kek. The power of a god without the drawbacks of having it tied to an object."

"So you're telling me you'll just give me superpowers? What kind of idiot do you think I am? Why would you give the enemy superpowers?"

"Ha you're so stupid! This is highly experimental! There are thousands of test subjects that were injected with this and turned into hideous beasts! They became sub human! We are merely trying to perfect this formula before we can use it on ourselves!"

"So why me? Why me out of all the others?"

"You're the only one who hasn't been exposed to the power of Kek. We need "virgin" subjects with no experience."

"Wait-"

"No more questions."

The doctor pulled off the cover on the cart, revealing a large needle and grabbed Ted's arm. Ted sweated and stared in horror, thinking about how he might soon die. The doctor brought the needle to Ted's skin and inserted it in.

/

"They did that to your entire town? Injected you with vaccines!?" Cory shouted.

"Shh, there are scientists here still, yes they did this to everyone. They aren't vaccines, they said it's magic esense or something."

"So everyone got powers like yours?"

"Definitely not. I saw some of the others, they're barely human. I'm one of the lucky ones."

"Weird, so how do I get you out of here?"

"Are you going to kill me when you let me out?"

"Um I don't think I can, my sword is missing."

"Ugh whatever. There should be a control panel somewhere in this room. Just make sure you push the right b-"

"I found it!" Cory said, pushing a button on the panel. He stared at the door in anticipation, waiting for it to swing open.

"Oh no. You opened the wrong door."

Cory looked past the girls door to see another door open. In the doorway a naked man crawled out on all fours. He had long, stringy hair and looked almost animal.

"What is that thing?" Cory shrieked.

"One of the other test subjects. He has an unsatisfiable hunger. I saw him eat an entire scientist whole before he was locked up. It's like his mouth is a black hole. He's incredibly dangerous."

"Well, make him have a heart attack then!"

"I can't do that, Cory. The more powerful my attacks are, the closer the victim has to be to me. I can only do a lethal attack if the enemy is at most a foot away."

"How will we kill it then!?" The creature turned towards Cory as he said this, causing Cory to scream.

The creature jumped at Cory, shrieking like a banshee, a crazy hunger in its eyes. This thing was no longer human. Cory jumped away, nearly falling down, scrambling towards the door.

"Wait Cory, open my cell. Let him kill me."

"Why would I do that?"

"I'll join your crusaders if you do it."

"Woah really!?" Cory jumped away as the creature pounced again, this time landing on a table, consuming it whole. Cory ran up to the control panel and pressed another button. Luckily it was the right one and her door opened.

"Quick, get inside."

Cory ran inside the cell and cowered in the corner. The creature slowly approached and entered, it's mouth dripping with saliva. It was even more horrendous up close, covered with blood. It looked like it even tried to eat its fingers.

Just as it was about to pounce, it stopped.

"Now it's under my control, it's not even fighting back."

"Y-you have it under your control?"

"Yeah, I guess it's so dumb that I can just freely control it. Now…"

The creature turned its head and began to move toward Cory.

"U-um girl… uh what are you doing?" Cory shouted. The creature moved slowly toward him as he moved back further into the corner. As it neared it opened its mouth wide and shrieked. Cory screamed.

"Just kidding," The girl said before moving it towards her, causing it to fall down lifeless, "Interesting, I guess there needs to be some brain activity in order for me to control the creature."

"That was NOT funny. For that, I'm not going to kill you."

"Aw man, come on, it was just a prank!"

"What's your name anyway?"

"Erina."

"Woah. So you called your power a forza, what's that?"

"It's Italian. I guess you could say this guy's forza is the ability to eat anything or something."

"Why is everything named after Italians? Whatever, how are we going to get out of here since you can't move?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe we can put me on one of those carts or something? We should have kept this guy alive then he could carry me," Erina joked.

"Ew did you see his hands?" Cory said in disbelief.

"You're a killjoy, anyway I know the way out of here so I guess you need me. When we get out you can just throw me off to kill me, I guess."

"Wow you really want to die, don't you?"

"It's my goal in life," She said, seemingly shrugging.

"I've been to hell, you don't want that."

"Who said I'm going to hell?"

Cory sighed and walked away, grabbing a cart.

/

"I need a hero! I'm holding out for a hero til the en-" Alex shouted.

"Will you shut up?" Espio shouted at him.

The cell door opened and Ted was thrown in, unconscious.

"Whoaugh, what did they do to him?" Alex said, walking over and looking down on Ted.

"Probably killed him or something. Trying to torture us with his death. Some psychological thing."

"Yeah probably," Alex said, flipping him over. Below him was a small hole in the floor right where his arm was.

Espio looked over, seeing the hole, "Hm, weird. Was that hole always there?"

"I don't think so," Alex said, looking over at him. Looking over at his shoulder, Alex noticed the wound. Barely noticeable, though blood dripped from it. The drip of blood fell to the ground, hitting the floor. Instantly, the blood began to sink into the floor, leaving a hole behind. Alex looked at Espio wide eyed, and Espio looked at it in awe. What had happened to him?