Gummadoon Armory
"That's alright, lad." He cocked his head at the cub. "What are you doing in here?"
"Um... Investigating the scene?" He offered a slight smile, hoping it would fool Plucki. Sure, the scene earlier had boggled even the adults. No gummi hurt themselves senselessly. It made no sense! But Cubbi also knew it was a lie. He wanted a weapon - a real weapon - to practice with in his room; to arm himself against the assault he knew would be coming. He didn't wanna tell Plucki yet. Plucki would want to know details and Cubbi wasn't prepared for that yet. He'd wanna know how Cubbi could tell that Toni's mom was possessed, like he himself had been. It made Cubbi's skin crawl just thinking about it. He could not suppress a shudder at the thought.
"It's alright. You and Flynn have had a tough morning. Come along. We'll keep this room locked until the Council sees the scene."
Cubbi sighed. "Ookay..."
Well, if he couldn't have a weapon, at the very least he'd tell Tavi. She knew about possession and had fought Lady Bane alongside him and even took two gummi medallions into her body to stop the evil witch. If nothing else, he felt she should be warned first cuz Lady Bane seemed to be attacking cubs now. Tavi had to be warned!
"Um, I better go start some chores. I'll be back later to see how Toni's doing, 'kay, Plucki?" With a false cheerful wave, Cubbi raced off.
Plucki sighed and shook his head, then locked the Gummadoon Armory. The cub was behaving a little oddly but he had to call the Council together and let them know that all was still not well inside Gummadoon's walls.
Halls of Gummadoon
Tavi wasn't in her room. She wasn't in the kitchen or the courtyard or anywhere else like that. Where would a gummi girl be right now? The bathrooms? As Cubbi was shrugging to himself, he was startled by a tapping on his shoulder.
"Looking for me?"
He whirled about. Tavi's pink face greeted him, but not with a smile. She looked as worried as he felt. Hey, did that streak of gold in her hair get longer?
"I snuck over to the infirmary. Toni looked really bad when you brought him in. Gumlittle and the other knights are real worried but not just because of Toni. It's because of what happened, and how it happened. I think I know why."
"Lady Bane possessed Toni's mother. That's what pushed Toni over the edge." Cubbi finished for her.
Tavi blinked at him. "You saw it, too?"
"I dunno what you mean by saw it but I saw the signs, sure. Hard to miss when you've been possessed before." His eyes went to the ground and he tried to erase the memory for now with the thick cobblestones of the castle floor. He took a breath, let it out. "Tavi, we gotta tell the Council what we know but I had to warn you first. If Lady Bane is possessing people again..."
"Then no one's safe. Oh, Cubbi..." Fighting tears, Tavi threw her arms around Cubbi.
Normally, he hated her hugs but right now it felt good to have someone not only know what he knew but to be able to give her this small comfort cuz, boy, did he need it, too! Maybe her hugs weren't so bad after all, when the time was right.
"It gets worse." Tavi held him tighter. "I've been having nightmares. Really bad ones, Cubbi, where I lose control. She keeps trying to get me to use my powers for things I don't want to."
"Lady Bane's in your dreams?"
"No, Cubbi. Someone much worse." Fear shook Tavi. Her voice turned to a whisper, warm in his ear. "Emi."
"Emi?" Cubbi frowned, deep in thought.
Gummadoon Infirmary
Sarrika explained what she had heard to the assembled Council. They'd come to see Toni, resting as comfortably as one could in his condition, and also Karleni, his mother. There was no trace of the evil influence they suspected had caused both Toni's injuries and the wild behavior of his mother. No trace that they could determine, at any rate.
"We are certain it was possession. Her mind is not calm, but not maddened as you described her."
"Why does she lay there and not hear us, Councilor Wooddale?" Gumlittle asked.
"Trauma I would suspect." answered Councilor Berribottom. "It happens sometimes after possession. Such horrible things we've all seen lately. We gummies are not suited to such harsh things."
Steely resolve covered the faces of the knight-captain and his two brothers. "That may be so but that is the whole reason why we train as we do. To keep such evils at bay. Lady Bane can infiltrate our very walls without stepping foot inside. How can we counter against that?"
Councilor Spinwillow sighed. "We can attempt to lock her out but I'm afraid we must call on Tavi again. We don't want to say this too much, so please keep it in strict confidence, Sir Plucki. Tavi, having absorbed two gummi medallions, is both much more powerful and more unstable than the whole of the Council, due to the erratic nature of unleashed medallion power and the fact that she is so young. We may not be able to keep Lady Bane out without her, but we are uncertain what will happen to Tavi if we continue to utilize her powers along with our own." Spinwillow's voice dropped to a grave whisper, forcing Blastus and Gumlittle to come near and close in the group from outside ears. "We fear... we fear there are rumors of the return of Emi."
Gasps circled the Councilmembers.
"Great Gum!"
"Mon dieu!"
Plucki stared at them, unable to add his own exclamation. He swallowed hard. "And... how did you come to these rumors?" Little entered Gummadoon that he did not hear of.
"Little Tavi has dreamed of her, Sir Plucki." Spinwillow replied.
"No. You can't risk it." Gumlittle said to the Council. "Tavi can't use her magic if it's attracting that ... that evil."
"Lady Bane may have had this in mind from the start. We simply don't know!" worried Wooddale.
"There is no way to find out the witch's plans? Without Tavi?" asked Plucki.
Five heads shook their defeat.
Berribottom added, "Our magic was never meant for spying. It's based on life and happiness and creation. Lady Bane has twisted magic to do the dark and evil. It is an advantage she has on us. She has no scruples."
"Is there NOTHING we can do but sit and wait for these evils to attack us?" demanded the Gummadoon Knight-Captain.
Again, a shake of heads.
Wooddale paused, turned to Berribottom. "Winsli? Might we use Karleni, if she were aware and willing?"
"It won't work. She's much too traumatized." They gazed down on the poor gummi woman, awake but not aware, or at least unable to let others know she heard them.
"Well, at least let us try and help her recover from the mental trauma. Perhaps then we can get a better understanding and regroup." Wooddale said.
The rest of theCouncil nodded.
Plucki and his knight-brothers left. He told them, "There MUST be more that can be done to prepare. We'll assemble the squires and lay on the training. They must be prepared."
Gumlittle grasped his shoulder to halt him from barreling down the hallway. "Plucki... They've been through so much already. Let the Gummadoon Council do their work. We can prepare. Let the cubs have a rest. That's too much on their shoulders. I know that look in your eye. It's rare but you're not immune to fear. You got good reason to be afraid, brother. But the cubs don't need it. And they don't need to see us afraid or they'll get curious and poke around until they find out the reason on their own."
"Mon ami, he is right." Blastus also added his hand, to Plucki's other shoulder. "It is time the little ones had a rest. We can do little until the Council knows what will be done next."
Plucki sighed, not admitting to his brothers that they were right. He was afraid. Ever since he was a cub, the name had sent chills down the spine of anyone in the know. Emi Gummi was an evil force to be reckoned with and like no other any other gummi had ever seen. Gum help them if she could return from beyond.
Lady Bane's Castle
At last, the resurrection spell was done. The evil sorceress grinned in triumphant glee at the refinished body of Lucki Gummi. Now... Now she would have her fun, and her revenge. With a swipe of her hand, she magically removed the living soul from the still body. Oh, how it struggled. All in vain. Her magical grasp was sure, tight, unbreakable. She spoke the words to banish the soul for good, to leave the body the puppetary husk she needed to carry out her sadistic plans. It surprised her greatly to still feel the soul wriggling in her grasp. She said the words again, louder and with more feeling, and kept her eyes open. Again, there was no effect! Snarling, she yelled the incantation and focused all her will upon the act. The soul of Lucki faded briefly but returned into her grasp again, like some sticky candy that she could not be rid of! Bah!
Lady Bane screamed and flipped through her spellbook with one hand. It worked fine on human souls. Gummi souls weren't that different. Why wouldn't it work!
Finally, at a loss, she resorted to caging the soul in a magic bubble so that it could not be heard on any level and it could not escape. It would have to do until she found some means of eradicating it.