Written: Friday. August 14, 2020.
Amanda hit the ground way too hard, that she might’ve blacked out from the fight. How long was I out? She thought to herself, as she slowly rose from the large crater she made. Her body was probably ten times as strong and heavy as her normal strength and weight.
“NOOOOOOOO!” she heard someone yell from a distance. She looked up, and saw that there was a battle that was still going on. She stood up, and prepared to jump forward, allowing the absence of gravity to boost her leap. But she then noticed what had happened.
She saw a faint dot, a body falling slowly from the sky. A burst of flames appeared from the Fjankhetto’s clenched fist. She saw the broken body of a girl falling out of the fist. It moved lifelessly through the air. Is that — it can’t be.
“You bastard!” Toby yelled towards the Fjankhetto. “You killed her!”
June’s lifeless body was floating in the air. Amanda saw it, but she could not believe it. “No…no it can’t be.”
“You fucking maniac! You son of a bitch! What have you done!” Toby kept yelling to the Fjankhetto.
Amanda didn’t hear what the being said in return. Toby just kept yelling back at the monster as if talking back to it. Why can’t I hear the monster’s voice in my head?
Toby’s tornado form shot a strong surge of wind to the Fjankhetto. Nothing was happening to the monster, but it did help push back the giant titan, at least a few inches.
“Now’s not the time to speculate.” Lady Veergha landed near where Amanda was. She had a jet-pack on her back. “I was wondering where you’ve been.”
“Tell me that isn’t who I think it is — “
“It’s the Terran girl.” Lady Veergha replied abruptly. Amanda couldn’t believe what she heard. “Her human form returned once the Fire-spirit living inside her left her body. She was crushed by the Fjankhetto. Monstrous being, that one.”
“How the hell are you so fucking calm about this?” Amanda yelled at the Lady. Lady Veergha only looked up.
“It’s time.” she said to Amanda. “I told you all that this fight wouldn’t finish with all of us seeing the end of it. It is only unfortunate that one of yours was the one to fall first.”
“There’s no use telling Toby about what we know.” Amanda said, keeping herself from tearing up. She didn’t even know if she could do that, what with her metal skin getting in the way. “That information is useless at this point.”
“No, it is not.” Lady Veergha replied. “You must get to him. Talk to him about this. And he’ll know what to do.”
“Why don’t you do it, then?” Amanda asked her. “You seem to know the same as I do.”
“I won’t be able to,” Lady replied. “once I give him the most important inheritance I have.”
“What’s that?” Amanda asked.
Then, Lady Veergha flew up again. So much for that. Amanda thought to herself. Amanda braced herself, and then jumped upwards.
Drew was busy trying to find some semblance of life on the earth. He hasn’t been around the battle area to know what’s been happening lately. He heard Toby scream, but that’s probably a normal thing for him to do at this point in the fight. Where’s that stupid plant life Lady was talking about, anyway? Drew had been touching and feeling the ground below him for some sense of vegetation. He figured if Amanda was able to fix up the ship awhile ago without any tutorial, he could do the same. So why can’t I do it!
“Need help, buddy?” Tom arrived. Drew heard a buzzing sound, like a fly buzzing through his ear. He almost made a swatting motion, but realized it was just his freak insect of a friend.
“How on earth do you think you could help?” Drew asked. “We have different powers.”
“No,” Tom said. “We have the same powers.”
“What?”
“Or at least, the same kind of — you know what, lemme just show you what I mean.” Tom approached the ground, and landed one of his many insectoid hands on it. “See, Lady gave you permission to search for plant life under all this garbage, right?”
“Yeah?”
“You know what the next best thing is to that?”
“What?”
“Bug Life, baby!”
A massive swarm of flies, bees, cockroaches, wasps, and other types of flying insect flew out of the ground. “Attention all bugs! This is your leader speaking!” The bugs remained near them as they listened to what Tom had to say. “Attack the monster!” he pointed towards the Fjankhetto. “Come on! Attack!” Tom’s army started moving fast towards the Fjankhetto.
Some of the bug races that didn’t have wings moved through where Drew was standing. He was afraid they might chew on him or something. But none of the bugs paid him any mind.
“See?” Tom said to Drew. “Now it’s your turn.” Then Tom flew with his swarm of bugs.
Drew was now alone again. Alright. Okay. You can do this. Think. “I call upon all the plants and vegetation left in this world, and RISE UPON THE GROUND, SO THAT YOU MAY FIGHT THIS BEAST!” Drew yelled out, as he put his hands firmly on the ground.
Nothing happened. He looked around him, and suddenly noticed the earth shaking. “Yes. Yes!”
Amanda leaped upwards towards Toby, but her leap didn’t make it that high up. Toby was about the same altitude as the Fjankhetto’s face, and was still hurling a bunch of wind waves on the titan’s face.
She noticed that a purple bubble shaped around her, and she started rising upwards at tremendous speed. She looked down, and saw that Octopoda was the one who conjured up the bubble for her. She gave him a thumbs up, which Octopoda turned his head on. He probably doesn’t know what that means. Amanda realized.
“Toby!” Amanda yelled out to him. He didn’t seem to notice, nor did Amanda actually know if Toby looked around to see her. He was a tornado. He didn’t have a face anymore, just a vague cloudy outline under all that strong wind. “I have to tell you something!”
“Don’t you see what it did?” Toby yelled out. “Don’t you see what it did to her!”
“I know that, Toby.” Amanda replied. “I’m furious about it too. But none of this is gonna help end this fight.”
“You’re right about that.” Toby answered back. “There’s nothing else to do here, now. But to wait for us to die too.”
“No! That’s not it!”
“Face it, Amanda. We’ve lost!”
“No! I mean, there’s still a chance!”
The strong gusts of wind started to dial down. “What?”
“Toby, I think there’s a way for us to change everything!”
DON’T LISTEN TO THAT TIN CAN. The Fjankhetto spoke to Toby’s mind alone. IT’S JUST YOU AND ME, HERE. BOY. YOU AND ME. DON’T STOP NOW. I’M KIND OF LIKING THE COLD BREEZE YOU’RE GIVING ME.
“Oh, fuck you!” Toby said to the Fjankhetto.
He then noticed a bunch of insects suddenly swooping in. Toby looked around, and saw an army of bugs flying towards the Fjankhetto. Tom was in the middle of it all. Toby also notice something moving on the ground. Drew was leading his own army of Tree-monsters. Some were about his height, and others were like wooden golems.
“We’ll take it from here, dude!” Tom yelled out to him. “Attack!” He yelled out, and the bugs flew faster towards the Fjankhetto.
Toby moved away, and towards Amanda. “Okay. Let’s hear what you have to say. How can we change everything?”
“Oh, so now you listen.” Amanda said. “Never mind that. Okay, here’s the thing. Remember that group-mind-breach thing that happened to us when Lady Veergha went berserk as Mara?”
“Yes, I remember. What about it?”
“She didn’t tell you where I was under all of that dream-sharing.” Amanda continued.
“Cowabunga!” Tetsu and his clones yelled out from a distance, as they continued to attack the Fjankhetto. Octopoda was now hitting the beast with a shower of ice.
“Where were you then?” Toby asked Amanda.
“I was in another dimension.” Amanda answered him.
“What?”
“I know it doesn’t make sense. But believe me when I say that I was in that dimension for as long as infinity. It was like a time-loop, replaying itself over and over again. But one key detail kept changing every week I was inside of the time-loop.”
“Which was?”
“The manuscript.” Amanda said to him. “There was this manuscript that had all our recent adventures written down on it. Like every single thing we did was a chapter or a sentence inside of that manuscript.”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” Toby said. “But I’m looking so confused right now.”
“I know, I know.” Amanda said to him. “I don’t understand it either. But just listen. Lady Veergha told me that the place I went, that time-loop, was the real dimension. It doesn’t make sense no matter how many times I say it. But somehow, this is the only chance we’ve got to change everything.”
“Now you’re not making any sense.” Toby said to her. “How is that other dimension gonna help us change everything that’s happened.”
“It’s not.” Amanda replied. “What I mean is that the mind-breach could access other dimensions. That’s what I meant to say to you. The time-loop thing was a dead-end, but it isn’t really the important thing we need to know about it.”
“So you’re saying — “
“I’m saying we have to do it again.” Amanda said to him. “We have to do a mind-breach so intense, that it sends us back in time!”
Lady Veergha flew across the asteroid belt in order to get beside Octopoda. Octopoda was busy showering the Fjankhetto with bursts of lightning, flames, and ice.
“Do you have a moment?” Lady Veergha yelled out to the Octopian Wizard.
“Do you not see that I am busy dealing with this filth?” Octopoda replied.
“None of that matters. I have an idea I’d like to run you by.”
“Very well.” Octopoda said, while still maintaining the level of power he’s producing towards the beast. “Spill out your thoughts to me.”
“How far does your power go?” Lady Veergha asked. “At what level of the impossible can you do?”
“You have to be more specific with that type of question.”
“Can you bring that thing to sleep?” Lady Veergha asked. Octopoda’s wave of powered faltered a bit.
“Now why didn’t I think of that — “
“Hold!” Octopoda was about to change tactics, when Lady Veergha cautioned him. “You must hold out, until the time is right. I’ll signal you once he’s ready.”
“When who’s ready?”
“You can’t be serious?” Toby said to Amanda.
“There’s no reason not to be.” Amanda looked around. “Now where is she?”
“Who?” Toby asked. Then Lady Veergha swooped in beside them, together with Octopoda the Wizard.
“Have you told him the plan?” Lady Veergha said to Amanda.
“Yeah, he’s catching on.” Amanda replied.
“Wait,” Toby said. “I still can’t understand how — “
“There isn’t much sense understanding it right now, Tobias.” Lady Veergha said to him. “You just have to believe that this is the only possible option left at this moment. Your friends and our strange allies might last a few more hours with the Fjankhetto, but we’ll exhaust our resources, and eventually, see the same fate as your fallen girl friend.”
“She’s not — oh, you had a pause there. Okay.” Toby was relieved to know that the others wouldn’t know how he looked like at the moment, cause if they did, they’d see that his face went red. “So how do we do this? How do we change the world?”
“As Amanda may have explained,” Lady Veergha went on, “this mission will not be easy. We don’t actually know if it will work or not. But if it does, yours and a select few consciousness can be taken back to a certain point in the past.”
“You’re saying we’ll be time-travelling?” Toby asked her. “How’d that even be possible?”
“First, we have to get the bloody monster into a bloody slumber.” Octopoda said to them. “Which I’ll be the one to do so, as you continue on with your task.”
“What does making that thing sleep have to do with the mission?” Toby asked. “Aren’t we gonna use a time machine or something, to get back to the past?”
“This isn’t a movie, Toby.” Amanda said. “God, it makes me remember that horrible manuscript I was reading inside that other dimension.”
“Never mind all that.” Lady Veergha said. “Tobias, we won’t be needing any machine to transfer back into the past. We’ll be using the mind-breach.”
“The what now?”
WHAT THE HELL DOES SQUID FACE WANT NOW? The Fjankhetto said to Octopoda, as it position itself in front of the monster.
“Do it!” Lady Veergha announced. “Do it now! Make the thing sleep!”
“Let the Source make it so!” Octopoda shouted, as he raised his staff up high. Macrodon, Tetsu, and Sphen, shouted together with its friend. The Tetsu clones cheered on as well.
The Fjankhetto spotted a pinkish glow on the staff, and was starting to feel drowsy. WHAT IS THIS NONSENSE?
“It’s working!” Toby yelled out to the others. “I think the magic is making him sleepy.”
FOOLISH BOY! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO KILL YOU!
“Why does he keep saying that to me?” Toby asked himself. Lady Veergha heard what he said.
“The monster is still speaking with you?” she asked.
“Yeah, didn’t you hear?” Toby said. “He was just saying — “
“I haven’t been hearing the thing speak a word in my mind for quite some time now.” Lady Veergha said.
“What?” Toby looked to Amanda, who shook her head at him. Octopoda was busy focusing his magic, but he too shook his head lightly. Toby moved near the Fjankhetto’s head. “Why am I the only one hearing you right now, you son of a bitch? Why do you keep saying you’ll beat me again? This is our only encounter!”
The Fjankhetto laughed in his mind. IGNORANT AS EVER, BOY. WE’VE BEEN FIGHTING A LONG BATTLE, YOU AND I. AND EACH TIME, EACH ENCOUNTER, I AM THE ONE WHO IS VICTORIOUS. YOU THINK ANOTHER RESET IS GOING TO HELP YOUR CAUSE? HOW MANY TIMES HAS IT BEEN? A HUNDRED? A COUPLE THOUSAND? I LOST COUNT.
“You’re not making any sense!” Toby yelled out to the monster. “What do you mean we’ve been through this before! You’re lying!”
“Tobias,” Lady Veergha said. “What is it saying?”
Toby hesitated. What’s that thing saying to me? We’ve been fighting a thousand times now? How does he know about the plan? He moved towards the Lady. “Nothing. What do we do once that thing falls asleep?”
“We only really need to get him unsteady.” Lady answered him. “That will be enough to get him under. Here, you’ll need this.” Lady Veergha tapped on his cloudy forehead. Toby thought she was gonna do a mind breach on him for a second there, but no. It was something else.
“What was — “
“I’ve given you the power to breach minds. You’ll be using that on the Fjankhetto. Once you do, you use the breach to find your way back. You don’t do anything else.”
“That’s how I’ll be doing this?” Toby asked her. “I’ll be mind-breaching that thing? What if he gets in my head?”
“That won’t be a problem you’ll need to solve.” Lady Veergha said to him. “Trust.”
Toby raised his hand. I’m gonna look into that thing’s head and see what the fuck he’s been talking about.
“One more thing.” Lady Veergha said to him. Toby looked at her. “If my consciousness doesn’t make it, just know that it could be possible to turn that version of me around on herself. You just need the right push.”
“This is really happening, huh?” Toby said. “I’m really going back…” Toby clenched his fist, and went back near the Fjankhetto’s head.
WHAT IS IT NOW, TOBIAS? READY FOR ANOTHER ROUND? The Fjankhetto whispered to his mind, but its voice was slow and almost hard to hear.
“We’ll see.” Toby answered, as he slapped his hand on the being’s forehead.
And then there was darkness.
Amanda hit the ground way too hard, that she might’ve blacked out from the fight. How long was I out? She thought to herself, as she slowly rose from the large crater she made. Her body was probably ten times as strong and heavy as her normal strength and weight.
“NOOOOOOOO!” she heard someone yell from a distance. She looked up, and saw that there was a battle that was still going on. She stood up, and prepared to jump forward, allowing the absence of gravity to boost her leap. But she then noticed what had happened.
She saw a faint dot, a body falling slowly from the sky. A burst of flames appeared from the Fjankhetto’s clenched fist. She saw the broken body of a girl falling out of the fist. It moved lifelessly through the air. Is that — it can’t be.
“You bastard!” Toby yelled towards the Fjankhetto. “You killed her!”
June’s lifeless body was floating in the air. Amanda saw it, but she could not believe it. “No…no it can’t be.”
“You fucking maniac! You son of a bitch! What have you done!” Toby kept yelling to the Fjankhetto.
Amanda didn’t hear what the being said in return. Toby just kept yelling back at the monster as if talking back to it. Why can’t I hear the monster’s voice in my head?
Toby’s tornado form shot a strong surge of wind to the Fjankhetto. Nothing was happening to the monster, but it did help push back the giant titan, at least a few inches.
“Now’s not the time to speculate.” Lady Veergha landed near where Amanda was. She had a jet-pack on her back. “I was wondering where you’ve been.”
“Tell me that isn’t who I think it is — “
“It’s the Terran girl.” Lady Veergha replied abruptly. Amanda couldn’t believe what she heard. “Her human form returned once the Fire-spirit living inside her left her body. She was crushed by the Fjankhetto. Monstrous being, that one.”
“How the hell are you so fucking calm about this?” Amanda yelled at the Lady. Lady Veergha only looked up.
“It’s time.” she said to Amanda. “I told you all that this fight wouldn’t finish with all of us seeing the end of it. It is only unfortunate that one of yours was the one to fall first.”
“There’s no use telling Toby about what we know.” Amanda said, keeping herself from tearing up. She didn’t even know if she could do that, what with her metal skin getting in the way. “That information is useless at this point.”
“No, it is not.” Lady Veergha replied. “You must get to him. Talk to him about this. And he’ll know what to do.”
“Why don’t you do it, then?” Amanda asked her. “You seem to know the same as I do.”
“I won’t be able to,” Lady replied. “once I give him the most important inheritance I have.”
“What’s that?” Amanda asked.
Then, Lady Veergha flew up again. So much for that. Amanda thought to herself. Amanda braced herself, and then jumped upwards.
* * *
Drew was busy trying to find some semblance of life on the earth. He hasn’t been around the battle area to know what’s been happening lately. He heard Toby scream, but that’s probably a normal thing for him to do at this point in the fight. Where’s that stupid plant life Lady was talking about, anyway? Drew had been touching and feeling the ground below him for some sense of vegetation. He figured if Amanda was able to fix up the ship awhile ago without any tutorial, he could do the same. So why can’t I do it!
“Need help, buddy?” Tom arrived. Drew heard a buzzing sound, like a fly buzzing through his ear. He almost made a swatting motion, but realized it was just his freak insect of a friend.
“How on earth do you think you could help?” Drew asked. “We have different powers.”
“No,” Tom said. “We have the same powers.”
“What?”
“Or at least, the same kind of — you know what, lemme just show you what I mean.” Tom approached the ground, and landed one of his many insectoid hands on it. “See, Lady gave you permission to search for plant life under all this garbage, right?”
“Yeah?”
“You know what the next best thing is to that?”
“What?”
“Bug Life, baby!”
A massive swarm of flies, bees, cockroaches, wasps, and other types of flying insect flew out of the ground. “Attention all bugs! This is your leader speaking!” The bugs remained near them as they listened to what Tom had to say. “Attack the monster!” he pointed towards the Fjankhetto. “Come on! Attack!” Tom’s army started moving fast towards the Fjankhetto.
Some of the bug races that didn’t have wings moved through where Drew was standing. He was afraid they might chew on him or something. But none of the bugs paid him any mind.
“See?” Tom said to Drew. “Now it’s your turn.” Then Tom flew with his swarm of bugs.
Drew was now alone again. Alright. Okay. You can do this. Think. “I call upon all the plants and vegetation left in this world, and RISE UPON THE GROUND, SO THAT YOU MAY FIGHT THIS BEAST!” Drew yelled out, as he put his hands firmly on the ground.
Nothing happened. He looked around him, and suddenly noticed the earth shaking. “Yes. Yes!”
* * *
Amanda leaped upwards towards Toby, but her leap didn’t make it that high up. Toby was about the same altitude as the Fjankhetto’s face, and was still hurling a bunch of wind waves on the titan’s face.
She noticed that a purple bubble shaped around her, and she started rising upwards at tremendous speed. She looked down, and saw that Octopoda was the one who conjured up the bubble for her. She gave him a thumbs up, which Octopoda turned his head on. He probably doesn’t know what that means. Amanda realized.
“Toby!” Amanda yelled out to him. He didn’t seem to notice, nor did Amanda actually know if Toby looked around to see her. He was a tornado. He didn’t have a face anymore, just a vague cloudy outline under all that strong wind. “I have to tell you something!”
“Don’t you see what it did?” Toby yelled out. “Don’t you see what it did to her!”
“I know that, Toby.” Amanda replied. “I’m furious about it too. But none of this is gonna help end this fight.”
“You’re right about that.” Toby answered back. “There’s nothing else to do here, now. But to wait for us to die too.”
“No! That’s not it!”
“Face it, Amanda. We’ve lost!”
“No! I mean, there’s still a chance!”
The strong gusts of wind started to dial down. “What?”
“Toby, I think there’s a way for us to change everything!”
* * *
DON’T LISTEN TO THAT TIN CAN. The Fjankhetto spoke to Toby’s mind alone. IT’S JUST YOU AND ME, HERE. BOY. YOU AND ME. DON’T STOP NOW. I’M KIND OF LIKING THE COLD BREEZE YOU’RE GIVING ME.
“Oh, fuck you!” Toby said to the Fjankhetto.
He then noticed a bunch of insects suddenly swooping in. Toby looked around, and saw an army of bugs flying towards the Fjankhetto. Tom was in the middle of it all. Toby also notice something moving on the ground. Drew was leading his own army of Tree-monsters. Some were about his height, and others were like wooden golems.
“We’ll take it from here, dude!” Tom yelled out to him. “Attack!” He yelled out, and the bugs flew faster towards the Fjankhetto.
Toby moved away, and towards Amanda. “Okay. Let’s hear what you have to say. How can we change everything?”
“Oh, so now you listen.” Amanda said. “Never mind that. Okay, here’s the thing. Remember that group-mind-breach thing that happened to us when Lady Veergha went berserk as Mara?”
“Yes, I remember. What about it?”
“She didn’t tell you where I was under all of that dream-sharing.” Amanda continued.
“Cowabunga!” Tetsu and his clones yelled out from a distance, as they continued to attack the Fjankhetto. Octopoda was now hitting the beast with a shower of ice.
“Where were you then?” Toby asked Amanda.
“I was in another dimension.” Amanda answered him.
“What?”
“I know it doesn’t make sense. But believe me when I say that I was in that dimension for as long as infinity. It was like a time-loop, replaying itself over and over again. But one key detail kept changing every week I was inside of the time-loop.”
“Which was?”
“The manuscript.” Amanda said to him. “There was this manuscript that had all our recent adventures written down on it. Like every single thing we did was a chapter or a sentence inside of that manuscript.”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” Toby said. “But I’m looking so confused right now.”
“I know, I know.” Amanda said to him. “I don’t understand it either. But just listen. Lady Veergha told me that the place I went, that time-loop, was the real dimension. It doesn’t make sense no matter how many times I say it. But somehow, this is the only chance we’ve got to change everything.”
“Now you’re not making any sense.” Toby said to her. “How is that other dimension gonna help us change everything that’s happened.”
“It’s not.” Amanda replied. “What I mean is that the mind-breach could access other dimensions. That’s what I meant to say to you. The time-loop thing was a dead-end, but it isn’t really the important thing we need to know about it.”
“So you’re saying — “
“I’m saying we have to do it again.” Amanda said to him. “We have to do a mind-breach so intense, that it sends us back in time!”
* * *
Lady Veergha flew across the asteroid belt in order to get beside Octopoda. Octopoda was busy showering the Fjankhetto with bursts of lightning, flames, and ice.
“Do you have a moment?” Lady Veergha yelled out to the Octopian Wizard.
“Do you not see that I am busy dealing with this filth?” Octopoda replied.
“None of that matters. I have an idea I’d like to run you by.”
“Very well.” Octopoda said, while still maintaining the level of power he’s producing towards the beast. “Spill out your thoughts to me.”
“How far does your power go?” Lady Veergha asked. “At what level of the impossible can you do?”
“You have to be more specific with that type of question.”
“Can you bring that thing to sleep?” Lady Veergha asked. Octopoda’s wave of powered faltered a bit.
“Now why didn’t I think of that — “
“Hold!” Octopoda was about to change tactics, when Lady Veergha cautioned him. “You must hold out, until the time is right. I’ll signal you once he’s ready.”
“When who’s ready?”
* * *
“You can’t be serious?” Toby said to Amanda.
“There’s no reason not to be.” Amanda looked around. “Now where is she?”
“Who?” Toby asked. Then Lady Veergha swooped in beside them, together with Octopoda the Wizard.
“Have you told him the plan?” Lady Veergha said to Amanda.
“Yeah, he’s catching on.” Amanda replied.
“Wait,” Toby said. “I still can’t understand how — “
“There isn’t much sense understanding it right now, Tobias.” Lady Veergha said to him. “You just have to believe that this is the only possible option left at this moment. Your friends and our strange allies might last a few more hours with the Fjankhetto, but we’ll exhaust our resources, and eventually, see the same fate as your fallen girl friend.”
“She’s not — oh, you had a pause there. Okay.” Toby was relieved to know that the others wouldn’t know how he looked like at the moment, cause if they did, they’d see that his face went red. “So how do we do this? How do we change the world?”
“As Amanda may have explained,” Lady Veergha went on, “this mission will not be easy. We don’t actually know if it will work or not. But if it does, yours and a select few consciousness can be taken back to a certain point in the past.”
“You’re saying we’ll be time-travelling?” Toby asked her. “How’d that even be possible?”
“First, we have to get the bloody monster into a bloody slumber.” Octopoda said to them. “Which I’ll be the one to do so, as you continue on with your task.”
“What does making that thing sleep have to do with the mission?” Toby asked. “Aren’t we gonna use a time machine or something, to get back to the past?”
“This isn’t a movie, Toby.” Amanda said. “God, it makes me remember that horrible manuscript I was reading inside that other dimension.”
“Never mind all that.” Lady Veergha said. “Tobias, we won’t be needing any machine to transfer back into the past. We’ll be using the mind-breach.”
“The what now?”
* * *
WHAT THE HELL DOES SQUID FACE WANT NOW? The Fjankhetto said to Octopoda, as it position itself in front of the monster.
“Do it!” Lady Veergha announced. “Do it now! Make the thing sleep!”
“Let the Source make it so!” Octopoda shouted, as he raised his staff up high. Macrodon, Tetsu, and Sphen, shouted together with its friend. The Tetsu clones cheered on as well.
The Fjankhetto spotted a pinkish glow on the staff, and was starting to feel drowsy. WHAT IS THIS NONSENSE?
“It’s working!” Toby yelled out to the others. “I think the magic is making him sleepy.”
FOOLISH BOY! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO KILL YOU!
“Why does he keep saying that to me?” Toby asked himself. Lady Veergha heard what he said.
“The monster is still speaking with you?” she asked.
“Yeah, didn’t you hear?” Toby said. “He was just saying — “
“I haven’t been hearing the thing speak a word in my mind for quite some time now.” Lady Veergha said.
“What?” Toby looked to Amanda, who shook her head at him. Octopoda was busy focusing his magic, but he too shook his head lightly. Toby moved near the Fjankhetto’s head. “Why am I the only one hearing you right now, you son of a bitch? Why do you keep saying you’ll beat me again? This is our only encounter!”
The Fjankhetto laughed in his mind. IGNORANT AS EVER, BOY. WE’VE BEEN FIGHTING A LONG BATTLE, YOU AND I. AND EACH TIME, EACH ENCOUNTER, I AM THE ONE WHO IS VICTORIOUS. YOU THINK ANOTHER RESET IS GOING TO HELP YOUR CAUSE? HOW MANY TIMES HAS IT BEEN? A HUNDRED? A COUPLE THOUSAND? I LOST COUNT.
“You’re not making any sense!” Toby yelled out to the monster. “What do you mean we’ve been through this before! You’re lying!”
“Tobias,” Lady Veergha said. “What is it saying?”
Toby hesitated. What’s that thing saying to me? We’ve been fighting a thousand times now? How does he know about the plan? He moved towards the Lady. “Nothing. What do we do once that thing falls asleep?”
“We only really need to get him unsteady.” Lady answered him. “That will be enough to get him under. Here, you’ll need this.” Lady Veergha tapped on his cloudy forehead. Toby thought she was gonna do a mind breach on him for a second there, but no. It was something else.
“What was — “
“I’ve given you the power to breach minds. You’ll be using that on the Fjankhetto. Once you do, you use the breach to find your way back. You don’t do anything else.”
“That’s how I’ll be doing this?” Toby asked her. “I’ll be mind-breaching that thing? What if he gets in my head?”
“That won’t be a problem you’ll need to solve.” Lady Veergha said to him. “Trust.”
Toby raised his hand. I’m gonna look into that thing’s head and see what the fuck he’s been talking about.
“One more thing.” Lady Veergha said to him. Toby looked at her. “If my consciousness doesn’t make it, just know that it could be possible to turn that version of me around on herself. You just need the right push.”
“This is really happening, huh?” Toby said. “I’m really going back…” Toby clenched his fist, and went back near the Fjankhetto’s head.
WHAT IS IT NOW, TOBIAS? READY FOR ANOTHER ROUND? The Fjankhetto whispered to his mind, but its voice was slow and almost hard to hear.
“We’ll see.” Toby answered, as he slapped his hand on the being’s forehead.
And then there was darkness.
End of Story.
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