Mere moments after Rheba had launched the lightened Odell from the hallway in the direction of Icarus; a cheer began to echo through the whole facility. It was a cry of victory from the minors who had just taken down the last of the bandits. Though Icarus was unaware of it, only he and Grimes were left of the bandit forces.

Still, the golden Zenotote had enough sense to run away from the facility with the wrapped up anti-Needaimus glove in tow. He knew it would be bad if any of the major nations got a hold of such technology; for the other nations and his former organization members. He still considered a couple left behind to be friends. Icarus smirked. He had left to follow Grimes, but he didn’t realize he still cared some for his old companions.

As Icarus entertained himself with idle nostalgia, he did not realize Odell was hot on his trial.

Odell was closing the gap between him and the Zenotote opponent.

“Hey Cal, do you think I might be in a little over my head?” Odell asked as he approached his opponent. He had regained some confidence after getting his Needaimus back, but he thought Hal and Rheba were better suited for such fighting. All his father’s words about proper battle training came back in a flash, and all his attempts to avoid such training returned as well.

Are you just now realizing? Cal sharply echoed back. You’ve been in over your head for quite a while!

Odell chuckled.

“How long’s a while?” he asked facetiously.

How old are you again? Cal answered in an equally flippant tone.

“Hahaha, we’ve been a team for quite a while, huh?”

Odell reached Icarus before Cal could respond. The golden Zenotote was initially surprised by Odell’s sudden voice but didn’t react in time before the Hobusian prince wrapped his long arms around him.

Odell kept his body light as Icarus began to weave around the sky.

“Let go, you fool!”

“You have two options, land and surrender, or I will increase my weight, and we both go down!” Odell shouted with faux confidence at the golden Zenotote.

“How about I just shake you off!” Icarus began to spin around the sky frantically as he tried to get Odell to let go, but the Hobusian prince would not give.

“Why won’t you just leave me alone! Grimes will take you all down anyway! You can’t stop him!” Icarus began to shout at Odell, but the prince would not loosen his grip.

“I’m not much of a fighter without my Needaimus, but I am stubborn! I will not back down; you have until the count of ten before I become heavier than a Hobusian dreadnought!”

“I don’t know how much that weighs, you fool!”

“ten… nine… eight….” Odell began. Icarus quickly looked around and targeted the roof of the building he had just escaped from.

“seven… six… five….” Odell kept counting as Icarus flew high above the building. He planned to angle downward and fly close to the edge. He would position his body so Odell would smash into the building’s corner, and he would fly free next to it.

He’s planning something. Cal echoed in Odell’s mind.

“Four– three– two– one“ Odell rapidly finished his counting faster than he had started as Icarus began to descend. Before the golden Zenotote could react, Odell suddenly increased in weight a massive degree, but not to the weight of the dreadnought that he had promised Icarus.

Instead, he became just heavy enough to pull the duo down in a sudden jerk. Then, he lightened himself again so Icarus would over compensate as he tried to recover. Odell wrongly figured Icarus planned to smash his head in the ground many stories below and wanted the Zenotote to instead fly over the roof of the building.

The plan worked, and Icarus soon overcorrected to hovered over the roof. Odell spun himself so that he was above the golden Zenotoe and quickly increased in weight. Icarus was driven into the roof, and the wrapped-up glove slid across the rooftop.

“I can’t believe that worked!” Odell shouted as he cataloged the move in his head for a future battle.

Less talk, grab the device! Cal shouted.

“You’re right!” Odell said with shock as he let go of Icarus and started to sprint across the roof toward the glove. As he ran, on the other side of the roof, beyond the large bandit flag, Gwyn was suddenly thrown through a glass dome by a swarm of books. Odell had many questions, but he pushed his curiosity down and focused on the Anti-Needaimus glove.

Icarus pushed himself up and shook his draconic-looking head. He glared at Odell with fury in his crimson eyes.

Just as Odell was leaning over to grab the glove, a series of wings appeared on his body and restrained him in place. Icarus breathed heavily as the overclocked Needaimus on his arm began to grow more to compensate for his technique. It appeared as if roots were growing from the Needaimus further under Icarus’ scales.

“About time you raised the compatibility; I was getting sick of being tired after doing this move,” Icarus muttered to his Needaimus as he walked over to Odell. “It’s over, Hobusian; I won this fight. As Icarus approached Odell, the branchlike growth from the overclocked Needaimus spread up his neck and across his chest. It stopped as Icarus reached to grab the grey prince by the shoulder.

Odell, still stuck and in a position that was leaning over, increased his weight so that he broke free from the wings and fell onto the wrapped-up glove.

“You can continue to struggle, but I can restrain you more freely now,” Icarus said with a confident laugh as he leaned over Odell. He produced a knife and prepared to stab Odell in the back.

Odell chuckled as well. Cal suddenly shot off his arm, and the Hobusian prince quickly spun around. Icarus saw the anti-Needaimus glove, half and hastily unwrapped, on his hand but didn’t fully process it until Odell placed the device on the golden Zenototes chest.

Fear filled Icarus’ eyes as he anticipated what came next. It seemed for him to last a lifetime, but it came very quickly in reality. The overclocked, permanently bonded, Needaimus was forcefully ejected off Icarus’ arm. The extended root-like growths were quickly yanked out from him and looked like strings hanging on the end of the Needaimus as it flew away from the golden Zenotote. The arm underneath had lost all of his dirty golden scales and instead appeared as burnt-looking skin. As the Needaimus came off, Icarus felt all the pain the creature had endured from the overclocking process tenfold in his own body. Needless to say, he let out a scream that shook the rooftop before collapsing.

Odell made a disturbed face as he witnessed the process.

“That was way uglier than I imagined it would be,” he said as he removed the glove and wrapped it back in its cloth.”

Cal bonded back to Odell’s arm once the anti-Needaimus device was secured.

I told you it wouldn’t be pretty, but you can’t argue with the results.

“I suppose.” Odell shuddered as he took one last look at the unconscious Icarus. He shook his head and turned back to Gwyn. The Nonpareil had just clocked the leader in the face, and he was taking a step back.

Should you help him? Cal asked.

“I was thinking of using the glove… but I’m not sure I want to see that again… can you open up communication with Gwyn?”

Certainly! Cal answered.

Odell waited as his green Needaimus connected to Mem so that they could talk.