Me: I feel like the most epic person even when I finish another chapter so soon.
Mushra: if only you'd done your schoolwork this quickly and well-
Me: in the spirit of my dear friend, school can burn.
Mushra: HEATHER, LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE
Me: enjoy!

Chapter 6—What Lay Ahead

The two women sat upon stone benches, as the pieces of armor were being gathered and sat beside them. The two of them did nothing to help, whether they needed to or not, as neither of them were willing to take part in what was to come.

But it was either, one of them survive for a chance to be able to turn their power into an escape and save everyone…or they all die, everyone first, and then them, they were sure of this.

Jaden was finding it hard to even think about MOVING right now other than breathing, much less thinking of battling her best friend. She couldn't even look up at Heather without tears welling. All she could think of was what they could have done to prevent this. If they hadn't played into the date, they could have been more prepared. If they'd not been busying the boys with training, they could have been more focused on their duties of keeping Enterra safe, and keeping in contact with towns and cities for any sign of unrest—they could have heard whisper of Ryuma. If they'd never come to Enterra, perhaps…

"Stand, warrior." One of the slender reptilian Enterrans hissed, but it was softer. Not in consideration, it only seemed to be how the Enterran talked.

Jaden looked and noticed the female Enterran was talking to Heather, and dropped her gaze immediately. That's when she felt two taps on her shoulder and she looked to find another female Enterran at her side, motioning for her to stand, and she did, reluctantly. Her legs felt like lead.

What they had for her was silver, with curved blue-purple designs. There were shoulder guards, a chest plate that only covered her chest, hip guards, gloves with arm guards, and boots with leg guards only on the boots, which was up to her knees. She let them attach and fastened it all, barely complaining, though inwardly she thought it was ridiculous to still be wearing these dresses. Of course, she was sure Ryuma was going to enjoy this, seeing them battle in wedding gowns.

Heather, however, wasn't being so obedient. She made every complaint, just to test the Enterran and make her impatient, though it wasn't working as she still fastened on the golden armor with spiked black designs. Before the other lady was able to fully attach the armor, Heather moved away.

"No, see, he wants us to battle? Then I'm gonna battle how I battle! Not in this big, poofy stuff! It's ridiculous, I'll trip and beat MYSELF because of this dang skirt!" she stated, which was a good point—and she went on to begin tearing the sleeves, barely any fabric from them still hanging attacked to the shoulders. She tore half the skirt of the dress from the cuts she made earlier, balling up the fabric and tossing it. "There. Now you can armor me…."

Jaden did watch her for a moment, when she wasn't looking. For the love of everything, she didn't want to do this. She shook her head, and taking inspiration from the other woman, she tore the front of the dress so that the front was open and free for her to move her legs about without risk of tripping, too. Thankfully, there were pantalets, which to Jaden just felt like thin pants, but it made it better.

The other women then left, and there was clanking around before they returned, carrying varied weapons.

"The Lord expects those crowns to be your greatest weapons, which he demands not be removed by any hand but his. But should you wish for another, these are what he offers."

Jaden glanced to Heather, and she shrugged. And both of them hesitated. The more they went along with this, the closer they got to doing it, so why rush?

The soft-voiced Enterran sighed then. "We will leave you to choose for the moment." They parted, one going to the other doors…and locking them, before they left the way the girls had come.

Jaden took a deep breath and, sighing, she looked to Heather, to find the other was looking over the weapons. "Should we?"

"Might as well." Heather stated, spotting a two-ended spear. She looked to Jaden seriously. "If we have weapons, we have the option to stall with them…"

Jaden nodded. "Speaking of… We should…try not to use our powers too much. If we save it up, we might be given a moment to use them—a last chance to get out of this situation. Ryuma said they won't last, so we gotta preserve it."

"You mean you do." Heather stated.

Jaden sighed through her nostrils, angry. But not at her friend, at the one who was forcing them into this. She looked back, a look on her face of a woman who has had enough.

"No. I mean we."

Winter had been taken all over the places, shaken back and forth as the sphere was carried through the halls, and she was shrouded in dark with cloth covering the ice cage. Every now and again, the snakes would tighten, but then they would release as she took calming breaths.

The rocking her back and forth and long venture might have brought sleep to her tired body and mind, but the rocking became knocking too often against the curved walls, so it was made impossible.

Though it did surprise her when other voices joined, a scratchy one and a high pitched on, and suddenly, the rocking stopped, though she found herself rolling onto her side as whoever set the cage down did so without consideration. When she righted herself enough, she began to listen.

"We've managed to master something never done before!" the high-pitched voice complained, and it sounded familiar to Winter, but she couldn't quite place it. Like she'd heard it only a few times. "There are countless possibilities out there for you and I, together, and you hold back?!"

"I have no intention of disobeying My Lord, for experiments, Parasite!" that voice, of course, was Ungar's, that Winter could recognize.

"Dr. Parasite!"

"My work follows the will of my lord! I cannot… I cannot deter…"

"Cannot? Then what has been that look in your eye? Do not deny it, you have been questioning!"

"Silence yourself, mad man! Get on about your work, or you WILL face his wrath, and trust, he is far WORSE than your Daku!"

The other man speaking made a squeaked noise of fear, before there was shuffling around. There were mumbles, but nothing Winter could make out any longer.

What she had to wonder, now, was what were these two about to do? She'd only caught bits and pieces of Ryuma's plan from so high above, with hissing forever in her ear. She'd heard enough, about what lay ahead for her sister and friend…and from what she could make out, the boys were going to witness the hell ahead, in their original forms.

What worried her was how they even reverted them to such young forms, and how they in turn would bring them back. From what she'd just heard, it was something few, if any, had ever done. So how could they even be sure it could be done?

That thought, and the fear that it brought to her, crippled her for a moment, where she lay in the cage. The hissing was growing again, the snakes binding her mouth curling to hiss in her ear, flicking its tongue.

"Heather…"

…Had that been Mushra? Winter's eyes opened and she sat up. She couldn't see a thing with whatever covering or tarp still over the cage, she had to get out of this! It was such a complicated cage—spherical, its bars here and there, yet with a layer of ice overlaying the ice bars, she couldn't tell how thick.

But ice was ice. It may be tough, but it could be weakened.

The boys were still there, and they were about to endure something impossible…she had to do something. She promised herself, as she saw her sisters leaving to one of their possible dooms, she had to do something.

Taking her deepest breath, releasing it, she released all the fear and distaste of the snakes, replacing it with aggravation and rage. They'd held her back, by their forms and by her fear, for too long. They were only as dangerously as she let them be.

Grasping ones head between her fingers and twisting hard and quick, pinching her fingers, she heard the crush and crack and knew she must have killed it. And the rest…disappeared.

She had no time to be relieved. She moved to lay against one part of the cage, and moving left and right, she rubbed her back side to side, over and over, never stopping, not matter the chill that ran through her. Her body was shaking within minutes, but she didn't stop. It was hazardous, yet helpful that her dress was so thin—her body heat was that much closer to the ice.

She heard the noises of the tubes opening, buttons being pressed, the tubes shutting and so on, and she quickened her pace, her teeth chattering.

"Hrmmmrrrmmhrrmm.. There we go, and yes, here… I will return to initiate. Be prepared for the next phase we spoke of." Parasite uttered and shuffled off.

Winter, with a sudden shiver combined with a shove of rage and panic, rammed her back against the spot of ice she'd been trying to warm all the while. And there was that strange noise that ice makes when it cracks. It was faint, but she looked, and noticed a few cracks. She rubbed harder, putting more pressure, and heard a few more cracklings. And that's when she spun around, brought her legs up, and rammed her feet hard upon the spot, and there was a great cracking shatter.

And with it, the entire cage shattered, Winter thankfully crawling out the whole she'd made before the rest of it had fallen on her. On her hands and knees, she stood, looking around and she spotted all the boys in the tubes, floating and unconscious. Shivering, she looked around, noting the doctor was still gone, and she spotted Ungar looking surprised on the other side of the room.

The shocked and frozen look upon her face was then replaced by a determined rage. Her shivers seemed to nearly vanished as she bent down, removed the tarp and took up a nice shard of ice, and she charged at Ungar, shoving the alchemist against the table, leaning over the shorter man and placing the ice against his throat.

"You. Will Listen. Very carefully. Understood?" Winter began, through half chattering but mostly gritted teeth.

"Whatever you are planning, you will risk very much, girl—"

"I said listen!"

He shut up at that.

"Your Lord is going to fall. And if you want to live, you'll help me. Understood?"

"I cannot…cannot defy him—"

"You did it before, you helped Yakumo against him." She stated, earning a strange look from Ungar.

"How—did you have visions of that other life as well?"

Winter narrowed her gaze. "You had visions?"

"Y-yes. That's what set him on his missions—he has always looked to me for my visions, and aid with my skills, and for guidance…I slept one night, and woke from a dream of what seemed another life. But its urgency told me, it was no dream, but a vision! I knew, it was not this life….so it had to be another, of some past… I revealed it to him, and he could not stand the fate, in any life, of being defeated. He demanded all details I held, and I showed him through a scrying bowl—he has been out for blood ever since! He wants to right his failure, and he thinks it will bring him even more fear and pride in him than he holds now!"

Winter narrowed her gaze, then raised a brow as she questioned, "He thinks? And…you don't…"

Ungar looked away. "I advised him against it, vehemently, but he did not listen… I have never trusted this mission of his but…he has not failed yet."

Winter stood straight, pointing the tip of the shard at Ungar's throat now. "He will. And you're going to help."

"And why would I…?"

"Because, his mission before failed…what's to say it won't happen again? It was so sure, despite your reservations on it, and yet he fell. He never trusts your guidance, Ungar, not fully, he only uses your power. Why do you serve him?" Winter questioned. She hoped, if she could sway Ungar's feeling of loyalty, she could make this work.

"I…wish to see him…succeed… I have been by his side for many years… I wish him to prevail. But he chooses…such shameful ways! Such ridiculous endeavors!"

"Then you will make sure, in this life, or the next, he does it right. He is worth nothing if he does not serve his people as much as he does himself. He could risk this castles entire inhabitants, including you, just to bring down his enemies, I can promise you that. He might mourn you for a fleeting moment, but it won't last, and it will be his work that brought you to your doom."

Ungar could only stare Winter down, who was feeling like she was on quite the beneficial adrenaline rush as she was handling this so well. Finally, after swallowing, Ungar gave a slow and reluctant nod.

Winter shoved him against the table a last time. "I'm going to do the honorable thing…and let you live. So you can do the honorable act of returning my friends to their original forms, WITH their power… And if you cross me, I will be obligated to take you down. Do you understand?"

Ungar nodded, and after he did so, Winter backed off completely, still holding the ice shard, but she gave Ungar enough space, eyes always on him.

Ungar looked to the door that the doctor had left through. "He could return…"

"From what I heard, we could always convince him to play along with a promise of eventual experiments." Winter said. "If not, then I'll give him a talkin' to."

Ungar nodded, and began looking over the preparations, and some glowing containers Winter had just noticed at the other corner of the room. They were containers larger than her head, glowing with the power from the currently-adolescent Enterran's, she knew it, from the purple, blue, and green colors.

"It seems the doctor already prepared the re-reversion process to begin. All that needs be done is…well, you won't like it…but they will survive it. I promise you that, and should I go back on that promise, you will kill me." Ungar stated.

Winter came to his side. "What will they survive?"

"Carding."

"You're going to card them?!" Winter exclaimed.

"It is part of the process!" Ungar said hurriedly, putting up his hands. "It is how we took the power, I and the doctor worked out a way to take their Hyper powers from their very core through their cards. If it goes as we planned, they should survive."

"Oh, now it's should?" Winter laughed without humor.

"It is our only option, no matter how you feel about it." Ungar stated pointed, aligning the containers to the tubes holding their individual owners.

Winter didn't like it, but she knew, she could feel it, she had no choice. She had to trust Ungar to do what she demanded just as much Ungar had to trust her not to kill him. So she stood by, close enough to observe and act if anything seemed wrong, but distant enough to be out of Ungar's way.

"The rest of this, I can do myself…it might be a risk to bring the doctor in on this. I don't know where his loyalties lie."

"Understood. So…how long will this take?"

Ungar looked to her then as he finished aligning, and opening the containers. "I cannot say for sure. But the most probable possibilities are fifteen to twenty minutes. It will take less, I believe, to return them, than it did to revert them back. And then I will have to initiate their carding, before performing my transference ritual. All their power will be returned to them."

Winter nodded, but Ungar had a look about him after saying 'all their power', and confused for a moment, it hit Winter. And she was filled with excited relief at first. That meant the power Ryuma was making Jaden and Heather use against each other! But then she considered…they would be defenseless, apart from weapons, if they had any. And worse, what would Ryuma do when he realized…?

She took a worried breath and Ungar nodded, seeing she understood. "That is why, we must be quick. Once their power is returned and they are revived from encarding, we will release them and force them to remember who they are, what is going on. Can you do that? Can you get through to them?"

Winter looked to each of them worriedly—how quickly could she even do that? What would she say?

Ungar placed a hand her shoulder to express his urgency as he said, "Can you?"

"Yes." She said quickly then. "Yes…I can."

Ungar nodded, and as he removed his hand, he seemed as if the removing of his hand from her flesh jolted him. He stumbled away from her, looking to her with wide eyes of confusion and fear.

"U-Ungar, what's going on..?!"

He shook his head. "Invovled…they shouldn't be…! But again… It's all come to this… H-he will never rest—"

Winter took a step closer. "Ungar! Come on! We don't have time for this, what…?!"

"Warriors will come."

"His warriors are coming? Did Parasite warn them?!"

"It is fated, woven… There will be battle…but who will win… The battle is dire, many will fall—"

"The only one falling will be Ryuma if he doesn't get the smarts to give up. Now come on." Winter shook Ungar's shoulder then, and he fell down then. Winter was down, grabbing his arm to help him. "Are you okay?"

Ungar held his head, eyes shut. "Vision…It's impossible…"

"Nothing's impossible, now come on. Please, I need you to return them to me." Winter was getting impatient now.

Ungar looked to her again, with confusion, and fear still, but it was a different now. Before, it was fear of the unknown, but this was more knowing. He shook his head though, and shakily stood, half with her assistance before just doing it on his own. He returned to his work without word or interruption, opening the last container, and going to prepare what seemed to be his ritual. He walked from that point on in silence. He marked the ground in purple chalk, preparing other necessities to the ritual, setting them on individual circles in the circle carved upon the ground.

Once he finished, he looked to the door across the room that lead further to another. "I must ensure the doctor is either there, or gone…he could stop us…or he could be going to warn someone, if he heard any of what we spoke. He's been gone far too long to be still here to assist…"

Winter nodded, reluctant. As Ungar left, she looked over the entire thing and observed the young, seemingly sleeping boys and her heart ached. She just wanted them back to a safe state again, she wanted out of all of this. She prayed this would go well. It HAD to!

Ungar returned, seemingly too soon. "He is gone…I cannot know if he fled for life or fled to turn us over… I hope it is the former…he is a jumpy sort… Lets begin, then…"

With that, Ungar pressed the button Jaden had stated meant begin, and the tubes began glowing, light shining in them, the light beginning to swirl slowly, and then quicker and quicker until the light was moving so fast. It left the tubes filled with light, nothing filtering through. Winter had to look away, but kept glancing now and again, even if pointless.

And this went on for some time. Winter decided she might as well start counting, and she paced to help herself do so, her foot-steps counting for a second with each step. A minute passed, and then another, and then the third that she expected to pass quicker, only passed slower than the other two (watched pot and all that crap). The ice shard was getting slippery in her hand by the time she'd reached six minutes.

"…They will have begun by now, your sister and friend. Guards will return if I do not go to call on them, expecting to retrieve these three. I will have to leave before the re-reversion finishes, and deter them from their responsibilities with a believable excuse that will pass long enough for us to finish this, so I must leave you with the responsibility of—"

"Whoa, no, I can't…I don't know how any of your technology works." Winter said quickly, putting her hands up.

Ungar shook his head and came to grab her hand, reaching it to hover over a few buttons on the control panel. "You need only to press four buttons, and then this one to begin what you prepared—you must promise you can do this for me. These top to, and these bottom two. And then begin. Promise you can do this." Ungar demanded carefully.

Winter shook her head, but sighed. She motioned, her hand always hovering, but she acted as if she might press, and did the pattern Ungar described. She did it three times, all three just as he showed and she nodded. "…Alright. What does it do?"

"It cards them. I will return to begin the transference as soon as I can. Once the light fades and they look as if they are as they should be, you will do as I showed you. You must. Good luck." He patted her hand, before making his way out through the entrance, leaving Winter hating what she'd just promised to do.

She couldn't even look to the tubes to show her reluctance, she just watched the control panel, dreading the pattern but memorizing it all the while.

"I'm sorry, guys…but I have to… But I promise, you'll be back. And we'll take down that damn Snake Lord. I promise…"

Mushra: YOU'RE GOING TO CARD US?! Do you hate us so!?
Me: it has to be done, chill out—its not that differently from Sago and Kutaal having to be carded for you to become Mushrambo. What, you have a problem being a part of the card-ies this time?
Mushra: No, I just think its cruel!
Me: You wanna know cruel? Trying being a part of a fandom with little merchandise, if any, even less fans that are reachable, and having to stay up to 4 to 8 in the morning to see it, WHEN it was still on TV, and then for it to disappear from TV forever with only the hopes of Youtube offering it to keep that part of our hearts going. That's cruel.
Mushra:…man you're obsessed-gah! *gets hit aside*
Me: Review if you like, next chapter coming soon~