Summary: So much pain, so little timeNotes:
To the many, MANY confused comments ... here's what happened.
Thanks to magical feedback, an accident occured. The Triton copy got all of Rose's memories and collapsed from overload, dying. Lucci got all of Triton's memories, and temporarily thought that HE was Triton, their body shifting to match their mental identity (shapeshifting be weird like that).
Eda woke up from what was probably the fifth or sixth worst hangover she's ever experienced. Man, after the Grudgby game, she must've hit the apple blood head during the celebration. For a second she thought she was seeing herself everywhere. So weird.
"Mom!" She was tackled in the stomach.
"Lucci, not now, Mama needs to walk this off." Her head was a nightmare.
"… I'm King." The little guy corrected her.
"..Really?" She shook her head. "Man, how much appleblood did I drink last night?"
"Yeah … that wasn't Apple Blood." He explained. "There's a bit of a … Basilisk army situation going on."
"A Basil what now?" Eda asked, looking around. "Where are we, where's-"
"Mom!" She was tackled from behind, this time now for sure that this was Lucci! "I don't know how long you've been replaced, but by titan it's great to see you again!"
She looked at her baby, covered in green scales and pink fur, eyes slit and round at the same time. Horns covered in a slimy film on his head, as a scorpion-snake tail rested behind him. "Ah…"
"I know, I know …. let's just say mind melding with a Basilisk leaves certain… impressions on a half crystal devil." Lucci chuckled weakly.
"The copy looks like a mix of your mom, you, and some really tall lady." Her attention was turned to Luz, who was poking on a fleshy and blobby looking corpse.
"Yeah…turns out the gem in me is pretty old and holds a lot of memory … too much memory for them to take in all at once."
"So we have a way to take them out instantly?" They turned their head again to see boots being helped out of a cocoon with her siblings.
"HHHSSS!" Sugar looked particularly pissed at that idea.
"It took a lot out of me with just one, doing it again might mess me up for life with no return." Lucci explained. "Heck, I'm gonna spend maybe the next week asking questions about my own identity … that's not even getting into the Triton stuff, I think my Womb donor might legitimately be a part of me with this rock in my guts."
"Gonna have to get that checked." Eda noted. "Alright, new plan. Me, King, and Luz will carve our way through this army. The rest of you stay behind."
"Seriously?!" That park girl shouted as she tried cleaning herself off.
"I guess Lily too if we find her." She noted. "Point is these guys eat magic. You'll be immensely vulnerable trying to fight them and just make the enemies stronger."
"Fighting through the armies is pointless, we need to find the replicator wand that started it." Lucci brought up.
"The what now?" Everyone asked.
"Some piece of crystal devil tech … I think … the memories are getting all jumbled up on the inside, hard to pick apart and sort through them all." He grumbled.
"I get it." Luz grinned. "We clone our own army and then fight fire with fire."
"I was thinking more along the lines of destroying it which'll destroy the clones."
"… That's not how science works." Luz deadpanned. "I don't even think that's how magic works."
"Either way, grabbing that wand guarantees that they'll lose the numbers advantage at least." King summarized. "Okay, roll call, who's conscious enough to fight and who do we use as living meat shields?"
"Ed is out." Boots kicked the boy on the ground. "I'm good for a punch."
"So is this random stranger girl." Boscha looked down at a green haired girl.
"WE USED TO BE ON THE SAME TEAM!"
"If you're not on my team, then you clearly aren't worth remembering." Wow, that was a level of savage brutality Eda couldn't help but admire.
"It was literally yesterday!"
"Hooty is also down, along with Kiki-bitch." Lucci glared.
"I think you…bruised…my…esophagus…." The little gremlin complained.
"You're lucky you still have it." Her kid glared.
"This is why I'm not including you in the charge. You are clearly too unstable headspace wise." Eda rubbed her baby's head.
"I have enough energy to strangle a Basilisk or two." Park raised her hand.
"Won't do much if they just suck it up the moment they get close." Hooty sulked. "Lucci was the only one immune … wait, why are you going?"
"I got a bit of a hazy recollection." Eda stated. "Apparently I taste bad." Must be the unappetizing bird in her head. "Curse is finally good for something for once."
"Alright, you guys focus on that, me and everyone will focus on getting that wand." Lucci affirmed.
"You're not going anywhere." They turned around, seeing multiple copies of … themselves, minus Lucci, as the whole ground became surrounded.
"We really need to work on our situational awareness." Willow grumbled. "We got you outnumbered, you creeps."
"Don't say that-" Before Lucci could finish, every witch besides Eda had their magic sucked out, falling to the ground. "-… Of course."
"Seriously, is this like, the twelfth time this situation has popped up in the last four months?" The copy of Boots snorted.
"Thirteenth." Luz corrected. "So, vague evil speech time?"
"Like we're stupid enough to not know that would get us caught." Great, they had her intelligence. "We are going to end you witches." The copy of Eda commented.
"And humans!" … Everyone, even the Basilisk army, turned to the clone of Luz. "Seriously, I've seen her head. 4chan alone is a justification for extinction."
"At least they're sensible in their evil plans." Luz nodded. "So, what now?"
"Now…I do this." Lucci licked his palms, and touched all the witches that had fainted. "I'll revive the guys taken down, you start freeing more of the trapped witches. Mom, King, keep them off of us as much as you can."
"WEEHHH!" King sent forward a sonic blast.
"Oh, so you do have magic, excellent!" King's copy smirked as he began to open his mouth….only for mostly nothing to happen. "Huh…what gives!?"
"Trust me, I'd like to know more than anyone, but right now, I'm just grateful to be useful! WHEEEEEH!"
"I may not have your powers, but I have your experience, and enough magic stored up to use it!" The copy of Eda sent forth a stone owl head.
"You also forgot about my cunning." Eda smirked as she felt the feathers grow around her. " And my all around foxiness." She twirled around and kicked the stone, cracking it into pieces. "Cause in the end, their can only be one true Owl Lady." She swooped in, and punched the copy right in the face.
"Ow!"
"Your head also doesn't come off naturally, so you don't have my resistance to pain either."
"You don't have any natural abilities." The copy of Luz grinned.
"I have one thing that you don't." Luz grinned, pulling out multiple glyphs.
"Oh, and what would that be-"
"My incredible and increasing streak of recklessness!" The girl covered herself in the papers, and lit up in a fusion of lighting and fire, before jumping on top of her copy.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!"
"My punches are filled with power!" Who would've thought the most fun she would experience this month would be beating up herself?
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Celine groaned as she woke up, feeling wet and gooey. "Wha …"
"No time to recover, Celine, we're kind of on schedule here!" She felt herself being shook into clarity by Matt, who was equally covered in goo.
"Could I at least process whatever-" She saw a Basilisk fly by, thrown into a wall. "… Right. We were kidnapped and replaced by Basilisk." Seeing as how they were talking, at least she could say that their little plan for whatever this was is falling apart.
"Outcast, Moon girl, quit flirting and make yourselves useful!" They had their attention turned to Boscha, who threw a variety of potions at a couple. "Lucci's mom, that furry thing, and Luz are currently taking care of some of them, but we're kind of getting outnumbered with all the draining going around!
"...Did you just call the human by her first name?" Celiene question. Even with the ability to look into the future, she didn't see that one coming. "How long have we been gone?"
"My current guess is about a week" Matt deadpanned, ducking under another body. "Please tell me this is all we need to face?"
"Not even close, the entire Isles is covered in Basilisk that tried to replace us!" Amity shouted, using her abomination to throw rocks from a distance, likely due to the Basilisk being able to drain the magic from the goo. "We're kind of getting backed into a corner here!"
"Wait, but if you guys are here, then clearly something changed to give you this chance. The fact you're fighting at all is a huge advantage." Celiene pointed out. "How did that happen?"
"They can't drain Lucci, so he broke us out!" Luz shouted, covered in burns as she finished off a Basilisk. "Now it's just the four of us against … an army."
"I also have this weird effect on their brains!" The boy himself shouted, putting as many barriers and bubbles around as many people as he could. "I overload them, so they can't take my memories!"
"Oh really?" Celine's interest peaked, getting the inklings of an idea forming in her head, taking out the crystal orb she had on her. "So they have a limit to how much they can take." She ran up to Lucci. "Stay still, this is going to sting for a few seconds."
"Wait, what are you-" Celine pressed the orb on his head and activated her magic. "Aggggggh, what the hell!?"
Ding
"Perfect, thank you, just a little memory copying, that's all." She nodded, focusing on channeling all the memory and emotion she had just stored up. "Their brains are basically like a balloon, you fill it up with too much information all at once, it goes boom. So I copied just a sampling of your brain here."
"This rock is over four hundred years old and you managed to store it all in a ball?" Lucci asked.
"Yes, give or take a couple of centuries." She shrugged. "Oracle magic allows me to handle information overload fairly easily." Celine pointed her ball at a nearby Basilisk that looked like Boscha. "All I need to do now is focus my attention…and….here…we…GO!"
BZZT
A purple streak of light instantly hit the Basilisk in the head, making it freeze in place. "What the….what is this?"
"Pure Oracle magic. We don't just look into the future, you know." Celine smiled a bit smugly. "We deal with all magic pertaining to the spiritual, emotional, cosmic, and mental."
"No matter, it's magic, I live off this stu…no..no…why's my head feeling..no…too much… it's too much!" They warped into a pink amalgamation of limbs, falling to the ground.
"Wow, it's like instant decapitation." Boscha noted. "Moon girl can bring it."
"Agreed…that was pretty powerful….scary but powerful." Luz nodded. "I gotta find a way to incorporate that into my glyphs one of these days."
"She's still a witch, which means all she is in the end is food!" Another Basilisk shouted. "Get her!"
"Yeah, get me, and get a hundred years worth of pain and misery!" She pointed the orb at another one, and turned them into a pink blob as well.
"Back off ya freaks!" The Owl Lady swooped in and knocked them off their feats, only for the group to poof.
"You all underestimate illusions!" A Basilisk of Gus cackled.
"And you underestimate my patience!" Celine focused on her magic even harder, purple tendrils of energy coming from her crystal ball, and grabbing as many of the copies as she could. "Now back off, or I'm going to turn all your brains into instant pudding!"
"Go ahead and try!" The copy of Willow sent plants at her, followed by all the others trying ranged attacks.
"You were warned ." Her eyes glowed purple as the air grew darker, her soul partially leaving her physical form as her own oracle tendrils drilled straight through the basilisk bodies, hoisting them up even harder as the scaley vermin began to convulse with purple energy.
"..Did you know she could do this?" The real Gus asked Matty
"Not at all…..and I am very unashamed to say this is the hottest she's ever looked since we've started dating."
"Does this group just have a thing for violent women?" Willow asked aloud.
"You're in that ballpark yourself Willow, so that probably answers your question." Amity spoke up. "Though I can't say it isn't helpful. We got this in the bag now!"
"Not entirely." Lucci growled. "Celine, you got a copy of my memories, which means most of Triton's memories are in there. Any chance you can use it to see where the prime basilisk is?"
"Umm …. Fortified bunker in the toes, surrounded by copies of coven scouts." She burrowed through the memories. Fortunately that was a more recent one, it would've taken hours to sort through all the memories.
Lucci marched forward. "Now it's time to end this." He turned to all of them. "Get everyone that's here up and get them ready. We're going to Triton with full force. No holding back for a second."
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Triton rubbed their eyes. "Let me get this straight … a group of overpowered children capable of demolishing coven heads and killing us with a single blast … are on their way here?"
"Yes.." A brushed and battered red point 290 replied weakly. "They're….extremely ruthless. Even with our memories and magic…we really underestimated them all.
Zero clicked their tongue, taking in a breath. "We're going to have to restructure everything. They already know where we are." They began moving. "We need to wait them out, attack when they're asleep."
"Is….is that really the best course of action?" Two sixty five asked. "They don't seem like the type to tire out so easily, and even so, that's a gamble of a plan in of itself."
"We're low on options as it is. It's not like a frontal assault will weaken them, even with unlimited Basilisks being thrown at them. We need them as vulnerable as possible, so they'll have to keep searching the isles." Like cat and mouse. "... Point Four."
"Yes Prime?"
"Take the Replicator Wand." They handed them the object. "If that child has one of our memories, he'll be after me and assume I have it. As long as this exists, we'll survive … so Don't. Get. Caught."
Kabooooooom
"Triiiitttooooooooonnnnnn!"
"Go, now!" Prime shouted, pushing the copy through a hole, moving to the center of the room
"I will , I shall..." Bump . "What….no.." Point four voice was still close… too close. "The hole… it's been blocked by a pink barrier!!"
"Because I extended my range with Sugar, assholes!" The walls burst through, showing the child of the hour.
".... So, the problem child shows themselves." They noted, looking at the strange design of the Manticore Menace. "What, you gain a new fashion statement for your little revolution?"
" Shut up!!!!!" In a flash of pink, Prime found themselves flying through the walls and into the woods. "My entire head is swirling around with your memories, and I'm not going to take your bullshit any longer!"
Their … "You saw them …" They gripped their hands tightly. "You saw every memory … and you'd still side with them?!" Triton shouted. "You'd side with those bastards that take everything from other species, you'd side with those horrible creatures that careabout progress, you'd side with those unruly maniacs that torture without care!"
"WOULD YOU shut the fuck up about your damn vengece for a single minute!?"The boy glowed pink, the irises of his eyes becoming diamond shaped. "You're so caught up about being wronged and getting even that you and the others kept shooting yourselves in the foot and getting yourselves killed!"
"It's not just us." They clencthed their teeth. "Selkidames, Palistrum trees, everything they see is taken and removed until nothing but dust remains."
"Then why the hell didn't you just make more?" The boy growled
"You think I didn't try!?" They shouted. "The wand doesn't work on the trees. There's nothing but distorted wood … and not like it would matter either way. As long as the Emperor demands everything be his and excavated the moment it exists."
"Oh, would you stop getting on the High snorse! There's plenty of islands away from this titan, you could've lived far away from Belos, from witches! Heck, Vee moved an entire world away and she lives happily now! She let go of your hate, and she's all the better for it!" The boy threw him on the ground. "You have no excuse for what you did, for the lives you hurt. She let it go."
"... She did … did she …" They let out a small smile. "... Well, I suppose that's one silver lining." One happy thing through this situation. Zero began crawling back.
"There's nowhere to run, we're surrounded by nothing but the Boiling Sea." The devil glared.
"I know … where do you think I plan on landing?" They laughed hollowly.
"No…no..you can't be serious.." The boy shook his head. "You can't!"
"Or what?" Triton asked. "The clones are released … so one of three things will happen … either I fall through, and they continue with our work … you kill me and all the others, and the Emperor makes more … or I fall in, and my body can never be used again for the Emperor."
"Or you can live, and you can actually try to have a life." The boy pleaded.
"... Live with witches …" They sent forth a broken smile. "We already tried that … they clearly don't want us around. And the ones that do just study …" Triton chuckled. "You were so focused on telling me I was a bad guy, now you don't want the heroes to win?"
"There are no heroes and bad guys here, just a bunch of screwed up people living in a screwed up world." The boy replied. "I hate what you've done, but that's not an excuse to stop trying, to stop living."
"We can't live here … that's simply fact." They moved. "We can't live with witches." And now they were falling. "The Titan was wrong! We were never meant to be born!" Poor Alpha … if he saw them like this …
" No!" The boys hand stretched out, grabbing them by the arm before they could hit the surface. "I told you before, Vee is okay, she's in another world! Give it time, and you could see her again!" The boy begged. "Live…please…live for her just a little while longer!"
"…I can't….I'm too tired…this invasion was the last chance I had." Triton looked at the boy. "I will never stop hating witches, they'll never stop hating me, and if I saw Vee again, I will do everything I can to spread that hate to her, because that is all I have to offer to anyone now." Stretching out his mouth, he extended his jaw as wide as he could, and bit the child on the arm that was holding him in the air.
" Nooooooooooo!"
Sploosh
Pain, so much pain … and so much relief.
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Steve wasn't sure what was happening, everything was moving kind of fast. One moment he was on his usual post when he got a call from dad that Mattholomew was missing. Next thing he knew, he was in a cave about a week later where his brother and Kikimora both were, along with what looked like half the town, in a crumbled up cave being told they were all going to the toes to fight the remains of a basilisk army.
Then … it was over. Steve stared at the corpses littered across the floor, ranging from scaled creatures to faces of witches. Just … everywhere. He gazed at the Owl Lady, who stared at these things. " Not … the best thing for my kids to be around."
"Yep, traumatized for life." King noted. "What about you Luz?"
"Crystal Devil invasion was more personal and impactful … this just kinda felt like a distant war." The human groaned. "Lucci was more involved with this one than I was."
He turned to his little brother. "You gonna be alright Matt?"
"Yeah bro, I'm good..just probably going to repress the next week if I can." Understandable. "Oh, uh.,this is probably a weird time to do introductions but…" Matt grabbed the hand of a one eyed girl with a crescent shaped head. "Bro, this is my girlfriend Celine. Celine, this is my brother Steve."
"Girlfriend huh? And here I thought you just had an overactive imagination." He laughed, giving his little bro a noogie. "I hope this little guy hasn't been too much of a handful for you."
"Not at all. Matty is quite easy to manage." The moon girl chuckled.
"Oh come on, I'm not a problem child!"
"Nah, you just like pretending to be one, which ironically gets you in just as much trouble." The girl laughed.
"She's definitely a keeper bro, don't you mess it up now." Steve assured the boy. Good on him, he deserved some happiness. "Feeling alright Severine?"
"Honestly, my insides haven't felt this good in months. That cocoon does wonders for the organs." Severine noted, moving next to him. Man, today was a blast! "So … what's protocall-"
"You two." They turned to Kikimora, who gazed over the scene. "Collect the bodies, we will bring them back."
"Oh like we're going to let that happen." The human pulled out the sword. "We know what the Emperor does with them. You're just going to start this mess all over again if you bring those in."
"And do you actually have the effort left in you to stop us after dealing with this?" She gestured to the battle. "Your friends are exhausted from fighting and being drained, and just because your on the Emperor's no kill list, it doesn't mean we still can't make the rest of your lives hell."
"Big talk for a little lady." The owl lady flared her wings.
"And you're overconfident for a witch that's become a shell of her former self." Kikimora countered. "No if you won't mind.."
Crash
The walls came down again, bringing back Lucci, who's face looked dead and dreary all over, only added by the weird scales all over his body. "The original one's dead…Triton is completely dead now…no more basisilisk."
"Lucci." The Owl Lady started. "Are you-"
"By the way, don't bother trying to collect the bodies." Lucci held up a funny looking wand. "Now you see them.."
Smack
Poooof
"Now you don't." The boy held the broken pieces in the air.
"...How did that work?" The human asked, baffled. "No, seriously, HOW DID THAT WORK?! They all just … poofed like they were made of air! They were clones, not holograms!"
"You fool!" Kikimora shouted. "The knowledge the Emperor could have used-"
Smack
Steve turned to the Kikimora shaped hole in the wall. "Do any of you Coven bastards have comments?" The boy said, the extra features having disappeared along with the basilisk corpses.
"Steve is just gonna grab his brother, and slowly walk away from this situation." He answered, wanting to stay out of this mess as much as possible.
"Good…" Lucci groaned, falling on the floor. "Has it only been a day? I feel like I've been at this for three weeks."
"... You need a break." The human stated bluntly.
" Come on baby, mama's gonna take you home now." The owl lady picked the kid up and held him close in her arms. "Sleep. Take as much rest as you need, you deserve it, my little hatchling."
Steve let them have their moment, making his way out of the fortress. "... Steve?" Severine spoke up after a moment of silence.
"Yeah?"
"... You ever wonder why we're here?"
Steve was so shocked by the sudden question that he didn't have the heart to do the old 'i told your so' bit. "Yeah. A lot actually."
"Have you ever thought that everything you've been working towards..isn't what you've should've been working towards?"
"Lately … a lot." He admitted. "... Too late to back out now though."
"….Does growing up basically just man I'm gonna keep saying 'life sucks' all the time?" Matt asked.
"Pretty much my bro." He patted the boy. "Pretty much." What a bleak existence they all lead.
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The Collector grumbled, floating aimlessly in his prison yet again. " Stupid Philip, stupid plan, would it hurt for him to talk to me a little more? I'm the oldest and longest friend he has! That's gotta earn me some brownie points! At least a game of eye spy every once in a while wouldn't hurt."
He got it, this was what he was waiting for and everything. But that didn't mean he needed to completely ignore everything else. Heck, he'd even chat to Pinky's kid at this rate and hint a secret or two. That at least being something interesting.
Why did that titan have to make this prison so boring ?! So what if the diamonds banished you to this dimension, that was no reason to take it out on him! That was just a couple of fuddy duddies ruining fun … well, Pink was an exception. She always knew how to have a good time.
That was the problem with the universe nowadays. No one knew how to have fun. Everyone would stop complaining about nonsense like hunger and civil rights if they just learned to laugh a little. Hopefully this little draining spell would live things up a little.
"Wow, I never thought I'd be here again. Place just gets weirder and weir met the more I see it.
The Collector smirked at the reappearance of his new friend, one that actually got how the world worked. "Hello again Lucci. I take it you need to talk some more? Or play a game, both are great options."
"Been a long day, so both works just fine." The kid grunted. "And I got about a thousand years worth of memories from two separate people stuck in my head now, so a distraction from the headache is welcomed."
"Ah, the past, so annoying." He agreed. "All the past does is bring up problems for everyone else. That's why the future is the only thing that matters."
"Exactly! I just want to leave the past where it is, but no, something from my womb donor always seems to pop up, and what worse is when people expect me to have some sort of emotional epiphany. I never knew the lady, why would I care about all the terrible things she's done."
"Yeah, she doesn't have any power over you. Just having fun is a good enough answer." The Collector grinned. "So, what kinda future do you wanna make?"
"... One … one where the Emperor can't hurt anyone else." Oooohhhh, feisty, and easily exploitable.
"Then maybe you should look into that Womb Donner after all."
"Why would any part of my conscience want anything to do with her?" Definitely the funniest nickname Pinky has ever been given.
"Yes, it's true you shouldn't focus on the past … but don't forget, Belos is scared of your gem for a reason."
" You know…part of me was hoping it was my charming personality that had Boolus spooked." Funny names all around from this guy.
"I thought that's what just made mean adults want to torture you slowly?"
" Nah, that's from their lack of good taste." The boy shrugged. " Heh, can't deny its had its fun bits. Running circles around them as they try to fling fireballs and acid at my head. You know I just stopped this whole invasion of clone basilisk. Had he won, the whole isles would've been just him."
"That sounds boring. One type of each toy is fun, the same one over and again makes everything so dull."
"Variety is definitely better than good results multiple times … but he had his memories put in me … and for a while I felt it … everything that bastard did …" The kid was quiet for a moment. "Do you really think my rock can stop Belos?"
"He wouldn't be trying to kill you otherwise." He smirked. " You're free to hate your womb Donnor as much as you want, but instead of making it a crutch and a drag, make it an advantage. You have her power, and everything that was once hers is now yours. Make that power your own and use it however the hell you want."
"I think I will." Now it was gonna get interesting. "So, what about-" He stopped talking again.
"Still there kid?" No response. "Dang shotty connection." They really needed to meet again in real life. Maybe once Philip frees him, they'll finally have the time for a full conversation and game.