“So it seems that you’re a bit stronger than you let on…no matter,” Acida chuckled as she tapped the largest pearl of the necklace she wore. “I have more than enough to keep you all busy.”
“What are you talkin’ about?” Keiji asked with a confused tilt of his head, “Teach and the others have beaten your little cronie and they’re likely on their way now to help us with kickin’ your ass.”
With a flash of green magic, Acida merely replied with a cocksure, “...I don’t think so.”
Moments later, Wallflower’s phone started to ring. “...Huh? It’s Flash. What’s going on…?” she muttered while looking at the screen.
The woman chuckled with a smug, snake-like grin on her face. “Go ahead…pick up the phone.”
After swallowing a lump of anxiety in her throat, Wallflower gingerly drew her finger across the touchscreen in order to answer it.
And on the other end, came loud, overlapping screams of panic!
“Spiders…everywhere!” Flash’s voice called out from the phone, “We can’t help you guys! There’s too many of ‘em! Professor, look out!”
With that, the call hung up, leaving nothing but an idle dial tone before shutting off completely.
“Well well well..” Acida called out from atop the building with her hands on her hips, “Looks like your little friends won’t be able to come help you after all.”
“Son of a--” Rumble stomped his foot out of anger, “You only did that because you know Professor Aidon would whoop your sorry butt, lady!”
Meanwhile, Keiji had started to think. “Wait a minute…spiders…” His eyes went wide upon realization. “You…that spider attack on the diner a few months ago. That was you, wasn’t it?” he questioned with an accusatory tone.
“So you are more intelligent than you let on!” the changeling woman clapped her hands in a patronizing manner, “Congratulations! I knew the product of the Bloodlust Duchy was worthwhile. It’s why I need you above all else. With your power, I’d be unstoppable.”
“Hella gross. No thanks,” Keiji hissed in return, “I’d rather sell my organs than offer anyone my power. No one’s getting at this body, got it? I’m pissed enough as it is because you hurt the people I care about with your shitty magic. Diamond Tiara was saying shit about Dhampir babies! Do you know how disgusting that is?!”
“Sounds to me like someone is in denial of their feeliiiiiings…” Acida mocked him in a singsong tone.
Rumble stepped forward and shouted, “Leave him alone, ya old bat! All you’re doing is wrecking the girls’ mental state! Scootaloo can’t stand being isolated for this long! Do you know what it’s like to be someone in a family that’s constantly forgotten?!”
The woman paused for a moment and shut her eyes.
Rumble would call out once more, “Huh?! Do you?!”
But Keiji could feel that something was wrong in the air, and immediately turned to Wallflower. “Hey--if you can’t fight, then take cover in the parking lot. This is about to get messy.”
“...I won’t let you guys do this alone,” Wallflower replied as she looked down at her hands, “Come on, magic…give me something I can use--!”
BIZZZZZ!
Their voices were immediately drowned out by the overlapping noises of millions of insect wings flapping. The sun was blocked out as Acida shed the humanoid exoskeleton she had utilized in order to gain power with Primsia’s necklace, and revealed her true form:
A gigantic, fly-like creature with massive red eyes and a blue body. The pearl necklace had increased to scale in order to match her size with each pearl enlarging to the size of a human skull.
Keiji’s jaw dropped open as he stared up at her. “...She’s a goddamn Beelzebub…”
“A what?!” Rumble shouted, “What does that--hey!” He was cut off as a barrage of larvae was sent his way. Acida scattered green, pus-filled sacs in their direction, which caused Rumble to instinctively react with a flurry of kicks to deflect each one. “Gah! If you’ve put my brother through any of this garbage so help me--!”
CHING!
“Hey, hey, hey--stay focused!” Keiji warned his friend while slicing the larvae apart with his sword. “You can’t save Thunderlane and Scoots if you start getting bent outta shape here.”
Meanwhile, Wallflower had retreated behind her car, cowering in fear with her hands over her head as she sat on the ground. “Come on…if any spare magic is out there, I need it right now. Please…” Her eyes grew wide as fear started to set in--everyone was locked in a state of combat against this woman’s insectoid and arthropod army and she was unable to do anything. The desire to fight back was strong, but she knew she couldn’t do a thing to retaliate. All she could do was grit her teeth as the sound of exploding bug sacs popped and crackled in the air behind her. “...This is too much…it’s insane! I can’t fight back against this! This is some weird sci-fi shit!” Panicked tears started to well up in her eyes as she tugged upon her hair, now frozen in place from her anxiety. “I can’t…I can’t do this…”
Meanwhile, the boys up front were too preoccupied with the barrage of gross green eggs to notice what was going on with her.
“God dammit…lady, just give it a rest why don’tcha?!” Keiji yelled, “Stealing love from everyone else won’t fill the void in your sad, old heart!”
“AAAARGH!” That comment merely enraged her further. With another flap of her wings, more developed insects were flung their way--miniature versions of her Beelzebub form with their own acidic pincers.
“Holy shit!” Rumble cried out, “Take cover!”
Without hesitation, the boys dover behind another parked car nearby, gaining momentary relief from the barrage of insects.
Rumble took a deep breath and gave a panicked whisper, “...What the hell is her problem? Is she so desperate for love that she’ll steal it from some innocent schoolgirls? Did nobody love her when she was little?”
“...” Keiji made his sword disappear, and started to think about Rumble's words. “...That could be what this is. An act of desperation since nobody loved her. The changelings had a rough ass time under Chrysalis, so maybe…” With his mind made up, he stood up. “...Watch my back, brother. I’ve got a plan.”
“Without your sword? What're you doing, man?” Rumble asked, as he reached out to grab Keiji’s arm.
The vampboy pulled away from his grip. “...I know what it’s like to not be loved. Maybe, just maybe if I can show her that she can be loved too…”
Rumble would try to reason with him. “Dawg, she’s killed people!” he called out with his palms outstretched.
“I need to at least calm her down--we can’t win this battle with brute force. It’s do or die.”
With a sigh, Rumble relaxed his posture and asked, “...You sure about that?”
Keiji walked around in front of the vehicle. “It’s not a suicide; it’s a warriors’ mind.”