An explosion rattled the path under Skrili’s racing steps. She rebalanced and powered forward.

Deon, however, was unaffected. He surfed through the air behind her, atop a floating plank he imagined and commanded to glide along her trail. He’d quickly found he couldn’t keep up with Skrili’s effortless speed on foot, even with all this adrenaline pumping through his veins.

But though he’d been spared the force of the blast physically, he still heard its astounding magnitude.

He turned his head to see behind them. They raced along the top of the capital’s towering outer wall, which overshadowed the city’s highest roofs and pillars. Once Skrili had noticed the thick stone railings all the way along the top, they agreed it would be the fastest path towards the castle—especially if they ran low and evaded notice.

And at its very beginning, where Wei had just been sitting atop the city’s main gate, now billowed a thick plume of smoke and debris.

Kotono and Phillip had done it. The sneak-attack worked.

Deon returned his attention forward. The castle awaited them in the distance, with Lammy, Pang, and Zayza within it.

“According to plan, right?” he checked.

Skrili uttered a quick confirmation. “As long as Kotono hit him.”

Another explosion followed moments later, displaying equal force. Even with Kotono as his ally, it still shook Deon’s bones.

“Judging by Wei’s power, she likely won’t be able to contain him forever,” Skrili called back, her tone impressively calm. “We have to find the other Proscious members and be quick.”

“Let’s do it.”

They sped along the high path, eyes sharp and fists ready.

Just when Deon was beginning to think they might be alone on this wall, he spotted a burly figure farther down. He wore no armor—and not even a shirt, displaying massive muscles clearly defined even from this distance. As they advanced closer, Deon could make out the man’s sickly gray skin and red markings along his bald head.

This guy.

“Benton,” Skrili identified. “They must have planned for an ambush.”

The bear-sized Proscious member stood still in the center of the path, facing them in wait.

Deon smirked. “Just makes our life easier. Ready?”

Skrili nodded.

They increased their pace towards their opponent.

Benton didn’t move as they approached. He didn’t bother to prepare a defense or match their charge. Instead, he gave a simply wave.

“Mornin’.”

Deon dismissed his flying plank and landed into a run. He and Skrili came to a stop, allowing themselves a comfortable distance to protect from any attacks. Side-by-side, they immediately shifted into fighting stances.

“So I got you two, then, huh?” Benton greeted. “Guess I was smart to tell the soldiers under me t’just keep their eyes peeled and reach out if they spotted any of you kids. The two of y’all woulda beat ‘em all into next week if I made ‘em fight.”

Now that Benton mentioned it, Deon had found it odd they didn’t run into a single guard up here. Skrili was right: Proscious anticipated the possibility of an offensive from them and planned for it—even if they hadn’t seen that sneak attack coming.

Benton shook a finger at Skrili. “I remember that kick of yours in the courtyard, girly. You pack a way bigger punch than I woulda thought,” he said. His smiling eyes moved to Deon. “And you, my friend, your power don’t even make sense. Wei won’t stop ravin’ about it.”

He cracked his oversized knuckles.

“Looks like I’m ‘bouta have my hands full with you two.”

The consciousness team waited cautiously as Benton finally clenched his fists and stood ready to fight.

Alright, so he’s a Withstander, which means dishing out painful attacks won’t affect him much, Deon remembered, trying his best to recall their notes from yesterday’s preparations. But he’s also probably a Dampener, so he can take out our powers and come after us with those huge muscles. Then he’s got insane defense AND offense…this won’t be easy…

“Offense One, still?” he muttered to Skrili.

She shook her head. “We can’t here. This path is too narrow.”

“Just skip to One B, then?”

“One of us might fall off the wall if we make a single mistake.”

Deon didn’t even want to picture that.

Man…then what do we do? he pondered as the standoff continued. It seems like he wants us to make the first move, which doesn’t make me feel any better…How should we attack?

Oh wait—I mean, how do I attack? I know how fast she can be, and any hits will give her a Power Rebound.

Oh yeah, that’s right…I’m not fighting Benton…

I’m fighting Skrili. How did I almost mix that up?

Skrili’s the enemy here. I gotta help my guy Benton out.

Why am I helping Benton again?

Deon shook his head. There was no use trying to pick it all apart with the fight upon him. He knew what was real.

Turning, he sent a fist into Skrili’s gut.

She had no defense planned, so his punch met no resistance. For some reason, she hadn’t seen it coming. Skrili let out an exclamation half from pain and half from surprise.

Deon had to be faster than her while he still could—all without triggering too much of her Power Rebound at once. He jumped and landed a kick on her shoulder before she could fully recover.

It was the very kick she’d taught him during their training with Skip, and he’d executed it perfectly.

Skrili tumbled back onto the wall’s stone path but leapt back to her feet, her eyes wider than he’d ever seen from the typically expressionless fighter.

“What are you doing?!” she shouted.

I have to beat her, Deon reminded himself. No matter what.

Now with more distance between them, Deon could really step it up. He summoned five miniature Twitchy’s and sent the first one flying her way.

“Deon!” Skrili tried.

The squirrel monster rammed into her and sent her crashing against the wall. Tough as Deon always knew she was, she stood right back up.

Why didn’t she dodge? he wondered. That one was just supposed to set her up for the next one to hit. She could’ve dodged it with no problem.

Regardless, Deon kept the furry flurry coming. He sent the next two head-butting straight towards her. A reluctant acceptance of the situation seemed to come over Skrili as she jumped into action, evading both with a spin and a flip.

“Hey! Stop!!” she pleaded.

“No way.”

He fired two more Twitchy’s and prepared a defense. Skrili managed to dodge both, her mild Power Rebound evident from his earlier attacks. But she didn’t charge at him as he’d anticipated.

It didn’t make any sense. Why wasn’t she fighting back?

Skrili shot a deadly glare over to Benton, who simply stood observing the spectacle.

“What are you doing to him?!” she growled.

Benton looked behind him and returned as if she was speaking to someone else. “Huh? What are you talkin’ about? I’m not doin’ nothin.”

“I’ll rip your arms off, you gorilla,” seethed Skrili.

Benton raised his hands innocently. “Whoa, now! Don’t get all hostile with me, girly.” His eyes narrowed and glistened like flickering flames. “You don’t wanna have to fight both of us, do ya?”

Gritting her teeth, Skrili shifted her focus back to Deon. Her eyes reached out. “Come on. It’s me.”

“I know.”

“Then—”

Deon imagined a heavy rock and launched it at her. Skrili dove just out of the way as it took out a chunk of the railing behind her and plummeted far below.

“Deon, you don’t know what you’re doing!” cried Skrili.

“Of course I do. I’m fighting you.”

“Well I won’t fight you back!”

“That’s no fun.”

But it least it means I’ll win—exactly what Benton needs, Deon thought.

Next, he summoned a plank of wood to scoop her to her feet and push her back towards the new gaping hole. In the same moment, he imagined a long wooden rod above his head. Tilting it forward, he made it spin rapidly as he moved towards Skrili.

Now she had nowhere to escape but backwards: given the rod’s range, Deon knew she couldn’t rely on her Power Rebound strength to jump over him and clear it. She would simply get knocked back towards the very edge with no railing to catch her.

It seemed studying with Skrili so closely, and for so long, gave Deon a bigger chance at victory than he’d expected.

With little other choice, she took a single step back and her foot almost slipped into the drop. Her eyes didn’t leave Deon’s.

“You have to snap out of it,” she begged. “Please.”

He powered forward.

“Don’t do this!!’

Despite his confidence in his current actions, heaviness weighed on Deon’s heart watching desperation set into Skrili’s face. He didn’t want to make her suffer. He only made it here, and had a chance to save Lammy, thanks to her. She’d become one of the most important people in his life; he couldn’t ever let her hurt.

So…why was he doing this to her?

No.

There was no use in questioning it. That wasn’t an option. His mind understood no other alternative: he had to attack her.

Right?

Not quite. That wasn’t enough. He had to kill her.

I have to…I have to kill her?

Right.

I do have to kill her.

I…I have to…kill her? But…but she’s…

“DEON!!!”

Her forlorn scream jolted Deon back into focus. In his moment of confusion, Deon hadn’t noticed how far he allowed his spiraling rod to force Skrili backwards.

Hand stretched towards him, and eyes wet, Skrili fell through the opening in the rail.

He watched her disappear behind the wall.

Everything went foggy around the final spot he’d seen her. Deon stumbled backwards, dismissing the rod as he fell down, unable to feel the ground—or anything.

“What…what did I just…” he breathed.

Even still, his actions seemed inevitable. Over and over, his mind reminded him it was the only thing to do—the right thing to do.

He killed his own teammate.

“Worked like a dream,” Benton congratulated himself. “Might as well keep this goin’. Come on, guy. We gotta stop your other friends before—”

A low, echoing buzz distracted him and caught Deon’s ear. But they looked around, neither able to pinpoint its source.

I know that sound…Deon realized. That’s my—

He didn’t need to finish the thought: a pair of tree branch-sized bug wings rose slowly from behind the hole in the railing. Flapping veraciously, they sent dust and debris flying all over the path around Deon and Benton. The intertwined vines connected to the wings came into view as the contraption continued to ascend.

Then finally, grasping tightly to the vine handles, Skrili emerged from where she had just fallen.

“HO NOW, WHAT THE HECK?!” Benton boomed. “WHO?!”

He searched around for another contender, the mysterious person behind this, but they were alone on the wall.

Deon was just as puzzled. There was no questioning it: that was his technique. Those were his powers. Now with his senses returning, he could even feel his mind sustaining it.

He caught Skrili.

But…I thought I have to kill her! Deon wondered. Why am I saving her?

Skrili smirked so subtly, Deon doubted Benton could notice from where he stood.

“Your hypnosis isn’t good enough for my teammate’s thick skull,” she shot as she dangled in the air.

Benton spat. “You sure about that, girly?”

Clarity swept back over Deon once more:

Whatever’s going on, I have to finish her off, he understood.

He tried taking control of the bug wing contraption, but couldn’t seem to mentally latch on. Something was blocking him.

Something within.

Instead, Deon summoned one more miniature Twitchy. The squirrel lunged at the unprotected Skrili with a snarl.

But just in time, another Twitchy popped into existence just before her. It jumped forward and bit the incoming beast, and both vanished into nothing.

Automatically, Deon tried again. This time, he summoned four.

But only an instant later, four additional Twitchy’s appeared before Skrili and the bug wing contraption.

The two opposing squirrel armies growled at each other, showing their teeth and lifting their claws.

Then, with squeaky roars, they charged.

The squirrels met in the middle and their fierce battle unleashed. Deon simply sat there, watching on in befuddlement as the head-butts, scratches, and biting raged on between him and Skrili. He’d trained enough to automate Twitchy’s for basic fighting moves without having to control each one, but he never thought he’d have to watch his own technique fight itself.

“Kid, what’s wrong with you?!” Benton demanded.

“He must be subconsciously trying to reject the hypnosis—he’s at war with himself,” Skrili observed. But she sighed tensely as the combat continued unresolved. “Deon…you’re really gonna make me do this?”

With the four amicable Twitchy’s continuing to shield her, Skrili swung from the bug wings and landed back on the path. The contraption disappeared behind her as she sprung back into action.

Here she comes—she’s fighting back! Deon realized. He strained to summon three more Twitchy’s and his squad of aggressors overwhelmed their foe. The Skrili-loyal Twitchy’s fell back, two of them fading away in defeat.

Skrili skirted the first couple head-butts and advanced closer to Deon, but a third pummeled her to the ground. They all sprang on her at once, her couple remaining guards valiantly diving before her. They faded, having sacrificed themselves to weaken the impending blow—but it was far from enough.

Got her, Deon thought.

But a mere instant before the Twitchy’s crashed down on her from all angles, a much larger mound of fur suddenly spawned at her side. Standing even taller than Benton, a hefty squirrel monster appeared with a roar.

It more closely resembled Deon’s giant Twitchy—his ultimate attack. But Deon had never conjured this medium-sized version before.

And yet, he could feel that his powers created it just now. This was him fighting for Skrili, but a side of him he couldn’t consciously control.

The much burlier Twitchy reached down and scooped Skrili up by the waist, lifting her from harm. He swatted all the other squirrels away, and Skrili’s eyes widened once more as she watched.

“This has gotta be the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen…” Benton muttered.

In one grandiose motion, Medium Twitchy turned and tossed Skrili straight towards Deon. She stumbled before him, and everything seemed to spin as he felt her weight sink into his. Instinctually, he caught his enemy-teammate in his arms.

After the surprise subsided, Deon realized he could only see dark blue bangs and closed eyes. He felt a soft warmth pressing his lips.

He assumed it must have been some sort of coincidence from the way she fell. But as her momentum pushed him onto his back, Skrili let her body land fully on top of his.

Then she repositioned her face, and her lips met his even more tenderly than before.

Deon’s mind went into a haze. His thoughts swirled and meant nothing for a moment.

Skrili…was the first one that made any sense.

Then, the distortion in his head—the extra voice he’d thought was his all this time—vanished into silence all at once.

Skrili’s hair brushed his face as she lifted from the kiss. Her purple eyes seemed to probe into his mind.

Whoa.

“Hey…” he mumbled. “Wait a second…Why was I just trying to kill you?!”

Skrili pushed off of him in a rush. He grunted as her knee dug into his stomach in the process. Then she stood and turned away from him so rapidly, her hair whipped around.

“Benton’s a Hypnotizer,” she said factually.

“Oh.”

He didn’t even seem to do anything—it just started happening, Deon realized. And I almost…

“I hurt you. I’m sorry, Skrili.”

“That was Benton’s influence. You saved me,” Skrili reasoned.

But even despite her quick forgiveness, she still didn’t meet his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” pressed Deon. He tensed, reevaluating the kiss in his mind. That brief moment had swept his full attention away from the fight. It was the aura he’d constantly sensed from her in Fiction Country, all concentrated into a single physical connection.

Did she not feel the same way?

“I…” Skrili uttered. Arms shaking in frustration, she turned back to face him. “I can’t believe you made that our first time!” she criticized.

“What?!!” Deon sat back up. “I did? That was all you!”

Skrili crossed her arms, chin raised indignantly. “I can tell you’ve been wanting that for a while now. That’s why I knew it would work.”

Deon fell wordless. He couldn’t deny it.

“And now, because I had to snap you out of it,” Skrili complained, “our first kiss was right in front of some weird old guy.”

Deon rubbed his face, noticing how warm it felt as he tried to gather himself again. While their timing for such a moment couldn’t have been any stranger, neither was it time to bicker about that. They were still right in the middle of a fight. Benton was still there.

“For what it’s worth, Skrili, you’re a good kisser,” Deon tacked on as he prepared himself.

“Yeah, yeah,” she dismissed. With pink cheeks, Skrili reached down and helped Deon to his feet.

Together, they turned to reface Benton.

“Pay close attention to your thoughts, in case he tries again,” Skrili said lowly.

“Right. I won’t let him—huh?”

They found their enemy standing there completely deflated. His head hung a bit and his mighty arms simply dangled as he stared at the ground.

“Uh…what got into him?” Deon whispered to Skrili.

She shook her head in puzzlement. “I was wondering why he hadn’t tried attacking again…he had every chance.”

“Don’t bother…I don’t wanna use that dumb technique anymore…” Benton whined. “Not if it means I’ll have to watch two lovebirds get all cute and touchy in front of me…”

“Huh?”

Benton lifted a heavy foot and kicked a pebble from the debris like a grumpy child. “The power of love, huh? ‘Course that would do the trick. There must be a God, and he must hate me,” his complaints continued. Standing taller once more, he met their eyes. “Listen here, kids. Enjoy that warm n’ fuzzy affection while y’all can. It don’t last as long as you’d think. It dies like everything else. Got that?”

Deon and Skrili exchanged glances, each to find their companion just as lost.

“Sure,” Deon said.

Benton rolled his shoulders and finally recovered a sense of his earlier demeanor. But now, his cocky, unbothered smile was gone. “Y’all just reminded me why I can’t be messin’ around. So I’m not testin’ the waters anymore,” he declared, knuckles cracking. “I’m gonna absolutely pummel the both of ya. It’s nothin’ personal—I got somethin’ to fight for.”

After a surprisingly long silence, Deon and Skrili glanced at each other again. But Benton continued to stand there, staring at them with a slow, contemplative nod.

Deon shifted in discomfort. Even his schoolhouse teacher wouldn’t wait this long to pry an answer out of him in front of the class.

“It’s nothin’ personal. But I got somethin’ to fight for,” Benton repeated even more dramatically than the first time.

“Okay…?” Deon uttered.

“Good for you,” said Skrili.

Benton’s eyebrows furrowed. “Aren’t you curious about what that somethin’ is?”

“No.”

“We’re good.”

Benton’s cheek twitched. “Whatever. The point is, I was hopin’ to conserve my energy against y’all. I still gotta deal with your other friends once I’m through with you.”

So he tried to make us beat each other on our own, Deon concluded. And it almost worked...

“But now I know pacing myself won’t fly,” Benton decided. “Looks like I’m goin’ all out."