//------------------------------// // Arc XVII Episode VIII: Finding A Way // Story: Family Begins With You // by Jmaster49 //------------------------------// Meanwhile, in the abandoned warehouse on the other side of the city… Lucide would eventually return to her boss in a huff as she kicked the door in. “UGH! I can’t believe a boy made me fall back. This is ridiculous.” “Now now…patience, my dear Lucide,” her boss replied. The woman who was once wheelchair-bound was now able to walk on her two hoof-like legs. “The love that I’ve gained from that magic siphon has worked wonders. The idiots of Equestria foolishly threw us out along with Prismia’s Pearl Necklace. It’s almost as if they were asking for trouble.” “Have to admit, I feel a bit bad though,” Lucide went on, “Like, do we really need to delete all life in order to remake this world? Sounds a bit excessive, don’t you--” With a loud hissss!, the bug woman stormed into Lucide’s face. “Are you mocking me? Do you have no faith in my abilities, Luci? Bear in mind: Who was the one who kept you alive as we waded through his hellish world?” Lucide sighed, now unable to make eye contact as she mumbled a response. “...You did, Ms. Acida…” “Exactly,” Acida replied with a snarl, “If it wasn’t for me, you’d have long since been abducted by human scientists and put to testing. They would’ve likely probed your body with violative methods. But I kept you from that. No one is going to treat your poorly again. So long as you do what I say.” With the magic having restored her body, she was now able to take a human form--and picked that of an office worker: a blue suit-skirt, heels--the whole nine yards. “This’ll work nicely…now I can properly infiltrate them.” Lucide folded her arms and scoffed at what her superior wore. “I mean, I guess if you’re going for the look of those girls on those private websites, sure. But I’m just…I dunno, I see all these families here and it doesn’t feel all that different from the families we were a part of.” She placed her hands behind her head as she thought back to the boy she intimidated. “...He’s got a younger sister and seems pretty adamant about keeping her safe.” “Please,” Acida hissed once more as she rolled her eyes, “Humans continue to ravage this world in ways they don’t deserve. All of this freedom should be reserved only for those of higher power. Not measly hairless monkeys…” “Still…I think it’s a bit extreme,” Lucide shrugged her shoulders, and began walking off, “But if that’s what you wanna do, I won’t stop you.” POOF! In a flash of green magic, Acida teleported in front of Lucide, bending over to glare her right in the eyes. “And just where do you think you’re going?” “...” Lucide took a step back, and sputtered her reply, “To uh…take a break?” “I don’t think so. I think you’re in need…” Acida’s green aura surrounded her subordinate as she pulled her closer. “...of some calibrations.” Lucide’s heart skipped a beat once she realized she couldn’t break out of the magical grasp. Her teeth began to chatter as she forced a nervous smile behind fearful eyes. “...C-c-calibrations?” On the other side of the city, near the beach…4PM… Micro Chips and Sandbar exited the hospital once Flash was admitted for his stab wound. “Think he’ll be able to recover?” Micro wondered aloud. “He’ll be fine, bro,” Sandbar replied, “I’m sure of it. We just need’ta figure out how we gonna save everyone else. If that crazy magical lady is true with her words, then we’re in for some shit, yo.” Since Sandbar had explained to Micro what Lucide had told him, the intellectually inclined young man was already hard at work thinking about what it all meant. “Hm…I have to admit, it’s extremely concerning. The desire to rebuild the world from scratch it…it’s something out of an Orwellian Dystopia.” “I ain’t got no idea whatcha just said, but it sounds terribad, yo,” Sandbar replied, “Now whattta we gonna--” Suddenly, their conversation was interrupted by a…rather violent ringtone. ‘IT’S ME! WHAAAAAT?! AGAINST THE WORLD!’ “Gah!” the shouting caused Micro to enter a flight response in which he jumped backwards with his glasses nearly falling off his face, “What in the world is that?!” “Oh, sorry, yo,” Sandbar looked down at his pocket and opened up his phone to answer it. “Oh, it’s my sister. Video call too.” With the press of a button, he was connected and saw his sister--Coral Currents--she was busy doing her homework. “Hey, Cici--how ya doin’?” “Hey, big brother--wait, how many times have I told you not to call me that?” the girl on the other end rolled her eyes as she continued scribbling in her notes. She was wearing an orange and black, horizontally striped sweater and a plaid, red bucket hat along with a pair of kelp-green shorts and sandals. Like her brother, she had a shade of green-ish skin--albeit leaning more towards the teal range, and a pair of dark blue eyes. Her hair was a two-tone shade of dull pink and blue. “Sorry--you know you’ll always be Cici to me,” Sandbar replied with a well-meaning smile, “Anyway, wazzup, sis?” “I’ve already figured out what’s going on at your school--it’s some kind of magical anomaly that’s related to the phenomena you experienced a year ago at the Friendship Games,” she said while typing on a keyboard with her left hand, “If you can come home for a minute, I can explain a bit more to you.” “Uhh…” Sandbar’s eyes shifted over to Micro Chips. “...Mind taggin’ along, dawg? I don’t know half the things she be tellin’ me sometimes. Maybe you could translate?” Any information was better than none--Micro knew he couldn’t refuse this chance to discover more. “If your sister is skilled enough to isolate and detect forms of magic before they can even appear, then we’re in luck. It’s now or never I say.” “Alright, sis--we’ll be right there.”