//------------------------------// // Arc XIX Episode IV: Fighting Back // Story: Family Begins With You // by Jmaster49 //------------------------------// “...Pearl Necklace?” Spike tilted his head upon reading the paper, and one of his ears flicked in response to the trio of boys snickering at the name. “What’s so funny, guys?” “...Nothing,” Flash replied with an uneasy grin, “Just some immature humor. Regardless, at least we know what we’re looking for. We need to get to the planetarium as fast as--” But before they could make any further motions to enact a plan, they were interrupted by a fairly monotone voice. “I’m afraid that I cannot allow you to do that,” the voice spoke from the middle of the road nearby. The boys looked up to see the source of the voice and found a dark-skinned woman with purple hair standing in the middle of the street. Her pupils were dilated and her tone of voice was rather robotic, expressing little to no emotion. Flash closed the journal, and upon seeing her, shot her a suspicious side-glance as something about her was scarily familiar. “Hold on…what the heck…? Anyone know who this is?” “Bad news, yo,” Sandbar commented, “Sis captured her on the cameras outside of school. She’s the one who stabbed you!” “...” Flash clutched one of his hands over his chest as he recalled that painful wound he was dealt a few mere days ago. “So it’s her…” Micro Chips was quick to point out the logic in her appearance. “She seems to be here in order to keep us distracted so that we can’t assist Keiji and the others. How malignant.” Spike ran out in front of them, growling fiercely as if he was looking for an excuse to go rabid. “Rrrrrrgh…you…I’ve been waiting to sink my teeth into you. You made a big mistake infecting Twilight with your disgusting magic. So you’d better have a good explanation for what you’re doing--unless you wanna end up as specks of bone between my teeth!” Once again, Lucide spoke with an empty, blank tone of voice. “You will not interfere with Lady Acida’s plan. She will assimilate all of humanity into her own hive so that she can become the all-powerful ruler of this realm, and the others.” “Which is why you preemptively took out Sunset and her friends as well as the Sirens--who all just so happen to be female,” Micro commented while adjusting his glasses, “Smart. Very smart indeed. But what you failed to take into account was just how strong we’d be.” “Error in logic,” Lucide spoke coldly once more as her eyelid twitched, “You’re nothing. You’re all inferior specimens with no power or ability to fend me off. Your chances of winning are far below five percent.” Her new speech patterns caused Sandbar to ball his fists and raised a brow. “...The way she’s talkin’...it’s creepin’ me the hell out, yo.” “It’s almost as if she’s under some sort of mind control,” Micro muttered, “But I can’t sense any magical influence in the air.” Flash shook his head. “No…it’s not mind control. Remember when Sunset brainwashed us during the Fall Formal? There’s no way that’s what’s going on here. It’s like she’s been reprogrammed from the ground up.” Near the ground, Spike could still be heard growling. “I don’t care what it is. I’m gonna tear her to pieces and bury her six feet under!!” And with that, he immediately took off, running at the woman as fast as he could while screeching, “Release the spell or I’ll end you!!” “Spike! What are ya doin’, bro?!” Sandbar shouted and immediately ran after him. “All for Lady Acida. Begone with you,” Lucide muttered in her eerie tone as she raised her hand, causing a set of runes to appear on the ground in front of Spike. Unfortunately, the purple pup could only see red, charging at the woman with reckless abandon. “Give. Her. BACK!!” he snarled, only to-- SHING! Plop. …fall asleep as soon as he set paw on one of the runes. But it didn’t stop there. Spike’s sleeping body was immediately consumed by green, thorny tentacles which seemingly consumed his body, much to the horror of the boys. “...No…not him!” Flash screamed as he ran towards Lucide with the sound-based magic flowing through his outstretched hands. “You sonova--let him go!” “You’re gonna have hell to pay, yo!” Sandbar shouted right alongside Flash with his fists covered in sand. Once again, Lucide simply muttered in a low, empty tone. “Your friend shall serve as an example of the price humanity will pay for not submitting cooperatively.” Before either of them could attack, their pupils widened as the shadow of a large, oncoming object approached them. “HIT THE DIRT!” Flash shouted as he dove down--his back slammed against the ground due to his panicked state. CRASH--HOOOOOONK! An entire parked--well, formerly parked--car had been flung in their direction, shattering upon impact as it collided with the magical statue that sat at the front of the campus. “Shit!” Sandbar swore as he picked himself off of the sidewalk, having scraped one of his arms against the pavement in the process of narrowly avoiding the vehicular projectile. “That was a nut hair away from taking my whole goddamn face off, yo!” Lucide was about to strike once more, looking to catch the boys off-guard as they recovered from the falls they took. Unfortunately for her-- SHING! “...!” her pupils shrank as she gasped quietly… Dark spikes had risen through the ground, piercing her limbs and impaling her--keeping her locked in place. And before she could even think to react, Micro Chips de-cloaked from his invisibility right behind her and without hesitation-- CRACK! Delivered a backhanded punch to her jawline. Enhanced by the nanomachines in his body, the strike was hard enough to send her flying, and skidding against the asphalt on the road until she came to a stop a few feet away. “...Ghhh….how…? How…??” Lucide muttered hysterically under her breath in complete disbelief. Were there really people capable of defending themselves who weren't element bearers?