A Dangerous Encounter: Chapter 9

A Dangerous Encounter: Chapter 11

Daylight came, causing Scylla and the other Dark Gaia members to transform back into "regular" humans. As of last night, they had made a backup plan, and they finally caught up with Shadow, Sonic, and Silver. However, the Dark Gaia pack had stayed five kilometers away from the Sons of Heephis.

Scylla turned to the pack, asking, "Do you want me to cast an illusion over us? No one will know of our existence."

Aite, Adam, Sophia, Ajal, and Diana nodded.

Scylla took a deep breath. She hasn't casted a grouped illusion in a long time, not since...

No, she can't think about that now. Scylla's illusion was soon set over the Dark Gaia pieces. Sweat dripped down Scylla's brow.

"Alpha Scylla, are you okay?" Sophia asked.

Scylla nearly jumped out her human form. "Y-y-yeah, I'm fine. I just...Haven't done this in a long time."

Aite and the others noticed Scylla's condition. Sophia said, "You sure? You're growing pale."

Scylla grit her teeth. "As I said, I haven't done this in a long time."

As they slowly walked closer and closer towards the Ini Pyramid, it started to rain, which was unusual in the desert. Scylla spotted Sonic running towards the pyramid. Scylla chuckled a little, causing her to falter slightly. After the tsunami incident, she expected Sonic to be at least a little traumatized - but she never expected how much it cost him. But part of her insanely enjoyed the revelation that the Sons of Heephis could be suffering as much as the werewolf pack was.

Scylla shoved the unempathetic emotion aside, not wanting to focus on the terrifying parts of her existence.

She could see that Shadow and Silver entered the Ini Pyramid, so Scylla tried to quicken her pace, but she ended up almost collapsing from the energy that was left.

Adam was swift enough to catch Scylla, but Scylla had a droplet of consciousness left to notice a blue blur rushing out of the pyramid.

Scylla passed out, her packmates calling out her name.

In her dreams, she saw two split scene happening at the same time. One of them was Sonic trying to be peaceful with his mother (who was the Soulless we saw in Chapter 3), which eventually turned into a fight against Zielo. The second scene was Shadow and Silver fighting Anna Croi.

Suddenly, in the first scene, Zielo moved out of range of one of Sonic's attacks, causing Sonic to kill his Soulless mother – on accident. Since Scylla was only watching them in the crook of her mind space, she could only watch as Sonic's mother dissolved into ashes. The next moment in the first scene was a blur – Sonic turning Tainted and fighting like a schizophrenic rabid animal, while Zielo dodged every attack and making threats, until finally -

Some Galahs Go On an Inky Mission: Chapter 4

Third Person POV

"A voice, a soul. The ink speaks to me." The Ink Demon growled.

"Oh yeah? What does it tell you?" Alinta replied sarcastically.

"It whispers your secrets."

Alinta's eye twitched while Audra squeaked in fear and hid behind Alinta. Alinta pretended that she didn't notice, while deep down she liked being relied on to protect her little crush. Alinta muttered in response to the thing the Ink Demon said, "Well, crap. Didn't expect that to happen so soon." They kept walking. Alinta and Audra go through a vent.

While they were in the vent, the Ink Demon asked, "Who are you?"

"Don't answer that question." Alinta hissed, covering Audra's mouth. "It's a trap. If it knows your name, it'll try to kill us faster." Audra nodded, and they kept moving.

"Tell me your sweet name, that I may devour it."

"Heavens, no. I'd rather keep my soul, thank you." The two teens got out of the vent, entering a room with another hall downstairs. As Alinta and Audra quickly entered the hall, the lights flickered. "Oh, that's nice. That's not creepy at all." Alinta said sarcastically. They went down the hallway and Audra attempted to pull the switch as Alinta leaned against the door. Suddenly, the Ink Demon showed up. Alinta and Audra start to panic as they tried to do their current task. "Audra, hurry up and open the goddamn door!" Alinta shouted.

"I'm trying!" Audra replied in earnest. She pulled down the switch and ran towards the door. Alinta got in first; Audra second. They slammed the door on the Ink Demon's hand, and watched nervously as it slithered away. Audra looks at Alinta and asked, "Is that..."

"Yes, it is the Ink Demon." Alinta whispers. "Come on, let's go get those pictures."

Eventually (after searching around and hiding), Audra and Alinta found all the pictures and quickly returned to the room. As soon as they finished putting the canvases, however, the Lost One attacked. Audra and Alinta quickly took it down and ran into the hall. Alinta picked up a note, read it, and set it down. "Well, that explains it." They moved on.

Soon, they reached a room with a few projectors. Audra turned one on, and it showed a few pictures of Bendy with a flower. Audra said, "Aww, it's Bendy!! He's so adorable! But it makes me wish that Bendy was still around."

"Oh, he's still around." Alinta muttered under her breath.

"Huh?"

"Nothing."

"Suspicious..." Audra looked at the projectors in the glass window, then at the pictures being projected. She got an idea. "Alinta, be the lookout. I'm going to try something."

Alinta said, "Okay."

Audra ran into the room and looked at the screens. "Okay, so... what's the context of this?" She looked around and saw the audio device from the whole...thing. She shuddered and cautiously walked towards it.

Five seconds later...

Audra's finally unlocked the code. It was 2-3-5. She entered the code as she shouts, "Alinta!! I've finally unlocked the door!"

Alinta walked over, stretching her arms as she said, "Good. Let's move as quickly so we can avoid the Ink Demon."

They walked through the door and the hall, and entered a room. They read the scrawling. "'She was the fourth'? Of what????" Audra asked.

"My guess is the Butcher Gang." Alinta said. She played the tape. After it was done playing, she said, "Welp, I'm right."

"Uhhh, the Ghost Girl is gone." Audra says nervously.

"I'm sorry, WHAT?"

"Yeah, um, I opened the crate and saw the terror the ghost is, and when I looked away for a second, she was gone."

"...Audra."

"Yeah?"

"You're paying me 100 bucks for this after the mission."

"Dang it!"

The two went through two doors when Carly had happened to swing a dagger at them, forcing them to dodge. "Goddamn son of a bitch!" Alinta cursed.

"Watch your language!" Audra scolded. They opened another door and walked towards the next room.

"Too many rooms to keep track of." Alinta muttered. Audra and Alinta went through a big pipe and entered a hallway. What they found in the room ahead were broken chains.

"Who could have possibly been through here?" Audra asked.

"Kaiso..." Alinta whispered. "We're on her tail."

Audra ended up helping Alinta across the chasm. They went into the next room and went through an empty pipe that led down to the previous floor. "Dang it!" Audra growled.

"Don't worry, I have the portal balls." Alinta said, pulling out a few multicolored balls.

"Nah, let's keep moving." Audra said.

Five minutes later...

The two girls went through Animation Alley and entered a room that said, "They Crawl", and the Ink Demon gurgled, "The deep abyss remembers you."

"What are you doing?" Audra whispers.

"Shush, this'll be useful later. Trust me." Alinta hissed.

The Ink Demon continued, "Alinta and Audra."

"Shhhhiiit. He knows our names now." Alinta cursed as Audra extended her claws.

"Children of the darkness."

"I am, she's not." Alinta said. "Where's Kaiso in this bullshit?"

"I found a code for the door!" Audra yelped, already decoding the combination lock for the door.

Alinta upgraded her wrench as she said, "Great, let's go!" They entered the next room. As Alinta charged the Gent Pipe, she said, "Damn those secure spaces."

As they unlocked the door and walked through the hall, Audra got ahead of Alinta. Five seconds later, she said, "Searchers! Searchers!"

"Wha-How!!!????" Alinta asked. "Run!!"

Alinta and Audra ran for their lives, dodging the Searchers until they reached an open room. The Searchers left them alone, but a Lost One appeared out of the ink. Audra cut it down with a single claw, cutting the Lost One's neck. "We're in the same room!" Audra whined.

However, Alinta had left Audra alone. Alinta was in Animation Alley, killing off the many Lost Ones in the room and in the hall before that.

26 minutes later...

Audra and Alinta entered a hallway that said, "The Keepers See Everything."

"Ha! No, they didn't, otherwise, they'd be on our tail right now." Alinta said. The two girls went down the hall when suddenly:

"Your journey will end as you are consumed into my dark kingdom."

"Is that a threat?" Alinta growled, flames burning off of her back in response to the sentence.

"Here, you will find meaning to your pain!"

"Shut up! You don't know what we've been through!" Audra hissed.

And then the way to the elevators closed. "Motherfu-"

"Don't finish that sentence. We'll go another way into the elevators." Audra promised. Alinta and Audra then entered a lobby called Artist' Rest. It was full of Lost Ones.

"Dangnabbit!" Alinta cursed.

The Slicer jumpscare returned again. "Noooope, we're not doing that again." Audra said, lifting both herself and Alinta into the air with air magic. Audra then got an idea. "Alinta, as soon as I send you down to the switch all the way over there, I'll guard you while you flip the switch and run to a hiding spot. You understand?"

"Okay, let's do this." Alinta agreed.

Audra flew the two over to the other side of the lobby, and dropped Alinta off at the control panel. Audra had then started to create a tornado to suck up all of the Lost Ones, effectively destroying them. Alinta flipped the switch and ran as Audra followed after her with a teleportation device. As soon as they reached a closed off room with a small window. Audra shoved Alinta in with a whisper, "The Ink Demon's back!"

"Shit!" Alinta hissed. "Grab my hand!" Audra grabbed Alinta's hand and got dragged in the room just as the Ink Demon had almost grabbed Audra's leg. But...

A Dangerous Encounter: Chapter 15

With how cloudy and dark this part of the desert is, Scylla was surprised to see even a sliver of the moonlight reflecting off her skin. But her curiosity was cut off as she heard the Soulless scampering toward an old city, which was in ruin ever since the apocalypse started. Realizing that she may have a lead to where Zielo and Sonic may be, Scylla lifted herself up, wincing as her body protested.

Scylla? Aite asked, scaring Scylla enough to have her jump and wince from the movement.

Aite, I thought I told you -

I know, I know, but we heard a scream a couple of hours earlier, and I wanted to make sure you were okay.

I'm fine Aite, I have a lead.

Remember, if you need help, you can always call the pack. Ok?

Fiiiiiiiiiine. But no promises. Scylla cut off her link.

Scylla starts to limp towards the empty city. At the most times she winced from her sore legs, she was in a lot of pain. What she didn't notice was the Soulless coyote trailing her from behind. Such irony that a predator was hunting another predator.

Once Scylla reached the ruins, she looked around, and spotted the coyote. It looked strangely familiar, but it clicked once she drew up a memory. Scylla huffed as a form of amusement. She continued walking as though she didn't know the coyote was there.

But a few seconds later, Scylla was stopped by the coyote, who had a sword in his stomach. She could have sworn he did it to himself earlier, based on how deep and fatal the injury was. "Halt!" The coyote said, "You muzt zee Mazter, az you are not perfect."

Scylla laughed weakly, amused by this form of intimidation. She stopped laughing a few moments later, her eyes blazing with joy and fury as she growled, "Whyyy, if it isn't a demigod, descending from Paradise to mingle with the commoners."

The coyote blinked. "We have a mission; and it iz to serve Mazter!"

Scylla rolled her eyes sarcastically as she smirked. "That was the universe's mission? Oh, I feel simply awful." A crack of thunder filled the air. "Must've slipped my mind."

"That's NO EXCUZE TO DISOBEYING MAZTER!!" The Coyote screeched.

That's what I was afraid of. Scylla thought, before smirking and giving a death glare to the coyote. "Well, it's disgusting to see a Bloodthroat think that they are perfect just because their master is. Such as Zielo, and he is -"

"Perfect?" The coyote suggested.

Scylla shuddered. "No, not perfect. Not since he fell to sin."

"Mazter IS PERFECT!!"

Scylla grimaced at the claim. "No one's perfect, not even the god of whatever you call it. That's a stupid claim." Scylla turned around and limped away.

"Don't turn your back on Mazter!" The coyote howled.

Scylla turned her head slightly, rolling her eyes sarcastically as she purred, "Oh no, Antoine, perhaps you shouldn't turn your back on your values."

Antoine let out a bloodthirsty shriek, diving towards Scylla as she dodged the attack. As a returning move, Scylla scratched the coyote harshly. Feeling her feet getting grabbed by some sort of tentacle, Scylla jumped onto an intact rooftop. She scanned the area below her, already picking up on a few details. First off, the location of the Bloodthroat's mark was on his...ugh, tongue. Blech. Second, Antoine was using some kind of updated version of his illusions. Third, the Bloodthroat was too powerful for Scylla to defeat on her own. At least without the necessary resources to save Antoine's soul. So, Scylla made the only choice she could make without bloodshed.

Scylla retreated, quickly and weakly teleporting to the submerged Angel Island.

A Dangerous Encounter: Chapter 4

The world seemed to dive down with Scylla, as she narrowed her focus on the magically immobilized hedgehogs, which they were currently falling to their deaths. As Scylla got closer to the three hedgehogs, Scylla heard Sonic shout, "Silver, use your mind powers to stop us from falling!"

Scylla heard inaudible mutters from Silver about his head hurting and something about the fact that he can't use his telekinesis.

Scylla got close enough to see the blue hedgehog roll his emerald-green eyes and demand the black hedgehog - called Shadow - to do something.

"I'm trying! I just need to -" Shadow started, but Sonic starts to panic as the three hedgehogs starts to reach a midway point of falling. Only panicking a little due to the life-or-death situation, Scylla got behind Shadow and gently nudged his leg, just enough that his rocket shoes activated.

Stopping the spell Zielo had put onto Silver, Sonic, and Shadow, the three hedgehogs curled and crashed into a burned, destroyed building of Tin-Can.

Scylla was relieved to see that the young gods were going to be alright. So, she stopped diving towards Tin-Can. Looking at the wasteland, Scylla felt her heart drop in sorrow.

Scylla managed to chirp, "I'll miss your bright spark, Tin-Can."

She was about to fly off when Scylla spotted violet lights heading towards the crash site. She knew something was off instantly. Scylla dived down, keeping an eye on her surroundings. On the southern side of the wasteland, Scylla could see that the water was starting to disappear from the shore of the nearby beach. She'd have to hurry if she wants everyone else to get away quickly.

Scylla put more strain on herself to make the dive to the crash site quicker. As the sound of arguing reached Scylla's currently-nonexistent ears, she made a sharp upwards turn, to a perch high enough to allow her to see the situation at hand.

Three familiar-looking Mobians snuck up on Sonic, Silver, and Shadow, and quickly got into a fight with the young gods. Scylla could see only Shadow and Silver warding off a red echidna - Knuckles, Scylla remembered - and a yellow fox with two tails - Miles "Tails" Prower, Scylla knew, based off the gossip that went around two years ago. But she didn't really see Sonic throwing any punches and was very confused.

At least, until Scylla saw who was trying to hit Sonic's head off with a violet hammer.

Amy Rose - Owner of Vicky's - was swinging her disfigured, violet, magic-based hammer at the blue hedgehog. Scylla was tempted to help, but with the quickly approaching tsunami, she'd need to leave the area as soon as possible.

She heard a faint sentence from a few miles away.

"You have no soul."

Scylla stopped herself from trying to peck whoever said it, because deep down, Scylla knew the sentence was true. Born half-Exe and half-Assimilated, Scylla never had a true soul in her entire life. Even if she tried to deny it, tried to be "emotional," Scylla can never be a living being.

Her mind swirled with the insults and names Scylla had been called in her life.

"Monster."

"Undead being!"

"DEMON!!"

"KILLER!"

Eyes brimming with tears, Scylla flew into the sky, only to see Angel Island fall into the ocean.

"NOOOO!" Scylla shrieked, watching in horror as the foreseen tsunami trampled and rushed towards the wastelands of what was once the town of Tin-Can, heading towards...Sonic and Amy.

Scylla started to dive towards the couple, praying that they haven't been washed out yet.

A Dangerous Encounter: Chapter 6

All Scylla could remember was the blinding light on the water, the three hedgehogs laying on the ground, and Scylla herself being slammed into a tree from the force of the explosion. Scylla's magenta eyes slowly closed as she felt the white-hot pain rock itself into her core.

Several hours later, Scylla opened her violet eyes to see that Silver, Shadow, Sonic, Zielo, and the blinding light were gone. Panicking and worried that Zielo could have taken the younger gods to his lair, Scylla jumped to her feet, only to wince in pain as her sore body protested.

Scylla started to run west to try to find Sonic, Silver and Shadow. Scylla's mind swirled with worried thoughts as she checked every tree, lake, rock, and bush where the three hedgehogs could have hidden near.

Suddenly, Scylla heard the thoughts transmitted between Shadow, Sonic, and Silver. Scylla stopped searching for the hedgehogs, because she felt how far away they were.

Scylla closed off the hedgehogs' transmissions and thought to herself, "Well, I can't reach them, so it's only fair that I leave."

As Scylla turned her back and transformed into a pale-skinned, green-eyed, blonde-haired woman with wolf ears and tail, five wolf-looking Dark Gaia creatures rose out of the ground and awaited Scylla's directions. Scylla looked at the Dark Gaia wolves and understood what had happened. She looked at the starlit sky and whispered, "Thank you, Dark Gaia."

So, Scylla and the wolves stalked off into the night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two days later, Scylla had changed her appearance. She has ruby-red eyes, black skin, and strawberry-blonde hair.

Scylla had her bow and arrow stretched into a potential firing position, aimed on what was called a Soulless. Apparently, according to the information she had learned from SOMEBODY'S thoughts (not naming who), a Soulless is a slave of Zielo, with half a soul left in their body. The other half of the Soulless' soul is kept inside Zielo. The half of the soul in Soulless' body rots away, and the Soulless knows it. There are three stages of being a Soulless and how much time you have to "save" them.

The First Stage of being a Soulless - Its' soul is just starting to rot away, and you have a somewhat medium-sized time window to save the other half of the Soulless' soul.

The Second Stage of a Soulless - Their soul is halfway rotted, and there is a smaller time window to save it.

The Third Stage Soulless - They can't be saved. The only way to end their suffering is to destroy them and their mark.

But there's a catch to saving a Soulless - You have to make a deal with the Dark God, which is Zielo, who somehow keeps every Soulless' soul in himself.

Scylla fired her fiery arrow, hitting the Soulless in their mark.

A voice with a French accent spoke behind Scylla, saying, "Alright, it iz time to go to Paradise."

A Dangerous Encounter: Chapter 5

Speeding closer, Scylla can see that Amy and Sonic were okay. Scylla slowed her speed, turning to see that the tsunami broke though the barrier between Tin-Can and was headed directly towards Sonic and Amy. Scylla flew ten feet higher in the air, just to be safe.

Amy jumped to higher ground, while Sonic, for some reason, didn't seem to jump for some reason. Scylla cocked her head to see better, and saw Sonic's slightly pained expression and look of realization. Sonic turned around to face Amy.

Sonic said, "A-Amy, I... I..." He took a deep breath. "Amy, I lo-" And just like that, Sonic was engulfed in the tsunami. Scylla nearly gasped, while Amy looked on with an emotionless face, and took off.

Scylla dove into the water, not caring if she drowned trying to save the hedgehog.

Not even twenty minutes later, the water shot Scylla out.

Scylla became a raven-winged woman, with copper skin, magenta eyes, and blond hair. Out of the corner of her eye, Scylla can see Silver and Shadow dragging Sonic out of the water. And the smell of hedgehog blood was going to make Scylla's mouth water. But that didn't matter, because a large water monster formed out of the newly-formed lake.

Scylla sensed that Zielo was behind this, and growled at the monster in front of her. The water monster roared at the three hedgehogs, attacking Shadow, Sonic, and Silver with watery tentacles.

Scylla screeched like a harpy at this, throwing a Chaos Spear at the water monster in a rage. Flying five kilometers high in the sky, Scylla threw Chaos Spears like an animal, boiling the water wherever the Spears hit. Scylla didn't see anything but the water monster. She wanted to destroy it. She wanted to ruin whatever life it had left. She wanted to -

The water creature exploded, the force sending Scylla flying into a sharp branch. She felt the wound with her hand, and felt an ice-cold liquid. Scylla looked at her hand and saw her signature black blood. Cursing herself, she removed herself from the branch and flew to the skies, away from where she could potentially be found.

Scylla saw her blood dripping from her wing, a sign that the puncture wound was deep. Scylla spotted some dark violet lights, a yellow zigzag, and a mountain thrown onto the land. It made Scylla shiver. She wasn't sure what happened, but she doesn't want to go near THAT ever again.

Three screams ended the predicament. Scylla recognized those voices like a dark angel would.

Scylla tried speaking, but it felt like a hundred mites closed off her lungs, making it hard to breathe. Scylla dove down to the ground, trying her best to breathe normally as the panic engulfed her mind.

When she reached land, Scylla made sure to carefully hide behind a tree, because she felt Zielo's presence.

Transforming into a black wolf, Scylla snuck closer to the hedgehogs. Scylla's tail felt like lightning, swirling and crackling as the puncture wound healed.

Zielo used his telekinesis to lift Sonic, Silver, and Shadow off the ground. Scylla's head felt like bones, so she barely could hear anything the gray hedgehog was saying.

But as soon as Zielo opened his mouth and started to try absorbing the three hedgehogs' souls, Scylla snapped out of it and ran to take their place instead.

BOOOOOOM!

Some Galahs Go On An Inky Mission: Chapter 8

Third Person POV

"Behold!" Lord Amok announced as Audra and Alinta entered the room. "The Stranger is upon us. Kill them."

"Wait what?"

"Shit-"

"Kill them now."

"No-"

"Fuck!" This was a short battle, allowing the two Lost Ones to die with one hit, while the ruler two hits. Alinta glared at the corpses, glowing with a pale blue light. She growled, "Pathetic creatures." With a burst of moonlight,  the corpses were disintegrated.

Audra gulped. "Crap - Um, Alinta, isn't the entire kingdom we're in going to, I don't know, KILL US for this?"

"Behold! The new King Amok!"

"...What the Venoma?" Audra asked as Alinta happily took the throne. Audra slowly turned around and marched out of the "throne room" in haste. She was not dealing with it at the moment.

2 minutes later...

Alinta had joined Audra in the escapade when they heard this:

"I see your mind as the truth unfolds."

"You don't see nothin', bitch." Alinta hissed.

"Why...Why him?" Audra muttered as she climbed up the ladder.

"You will accept your fate."

"Ink Demon, when I catch you, Ink Demon..." Alinta started.

"Keep your dang mouth shut before I text Kiui and tell her that you need to go to the FNAF dimension again!" Audra calls out.

"You ain't helping the situation, Audra!" Alinta growled.

"Before the end."

"Oh my gods, shut up!" Alinta and Audra snapped in unison.

6 seconds later...

"Oh my goodness, is that a city?!" Audra asked, running up to the window to look at the city outside.

"Audra...the tiny devil is back." Alinta pointed out.

"It's a gosh-darn city, Alinta!" Audra whispered in awe.

"I know, but -"

Audra looked to her side and saw tiny Bendy sitting on the couch next to her. In response to his cuteness, Audra squealed, hugging Bendy. "It's the tiny boooyyy! Hiii!" She pulled herself out of the hug, pulling in a huge breath before she said, "Look, I'm really, really, reeaallyy sorry about stabbing you with my claw earlier. It was a mistake. I didn't mean to make you cry. Can we be friends?" She held out her hand to shake. Bendy looked into Audra's eyes and then shook her hand. Audra bit back her urges to make cuteness overload sounds.

Alinta sighed. "Fine. But we've gotta get into the city. I think that's where Kaiso is."

Bendy shook his head, making a crying look and hugging Audra tightly. It was at that moment that Audra saw a wound on Bendy's cheek. Audra shook her head. "No, Alinta. I'll look after Bendy. You go into the city." Alinta's eye twitched. She grabbed Audra and Bendy, in which Audra held onto the couch and yelped, "No, we're staying."

"Audra -!"

Two or so minutes later...

At the bottom of the stairs, Alinta had Audra by the tail, rolling her eyes as Audra childishly tried to crawl up the stairs and yell, "You meanie!"

Alinta sighed. She let go of Bendy and told him in a monotone voice, "You go sit down somewhere. I'll handle this." As Bendy happily went to go sit down, Alinta turned to Audra. "YOU'RE NOT A CHILD ANYMORE!!! GROW UP!!!!!"

A Dangerous Encounter: Chapter 1

Scylla Raven sold another handmade voodoo doll to another Mobian customer. It was a normal, boring day in Tin-Can, at least until she smelled blood. Fresh Blood.

Scylla's body tensed, fighting the urge to find the reckless person and do something horrible. A blue blur ran past her shop, causing all of the voodoo dolls to fly. Scylla quickly caught all of the merchandise before they hit the floor. As she set the voodoo dolls back in their proper place, Scylla tried to reassure herself that the blood scent and the blur was just the wind.

In her raven's-eye vision, she sees a crack in the ground, seemingly ready to explode. Scylla quickly looks around, quickly spotting another Mobian walking towards the volcanic-looking crack. Without even thinking about what she was about to do, Scylla jumped out of her stall and pushed the Mobian out of the way as the crack exploded, knocking Scylla to the ground.

Time seemed to slow down. Tin-Can was in chaos. Fire engulfed the buildings. Men, women, and children were rushing to evacuate the area. Screams echoed in the air. Too many scents of blood reached Scylla's nose, making her slowly lose her mind. Within the chaos, strangely without anyone else there to notice, Scylla slowly got up, letting her EXE form take over.

Scylla's eyes slowly turned blood red, while black blood spilled out of her eye sockets and dripped down her copper cheeks. Her hair was as black as a new moon. Blood-stained claws grew out of her fingernails. If anyone noticed her now, they'd call her a monster. Scylla's urge to kill someone grew larger, but she ignored it. Now was the time to leave the the scene of destruction. Scylla touched a certain ring on her finger. The Miraculous of Assimilation. She'd promised someone she'd loved that she would keep it safe.

Scylla clenched her fist hard. In the corner of her eye, she saw people standing on the highest hills outside of the town, where the explosions didn't reach them...for now. Smirking, Scylla actually admitted to herself that it was a smart move to head to the hills. A female scream of pain jerked Scylla of her thoughts. Her instincts tracked the scream to the woods nearby. Cursing internally at herself, she ran out of the now-destroyed Tin-Can to find the exact source of the scream.

A specific scent of blood wafted in from the west of where Scylla was in the forest. Scylla turned around, only barely missing a bump against a red blur that had sped from behind Scylla, toward the scent of the blood. Realizing that this streak might bring the EXE to the source of the scent of blood, Scylla tried to follow as quickly as she could without having to fly after the blur. Scylla quickly got lost in a maze of trees and fires.

"Curse this fire!" Scylla distortedly growled as she looked around. "If it weren't for this maze of light, I'd have been able make my way around this blasted forest!"

Transforming into a seemingly normal raven, Scylla flew into the flaming sky, reaching a height higher than the burning forest. Scanning between the flames and trees, she spotted a red light that seemed to shine brightly. Tucking her sleek, black wings against her body and diving towards the harsh glow, Scylla remembered an old quote her adoptive mother used to say countless times, but she refused to acknowledge it.

If Scylla's raven eyes could naturally narrow, they would have been slits by now. Suddenly, the red light disappeared, making Scylla stop diving and open her wings to glide through the air. She silently cursed, but only stopped when she felt a ripple of magical energy in the fabrics of reality. Turning to a floating island - the ONLY floating island in the sky, called Angel Island, Scylla spotted much light on the land, and what feels like blue eyes and purple outlines of people walking on the island like guards.

Mentally raising an eyebrow, Scylla flew to the island to investigate. Her thoughts felt like they were swimming in a bath of honey and matcha tea. Scylla felt the energy around Angel Island were darker than normal, drawing more concern from her than it should've.

Scylla took how her instincts reacted to the island as a red flag. As soon as she landed on the island, Scylla transformed back into a "regular" copper-skinned human, with the intention of investigating the fire.

"What happened here? I thought this island wasn't supposed to be inhabited." Scylla wondered. Dodging falling trees and avoiding the strange Mobians and humans, Scylla eventually saw two hedgehogs getting attacked by these strange creatures. It made her blood boil, so, she made a mistake. She grabbed a Mobian - with cyan eyes and a strange purple mark on their hand - and punched him. Hard. Smelling blood, Scylla shapeshifted into a wolf and went insane, Harming the humans and Mobians acting strange enough to be considered a threat.

Then, Scylla was knocked down to the ground by something - or someone.

A Dangerous Encounter: Chapter 21

20 years ago…

The two EXEs laid their baby on the rocky cliff gently, being careful to be quiet and make sure their child stays comfortable. Once the baby is settled, the female EXE kissed the baby on the forehead, whispering, "My bittersweet baby, I'm so sorry for leaving you without any parents to support and love you physically, but we will always be there for you physically." The EXE choked on her loving words, tears streaming down her face.

The male EXE held the female close, while stroking the baby's cheek gently but firmly. The male chuckled as the baby attempted to bite his hand off, murmuring, "My fierce and beautiful daughter, always be watchful and strong even in the most hopeless moments. We love you so much, Scylla." He slowly took his wife's wrists and asked her, "Are you ready, Diamond?"

Diamond nodded, "I'm ready, Quartz." The two EXEs shapeshifted into diamond-clear and quartz-black ravens, flying into their very last battle in the sky. Baby Scylla wailed for hours, the screams growing loud as a huge blast took out many EXEs in the sky, including her parents.

It was only moments after her parents died that a goddess took the baby EXE under her wing. Her name, Scylla later learned, was Helias.

Scylla would remember the traumatizing moment forever.

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Present day…

"Sophia!" Scylla shouted, a hint of fear flashing in her expression. That fear soon turned into anger, allowing her to fiercely spit, "Let her go, Zielo!"

Zielo chuckled. "Or else what?"

Scylla hissed, "Don't test me."

Zielo inspected Sophia closely, watching as she struggled to escape his grip. Zielo looks at Scylla, who was about ready to burn the god down. "How about a deal?" Zielo asked. "Your friend will be free, and in exchange, you become my slave."

"Don't listen to him! Run, Scylla!" Sophia pleaded, letting out a pained strangled sound and Zielo tightened his grip on her. Dang, the caring traits of werewolves are sometimes a bad trait in a dangerous situation.

Scylla thought about it. "How do I know that you're not going to break that deal? If anything, you could break her in half as soon as I start walking to seal the contract." Zielo squeezes Sophia's neck, making Sophia squeak in pain. Scylla jumped at the sound, raising her hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, fine! I give myself up! Just… Don't do anything to her."

Zielo let Sophia go, allowing her to leave as Scylla lowered her head slightly, secretly planning something under her somber expression.

So, what is she planning?

An Apocalyptic Christmas

(Author's Note: I'm sorry to anyone that don't celebrate Christmas, I don't know very much about Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and other holidays that many cultures enjoy during December. I promise to make a holiday-related story every December. Happy Holidays!)

"Hey, Scylla?" Sophia asked, startling Scylla out of her thoughtful gaze at the falling snow.

"What's up, Sophia?" Scylla asked. Sophia seemed both nervous and excited, as she showed Scylla an old poster, filled with scribbled-out words and pictures. All but one word: Christmas.

"What's Christmas?" Sophia wondered.

Scylla took the poster and chuckled. "Oh, it's my favorite holiday. Usually there's decorations, presents, caroling -" Scylla paused, sighing as she looked at Sophia. "But obviously, not in this universe. Here, there's nothing but a wasteland." Scylla looks at the snow. "I used to enjoy celebrating it, but once my adoptive mother died, I had no longer the privileges of honoring the holiday, besides opening gifts." Sophia had tuned out Scylla's words at this point, making a snowball. Once Sophia was done, she threw the snowball at Scylla, who dodged and laughed. "You'd have to do better than that." she said.

Sophia growled in fake frustration. "Oh, you're so ON!" she laughed, rolling up multiple snowballs and throwing them at her opponent.

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"Hey Scylls?" Adam asked, peeking through the watch post's door.

"Come in." Scylla answered, not turning around as she mapped out some areas of Mobius.

Adam creeped in, being sure to shut the door so the cold wouldn't sneak inside. "So, uh, while you were working, Sophia told us about the whole... Chrysler holiday -"

"It's called Christmas, but go on with what you were saying." Scylla clarified.

"Oh, so, as what I was saying, Sophia was telling us about Christmas, and then Aite got this brilliant idea to make some snow angels and stuff -" Scylla turned around, a puzzled look on her face. She gestured to Adam to keep going. He continued, "And now we have a surprise for you." Scylla shrugs.

"Alright, show me. I've done enough work for the day." Scylla replied. Adam led the alpha outside, twisting through many piles of snow and trudging through more than ten miles of snow, and after about....six hours of walking through the snowy parts of the desert, Adam and Scylla reached a tree sparkling with twinkling light spells, colored royal violet and cobalt blue. Underneath the tree was Sophia, Aite, Ajal, and Diana with faded choir lyrics. Scylla stared in wonder, her eyes sparkling with childish delight as memories of past years of Christmases flashed through her mind. Adam eventually had to ask Scylla if she was okay, to which she looked at him and replied, "Did...Did you guys do all of this? For me?"

Adam smiled, saying, "Of course! We wanted to celebrate Christmas with you. Why would we do this otherwise?"

Scylla brightened, instantly exclaiming, "OH, THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANK -" She took in a deep breath, steeling her emotions as she cleared her throat. She said formally, "I mean, thank you for making this extraordinary surprise for me, I appreciate it." Diana burst out laughing, while the others hid their chuckles. Scylla tilted her head slightly, confused when she asked, "What?"

"I-It's nothing, I promise." Aite stuttered as Diana died on the snow, laughing herself to the point of wheezing. Scylla shrugged, thinking about how the gesture of kindness was extremely sweet, but unnecessary, due to the fact that there was a current apocalypse going on! 

"Let's get straight to the caroling!" Sophia cheered.

"Caroling? But there's going to be Soulless around anytime soon, so we need to -" Scylla protested.

"It's fine, Scylla. We've got this, really!" Ajal deflected, waving the worried EXE to a seat.

"Okay..." Scylla said nervously.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

"I TOLD YOU!!!" Scylla shouted as she burned down the area with violet flames. They had gotten into a fight with a group of Soulless a few hours into the caroling.

"I know, I know, but it was worth it!" Aite rolled her eyes. "At least you enjoyed it!"

"Zielo's got a crisis going on." Sophia muttered, causing Ajal to chuckle.

"What's so wrong with this dimension that he has to create semi-sentient zombies?" Diana asked.

Scylla mumbled, "That bastard's got so much wrong in his head, I'm surprised that he can even think through his master plan." The flames extinguished as soon as they reached the snow. Adam rolled his eyes, murmuring something like:

"Where's our heroes when you need them?"

Scylla froze, rushing through the memory of the last time she..."observed" the Sons of Heephis, as to say.  Scylla whipped around, her eyes blazing with a surge of sorrow and a hint of anger as she said, "We don't talk about them. When they come back, THEN we can talk about the Sons of Heephis." Adam gulped, fearful of Scylla. When she gets like this, they don't argue with her, otherwise she'll somehow put the fear of God (pun intended) into the Gaia pack. Adam eventually nodded his agreement.

"Adam, you knew better than to mention them in front of the Gaia leader." Ajal hissed.

"It was a slip up! I promise!" Adam protested.

Scylla starts to walk away, Diana and Aite following as Sophia called out, "OI! YA BETTER GET A MOVE ON, OR YUR GONNA BE LEFT ALONE TOGETHER!!!" She turned and ran to catch up with the others, Adam and Ajal following behind soon afterwards.

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A flurry of gifts were given in a matter of minutes.

It's Christmas, so there was a lot of drama. No peace was found as Scylla broke up what she had felt was a hundred fights within the past few hours. It was that exhausting.

Eventually, it was time for opening presents. What Aite, Ajal, Adam, Diana, and Sophia had gotten made them ecstatic for Scylla opening her present, for some reason. It all made sense when she opened it.

In the gift, Scylla had been given a pair of locket earrings, both bearing engraved images of the Gaia pack. Tearing up, Scylla whispered, "Oh...You didn't have to do this for me."

"We know, but we wanted to." Diana replied.

Scylla wrapped her family in a hug, telepathically hissing gratefully, Thank you so much, but the best gift right now...Is with you.

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"Scyllie?" Young Ashley asked.

Scylla smiled gently, wiping away stray tears from her face. "Yes, Small One?" she wondered.

"Why are you crying?" Ashley said curiously, tilting her head. The kind of tilt that made Scylla laugh even if she was crying.

"I...I just miss your parents, aunts, and uncle, th-that's all." Scylla replied, looking at the Christmas tree in the room, instantly thinking back to the sparkling tree Aite, Adam, Diana, Sophia, and Ajal had created years beforehand.

"Can you tell me what they did during the apocalypse, Alpha?" Ashley pressed, using her bright, pleading, puppy-dog eyes that Scylla rarely ever refused against her.

Scylla chuckled. "Alright, alright, but you need to sit down to hear the story. Can you call in the others?"

"OKAY!" Ashley shouted, speeding through the house to summon the rest of the children.

Once the six children arrived (including Ashley), Scylla sat them all down and began, "Once, during the apocalypse...." She told the Christmas story to the younglings, who, one by one, fell asleep.

It was a peaceful Christmas that year.