She scoffed, then looked around the room, considering. Finally, she went to one knee, head bowed, and said, “I accept your help, and offer you mine.”

  “And I,” the mosquito-looking dude next to her said.

  Others followed suit, but soon I turned back to the lion; a woman with a black-and-white panda look and a man like a rhino stood on each side of him.

  “What’ll it be?” I asked. At least he’d gone limp now, so there was one less distraction.

  His eyes went to me, then he pushed himself up and away from Fiare, eyes roaming over the others in the room. Finally coming back my way, he nodded and went to one knee.

  “I’m not saying I’m going to like it, or that I’ll be friendly with winged ones,” he snarled that last bit, showing me there was more about their world that I still didn’t know—that there was distaste between at least some winged monsters and those without. “That said, I will fight alongside you and yours. Agree that, in doing so, we will be free, and you have my word.”

  “Agreed,” I said.

  He bowed his head, but the panda woman at his side muttered, “Coward,” and lifted a hand. It was clearly a signal; two monsters from my right came at me—both had a bit of a ninja look to them, looking like demon ninjas, I guessed. No wings, but darkness swirled around them; each wore pure white masks.

  The first thrust out a hand and a blade extended; I had to rely on my speed and seeing the shadow of its trajectory to dodge. When I came up with my sword appearing in my hands and sliced that one’s arm off, a gasp rose from those who could see. Next, I sent a vibration through the ground, strong enough to knock the other off her feet. I was quick, not going for either of the ninjas, but for the panda. Slamming her fist across her face with the hilt of my sword, I swept her to the ground and brought my sword tip to her throat.

  “Call them off,” I said, sensing movement from three others who had circled around.

  “Death first,” she replied, and reached up to grab the sword, thrusting her neck forward at the same time as she pulled. I honestly hadn’t wanted to kill her, but she did it for me.

  At the same time, two monsters lunged from behind. One never made it, caught by Fiare’s flame mid-leap and falling to the ground as a pile of ash—the flame so hot that I and others nearby had to stagger away. The smoke and stench were so terrible, I knew it was time to get out of there.

  Our fight wasn’t done, though, as Kinara had caught another, pinning him to the wall with her claws digging into his eyes. He screamed, thrashed around, and only went limp when Bloodsong stepped up and shot him in the head with her pistol.

  “Any more?” Ahlaksiz asked, covering her nose to avoid the stench.

  None acted.

  “Follow me, then,” I said, gesturing them out of there and scanning the area, considering where the platform would be. I had it, then, charging into the room three doors down and on the right. The monsters followed, all moving around the unconscious Marines.

  Then we were standing in front of a metal platform with screens and whatnot that highly resembled the one we’d found before. While Jericho had taken care of that one, this one wasn’t hard to figure out. There were only two passages open, though its presence here made me ask myself how many others there might be. We had to hope this was the only one left.

  “Once this is closed, I believe it’ll be over,” I said, my team gathering close, others straining their necks to see what was happening.

  “Going through might take you back home,” Ahlaksiz said, “or might take you to the world of those bastards who sent the hunters after us. Does anyone want to take that risk before we close it?”

  “If I go through, I either go home or get to try and kill as many of those others as I can, on their own planet?” one of the demon ninjas asked. Eyeing me, she said, “I like those scenarios.”

  “Could also be that we have no idea what’ll actually happen,” the lion said. “Right?”

  Ahlaksiz nodded. “But those who stay will know exactly what they’re getting into. Which is at first war, then a completely new way of life.”

  I stepped forward. “We have room and board for all of you. Training if you want it, and a real sense of community. You will be welcome, as long as you don’t put the rest of us at risk.”

  The ninja demon grunted and stepped up to the machine. “Send me through.”

  I activated it and saw the world we’d been on with the upside-down pyramid. Not their home, but for those monsters who wanted revenge, it’d be a good start.

  The ninja snarled, made two blades appear, then stepped through to vanish to the other side. More followed, but by the end of it, only about ten had gone through, leaving us with still a small army.

  “Last chance,” I said. When no others went, I said, “Koharu, think you can guide everyone back up? Amabie and our lava friend will be up there to welcome them and prepare for the fight to come. Be ready.”

  “Fight?” a squirrely monster said.

  I nodded, indicating the other equipment in the room. “I don’t know where everyone is, but I believe we’ll be able to send out a communication demanding they face us. We’ll tell them exactly where we’ll be, and when they arrive, we’ll end this once and for all.”

  The others started up, while I and my team went about destroying the platform. When it was done, I went to the other STP tech there, commencing with sending the signal. We also gathered a bunch of goodies that Greg would be able to play around with. Knowing him and what STP was capable of, we’d be able to better keep our hideout hidden and protected, thanks to this little raid.

  “So,” I said, turning to Ahlaksiz. “Think these monsters will prove trustworthy?”

  “I think this fight will help determine that very question,” she replied, and we headed back up to the surface to await the coming fight. There was no way the queen and her STP allies would pass up this chance, and when they came, we’d be ready.

  21

  Taking an STP beacon that would give away our position in addition to sending out the call for a challenge, we prepared to make our stand. If there were any hunters out there, including the main huntress we’d met in the monster world, I had no doubt they would come. The issue was where to fight them. On the one hand, we could find a very secluded place, on the other we didn’t want to destroy the beautiful landscape. What we had found instead was an abandoned military base. I felt like quite the badass walking out onto the parade grounds, setting up our beacon, and standing there with my fists on my hips, waiting.

  What was quite annoying, was that we had no idea how long it would take for them to get to us. I got a hold of Arturo, back at the mansion, and had him checking the news, ensuring that everything was safe back there. In the meantime, as we waited, I decided we should have some Hawaiian-style fun. We got a hold of all the local catering places we could find, hired some fire dancers, and went about entertaining ourselves.

  As a pig roasted, hula dancers danced — topless of course—I found a quarter of an old barracks building to try and practice any skills I might have acquired. First, I clicked my tongue for my best senses, noting it had diminished slightly. The enhancement effect from our newest addition to the team, Shadow, was starting to decrease. That was fine because I could find her and have it enhanced again. At least my powers were working, and though the STP device had affected some abilities, now that we found them and had turned them off, we were good to go again. I took a deep breath and focused on my internal energy and how it flowed. Closing my eyes, I imagined my time spent with Fiare, and the others, and tried to sense if there was any new power in there. There was something there for sure, some sense of rage. The strangest part was how it was affected by a lingering shadow, either from our newest addition or from the mask and Akame. I wasn’t sure.

  Giggling pulled me out of the moment; I walked over to the window to see that several of the monsters had joined the hula dancers on stage. They wore grass skirts as well, with leis of flowers around their necks, and were shaking their hips right alongside the Hawaiian ladies. Considering the sight, I had to watch for a moment.

  “Suiko, are we good? I want to try focusing a bit more, to see if I can harness my powers before the fight comes.”

  “I’m keeping watch, and we’ve managed to set up some of the old monitoring systems to warn us if there’s any sort of incoming attack. Kinara is also working with her bat sense, and some of the new monsters have other powers that are helping us to stay alert. She had plenty of time to evacuate the civilians when the time comes.”

  “Have I ever told you how much I love you?” The words were blurted out before I even thought about them, but once they were there, I put my hands above my head and stood still, wondering what she would say in return.

  “Aishteru yo,” she replied. “I love you too.”

  I released a breath and grinned. Even let out a little laugh. This was a new one for me; I’d never said those words to any woman before. Now that I had, I realized I felt the same way for Kinara, Jalee, Milrae, basically all of them. Was it love in the traditional sense, like you see in the movies? I didn’t know and didn’t care. This was better than anything those movies ever portrayed—it was something real. An emotion I felt would explode right through me. When this was over, I was going to tell each one of them, and make sure they never forgot it.

  Shit. A thought hit me that, if this was a movie and I was having these thoughts, that meant somebody was going to die. I was going to have to stay extra vigilant to ensure that didn’t happen.

  Going back to my corner, trying not to imagine those ladies out there doing their topless dance, and doing my best to ignore the tantalizing scent of roast pig, I sat cross-legged on an old bunk bed top, closed my eyes, and concentrated. Everything the ladies and Vaper had taught me came back. It was not like I was feeling the energy, it was like I was inside myself moving with the energy. Seeing my druid powers, live like plants moving around, I was the flowing energy that rose with trees as they grew tall branches and extended. And I was in touch with other elements, such as the water in my blue energy that I assumed was what provided my shield. Before I knew it, flying through the sky of my imagination, if that’s what it was, were wings of fire. Similar to how Jalee had wings of electricity. Next came the shadow. It was the mask; I felt it on my face like a solid, cold presence. And yet, that was affected by whatever powers our newest addition had given me. As if she and Akame had been connected, and now I was better able to control the shadow magic.

  I opened my eyes, watching black tendrils moving around me, turning to see the fiery wings spread out, singing the sheets of the bed I set on. Suddenly the sheets caught fire, and I threw myself to the ground, forgetting I was on the top bunk. The tendrils reached out and caught me, so I was levitating a few inches above the floor. With a thought, I was standing, and the powers were gone. I shook my head, shivering up my spine. This is so fucking badass.

  Before heading out, I practiced my new powers a couple more times. At once I was on one side of the barracks, and then used my wings of fire to propel myself across to the side. Then I would leap into the air and focus on the shadow tendrils, letting them catch me as I fell. It worked most of the time. If I wasn’t focused, I would slam into the ground in pain. When I remembered to direct them properly, it was no problem. On a whim, and feeling very much like Spider-Man, I tried using the tendrils to propel me off a hanging lamp. The only problem was the lamp was old. While the tendrils worked, the lamp gave way and I fell onto my back. If I hadn’t remembered to use the tendrils, it probably would have hurt a lot more than it did.

  Suiko appeared, hovering over me with a look of concern.

  “Don’t worry,” I groaned, managing to get the words out between heavy breaths.

  “I assume your powers are working then?” Suiko asked. She floated in front of me. I loved the side of her I saw now, wearing her kimono with her dark hair hanging straight down around her. Motioning her over, I had the shadow tendrils push me up right into a kiss.

  “What do you think?” I asked as I sent out wings of fire behind me.

  “Impressive.” Licking her lips, she kissed me again. Then she added, “Don’t let it get to your head.”

  “Think I could take Jericho yet?”

  She laughed. “I think you’ll never have to, therefore I’m not going to answer that question.”

  With that she vanished, leaving me to wonder what that was supposed to mean. In truth, Jericho was extremely badass. What if I could take him, or at least stand by his side without feeling inferior? Who knows, maybe now I could.

  Feeling pretty good about my powers, I made my way to the roof, taking in the sight. Beautiful, green rolling hills had deep shadows over them as rain clouds moved in. Music carried out from the festivities below, and I shook my head at the thought of how much fun we were having, compared to the chaos that was about to rain down on us. Not from the rain clouds, to be clear.

  With another deep breath, I ran to the edge of the building and leaped. Shouts of astonishment came from below, and I waited for effect before I sent out my wings of flame shooting down around them. They wanted a fire show, here it was. First, I simply glided down like the dragon firework at the beginning of Lord of the Rings, then I adjusted my trajectory and flew up. Clearly, I wasn’t as experienced with this as I’d hoped, or it didn’t come naturally enough, because my calculations were off and I flipped sideways, spiraling instead of going straight up. It must have looked damn cool but left me feeling a bit nauseated.

  As I straightened out, preparing to lower myself to the ground and not throw up, Jalee and Fiare came up to my side, flying in circles around me.

  “What’s this?” Fiare asked. “Could he always do this?”

  “The question is, what did he take from you to be able to do it?” Jalee asked.

  Shit, I had forgotten that was a thing. With a grin I said, “Hopefully nothing. But is the effect permanent? I thought it was temporary.”

  “You might be right,” she admitted, eyeing her sister and waiting for a response.

  “As far as I know, I feel fine,” Fiare replied.

  “Anything else we should know about?” Jalee asked.

  “Only that if I don’t land soon, I’m going to vomit everywhere.” Without waiting for them to respond or listen to their laughter, I lowered myself to the ground.

  Kinara and Milrae ran up to me then, congratulating me on my new powers. Ahlaksiz and Bloodsong seemed equally excited; when I summoned Devasla, I showed off my skill again, though much briefer and without the spirals. Amabie arrived at the tail end of that, emerging from the nearby water.

  “Do you think this means my fiery touch won’t hurt you?” Devasla asked.

  I chuckled nervously, eyeing Amabie as she approached. “I’m not sure I want to test it; then again it could be useful to know for other fire attacks. Maybe if Amabie could have me close to the water in case, we could see how it goes.”

  Devasla had a mischievous grin, almost sexual, as she reached out with her fiery hands and I braced myself.

  “Wait,” Ahlaksiz said, jogging over. “Ferris, you have to make sure you have that power activated, I imagine. Focus on it.”

  What she said made sense, considering what happened with me before when I hadn’t been focused on the shadow power. I was glad she spoke up and gave her a nod to let her know that was the case. Focusing on my fire power, the wings shooting out behind me, I said, “Go for it.”

  Devasla gently touched the back of my hand with her power; at first, it was only a warm caress. She ran her hand along my cheek next, causing me to feel incredibly relaxed.

  “I think it’s safe to say it works,” Devasla said. “We also might want to try it in certain places to see how much fun we can have with it.”

  I laughed, wondering how she could do so without risking burning down the place that we experimented in.

  “No use for me here, then?” Amabie asked.

  “You better be kidding, because there’s always a use for you.”

  “Good, because I brought you a gift.” It was only then that I realized she had her hands behind her back, and when she brought them forward, I was excited to see the small black lump she held.

  “Basty!” Taking him in my arms, I held him tight and put him up on my shoulder. “So sorry for leaving you behind, little guy. Ready to kick some ass?”

  “Good, good,” he replied while wrapping around my shoulders in a new way he had never tried before. He took on an armored look, complete with spikes on the sides.

  “Do I look as badass as I feel?” I asked.”

  Considering the way Amabie was checking me out, and how Kinara smiled and nodded enthusiastically, I had my answer. Looking into the sky, I half-expected to see the enemy pushing in. I don’t know why, but it felt like the right time. Yet there was no sign of them.

  “Anyone think we wouldn’t be focused enough to enjoy ourselves until they get here?” I asked.

  “I stopped by the mansion on the way over,” Amabie said. “Hence, bringing Basty. More than that though, I chatted with Greg briefly and he said he saw signs of them gathering. I think that’s why it’s taking so long. They’re putting together an army, so when they do arrive, it’s in force. Meaning, we might have longer than we think.”

  “Okay, that’s unexpected. I mean, I didn’t know they had an army.”

  “Most likely from the monster orgs that I talked about,” Bloodsong said.

  I nodded, considering this. Gesturing back toward the food and fun, Ahlaksiz said, “There’s some good dancing to be had. Amazing food. And I bet Ferris here would be great at doing the fire dance for us now.”

  All that sounded perfect.

  “By the way, I also gave the others some info on where we’d be, along with a tracker.” Amabie held up her wrist. “If they can join the fight, they will.”

  “Ah, good,” Ahlaksiz replied. “If we can save some roast pig for them, I’m sure they’d appreciate it.”