"What-- What have you done!?"



>Let Iiji know EXACTLY what's going to happen if Jiniki doesn't get better awful quickly.
>Don't worry. She can hear you yelling from there.

"IIJI!!!"

"Get-- get away, you monster!"



>KAAAAAAAAAAAH- er IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIJIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"THE ONLY MONSTER HERE IS YOU. Your thirst for power brought this upon her! Upon all of us!"

"No! Do you seek to kill me too!?"




"...No. Mercy of [i]Lisandi do I want to, but I owe Jiniki more than that. Iiji, you're done fucking with us."




"You're fucking done!"

Iiji lets out a piercing scream of agony as Amiel rips off her majicka tentacles.

"THIS ISN'T OVER, YOU BITCH!"

"It will be. Soon."

Iiji is no longer capable of taking control of them.




Amiel suddenly feels very weak. The adrenaline and heavy majicka use have finally taken their toll on her. She collapses.




She reaches out to Jiniki and takes her claw.

"Pleashe borgive me, Jiniki. I'm sho shorry. Bishandi, pleashe look abder her for me..."

Amiel passes out.



>D= USE THE PINK SOLUTION! HEAL HER!
>More pink more pink. D:
>Assess condition before using solution!

Even if the chance of it working is very small, Dilia is willing to use up the remaining dose of PINK SOLUTION on the off chance it'll save Jiniki. Dilia gently lifts Jiniki into her arms and administers the solution.




Nothing happens. This isn't fair. Jiniki didn't deserve this. Nobody was kinder than her.

Dilia decides to let Amiel rest for now. There's nothing more they can do.



Meanwhile...




Tayza is angrily sleeping after something knocked her


"*Cough*"




"J-Jiniki!!!"

She lets out a few more weak coughs.

"Oh gosh. I don't think I want to go through that too many more times."

Dilia would so hug Jiniki if her ANTI-MAJICKA-CLOTH wouldn't do more harm than good.

"I'm so glad you're okay! I'm so glad..."



>Put the headband on her, because something tells me the pink solution will probably not fix the cracks even if it heals her wounds.

"A-Amiel wanted you to have this!"

"Thanks~ Does it make me look pretty?"

"Jiniki, right now you're the prettiest girl in the entire world." Dilia nudges Jiniki's nose gently.

"Heehee~"



[Tayza can't be controlled yet.]

>Dilia: Go gently kick Amiel a couple of times for being a jerk and almost killing Jiniki. Maybe rub the cloth in her face a little. Maybe that'll wake her up.
>Jiniki: Infodump, please. What's going on up in here?

> Dilia: Remember when Jiniki said you could lean on her? Tell Jiniki she can lean on you too, even if you have to take off your cloak for it.

>Amiel Hug Jini.
>Engage in tender moment.

>Dilia: Go gently kick Amiel a couple of times for being a jerk and almost killing Jiniki. Maybe rub the cloth in her face a little. Maybe that'll wake her up.

....



*Sssss...*




"AUGH! ITSHY! ITSHY!!!"

What happened? Where is she? Oh no-- Jiniki!

...Jiniki?



>Dilia: Remember when Jiniki said you could lean on her? Tell Jiniki she can lean on you too, even if you have to take off your cloak for it.

"Hi there sleepy head~"

"Jiniki!!!"


>Amiel Hug Jini.
"Oh no you don't."




"You don't get to hug Jiniki until you explain what the hell you were thinking, missy."

Jiniki squirms a little. "That's mean, Dilia~"

That's right... Amiel doesn't deserve to hug Jiniki.



>Engage in tender moment.

Amiel takes hold of Jiniki's claw. "I'm so sorry."

"Aw, don't cry. You'll make me cry too. It's okay. You were sick, but now you're all better."

"No, it's not okay. I wanted to be strong so badly that I didn't care who I pushed around. I could have stopped myself, but I didn't. And it wasn't until I saw you lying there that I realized how stupid I've been. It's... okay if you hate me. I deserve it."

"Please don't say that. I've been really happy since became my friend. You're like my big sister. I love you."

Amiel lets out a sob.


>Jiniki: Infodump, please. What's going on up in here?

"Oh-- I learned some stuff while mommy was controlling me. I think when they originally tried to give her HEALING MAJICKA, they--" *sniff* "T-they messed up and gave her TRANSDIMENSIONAL majicka like I have. The stuff we took earlier made it so she couldn't mess with our heads anymore, but when we came here we got close enough that she could do it anyway. We need to--" *sniff* "Oh geez, I'm sorry. Amiel's making me cry."

>Amiel: Be the Tayza

*ahem* Lemme clarify

>Amiel: Pull yourself together. Think more Tayza-y about this: It's important that you keep a level head, and keep the protection of the pack in mind.

Curse Dilia and her monstrous, near murdering ways!
Butit'sinstantlyforgivenwhenAmieldoesit.

> Dilia: Suggest everyone take a brief moment to let it all out and then calm down so we can get back down to business.

There are a lot of reasons this is being treated differently by the characters. 1) Dilia attacked Amiel in the shower with no provocation. 2) Jiniki likes Amiel. 3) Nobody was aware that being a majibeast sort of made you go crazy.

The current situation is different because 1) Jiniki realizes Amiel wasn't herself when she did it, 2) Jiniki likes Amiel, and 3) ...Dilia's been in Amiel's place, so she can't really stay mad without being a hypocrite, can she?

Besides, we did already have her assault Amiel with a dress. That counts for something, right?

I've been trying to write with the "less is more" mentality. Instead of flat out stating how a character feels and why they feel that way, I'm trying to let it be told through their actions. I guess I still need to find a line between too much information and too little :(

But yeah. What Guindo said.

I didn't think anyone was being out of character, so you nor anyone else has to worry about showing/explaining that. XD Mostly I just lol'd at "DILIA HOW COULD YOU BE SO CRUEL FOR YOUR HEALTHY SENSE OF DISTRUST!" Even when it's Amiel who nearly kills, somehow they're still upset with Dilia's behavior instead. I just found it amusing considering the former situation, different as they were.

But I was only being as serious as I imagined their accusations of Dilia's meanness to actually be (as in, not very much at all).

Oh! haha! Haha... I... I knew that!

You did give me a great idea for the next update though. I think it's going to be like 10-12 images again fffffffffffffffffffff

Well, that's all better, then, no?

Poke Sekani's brain again. Is he still under Iiji's influence, with her stinging tentacle things?

>Dilia: Suggest everyone take a brief moment to let it all out and then calm down so we can get back down to business.

"You are too cute, Jiniki."

"*sniff* Thanks~"

"Look, you two have been through a lot. Let's go ahead and just relax for a bit. We'll worry about what to do next afterwards. Amiel, I'm glad you're finally back to normal. Let's put this behind us and--"



"How can you just forgive me like that? I nearly killed you, Jiniki!"

"It's okay. We know you weren't--"




"I shouldn't have been attacking her in the first place! I'm a murderer!"

"No, you're not. You stopped yourself at the last second. If anyone's a murderer, it's me."




"I went crazy too, remember? We can't change what we've done, but we can still work to make up for it. I'm sure you still hate me for nearly killing you, but that's not going to stop me from doing everything I can to make amends."

"Dilia, I don't-- um..."




Amiel hugs Dilia, careful not to squish Jiniki between them.

"You've already made it up to me by being a friend when I needed one most. I already forgave you."

"Heehee, Jiniki sammich~"




Dilia chuckles as tears begin to flow from her eyes.

"We're going to end up flooding the room at this rate."

She rests her head on top of Amiel's. Dilia has not felt this happy, this free since before becoming a Ki-jaara.

After a little while, Jiniki says she feels strong enough to stand. Dilia puts her down.




Jiniki inspects her cracked carapace.

"These cracks don't look very deep. It was about time for me to shed anyway. It'll take about an hour for my new 'carpace' to get hard again. Is it okay if I shed here?"

"Um. Sure, go ahead. I don't think Iiji's going to be doing anything for a while."

Amiel whispers. "I'm kind ob curioush how dhey do dhat."

Dilia whispers back. "Me too. Do they just pop it off, or..."





"Ugh--aaahhhgh!"

"I'm not curious anymore."

Jiniki hums to herself as she... removes her old layer of carapace.


>Poke Sekani's brain again. Is he still under Iiji's influence, with her stinging tentacle things?
>Amiel: Pull yourself together. Think more Tayza-y about this: It's important that you keep a level head, and keep the protection of the pack in mind.

Amiel's done feeling sorry for herself. The best way to make it up to Jiniki is to work on being a stronger person. She's going to do everything she can for her pack-- er, her friends.

"Sekani, it's me again. Iiji didn't have as many tentacles as I thought she would. Please tell me you're not still under her control."

"Oh, am I in this quest? I thought this was 'Chapter 11: Let's all cry for 2 hours'."

"What?"

"Nothing. I wish I could talk, but I have something very... important to take care of."





"Sorry about that. Now then. The Queen wants me to take care of you guys. I hope you're ready!"

"Bird, I don't know if you're joking or not, but I'm going to punch you until my arm gets tired."

How should Tayza begin kicking Sekani's smug feathery ass?



Control has switched to Tayza. Control of Amiel and Dilia has been-- um. misplaced. Sekani can't be controlled.

OW. I'm taking tomorrow off as a mid-chapter-break-type-deal.

You can still do commands, and I'll update again on SATURDAY.

Since Guindo brought it up in IMS:

It was never directly stated in the quest... or maybe it was and we all forgot, but Jiniki's original wound ran so deep that it would have taken many, MANY sheddings to get rid of it completely. As a Ki-jaara, she sheds even more slowly, so the wound remained (though did shrink over time) until it was finally healed by overpowered Tayza.

I bet half of you didn't even realize it was healed. :C

Tayza will probably be fine (and hopefully she won't hurt Sekani badly)
This is ironically still true somehow XD

> Amiel: Ignore the fact that control has been misplaced and ponder what.. inappropriate things Sekani is doing with Tayza given his track record.

> Tayza: Fire can't do a whole lot of damage very quickly when you're not covered in fur, plus you can heal so skin burns shouldn't be a big problem. Primary objective should be actually hitting Sekani and making this a short fight - avoiding his attacks should be secondary. And try not to hurt him too badly while kicking his ass.
(Feel free to ignore this if I'm missing something obvious)

Tayza does have fur. That said, I agree. Hit him hard and fast - the best defense is a good offense.

And try not to hurt him too badly while kicking his ass.

> Naaaah. Go ahead and break stuff. That's what healing Majicka was invented for!

Remind me never to make you mad!

Remind me to use the right icon

It's more of a reason why I should never be party healer. "Nonlethal combat" takes on an entirely different meaning.

Beat them to death, resurrect them, then beat them to death again, ad infinitum? :P

>Tayza: Spend the next 24 hours staring down Sekani
>Amiel/Dilia: Have the most depraved orgy scene since Caligula

>"I've been meaning to get you back for this for AGES.
>TICKLE SEKANI INTO SUBMISSION.

Firstly, it's dark. Take advantage of the fact that you can see in it, while Sekani probably can't so well.

He's so agile that nothing short of sneak attacks will probably work very well. Time to use some misdirection!

>Amiel/Dilia: Have the most depraved orgy scene since Caligula
>Amiel: Ignore the fact that control has been misplaced and ponder what.. inappropriate things Sekani is doing with Tayza given his track record.

S-sure would be interesting if they ended up pairing that way, huh? Hah hah...hah...



>Tayza: KICK HIS ASS

Tayza doesn't even give him time to react as she throws a lightning-fast punch!

This is their final battle. Amiel isn't around to shoot her with weird liquids, and Tayza knows what he's capable of now. There are no surprises. She's ready for him.




He may burn her with his fire...




...But every wound can be healed just as easily.

He may be faster than her...




But she is far more crafty!





Even with all his strength and speed, he forgets the most important thing of all.




The huntress always gets her prey!

Tayza can kill him with one little squirt of her poison. She knows this, he knows this, and most importantly Iiji knows this. Time to use that to her advantage, as tempting as it is to continue kicking his ass.

Obviously, tell Iiji you'll kill him if she doesn't let him go and STAY gone.

I think Iiji will call that bluff. :/
What would be awesome is if Sekani would play along and pretend to die if Iiji refused but uh. I don't think he'll listen to that suggestion.

What you CAN do is injure Sekani enough (if he isn't already) so that Iiji doing anything to Tayza would carry the risk of Sekani dieing without Tayza being available to heal him soon this is probably a horrible idea and I won't be the one responsible for putting it in as a command.
Though really I don't have any ideas other than knocking Sekani out or something.

It's Tayza.



What bluff?

>Obviously, tell Iiji you'll kill him if she doesn't let him go and STAY gone.

"Why don't you just mosey on out of here before I kill your precious 'king' and ensure you never get to have the creepy bug-sex you apparently desire?"

"Oh? Is that a threat? Why don't I just take control of you again so that doesn't happen, hmm~?"

"You could try. But tell me. Which do you think is faster? Your tentacles..."




"...or my poison?"

Iiji hisses and says something about Tayza not getting away with this blah blah blah bitch is gone. She drops Sekani.




"You stabbed me! I could have died!"

"Stop whining. I probably wasn't going to poison you."

"PROBABLY!?"

"It was a joke, Geez. I seriously can't believe you're the main character. I'm not letting anyone give you commands because you clearly can't handle it."

Sekani still can't be controlled.




"but it's my queeeeesst"

"FINE. Just stop crying."

Commands can now be given to Sekani or whatever. God.

"Now then..."


"...Where the hell are we?"

What is that dead klis-khar holding? Scope that.

So...

>How do we know Iiji can't just grab Tayza now that Sekani's not impaled?
>Anything delicious in those crates you're hiding behind? I'm hungry.

>What is that dead klis-khar holding? Scope that.

There's a mounted gun on top of the doorway!

Tayza was behind the box the entire time she was fighting Sekani, but he was flying all over the place. Why didn't it shoot at him...?



>Anything delicious in those crates you're hiding behind? I'm hungry.
Tayza rips a hole in the top box and finds that it contains...

"...Birdseed?"

"Birdseed!!!"

The bottom box contains various nuts, bolts, and tons of metal parts. If either of them had an engineering degree, they could probably build something awesome out of them.


>How do we know Iiji can't just grab Tayza now that Sekani's not impaled?
What would Iiji have to gain by controlling Tayza? Sekani won't listen to her on his own, and Iiji has no desire to kill him as far as they can tell. But Tayza would be a fool if she didn't put it past Iiji to have another of her stupid last-second plans ready.

>Tayza: Try not to stand under the gushing hole of birdseed you just ripped
>Tayza: After that, throw some of that useless metal crap out to see if it draws fire

> Tayza: Kick Sekani out there to deactivate the gun. It won't shoot him this time either. Probably.

Better yet, tell him to zoom around in the air and see if that activates the damn thing. Maybe it only senses things on the ground, or only has a tracking rate for fairly slow-moving (compared to zippy birds, anyways) critters/objects?

When he refuses, throw the birdseed out there.

>Tayza: Try not to stand under the gushing hole of birdseed you just ripped
>Tayza: After that, throw some of that useless metal crap out to see if it draws fire

It was more of a steady stream. "Hee hee. I feel like a chubby bunny~"

Tayza tosses out some metal parts! However, the DEADLY TURRET doesn't respond.



>Tayza: Kick Sekani out there to deactivate the gun. It won't shoot him this time either. Probably.

"Wha-- Hey!!!"




A whirring is heard as the gun begins to power up!

"What'd you do THAT for!?"

"Fly around, you idiot!"



>Better yet, tell him to zoom around in the air and see if that activates the damn thing. Maybe it only senses things on the ground, or only has a tracking rate for fairly slow-moving (compared to zippy birds, anyways) critters/objects?

"You're so meeeaaaaannn!!!"

Tayza can't help but laugh as he scrambles away from the stream of bullets. It's like he's a parody of himself! Eventually, the gun loses track of him and stops shooting.

Sekani flies around to the back of the room, out of range of the DEADLY TURRET, and blasts fire at it.





"Um, I don't think it's responding to my fire!"

"Hmm. I can't exactly take a look, but I'm pretty sure there's some way to disable it, or at least stop it from tracking us."

>Tayza: Yell at that idiot for not knowing what a BIG FREAKING CAMERA looks like.
>>Then throw some crap at him to bash it apart with, assuming it proves fireproof
>>>In fact, throw crap at him anyways.

>Tayza: Yell at that idiot for not knowing what a BIG FREAKING CAMERA looks like.

"Hey um, I think there's a camera here!"

Tayza facepalms.

"Well Gee. Why don't you try destroying it?"



>Then throw some crap at him to bash it apart with, assuming it proves fireproof

"I think it's working!"

Tayza considers throwing something at him anyway, but decides against it. Sekani now owes her four.

Sekani waves his hand in front of the gun, and it doesn't respond anymore. They are now safe to move about the room. They inspect the items held by the dead Klis-Khar.




They find a strange rod and a NOTE. It mentions a key, but they see no keys around the Klis-khar's body.

Rod = key?

Theoretically each of those letters matches up to each of those pods around the room. Inspect the pods - and those bits over there on the floor near the birdseed box.

Those bits of metal were just scrap from the box Tayza tried to distract the gun with before Tayza distracted the gun with a Sekani. And those black marks are bullet holes/dents I'm relatively sure.

> Inspect wounds/blood to gauge how long ago the klis-khar died.

fffffff I've been ninjaed D:

>Examine that hatch thingie in the floor.

>Sekani: Vaguely remember something from 10 chapters ago
>Check those plate thingies on the subject cell thingies. This may sound too technical, but you only have to play along until you figure out how to force the things open

>Sekani: Vaguely remember something from 10 chapters ago

Sekani fondly remembers an event from chapter two. He really hopes Amiel is okay.

If the strange Majibeast that talked to him earlier found Sekani and Tayza, they wouldn't stand a chance. She's horribly strong, and frightens him a little. She claims to be a friend, but can he really trust anybody at this point?



>Theoretically each of those letters matches up to each of those pods around the room. Inspect the pods - and those bits over there on the floor near the birdseed box.

It looks like they each hold a Majibeast, sleeping peacefully. Sekani isn't able to tell much about them, but this one used to be a Klis-Khar. Are those ears or horns? He was never able to tell.



>Check those plate thingies on the subject cell thingies. This may sound too technical, but you only have to play along until you figure out how to force the things open

Smashing works. It makes a hissing sound as it begins to open slowly!



>Examine that hatch thingie in the floor.
>Inspect the pods - and those bits over there on the floor near the birdseed box.

Hmm? It's starting to open. The parts ahead are random bits of metal that Tayza threw from the box containing random bits of metal. The rest is either birdseed or bullet holes.




"Alert. Alert. Contamination detected. Beginning neutralization."

"What did you do!?"

"I-I don't know! I tried to open this thing!"

"You idiot! We should get out of here!"




"How do we even open that thing! We're screwed!"

"Calm down! Think about this rationally. There has to be some way to open the door."

Use that rod, as it is obviously the key for that door.

ok, this is a bit insulting on their short-term memory :(

> Do the horribly obvious thing I refuse to dignify explaining

From the sounds of things it's neutralizing a contamination, and from the timing, the contamination is either something getting into and contaminating the cell, or getting out of the cell and contaminating the room. If the former, we're in no trouble, if the latter, what's it going to do, knock Sekani and Tayza out at worst? Assuming there's even enough 'contaminant' inside the unit to do so which seems unlikely.
just saying, I don't understand the panic at all. Unless they might get in trouble for breaking into mama Iiji's cookie jar or something.

I was originally going to have Sekani obscure part of the door. I probably should have, all-told.

I didn't find a place to mention it, but there's a huge gun-wielding machine coming out of the floor right now.

>Use that rod, as it is obviously the key for that door.

Unsurprisingly, it works!

"Hurry, I think that weird machine is pointing at us."

"I'm going as fast as I caaaan!"

The door opens and they swiftly flee to the next room. It closes behind them.




They hear several gunshots. There is a loud roar, the sound of thrashing metal, and then silence. Sekani isn't sure if he should be more worried that they may have killed a Majibeast, or that it may have just taken out a robot that was shooting at it. The STRANGE KEY has been added to his inventory.

He doesn't have long to wonder about it, as his thoughts are interrupted by Tayza's growling.

"What are you doing here!?"




"Oh, hello there my darling~ I've missed you so much~"

"You were exiled."

"Did Iiji tell you that? My dear, I'm afraid she hasn't been honest. In truth, she sent you to the useless RECREATIONAL BUILDING so I could continue working for her here, helping poor lost souls find their way~"




"And it looks like you two have become quite lost."

> Ignore him.
> Inspect that tiny thing by the right portal.

...What's he going to do, heal us to death?

Peek back into the other room for a minute.

Fun fact! In D&D 3.5, if you were healed to twice your maximum HP, you exploded from all that positive energy!

>Recruit him to team AWESOME AND TOTALLY NOT A HAREM.

>Ignore him.
>Inspect that tiny thing by the right portal.

"Greetings, fellow Tezakian. I haven't seen another of our kind here in quite a while! Imperfect Ki-jaara notwithstanding, of course."

"O-of course..." They touch hands-- a typical Tezakian greeting.

Tayza ignores them both and inspects oh hey it's that picture of her and Delkin. She isn't entirely sure why she kept it all these years. Maybe she felt a little guilty for what ended up happening to him. Sure, he was an asshole, but she never meant for Iiji to overreact and send him to exile, presumably to die.

But since Iiji didn't actually do that and he's right here, Tayza sees absolutely no need to hang on to it anymore.



>Peek back into the other room for a minute.

Looks like the DEADLY ROBOT is out of commission.



>Recruit him to team AWESOME AND TOTALLY NOT A HAREM.

"Wanna join my harem? I mean-- our cause?"

"You don't speak with majicka. You're still new to our gift, aren't you?"

"Kind of. It feels really weird talking with my brain."

"I understand," he says aloud in Tezakian. "Would you feel more comfortable if I talked like this?"

"A little, thanks. As I was saying, we're trying to cure Iiji and all the other Ki-jaara. Someone like you could really help us pull that off."

"Cure our queen? Are you trying to imply that she is ill?"

> Point out that Iiji has no problems with gross violations of free will indicating she is a sociopath, and thus clearly mentally ill

> Iiji takes control of my friends and that's mean

So uh, who else is curious as to what's going through Tayza's mind right now?

Oh hey I missed something obvious again. Tayza didn't disappear into the portal to leave Sekani to Delkin, she's the one looking into the gun-crazy room.

>Yup. A bit.

Waaaaait, hold on.

Is there only one door in this room?

>"She's constantly trying to kill us, and had us under brainwashing until-- just a moment, now. You're not about to flip out and get us stuck in combat mode, are you?"

Tayza, go see if that body is actually dead or not.

>Iiji takes control of my friends and that's mean
>Yup. A bit.

Something is off about this guy. He seems nice enough, but something about his feathers... maybe the majicka caused them to point the wrong way?

"Iiji is very happy as she is now. You might not agree with her tactics, but can anyone as happy as she is truly be considered 'ill'?"

"Happy or not, she takes control of people. I can't follow anyone who'd rob others of their free will. Everyone should be free to take to the skies."

"You're right, of course. In a perfect world there would be no need for her to do so, but naive persons such as yourself insist on undermining our happiness."



>Just a moment, now. You're not about to flip out and get us stuck in combat mode, are you?"

"I do not believe in fighting. Instead, please allow me to show you first-hand the paradise majicka allows us to live in~"

"What's--"




"Huh--!?"

"You poor creature. You don't like being a Ki-jaara, do you? You want nothing more than to return to the blissful days you had with your faithful companion. I can make that happen, my friend."




"Why do I feel easier to draw all of a sudden."

"This, my dear friend, is paradise. You don't have to worry about being a monster anymore~"



>Tayza, go see if that body is actually dead or not.

Tayza manages to revive the creature with her majicka. If she didn't think to check back in this room, it probably would have died from its injuries.

"Angel...?" It asks weakly.

"Close. Don't worry, you're still alive. You'll be fine."

"Thank you..."

Great! Now go make sure Sekani's not doing something retarded like getting brainwashed.

Sekani, it's clearly all a dream. He's trying to trick you, just like Iiji did that one time with Amiel, and that wasn't very cool, was it?

> Ask our injured friend what he/she knows.

>Ask our injured friend what he/she knows.

"They gave us majicka, but we weren't very strong. Last I remember, they asked us all to enter this very strange room, and then suddenly there was a robot shooting at me."

"So none of you guys know anything about Iiji, I take it?"

"Who's Iiji?"

"I'll tell you in a bit. Can you stand?"



>Now go make sure Sekani's not doing something retarded like getting brainwashed.

"I-I think so. Thank you, stranger."

"All right. I'll fill you in on what's been going on, but can you wait here for a moment? The bird is doing something retarded again."

"You can tell from here?"

"I'm assuming."


>Sekani, it's clearly all a dream. He's trying to trick you, just like Iiji did that one time with Amiel, and that wasn't very cool, was it?

"I'm not that easy to trick. None of this is real."

"Of course not. But does that really matter? Happiness is all in the mind. As long as you're enjoying yourself, what does it matter what's real and what's not?"

"But Amiel isn't here..."

Tayza objects to this nonsense. "Stop fucking with people, Delkin."

"Oh, how rude of me! I had no desire to exclude you, my dear."





Delkin smiles. "There you go~"

"Wrong fantasy, asshole. I prefer being a Ki-jaara."

Sekani gets a strange look on his face. "I really wish I knew why I'm suddenly attracted to Lian females."

"Don't make me stab you again. I won't heal it this time."

"You look kind of like Amiel, except you don't have those weird bumps on your chest."

"Stop talking."

Delkin interrupts them. "Oh, I remember now. You prefer to hunt prey, don't you? It'd probably be a lot more challenging like this, hmm? What do you say?"

Punch Delkin in the face.

> This

>"There is not enough violence in this world to make up for the last few moments with you, Delkin."
>Try to make up the difference. All over his face.

>"Give me three good reasons why I shouldn't just stab you right now, Delkin."

"I wish you had been exiled."

Sadly, no one present would actually say this line, but... here goes anyway.

>You know, it's just not nice to undress a lady with your mind

>"I wish you had been exiled."
>"Give me three good reasons why I shouldn't just stab you right now, Delkin."

"I say you're a douchebag! You should have been exiled!"

"Why are you so hostile, my dear? We had so much fun together in this realm. Are you still angry about my... mistake?"

"This has nothing to do with that."

"I was weak. She was quite the vision of beauty. I simply could not resist her when she took her hands and caressed my--"



>Punch Delkin in the face.

"--Hurgh!"

The world shimmers for a moment as Tayza lands a mean left hook!



>"There is not enough violence in this world to make up for the last few moments with you, Delkin."

"Resorting to violence so quickly, are we? Are you still so angry-- so bitter?"

"I'm not bitter, but your stupid smug face demanded I punch it. I can't believe I was swept away by all your lies. I'm done listening to you."

Tayza turns to Sekani, and continues. "Bird, let's team up. We should be able to do enough damage to break this illusion. Just don't fuck up this time."

"My fellow Tezakian, why do you let her boss you around? She clearly has no respect for you. All she does is threaten you and talk down to you. It makes you hate her a little, doesn't it?"

"Of course he doesn't hate me. We're like, the best of buddies and shit."

"I do... a little bit."





"...What?"

"All you do is belittle me. I feel some obligation to you for saving Amiel's life, but I don't like being yelled at all the time..."

Delkin chuckles. "I see. She saved your mate's life just so you'd owe her. She will hold that ever-increasing debt over your head until you do everything she says. That's how she controls people."

"He's lying, Sekani! I don't-- I mean..."

This is the first time Sekani has ever seen Tayza show an emotion other than anger. Has she really been playing him this entire time? Delkin has been so nice to him. Is he really telling the truth?

Sekani wishes he could use majicka in his old form. He kind of wants to firepunch both of them.

>Pssst. Sekani. You're still an awesome monster. You can totally do whatever, no matter what it looks like. Illusions suck like that.
>Tayza: You realize he's going to keep playing mind games as long as he can keep talking, right? Less talky, more grappley. Lian poison works on Tezakians, right?

>Tayza: "HOGWASH! Stop spewing lies and seeds of discontent! I swear, you haven't changed a bit!"
>Tayza: "Look, Sekani, we've had a few rough spots in the past, but I thought we got over them. I'm sorry for yelling at you, but this REALLY is NOT the time to get all mopey on me. We need to beat this bully and I can't do it alone.
>Tayza: ".............please..."
>Tayza and Sekani: Beat the snot, er, illusion majicka out of Delkin.

Also maybe mention something about how he won't owe her anymore if he helps her with this and she'll be nicer to him in the future.

Delkin's also working for Iiji, and has said as much. Remember who the enemy is, here!

>Tayza: "HOGWASH! Stop spewing lies and seeds of discontent! I swear, you haven't changed a bit!"

"All you do is manipulate people! You think you know what's best for us, but it's up to us to decide if we're happy or not!"

"You speak as if you know of an emotion other than anger, my dear."

"Stop calling me that!"

"My, my."





>Tayza: "Look, we've had a few rough spots in the past, but I thought we got over them. I'm sorry for yelling at you, but this REALLY is NOT the time to get all mopey on me. We need to beat this bully and I can't do it alone.

"All you do is insult me!"



>Delkin's also working for Iiji, and has said as much. Remember who the enemy is, here!
>Also maybe mention something about how he won't owe her anymore if he helps her with this and she'll be nicer to him in the future.

"I know. I've been really hard on you, and I'm sorry about that. But right now the others need us. We all need to work together as a pack if we're going to take down Iiji. She's the enemy, not me."

Sekani stares at Tayza silently.

"...Please."




"Ah, it was the rare moments of sincerity I enjoyed most about you, my dear. But he's not going to ignore all you've done to him just like that, are you my friend?"

Sekani doesn't say anything, but after a second he gets a look of determination in his eyes.



>Pssst. Sekani. You're still an awesome monster. You can totally do whatever, no matter what it looks like. Illusions suck like that.

"Everyone likes to make fun of me and push me around, but that doesn't mean I don't have desires of my own. You call me 'friend', but you don't even know me. I do miss being normal, and I miss my companion, but I wouldn't change a thing about how my life turned out."





"I am a Tezakian, and I am a Ki-jaara. Nothing you can say or do will change what I am, or who I am. I have a queen to save, and a girlfriend who's waiting for me..."





"...So get out of my way!"

Sekani FIREPUNCHES Delkin, causing the fantasy world to fade away as he is flung across the room and into a portal! The force of the blow causes the portal to close behind him.




"Bird, I am honestly impressed. Here I was thinking we'd have to team up, but you--"

"My name..."




"...is Sekani."

>Tayza: Say you're and make a note of only calling him Sekani from now on.
>Sekani: Don't do anything stupid. Caaaaalm down. Tayza friend, remember? Friend.

you're sorry*

Yeah, okay.

Let's go check on our new friend back in the other room. What about the other pods?

Did I handle something poorly? Or was that to Sekani :X

That was directed at Sekani. *nod*

> Tayza: Point out you're only hard on Sekani because you know he's better than all this. He has potential. A lot of it. But he's got to own up to it. This is, perhaps, a good first step.

Sekani: Take a level in badass.

>Tayza: Reestablish dominance in this relationship. Snouts and fists are strongly encouraged to meet. I'm pretty sure that's how it works with Tezakians.

>Sekani: Take a level in badass.

Finally. Now he can get rid of the EXP. Share. He's been getting a whole lot of shared experience lately-- He wonders if Amiel's being bad-ass without him.



>Tayza: Reestablish dominance in this relationship. Snouts and fists are strongly encouraged to meet. I'm pretty sure that's how it works with Tezakians.

"Bir-- Sekani, we don't have time for this. We have to--"

"We don't have to do anything. I am going to go find Amiel. You can do whatever the hell you want."

Punching him wouldn't be a good idea right now.



>Tayza: Say you're sorry and make a note of only calling him Sekani from now on.
>Sekani: Don't do anything stupid. Caaaaalm down. Tayza friend, remember? Friend.

"Sekani, wait."

"What."

"Look, I'm not very good at being like, emotional and stuff, but I really am sorry for being so mean to you. We got off to a bad start. I'll try to be better to you from now on."

"Mmm." Sekani still sounds angry.



>Tayza: Point out you're only hard on Sekani because you know he's better than all this. He has potential. A lot of it. But he's got to own up to it. This is, perhaps, a good first step.

"I was hoping to toughen you up. If you stop being so sensitive and worrying about every little thing, I think you can become a stronger person."

"Why would you care?"




"You're part of my pack. We're a family now, and I always look after my own. If I have to tease you into asserting yourself more, then that's what I'll do."

"But I don't like being teased," Sekani mumbles.

"And you finally told me that, so I'll try to stop. I'm proud of you for finally standing up for yourself. This is a good first step. Keep it up, okay?"




"Okay. Thanks..."

"You're not such a bad guy, you know. I'd like us to stay friends."

"Yeah... we can still be friends."

Tayza had been breaking the most important rule of being an alpha: always look out for the pack's well-being. If she's going to be a good leader, she's going to have to improve herself as well.

"...Man. You really are soft and fluffy. When you die, can I have you stuffed?"

Sekani pulls back and glares at Tayza.

"Yeah, I'm really bad at having 'moments'."



>Let's go check on our new friend back in the other room. What about the other pods?

The Klis-khar Ki-jaara greets them. "Some lady told me I should fight you two, but I don't really want to."

"Yeah, don't listen to her. She's kind of insane."

"She is. Um, by the way, how are we getting out of here? There's only one other door, and it's caved in."

That could be a problem.

It looks like the other two pods are fine. It'd most likely be safe to force them open now that the robot's out of commission.

Moar new friends! Crack those thingers open.

There cannot POSSIBLY be bad things in there.
>Force all the containers open immediately!

There was only one door in that room?? But the map said there should be two... D: Not that Tayza or Sekani saw the map but still.

The picture portal may be an option to get back to the entrance of the building, Sekani can regroup with Amiel's group that way. Although I guess we're going to be doing other stuff here first.

> Ask Klis-khar about ... itself. Do we even know its gender yet? Also ask it about the other ki-jaara in the room.

You're right. my OFFICIAL MAP says there was supposed to be another door, but it was also blocked off. So let's retcon "ONLY ONE DOOR" to "UM HEY ALL THE DOORS ARE BLOCKED OFF"

> Introduce yourselves and ask for the Klis-khar's name.

>Introduce yourselves and ask for the Klis-khar's name.
>Ask Klis-khar about ... itself. Do we even know its gender yet? Also ask it about the other ki-jaara in the room.

"So, what's your name?"

"I'm Jiki'shala, but you can call me Shala if you want~"

"Um... Does that mean you're a girl?"

"Sekani! Don't mind him, he's kind of slow sometimes. Usually."

"No, it's okay. I'm female. I'm one of the younger subjects, or I guess I was. How long have I been in that thing, anyway?"

"A really long time, I think. Iiji ascended something like 80 seasons ago," Tayza says.

"I see..."

"Do you know about these other guys?"

"...Huh. I think these people are different from who I was frozen with. Strange."



>Moar new friends! Crack those thingers open.
>Force all the containers open immediately!

They start with the one containing a Lian. He takes a few moments to regain his balance, and asks if Iiji's still alive. Tayza says yes, and she'll explain it all in a bit. He introduces himself as Jerahl.




They free the Tezakian. Sekani instantly recognizes her as female. She looks around curiously, and says this isn't the same room she was in before. She says her name is Kinasa.

Tayza asks them all to head to the next room, where they'll have plenty of room to sit and talk.




Tayza and Sekani explain the situation to them, and learn that they were all put into capsules at different times. Kinasa didn't even know anything was wrong with the facility, whereas Jerahl had been put in after Iiji's ascent.

Tayza doesn't think it'd be very safe for them to join the fight, since they could be controlled more easily than Sekani and her. Jerahl mentions that he was part of a resistance movement. They were working on a MAJICKA BEAST that would be capable of resisting Iiji's control and defeating her. He doesn't know if they managed to complete it, but it might still be in the HIDDEN CAVE where they were working on it.

The Hidden cave is behind the room they were all separated in. Sekani wishes he knew about this earlier.

Ask more about this resistance movement. Not all the Ki-jaara were working under Iiji?

What does Tayza know about this?

Wait, people were frozen before Iiji got there?

> Ask them why they were frozen.

Taking today off to work on ...things...

I WILL UPDATE TOMORROW MORNING.

>Ask more about this resistance movement. Not all the Ki-jaara were working under Iiji?
>What does Tayza know about this?

"There was a group of Klis-khar who managed to escape and hide during Iiji's initial assault. They scavenged enough equipment to begin work on various solutions that would be used to counteract the Ki-jaara. They managed to surprise me and inject me with something that restored my mind. I was injected with something else and became invisible to Iiji.

"I let them use me for experiments, and together we tried to create a creature that would be able to rip Iiji apart through her majicka. Before it was complete, however, I was hunted down."

Tayza must have become a Ki-jaara after all this happened. Iiji never mentioned anything about a resistance. Being asked to hunt an invisible prey would have been awesome, but she doesn't tell him that. This is just further proof that Iiji is no longer fit to be the alpha. Back then, hunts were plentiful. Hunts were exciting. Now they're... well, Sekani. That's pretty much all she has to say on the matter.



>Ask them why they were frozen.

Sekani looks at Kinasa. "That explains why he was frozen. What about you?"

Kinasa looks at her wingless arm. "Well," she says aloud, "They tried to use majicka to give me a new arm so I could fly again, but it didn't work right and I ended up growing a bunch of weird antennae instead of feathers. They said they were going to let me rest while they continued their research, but I guess they hid me away instead. Lakicia must hate me..."

Sekani nearly objects. Lakicia loves all Tezakians. At least, that's what he believed. But he doesn't even know what to begin saying to someone who's been through what she has.





Shala speaks up from the back of the room. "I think we should burn this place to the ground. I doubt this Iiji person's any more immune to fire than the rest of us."

"We could end up killing others like us!" Kinasa objects.

"I don't think we need to resort to that," Jerahl says. "At least, not yet. It's very likely the Klis-khar kept working on the MAJICKA BEAST. If we found it, it could rip her to shreds for us!"

Sekani wonders if he should tell them about their desire to cure Iiji rather than kill her. He notices that she's been awfully quiet lately. She should be showing up right about now to say something stupid and cliche before taking control of all of them, but she's remained silent and absent. Could the others have done something to distract her?

oh all right

> Sekani: Try and contact that one Ki-jaara from earlier that you've clearly never met before. Maybe they're part of the resistance and are trying to kill Iiji right now?

... :D

some thoughts re:curing Iiji - At the moment I don't see a need to tell them our plans (though we should probably avoid lieing as well). We don't know if there are more innocents in the area (after all there is that resistance maybe) so that's good enough to not burn the building down, I think. And as mentioned, Tayza and Sekani got the Iiji-blocking solution (and you can say it was an improved solution too - though technically only Tayza and Jiniki got that solution and it may not block Iiji any better but uh) so they will probably have a better shot at facing Iiji.
If it's necessary to tell them though, don't forget to mention the mental effects with stronger magicka doses (Dilia, and Sekani to a lesser extent) and that if Iiji is cured she'll likely be a completely different person.

Poor Dilia. At the rate this is going she's never going to be able to live that down.

> Tell them about the plan to cure Iiji. A cured Iiji can help them. A dead Iiji cannot. Iiji undoubtedly knows a lot about this place and about magicka. She has information: information everyone can use for all the various ailments they've suffered.

Yeah, this.

>Sekani: Try and contact that one Ki-jaara from earlier that you've clearly never met before. Maybe they're part of the resistance and are trying to kill Iiji right now?

Sekani attempts to communicate long range. "Hi?"

"Ah!? Hi! Hahaha, I wasn't considering snuggling with anyone!"

"...Okay?"

"Eheheh! H-how are you, Sekan-- I mean, stranger? Are you still under Iiji's control?"



"No...? My friend managed to scare her off so I'm me again."

"Oh good! W-what'd you need?"

"Uh... You don't seem to be on Iiji's side. Are you part of a resistance?"

"Ssssort of? I'm on your side, if that's what you mean."

"Are you a majicka beast? Did a Lian or a Diuban free you?"

"I guess I'm a majibeas-- I mean ki-jaara! I was created in a different way than you were, I think. But I'm really strong now so I can totally help you!"



"That's good...? I sense Jiniki with you. Is she okay?"

"Yep! Dilia's here too-- I mean, the Diuban. That I wasn't about to snuggle."

"...Okay. Is... is Amiel there?"

"Um, technically! But they're all asleep so they can't talk right now."

"Okay. I guess we'll come to you guys then."

"You will? That's-- that's great. We'll wait here."

She sounded a bit worried when Sekani said that. That entire conversation was very weird, but she seems pretty trustworthy and not at all suspicious.



>Tell them about the plan to cure Iiji. A cured Iiji can help them. A dead Iiji cannot. Iiji undoubtedly knows a lot about this place and about magicka. She has information: information everyone can use for all the various ailments they've suffered.

"Guys, we actually kind of want to save Iiji instead of killing her."

Jerahl objects. "What!? Save her!? After all she's done!?"

"There's no need to yell," Kinasa says.

Tayza offers to handle this. She explains to them their plans to cure Iiji and hopefully obtain more information from her. Besides, her daughter is here and wants nothing more than to see her mother returned to her. By curing Iiji they not only secure more information that could lead to cures for all of them, but they will be helping a little girl get her mommy back.




Did Tayza just say 'mommy'?

Jerahl sighs. "Okay. All right. I didn't know the cure was actually complete. I won't try to stop you if you insist you know what you're doing."

"I think they do," Kinasa says. "They managed to help us, after all."

"I hope for all our sakes that you're right."



>Stop stalling the plot already.

Sekani inspects the portal, and pokes his head through. "Hey, this leads back to the entrance!"

Kinasa looks concerned. "You shouldn't randomly poke your head in things, Mister Sekani."

Once they confirm Sekani's safety, they head through one by one. While they do so, Tayza stares at something silently.




Delkin...

Despite all of your shortcomings, you made Tayza very happy once.




But she makes herself happy now. Maybe one day you'll realize that people don't need to live in a fantasy world to have everything they want. May Lisandi guide you to the greatest hunt. Farewell.




Everyone exits the portal and finds themselves at the ENTRANCE ROOM to the PORTAL BUILDING. It looks like Amiel and/or Dilia have done some damage here. The door leading forward is wide open.

actually, the most sensible thing at the moment to me would be

> Amiel (or someone in that room): Shoot the portal gun at a nearby wall, tell Sekani's group to head back to the entrance of the building and enter the portal Jiniki shot.

since Amiel knows the previous room is covered in portals. I guess Sekani could fly over them but they'll still have to leave the room somehow.

Alternatively, if you want to be paranoid about using portal shots

> Amiel: Tell Sekani's group to use the portal machine to re-link the portal in that room with the one in Amiel's room.

orrrrr Amiel can try to put off Sekani seeing her as long as possible.

Welp, let's get through that there door, then. We already know where the picture ended up from that other portal that's open.

>Amiel: HIDE THE BODIES

>No further actions regarding the trio.

Kinasa tells Sekani that they are going to find a safe place to hide, because she doesn't know how to use majicka and Shala isn't that good with it. Sekani tells them about the MEDICAL ROOM in the COMMAND CENTER BUILDING. There's a robot there named GRASSHOPPER who'll be able to take care of them. Jerahl says not to worry, he'll look after them.

They turn to leave, but Kinasa pauses a moment before moving to place a hand on Sekani's chest.



"Um, I hope you get your colors back when you're cured," She says gently.

"I've always been this color," Sekani replies coldly.

"Oh. Um. I-I'm sorry. Well-- G-good luck!" She quickly turns to leave with the others.




"Smooth," Jerahl says.

"S-shut up!"

"Aww, don't worry. I think he likes you~"

"I was just trying to be nice!"




They're all the same.

"I guess all birds are awkward. Here I was thinking it was just you."

"Yeah, yeah. Tayza is mean. What else is new."

"Okay, I changed my mind. You can stop fighting back."



>Amiel (or someone in that room): Shoot the portal gun at a nearby wall, tell Sekani's group to head back to the entrance of the building and enter the portal Jiniki shot.


The stranger asks if the portal Jiniki created is still there. Sekani says yes. She thinks she most likely probably set up the PORTAL GUN to connect it to the room she's in maybe.

Sekani sees nothing suspicious about that statement and he hops on through with Tayza.



"Heehee, that's actually pretty fun!"

"I think I'm going to be sick."

The creature greets them. "H-hi! Good to see you! You're looking sexy-- I mean nice today! Hahahaha. The others are napping while Jiniki's shell hardens, but I think it's been about an hour by now."

"Okay...? Um, where's Amiel?"

The creature is silent.




"W-why aren't you saying anything?"

"I'm sorry I didn't say anything earlier, but I wanted to tell you in person. The thing is...um..."

"No! Don't say she's gone!"

"It was always a possibility," Tayza says. "I know this is hard to hear, but we don't have time to grieve. We have work to... *hurp*" She continues to struggle with PORTAL SICKNESS.


Amiel feels really bad now. Maybe she should just tell him the truth. She was kind of hoping to do something awesome that'd reveal herself to him, but it might not be a good idea now.

> Do that dramatic kiss thing you did back in like chapter 3 or something. THAT'LL PROVE IT.

You just want Tayza to actually puke, don't you

Be hard-boiled, Amiel!

>Amiel: "Let's be awesome monsters together! :D"

> Amiel: More importantly, note that Tayza called Sekani by his name. This confirms that Sekani is seeing Tayza behind your back.
Couldn't resist. :)

>Do that dramatic kiss thing you did back in like chapter 3 or something. THAT'LL PROVE IT.
>Be hard-boiled, Amiel!

Amiel kisses Sekani in a way that's hard-boiled as fuck. There's like, fireworks and shit. Look at that goddamn shading.

Tayza struggles even further to retain her cookies.





"What are you doing!? Don't take advantage of me!"

"I'm shorry. I'm jushd really glad do shee you again."



>Amiel: "Let's be awesome monsters together! :D"

"...Amiel?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, but I wanted to do so in person. I'm a majibeast now."

"I-I'm sorry."

"No, it's all right. Now we can finally be awesome monsters together~"




"I'm so glad you're okay."

They kiss each other passionately.

"I was so worried about you, Sekani. After everything I've been through, I thought-- I wanted--"

Amiel inhales deeply. "I... I lobe you, Shekani."

Sekani smiles warmly, holding her closer to him. "I love you too, Amiel."



Tayza interrupts their 'moment'. "Seriously. Gonna puke here."

"Heehee, don't be that way. You once had moments like these too, you know~"

"I made it look good-- You just make it look awkward. Anyway, we need to figure out how we're getting to Iiji."

Tayza and Amiel talk a moment about all they've seen in the PORTAL BUILDING. There doesn't seem to be a direct path to Iiji in either side. There has to be some way to get to her though!

>Check for bombable/punchable walls.

>Check for bombable/punchable walls.

There's an entire collapsed hallway between this room and the next. Even Amiel's superior strength might not be enough to smash through all that. However, she recalls a middle path they might be able to take if they head back through the portal.

Dilia and Jiniki wake up from their nap. Jiniki's carapace has hardened, so she's totally ready for some mommy saving. She puts her necklace and headband back on.

Tayza smiles at her. "Where'd you get the new headband? You look really pretty."

"Amiel gave it to me after she almost killed me~"

"Oh, that was nice of what did you say."

Amiel tenses up. She better try to think of something to say to avoid a battle with Tayza, as awesome and colorful as that'd probably end up being.

"Sorry, it was just a little misunderstanding, but everything's okay now! :D;;"

> That's hardly fair, you've nearly killed Sekani twice! _{also I did restrain myself please don't hurt me}

>Amiel: "Sudden Majibeast infection, Iiji controls Majibeasts, blah blah blah."

>"Sorry, it was just a little misunderstanding, but everything's okay now! :D;;"

"What the fuck kind of misunderstanding would make you nearly kill Jiniki!?"

"Well you see, Magic Johnson was messing with my head and--"





"Ah!"

"Don't blame imaginary people for your actions!and "

Tayza moves in to punch Amiel again, but she hops back and drops to all fours. A very strange energy emits from her.



>Amiel: "Sudden Majibeast infection, Iiji controls Majibeasts, blah blah blah."

It wraps around Tayza, immobilizing her.

"What the hell kind of majicka is this!?"

"The best kind. Now you just sit there and listen to me, all right?"

"Don't fucking tell me what to do."

"Look, I know what I did was horrible, and I understand why you're angry. My mind was being messed with by this weird majicka creature who's a total perv by the way. I... nearly killed Jiniki, but at the last moment I regained control of myself."

"You should have done that before hurting Jiniki."



>That's hardly fair, you've nearly killed Sekani twice!

"You have nearly killed Sekani two times now, so I don't think you should act like you haven't gone through the same thing. So let's call it even and both promise not to kill anyone anymore, okay~?"

Amiel pokes Tayza's nose.

"Wow. I'm so pissed off right now that I've entered a state of Zen. This is actually kind of relaxing."




"Oh-- um. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound condescending just now. I'm still working on not letting my power get to me."

Tayza gives a low growl. "Whatever. I guess you have a point. I technically don't hate Sekani-bird anymore so I'm probably kind of sorry I kicked his ass so many times. Fine, we'll call it even."

"Good, and don't worry. I won't hurt anyone ever again."

"If you do, I can promise you I will not be caught by surprise a second time."

Sekani peeps strangely. "I don't know if I should be turned on or terrified right now."





"I can help you with that~"

Amiel makes 'wings' for herself. Apparently her power is making new body parts?

"Okay, turned on it is," Sekani lies. He could feel that she was holding back, but she still overpowered Tayza as if it was nothing. If Amiel wanted to, she could crush all of them without a moment's pause.

She scares him a little.





Everyone backtracks. Tayza manages to convince them not to go through any more portals for her sake, so they cleverly get through the room full of portal holes and make their way to what is apparently the OBJECT MANIPULATION LAB.





Sekani was kind of hoping there'd be some kind of OBJECT MANIPULATION GUN or something in here.

That looks like a gun. Destroy its camera, just in case. (Amiel use a majicka tentacle or sth 8| cuz I know Slink is gonna be like "BUT HOW GUINDO? SPECIFICS.)

After which, inspect that dude in the wall.

...Those're definitely some manipulated objects, there.

After dealing with the gun, check the notes that are on that... table hanging out of the wall, thar.

>That looks like a gun. Destroy its camera, just in case. (Amiel use a majicka tentacle or sth)

Easy! The DEADLY TURRET should no longer be able to track them.



>After dealing with the gun, check the notes that are on that... table hanging out of the wall, thar.

Sekani decides to fly on over!

"Look at him go!"








"Sekani!!"

AHAHAHAHA

OH WOW

nicely done, dude.

>Hope Sekani got out from under it first

Sure you want to make that assumption?

I didn't say "assume," I said "hope."

But sure let's go with something

> Sekani: Have gotten out from under it before it came down.

>|

Jini: >Force lift.
Tayza: >Force Heal.
Sekani: >Force Bleed.

Well, um, oops. Guess we should've questioned what those marks on the floor were there for, huh?

Jini and/or Amiel, get that shit back up.

I thought they were bullet holes D: I couldn't figure out what the things on the ceiling were.
I do want to ask why did nobody look up. Is everyone wearing horse blinders? :(

Nobody ever looks up. It's a fact of life.

>Amiel: Praise Sekani's speed for getting past the second row of dots on the floor before the THWOMP.
>Sekani: Prepare to pose when the THWOMP rises.

>Jini: >Force lift.
>Jini and/or Amiel, get that shit back up.

Through their combined might, Jiniki and Amiel are able to lift the NOT ALL THAT OBSCURE DEADLY TRAP back up. Tayza bends down and peers under it. Sekani has been pretty badly wounded.



>Tayza: >Force Heal.
>Sekani: >Force Bleed.

Tayza pulls Sekani out and begins to heal him as she assesses the damage. He was very lucky-- his head was not punctured. Had he instantly been killed, even her incredible skill would not have been enough to save him.

"I'm sorry for...being mad..."




"You'll be fine. Stop talking like you're dying."

"I'm glad we got to be friends..."

Tayza pinches Sekani's beak shut.

"In fact, no more talking period."

"You're so meeeeaaan."

"And no using majicka."

Sekani peeps sadly. Once Tayza gives the okay, the others let the VERY OBVIOUS DEADLY TRAP fall back down, and climb over it.



>Sekani: Prepare to pose when the THWOMP rises.
>Sekani: Have gotten out from under it before it came down.

"I totally got past it before it came down! You don't have to worry about me!"

"You're covered in blood, and thought you were going to die two seconds ago. Don't think for a moment anyone's going to buy that," Tayza says.

Amiel tries her best not to cry for the 5th time in one chapter. "Idiot, I told you not to give up so easily!"

Super hearing must be one of her many powers.

Tayza manages to heal Sekani, but this drains her a good bit. They will need to be much more careful until she's recovered, as there's no guarantee she'll be able to pull this off a second time.

Amiel uses her MAJICKA TENTACLES to retrieve the NOTE Sekani was trying to obtain earlier.








>Inspect the dead Klis-khar.

The body was forced against the ceiling, and looks like it was crushed. Could there be another SUPER OBVIOUS TRAP, or was this a result of the chaos that surrounds this place?

There doesn't seem to be much else to the room, but there's a huge tentacle coming out of the door leading forward. They should proceed with caution.

Well, thanks, note. Lots of help.

It doesn't look like there's any other super obvious traps, though. Something weird must've happened here.

Inspect the trap-door, the tentacle, and the door - carefully.

>Amiel: Punch that dead jerk for not putting the note somewhere more easily reached. Uh, from across the room, please.
>Dilia: Go stand on the trap door. We'd throw Sekani at it, but he's all light and birdy.

>Also, you won't fall through, because you are fat.

>Amiel: Punch that dead jerk for not putting the note somewhere more easily reached. Uh, from across the room, please.
>Dilia: Go stand on the trap door. We'd throw Sekani at it, but he's all light and birdy.

Dilia isn't quite sure why she feels a need to stand on this thing. Nothing happens. It's almost as if the sliders are made of steel and not designed to open downward or something.

Amiel punches the corpse! That's for almost killing her mate, jerk! Yeah! Who else wants some!?



>Also, you won't fall through, because you are fat.
>Inspect the trap-door, the tentacle, and the door - carefully.

Oh come on. Dilia's not that fat.

Amiel pokes at the tentacle with her, um, tentacle.





Whoa! The tentacle lashes out at her, but thankfully she was far enough away to dodge it. It looks just like all the other "creatures" in this building, which means normal majicka probably won't have much effect on it.

...You can stop standing on the trapdoor now, Dilia. In fact, haven't we seen something like that previously, where a gun turret came out of (like, say at the top of this page)...?

Tayza, point this out. Amiel, break the thing.

No, no, no.

>Someone, pry open the hatches
>Drop Dilia on the robot

Yeah but a poison sting should serve nicely.

Jine: >Open door with mind.

>Yeah but a poison sting should serve nicely.
>Tayza: Point out that those trap doors contain DEADLY GUN TURRETs.

Amiel holds the tentacle steady with her majicka and gives a good dose of LIAN POISON!

"You should probably stop standing there, Dilia. I think there's a robot under there."


>Someone, pry open the hatches
>Drop Dilia on the robot

The tentacle retracts and a screech is heard from the next room. Hell yeah! Amiel is awesome at removing pointless barriers!

"Dilia-- look out!" Tayza yells.

"Huh?"

"CONTAMINATION_DETECTED."





A robot suddenly springs up! Dilia struggles to hold on as it twists and turns.

"ERROR. VISUAL_SCANNER_DAMAGED. WEIGHT_LIMIT_EXCEEDED. CANNOT_FIND_TARGET.

Amiel takes advantage of the robot's confusion and smashes it with her majicka tentacles. Dilia is thrown off and lands on her back as it retreats back under the trap door.





Dilia has the wind knocked out of her. Tayza uses a little majicka to help her recover.

"That was really stupid," Tayza says.

"Yeah, I guess it was."

Aaaahaha, surprised!Dilia is cute.

Well, at least the threat was... eliminated, anyways. Peer through the hole in the door. What's in there?

All according to kwyjibo.

>Amiel: Check for any signs of those stupid shadow tentacles still hanging around. They're likely long gone, but now we know Iiji can be baited into showing up if she thinks we're being dolts.
>Also, what's behind the now-untentacled door?

>Amiel: Be really, REALLY careful with that tail. It might randomly sprout spikes on the side.

I wanted to get one more out before taking my first actual BREAK break in ages, but my heart just wasn't into it.

I'll see if I can get it out tomorrow, because I don't understand how breaks work.

If you do, I'll punch you.

Silly Bugle, only I can threaten Slink with actual physical violence.

WHAT IF I MAKE A STICK FIGURE UPDATE

Well, okay, you can punch him for me.

Since you're there and all.

>Amiel: Check for any signs of those stupid shadow tentacles still hanging around. They're likely long gone, but now we know Iiji can be baited into showing up if she thinks we're being dolts.

"Hehehe."





"Eep!"

Damn. Amiel's all power and no speed.




>Amiel: Be really, REALLY careful with that tail. It might randomly sprout spikes on the side.

That... would be a very bad thing to happen while it's between her legs.

For the safety of her legs and girly parts, Amiel decides to be a lot more careful with her tail from now on. It's more dangerous than it used to be.



>Peer through the hole in the door. What's in there?

Sekani asks Amiel what she sees.

"Um, I shee a lod ob dubesh--"

"Can't understand you," Tayza interrupts.

"Oh right. I see a lot of tubes and a huge flesh-critter. Looks like it tore off the tentacle I stabbed. I also see a huge computer, possibly a mainframe, and another machine I can't identify."

The creature doesn't see Amiel looking at it; It's distracted. There's no telling if it's equipped with EYE LASERS or not, but if it does it is likely to use them against anything it sees. They have Sekani's speed on their side now, and Amiel still has one ability she hasn't gotten to put to use yet.

"Weird," Jiniki says, "I don't remember one of these being here..."

Amiel: use magicka to lit up the room. Surelly your allmighty powers come with a flashlight option.

>Tom Turns on the Lights...

She's looking through the hole in the door. the room beyond is fully lit.

A bright enough flash should blind the thing anyway.

Amiel - turn imbishible and waltz on in.

I don't suppose Amiel can manage to transmit poison through a tentacle?

>Amiel - turn imbishible and waltz on in.

Amiel waltzes on in. The creature doesn't seem to notice!



>I don't suppose Amiel can manage to transmit poison through a tentacle?

There's a loud screech as Amiel stabs one of the other tentacles! Or whatever these things are.





Amiel is splashed with blood as the tentacle-type-thing severs itself. She's blinded!





It is at this moment that Amiel learns that her senses are heightened. She can sense the entire room, to the point of feeling the warmth from the blood around her. The creature seems to be recovering still, but its tentacle is tensing up as if to strike. She might not have the speed to dodge outright.

I meant through Amiel's own magicka tentacle, like some kind of tail extension. :(

Anyways, it seems to have to see Amiel to know where she is so I'm thinking one of the following:
1) Pre-emptive strike at its eyes
2) Hide around that - Uh. Whatever that large structure with fans(?) is.
3) Both

>Pre-emptive strike at its eyes

Amiel attacks all three eyes at once, completely destroying them. The creature is now blind!




Agh! It misses anything vital thanks to its blindness, but Amiel doesn't manage to avoid being hit entirely.

Now that the creature is blinded, this could be the perfect chance for somebody else to do something. Not that Amiel minds doing all the work or anything.

Tayza, get in there and poison sting the bitch.

Bitch at Amiel for getting herself hurt.

Bitch about Amiel getting hurt while healing her, because she can't complain too much that way.

>Tayza: Combat Operandi: SYMPATHETIC LIAN RAAAAGE

> Amiel: Poison sting the tentacle if it doesn't go away itself. Either way, get it out of you, then use magicka as a band-aid until Tayza can heal it.
And maybe get some distance if it has any more tentacles around to attack with.

Actually, is it even necessary for Tayza to heal it much? How well can Amiel naturally recover?

>Tayza, get in there and poison sting the bitch.

Tayza lunges onto it and gives it a swift stab with her tail! It lets out another screech as it enters its death throes.



>Amiel: Poison sting the tentacle if it doesn't go away itself. Either way, get it out of you, then use magicka as a band-aid until Tayza can heal it.

Amiel stings the tentacle, causing it to retract and sever. She user her majicka to keep too much blood from escaping.

Meanwhile, Tayza poses like a total bad-ass.

Flesh Beast defeated!



>Bitch at Amiel for getting herself hurt.
>Bitch about Amiel getting hurt while healing her, because she can't complain too much that way.
>>Tayza: Combat Operandi: SYMPATHETIC LIAN RAAAAGE

"I can't believe you, running in without giving us a chance to come up with a plan that isn't retarded. Maybe you'd stop getting hurt so much if you took half a second to think about what you're doing. Stop rushing to your doom like a moron."

"Look, okay, I spent a good 15 seconds thinking about it! Obviously it couldn't attack me if I was invisible!"

"The smart thing to do would have been to tell us you can turn invisible so we could plan around it. What if that thing stabbed you in the heart? I'm awesome, but I can't perform miracles."

"Okay! I'm sorry!"

Jiniki interrupts them. "I thought you looked super cool barging in like that all like BAM and POW and OW MY SHOULDER~"




"We're not going to succeed if we concentrate on looking cool, Jiniki," Tayza says.

"I thought you were super cool too! You were all WOOSH and STAB and then you posed and I think you sparkled a bit even though nobody else probably saw but I did!"

"Yes. Well. It comes more naturally for some of us."

"A-are you okay, Amiel?" Sekani asks, very concerned.

"I'm fine. Most of this blood isn't mine."

"Oh good. Um-- I could go fly back to the COMMAND CENTER BUILDING and find a towel to clean your face if you want."

"I can kind of see like this, but I'd appreciate that. Thanks."

Amiel, Sekani, and Tayza will be occupied for a little bit, but Jiniki and Dilia can continue to explore the room. There's a STRANGE MACHINE running pipes along the wall, and a large SUPERCOMPUTER with multiple fans and compartments. It appears to be running.

Dilia, go see what's up on the monitor over on the strange machine. It doesn't look like Jini would be able to reach the keyboard.

Jini, you can bang around on the supercomputer instead! There any monitors or input devices available?

>Dilia, go see what's up on the monitor over on the strange machine. It doesn't look like Jini would be able to reach the keyboard.

The monitor is blank. It doesn't respond to anything. As far as Dilia can tell, it should be getting power just fine.



>Jini, you can bang around on the supercomputer instead! There any monitors or input devices available?

Jiniki removes one of the COVER PLATES. Underneath is an emergency INPUT/OUTPUT DEVICE used when the terminals lose their connection to the MAINFRAME.

It's currently running the program the nice man asked Jiniki to execute. She's not exactly sure what it's supposed to do, but it's taking its time doing it.

Tell us more about the nice man and the thing he wanted you to do.

Dilia, check what's in the cupboard or whatever's under the keyboard, there.

>Tell us more about the nice man and the thing he wanted you to do.

It was someone from their home nation. Mommy told her to input some specific numbers, and this strange guy answered and said he was expecting her which was weird. He said it'd be very nice of her if she ran a specific program. Tayza interrupted before she got a chance to really find out what it does, but mommy said she was a good girl so it was okay.

But if mommy's sick now, maybe doing what she says doesn't actually make Jiniki good at all oh gosh maybe she should start doing the opposite instead like when mommy asked her to kill Amiel but instead she made a new best friend and mommy was kind of baffled about that.



>Dilia, check what's in the cupboard or whatever's under the keyboard, there.

There's a lot of confusing circuits in here!

Dilia: QUICK, IT'S A PUZZLE, SOLVE IT!

Jiniki: See if you can stop that transfer. I am pretty sure the home country should not get that .info file.

Jini: if attempts to stop the transfer via traditional methods (ie, hitting the 'break' button or killing the process) do not work, try to locate the satellite emitter and break it.

...Um, it looks like everything's connected okay. There's a splotch on that... thing up near the upper left, though. Is it broken?

That magic smoke is supposed to be INSIDE the electronics, if it's outside it'll never work D:
... uh, do we want to fix this? I mean we probably can, but I don't really see a reason to other than it's there.
But if you guys want to fix it, replace the fuse.

and more importantly MAKE SURE THE THING IS UNPOWERED BEFORE REPLACING THE FUSE

>Dilia: QUICK, IT'S A PUZZLE, SOLVE IT!
>There's a splotch on that... thing up near the upper left, though. Is it broken?
>But if you guys want to fix it, replace the fuse.

Dilia giggles to herself as she disconnects the power. The fuse does look burned out, so she replaces it with the one they found earlier, and turns the power back on. There's a humming noise as the machine comes to life and creates several portals across the wall.



>Jiniki: See if you can stop that transfer. I am pretty sure the home country should not get that .info file.

Hehe, she's an angry hacker! Mommy might get mad at her, but Jiniki's starting to realize that she should decide for herself what's 'good' and 'bad'.




"So... which portal leads to mommy again?" Jiniki asks.

"Don't look at me-- I rarely come here!" Tayza says.

"This was a lot easier when there was only one portal. Was it the second one or the third one...?"

Tayza scratches her chin. "I think it was the fourth one...?"

"Wait I remember it was the second one!"

"Are you sure, Jiniki?"

"Nope!"

Dilia and Tayza sigh. They're pretty sure the portal they're thinking of led straight forward, directly to the stairs.

Check the terminal, see if you can figure out any info on the portals from there.

Ditto on the checking the terminal idea.

If that turns out not to be helpful, can someone stick their head into a portal with no ill effects? We could just peek in and see what's in each.

>Can someone stick their head into a portal with no ill effects? We could just peek in and see what's in each.
Jiniki sticks her head into portal 2, but it just leads to portal 5. She tries portal 4.



*Sniff* "And then she punched me! In the nose!"

"Aww, there there my friend. I've already healed you, so try to cheer up."

"She was really hot too. Like, I'd totally hit that if it hadn't hit me first."

"They just don't understand our ways. Iiji will show them, and maybe she'll put in a good word for you~"

"You think so?

"Even if she doesn't, I could make a fantasy version for you~"




It's not portal 4.

Did mommy lie about them being mindless...?



>Check the terminal, see if you can figure out any info on the portals from there.

Tayza freaking hates computers.

...I think that object in the way is that giant flesh abomination.

Ask the computer where portal 6 is SUPPOSED to lead?

Huh. I almost feel bad for that Lian. At least she didn't nut-punch him like the Diuban.

Check the other open portals, Jini! :D

>Ask the computer where portal 6 is SUPPOSED to lead?

Tayza feels this information could come in handy later. Right now, though, they need to concentrate on Iiji.



>Check the other open portals, Jini! :D

"Oh! Hi, mister robot~"

"SENSOR_ERROR. ARE_YOU_INJURED?"

"No I'm okay this is just a portal and oh man we've done a lot of cool stuff since we last met well I didn't do anything cool yet but I'm totally going to be making these wicked fully colored action sequences like everyone else got to do and it's going to be so colorful and pretty just you wait!"

Mister robot doesn't respond. It can't hear majicka speak, after all. Sadly, Jiniki has no way of talking normally with her adorable tiny mouth. She pokes her head through the final portal.




Oh! There it is~

>No action

Everyone steps through the portal. It doesn't actually close behind them, but it's easier to see what's going on without it hovering over them.

"What the heck is that?" Sekani asks.

"That's the stairway leading to the MAIN PORTAL ROOM, where mommy is. It's designed so it can be used no matter which way gravity's facing at the time."

Of course they had issues with gravity here. Nobody even bothers questioning it.

"Well," Tayza says, "This is it, everyone. We've gone through a lot to get here, but it's finally time to finish this. The old alpha has led our pack for many, many years, but it's time for a change. My final act of loyalty to her will be curing her so she can live peacefully while I whip this place into shape. Okay. Let's do this."

"Um..."




"Actually, I don't think I'll be going with you..."

"What? But Dilia!" Sekani objects.

"I can't use majicka anymore, and I don't even have any weapons. The only thing I have going for me is this outfit, but Iiji could probably just cut off my head or something."

"But you deserve to be there with us! You're one of us now!"

Dilia's voice quivers. "I'd just get in your way. But I wish you guys all the luck in the world, and... um..."




"I'm-- I'm so glad you *sniff* forgave me, Amiel. I'm so-- I'm so happy we're friends now. I'm just so glad we... I'm..." Dilia's words become unintelligible.

"I'm really glad we could be friends too. Please don't cry..."

Dilia wouldn't get in the way, would she? Amiel knows she's useful. Dilia helped her when she felt most vulnerable and alone. They're so close now, and Amiel wants her there with them!

Commands can no longer be given to Dilia.

Amiel: Realize that Dilia is right and her lack of combat ability would make her a liability. She'll probably get hurt if she comes along. It's better for her if she stands this one out. Give her a hug, though.

Jini: Tell Dilia which portal to go through to get to Grasshopper. She can wait there for you guys.

Hint to Dilia that some more of that nice light-blue solution might be awesome to have, too, if Grasshopper's still got the tools to work with.

What's all the stuff smeared around this room? Are those claw-marks over on the wall, or...?

Sekani: >Wait, Dilia, before you go, we have to do one last thing...

ALL: >Dramatic pose cause SHIT GOT REAL

>Tayza: Knowingly pat Dilia's shoulder (uh, outside of the cloth), and tell her to initiate Order 66. She'll know what to do.

Oh, right.

>Hastily add that she should wait until she gets back to Grasshopper, first. No need to do something like that HERE, after all.

>Amiel: Realize that Dilia is right and her lack of combat ability would make her a liability. She'll probably get hurt if she comes along. It's better for her if she stands this one out. Give her a hug, though.
Amiel really wants Dilia to come, but she knows that it's better to have her stay behind and be alive than to come with them and possibly end up dead.

"Wait for us, okay Dilia? We'll come back-- I promise. And then we can all have a big feast together."

Dilia doesn't manage to form any more words. Amiel hugs her; ANTI-MAJICKA CLOAK be damned.






>Tayza: Knowingly pat Dilia's shoulder (uh, outside of the cloth), and tell her to initiate Order 66. She'll know what to do.

Dilia calms down after a while, and Tayza gives her a knowing look.

"This would be a good time to initiate Order 66."

"Would that really do us any good?"

"Trust me. This shit is officially very vital to our quest."



>What's all the stuff smeared around this room? Are those claw-marks over on the wall, or...?

The room is covered in blood, and the marks on the walls appear to be claw marks. Sekani shivers at the real possibility that some very crazy majibeasts lie ahead.



>Hint to Dilia that some more of that nice light-blue solution might be awesome to have, too, if Grasshopper's still got the tools to work with.

Tayza continues speaking. "See if the MEDICAL ROBOT can make any more solutions. It'd be really nice if we could cure some of these folks."

"I'll see what I can do," Dilia says.

"We're counting on you. Okay, we're off."

"Um, please be careful."

"I'm always careful, unlike a certain bird whose name I won't mention. We'll see you soon, okay?"

Jiniki raises an arm. "We'll be back with mommy~!"

"Yes. We'll be back with her mommy~" Tayza says.



"This is it, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Are you scared?"

"N-- um, a little, yeah."

"Me too."

They are silent for a moment.

"Amiel..."

"Hmm?"

"Whatever happens, um... I'm glad I got to meet you."



>ALL: >Dramatic pose cause SHIT JUST REFERENCED MSPA

"Me too. We're in this together. For better or worse."

>All: Giggle at the giant termite.

I do not think at all that that is a GIant termite well maybe?
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brave fencer musagi reference FTW. (*GIant*)
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