Monommy
Chapter 132: Waning
There was an intense sense of unease permeating throughout the safehouse. What once felt like a place of protection against the horrors outside was now feeling more and more like a placebo for a form of safety that has gone extinct. Still, the monomasters and Monommy held strong. CosmoKinmy’s lightspeed bought them some precious time, but there was no certainty it would be enough.
Marcus Lane’s legs were still shaking from the helicopter ride over. Mason Cobb on the other hand was much more used to air evacuations since the True Emergence Event began.
“The good news is we only need ChronoKinmy’s drop now. The bad news is we haven’t heard any reports of where Bestiemy is to get the Drop out of her,” said Ember, slightly shaking the desk she was sitting at by absentmindedly wiggling her leg.
“In theory, we could summon Bestiemy directly to us, if we had its Drop. As part of FIREFIGHT, we modified the Guardiamy Drop to link completely to Deusectomy. Since Bestiemy is based on the same framework as Deusectomy, we should be able to summon it, and then extract the ChronoKinmy Drop from its chassis,” Dr.Lane explained, his eyes scanning the room for a place to sit.
The new arrivals exchanged confused glances as Bytemy pulled a folding chair out from between the food shelves.
“You should probably explain to them what FIREFIGHT was,” said Ember.
After a moment of people tapping at their phones to look up what Dr.Lane refused to explain, Cobb’s voice broke the silence, “Assuming the Soul Restraint Ring won’t interfere with the summoning, It’s not a bad plan. There is a bestiemy Drop, but it’s in Site C.”
“The ring won’t be an issue. That only restricted reincarnation, not summoning. Of course Caulfield wished to be able to retrieve her weapon at a moment’s notice, why restrict that? Site C is an issue though, it is the primary containment facility,” Dr.Lane added.
Cobb continued, “We’ve received no reports about Site C since Caulfield released all the assets… All the prisoners contained within it. Unless one of the escapees took it, there’s a chance the Drop is still there. They’re not capable of travelling very far on their own, right?”
“They’re blobs,” Ember said flatly.
“Chances are it’s still there then. I know Odette is drained from the Evistromy encounter and opening all those portals for the others to come, I can have the helicopter transport some of you to Site C if you’re willing. Make your choice fast though, we have other places that need us.”
One of the newly recruited monomasters, Takashi, stood up and walked over to the desk Ember was sitting at.
“VibraMothmy and I will get it. We should have no problem,” Takashi declared.
“Od and Kane are still out, but I’ll go too,” said Ember, getting out of her chair.
“I-I’ll go too,” said Od, her voice shaking as she struggled to stand. Od was almost trembling under her own weight, her energy was depleted severely. “It’ll be faster to portal there anyways. We don’t know how long we have.”
“You need to rest,” Ember protested.
“Site C is empty, it’s fine,” Od argued.
“It’s not fine, you need-“
“I’m going. It’s safer with portals and I’ll rest when we get back,” Od insisted.
Od looked over her shoulder at the beds in the corner, where Warpmy was sleeping. She was still as can be, but breathing softly.
“She’s recovering for both of us. It’s fine.”
“I’ll go too,” said Kane, struggling to get off the couch.
“Actually,” said Bytemy, “I think it would be best if Kane stayed here to train Maia to do the summoning ritual correctly. If we’re successful in getting ChronoKinmy’s Drop out of Bestiemy, it’ll be time to summon The Grand Mother. We don’t want anything going wrong.”
“I can handle the fighting just fine, you don’t need to worry Kane. Stay here and teach Maia,” said Takashi.
“That said, shouldn’t he come with? Show us around?” Takashi motioned towards Dr.Lane.
“I just got here,” protested Dr.Lane. “Besides, Bytemy and I are busy with maintaining comm networks and looking for Bestiemy. We need all our feelers out there.”
“Yeah, anything to avoid a fight…” Bunpopmy muttered.
“We can fight just fine on our own, Bunpopmy. That said, I wouldn’t mind help. What about Kai and Erin? Are you guys coming with us to Site C?” asked Ember.
Kai and Erin sprang up, ready and eager to get into some action.
“I’m going to be dropping them off on the way to my next safehouse, actually. Have another job for that team. We’re doing our best to mitigate the damage from Chaos-types while you guys go ahead with the Grand Mother plan,” said Cobb.
“I was worried about that,” said a voice from behind them, “I was sitting here thinking what a waste it was to have all these monomasters here when people need us out there.” It was a young woman in her 20s, who Takashi knew as Alysson, but whom the others had never met before. Next to her was a small colourful dinosaur-like Monommy, who all the monomasters recognized as Velocimy.
“How long have you been here?” Takashi asked excitedly. It had been months since they last saw each other.
“Not long, but too long,” said Velocimy. “We gotta get out there and do something, let’s get going already.”
“Alright, great. Nice little team there. Kai, Erin, Tiffany, come over here, I have a mission for you,” said Cobb.
“Alright!” Kai excitedly shouted.
“The rest of you are good to go?”
“Should be.”
“Great,” said Cobb, “here Odette I’ve got a picture of the security room, the containment cell shouldn’t be far from there.”
“Yeah. Great, cool. Thanks dad. Portal time, woo hoo,” Od groaned, swiping her hand through the air.
“Good luck, Odette.”
Everyone could feel the relief she felt every time her father called her by her name. It would have been palpable even if their minds weren’t linked.
A swirling, shining purple vortex appeared before her. Takashi, VibraMothmy, Alysson, and Velocimy quickly hopped in the portal, disappearing as they did so.
Ember put Od’s arm around her shoulder, with Bunpopmy doing the same to the other shoulder.
Od’s tired eyes looked into Ember’s. Ember had a look of concern on her face.
“You sure you’re good to do this?”
Another splash of palpable emotion, this time different.
“They already went through, Em, I gotta, haha” chuckled Od. “I’ll be fine, I can probably stand on my own actually.”
“No, I want to hold you,” said Ember softly. They stared at each other for a moment. “Hold you up,” she added.
“Yeah…”
“Let’s go guys, world to save,” Bunpopmy interjected. Ember and Od smiled at each other, and the three walked through the portal.
They emerged through the other side of the portal to find Takashi and Alysson already examining the security console, sifting through various camera viewpoints for a sign of the Bestiemy Drop.
The air in Site C was cold, and still. It was unlike Ember and Od’s last venture into a Twin Star base: it was eerily quiet. Even the ventilation system was silent.
“Got it, the Drop should be in anomalous lifeform containment,” said Takashi, breaking the silence just as it started to become comfortable.
“Then let’s get there already!” Velocimy exclaimed before disappearing into a green and red blur.
“Sorry about her, she has no patience,” said Alysson before vanishing in the same manner as her partner.
In just a moment, Velocimy and Alysson appeared on the console’s monitors, zipping in and out of each cell.
“I thought there’d be people here. Or at least some chaos-types, maybe a Monommy or two,” said Takashi. “It’s weird how quiet it is.”
“Yeah,” said Ember, “but I’m glad it’s empty. I hope the people being held here were able to escape unharmed.”
“Ah,” said Takashi, looking down. He didn’t have the heart to tell them that the cameras were aimed at human bodies mere moments before Bunpopmy, Ember, and Od stepped through the portal.
“Oh,” said Ember. She heard Takashi’s thoughts.
“I guess we can’t keep secrets anymore, huh?” said Takashi, rubbing his arm nervously.
“Guess not,” said Ember.
Od started to focus her mind on Ember’s, but she found the process too exhausting, and fell limp for a moment. Bunpopmy caught her as she faltered.
“It’s weird, being able to hear other’s thoughts,” said Takashi, “But I have to admit, it’s kind of cool.”
“That’s still happening?” VibraMothmy spoke up, breaking her usually silent demeanor. “I thought that only lasted moments.”
“It’s quieter this time,” Ember explained, “but that last time never ended. It’s permanent now.”
Od’s thought of ‘god I hope not’ echoed through their minds, above the dull static that permeated their inner voices.
“I don’t see any memories this time, do you?” VibraMothmy asked, nudging Bunpopmy with her staff.
“No,” Bunpopmy shook her head. “Not this time.”
A gust of wind blew past them, blowing Ember and Takashi’s hair over their eyes. Od’s hat held strong.
Alysson and Velocimy had returned, and in Alysson’s arms was a small grey Drop. Its body was the shape of a Mama class Drop, but its eyes looked like those of a Mother class’s.
“Got our Drop!” Alysson excitedly declared.
“Nice, an easy win for a change,” said Ember with a smile. “Let’s get it back to-“
“Agh!” VibraMothmy screeched in pain, her wings giving out and collapsing to the ground.
Takashi grabs his chest and falls to his knees.
“What is it, VibraMothmy?” he cries. The pain in his heart is strong.
“Th-the others…”
“I thought they were safe?” Takashi’s eyes grew wide. Not now.
“W-we need to get to them,” said VibraMothmy, getting to her feet.
“We gotta get the Bestiemy Drop back to base,” said Alysson, holding the Bestiemy Drop gently in her hands.
The Bestiemy Drop darted its eyes around the room, taking in the new surroundings.
“Od, how are you feeling? Can you drop a portal?” Takashi asked, seeming desperate.
“I’ve got one in me, as long as it’s not too far. I can get us back to base,” said Od, brushing off Bunpopmy and standing on her own, although with an arm still around Ember.
“Ah,” Takashi said, looking down at VibraMothmy, “We… sort of need to get to the moon.”
“We can just run back to base. It’s not far with superspeed,” said Alysson. Velocimy immediately zips off, running away at blistering speeds.
“Not very patient at all,” said Od.
“Yeah… See you guys at home, good luck,” Alysson said before taking off herself.
“The moon is pretty damn far, Warpmy passed out after opening a portal to Evistromy’s crystal. She can’t make it,” said Ember.
“I understand, there must be another way we can-“
Suddenly, the group found themselves surrounded by darkness, and white dust.
“What the fuck?” said Od, looking around the new environment.
It was silent and dark, with endless white ground. Bunpopmy hopped up, and went higher, and higher, and higher, before finally falling back down. She tripped as she landed.
“How did we get to the moon?”
The telltale whooshing and sparkling sound of a Warpmy portal filled the silent air. When they turned around, Warpmy was standing in front of them.
“Get to bed, Od,” said Warpmy, grabbing Od by the pant leg.
“Shouldn’t you be asleep?”
“I’m good. I suddenly woke up feeling really energized. I can see you didn’t feel it too. I think it was Amalchemy’s doing just before they left. Anyways, get to bed,” said Warpmy flatly, yanking on Od’s leg. She shoved Od through the portal and closed it behind her before turning to the others. “Okay, I’m not fully rejuvenated. I’ve got enough juice to portal us back but that’s it. Are we in for a fight? Cause I can’t.”
“Maybe,” said Takashi, turning to VibraMothmy.
“Definitely,” said VibraMothmy.
“We’ll be fine. Elemental power is strong!” Bunpopmy exclaimed.
“Yeah,” said Ember. “Is Od going to be okay?”
“She’ll be fine,” said Warpmy. “After a good night’s rest both of us should be back to normal. I need to be very clear though, I have no power for fighting. One portal back home, that’s it.”
“Got it.”
“So how are we breathing?” asked Ember.
“It’s a spell cast by Crescemy. There’s a small spot on the moon where the mothmy cocoon is that has a little bubble of breathable air and temperature control,” Takashi explained, then pointed, “that rock over there is the moon cocoon. Let’s go.”
They began to make their way to the moon cocoon, a sense of unease creeping over them. Ember and Takashi stayed quiet, trying their best to ignore the massive, jagged fingers that loomed overhead, covering the horizon as if gripping the moon’s sky.
“Hey Ember, look!” said Bunpopmy excitedly, pointing in the other direction at the tiny blue dot in the distance, “that’s Earth!”
Ember looked at the tiny red dot and immediately the terror took hold, and she felt dizzy and horrified.
“That’s Mars,” she assured herself.
“I thought Evistromy said Mars was gone?”
“Let’s stop talking.”
Takashi could hear Ember’s thoughts. Her worries about the Earth turning to something else from Reklauzolth’s influence. Bunpopmy couldn’t see it, but she could. Takashi kept his eyes firmly pointed toward the moon cocoon. One problem at a time, and he didn’t want to confirm what Ember was thinking.
“Crescemy isn’t here. I sense no divine magic besides the atmosphere spell,” said VibraMothmy as they approached the door to the mothmy hall.
“Before we go in,” said Warpmy, “when I cast the return portal, chances are that I’ll go unconscious. Please carry me through the portal when I do. It’ll close fast.”
“I will,” Ember assured her, smiling. Warpmy smiled back. If there was ever a human she trusted besides Od, it was Ember.
VibraMothmy placed her hand on the door, and the sound of rushing air blew past them as the door’s seal split open.
Slowly the doors slid to the side, revealing the dark hall inside. This wasn’t at all like the other times Takashi had been here. Long gone were the warm lights of the chandelier and sconces lining the walls. The massive dining table was knocked over on its side, and the silken carpets and tapestries were all torn and ruined. A chill blew through the air, something that neither Takashi nor VibraMothmy had ever felt in the mothmy hall.
The team of five slowly walked through the hall, looking over each other’s shoulders for signs of life.
Then, VibraMothmy flew off down the hall, landing down next to a winged body.
The others ran up, Ember cradling Warpmy in her arms, and saw VibraMothmy hunched over the body of SorcerMothmy. Her wand laid on the ground next to her corpse.
“Is she..?” Ember began, deciding not to ask halfway through speaking. Takashi heard her thought anyways.
“She’s dead,” he confirmed.
“But Monommy disappear when they die.”
“Not in the real world,” said Takashi. Ember was confused. She’d seen Mienmy die. Drazaleamy. Others she had seen on the news. They all vanished.
“I should clarify,” said Takashi, “This is what happens to Monommy that haven’t given anyone a Drop. They don’t reincarnate. They just die. Their magic, all gone.”
“I never saw a Monommy die on Frewosz,” said Bunpopmy.
“Monommy never permanently died in the series,” said Ember. “I guess it only happens here.”
VibraMothmy’s antennae perked up, then she flew to the other side of the toppled over table.
“What is it, Vi?” asked Takashi.
“The others.”
Takashi, Ember, Warpmy, and Bunpopmy joined VibraMothmy on the other side. Like she had said, the bodies of the other mothmy Monommy were laid, collapsed on the torn silken carpet, their wings and clothes heavily damaged in combat.
“This isn’t all of them,” said Bunpopmy.
“No,” said VibraMothmy, wiping tears from her eyes. “CuddleMothmy, RazorMothmy, and HypnoMothmy aren’t here.
Takashi breathed a sigh of relief. Ember’s mind was filled with thoughts of two boys, named John and Emet, who must have formed pacts with CuddleMothmy and HypnoMothmy. Takashi was friends with them, it seemed.
Takashi turns to tell VibraMothmy the good news, when she sees that VibraMothmy is hunched over a body… without wings.
The relief in Takashi’s mind immediately turns to panic as he runs to VibraMothmy’s side, falling to his knees next to the body. It was John. Under the body was a cowering little yellow and pink bug-like Drop. CuddleMothmy’s.
Takashi sighed heavily, pulling the Drop out from under his friend’s lifeless body. Tears began to well up in his eyes.
“I’m so sorry,” said Ember. She felt she had to say something.
“Emet and HypnoMothmy weren’t here. RazorMothmy has been missing for months,” said VibraMothmy. “That leaves us.”
CuddleMothmy’s Drop began to glow, and grow, until CuddleMothmy regained her form. She looked around the room in fear, and started to scream.
“It’s okay! We got you, you’re safe!” Ember tried to calm CuddleMothmy down. Newly reincarnated Monommy often panicked when being reborn, and this environment certainly wasn’t helping.
Takashi goes to give CuddleMothmy a hug when she screams again and points behind him.
Takashi and Ember turn around to see what can only be described as the flayed corpse of a Chaos-type.
From one side one might be fooled into thinking it was some sort of tenth mothmy, sporting an antenna, extra arm, and their signature poncho, but see it from any other angle and it would be made apparent that this thing is anything but a Monommy. Its skin flowed through the air like a grotesque flag, its blood splattering every surface it levitated over. Its organs hung out of its flayed open body, glistening in what little light made it through the windows of the moon cocoon’s hall.
Takashi’s sorrow immediately turned to rage, and Ember felt it too. Then VibraMothmy and Bunpopmy felt invigorated by this surge of emotional energy. Without a word, they began a coordinated attack.
Warpmy hid behind the toppled over table as Ember and Takashi vaulted over it. The anomaly swiped its massive flap of skin and muscle, splashing its blood through the air. The blood droplets accelerated in the air and collided with Ember and Takashi, slashing through their skin and leaving bright red scars on their arms and legs.
‘Don’t let its blood get in your wounds’, they both thought immediately, changing their plan of attack.
“Where is it?!” Bunpopmy shouted.
“Attack where I point!” Ember and Takashi replied simultaneously.
The creature lurched forwards and grabbed on to Ember’s face with its damaged and decaying arms. It quickly wrapped its flayed flesh around Ember’s head, cutting off her oxygen supply.
Ember panicked for a moment as she lost her breath before relaxing and pointing at her wrapped head.
Bunpopmy immediately screamed a sonic blast at the monster wrapped around her partner, knocking it as well as Ember into the wall.
Takashi pointed at the anomaly’s constricting body and VibraMothmy let loose a blast of electricity. The creature immediately released Ember, who began gasping for air. Bunpopmy helped her to her feet.
Takashi made an elaborate movement with his hands before launching a flashing beam of icy particles at the recoiling beast.
The creature dodged the ice attack and lunged towards Takashi faster than he could react. It sunk its jagged teeth into Takashi’s chest and he let out a cry of pain.
Bunpopmy and Ember responded with a screech of their own, blasting the anomaly off of Takashi. Its teeth were buried too deeply, however, and Takashi was left with a large chunk of his breast missing.
“BLAST IT WITH ICE AGAIN!” Ember continued to scream her sound-based attack, pinning the creature down with sonic pulses. Bunpopmy followed suit, and the creature was unable to return to its levitating state.
Takashi was having trouble lifting his right arm to perform the necessary spell for an ice blast. Vibration magic, although versatile, is much more complicated than single element spells.
VibraMothmy used her extra set of arms to lift Takashi’s, and the two of them performed a powerful ice spell, freezing the creature to the ground, its arms and flayed flesh encased in solid blue ice.
Just as Bunpopmy and Ember stopped their attack to take a breath, thinking it was safe, the monster’s exposed muscle fibres broke away from its encasement.
It lunged at Ember and wrapped its now shorter flayed flesh around her head, seemingly growing to its original size as it did so.
Takashi pointed with his good arm. VibraMothmy unleashed a fireball this time, scorching the flesh of the creature. It let out a cry of pain, but persisted in strangling Ember.
Ember’s vision and hearing began to fade out.
Her heartbeat increased, then slowed.
Then Bunpopmy punched the creature harder than she’d ever punched before. Had she ever punched before?
The anomaly lost its grip on Ember and she collapsed to the ground, once more gasping for air.
Takashi pointed again. Bunpopmy and VibraMothmy glanced at Takashi, then unleashed a powerful pulse of sound and flame into the creature. It collapsed in the corner.
“We should get out of here,” said Takashi as he noticed Ember getting to her feet.
“Blast it with ice again. Colder this time,” Ember said through panting breaths. “I need it to be still.
“Better idea,” said VibraMothmy before she unleashed a massive bolt of lightning towards the creature. It convulsed and contorted on the ground, thrashing around, leaving scars and dents in the walls and floor.
Ember sprang to action, running towards the monster, ready to deal a finishing blow.
Then the creature stopped convulsing, as it wasn’t harmed. It opened its mouth wide to bite onto Ember, but Ember screamed at the floor, propelling herself upwards.
With the moon’s low gravity, she ‘landed’ on the roof for a split second, then kicked off it to plant her fist firmly in the creature’s splintered ribs, striking directly at where its heart would be, but instead colliding with its spine.
The creature fell backwards for a moment, then bit into Ember’s leg. Ember began unleashing a series of sonic yelps at the creature’s head, but it seemed to have little effect. Ember pointed at her leg, and Bunpopmy rushed over and started to attempt to pull the creature off of Ember.
Takashi pointed at the creature and VibraMothmy pelted it with a solid chunk of ice, cracking its exposed skull and freeing Ember’s leg from its jaws. VibraMothmy quickly flew to Takashi’s side, held up his arm again, and the two partners unleashed a blizzard of freezing ice particles at the monster, this time completely encasing it in an even darker blue ice.
“Okay. Now we should get going,” said Takashi after taking a moment to ensure that the anomaly wasn’t about to break free just yet.
“In a sec,” said Ember coldly. She approached the frozen creature, seeing it convulsing and twitching under the ice. It was still trying to escape.
“C’mon, Ember,” Bunpopmy added.
Ember pulled her voice into an almost embarrassing falsetto, then at the top of her lungs unleashed an incredibly shrill and high pitched scream. This produced tiny repeated pulses of sound magic, focussed down into a fine spiral like a drill. Using her voice, she drilled into the ice until there was a small gap. The creature used this opportunity to yell out a scream of its own. As it hollered, Ember took a deep breath, aimed at the creature’s slightly exposed mouth, and screamed as loud as she could, “FUCK YOU!”
The sonic waves immediately filled the creature’s exposed lungs, popping them and shattering the ice. The resulting shrapnel flew through the air along with assorted bits and pieces of the now defeated anomaly.
Ember took a moment to catch her breath, then looked to her allies.
Warpmy poked her head up from behind the toppled table. “Is it safe now?” CuddleMothmy continued to hide.
Takashi turned to Warpmy and saw through the window behind her. “Ember, the window.” She didn’t need to hear him say it to know what was there.
The team peered outside the windows the humans seeing several more of the same anomaly they just fought appearing over the lunar horizon. The Monommy saw nothing, and this scared them just the same.
“I’m not doing that again,” said Takashi, clutching his wound tightly to stop the bleeding.
“Y-yeah,” Ember agreed. For a brief moment, she had felt so powerful. Now seeing what they encountered was only a fraction of what slayed the moth Monommy, she suddenly felt weaker than ever.
“Alright, Warpmy. Let’s go home,” said Ember as she picked up the hooded Monommy gently.
Warpmy snuggled into Ember’s arms before opening up a portal and passing out.
“It’s safer for you through here,” said VibraMothmy, grabbing CuddleMothmy’s hand.
With Warpmy in hand, Ember, CuddleMothmy, Bunpopmy, Takashi, and VibraMothmy stepped through the portal back home.