You will suffer, I´ll make sure for that…
"So, what exactly are you planning to do at Flippy's house? Hm?" Lifty and Shifty looked at each other. Even though saying that Flippy willingly gave them his key would be plain honesty, it would be still hard to believe that someone would ever let them reside in any room. "Nah, we´re just visiting. You know, getting on terms finally…" Lifty said nonchalantly while staring out of the window. It is a foggy night, the mist is getting thicker.
"Alright, I hope for the best for you then." Chase answered, keeping his smile during the ride. "We´re almost there." Shifty averted his gaze towards the outside. It was nice of Chase to offer a ride as a taxi-driver, but such rides aren´t for free and they didn´t manage to earn anything yet. "Chase I…" But he was cut short as they suddenly spotted something like a van lying on the road burning. Shortly after they get surprised by a freaked-out Sniffles and Mime.
Suddenly Sniffles yanks open the backseat-door where Shifty sits and squeezes himself together with Mime between the raccoon twins. "Hey! What´s gotten into…" Suddenly Sniffles begins frantic to shout at chase. "Accelerate, Accelerate!" A questioning look is forming up in his face. "DRIVE YOU IDIOT!" Chase yelped in surprise and percolated the accelerator. Not enough that the twins are literally pressed against the doors, the trembling of the doctor and his assistant made the closeness even more uncomfortable.
"Care to explain what is gotten into you?" Shifty asked on the one hand a bit pissed, on the other hand amazed by the fact that Cub just sleeps through that and didn´t even wake by the shouting. "I´ll explain later! Please make sure that we´re sheltered in an abode as soon as possible!" Chase only shrugged but did as the panicked ant eater told him to do.
"Well, it isn´t far anymore. What were you going to say Shifty?" The addressed raccoon hides his face under his fedora in shame. "I have to confess that…" But a chuckle from the afro-wearing driver interrupted him. "You don´t have any money, am I right?" His green fur got red "Yes… I mean no we don´t have any…" They kept their direction without changing any more words.
"So… We´re here. I wish you a good night." He looks at Cub who´s still clinging on Shifty's chest. "Make sure that he will be fine until his dad will live again tomorrow, alright?" The twins nodded at that as Sniffles suddenly spoke up. "Chase, I really suggest that you come in with us!" Lifty got annoyed by his cryptic demeanor. "Could you at least tell us what´s gotten into you? What is this all about?"
Sniffles, however, ignored him as he awaited Chase's answer. "Nah, sorry but I have different things in mind." He tried to protest but was cut short by the twins. They dragged him and Mime out of the car. "Thanks for the ride Chase." The driver smiled and waved his farewell. "Stay save you four." Lifty immediately turned the lock and opened the door of Flippy's house while turning on the light. But it got turned off immediately by Mime.
"No light! Please no light!" Sniffles said frenetic. Shifty gave up at this point and only shrugged. "Well, suit yourself, I´m used to wandering in the dark for multiple reasons…" He sat down on the couch, trying to remove an adhesive Cub from him but could only growl in frustration as the attempt would only result in missing fur. He pleadingly looks at his brother. "Could you please help me? As cute as he may be this is getting a bit uncomfortable."
Lifty giggled at his brother's predicament as all of them can hear a scratching sound emitting from the door. "Are they back? I wonder what they did…" But Mime blocked the door. "Mime… Move aside I want to let my brother in…" He was about to just shove him away as Sniffles suddenly spoke up. "Lifty, think this through! If it really would be them, don´t you think they wouldn´t just ring the doorbell? Or Flippy wouldn´t just use another key?"
Now that he said it, the scratching was indeed an unusual occurrence. Furthermore, it didn´t occur twice. Lifty peeks through the window but sees nothing standing at the door. "Hey… Chase is still standing there with his car…" Luckily, he isn´t that far away. "It seems that he has problems starting it. I can help him, I´ll be right back Shift."
"No! Don´t go out! At least not unarmed!" He rolled his eyes in annoyance, but Shifty gave in the ant eater's worries. "Well, you have the opportunity in Flippy's house to arm yourself. I guess it can´t hurt." Lifty looks around enervated for something he could use for self-defense, he didn´t have to search for long. Even Flippy's walls are decorated with perfectly usable weapons.
Two equal looking daggers caught his eye. "These could come in handy…" Lifty prefers subtlety, as well as his brother. Daggers are perfect. "So, I´m armed! Now let me out!" Mime stepped aside meekly. "Sniffles, could you please now explain what´s going on?" Sniffles nodded and sat next to Shifty.
"Christ, I wonder what´s wrong with them all of a sudden…" He closes the door behind him. "Hey Chase, you need a hand there buddy?" Lifty gets greeted by an exhausted orange furred bear. "You know how to handle things like this? It won´t get started and that would mean I won´t get paid for this if I don´t finish the drives…"
Lifty checks the car from the inside. "It seems like your batterie is empty. How did you manage to do that?" But he only raises his hands in nescience. "This thing may be as old as the curse lingering in here." Lifty ponders. "Do you have anything to give you a proper start-up aid? Maybe in your cargo bay?" Chase shook his head. "No, there won´t be anything…Am I hallucinating or is the fog getting thicker?"
Lifty looks around and realizes that he is right. "Yeah… Strange…" He glances into the mist, recognizing a silhouette. "Flaky? How did she…" Her silhouette gets surrounded quickly with a few more, slowly approaching the two of them. Lifty grabs the daggers as a feeling of uneasiness is slowly conquering him. "Something isn´t right here… I think we should go inside Chase…"
But the silhouette of Flaky abruptly dashes towards them, revealing the mingled body of her, her face missing as if it got grinded on the pavement. "WHAT THE HELL?!" Lifty yelps as he could only witness Flaky clutching onto Chase and digging her claws into his face. "OW, STOP THAT! HELP! HELP!" He screams in pain and panic.
The puzzled raccoon runs after him to get Flaky away, but his wails turn into suffocated gargles rapidly and he falls to the ground lifeless. Lifty finds himself almost surrounded by Giggles, Russel, Flaky, Petunia, Handy and even Pop. But they all look so mutilated, with wounds whose size would definitely prevent someone from living.
Seeing what they did to chase was more than enough to realize the danger. Lifty makes a run back for the barrack. "SHIFTY! SHIFTY OPEN THE DOOR! PLEASE OPEN THE DOOR! SHIFTY! MIME! SNIFFLES! SOMEONE!" The door opened, and he was greeted by a confused looking Shifty. "What´s wro…" But Lifty ran in, shoved his brother aside and slammed the door close while locking it at the same time. He presses his back against the door, panting in dread.
"Geez! What the hell happened? What is with Chase?" Finally, Sniffles found the words to explain the situation. "I think he experienced a similar situation as Mime and I did. You know, the fog is extremely thick and it´s getting thicker every time they appear." Shifty scratched the back of his head. "Playing the pronoun game, are we? Who are "they"?" Lifty caught his breath but didn´t back away from the door. "Shifty! All who have died today turned to… Some sort of zombies…"
"Zombies?" Shifty suddenly remembers the finding of Flaky's body, and the sensation that something scratched his ankle. A new scratching on the door startles the four of them. To make matters worse, Cub slowly begins to awaken. "Great… Well I guess you´re hungry, hm?" His excited cooing and giggling only approved his thinking. "Well, let´s see what our generous host has to offer in his fridge…"
"Shifty, do you really think that we should raid his supplies now? What if he will be pissed about that? Furthermore, I think we should check the doors and windows to make sure that none of these… Things enter this house." But Shifty already made his way to the kitchen, nonchalantly opening the fridge "I get your point, but I think that he will understand that we can´t let Cub hunger. We don´t have to eat for ourselves, but I´m sure that our little foundling makes an exception."
He finds a little can with goulash in it. Behind several comestibles are some leftover potatoes. Shifty begins to mash them together until it becomes an even mush. As he´s done he puts the food into the microwave. "Shifty, how comes that you´re so cool about that all? Doesn´t it at least startle you a bit?" But he just gave his trademark shrug. "I don´t know, how does it come that you´re afraid of zombies while we´re residing a barrack foul with weapons?" He points towards the armory. "Even heavy guns and other funny shooting stuff."
They pondered the situation and got a bit calmer, he had a point there. Only Lifty remained solemn. "What´s wrong Lift?" He sat on the floor, covering his face between his arms he rested on his knees. As he lifts his head to look at his brother, Shifty could tell his feelings as the worry is literally leaping out of his expression. "You know, Ian and Flippy still have to make their way in here. And we don´t know where they are…"
Shifty approaches his brother. He almost forgot about that. "Hey…" He rests his hand on Lifty's shoulder. He used to get annoyed from Lifty's concerns in the past. But since their redemption from their inner demons, he gets more used to empathize with him. "Look, we´re talking about Ian and Flippy. I´m pretty sure every zombie instantly regrets its existence as soon as it approaches them."
He smiles weakly. "But… What if…" Flippy is also a reason Lifty is afraid for Ian. "Don´t do that. Don´t keep those "what if" thoughts. Ian went through a lot. I´m sure that he wouldn´t do anything without a proper plan behind it. He´ll be fine!" Shifty hands Cub towards Lifty who gets greeted with a smile. The infant carefully caresses his face, wiping away a single tear from his eye. "Not cry!" The twins got a bit puzzled at Cub's sudden speech.
"Can you keep him until I finished his meal?" Lifty chuckled slightly. "Yes, I think we´ll get along until then… Thank you Shift…" The microwave eventually emits its beeping. "Hey. That´s what brothers are there for." Shifty gets the meal out of the microwave while Lifty sits down on the table right before the couch. That is as suddenly a crashing sound of a broken window disturbs the silence.
"It came from upstairs…" Sniffles said, Cub gets anxious promptly and clings on Lifty. "Easy there… It will be alright. Should we check on it?" But Sniffles shook his head. "No! If something really entered this, we would become only prey looking for a thing. Trust me, Mime and I had an experience in the hospital. The best move we can do is close all the other doors leading to other rooms and barricade ourselves in this living room."
Mime promptly did as Sniffles suggested. "We should also turn down the venetian blinds of the windows next to the front door. So nothing would peek into this room…" They all are sitting in the dark, while Lifty tries to feed a whimpering Cub. He wraps his tail around the infant who instantly grabs it, hugging it tight to calm down. "You know Lift, you make up for a perfect mother." Shifty teases to ease the entire situation and gets countered with a modest laughter. "Ah, shut up…"
Cub finally gets calmer and eats the food. Luckily the food meets his taste and he munches contently. "Thirsty! Thirsty!" He gripes. "Well Shifty, you heard what our king demands. Go get it for him as fast as you can!" Shifty heads to the kitchen, rising a brow. "Don´t get too cocky all of a sudden…" He turns the faucet on for a bit of tap water but gets greeted by a sordid scent ambushing his nostrils. "Damn! What the hell?!"
He immediately turns it off. "Flippy should check on his pipes if the time is right… I doubt that this is still drinkable…" Another crashing sound greets him, causing him to yelp in surprise. This time it came directly behind him. "The heck?" Giggles, with a mixed sound of gargling and growling tries to lean herself over to get into the kitchen, her hollow eye sockets fixated on Shifty who just gets panicked, on the one hand because she actually tries to break in, on the other hand because her body even looks more dehydrated than dried fruits.
But Lifty reacts promptly and stabs her right through the temporals. "I think our safety just vanished, huh?" He says looking at Shifty who still looks extremely distressed. "What? We told you about the zombies, now don´t act too surprised!" But Shifty only points at the open window, causing Lifty to finally turn around. "Oh… That´s your problem…" The moment Giggles' carcass fell of revealed a bunch of another zombies.
"Sniffles! Mime! Stay with Cub and keep him save! We will fend them of here!" The fact that they all tried to get in from one spot makes it rather easy for them to fend them of. Petunia, Flaky, Russel and Handy, they all get stabbed one after another right through the head by Lifty who hides right next to the window to catch them by surprise. It seems that intelligence isn´t a trait adapted to being undead.
Sniffles entered the kitchen, with Cub in his arm. "Sniffles what are you doing here? Cub mustn´t see this!" Lifty shouted at the scientist. "I have a solid foam to seal that window!" He takes out a spray can, ready to block off the entrance as suddenly the undead version of Cub's father makes an inconvenient appearance. "Daddy! Daddy!" The infant stretches his arms towards his undead father. The half of his head seems to be missing. Lifty remains still, unsure what to do. Stabbing his father through the head right before his eyes would scar the poor child for his life.
But he didn´t need to worry about that as Pop's head explodes with a loud bang emitting from Sniffles. The scientist just shot him. A long moment of deafening silence envelopes the room, only disturbed by the sudden sobs of the infant who just saw his father die before his own eyes. "What have I done…"
Ian lies motionlessly in his bed, his breath is weak but still enough to be noticed. "You should hurry. I have a feeling that the child you´re about to face has something to do with this." Flippy didn´t need to be told twice and heads straight to the door to leave once again. But stopped right at the moment he grabbed the knob of the door. "What was that abomination I encountered?"
The witch approached him slowly with a stern look on a face. "In this house the bitterest emotions can take shape. The creature you encountered is the greatest incarnation of scorn and disdain ever imaginable, its hands just aimlessly lashing towards anything without needed purpose. The creature is called by its essence, acrimony." Flippy gulped at the eerie description. "You won´t be able to fight these creatures, avoid them as good as possible. Hide, run… Or die…"
He leaves the room after he gave her a nod as a sign that he understood the message. He finds himself now in a great hallway, the walls are at a great distance to each other and the ceiling is too high to be seen. There is only black above his head. "A different environment…" The walls are decorated with several paintings, everyone showing the same. A black silhouette standing in the frame, fixating the green bear with dark, red eyes.
The moment he moves on he realizes that the eyes are following his every move. The passage is getting narrow with furniture standing directly at the walls. Suddenly a clattering sound appears from the distance before him. He quickly hides under a bureau, he just fits in that way. He glances towards the distance, in the direction the noise is coming from and sees something blinking as if something would reflect the weak light emitting from the torches carelessly attached to the wooden walls.
A creature appears, walking on all of its fourth. But instead of hands and feet, it has blades serving the purpose of said extremities. It doesn´t have something like a head, only a flayed-looking body, as if the extremities got attached to a torso. Flippy investigates the creature from afar as good as he can, suddenly a handle is spotted with a blade stuck in the creatures back. "If I can manage to yank the blade out of that thing I would have a knife…"
The war veteran waits for the creature to pass him by and crawls slowly out of his concealment. He sneaks up to the creature. Fortunately, it isn´t walking that fast, making it easy for Flippy to catch up. He waits for the moment he´s close enough. Flippy is now standing right behind it. He leaps on top of the creature's back, grabs the handle with both of his paws and yanks it out of it. "A machete… Neat!"
Without wasting any more time, he slices the creature in multiple parts. He first cuts of the limbs and then divides the main body into multiple parts. "Well… That was easy…" Suddenly the entire hallway fades away, the wooden walls blur, becoming more and more a mix of green and grey. He feels something wet under his feet. "Now, I´m back into the cave… This time, I´ll make it right!" But a foreign voice appears in his head, the same voice which appeared as the creature known as acrimony pursued and killed him.
"Such Arrogance! See the complacency in your face, only underlining the paltriness of your disgrace…"
He growls and moves on as fast as he can. "Hey… Your minions. Are they sliceable?" The witch only cooed in response. "Their flesh… So tender as butter…" He forms a priggish grin on his face. "now that will make things a lot easier…" He suddenly runs the way he has gone once before, greeted by the first minion he has ever encountered. He instantly tests the reliability in the witch's statement and rams the blade right through the creature.
As truth has been told, the creature got pierced and sinks lifelessly to the ground. But a sudden familiar growl from behind reminds him to hurry up. He reaches the spot which was barricaded with rotten wooden planks and quickly climbs up the wet stones, his machete stowed in a knot of his jacket. As he reaches the top he sees the grate, still open together with four minor minions patrolling it.
He hides behind the same rock he hid before. One minion slowly approaches the spot, unaware of him hiding behind it. The moment it turns around to go back, Flippy gets out of his hiding spot, sneaks up on the mucus-covered creature and stabs it with his machete. As it also sinks to the ground lifelessly he quickly hides behind another rock, waiting for the next minion.
Unfortunately, the minion noticed him and prepares itself to spit its vitriolizing acid right at him. He reacts a bit too hasty and only manages to pierce it right through the spot he assumed was its pelvis. Suddenly the creature screeches loudly and the blade gets stuck in the creature. "SHIT!" He tries desperately to yank it out but fails to do so. "Fuck, fuck, FUCK!" He dashes to the open grate, but it miraculously falls down, blocking the way downwards.
The remaining three minions are now perfectly cognizant of his presence. Two of them are spitting at his direction. He slides to the side and barely escapes the putrid liquid. He quickly checks his environment. "I can´t touch these things!" he quickly grabs a stone and approaches one of the minions in a zigzag run. He hurls the stone at the assumed head of the thing with a manic scream.
The spot explodes and spreads the liquid around the room, hitting the back of his right hand. "SHIT!" he cusses as the burning sensation almost caused him to drop the stone. Flippy manages to keep it together and backs away to avoid getting hit as the last two minions are spitting at his direction, the one without the blade in it dashes towards him. He rolls to the side, but the minion manages to keep the right direction.
Flippy waits for the moment the creature is heading straight. As the minion is only a few feet away from him he throws the stone at it, piercing its head from a safe distance. "It worked?!" He quickly grabs another rock and hurls it at the last minion. The moment the rock pierces the minion's body it also sinks to the ground. Suddenly their bodies begin to melt and rinse down through the grate. "Now that´s just fucking awesome if I think that I have to slide through that damn passage…"
He picks up the machete lying on the ground. "At least the blade didn´t get much damaged…" The screw thread isn´t that stubborn this time. Another growls comes from the direction Flippy came from. "Shit! How fast is that thing this time?!" He turns it as fast as he can, but the moment he opened the grate, the first pair of ghastly hands makes their appearance on the edge he just climbed up.
"Shit…Shit, shit, shit!" he whispers panicked. "It is faster than I am! I have to hide!" He quickly hides behind a rock, covering his mouth in dread and fear. It wasn´t often that he was this afraid of any enemy. But even if it was just a short experience, he can perfectly recall the pain the abomination has caused him. He shivers in exasperation as the deafening growl of the monster confirmed the worst. It is aware of his presence.
"WHY WON´T YOU JUMP WITH ME?" Ian shouts at his white furred counterpart, getting more and more aggravated. "You´re not supposed to stand between my decisions!" But the gift is just sitting on the ground, not moving an inch. "I won´t because this isn´t what you want. I know that because I AM you." He says calmly. "Oh, I don´t want to end this miserable life of mine?"
But the white raccoon only sits on the ground. "You can end this charade now, I know that you just posses him." Ian gives a crazed smile on a sudden. "Intriguing, how do you know?" He approaches the gift menacingly. "It will be just a matter of time… With every minute of the possession passing by his volition is fading and so is your strength of keeping him alive. I will have my vengeance… By ending his strife. I was killed, and so will he be too! Either with… or without you…"
But the gift remains unimpressed. "It was never his fault what happened to you. Seeking vengeance on someone who was just equally punished by fate will lead you to nowhere. You should know that it isn´t only his volition you have to fight against." The specter possessing Ian emits a maniacal laughter "This foolish bear is a weak enemy! Soon Ian will mourn him with a futile elegy!"
The abomination gives an ominous growl, causing Flippy's heartbeat to rise in pace. Not much time and the creature will find him. He quickly grabs another stone and throws it at the end of the room. It snarls loudly and dashes towards the noise. Flippy quickly grabs the opportunity and makes a run for the grate, but the creature turns around rapidly, snatching at him with its claws. "I just need a LITTLE BIT OF LUCK!" He manages to get through, barely escaping the grasping claws.
This time, Flippy is prepared for the living beings hanging from the ceiling. He slices the ones grasping at him with his blade, cutting several limbs off. To his horror the creature is also sliding through the passageway, its canine head fixated on him with gritted teeth. "SHIT! FUCK!" He tenses up his body to accelerate the process. The moment he reached the end he tries to fall feet first on the ground and rolls off quickly to start running immediately.
"Bold and skilled! But nonetheless, you´ll get killed!"
He finds himself in the familiar passageway, the transition of the cave walls to the simple wooden walls of the house. He dashes to the door at the end as suddenly a column from the ceiling comes down, aiming for his head. But this time he manages to dodge it. The bottom disappears, revealing a void at the ground filled with red steam. He has two options, jump, or face the thing pursuing him.
He keeps up the pace and jumps as suddenly the gravity changes and he falls down on the right wall which is now the bottom, turning the void to his left. "What the?!" He hits the ground hard but gets up as soon as possible. However, the creature manages to catch his ankle. "NO! NOT THIS TIME!" He hits the hand with his machete, causing the monster to screech deafeningly. As the abomination loses its grip he makes a run for the door. "Almost there…ALMOST! PLEASE!"
The steam from the side rushes in, preventing him to breath. He keeps running, his vision getting more and more blurred. "I… I…" He is about to pass out. The entire experience is flashing before his eyes. The kill that monster did to him, the horrors he saw and Ian, keeping up the ritual with him. The thought of Ian sparkled in his mind. "I HAVE TO GET THIS DONE!"
He gives a last rush towards the door and manages to grab it by the knob. He smashes his side at the door and opens it violently while closing it rapidly as he got through. He rapidly begins to breath as the room isn´t filled with the suffocating steam. He falls down to his knees in exhaustion. "Fascinating… You really managed to outrun the beast to get here…"
Flippy looks up, directly into the face of a little girl. A small, black-furred cat, dressed in a little, pink princess-like dress. He rises his gaze a bit further and sees in shock the ethereal appearance of Ian, crucified on a lithic wall. "What… Did you do to him…" The little girl giggles. "Look at him, he is such a mess… Now wonder, as he has been put through so much distress…"
Flippy grits his teeth in anger. "Answer me! What are you doing to him?" The girl teleports herself right in front of his face, laughing hysterically. "AFTER ALL THESE YEARS I WILL GAIN PLEASURE OVER MY DETESTATION. BY A WELL EXECUTED RETALIATION! Breaking into his soul and into his mind, I won´t be too kind. I will extinguish his will to live, cause him in vain to cry!" She floats slowly away from him, spinning around a few times as she calmly finishes her sentence. "And in the end… I will make sure for him to die…"
That was enough for Flippy. He growls deep in anger and dashes towards her. "YOU LITTLE BRAT! LEAVE HIM ALONE!" He swings his blade after her, but she just vanished. "I´m not that easy to kill, you will need a lot of skill. But be assured, I won´t be bothered long with your shit. You will barely even manage to land a single hit…" He looks around in anger and confusion, trying to make out the source of the noise, but the noise is coming from everywhere.
He grabs his blade close to himself as the hall is filled by a dissonance of madness. "I WILL MAKE YOU FEEL PAIN! I WILL MAKE YOU FEEL PAIN! I WILL MAKE YOU FEEL PAIN!" She suddenly appears on his side, thrusting at him with a blood-stained dagger. He barely manages to block the attack and hits back. But she just vanishes once again unharmed. "Your anger, so cute. Your attempts so vain…"
She appears behind him, but clearly underestimated his reflexes. He quickly punches her chest with his elbow, staggering her as he whirls around with his machete, slicing right through her chest. A gaping wound graces her breast, but she just smiles over it insanely. "You´ll have to try harder than that if you want to manage to cause severe damage!"
She vanishes once again accompanied in her hysterical laughter. Suddenly he gets surrounded by her. "What the?! How many of you are here?!" He gets puzzled as it seems that several mirages of her encircle him, slowly approaching him. "Can you trust everything you see? You realize that there is plenty to have of me." Flippy waits for the time she´s near enough and swings all around himself, this time, he manages to hit her in the face, causing her to scream.
"Damn you! This I won´t longer tolerate! Your precious friend is the one I crave to obliterate!" She floats directly towards Ian's essence, reaching her hand at him. Suddenly she and Ian begin to glow in a dark red, evoking screams of pain from him. "STOP THIS!" Flippy yells at her in anger and exasperation. The anger boils up deep inside him, his breath becomes sharper as well as his teeth. His ferocious side is winning him over once again, but this time, it still has the will to defend and protect.
"I WON´T LET YOU DO THIS!" He jumps at the walls with a great pace and climbs up the rocks as he digs into the wall with his sharp claws. He pushes himself of the wall and leaps directly at her, thrusting the machete directly at her face again. The machete hits her right through the eye, piercing her head. Her screams turn to deafening screeches, forcing Flippy to cover his ears while still falling. He barely manages to land on his feet and struggles to keep standing.
Her eyes are pride wide open, engulfed with the red color he saw in the passageway filled with the choking steam. She suddenly orbits around him with tremendous speed. Flippy tries to catch her with his eyes but looses her due to her velocity. She dashes right towards him from the front and penetrates his shoulder with her knife, compelling him to howl in great anguish. "What… Are you?" Floating before him with her now spiky hair. "A BEING HERALDING DOOM FOR ETERNITY. I´M ELEOWEN THE BANSHEE!"
Ian falls to the ground enfeebled. "What happened?" He kneels down at the edge of his permanent death. He backs away fast the moment he realized that. "Ian! Flippy needs your help!" He looks around and sees his gift standing next to him with a worried expression. "What? How do you…" But he gets interrupted. The white furred raccoon makes a single hand-movement and opens a portal, showing a wounded Flippy, a black and red orb and… Himself? "What is this?"
But the gift only drags him towards it. "No time to explain! Step through the portal and claim your soul back! We will be able to cooperate from there! Healing him up and prevent him from dying! Alone, he will not stand a chance against her!" Ian rushes through the portal. "I don´t understand any of this…" Just a few moments later and Ian finds himself somehow attached to a stony wall but manages to free himself without any problems. He accomplished to do so unnoticed.
"Your mind… So fragile, so weak! So many horrors in your mind to seek!" She grabs Flippy by his head, squeezing it as if she were trying to crush his skull. "You can be mad, you can be vicious! Give in to it! Be malicious!" He screams as he feels his bad site to get control of him. Giving him the sensation as if something would crawl inside his mind. Suddenly Ian comes from behind and unleashes a wave of energy from his soul, interrupting her cast. "Flippy! I´m here!"
His vision was distorted, his psyche getting more instable. He couldn´t hear Ian's call. Suddenly, a wave of blue light engulfs him, clarifying his vision. He feels someone pulling out the knife out of his shoulder and his wound closing almost on an instant. "Flippy! I am here! Get a hold on yourself! Don´t give in to her schemes!" It doesn´t take him long anymore and he regains his consciousness. "Ian?"
The blue specter nods but they didn´t get much time to converse as the shrill banshee keeps her attack. "NO! YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE FREED! NOT SUPPOSED TO BE SAVED! IT WAS YOUR PAINFUL END I CRAVED!" She repeats her orbiting attack. "Flippy! I can stun her!" With that said, Ian unleashes another wave of blue energy, revealing multiple images of her slowly descending to the ground dizzied. "Damn it! Ian can you make out who´s the right one?"
He quickly looks around, but the needed note wasn´t long in coming. "There is only one with a knife! The others are unarmed! This must be the real one!" Flippy acts immediately and aims once again for her head, thrusting the blade through the same spot as before. "You made it!" But the victory was short lived. The wails of the banshee are shattering the walls. Ian quickly envelopes Flippy in a force field, shielding him from the devastating cry.
"Where did you get these superpowers on a sudden?" Ian looks at him with a content smile. "I don´t know, but they come in just right on time!" The walls are crumbling down, revealing the steam-filled void. Suddenly a loud growling joins the tremendous screeching, causing the ground to shake heavily. Although Flippy is shielded by Ian, he has to cover his ears due to this immense cacophony.
Flippy widens his eyes in shock. "No… Please! NO!" Ian averts his gaze into the direction Flippy is looking and sees the monstrosity which kept pursuing Flippy. "What the hell is THAT thing?" But the bottom behind the creature faded as well and it only clings on the edges of the remaining platform. Its massive body is hindering it to pull itself up completely, forcing her to remain hanging on the edge. But the multiple extremities ghastly attached on its neck and back are rising menacingly, ready to strike.
It lashes towards the green bear. "No! I won´t let you harm him!" Ian suddenly breaks the shielding and concentrates a long blue beam towards the monstrosity, constraining it on spot and hindering it to move anymore. "I can hold it back! You have to focus on her!" Flippy nods and dashes towards the banshee. Eleowen tries again to confuse him with her illusions. "Focus on the one with a weapon…"
He remains still on his spot, trying to find the one holding the knife. He suddenly realizes one image of her approaching him from behind. He quickly turns around and slices it right through the face, her screams confirm that he hit the right one. She holds her face, her high-pitched growls indicating that she´s getting more and more aggravated. "You have many sins to atone for… Many things to confess! DON´T TURN AWAY FROM IT! DON´T YOU DARE TO DIGRESS!"
Suddenly multiple images of her are grabbing him by the arm, at the same time, the symbol imprinted on his chest begins to glow. She teleports in front of the captivated bear, grabbing him by his chest fur as he tears open the jacket. As he grabbed a good chunk of fur, she pulls it heavily, ripping it of together with a large amount of skin. He wails in agony but is cut silent as she grabs him by the throat. "Remember your mistakes, the moment of your misfire. Remember the times which got too dire…"
He gets mesmerized. He soon gets surrounded by the red steam but this time it isn´t suffocating him. He is all alone in the scarlet void, no banshee, no acrimony and no Ian. The void begins to speak to him. "Why… Why did you kill me? You could have completed the mission, why did you fail so badly?" He feels his breath getting faster. "How is that possible? This can´t be! SNEAKY! WHERE ARE YOU? PLEASE ANSWER ME!"
The transparent silhouette of a mutilated Chamaeleon slowly makes it appearance. Its eyes are filled with sorrow, its gaze condemning the fragile bear for his pathetic inaptitude. "I´m so sorry… I didn´t want this to turn it this way, I swear!" But another voice is driving him deeper into his tremendous guilt.
"Tu nous a tué!" Flippy turns his head, greeted by the accusing stare of a yellow furred mouse, with a gaping hole in its stomach. "Wh… What?" He asks meekly. "You killed us! Sale merde!" Flippy lowers his gaze to the ground, completely engulfed in his own remorse. "I didn´t want any of this to happen! I´m sorry, I´m sorry…" He lies on the ground, repeating his apologies like a mantra.
"Fuck! What is she doing to him?!" Ian struggles to keep the monstrosity under control. As he looks back he witnesses Eleowen engulfing Flippy while singing her appalling chant. "Leave him alone!" He directs his beam to the banshee, pushing her against a wall. The motionless body of Flippy falls on the ground.
"Flippy!" upon close investigation he senses his jittering as keeps babbling some inapprehensible words. "I don´t have much time…" He quickly rebuilds his force field, engulfing Flippy once again with his calming aura.
He lies on the ground, overwhelmed by his feelings of guilt, induced by the projections of his former comrades. "I´m sorry…" But a familiar call from the distance breaks him out of the trance. "Flippy! Break out of it!" But it was cut short and he was all alone again in the void. "No… It all was an accident… This wasn´t all my fault!"
The transparent projections became fleshly suddenly. "You will have to pay for your sins!" The Chamaeleon spoke up. "Brendon! I never intended to kill any of you! Neither you nor Louis!" But they declined his attempt to talk and attack him on an instant. Brendon becomes invisible suddenly. Flippy tries to focus on any weird occurrences around the void, indicating Brendon's proximity, but he quickly has to jump away as Louis hurls a bomb to his direction.
"Please stop! This won´t lead us anywhere!" But his pleadings are ignored. He suddenly gets enveloped by a large tongue, winding around him. "What the?!" The tongue is bonding him, he´s completely immobilized. But before Louis could throw a bomb at him, he kicks with all of his force against his captor's knee cab, startling him enough to free himself from the sticky noose. He uses that moment to his advantage and kicks Brendon at the side of his head.
He rolls away and dashes directly towards the bomb-throwing rodent. Another bomb is send towards his direction, but he manages to catch it and throws it back at him. Louis just barely escapes the explosive and gets pushed away by the explosion. Flippy almost reached him as the ground below him abruptly began to send several shockwaves. "Landmines?!" He tries to back away as fast as he can but gets hit by one explosion.
His limbs are still intact, but the severe pain is surging through his body, paralyzing him for a short moment. But this moment was enough for Brendon to approach him quickly. He kicks at the back of Flippy's head, sending him from his knees to the ground. "Fuck!" Flippy holds his head in pain, completely dazed by the blow. Brendon readies himself for another attack and Flippy has a hard time to make out the right one as the dizziness in his head projects three of them right before him.
Instead of blocking the next attack Flippy decides to dodge it. But Brendon gets relentless and sends attack after attack after him. Flippy, however, manages to grab one of his arms and snaps it immediately, kicks him in the hollow of the knee and sends him down to the ground. He raises his machete and descends it rapidly onto Brendon's head. The snapping noise of severed muscles, skins and bones is filling his eyes with tears. "I´m sorry Brendon… You left me no choice…"
But much to his surprise, the sliced open Chamaeleon smiled at him as he whispers his last words. "I already forgave you the moment I closed my eyes for eternity… Please… Forgive yourself as well…" As his last words were spoken, his body became transparent again and vanished completely after that. But the serenity wasn´t meant to last long as another bomb was thrown directly at him.
But Flippy dodges it effortlessly. He aims just for a second and throws his machete directly at the startled mouse, piercing his chest. He dashes towards him, yanks the blade out and witnesses his corps slowly descending to the ground. "I hope you rest in the most serene peace, dear friend…" He also smiles at him, but instead of whispering, he bids his farewell in his common joyful way. "Je ne t'ai jamais cru coupable…" Louis disappeared either and the void engulfing Flippy slowly fades. He regains his consciousness in the actual scene.
"Flippy! Look out!" He regained it just in time as the screaming banshee attacks him again. "YOU SHALL DIE, ALL OF YOU SHALL DIE, BUT YOU KEEP RESISTING! WHY?" She nastily stabs at him several times, but he dodges every single attack, parries the last one before he hits back, slicing through her face once more. "CURSE YOU! YOU SHALL SUFFER THE GREATEST DAMNATION! THE PAIN SHALL MAKE YOU CRAVE FOR YOUR OWN OBLITERATION!"
Suddenly, Eleowen emits a burst of red energy, passing Flippy without causing any harm. But to his shock, Ian begins to scream in pain. "YOU LITTLE SCOUNDREL MUST NO LONGER INTERFERE. THE SINS HAVE BEEN COMMITTED, THE CONSEQUENCES WILL BE SEVERE!" Ian keeps twitching as her dark energy seems to stun him. The great abomination is now freed and grabs Flippy immediately. "NO! NO PLEASE NO!" He cries in desperation as he gets lifted up.
The monstrosity pierces his chest, compelling him to scream in pain and dread. Ian manages to free himself and attaches himself on Flippy. Acrimony keeps up the mutilation of the bear, but this time he remains alive, forced to experience the immense pain as the wounds immediately get healed. The anguish is driving him to the edge of insanity and his ferocious side wins him over once more.
He growls in great anger and slices the hands of the monstrosity away, freeing himself due to that. He dashes towards the abomination, dodging every hand lashing towards him and rams the machete directly into the monster's snout. The beast howls loudly and looses its grip on the edge of the platform, damning it to fall into the great, red nothingness.
He turns around rapidly and rushes towards Eleowen. She tries to confuse him with her mirages, but his now superior reflexes overpower her. He grabs her by the throat, fixates her on the ground and thrust his blade through her skull one more time. The room gets filled again with loud screams and the void surrounding them emits several fire sparks. The room surrounding them slowly reforms to the way they encountered her at the beginning.
She slowly turns to her normal form, lying on the ground totally devitalized and bruised. "Such a disgrace, justice won´t be served… I only feel hatred… Looking into your face…" Flippy keeps slicing her head with the machete to the point it gets sliced in half. Eleowen is finally dead. The illusion surrounding them finally breaks and to their surprise they find themselves back into the witch's bedroom.
Ian gets up from the bed, breathing rapidly, his soul returned to his body. Flippy appears on the pentagram, his teeth still sharp, his claws either. He approaches Ian slowly. "Flippy… Please I know you can win him over…" Flippy makes a rapid move towards Ian who is way too exhausted to dodge, so he just accepts what is about to come for him. But much to his and the witch's surprise he… Hugs Ian, with small tears watering his eyes.
"I am so glad that you´re okay…"
Author's note: The french lines are supposed to read the following: "...You killed us...", "...You dirty piece of shit...", "...I never thought you guilty..."
