Annaka

I don't feel myself being hit. Don't feel any pain.

I open my eyes to see Kennedy in front of me, using a gaster blaster to shoot through the attack, just as she had done before with the spears with Undyne.

I also notice that Kennedy is standing on the gaster blaster.

The attack is now gone and the monster looks astonished.

Then, the monster returns to normal and runs off in another direction.

Kennedy turns around and extends a hand to me. "You ok, Annie?"

I nod and grasp her hand.

She pulls me onto her gaster blaster and I am unsteady standing atop of it.

"Uh...are you sure this is ok to ride on?" I ask, uncertainty in my voice.

"Just hold on tight, ok?" Kennedy says.

I wrap my arms around Kennedy's waist tightly and we go off quite fast.

We head to where Alyssa is.

She is dealing with the rest of the monsters, but is having some trouble.

The monsters are cornering her and she looks nervous.

Just as one steps forward, Kennedy raises her arm up to make bones out of the ground, separating the monsters and Alyssa.

"Hey!" a monster yells.

I see Alyssa pop out of the ground near us and wrap all the monsters into vines.

"That's all of them," I say. "right?"

Kennedy nods. "Yeah. We got them all. Now we need to try and open a portal."

"I'll try to," I say, jumping off the gaster blaster and holding my bone.

I swirl it in a circular motion, but nothing happens.

I continue to, using everything I have-all my power, strength, everything!-to open it, and it finally opens.

I exhale and Alyssa(with help from her vines)moves all the monsters in it, just as the portal closes.

Kennedy hops off her gaster blaster as it disappears. "Nice job," she says to me.

I smile weakly at her, feeling quite weak, and that's when my knees give way.

I drop down onto the floor as everything turns black, but I can still hear voices. Very faint and echoing voices, though.

"Annie, please wake up!"

"Oh my god! What happened!"

"Please! Wake upp!"

And then, everything stops.

There is no more sound, no more color, nothing.

And all I see is blackness, blackness, blackness.

Kennedy

People start to crowd around as I am on my knees next to Annaka.

She is clutching her bone in her hand and her eyes are closed. But, her chest still rises and falls as she breaths steadily.

Thank goodness she's still alive.

"Uhh...guys don't worry! She'll...be fine." I pick Annaka up, holding her tightly in my arms. "But if there is another one of those monsters, they can be dangerous so...um...don't do anything to them. And, uh, you may want to check on your fellow peer." I motion to Jonathan, who lies on the floor.

Everyone goes over to Jonathan, leaving Alyssa and I a good chance to make our escape.

Alyssa whispers, "I'll be back because I can't go into the bathroom in this form." Alyssa ducks underground and I decide to teleport to the bathroom so no one will see me go inside of there.

My eye glows blue and in an instant, I teleport both me and Annaka.

.

I open my eyes to see myself standing in the bathroom.

I make sure no one else is in here, then run into the big stall and lock the door.

I go onto my knees and lower Annaka to the ground gently.

She is still transformed and her breathing is still steady.

I sigh and debate on whether or not to try and wake her up or leave her be.

Just then, I hear someone.

"Ken!" Alyssa calls from outside of the stall.

I run to the door and unlock it.

Alyssa is there and I quickly let her in.

She is back to her normal self and she hurries in as I lock the stall door.

Alyssa kneels next to Annaka and I do the same.

"What do you think happened?" Alyssa asks in a hushed voice.

I shrug. "No idea. Maybe she used too much of her power."

Alyssa nods. "She did look like she was struggling to open the portal."

"Yeah," I say. "Should we try to wake her up?"

Alyssa shakes her head. "Yeah. You try. I may throw her around like a rag doll out of frustration."

"Note to self: never let Alyssa wake people up," I say out loud.

Alyssa giggles a bit as I put my hands on Annaka's shoulders.

"Annie?" I say, shaking her ever so slightly.

Nothing.

I shake her a bit more and I hear her groan.

"Yea..?" she asks, her voice distant. "What...happened...?"

Annaka

I squint my eyes to see Kennedy and Alyssa.

I open my eyes and look at them both.

"W-where are we?" I ask.

"In the bathroom," Kennedy replies. "Do you remember anything?"

I blink my eyes and try to jog my memories.

What happened last? We were...we were...

"Oh right!" I say, remembering at last. "Fighting. I opened the portal. Then, it closed after the monsters went in. And then...uh...blackness is all I remember after that."

"I think you used too much energy opening the portal," Alyssa says. "Were you struggling to open it?"

I nod. "Yea I was. I had to use everything I had to open it."

"Why'd you use all your energy like that, Annie?" Kennedy asks.

"I-I couldn't just give up," I reply.

"You could've had us help you if you were struggling that much," Kennedy points out.

I shrug. "I wanted to prove I could do it on my own."

"Yea but was this all worth it?" Kennedy asks.

I shrug again and give her a small smile. "I guess it was. Now, let's turn back to normal before anyone starts to wonder where we're at."

Kennedy nods and helps me stand up.

I feel very shaky but stay standing and turn back to normal-as does Kennedy-, then pack my bone away as Alyssa packs her pellet away.

Then, we all run over to the lawn, where everyone is crowded around something(or someone).

There are teaches and supervisors crowding as well(which, now that I think about it, were there the whole time).

"Who were those girls and the...talking flower...?" one of the teacher asks.

Another shrugs. "I don't know. Let's just focus on the injured student."

"I should've healed Jonathan before turning back to normal," Kennedy whispers to me. "Even if I already teleported."

"Wait, when did you teleport?" I ask her.

"I teleported you and me to the bathroom," Kennedy replies.

I nod and get a glimpse at Jonathan.

He is laying on the ground, unconscious and looks like he got pretty scratched up.

The rest of the group pulls us aside for a minute.

"Oh my god! I hope Jonathan is ok!" Lily exclaims. Then, she realizes what she said and starts blushing a light pink. "Uh...I-I mean..."

Alyssa smiles widely. "Aww! Lonathan!"

"Shut up!" Lily exclaims.

"Anyways," Kealani interrupts. "what happened to you Annaka?"

Alyssa, Kennedy, and I start to explain exactly what happened.

"I think that you have to put a lot of effort into it during the day," I say. "But I'm not exactly sure why."

"Hey guys."

We turn to a fellow classmate of mine, Kylie, who is smiling.

Kylie points to me. "You, Alyssa, and Kennedy missed it. There were these two girls and a talking flower who were using...magic, of some sort. It was so cool! Where were you guys?"

At the same time, I say, "Bathroom!" Kennedy says, "Classroom!" and Alyssa says, "Lost-and-found!"

We all look at each other and start laughing nervously.

"R-right, I was in the bathroom," I say.

"And I was getting something from the classroom," Kennedy says.

"And I was seeing if my jacket was in the lost-and-found," Alyssa says.

We all smile innocently at Kylie, hoping she doesn't see through our lies.

Kylie smiles. "Ok. But you really should've been here. It was so amazing! Maybe they'll come again some time. Or maybe other people like them will come!"

Kylie walks off, back to her group of friends.

And that's when Kennedy, Alyssa, and I all let out a sigh of relief in unison, having been so thankful that Kylie didn't see straight through them.

Although mysteries that you are dying to find out about still linger, you stay DETERMINED

(Hope you liked this chapter. Thanks for reading and stay determined!)