Dear Princess Twilight,

Thank you for your previous responses, and I’m sorry to hear that you don’t know anything about the situation unfolding over here. I was really hoping you had some kind of insight into what’s happening as this really shouldn’t even be possible. I won’t press the matter though if you truly don’t know, so thank you at least for responding, I know we aren’t exactly on amazing terms.

That all being said, I feel the need to explain what’s happening here. As you’re aware, Serenade is on a rampage in our world, and Sunset is doing all in her power to stop her, but I don’t know if it’ll be enough. The demonic energy in Sunset’s body is slowly killing her, and I don’t think she has much time left. This is all spinning out of control very quickly, and I fear for the safety of my daughter and our world. Sunset might burn herself out long before Serenade is dealt with after all.

Only a few days ago, Moondancer’s life was claimed by Serenade’s minions, and we’re all still in mourning. While I want to be as respectful as possible, I can’t help but feel that some of this is your fault, Princess. I hate to be so blunt, but Sunset can not harbor all of the blame. You were the one who dragged her to Equestria and got her involved with this business. You did so not caring how it would affect her family here, or our world when she came back here. You made our world into a target.

I really wish you had just stayed out of Sunset’s life over here. Equestria was your kingdom to take care of, and instead, you made it her responsibility to save it, and now we’re all paying the price. You should have destroyed that portal years ago, you should have done everything in your power to stop this from happening to our world. You’re not even sending any kind of help our way, and yet Sunset came to your world to help you. What kind of hypocrite are you?

You claim not to know anything, but how can I trust that you’re not lying to me? How can I trust that you really don’t know what’s going on? You’re not exactly showing that you care that much about what happens to our world. You’re not showing that you care much about what happens to Sunset, or me for that matter. I said this before, and I’ll say it again: I hate you Princess Twilight. I hate you with everything in my being, but I am asking you, if you really do know anything, to please tell me now. Give us a chance to save our world. I have a daughter that I have to protect. If you know something that you’re not telling us, please, I beg you to let us know.

I can’t forgive you, but I can at the very least let this go if you tell me all that you know. I don’t know if I’m expecting you to even respond to this letter, but it’s the only chance I have now. Sunset will be dead soon, and when that happens, I don’t know if Horizon and her friends will be strong enough to defeat Serenade on their own. Our world is in great danger, and I’d like to think that that matters to you. Give me a reason to have some faith in you, Princess.

Sincerely,

Twilight Shimmer

That was the letter that Twilight had written in the magic journal to the Princess only eight hours ago, she had been awaiting a response, and finally, after a long nap, when she woke up, she saw the journal vibrating on a nearby desk. Twilight inhaled and exhaled as she braced herself and opened the magic book.

As expected, the Princess had written back to her, though the contents of the letter were far from what Twilight had expected.

Dear Twilight,

I am very sorry to hear about your predicament. Moondancer was a great asset to us here in Equestria as well, and she played an integral role in securing our freedom from Serenade’s reign. She will be greatly missed by myself personally, and I assure you that I will never forget her sacrifice for our world. Equestria would not even be standing if it were not for her help and expertise, she proved invaluable in the short time I got to know her. She reminded me much of myself even, and that makes hearing of her passing that much more heartbreaking.

As for Sunset, I was aware that her demonic energy would eventually burn her out. She has always been very headstrong and willing to push her body beyond its limits, it’s only just now that her body finally has reached its true breaking point. This was likely a foregone conclusion for the girl. I had warned her many times about knowing her limits, but like you, she wouldn’t listen to me either. She would always push forward into the next thing without concern.

You are correct; I did in fact get Sunset involved. I did beg her to help us, and I don’t regret it either. I have a responsibility as you said, to protect Equestria. My power alone wasn’t enough to do so. I enlisted outside help as a last-ditch effort because I refused to give up on my duties, and I was willing to perform them at any cost. It’s something that as a parent, I’m sure you can understand. I am sure you would give up anything and sacrifice anyone to protect your daughter. I will not apologize for what I did any longer because I did what I had to do. Our world is safe now because of my actions. You can call me selfish if you want, but that is a leader’s job: to be willing to be hated for the sake of those that they lead. It is a lesson I had to learn the hard way over the years.

It was never my intention to make your world a target, and while I’m sure you think destroying the portal on my end would have solved the problem, you never considered what we’ve been thinking about over here. The fact of the matter is, that destroying the portal is not that simple. We still don’t understand where it came from, or how many have used it. For all we know many others could have come to your world through it, and destroying it stops the only tool we have to send help. While you may be thinking we should send help right now, you have to consider that my hooves are tied. After the war, we had much conflict with Dragon Scar. The citizens here are not ready for any kind of intervention in the human world yet.

It was decided by the entire royal family that sending the kind of help necessary to stop Serenade would cause more chaos in the human world. Therefore, we have resigned to a contingency plan. In the event that Sunset does in fact die before Serenade is defeated, we will send help your way, but only after that point. We can not risk the kind of damage it might do to send in an army before then.

Do not think I am so heartless that I would just let your world be destroyed; I do have to consider though, how much damage it would do to your world to just send a bunch of magic users there.

There is nothing I can do about your hatred toward me, and frankly, there is little I probably will do about it. You have every right to despise me, however, I did what I did to protect my own, just as you would do the same. I have told you all that I know, and there is nothing else I can reveal to you at this time. If Sunset should die before Serenade is destroyed, write to me right away, I will send the best soldiers I have to personally finish her off. I will not allow Serenade to destroy your world, but I have to abide by the laws set forth in my own world. That was the compromise that was made.

I wish you nothing but the best and do know that the hatred is not mutual. I have no negative feelings toward you, and I hope your family is doing well during this difficult time. While there is little I can do now, know that I am rooting for your success. Put your faith in Sunset, I did. She came through for us, and I’m sure she will come through for you too, don’t count her out yet. That girl is capable of remarkable things.

I have witnessed so much from her that is beyond belief, so much that you could not even begin to imagine. Her abilities are incredible, and when she is determined, there is little she can’t do. Sunset Shimmer will be the one to kill Serenade, that much I am positive of. The time is almost upon us.

Take care of yourself, and be safe. I am sure I will hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

Princess Twilight

Twilight slammed the book closed in anger. She couldn’t believe what she had just read. The Princess’ response felt incredibly tone-deaf to her. She would only take action after it was too late? Twilight threw the book across the room in annoyance and pressed her temples.

She realized that what she feared was exactly the scenario they were all in: everything was going to fall on Sunset Shimmer. If Sunset didn’t succeed, they were all screwed. By the time the Princess sent help, it would likely be far too late. The fate of the human world now rested on Twilight’s wife.

She sighed and leaned back and rested her head upon her pillow as she closed her eyes. All she could do now was put her faith in Sunset, it was the only option she was given after all.

Twilight knew Sunset was capable, but she wished the weight of the world didn’t always seem to fall on her wife’s shoulders.

“It’s up to you, Sunset… I’m sorry, I tried…” Twilight whispered to herself.

Doctor Chem Burn was documenting his recent work as he prepared for his upcoming encounter. Serenade had instructed him to do away with Horizon and her friends as carefully as possible, and she was expecting to see results soon. She wanted at least two of them dead by the end of the week, and he intended to oblige.

The doctor had been working on a few items that would make that task easier, and he knew that the facility itself that he was working in would aid in that. He had taken over a place near the water that had been abandoned years ago. Part of the facility went below the water level as it was used for research on the nearby ocean back when it was in operation, but now it sat there empty.

His plan involved luring them to him, so he would have a home-field advantage, as he could utilize the facility in a way that would give him the best outcome.

The Doctor was jotting down the information he had learned today so he could keep records.

The serum seems to be working, as the subjects I have tested it upon have all had the desired results. The effects appear to be temporary, lasting around eight hours before subjects would revert back to their original state. Prolonged testing shows that subjects don’t appear to sustain any adverse effects. This is a drastic improvement over earlier versions which suffered severe long-term disfigurements, or death in some cases.

I would say that the serum is ready to be utilized, and just in time too. Lord Serenade wants to see some results very soon, and I am ready to deliver them. Those kids will be the perfect final test, I might make one or two of them into personal test subjects later for other inventions I’ve been working on if Lord Serenade allows it.

Doing some research on them, I am certain that I need to approach this carefully. The one they call “Jasper” is exceptionally strong with access to his magical abilities. Therefore, it is my highest priority to ensure he is incapable of causing problems with my plan. I would simply kill him, but I am eager to see if he could be experimented on to find a way to utilize his strength for a potential future invention, so the current plan is to subdue and capture him, using him as bait for the others.

While capturing Horizon first would be ideal, she will prove to be exceptionally more difficult. She knows she is a target to Serenade after stealing part of the amulet, and with her mother, Sunset Shimmer around, she’ll be far too guarded. A direct encounter with the two of them would be suicide, especially if done on their terms.

Fire is Sunset’s strongest element, and while she can wield light, it is far from as powerful. This is why I have made the decision to focus on the utilization of water. It serves the double benefit of neutralizing Sunset’s strongest element, while also making it challenging for all of the others as well. Water will drastically reduce their speed, and combat abilities, not to mention they can’t breathe under it.

If I can make sure the battlefield is water, I am almost ensured victory. The plan is to dispose of the one who killed Lightning Dust first, then his brother to ensure he won’t try to avenge him. Once those two are out of the way, and with Jasper as my hostage, picking off the rest of them will be child’s play. Eight Ball said he wanted a few left to him, which I have no problem with, but he certainly is a weird one. He seems only interested in games and how he can make this endeavor “fun”, something I can’t wrap my head around.

His loyalty is questionable at best in my eyes, as I can’t see how he could be seen as “dedicated” to the cause when his primary motivator is simply personal amusement. I am aiming to change science and push the boundaries of what we understand about the universe, and he’s out playing games! We are hardly even comparable, but regardless he is one of Serenade’s most trusted servants.

The only one who stands higher than him is Arax. Now there is a character that I can’t get a read on. Arax is always with her, and she seems to be affectionate to him even. I have seen at least a few occasions where she went out of her way to protect him, which is odd behavior for a siren. Sirens usually don’t engage in romance or sexual activity, but I’m not sure what’s going on with the two of them. If she does love him, it’s definitely abnormal, but it’s hard to say.

Arax still acts cold and distant toward her, regardless of how she acts though, so perhaps it’s just an act, or she merely shows favoritism toward him for being the most loyal? Who can really say.

Regardless of what he is to her, at least he doesn’t stand in my way the way that Eight Ball does. Arax rarely questions what I do, and seems to give me free reign to run my experiments, unlike Eight who is constantly checking up on me and giving me orders.

I am hoping that after I show Serenade the results she wants, she’ll consider telling her lapdog to back off and allow me to work in silence. It would be nice to finally get something done without him poking his annoying nose in it.

I’ve watched the schedule of that Jasper kid for a while now, and I think I know the perfect time to grab him. I should have him within the holding facility within the next few hours and then I can begin executing the rest of my plan.

As always, I am going to save this journal entry in the hidden safe so that Eight Ball keeps out of them. I shall report my findings after the plan has succeeded to Serenade.

Putting his pen down, Chem looked up at the clock checking the time. It was 8:08 AM, and that meant it was almost time to begin. He quickly scrounged together all of the papers he had been writing and stacked them together neatly. He grinned as he grabbed a box of syringes and a nearby tranquilizer gun.

“It’s show time…” He smirked.

Jasper parked his car and stepped out and placed his hands in his pockets. He had a routine of trying to make time to go for a walk through the nearby wooded area close to his home. Lately, he hadn’t had as much time with all the of things going on, but he liked routine and wanted to try and return to that if not just a little bit.

He walked slowly and his thoughts raced. Horizon was one of his oldest friends, and right now she was going through perhaps the most difficult time of her life. Her mother had just resurfaced after disappearing for eight years, but she turned out to be part demon and was on death’s door.

Jasper could tell it was bothering her, but he didn’t know how to comfort her on the matter. A part of him understood why Sunset did what she did, but he knew he couldn’t truly forgive her for what she did to Horizon. He only vaguely remembered what Sunset was like when he was younger, when she was around back then, she was so doting on Horizon, she was always eager to be by her daughter’s side back then, and even now he could sense she wished to be with her again, but did she even deserve it?

Sunset was to die soon, but Jasper couldn’t help but wonder about what was said prior. If Horizon so chose to, she could save her mother’s life, but it would come at the cost of her own. She could remove the darkness within Sunset, but it was enough to kill Horizon. When the time came, would Horizon watch Sunset die, or would she actually try and stop it?

He wondered but had a feeling he would have an answer to that question very soon.

He sighed and suddenly felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. He glanced over at the source of the pain and saw a syringe-like dart jabbed in him. He blinked and yanked the dart out but was then hit by another. He tried to grab that one, but his body became weak and his eyes became heavy.

He grumbled and collapsed. His eyes closed as he lost consciousness.

Standing over him, Doctor Chem Burn lowered his rifle and placed it on his back as he lifted Jasper from the ground. He smirked as he carried the boy back to his vehicle. He hoisted him into the back seat and then retrieved a pre-written note from the front which he then left inside of Jasper’s truck at the driver’s seat.

I have Jasper.

If you want him back, please go to the location on the back of this letter. I’ll be waiting for you all.

Doctor Chem Burn

Serenade relaxed as Arax wrapped his arms around her. She rested her head against his chest as the two sat there on a bed. The siren closed her eyes contently and spoke softly as she rested with the changeling.

Arax stroked the girl’s hair carefully as Serenade cooed gently. She spoke up and addressed him. “The Doctor captured Jasper, I heard. Applejack’s kid I believe…”

Arax shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Oh? How do you figure?” Serenade questioned.

“He’ll fail. The Doctor might have a few tricks up his sleeve, but those kids are resilient. We’ve seen that they’re able to outperform our minions numerous times…” Arax explained.

Serenade smirked. “Don’t think too highly of the Doctor then?”

Arax scoffed. “He’s a half-rate subordinate. Besides, you never intended to share any power with him in the first place, right? That was the plan all along? Use him for all he’s worth and let those kids kill him off?”

Serenade laughed and nodded happily. “You know me so well… A few of the serums he invented will be of use, but yes, ultimately he’s too much of a risk factor. He will cause too many problems in the long run.”

“So this entire plan was to have the kids kill him?” Arax asked.

She shrugged. “I’m sure he will be able to take a few of them out, which will at least make him useful to us in the short term.”

“And the long term?” Arax asked.

The woman turned to him and smirked, she placed a hand upon his cheek and leaned in to kiss him. After the kiss parted, she spoke in an almost whispered tone. “I wouldn’t worry about that…”

Arax shrugged. “I guess it really doesn’t matter does it?”

Serenade grinned. “Now you’re getting it…”

Bolt placed the letter that he had found in Jasper’s car on the living room table of Horizon’s home. The group gathered around and glanced at it trying to make sense of what was going on.

“He wants us to go to where he is to get Jasper back…” Bolt explained.

Horizon held up a finger and offered her suggestion. “We should all go together.”

Bolt shook his head. “That would be a bad idea. I’m pretty sure this is a trap, and we have to be realistic about this…”

“What do you mean?” Yuna chimed in.

Bolt leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms as he let his thoughts out. “Realistically, an encounter with Serenade is coming soon. We won’t be able to avoid fighting her in the end, and Horizon and Sunset might be the best chance we have at beating her… We lose either of them, and I don’t think we stand a chance…”

“You really think so?” Thorn tilted her head.

Bolt frowned. “Yeah, I’m getting that feeling more and more as time goes by. Serenade is trying to run out the clock so that Sunset won’t be around because I’m pretty sure that Serenade has figured out that Sunset is going to be dead soon. That means Sunset will have to start acting more boldly; speeding up their encounter… We need to be ready for that…”

Horizon thought it over and nodded in agreement. “Alright, so what is the plan?”

Leaning back toward the table, Bolt grabbed a nearby pen and scribbled on the paper, drawing a crude picture of himself. “I’ll go in, and free Jasper…” He began doodling Jasper, “When he’s free, we team up and beat this Doctor into a pulp…”

Cloud stood up. “I’m going with you.”

“No way.” Bolt shook his head.

“I have healing magic, plus this place is near water, my specialty.” Cloud protested.

Bolt locked eyes with his brother and the two were silent for a few seconds before Bolt’s expression softened. “Fine… We go together.”

“If you two don’t come back, we will send backup after some time has passed…” Horizon stated.

Bolt nodded. “Alright, so it’s decided… Let’s go save Jasper and drop Serenade’s number of minions down by one.”

Cloud grabbed his brother’s hand and squeezed. The two both grinned and nodded before releasing their brotherly grip. “Together.” Cloud nodded.

The arrival at the facility was quite strange. The place was far out of the way, closer to the edge of the state, a good few hour drive. Bolt stopped the car and exhaled before he looked over at his brother. “This is it, I have no idea what’s going to happen in there, but I want to tell you now… If anything happens to me… Focus on protecting yourself, okay?”

Cloud blinked in confusion before frowning. “Don’t say things like that… Why are you telling me this now, anyway?”

Bolt looked forward at the facility and sighed. “I try not to show it in front of the others, but I really don’t know what could happen in there. I could die…”

“Why didn’t you say that earlier then?” Cloud asked.

“If I did, Horizon would insist on going herself, and that would put our ace in the hole in danger… If Horizon goes, Sunset will follow, we can’t take that risk right now…” Bolt explained.

Cloud wanted to protest, but he knew that his brother was right. Horizon and Sunset together were likely their best chance at taking Serenade out if it came down to it; still, he didn’t like the idea of his brother risking his life, thus his insistence to go with him.

The two approached the door to the building and entered before Cloud answered as the door closed behind them. “Doesn’t mean I have to like the idea…”

“I’m not asking you to like it…” Bolt replied.

The two glanced around the facility. It had very poor dark lighting and was constructed almost entirely out of metal. Bolt cursed as he realized the situation they were in. “Great… All metal.”

“So?” Cloud blinked.

Bolt glanced back at his brother and pointed to the walls. “This entire place is metal, so using my electricity here is risky. Everything around me is a conductor, so the chance of hurting you or myself is high, I have to be very careful…”

Cloud nodded in agreement as the two came to a ladder that descended down into the facility. Bolt sighed and shook his head as he realized it was the only option they had. “Down we go…” Bolt stated.

A man stood at the pier watching from afar as Bolt and Cloud entered the abandoned facility. A gentle breeze passed by, causing his earrings to jingle slightly as they clacked against each other. Both of his ears were adorned with dangling earrings all shaped like different keys.

Long black hair draped over him, going down to his neck, that looked as though it was rarely groomed. Shining silver eyes watched carefully as Bolt and Cloud were out of sight. He was of average height, and slender-looking, with not too much muscle to him.

Next to him, a young woman standing a good head or so shorter than him grunted in annoyance. She yawned and ran a hand through her long silky, messy black hair and grumbled. Unlike him, she looked a bit more put together, and sported far fewer piercings, having only a single hoop on each ear. Her attire however was similar to the man’s, sporting dark colors and shredded jeans like him.

Around her neck was a large padlock which matched the key necklace around her companion. Her brown eyes glanced over at him and wondered what he was thinking.

“Why don’t we get a better seat to see the action?” She asked.

Her companion remained silent.

Sighing, she rolled her eyes as she stepped closer to the water to get a better view. “You’re about as good of company as a signpost, you know that?”

He crossed his arms and shook his head. “You really need more patience, you know that, Lock?”

Lock was her name, and she knew him only as Key. “Maybe if you’d let me in on what’s going on more…”

Key kept his gaze locked on the facility in the distance. “You’re still learning.”

Lock grumbled and looked back at him as she approached. “I am tired of you just saying that every time as an excuse not to let me in on what’s going on!”

Key looked down at her and placed a hand atop of her head as he locked eyes with the girl. “Lock… You are asking me to teach you what took me eight times as long to learn. You have to have more patience if you want to be an effective observer…”

“Sorry, it’s just I feel like at least if we’re going to do this stuff, we should get front-row seats! Why can’t we do this back at the observation rift? We’d be able to keep a closer eye on what’s going on!” Lock crossed her arms annoyed.

Key smiled gently at the girl and pulled her closer. He placed his fingers upon her chin and lifted her head up so he could lean in and kiss her. She blushed and accepted the kiss before looking away bashfully after they parted. “We can go back after we take care of some things.”

She turned away from him as her face got redder. “You know… You can’t just kiss me every time you want me to shut up…”

He laughed and placed both of his hands on her shoulders as he leaned over her shoulder to whisper while she had her back turned to him. “I would stop if you stopped being so cute…”

Lock couldn’t resist soaking in compliments from him. He was always so doting on her, even if he came off as cold and calculated most of the time.

“Is all of this necessary though? Like do we really have to go through all this effort? I thought so much of this was set in stone…” Lock asked.

Sighing, Key released her and walked past her as he shook his head. “No. Certain things will require gentle pushes from us, and this is one of them. Though if I’m honest, I don’t know how our pushing will change things just yet.”

“Wait, you think this could change the outcome? Like Serenade could win?” Lock’s eyes widened.

Key laughed and smirked. “I guess we won’t know until we return to the observation rift, but yeah, we’re in uncharted territory right now, but it was necessary if we want to see what Horizon will do. The fabrics of this world are getting weaker, and we have to ensure that everyone is where they need to be when the time comes…”

“Why can’t we just do it ourselves?” Lock asked.

The man shook his head in disagreement. “We can’t do that. We’re observers, after all. We can do gentle pushes, but we can not make direct decisions like that. It would upset the order of things.”

Lock sighed, still not quite understanding, but she put her trust in him.

He smiled at her and gestured for him to follow. “Come on, let’s wrap things up so we can get back. I think Bolt and Cloud will give us quite an interesting show. I wonder if either of them will die on us…”

“We can place bets on it?” Lock grinned.

He chuckled and nodded. “Alright, loser gets watch duty?”

“You’re on!”

Reaching the bottom of the ladder, Bolt wiped his brow from the intense heat. It was shockingly hot in the facility. His brother stepped off the ladder and unbuttoned the first two buttons of his shirt. Bolt grumbled and just ripped his shirt off and wrapped it around his waist. His brother blushed and looked away. “I-is that really necessary?”

Bolt removed his beanie and nodded. “Hell yes, it is, it’s so fucking hot down here. What the hell? Is he trying to sweat us out or something?”

Cloud’s lip twitched, but he nodded in agreement. “Yeah, this is messed up… I wonder if there’s a reason for it to be so hot beyond just a deterrent for us? Maybe the guy has some weird fetish for heat or something...”

“We better be on high alert…” Bolt suggested.

Cloud touched his medallion and followed behind his brother. The two kept close to each other as Bolt led. He glanced around the strange facility and wondered what was researched there prior to its abandonment. While it was clear that the Doctor was researching some unscrupulous ideas, Bolt imagined the previous owners were researching something to do with marine biology or something with the ocean.

Coming closer to his brother, Cloud whispered. “This place is pretty big, isn’t it?”

His brother nodded. “Yeah… It’s kind of weird… I wonder what the Doctor needs such a big place for… Then again, I’m not sure we want to find out, right?”

“Hopefully he’s just trying to intimidate us…” Cloud agreed.

“Size matters and all?” Bolt chuckled.

Cloud just rolled his eyes at his brother’s crudeness. It was sometimes impossible to get him to act mature, so Cloud often just kept quiet and let him do his thing.

Cloud followed his brother casually as the two made their way through the obnoxiously large facility. He didn’t know what to expect, but the two would soon know in a matter of seconds.

A light flashed causing both of the boys to shield their eyes. Looking up, Bolt noticed a camera watching them. He grunted in annoyance as he pointed to it. “Guess Serenade has a front-row seat…” Bolt stated as he flipped off the camera.

Cloud sighed and shook his head.

Bolt stuck his tongue out and went to turn around so he could pull his pants down and moon the camera, but suddenly a sharp pain was felt in his chest. He gasped and looked down, noticing some kind of disk had been shot at him, around eight inches across, with sharp talons around it. The talons quickly pierced his skin and locked the device in place.

Bolt fell to his knees and gripped the strange object. Cloud only noticed his brother was hurt seconds later. Quickly he rushed to his side and quickly noticed the strange device. “What the!? Are you alright?” Cloud asked.

Trying to pry the thing off, Bolt panted heavily before realizing it wasn’t going to come off that easily. “What the hell is this thing!?” Bolt asked.

An intercom came on over them with a voice they had never heard before, but they presumed it was the Doctor. “I see you fell into one of my traps.”

“That’s fucked up, relying on tricks? Afraid to face us directly?” Bolt growled.

“There is a difference between fear and stupidity. I would be foolish to not use every tool at my disposal against the two of you. I’m going to kill you both after all…” The Doctor’s voice echoed through the halls.

Bolt tried to rip the device off once again, but it was useless, it was simply in too deep to rip out. “Fuck!”

“I suppose now would be a good time to tell you what you’re in for… That device has a unique chemical that I created in it… Once the timer runs out, it’ll inject it into your body… From there, your heart will stop within seconds…” The Doctor explained.

Bolt looked down at the device and noticed that a timer had appeared on it. That meant that the Doctor could control when the timer started remotely. “Shit… Eight minutes…” Bolt said to his brother.

“What!?” Cloud blinked.

“Let’s make this interesting… I’ll start the timer now and we’ll see what you do… Serenade likes a show, after all, so killing you instantly wouldn’t do much for her. So I am expecting a good performance out of the two of you… If you want to take that thing off, you’ll have to come to me, I’m at the lower levels of the facility, it’s a straight shot from where you are…” The Doctor explained.

“You’re a pathetic coward!” Bolt screeched.

“Enjoy the fun…” The voice stopped after those words and a beep came from the circular device.

Bolt looked down and saw the timer had started. He cursed under his breath as his brother tried to help him up, but Bolt swatted Cloud’s hand away. Instead, he leaned up against a nearby wall and sighed. Looking up at his brother his expression became serious. “Cloud… You need to find Jasper.”

“What about you?” Cloud questioned.

“Leave me here, I’ll only slow you down now…” Bolt instructed.

“I’m not leaving you!” Cloud protested.

Bolt growled. “Listen to me! Jasper is the only one strong enough to take this thing off! I don’t buy that asshole’s word for a second, he won’t remove it. Jasper is our only chance, with his geode, he could easily crush this thing. He’s our only chance of getting it off me, understand?”

Cloud bit her lip, not liking this plan. “But what is… I am not fast enough…?” Cloud asked cautiously.

Bolt smirked. “You better be fast then.”

Cloud wanted to protest this plan, but he quickly realized arguing was only a waste of time at that point, and Bolt already had decided he was going to stay behind and wait for his return with Jasper. Inhaling and exhaling, Cloud nodded in agreement.

“Okay… I’ll do it… Please… Don’t die on me, brother…” Cloud begged.

Bolt gave a thumbs up. “No worries there. Not get going and show this asshole how we do things.”

Cloud nodded and turned to leave, setting a timer on his phone to match the timer on the device so he could keep track of how much longer he had. He began to run at full speed, racing down hallways and descending staircase after staircase. When he got a significant distance away though, he noticed his feet were wet.

Looking down, Cloud could see the entire floor was flooded, and before him was a large chamber completely submerged underwater. It had a stairwell that went around the square room going down a good eight floors or so, but it was all submerged under water.

“Shit…” Cloud cursed.

Standing on the other side of the room on a catwalk above him was a strange-looking man. He grinned as he removed his glasses and tossed them aside. His lab coat covered most of his body, but he didn’t look too impressive, definitely not a fighter.

“You must be Cloud… It’s a pleasure to finally meet you…” The Doctor said.

“Doctor Chem Burn, correct?” Cloud asked.

He nodded. “That I am… And your friend Jasper is locked in this room behind me…” He tapped a door behind him.

Cloud remained silent.

“And the only key for it… Is right here…” He retrieved a key on a chain from his pocket and grinned as he hung the key from a hook on the door that it unlocked. “All you have to do… Is open the door… Simple enough, right?”

Cloud squinted as he watched the key. The doctor removed the key from the hook and grinned before he tossed it into the water below. Cloud watched in horror as the key sank to the bottom. “Fuck!” Cloud cursed.

“Now you just have to go down there and get it…” The Doctor laughed.

Cloud looked up at him and focused his power, making a stream of water into a whip around him, preparing to attack the Doctor.

Chem Burn didn’t seem threatened in the slightest. He laughed and wagged his finger. “Now, now, now… I’m sure you didn’t think I would make it that easy for you…”

Reaching into his pocket, the Doctor produced a vial and wagged it in front of himself to show it off. “It’s time for the final field test… Just a little something I’ve been working on…”

Popping the cork off the top, the Doctor downed the entire vial before discarding it haphazardly. Laughing, he dived forward into the water head first and sunk down.

Cloud blinked, unsure of what to make of what he just witnessed.

Just then, a large tentacle came out of the water swatting at Cloud. He ducked and rolled to avoid it, but another came out and bashed the balcony he was standing on. Cloud realized he wasn’t going to be able to stay above water if he wanted to stand a chance against whatever the Doctor had cooked up for him.

His mind raced back to his mother telling him how to harness the power of water. Her words echoed in his mind.

Focus on water. Focus on breathing and you can breathe under the water…

Doing just that, Cloud channeled his magic into his lungs and dived into the water. Once he began to descend, he finally got a look at what he was actually up against. The Doctor’s entire body had grown exponentially in size, he was now a good dozen times larger, with eight tentacles that thrashed about violently. He had turned into some kind of octopus-like creature with a large spiked maw ready to devour anything that got too close.

Cloud froze for a second until the creature’s tentacle whipped in his direction, trying to grab him. He swam fast enough to avoid it, but now he needed to formulate a plan of attack. There was no way he could get the key and Jasper with a monster like that blocking his path, he needed a way to kill it.

Looking around quickly, he noticed an old harpoon gun was resting on one of the submerged stairwells. It looked as though it still had a few harpoons in a case next to it. It was his best chance.

Cloud began to swim in that direction, but a huge tentacle blocked his way and grabbed his leg. He panicked and struggled punching the tentacle to try and get it to let him go as it began to pull him back toward the mouth. As he drew closer and closer to it, he quickly remembered that his brother had given him a knife.

Reaching into his pocket, Cloud grabbed the blade and flipped it open, stabbing the tentacle over and over. He jabbed the knife into its flesh repeatedly until it finally released him as it groaned in agony. Once he was free, Cloud started kicking as fast as he could to close the distance between himself and the harpoon gun.

Another tentacle came his way, but this time he managed to evade it and with an arm extended, he managed to get his hand on the weapon. Wielding it, he quickly grabbed the case with the spare harpoon, put the strap for it around his body and tightened it so it wouldn’t escape him.

With the weapon in hand, he took aim and shot at the tentacle heading his way. He flinched and pulled the trigger, but the harpoon missed, sailing through the water and hitting nothing. He cursed and dodged the tentacle just narrowly.

Cloud calmed himself, knowing he had to focus if he wanted his harpoons to hit their target. Rainbow mostly trained Bolt in the art of weaponry, but Cloud would be lying if he said he didn’t occasionally hear a tip or two from her when she was coaching Bolt.

Taking a second to compose himself, Cloud retrieved another harpoon from the case and rammed it into the weapon before preparing to fire again. He aimed and waited patiently for the right moment.

Just as a tentacle was about to attack, Cloud released a harpoon. The bladed spear flew through the water, but ultimately hit its target, piercing the tentacle, causing the monster to pull it back in pain.

Not wasting the chance, Cloud quickly reloaded the weapon before the creature had a chance to recover. He swam downward to give himself a better angle. The creature began to follow him, but Cloud could tell that while its tentacles moved quickly and freely, the rest of its body moved far more sluggishly, thus it relied on the length of its tentacles to lure in its prey.

Looking up, Cloud took aim and unleashed another harpoon, hitting the main body. It was a direct hit.

After a quick reload, Cloud continued to swim downward, knowing that it would be most advantageous to be ready to grab the key as fast as possible. The monster clearly wasn’t going to let being hit with a harpoon slow down its chase of Cloud though, as it continued to follow him, whipping every tentacle it had at him, trying all it could to grab him.

Once he had made some distance, Cloud fired another harpoon, hitting it in another one of its tentacles. This time a second tentacle swiped at him before he could reload, causing Cloud to utilize his magic to make the water push himself out of the way.

The moment he was safe again, Cloud reloaded the gun and prepared to fire. A tentacle managed to close the distance between the two and grabbed both of Cloud’s legs. With a yelp of surprise, Cloud felt his entire body begin to be pulled toward the monster, its huge mouth opening revealing dozens of razor-sharp teeth ready to consume him if he didn’t act quickly.

Readying the harpoon, he aimed directly into the mouth and concentrated, knowing he only had a single shot at this. If he missed, it was all over.

Once his target was lined up, he pulled the trigger, and the harpoon sailed out of the weapon and piercing the monster’s mouth. It screeched so loud that Cloud had to cover his ears. The impact had caused black blood to ooze out of the creature which struggled to try and pull the harpoon out to no avail. After a few seconds of suffering, it gave into its wounds. Its body became limp, releasing Cloud as it floated there dead. Cloud tapped one of its tentacles with the harpoon gun, only for it to not move.

Cloud sighed and shook his head. “Sorry… Dinner is cancelled…”

Not wasting any more time, he began to make his way to the bottom, quickly turning on a light on his phone so he could see where the key was. Within seconds of reaching the bottom, he managed to find it and gripped it in his hand tightly. With the key in one hand and the harpoon gun in the other, Cloud looked up and began to swim as furiously as he could to the surface.

Kicking and swinging his arms as fast as they would go, he managed to come back up to the surface and grabbed the railing to pull himself out of the water. He panted lightly before checking his timer. He had just over two minutes left to go, so he had to hurry.

Climbing up a nearby ladder, he came to the locked door and fumbled with the key until he managed to get it inside and unlock it.

Forcing the door open, Cloud quickly called out to Jasper. “Jasper are you in here!?”

Jasper’s voice could be heard from the other side of the small room as he came to a stand. “Cloud? Boy, am I glad to see y’all!”

Cloud shook his head. “There’s no time for that. Come on, we have to move quickly! Bolt is in danger. If we don’t get back to him fast this device that got latched onto him is going to inject him with some kind of chemical, it’s supposed to make his heart stop.”

Jasper blinked in astonishment at that explanation but nodded in agreement to Cloud’s sentiment. “Right, then we can skip the part where I ask you what’s going on. We gotta hurry! Take me to him!”

Cloud nodded back and the two exited the room and made their way back down the ladder, but before they could make their way to the exit, a large tentacle came back out of the water, pulling up the rest of the creature’s body. It opened its maw and screeched at the two. It pulled itself closer to them with its mouth open, ready to devour them.

Thinking fast, Cloud retrieved the final harpoon from the case and instead of loading it into the gun, he wielded it in his hand and began to jab the creature’s open mouth repeatedly. It screeched in agony with each stab, but after eight attacks it fell backward into the water and sank once again. Cloud dropped the harpoon and gestured for Jasper to follow him.

The country teen nodded and the two raced down the hallway that Cloud had arrived through.

“Ain’t never seen y’all so vicious!” Jasper complimented as the two came to a set of stairs that they hastily ascended.

Cloud nodded as he huffed in exhaustion. “I can’t let anything happen to Bolt… He’s my brother, after all…”

“True that!” Jasper said in agreement.

The two managed to get up a few more flights of stairs and were getting closer to where Bolt was located. Cloud’s mind had a million thoughts racing through it, but all of them came to a halt when he heard a sound that he had been dreading. A loud repeated beeping sound was coming from his wrist.

Cloud froze in horror and looked down at his phone, and sure enough, the very thing he had dreaded was being shown. The timer he had set had reached zero.

Cloud fell to his knees and his eyes widened. “No… We’re too late… Bolt is… He’s…”

Jasper blinked before reaching down to grab Cloud’s shoulder. He cleared his throat. “Come on, there might still be time. We can’t give up yet.”

Cloud forced himself up as tears ran down his face. He nodded before wiping his tears and the two continued onward. In his mind, Cloud knew it wasn’t possible, he knew that the Doctor wouldn’t lie about the timer and that his brother was likely dead by now. He had failed, and that was all that he could think about. His brother was counting on him, and he had failed.

Coming down another hallway, Jasper and Cloud burst through the door where Cloud had said Bolt was waiting. He looked against the wall where they had left him and he wasn’t there. Cloud began to panic as he looked around for his brother. “Bolt! Bolt! I’m sorry that I’m late! Please be okay!”

Cloud fell to his knees and tears started pouring out. Jasper frowned and placed a hand on his shoulder. The two were silent until they heard a strained voice from behind the staircase in the room. “Glad you made it…”

Cloud perked up and came to a stand. He and Jasper ran around the stairs and sure enough, Bolt sat there with his back to the wall. He grinned as he saw the two. Looking down, Cloud saw that Bolt had positioned his hand above his heart and kept sending a small electric shock every few seconds. He blinked in astonishment at his ingenuity. “Bolt… You’re alive…”

“Takes more than this to kill me…” Bolt commented.

Jasper crossed his arms and smirked as he nodded. “Well, even I have to admit… You’re a resourceful one…”

Bolt grinned. “Gotta stay alive long enough to beat you, right?”

Jasper chuckled and nodded. “Guess so.”

“I’m glad you’re okay…” Cloud smiled, wiping away his tears.

“Not to ruin the moment… But do you think you could get this thing off of me? I kind of can’t keep my own heart beating forever, you know?” Bolt asked.

“Oh… Right… Jasper, do you think you can remove it?” Cloud pointed to the strange spider-like device mounted to Bolt’s chest.

Leaning down, Jasper examined the thing up close. Paying attention to its design, he nodded. “Yeah, I can get it off. Might take a bit for the chemical in it to wear off though, so he should keep doing what he’s doing for a bit until he feels his heart start to beat again naturally.”

“Then let's get this piece of shit off of me…” Bolt suggested.

Nodding, Jasper touched the geode around his neck. He concentrated on focusing his strength on his hand. Taking a deep breath, the teen grabbed the object and channeled all of his magic into his hand. Carefully, he squeezed it and felt it begin to crumble before finally, it cracked in half. With little effort, Jasper pulled the remains of it off and tossed it aside.

Bolt smiled. “Thanks… You’re a real pal…”

“Don’t mention it…” Jasper nodded.

Bolt looked over at his brother. “So… Is the Doctor dead?”

Cloud rubbed his neck and nodded. “Yeah… I’d say he isn’t coming back.”

“Didn’t know you had it in you… You’re normally a softie…” Bolt commented.

“Have to say, I’m a little impressed too,” Jasper agreed.

Cloud could feel himself blushing. “I… I did what I had to do, that’s all.”

“And you saved the day.” Bolt grinned.

Cloud just nodded and silently accepted the praise. He hated getting violent, as he was more of a healer. Conjuring up some water, he decided to focus on seeing if there was a way to purge the chemical out of Bolt’s body. “Open your mouth.” He instructed.

Bolt did as he was told and allowed the controlled water to enter his body. Cloud closed his eyes as he focused. He moved the water through the body, trying to find traces of the chemical so he could isolate them and pull them out.

Jasper crossed his arms and watched quietly with a smile on his face. He knew that the three of them had just narrowly escaped death, but he was glad that Bolt and Cloud were with him.

Bolt closed his eyes and allowed his brother to work in silence. He was proud of his kid brother, but more importantly, he was glad that he was safe. With the Doctor gone, that meant that Serenade was down one less henchman to do her bidding, and the odds were starting to tip in their favor. He had no idea what was next, but something in him told him that her next minion would likely be far worse though. As vile as the Doctor was, he was certain the worst was yet to come. The worst of Serenade’s minions was just around the corner, and they all knew it.

My estimation is we have about... 4 chapters to go after this, then the epilogue.

As I said before, the final chapter will go live on Dec. 24th, 2023 and the Epilogue on Dec. 25th, 2023. This will mark the end of Shadows, so mark the date.