Ola parked in Virto's driveway and stopped his car. It was a particularly rainy day today, with the weather having a slight pungent but strangely arousing smell. He had brought a large bowl of pepper stew, wrapped at the top with saram wrap. "You know, I have just noticed how Virto doesn't ever seem to have their own car," Ola said, walking up to the door with an umbrella. Once he got under the safety of the porch canopy, he set the umbrella down and rang the doorbell.

"Coming, achoo!" went a feminine voice from inside. He heard someone rush over to the door and open it, seeing a purpled-haired woman in a white dress decorated with strawberries. Her grape-flavored eyes were as luminous as a geode, and she seemed pretty jolly to have someone coming over. "Eee, this was my first time answering the door for senpai!" she said. "Who are you?"

"Lalu's…brother," he said, seeing her take the bowl instantly. "Hey, that isn't for you-"

"It's for Lao right?" she said, getting a better look at Ola. "Oh, I remember you! You were with that family I uh, almost devoured. Sorry about that by the way…"

"It's alright…" Ola said, shaking his head. "L-look, isn't Lao-I mean Lalu, here? I would much rather talk to him."

"Unfortunately not, but don't worry Lao's brother, once they come back from their adventure, I would be happy to let you know so you can return!" Seian said, giggling.

"Fair enough…" Ola said, dread in his voice.

"Alright, come again!" Seian said, waving enthusiastically with her free hand. "Wow, that felt great!"

"Alright, I'll come again," Ola said, doing his best to match her cheer with a wave of his own, although not as much effort was put into it.

"And you do it back!" Seian said, oozing dopamine. "Wow, I was missing this kind of interaction when I was alive, I would have to just awkwardly shake my wing but this is much more convenient!"

"It is a wonder, hands amirite?" Ola said, gently starting to coax the door closed with his left foot but Seian wasn't budging, her focus half put on admiring her two sets of five, and half on making sure her senpai's older brother didn't miss a beat of it. "It is! To be able to feel this sensation of warm, touching palms without needing a potion…"

"True that."

"You humans must love this feeling alot!"

"Mmhmm…."

"Truly a wonder compared to the wings…"

"Mashallah," Ola said mindlessly, having taken out his phone. He checked his messages and looked up, noticing Seian silently watching him ignore her. "Hmm?"

"I was being overbearing again, wasn't I…." Seian asked. In a moment, she went from cheerful to dour, her eyes now aimed at the ground as she rubbed her side. Ola arched an eyebrow, his brain starting to turn when she blinked and a tear flowed down her cheek. "I shouldn't have kept you like this…"

"Oh, not it's alright," Ola said, putting away his phone. "I wasn't-"

"You were!" Seian said. "You were, I saw you look away!"

"I was just checking my phone," Ola said. "For the time."

"You can just look up to the sky for that!"

"No I-" Ola paused. Something wasn't right. "Wait, you just look up at the sky to tell time?"

"And it only takes a glance," Seian assured him, still piqued. "If you really did care, that would have been way less rude to do."

"Really?" Ola questioned. "What time is it right now?"

"Easy! It's morning, a little ways from the highest sun."

"That's not what I-" Ola was able to correct, but then checked behind him. Sure enough, the sun looked awfully close to noon if he eyeballed it. Sure, it said 11:13 AM on his phone, but such human measurements probably didn't matter to a dragon. "Yeah, I guess it is…" Ola said, turning back around. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright, I understand," Seian said, shrugging turning her head away. "Thank you for the soup, I suppose."

"Can I at least know where Lalu went off to?"

"Where Lao went off to…" Seian audible thought, tapping her bare feet on the concrete patio. "Ah! I believe he said he had some work to do, so I thought that meant we would go back through the portal, but he put a mask on and went somewhere else!"

"...And that's how I turned the tallest mountain into the second tallest mountain in their world," Lalu said, walking with a pony-tailed woman in a blue mechanic's jumpsuit. She had rounded frame wire glasses that sat on a smooth, dark bronze nose and ears. She snorted as he delivered the line, rolling her eyes as they meandered around the car shop. It mainly consisted of two lanes, one where a hatchback was being worked on by some of the crew. "If you weren't you, I wouldn't believe it for one second," she said, her and Lalu having to talk over the noise of repairs.

"Well, glad that I am me in the flesh," Lalu responded.

"And yet, you still seem as broke as before," she responded. "Why did you come back though? I thought bounty hunting would have paid the college bills?"

"Actually, my nerd of a friend does that now," Lalu whispered, pointing to the person in a lab coat installing a new lift system inside. They held a light up with their mouth, grunting as they picked up a particularly heavy duty impact wrench to bolt everything until the metal fused. "Technically, my mom doesn't know that though."

"No fair!" she whisper-shouted. "You had the plug the entire time you never bothered to help a sister out?"

"Hey, if you want Nyx, I'm sure Virto could spare some, but then they would have to-"

"Lie to the government some more? I figured…" Nyx said. "Guess not. What about the bounty money?"

"Tried it, but I can't sell the golden bits too fast or-"

"You crash the price, that also makes sense, dang…" she sighed disappointed, stopping their walk around as she paused to think. "So if he can't help me, and your bounty money doesn't work…you really do need this job, huh?"

"Just enough so that my family doesn't suspect anything," Lalu said.

"Any more than that time a woman with wings landed at that restaurant?"

"Uhhhh…" While Lalu was thinking of a response, Leana came over, hands pocketed in her brown jacket. "Hey Lalu, oh, Georgia!" Leana said, going to hug Nyx. "I haven't seen you in such a long time!"

"Is that you Leana? Hi!" Nyx said, hugging Leana back. "I changed my name to Nyx though. Never felt like much of a Georgia."

"Nyx is a cool name," Leana said. "Made it up?"

"Oh no, it's this thing that references…" as Nyx was explaining her name, Virto nodded to themself as they bolted down that last lug to the new lift machine. They called over another mechanic, this one with fair skin and a red beanie.

"Really? A god?" Leana asked, nodding approvingly.

"Well more or less. I mean, you always did tell me that I needed to see myself higher on the ladder," Nyx said, narrowing her eyes. "Even if those weren't the exact words."

"Riiiight, lots of memories flooding back now…." Leana smiled apprehensively, Nyx staring until she smiled back and lightly jabbed Leana in the shoulder.

"Don't worry, water all under the bridge," Nyx joked. "Besides, I'm sure we're both above the norms of high school."

"Yeah, college is alot more draining than any mall trip could be…" Leana said, laughing back thankful. "Oh, Lalu, I wanted to ask you, should we have brought them along?" she said, tilting her head for a split second towards Isuka, who sat in one of the waiting chairs reading a magazine.

"Oh sure, Isuka seemed to adjust pretty well. Although I'm pretty sure she didn't have red highlights before…"

"Well, I more so meant-"

"Alright, it should be good!" Virto said, having assured that everything was secured once and for all. Just outside the shop, another worker in a similar uniform sat in one of the older cars to run its tires onto the lift. He had a blonde mop down covered in a blue beanie, hanging one of his arms on the frame of the car window. Hearing Virto, he nodded and took the car out of park. Virto stepped aside and watched the car drive onto the two metal ramps of the lift. They then took a remote out of their pocket and hit the green button on his remote.

With a jolt, the machine came alive and started lifting the daily driver upward. Virto got under it once it rose above their hight, watching the extra piston length push it up higher than it could go before. "How do you feel up there Nav?"

"Peachy!" he called down, holding an okay gesture with his hand out the window. "Alright, give me a moment, I'm going to inspect the gears to see if anything had changed." Virto picked up their flashlight and shined it down into the gears, Nav humming while he waited at the top.

"See?" Lalu said. "Everyone is chilling, the shop is getting new lifts, it all works out."

"Yeah but what about-" As Leana started speaking, a sharp, eerie grown came from Virto's rig. Before they had the chance to look up, their ears picked up the slipping of the system that held the car up so high, not able to dive out of the way in time. "Isuka!" They yelled, a split second before they could come face to face with a falling car.

Nav was clutching for dear life before he realized, but just as fast as he fell, he stabalized again. Opening his eyes, he saw a pink tint through the windows, and realized the warpy casing was around him. Isuka had dropped what she was reading and had one hand up, holding up the car with her magic. "J-jesus…" he hissed, holding a shaky thumbs-up to the pink-haired woman.

"Great, now he's stuck suspended," Leana said to Lalu, more peeved then worried. "Now what are we going to do?"

"Lalu? What is going on?" said a new voice, one that belonged to a gruff body. The more Lalu looked, the more he reminded him of the tavern owner back when he was stuck in the other world. He had the same build that was somehow stuffed under the mechanic suit, with a more clean shave and a combover. Also, all the limbs were there, although he wasn't sure if that was the Mandela effect talking. Regardless, the apparent shop owner turned his sights to a silently panicking Nav, and Virto doing their best to get out from the floating car and failed lift. "Turn me into a sidewalk and cook me in the sun WHAT HAPPENED!?"

"I happened!" came yet another voice from the rafters of the shop. Everyone turned their head up, seeing a blurry, baked orange outline in the darkness of the support beams. She leaped off and landed on the ground in a Superman pose, her milky silver bangs covering her face until she stood up proud. "Feast your eyes, on the Harvest Deity herself!" said the woman, her hair tied into rolled pigtails and her human form adoring a sandy brown winter coat. The sleeves hung from her hand unless she raised them up, showing her smooth hands to reveal a seed in her hand.

The shop owner was left speechless. Everyone was as she ran and slid to a stop right beside the lift. She placed down the seed and tapped it, backing up as it grew into a sizable yet dense patch of wheat right under. Isuka, thinking she could let the car go, relinquished her magic, watching as the car slid down the makeshift wheat ramp back onto the shop floor. "Tadaaaa!"

"..." The shop owner shifted his gaze towards the concrete floor, seeing how the latest entrance had cracked the floor on her landing. A vein appeared in his forehead, looking at Lalu, who was conveniently faced away at another wall with Nyx. He then looked at Virto, who was too busy helping Nav out of the wheat bundle that now rendered the lift as a whole stuck and broken.

Realizing his jaw was still dropped, he closed it and walked away. Everyone could hear each stomp direct itself back to his office, the thick door slamming close hard enough to break the lift itself.

"So how fired would I be right now?" Lalu said.

"He's still trying to figure out who's fault this was I bet," Nyx said. "Although I think he already has a few guesses…"

"This is going to be a long day…." Leana sighed.

Seian, now having aquired Lalu's nectar of life, made her way up the stairs of the house once more. She daintily knocked on the door, hearing a large amount of shifting going on. "Issia!" Seian called. "Your stew is here!"

Distant growling came from the other side of the door, followed by a large thud of something onto the floor. The sliding of surface against carpet got louder and louder, until the door was pulled open as slow as cooling metal. Seian saw the reddened eyes of a predator, it's black slit sharpening thin when it gazed back. The end of its tail weaved along the floor through the door. It widened the gap between it as it's base got larger, stopping short of wrapping around Seian's legs to tap against the floor.

"Oh, a hand off…" Seian said, placing the saram-wrapped bowl down in front of the tail. A low growl emitnated again as the tail slowly wrapped around the bowl, and drew it back into Virto's bedroom. Once it was inside, a white giant paw pushed it's way through the gap, staying in place for a few seconds before shifting into a thumbs up.

"No problem," Seian said back. The hand then retreated fast, the door slammed back shut. Seian could hear vigorous slurping, as whatever monster was behind that door was devouring the cooking. Seian sat down in front of the door, running her hand through her hair while she idled. "Say," Seian started to ask. "I was thinking, since we both had this house to ourselves, maybe we could explore it together and-"

An uncanny screech came from the other side of the door, stopping Seian in her tracks. "O-oh, I understand," Seian said. With Lao gone she had nothing to do, and could only wait by the door listening to whatever could be going on inside…

"But I saved the carriage," Mizuki said, now in a duplicate of the desk Isuka had made for herself. Leana was put on watch duty, leaning against the wall beside her. "Why can't I go back into the rafters?"

"You cracked the floor!" Nyx called out, pointing to the impact she made earlier.

"Its alright, I'm the one responsible for her, I got this," Lalu said, putting a hand in front of Nyx. "Now, like my friend said earlier, you cracked the floor!"

"A necessary sacrifice to save such fragile life. Such beratement would never happen in…in…"

"Giasutannu," Isuka chimed in without even looking up from her magazine.

"Wait, is that the name of our world?" Mizuki asked, disappointed. "By Amaturasu, there must be a better name than that…"

"Well there's Gaia, but the name is already in a few of the books I've found," Isuka said, rubbing her head stumpped. "It was so much easier just to read everything…"

"Well, make something up!" Nyx said, walking over to see what she was reading. "You have magic, who gives a damn about our made up names?"

"Errr…." Isuka said, tapping her foot. "No, too much. Do you have any suggestions?" She said, resigning herself from the creative process.

"I'm not a mage."

"Yes, but you do seem to have alot of…." Isuka said, suddenly finding her throat parched for words.

"A lot of…"

"...p-potential," Isuka said. "It would be a waste for you to just be a succubus…"

"Odd flex but okay," Nyx said, thinking up a name. "Oh! What about Asasefu?"

"That sounds…original!" Isuka said, brightening up. "I like it!"

"Oh trust me, it's not!" Nyx said, matching her energy.

"Good enough for me!" she responded, sending both of them giggling.

In the meantime, Nav and Virto came back with a bunch of cement filling, paint and some gizmos stacked on a trolly. "It was hard finding just the right paint color, but I think we have everything we need to fix the crater."

"Great!" Lalu said, jogging over to see how everything looked. "With this, we should be able to finish before the shop closes!"

"What can I do?" Mizuki said, meandering along as well. She looked at everything, with paint buckets stacked on top of two, larger and dusty buckets. Lalu seemed weary of letting her help again. Unsure if he was making the right decision, he pointed to the crater. "We're going to lay down new cement and some other stuff, so just clear the crater you made."

"Sounds perfect! I, the great deity of nature, shall resolve my mistake of past," she said, leaning over to start removing the heavy chunks of material.

Seian hurried downstairs, hearing yet another doorbell. Opening the door, she expected to see Lao or his similar-looking brother, but he just saw two kids at the door.

"Oh, little ones," Seian said, crotching down a bit to pat their heads. They looked to each other as it happened, confused by how enamored she looked while doing it. "What brings you to this abode?"

"Is Fola, err, Lalu in the house?" the one with the blond fade asked. "We're supposed to bring more soup here since Oluwale went to work…"

"Ah, so you came with more of the cure!" Seian said, opening the door wider for them. "Yes yes, come in! Don't be a stranger…"

They nodded and walk in, looking around to see Virto's house for the first time. In truth, they wanted to explore everything, but seeing the purple irises of the lady at the door track them around errked them too much to try.

"So, how do you know Lao-sama?" she asked the older one between the two, placing their bowl of stew down on the counter. "Oh, we're just his brothers," the younger one said. "We live down the stre-"

"Shhh," the older one said, casting a side-eye to her lady. She was looking back and forth between the two of them, eyes wide as if she had sniffed a line before greeting them at the door. "She seems a bit…weird," he whispered to the other.

"Like Pinkie Pie?" the younger brother whispered back. "She may just be excited to see us…"

"Mommy said to just give Fola the soup and keep going to Kevin's birthday party, but we gotta see the basement," the older one whispered back. "Do you know how cool I'll be getting a picture with aliens?"

"I honestly just want to see all the cool monsters Virto keeps down there…" the younger brother concurred.

"You know, you two should know that, as a humanoid I have pretty good hearing and can make out your conversation quite fine here," Seian told them. They both looked back at her like their heads were on a swivel, still seeing that bright smile on her. "Unfortunately, Lao said to not allow anyone around the basement. But forget that, Lao has more brothers!" She moved in and picked them both up, hugging them each with individual arms. "I can see it so clearly now! The similar faces, the mirroring skin tones…although your heads…" She took a lick of the older one's top fade, the brother being caught between apprehension and a narrow stare he gave to his younger brother who started laughing at his expense. "Lao never had such blond curls, and you have almost no hair at all, other one."

"Hey!"

"Because Kunmi doesn't know how to brush his haaaaair," the older brother sang jubilantly. It was now his turn to laugh. "Imagine not having lickable hair, could not be me,"

"At least my head doesn't have drool on it, Dami," he shot back. "Its probably acid too!"

"If it was acid, my hair would have melted already dummy!"

"Now now, calm down," Seian said, setting them both down. "There will be no hair melting today. My saliva isn't even acidic…well, I think."

"Seee?" Dami said. "Wait, are you a person? Because then this is weird."

"Well, I don't see why giving someone a lick would be so weird," Seian said, booping his nose. "What if I wasn't a monster girl? I could just be your brother's fun loving caretaker!"

"Well, can we see a monster girl then?" Dami asked, patting his pocket to make sure he still had his phone on him.

"Wait, I thought we had to go to-" Kunmi got out, but Dami covered his mouth to obfucate the rest. "Can we pleeeeease?"

"Hmm…" Seian stood up and thought about it. "Unfortunately, I don't see a good way for that to happen. We would have to go into the basement…"

"Dang…" Dami said.

"Well, in the meantime, why don't you two be good boys and bring that stew up behind me? We need to go cure Issia again!" Seian said. She scurried up the stairs on all fours, Dami and Kunmi shrugging to each other. Kunmi picked up the bowl and Dami lead the way, catching up to Seian who stood waiting for them at the top. Both of them could swear they saw her eyes glowing in the dimness of the hallway, feeling an unsettling energy that built up once they reached the 2nd floor.

"She is just down the hall," Seian said. "Although, I'm sorry you couldn't see any fun things."

"Yeah, I guess," Dami said. He looked around the hall, seeing a few family portraits that lined the walls as they went to the door to the master bedroom. She knocked three times, holding her ear to the door to hear for any movement. "It seems she's asleep. Guess we need to go in."

"You think there will be something in there?" Kunmi asked as Seian opened the door.

"Probably not, Dami said. "It's probably going to be…." He trailed off once the three of them went into the room. It was dark, but he saw yards upon yards of a thick tail. It was covered in an absurd amount of white-ish fur, and looped around from the edges of the room and even crossed over the bed and itself a few times. It all ended at the bed, where the snake half met with the equally-as-furry top, humanoid half. They laid on their front, covering most of their features from view, but it was unmistakably a human.

"Ah, so Issia was sleeping," Seian said quietly. But the kids were stunned silent. They had gotten their view, but they couldn't believe that Fola's girlfriend…was a monster girl!?

"This…is…aw-" Dami was about to exclaim before Seian covered his mouth. "Sssh, small one," she said, scanning the floor for parts of Issia's tail. "She is still ill. We don't want to wake her up…"

"Mmm…" Dami agreed. He and his cousin were still in awe, watching the tail shift and tug at various parts of the room. Seian led the way to her torso, watching her follower's feet cautiously maneuver over each section of tail. What felt like a evertense series turned out to be a quick 45 seconds, but soon they were right at the helm of the mattress. Unable to get a clear picture in the dark, Dami turns on the light on his phone, seeing a very snotty pillow and messy face. Each snore showed the mucus caking her nostrils hanging in and out with the air. Her face turned away from the light, her upper body scrunting up as she sneezed once again into the pillow like a shotgun.

"What are you doing?" Seian said, "turn the light off or she'll get upset!"

"Sorry," Dami said, turning it back off. "But that looks more like a monster than Fola's girlfriend."

"Well you do get really cranky when you get sick, Dami," Kunmi remarked quietly.

"Hey…"

"No one is the same when going through the flu," Seian said. "Only some change more than others." She tapped Issia's fur, hearing coos come from the Bunyip. "At least she still loves belly rubs~ Now then, it's time to drop the bowl and leave her to heal some more. Right, you two?" She turned and saw both of them trying to snap pictures of a section of her tail, seeing Dami pose while Kunmi held the camera. "What are-"

"We are getting proof for our story," Kumni said. "Dami, you need to be higher…"

"It's fine, she can't feel me sitting through all this fur," Dami said, changing poses. "We are going to look so cool, being late for this party." Seian's head darted back to Issia, who was starting to shuffle uncomfortably around.

"I believe she can…" Seian said. She tiptoed over to where the two were, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We should leave before-"

"Just one more picture," Dami said trying to shrug off the hand. "I need a boomerang and then we'll be done."

"What is a boomer-" Seian looked back. The snoring was growing less consistent. She could see Issia's face start to turn back towards the people on her tail, however it looked even less human than before. She put a hand back on Dami, gripping him tighter. "Forget it young one, we must leave now."

"3 more seconds!" Dami said.

"I don't uhh, know about that…." Kunmi said, now feeling movement coming from the tail beside his leg.

"We'll be in and out, just stop talking and take the last picture!" As Dami got in his final pose, Seian kept her eyes moving about around her. With how much of her tail was tucked away in here, it felt like the whole room was moving. On her turn back to Issia, she saw two eyes glowing yellow, staring at them through the dark as an object started to move above.

"Little ones, look out!" Seian said, pushing them out of the way just as the end of the bunyip tail came around to smack into her. She careened into the closet of the bedroom, breaking through the sliding glass door on her landing.

With her dispatched, Issia leered over the bed. Copious amounts of droll dripped down from her mouth as her dim yellow bulbs stared into the two brother's souls. In the dim light, they realized that what was on her face wasn't snot (mostly). It was muddy green scales that creeped up along her body like ferrofluid. Two top-row fangs protrouded out from her lips. Her face protuded out as well, almost like she now had a snout.

The two couldn't take their eyes off of her, except to look back into the broken dresser, where Seian's body lay limp and twitching against the crumpled door and shattered glass. Surrounded by rows of tails, they didn't dare move, stuck whimpering watching her face move closer and closer.

"Uuuhhhh…." Seian said, blood running down her limbs from skin-breaking scuffs against the glass. She groaned and willed herself back up, her vision starting to jostle and blur watching Issia size up her pray. Pain started to leave for excitement. She could feel something build up inside her, banging on a metaphorical cage begging to be let out.

Right when Issia was about to lunge, Seian jumped out of the mess of the door. The bunyip turned its head, just in time to be met with a flying kick that sent her upper body into the wall. Her head broke through the window, her claws stopping her before she went fully out of the window.

"You are in no state to be touching these boys!" Seian said, stepping in front of them as she watched the monster pick itself back out of the window. The two brothers quickly got behind her, seeing the tails around them start to move.

"Should we call Fola?" Dami asked, hiking a leg up when he felt the tail tighten around him.

"No! Just keep a hand on my body, you'll be fine!" Seian announced. "You will have to, if I ever want a chance for Lao to love me again…" Seian then whispered under her breath. At this point the whole room was alive with scale and fur shifting all over the place. Issia, as she was, finally got her head and shoulders out from the broken window. She screeched as the sudden pullback in allowed her skin to catch sharp edges. Blood down her face, only pissing the monster off more as it growled and drolled murky saliva.

"It's going to come right for us…." both Kunmi and Dami said slightly off to each other, clinging more and more to Seian as the room descended into a mess of rapidly moving tail sections. Everything from the dressers to the bed was getting moved and bangged up by the Bunyip, with only her head and torso staying still. "Seian!"

With one more disorienting hiss, it lunged again, this time ready to swallow all three of them whole. "I said it once and I'll say it again!" Seian said, unbothered as she reared back her fist. "Do not, touch, Lao's brothers!" Her eyes flashed green as she rammed her fist forth into the Bunyip's face, the impact loud enough to make a small pop in everyone's ears. If the last one knocked Issia into a window, this one cleared her through the brick-and-mortar wall. All of her rapidly evicted itself from the room as she fell out of the second-floor bedroom, landing in a messy pile of herself on the front lawn. Quickly, the bunyip retreated, Seian barely making it to the new hole in the wall before she saw Issia disappear into the suburbia.

"That…was…awesome!" She heard Dami say, whole also ran up to the window to see the damage. "You definitely left her dazed as hell!"

"No…." Seian solemnly said, gently placing Dami away from the edge. "This is even worse. Now she's lost in the town, and I don't have the slightest idea where…" She fell to her knees, clutching at the rubble and gritting her teeth. "I….made a giant mistake…"

The realization then began to set in for Dami and his excitement began to wane as well. "Oh, right…"

"We should probably call Big Brother then…or Vi-"

"Neither of those two!" She said, double-voicing as she turned around violently to Kumni. "With this level of damage, I would certainly be exiled for life! This must be handled quietly."

"But we don't have any leads!" Kunmi said.

"And you don't seem the best at finding things…" Dami said.

"I mean, I'm sure flying can get me…somewhere…" Seian said, mindlessly pawing at the rubble grains. "How hard could it be to find one Bunyip? One, possible irritated, ravenous, bunyip…"

"Bunyip…" Kumni said, taking out his phone.

"Oh who am I kidding, what could flying even do with all these buildings…" Seian said, her head lowering further. "Maybe I should just find Lao after all….."

"Why don't we look at the swimming pool?" Kumni said, walking up to Seian while Dami gave sympathy pats on her back. "Bunyips live in swamps right?"

"That does sound right but…where did you learn that?" Seian ask, not believing in the idea.

"Wikipedia!" Kumni said, grinning.

"But if they live in swamps, why would we look for Issia at the pool?" Dami asked. "That sounds stupid."

"You know anywhere else within 20 miles of here that has enough water to count as a lake?" Kumni said. Dami thought about it for a while, then nodded when he didn't have any better ideas. "You're not wrong, this place is pretty dry yeah…"

"But, marshes, wetlands…" Seian said.

"We're in the suburbs right next to the city," Dami said turning back to Seian. "Trust me when I say this place is literally dry as heck."

"Well..if the options are really that limited…" Seian regained her spirits, standing up tall in the opening of the wall. "Then we can actually catch her!" She jumped up and grabbed the ledge of the roof, pulling herself up and crocheting on the slanted tiles. She breathed in the fresh air, the newfound oxygen animating her more than ever. She could smell bunyip blood, and it wasn't far behind. "Boys, let us go catch us a water snake!"

"Lowes….." Isuka said, double-checking if the instructions were right. She and Mizuki were on a cement run, going to the massive warehouse that had somehow evaded her knowledge. Mizuki looked around, seeing so many people milling around the two. "Poser!" One of them yelled, a kid with a lollipop in hand that was walking with their mother.

"Poser? Why I outta-" Mizuki got ready to show that kid what for, but Isuka held them back, holding their body without looking up from the paper. "It said to go for the easyMixer brand, but why must be named this way?"

"Maybe the nomenclature is supposed to attract potential suitors," Mizuki thought out loud, peering down at the list of items the two of them needed to buy.

"Well if a brand can't even name itself correctly, what hope would I have that it would even work?" The two of them kept talking as they passed through the entrance, awkwardly stepping through the two tag detectors. "Imagine if a spell's description had spelling errors, you wouldn't dare trust its capability right?"

"Well, the spirits never misspell anything," Mizuki said. "And I have Anna for that!"

"With your levels of trust, this 'Anna' must have her work cut out for her." Wandering around the store, they went in and out of aisles. Like many mortals before them, they only found what they wanted by chance. Neither of their powers helped them at all. Even if they could magic the entire store, all the brands in Lowes made everything a clusterfuck.

As Mizuki heaved the pail onto her shoulder, a loud boom rumbled in the distance. She and Isuka turned towards the noise but were mostly dismissive about it. "Did you hear that?" Mizuki asked.

"All I am hearing is how much this one bucket would cost…" Isuka said, turning the pail in the Ryu's grasp to read the labels. "Did…did Lao say fewer commas or more?"

"We could just teleport out of here," Mizuki said. Isuka shifted her head around the bucket, arching an eyebrow. "We can't do that, that would be stealing! I'm sure if we just figure out how much to pay for this, we can-"

Another loud rumbling happened, which was closer sounding than the last.

"Well, if we can't teleport because of money, can we do it because of the noise?" Mizuki asked.

"But-" a third rumbling, now followed by some screams nearby. "Alright, I don't know how you're doing that, but I suppose it is an emergency now."

Satisfied, she made a portal, the fiery edges, bouncing sparks against the concrete floor. "I don't know what you mean, but I'm flattered you think I would cause such a ruckus," she said, sticking her tongue out before going through.

"Seian, wait!" Kumni said. He and Dami have been running after her, both of them near the end of their breath, while she had just begun to draw hers. Occasionally, she would jump up, going for a temporary bird's eye view before landing back down and jolting the ground under. "What is it, young children?" She said, jogging back and picking them up. "Oh, you two are so red in the face, what happened?"

"We can….take the bus…" Kumni said through labored breaths. He pointed to a blue sign with the bus icon, Seian turning and looking it over. "That metal stick can summon transport for us? But, we will lose her tail!"

"There's… nowhere else she would go…." Dami added. Seian was in a rush, but she knew she couldn't fly too long without drawing eyes, and the brothers were way too tired to keep up with her. They sat down and waited for a bus to come and pick them up, Dami paying for the fares while Kumni swiped a map from one of the seats.

By the time they got to the stop at the pool, it was already late in the afternoon. Long shadows covered the pool site, and all entrances were locked. As soon as Seian was pointed to one, she slashed the locks off, leaving the chain fence wide open for them to go through. "Alright children, do you remember the plan?" She said, seeing both of them take their phones out. "Creatures like her are sensitive to light, so once we lure her out of the water, we will keep her blinded with flashes while I restrain her."

"And then what?" Dami asked.

"Well isn't it simple, we save the day!" Seian said, puffing out her chest. "Trust me, with our combined skills, we can overcome any mountain! We would be the new trio, and Lao-sama may even…." she shuttered in excitement, clenching her fists at what was to come. "Eeeeee! But first, first… let us catch Issia. Alright, spread out!" With that, they all went their separate ways.

Kumni had thought ahead and brought radios for each of them. After a quick crash course on comms, Seian was on board. "Do you two see anything yet?" Seian asked, using her nose to try to sniff out the Bunyip.

"Nothing at the deep end," Dami radioed in, looking intensely inside. "I may have to go inside, take a closer look, over" [radio static]

"Stop trying to swim!" Kumni yelled into the mic. "And there's nothing by the kiddie pool." [radio static]

Seian was perusing the slides, smelling around while she listened to them argue over the radio. While it was fun, her nose finally picked up something. She sniffed twice more and turned. By now, the sun was hiding behind the building's infrastructure, leaving much of the pool as dark as a dingy closet. It was also eerily silent, with the only sounds being the distant cars that were back on the road. In the near seclusion, she saw glowing yellow eyes, staring at her from inside the end of the tube slide. "Clever girl," she said, grinning ear to ear. "Children! Stop arguing…we found our monster~" [radio static]

As quickly as the eyes appeared they left, Seian hearing a massive length shuffle back up the slide. Seian jumped onto the slide and started climbing up it, using the bolted ends as footholds to catapult her way up the slide. As soon as it emerged, She jumped into it, flying-tackling it to the ground. Kunmi was the first over there with lights, shining on them the massive amount of fur and scales Seian was wrestling. She managed to shuffle her way unto the monster's back, putting it in a chokehold. Issia's massive paws reached back for her but were not flexible to yank the human off her. She squirmed some more and hissed at Kunmi, but flashing lights stopped her from making a lunge.

"Not so tough now aren't ya!" Seian said, yanking on her hold as Dami came in with the strobe setting. He was also wet, having just gotten out of the water. "Sorry I'm late, I had to do some more searching…"

"Mom's going to be mad when she sees you lost your clothes," Kumni said.

"Don't worry! Once we bring back Issia, I'm sure all will be forgiven!" Seian grabbed the tip of Issia's tail and yanked it for good measure, hearing it scream. "See? Subdued!"

"Now we just got to fix the hole in the wall, and no one will suspect a thing!" Dami said, giving Kunmi a high five. Seian chuckled, relaxing while she watched them celebrate. She was getting pretty good at this babysitting thing…

Issia, on the other hand, had other plans. Feeling the grip on her body diminish, she snaked her tail slowly up herself. Seian didn't feel the fur graze up her leg until it was too late, but by then, she has yanked around like a lasso before being flung across the pool.

It was quick, but each time she skipped across the pool water and ground like a stone was more gruesome than the last.

She rag-dolled until being sent all the way to the deep end, where she skidded over one last section of water, her neck slamming into the corner of the pool's rim like a hockey stick. Something had definitely snapped, but she couldn't hear any snapping noises.

She couldn't even feel the broken insides of her tumbling body.

In a moment, everything was snatched from her like a gift box.

She was paralyzed on the cusp of death, with limp limbs and deep gashes all over her body from sliding across the pavement.

Dami and Kunmi went silent, watching her body hug the edge of the pool for a bit before sliding off and sinking lifelessly in a pool that slowly started to tint red where she landed. The sun was completely gone by this point, and the two phones that had their own light were all of a sudden running the battery too fast for them.

Issia's pupils expanded smelling blood. With the annoying woman dispatched, she turned her attention to the two prepubescents that were her backing up. The droll that dripped from her mouth told the whole story. She was hungry, and the two in front of her looked excellent digesting in her gullet.

"Run!" Dami said. Breaking the one rule of pool going, they started sprinting in the other direction. The bunyip quickly gave chase, knocking pool equipment and chairs out of the way as they desperately tried to lose her tail. They wanted Seian to come back up and bounce from such a hit like it was nothing, but even from across the pool, they could see how destroyed she was. All they had were the legs under their feet to carry them as far as they could from certain death.

They turned until a path between pools and the monster lunged at them, hearing her crash through the fence and into the forestry with a BANG. They decided the best way would be to go inside, quickly dashing into a door and pulling it. "IT'S LOCKED!" Kumni said. Dami hurried and got his bus card out, trying desperately to wedge open the door while Kumni looked behind them. His heart was pounding hard, seeing the bunyip squeeze its body against the chain fence to get back through. "She's coming she's coming she's coming she's coming she's coming she's coming she's coming-"

"I KNOW I KNOW!" Dami yelled, tears starting to fall down his face as he was forcing the card in there. Soon, she was midway back through the fence, thrashing like a wild boar as she tried to force the fence from being caught off her midsection. "DAMI! DAMI HURRY COME ON!"

"I GOT IT!" He proclaimed, the door finally giving. They yanked it open, screaming as she had finally roared free with one last tug, barreling over to them with open fangs. They dove through and turned into a hallway, dashing for stairs to go up as she shot passed them and busted through the building, boring a new hold and ruining the door like paper mache. The entire foundation shook from the impact, the two falling on the ground and scrambling to get as far away as possible. Bunyip screeches echoed through the halls while they escaped. They hustled up the stairs, finally stopping once they reached the top floor. Dami motioned to Kumni to remain quiet, the two of them tucking into the corner of the staircase landing and listening to her slither by on the first floor of the building. They held their breath, hearing its growls vibrate the floor under them. They didn't relax until their shuffling was no longer heard, fading to other parts of the facility.

"S-seian" Kumni said, slumping against the wall. "She-"

"She's fine," Dami said quickly. "Right? It's like cartoons, she'll come right back…" he couldn't be convinced seeing Kunmi break down, putting his hands on his knees as he started to sob. He slides down the way with him, struggling to keep his dread at bay. The sight of her body being manhandled like a stuffed doll kept replaying in his head. It made his chest hurt, butterflies transforming into wild bats that banged around inside him.

"Seian's freaking dead…." Kumni said again. "What are we…what do we…what do we do?" he cried, his clothes muffling his voice. He could barely talk, most of his speech was either aimless or interrupted by coughs and crying.

"Maybe we can call Fola…" Dami said. "Yeah, yeah! W-we'll be fine, we just need to call him and his friends and they can save us right?" Not entirely convienced himself, he looked towards Kunmi. He pulled his head out and looked back at Dami, nodding and wiping his face.

"Right…" Dami said, taking out his phone. He tapped the power button, waiting for it to come on. Seeing his cousin struggle, Kunmi took out his phone too.

"N-no power…" Dami weaseled out, dropping his phone weakly to the ground. Kunmi held it once last time, seeing the phone's logo finally appear on the screen. "Yes!" they both said, crowding around it and waiting. They could still hear the monster messing around in the distance, fading in and out. It was all up to the boot now, watching the logo disappear to load the phone.

When the next icon came back up, it was a near-empty battery that flashed red.

"Charge your battery," Kunmi said as he read out the error message before it faded to black one last time. Time seemed to freeze, their death sentence looming over them like a dark cloud. Dami, dumbfounded, could only stare off into the staircase, unable to process any of it. "We really should have just gone to the party…"

Just then a tail burst right in front of them. They screamed in terror and watched as the tail felt around, latching onto Dami's tail and pulling hard. "GET OFF!" he screamed, kicking the tail as it slowly reeled him back into the hole like a fishing line.

"DAMI, HOLD ON!" Kunmi said, grabbing onto his cousin's arms and pulling. Dami could feel something tasting his foot, a tail that licked it up and down like a lollipop. He kept kicking, putting his full force into it until he felt something hard give. The bunyip shrieked and let go, Dami and Kunmi falling back into their corner as the entire building started to shake. The monster could feel its bone breaking, running itself into foundations and thrashing around. Seeing dust and random pieces of ceiling fall around them, they could do nothing but scream.

Seian woke up, her face covered in dirt. She groaned as she peered around. Beyond a few feet, everything was hidden behind thick maroon clouds. All she had was herself, and the little dome around her that kept the smoke from engulfing her. "Where…am I?" She asked herself. She started walking around, the dome moving with her to move smoke out of the way. She was still walking completely blind and even started running along the flat ground. "Hello?" she said, coming to a stop out of breath. "Is anyone there?"

"I can't believe you forgot," someone said behind her. She looked behind, seeing another dragonic standing back to back with her. It was a Wyvern, and an eerily familiar one at that.

"Wait a second…you're me," Seian said calmly. "But, how?"

"Because me, this is the last place we have left," she said. "And I thought we could have a second chance with our beloved…."

"Second chance…wait, I'm-"

"Unfortunately," she said. She sat down, resting her head against Seian's thighs as she started to fume. "That damn Issia, that god, fucking Issia, she just had to ruin everything again!"

"Woah, woah woah," Seian said, turning around to hug herself. "It's not like that-"

"Then who threw us into the pool!?" Seian winced, the memory floating around like a bad hangover. "Oh yeah, that did happen….wait, little ones! We need to save Lao-sama's siblings."

"Why?" the inner Seian pouted. "Just to toil away as the 2nd fiddle again?"

"It's not like I'm second fiddle!" Seian exploded. She clenched her hands, puffing steam through her nose. Her wyvern self looked up at her, watching herself tense her body over and over. "I'm not second fiddle…." Seian said, counting in her head to calm herself down. "I'm not…second fiddle…look…Seian…" she sat down with her old form, sighing as she struggled to say what she wanted to say.

"He doesn't love us at all…doesn't he…" the wyvern said, looking defeated.

"Arrrg, he does, that's the thing. I mean, he wouldn't let me live with him if he didn't right?" Seian argued. "It is disheartening, but maybe it's just a different type of love…something that's still there, but, maybe it's not love love, but it's still there."

"Like….maybe a friend?"

"I hope it's not just a friend…" The thought of being friend-zoned was an awful reality. But… "If that is where we are, then maybe we just have to acknowledge that as well." Both versions of Seian shuttered.

"Funny, I always thought that I couldn't live without him…but I'm making it sound so easy. Shame we wouldn't be able to exactly live to find out."

"Right, the whole dying thing…" Seian said. "Wait! I still need to save them!"

"Forget them, what about us? We haven't been this close since we took the potion for hands!"

"Maybe, but back then, we also weren't also undead," Seian said.

"Wait, you don't mean-"

The former Seian closed her eyes, the ground around the both of them starting to wilt. Her body started to decay, her bony armor growing sharply out of her limbs.

"But we'll go on a rampage! I don't want to hurt anyone! I…I don't want to hurt him either…" The Wyvern said, hugging the transforming Seian. "Please, there has to be another way…."

"Maybe…." Seian admitted, her eyes transforming into a more menacingly set of silts. "But let's kick some sense into that Bunyip before we do."

"Come on, we're almost there," Kunmi said, holding a limping Dami as they went through the door onto the rooftop. The squeeze on his leg had left him with a severe sprain, and just standing on his feet made his head flash white and red. Behind them, the entire doorway leading to the roof shook, until Issia knocked it clean off its hinges to get through. The shaking fell both of them, the two laying on the roof as they looked up at the predator stalking closer to them.

"If we're going to die, I need to tell you something," Dami said. "I was the one that broke the garage door at your aunt's house but she would have killed me!"

"I was the one who did that prank on you last year with the letter asking you to be someone's boyfriend!" Kunmi responded, hugging the living hell out of him. "I'm sorryyyyyy!"

"I broke your bike and replaced it with another one!" they both said, looking into each other's eyes. The moment of confusion didn't last long though, as an ear-snapping hiss made them look up at the Bunyip before them. Its claws pinned them both together against the ground, leaving their mouths up to yell one last time as her jaws came down on their heads.

At the last moment though, an object could be heard whizzing through the air. The bunyip looked up just in time to see a blurred figure kick it right in the face, the force of its foot lifting the entire creature off the two. "Step, off!" it said, using her newly sprung leg to kick her again, sending her falling off the building and crashing down into the ground. Dami and Kunmi looked up bewildered, picked up by the mysterious heroine and taken off the roof.

"Thank you so much," they said, hugging them as she set them down in two of the pool chairs near the deep end. It was as far from the destroyed building as possible, but even still, they couldn't help but wander over near it, to see what was left of their friend.

"She's gone," Dami said. They looked back at her, noticing the bones all over her body and the faceplate. Having memories of the near past, they started to back up, the humanoid advancing closer.

"Seian?" Kunmi asked, helping Dami stand. They felt their backs hit the fencing around the pool, seeing the humanoid still approaching until it kneeled in front of them.

"Can you say anything?" Kunmi asked again. She looked up and slowly shook her head. All her movements seemed very deliberate, her hands having a constant jitter to them.

"Are you going to hurt us?" Another slow head shake.

"At least we know she's on our side," Dami said, giving a sigh of relief. They heard Issia roar and turned back to the building, seeing her come out the other side and laser in on the three of them. "H-hey! Seian," he called seeing her head turn instantly toward him. He started to sweat, not knowing if he said something wrong. "U-uhh…go…fight?" she remained still as a statue, moving her hand up towards Dami. The sweating only got worse, until she finally patted him on the head and stood up.

She got between the kids and the Bunyip, watching her rush down to them once more. Once she was a second away, she turned around and whipped her tail into the bunyip, batting her away. A follow-up punch sent the Bunyip reeling back into the kiddie pool, the tail slipping in with her. Seian could hear the two boys cheering her on, but her eyes stayed on the bunyip rousing itself up. It shook the soaked hair out from her face and tried grabbing, but Seian flew up, her wings shooting out to flap her clear of her reach. She shot a column of fire down, illuminating Issia in spurts of green flames.

RAAAAGHH! Issia whipped away the green fire blocking her vision, only to see Seian coming down after with another leg kick. Learning from last time, it grabbed her ankle and slapped her face first into the poolside, cracking the concrete underneath. The monster did that a few more times until the concrete caved and she didn't see Seian moving any longer. It grinned maliciously seeing the body it was holding limply by her leg, shocked when it suddenly slipped out of her grasp and kicked her in the torso, pushing her entire back a few inches.

Seian had decided to go up close and personal. Big kicks and fire weren't keeping it down, but a few slashes will. She went to work, clawing up Issia's front while dogging the tail. The bunyip's frustration ballooned with each slash, stopping her attacks and frantically trying to grab her. The concrete cracked and caved under them, with Issia not relenting until she managed to catch one of the wings of Seian.

The boys gasped, watching on as Seian got put in the squeeze of a lifetime. Issia coiled her tail and pushed Seian in, growling approvingly she started to tighten her coils like a boa constrictor. Seian's body started to crack, her armor unable to take the pressure for long.

"Get out!" Dami screamed. They both yelled at Seian to escape, but the silent dragon just kept her gaze on the Bunyip's head. It decided it was time to end this. Hearing its food cry for a savior was getting annoying.

It put her all into one, final squeeze to reduce Seian to a paperweight as thin as straw. Only, her body wouldn't yield any longer. It squeezed again, roaring in the face of her defiance, but Seian wasn't budging any longer. The coils started to widen to the Bunyip's dismay, not realizing what was happening until enough coil had moved for the dim moonlight to reflect off of Seian's body once more. She was prying the tail off her, not even breaking her stare in the process.

The bunyip was livid. She dove into her own coils for her but got caught and gripped just under her torso. Seian spread her wings and took to the skies, taking her water snake with her. The cousins watched her rise, barely visible in the suffocating darkness. However, when she stopped, the two instantly knew what was about to take place.

They both cleared to the farthest part of the deep end around the same time the two monsters started falling down. With no wings, Issia was helpless to do anything, stuck at the mercy of the dragon zombie pushing her down faster with each flap. Space that had taken minutes to ascend was being passed in a matter of seconds. Hair and fur started flapping in the wings the bunyip quickly realized that Seian had every intent to slam her not into the pool, but into the hard pavement of the edges. She screeched out to the entire neighborhood as she desperately tried to pull herself anywhere away from the slam.

Like setting off dynamite, the impact crumbled everything away and raised it in a dusty explosion. The ground jolted, the blast popping the boys' and Kumni ran over. When the dust settled, they saw the two mamono sprawled out on the ground. The bunyip looked more injured, wheezing and wincing whenever it tried to move a section of her body. Seian was completely still, her eyes closed shut and her body limp over Issia.

They began to fear the worst. They weren't sure what to do. They slowly started to back away until they saw Seian finally twitch in the corner of their eyes. They rushed back, seeing her hands tighten two more times before she sprung up instantly, as alive as a well-fed chicken. "Seian!" they yelled, coming into the crater, hugging her tight. "But how? We saw you fall out of the sky!" Kumni said, but she didn't say anything back.

"Right, you don't say anything…" He then looked towards the frozen Bunyip, who was lying in agony. "But what do we do about her?"

Everyone waited on the edges of the garage while the owner inspected the floor. Finally, after hours of work and review, the cracked landing spot had been fixed and reviewed for perfection. But could the keen combination of tech, magic, and experience be enough for the absolute unit that runs the place?

"He always gave perfectionist," Nyx whispered to Lalu as he tapped the normal floor and new floor for comparisons. "This reminds me of when he found out we were not letting tires get right to the limit."

"I know, it's why I kept asking everyone to break it and do it again," Lalu said. "Man is hard to please."

"The stores that stick around do it right the first time," Nyx monologued as if she were reciting a script. "I just hope I don't get fired from here. Outside of retail, this is one of the few jobs I could afford to have during college. If I have to go back to customer service…"

"Don't worry," Lalu said. "For how much the boss is a perfectionist, we have the literal embodiment of nerdom in here. Two, actually," Lalu said, seeing how Virto and Isuka seemed to still be doing their own inspections while the boss is checking. "If anyone can live up to him, it's those two."

"Polish feels seamless," the boss felt surprised, unable to tell the difference outside of the yellow tape. "I didn't know you all had an eye for-"

"The mixture of acrylic and epoxy, yes," Virto said, checking something off on their board. "It took a bit of testing, but we suspected it must be something you stumbled upon as well."

"Stumbled upon….is harsh," he grumbled back, sounding offended. "But yeah, it does feel exactly the-"

"We also couldn't figure out the concrete you used when you first laid it down, but by Earth-" Virto nudged Isuka, interrupting her explanation.

"By American measurements, jeez…we dated it to be mid-2000s, and found an abnormal density of about 3 grams per cubic centimeters," Isuka said, brushing some stray strands of hair from the front of her face.

"I didn't track-" The normally grumpy man was dumbfounded. He walked over to Nyx and Lalu, patting them on the shoulders. "Okay, I have two things."

"I get to keep my job?" Nyx tried.

"Alright, two and a half," he responded. "The other things were that I have never felt a floor so perfectly reassembled, it's like…magic." Behind him, Isuka and Virto silently fist-bumped. Mizuki wasn't as silent, letting a giggle out from her spot on the waiting chairs.

"The other thing…." the boss continued, side-eyeing Mizuki, "Is that your friends are….are they from Pittsburg? I know your high school classmates, but-"

"We understand," Lalu said. "We are just glad you liked the floor finally."

"I never said my expectations were hard to reach," the boss replied. Given it took literally magic and a fair amount of nanotech to do, Lalu highly doubted that. "You gotta understand, when you go out into the world-"

"The people around you aren't going to be fair," Lalu and Nyx repeated after like drones.

"Glad I did you all good," the boss replied satisfied, patting both their shoulders while chuckling. "Honestly, now I want your crew to do the rest of my place. Got me feeling I may find some loose screw in my lift machine or a crack in my windows…" He walked and chuckled back to his room, continuing to scheme ways to drag them into more renovations like a little kid. Leana came into the room by then, holding a phone out to Lalu. "Uhhh, your brother is calling me…" she said.

Lalu, just as confused, took the phone and put it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Fola!" he screamed.

"What are you doing on Leana's phone?"

"Our phones were dead, and we only remembered her phone number."

"Why not mine?"

"Remember that one time she gave us her PSP?"

"...You're right, that's some stuff I would do." Lalu then heard a faint whaling in the background, followed by a sharp hiss. "A-are you at the Zoo? It's passed 10."

"Can you um, come pick us please?" Dami said on the other side of the line. Kumni had also squeezed into the phone booth, with Zombie Dragon Seian still silently peering over them both like a gargoyle. She still the bunyip's broken body dragged along, partially blocking the road and sidewalks with how large it was.

"I think we're near the entrance to the golf course by now…" he crackled in through the phone. A wet-sounding sneeze took place on the other end, getting very disgusted ews from him and Kumni.

"Alright, alright, we'll come over," Lalu said, ending the call.

"What's going on?" Leana asked. Nyx also listened along, concerned.

"My brothers are out somewhere. I guess we could all stop by to pick them up on the way home." Lalu then started walking out, dialing a number while he went to the front of the building. "Hey, Ola," he said into the phone's mic. "Do you have Cash App? Yeah, um, it's for an Uber…maybe two…"

"This way," Dami said. He and Kunmi were pulling Seian with one of her arms, guiding her like an aimless robot through the neighborhood streets. By the time they had reached the cul-de-sacs it was almost midnight. Even though all the usual walkers had long since gone inside, they were still lucky all the cars and headlights had just about missed them.

With Seian's other arm, she had slung a shrunken Issia over her shoulder. Patches of dried blood stained her coat, her breathing broken by occasional gurgles in her throat.

The kids froze as headlights suddenly turned onto their street. Seian, who had been reserving herself, stood steel, blank orbs reflecting the bright yellow-tinted light like mirrors. It was over, they were caught. All they had worked for was about to blow up in their face, and the only reprieve they had was hope that the explosion wouldn't be green.

As it approached them, it rapidly came to a halt. It was a familiar red Ferrari, coming to a halt in front of them. A random car was following behind, its tires screeching as it struggled to slow down before causing a fender bender with the hatchback.

"Oluwale!" they both yelled, giddy as they saw their big brother get out of the car. He was in pajamas, with rings that gave tiredness around his eyes. In his car the car behind his, alot more people got out. Lalu and all his friends were there. They were safe!

"What are you two doing-" Ola started scolding, but he got glomped by the two kids rushing to him like he was the safe wall in tag.

"You saved us!" Kumni yelled, burying his face in his older cousin.

"My ankle is broken!" Dami said, doing the same.

"What?" He could do little other but give them reassuring pats on the back, looking back at the dragon staring silently at him. "Isn't that-"

"Completely under control!" Lalu said moving past him. He quickly got to Seian and grabbed her hands. The moment she felt contact, she instantly wrapped around him, knowing she didn't have to hold back anymore. She squeezed as tight as she could, feeling his aura start to build around him as it worked to fix the bones she definitely broke inside of him. "S-soorrrryyyy…" She hissed, sounding more reptilian than human.

"Issokay," Lalu whispered. In the meantime, Isuka and Mizuki did the heavy lifting, moving Issia's wounded form through a portal back to Virto's place. It was finally over.

"When you told me my wife got sick while she was in the stratosphere, you didn't tell me being sick would cause property damage," Lalu said, leaning over the table Virto was working over in their lab. "What are you gonna tell the homeowners association?"

"That a freak tornado hit my second-story bedroom," Virto said, soldering small LEDs onto a new bracelet for Seian.

"Oh you could claim hate speech," Lalu suggested. "Alot more believable."

"And why would anyone believe that?" Virto said, looking up and brushing their hair out of the way of their goggles.

"Because you're trans, you're a minority now!" Lalu said, starting to chant while banging the table to the beat of the words. "One of us, one of us, ONE OF US-"

"Non-binary," Virto said without blinking. "There's a difference you know…."

"Right right…" Lalu said, settling back down and watching them solder on. "Still a minority, nerd."

[Silence and small sparks and buzzing noises]

"...do…do you think I give more girl than boy?" Virto said inquisitively, suddenly pausing the power. Lalu looked up, admittedly zoned out for a brief moment. "Huh?"

"N-nevermind…" They said, looking back down and quickly going back to work.

"Ight…."

Back upstairs, Issia and Seian sat on the couch together, watching the news of the pool damage. Both were in their human forms again, but both had a bunch of wraps around their limbs and bodies, with Seian holding a cold compress to her cheekbone.

"Police are searching for what could have caused this damage to the pool, but the suspect is still at large," a news anchor said while reporting on the destroyed building and deep end. "One thing's for certain. This pool party, is going to come to an end. Back to Brakence for the weather."

"I can't believe I destroyed an entire building…" Issia said, putting her head in the palms of her hands. "And apparently some other malls…"

"Well, at least Isuka said she could handle the damages this time," Seian responded. "And she seems like quite the swell character! Haha-owwwwww." Laughing made her jaw hurt. She pressed the cold pack harder against her head, wincing in pain.

"And I hurt you, and almost killed Lao's siblings," Issia said. "Honestly, if I knew this would happen, I would have just chained myself up in the basement."

"But that's animalistic!"

"Well, they chained you up, right? Put you in a collar and some wrist cuffs?"

"No, no that's…." Seian tugged at her new limiter, running her hand along the rim against her neck. "It…."

"Nevermind me," Issia said. She saw the hurt and confusion on Seian's face and decided to drop it altogether. She stared silently at the TV, watching the forecast for next week get explained.

Sigh, Seian said, suddenly deciding to sigh loudly. Issia looked in her direction. "What?"

"I think that right now, we're just in an awkward spot. You and I….we feel so different and yet, we are united and were brought together through our love for Lao." Seian spoke, her eyes wandering around the living room while Issia nodded along without much pushback. "Yes, mmhmm," she went.

"And I want to get closer with you," Seian continued on. "As friends. So to do that, I am announcing to you, with a heavy heart, that I will no longer pursue your husband romantically, but as a normal, close-ish associate as well."

"T-thanks?" Issia said surprised. Seian's eyes finally stopped wandering, her free hand cupping Issia's near hand beside her. "So I want to officially apologize for my actions earlier. You two are really happy, and after what I experienced today, I think being a caretaker is what's more for me. I just hope you can accept my apology, pleeeease?" She ended her spill with a small beg, gripping Issia's hand a bit tighter.

"W-wow. Wow, okay um…" It was as if a bomb was dropped on her. She suddenly felt a lot lighter, just noticing an invisible arm that had been pressing down on her frame for a while. The feelings bubbled up like a boiling pot of water, until it only made sense that the place they should go was away. Issia took a deep breath; something clicked because of the dragon girl, and it was only right she returned the favor.

"I'm sorry too," Issia said. "For everything. I think that I was jealous, learning that Lao had other people in his life. People that he obviously cared a lot about, people…that might have been deserving of him, in hindsight," she said, her eyes darting down to her lap. "I shouldn't have given him a blowjob in front of you like that, you weren't in the best state mentally. No offense."

"None taken, I was cuckoo!" Seian blurted, laughing loudly until the pain in her face kicked in. "HAHA-OW!"

"Hehe, yeah…" Issia said the smile she had fading back to a grimace. "Honestly, I should have just treated you better. So yeah, I would love to be friends." Issia leaned closer to Seian, pecking her on the forehead then sitting back down. "Would that be fine?"

"Yeah, of course!" Seian said. "But, why the kiss on the cheek?"

"It was supposed to be endearing," Issia said. Seian shrugged and giggled, tapping the spot where she kissed. While it felt weird and out of place now that everything has settled, it was still a nice gesture to receive. "Oh don't worry, a hug is just as good for me. Heh."