Written: Friday. July 31, 2020.
It didn’t take long for Toby to take care of everyone that had burns on their skins because of the attack of Fjankhetto. He told everybody to remain where they were, while they come back for more supplies. Toby and June ascended into the air moments later.
“How’d you do that, back there?” June asked him. “I thought you only had Air powers. When did you learn to control Water, too?”
“Lady Veergha gave me a tutorial on how to use my powers correctly before we left the group.” he answered her. They soared through the destroyed town, looking down to see if there are any other survivors out there they haven’t spotted yet. “She lightly tapped my head again and gave me some of her memories. Just the ones I needed in order to get the hang of this stupid Air-trick that I have.”
June noticed that his body was starting to disappear. Not totally, just slightly transparent. She could see through him from time to time, literally speaking. “You didn’t bother explaining to those people back there what’s been going on since the past few hours.”
“We can’t waste time trying to explain everything, June.” he answered her. “Even if we did, I’m not really the right person to explain it anyway.”
“You’re the best person to explain it.” June said to him. “Think of it, Toby. You’ve lived this scenario inside your head for years now, you should know — “
“Then why haven’t I done something to stop all of this from happening?” Toby stopped stopped to look at her dead in the eye. “I should’ve known those dreams were real — that they were some precognitive bullshit that apparently only I was able to see. I could’ve done a million different things if I knew this was gonna happen to our planet. And now that it did, I’ve done nothing.”
“You’re being too hard on yourself again, Toby.”
“I’m not.”
“You are!” June screamed at him at the top of her lungs. “And you should stop it. It’s getting annoying.” She started flying off, and Toby followed after her. “Look, I know things look bad right now, and it may get even worse later. But you don’t have to deal with this on your own. You’ve got me. You’ve got Tom and Drew to have your back. You’ve got Amanda, and those four weird talking animal friends that came from another dimension or whatever. You’ve got two aliens, and you’ve got — a spaceship!”
Toby looked to where June pointed, and saw Lady Veergha’s spaceship, with Ervagh manning the cockpit, heading towards their direction. The ramp opened up, and they both entered through, seeing their friends waiting for them. And also the four creatures. Tom was the first to greet them, with his usually playful attitude. Toby and June stepped back a little before they realized it was him.
“Yeah, I know. I look like a freak.” Tom scratched the back of his head, which only had strands of hair left on it. “It’s these dumb powers that are making me look like something you’d wanna swat away with a giant rolled-up newspaper. But other than that, I’m still your friendly neighborhood — “
“No.” Drew said, as a bunch of leaves fell off from his head when he shook it. Are those his hair?
“It’s nice to see you guys.” June said, as she tried not to stand too close to Drew. Her body was also starting to turn into whatever power she had, which is basically the element of fire. Fire types and grass types never work together. “I see you’ve changed too, Drew.”
“Yeah,” Drew said. He looked down on himself. He gained a few inches since the last time June saw him, so he kind of looked like a sad tree for a moment. “I’m now a the tree character from Lord of the Rings.”
“Or those angry apple trees from the Wizard of Oz.” Amanda joined in. Her skin was now fully made of metal. She looked like a walking mirror.
“Please don’t make me think about apples again.” Drew said a little too late, as a bunch of apples starting growing on his arms. “See?” he said, as he plucked one off, and gave it to June. “Want one? It came from my body.”
“Ew! No!”
“Don’t mind if I do.” Tetsu grabbed the apple from Drew’s hand, and also a few more that were still stuck on his arms. “It doesn’t hurt when I do that, hmm?”
“No, help yourself out, Donatello.” Drew answered him.
“Who’s Donatello?” Tetsu asked.
“Never mind.”
“Anybody feel like it’s a little windy in this ship?” Tom asked the group. “Mandy, I thought you fixed the holes on this thing.”
“I did!” Amanda yelled at him in reply.
“That’s probably me.” Toby said. Everybody looked to where he was, and was shocked; he was a walking vapor being. “I guess we’re all starting to look like our powers.”
“Guess again, Tobias.”
The five of them turned around, and saw a tall, purple-skinned maiden, wearing a spacesuit similar to the design of the suits available in the ship’s inventory. Her hair had a dark green hue, her eyes were a bright orange, and her face looked intimidating, not in a way that would make people think twice to look at her directly, but actually in a way that would make them want to gaze upon her countenance even more. As if they were looking at an angel that was sent down upon heaven, not because she was banished out, but because she was sent as a savoir. Lady Veergha stood tall and firm in front of all of them, showing her true form; a Korvellian-descent named Korriavania.
“I see you’re at a loss for words due to the sudden revelation of my true appearance.” Lady Veergha said.
“You think?” Toby said.
“I was shocked as well of the immediate change in all of our appearances. It only means that the Fjankhetto has truly been busy these past few hours that we’ve been preparing for our trip to find it. I want you to all know that this mission, this final battle, is not going to be easy. I’m here to tell you, that not all of us here are likely to survive the fight. There’s a high chance of that happening in the next hours to come.”
“So is this like the way you guys do inspiring speeches?” Tom asked. “You start with the bad news first, and then the good news comes later? Or is there no good news?”
“This is not, in any way, to inspire any of you.” Lady Veergha continued. “I am telling you this, so that when the time comes that all your strength, and all your might, is needed in the battle field, you would not risk thinking twice of your actions. I’ve given you each individual abilities, not only to save you from the changing atmosphere, but to help us in the battle against the darkness consuming life across the galaxy.”
“I mean,” Ervagh butted in. “that’s kind of what we were trying to do, before we sided with the Terrans.” There was a pause before Ervagh continued. “Just putting it out there, that’s all. We’ve committed multiple genocides in order to gain more evolutionary traits that would advance the Volgan Empire to its maximum — “
“What I’m saying,” Lady Veergha cut him off. “is that we now have a common enemy. And by joining our forces together, we might have a chance at this.”
“Agreed.” Macrodon said. They looked at him, as he kneeled before Lady Veergha. “You have my sword.”
“And my Tonfas.” Tetsu added, as he kneeled beside Macrodon.
“And my intellect.” Sphen added, as he kneeled beside Tetsu.
There was a pause, as everybody stared to look at the wizard. “What? Oh, you think just because the other three kneeled before this maiden, that I’ll be following suit, and say ‘and my staff’ as well? Of course I’ll be helping in the fight. But I don’t need to bloody kneel and announce it for you.”
“That settles it, then.” Lady Veergha announced. “We’re all in this together now.”
As the ship flew by the world, Toby decided to exit the ship and patrol the outside. Silently, he just wanted to get out of the ship, and be on his own for a while, to gather his thoughts, and mope around. June saw right through him. She literally did. But nevertheless, she knew what was going on in Toby’s mind. So she went out as well, not because she wanted to — although, her body did start to heat up the room-temperature — but because Toby needed company.
“I told you not to worry about me.” Toby said, as he noticed the ship open up, and June flying over beside him.
“And I told you you’re not alone in this fight.” June answered him. “Toby,”
“Hmm?”
“Do you think we’ll make it?” she asked.
“I don’t know.” Toby said to her. “I don’t have the answers, June. I just know that even if we manage to stop that thing from completely destroying the planet, what’s gonna be left of it in the end? Smoke and ashes? Lifeless seas and burned down jungles? How will all of this return to normal?”
“It will.” June answered him. “I promise you that.”
“That’s not a promise you can just make out of the blue.”
“Well that’s what I’m doing anyway. You know why? Because I believe that we can fix this. I believe there’s gonna be a second chance for all of us. We’ll survive, Toby. We’ll live through all of this.”
“Keep telling yourself that.” Toby said, as he flew away from her company.
June wanted to cry, but the flames didn’t allow it.
“Do you think he’ll be okay?” Amanda asked Tom. They were both sitting down on the sides of the ship.
“Sure he will.” Tom answered her. “We don’t really see eye-to-eye all the time, but that dude’s got something I’ll never have.”
“Really?” Amanda asked him. “What’s that?”
“Immovability.” Tom answered her with a straight face. Amanda didn’t know if he was joking or not. But Tom looked out from the ship’s windows, and looked at June and Toby soaring through the red sky. “The first time I met that guy, he was being bullied by one of our classmates. Typical Tuesday Afternoon. The bigger dude picked on him whenever he felt like it. Sometimes, Toby would just let it happen. He’ll just let himself get pushed around like that, cause he knows it’s a battle he’ll never win.”
“How is he immovable — “
“I was getting to that.” Tom said to her. “One day, around lunch time, he just got back from getting his freshly cooked lunch. His mom delivers him warm lunch everyday, cause he probably doesn’t like cold meals — a lot of people don’t, but that’s not the point. Toby gets back to the classroom, sits down and opens his lunchbox, and a couple of guys go over and put their hands on Toby’s food, and take some away into their mouths, without even blinking twice.”
“Why didn’t you help him out — “
“I told you, I was observing him. Plus, I didn’t wanna get in the way of what he ended up doing afterwards.”
“What happened?”
“He stood his ground,” Drew said, as the two noticed he was listening. They almost didn’t see him, cause he was so stiff and looked like a tree. “and pushed the biggest jock on his chest.”
“Damn right he did.” Tom continued. “But he didn’t actually do any good with it, though. Toby literally pushed himself away, cause the dude’s mass was way heavier than he could’ve ever imagined. But Toby did it anyway. The people who saw it happened just laughed at him. I kinda laughed at it myself, until I noticed Toby picking himself up after falling down. He stood his ground, just like Drew said. He’s the shortest of us three, but I swear to you when I say that in that moment, he looked like the toughest kid in the class. His eyes were blazing with anger. It was blind, unbridled rage, that I saw in those eyes. Like he was ready to lose everything he had at that short moment, just because of his wasted lunch.
“But a few seconds later, the principal arrived. He almost saw what looked like a fight, but the bully wrapped his arm around Toby, like they were just joking around or something. The principal didn’t look twice after that. So when the commotion was dialing down, everybody just went back to their chairs. The bully ruffled Toby’s hair, as if telling him ‘next time, little man’. Like a taunting gesture that only meant to grill you even further. I looked at Toby in that moment. His fists were wrapped like balls ready to be thrown at someone. I decided at that moment I’d befriend this dude. Not because it’d be like protecting him or something, no. At that day, at that moment, I wanted to see what he would’ve done, if the principal hadn’t stepped in at the most convenient timing.”
“What do you think he would’ve done?” Amanda asked him.
“Drew and I have debated on this ever since. Right, dude?” Drew only nodded at Tom. “And we always come to the same conclusion.”
“Which is?”
“Toby would’ve beat the living shit out of that guy. No matter how many punches it took him to do it. He wouldn’t stop, until the big guy was down on the ground, begging for him to stop. But he wouldn’t, he really wouldn’t care. He’ll stand his ground, and show his true colors to everyone else who’d think of crossing his path.”
“Even he’s scared to admit that he can do that.” Drew said. “That’s why, whatever this is, whatever challenge we’re facing, when the times comes, he’ll know what to do. He has to bring out that anger; that rage.”
“I just hope I get to see him do it.” Tom added. Drew nodded in agreement.
Amanda looked out of the window. When the time comes, Toby will know what to do. And when that time comes —
Something suddenly hit the space ship. Everybody on board screamed and jumped. Supplies flew everywhere, the ship wasn’t flying steady anymore, and a huge dent appeared on one side of the ship. Lady Veergha was holding steady on one of the rails, and was trying to pinpoint the source of collision. She saw the Fjankhetto, as tall and massive as it was, staring directly inside of the ship, directly to her.
I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU. A voice appeared in everyone’s thoughts. I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR ALL OF YOU TO COME. AND NOW THAT YOU’RE ALL HERE, THE TIME HAS COME FOR ME TO SHOW YOU WHAT I’VE BEEN —
On that very second, a massive tornado-being swooped in and interrupted the monster’s speech.
“Shut the fuck up!”
It didn’t take long for Toby to take care of everyone that had burns on their skins because of the attack of Fjankhetto. He told everybody to remain where they were, while they come back for more supplies. Toby and June ascended into the air moments later.
“How’d you do that, back there?” June asked him. “I thought you only had Air powers. When did you learn to control Water, too?”
“Lady Veergha gave me a tutorial on how to use my powers correctly before we left the group.” he answered her. They soared through the destroyed town, looking down to see if there are any other survivors out there they haven’t spotted yet. “She lightly tapped my head again and gave me some of her memories. Just the ones I needed in order to get the hang of this stupid Air-trick that I have.”
June noticed that his body was starting to disappear. Not totally, just slightly transparent. She could see through him from time to time, literally speaking. “You didn’t bother explaining to those people back there what’s been going on since the past few hours.”
“We can’t waste time trying to explain everything, June.” he answered her. “Even if we did, I’m not really the right person to explain it anyway.”
“You’re the best person to explain it.” June said to him. “Think of it, Toby. You’ve lived this scenario inside your head for years now, you should know — “
“Then why haven’t I done something to stop all of this from happening?” Toby stopped stopped to look at her dead in the eye. “I should’ve known those dreams were real — that they were some precognitive bullshit that apparently only I was able to see. I could’ve done a million different things if I knew this was gonna happen to our planet. And now that it did, I’ve done nothing.”
“You’re being too hard on yourself again, Toby.”
“I’m not.”
“You are!” June screamed at him at the top of her lungs. “And you should stop it. It’s getting annoying.” She started flying off, and Toby followed after her. “Look, I know things look bad right now, and it may get even worse later. But you don’t have to deal with this on your own. You’ve got me. You’ve got Tom and Drew to have your back. You’ve got Amanda, and those four weird talking animal friends that came from another dimension or whatever. You’ve got two aliens, and you’ve got — a spaceship!”
Toby looked to where June pointed, and saw Lady Veergha’s spaceship, with Ervagh manning the cockpit, heading towards their direction. The ramp opened up, and they both entered through, seeing their friends waiting for them. And also the four creatures. Tom was the first to greet them, with his usually playful attitude. Toby and June stepped back a little before they realized it was him.
“Yeah, I know. I look like a freak.” Tom scratched the back of his head, which only had strands of hair left on it. “It’s these dumb powers that are making me look like something you’d wanna swat away with a giant rolled-up newspaper. But other than that, I’m still your friendly neighborhood — “
“No.” Drew said, as a bunch of leaves fell off from his head when he shook it. Are those his hair?
“It’s nice to see you guys.” June said, as she tried not to stand too close to Drew. Her body was also starting to turn into whatever power she had, which is basically the element of fire. Fire types and grass types never work together. “I see you’ve changed too, Drew.”
“Yeah,” Drew said. He looked down on himself. He gained a few inches since the last time June saw him, so he kind of looked like a sad tree for a moment. “I’m now a the tree character from Lord of the Rings.”
“Or those angry apple trees from the Wizard of Oz.” Amanda joined in. Her skin was now fully made of metal. She looked like a walking mirror.
“Please don’t make me think about apples again.” Drew said a little too late, as a bunch of apples starting growing on his arms. “See?” he said, as he plucked one off, and gave it to June. “Want one? It came from my body.”
“Ew! No!”
“Don’t mind if I do.” Tetsu grabbed the apple from Drew’s hand, and also a few more that were still stuck on his arms. “It doesn’t hurt when I do that, hmm?”
“No, help yourself out, Donatello.” Drew answered him.
“Who’s Donatello?” Tetsu asked.
“Never mind.”
“Anybody feel like it’s a little windy in this ship?” Tom asked the group. “Mandy, I thought you fixed the holes on this thing.”
“I did!” Amanda yelled at him in reply.
“That’s probably me.” Toby said. Everybody looked to where he was, and was shocked; he was a walking vapor being. “I guess we’re all starting to look like our powers.”
“Guess again, Tobias.”
The five of them turned around, and saw a tall, purple-skinned maiden, wearing a spacesuit similar to the design of the suits available in the ship’s inventory. Her hair had a dark green hue, her eyes were a bright orange, and her face looked intimidating, not in a way that would make people think twice to look at her directly, but actually in a way that would make them want to gaze upon her countenance even more. As if they were looking at an angel that was sent down upon heaven, not because she was banished out, but because she was sent as a savoir. Lady Veergha stood tall and firm in front of all of them, showing her true form; a Korvellian-descent named Korriavania.
“I see you’re at a loss for words due to the sudden revelation of my true appearance.” Lady Veergha said.
“You think?” Toby said.
“I was shocked as well of the immediate change in all of our appearances. It only means that the Fjankhetto has truly been busy these past few hours that we’ve been preparing for our trip to find it. I want you to all know that this mission, this final battle, is not going to be easy. I’m here to tell you, that not all of us here are likely to survive the fight. There’s a high chance of that happening in the next hours to come.”
“So is this like the way you guys do inspiring speeches?” Tom asked. “You start with the bad news first, and then the good news comes later? Or is there no good news?”
“This is not, in any way, to inspire any of you.” Lady Veergha continued. “I am telling you this, so that when the time comes that all your strength, and all your might, is needed in the battle field, you would not risk thinking twice of your actions. I’ve given you each individual abilities, not only to save you from the changing atmosphere, but to help us in the battle against the darkness consuming life across the galaxy.”
“I mean,” Ervagh butted in. “that’s kind of what we were trying to do, before we sided with the Terrans.” There was a pause before Ervagh continued. “Just putting it out there, that’s all. We’ve committed multiple genocides in order to gain more evolutionary traits that would advance the Volgan Empire to its maximum — “
“What I’m saying,” Lady Veergha cut him off. “is that we now have a common enemy. And by joining our forces together, we might have a chance at this.”
“Agreed.” Macrodon said. They looked at him, as he kneeled before Lady Veergha. “You have my sword.”
“And my Tonfas.” Tetsu added, as he kneeled beside Macrodon.
“And my intellect.” Sphen added, as he kneeled beside Tetsu.
There was a pause, as everybody stared to look at the wizard. “What? Oh, you think just because the other three kneeled before this maiden, that I’ll be following suit, and say ‘and my staff’ as well? Of course I’ll be helping in the fight. But I don’t need to bloody kneel and announce it for you.”
“That settles it, then.” Lady Veergha announced. “We’re all in this together now.”
* * *
As the ship flew by the world, Toby decided to exit the ship and patrol the outside. Silently, he just wanted to get out of the ship, and be on his own for a while, to gather his thoughts, and mope around. June saw right through him. She literally did. But nevertheless, she knew what was going on in Toby’s mind. So she went out as well, not because she wanted to — although, her body did start to heat up the room-temperature — but because Toby needed company.
“I told you not to worry about me.” Toby said, as he noticed the ship open up, and June flying over beside him.
“And I told you you’re not alone in this fight.” June answered him. “Toby,”
“Hmm?”
“Do you think we’ll make it?” she asked.
“I don’t know.” Toby said to her. “I don’t have the answers, June. I just know that even if we manage to stop that thing from completely destroying the planet, what’s gonna be left of it in the end? Smoke and ashes? Lifeless seas and burned down jungles? How will all of this return to normal?”
“It will.” June answered him. “I promise you that.”
“That’s not a promise you can just make out of the blue.”
“Well that’s what I’m doing anyway. You know why? Because I believe that we can fix this. I believe there’s gonna be a second chance for all of us. We’ll survive, Toby. We’ll live through all of this.”
“Keep telling yourself that.” Toby said, as he flew away from her company.
June wanted to cry, but the flames didn’t allow it.
* * *
“Do you think he’ll be okay?” Amanda asked Tom. They were both sitting down on the sides of the ship.
“Sure he will.” Tom answered her. “We don’t really see eye-to-eye all the time, but that dude’s got something I’ll never have.”
“Really?” Amanda asked him. “What’s that?”
“Immovability.” Tom answered her with a straight face. Amanda didn’t know if he was joking or not. But Tom looked out from the ship’s windows, and looked at June and Toby soaring through the red sky. “The first time I met that guy, he was being bullied by one of our classmates. Typical Tuesday Afternoon. The bigger dude picked on him whenever he felt like it. Sometimes, Toby would just let it happen. He’ll just let himself get pushed around like that, cause he knows it’s a battle he’ll never win.”
“How is he immovable — “
“I was getting to that.” Tom said to her. “One day, around lunch time, he just got back from getting his freshly cooked lunch. His mom delivers him warm lunch everyday, cause he probably doesn’t like cold meals — a lot of people don’t, but that’s not the point. Toby gets back to the classroom, sits down and opens his lunchbox, and a couple of guys go over and put their hands on Toby’s food, and take some away into their mouths, without even blinking twice.”
“Why didn’t you help him out — “
“I told you, I was observing him. Plus, I didn’t wanna get in the way of what he ended up doing afterwards.”
“What happened?”
“He stood his ground,” Drew said, as the two noticed he was listening. They almost didn’t see him, cause he was so stiff and looked like a tree. “and pushed the biggest jock on his chest.”
“Damn right he did.” Tom continued. “But he didn’t actually do any good with it, though. Toby literally pushed himself away, cause the dude’s mass was way heavier than he could’ve ever imagined. But Toby did it anyway. The people who saw it happened just laughed at him. I kinda laughed at it myself, until I noticed Toby picking himself up after falling down. He stood his ground, just like Drew said. He’s the shortest of us three, but I swear to you when I say that in that moment, he looked like the toughest kid in the class. His eyes were blazing with anger. It was blind, unbridled rage, that I saw in those eyes. Like he was ready to lose everything he had at that short moment, just because of his wasted lunch.
“But a few seconds later, the principal arrived. He almost saw what looked like a fight, but the bully wrapped his arm around Toby, like they were just joking around or something. The principal didn’t look twice after that. So when the commotion was dialing down, everybody just went back to their chairs. The bully ruffled Toby’s hair, as if telling him ‘next time, little man’. Like a taunting gesture that only meant to grill you even further. I looked at Toby in that moment. His fists were wrapped like balls ready to be thrown at someone. I decided at that moment I’d befriend this dude. Not because it’d be like protecting him or something, no. At that day, at that moment, I wanted to see what he would’ve done, if the principal hadn’t stepped in at the most convenient timing.”
“What do you think he would’ve done?” Amanda asked him.
“Drew and I have debated on this ever since. Right, dude?” Drew only nodded at Tom. “And we always come to the same conclusion.”
“Which is?”
“Toby would’ve beat the living shit out of that guy. No matter how many punches it took him to do it. He wouldn’t stop, until the big guy was down on the ground, begging for him to stop. But he wouldn’t, he really wouldn’t care. He’ll stand his ground, and show his true colors to everyone else who’d think of crossing his path.”
“Even he’s scared to admit that he can do that.” Drew said. “That’s why, whatever this is, whatever challenge we’re facing, when the times comes, he’ll know what to do. He has to bring out that anger; that rage.”
“I just hope I get to see him do it.” Tom added. Drew nodded in agreement.
Amanda looked out of the window. When the time comes, Toby will know what to do. And when that time comes —
Something suddenly hit the space ship. Everybody on board screamed and jumped. Supplies flew everywhere, the ship wasn’t flying steady anymore, and a huge dent appeared on one side of the ship. Lady Veergha was holding steady on one of the rails, and was trying to pinpoint the source of collision. She saw the Fjankhetto, as tall and massive as it was, staring directly inside of the ship, directly to her.
I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU. A voice appeared in everyone’s thoughts. I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR ALL OF YOU TO COME. AND NOW THAT YOU’RE ALL HERE, THE TIME HAS COME FOR ME TO SHOW YOU WHAT I’VE BEEN —
On that very second, a massive tornado-being swooped in and interrupted the monster’s speech.
“Shut the fuck up!”
End of Chapter.
* * *
* * *
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