DarkFoxKit: … *Blows dust off of the story* Wow… it took a lot longer than I thought it would for us to be able to continue updating TIR. You see, there was a character in this chapter that would've majorly spoiled We Are Phantoms, so we wanted to wait until we got that chapter out and it had been long enough for fans to read it. But our writing schedule, and with how things had been lately made it difficult to get the next chapter out. I do apologize for the really long wait for those who had been interested in the story to continue after only 4 chapters. ^^' You may have forgotten about this story, but we definitely haven't. We just hadn't had a good time to update it until now.
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': As with before, there are some adult elements in the story. If you aren't comfortable with them, stop reading, leave, and don't leave a complaint. This is a story we wrote as a personal passion project of ours and have no plans on editing it to suit the needs of the readers. With that warning given again, I hope those that enjoy it do enjoy it.
DarkFoxKit: We also make no promises of keeping a constant schedule. As Onyx said, this is a story we did for fun and to go nuts with anything and everything.
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Unlike the other stories that Fox updates, we aren't going to be aiming to be consistent with updates for this. As this story was started a while ago, we're needing to go back and edit the chapters before posting, which can take quite some time to do as we need to schedule editing time while keeping the other projects in mind.
Chapter 5: Fire vs. Fire
Echo decided to pay Fenton Works a little visit that night. It was still early in the night, meaning the Fentons were likely still awake. Echo, being able to walk through solid matter with ease, moved through the door and into the living room. He looked around the living room, seeing it was the same as he had seen it before, a couch, a coffee table, and the regular things you would expect in a living room. Over on the couch he saw Jazz putting some kind of cream on Danny's arm.
"You really need to be more careful, Danny, I know you can heal fast, but you shouldn't let yourself get hurt so easily," Jazz lightly scolded.
"I can handle it, Jazz. Besides, I had to take the hit, otherwise the attack would've hit Dash and Kwan," Danny explained softly. "I didn't have time to put up a shield for them."
Echo sighed as he watched the siblings. "Ghost Obsessions… they're hardwired into ghosts, halfas included, they would get antsy and sick if they're unable to fulfill their Obsessions. There should be a book of ghost law and culture. Maybe the Ghost Writer's got one..."
Jazz sighed. "You probably would've had time to shield them and could've even stopped the fight quicker had you dropped the need to make quips."
"I don't make a lot of quips," Danny pouted.
"Really?" Jazz stopped, raising a brow while crossing her arms. "I have two journals upstairs that are completely filled with only quips from the last year of your fights. I should also mention that those journals are quite thick and my handwriting is quite small and organized."
"Well, my quips are what make the fights more bearable, okay?" Danny sighed. "Besides, the ghosts kind of expect me to use those in our fights."
"Then perhaps you can use a few less quips when there are people around who can get hurt," Jazz suggested before she went back to applying the cream. "Anyways, tell me about that new girl in your classes."
"You mean Juliette?" Danny asked for clarification.
"No, I'm talking about the other new girl in your classes," Jazz responded with a deadpan expression. "Of course I mean Juliette. She and her mother are all the town's talking about these days."
"Someone's gotten better with her sarcasm," Danny chuckled. "Well, Juliette is quite… unique. Tucker, Sam, and I decided to talk to her since everyone else was a little… afraid… I guess? To approach her. I also sensed some power coming off of her, so I wanted to get to know her as well, I wanted to make sure she wasn't going to hurt anyone. I also wanted to know if she had control over whatever powers she may have. Not having a lot of control over your powers can lead to dangerous situations."
"You would know all about that, wouldn't you?~" Jazz teasingly questioned.
Danny huffed and continued, ignoring Jazz's comment. "She seems pretty cool, a little shy, quite likable. She doesn't like kinks, so that's a bonus for me. Though I think there might be some ghostly properties with her. Apparently she can also feed off of Will O' Wisps."
"She also went into your mind, twice," Echo added.
Jazz gave a thoughtful look. "You think she might be a halfa?"
"No… I wouldn't say she's a halfa exactly, but she does have some ghostly properties. I'm not sure how much, but not enough to be a halfa," Danny answered.
"Were Sam or Tucker able to sense anything off with Juliette? Or was it simply you?" Jazz questioned. "Does her energy radiate off her? Or is it more hidden?"
"She does have a bit of energy radiating off her. Tucker and Sam could sense a little bit of it, even though they don't have much experience sensing energies. For the most part, however, her powers are hidden," Danny informatively replied. "She must have at least decent control over her power if she's able to keep most of it hidden. Unlike me when I first got my ghost powers, my ghostly aura was constantly putting out ghostly energy, so much so it kept making our parents' devices pick up on me, and other ghosts kept finding me. I'm glad I got it under control now."
"Do you think she may be a potential ally in the future?" Jazz inquired. "Or do you think she could possibly prove to be a potential threat? It's also possible that she could be neither."
"I'm not sure yet. I'm hoping she would be an ally and friend, though she did mention that her and her mother do travel a lot. So she may not stick around forever," Danny sighed before he perked up a little. "On the plus side, she did ask me to tutor her. I figured that would be a great time to bring her over to our house so she can see what our parents are like."
"... They might scare her off…" Jazz frowned.
"Hey, if Tucker and Sam were able to handle Mom and Dad's eccentricness, I'm sure Juliette could too. I just… hope she's able to keep whatever ghostly properties she has hidden, I don't want them attacking her," Danny remarked in concern. "Maybe I should tutor her at her house…"
Jazz shook her head and let out a long sigh. "You won't be able to keep Juliette away from Mom and Dad forever. It'd be easier to brace her for it and then bring her over here to meet them. I know I'd rather be in semi-control of the situation when introducing someone to Mom and Dad, instead of having no control whatsoever."
"Juliette's the crazy one…" Echo muttered. "Put her with Maddie and Jack, and you have a trio of crazy people. That should be fun. Add Vlad into the mix and the world would be doomed."
"Yeah, I'll definitely have to warn Juliette about Mom and Dad's… eccentric behavior," Danny responded with a frown. "Speaking of Mom and Dad… are they still in the lab?"
"Yeah, they've been working on something for a while. I think they're excited to show it off soon," Jazz answered. "Though I'm not sure what it is or what it does, Mom, and even Dad, have been pretty tight lipped about it."
"They must want it to be a surprise. Didn't they say they're planning to go to school during an assembly to teach the staff how to use ghost weapons to defend the school better?" Danny asked.
"Oh geez… I thought that was a nightmare I had…" Jazz paled at that. "Are you saying that Mom and Dad will actually be teaching other people how to use their ghost weapons?"
"Yeah… they are the only adult ghost hunters in Amity Park…" Danny confirmed.
"Perhaps I can try to get an early transfer to college…" Jazz softly muttered before she glanced at Danny, shaking her head a little. "We'll have to come up with a way to either sabotage them or convince them to go with something else. I don't like the idea of Mom and Dad equipping our teachers with weapons that aren't only effective on ghosts but also people…"
"I think the best we can do is postpone the assembly," Danny said. "Otherwise, unless we could somehow destroy every single one of their weapons, which is really hard to do, then it's going to happen eventually."
"The assembly…" Echo frowned, visions entering his mind.
Echo could see Danny, Tucker, Sam, and Jazz at the school auditorium with Mr. Lancer's students, as well as the rest of the student body that Echo didn't care to learn about. Juliette was sitting somewhere in the front. Echo could see Jack and Maddie showing off their inventions. Then Technus attacked, using one of the Ghost Shields that Maddie brought to show how small and easy they are to use, and how one could easily protect the whole school.
Echo could see Phantom trying to dodge his parents' blasters. Then Maddie took the Fenton Mortifier and tried to hit Danny with its deadly red beam. Danny managed to dodge a few blasts, but then Danny was too close to one of the students. Danny didn't move, he let the red beam hit him, not wanting it to hit the student behind him. Danny went still for a minute, then suddenly, he screamed, and the scream turned into a deadly Ghostly Wail. Then a small Ghost Portal opened up in front of Danny.
Echo shook his head, coming out of the vision. "Unless Juliette can stop it, it's going to happen at the assembly…"
Echo looked at Danny, who was still discussing with Jazz on what to do about the assembly. "Oh… Danny… if this future happens, he's going to be in so much pain… mental and possibly physical pain."
"Perhaps a certain ghost boy could pull the fire alarm and the assembly will be cancelled?" Danny suggested, coming up with a possible plan.
"That'll only work once, and I doubt they'd cancel the assembly, just either postpone it or have it outside," Jazz pointed out.
"Destroy that Mortifier!" Echo shouted. "That Mortifier is going to spiral down into a very complicated, and hard future, for all of you. You, your sister, your parents, your friends, your classmates, it's all because of that Mortifier!"
Unfortunately for Echo, Danny and Jazz continued on, never hearing him, never knowing he was there, oblivious to what kind of future was in store for them. Echo frowned as he looked down at his gray hands.
"What's the point of seeing the future if I can't change it? If I can't warn anyone of it…" Echo asked himself softly before shaking his head. "No, there's still a chance. I've warned Juliette, and she can make a difference."
"... By the way, Jazz… I wanted to thank you," Danny suddenly said, catching Echo and Jazz's attention. "For… well… everything really. For being supportive, and always helping out, y'know? I'm not sure how long I would've lasted if I didn't have anyone in the family I could talk to. Tucker and Sam are great, but they can't always be with me."
"Of course, Danny. I do worry for you though, you always try too hard, and place everything on your shoulders. I know you want to protect everyone, but you're only one person," Jazz replied in concern. "Try to give yourself a break. You can't help anyone if you're too tired or too injured to do much."
"Yeah, I know…" Danny admitted with a defeated sigh. "But... thanks, Jazz."
Echo looked at the two siblings as they smiled at each other. Then Danny and Jazz hugged, Echo smiled, but he also felt a strange feeling in his chest. The strange feeling felt like it cut into him. A flash of Danny hugging him went through his head, making him frown more.
Deciding that he should leave, Echo exited Fenton Works. Feeling strangely tired, he headed back to the opera house. Once he got back to the opera house, he began to walk upstairs to where Juliette was sleeping.
"Oh, hiya."
Echo jumped at the sudden greeting, seeing a familiar black cat in Juliette's room. "W-w-what are you d-doing h-here?"
"Came here to check in on my 'daughter'," Anise answered with a smirk. "I noticed she had some drugs in her system. Weak drugs, but drugs nonetheless. I wanted to make sure nobody, besides me, was taking advantage of her."
"Oh… well, that's nice of you," Echo hesitantly responded. "Um… I uh… guess I should go…"
"Nope! You can sit down on the chair Juliette went out of her way to prepare for you," Anise replied in a commanding tone.
"Y-yes ma'am," Echo nervously replied before he sat down on the chair.
"Tell me, what do you think of Juliette's current quest?" Anise questioned as she walked over and stood in front of the seated boy.
"To... free me from the Void?" Echo asked for clarification.
"Yup," Anise confirmed. "What do you think about it, Void Boy?"
Echo frowned a little at the nickname. "Um… well… to be honest, I… think it's crazy. I'm still not sure what pushed Juliette to make such a choice."
"Do you not want her to free you from the Void then?" Anise raised a brow.
"I… maybe…? I'm not sure. The Void is all I know…" Echo sighed. "There… have been times where I wish I could be heard or seen, but those were few and far between. Although, ever since Juliette came along, they've been a lot more… prominent. But I still don't know if I want to become a part of the world of the living, a world that I was lost from..."
"Is there something specific you're scared about, besides feeling like it would be weird for you to just suddenly reappear?" Anise tilted her head.
"Well… maybe I just don't feel like I deserve to exist. Maybe that's why I don't," Echo said quietly.
"I see…" Anise acknowledged, looking up at the ceiling. "You definitely deserve to exist. If you didn't, the Void wouldn't have captured you in the first place. If you didn't deserve to exist, it would've let you simply disappear. There are a few people falling into the Void every day sadly, and very rarely will the Void keep them. I should clarify, by people falling into the Void, I mean by accident or stupidity or by choice. For instance, people testing out teleportation or simply sacrificing their existence for another or doing a really risky experiment."
Echo sighed, though he knew better than to argue with a goddess. Instead, he asked a question. "Do you know of a skeleton being that apparently lives in the Void?"
Anise's attention snapped to Echo, who could see that the cat now wore an extremely serious expression. "Yes. All gods and goddesses that have dealt with the Void know of him. He is seen as the unofficial Dark God of the Void."
Echo gave an intrigued look. "Really? I remember he was the first being I spoke to when I woke up in the Void. He told me a little bit about the Void, and how I don't really exist, that others can't perceive us, yet we can understand them more than most people could. And that once a being is in the Void, there's no way out. It was why I always believed I'd be part of the Void forever. I never saw him again after the initial meeting though."
"I've heard that exact story from many Void Walkers," Anise informed. "It's essentially his 'welcome to the Void' speech. And while it is normally true, you may just be a unique case where you aren't trapped in the Void forever."
"I don't get what's so special about me compared to other Void Walkers. Why would I have a chance of escaping the Void, yet they can't?" Echo questioned.
"Because you have powers and traits no other Void Walker possesses," Anise openly admitted. "For instance, your ability to perceive possible futures. No other being in the Void has that ability, not even the Void Skeleton himself. I'm… a little concerned that once Juliette starts making a lot of progress on getting you out of the Void, the skeleton will show back up to try and convince you or force you to stay…"
"Hold on, my future visions are unusual?" Echo asked, looking confused. "I thought it was just something Void Cre- I mean, Void Walkers get. I mean I can hear people's thoughts, sense their feelings, heck, Void Spirits can go into someone's mind, so why not see into the future? That seems less unusual and more likely to be a 'Void being' power."
"Nope, that power belongs to you, Time Gods and Goddesses, and a certain miser in the Ghost Zone who may as well be a god," Anise replied. "The list of those who have the power to perceive the future is quite short."
Echo groaned as he rubbed his forehead. "Great, so I'm a weird Void Walker that can see into the future. But how does that tie in to me being able to leave the Void?"
"Didn't Juliette tell you before?" Anise asked, making Echo blink. "That you are more like her than you realize. Sure, you're technically a full Void Walker, but you haven't been completely consumed by the Void either. That means you have a chance of getting out. A slim chance, sure, but still a chance."
Echo frowned, creasing his eyebrows.
"The reason why you're not sure why or how that's the case, most likely ties in to the fact you can't remember how or why you ended up in the Void in the first place," Anise pointed out.
"Whatever the case may be, things are going to get very complicated if Juliette succeeds, and I mean more ways than one…" Echo stated softly.
"I'm sure it will," Anise agreed. "Though I'll try to make sure to help deal with any problems that come from Juliette's current quest. I have made it my personal quest to try and keep an eye on Juliette and keep her safe. Though I still have my divine duties to attend to regularly, so I'm not always going to be around."
"Any particular reason why you made it your personal quest to keep an eye on Juliette?" Echo curiously asked. "Or is that too personal to share with the 'Void Boy'? I mean, if nothing else, I'm a great listener."
"I'm keeping an eye on her because that's what my friend would want me to do, and I owe that friend a ton of favors," Anise answered with a sly chuckle.
"Who's your friend? Are they also a god or goddess?" Echo inquired with a small head tilt.
"Artemis, the Greek Goddess of the Hunt," Anise responded informatively.
"Oh… wow…" Echo so smartly responded. "The Goddess of the Hunt wants you to keep Juliette safe? Wouldn't she rather hunt Juliette?"
"No, and Artemis doesn't exactly know about Juliette," Anise replied. "I… haven't yet told her… she's still recovering and telling her about Juliette would probably… overwhelm her."
"Recovering?" Echo repeated in a questioning tone. "From… what?"
"Having her goddess status and powers restored to her," Anise stated nonchalantly.
"Oooookay… I guess there's a lot more to that story that you're not so willing to talk about right now," Echo observed.
"Not just yet, no," Anise confirmed. "If you want to find out about Artemis's story, you're going to have to go to Japan and find out for yourself."
"Um… I mean it's not like I can go into an airplane, I'd fall through it…" Echo grumbled.
"You can stand on a second floor but not on a plane?" Anise raised a brow.
"When a plane takes off, it's no longer considered being 'a part of the ground', I'm not entirely sure how the Void rules work," Echo shrugged.
"Heh, 'Void rules'," Anise chuckled. "That's cute… you think there are rules to the Void."
Echo looked away, not wanting to admit he felt embarrassed and small. Didn't think I would ever feel like this. "Well, if you're going to keep an eye on Juliette, I'm just going to leave."
"No, you will keep your ass planted on that chair and you will not move until I'm done talking with you," Anise said in a no-nonsense tone.
Echo frowned. "What's your problem? Why do you want to keep me here?"
"I don't have a why, but I do have a who," Anise responded. "I'd like to talk to Foxfire."
"What?" Echo raised an eyebrow. "Why do you want to talk to Foxfire?"
"Because I have some questions for her," Anise said.
"Oh… um…" Echo frowned a little before he tried making a blue fire, but it dissipated quickly. "Foxfire doesn't seem too keen on talking to you."
"Tell her that I would really like to talk to her right now and if she doesn't want to come out on her own, I may get a little pushy," Anise replied in a warning tone, though that warning was hidden behind a sadistic smile.
Echo didn't know why, but he ended up growling at Anise. It was a challenging growl. Echo put a hand over his mouth.
"I see, so you want me to be forceful, Foxfire?" Anise raised a brow while smirking. "Are you suuuure?"
Echo shook his head, still covering his mouth, but he couldn't summon a representative of Foxfire.
What are you doing, Foxfire? Don't anger a goddess! Echo frantically squealed.
Anise's eyes began to glow a powerful gold. "Alright, Foxfire, you asked for it~ You could've simply come out on your own."
Echo didn't know what Anise was going to do, but he certainly felt scared. Anise held out a hand towards him. Echo yelped as he felt a sudden burning pain inside his chest. He let out a squeak as he fell over from the chair, hitting the floor on his hands and knees. Blue fire began to burn around him, cloaking him. Echo didn't know why Foxfire was cloaking him, but he could feel that she was being forced. Once Foxfire was finished cloaking Echo, Echo looked up at Anise, feeling angry, annoyed, and scared at the same time. His ears pointed back and his teeth gritted.
"Don't try to retreat, Foxfire," Anise commented. "I'll simply pull you back out if you try. I warn you though, I pull you out too many times and I risk separating you from your chosen one."
Echo let out a hiss at Anise. Since Echo couldn't speak in this form, he stood up from his crouching position, mentally demanding what Anise wanted.
"Tell me, Foxfire, why this boy?" Anise questioned.
Echo didn't know what the heck Anise was talking about, and yet he still had thoughts forming in his head directed at Anise.
"Why indeed? I can't say. For this boy has no past for me to speak of. I just exist with him here," Echo mentally answered, though Echo got the feeling that these weren't his own thoughts.
"That, you and I both know, isn't true," Anise remarked. "You came to this boy after he was in the Void, right?"
"No, I was already with him before that. I sent a representative to meet him, so he would know why he had my power," 'Echo' informed.
"I see…" Anise nodded. "You have always been quite picky about your host. So tell me, do you think this boy would've met your standards when he was alive?"
"He already had, that was why I had chosen him before he ended up in the Void. If you know about my kind, Goddess Anise, then you know that I would not have survived here. I would've dissipated long before I would've found the boy. You know not of what he had faced, what he had to go through, to get my approval," 'Echo' responded. "And it saddens me that neither does he, nor anyone."
"Then perhaps you could tell me," Anise suggested. "Tell him."
"I cannot. I am forbidden by the Void, if I try to tell him, he will not remember. All memories linked to his past before the Void will fade," 'Echo' answered. "It does not matter to me if a god or goddess could remember or not. I will not speak a word of this unless he is out of the Void with his memories. I do not wish to overwhelm his poor little heart."
"Then perhaps you can at least tell me this," Anise began. "How many letters in his name? His name from when he was living."
Echo suddenly started seeing spots and hearing static, he didn't know what was happening. He couldn't hear the thoughts anymore. Anise was saying something, but he couldn't hear her either. Suddenly, there was nothing but blackness.
Echo couldn't describe what this meant. He always knew when a living or ghost lost consciousness, they wouldn't be aware of what was happening, or all they would see is black. Echo never thought he would experience anything remotely similar to that. Echo was sure though, that he didn't lose consciousness, because he couldn't lose consciousness while in the Void. So what is going on?
Echo didn't know how long he was in this mysterious darkness, but he was waiting for something to happen. Did the Void pull me in deeper somehow? What happened with Foxfire and Anise? What were they talking about?
"You know… I think you're right. It is nice to watch people sleep~"
Juliette? What is she doing in this weird darkness? Echo pondered, before realizing something. Wait a minute… are my eyes closed?
Echo slowly started to blink open his eyes, surprised to see a certain silver and black furred kitsune right up at his face.
"About time you woke up, sleeping beauty~" Juliette teasingly giggled.
"What?" Echo stared at Juliette in pure confusion. "Who are you talking to? When did you wake up? And… why am I laying on the floor?"
"I'm talking to you, sleepy head~" Juliette chuckled. "And you're laying on the floor because you were asleep. I woke up about an hour ago."
Echo furrowed his eyebrows. "... I know you're not talking to me. Is there someone behind me?"
Echo sat up and looked behind him, not seeing anything but the floor. Echo looked back at Juliette, blinking.
"No, Echo, I was talking to you!" Juliette beamed.
"But… how? I mean, you're saying things like 'sleepy head' and 'you were asleep'. That makes no sense if you're talking to me," Echo pointed at himself. "Remember? I. can't. sleep."
"Yet you were," Juliette countered. "You were snoring and everything."
Echo shook his head. "I think you were dreaming. I also think Anise stuffed me in a dark pocket dimension for the rest of the night."
"Anise was here?" Juliette raised a brow. "And I definitely wasn't dreaming. I called out your name a few times, nudged you with that chair over there, and even pushed you with a barrier."
"Yes, Anise was here, she was checking on you because she noticed you had some drugs in your system," Echo confirmed. "She and I chatted for a bit, then Foxfire came out, and… I don't know, everything just suddenly went black. Next thing I knew, my eyes were closed, and you were in my face."
"I was observing you, like you observe other people~" Juliette cockily smirked. "And your eyes were closed because you were in the Void equivalent of a sleep state."
"Okay… what?" Echo frowned at Juliette. "You observed me? ME? As in this me? The one who observes people? You observed ME!? What the heck? Why? I'm the observer, not the observee! And… there's a sleep state in the Void? If that were true, why did I never fall asleep before? HOW did I even 'fall asleep', and OH MY GOSH! I was ASLEEP!?"
Echo fell back to the floor with a THUD, staring wide eyed at the ceiling. "Everything I know is suddenly wroooooong."
Juliette started laughing at that. "Calm down, Echo. It was probably a one time thing where Anise made you sleep or something."
"This is wrong! You observed me while I slept! Do you know how many wrongnesses exist in that sentence?" Echo glared. "I am… STILL a part of the Void, aren't I? I'm starting to question this more and more…"
"Yes, you are still a part of the Void," Juliette answered before she put her hand through Echo's chest.
Echo sat up, trying to calm himself down. "Okay, stop freaking out… there are more things to discuss… worry about the weird 'sleep state' later…"
Echo turned his attention back to Juliette. "Okay, there are some things we need to discuss. Other than the obvious wrongness of what happened just a minute ago. I went to spy on our dear friend Vlad last night, and he had apparently got a hold of a tuft of your fur. He put it in an analyzer, and showed a list of some things about you."
"O-oh?" Juliette nervously asked. "What did it show…?"
"Quite a few things," Echo answered. "But the ones that caught my attention the most were how you apparently have magic that's about on the same level as 3 modern nuclear warheads."
Juliette paled at that. "I… knew I had magic deep inside me… but not that much. And… admittedly I… can't really actually use any of it. I mostly know how to hide it… and even then, I'm not that good at hiding all my energy…"
"As for the other thing… you apparently have some ghost DNA in you," Echo continued.
Juliette raised a brow at that. "Ghost DNA? That can't be right… I've only been to the Ghost Realm… Ghost Zone once. I've rarely met any ghosts, and I'm pretty sure my parents weren't ghosts, otherwise I would be a ghost myself."
"Well, 'ghost DNA' is a bit vague. Ghosts don't actually have DNA, but rather ectoplasm. Likely you have some ectoplasm in your DNA. And it's possible you might've absorbed a lot more while you were in the Ghost Zone due to being a kitsune who can absorb Wisp's energy," Echo theorized.
"I… don't think it was that," Juliette muttered as she gave it some thought. "I didn't feel any energy flowing into me while we were in the Ghost Zone. The only time I can think I may have absorbed ectoplasm is when I have rarely fed off of Wisps."
"Whatever, that's not important right now," Echo sighed triedly, despite not being able to feel tired. "Your magic is a bigger concern. Do you even know how to control it? You said you've only hidden it. But what if something happens that makes you use that power?"
"I don't know, I've never been able to use that power before," Juliette answered with a small frown. "It's pretty deep inside me from what I can tell."
Echo looked at Juliette for a minute before he looked into the future for any moment of a magical explosion. There were several paths where nothing ever happened, some paths had Juliette losing that magic, though there were a few concerning paths where the magic overwhelmed Juliette and caused destruction in the area. Echo hoped those unlikely futures didn't happen.
"You should be fine, for the most part," Echo finally said after he studied those future paths. "I guess we won't need to worry about it right now. My biggest concerns are the Fenton Mortifier, and Vlad. Those are the most troubling near futures I've seen."
"So what can I do about them?" Juliette asked as she took a few steps away from Echo, sitting down on the edge of her bed.
"You said you might be able to destroy the Fenton Mortifier, right?" Echo inquired. "If you can do that, then hopefully those futures where Danny gets shot would disappear. As for Vlad… unfortunately, until I can figure out what he's planning to do, we can only be wary and keep an eye on him."
Juliette nodded. "I can destroy the Fenton Mortifier on Monday hopefully, when I go over to get tutored. I think today I might go apply for a job at PetSmart, it'd be nice to have some spending money."
"Right, you go do that," Echo agreed. "Maybe you can get something to quiet down your growling stomach."
Juliette blushed under her fur. "It's not that loud…"
As if on cue, Juliette's stomach let out a loud growl. Toriel hadn't come this morning, so Juliette hadn't had anything to eat yet.
"Quiet down, you!" Juliette growled back at her stomach.
Echo was laughing. "Well, you have fun with your angry stomach. Maybe while you're at work, you could have some free lunch there?"
"I doubt they'd start me off today… but you never know," Juliette said with a small shrug as she began to head for the stairs. "What do you plan on doing today?"
"Probably just the usual, go observe people. Mostly Danny." Echo shrugged. "It's not like I can do much on my own."
"Maybe you could come watch me work or go see a movie or something," Juliette suggested. "Or you can go spy on Vlad more."
"Right. By the way, once you do start to work, some idiot employee will tell you to pet the gerbils. Don't, they will bite predatory anthros," Echo warned. "Make sure you feed the python the common white mice, not the rats, the rats are going to be on sale next weekend, and they don't want to be short on rats."
"I take it I'm starting today then?" Juliette raised a brow as she took mental notes of what Echo said.
"You'll actually start tomorrow," Echo informed. "You could be starting today, but it's unlikely."
Juliette frowned at that. "But if I start tomorrow, I may have to skip my tutoring session with Danny, meaning I won't be able to destroy the Mortifier."
"Okay, give me a minute to study that unlikely timeline. Maybe there's something you have to do to get on it…" Echo said as he closed his eyes to concentrate on the future of where Juliette started today.
Echo tried to see what was different between the future where Juliette started today, and the ones where she started the next day. In almost all the futures, the manager seemed to really like Juliette. There was a tiny path where the manager didn't, and that was because Juliette was so hungry she ended up eating one of the mice. Thankfully that wasn't a likely future. Echo tried to look harder, working hard to spot the differences. Echo then opened his eyes, having found the answer.
"You'll have to talk to Hannah before you apply. Chat with her, be buddies with her, maybe show her you love cats, because those are her favorite animals," Echo explained, before realizing something. "Oh, right, Hannah is the manager of Amity Park's PetSmart. She'll be grooming the cats today, that could be your chance to talk to her. Just… don't eat any of the mice or animals in the pet store, Hannah wouldn't like that."
Juliette frowned at that last part. "I didn't think I was that hungry… Perhaps I should absorb some sustenance from a Wisp or two before I go in for my interview. Not enough for me to… suffer the negative side effects, but enough for me to not starve."
Echo gave a look of intrigue. "Huh… that'll be interesting to see."
"You want to watch me feed from a Wisp or you see an interesting future where I do so?" Juliette questioned.
"I didn't look ahead for that. But the only other time I saw Danny feeding on the Wisp was when he got high," Echo gave a chuckle at the memory. "I am curious though as to how it works. It's different from when you eat solid food."
Juliette sighed. "Let's go then. I'll probably only feed on two Wisps."
Juliette had to admit, having a friend who was stuck in the Void, able to see into the future, was an interesting experience. The fact that this friend also had what could be called a fiery demi-god kitsune inside him, was an added bonus. Yet said friend seemed more interested in her and Danny than in himself.
Juliette found a small colony of Wisps in the park. They floated towards her, likely attracted to her magic energy. They changed colors and sang to her, likely greeting her.
"Hello, everyone," Juliette greeted warmly. "Would two of you please allow me to consume your energy to satiate my hunger a little? I'd prefer not to have more than two of you feeding me, as it could cause me to feel unwell."
The Wisps flew around her.
"They seem to understand English better than other Wisps at least," Echo noted as two of the Wisps rested on Juliette's shoulders.
"They actually don't understand the language, but the will of the request, what lies behind the words," Juliette explained.
Echo watched with interest as the two Wisps on Juliette's shoulders started to glow a strange, ghost-like light. Juliette's body began to glow the same light as she began to absorb it. Juliette shivered a little while this was going on. The feeling of consuming energy from Wisps always made Juliette tingle.
"Thank you," Juliette said gratefully as the glow began to diminish.
The two Wisps gave a hum before they flew off her shoulders. Juliette felt a little better, not feeling as hungry as she did earlier. But she knew she would need physical sustenance soon.
"Well, if feeding time's over, let's head on over to PetSmart, shall we?" Echo chuckled.
Juliette gave a nod. "You're gonna make sure I don't mess up and get started today, right?"
"Yup," Echo remarked. "Besides, it's nice to be able to use my vision to help someone for a change. All it has been good for before was making me dread what's to come for some of the people I've come to like and admire."
"Perhaps when I get you back into the living world, you can open up a fortune telling shop~" Juliette giggled.
Echo rolled his eyes. "We can figure out what to do after we cross that forbidden bridge."
"It would be a good job for you," Juliette chuckled. "You could use your visions to help people and make money at the same time."
"Oh yeah?" Echo gave a playful smirk. "I see a future path where I took this job, and people want to kidnap me for my visions, or the government wants me to find out how I'm able to see into the future, or the ghosts would want to take me, or maybe Clockwork will bring down his wrath on me."
"You'll just have to make sure to not be too good with your visions," Juliette replied. "Get some of them wrong like the other 'fortune tellers' of the world do. Be vague about some of your answers. Make it seem like you're another one of the con artist fortune tellers, just a bit more… reliable? Lucky?"
"I also see a future where you could get rich rather quickly by selling some of your fur on Ebay as authentic kitsune fur," Echo remarked.
"Yeah, and tell me, what do the people who buy my fur do with it?" Juliette asked.
"I was actually just kidding," Echo shrugged. "I didn't really look into the future for that."
"Maybe you should~" Juliette smiled. "If I could get rich on Ebay by selling my fur and nobody uses it for evil purposes, I wouldn't mind doing it."
Echo rolled his eyes. "Well, first you'd need a computer, and an internet connection before you can do that."
"I could use the computers at school or the library," Juliette reasoned.
"You know, I am not your personal fortune teller," Echo pouted.
"If you helped me become rich, I would reward you by teaching you how to create Void Barriers and Void Weapons~" Juliette smirked.
"You-" Echo stopped. "Ah, you might want to-"
Juliette ran into someone.
"... Stop…" Echo weakly finished.
"Oops, sorry about that!" A chientrope cat lady apologized.
Juliette stumbled back a little, rubbing her nose a bit. "It's fine... I should've been paying a little more attention."
The chienthrope lady had brown hair, though the fur on her cat ears, and cat tail were white. She also had cat-like eyes that seemed to be peeking into Juliette's soul, not in an unnerving way, but more in a playful way.
"Oh, you must be the new kitsune living in town," The chienthrope cat observed with a smile. "Hi, I'm Hannah Femili, it's nice to meet you!"
"Hello there, Hannah," Juliette greeted. "I'm Juliette Rosescale. And yes, I am the kitsune who just moved into town."
The two shook hands, Juliette noticed that Hannah lightly shook before pawing playfully at Juliette's furry hand. "It's not every day we get an anthro kitsune around here. Are you here to look for a pet or maybe buy some pet food or something? You know, if you wanted a chew toy or a doggie treat yourself, there's no shame in that. We get a lot of anthro canines coming here just to buy those for themselves~"
Juliette chuckled and shook her head. "No, I was actually looking for a job and noticed this place was hiring. I've always had a great time with animals, and I think that makes this a great place for me to apply."
"Ooooh, a new kitten in the kennel~?" Hannah smiled. "Ah, sorry, that's just my way of saying 'a potential new employee?' We're always happy to have a new employee on board. We try to make it so everyone can make sure the customers are happy, know what they're looking for, as well as grooming the pets so they'd be nice, clean, and healthy for adoption. Come on in, let's go talk in my office, I am after all, the manager of this pet store~"
"You are?!" Juliette exclaimed in feigned surprise. "Wow, just my luck that I bumped into you then."
"I did see this as a possibility, but I'm a little surprised this is the path we're taking," Echo commented.
"Oh I know, the gods of luck must be smiling on you today~" Hannah giggled before she gestured for Juliette to follow her.
Juliette followed the playful manager into the PetSmart, heading to the cat's office.
"She seems quite playful, and nice," Echo stated as he followed Juliette.
Juliette nodded.
"So, do you have any favorite animals?" Hannah inquired.
"I don't have favorites as I love pretty much every animal," Juliette answered. "But I seem to have a certain knack with felines, specifically cats." Anise is unfortunately proof of that.
Hannah's cat-like eyes sparkled at that. "I have a feeling you and I will get along just fine~"
The two of them walked into an office room, though there were a lot of cat toys scattered around.
"I do get along with some other animals equally as well though," Juliette continued. "Foxes, dogs, wolves, though I doubt you'd be selling the last one at a pet store."
Hannah walked over to her desk and sat down. "Sadly no, wild animals like wolves aren't exactly pet material. Oh, why don't you take a seat? We can get started on your application."
Juliette walked over to one of the seats and sat down in a professional manner. "I should inform you that sadly I don't have a resume as I've moved around for most of my life. This would be my first official work experience."
"Ooooh, a newbie, huh?" Hannah's tail twitched a little bit. "Well, instead of telling, or writing down, your 'work experience', how about you tell me what you think you can do in a PetSmart. How well can you groom a dog or a cat? How good are you with people?"
"I have groomed some wild animals and pets of others before," Juliette answered. "And I have pretty good social skills. I don't really have any limitations on what I'm willing to do for PetSmart. You could make me a cashier, a groomer, a shelf stocker, or whatever else and I would be absolutely fine with it."
"Hmm… I can see that you are determined to be a hard worker here," Hannah replied as she studied Juliette like she was an interesting new toy. "I would like to see you in action, however, to make sure you'd be a good kitty for this kennel~"
"Oh?" Juliette raised a brow. "Do you have something in mind that I can do?"
"First, we can start with grooming. You said you've groomed some wild animals and pets of others before, yes?" Hannah inquired for clarification.
Juliette gave a nod. "That is correct."
"Then I would like to see you groom one of the cats we have here," Hannah stated. "Pick one of the dirtiest ones, and see how well you can clean it up."
"Understood," Juliette acknowledged as she stood up.
"I will wait for you in the grooming area, I'll give you your instructions there," Hannah informed as she stood up herself, and smiled before she walked out of the office.
Juliette began to walk out of the office behind the manager, heading towards the cat section of the store.
"Any advice, Echo?" Juliette asked softly.
"From what I know of cats, many of them either hate the groomers or love them. They're very finicky and picky creatures," Echo explained.
"Which cat should I pick out to have the best result?" Juliette inquired.
Echo looked at Juliette before putting his hands on his hips. "Oh, I get it, you want a little future advice, is that it?"
"If you are willing to give it to me, yeah," Juliette confirmed. "Otherwise I will have to figure it out on my own."
Echo sighed. "I'll help you out on your first day, but you'll have to work on your own after that. This might be cheating, I think… I'm not sure. It's not like seeing into the future is a common thing." As I've recently been told.
Juliette shrugged, but gave a smile at Echo.
Echo looked at each cat, trying to look into their future while Juliette was looking, pretending to consider which cat to choose.
Echo stopped on a chubby cat with dark brown fur and black spots. "This cat hasn't been groomed in a while, mostly because he keeps giving the groomers a hard time. You should be able to handle it though, it'll definitely impress Hannah."
"Hello there," Juliette greeted as she kneeled down in front of the cat Echo pointed out.
The cat looked at Juliette curiously, having never seen her before.
Juliette slowly reached out one of her furry hands towards the cat. The cat hissed a little, it was quite skittish.
"It's okay," Juliette softly said. "I'm not going to hurt you. In fact I want to be your friend."
The cat looked at Juliette, tilting its head a little. Juliette didn't touch the cat, but let her hand stay near it. The cat sniffed her hand, trying to pick up her scent. Finally, Juliette slowly moved her hand, touching the cat's furry head. The cat soon got comfortable enough to sit down and let Juliette stroke its head and neck.
"Wow, I can hear it purring," Echo chuckled.
"I can't help but notice you're a little bit dirty and your fur is quite unkempt," Juliette remarked as she stroked the cat's head and neck. "Would it be okay with you if I cleaned you up and trimmed down your fur?"
The cat gave a meow, though Juliette could tell it didn't like the other groomers. Likely the other groomers were too rough on it before.
"Would it be alright if I picked you up? Or would you prefer to follow me?" Juliette questioned the cat, knowing some cats didn't like to be carried.
The cat looked at Juliette expectantly, like it was waiting for her to do something.
Juliette reached in her other hand slowly so she could pick up the cat. The cat was a little heavy due to being chubby, but otherwise it wasn't much of a struggle to hold it. Juliette carried the cat into the grooming area, where Hannah was waiting for her.
Hannah gave Juliette a surprised look. "You chose that one? He's been known to give groomers a hard time."
"It looked like he could use it the most," Juliette explained, stroking the cat's head a little.
Hannah giggled. "Look at that, he already likes you. You really do have a way with animals~ Now go ahead and put him on the table."
Juliette nodded as she walked over to the table Hannah pointed to. "I'm going to put you down now."
The cat let out a soft meow before Juliette put him down on the table.
"Let's see, I should clean out his fur before I give him a trim," Juliette planned aloud.
"Yes, it's important to clean up the fur before you trim," Hannah approved. "We have brushes made specifically for cats."
"I know." Juliette smiled. "But thank you for the reminder."
Juliette looked over at the collection of brushes. Scanning through them, Juliette found one that she thought would be the best to start with.
Echo and Hannah watched as Juliette gently started to brush the cat's fur, slowly cleaning off the extra fur that had already been shed but was still stuck in the rest of the fur, while also cleaning out any dirt or debris that was stuck in his fur.
"Time to use a bit more of a fine brush, now that I got the most I can with the bigger brush," Juliette said as she cleaned off the brush she had, put it back on the shelf, and picked out a finer brush.
The cat purred as Juliette brushed him. Finally, Juliette was satisfied with her work. The cat's fur was much cleaner and smoother now.
"You're doing an excellent job so far~" Hannah complimented. "So what will you do next?"
"Well, now that the debris and excess fur is out of the way, I'm going to clean him, trim him, then clean him once more," Juliette explained as she cleaned off the finer brush and put it back on the shelf where it belonged. "You stay here for a second, kitty, I'm going to get a bath ready for you. I don't want the water to be too cold or too hot for you."
Time went on as Juliette carefully cleaned and trimmed the cat, she also managed to trim the cat's claws, which was normally a very difficult thing to do. Before long, Juliette was done grooming the cat, and he looked fabulous.
"There you are." Juliette smiled at the cat. "All done! How do you feel, kitty?"
The cat gave a happy meow before Hannah picked him up. "Oh my~ Look at this. The fur is so clean and smooth, it's almost hard to tell you were the same kitty. Juliette did an excellent job with you."
The cat gave an agreeable meow.
Hannah looked over at Juliette. "Now, I can safely say you'd make an excellent groomer. But let's see what else you can bring to the kennel, shall we?~"
"What else do you have for me?" Juliette smiled as she washed her hands in the sink, not wanting anything left over on her hands or in her fur. She made sure to use a special soap to help remove the scent of the cat from her hands.
"Hmm… how about you go ahead and feed the rodents?" Hannah suggested. "There's a big bag of pellets and grains for the rodents. Place them into the bowl. One of my kittens, as in employees who also work there, can watch to see how well you do. Once you're done with that, come to the front. I should have a certain… something waiting for you there~"
Juliette gave a nod. "Will do, Ma'am."
Juliette left the groomer area with Echo following her.
"Well, that was interesting. Never really thought about watching someone groom a cat before," Echo commented. "I wonder if ghost dogs and ghost cats also get groomed?"
"They most likely do," Juliette softly answered, heading toward the rodent section of the store.
A young man, who was working there, noticed Juliette approaching.
"Oh… hi… How can I help you…?" The young man asked, sounding bored.
Echo looked at the young man, most likely reading his thoughts and feelings.
"Hello." Juliette waved. "Hannah sent me over here to help feed the rodents as part of a test for me." Remember, Juliette, no petting the gerbils.
Oh, another newbie? Why does Hannah keep allowing these people in? Echo heard the young man thinking in annoyance. I just want to feed these rodents and get out of here as soon as my shift is over.
"Well then… do you know how to open the cages without letting the rodents out?" The young man asked.
Juliette shook her head. "I've never removed rodents from cages before."
"Okay… I'll show you then," The young man said, but was inwardly sighing. I didn't sign up to teach newbies how to open a damn cage. Stupid parents, pushing me to get a job…
The young man walked to the back, having Juliette follow him.
"So, you're supposed to open the cages back here, as there's a ledge here that normally keeps the rodents from running out. But you have to be quick, cause they'll try to climb out," The young man explained.
While she's here, maybe I can make the most of it. She's new, so she doesn't know much yet. The young man decided. Of course, if I get fired, I'll have to find another job. But still… I think it'll be worth it.
Juliette managed to get the cages open, took out the bowl, poured the food into it, then put the bowl back before quickly closing the door. She did this with the other rodent cages, until she came to the gerbils.
"Oh, these gerbils are a bit new," The young man spoke up. "But they love newcomers. Why don't you pet one?"
Echo looked at Juliette, wanting to see if she remembered his earlier warning.
"Gerbils are known not to be all that friendly with predatory anthros and chienthropes," Juliette remarked, both remembering Echo's warning as well as some basic knowledge of rodents. "If I try to pet one, there is a good chance that they'll bite me, which would hurt quite a bit."
"What? Oh, come on, gerbils are friendly critters to all types of people," The young man insisted.
Juliette shook her head. "I'd rather not take the risk as I wouldn't want to get sick or have any of them possibly get sick if they draw blood."
"Hmph, little coward, won't even pet a gerbil," The young man grumbled. Should've known that a kitsune would be too smart to just pet a rodent.
Echo sighed, the young man was angry and bitter, mostly towards his parents.
"I'm sorry… did I upset you?" Juliette asked, a bit taken aback by the young man's sudden aggression.
"You finished feeding the rodents, just go do whatever it is Ms. Femili wanted you to do," The young man replied, ignoring her question. I need to have better control over my anger. Too much of it is starting to leak out.
"Alright…" Juliette softly said before she began to walk away. "Should I talk to Hannah about that guy, Echo? I think his name was Eric."
"Maybe, though Eric's got a lot of resentment and bitterness built up inside him, some of it is leaking out, making him snap at some people," Echo explained. "He never got to finish high school, and his parents have been constantly pushing him to get a job. Jobs he wasn't comfortable with. He might need to see a therapist down the road. He's trying really hard to bottle everything up, that's really not healthy."
"I want to do what is best for my future coworkers, Echo," Juliette remarked with a slightly concerned tone. "I could talk to him, I could talk to Hannah, or I could keep it to myself. What's your advice on the situation? And you don't need to use your future vision if you don't want to."
"I'm no therapist, but from what I can understand, the best thing you can do is talk to Hannah and have her talk to him. She might be able to help him out, or get someone more fit for the job to get him to open up a little more, or best yet, she might be able to get him a job that would fit him better," Echo answered. "If a living being is already bottling up their emotions like that, they likely have trust issues, with themselves and with other people. It's likely his parents punished him severely for showing any amount of anger or resentment, so he's going to need someone to help him open up."
Juliette gave a nod of acknowledgement as she got closer to the front of the store. "I'll mention it to Hannah then. I get the feeling she really cares about all her employees."
Echo nodded. "She does, she loves calling them 'her little kitties'."
"I think she said her little kittens," Juliette corrected.
"She changes it from time to time," Echo shrugged. "Now look alive, I hope you like wearing a costume."
"A costume?" Juliette repeated questioningly. "What do you-"
"Juliette!" Hannah mewed cheerfully as she approached the kitsune. "I finally got it ready~ It's just your size, if not a little big."
Hannah showed Juliette a big blue cartoony cat head, as well as a blue and white cat bodysuit. "We've been needing a mascot to help bring people in. The fact you have more than one tail is even better, it goes with the Japanese Yokai of the two tailed cat."
Juliette raised a brow. "Wait… really?"
"Yup!" Hannah smiled. "I've been waiting for the perfect kitten to try on the costume, and you seem to fit the bill quite nicely~"
"Is this a part of my test? Or my first job?" Juliette inquired.
"Your first job," Hannah answered giddly. "You did such a great job with the grooming, that I just had to put you to work right away. Um… that's not going to be a problem, is it? Did you have plans today?"
"No, no, it's fine," Juliette assured. "I just wanted to be sure. Also, before I put it on, I would like to mention something."
"Oh? What is it?" Hannah asked with the curiosity of a cat.
"I think Eric, the guy over in the rodent area, is going through some things… He seemed a bit… on edge, and had a small emotional outburst when I wouldn't pet the gerbils," Juliette explained. "I don't want you to punish him or anything, in fact I think he needs someone to talk to. And maybe he could be put somewhere that would fit him better."
"Oh, Eric? I have sensed some tension in him," Hannah admitted. "Though I wasn't sure how bad. I let him work with the rodents since they often relax me. Perhaps I should talk to him though, you could be right in saying he might need someone to talk to. Maybe I should have Rini talk to him, she's an anthro dog, and she's a great listener. Humans often open up to dogs more than any other species."
"That might be a good idea," Juliette agreed with a small chuckle.
"For now, time to put on this adorable outfit~" Hannah smiled.
So Juliette was standing outside of the store, wearing a big blue cat costume with two tails. She waved to people, greeting them. The children seem to like her. Echo was standing beside her, looking remarkably entertained.
"So Hannah's got you multiple jobs at PetSmart. You're the mascot, the groomer, as well as the rodent feeder. I think Eric will be working in stocking with Rini now," Echo chuckled. "Maybe if you're good, you can ask Hannah for a treat~"
"I really want to bite your head off right now," Juliette mumbled.
"Well, I just mean you could use it since you haven't had any actual food yet today," Echo shrugged. "I have noticed you eyeing some of the dog food in the pet store."
"I'm not going to eat pet food…" Juliette growled. "And I'm not going to ask for a treat."
"Someone's testy," Echo remarked. "But hey, it looks like you've managed to get started on the job today like you wanted, so congratulations on that."
"Yeah, but I didn't think I'd end up in a stuffy cat outfit…" Juliette replied, panting a little due to the built up heat. "I'm probably gonna need a break soon."
"Yeah, don't want to overh-" Echo stopped suddenly, as if something caught him by surprise. "What the…?"
"What's wrong?" Juliette asked, having a narrower field of view inside the suit.
"There's someone here… someone from the Void," Echo said quietly, getting into a defensive position.
Juliette looked around before she spotted what Echo saw. "W-who is that…?"
"I don't know…" Echo frowned. "I've never seen her before, I don't think she's a Void Creature. But she might be dangerous…"
A young girl, who looked like she would be about 15 or 16 years old, had long black hair tied into a ponytail. But there was something familiar about her to Echo.
"She's not a Void Creature," Juliette stated adamantly. "She… looks like a Void Walker at first glance. She could possibly be a Void Mimic though."
"A Void Mimic?" Echo asked. "... She kind of looks like Danielle, Danny's clone girl, except a little older and taller. But if she was Danielle, why is she gray and in the Void? Something's not right here…"
The girl who looked like an older and taller version of Danielle cautiously approached them. Echo felt on edge, he sensed something wasn't normal about this girl. The girl looked at him with a glare.
"Who are you?!" The girl interrogated.
Echo stood in front of Juliette and glared back. "None of your business. Who are you and what do you want here?"
"Tch, like I'll answer your questions when you refuse to answer mine…" The girl scoffed.
"Are you a Void Creature?" Echo demanded.
"I think the question is are you a Void Creature?" The girl challenged back.
Both of them glared at each other, daring the other to make the first move. Juliette could sense high tension between the two.
"What are you doing to that girl?" The girl demanded, pointing at Juliette. "Bet you were trying to suck the life right out of her, weren't you?"
"No, but you might be tempted to do that yourself!" Echo snapped. "Why do you look like an older version of Danielle?"
The girl glared. "You know about Danielle? Wait, why do you look like Danny? Are you a mimic trying to trap me?"
"I could say the same to you!" Echo hissed.
"Anyone who tries to mimic and harm Danny, Danielle's cousin, will answer to me!" The girl growled before blue fire started to cover her.
Both Juliette and Echo looked at the girl in shock, seeing the familiar blue fire cloak her, turning her into a smaller version of Echo's Foxfire form.
Echo growled when he saw this mimic girl using Foxfire. He got down on all fours and let Foxfire cloak him as well. His was bigger, that was the only way Juliette was able to tell the difference between the two.
Juliette began to back up a little, bumping into the side of the building. I'd rather not get burnt by these two… Even if they're in the Void, they could still possibly hit me.
Both foxes began to circle each other, likely looking for the best opening to strike. Cars passed through them as they were both in the middle of the streets, but neither paid any attention to anything around them, they only had eyes on each other.
Oh crap… I might need to get involved and stop these two from tearing each other apart… Juliette gulped, not wanting to get in between the two flaming foxes.
Finally, the smaller fox launched herself at Echo. Echo jumped back from her swipe, before he spun himself around, lashing his tail at the smaller fox. The smaller fox fell back a few feet, but regained her composure quickly. She leaped at Echo, and bit into his side. Since they were both seemingly made of the same fire, it appeared that neither of them could burn one other. Echo grabbed onto the smaller fox's neck with his teeth and smashed her into the road.
Juliette was glad that Void beings couldn't affect the real world, otherwise there would've been a large hole in the road. Ouch… if they weren't a Void Being, they'd definitely be hurting.
Echo and the smaller fox slashed, bit, tackled, and tail slapped each other, jumping and running around the area and going through the buildings. Echo and the smaller fox both created four fox skulls around them, firing heat rays at each other. The heat rays didn't seem to do much damage though. Then they both ran at each other again, Echo, being bigger, managed to grab the smaller fox's neck with his teeth and threw her through several buildings before she hit the ground. The smaller fox quickly recovered and zoomed through the buildings at Echo, who started to charge at the opposing fox. Both foxes ended up smashing each other on the heads, causing flashes of fire in the atmosphere of the Void.
Juliette wasn't sure what the best course of action was, but she heard laughter in the air with her sharp ears. One of the sources of laughter was familiar, which caught her attention. She looked up, seeing Danny in his Phantom form flying along with a younger girl who looked similar to him. The younger girl looked almost exactly like that girl Echo was fighting with, only her hair was white, and she wore a similar hazmat suit to Phantom. And of course, being younger, she was smaller than the girl that Echo was fighting with.
Danny was smiling, looking happy as he was talking to the girl, who was cheerfully talking back. It was then Juliette realized something important.
That must be Danielle. Juliette observed before looking down at the two fighting foxes. If Danielle is a clone of Danny… and Echo used to be Danny's brother… could it be possible there was supposed to be a clone of him as well? After all, things that should have been end up in the Void all the time… meaning… Juliette looked a little closer at the fighting foxes. That could be Echo's… clone… maybe… possibly. Considering the similarities, that has to be the case.
Neither of the two fire foxes seemed to have noticed Danny and Danielle flying overhead, just as Danny and Danielle didn't notice the two foxes trying to tear each other apart.
Echo was bucking around the streets as the smaller fox managed to jump on his back and was digging her claws into him. Echo gave a screech of pain before he grabbed her waist with his tail, prying her off him, and slammed her down a couple of times before the smaller fox managed to squeeze free.
The two of them glared at each other again with purple eyes, and they started to charge at each other again, intending to finish the other off as quickly as possible, when suddenly...
"STOP IT!" Juliette yelled out as she created a large, thick Void Barrier between the two, not wanting them to be able to get around it or break it. Unfortunately, this ate up quite a bit of her energy. "Just… stop!"
Echo and the smaller fox ended up smashing into the Void Barrier that was in front of them, causing the two to hit the ground with whimpers of pain and shock.
"I'm sorry…" Juliette panted. "But you two need to stop."
Echo managed to get back up to his feet first, growling at Juliette, wanting to know why she was trying to stop them. The smaller fox managed to get up, shaking herself, before she hissed.
"Echo… listen…" Juliette began. "If Danielle is Danny's clone… and you were Danny's brother… then perhaps there was supposed to be a clone of you… I think that this girl was supposed to be your clone. I mean she has the same ability to coat herself in Foxfire that you do."
Juliette waited for this information to sink in. Echo and the smaller fox looked at each other, both hesitant, but still growling at each other.
"It would mean you two are technically siblings…" Juliette pointed out. "In the way that Danielle is essentially Danny's other sister."
Echo made some sort of noise that made Juliette think he was either laughing or coughing. The smaller fox made a similar noise, likely not believing Juliette. The two foxes glared at each other again.
"Echo, I saw Danny flying with Danielle just a minute ago while you two were trying to tear each other apart," Juliette spoke up, which caught Echo's attention. "Danielle looked just like her, wouldn't you agree?"
Juliette gestured to the smaller fox. Echo looked at the smaller fox, then at Juliette. Echo gave a warning growl at the smaller fox. The smaller fox hissed back.
To Juliette's relief, however, both of them dissipated their fiery cloaks, and stood back up on two feet.
"You're saying… Danielle's here?" Echo asked, surprised.
"Yeah, she literally just flew overhead a minute or so ago," Juliette informed.
"Of course she's here. She decided to come back to Amity Park to visit Danny," The girl, who looked like an older and taller Danielle, stated. "I've been sticking close to her since Danny helped her escape from Vlad's lab back in the Rockies. Although, for some reason, I wasn't able to follow her when she started melting that one time. I couldn't bear to watch her melt away. I was just glad Danny managed to fix her. I owe my non-existent life to him for that."
Echo looked at the girl, frowning. "Who are you, exactly? Are you… were you supposed to be another clone of Danny's, but just never got to be made or something?"
"The name's Andrea, and I was supposed to be a clone, but I'm not sure of who," The girl grumbled, not enjoying giving out the information. "I'm definitely not Danny's clone. Perhaps Vlad tried creating a combined clone of Danielle and Danny. I'm not sure. But Danielle, to me, feels like a younger sister I have to take care of, even if she doesn't know I exist."
"How did you know your name then?" Echo asked.
"I know certain things, like the name I was supposed to have, as well as most of the purpose I was supposed to serve," Andrea replied. "I was supposed to assist Danielle in getting better samples of Danny and… uh… hmm… No, I was just supposed to help get better samples of Danny's DNA to help perfect the cloning process. Vlad needed us to collect Danny's human, ghost, and mid-transformation DNA in order to complete his plan. Danielle was made with good DNA from two of the states, but low quality mid-transformation DNA. The DNA that Vlad had was also quite old, that's why she looks 2 years younger than Danny. I'm not exactly sure why or how I'm her older sister, all I know is that inside me is a strong desire to protect Danielle and keep her safe at all costs."
Juliette was a little fascinated by the explanation, she had a small interest in science, but she wasn't sure where she had gotten it from.
Echo himself looked quite fascinated with Andrea's tale, likely because he had a similar interest. "Okay… so it almost sounded like you were supposed to be Danielle's twin or something. That… would've been interesting, though weird, since Danny doesn't have a twin himself. How are you able to use Foxfire?"
"I'm… not entirely sure," Andrea answered. "I simply know that Foxfire is within me. I… was honestly a bit surprised to see someone else with Foxfire… but you had much more of her power than I did."
"Within you?" Echo blinked, surprised by that.
Juliette decided to speak up. "Andrea, so you're saying you always stick with Danielle? Always observing her and following her?"
"That's right," Andrea answered. "Okay, maybe that's a weird thing to do, but I just… feel like I shouldn't leave her. And unlike Danny, she doesn't stay in one spot too long, so I have to follow her or I could lose her. I try to keep her safe from Void Creatures too. I also often overheard her conversations with Danny whenever she was able to call him."
"Can you fly like she can?" Juliette asked. "I would imagine it would be hard to keep up with Danielle if you can't fly."
"I can fly, yeah." Andrea nodded. "I can also ride on a Foxfire representative if I'm too tired to fly myself. Not that I get tired very often, kind of hard to be when you're in the Void. The Void is pretty much always supplying you with energy, if that makes any sense."
"It does, and I know what you mean," Juliette replied. I probably shouldn't let her know I'm half a Void Being just yet. Perhaps I should just go with saying I can see and talk to Void Beings as well as create barriers that affect Void Beings? I hope that'll be a believable explanation. "So how are you able to fly? Is that just part of your power?"
"Yeah, it is just a part of my power," Andrea remarked before she frowned a little. "Now I've answered your questions, I think it's only fair that you two do the same."
"Alright, fine. What do you want to know?" Echo asked.
"First of all, I'd like to know why you look like Danny," Andrea pointed at Echo. "Are you some kind of Void Mimic? I've run into a few of those on my travels with Danielle."
"I'm assuming those are Void Beings able to mimic how someone looks?" Echo asked Juliette, since he never got the answer from her earlier.
"They're both Void Beings and Void Spirits that are able to mimic the appearance of others, hence the name," Juliette informed Echo before looking at Andrea. "And no, Echo isn't a Void Mimic."
"Are you sure I can't be a Void Mimic?" Echo pouted. "That's pretty much what I believed I was anyways."
"I am sure, Echo, you aren't a Void Mimic." Juliette sighed. "If you were a Void Mimic, you would be unable to use Foxfire to such a level and you wouldn't have your other… specialties."
Andrea raised an eyebrow. "So if you're not a Void Mimic, why do you look like Danny?"
"Heck if I know. I rather I didn't look like anyone," Echo grumbled. "Especially Danny. Not because I hate him, but because I admire him… A lot actually."
Andrea blinked. "Why wouldn't you want to-"
"It's a long story. Are there other questions you can ask that don't relate to how I look similar to Danny?" Echo snipped.
"Yeah, this one is for the girl beside you," Andrea remarked.
"The name is Juliette," Juliette informed.
"How are you able to see us?" Andrea questioned. "You're clearly not a Void Being."
"You know how some people have magic?" Juliette asked.
Andrea just waited for Juliette to continue.
"Instead of magic, I have the ability to see, hear, and speak to Void Beings," Juliette continued. "I also have the ability to create barriers, as you witnessed yourself, that affect Void Beings."
"How strange. I've travelled a lot with Danielle, and I've never met or heard of a non-Void Being being able to see anything or anyone in the Void," Andrea noted.
"Yup, Juliette's a strange one alright," Echo agreed.
"I'm right here," Juliette grumbled in annoyance, pouting slightly underneath the head of the costume.
Echo just gave Juliette a teasing smirk.
"As for my next question…" Andrea spoke up, looking between the two before she pointed at Echo. "What is your name?"
"You can just call me Echo," Echo answered. "It's what Juliette calls me."
"He didn't have a name before," Juliette informed. "So I gave him the name Echo as he looks like he's an Echo of Danny."
"Oh… you don't remember your name?" Andrea blinked, confused.
"Nope," Echo confirmed.
"What about what your life would've been like?" Andrea questioned.
"Don't know what that could've been," Echo shrugged.
"Do you know anything about yourself?" Andrea frowned.
"I know that I'm just a Void Being watching Danny like a crazed fanboy stalker." Echo replied with a small teasing grin.
"He also knows he has access to Foxfire," Juliette mentioned.
"That's another thing I wanted to ask you, how are you able to use Foxfire?" Andrea pointed out.
"She just came to me one day in the Void, and told me I could use her to fend off against Void Creatures," Echo shrugged.
"She… did?" Andrea raised a brow.
"Yeah, she did," Echo replied. "That's… really it."
Andrea's raised brow became a furrowed brow. "That's… interesting…"
"Any other questions?" Echo asked.
Andrea thought about it for a moment, she looked like she did have at least one more question in mind, but she looked over at Juliette, and decided against it. "No, I think we're good. Sorry I attacked you. Danielle was attacked a bunch of times by Void Creatures, so I had to be wary. And a few Void Mimics led me into an ambush a couple of times."
"I was kind of at fault too," Echo admitted sheepishly. "I got worried when I suddenly saw you, resembling Danielle and all. For all I knew, you might've been, somehow, the work of Vlad that he managed to send into the Void to get to Juliette."
"Vlad…? Knowing about the Void?" Andrea said before she began to laugh. "Ha! That's a good one. I doubt Vlad would ever know about the Void even if he was in it."
"I wouldn't underestimate Vlad," Echo muttered. "There's always a chance he could find out."
"Come on, Danny, I totally could've taken that guy!" A voice, that was similar yet different to Andrea's, whined from overhead.
The three looked up at the sky to see Danny Phantom and Danielle Phantom floating there, Danny was tightening the lid on the Fenton Thermos.
"After he pinned you to the wall of the building, and almost blasted you with his heat vision?" Danny deadpanned. "I know you've gotten stronger, Dani, but while you're here, I don't want you to get hurt on my watch."
"Don't try to pamper me like some princess…" Danielle grumbled. "I can take care of myself."
"Okay, fine, the next ghost we see, we can take it out together," Danny compromised. "That means that you're not allowed to fly ahead by yourself. Jazz did say we should practice our teamwork, so maybe you could help me out a bit more."
"I guess that works," Danielle acknowledged with a small shrug. "But the same goes for you, no flying off ahead so all I have to deal with is the small fries or the cleanup work when I catch up."
Danny sighed but nodded. "I'll try my best. But for now, how about a race to Fenton Works? I want to see how much faster you've gotten since last year."
"Alright~ Be prepared to eat my ghostly trail." Danielle smirked.
"Looks like that's my cue," Andrea commented before a gray ring appeared around her waist.
Juliette and Echo both flinched from shock at the sudden ring around Andrea's waist, then the ring split in two, one going up to her head, and the other going down to her feet, changing her normal clothes to a hazmat suit similar to Danielle's, though because she was gray, it was impossible to tell what color it was supposed to be. Her hair did turn white though.
"Maybe I'll see you two later," Andrea chuckled, seeing the surprised look on Echo's face as she floated up.
Danny and Danielle took off through the sky, and Andrea, just as fast as Danielle was, took off after them. Echo and Juliette noted that Andrea's feet turned into a spectral tail as she did so, much like how Danny and Danielle's feet did when they took off.
"... She's… half ghost…" Echo commented, still a little stunned.
"It would appear so…" Juliette confirmed, just as shocked as Echo.
"Or is that just her being able to use the ghost power in the Void?" Echo pondered. "After all, I can… um… erm, anyways, are we sure she's not Danny's clone?"
"Yes, Echo, I'm sure," Juliette answered. "While she did look like Danielle, the resemblance is a little off. In fact, she looked more like a slightly older, female you, which is my actual theory so far. She could've been the clone you were supposed to have before you ended up in the Void. Though her name…" Danielle to Danny… Daniel. Andrea to… definitely not Dylan. Maybe… Andrew? Andreas? Andrias?
"Oh, whatever. It's probably nothing," Echo sighed before looking at Juliette. "Are you going to keep wearing that? I'm pretty sure your mascot shift is over. You could probably take that off and go groom another cat or something."
"I unfortunately need someone to help me take off the outfit as the zipper is in the back," Juliette replied before she turned and started to walk to the door. "I'll go see if my time as a mascot is over and see if Hannah can take this costume off me."
"You do that. I'll come in with you after I… look around outside for a bit," Echo said.
Juliette wondered what Echo planned to do, but decided it wasn't too important. She went into the PetSmart to look for Hannah. Although, when she came in, a lot of kids greeted her happily, apparently liking the two tailed, blue, cartoon cat.
"Hello, everyone," Juliette greeted the children. "How are all of you doing today?~"
"We're all doing great!" They answered cheerfully.
"Can I pet you?" Some of the kids asked.
Juliette chuckled as some of the kids were already trying to pet her, most of them petted her waist since they were so much shorter than she was.
"Of course you can pet me," Juliette responded.
The children all cheered as Juliette lowered herself so they could pet her properly.
After Juliette satisfied the children, they all waved goodbye to her, and she headed to the back. She found Hannah by the cat section, feeding the cats their kibbles.
"Oh, Juliette, how's the mascot gig going for you?" Hannah asked. "The kids all seem to love you~"
"It's going well, but you said I should only stay outside for a couple hours… and I'm also starting to get uncomfortable in this outfit," Juliette said as panted a small bit, the feeling of the heat returning. "I also could really use a bathroom break."
"What about lunch?" Hannah questioned.
"Oh… well… I don't actually have food," Juliette answered. "In fact, the reason I wanted to get a job in the first place is so I would have some spending money to buy myself food, as I currently only live off minimal food right now…"
"Oh? That's not good at all. No, no, that simply will not do. I cannot have one of my kittens go hungry like this." Hannah frowned, lashing her tail a little. "You allow me to take care of that, Juliette. First, let's get that costume off you."
Hannah walked behind Juliette to get the zipper, but when she tried to zip it down, it was stuck. Hannah frowned and tried pulling it harder, it was still stuck. "... Juliette, what did you do with the zipper? It's jammed."
"I didn't do anything," Juliette replied, thinking back a little. "I did back up against the wall at one point and leaned against it to help give me some support as I was panting."
"That might've been it. With the heat, and when you hit it up against the wall, it must've caused the zipper slider to melt a little into the zipper's chain," Hannah guessed.
Juliette's eyes went wide at that. "How am I supposed to get out of this suit then?!"
"Now, let's not panic," Hannah said, trying to remain calm. "I can probably get someone on the phone to try to break you out of the suit. Unless you get lucky and a ghost phases you out of the suit. Too bad I don't know any ghosts personally. Phantom's hard to get hold of…"
Juliette sighed. "Then go ahead and call that person. I'd rather not break out of the suit or tear it, as I have a feeling it would come out of my paycheck. Perhaps do it soon though… I don't know how long I can hold it."
"Alright, I'll hurry. I'll also get your lunch ready too, I don't want you starving on me," Hannah replied before she headed to her office.
Then a thought occurred to Juliette, maybe she could slip out of the costume in the Void Realm. But… if I go to the Void, I can't come back for another hour or two… I don't want to make Hannah think I've bailed on my job… Maybe… maybe I could call Anise to teleport me out? "Hey… Anise…? I hope you aren't busy… but I could use a little help…"
"Oh? You need my help?~" Anise answered back with a giggle.
"Yes, Anise… I need help," Juliette confirmed with a sigh, hating that she had to call on the diminutive cat goddess for help. "I got a job at PetSmart today… and I'm currently stuck in the mascot uniform this store uses. Apparently the zipper slider melted a little into the zipper's chain, gumming it up. And right now I really need to use the bathroom and eat some food. So… could you help me get out of this uncomfortable thing?"
"Hmmm? A suit?" Anise suddenly appeared in front of Juliette, and blinked at her, before laughing. "Congratulations, Juliette, you've now embraced your kink of being trapped inside a suit!"
"This isn't my kink!" Juliette growled. "I don't have a kink. This is just the kink you seem to want me to have…"
"Awww, but you look good in that~" Anise smiled.
"Yuhuh… You gonna help me out of this thing?" Juliette questioned.
"Hmmm… nope~" Anise smirked.
"Okay, so you'd rather watch me starve to death," Juliette acknowledged in a cold, annoyed tone. "Understood."
"You have help outside of me, you know," Anise pointed out, completely ignoring Juliette's attitude. "Just because I won't help you doesn't mean you'll starve to death."
"I'm not going to do anything that risks my job, Anise," Juliette stated. "So that means no going into the Void. If you're talking about Danny, he's busy with Danielle."
"Isn't your boss going to help you out of it?" Anise asked, raising an eyebrow. "They'd have to be a pretty bad boss if they wouldn't."
"Yeah, Hannah is getting someone to get me out of this thing… but I don't know if I can hold it for that long…" Juliette squirmed. "I'd rather not be known as the employee that went to the bathroom inside the costume…"
"If you need to get out that badly, then just go into the Void. I could probably cover for you," Anise shrugged. "Otherwise, just hold it in or release it in the suit."
"Even if I do go to the Void, I don't think it'll help…" Juliette sighed. "Normally it pulls whatever I'm wearing with me."
Anise gave it some thought before she smirked. "I could help you, if you cancel our deal, and allow me to stuff you in whatever I want."
"Really…?" Juliette whined. "That's my only other choice besides waiting or wetting the costume…?"
"Yup~" Anise smirked. "Really, you should be anticipating this by now whenever you call me for help."
Juliette whined even more, feeling the need to go to the bathroom slowly building up. She began to quickly weigh her options of wetting the costume or cancelling the deal. After a few moments of heavy thinking, Juliette groaned.
"F-fine! I'll cancel the deal we made…" Juliette groaned. "Please just help me out of this thing!"
"Oh, I'll help you alright~" Anise giggled before she snapped her fingers.
"Uh… why isn't anything happening…?" Juliette hesitantly asked.
"Just wait~" Anise grinned.
Juliette suddenly felt something soft, fluffy, and big around her waist, replacing her underwear under her pants.
"W-what is that…?" Juliette nervously asked, having a feeling she knew the answer.
"My way of helping your bathroom situation," Anise answered. "Now you can let loose without stinking up the costume. The diaper is very absorbent~"
"I'm not going to use a diaper!" Juliette shouted. "Get me out of this costume right now, Anise, or I swear I will never speak to you again!"
"Diaper?" Someone asked, surprised.
Juliette turned to see some parents looking at her in shock. Juliette turned around to give Anise another piece of her mind, but Anise was gone.
Oh come on! "Where the hell did you go, Anise? I'm not using this fucking diaper!" Juliette mentally screamed. "O-oh, nothing…"
"So I just got off the phone with someone," Hannah said as she came out of her office. "Unfortunately, they said they can't make it until tomorrow."
"What…? There's nobody else in town with a grinder that can get me out of this thing…?" Juliette softly asked with a slight whine.
"Apparently most of them are either too busy fixing up what the ghosts destroyed, or their tools were destroyed in the recent ghost attacks," Hannah sighed. "Okay, how about this? I let you off work early today due to uncontrolled circumstances, and maybe you can find someone who can help you get out of that suit."
"Hannah… I don't think you see the problem…" Juliette stated. "I can't go to the bathroom or eat while I'm in this thing…"
"I can cut a hole in the mouth for you so you can eat," Hannah suggested. "But I can't help with the bathroom issue."
"If you… do cut a hole for the mouth… will the repairs come from my pay…?" Juliette inquired, concentrating her hardest on not letting go into the diaper that she was now wearing.
"Nah, I'll sew it back up myself, after I wash it thoroughly," Hannah waved off. "This suit gets torn a lot by the animals, so it's nothing new."
"I… guess that works…" Juliette frowned. Perhaps… I can make it to Danny and get him to get me out of this before I-
Juliette whined a little bit, feeling the pressure build more and more. N-no… I need to hold it. I will not be reduced to using a-
Juliette's train of thought was derailed as she felt her floodgate collapse and heard a faint hiss from down below while also feeling the area around her crotch growing wet and warm.
Juliette, shocked and upset by what happened, started to sniffle a bit. "Oh come on… Why… why does this always happen to me…?"
Juliette began to tear up a little underneath the costume's head, her loss of bladder control releasing emotions that had been built up for some time. The stress of constantly being on the run from Void Creatures, of ending up in a place with barely any food to eat, of having to deal with ghosts now, on top of everything else, and having to deal with a kinky cat goddess who was borderline obsessed with her.
"Is something wrong, Juliette?" Hannah asked in concern.
"I… I… I just had an… accident…" Juliette cried, not knowing what else to call it, tears now streaming down her face inside the costume.
"... Oh, awwww, the poor little kitten couldn't make it to her litter box," Hannah cooed. "Shhh, there's no need to cry. It's only natural to go when you need to."
"B-b-b-but… I should… be able to hold it…" Juliette continued crying, Hannah's words not exactly helping to calm her down. "I-I-I'm supposed to be… past having accidents…"
"Everyone has accidents, no matter their age, kitten," Hannah stated. "Even adults will have those too. Shhh, it's okay, little kitten."
"It's not fair…!" Juliette cried, her knees giving way under her, causing an audible squish from her diaper, which had grown quite a bit in size from her heavy usage.
People were staring at her now, as Juliette was being quite loud.
"Perhaps we should have this… discussion in my office," Hannah quickly said, using a surprising amount of strength to pick up the crying kitsune and carrying her off into the office.
"Why did this have to happen to me…?!" Juliette sobbed.
"Juliette, honey, look at me," Hannah instructed.
Juliette sniffled a bit before she turned her head to look at Hannah, tears still streaming from her eyes underneath the head of the costume. "W-what…?"
"You had an accident, that's normal. But why are you crying? That's what's making you look like a baby right now, not the accident," Hannah bluntly stated. "I understand it came as a shock, but you're a big girl now, you shouldn't have to cry over this."
"It's… because a goddess… put me in a diaper instead of helping me out of the suit…" Juliette explained while continuing to sniffle, though only covering the most pressing matter in her mind.
"A goddess put you in a diaper?" Hannah raised an eyebrow.
"Y-yes… a mischievous kink goddess…" Juliette explained with a whine. "She always loves messing with me…"
"Okay then… so you're wearing a diaper right now?" Hannah slowly asked.
"Y-yes… hence why I was so… embarrassed… and why I… lost it…" Juliette sniffled.
"Why would that embarrass you? Nobody can see your diaper, nobody even knew you used it until you started crying," Hannah pointed out.
"It's… just… the principle that I was wearing a diaper… and used it like a baby…" Juliette replied while sniffling, wishing she could wipe her face right now.
"I see… well, it was unfortunate that a goddess stuffed you in a diaper, but at least you were able to use something other than your underwear and the costume itself," Hannah remarked. "I'm sorry, kitten, but until we can get that suit removed, you'll have to stick with the diaper."
Juliette whined and whimpered. "I… I know… I'm… I'm sorry I lost it out there…" Perhaps… there were other emotions and issues that led to the full outburst… otherwise I wouldn't have lost it so easily… I guess I have been bottling up my stresses.
"Why don't you stay here and cool down for a minute? I need to get you some food and a knife or scissors to cut that hole so you can eat," Hannah suggested.
"Y-yeah… that'd be… good…" Juliette softly said as Hannah put her down on the floor.
"If you'd like, you can play with some of my toys," Hannah offered.
"N-no thanks… that might make me feel worse…" Juliette remarked, thinking about how it would make her look even more babyish.
"The offer is still there if you're interested," Hannah sighed before she left the office, leaving Juliette alone.
As Juliette was laying on the ground, she started to feel her eyes grow heavy. Having been worn out by her outburst as well as how much energy she expended on a Void Barrier earlier, she found her eyes closing and her mind drifting off into a deep, dark slumber. Within a minute of Hannah leaving, Juliette was out like a light.
ChloseTheKitsune: DarkFoxKit: Sorry for the long wait. Vlad will always be Vlad, and we'll update this… whenever. Truth be told, we're unsure if readers would want to read this. Sure it has an interesting premise, but… well… if you keep reading, you'll see why I'm a bit hesitant about readers reading this.
Irusha the Kitsune: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': This story likely won't update as frequently as our other stories, but we will update whenever we feel there's the time. And uh… yeah… admittedly we pretty much yoinked the Gaster Blasters for the fox skulls.
DarkFoxKit: Yes… they're inspired by Gaster Blasters.
The Moonfox Collective: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Yeah, we stepped up the villainous aspects of Vlad here, making him more creepy and twisted. In regards to the assignment, while that would normally be true, the world of the story is a bit different to where it's becoming acceptable and even expect to start learning about this stuff at a younger age. The story does start off pretty tame by the way, it gets more saucy as time goes on.
Blue: DarkFoxKit: Hey Blue, it really has been a long time. I've actually been interested in the whole 'what if Andy didn't get saved' concept as well. But uh, try to keep your expectations in check, the story was made as a passion, for fun project rather than a serious story, so expect a lot of weird, crazy, and not-to-appropriate things happening if you do plan to read this story long term.
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': This story is actually quite a ways in, we simply just need to edit each chapter before we post it because we wrote it years ago and it definitely needs polishing. I hope the kinks don't turn you off of the story, and if they aren't your cup of tea you can just skim over them. It was definitely extremely fun to help bring this 'what if' to life in this story. Expect to learn more about the Void and how it works as time goes on.
Iria Stars: DarkFoxKit: The kinks are going to get a lot more aggressive as the story goes on, so if you're not interested in that, you'll have to skim through it or skip it, though you might miss out on some character information. This story isn't for the squeamish, I can tell you that now.
