Author Note: Yea yea I know… it's not cool to go after the kids, but remember this isn't anime!
Episode Thirteen: Return to the Dark
Laid out on the soft carpet of the camp's living room, the five cat girls were still 'sleeping'. Checking for vital signs, everything seemed to be normal as Jeff put away the large orange med-kit and sighed out in frustration. "I don't get it… they were all fine last night, but now they won't wake up? This isn't making any sense." Looking down at the abnormal scene, Joe was used to seeing all of the kittens running around, playing and getting on everyone's nerves. Seeing all of them like this touched something inside the chaotic human male. But that all changed as he snapped back to reality and noticed someone was missing. "Hey, where's Felicia?" Looking around, Grace and Lucy didn't recall when she left. After being notified of the situation with the little ones, Felicia had walked off into the kitchen without a word.
She wouldn't… Running into the kitchen, the room was empty as the only thing amiss was a wide open window. Not something for someone to crawl through… it was big enough for a cat to sneak out of. Damn it Felicia! Moving towards the door, Joe threw on his green jacket and was lacing up his sneakers when Jeff wandered in to see what the problem was. "Joe, where are you going off to?" Slapping his silver brother's shoulder softly, a shock went through the non-powered male's body. "Sorry, I need to go check on something." Leaving right away, the door closed behind the determined human as he took off into a cloudy morning sky.
Off in another part of the woods, Felicia had found what she was looking for in the form of another Darkstalker. Smelling the scent of the succubus Morrigan nearby, Felicia acted on instinct and went after the soul hunting creature without question. Ambushing the aqua-haired individual in the neighboring lake, an enraged cat woman had started to battle with the normally 'friendly' Morrigan. "What's wrong kitty? Didn't get your ears scratched last ni-?" Jumping into the air, the sultry woman had to hover above a wave of earth kicked up by the angry Felicia. Looking down at a panting and fuming cat woman, Morrigan was confused at why someone who normally avoided battle was actively seeking her out.
Before she knew it, the feline was jumping straight up at her with claws drawn to inflict serious damage. Avoiding the full frontal attack, one of Morrigan's wings had been cut into by one of Felicia's nails. When did she get so good…? Rolling into a ball, Felicia spun and redirected her energy from the ground to throw herself back into the air. Throwing a hard upper cut, Felicia was ready to cleave Morrigan apart with her attack. "I've had enough!"However, the hovering demon was more than ready this time. Changing her thruster-like backpack into a series of pointed spears, Morrigan forced Felicia into defense and smacked her with the side of a spear. Whipping the cat to the ground hard, Morrigan wasn't done with Felicia just yet. A charged-up Soul Fist was launched at the recovering cat woman before she could recover from the crash.
From the sky, a beam of light intercepted the skull shaped attack before it had a chance to chomp down on a face-down Felicia. A half second later, a beam of dark energy forced Morrigan back from the downed feline as it burned away the grass. Landing in the scorched spot, Joe's eyes were staring up at Morrigan as she came down and stood in front of him. "What's the deal Morrigan? I thought you didn't like to fight the weak… so why are you picking a fight and stealing the little one's souls?" Scoffing at the notion of the one who helped take down Pyron, the bats in the succubus' hair vanished as she sat on a cloud of bats. "That's twice now I've been accused of stealing souls… and for the record, I didn't start this. SHE did." A finger was pointed right at a growling Felicia. "You stole my friend's souls!" Grabbing Felicia around her waist, Joe had to put the fiery feline into a strong bear-hug to keep her away from the high Class-A creature. Digging up the ground with her clawed feet, Felicia was dead set on wanting to fight. "Who else has the ability to do that?"
"What about Jedah?" Morrigan countered. The name made the green eyed kitty suddenly freeze up. "Oh, so you do remember what happened in that dimension." Yawning and stretching herself out, Morrigan was bored now. Looking at the large haired feline, it was apparent that this Darkstalker knew full well what was happening to her own friends. "A little advice human?" Throwing another Soul Fist at the motionless Felicia, Joe deflected the attack with his left arm and sent it smashing into a tree. Looking for the attacker, Morrigan was gone except for a single bat to echo a message. "I don't take kindly to those who interrupt my baths, next time… I expect satisfaction."
Not sensing Morrigan anymore, Joe let Felicia go; the blue haired cat woman fell to her furry knees and stared at the ground. Not sure of what to say next, the beaten cat woman slammed her paws into the earth and started to cry. "It's not fair! I was right there… why couldn't I help them?" Landing on the torn earth, the normally joyful cat woman has showering the dirt with her tears. As if on cue, the sky started to rain on top of the duo in the forest. Not moving from her position, Felicia's hair got soaked and fell against her back. Leaning over the hunched feline, Joe put his jacket over the emotional cat and kneeled down. "Don't blame yourself; I was there too… if something was wrong we both would have sensed it." Without warning, Felicia looked up at Joe with her eyes still full of tears. Leaning into him, the cat woman continued to sob over the apparent loss of her friends' souls and her lack of power to stop it.
Back at the camp, Lucy was pacing around out of being nervous. It had been over three hours since Joe went looking for Felicia and the rain started. With no end of the rain in sight, the tension was starting to build up inside the camp. Anyway to track them down by scent was worthless as the rain had washed away any traces of the silver male's scent. "I can't take it anymore! I'm going out there."
"And what will that accomplish?" Grace asked. "We don't know where they are and if you go now, you'll get lost in the rain."
"I know, but…!" Just then, the door blew open and revealed a dripping wet Joe. The storm was too difficult to fly in, so walking back to the camp was the only way possible. In his rain soaked arms, his jacket was wrapped tightly around something. Closing the door, the bundle turned out to be a wet cat. Felicia had reverted to her full house-cat form and was shivering from the cold. Starting up a fire, Felicia was set on a dry towel in front of the fireplace to warm up.
Coughing some, Joe had caught a summer cold from going after the enraged Felicia in the woods. Wrapped up in a blanket and sitting at the kitchen table, his wet clothes were dripping dry in the bathroom as he tried to grab a hot cup of tea and fail to keep his hands still. "So if Morrigan didn't do it… she said Jedah might have done it?" Jeff asked his shivering brother who just simply nodded before sneezing again into the blanket. "Yea, you'd think I would get some immunity to the common cold with powers…" Joe sniffled and blew his runny nose into a tissue.
"Now what?" Lucy demanded. "How do you except us to go after Jedah?" Grace stepped in to fill in their new allies.
The oldest feline went on to explain that when Jedah attempted to try and unite everyone's souls that those who could were seen as "strong" in Jedah's eyes were offered a chance to serve him. However, none of the Darkstalkers trusted Jedah Dohma's claims for a new order and attacked him in his own dimension – the Majigen. While fighting against other Dark Ones both old and new, it turned out that Jedah was trying to create a being called the "Shintai". While normally Felicia was used to fighting those of the Dark, Jedah was something different. None of her attacks would work and each time she tried to grab Jedah, he turned his physical form into blood. This had a negative impact on the popular cat woman… as one who tried to limit the amount of bloodshed in a fight; Felicia's own instincts went wild from all of the blood on her hands and turned her into a Hellcat.
"Wait, so that form she used against Pyron…" Joe interrupted. "Yes, it is something that she can do… but Felicia hates it." Grace answered.
Sometime later that afternoon, Joe was sitting in front of a smoldering fire and reflected what Grace had told him. The reason Felicia hates that form is that she can't tell friend from foe. We've tried to ask John to teach her how to control it, but he refused and advised us that instinct isn't something that can be trained. He even went as far to tell us that if she's scared of her own true self… to just stop trying to be friends with humans and embrace her darkness. Looking down at a still transformed Felicia; the cat had stopped shaking and was now sleeping off her match with Morrigan. Rubbing the feline's back some, he could only smile down at the snow white creature. "I understand."
Walking outside, the sky was still filled with clouds ready to storm down at any moment. Seeing the lightning bounce around and feeling the humidly starting to come back… Joe smirked and looked at the ceiling of cloud. Taking a deep breath, the male started to change into his combative self. Tensing up his body, Joe's eyes flickered to their aqua form as he bulked up some. Charging his hands with energy, the human let out a beam into the sky. Traveling up from the dock, it didn't break through the clouds. I don't sense anything… that means Jedah is doing all of this from the Darkstalker World. Clenching his fists, Joe was trying to recreate the force that pulled him into the world of the Darkstalkers… but to break the line between the worlds; a huge shock would be needed to do it.
"What are you doing human?" Looking out over the water, Joe's heart skipped a beat as Dami appeared and laughed at him. The reversed version of the silver haired male stared at him without faulting. "You honestly believe you WANT to come back here? You know that if you do, I'll be waiting for you."
"I know…" Catching what seemed to be his own dark self off guard; Joe smirked and threw up a punch at the confused image. "That's why, if you show your sorry ass… I'll destroy you! Just… don't show up until after we deal with Jedah ok?" Blinking at the strange offer, Dami laughed rudely and pointed at Joe who shot a beam through the image. Making the vision fade into nothing, the lone fighter sighed and looked up at the sky. "I will stop this, no one deserves to suffer! Especially not her…" Sliding back from the edge of the dock, the chaotic human leaned back and took his position firmly. Gathering up the forces of light and dark around himself, Joe was preparing to let out the attack that helped to take down Pyron for good.
Twitching around in her towel kitty Felicia was starting to wake up now that the fire had finally gone out. Stretching out and yawning, the full cat realized that she was inside and dry. Jeff, Grace, and Lucy were watching TV and reports of thousands of people just blacking out for no reason. From firemen to even world leaders, people were just keeling over and falling into unexplainable comas. "Damn it, how can we track down someone who is stealing souls without a trail?" Lucy complained. "We need to find a way back to our own world!" Changing back into her cat woman form, Felicia's ears tweaked as she could sense something nearby. "I think someone's already working on that."
A strange glow was coming from the lake's edge as it caused the TV to suddenly turn off. Powering up himself, Joe was going to attempt to force his way to help the ones who Jedah claimed. Hearing thunder above him, the storm clouds had other ideas for the idiot standing on a metal dock with a storm on top of him. Seeing the bolts of lightning start to appear, the human stared down the deadly force of nature and smirked. "I've fought a being of pure energy from space… you think a little static shock to going to stop me?" Clenching his teeth, Joe stared down the incoming storm and prepared to fire.
"Is he stupid?" Turning around the others saw Felicia had just woke up and was clenching her chest. Sensing the incoming lightning strike, the feline woman was scared. "How does he expect to open up a path home?" Holding up a diagram, Jeff started to explain. "Since he's able to copy the ability of Darkstalkers… Joe's trying to access that part of Pyron that allows for instant transport." The diagram had a list of abilities that the former human had learned: starting with Donovan's control over energy to Hsien-Ko's air-dance for flight, they were looking at a perfect mix of various abilities. But this still wasn't enough for Felicia. "That still doesn't mean he needs to be so risky!"
"That's mostly you out there Felicia…" Grace countered. "Think about it, you'll go out of your own way to help others… he does the same thing. Can you name one human we know what would knowingly be labeled a Darkstalker?" Unable to think of an example, the eldest cat woman smiled at her friend. "Besides, the way he moves in a fight is just like a cat person." Moving out of the camp, Felicia was going to stop Joe's madness and started down the hill to the lake. Getting halfway down the stairs, the cat woman's ears stood up on end. "Oh no!" Splitting the clouds, a large bolt of lightning came right for the docked male.
"Now… RAGING CHAOS!" Firing off the charged attack, it soared up into the sky and met the lightning strike. Smashing into one another, the forces of nature and chaos twisted in the air in a scene only a movie director could dream off. "Come on, take us back!" Joe yelled as in his anger, he launched off another attack at the conflicting forces. The area was absorbed in a flash of white as the second custom attack crashed into the first; blinding all that saw the clash. The dock was smoldering from the excess energy being shot off as rain started to come down to put out the embers.
To be continued – End of Chapter 13
Trailer for the next episode:
The results of Joe's clash with nature to return to an unnatural world are revealed… however; things have taken a drastic turn for the worse as an unplanned power outage combined with a trip to the Makai World ends up creating more problems than solutions. What does this mean about a return of the 'savior'… and how does this affect the Darkstalkers? You'll just have to wait and see!
Next time: Episode Fourteen: Return to the Dark – Part 2
AN: The reason I ended the chapter like that is simple, I felt it was starting to ramble on so it got cut.