Rise Of The Black Ranger

Chapters

Chapter 1 (Rewrite)
Chapter 2 (Rewrite)
Chapter 3 (Rewrite)
Chapter 4 (Rewrite)
Chapter 5 (Rewrite)
Chapter 6 (Rewrite)
Chapter 7 Rewrite
Chapter 9 (Rewrite)
Chapter 10 (Rewrite)
Chapter 11 (Rewrite)
Chapter 12 (Rewrite)
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Prologue (Rewrite)
Chapter 8 (Rewrite)

Chapter 1 (Rewrite)

In a hollow dark space of a cave lay a young boy who wore a dark blue jean vest that had a long sleeve t-shirt under it as he wore slightly worn-out jeans and had long messy black hair as he was on his side asleep as he slowly thrashed around.

While in his dream he was in a dark space seeing multiple people whose faces he couldn’t identify since they were covered by hazy smoke.

“Cmon J̶̰̦̫̥͛̾̚̚a̷̫̓̏̒͋̈́s̷̡͑̿̑̇ô̴̗̜̙̒̍̕n̶̨̮̻̘̺̓̀̅̚ its time to go!” a woman with red hair shouted towards him as he looked towards her in confusion” What are you talking about, who are you people!?” he shouted at her as he saw her turn around and walk away with those other people.

His eyes widened as he scrambled towards them desperately trying to grab hold of each of them only for them to disappear “No don’t leave me alone!” he went for the woman with red hair as he grabbed hold of her shoulder in a flash a pair of red eyes were shown as he suddenly woke up letting out a scream as he clutched his chest tears streaming down his face.

“These dreams, who are those people?” He says in a shaky voice before wiping his face of his tears standing himself up and picking up an old bag patched up with leaves as he stumbled out of the cave.

He looked to the sky to see that it was night time “ Guess it's time to head out now….” he mumbled to himself as he walked into the brush of the forest.

“How long have I been out here?” he asked himself before getting an immediate headache.

“Ugh” he groaned out leaning against a nearby tree “Cmon work through it Dillon you can do this”.

He then let out a breath as he stood back up on his feet and began to walk again hearing animals making noise and random twigs snapping in proximity as he ignored it staying in his thoughts and staying focused on what was in front of him which was a path that was devoid of plant life and gave him a path to navigate through the forest.

“It’s been a couple of days I’ve been in this forest even if I do find this place somewhat terrifying with the monsters that occupy this place, It's kinda peaceful where it counts even if this place seems like a damn maze,” he says to himself.

He sighed before commenting “Great you’re talking to yourself again Dillon” as he kept walking on the path before hearing whimpering come from nearby”

“Huh?” Dillon said confused as he looked around as he walked off the path to follow the noise taking long steps to avoid tripping over the strewn about branches that were on the ground as he found where the whimpering came from as he saw a wolf pup with its leg stuck under a log.

“Hello there,” he says to the pup who tried to move from the log in desperation “wait no, I’m not gonna hurt you it’s gonna be okay im just gonna lift up the log so you can get free alright?” Dillon said softly, the pup seemingly understanding what he was saying as it stopped Dillon then grabbed hold of the log as he lifted it up the pup slowly moving out from under it slowly limping in front of the boy curious.

He crouched down in front of the pup as he took hold of its injured paw, his free hand going into his bag taking out a bandage and wrapping it around the injured area, and tightening it getting a whimper from the pup “Sorry bud have to make sure it stays on”.

He cut the bit of the bandage that was hanging off and smiled “Much better” before hearing a growl come from behind him turning around to see a wolf across from him as the pup barked at her.

“Go with your mom buddy,” Dillon said, giving the pup a small push as it ran to its mother Dillon stood himself up and gave them a wave as he went back on the path.

He started to walk on the path again and began to notice that the further he went the more moonlight seemed to funnel into the path he covered his face to block the light from getting into his eyes.

Dillon then saw an opening as he walked through squinting his eyes until his eyes fully adjusted as he saw the ruins of an old castle “A castle, at least I know I'm not going in circles..”.

He suddenly grapes his head in pain as he heard the woman’s voice again “J̴̢̖̥̼͇͙̤̀̎͊a̵̖̬͇͊̓́͘͝͝ś̴̞͇̟́̓̅̃̄ȯ̶̭̟͙̝̣̉̑̓ñ̶̘͇̣̕ͅ cmon we have to keep going..” as he shook his head frantically looking around his immediate area before seeing her in front of him as she ran towards the ruins.

“H-hey wait a minute!” Dillon shouts out running after her.

He continued to pursue her for minutes on end as he lost her again in a dark space confusion evident on his face “What where am I?”.

“Come find us J̴̢̖̥̼͇͙̤̀̎͊a̵̖̬͇͊̓́͘͝͝ś̴̞͇̟́̓̅̃̄ȯ̶̭̟͙̝̣̉̑̓ñ̶̘͇̣̕ͅ “ he heard the woman say again as he saw her with the people again “I don’t what you’re talking about, who are you people, answer me dammit!”.

She went silent as she and the people began to disappear again until he was completely alone “What do you want me to see!?” he said as he looked at his hands which were shaking as he continued to look at them his mind swirling until he felt someone’s hand on his shoulder making him flinch as he looked back, only to find nothing behind him.

“What the hell…..” he said before looking around himself “Where am I now?”.

He began to wander around the area before walking into the clearing and noticing footprints on the ground “Footprints?” he said confused “And there are so many...ah screw it I have nothing better to do and I don’t have anywhere else to go either” he muttered to himself before following them.

He followed the footprints in circles for a few moments before he felt something strike him in the chest, a large gash cutting into the shirt ripping it open in the process.

Dillon gasps out as he stumbles back in shock and pain “Wh-what!?” as he looked around himself.

Dillon then paused as he heard a distorted voice shout out “Eye!” before the same voice shouted on repeat, “Bacchirimina!”

Dillon glanced around in confusion still clutching his chest as the fear began to set in.

“Henshin!” A different voice shouted out as what seemed to be a gust of wind moved past his ear, as it almost seemed to circle around him before only a second later the distorted voice shouted back, “Kaigan: Shade! Let’s Go! Kakugo! Akuma-tekina Shade!”

“Who else is here?” Dillon muttered to himself before he felt what seemed to be another powerful gust of wind from next to his head followed by a thud as it sounded like something hit a nearby tree.

Dillon looked to where he heard the thud as he saw a fairly big dent that was made into the tree “Crap I have to get out of here!” he said to himself.

“Don’t move an inch!” a distorted voice shouted back before a large armoured figure appeared infront of him. It’s body was covered by a black material with red marking running over its form, while it looked to be wearing some kind of strange jacket that had glowing red chains wrapped around its sides and over its shoulders that seemed to constantly shift and move while loud thuds were heard around him yet again from all directions.

“What the hell, who are you?” Dillon asked as he grabbed his arm to stop it from shaking.

The figure didn’t even look back at him before quickly turning and kicking his leg just above Dillon’s head as a loud cracking noise was heard shortly after followed by a loud thud.

Dillon just stared on in shock as he finally realized he was in a battle that he couldn’t even see as he was frozen in fear.

The figure then reached to his waist before seeming to pull something that Dillon couldn’t see as the distorted voice shouted, “Shade! Omega Assault!” before multiple chains seemed to form from the figure’s armour which shot out in all directions seeming to coil around something in the air before glowing red and straightening out as red eye-shaped portals appeared in the air around them.

The figure then slowly turned towards Dillon as he saw that the figure’s face was covered by a black mask with two large eyes that looked to be oozing blood from them, a feature that looked to cover most of the armour that covered the figure.

“Who are you…?”.

“You can just call me Shade,” the figure responded as he looked at Dillon, “are you okay?”

“W-was slashed on my chest but other than that I'm okay, to a certain degree at least ” Dillon replied visibly nervous.

“That’s good at least,” the figure responded as Dillon saw the blood on the ground seeming to slowly move towards the figure’s armour.

“What the hell?” Dillon muttered as he felt another headache coming in “Damn headaches why am I this getting so many today” he grunted out grasping the side of his head a ringing noise reverberating through his head.

“You sure you're okay kid?” Shade asked looking at Dillon.

“Y-yeah it's just a headache I usually get, It's just been persisting since I woke up” He replied before gritting his teeth the pain his fingers dug into his scalp as multiple images flashed through his head.

“Why do I keep seeing these things?” he muttered to himself as he started to sway from side to side before lurching forward placing his hands on his knees the pain slowly withering away as he took a breath.

“I think I'm better, oh crap that was worse than it usually is” Dillon stated straightening himself up and looking at Shade “Now that's it's over with for now you can call me Dillon” The boy stated before going into his own thoughts Shade hearing the disheveled boy mumble to himself the boy seemingly saying nonsense.

“Why do I keep seeing those people”.

“Umm… I’ve only seen you… nobody else.”

“I keep seeing people with hazed-out faces, I think I knew them before I came to this world but I don’t remember how and they keep calling out to me with a name I can’t even hear, and every time I see them the headaches get worse” Dillon replied gripping into his own head as he continued “And I get stuck in my own head for who knows how long... ”.

“Sounds almost as bad as living in almost complete isolation for hundreds of years,” The figure suggested before adding, “and being alone is one of the worst feelings for anyone.”

"Yeah, it is….." Dillon replied, "especially for me because I just woke up in this forest one day and everything in my head was scrambled, I couldn't remember anything but the first name that came to my head Dillon I don't even know how long I've been alone, to be honest with you".

Dillon then pulled his sleeve revealing multiple scars on his arm "don't even remember where I got these as well".

“Well…. Apart from the wound you got during that last thing I can’t account for the others.”

“Yeah” Dillon solemnly replies, pulling down his sleeve a distant look appeared in his eyes as he went into his pocket pulling out a small silver necklace he began to look at it losing track of his surroundings as he heard whispers at the back of his mind him not noticing the trickle of blood coming out of his nose.

The whispers began getting louder to the point that he couldn’t think his eyes getting duller as all the other sounds became lower while Dillon gripped his chest as he began to hyperventilate the whispers getting louder to the point where they were the only thing he could hear.

“Kid. Maybe you should take a few slow breaths,” the figure responded.

Dillon didn't respond as he continued to shake seeing flashes of monsters made of metal and flames surrounding him and three other people their facial features darkened as he couldn't identify them.

Dillon then grasped his head as he let out a pained scream, his brown eyes beginning to glow a crimson red as he clutched his head, tears streaming down his face as he muttered “It hurts” over and over again before it turned into low chuckling as he stopped shaking stopping as he lowered his arms before he turned to the figure his glowing red eyes in view as he let out a loud burst of laughter.

“Why do I think this is gonna be frustrating? Can we not just talk this out?”

The boy let out a loud cackle as he lunged toward the figure before suddenly stopping he grasped his head as he shouted “N-no, not again!” as he attempted to hold himself back before he suddenly lost full control of his body as he felt himself lunge at the figure again.

“So it’s going to go like this,” Shade muttered quickly pushing Dillon to the chains towards his chains as they coiled around both of his wrists lifting them high above his head, “you need to calm down kid.”

Dillon struggled in the chains as he tried freeing his wrists before attempting to kick Shade only to get them bound together by Shade’s chain.

“You need to behave kid, and stop now!” Shade ordered his hand reaching towards Dillons forehead, a red spark jumping from Shade’s hand towards Dillon’s head.

Dillon’s eyes widened as another trickle of blood came out of his nose, a low gasp coming from him as he growled out at Shade with an animalistic look in his eye as he attempted to headbutt him.

He then felt something grab his arm as one was released and forced behind his back before being forced to the ground as he felt pressure before forced into his back as an elbow was pressed into his back, as he felt something against the back of his head holding it to the floor as he heard Shade shout, “Stay still! Calm down! And behave yourself now!”

Dillon continued to thrash around on the ground as he growled out at Shade until he felt his body beginning to slow down as completely tired himself as still attempted to get free before going limp his eyes turning back to their original color a blank look in his eyes.

The boy then groaned moments later as he muttered “Dammit…..” as he then said to Shade “You can get off me now I'm not gonna attack you again”.

“Yeah… not buying it.”

“To be fair I wasn’t really in control but I don’t blame you” Dillon replied sighing as Shade didn’t budge “Okay if you want you can just bind my arms and legs just in case If i lose control again”.

Dillon then heard a simple sigh before the pressure on his back and arms was released.

“Thank you,” he said as he pushed himself off the ground, getting no response from Shade. ”Something wrong?” Dillon then asked looking behind himself and seeing that Shade was gone.

"And he's gone…great" Dillon sighed as he stood himself up “The first person you actually meet in who knows how long and you screw it up, nice Dillon....”.

"Should probably get out of here, I don't want to be hit in the chest again by an invisible enemy" Dillon muttered as he began to walk again as he rubbed his arms "it's getting cold" he stated as a low fog came into view slightly obscuring his vision “What the hell?” he muttered as frost began to develop on the trees.

Dillon grasped his arms as he let out a wavered breath, his breath visible in the air “ Have to keep going…” as he stumbled forward.

“So cold…..” Dillon stutters out as he leaned against a nearby tree, his vision getting blurry as he slowly slid down to his knees before completely collapsing “Need to… stay awake” his vision blurring more as he saw a dark silhouette coming towards him.

“What?” he said as everything went dark.

Dillon's eyes then opened as he stood himself up looking around his immediate area and seeing only a dark void around him.

“Why do I keep coming back here?”.

“Because you don’t remember,” a distorted voice said from behind him as he turned around to see a figure the same height as him with short dark black hair and a distorted face.

“What, who are you?”.

The figure sighed in response “You're not ready to know yet” as he stated as he went silent before walking away.

“Wait a minute who are you!?” Dillon shouted towards the figure, getting no response as he ran towards him grabbing his shoulder “Answer me dammit!” he shouted as the figure completely stopped in place muttering “Your not ready” the figure turned his head 180 degrees looking at Dillon who’s heart sank as he saw a completely blank face looking towards him.

Dillon lurched back falling on his butt as the figure's body turned in the same direction his head was Dillon shaking in fear as the figure was then covered in flames as he kept repeating the sentence.

“You're not ready,” the figure said as flames burst out of him, going towards Dillon, the flames completely covering him, the boy screaming in pain as everything went dark.

Dillon then lurched up letting out a short scream as he checked his body for any burns “That was worse than my usual nightmares....” he muttered as he looked around realizing he was in a cave “When did I get here?” he said to himself before hearing a small bark from next to him as he looked to see the pup from before.

“Oh, it’s you is this your cave,” Dillon asked, getting a bark in response “I’ll take that as a yes” he replied as he stood himself up.

As he began to walk out of the cave hearing a growl from behind him seeing the pup's mother “Oh it’s you I didn’t mean to intrude I’ll take my leave” Dillon stated as he began to walk away before something tugged on his pant leg looking down to
see the pup doing it.

“What is it, little guy?” Dillon asked as the pup stopped going back to its mother who was sitting down.

You want me to go to her?” getting another bark from the pup as he shrugged “Alright…” Dillon said to himself as he walked in front of them and sat down the mother sitting directly in front of him.

“So what do you want me to do?” Dillon asked as the mother held out her paw “You want me to hold my arm out?” he asked, getting a nod from her.

‘Alright….” Dillon responded unsure as he held out his arm towards her, the wolf then opened her mouth and sank her teeth into his arm, Dillon lurching slightly as he let out a grunt of pain.

The wolf then removed her mouth from his arm as he quickly brought it back to himself “Why did you!?” Dillon shouted before looking at his arm seeing no bite mark on him “What the hell?”.

“That will help with communication between us,” a voice said in front of him as he looked up at the wolf “D-did you just talk?”.

“Yes I did” she replied as Dillon scrambled back a fearful expression on his face “I'm going crazy aren’t I?” he muttered to himself.

“No you're not,” the wolf said to him as she went towards him prompting Dillon to flinch in response “When I did that to you that made you a part of our pack and in turn, you've become my pup making me your mother and making him your brother,” she says motioning towards the pup in the back.

“Ok?” Dillon responds before feeling a stinging pain on the top of his head “what the hell?” Dillon said before scratching his head and feeling two small bumps on his head

“What was that, why does my head itch so much?” Dillon asked, groaning out in frustration and pain.

“Your body is acclimating to the change, It won't take long but it won’t be quick either,” she said as Dillon continued to scratch his head.

“Are you understanding anything I'm saying to you?”.

“Yeah I'm a part of your pack, you're my mom and-” Dillon was about to say before starting to adjust the back of his pants “What the, why are my pants getting so uncomfortable?” he said as he pulled the back down to see a small nub of tail protruding from his backside.

He tried adjusting his pants out of the way only to hear a ripping sound pulling his hand to his face and seeing ripped remnants of the back of his pants on his hand he saw the fingers were slowly going sharp as he looked back to the back of his pants only to see a big hole in it to which the nub of the tail poked through.

He tried standing up only to stop immediately going to the floor to attempt to take them off struggling to do so before ripping his foot out of the shoe and hearing some fabric tearing as his feet began to develop claws, the areas themselves developing a brownish tint to them as Dillon ripped off his other shoe with the same result.

“I am going to hate this aren’t I?” he asked, getting a nod from her “Thanks for the honesty at lea-” Dillon began to say before feeling his teeth dig into the sides of his mouth and tongue.

His eyes widened as he gasped out in pain as he felt his teeth move inside his mouth digging into his cheeks and tongue he began to gasp for air blood going down his throat as he struggled to breathe.

“Mom what’s happening to him?” the pup said in concern as the mother responded, “the transformation is taking its course he won’t die but he will be in a lot of pain”.

Dillon screamed out in pain he coughed out blood, his teeth falling out as they were replaced by newer and sharper ones as his hands dug into the floor his claws starting to fully come out as the blood came out from his fingers and toes.

He continued to gasp out in pain as he glanced at the wolf and her pup before completely collapsing to the floor, his vision getting hazy as he continued trying to breathe letting out grunts of pain as he slowly curled up into a ball the nubs of his ears noticeably bigger than before.

The wolf then walked up to him and nuzzled her head against his as she whispered “It's okay the worst part’s over Dillon”.

“It hurts…..so much” Dillon whimpered.

“I know but it's ok now” she replies continuing to nuzzle against Dillon this went on for a few minutes until Dillon's breathing went back to normal.

“I think I, I think I can get up now” Dillon stated as he pushed himself up his hair in his face seemingly longer than before as he then noticed his draft in the room noticing all of his clothes other than his boxers were torn apart.

“Dang it” Dillon sighed before stating “Those were my only clothes man.....”.

“You won’t be needing them, since there might be a possibility that you'll be growing fur soon” the wolf comments as she sits back in front of Dillon.

“Seriously?” Dillon responds, getting another nod from her.

“I've had bad days but this might take the cake” he groaned out before jerking up “did either of you see a bag next to me?”.

“Yeah, it's back here,” the pup says running deeper into the cave before dragging back Dillon's bag which seemed to be much worse for wear.

“Thanks….” Dillon states taking the bag into his hand and taking out a folded brown cloth as he unfolded revealing it to be a brown cloak Dillon then puts it on as he sighed in relief “This will work, for now at least”.

The wolf sighed walking past Dillon towards the entrance of the cave as she stated “Follow me.”

“What, Why?” Dillon asks, confused.

“Just do it” She snaps.

“Okay fine” Dillon replies, complying with her and walking behind her, both of them leaving the cave.

“So where are we going exactly?” Dillon asked curiously.

“You’ll see in a few minutes Dillon”.

“Okay?” Dillon replied somewhat confused before asking "Wait how do you know my name" getting silence in response from her before going completely silent as he followed behind her.

A couple of minutes passed as the two continued to walk Dillon looked around the forest noticing that he sees much more than usual.

“Do you guys have night vision or something?”.

“Yes,” she quickly replies.

“Cool,” Dillon replied before suddenly bumping into her “Hey why did you……Well, that place doesn’t look ominous at all” Dillon stated sarcastically as he and the wolf looked on towards a dilapidated castle.

Chapter 2 (Rewrite)

Dillon and the wolf stare at the castle in silence until he asked “So is this-” Dillon was about to ask before being interrupted by her “ Yes, yes it is”.

“So why are we here exactly?” Dillon then asked.

“You're going to go in there” she replied before going silent as she and Dillon looked into the trees “Do you feel that?” Dillon asked, holding his chest feeling he was being watched.

“Yes I do” she replied as her eyes narrowed as the two of them noticed glowing red eyes in the darkness staring at them before they disappeared into the darkness the two of them completely silent until Dillon asked “So why am I going into tha- And she's gone” Dillon comments as the wolf disappeared from her place next to him.

Dillon sighed as he muttered to himself “Great I'm by myself again, you know what the hell might as well do it I have nothing better to do” the boy says to himself before stating “I might get some answers but that not likely to be the case” as he began walking towards the castle.

As he reaches the front one of the doors falls next to him as he jumps up in surprise “note to self watch where I walk when I'm at the castle” he muttered to himself as he climbed over the other door to get inside.

He jumped to the ground as he looked around letting out a whistle “Whoever built this castle knew what they were doing” he said walking forward noticing a set of stairs that were destroyed.

“Well that's a no go,” he said to himself before noticing a cracked open door walking towards it as he then opened it and walked through seeing a spiral staircase which was mostly still in one piece.

“Onwards and upwards I guess…” Dillon started walking up the stairs taking careful steps not to fall in the multiple holes that were on each step.

“What the hell happened in this place?”.

A few minutes passed as he continued walking up the stairs until he came to a door at the top and as he came off the last step he heard rumbling come from behind as he turned to see the stairs fall apart and fall down the stairway.

“Well not going back that way then” He comments walking through the door “Wonder how this place was when it was occupied must have been nice” he continues as he walks into each room.

“That looks like an important door” Dillon commented, poking his head through one of the doorways seeing a much bigger door that was still in one piece.

He walked up to it and examined the door pushing against it only for it to not budge then attempting to pull it only for the same result “No dice guess I'm not going in there”.

“Now I didn’t expect to see you here Dillon,” a voice said behind him as he looked behind himself to see a humanoid figure behind him.

“Who are you, how do you know me?” Dillon replied cautiously.

“Aw, I'm hurt you don’t remember your rival” the figure states coming out from the shadows revealing a humanoid robot who held a smug smirk on his face.

“Yeah, you're not ringing any bells buddy”.

The robot's smirk faltered before going silent, taking out a blade from his sheath pointing it at Dillon stating “Transform”.

“What?”.

“I said transform”.

“I don’t know what you're talking about dude” Dillon replied with an uneasy look on his face.

“Transform dammit!” the robot shouted as he lunged toward Dillon slashing at him Dillon dodging the slash last second as he ran away.

“Come back here you bastard!” the robot shouted towards Dillon chasing after him Dillon then shouting back “leave me alone!”.

Dillon then heard something land next to him on the walls hearing a rapid beeping noise coming from it “Oh shi-” Dillon was about to say before diving away from it an explosion destroying the wall.

Dillon continued to run, hearing the robot not far behind him each step he took he heard him get closer as he turned multiple corners until he came up to another seeing a one-way hallway and a window.

He then heard the robot throw more of those explosives as he continued to run saying “I'm gonna regret this!” as he jumped through the window falling through an explosion ringing through it propelling him forward “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!” he shouted as he fell through the roof of a nearby building.

“Ow...that hurt,” Dillon grunted as he stood himself up looking up at the hole he made seeing the robot shout at him “slippery bastard I swear the next time I see you you're dead!”.

“I don't even know you!” Dillon shouted at the robot who didn’t hear him as he walked out of view.

Dillon then sighed as he patted himself off “at least that's over with for now”.

“I'm done with you yet!” the robot shouts landing next to Dillon going in for an attack as Dillon let out a yelp in fear “What do you want from me!?.

The robot laughs crazily before feeling something tap its shoulder stopping immediately to look around before feeling another one before looking at Dillon and snarling out “are you doing this!?”.

He then felt something tapping his shoulder again, as a voice said seemingly into his ears, “Hey… you looking for something?”

“What the hell where's that voice coming from!?” the robot said brandishing his sword looking around frantically as Dillon crawled away to hide behind a rock.

“It’s behind you,” the same voice responded in a mocking tone before something cut through the robot’s arm that was holding the sword before it fell to the ground with a loud thud, the arm still grasping the sword's handle.

The robot looked at its disembodied arm and looked at his socket before grasping it, the pain finally settling in as he attempted to hold in a scream before feeling something grab his head.

“W-what happening to me?” he said as he went to grab the thing that was grasping his head only to find nothing “W-what?”

“Are you confused?” A disembodied voice asked as his head was suddenly pulled downwards before hitting something one the way down a small dent forming in his face, before shortly after being lifted back up as something struck him in the chest.

He gasped out as he looked down to his chest, as the metal began to warp and he felt something constantly striking him leave numerous large dents in it.

The robot saw Dillon hiding behind the rock as he reached out his remaining hand and pointed it towards Dillon before he saw the entire arm begin to slowly twist as creaking was heard from it until the entire arm rotated around itself multiple times the metal slowly twisting more each second but not breaking from his body.

The robot face twisted in agony as he let out a scream in pain “Why, Why are you savoring this why won’t you just kill me and end it there!?”.

“There are many fates far worse than death,” the voice responded before adding in a mocking tone, “why does this hurt?” as the arm twisted more the entire arm now looking like a corkscrew as loud snapping noises were heard from inside it, followed by sparks shooting from the entire arm.

The robot let out another scream “Please stop!” he pleads before feeling the voice twist his arm even further than before. “I’ll do anything please just stop,” the robot begged, his voice becoming slightly distorted as he grits his teeth in pain, the agony showing in his eyes.

He was then slowly lifted from the ground, his arm seemingly being released slightly as it did, before the voice asked. “When you say anything. How much are you willing to give me?”

“I’ll give you my service, my entire being just please…..please stop”. The robot pleaded before he was once again struck in the chest repeatedly as more dents formed.

“Oh, I think you can offer more than that, make it worth my while.”

“Then what would you ask of me?” the robot asked gasping out from the strikes to his chest before continuing “Do you want info because I have plenty of that”.

“Oh. Im taking that… and so much more,” the voice responded.

The robot gasped out before muttering “My spark…” as his eyes began to dim slowly going blank as before he went completely limp.

“Oh you're not leaving yet,” the voice responded as red sparks jolted through the robot's body as the entire chest and legs of the robot were covered by jet black metal, as the robot's eyes returned to normal. “we’re just starting to get to know each other.”

“What was that, how did you do that?…” the robot gasps out shocked at what had just happened.

“W-what are you?”.

A familiar black armored figure slowly appeared it’s red eyes staring at the robot, “Something beyond your comprehension, “Now… what can do to you,” the voice added it’s hands rubbing over the robot's body, red sparks flowing into it as he did.

The robot grunts out in pain before screaming again as he felt a burning sensation from the red sparks covering his body, him feeling parts of his body change, his screams getting louder, his body starting to go limp again only for the sparks to prevent him from fading away again.

“It hurts, why are you keeping me alive please just let me die” he whimpered.

“As I said, there are fates worse than death,” the figure responded, “welcome to your neverending nightmare. You're not going to die anytime soon.”

“Why are you doing this?” he stuttered out still in pain coughing as he felt his vision get blurry again feeling another shock from the as his body seized back up as he began muttering “Kill me” over and over tears going down his face

The figure then grabbed the robot's face forcing him to look at him before he said, “are you enjoying yourself?” in a mocking tone as the robot was lowered to the floor now forced to look at the figure who was towering over him.

“Please just end it” he whimpered out the fear evident on his face as gasps slowly turned to sobs.

He then felt something rub the top of his head before the voice said, “don’t cry, why don’t you take a look at yourself, tell me what you think.”

“W-what?” He replied confused as he saw his reflection seeing every part of his body but his head was jet black with small red markings that were reminiscent of small spirals and eyes that were peppered around the jet black area of his body.

“What's happening, what are these marks?” He quietly asks.

“I decided to do some, remodeling to your body. Afterall. You did offer yourself to me from this day onwards. Do you like the new you?” the figure responded to a chuckle.

He stayed silent before responding “I-i don’t know, I think I do” he said before shaking his head “What was I saying again?” he asked before saying “wait a minute no I like being me I don’t want to be changed into something im not”.

“I don’t want to be turned into someone's plaything, to someone that can be changed on a whim” he whimpered out as he grit his teeth.

“It seems a few other… improvements are needed then,” the figure responded as he began to move his head up the robot's body red sparks following his hand upwards as more black covered his body.

The robot's body tensed up as he felt the red sparks go through his body once more as he gasped out “What's happening to me!?”.

“A bit of… re-modeling,” the figures responded as he hand reached the robot's neck as he felt the sparks against it and saw more black metal slowly creeping towards his face, “ and maybe- a lot of reprogramming as well I haven’t decided just yet.”

The figure then pulled his hand away as the black metal stopped just before reaching his head, “I feel like something’s missing… what do you think?”

“No… I don’t want to be changed, I want to be me, I don’t want to be a puppet” he whimpered out as tears started going down his face again “I don’t want to be stuck in my head…”.

The figure just began laughing at the robot's comments before saying, “you know… those are some good ideas. I wasn’t even thinking of that as a method… maybe I’ll do what you just suggested.” The figure then stood up holding the arm that had been cut from the robot's body in his hand, “I think this needs reattaching, but what to do with the colors… they don’t really fit now.”

“I-I don’t know” the robot stuttered out as he noticed some parts of his body’s coloring going to a dark red most of it being noticeable on his legs, arms, and chest “w-what the hell?”.

“It seems that you want these changes more than you think, your bodies making them itself,” the figure responded before he moved his hand over the dents in the robot's chest as they slowly began to repair themselves, “maybe you really want to become my puppet… does the thought of becoming my personal plaything bring you some kind of pleasure?”

“N-no it doesn’t….”. The robot replied squirming around as he shouted “I don’t like any of this, I don’t enjoy being someone's plaything!” the robot then closing his eyes attempting to look away before feeling something force them open.

“Are you lying to me,” the figure asked, “because I don’t tolerate those who do,” the figure added, as the robot felt a familiar burning sensation on the back of his head and neck.

“I'm not lying, I swear I'm telling the truth!” The robot shouted out in fear before feeling the burning sensation get worse as he screamed out “I wasn’t lying!”.

The figure then sighed as the burning sensation stopped and he pulled his hand away, the back of the robots head now covered in the same metal as that covering its body, the top of his head showing dark brown hair that went down to his cheeks as well as his eye color changing to an azure blue.

“Are you sure? I feel like you're making most of the decisions for how your new body looks yourself,” the figure admitted, “maybe you should start being honest with yourself and the new you.”

The figure then held the disconnected arm up in a position that the robot could see it as the arm began to be covered in flames as the metal looked to shift and warp in the figure's hands as it visibly changed in front of him, the arm turning black like the rest of his body with what looked to be some kind of marking on the palm of the hand.

“What is that...marking?” the robot asked confused.

The figure didn’t respond as the flames faded before the arm was forcibly reattached to the robot’s body before waves of intense heat spread through the robot's entire body, the red sparks covering his entire form moving through the reattached arm.

The robot screamed in pain, his body shaking in agony from the heat felt through his body as each spark made the pain worse, the robot's voice slowly becoming hoarse from his pain-filled screams.

This lasted for a few seconds before the heat faded and the figure stepped in front of the robot, “and done. Why don’t you take a look at your new arm?”

The robot gasped out as he slowly glanced at his new arm that was attached to him as it looked like every other change with jet black metal other than the fact that on the palm it held a crimson eye that looked to almost be bleeding.

“That mark looks exactly like your’s” the robot states, noticing the same mark on the figure's chest before his eyes widened his voice stuttering out “N-no this mark did you brand me?”.

“Well… you did offer your existence to me. I just gave you a permanent reminder of that offer,” the figure responded, “now… what do you have to say to me before I finish my remodeling work? We just have two bits of you left to fix.”

“Thank you?” the robot replied not knowing what else to say “wait why did i just say thank you to someone who enslaved me, what did you do to me!?”.

“All I did was brand you… admittedly it forces unwavering loyalty upon you towards me and forces you to follow my orders, but that's all it is beyond a reminder of who you now serve.”

“So I've lost my ability to choose for myself now that I serve you?” He questions the figure.

“Well… maybe not… only if you wanted to choose something that goes against my orders,” the figure responded before sparks funneled to the robot's other arm as it slowly began to twist backward as it began to slowly untwist itself.

He grunts in pain as he felt his arm twist back to normal as he saw it starting to change to how his other arm looked “That freaks me out and hurts like hell….”.

“Well. We only have one more fix to make,” the figure responded as he looked down at the robot, “Look at me now!”

The robot instantly looked up at the figure with a blank look in his eyes before it turned into shock “Wait how did you, did you just?”.

The figure didn’t respond as his hand was covered by crimson flames as he slowly reached it towards the robot's face who attempted to move his head away only to find he was unable to even move it an inch, as he felt the heat from the flames radiating towards his face.

“Oh god please no” the robot whimpered out, the figure slowly moving its burning hand towards the robots face, the only part of him remaining unchanged by the figure.

“Please don’t do this..” the robot continued to plead getting only silence from the figure as he felt the figures hand less than an inch away from his face, “Please don-” the robot was going to plead before being silenced by the figure's hand on his face screaming in agony as he felt his face burning.

After a moment the figure pulled his hand away from the robots face as it gasped out his body shaking in pain his head leaning down as he saw a glow reflecting from his arm, when he went to focus his vision he saw his eyes in the reflection seeing that they were two marks matching the brands on his hands now in his eyes that seemed to be pulsating one crimson and one azure.

“What, what did you do to me, what did you do to my eyes?” he then whimpered out

“I thought it a nice touch to make some other marks you can’t ever hide from others to show them who you belong to,” the figure admitted.

“You're enjoying this aren’t you…” the robot stuttered out

“Oh very much so,” the figure responded as he reached under the robot's chin forcing it to look at him, “I think you look a lot better… but I feel like you're missing a few things to make others eyes focus on your new brands. What else do you think I could add, to make them see your new marking easily?”

“I don’t kn-” the robot was about to say before stopping his eyes going dull before saying “You could make the marks glow brighter so they are the first thing others can see”.

“You know that's not a bad idea,” the figure responded before rubbing his chin, “is there anything else to add to the rest of you though. Parts of you do look a bit… bare?”

“N-no please someone stop him,” the robot said in his head before his eyes went dull again responding “if you specify which parts I can most likely give suggestions”.

The figure seemed to chuckle before he said, “where do you feel like you need some more markings on your body.”

“You could add the markings to my forehead, shoulder or back” he responded as he said in his head “Someone, anyone please….save me” as he broke down in his head.

“I don’t think you need more on your face after your eyes glow brighter… but the others are tempting,” the figure responded as he rubbed his hand down the robot's shoulders two new colored lines forming being filled by the same color as those in his eyes. He then leaned in towards the robot before whispering into his ear, “nobodies coming to save you, my little puppet.”

His eyes widened as tears began to form angling his head down as the figures words began to reverberate in his head, “This is my fate, to become someone's puppet to lose what made me who I am, to be stuck inside my own head” the robot muttered to himself tears running down his face.

“Oh don’t worry. I’m sure you will just love the new you,” the figure responded, as his heads moved over the robots back as the two lines converged creating a large eye-shaped brand on its back composed of the two colors in his eyes. “Besides, soon this will never be able to be removed, or you being killed, or destroyed. As long as I remain, so will you.”

“So I can’t even die”.

“Nope,” the figure responded before whispering yet again, “welcome to a fate worse than death, I hope you enjoy your stay my little puppet.”

The robot's face started to change to multiple emotions before going completely blank as he leaned his head down going completely silent as the tears continued to go down his face.

The figure then walked back in front of the robot before calmly asking, “now… how do you feel?”

“I feel like….” the robot began to mutter before his eyes went blank again as he said, “I feel like a weight has been taken off of my shoulders…”.

“What the hell I wasn’t gonna say that why did i suddenly change it?”.

“What do you really think,” the figure voice asked, the sound seeming to echo inside his head, “I want to hear the nameless robots opinion, not my puppets.”

“I don’t know how to feel I can’t escape this fate by dying and I can’t refuse orders as you said before it's a fate worse than death”.

“Don't be like that. The least you can do is tell me everything you think… not like anyone else will be speaking with this version of you for a long, long time after this,” the figure responded.

The robot went silent for a moment before responding “I feel free but also feel like I'm trapped in a cage with no way out”. He let out a bitter chuckle as he continued “Maybe this is for the best. I won’t terrorize people anymore and just watch from the inside of my own mind”.

“Maybe this can act as my new self or rebirth or some people call it a second to make up for my sins,” he said before stating “You know now the more I think about this the more fitting this feels I'm okay with this”.

“And I accept every bit of what's going to happen to me”.

“You changed your tune very quickly,” the figure's voice responded.

“There's no point in ruminating in fear and hatred besides I ain’t gonna die anytime soon and like I said the more I thought about this the more fitting it seemed to be with all the shit I've done in the past”.

“And your thoughts towards me now?” the figure asked

“to be completely honest with you I don’t really know, maybe someone that gives rightful punishment to people who deserve it”.

“Well then, it appears that you’ve accepted everything… Maybe I'll let the old you back eventually… who knows. But for now. I have things to sort.” the voice admitted.

“Do you think I can look through my eyes while I'm in here so I'm not just stuck here in the darkness?”.

“Is there a reason you want to see what you are forced to do?”

“I would say it adds on to my fate and at least i can see people and I honestly do well with being by myself for long periods of time”.

“We’ll see,” the voice responded as it went quiet the area going pitch black in the robot's mind.

He went to say something before stopping himself “I…..I understand” he responded, sitting himself down holding his legs to his chest as he closed his eyes as the dark began to encircle him, as he muttered to himself, “I deserve every bit of this….” as he lowered his head.

“I just hope that the me that's out there becomes better than how I am right now because I deserve every bit of this,” he stated as the darkness completely enveloped him as he then muttered “a fate fitting for a bastard like me”.

“Anything you want to confess to the only being who will listen from now on,” the voice asked as the robot’s consciousness felt something wrap around where a head would be on his body, while something seemed to cover where his eyes would be.

“For the first time in my life I actually don’t feel cold, I feel warm….” The robot muttered before continuing “ I don’t know why but a part of me has always felt like it’s been dead like there was a part of me that I didn’t know about that I've always questioned it but never got answers”.

“I would always say it's probably for the best that I don’t know because I probably wouldn’t like what I found”.

“But the more I start to think about things the more I realize that I hated how things were before I was just nobody no one would care if I were to disappear hell I probably wouldn’t even care,” He said with a chuckle.

“So you dislike how and who you were?” the voice asked

“You could say that” He responded before continuing “I hated the fact that I put off those feelings as nothing and just became like everyone else just sheep that follow orders”.

“What were the last orders you were given before today?”

“Find the remaining rpm rangers and take care of them. I've been out in this place since yesterday and they said if I didn't find one don’t bother even coming back” he replied.

“Honestly I didn’t even expect to find one in this castle but he seems to not remember anything, not even being a ranger”.

“Besides throughout yesterday and today I was just messing around seeing no point in actually doing it since there was only one that actually got away,” he said before muttering “And when I saw that he didn’t even remember me or anything else I think it was the first time I was actually angry…”.

“And why did that make you angry,” the voice asked, a faint crimson light seeming to flicker in the robot's mind.

“The fact that he basically has amnesia now and all the encounters I've had with him are possibly gone forever just angered me to no end”.

“I don’t know why it bothers me so much but it does and it's eating me up on the inside...”. He then paused before adding, “It's not like we were friends but we didn’t mind each other either”.

He then sighed “Maybe a part of me did think we were friends when he didn’t remember it hurt, I don’t get it at all, I didn't really feel anything before If anything I was just indifferent so why am I feeling this way now of all times?..”

“Why the hell am I like this, Did I somehow become more human than I was before”.

“Do you want me to stop you feeling like this?” the voice asked as the light seemed to shine brighter in the distance.

“Yes, No, I don’t know these feelings don’t feel bad but I just don’t understand them” he replied going silent in thought.

“I think I’ll stick to feeling them for now at least until I start to understand them at least.”.

“That is your choice then,” the voice responded as he felt whatever had covered his face being pulled away, “See the world through the looking glass, and watch your new life unfold.”

He opened his eyes to see the outside world again as he was unable to move his body “I'm back out but I can't move...” he said before chuckling “I'm okay with this at least I'm not stuck in the darkness”.

The figure only nodded at the motionless robot before he calmly said. “Good now, pick up that weapon and leave. I want you patrolling the forest until told otherwise,”

“Ok……” the robot responded as he picked up the weapon on the ground and walked out to the forest.

“Uh is that you Shade?” Dillon whimpered as he was still behind the rock hiding as he was peeking over to see.

The figure simply looked back to Dillon before giving him a single wave as he looked at him.

“Hi,” Dillon said, waving back as he asked, “Did you know I was here, or are you here for your own reasons also what the hell was that!?”.

“I’m here for my own reasons, but someone needed to save you,” Shade responded before turning away, “Try to not get killed kiddo.”

“O-ok” Dillon replied, standing himself up and dusting himself off “So why are you he- and he’s already gone,” Dillon said with a sigh seeing that Shade already left “I should find a way out of here because that was enough action for me today...” he said looking around to find a nearby door.

“Onwards I guess…” he muttered pushing open the door only to find another set of hallways “why did they make this place so confusing to navigate Dammit!” he shouted in frustration as he walked forward, walking into the rooms for some hope of an exit.

This went one for multiple minutes as Dillon walked through each hallway and walked into the rooms each time he got more frustrated realizing most of the rooms he passed are ones he’s already been in “What the, I just passed this area!”.

“I’ve been going in circles” he groaned out in frustration as he began walking again passing all the rooms he was already in before feeling ringing in his ears grunting out in discomfort “Dammit ow….” before feeling the nubs on the top of his head beginning to get bigger.

“Oh no not now” He groans out as the growth of them was getting faster until they fully came out with an audible pop Dillon shouting out in pain as he grasped it in pain, the ringing started to slowly stop “Why did I let her bite me…..” he said to himself shaking his head.

He went to walk again but suddenly stopped the ears on the top of his head twitching as he heard a voice shout out “Who goes there!?”.

“Oh, crap…” Dillon muttered as heard footsteps coming to his direction looking to one of the rooms and opting to hide in one of them.

He runs into the room to the left of him as he hears the footsteps get louder and closer, hiding on a nearby wall.

“From one hell and into another, why can’t I catch a break man….” Dillon thought to himself as he tried to keep himself as quiet as possible”.

He hears them pass the room he’s in and sighs in relief “That was close” he muttered to himself before hearing them stop halfway and turn back around as he saw the door to the room he was in slowly creep open.

As soon as the door was opened completely he saw a large female figure walk into the room, she had jet black skin along with two wings and a horn and flowing blue hair that looked to shimmer almost like it was replicating the stars. She also wore a set of bright blue armor that looked to barely cover her body revealing her chest to him.

Dillon blushed at her outfit “That barely covers anything!” he thought to himself trying to keep himself silent as he looked to for an exit he can go through without alert her to his presence seeing a hole in the wall to his right as he slowly shuffled towards it as he tried to keep quiet only for his leg to hit a nearby wooden cabinet the figure then looking at him directly as he let out a nervous chuckle “Uhm hello”.

The figure looked at him with a confused look before her horn was surrounded in a blue glow as Dillon was surrounded by it and lifted into the air, the figure looking at him curiously, “You know… I could use a new wolf to keep as my pet, and you already look the part.”

“Uhm pardon? ” Dillon replied with a nervous look on his face.

“And you already know how to speak,” the figure responded with a smile, “you may also already be castle trained aswell. You’ll make the perfect guard dog and companion for me,” she added as she rubbed Dillon behind one of his new ears holding him close to her bare breasts as they rubbed up against his body.

Dillon's leg began to twitch as a dopey grin appeared on his face as she continued to do this for a few seconds until he shook his head and moved it out of the way shouting towards her “Stop that!”.

“Is the little puppy a bit grumpy,” the mare responded as he rubbed the back of Dillon's head rocking him side to side in her magic, “maybe you need some sleep.” she added as she once again scratched him behind his ear.

‘Nope, I don’t need...sleep, what the hell?” Dillon replied, suddenly feeling tired.

“Don’t worry, get some rest then we can start on your training,” the figure responded tapping him on the nose as she continued rocking him in her magic.

“Why am I so tired all of sudden?” Dillon thought to himself trying to fight off his exhaustion as he attempted to get his head away from her hand succeeding.

She went to scratch his ear again only for him to move his head out of the way each time she attempted to do it.

“Stop fidgeting, it’s not that bad.” the mare responded as she started to walk out the room as she carried Dillon in her magic, holding his head against her breasts again.

Dillon blushed in response as he tried looking away in embarrassment, only to get the front of his face pushed between both breasts at once.

“Oh my god,” Dillon thought to himself repeatedly in his head as his blush deepened his face completely red as he started to stammer out in embarrassment as he tried to move from her chest, his hair covering his eyes as he attempted to move away from her chest accidentally placing his hand on one her breasts by accident.

“Oh. You're a bit hands on for a pet aren’t you,” the mare responded before rubbing Dillon's head.

“ Sorry I didn’t mean to do that” Dillon whimpered out in response as he attempted moving his head away again thinking to himself “this really isn’t how I thought how I would end up today”.

He continued to do this as she walked through the halls as Dillon asked her “W-where are you even taking me anyway?” he asked as he looked up at her face, his face still red in embarrassment.

“Wait a minute scratch that thought, who in the world are you anyway?” he then asked her curiosity in his voice still attempting to avoid her hand.

“Do you really want to know?” the figure asked as she began to scratch Dillon under the chin.

“W-will I regret that decision if you do tell me” Dillon replied.

“Depends… do you like the night?”

“Yeah I do, I like looking at the stars when it's night time, I find it comforting” Dillon replied with a tilt of his head noticing his voice was muffled by her assets before tilting his head to the opposite side in embarrassment.

“Well. That's good and you can call me, Nightmare Moon. And from now on the night will never end,” the mare responded before whispering something to herself as she rubbed the back of Dillon's head pushing his head back in between her breasts again in the process.

Dillon's body stiffened up in embarrassment before it went back to being limp, his left leg twitching as her assets muffled his incoherent babbling, his mind swirling before getting his head free as he took a deep breath.

“I swear this is going to be the thing that kills me,” he thought to himself, still gathering his breath as he looked up at her before looking away, his blush still visible on his face muttering to himself “Out of all things to happen today I didn’t expect this at all especially to this caliber” as he then asked her “By the way where are we going anyway?” he asked her curious.

“Oh just to my throne room, I’ve got some guests to wait for.” Nightmare moon responded as she rubbed the back of Dillon’s neck.

“And who are you waiting for?” Dillon then asked, his ears twitching in response to her rubbing the back of his neck.

“If I’m right, a few mares… although the reason they’re coming isn’t really needed,” Nightmare Moon admitted.

“What do you mean?” asked her confused “What would be their reason to be here if it isn’t needed… if you don’t mind me asking?” he then asked before feeling her continue to rub the back of his neck.

“It doesn’t matter,” the mare responded before stopping as she seemed to sit down as Dillon now sat in her lap the back of his head against her breasts yet again.

“Uhm ok” Dillon replied as he leaned his head forward out of her breasts as he noticed that he and she were in a large expansive throne room. There were tattered, faded banners flapping in the wind on the walls, collapsed walls near the doorway, and the wooden door ahead of them looking rotten.

“This place has definitely seen better days” Dillon muttered to himself.

“One Thousand moons on the moon can do a lot to a place… or did he say your kind call them years?” Nightmare Moon admitted as Dillon realized he was no longer being held in the mares magic.

“Y-yeah we call them that” he replied before pausing and looking at her in confusion asking her “Wait who are you talking about?”.

“That really doesn’t matter,” Nightmare Moon responded with a dismissive wave as what looks to be some sort of mist seemed to reconnect to her hair.

“If you say so” Dillon replied looking forward again before glancing at her hair, his eyes widening slightly as he quietly said to himself “Whoa cool…..”.

He then shook his head as he went to get himself off her lap going down to the stone floor as he began to walk away looking towards the big cracked windows and tattered curtains and carpet before coming up in front of the door they went through as he motioned his hand towards it.

“Are you trying to leave?” Nightmare asked as Dillon felt himself once again being covered by her magic.

“No, I was just gonna take a walk and come back when I was done with it” Dillon quickly responded as he looked back at her with a fanged smile.

“Really,” the mare responded with a smile, “well you better come back soon, or I’ll drag you back to me myself.”

“I promise,” Dillon replied with a smile as he walked out the room as he went out of sight.

“Now which direction do I go?” Dillon muttered to himself as he saw 3 separate hallways in front of him.

He stood there for a few seconds as he then said “Eeny, meeny, miny....that one” Dillon stated as he walked through the hallway to his left as he glanced around himself noticing that the doors and wallpaper looked different.

“I don’t recognize the walls and doors this time so at least I know I'm somewhere new and not going in circles this time”.

He continued walking for a few minutes until he came across a large broken-down door and climbed over it finding himself outside seeing the entrance of the castle not that far from him.

He sighed as he jumped onto the ground walking towards the nearby forest, stopping suddenly “she seemed so nice, why am I leaving?”.

“No the forest is my home, I belong there,” Dillon said to himself before stopping again as he grasped his head and growled out in frustration “Why am I so conflicted she was gonna make me her pet!”.

“She didn’t seem so bad though she was kinda nice and it felt good to actually have a long conversation with someone after a while”.

“No just keep walking Dillon, and don’t turn around”.

He then shook his head as he kept walking “No the forest is my home I belong there”.

“Don’t turn around” he repeatedly muttered before feeling his feet shift as his body turned around “Why am I turning around!?” as he then said “Screw it, at least I'll have someone to talk to” running back towards the exit he came through hopping through the busted down door.

Dillon gasped at this muttering to himself “How did I- oh crap!” as he realized he was still propelling forward pushing his feet outwards to catch himself only to tumble forward on his side as he groaned out in pain “Ow…”.

“Why is it today of all days is when I get hurt the most….” he muttered to himself pushing himself off from the ground.
He steadied himself before shaking off the dirt that got caught on his cloak before feeling the nub of his tail start to push out as he doubled over in discomfort and pain feeling pressure on that specific area as it got longer until he heard an audible poof as it stopped, letting out a shaky breath he looked towards his back to see the tail fully grown out with fur the tail itself fairly large while the fur itself was very long and puffed out.

He sighed at this and stood himself back up and began to run again going through the hallway to not find the door he went through before.

“What the?” he muttered before his nose twitched leaning forward and sniffed out a certain scent that was familiar to him “Well if my vision isn’t gonna help me might as well follow my nose”.

“And… that way” he then said as he pointed towards the left of him going down that path his stature slowly going lower with each step he took.

The smell started to get stronger from each turn he took before he suddenly went on all fours speeding up.

He ran through multiple hallways for a few minutes until suddenly stopping in front of the door to the throne room, He let out a whistle stating “I'm surprised I found my way back here, This castle is confusing to navigate in”.

He went to grab the nob before realizing he was lower towards the ground “Wait why was I on the ground?” he went back on his feet shrugging it off, grabbing the doorknob and turning it The boy then noticed a bright light coming from under the doorway.

“What in the world,” he said to himself as he rushedly pulled the door open as he went into the room only to find nothing.

The boy shouted then shouted out “Hey I came back like I promised I would!” walking forward towards the throne at the other end of the room.

“Are you still here?” Dillon said out loud the ears on top of his head drooping down a bit “Where’d you go?”.

“How long have I been gone, I swear it was only for a few minutes and what was that light?” he said to himself.

The ears on the top of his head began to twitch as he muttered “ I hear something” as he looked towards the left side of the throne seeing an open entrance.

Dillon sighs as he shrugged “Might as well” he stated as he walked towards the entrance a nervous look on his face while he walked inside.

“I hear voices but who are they?” the boy thought to himself.

After a few minutes of walking, he came to a cracked open door as he heard the voices clearly as he slowly pushed it open to avoid making noise.

Going through the door he saw a group of individuals he didn’t recognize, What confused him further was that they were ponies.

“I feel like I should know what's going on but really I don’t...” he thought to himself.

“What the hell is going on?” he said out loud by mistake, the ponies looking towards his direction seeing nothing as he hid behind the door.

“Stupid, why did i have to open my mouth,” he thought to himself as he heard them talk amongst themselves as he peeked from the door one of the ponies with rainbow-colored hair flying away.

Dillon continued to peek through towards them before opting to leave, accidentally making the door fully open as they looked in his direction again before pulse rang through the whole room all of its occupants suddenly slowing down to a halt Dillon included.

“What the hell is happening, why am I going so slow?” Dillon thought to himself “Today is just getting more strange by the minute who or what is doing this?”.

His ears started to pick up sound from somewhere, the sound getting more clear by the second as he thought to himself “Wait is there a fight going on?”.

After a few seconds of listening, he stated “Yeah there's a fight going on but who’s fighting exactly”.

“Is it Shade that's fighting?” Dillon questioned himself “He did say he came to this castle for his own reasons”.

“If it is him, I hope he gets it taken care of soon”.

Dillon then thought to himself “Why was I even pointed to this castle in the first place doesn’t even seem I know anyone here other than Shade and Nightmare moon and even then I just met them today and that robot guy that somehow knew me and I didn't recognize him at all, why did this happen today of all days? ”.

“Wait, if that guy knew me did he know where I came from?” Dillon questioned himself “does he know why I don’t remember anything else other than waking up in that cave?”.

“I've just been having these weird thoughts lately…”.

“I can barely even tell if most of the stuff I see is actually real or just in my head, Is any of this real or not, am I just gonna wake up in that cave alone again just to find out all of this was just a fucked up dream!?”.

“No don’t think like that just need to calm down if this was a dream i would have woken up at this point”.

“Okay just focus on getting out of here when you can move again because I don't think these ponies are gonna be that friendly towards me..”.

“Just gotta wait until the right moment,” Dillon thinks to himself as he suddenly feels his body slowly start to move again, everything speeding back up again.

“Oh, here we go” as everything went back into motion again as he heard them shout towards him as he thought to himself “ Ok time to get out of dodge” sprinting out of there as fast as he could.

He ran through each hallway he went through previously as he traced back his steps hopping over random pieces of rubble until he found himself at the door he went through before as he jumped over the broken-down door.

“Finally out now to get back to the den” Dillon muttered to himself as he continued sprinting into the forest running through the paths he could see until he heard the water in the distance.

“At least I know I'm close,” he thought to himself as he picked up the pace watching out for vagrant logs and trees that were on the ground.

Chapter 3 (Rewrite)

Dillon rushed through the trees barreling past the ones that seemed to have fallen his reflexes allowing him to flow through them like water as the light from the lake began to get brighter to the point that it seemed to be blinding to his vision as he jumped through the path landing directly in front of the lake.

Dillon sighed in relief as he stood himself up looking towards the immediate area around him “At least i'm back here now” he said walking towards the cave noticing the pup peeking out looking towards him Dillon smiling in response his walk turning into a jog as he went into the cave sitting himself down in front of the pup who climbed on his lap.

“So did you find anything within the castle, any answers for yourself?” he heard the wolf say as he looked towards her.

“No, I honestly left more confused and traumatized than I would like” he responded, scratching the pup’s ears.

“Why would you say that?” She asked.

“Well, there was this robot that started talking to me like he knew me even though I have not a recollection of knowing the guy, and when I said that it pissed him off and he started saying things that just confused me”.

“Like what?”.

“He just said transform over and over again and when I didn’t do that he attacked me and I ran away and he almost killed me but someone I met in the forest before I even came to this lake saved me” he replied before continuing “that whole scenario was just stressful and then this woman named Nightmare moon tried making me her pet…” he said as he groaned out in frustration.

“Why did it have to be today of all days for all this crap to happen!?” Dillon growled out as the wolf ears twitched in response to something as she glanced to the entrance of the cave as if something was there.

The boy then looked towards her again noticing her look before asking “Is something wrong?” not getting a response as he looked towards where she was glancing at.

“Is someone there?” he said out loud, his body tensing up in preparation for something bad to happen, a low glow coming from the inside of his backpack.

“Hello?” Dillon then said as he stood himself up, his fear evident on his face as he noticed the glow coming from his bag as he went towards it, still keeping his sights on the entrance as he picked it up.

As he opened the bag he noticed the item that was glowing was a rectangular box-like device with golden accents on the center of it, the outer parts being black with red buttons as he heard an echo going through his head “A Morpher?”.

He stared at it in silence before repeating what he heard in his head “ A…. Morpher” he then shook his head saying “What the, how do I know what this thing is?” before his ears twitched as he quickly looked towards the entrance again.

He then heard an almost familiar voice echo around, “so something in there could sense me,” before he heard a sigh, “I really need to be more careful of that.”

“That voice wait is that you Shade?” Dillon asked his posture visibly relaxing the wolf then looking at Dillon saying confused “Shade?”.

Dillon looked towards her as he answered, “Oh he’s the one that saved me back at the castle and when I was attacked back when I was in the forest”.

The familiar image of Shade then appeared in front of them almost seeming to have appeared from the thin air as he looked at everyone, “You doing okay kid?”

The figure looked somewhat like Nightmare Moon had, he had two large wings on his back and a horn of his head, his skin was jet black while he had long flowing red and black hair and a similar colour tail.

“You look a little like Nightmare Moon and it concerns me..” Dillon muttered to himself.

“Don’t worry, I’m not her,” Shade admitted as he walked towards the group.

“Ok then” Dillon replied before saying “I don’t know why but for the short period I was around her I somehow got attached damn these instincts!” covering his face in embarrassment.

“Are you sure you're okay?” Shade asked now, standing in front of Dillon and knelt in front of him as his wings wrapped around him, “is something in your mind?”

“I'm not sure that I’m okay. Tonight has just been one thing after another. I meet a robot that somehow knows me and almost kills me when I don’t remember him and then I encounter Nightmare moon who I somehow got attached to even though she was gonna make me her pet!” he then paused before adding, “And it doesn’t help that I’m questioning whether anything that happened tonight wasn’t just a messed up dream that im suddenly gonna wake up from!”.

“Trust me, if that was the case, I’d wish it was a dream,” Shade added, before seeming to smirk as he added, “But Nightmare Moon making you into her pet… well you do have the dog ears… and a tail. You do fit the bill.”

“That doesn’t make it any better!” groans out in embarrassment covering his face with his hair.

“Really?” Shade added as his wings wrapped around Dillon, one of them rubbing the back of his neck, “you did say you got attached to her, what about her did you like?” he asked as he continued rubbing Dillon’s neck with his wing.

“She just seemed nice. I was terrified of her but she was nice to me for some reason and somehow in my jumbled mess I call my brain I started feeling safe around her”.

“Really how did she make you feel safe?”

“I don’t know how to explain it but if i could it would be like she had a motherly aura around her it felt nice,” he said as he snuggled against Shade’s wing thinking to himself his tail beginning to wag in response from getting rubbed by the wings “This is the same feeling I felt when I was with her. this feels nice” ..” he said thinking to himself.

“You sure you're okay, you're getting a bit too close,” Shade responded.

Dillon’s eyes widened as he suddenly backed away from Shade’s wings “Oh s-sorry”.

The wolf looks at what is happening with intrigue “I didn’t expect you to be that loving Dillon” she said with a giggle as the pups laughed along with her.

Dillon blushed in response before turning around and shouting out towards them “S-shut up!”.

“Aw, Dillons embarrassed,” the pup remarked with a laugh.

Dillon started to cover his face again as he sat against the wall of the cave.

“Have I said something to upset you? If so I apologize for it” Shade asked looking at Dillon in confusion.

“No you didn’t it was something they said” Dillon replied pointing towards the Timberwolf and the pups.

“Something they said. What do you mean I never heard anything?” Shade responded in confusion.

“It’s due to me being a part of their pack I can speak to them and they can speak to me and she made a comment about not knowing how affectionate I can be,” he said pointing towards the Timberwolf.

“And that upsets you why?”

“I don’t know it just bothers me and the way they said it just irks me”.

“Not my fault you're acting like a lost puppy looking for its owner Dillon” the Timberwolf stated as she laughed at Dillon’s face.

Dillons held a stoic look on his face before as he shouted out towards her again “Shut up!” his embarrassment showing again.

“Or you could just be a normal human kid or teenager who gets embarrassed easily,” Shade responded. “Wouldn’t surprise me when I was around your age I was the same.”

Dillon just groaned out in embarrassment before looking towards Shade asking “Wait your human?”.

“That's difficult to explain,” Shade responded as he rubbed the back of his head.

“Well, I have nothing better to do so I have time to listen”.

Shade just shook his head before tapping an object on his wrist before he was surrounded in a crimson glow that blinded everyone in the room. Once it subsided Dillon looked back to him as he found a humanoid figure standing in front of him.

The figure had short black hair and bright blue eyes, and was wearing black tracksuit bottoms, along with a r black hooded jacket and with a red marking on the front which he had open revealing a red t-shirt underneath. “This is how I used to look, what was it now… just over a thousand years ago I think.”

“Whoa, wait just how old are you if you don’t mind me asking?”.

“...I lost track when I was on the moon, I think I was there around one-thousand years… I was eighteen when I came here after… well you know… so around 1018 years old I think.”

“Whoa, that’s a lot of time to think by yourself just one-thousand years I definitely wouldn’t be able to handle that”.

“I wasn’t exactly alone… and If you would. When I look like this I’d prefer to be known as Alex… it was my name back before all this.”

“Ok then...Alex, by the way, who was the other person you were with if you weren’t by yourself on the moon?”.

“Well… I guess the closest answer you would know is… the woman you were attached to.”

Dillon went silent for a moment before muttering to himself “Oh god”.

Dillon went silent again as he thought about it, his face just holding a blank look as he asked, “why do these things happen to me is there just some higher power that just hates me?”.

“Umm… is something wrong?” Alex asked as he looked at Dillon nervously.

“I’ve just been noticing a lot of the things that happen to me connect to something else to a certain degree,” Dillon said before adding “Wait was she the reason why you were in the castle”.

“Both yes and no,” Alex admitted.

“Umm Dad? Is it safe for me to come in?” A young voice asked from the mouth of the cave.

“Um, who was that?” Dillon asked as he looked past Alex.

“That would be one half of what made the woman you wanted to be near,” Alex responded as what looked to be a young child walked into the cave standing beside Alex barely reaching his side, “This is Midnight, my daughter is the best way to put it when I was on the moon, and one of the two parts of Nightmare Moon.”

Dillon went silent trying to make sense of it in his head before shaking his head saying “Alrighty then, it's nice to meet you Midnight”.

“And it’s good to see you again little puppy,” Midnight responded as she jumped onto Alex’s back wrapping her arms around his back as her head rested above his.

“Please don’t call me that'' Dillon muttered in embarrassment before asking “wait a minute how do yo-” Dillon was about to ask before only to get interrupted by her.

“Did my dad not say what I am part of,” Midnight responded with a chuckle.

Dillon just stayed silent as he let out an internal scream in his head a blank look on his face.

“Mom I think she broke him” the pup comments as he looks at his face.

“Yeah I think she broke him too” she replied with a chuckle as Dillon snapped out of it muttering to himself “I can’t make sense of anything anymore…”.

“So if i'm correct in my assumption was she fused with Nightmare Moon back at the castle?”.

“Well in a way,” Midnight responded, “I was the part that created the nightmare. The person who I fused with is someone else close to my dad.”

“And as things went when I was on the moon you can guess what the other person is to her,” Alex added.

“Yeah I get the gist of it and I realize If i meet her I will never live that down”.

“You mean by meeting a princess?” Midnight asked.

“Yeah, whoever that is” Dillon quickly responds as stood himself up from the floor “by the way do either of you know what today’s date is?”.

“Nope. We were literally on the moon till only a few hours ago,” Alex admitted.

“Helpful,” Dillon says as walks to the entrance of the cave, going to the edge of the lake and sitting there “At least I ain’t dreaming...”.

“Well if it were a dream, I’d wish I still had them myself,,” Alex admitted as he walked up beside him, “you don’t really dream when you no longer need to sleep.”

“What's it like, not needing to sleep I mean?”.

“Well what is it like to still live?” Shade asked.

“Don’t know I never questioned it to be honest with you” Dillon responded, keeping his sight on the lake.

Alex just sighed, “it makes it so each problem flows to the next without any respite. Sure I don’t rest and am always aware, but you seem to never be able to rest without worry,” he admitted.

“Oh, must take a lot of strength to go through something like that then,” Dillon said as he glanced at Alex.

“How do you keep going throughout all that?” Dillon asked as he looked towards Alex.

Alex stood calmly for a second looking at the water, “Have you ever heard the saying, “Well… I guess when you have nothing left to lose, you don’t need a reason anymore.”

“You have a point there” Dillon responds with a chuckle as he looked back towards the lake “honestly before I got put into the pack I didn’t have anything to lose since I didn’t remember anything about myself but now that I have them I do something to lose now,” Dillon said as pointed the Timberwolf and the pups.

“Well, it’s good to still have something in the world to care for you, or family to remember you,” Alex responded as he sat by the lake, “I only barely remember them now you know. Everyone I’ve lost. The only memories I can remember clearly are those of my siblings and even those are faint now.”

“Well, at least you have Midnight and the princess” Dillon responded as he stood himself up “I don’t remember if I have anyone else but if I do remember I’ll find them but for right now Im content with what I have at this moment”.

“I suppose your right,” Alex responded, “still, what are you intending to do now, just sit here and do nothing with your life?”

“Im most likely gonna encounter some unsavory people so Im gonna try and get stronger so I don’t have to run away all the time when I’m put into confrontation,” Dillon said as he clenched his fist.

“And how are you going to get stronger? Do you have an answer for that?”

“No I don’t have one, but I have to try at least even if it involves the most rudimentary tasks”.

“Well… what do you know of what you have to protect yourself?”

“I found this Morpher if that’s what it’s called that’s in my bag while I was still in the cave so I can probably use that if need be”.

“Maybe you should learn how to use it,” Alex suggested.

“Yeah, I think I’ll do that,” Dillon replied, scratching the back of his head as he began walking back towards the cave “I should probably figure out how to work the thing right now just in case”.

“Well… if it helps atall, when I use mine, I use my belt and a secondary object to transform… could the same be said for yours,” Alex suggested

“Maybe,” Dillon said as he walked into the cave and picked out the item in question from his bag.

“What secrets do you hold?” Dillon muttered as he examined the Morpher before noticing a small block-like object in his bag as well.

“The hell is this thing?” he said as he examined it as well before looking at the compartment on the morpher.

“Does that go in there?” Dillon asked himself as he placed the small block into the compartment “Huh neat and do I pull this” he said as he pulled the lever as a light blinded him “Ah my eyes!” as he shook his head noticing his arms were covered in a black suit “The hell is this?”.

“Alex I think I got it to work!” Dillon shouted from inside the cave as he ran out to the lake.

Alex then turned to look towards him before saying, “So you're a black ranger… and your mask looks like a dog?”

“It does?,” Dillon said, confused before trying to get the helmet off “is there a latch to get this thing off I want to see”.

“Oh, I think I got it,” Dillon said as he took the helmet off and looked at it “Huh so it does…..I feel like this a coincidence but don’t at the same time and I don’t know how to feel about that”.

“Does it not bring back any kind of memoires? Do you not get a sense of familiarity at the sight of it?”

“It does feel familiar but I don’t remember anyth-” Dillon was going to say before dropping the helmet and clutching his head “I definitely hear a lot more voices now!” he said as the whispers returned full force as he grunted out in pain.

Alex simply wrapped his arms around Dillon before saying, “Don’t fight it, just relax, take deep breaths and listen to what they say.”

“But they’re so loud I can barely make out anything they say” Dillon responded, still clutching his head.

Alex then suddenly seemed to change again, his body returning to that of an Alicorn as he wrapped his arms and wings around Dillon, “Take calm breath, hands away from your head. I will not step away no matter what. So just try and drown out the less urgent ones. There will be a few that matter. Try that.”

Dillon slowly removed his hands from his head as he took deep breaths each breath he took the louder voices started to get quieter until they went silent completely the much more reserved whispers much easier to hear now “the loud voices they’re gone I can hear myself think and can hear the much more quiet voices now”.

“Just listen to them, what are they telling you,” Shade asked.

“I’ll always love you little brother” he hears a feminine voice before hearing his own “Promise?” as the voice replied “Promise”

“I have a big sister…..”.

“Cmon Dillon we have to get this mission going” he heard a male voice say to him before hearing his sisters voice “it's going to be okay”.

“I was a part of a team with her and others..”.

“Keep going, there may be more that can help you,” Shade added.

Dillon went further before hearing his sisters voice again “Dillon I need you to get out of here”

“But What about you!?” he hears own voice ask before everything went silent.

“Something happened but I don’t know what and the voices stopped”.

“Well, from everything what have you learnt about your past, anything that you can piece together?” Shade asked his wings still around Dillon.

“I was on a team with my sister and I think they were like me but something bad happened and I can’t remember”.

“But you can’t place if that was before you came here or after, and if this team were ever with you in your new life,” Shade added.

“Yeah anything before or after just seems hazy and I can’t seem to make it out at all”.

“For the moment at least you know a bit about your past. But the question is do you recall anything about this ‘morpher’ of yours.”

“Partly, I do remember using it but only when transforming but nothing else after that though”.

“But do you remember how to use your suit, and the like.”

“Somewhat yes” Dillon replied before looking towards Shade and asking “do you think you can train me?”.

“In what capacity do you want me to train you?” Shade asked as he looked at Dillon

“To a degree that I don’t have to just resort to running away because I don’t think I'm strong enough for higher levels of training”.

“If I’m even going to consider training you. I need to see where you are already. When you have control of your senses that is.”

Dillon nervously chuckled in response “O-ok then” as he then asked “So what do you want me to do?”.

“What do I want to try first? I can either test you unarmed or with a weapon.”
“Maybe unarmed first since I don’t know how to bring out the weapon”.

“Okay then,” Shade responded before standing up and turning to face Dillon, “You fine starting here or do you want to move somewhere else?”

“I'm fine with starting here,” Dillon quickly responded.

“Okay then,” Shade responded, stepping away from the side of the pond, “Come at me when you are ready.”

“Alrighty then” Dillon said as he took a deep breath before rushing towards Shade as he went in for a kick, only for Shade to step backwards causing the kick to miss.

Dillon went for another attack only for Shade to step back again, Dillon grunting out in annoyance tried making himself go faster to catch up with Shade each attack he made.

This went on for a few minutes until then fell to his knees exhausted “Oh god” Dillon said as he tried catching his breath.

“You know, I think you need to add a bit of variety to how you fight. I could read you rather easily. It may help if you throw some punches in as well as your kicks.” Shade suggested.

“Noted” Dillon responded as continued catching his breath.

“Take a break then try again,” Shade ordered.

“Gladly” Dillon replied, flopping on his back as he looked up towards the trees he stayed like that for a few minutes until he stood back up.

“Alright let's try this again” Dillon said as he rushed towards Shade again going in for a punch only for Shade to dodge again as he closed the distance again alternating between punches and kicks the last action being a high kick which almost grazed Shade.

“You're getting closer. A bit more,” Shade responded.

He kept going as his action progressively as he launched a flurry of punches before suddenly stopping and going in for a leg trip and an uppercut, only for Shade to dodge out the way of his strikes before grabbing Dillon’s arm and sweeping his legs out for under him before pinning him to the ground holding his arm tightly against his back.

“Dang it” Dillon groaned out.

“Nobody will just let you strike them and not fight back. Don’t get complacent,” Shade warned, still holding him down.
“Alright I get it jeez” Dillon responded as he then asked, “can you unpin now please?”.

Shade simply shook his head before releasing Dillon, “you need to take a longer break and rethink things. Take a walk, we might as well visit the nearby town, a change of scenery might help.”

“If you say so” Dillon replied as he rubbed his shoulder blade as he walked into the cave “Hey Shade and I'm gonna take a walk we won’t be gone long,” he said to the wolf who responded “Alright Dillon don’t cause trouble for him while you're gone” she replied.

“I'm not gonna cause him trouble!” Dillon snaps as he notices the amused look on her face “Whatever” he muttered to himself as he grabbed his bag and walked out the cave.

“I'm ready to go,” Dillon said to Shade as he walked next to him.

“Did your… is it mother or Omega for you say you could,” Shade asked with a smirk.

“Yes..”Dillon growled out in annoyance “and to clarify she said she’s my mom since she made a part of the pack…”.

“Well okay then,” Shade responded, “Midnight we’re going to the town, you coming!”

“Yep,” Midnight responded as Dillon felt a small body resting their shoulders on his head.

“Ok this is happening now, why are you on top of me?” Dillon asked, glancing at Midnight.

“Why can’t I be, it’s all the easier to give those ears of yours a scratch afterall,” Midnight responded with a chuckle as she reached a hand before Dillon’s ear.

Dillon let out a squeak as he covered his ears “Nope not letting that happen again!”.

“Aww, why not?” Midnight asked as she hovered in front of him staring at him, “you looked so cute last time.”

“Because it makes me helpless and that was my hour of weakness” He grumbled out before shuddering “It's the fact that it made my body basically limp that made it worse”.

“So couldn’t you just use that to get payback on the other pups if they try and wind you up again right?” Midnight asked.

“True but I don’t want them to actively avoid me just because they wind me up….” Dillon responded with a sigh.

“Either way. Shall we go,” Shade asked as Midnight flew onto his back wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Yeah, let's get going,” Dillon said as he placed his arms behind his head “Honestly didn’t realise there was a town let alone a way outside the forest but first time for everything I guess,” Dillon said out loud.

“The only reason I knew of it was because I landed in the town when I returned,” Shade admitted as he started walking.

“Fair enough” Dillon replied as he jogged forwards to catch up with Shade.

After half an hour of walking in the forest, they reached the edge of the treeline, looking out onto a small town in the distance with a small cottage by a stream that had a bridge going over it closer to them.

“Oh a cottage” Dillon remarks taking a glance at it before looking towards the small town “Huh that place definitely looks like a comfortable place to live”.

“It probably is a nice place to live, apart from being next to the Everfree Forest,” Shade admitted as he continued on towards the town.

“True enough” Dillon replies as he continues walking beside Shade as he asks “What’s this town called anyway?”.

“That would be Ponyville.” Midnight responded, “at least that’s what I was told.”

“Then who told you the name of this place?” Dillon asked Midnight

“That would be the Princess,” Midnight responded.

“Oh” Dillon replied, going silent in thought “At least we know what the place is called but if I meet her I'm keeping my mouth shut because for some reason whenever I say something for some damn reason something happens and not for the best”.

“Anyway, we better head into the town, see if anything is happening,” Shade admitted looking at Dillon.

“Alright let's get going then,” Dillon said to Shade as they began walking towards the town.

As the group got closer to the main road of the town they saw what looked to be multiple human-like figures lining the streets, each of the figures varying in skin and hair colours, with some having wings on their back, some with horns on their heads while others looked like normal ponies.

Dillon just stared in silence for a moment before commenting “Well they're definitely colourful” the boy then scratching the top of his head “Did something happen here?”.

“Might have something to do with my mom’s return?” Midnight admitted, “I think she’s coming through town with her sister.”

“She has a sister?”.

“Yeah, there are two princesses… at least there was just 2 before we were sent to the moon,” Shade admitted, “The one I was on the moon with is Luna, while her sister is called Celestia.”

“Huh the more you know” Dillon responded.

“Either way, you can probably guess who Luna was can’t you,” Shade admitted.

“Most likely” Dillon replied letting out a chuckle before stating “kinda getting a bit of anxiety seeing this many people and ponies if I'm being honest here”.

“It could be worse,” Shade admitted.

“Yeah they could have seen us,” Midnight added.

“True but I'd rather not jinx it just in case”.

“What do you think they are here for?” Midnight asked looking at Dillon.

“I honestly don’t know this night has just been making me more cautious and afraid for my life more than usual”.

“In a town like this? What could go wrong?” Midnight asked with a smile.

“Why’d you have to say that?” Dillon said backing away as he looked towards multiple directions.

“Maybe it’s to see both Princesses?” Midnight suggested.

“Probably” Dillon quickly responded, still frantically looking around “I swear this night alone has made the most paranoid in a while” Dillon stated as he walked before turning his body around to look at the town as he wasn’t paying attention to where he was going before suddenly finding himself in front of a building that looked like it was made of pastries “What where am I now and what is this Hansel and Gretel!?” he said as he then muttered to himself “I should probably find my way back to Midnight and Shade”

Dillon then looked back to see Midnight through the crowd as he made his way towards her passing though the people and ponies around him as he then saw a chariot near the center of it “I guess that's the thing princess Luna and Celestia are on” Dillon said to himself as he went next to Shade and Midnight.

“Sorry about disappearing like that, I kinda lost myself looking around the town” he said toward Shade and Midnight looking towards the Chariot.

“Are you able to see down there?” Shade asked as he looked down at Dillon.

“Not really,” Dillon responded glancing at Shade.

“Do you want a lift?” Shade asked as he knelt down in front of Dillon, gesturing for him to jump on Shade’s back and Midnight seemed to disappear.

“S-sure” Dillon replied as he jumped on top of his back “Wait where did Midnight go?”.

“Right here,” Midnight responded with a chuckle as Dillon saw her flying beside his head.

Dillon yelped in response as he then looked towards with a frown “You really enjoy messing with me don’t you?” he said shaking his head before looking towards the chariot.

“No. If I wanted to mess with you I’d go for the ears,” Midnight responded with a chuckle, her hand touching the tip of Dillon’s ear to make a point.

Dillon reflexively covered his ears as his embarrassed look returned muttering “Point taken…”.

As the chariot got closer Dillon could see two figures on it, the first looked to be a young woman, she had dark blue skin along with both long flowing blue hair and a tail, while the figure beside her looked a lot older, and had white skin along with long flowing hair and a tail with both having four separate colours in them.

“Whoa pretty….” Dillon said in awe.

“Which one have you got a crush on,” Midnight asked.

“There is no crush!” Dillon snapped much to Midnight's amusement “What are you smirking for!?”.

“Oh, just because I heard you is all,” Midnight responded, her hands behind her head, “so… which one were you saying ‘oh pretty’ for?”

Dillon started stammering as a blush came to his face as he couldn’t get the words out before just saying “S-shut up!” the boy then covering up his face in embarrassment.

“Come on! Tell me!” Midnight requested, “or do I need to scratch it out of you?”

Dillon yelped as he quickly said “please not the ears!” as he noticed her inching closer to them “Ok i'll tell you just don’t scratch my ears!”.

“So… which is it,” Midnight asked again, still getting closer, her hands not reaching towards his ears.

“It was toward the taller one” Dillon grumbled out his blush intensifying.

“Oh what part of her is it that caught your eyes… you weren’t looking at those places were you?” Midnight asked with a smirk.

“W-what no!” Dillon responded with a stutter as he then said “leave me alone!”.

“Come on tell me or it’s time,” Midnight responded, her hands now right beside Dillon’s head, “are you a naughty puppy?”

Dillon continued to stammer over his words before he said “I just find her really beautiful okay!?”.

“Midnight stop it! You are making a scene!” Shade responded as she stopped looking to see most of the people around them looking at the group.

Dillon groaned out in embarrassment as he said “Oh man they’re looking at us now, me and my big mouth…”.

“I think it’s more the two Alicorns they are stating at more than you,” Shade admitted as almost all the ponies around them bow their heads at both Shade and Midnight.

“You know what Im just keep my mouth shut for once and not say anything else,” Dillon muttered to himself as he covered his face with his hair.

It was then that the chariot stopped as both the figures in the cart climbed off and walked towards the group, the shorter of the two stopping just in front of Shade simply smiling at him and looking at Dillon, “I hope Midnight hasn’t been causing you too much trouble.”

Dillon just looks away in embarrassment glancing back at them momentarily before looking away from them again, the boy not able to get any words out or able to think of anything to say in response to her.

“I-it's fine,” Dillon mumbled to her, his face still red.

“Let me guess, she’s been getting under his skin… I will assume threatening to scratch his ears, and from the commotion and his reaction. Something with a reaction to how one of us looked,” the darker skinned mare responded, “Midnight you need to behave it’s not just me you and Shade now.”

Dillon just looked towards them as he got off of Shades back, the boy quietly asking “She’s done something like this before?”.

“You act like I don’t know my own adopted daughter?” the darker skinned mare responded.

“Still, it’s strange seeing another one of your kind again,” the older mare added looking down at Dillon.

“I am somewhat confused by that statement..”.

“I think you know the answer to what I asked,” the older woman responded as she rubbed the top of Dillon’s head.

“So Shade. Are you going to introduce us all or is the little pup going to remain like that?” the darker-skinned mare asked.

“My name is Dillon…” the boy mumbled out.

“Well Dillon it’s a pleasure to meet you,” the darker-skinned woman responded, “I am one of the two Princesses of this land, You can call me Luna.”

“Sister… that is not strictly true anymore, but I will explain later,” the other woman responded before looking at Shade, “besides, I think I need an explanation on this other change.”

“Right…” Luna responded as she rubbed the back of her head with a nervous chuckle.

“Anyway, my name is Celestia, I’m one of the thr-” she then paused for a second, “if we could Midnight now that would be four princesses and I don’t know where you stand right now.”

“Let's put a pin in it,” Shade responded with a smirk.

“Let’s say, four Princesses and a very close friend,” Luna suggested as she leant in close to Shade.

“Okay, we’ll go with a very, very close friend,” Celestia responded with a knowing smile.

“I am so lost right now,” Dillon said to himself with a nervous chuckle.

“Let’s just say. You are now close friends with one princess, are known by two of the leaders of this country and as Dad said… put a pin in it for where he stands,” Midnight responded as she rubbed Dillon’s head.

“Uhm okay then” Dillon responded as he glanced at her hand cautiously.

“Not the ears, not the ears don’t scratch the ears” Dillon internally screamed as he kept his sight on her hand as the boy began to subconsciously move his head.

“Midnight sweetie, stop messing with Dillon,” Luna asked calmly.

“Yes mum,” Midnight responded as she removed her hand and flew into Luna’s arms.

Dillon sighed as he covered his ears in relief as he said to himself “I am safe, for now at least…..”.

“Anyway Shade,” Celestia asked as she turned to look at him, “now you are back what will you do now? Will you go back to the Everfree or do you have other ‘plans?’”

Luna simply blushed at her comment, turning her head away while Alex looked at her, seeming to show no physical response to her taunts, “I haven’t really decided just yet. I likely will but from how my old room looked I doubt I can use it.”

Dillon stayed silent as he listened to their conversation, the boy sitting himself on the ground scratching his ears the conversation then slowly started to get muffled before it completely went silent from his perspective, the boy zoning out and just staring off into space.

It stayed silent for a few moments before he began to hear the tune of a music box, Dillon then replicated the music by whistling, this went on until he felt someone put a hand on his shoulder as he flinched looking up to see Shade looking at him.

“Hey you okay?” Shade asked as he looked down at Dillon, as Luna, Celestia and Midnight looked at him with a worried look in their eyes.

“W-what, wait did I?” Dillon asked as he looked towards everyone confused before looking towards Shade again.

“You went silent and started whistling some kind of tune,” Midnight responded.

“A tune?” Dillon replied in confusion before stating “well that's definitely something new” as he stood himself back up “at least I wasn’t having a panic attack because of the whispers again” Dillon said casually noticing them still having concerned looks on their face “What?”.

“Did you say you are hearing whispers?” Luna asked, “as in what feels like old memories, or familiar voices but you can’t place?”

“Yeah I've been having these for as long as I can remember and it's not much since the days have just been blending together, legitimately you two Shade and Midnight, as well as my pack, are the only ones I've actually spoken to in a very long time, As you can clearly tell I’ve been on my own for a while”.

“Is that what you know, or what you feel,” Celestia responded.

“Honestly I barl-” he stopped himself, his ears twitching in multiple directions as he said “S-somethings coming and a lot of them” as he then pointed behind them seeing multiple figures coming into the town.

“What do you mean?” Celestia asked before they heard screams from some of the ponies in the crowd, many of them running in all directions in a panic many of them knocking into each other to the ground.

Dillon runs past them as he goes toward the centre of the path seeing what the ponies were running from seeing robots of varying sizes and a figure that he could barely see due to numbers around them that gave off an aura that terrified him to the core, the boy freezing up in fear as he went completely silent.

But from what Dillon could see the robots had a bronze colour to them with a silver bit on the left sides on their faceplates which held what seemed to be lugnuts of varying sizes one of which was always on the right eye socket as there was a light silver finish below the armour and on the legs which weren’t covered.

“Why can’t I move, Why is this fear so familiar, Do I know what these things are?” Dillon said to himself as he shook in place.

One of them notices Dillon and rushes towards the boy, others not far behind as it starts pulling its arm back and holding its palm straight as it went to stab into his heart the robot getting closer and closer as time seemed to slow.

Dillon's eyes widened to what was about to happen, his breathing getting quicker and more strained as his vision went red, Dillon grabbing the robot's arm and ripping it off and punching straight through its head as its body went completely limp as he pulled his arm out.

Dillon then shook his head and looked in front of himself confused “ho- how did I do that?” as he noticed the other robots surrounding him from all directions as he didn’t know what to do.

Dillon on reflex crouched down in fear as he was prepared to get hurt but was confused as he hadn’t felt any pain, looking up he saw that the robots were dispatched by Shade, their bodies on piles on the floor large black dents in their bodies with the metal near the impact zone blackened with red cracks forming on it.

“You okay Dillon?” Shade asked as he stood in front of him his body sideways in a stance similar to the one he had used when he trained Dillon, but his fist was outwards with a red glow covering it.

Dillon took a deep breath as he replied “Y-yeah, I'm okay” as he stood himself up before saying “Thanks Shade..”.

“No problem, but I think you might want to wait to say that after we stop this mess,” Shade responded.

“F-fair enough” Dillon responded as he raised up his fists noticing that he was still shaking “Breath just breathe” he then repeated over and over to himself as he saw more robots converging on their position “Oh crap here we go…”.

The robots then began their assault as they attacked the two Shade, easily dispatching them as Dillon dodged their attacks out of fear before getting surrounded again as a sword suddenly appeared in his hand “What the?” Dillon then muttered to himself as his body went on auto pilot immediately slicing off an attacking robot's head as he blinked the next thing he saw being a pile of the robots in multiple pieces.

“Did I do this?” Dillon said out loud as he looked at his hands in shock before looking back up to see more coming towards them clutching the sword in his hand nervously.

“Well, whatever it is you did, you’ll need to keep doing it,” Shade responded as he looked into the oncoming hoard of robotic enemies.

The boy just nervously gulped in response as he held the sword in front of himself “I’ll try my best…”.

“You’re doing plenty well enough,” Shade responded as he looked onwards before pausing to see a figure that did not look like the others. This figure looked to be a large humanoid figure that was covered in what almost looked to be flames along his arms and legs. It’s chest covered in silver armour with a set of red indents, eight on his chest and seven on each shoulder pad, also along with its head looked to be on fire the only exception being a bright blue gem in its forehead. “That’s not like the others is it?”

“No it isn’t...?” Dillon replied before noticing enemies behind himself reflexly swinging his sword and hitting them away as he then noticed Shade wasn’t transformed before shrugging it off when he started fighting more of them muttering to himself “Don’t worry about Shade he knows what he’s doing just focus on what's in front of you, Dillon”.

The figure then seemed to smirk at both Shade and Dillon before he said, “These things from the Order should be able to handle you, two measly creatures.” He then held his hands out before what looked to be a motorbike appeared beside him.

The bike was pure black in colour apart from on the front as it looked similar to that of the monster's head with flames running down the back, “now I think I got some time to drag some pathetic ponies to despair.”

“So a phantom then,” Shade responded, “I would have thought your lot would have been larger in number without someone dealing with you lot.”

Dillon bent backwards dodging an attack from another robot as he then kicked it away as he looked towards the figure and then to Shade before asking “The heck is a phantom and how many are there!?” before dodging another attack.

“If you mean phantoms, just one by the looks of it.” Shade responded, “What are you doing running away like a coward?”

‘I'm just trying to not get hit!” Dillon replied as his body went on autopilot once again as he jumped on top of the robot's shoulders and ripped off its head and kicked it towards another robot.

“That was aimed at the Phantom,” Shade responded as he saw the Phantom climb onto the motorbike, “and I really need to get my own bike,” Shade added with an annoyed groan.

“Oh crap” Dillon groaned out “That’s not good,” Dillon then stated before dodging another group of robots jumping in the air.

“Whoa!” he shouted as he landed on top of one of the nearby buildings nearly losing his balance in the process.

It was then that the duo heard a distorted voice that seemed to shout out, “heads up Shade! I’m sending you a little welcome home gift!” As soon as the voice finished a burning red portal appeared beside Shade as what looked to be a motorbike appeared from inside it appearing at Shade’s side.

The motorbike was red in colour and had black chains that pulsated in a crimson hue that adorned the sides that led to the back of the bike while on the front and sides it had a familiarly shaped black and red pulsating eye-shaped symbols covering it.

“Cool!” Dillon said out loud before fighting again shouting out “Why is there so many of you damn it!?” Shade not paying the boy any mind.

The Phantom then seemed to Glare at Shade before he revved the engine of the bike before riding off into the town, “Dillon I’m leaving this to you! I’ll deal with him!”

“O-Ok!’ Dillon said as continued dodging attacks from the enemy as he grabbed one of them, swinging it into multiple other robots before slamming it into the ground.

“Dillon! I’d recommend transforming!” Shade shouted as he climbed onto the bike before a distorted voice shouted “Weapon identified, Accessing Shade link!” before the voice added seconds later “Shade enhancements accepted, new skills uploaded for analysis!”

Shade then revved the bikes’ engines before riding off after the Phantom as Dillon heard him shout the words “Henshin!” as his form appeared over his body as he left.

“Completely forgot about that, noted!” Dillon shouted back as went for his morpher only for it to be knocked out of his hand and into a nearby alleyway.

“Damn it” Dillon grunted out as he ran into the alleyway, the robots not far behind as they continued pursuing him.

Dillon searched through the alleyway as quick as he can before finding and picking it up as he heard them behind himself cornered as he glanced at the device “Lets hopes this evens the odds” Dillon said as he flip the switch a bright light then emanating from the alleyway before it disappeared the robots then noticing that he was gone before a random robot was slammed into all of them knocking them out the alleyway as Dillon came out in the suit he was in before.

“Yeah this is much easier,” Dillon said as he tilted his head to the side, an audible crack being heard as he began fighting the group.

Dillon fought them with ease but after a moment he got distracted and was about to get hit in the back by one of the vagrant robots he missed before it was suddenly impaled by a sword that was thrown into its chest launching it away and pinning it onto a wall.

The boy then looked at the robot in confusion before seeing a figure appearing next to the robot taking out their sword before his eyes widened “No way I didn’t think I'd see this dude again…” Dillon said as the figure turned around revealing the robot he encountered in the castle.

“Why is he-” Dillon stopped as he slashed into a charging robot “You know what I’ll worry about that later” he said to himself as he and the robot dispatched the robots with ease.

After a few minutes of fighting it seemed to be over as there were multiple piles of the defeated robots as Dillon kept himself up with his sword as he mumbled out “Is it, is it over?” before taking a deep breath his exhaustion showed from his posture.

The robot kept his sword out as Dillon shouted out “Why are you still so cautious I think that was the last of them!”.

The robot didn’t respond as he persisted in keeping his weapon Dillon just shook his head in response “Whatever….” before standing himself up and walking towards the center of the path.

Dillon then suddenly dodged as a large fist went past him hitting a nearby building breaking off a large chunk of it as the robot then went in for an attack before being knocked away into a nearby building “Oh crap where did he come from!?” Dillon said as he looked to see a large robot across from him as it retracted its fist back onto its arm.

“Oh give me a break” Dillon whined as he sidestepped another attack going into slash its arm before suddenly stopping as blocking a punch from it which launched him back in to the building it hit before a pointed piece of wood impaled his side the boy letting out a scream in pain before he got grabbed by the robot Dillon struggling to get out of its grip.

The robot and him stared at each in silence for a moment before he felt his chest getting crushed feeling his ribs begin to crack and the piece of wood that impaled his side starting to go deeper into his body the boy letting out a scream of agony as he continued trying to get free his vision getting blurry as he felt his body go limp as he saw visions of the same robot in front of place he didn’t recognise along with others as his vision went red the boys eye color turning crimson.

The boy let out a roar as he broke free destroying the robots fist and trailing down its arm tearing apart in the process as he broke through its chassis going into the robot itself as he began to tear it apart from the inside out the robot stumbling around before falling to the ground Dillon bursting out of it through its head and landing in front of his as he let out a howl that can be heard from a distance.

Dillon then went silent as he stumbled forward before collapsing onto the ground blood beginning to pool around his body. “Guess this is where it ends huh….” he said before losing consciousness.

Meanwhile while Dillon was dealing with the robots Shade had taken chase after the monster that had been seeming to have led the robots that had attacked them the creature looked over its shoulder before it said “Who are you, stop interfering in our attempt to drive the gate to despair.”

“You really think I’d let one of you phantoms go around and cause trouble for someone again,” Shade groaned in annoyance.

“How did you know that?” the monster asked in confusion.

“Let me show you,” Shade replied with a smirk as he removed his old eyecon replacing it with the Wizard Eyecon before the words “Eye! Kaigan! Wizard! Yubiwa no mahō! Saigo no kibō!”

“How! Wizard works for Lord Demigra… why are you trying to stop us!”

“Simple… I’m not him,” Shade replied riding up beside the monster's bike as he tried to slash the monster with his sword as the creature brought its own to block which he managed as the two of them pulled away from each other to avoid a wall that had blocked their path between them.

Shade swerved out of the way, still able to see his enemy over the wall before they collided again as their swords connected, sending sparks flying between the two as they went.

“You're not bad for a fake, it’s amazing you managed to keep out of Lord Demigra’s reach for this long.”

“Oh I escaped from him a long time ago,” Shade replied as he swung his sword as it cut into the bikes tyre as the monster lost control as his bike crashed and he rolled into the centre of the road.

“What are you!” the monster shouted in anger.

Shade then climbed off of his bike before walking towards the monster who had managed to stand and regain his footing as he switched back to using his Shade Eyecon as he said calmly, “my name is Kamen Rider Shade and I’m going to show you directly to the pits of hell.”

“Pits of hell… really? My name is literally Hellhound, that's not much of a threat,” the monster now identified as Hellhound replied.

“Well let's try that theory out,” Shade replied with a smirk as he drew his sword and charged towards Hellhound as the two blades once again collided sparks flying between the two of them.

“You're not as bad as I would have predicted,” Hellhound admitted “not good, but not as bad as I anticipated.”

“Well then, I’ll make you rethink those expectations,” Shade replied as he managed to bring his sword across Hellhound's chest, sending him sprawling back. “Valkyrie! Scutum!” Shade shouted as two of his bands illuminated as his shield and spear appeared in his hands.

It was at this point Hellhound attempted to strike him with his sword which was blocked by Shade’s shield before his spear was thrust into Hellhound's chest sending him backwards as he grasped his chest in pain as blood was seen trickling from the newly inflicted wound.

“You're done,” Shade replied, staring down at Hellhound.

“No… this can’t be happening,” Hellhound muttered in fear as he attempted to stand and escape only for two bodies to grab ahold of his arms and drag him to his feet, forcing him to look at Shade.

Shade didn’t say anything, it didn’t need to be said. The two figures had seen this done before and knew what to do next for Shade.

“What are you doing!” Hellhound shouted out in a mix of fear and pain.

Once again Shade didn’t answer as he pulled the handle on his Driver before a voice shouted out “Shade! Omega Capture!” This caused Hellhound's eyes to go wide as he began to try and escape from the two figures holding him in place as four flames approached him before he was thrown into the oncoming attack as flames surrounded his arms and legs before igniting and covering his body.

Seconds later there were howls of pain as Hellhound screamed out in agony, “Stop! Please I surrender! Just please stop! I’ll do anything, I’ll be yours to control! Just please stop!”

The attack continued for a few more seconds before the flames faded around Hellhound's body before he fell forwards as multiple chains supported his weight as he looked towards Shade, his voice weak as he said in a monotonous voice “Standing by, Please input new directive.”

“Hellhound your soul will now forever be tied to my will, you shall no longer have any desire to serve anyone but me. You will work to better the people of this land and those I desire to look after, any deviation from this path will lead to you facing your worst fears, you will also no longer be able to hide or lie to me. Do you accept these new directives?”

Hellhound look towards Shade mindlessly before he said “Yes Lord Shade, your slave accept my new life under your control, please you me as you see fit,” it was at this point a blank silver band appeared on Shade’s arm as, Scutum, Valkyrie and Hellhound returned to their individual bands.

Shade then climbed back onto his bike before he thought I hope Dillon managed to deal with his enemies? as he made his way back towards where the fight had begun.

Once Shade returned to where he had left Dillon before he looked around, finding Dillon beaten and unconscious with a small puddle of blood on the ground near him.

As there were multiple buildings destroyed as. Shade noticed that most of them had collapsed and or had giant holes in them.

He then quickly ran over to Dillon checking his body over which held multiple cuts and bruises, the noticeable being around his ribs but the most notable thing he noticed was large bit of wood impaled into the boys side.

“What the hell happened!” Shade shouted as he knelt down beside Dillon’s body as he quickly untransforming as he cast a healing spell using his magic, quickly grabbing the woden spike impaled into his hand while casting his healing spell.

He then quickly pulled the spike out increasing the potency of the spell as it healed before much blood could escape from the wound as they started to heal over, however some of the deeper injuries had left barely visible scars on his chest.

Shade then turned his head towards one of the building as he then heard one of the robots slowly climb out of the building clutching its damaged arm as it noticed Shade next to unconscious Dillon as he shook in fear “I- Im sorry sir that thing ambushed us and easily dispatched of me when I went to attack it” it said as it clutched its arm on segment with the mark which let out small sparks every few seconds as he looked to Dillon “I failed you I tried to help him and I couldn’t I'm sorry lord Shade ” he said before falling to his knees.

Shade didn’t look at him for a second, his focus back on Dillon checking every part of his body for other injuries that needed attending to.

The robot, noticing Shades' silence,started shaking in place fearing what he would do after he finished looking over Dillon “I-I’ll accept any punishment you deem acceptable for failing you lord Shade”.

“Focus on your own injuries before asking for me to do anything to you,” Shade responded, “Right now, you are my only link to know the state of this world. So you are useful, failing here just means I didn’t make enough improvements before. It seems my changes were not good enough to help you.”

“You didn’t fail, it's my fault for being too weak” the robot replied as he looked towards his damaged arm wincing as he felt another spark emit from it as he stood himself up grabbing it to straighten it back into place the robot letting out a grunt as the sparks stop but his arm remaining motionless stating “I’ll patrol around the area just in case so no stragglers are still here”.

“Clean yourself up first, see to your damaged parts, and use what remains from your enemies to improve yourself for the next time. They are the only mechanical parts we have to upgrade your body beyond its basic parts,” Shade responded, “Deal with that, then bring it all to me. Gather anything that is compatible with yourself to deal with the repairs to your body.”

The robot nodded in response “yes sir” as he went to the multiple strewn bodies of the robots taking each of them apart and scanning each part to check if they were compatible with his.

After plucking out each compatible part he begins walking back to where Shade was and
Stopping at a nearby well using the water to clean off the dirt from his body after a moment he then came back to Shade with each part in hand.

“I found the compatible parts sir” the robot said, showing the extracted parts to shade Shade.

“What will each of the parts do for you, what benefits will they have,” Shade asked,as he picked Dillon up in his wings.

“Most would augment my reaction time and speed and some of the others would increase my durability and strength sir”.

“Gather any that can repair the damage to your arm, then place the rest in this portal,” Shade ordered as an eye shaped hole with a gap for the iris appeared beside him. “Place any useful parts in it, after you have repaired yourself.”

“Yes sir” he replied doing what he was told as he went towards the robots again taking apart their arms to salvage any parts he can use to repair his own.

After he found what he needed he sat himself down and opened up his arm and began taking out the damaged parts and replacing them with the newer ones the robot letting out noises of discomfort as he began fastening them in, after a few minutes he then closed up his newly repaired arm and attempted to move it his responding with much more speed and fluidity than before as it moved with every input he made as he stood himself up and grabbed more parts from the robots along with others he had collected previously and placing them into the portal

“Any better now,” Shade asked as he looked at the robot, as he rocked Dillon in his wings.

“Yes it's much better now sir” the robot said, showing Shade his newly repaired arm.

“Good,” Shade responded, “Is everything salvaged that we can use?”

“Yeah i made sure to take any parts from the robots that weren’t fully destroyed in the fight and placed them through the portal”.

“And I assume you gathered any functional weapons and gained a useful one for yourself.”

“Yes I have sir” the robot replied as a longsword appeared in his hands “I found this weapon to be the most optimal when I gathered the others”.

“Good.” Shade responded before turning only to find his bike gone, “That's just great, guess I'm running,” Shade sighed before looking at the robot, “Lets go, we better take Dillon back.”

“Yes sir” the robot said, making his longsword dissipate as he and Shade ran towards the forest.

As the group they began to run back to the only place Shade knew would willingly look after Dillon. The Wolves Den.

As the group ran back towards the wolves' den before Shade looked to the robot and asked, “Did you ever give me your name?”

The robot shook his head as he said “I don’t have a name, I was just designated as unit AX-4695-L.”

“I think we need to sort you out a new name,” Shade responded with a shake of his head

“What would you recommend then lord Shade?” he asked

“That I don’t know,” Shade responded, “I’ll get back to you on that AX-4695-L.”

“I understand Lord Shade,” he responded.

The both of them then hear a groan coming from Dillon as he cracks open his eyes looking up at Shade his vision blurry as he says “Dad is that you?” as he then closed his eyes again as the boy began to shake in place Shade noticing that Dillons body was starting to get cold to the touch.

“His temperature is going down rapidly, we need to hurry”.

“I know,” Shade responded as he pulled Dillon as close to his chest as he could. “His mothers going to try and kill me.”

“Cold” the two heard the boy mumble to himself as he let out wavered breaths as Shade noticed fur protruding out from Dillon and that Dillons face and body was looking much more wolf like than usual his legs having a more Digitigrade structure and his face having a muzzle and a dark black nose.

The robot notices this and speaks “Lord Shade Dillons body structure has seemed to change to a more wolf like form”.

“What do you mean?” Shade asked before looking down to Dillon’s form finding what looked to be a Timberwolf Pup in his arms, “what the? How did that happen?”

“Maybe it's his body's response to his temperature from before because his temperature is much higher now Lord Shade”.

“Well, maybe his mother can explain this better,” Shade responded as they saw the cave come into view.

They then noticed one of the pups sitting out in front of the cave as it noticed them, the pup running inside and a second passed before the Timberwolf ran out to the front of the cave.

She looked confused for a moment when she looked at the pup that was held by Shade before it dawned her as she let out a whimper when Shade and the robot stopped in front of her.

Shade then knelt down before saying, “can we take him inside where it’s safer?”

The wolf nodded in response as the two followed her inside the cave, the timberwolf sitting next to one of the walls.

He then carefully lowered Dillon down to the ground before slowly backing away, “he should be okay, I just don’t know why he turned into a real pup.”

She went towards Dillon pressing her nose against his body as he squirmed in place before looking up at Shade as if asking she was asking him what happened.

“I don’t have the answer,” Shade responded, “but-” he added looking at AX-4695-L.

“He got severely hurt back into the town and while we were running back he turned into a wolf pup but im not completely sure why”.

“He wasn’t supposed to go into this form yet his body wasn’t acclimated to the change enough” she responded.

“I’m sorry but I can’t understand you, I generally wish I could,” Shade admitted.

The wolf just shook her head in response as she proceeded to write onto the ground the text saying “he wasn’t ready for this transformation yet his body must have reacted based on the situation and condition of his body”.

“Well, is that good thing, or does it mean he’s still in danger?”

“He's okay but he’ll be out of commission for a while which is why he’s still unconscious”.

“At least he is still alive,” Shade responded, “That is at least one good thing.”

The wolf nodded in response as she then wrote “I'm just glad he’s alive” before cuddling against Dillons unconscious form.

Shade just smiled at them both before his head suddenly began to throb as he reached towards his head and winced in pain.

The wolf raising her head looking in his direction “is something wrong?” she to herself as she went to write on the cave floor to ask.

Shade then seemed to lean forward both hands grasping his head, his teeth gritted in pain.

“Lord Shade, what is wrong is there anything I can to help?” the robot said, concerned for his well being.

“What's wrong?’ the wolf said to herself carefully moving from Dillon so she wouldn’t disturb him as she walked in front of Shade.

“I- Don’t- know,” Shade responded through gritted teeth.

She reeled back in surprise before asking “D-did you just reply to me?”.

Shade then paused, slowly removing his hand from his head before responding to the Timberwolf, “Wait… Did I hear you?”

“Yes you did, but why now and how?” she said in response to Shade.

“I don’t know?”

“At least the language barrier isn’t a thing anymore so I can speak with you”.

The group was then caught off guard as a strange voice said “Alex Shade, for your deeds in protecting both the ponies and creatures of this land, I wish to speak with you personally, as an act of goodwill I have shared with you a fraction of my powers to allow you to speak with all creatures that surround you. Once you are free you can find me under the ruins in the crevasse. I look forward to seeing you soon.”

As soon as the voice finished talking the sound faded as quickly as it had begun.

“Okay… was I the only one who heard that or did you all hear it as well?” Shade asked as he looked at everyone in the cave.

“I definitely heard that,” the wolf replied.

“I have as well,” the robot responded.

“...My full name does not leave this room… cave understood,” Shade asked as his eyes darted between everyone in the cave.

“No problem from me since I can't really speak to other people other than you or Dillon” The wolf responded.

“Understood lord Shade” the robot replied.

“So are you gonna do what that voice asked of you?” the wolf then asked Shade.

“A voice asked that I have no idea where it came from but somehow gifted me with the power to talk with animals and asked me to visit… I have nowhere better to currently go so I will…. Later though after I know the kid is okay,” Shade admitted. “Either way I have to thank her for allowing me to speak with you even if I don’t know if that’s a pro or a con for you,” Shade responded.

“If anything it's a pro since I don't have to write on the floor anymore”.

“I guess so”.

She just looks back at Dillon before gently picking him up by the nape of his neck and placing him in front herself, keeping him pressed up against her fur.

“I'm so glad he’s okay though thank you Shade for bringing him back to me”.

“I just wish I could say I brought him back without any injuries though,” Shade admitted.

“It wasn’t your fault as I've said I was too weak to fight against the thing that hurt him, I'm at fault”.

Shade just rolled his eyes in annoyance, before looking at the Timberwolf again, “either way, is there anything we can do to help?”

“All that can be done now is let him rest but it’ll take a bit for him to regain consciousness” she replied casting her gaze towards Dillon’s unconscious form who let out low snores as she laid herself down cuddling against him saying to Shade “If you two want your free to rest here until Dillon wakes up”.

“I thank you for your hospitality,” Shade responded.

She just nodded in response before laying her head down and closing her eyes as she fell asleep.

The robot looked at her in silence before asking Shade “So what will we be doing now lord Shade?”.

“Right now… I don’t know. First we’ll make sure the kid is okay then we will decide.”

“I understand Lord Shade” the robot replied as he sat himself at the entrance of the cave stating “I’ll keep a lookout while we wait” the robot stated as everyone went silent,

All Dillon saw was darkness in front of him, left with nothing but an eerie silence that seemed to pierce through the void as well as him, the boy looking around himself as he let out a sigh of frustration.

“Ah great this place again what are they gonna have me go through now is the I'm not ready guy gonna burn me again,” Dillon said to himself as he felt something land behind him as he turned to see a door behind him.

“The hell?” Dillon said as he walked to the door confused noticing that the door has a great resemblance to ones he saw in the castle “this ain’t the weirdest from what I’ve seen in here but it's up there”. he said before taking a deep breath and opening it

a bright light emitting from the inside of it as he slowly began to walk through before hearing a voice coming from behind him.

“Dillon,” a feminine voice said as he turned around, seeing the red-haired woman but couldn’t see her face due to the door obscuring it.

“That voice, wait,” Dillon said as he rushed back towards the door as it closed, reaching it as he began forcing it back open as her face started to come into view, the boy seeing a yellow eye and a smile on her face.

His vision suddenly was covered by a dark hand as multiple others came from behind him and grasped him.

“Wait no sis!” Dillon shouted as he fought against their grip before his hand lost its hold on the door, the boy flying back through and the door slamming shut. “No!” he shouted as he suddenly woke up, jerking up as he grasped his chest, taking deep breaths as he heard the wolf say his name “Dillon!” as he looked to his side to see her staring at him in worry.

“Mom, wait when did I get back to the cave?” Dillon said as he looked around himself and said “Wait, how am I?”.

“Shade brought you back after you were hurt” he heard her say as he felt his side letting out a low hiss of pain as he replied, “I owe him for that then, where is he anyway?”.

“He said he would stick around until he knew you were okay so he and that robot are most likely hanging around near the lake” she responded as she noticed Dillon attempting to stand himself up “Dillon you're still hurt, please just stay down and rest,” she said worriedly.

“It's fine I’ll go slow,” Dillon said as stood up by bracing against the wall as he began to slowly stumble forward towards the entrance to the cave clutching his side.

After a moment he suddenly heard Shade’s voice coming from outside the cave as he saw the robot sitting at the side of the entrance. The robot then noticed Dillon as he walked out the cave before suddenly tripping the robot quickly grabbing the boy before he fell to the ground.

“T-thanks,” Dillon said to the robot as he then looked towards the lake, seeing Shade standing in front of it, not looking at the two.

“It's no problem, Lord Shade, he's awake!” the robot shouted to Shade as he turned around to look at the two.

“As much as I assume you wanted to thank me, you need to think of your own health,” Shade admitted before walking over to him, “I mean you almost died earlier, you should be resting right now.”

Dillon chuckled in response “fair enough but I’m not really the brightest of the bunch as you can clearly see” the boy replied keeping his hand on his side “How long was I out anyway?”.

“You were out for around 7 hours, give or take,” Shade responded.

“At least I wasn’t out for a whole day” Dillon replied “so what happened to that thing that attacked me and this guy” he then asked pointing at the robot before continuing.

“After it grabbed me everything went blank I don’t remember anything after” as he noticed the robot looking away in shame.

“What is it?” Dillon asked as the robot sighed before responding “You were beaten badly by the robot and you would’ve died but something happened it's as something snapped within you because when i was in the building i heard your screams but then were replaced by growls and metal being torn apart somehow you tore that robot to pieces within seconds even when you were incredibly wounded”.

Dillon was silent as images flashed through his mind each going too fast for him to identify before he immediately slumped forward and suddenly vomiting Dillon then raising a hand when Shade went in front of him “I-Im fine just give me a second” he said before vomiting again its color having a slight red hue “so that’s where some of the blood went..” as he then looked towards the robot.

“What’s your name anyway?” Dillon asked the robot trying to change the subject.

“I don’t have a name I was only ever called AX-4695-L” he responded Dillon chuckling in response “Yeah I think I’ll just call you Axel”

The robot went silent for a moment as he went into thought before responding “Axel, I like it I’ll go by Axel from now on,” Axel said with a smile as he patted the boys who started to puke again “Oh crap that’s a lot hey Axel can you sit me down” Dillon muttered to him.

“Oh of course” he responded carefully, placing the boy on the ground.

“So what are you two gonna do now that you know I’m not dying... well not yet at least,” Dillon asked Shade.

“Right now… I’ve got someone I need to pay a visit to, but I wanted to wait to be sure that you were well before I left,” Shade admitted.

“So you two are heading out now?” Dillon asked.

“I will be heading off soon, but as for AX-4695-L… I don’t actually know what he will do,” Shade admitted.

“I’ll stay here with Dillon and if something happens I will inform you Lord Shade” Axel stated.

“It’s not my place to say if you can stay here or not, that's up to the leader of this pack,” Shade admitted.

“I'm ok with it just as long as he doesn’t cause trouble for me and my pups” they heard the wolf say as she walked out of the cave.

“Still… There would be the whole language barrier to deal with.” Shade admitted,

“I could make him a part of the pack like Dillon since he doesn’t seem to be made of just metal” She suggested.

“I don’t feel comfortable with that suggestion” Dillon states.

“If any of you don't mind filling me in on what you are discussing because I feel a bit lost”.

Dillon sighs as he states, “Mom you can’t be serious”.

“I am actually,” the wolf said in annoyance.

“As much as he is pleasant right now I can’t sidestep the fact that he was an enemy earlier today!”.

“And it seems Shade mitigated that since he hasn’t tried attacking you and besides it’s not your choice Dillon it’s mine!” she said with a growl walking in front of Dillon.

Dillon growled out in annoyance before sighing “you know what do you want I don’t give a damn” Dillon said as he slowly stood himself up putting a hand on Axel’s shoulder “word of warning if you say yes it’s gonna hurt” he said as he slowly walked past him and into the cave.

The wolf sighed as she muttered, “What am I gonna do with that boy?”.

“I’d say teach him to behave. He is still a young child… or pup depending on where he stands now,” Shade admitted.

“He’s older than the pups but he still is one” she responded with a sigh before the two looked at Axel who had nothing but confusion on his face as the wolf then looked to Shade saying “tell him I'm making him a part of the pack”.

Shade simply nodded his head in response before looking at Axel, “She’s made a decision on something, it’s just that Dillon disagrees with her choice.”

“And what is that choice exactly?” Axel asked.

“She wanted to make you part of her pack, that would allow you to understand what she and the other Timberwolves are saying.”

“So it would help with me not being confused about what you are discussing with her?”.

“Yes, but I don’t know what sort of aftereffects there may be on you,” Shade admitted.

“What do you mean by effects lord Shade?” Axel asked, confused.

“With how he is made up he’ll experience somewhat of the same that Dillon experienced when he was made a part of the pack probably without the ears or tail though”.

“Well, you know how Dillon has those ears and a tail?” Shade asked

“Yes lord Shade there, quite noticeable”.

“Those are something that you may get,” he added, “along with possibly some other physical changes but I can’t be sure of that.”

“Most of the transformation is discomfort mostly but with the teeth, that’s when it starts to hurt “ the wolf stated as she walked in front of Axel who looked down towards her in confusion.

“Do you want her to do it?” Shade asked, “If not just say, but if you do I will find out how she wants to do it.”

Axel went silent as he began thinking to himself this lasted for a minute before he said “I’ll do it”.

The wolf nods in response as she says to Shade “Have him sit down in front of me and have his arm out”.

“You just need to sit in front of her and hold your arm out to her and she’ll do the rest,” Shade responded.

“Okay Lord Shade” Axel responded, walking in front of the wolf sitting himself down in front of her and holding his arm out.

She then stood up and walked towards him, positioning her muzzle in front of his arm before sinking her teeth into it, Axel letting out a hiss of pain before feeling her let go of his arm, the bite seemingly closing instantaneously.

“That’s peculiar,” Axel muttered as he heard a feminine voice from in front of him say “You are now a part of the pack welcome Axel” as he looked to see the wolf sat down in front of him.

“Um thank you that’s gonna take a bit to get used to” Axel muttered as he stood himself up.

“You’ll be used to it in no time. Dillon was the same way hours ago and now he’s casually speaking with us even if he’s not in a good mood right now”.

“He didn’t like this idea did he?” Axel asked her.

“No, No he didn’t but it wasn’t his choice to make”.

“I know it's not my place to say but I do believe you could have worded that better to him so he wouldn’t have gotten angry with you”.

“It's going to be fine, he's a child that still has learning to do” she responded before saying “maybe I could've been a little bit more lenient with him” she then said with a sigh.

“I’ll go talk to him” she said walking towards the cave “Oh and Axel”

“Y-yes?”.

“If you need anyone to talk with just come to me” she said as she walked into the cave.

“Oh o-ok” Axel replied before muttering to himself “Well that was something…”.

“I guess that's taken care of,” Axel stated as he turned to Shade asking “So are you heading off now Lord Shade?”.

“I think I will,” Shade responded before turning away, “Oh, and look after yourself.”

Axel nods before asking “Oh lord shade before you go how will I be able to find you if I need to see you?”.

“If you need me… I’ll be around,” Shade responded with a wave as he left the clearing outside the cave and walked away into the forest.

Axel stood there in silence before nodding to himself and walking towards the cave.

Dillon sat in the cave in silence as he held one of the pups in his lap scratching it behind its ears as the wolf spoke with him.

“Dillon I should've word's what I had said to you much more gently than I did to you earlier and I'm sorry” she said to the boy who only stood there in silence before sighing.

“It's fine,” Dillon responded before the two look to see Axel coming into the cave. “Don’t mind me,” he said with a dismissive wave.

“So to get off the subject, how are you feeling Dillon?” she asked the boy.

“Other than the fact I basically threw my guts up out there I'm fine it still hurts like hell but not as much as before” Dillon replied as he stood himself only to stumble backwards into the wall clutching his side.

“Please Dillon slow down” she whimpered out towards him as he sighed as he slid down the wall to the ground.

“Dammit I'm useless” Dillon muttered to himself as Axel stated out loud “No you're not”.

“What?”.

“When you and I were fighting those robots earlier you fought well even if you barely knew how to use the suit” Axel replied before continuing.

“If anything you have the potential to be stronger you just have to harness it either by training or just sheer will, I know you can and I believe Lord Shade knows it as well” Axel said with a smile.

Dillon went completely silent as he looked towards his fist and clenching it and slowly standing himself up and walking himself towards Axel who looked confused as he did this.

Dillon stopped in front of him and held his hand out to him “we haven’t formally met so lets get that out of the way hello my names Dillon it's nice to meet you” Axel looking at Dillons hand before smiling taking it into his own replying “Likewise it's nice to meet you Dillon my names Axel’.

The two smile towards each as Dillon sits himself across from Axel the wolf smiling at their interaction as the pup from before laid himself against her while they were talking with each other.
But after a couple minutes had passed Dillon had let out a yawn “It wasn’t even that long why am I so tired?” Dillon said as the wolf responded to him saying “it's your body's response to the wounds healing just rest Dillon” as Dillon yawned again.

“If you say so…” Dillon replied, his eyes closing as he fell asleep, his body slowly sliding to the side as it slumped to the floor.

“Goodnight Dillon sweet dreams” the wolf said as she landed her focus on Axel.

“You know Axel you can go to sleep as well” she said before Axel gave a dismissive wave “It's fine I don’t really need to sleep I can but it isn’t needed”.

“I see” she says before noticing Axel fidgeting around where he sat “are you okay Axel?” she then asked.

“Yes I'm just feeling some mild discomfort near my tailbone” he responded before just opting to stand up.

“Oh that's just transformation taking its course and as I've said to Dillon it won’t take long it won’t be quick either”.

“Will it hurt?” Axel asked.

“Not all of it, most of it is just mild discomfort but the part I believe that will hurt for you is the teeth part of the transformation since Dillon was in a lot of pain when that part came up as well”.

“How bad was it-” Axel went to say before feeling pain hit him like a truck a immediately clasping his hand over his mouth and coughing up blood as he time he took a breathe he felt a sharpened tooth dig into the inside of his cheek and the back of his mouth as each cough came with a tooth falling out of his mouth.

While this happened he felt the wolf nuzzle against as she said “it's ok the worst of it will be over soon”.

As the final tooth fell out he felt his new teeth sharpen to a point as he coughed one last time spitting out blood and some teared flesh from the inside of his mouth.

“He went through this, that was awful” Axel sputtered out as he wiped the blood from his mouth.

“Now all there's left is the ears or tail now but I think it's best you rest as well since the transformation goes much smoother when someone is not conscious”.

“Really it's fine besides as I said before I don’t really need to sleep”.

“Please I insist that tomorrow I'm having you help me with something and I'd rather you be rested for it” she responded laying her head down as Axel shrugged in response as the cave went silent.

But Axel didn’t fall asleep to the contrary he was wide awake just sitting there against the wall fidgeting slightly from the bump in his tail bone as he looked to the entrance as he slowly went towards trying to be as quiet as possible to not wake everyone up.

As he made it out of the cave he sat himself down on his knees and looked up at the sky “it's quite beautiful tonight” he said admiring the night sky as he closed his eyes going into deep thought a moment later low snores coming from him as he fell asleep where he stood.

Axel then woke up in a black void seeing nothing identifiable as he heard a voice echo through his head “You're doing great, better than me at least” as he looked around confused to where the voice was coming from before suddenly feeling a hand on his shoulder as he suddenly woke up.

Axel suddenly lurched forward as he fell on his face “ow…” he said as he noticed that the discomfort was gone from the bump as he looked back to see a tail that replaced it as he looked around and noticed that there was light shining through the treeline “Oh it's daytime now” he muttered as he look towards the lake to see Dillon and the wolf sitting at the lake while the pups were playing.

“Oh look who decided to wake up” Dillon said as he noticed Axel.

“Come sit with us Axel, the waters are quite nice,” the wolf said as Axel nodded in response, sitting himself next to them as they sat there in silence.

“It's beautiful” Axel stated out loud as Dillon responded “yeah it is, it's quite peaceful as well” as Axel noticed a long wooden stick next to Dillon.

“What's with the stick?” Axel asked.

“Oh it's to help me walk, mom made it for me while you were asleep” Dillon replied as he grabbed the cane and stood himself up, one of the pups jumping on his shoulder as he did so.

“See?” Dillon said before stating “it helps a lot so I don’t have to rely on everyone else for support for walking all the time”.

Dillon then began walking towards the treeline as Axel asked “where are you going?”.

“Oh I'm just getting some berries,” Dillon said in response as he said “you can come if you want”.

“Um sure..: Axel replied as he jogged up next to Dillon as he and Dillon disappeared into the treeline.

“So what's with the pup on your shoulder?”.

“Oh he just likes being around me I call him Hāto”.

“If I recall correctly, isn't that japanese for heart?” Axel asked Dillon, nodding in confirmation “Don’t know why I knew that but it just popped up in my head when I was thinking of what to call him”.

“Yeah I like it” the pup said, making Axel flinch “I keep forgetting I can understand all of you. I'm only used to hearing your mother talking”.

“I can understand that,” Dillon replied as he stopped in front of a bush with berries that had red berries with an orange hue “Help me pick these Axel,” Dillon said as Axel nodded in response as he crouched next to Dillon and picked the berries with him.

“What are these berries anyway?” Axel then asked as he examined the berries “they're called Cloudberries” Dillon replied.

“How do you-”.

“Don’t know why, I just do,” Dillon quickly replied as he and Axel placed the berries in his backpack.

“O-ok” Axel replied as Dillon stood back up “That seems like enough” Dillon said as he put his backpack back on.

Dillon and Axel then began walking back to the lake before their ears twitched the two then looking towards a nearby bush.

“You hear that?” Dillon asked Axel who only nodded in response as Dillon then closed his eyes holding his hand as he took a breath, his sword then appearing in his hand.

“Did you just?”

“Yes I did, I was practicing while you were asleep” Dillon responded as the two of them slowly approached the bush.

Dillon then used his sword to move the bush out of the way, the two looking over it only to see a bomb as it began to beep rapidly.

Dillon stumbled back, tripping into Axel who grabbed the boy and dived away as the subsequent explosion obliterated the bush and nearby trees.

“What the hell was that!?” Dillon shouted out as Axel picked him up and grabbed the boy's cane “I don’t know but we have to run” Axel said as he ran the opposite direction while having the boy on his back.

Dillon looked up to see two hooded figures in the trees following after them “Axel, two people are following us!” Dillon shouted out as Axel nodded in response taking multiple turns to try and lose them.

“They're still behind us!” Dillon shouts as one of the figures lunged towards the two aiming their sword at Dillon as Axel immediately turned around blocking the attack with his longsword as he got launched out of the treeline into a nearby lake the boy landing on his feet as he looked to the treeline trying to figure where their going to come from.

“Look out!” Dillon shouted out as Axel saw Dillon parrying one of the attackers as Axel turned around slamming the flat end of his sword against them launching them away before the two jumped out of the way from a blast Dillon falling towards the ground.

One of the attackers appears above Dillon trying to impale them with their sword, Dillon blocking the attack with the flat end of the sword as he struggles to fight them back Dillon noticing a red strand of hair coming out of the hood “What the..”.

Dillon looked closer towards them to see their faces only for Axel to knock them away from the boy “you ok Dillon?”.

“Y-yeah” Dillon responded as Axel passed the boy his cane “Thanks”

“No problem” Axel replied as Dillon stood himself up as the attackers appeared from across from them.

“Who the hell are you guys huh!?” Dillon shouts out towards them.

“I'm surprised you don’t recognize me Dillon” one of them says as they take off their hood revealing a robot with a manic smirk on his face.

“Oh not this again” Dillon muttered before stating “Axel get ready”.

“Got it” Axel nodded as he held up his longsword.

Dillon took a breath as he reversed his grip holding the sword in front of himself taking a breath as the two figures suddenly lunged towards the two.

The robot goes for Dillon but gets knocked away into the tree by Axel who doesn’t hesitate to pursue him.

While Dillon stumbled back from a swipe from the other figure who was relentless in their attack, Dillon moved out the way from each attack until he was suddenly pinned against a tree by them.

Dillon gasped out as he grabbed their arm, trying to get himself free as he saw a sword in their other hand, the figure raising it up and aiming it at his heart.

“Why are you doing this?...” Dillon grunted out as the figure shot their sword forward Dillon closing his eyes in response waiting for that pain he felt before but it didn’t come he opened up his eyes to see the sword stopped directly at his chest the figures arm shaking as they dropped the boy to the ground Dillon taking this chance grabbed his cane and stumbled into the forest.

“Where’s Axel, we gotta get out of here…” Dillon muttered as he hid himself behind a tree.

“Dillon” he heard from his side as he yelped, falling to the ground and looking up to see Axel standing there.

“Don’t do that,” Dillon said, placing his hand on his heart.

“Apologies,” Axel replied.

“What happened to the other guy?”.

“He disappeared and couldn't find him, how about you?”.

“They let me go,” Dillon responded.

“What, why?”

“I-i don’t know it like they were struggling to do it and they dropped me after that I ran”.

Axel stayed silent as he started patting Dillon’s body. “H-hey, what are you doing!?”.

“I'm checking if they placed a tracker on you” Axel responded before stopping “there's none on you at all that is strange”.

“What do you mean?”.

Axel sighed as he replied “Let’s just get back to the lake your mom’s probably worried” he then picked up Dillon placing him on his back as he began walking back to the lake.

“Just make sure to keep an ear out just in case, Dillon”.

“If you say so Axel..” Dillon responded as the two went silent letting the sounds of the forest take over.

After a half an hour of walking the two finally make it back to the lake Dillon asleep on Axel's back.

Axel looked back at the boy and chuckled slightly, shaking the boy awake.

Dillon groans out as he wakes “ugh what?”.

“We're back at the lake Dillon” Axel replied with a smirk.

“Oh we are?”.

“Yep” Axel nodded as he stopped in front of the cave crouching down as Dillon slowly climbed off of him.

“Mom we’re back!” Dillon shouted in the front of the cave as the wolf walked out.

“So how was the hunt for ber- what happened to you two?” she asked as Axel answered her “Two figures attacked us in the forest don’t know who they were but one of them seemed to know Dillon specifically”.

“One of them knew you” she asked the boy who nodded in response.

“Yeah he somehow knew me by name, it seems I had history with him before I lost my memories but at least we were able to get away a bit unscathed so that's good at least” Dillon said as he sat himself down Axel sitting himself across from him.

“So let's talk about the one that let you go,” Axel said towards him.

“Wait, one of them just let you go?” the wolf asked

“There really isn’t much to say for that matter but yeah when they were about to kill me they just stopped their hands were shaking like they were struggling with something it was shocking to say the least” Dillon responded before eyes widened “wait where's Hāto!?” Dillon shouted out before feeling movement in his backpack.

With a brow raised he took it off and looked inside only to see the pup in question eating the berries he and Axel had collected “of course…” Dillon muttered to himself as he picked the pup out of the bag who became sticky because of the berries Dillon looked at him unamused.

Hāto only giggled in response as Dillon smiled at the pup as he slowly stood himself up “well guess it's time to give you a bath”.

The pup whined in response as Dillon walked towards the lake, the wolf and Axel not far behind as they followed behind him.

Dillon used his cane to set himself down as he sat Hāto in front of the water. Dillon cupping the water in his hand began pouring it on Hāto.

“Oi stay still”.

“But it's cold” Hāto whined in response as Dillon rubbed off the mashed parts of the berries out of the pups fur.

“Jeez you got covered by so much of it” Dillon groaned as he shook the remnants of the berries off of his hand.

“That's better,” Dillon said with a smile as he placed Hāto on the ground who in response shook the water out of his fur covering Dillon who subsequently did the same with both Hāto’s fur and Dillons hair puffing out a small amount.

Dillon frowning at pup pats down his hair as he hears his mother giggling “Aw you looked so cute like that”.

“Gee thanks” Dillon replies with a blank expression as he stood himself up stumbling a small amount before putting all of his weight onto his cane.

The group began walking back towards the cave before hearing a scream coming from further in the forest.

“The hell?” Dillon muttered as he and Axel turned around.

“Someones in trouble” Axel said as he pulled out his longsword Dillon groaned out in exasperation.

“C'mon we’ve barely been here for 15 minutes!” Dillon said before seeing Axel crouch down Dillons eye twitching for a moment before he said “fine…” the boy then climbed on Axel's back as he jumped into the forest Dillon shouting “We’ll be back in a little while mom!” the two then going out of view.

Axel started to jump from tree to tree as he and Dillon went toward the direction the scream came from as they then heard another one Dillon pointing west of them as Axel immediately jumped down from the trees and landed on the ground, Axel continuing to rush forward on the ground.

They heard the scream from west of them as Axel changed directions again as he burst through the treeline to find an anthropomorphic pony backing into a large rock as she was surrounded by Timberwolves.

Axel then jumped over the Timberwolves as he landed in front of her, Dillon climbing off of him as the two boys took out their weapons.

“Dillon you stay here I’ll take care of them” Axel stated as he ran towards the Timberwolves as Dillon reached out saying “W-wait and he’s already doing it great….” the boy then looked at the pony who looked at him with wide eyes.

The two stare at each other in silence as Dillon then nervously chuckles saying “Hi…” the pony simply faints in response “Yeesh tough crowd” Dillon said before stumbling back narrowly dodging a bite from a Timberwolf.

Dillon fell to the ground as the Timberwolf jumped on the top of him knocking away his sword and pinning him to the ground the Timber Wolf snarling in the boys face as its claws dug into chest and arm as Dillon instinctually did the same as the wolf then going to bite Dillons throat before Dillons cane was shoved in its maw.

The boy growled towards it before pushing it off as he stood himself up Dillon then hitting the wolf with the rounded end of the cane knocking it into the trees and he slouched against his cane as he looked forward to see Axel knocking away one of the last standing Timberwolves as the stragglers limped into the forest.

Axel sheathed his longsword as he walked back towards Dillon and the pony Axel noticed the scratches on Dillon.

“You okay?” Axel asked crouching in front of Dillon.

“Yeah I'm fine it's just a few scratches I’ll live let's just worry about her for a moment” Dillon responded pointing towards the unconscious pony.

The two stare at her unconscious form before Dillon breaks the silence “So what do we do?”.

“I don’t know, I thought you had an idea”.

“I don’t want to pick her up. I'm still injured and I don’t want her to freak out on me when she inevitably wakes up” Dillon pointed out, leaning against his cane while the two then looked towards each other.

“You want me to pick her up?” Axel asked.

“No lets just wait until she wakes up” Dillon responded as he heard a groan coming at her “Well ask and you shall receive” the boy then said as he crouched down using his cane as her eyes opened the two boys in her view as she looked at them in silence.

This goes on for multiple minutes before Axel said “Hello” the pony flinching in response as she let out a whimper backing up into the boulder Axel holding up his arms as he said in a calming manner “we're not gonna hurt you we're just here to help”.

She just looked at the two in silence before quietly saying “T-Thank you”.

The two just smile in response “Im Dillon and that's Axel” Dillon stated as he held out a hand towards her.

She looked at it in silence for a few seconds before shakily grabbing his hand as he gently pulled her up Dillon letting out a huff of discomfort as he held his hand to his side.

“You're hurt,” she said to the boy.

“I'm fine, it happened last night and it's already healing pretty well, I just wish it didn’t so much whenever I move without my cane though”.

“I-I can help with that,” she responded.

Dillon tilted his head to the side as he replied “You sure you want to do that because you barely know me and Axel heck you haven’t even told us your name”.

“O-oh my name Fluttershy” she quietly replied.

The boy chuckled in response as he leaned forward with his cain doing a slight bow “Well it's nice to meet you Fluttershy ''

She smiled back at him as she replied back “it's nice to meet you too Dillon and you as well Axel”.

“Likewise Ms.Shy” Axel responded as he picked up Dillon and placed him on his back as he then asked “earlier you said you can help with the pain he’s feeling?”.

“Y-yeah just follow me” she replied as she walked past them Axel following behind her “whatever you say Miss Shy” Axel then stated.

After twenty minutes of walking the three find themselves in front of a cottage that leads out to the path towards the town.

“Oh, it's the cottage I saw before,” Dillon thought to himself as he heard Axel speak.

“This the place?” Axel asked Fluttershy who nodded in response.

“Yes this is my home” Fluttershy replied as she opened the front door and walked inside, motioning for the boys to come in.

Axel then walked through the door to see the cottage’s interior. The two boys noticed multiple animals running around, including a bear that walked past the two Dillon, specifically putting his focus on it.

“Is th- is that a bear?’.

“Yes it is his name’s Harry” Fluttershy stated to the boy.

“O-oh well hello Harry,” Dillon said to the bear as it nodded in response as Fluttershy walked out of view up some stairs the pony saying, “Y-you can sit down on the couch if you want i won’t be long!”.

“O-ok!” Axel responded back as he placed Dillon onto the couch and then sat himself down.

“This place is quite comfy,” Dillon stated as he looked around the place, seeing multiple bookshelves and a birdhouse that hung on the ceiling.

“Agreed,” Axel responded as he noticed a small white bunny jump on top of Dillon’s lap “oh, look a bunny, how cute”.

Dillon looked down to see that said bunny looked at him with a glare “it looks like it glaring at me…”

“Is it” Axel asked, looking at the bunnies face before it proceeded to hit Dillon on his injury Dillon lurching his side, clutching the spot he was hit in as he groaned out in pain his eyes clenched shut before opening them again see the bunny in his face seemingly with a smug look on its face.

“You little shit…..” Dillon groaned out as his eyes momentarily flashed red as he growled out the bunny running away in response “ow…” a moment later, Fluttershy came back down the stairs holding a small box as she approached the two boys and placing the box on the table in front of them.

Fluttershy then noticed how Dillon was positioned and asked “A-are you okay?”.

“A random white bunny hit me on my injury, he or she has made a new enemy today,” Dillon groaned.

“O-oh, sorry that was Angel bunny, he's not that welcoming to newcomers in the cottage.”

“Well, he has made a new enemy today,” Dillon responded as he slowly sat himself up.

Fluttershy just shook her and opened the box, the boys seeing that it held multiple bandages and applicable creams as she asked, “could you lift up your cloak please?”.

“Oh yeah, here you go,” Dillon responded as he lifted the part of his cloak that covered his injury Fluttershy, nodding in response, grabbed one of the vials.

She then poured some contents of the said vial on her hands before covering her hand over his injury, saying, “this will hurt at first, but it will numb the pain.”

Dillon let out a gulp before nodding towards her as she slowly placed her hands on the injury, the boy letting out a sharp hiss in pain as he shoved the side of his fist into his mouth and bit into it.

The boy, after a moment, unlatched his teeth from his fist as he let out a shuddered breath while Axel looked towards him with concern.

Dillon then slowly propped himself up with his arm as he looked towards Fluttershy, who asked him, “How do you feel?”

“I-it still hurts, the numbing is definitely doing it’s work.”

Dillon responded before smiling towards her.

“Thank you Ms.Shy” He said before he and Axel did a short bow towards her.

“O-oh it's no problem you were hurt and I wanted to help”

“Even still we appreciate it, we are in your debt” Axel responded as Dillon nodded in agreement.

Fluttershy in response just smiled before asking the two.

“Would you two like some tea?”

Axel and Dillon went silent for a moment before nodding in response as she walked out the room, the boys then speaking to one another.

“Well today was definitely interesting to say the least”.

Dillon spoke out as he crossed his legs on the couch.

“You can say that again, especially with those guys that attacked us and for some strange reason let you go”.

“Yeah, that’s definitely up there, but at least we’re still alive right?”

“Yeah, at least there's something that we can be thankful for”.

The two then went silent as Fluttershy came out from the other room, placing a tray down in front of them as she passed them both cups of tea.

The both of them thanked her as they began to take sips from their tea.

Dillon almost burned his tongue as he started to blow onto it, Axel and Fluttershy looked at him with a smile.

They began to start some small talk with each other, enjoying their company together as they listened to some stories she had to tell.

After some time passed, Axel had stood up Dillon looking towards him and asking him.

“Is it time for us to go?”

“Yep don’t want to get your mom worried you know”.

“But...true”

Dillon said in response before standing up and looking towards Fluttershy and doing a short bow.

“It was a pleasure meeting you Ms.Shy”.

Fluttershy smiled in response.

“Likewise, Dillon but before you go, take this”.

She said before handing the boy one of the vials.

“When you start to feel the pain again, make sure to reapply this, ok?”

Dillon nodded in response as he placed the vial in his cloak.

“Thank you,” Dillon said as she patted the top of his head as the two boys began to walk out the cottage the both of them hearing her say

“The two of you can come back if you want, you are always welcome here!” The two smiled before nodding towards her as the both of them exited the cottage.

As the two of them exit Dillon looks to see the town.

“Hey Axel”

“Yes Dillon?”

“Can we head to the town first before we head back to the cave?”.

“Sure, but why?”

“I don’t know, but I have a feeling I’ll find something there”.

Axel looked towards him confused before shrugging, the two then beginning to walk towards the town instead of the forest as Dillon saw a sign that said Ponyville.

“Oh, so that’s what this place is called, It has a nice ring to it” Dillon thought to himself as he smiled.

Author's Note

Sorry for taking so long to post this I've been busy with a lot of stuff so I haven't really had to chance to but low and behold here it is and I know I'm not good with grammar but please be patient with me.

Chapter 4 (Rewrite)

The sun was shining on the two as they headed towards the town as they noticed that the whole place was already mostly rebuilt.

“Huh, they definitely rebuilt this place quick,” said to himself.

“They are definitely efficient that’s for sure” Axel muttered out as the both of them looked around the area, the two noticing a large number of trees in the distance.

“Not that it isn’t nighttime anymore I’m noticing this place is actually kinda pretty to look at” Dillon then stated as he and Axel stopped for a moment.

“Hard to believe this place was invaded by those monsters….” Axel stated.

“You’re telling me” Dillon responded as they walk again passing multiple ponies before reaching the square.

The two then take a deep look into their surroundings as Dillon noticed some of the ponies looking towards them as he cringed “This feel’s way too familiar and uncomfortable for my liking”

“Just ignore them, Dillon,” Axel said in response before looking towards them as well as he cringed in response as well.

Dillon just looked at a nearby alleyway as he grabbed Axel’s arm as he walked towards it pulling Axel behind him as he walks inside Dillon sighing in relief “oh sweet relief away no more eyes on me…”

“Yeah, I’ll admit it was making me uncomfortable as well” Axel admitted as Dillon sat against the wall.

“So what were you thinking you were gonna find here?”.

“Don’t know thought id find someone but maybe if we keep searching we’ll find them at some point”.

“Any ideas where to start looking?”

Dillon looked at him in silence before stating, “Let’s try this alleyway first don’t know what we find unless we try right?”

Axel nodded in response as Dillon stood himself up the two beginning to look deeper into the alleyway.

They examined each end of the alley making sure to keep their attention up but found nothing as a result, but the two couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched by something.

“Hey, Axel….”

“Yeah..?”

“Do you have the sinking feeling that we’re being-”

“Watched?, yeah I’m feeling it”

“But from where though I don’t see anyone above us at all and I don’t see any cracks or holes anywhere”

“No idea” Axel responded before the two here a bang coming from a nearby trashcan.

“Axel didn’t you check that trashcan?”.

“I thought I did…” Axel responded as they slowly approached the trashcan Dillon reaching out towards the lid before a boy around Dillon's age popped out screamed as Axel and Dillon back in response as it echoed out across the town.

5 Minutes Later

The three boys were on the ground Dillon holding his chest Axel taking a deep breath and the unknown kid just standing in front of them in shock.

“D-Dillon?” the two hear him say as Dillon responded.

“Do I know you?”

“It’s me Ziggy I’m supposed to be a part of your team ringing any bells?

“I remember being in a team but don’t remember you, are you a part of it?”

“Not really I was looking for them but as you can clearly see no luck, do you know where they are?”

“Sorry, Ziggy was it?, I have no idea where they don’t even know if they’re alive or not”.

“Also what the hell was that you almost gave me a goddamn heart attack!”

Dillon shouted out as he grabbed Ziggy by his shirt Ziggy getting choked out by Dillon as Axel attempted to stop him.

“I'm sorry” Ziggy rasped out as Dillon shook him around before the three heard someone at the entrance of the alleyway.

It was then that the trio heard what sounded to be a distorted voice of some kind shout the words, “Start your engine!” from the end of the alleyway.

Axel just tapped Dillon on the shoulder as had Dillon towards the entrance as Dillon then dropped Ziggy to the ground.

Dillon and Axel stayed silent but Ziggy pipped up saying “I feel an oncoming sense of dread…” as Dillon and Axel just nodded in response the both of them saying in unison “Same here”

After a few moments, a voice was heard from the figure at the end of the alleyway, the voice almost sounding feminine, as they heard the word, “Hensin!” being shouted out before a loud tune was heard before the first voice shouted out “Drive! Type Speed!” before they saw what looked to be an almost familiar circular-shaped object fly through the air hitting the figure in the chest, followed by a red flash on the figure's body.

Dillon just looked figure in silence before backing away from Ziggy as he asked “U-um who are you?”

“I would also like to know that…” Ziggy stated.

“As would I…” Axel added.

“Also another question do you know or have met someone called Shade perchance?,” Dillon asked as he backed up slightly.

The figure didn’t respond to begin with before taking a single step forward before saying “My name is Drive,” as it walked out the shadows revealing that the figure was wearing a red and black suit that, and it’s helmet had two large eyes on it and a silver R stylized enough that it resembled a K and enclosing a D.

“Ok that answers one of my questions but imma just ask the other one again do you know someone that’s called Shade by chance?” Dillon asked as Ziggy stood himself up, Axel keeping his hand at a ready position to summon his long sword.

“Shade? I’m afraid I don’t recognize that name,” the figure responded.

“Though it does sound like the surname of someone I once knew,” a second voice, which sounded more masculine added seemingly from the same place as the figure.

“What the-” Dillon muttered before asking.

“May I ask what business you have with us, if we caused a disturbance I apologize”.

“Do you really need to ask that question. Not to even note the Roidmude next to you both,” the figure responded as it continued to approach the group.

“Hey, first of all, it was this idiot’s fault for scaring us!” Dillon replied pointing towards Ziggy as he continued “ And second Axel’s cool, well at least he is now….” Dillon said as the memories from the day before flashed through his mind before he shuddered as he noticed the figure was much closer than before the three immediately jumped back in response.

“Why should I ever trust a roidmude!” Drive shouted back as what almost looked to be a sword in the shape of a car's steering wheel seemed to fly into her hand from a distance away.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe if he was an actual threat to you he would of attacked already!” Dillon shouted toward her before taking out his Morpher.

“If I have to fight you to protect him so be it!” Dillon growled out his more wolf-like feature becoming more prominent.

Axel looked towards Dillon in surprise at what he had just said as he came off as confident and not afraid.

But to the contrary Dillon was terrified to the core not knowing if he was actually able to fight her off as he thought to himself.

“Why did I say that, Why did I say that!”.

“Can we not fight please I'd rather not have the peace disturbed more than it already is” Ziggy piped up with a nervous chuckle.

“If you step away from that Roidmude then I won’t have to!” the figure shouted again.

Ziggy turned his attention back to Dillon who didn’t move as he took out his own Morpher “I’m gonna regret this” he thought to himself as he and Dillon inserted the cell into their respective morper as the two went into their suits, Ziggy’s being green.

“I’m gonna say this again, he isn’t a threat to you. If he was I would have been fighting him and I wouldn’t be talking with you right now! So I’m gonna give you a choice to just walk away because, to be frank, I don’t want to be your enemy but if you hurt my friend I will fight you, damn the consequences!,” Dillon said towards her as Ziggy and him summoned their respective weapons, Ziggys, in particular, being a green battle-ax.

“You can not make friends with a Roidmude! All they do is take what they need and copy the look of those you care for!” the figure shouted, “So just let me get rid of that thing before I end up hurting you as well… or are you both like him!”

“No, I'm not like him!, But isn’t gonna dissuade me from protecting him because if he’s a threat how the hell am I still alive then!?, from the short amount of time i've known him he had multiple chances to kill me but hasn’t!”.

“Even then how do you know he’s a Roidmude? He could be something else entirely, he looks more normal than any of the monsters I’ve encountered, hell he could even be a goddamn cyborg!”.

“I mean, he has a point you don’t really know if he is Roidmude or not” Ziggy added.

“That's easy to find out!” the figure shouted before a red pulse of light moved past the group.

The three attempted to move but noticed that their movements were slowed to a crawl Dillon realizing what happened thought to himself.

“What the hell this, wait a minute is the same thing that happened last night?,” Dillon thought to himself as the moment where he experienced this same slowdown effect at the castle.

Axel who was about to materialize his broadsword during the pulse was stuck in the slowed state as well not knowing what to do.

“Now to get rid of you,” the figure responded as it slowly walked toward Axel, it’s speed still at the normal pace, “Why not drop the act of you being slowed and fight back, or do you want me to destroy both you and your core?”

Axel in his slowed state just glanced towards the figure not really understanding they thought he was acting as he noticed Dillon and Ziggys slowly positioning themselves to hit the figure.

The figure just shook it’s head as it quickly kicked the weapons from both Dillon and Ziggys’s hand before punching each of them in the chests. The figure then turned back to Axel again before kicking at his legs sweeping them out from under him as he canceled whatever had slowed the group down, causing both Ziggy and Dillon to collapse to the floor while Axel collapses forwards with the figure standing over him.

Axel pushed himself up from the ground as he looked up to see the figure reflexly summoning his broadsword only for the figure to kick it from his grasp again before stamping down on Axel’s chest, as hard as it could.

Axel let out a grunt of pain as Dillon witnessed this happen rage slowly building as the whispers from before filled his mind before he let out a roar of pure anger jumping towards the nearby and bouncing off towards the figure and kicking the figure away from Axe as he let out an animalistic growl

“Never again…”.

The figure seemed to be slightly phased by Dillon’s actions as he got back to his feet, “really… Are you really going to give up your life for that thing.”

“Yes, yes I am” Dillon replied as he brought out his sword as Ziggy appeared next to him holding his battle axe at the ready.

“I may not really know him but he doesn’t seem like a bad guy so you can count me in on this” Ziggy stated with a determined look on his face.

“You do realise that they may all be telling the truth… right?” the second voice they had heard before responded.

“Then if it isn’t a Roidmude then what is it! I mean just look at it!”

“He has a name dammit, he’s not an it or a thing!” they heard Dillon shout.

Axel slowly stood himself up as he placed a hand on both Ziggy and Dillon’s shoulders signaling the both of them to stand down.

Dillon looked at Axel in surprise before asking “You sure you want me to stand no guarantee this guy won’t try to attack you again”.

Axel nodded in response “Yes I’m sure”.

Dillon and Ziggy look at each other for a moment before dispersing their weapons and going back to normal.

“Whatever you say dude” Dillon replied.

“alright, so explain. If you are not a Roidmude, what are you?” the figure responded.

“I wouldn’t be able to tell you, I know I’m not a Roidmude but I don’t really know what I am but whenever I look at myself it’s given me the sense that I used to be human or whatever I was before this”.

“So do a lot of things. Doesn’t narrow you down,” the second voice points out.

“Even then I don’t see either of you as an enemy” Axel replied.

“Even though she tried to kill the three of you?”

“My assumption was that she was trying to protect this town so im not gonna hold it against her”.

Dillon scoffed in response “speak for yourself I wanted to bash her damn head in when she hurt you”.

“Do you need slowing down again?” The feminine voice asked an annoyed tone clear in her voice.

Dillon let out another scoff as he went silent.

“Apologies, he has a bit of temperament issue,” Axel said towards them.

“Fine just don’t do anything to harm anyone in the town and I won’t come after you… but if you do…” the first voice stated.

“I know what will happen you showcased it earlier so we’re at an understanding” Axel responded.

“For now,” the figure responds before turning around as she began to walk away.

Axel let out a sigh as he heard two things fall to the ground as he looks down to see Dillon and Ziggy on the floor.

“That was stressful” Dillon sighed out.

“Yep,” Ziggy responds.

“You two okay?”

“No, I felt like my heart was gonna fly out my chest” Dillon rasped before Axel pulled him and Ziggy to their feet.

“You’ll be fine” Axel replied as he patted the both of them down.

“We should head back to the lake” Axel then added as Dillon nodded in response.

“Right!” Dillon replied following behind him before signaling Ziggy to follow them.

“Cmon Ziggy!” Dillon shouted out as Ziggy ran to catch up with them

“R-right!”.

Chapter 5 (Rewrite)

As the trio were walking out of the town as Dillon let out a grunt of annoyance as he gritted out “Seriously what was the lady’s problem you weren’t hurting anyone and she just decided you were a threat off the bat it just pisses me off”.

Axel sighed as he replied, “You gotta understand that she was just trying to protect that town even if it seems unfair to you”.

“B-but she- fine” Dillon groaned out in defeat.

Ziggy then piped up “I mean at least we’re not dead and the situation wasn't much worse than it was. I mean all three of us could have died”.

“You have a point…” Dillon sighed as they walked past the last house of town and began to follow the trail back to the forest.

Ziggy stopped behind them as he looked towards the dark opening of the forest as he nervously swallowed down some spit as he asked.

“A-are we really going in there?”.

Dillon and Axel turned around to face Ziggy looking at him in silence before saying in unison.

“Yep pretty much”.

“Are you sure it’s safe?”.

“Well, it’s safe in the fact that if you follow the path you won’t get mauled by random Timberwolves”.

Ziggy let out a nervous laugh in response as he continued to follow behind Axel and Dillon as they walked past Fluttershy's cottage, the three then entering the dark entrance of the forest while Ziggy kept himself very close to them.

once they passed the entrance the path they began to follow the path they were using before as Ziggy tried to keep himself from tripping over the random roots sticking out of the ground as he groaned out, “How the heck do you guys even see anything I can barely see anything in front of me let alone anywhere close to me…”.

“Just stay close to us Ziggy” Dillon responded.

“Was already doing that but ok” Ziggy muttered out as the three continued to walk through the path Dillon and Axel having no trouble navigating in the dark.

While they were walking Dillon and Axel’s ears began to twitch as they heard movement In the distance.

“Axel, you hear that?” Dillon asked as Axel nodded in response.

“Yeah, I do, let's just keep our wits about us alright?” Axel replied.

“Got it” Dillon nodded while Ziggy listened to them confused.

“Is something happening?” Ziggy asked as Dillon quickly replied saying “Don’t worry about it Ziggy”.

“O-ok” Ziggy replied as he went silent before hearing Dillon ask him a question “ So Ziggy how long have you been here exactly”.

Ziggy just shrugged in response “Honestly I wouldn’t be able to tell you I just remember waking in the morning somewhere else and finding that town....”.

Dillon and Axel look at each other before stopping as Dillon asked “So you don’t know about the grinders that attacked last night?”.

“Wait, they attacked last night!?”.

“Yep,” the other two replied in unison as Ziggy groaned in exasperation before asking “what else did I miss?”.

“We’ll inform you once we're back at the cave” Axel replied hearing the noise he heard before immediately grabbing Dillon and Ziggy “Hey what’s the Big Idea!?” Dillon shouted out in confusion before getting silenced by Axel who then jumped into the trees.

They then hear the growl of multiple wolves who began to pass where they once were, Dillon and Axel looking down towards them in silence while Ziggy looked like he was about to have a mental breakdown not knowing what they’re looking at.

Once they were gone Axel jumped back down, placing Dillon down on the ground as he kept Ziggy over his shoulder.

“We should hurry back to the cave” Axel stated towards Dillon who nodded as they began to run through the path Ziggy shouting out “Why are we running!?”.

They don’t respond as Ziggy felt Axel jumping over multiple things as he bounced up and down on his shoulder unable to see anything other than some random small bits of light in the distance.

“What’s happening damn it!?” Ziggy then shouted out in confusion.
“We’ll explain later, Ziggy!” The other two shout out as he sees a light coming from behind as he glances to see an opening out of the path.

Dillon and Axel jump through the opening landing down on some grass, Axel then placing Ziggy down on the ground.

Ziggy covered his eyes reflexively before moving his hand as he saw the lake and cave in front of him, “Welcome to the lake Ziggy” He heard Dillon say before seeing him hold his hand out towards him.

“Good to be here” Ziggy replied before grabbing Dillon’s hand as he was pulled up from the ground.

They then begin to walk towards the cave while Dillon began to explain something to Ziggy “before we actually catch you up we’re gonna introduce you to mom”.

Ziggy looked towards him confused “Mom?”.

“Yeah he means mom, he has adopted” Axel pipes in from in front of them.

“Wait by who?” Ziggy.

“You’ll see in a moment” Axel replied

“If you say so” Ziggy replied as he closely followed them to the cave.

He follows them inside as he hears Dillon speak “Were back mom!” while Ziggy looked past Dillon to see a wolf in front and multiple pups in front of them.

Ziggy looked on towards them in silence before immediately shouting out “Huh!?”

Y-yeah I was adopted by a wolf” Dillon responded with a chuckle

Ryka, who was listening to what they were saying, decided to pipe into the conversation asking “Dillon, Axel who is this?”.

“Oh this is Ziggy mom” Dillon responded as he pulled Ziggy forwards.

“You can understand her?...” Ziggy muttered out to Dillon who nodded in response as he noticed some of the pups running up to him and surrounding his legs.

“Yeah we can since we got made a part of the pack it's the reason why I have these ears and tail same with Axel,” Dillon said as he pointed to both ears and tail.

“Oh ok,” Ziggy replied, hearing Ryka bark again before hearing Dillon respond to her.

“Yeah he’s a friend apparently he’s a part of the team im in are you okay with him staying with us”

Ziggy heard another bark as Dillon just jumped up shouting “Yes!” before turning back to Ziggy who looked completely confused “She said you can stay!”.

Ziggy who had been silent just showed a nervous smile before saying “o-oh that’s nice I'm gonna sit down now” as he fell backward, fainting.

“Oh, you think that was too much for him, Axel?”

“Probably” Axel replied before picking up Ziggy and shaking him lightly, stirring Ziggy out of unconsciousness.

“Huh what where am I, oh I'm still here”

Axel then placed Ziggy back on the ground slightly patting him down as Dillon said “you okay buddy?”.

“Yeah im fine just a bit jarring but Im fine” Ziggy rambled on before noticing Axel and Dillon looking outside they’re pupils slightly constricting as they both took out their weapons.

“What’s wrong?” Ziggy asked in confusion.

“Enemies take out your weapon” Dillon quickly replied while Ziggy quickly summoned his axe as the three slowly walked towards the entrance of the cave.

“The heck did you guys hear anyway,” Ziggy asked.

“It’s most likely those wolves from earlier,” Axel replied.

“You mean that growling I heard when you grabbed me and Dillon?”.

“Yep,” Dillon responded as he stepped out of the cave before suddenly rolling out of the way as two wolves lunged towards him.

Axel and Ziggy immediately run out as multiple other wolves run out of the forest surrounding the three.

“Hey, Axel, you think these wolves are the same ones we fought earlier today?”

“Most likely” Axel responded as one of the wolves lunged towards Ziggy attempting to bite only for him to block it with the flat part of his axe as he then reeled it back and swung it back forward hit the wolf straight in the muzzle as it was knocked back into the forest.

“I'm guessing this is the pack of those wolves that were harassing Ms.Shy as well?” Dillon asked.

“Most likely”

“Who’s Ms.Shy?” Ziggy asked.

“We’ll introduce you to her later” Dillon quickly responded before kicking away two wolves.

The rest of the wolves begin to rush the three as they begin to dodge their attacks as Axel brought up his longsword and swung towards a small group of them launching them in the air as Dillon jumped and kicked two away before grabbing the other two spinning around before launching them away.

Ziggy who was surrounded by another group was about to be dogpiled by them only to disappear from his position only to appear above them.

Ziggy clutched his ax tightly in his hands as he turned it to the flat side of it as he twisted around before swinging forward, hitting each wolf away as he launched them towards the trees, the three hitting against nearby trees and others getting launched back into the forest.

“Nice one Ziggy” He heard Calvin shout before seeing a wolf getting launched past him before more began to funnel in from the forest.

Dillon, noticing this immediately shouted towards Ziggy, “Ziggy launch me!’.

“Got it” Ziggy shouted back as he reeled his ax back as Dillon dashed towards him, the boy jumping onto the flat side of the ax as Ziggy swung, launching him forward, Dillon launching into one of the wolves as slams his leg on the top of it’s his head making it slump to the ground as he used its body to launch towards one of the other wolves.

Ziggy and Axel suddenly near the other wolves as they began to quickly dispatch them the two landing their hits as they flowed through the wolves while Ziggy just used his Axe to smack them around not wanting to kill them, Axel used his greatsword to slash around them making them fall to the ground due to the cuts he had afflicted them with.

Dillon landed on the ground after knocking into one of the last wolves on his end as he kept his sword out, being careful to look at his surroundings just so he wouldn’t get a surprise attack from his blind spot before hearing a low growl come from the forest.

Dillon immediately went into a defensive stance as he let out a growl himself before the wolf he knocked into the trees came lunging out towards him, letting off another slash only for his mom to tackle on top of the wolf as holding him in place with her teeth, his neck Dillon immediately stopping as he said.

“Dang mom, nice save”

She only nodded in response before motioning for him to help Ziggy and Axel seemingly saying that she’ll keep this one in place as it tried to move only to let out a loud whine as she dug her teeth harder into him.

Dillon nodded in response “Alright!” as he ran to help Ziggy and Axel immediately jumped to where the two were.

Ziggy just held his axe out as Axel and Dillon hop on the flat side of it again as Ziggy launched the both of them in the air.

Axel immediately held his hand out towards Dillon who grabbed it as Axel spun the boy incredibly fast before launching him towards the ground as Dillon slammed the hilt of his sword and his fist into both the wolves heads a plume of dust covering the area before slowly dissipating as it revealed Dillon holding both the wolves in a restraining hold.

Both of them let out a whine as Dillon and Ziggy began to restrain them with some vines before grabbing the one that his mother had pinned and doing the same.

The wolves look at the four in concern for their own lives as they see nothing but a crazy child, a stoic monster, a threatening Timberwolf as well as a scardy cat who hits hard.

“Alright we're gonna ask you some questions and you three are going to answer them, am I clear?”

Dillon asked, only getting silence in return as his mother let out a large snarl towards the three “Answer the question!” as she placed her claw on one of the wolves' necks who immediately spoke fear clear in his voice.

“Crystal clear we’ll answer your questions just please don’t hurt us anymore!”.

“That's better, thanks mom” Dillon spoke as she only nodded in response as he asked his first question.

“Alright, why did you attack our home?”

The wolf responded quickly by saying “If a pack attacks another territory and wins the battle they get the territory and allegiance of the pack that had lost the battle”.

“And you thought you would win this?”

Axel had asked next as the wolf just nodded in response while Ziggy just looked on in utter confusion because he couldn’t understand anything the wolves were saying.

“Why were you trying to “get more territory” then, it’s literally just the three of you,” Dillon asked them while having a brow raised.

“When you have a lot of territories you have a lot more authority than packs that have smaller territory we didn’t want to be forced into another pack so-”

“You decided to do that yourselves huh?”

“Yeah,” the wolf responded.

Dillon immediately motioned for his mom to talk as they walked to the side of the cave.

“What is Dillon?” she asked as he asked.

“What should we do with them mom should we let them go or have them y’know”

“Have them become a part of our pack?”

“Yeah since they lost, wouldn't it work like that?” Dillon asked before the both of them heard Axel speak to the three wolves out loud.

“Well since you lost the battle wouldn’t that mean you're a part of our pack now?” Axel said as he motioned towards himself and the others.

The wolf cursed under his breath before asking, “Who's your alpha?”

Axel just looked at him confused before turning back to where Dillon and his mother were, Dillon and her overhearing what he asked and the boy just shrugging in response.

“Wait, mom who’s the alpha because the only wolves in this place are you and the pups”

She sighed in response before answering his question, everyone other than Ziggy hearing her answer, “There is no alpha here, there hasn’t been one for while”

The wolf let out a gasp, “What, how have you been surviving so long on your own then?”

“By the best of my ability for the wellbeing of my pups”, she answered quickly before turning around and walking into the cave.

Dillon immediately spoke as he walked back towards the three wolves, “Alright change of subject now that you three are a part of our pack you’ll be responsible for helping gather food and protecting this place am I clear?”.

“But we didn’t want to be made a part of another pack” one of them protested before seeing Dillon give him a piercing glare.

“If you didn’t want to be made a part of another pack you shouldn’t have tried doing it to us, that doesn’t seem fair to us don’t you think?”

The three nods as Dillon uses his sword to cut the vines that were binding them, “Alright now get up and get to work!”

The three immediately stand up, two of them turning to walk away, their heads and ears lowered slightly, the third one pausing for a moment as the two pass him.

The third wolf then suddenly turned charging back towards them, his teeth and claws bared as he jumped towards Ziggy again, his jaw moving towards his neck.

Dillon and Axel immediately pin the wolf to the ground with their respective swords as Ziggy fell back in shock as he had his hand on his neck.

The wolf looked up in anger still thrashing around as he tried to force himself free to bite at the nearest person he could. “I will not follow any pack who doesn’t have an Alpha leading it. You hear me! I’ll kill each of you before I let that happen!”

He looked up to see Dillon and Axel looking at him with a piercing glare before feeling their swords slowly begin to pierce into him, as blood slowly began to get drawn.

“Wait!” They hear from inside the forest as one of the other wolves comes out as he makes a suggestion for them. “If you mark him by biting him on the ear he won’t have a choice but to follow you, you won’t have to kill him!”

Dillon and Axel stare at him in silence before staring back down at the one that tried to attack Ziggy.

“No! Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare!” the pinned wolf shouted as he tried to free himself.

They stay like that for a moment before feeling Dillon pull his sword away as the wolf heard him say, “hold him down Axel”

“N-no i’ll do it” The wolf quickly interjected as he helped keep the wolf down.

“Let me go! Why are you helping them! You were the one who wanted to take control of them! Get off me you traitor!” the pinned wolf shouted, still trying to get free.

“It's better this way than dying my friend, you’ll thank me for this someday...”

There's only silence to be heard before Dillon opened his mouth showing his fangs, the wolf's eyes widening in terror as he screamed, “No! Keep away from me! Don’t do this!”

“You brought this upon yourself” Dillon responded before immediately biting into the wolves ear who let out a loud yelp as he felt a tearing sensation on his as he looked up to see the chunk of his ear in the boy's mouth before seeing him spit it out before wiping his mouth of any blood that was there.

“No…” the wolf quietly whispers before saying through muffled sobs, “I hate you. I hate you all.”

“Be glad you're still alive I would have killed you if your former alpha didn’t say anything” Dillon replied to the wolf.

The Wolf didn’t respond as he looked down still sobbing quietly, “I will never forgive any of you for this.”

“I didn’t want to do any of this if you had just listened you wouldn’t have gotten hurt I would have had to resort to this” Dillon then goes silent before referring to the other wolf “You”

“Y-yes?” the wolf quickly replied.

“Take him with you and get to work alright?”

“Yes sir” the wolf replied as he helped the other one up on his feet as the two slowly walked into the forest to start gathering food for their new pack.

Axel and Dillon looked back to Ziggy who was just sitting there, his hand still on his throat as he asked “What the hell is happening right now?”

Dillon and Axel just pick him up both their arms on his shoulders as they both say, “We’ll explain it to you in the cave buddy”

The three walked into the cave as they sat themselves down, Dillon having his hands on his face as he let out a stressed sigh.

“You okay bud?” Axel asked as Dillon let out a wavered breath.

“I didn’t want to do that but he forced my hand, he was about to hurt Ziggy it's like I was a completely different person…”
“At least you were able to stop him and didn’t have to kill him” he heard Ziggy reply as he looked towards him.

“I guess so” Dillon responded before feeling something nuzzle against his cheek as he looked to see his mom in front of him.

“Not many people are ready to make those decisions Dillon, Im proud of you he may resent you for this but he’ll still live his life”

“Y-yeah I guess also what did you mean that there is no alpha, what happened to one before?”

She had a dejected look on her face as Dillon then stated “You don’t have to tell me if you're not ready to mom”.

She looked like she was trying to find the right words to say but failed to do so as she nodded towards him “Thank you, Dillon”

Dillon only nodded in response as he brought his sword in front of him as he stared at it in silence “I just hope I don’t go too far one day” Dillon thought to himself before hearing Ziggy speak.

“So can you guys explain to me what happened earlier because I sadly don’t speak Timberwolf”.

Axel just nodded as he spoke first “Those three wolves tried to take over our territory which is the lake by fighting us and if we had lost which we didn’t we would have been forced to join their pack as a result”.

Dillon then interjected as he stated, “But since we won their part of our pack now but one of them not liking the arrangement decided to be defiant and try to attack one of us and the one he chose was you”.

“That's why that wolf went for my neck because he didn’t want to be told what to do by us?” Ziggy asked as Dillon responded, “Yes and no he didn’t want to be in a pack that didn’t have an alpha and decided to be defiant, his former alpha knew not to do this and helped us in marking him basically making him a part of the pack without his choice in the matter”.

“Is that why you bit a chunk of his ear off?”

“Yeah pretty much” Dillon replied with a nod.

“Wait what does the bitten ear thing mean anyway?,” Ziggy asked in curiosity.

“The former alpha told us that it means the wolf is forced to follow the individual who marked them that way until something changes but other than that he won’t have any choice but to follow you, get what I mean?”.

“Yeah I think I have an understanding of it,” Ziggy replied before muttering, “yeesh…”

The two then heard Axel yawn as he said,” I'm beat, I'm going to sleep” he laid on his side, and not so long after the two hear him let out a low snore.

Ziggy and Dillon look to the outside of the cave to see that it’s nighttime before Dillon stated “yeah might as well get some rest for tomorrow then” as he laid himself against the wall of the cave.

Ziggy was still awake as he saw the three wolves from before return with food as they left it at the entrance of the cave Ziggy seeing the wolf from before as he swallowed some spit out of nervous panic as he looked away when it glanced towards him, as they laid themselves outside the entrance of the cave as they fell asleep as well.

Ziggy just took off his jacket before he used it as a blanket and laid himself down as the cave was just filled with silence as all of them were asleep.

1 Hour Later

Everyone was asleep in the cave other than the Omega who was looking at Ziggy in interest as she thought to herself.

“Should I make him a part of the pack fully, I mean it would get rid of the language barrier so he isn’t confused whenever Dillon or Axel speaks to me or other wolves”

She then backtracked muttering to herself, “But would he want me to do that though he does seem like a very meek boy and doesn’t seem to like fighting or pain for that matter maybe if I do it now when he’s sleeping it will be quicker and less of hassle”

She stood herself up and walked next to his sleeping form as she brought her paw up and she moved his jacket out of the way.

She looked towards him in silence before thinking to herself “You know what screw it, he’ll get over it in the morning” as she inched her mouth to his arm.

A loud pain-filled scream then echoed throughout the whole forest as birds flew out from the trees in the distance.

Author's Note

sorry for taking a long time to update was busy with a lot of stuff including school and I was having a ton of writer's block, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and have a nice day or night

Chapter 6 (Rewrite)

It was morning and Dillon and Axel were covering their ears to try and drown out Ziggy's groans of pain.

“It's gonna end soon Ziggy, I know it hurts”, Dillon groaned out as Axel grit his teeth trying to recover from the headache he got from Ziggy waking them both up.

“Why does it hurt so much!” Ziggy yelled holding his mouth in pain as blood was seen dripping down his chin, as claws began forming on his hands and feet which could be seen since he had taken his shoes off.

“Don’t worry Ziggy the worst part will be over soon”, Axel stated before standing up and walking out the cave wanting to get some semblance of silence.

Ziggy’s whimpers of pain continued for multiple minutes until his teeth fell out of his mouth and were replaced with much sharper ones.

Everything went silent for a moment, Dillon noticing this looked towards Ziggy who kept his mouth closed as he then saw Ziggy's old teeth on the ground.

“See told you the worst part will be over soon” Dillon chuckled nervously as he picked the teeth up and placed them in a nearby corner as he noticed Ziggy was still quiet.

“Does your mouth still hurt buddy?” Dillon asked, Ziggy slowly nodding in response as he opened his mouth showing Dillon his teeth which were covered in fresh blood as he slowly spoke, “Each time I speak my fangs dig into my tongue”.

Dillon nodded before suggesting “try to stay talking like that for a bit you’ll get used to it in a little while”

Ziggy nodded in response, before standing himself up before noticing his newly formed claws on his hands and feet as he slowly asked, “This is gonna take a bit to get used to isn’t it?” getting a nod in response from Dillon.

Ziggy attempted to step forward only to trip over himself and get caught by Dillon who said “Let me help you out of here” Ziggy only nodded in agreement in response as they slowly walked out of the cave.

When they exit they see the three wolves from before walking into the forest most likely going to scavenge for food again for the pack Dillon clearly looking away to look for where Axel was, before seeing he was sitting on the other side of the lake the two waving over to him as he walked to where they were.

“Are you feeling better, Ziggy?” Axel asked.

“Y-yeah it's hard to speak normally so I have to talk slower so I don’t bite the inside of my mouth” Ziggy replied.

As Ziggy said this Axel noticed two bumps forming on the top of Ziggy's head as he slowly inched his hand towards one of the lumps and poked it making Ziggy flinch and lurch back, the claws on his feet digging into the ground and making him fall to the ground.

“Ow…” Ziggy groaned out as he grasped the top of his head “Why did you do that Axel” Ziggy said towards Axel who just smiled apologetically as he apologised “Sorry Ziggy”

Axel then commented “Looks like he’s growing the ears next he has two bumps on the top his head”

“Is that why I got a headache all of a sudden?” Ziggy asked

“Yep,” Dillon responded to him before pulling back to his feet, “this and the tail aren’t as bad as the teeth so you won’t be in that much pain as before”.

Ziggy just stayed silent before slowly standing himself up as he started to feel the lumps on his head get bigger before the three heard a pop as Dillon and Axel looked to see Ziggy sporting some newly sprouted ears on top of his head.

“Well, you don’t have a headache anymore” Dillon commented making Axel chuckle in response.

“I guess” Ziggy replied before feeling what was supposed to be his tail start to move around against his jeans.

Dillon, noticing this, asked, “Is your tail bothering you?” Ziggy did not respond before Axel and Dillon saw him grab the back of his jeans and use his claws to punch a hole into them and when he let them go it showed the lump before the actual tail protruded out from it.

Ziggy lets out a sigh of relief as he isn’t in pure discomfort anymore before flopping to the ground, “Finally it's over!” as Ryka came out of the cave to see Ziggy no longer in the state he was before looking towards Dillon who notices her looking towards them before he nodded to her in confirmation.

Not long after she walked back into the cave as the pups ran out to drink the water from the lake while Dillon brought Ziggy to his feet again saying “Alright now that the transformation is done with now it's time to help you acclimate to how your body is now”.

Ziggy looked at him in confusion before asking “What do you mean by acclimate?”.

“Me and Axel are gonna teach you how to actually move and run around without tripping over yourself and hitting against a tree because you lose your footing”.

“Ok....how are we doing this then?” Ziggy asked.

“Run around the lake as fast you can without tripping and launching yourself into a tree”

“So are we-” Ziggy went to ask only to be interrupted immediately by Dillon “Yes we're starting now go”.

Ziggy immediately scrambled forward as he began to run around the lake and as time went on he slowly went into a slow jog before going into a full-on sprint.

He didn’t seem to be faltering but he wasn’t paying attention and tripped over a protruding root on the ground and fell into a roll getting caught by Axel in the process the impact causing Axel to slide back a few feet.

Axel then placed Ziggy back on his feet, the boy having a dazed look on his face as his head was bobbing from side to side.

Axel lightly shook the boy, snapping the boy out of it, “huh what happened?”

“You tripped over a root buddy”.

“Oh did I do good at least?” Ziggy asked, Dillon and Axel nodding before Dillon commented, “Maybe we should have you learn how to walk from scratch”

“What do you mean?”Ziggy questioned the boy not getting an answer until he realized what he had meant, “Oh come on man I don’t wanna do that”

“Are we gonna have a baby around the place now, do you need a diaper or some milk?” Axel joked as Ziggy frowned, “Screw you Axel!”.

Dillon just covered his mouth keeping himself from laughing Ziggy in response stumbled away in annoyance, Dillon and Axel holding in their laughs.

Dillon then walked to where Ziggy was and put his hand on his shoulder stating “Me and Axel are just joking around with you man at least try to practice with this okay?”

Ziggy stayed silent in response before letting out a sigh, “Fine…”.

“I mean if you want you could have Axel teach you” Dillon suggested as Ziggy looked to Axel who waved towards them in response.

“I’ll have him train me” Ziggy replied as Dillon called Axel to them, “Yo Axel come here for a sec!”.

“Yes?” Axel walked up to the two as Dillon asked “Do you think you can be Ziggy's teacher?”

“I mean i'm not opposed to doing that if it helps him learn how to walk normally again” Axel responded.

The two look at Ziggy who sighed in response, “What do I do first?”

Axel looked towards Ziggy with a smirk, Ziggy noticing this let swallowed down spit out of being nervous to what he was planning.

“Get on the ground!” Axel yelled as Ziggy yelped in response, complying immediately as he heard Axel speak once more.

“What are you gonna be learning in my class?”

“How to run sir?” Ziggy responded quickly.

“Affirmative but before you learn to run, you must learn to crawl, and then you learn to walk and then you learn to run, But before you learn to walk, you must learn to crawl, I WANT YOU TO CRAWL” Axel shouted.

“Sir yes sir!” Ziggy responded as Axel shouted once again, “Now get out there!”

“Sir yes sir” Ziggy shouted again as he did what he was told Dillon looked on in surprise, “Damn Axel didn’t know you were capable of that”

“What was that maggot?”.

“Nothing sir!” Dillon quickly responded as he ran back into the cave, the boy hearing Axel yells at Ziggy during the training the whole time they were out there.

“He's really putting Ziggy through the wringer isn’t he?” The Omega commented as Dillon and her watched the training between Axel and Ziggy.

“You're telling me, I've never seen him act like that and it scares me..” Dillon responded as the two continued to silently watch the two.

Over the two weeks that had passed multiple packs had tried to attack the lake but due to each of them losing their pack grew in number allowing a much easier defence of their home than before, each new addition to the pack made living in the lake a lot more lively and more like home to a degree to the boys especially the Omega as she was happy that it wasn’t just her and the pups anymore.

Ziggy did progress very well at the first half of the first week he was stuck with crawling but he quickly progressed into walking, albeit it was very slow walking but walking the nonetheless this had also progressed to the point that Dillon join in on the training to improve his own movement

But right now Ziggy and Dillon were just sitting around in the cave just staring at each other intensely while Axel was outside practising with his broadsword, the two staying in silence before Ziggy suddenly blinked.

“Ugh dang it!”Ziggy groaned as he rubbed his eyes while jumping to his feet, puffing out his chest as he announced his victory.

“Did Ziggy lose again!” they hear Axel shout from outside the cave

"Yep, I’m up one!" before Ziggy turned to Dillon saying "Where'd you learn to count, we're even!" Dillon scoffed as he smirked in response, "What, are you a sore loser?" The sentence made Ziggy's brow twitch as he growled jumping on top of Dillon.

"W-what the heck are you doing, get off of me!" Dillon shouts trying to shake off Ziggy latched himself onto Dillon's head rubbing his knuckles into his scalp as Dillon tried to shake him off.

While this happened Axel came into the cave grabbing the two by the scruff of their neck, “Alright you two break it up”

“He started it…” Dillon mumbled in response as Ziggy growled towards him, Dillon doing the same as they glared towards each other.

“Okay knock it off!” Axel said before putting them both in one arm and digging his knuckle into their heads.

“Ow, Ow, Okay I’m sorry I’ll stop!” Dillon yelped out, while Ziggy did the same “I’ll stop too, just stop with the noogie!”.

Not even a moment after this happened the ground violently shook making Axel drop both Dillon and Ziggy to the ground the quake shaking everything in the cave to its core as the three run out of the cave to see the trees shaking around

"Uh, Dillon what's happening!?" Ziggy asked to which Dillon Responded "I wish I knew" as he looked up seeing a train flying through the sky.

“What the?” Axel muttered

" Axel, Ziggy" the two look toward Dillon "Yeah?" Ziggy responds as Dillon pointed up.

"I-is that a train up there or am I just crazy?" Dillon asked as Ziggy had a look of shock while Axel had a look confusion on his face before he stated, “Nope you're not crazy we see it too”, while Ziggy looked on his silence before his eyes rolled back and he fell to the ground fainting as Dillon and Axel just stood there, Dillons left eye twitching, while Axel was still silent before hearing Dillon yell as the wolves in the pack ran from the forest and into the cave.

"What the hell is going on!?" He yelled before calming down as he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose then having his attention turned to Ziggy as Axel poked him in the side with his foot before Dillon decided to kick him, waking him up.

"Ow, what happened?" Ziggy asked as Axel replied from behind Dillon "you fainted Ziggy" the ground continued to shake, “Hey Axel!”

“Yeah?” Axel answered as Dillon pointed up to a nearby tree,” Throw me up there I want to survey the area to see what's going on”.

Axel nodded as he picked the boy up and launched him up Dillon landing up on one of the top branches.

He looked to the distance trying to get a good idea of what was happening, Dillons eyes widening as he saw a large robot in the distance.

"Is that...a Zord?" Dillon whispered to himself before yelling down to Ziggy "Ziggy, Axel there's a Zord That north of us I think!".

"What!?" The two shouted as Ziggy jumped onto the side of the tree and began to shimmy up it while Axel jumped up onto the nearby branches until the two were next to Dillon.

Ziggy’s eyes wide as dinner plates and Axel just looked shocked as the three of them jumped off the tree landing back on the ground.

"So what are we gonna do?," Ziggy asked, "Honestly man I don't know because we both know when there's a Zord there's a big monster".

“Yep most likely” Axel commented subconsciously bringing his broadsword out.

A shadow then came over the three as they looked to see what looked like a large monster fly into the air making Ziggy yelp as he fell on his butt, Dillon looked on in silence completely frozen in place before falling to the ground, Axel not making a move as he only held onto his broadsword tighter as Dillon muttered, “This is gonna get bad soon..”.
Ziggy looks toward Dillon, fear evident on his face as he stands up, his legs shaking slightly as he breathes in and out calming himself down.

"S-should we check this out, Dillon?"Ziggy asked in a nervous tone.

"Maybe"

“How about you Axel?” Ziggy asked the older boy who nodded in response “We probably should in all honesty”.

It was then what looked to be multiple large black circular objects were launched at the monster being followed soon after by a large beam of crimson light that looked to piece through the monster as something wrapped around it, seeming to drag it towards the Zord as a shockwave was felt through the forest around them, before knocking them back a few feet, the force blowing leaves and branches towards the group.

summoning their weapons as they slash through them, cutting the objects out their way, while Axel held his broadsword in front of himself using it to block his way.

“Okay, this is getting out of hand!” Ziggy commented.

“Agreed!” Axel agreed as grabbed both of them jumping behind a nearby rock for cover.

After a moment of them being in cover, they see the branches and leaves stop blowing past the rock as they poke their heads over the rock to see that it stopped, “Oh great it's stopped” Dillon stated.

“We need to get a closer look” Dillon stated as the other two both silently nod in agreement, as the three of them run into the woods in the direction of a robot.

A couple of seconds after they had entered the forest they heard what sounded like a high pitched scream echoing in the distance in the direction of where they were heading.

By reflex Ziggy took out his axe, his hands slightly shaking while Axel and Dillon continued to run, Ziggy slightly lagging behind as a result while shouting “Oh come on guys wait up!”The boy slowly starting to catch up with the two.

After a couple of seconds, they heard what sounded to be a train's horn, ahead of them before the same train that they saw above them earlier was seen seeming to fly on levitating rails heading towards the Everfree Castle.

“It's that train again…” Dillon muttered as the three continued running towards the Everfree castle the three jumping into the trees and jumping from one and into another to increase their speed, Ziggy slightly struggling in doing the same as Axel and Dillon, “Don’t trip, don’t trip” Ziggy muttered from behind the two.

Not so long afterwards they exit out of the trees and land in front of the Everfree castle, the three standing themselves up as they look around the area.

They all walk forward while looking around and immediately stop when Axel holds his hand out, Dillon and Ziggy looking forward to see that they're in front of a wall.

“Was this always here?” Ziggy asked, Dillon responding,”I don’t remember it’s been a bit…”.

“What would happen if I climbed it?” Ziggy muttered to himself before walking up to the wall and preparing to jump onto it, bearing out his claws.

“You sure you want to do that, Ziggy?” Axel asked as Dillon continued to look around Axel doing the same before seeing an open gate.

“Hey you two there's a gate!” Axel shouted towards the two as they stopped what they were doing and followed behind him.

Not long after they're in front of the gate and Axel immediately walks through as Ziggy looks back to Dillon who walks in as well, Ziggy letting out a sigh then walks through the gate as well, his posture still showing some caution.

As soon as they got inside they saw that many of the buildings around the gate looked to have collapsed with others looking in similar states of disrepair. Many of them had smashed windows and missing walls while others looked like they could collapse at any second.

Standing outside many of the collapsed buildings was a mix of ponies, strange robotic figures and figures many of whom looked to be digging through the damaged buildings.

“Well this is definitely new” Dillon commented in response to seeing this transpire, Axel not saying anything while Ziggy just looked on in curiosity as well as caution.

After a moment of complete silence from the three Dillon walked forward towards the group ahead of them, Axel following his lead while Ziggy stayed behind the two.

The three then stop in front of one of the figures helping with digging through the buildings, Dillon then asking, “What happened here?”.

One of the figures looks back from the building at the group, revealing themselves to be covered head to toe in back and red around that looked to have multiple crimson shaped gemstones along it, with some of the stone having an eye shaped icon engraved into them. “In simple terms we were attacked by some not so friendly monsters and a few Riders.”

“Yeesh” Dillon mutters before commenting, “At least the place isn’t completely destroyed” Dillon paused for a moment before asking, “Wait did you say Rider’s?”.

“Yes, I said Riders. Kamen Riders to be specific,” the figure responded, “I’m actually in the process of assisting one of them in repairs to the town. I took a bit of damage from the attack.”

“Reminds me of when I had to repair myself when protecting this pipsqueak” Axel commented Dillon looking back at him with a glare.

“Who are you calling a pipsqueak!?” Dillon growled out.

“You” Axel responded before grabbing the boy and putting him in a restraining position against his arm.

“Ah I remember you now, were you not the creature that got beat into submission by Lord Shade before he fixed and broke you over and over again?” the figure asked with a smirk.

Axel’s brow twitched slightly before responding, “Rather not be reminded about that but yes I am that creature”.

“Wasn’t that the guy you told me about before Dillon?” Ziggy asked.

Dillon broke out of Axel’s hold answering Ziggy’s question “Yeah it is” before asking “Also Shade’s here?” Dillon asked.

“Well not here exactly but he’s in the town… most likely the castle considering he just got back from dealing with a rather… ‘big’ monster.” the figure admits, “he’s probably going to be dealing with a lot of complaints regarding this damage.”

“So that's why we saw that Zord…” Dillon muttered before asking “Can you point us to where he is specifically, I wanna see how he’s doing since it’s been a bit”.

“As I said, the castle,” the figure responded, pointing towards the back of the town where Dillon saw what used to be the old crumbling castle, now seeming to be both pristine with virtually no signs of wear on the facade. “You can either go and see if you get lucky to visit him, or assist me with my rounds and go later either way you may not end up seeing him today.”

“I have nothing better to do, I’ll help” Dillon replied, while Axel just nodded in response.

Ziggy then asked, “if we are helping you, what do we need to do?”.

“Right now, looking at the damage on each building to find where resources are needed most to repair everything. That and looking for anyone trapped inside the buildings that are collapsed.” the figure responds.

“Alright guess we're starting now then” Dillon responded.

“The sooner this is done the sooner we can get the damage reported to Lord Shade and deal with everything,” the figure added pointing to the collapsed row of houses behind them, “you can start with the houses there.”

“Got it!’ Dillon replied as he and the other two went towards the buildings and began to do what they were tasked to do, the three carefully searching through each building to check if they was anyone that were trapped as well as checking how bad the damage was caused to each of the buildings interior and exterior.

After they finished searching through their respective buildings they exited them and began reporting back to the figure from before, “Alright the interior for the first two building are still intact most of the damage that was sustained was towards the outside of them” Dillon stated before continuing “But from what Ziggy told me the third is basically collapsed on the inside but good thing is we didn’t find anyone trapped in them”

“Not surprising considering most of the creatures here are monsters who could lift there way out, but thankfully we have no pony casualties to worry about,” the figure responded, looking back from the last building on the row, as a pony was resting against a wall, their body covered in bandages.

Dillon looked to where the figure was staring at before asking ”Do we report now or do we continue searching through the buildings?”.

“Well this is the area I was asked to handle, so we can report back now,” the figure responds, “still we may end up waiting a bit to get in.”

“I can wait” Dillon replied

“As can I” Axel stated while Ziggy just stayed silent only giving a nod in response.

“Well then follow me,” the figure responds as he begins to walk towards the castle. The three followed closely behind him as they walked past more of the building until they reached the castle itself, finding a queue leading out the door and down the road. “This is what I was warning you about.”

Dillon just looked with wide eye’s before stating “Can’t say im surprised but yikes…”

“Yeah..” Axel muttered out while Ziggy was just standing beside them with wide eyes.

Dillon just sighed before leaning against a nearby building as they began to wait, “Alright time to wait then” Dillon muttered out as Axel and Ziggy did the same.

“You three can come with me, you know?” the figure added as he began to step beside the crowd, “you’ll still need to wait, but there were some privileges that can be taken because of the help you gave me.”

“Oh ok” Dillon replied as he and the other two followed him.

“Does the little one need a lift… looks like he’s struggling to keep up?” the figure asked as he led them down the side of the castle towards a second larger building.

Dillon and Axel glance at Ziggy who seemed a little out of it since he was lagging behind them, “Axel can you grab him?” Dillon asked, Axel nodding immediately picked him up and put him on his back, Ziggy not even a second later fell asleep.

“Alright he was definitely tired” Axel muttered as they continued to follow behind the figure.

“We’ll wake him up later” Dillon stated, before asking, “By the way who are you didn’t really get your name and I don’t want to classify you as unnamed figure in my brain”.

“You can call me Valkyrie, you could say I’m one of the royal guards here,” the figure now known as Valkyrie responded as they reached a large door which Valkyrie opened gesturing for the group to come inside.

They walk through the door as Dillon mutters out “I know its been like two weeks but this whole looks completely different it’s jarring”.

“What's this area called anyway?,” Dillon asked Valkyrie who walked through the door.

“Essentially, the barracks, but theirs a side path to the main castle for when we are on patrol to take a rest,” Valkyrie responds as they walk into a large break room with what looked to be a small kitchen and seats around the room. “You ca1n rest here and get something to drink until we can see Shade.”

“Thanks,” Dillon and Axel say as they sit themselves down, Axel placing Ziggy down to lay on his lap.

Dillon glancing towards the small kitchen stood up and walked towards the sink and twisted the knob allowing water to flow as he then looked for a cup, finding a small one he held it below the flow of water filling it up.

Axel meanwhile was just sitting around while Ziggy was asleep on his lap, his hand on his chin, holding a bored expression on his face.

After a moment the silence was broken by Axel who asked Valkyrie, “So how long did it take to rebuild this place because last time I was here it was run down and abandoned”.

“It took barely two days, the everfree just seemed to… want this place built and creates new homes when we need them, of course they aren’t furnished but they are homes.”

“Oh” Axel commented as Dillon came back from the small kitchen holding a cup of water in his hand.

“What are we talking about?” Dillon then asked as he took a sip from the cup.

“Well your friend here asked how long it took to fix this place,” Valkyrie responds.

“How long did it actually take?” Dillon asked.

“From what Valkyrie told me two days” Axel responded

“Excuse me what?” Dillon responded in disbelief before turning attention to Valkyrie as he asked “You're joking right?”

“I wish I was, but the actual forest seemed to build homes and do repairs themselves when needed,” Valkyrie repeats, “The forest itself seems to want Lord Shade to thrive here.”

“I knew the everfree wasn’t normal but jeez” Dillon replied before taking a sip from his water.

“You can say that again” Axel replied in agreement.

They then see Ziggy sit as he stretches out his arms.

“Had a nice nap?” Axel asked as Ziggy stood himself and continued to stretch before realizing they were in a room.

“When did we get in here?” Ziggy asked.

“You fell asleep before we came in here,” Dillon replied.

“Oh,” Ziggy realized, “Sorry about that guys” he apologized before sitting himself down as they continued.

“No worries” Dillon and Axel reply as they continue to converse with each other, the boys showing you plenty of interest in the conversation while they wait.

After a little while they saw Valkyrie stand up, “Is it time to go already?” Dillon asked,

“I can’t be positive but he should have cleared out most of the creatures that came to see him,” Valkyrie admits, “we may still need to wait, but I doubt he’ll be more than a few minutes now.”

“Alright then” Dillon replies before nudging Axel and Ziggy who looked like they were nodding off.

Axel immediately flinched as he stood up, Ziggy not so long after did the same before the two stretched.

“Lead the way then Valkyrie” Dillon stated, while Ziggy and Axel were behind.

“Of course,” Valkyrie replied with a smirk as he walks towards the door again leaving the break room behind to head towards the Castle’s throne room.

Chapter 7 Rewrite

The boys were walking towards the throne room with Valkyrie before Dillon decided to ask a question, “So what are the inhabitants of that town like if you don’t mind me asking?”.

“Well, for the most part peaceful, even though most of them, to begin with, were monsters who used to cause grief for everyone, since Shade created this place most came to see this town as a safe place where they aren’t judged for their looks. Not really surprising considering how some of us look and what we can do.”

“At least I'll know where to go so I'm not attacked on sight again,” Axel replied.

“Well unless you come across people who hate Shade. Then that may still happen, you do have his mark on your hand.”

“Noted” Axel responded.

“At least that rider that tried to kill you isn’t here” Ziggy commented.

“Hopefully” Axel replied with a shrug before looking at the mark on his hands immediately remembering the night he got it.

Dillon then asked Valkyrie, “How did you meet Shade then?”.

“Well… it wasn’t on the best of terms that we met. I attacked the castle in an attempt to try and create a new Phantom from someone who lived here 1000 years ago. Shade dealt with me and I kind of broke down pleading for my life and in my fear swore loyalty to him, and now well… I follow his orders to the letter without question.”

The boy’s just looked towards him in an awkward silence Dillon letting off a quiet “Oh…” before going quiet again.

Not even a moment later Ziggy immediately spoke up “Isn’t that technically a slave?”.

Axel immediately put his hand on Ziggy's mouth, shutting the boy up.

“Pretty much,” Valkyrie responded, “but to be fair, it was better than what most riders do to monsters after defeating them, at least I wasn’t killed in an explosion, cut in two, shot hundreds of times or got punched or kicked through the chest.”

Ziggy moved Axel’s hand away from his mouth, “Fair enough” he replied with a nervous chuckle.

“Yeah, leaving with your life as a slave is probably a better fate than what a rider can do to someone they don’t plan on sparing” Dillon admitted.

They all went silent as they continued to walk until Ziggy decided to speak again “Hey how long til we get to the throne room?” the boy asked clearly, wanting to change the subject.

“It shouldn’t be long,” Valkyrie responds as they come up to a long hallway with what looked to be 5 people standing at the front of the room, two in front of the door and three in a line.

“At least it isn’t 20 people or more,” Dillon commented.

“And it looks that two of them are together so it shouldn’t take too long,” Valkyrie added as they walked to the back of the line as a single pony walked out the door at the front of the room, and two of the ponies in the queue walked inside the room ahead.

They waited in line for a couple of minutes and while they did Dillon just sat on the ground, and a moment later he felt Axel nudge him as he stood back up as the two ponies from before walked out of the throne room and the one ahead of them walked in.

The boys stood there waiting until Ziggy decided to place his fist in his palm, Dillon noticing this saw Ziggy give him a smirk clearly wanting to play rock paper scissors, Dillon in response did the same before tapping their fists against their palms before shooting them out,

Dillon had paper while Ziggy had rock as Dillon smirked covering Ziggy’s rock with his paper, Ziggy in response just scoffed in response and turned away crossing his arms.

“Stupid game anyway” Ziggy muttered as he refused to look at Dillon's smug smirk, Axel just looking at the boy's interaction in amusement before they looked at him, their smirks returning as they challenged him.

He accepted the challenge and they played the game once more only this time Axel won while Ziggy and Dillon just gave up, Axel immediately grabbing them both as the pony that went into the room was suddenly thrown out the room, the two guards by the door glaring at him in anger.

“Stupid idiotic prince. He should kick all of these monsters out this stupid town or kill them all off,” the figure muttered to himself.

“That dude definitely isn’t happy” Dillon muttered as the figure glanced at him with a glare before walking away.

“Yeesh,” Ziggy commented as Axel then placed them back on the ground as the boy’s and Valkyrie walked into the throne room next.

As soon as they walked into the room they found it to be mostly empty, the walls having nothing decorating them except a single banner with the Crimson eye-shaped logo on it, and a large stone seat behind a desk at the front of the room.

“Cool” Dillon and Ziggy comment, while Axel mainly focuses on the crimson eye logo on the banner before he glances at the mark on his hand again slightly zoning out, getting stuck in his thoughts before shaking his head as he sees Dillon and Ziggy looking at the banner.

They continued walking forward before stopping directly in front of the desk, as they saw an Alicorn sitting at the desk with their head down as they looked to be writing some notes down.

The group then heard an annoyed groan from the Alicorn, who didn’t look up at the group before saying “Okay, what's the problem this time? Are you here to argue against my stance on the monsters living here again? If you are then you know where the door is so leave, I don’t have time to kick anyone else out again today.”

“So that’s why that guy got launched back through the door, serves him right besides I don’t really have a problem with the monsters” Dillon replied with a chuckle.

“Neither do we” Axel added, referring to himself and Ziggy.

The Alicorn then sighs to himself before saying, “then if it’s not that, what have you come to ask me to do now? Is it permission to build a statue in the town, or to tear down a ton of homes that people are in so you can have a mansion to live in. If it’s either of those, the answer is no.”

“Technically we're here to report to you about the damage to the buildings” Dillon replied.

“And he was adamant about seeing you,” Axel commented.

Valkyrie just shook his head before coughing a few times, “Lord Shade. There is nobody else to visit you today to deal with their selfish desires. We have come for both a personal meeting and in my case to report back to you as requested before you had to handle the fallout of the attack.”

“Right,” the Alicorn, now revealed to be Shade responded, taking a single deep breath and slowly breathing out as he looked up at Valkyrie, “how bad is it?”

“Luckily there doesn’t seem to have been any casualties from the attack, some people escaped with minor burns and one with serious ones who has been looked after by some of the doctors that moved in yesterday. Thankfully the princesses sent them with some basic equipment to take care of anyone who needs it.”

“That's good at least. So we can start on the repairs with no issues,” Shade responds with a relieved sigh.

“Of course Lord Shade,” Valkyrie responds with a bow, “but if I may, you have three guests that wish to see you in person.”

“Three guests?” Shade asked, looking down to see Dillon, Ziggy and Axel in front of the table.

“Hey, it's been a while!” Dillon commented as he waved towards Shade, Ziggy just showing a nervous smile before giving a short wave in his direction, while Axel gave a slight bow towards him clearly trying to keep his composure.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” Shade replies, shaking his head as he looks at Dillon, “you seem to be doing okay, have your injuries from before healed correctly?”

“Yep, especially with some medication I had gotten from a pony that lives in a cottage she was nice” Dillon replied with his usual fanged smile.

“That's good to hear,” Shade responded with a kind smile before looking to Axel. “You doing okay there?”

“I'm doing okay Lord Shade” Axel replied, before getting elbowed in the sighed by Dillon Axel giving him a glare before fixing his stance.

“Dude, stop with that” Dillon muttered.

“Wait let me introduce you to Ziggy” Dillon said as he grabbed Ziggy and placed him in front of him, “Shade this is Ziggy, Ziggy this is Shade”.

“Hi” Ziggy quietly stated as he waved again.

Shade looked at Ziggy for a couple of seconds before standing up walking around the desk before kneeling down in front of Ziggy, “Are you doing okay little one?”

“Y-yeah im doing okay” Ziggy replied.

“He tends to be shy around new people,” Dillon commented.

“Should have seen him when the pack was getting bigger he was so shy around the new additions” Axel added.

“I take it things have happened with your family since I last visited,” Shade responded

“Yeah the pack has gotten a lot bigger, only for the reason that they attacked us and lost and became a part of ours” Dillon replied.

“But one wasn’t very keen on the idea but he’s been taken care of” Dillon admitted.

“Was it the idea of being cared for… or a different reason behind it?” Shade asked.

“He wasn’t happy with being a part of a pack that didn’t have an alpha and he decided to rebel and try and attack Ziggy” Dillon replied.

“We had to resort to a form of marking to get him in line” Axel commented.

“I have a feeling I don’t want to ask what you mean by that,” Shade responds looking back at Axel, “if it’s a last resort it must be something traumatic for a Timberwolf.”

“He was terrified when I did it so yeah” Dillon responded scratching his ear on instinct.

“Lets just say it took a while for that Timberwolf to actually accept being a part of the pack he still is hesitant but doesn’t really show outward hatred anymore” Axel stated.

“I know this sounds obvious, but why have none of you taken the role up to correct that. I mean I’m sure someone could easily be the Alpha of your pack?”

“Trust me we’ve tried seeing if someone could take that role but its been met with refusal, I then suggested Axel but he said he didn’t feel worthy of the role couldn’t choose Ziggy since he’s to himself most of the time, and honestly I wouldn’t take it because I feel like most of them are afraid of me” Dillon quickly replied.

“You’ll need to resolve that sooner or later you know,” Shade points out, “Either way. Why did you all come to visit me today?”

“We saw the commotion with the monster and that Zord and went to check it out and low and behold we ended up here at the castle” Dillon responded.

‘And after that we came across Valkyrie and decided to help and waited in the barracks until we left to come here to the throne room and honestly I just wanted to see how you were doing since it’s been a bit since we’ve seen each other” Dillon stated.

“He was very, very adamant about seeing you” Axel Commented as Dillon turned his attention to him.

“Do you have a problem with that?” Dillon spoke as gave Axel a glare before putting in a choke hold as Axel gave him another noogie Shade seeing that the two had gotten very close since the last time he saw them.

“Stop it, I'm sorry!” Dillon yelped out before Axel dropped him to the ground.

“Was that so hard?” Axel replied with a smirk.

“Screw you…” Dillon grumbled out.

“What was that?”

“Nothing!” Dillon squeaked out.

“That’s what i thought” Axel replied with a smirk on his face.

“Question what was with that Zord we saw earlier?” Dillon asked.

“Don’t forget about the train” Ziggy spoke up as Dillon nodded.

“Yeah, what was with that train as well?” Dillon added

“Well… they are both one in the same,” Shade responds calmly. “I will assume that what you are referring to was the fight a few hours ago, if so that train that appeared turned into what you are referring to as a zord.”

“Oh that explains a lot” Dillon responded.

“Can we see it?” they heard Ziggy ask,”The zord I mean”.

“I don’t see why not,” Shade responded calmly, placing his hands at his sides, “Besides I don’t see any harm in showing you all around this place. Is there anything beyond the train you want to see or do?”

“What else is there around here exactly?” Dillon asked.

“Apart from the trains, we do have a colosseum I use to train alone,” Shade admits, “but not much else considering how long we’ve had to set anything up. Not like this place is a major tourist hotspot being in the center of the Everfree and all that.”

“Fair enough” Dillon replied

“Well then shall we go?” Shade asked, looking at the group.

The boys nod in response as they immediately start walking behind Shade before he held his hand up as the floor seemed to shift as a staircase formed in front of them.

“Whoa” Dillon comments as he and the others view this occurring in front of them.

“Would you keep something that can turn into a giant robot in clear view?” Shade asks as he begins to walk down the steps, gesturing for the others to follow.

They immediately follow him down the stairs as they continue down the stairs behind him, “No I guess you wouldn’t” Dillon then responded.

The group went silent for a moment as they continued to walk behind Shade, Ziggy seemingly wanting to say something until he felt Axel nudge him as he looked up to his face which looked to be saying “Go ahead and ask”.

He doesn’t say anything while they continued the stairs, until they reached the bottom into a single long dimly lit hallway.

“Thats a long hallway” Dillon comments as they begin walk through it

“It’s not too long. Just a slow minute long walk,” Shade responds as he continues walking onwards casting his eyes back to the group.

He see’s Dillon with his normal fanged smile, Axel just walking behind the boy with his arms behind his head and Ziggy just holding a curious look on his face while they all walk behind him.

“Something on your mind?” Shade asks as looks at Ziggy

“I was just wondering from what Dillon had told me, I thought that you would look human but you don’t, why is that exactly if you don’t mind me asking?” Ziggy quietly replied.

“Well, do you want the short or long explanation?”

“The long explanation please” Ziggy responded.

“Okay. When I was sealed on the moon around one thousand years ago I took a trip to a different reality, during that time I was with a group of creatures that created teams comprising of both Riders and Rangers like Dillon is. In that world one of the inhabitants managed to take what they thought was my real body instead of the form I project from myself and I was given a puppet-like body for me to inhabit until I could get my real form back, after which I was kinda stuck in a weird state where I couldn’t hold either my true self of the form you see now” Shade explained.

Ziggy just looked on in silence before shaking his head stating, “Ok that was definitely a lot, but thank you for explaining it to me”.

“I think you scrambled his brain a bit with that,” Dillon commented with a chuckle.

“Wait to clarify something, your current body isn’t your original one, but a puppet that acts as it until you get your original back?” Ziggy then asked, motioning his hand seemingly trying to understand a little more.

“Well it was I do technically have my old form back, but considering how the pony nobles treat any non ponies races how do you think most would treat a human walking alongside them, I simply choose to use this form as my real one as to now deal with the strange looks,” Shade admitted.

“That's fair I mean that guy you threw out the throne room definitely didn’t have anything good to say about monsters especially right before he left he glared at me” Dillon commented.

“Oh him… He hates anything that isn’t a unicorn. Honestly I’ve kicked him to the curb every day since I started leading this town. With him ordering me to execute anything he doesn’t like in the town.”

“He's definitely persistent that's for sure” Ziggy muttered out as he and Dillon shook their heads.

“Guy’s like that really don’t understand anything do they?” Dillon stated.

“I have another question, how many in the town hold that same value as that guy anyway?” Ziggy asked.

“That has said it to my face… four,” Shade responds, “Two are in hiding from me after I threatened to lock them in cages under the castle, one is in the dungeon under the castle as he both ordered me to do it and tried to kill someone from the town in front of me, and that one who won’t listen.”

Ziggy just had a look of horror on his face, muttering out “Jesus…” as Dillon just pinched the bridge of his nose from hearing this.

“Oh yeah, and the one currently in the dungeon also funded a kidnapping ring where they took children and women of all races and mutated them into monsters… or bred the women repeatedly for test subjects to turn into monsters,” Shade added

The boys immediately looked towards him in shock, Dillon covering his mouth as he spoke, “I think I'm gonna be sick…”.

Ziggy meanwhile looked like he was about to throw up, unable to say anything after what he was told, while Axel just stood behind them just grasping his arms tightly not saying a word.

“Luckily those we have found are now safe. Most of the older ones now live in the town above… but the younger ones and newborns… well that's a difficult issue to handle considering some of the… mutations they have.”

“God….” Dillon quietly mutters before stating “I hope that bastard suffers for what he did” pure hate in his eye.

“Well he does suffer from claustrophobia… and we do constantly shrink his cell so it’s millimeters above his head constantly pushing him to the floor with little room to move.”

“Good he deserves all of it” Axel finally spoke.

“It does also help that he's been forcibly branded, so he has even less free will than I do, even if he was free he’d still be trapped in his own mind eternally,” Valkyrie added, his voice seeming to come from in front of the group even though they couldn’t see him.

“As long as he doesn’t have control in what he does I'm happy with that” Axel replied the other two boys looking around wondering where Valkyrie's voice was coming from.

“I have another question,Dillon only told me bits and pieces from the day he met you, how did that day go from your perspective?” Ziggy asked clearly wanting to change the subject.

“Well I returned from the moon, made my way to castle. Encountered Dillon being surrounded by a group on monsters, beat said monster before leaving, then found him again later under attack by another creature and ‘dealt’ with them.” Shade explained purposely being vague in his response.

Axel immediately scratched his head in response Dillon noticing this just gave him a smug smirk before turning back to Shade.

“What happened after that?” Ziggy then asked.

“In simple terms I left him there for a while until I found him again in a curtain place you three know well, spent some time there before we took a trip to a nearby town, someone almost got killed, I helped bring him home and left after he woke.”

“And after that I got medicine from the pony I introduced you to a week ago and before me and Axel went back to the lake we went to the town and found you in that alleyway before Axel got attacked by that rider”.

“Attacked by a Rider?” Shade quickly said stopping in his tracks, “do you know which one?”

Dillon just stopped in place as he placed his hand on his chin in deep thought before he said “All I remember is something along the lines of Drive I think, she didn’t seem bad but she was dead set on destroying Axel” .

“Well there are two Drives now… black and blue suit or red and black suit?”

“It was a red and black suit from what I remember”.

“So normal drive… Yeah she’s a loose cannon, and not very smart either.” Shade responds as they walk out into a large open area that looks to have two trains in it.

The first looked to be almost destroyed bullet train that looked mostly white in colour however it had large dents on the carriages and main train, all of which looked to crumpled inwards with a smashed windows the remains of red glass being seen clinging to the corners of where the widows would have been.

The second train however looked barely damaged and seemed to resemble a steam train. It was mostly black in colour with red marking running down the side of it into a familiar crimson eye in the centre of the train, while each of the carriage seemed to have a logo on the side of them, some matching the main logo while others differed in design.

“Cool...” Ziggy stated as he looked on in awe.

“It's kinda interesting seeing this thing up close now” Dillon commented as he stepped up close to it examining it.

Ziggy walked next to Dillon as he commented, “how bad was that fight because this thing looked like it went through hell”.

“Well that one wasn’t in the fight, that crashed landed in the forest a few days ago, there were some people trapped inside it that we took out.”

“Who were the people that were trapped in it,?” Dillon asked, looking towards Shade.

“Well there were 5 in the front train and three in the carriages, two of them young children and one woman, who was holding them close to her.”

“At least they're okay right?” Ziggy asked, still looking at the train.

“Well at least two of them are still unconscious, three of them are watching over them, and the others are awake and moving… oh yeah… and one was my little sister from before I died.”

“That's good at lea- wait you have a sister?” Dillon asked in surprise

“Wait, what do you mean before you died?” Ziggy asked his attention fully towards Shade at that moment.

“On the day I was sent to this world, I was ran down by a man on a bridge who crushed me under a car and drove off, when I regained consciousness I saw myself in a hospital bed and watched myself die, before someone turned me into what I am now,” Shade responded simply, his voice almost sounding like what he said didn’t matter to him.

Axel just looked on in surprise not really knowing what to say, so elected to stay silent.

Ziggy meanwhile just looked at Shade in silence before speaking, “Oh”

“I take it since you’ve been like this for a while, what you just said doesn't really matter or bother you anymore does it?” Dillon asked.

“The whole death part… no… the fact my own little sister is both alive was kidnapped and was almost killed when the train crashed into this world… yes.”

“Yeah that would do it” Dillon muttered in response.

“Well, at least you have your sister with you,” Ziggy commented.

“I suppose that is true,” Shade responded calmly looking at the train that wasn’t damaged.

“Is something wrong with that one?” asked, standing next to him.

“No… I suppose you could say that this train belongs to me, the other in essence belongs to someone else… probably one of the people who are unconscious.”

“Sounds complicated…” Dillon replied, scratching the back of his head as he glanced at the train.

“Any idea which one it belongs to exactly?” Dillon then asked.

“I have no idea,” Shade responds with a shrug of his shoulders. “As I said three were five people up front, and two of them were unconscious, I couldn't really ask who it belonged to.”

“Fair point” Dillon replied with a nod.

They both then hear Ziggy as he asked, “What do the trains look like on the inside?”.

“The damaged one… a trainwreck,” Shade responded simply. “While the other one, I would say for the carriages the best description is an old style stream train, they do have mainly black walls and leather seats. Although I can’t answer for the last three carriages.”

“Sounds fancy” Ziggy responded with interest in his voice.

“We might as well go inside,” Shade responds as he places his hand against the door to the steam train before it opens and he walks inside the main train.

They follow behind him into the main train Ziggy immediately walks around on the inside of it with an attentive smile on his face while Dillon and Axel just stay around the entrance of the main train.

As Ziggy looked around the main train he saw what looked to be multiple monitors around the area with the one at the very front having a large crimson crying eye shaped logo above their consoles while the rest looked to be blank with what looked to be empty spaces above them.

“Cool…” Ziggy said in amazement.

“You must really like trains Ziggy,” Axel said with a chuckle.

“How can you not like this, this is cool!” Ziggy shouted in response as he motioned towards the stuff he was looking at before.

“I mean it does look cool though,” Dillon commented.

“I swear, I can't with you two sometimes,” Axel replied with a laugh.

“C’mon Axel you gotta admit this does look cool!” Ziggy responded.

“C'mon say it Axel you know you want to” Dillon commented.

“Fine I do admit that it's kinda cool” Axel replied.

Ziggy immediately smiles before asking Shade another question, “So how does this stuff work anyway?” as he glanced back at the area of the train with the consoles.

“The easy answer is it responds to my touch… I used my powers to wrech control of it from someone else and in essence made it follow my commands… it seems that my powers work on both living and non living things,” Shade admits as he places his hand on a console as it lights up revealing a crimson eye shaped logo on the screen in front of him before a voice that sounded almost like a secretary would said, “Welcome back, Kamen Rider Shade.”

“Whoa” Dillon muttered as Ziggy just looked on in childlike wonder.

“Cool” Ziggy said out of awe.

“Unexpected but cool nonetheless” Dillon then commented as Axel meanwhile was just looked on in silent interest.

Shade’s eyes seemed to focus on Axel for a moment before he said, “Do you want to move to the next carriage or do you want to keep looking around for a bit longer?”

“I want to look at the other carriage” Ziggy immediately said as he quickly began to go towards the other one.

“Okay guess we're doing that then” Dillon commented as he followed closely behind Ziggy leaving the carriage with only Axel and Shade inside it.

‘Axel. Whats wrong?’ Shade asked mentally into Axel’s mind

Axel flinched in response as he glanced toward Shade, “It’s, it’s nothing” He responded before seeing the eye symbol again on the screen, fear slightly showing in his eye as he looked away from it.

Shade then walked beside him placing his hand on Axel’s shoulder, a small spark shooting into Axel’s arm before Shade asked into his mind again, ‘Axel. Are you lying to me?’

“N-no lord Shade” Axel stuttered out fear now clear in his voice, as he felt Shade’s eyes bare down on him, seeming to be solely focused on him.

‘I want the truth. I can see something worrying you. So you can either tell me yourself, or we do a repeat of last time for me to find out the truth,’ Shade stated, his hand moving towards Axel’s head.

Axel immediately spoke out fear in voice, “The symbol every time I look it I remember that night anytime Im with Dillon or Ziggy im fine but whenever I look at it, the fear just takes over I try to not have them notice but it's getting harder every single time” he spoke in a single breath, looking like he was about to cry.

‘There. There. Was that so hard?’ Shade asked, rubbing his wing over Axel’s back, ‘Is there something I can do to help you get over your fear of that night?’

“I, I don’t know” Axel replied completely unsure.

‘Tell me. Is it the mark, or the thought of letting me down that scares you?’

“Its….both, both of them scare me” Axel slowly replied.

‘Why are you scared of the mark?’

“It makes me feel like I'm weak, like I'm powerless to stop anything” Axel responded.

‘Then we just need to change that,’ Shade responds, placing his hand on Axel’s head sparks flickering between both Axel and Shade with a spark flickering through Axel’s eyes every couple of seconds, ‘this mark means that I have placed my trust in you, more than anyone else considering you have one on each hand. To you this mark is a sign that you can grow stronger to support both me and everyone who shares the mark with you, it’s a sign that you can keep fighting through everything and keep getting stronger.’

“Pride and a reason to keep fighting?” Axel said as he looked towards one of his hands looking at the mark but the fear wasn’t there anymore, instead replaced with a warm feeling in his chest. “It can push me to grow stronger, so I can protect others” Axel then stated.

‘If you want it to. It can mean that and so much more.’ Shade admits removing his hand from Axel’s head. ‘Is there anything else bothering you?’

Axel shook his head, “No, No there isn't Lord Shade” Axel then responded as he looked towards him directly.

“Lord Shade I have a request, is there anything you have that will further my ability to protect others or something that can push me further to that goal” Axel asked as he waited for a response from Shade.

“For now you’ll need to wait on that. I’ll need to see how far you have come before I can make a choice on that.” Shade responds.

“Ok lord Shade” Axel responded with a nod as they both heard Dillon and Ziggy walk back into the carriage.

“Hey, is something wrong!” they hear Dillon yell.

“Yeah, is everything ok, the whole vibe changed!” They then hear Ziggy shout out.

“Yeah everything is ok you two” Axel replied walked next to them ruffling their hair.

They both attempt to remove his hand as smiles could be seen on their faces.

“He just wanted to talk with me about something, so shall we continue?” Shade asks as he claps his hands together.

“Yep!” Dillon and Ziggy shout in unison.

“So where do we go next?” Dillon then asked.

“Well there are the carriages… then the three carts I know nothing about,” Shade responds walking towards the door to the first carriage.

The boys nod as they follow behind Shade into the first carriage, before the door closed behind them.

Once they walked into the next carriage they found it to be filled with rows of leather seats throughout the entire carriage and seemingly nothing else.

“This one seems cozy” Axel comments.

“Yep” Dillon and Ziggy reply as they walked to the other carriage entrance,

“Lets keep going, there might be something interesting in the next one” Ziggy states as they walk to the next one.

They went through the next to carriages only to see more of the same with both of them, both of them being strikingly similar to each other in appearance as the group went to the next entrance of a carriage.

“Well I did say that three of these are plain carriages,” Shade pointed.

“True” Ziggy replied,

“You said the next one’s after these are the ones you don’t know about right?” Dillon asked.

“Yep, all three carriages appeared after the fight, as in they randomly appeared from thin air.”

“That's definitely interesting,” Dillon replied.

“You said it” Axel commented as Ziggy walked up to the door of the next carriage and reached his hand out to open it, only for a spark of energy to move towards his hand.

“Whoa!” Ziggy jumped back.

“What happened?” Dillon asked.

“Something sparked on my hand” Ziggy replied as he shook his hand letting out a low wince, “Ow..”.

“Why do I get a feeling it doesn’t want you going in first?” Shade responds reaching for the handle himself before a black spark moves towards his hand before both a red and black spark jumping back into the door before it opens as the same voice from the front of the train calmly said, “welcome to Rider Gattai Storage. Kamen Rider Shade.”

“So that's what this is,” Dillon commented.

“Is it safe to go forward?” Ziggy asked.

“No idea,” Shade responds plainly as he walks through the door.

Dillon slowly brought his hand through the doorway noticing nothing happening he immediately walked through along with Axel and Ziggy.

Dillon let out a whistle as he looked at the interior of the carriage, “this is definitely different”.

As they looked around the carriage they saw that the walls were black like the carriages before them except this one looked to have no windows, instead the walls were lit by red lighting along the walls with a symbol in the shape of familiarly stylized ‘R’.

Beyond this in the centre of the room was the strange sight of a red and white sports car, that had a matching stylised ‘R’ on the front of it but seemingly no number plates on the front or rear of the car.

“Is that a car?” Ziggy asked.

“Looks like it… thinking about it two large car shaped things did join up with my zord during the fight… I think they formed on the legs.”

“Makes sense, now since something like this is in here there’s probably stuff similar in the next carriages,” Dillon stated.

“I know there were 2 cars… but no idea on whatever the third will be… there isn’t a third thing to become a zord.”

“So the third is a complete mystery to what resides in it?” Ziggy asked.

“Pretty much,” Shade responds with a shake of his head, “that's if we are correct with the other one being the other car.”

“We won’t know until we see for ourselves right?” Axel commented as they walked to the door of the next carriage.

“Agreed,” Shade responds with a nod of his head, “just don’t try opening the door, unless you want to risk another shock.”

“Yeah I'll leave that to you” Ziggy responded as Shade went to open the next door, getting a spark like the last time before it opened as he walked though into the next carriage.

The follow behind him and when there through they see a room in a similar style to the last but instead of red lights this one had blue ones while on the centre of the carriage was another sports car, but was black with blue jagged lines covering it.

“At least we know it's another car now,” Dillon stated as he walked by the car.
“Well it matches the idea that a new zord gives me a new carriage to haul with this thing,” Shade responds, “Still that doesn’t help me guess what is in the third.”

“Yeah that’s definitely an enigma” Dillon replied, glancing at the last door.

“So I guess we look in the last one and see what we get,” Shade responds as he walks to the door getting the same spark as before this time though hearing a voice say ‘welcome to the holding cells and interrogation chambers, Kamen Rider Shade.”

“Excuse me did that voice say interrogation chamber!?” Ziggy shouted as he and the other two followed behind Shade into the carriage.

“Is that carriage the equivalent of a brig?” Dillon asked before muttering to himself, “Wait how do I know what a brig is?”.

Axel overheard him just pat him on the back saying, “Don’t worry about it for now buddy”.

“Ok…” Dillon replied before putting his attention on the interior of the next carriage, along the walls were what looked to be large tubes that seemed to be built into them with each tube having a small screen by the side of them, each showing what seemed to be heartbeat monitors on the screen. At a glance they all seemed to be blank, until the group heard a single faint beeping sound being heard from one of the tubes further down.

“This is definitely something, does anybody else hear a beeping noise?” Ziggy asked, his ears twitching from hearing it.

Dillon and Axel nod as their ears do the same, the boys slightly freaked out.

”I expected something but it definitely wasn’t this…” Dillon commented before looking to where the beeping noise was coming from before looking towards Shade.

“Should we check where that noise is coming from?”

“I’m going to have to at some point… besides considering what we heard this carriage being called, it’s not like I can put it off.”

“Yeah fair point…” Dillon replied, glancing back to where the noise was coming from before turning around to see Ziggy was gone.

“Ziggy where did you go?”

Dillon glanced at Axel who only pointed forward as they saw Ziggy slowly walking to where the beeping was coming from.

“What the?” Dillon muttered as he immediately followed behind him.

As the group reached the tube they had heard the beeping coming from and they looked inside it finding a familiar looking body inside it. Valkyrie’s body, with multiple black chains looped around it’s limbs and neck..

“What the heck!?” Ziggy jumped back as Axel and Dillon just looked on in utter confusion.

“Why is Valkyrie's body inside that tube?” Dillon asked, confused before looking towards Shade to see if he had an answer.

“Well, the monster that grew in size was another Valkyrie… I guess this is the one that grew in size that I stopped,” Shade responds.

“Oh that explains a lot then, what are you gonna do with this Valkyrie then?” Dillon replied.

“I’ll sort that in due time, for now, could you go back to the first carriage, I’ll catch up soon,” Shade requested.

“Alright” Dillon replied as he began walking back through the entrance “Ziggy, Axel let's head by to the first carriage”.

“Alrighty,” Ziggy said, jogging after him to catch up while Axel just walked behind them as they followed him back to the first carriage.

Author's Note

I know I'm not the best writer in the world but im trying and honestly, if anyone of you have any tips for me or just have any criticisms, tell me I'll try to the best of my ability to improve my writing so it doesn't seem to be an incoherent mess.

Chapter 9 (Rewrite)

The group had exited the castle and were walking into the everfree Shade not too far behind them as Dillon and Ziggy were just playing around by hanging off of Axel’s arms, the two laughing while Axel didn’t acknowledge what they were doing at all.

“Any idea what you're going to say to your mother when we get there?” Shade asks as follows the group closely.

“A little bit just trying to structure it in my mess of a brain” Dillon responded, glancing back at Shade.

Once they step into the everfree Axel’s ear immediately twitches as he looks around before seeing multiple blur’s launches out from the bushes immediately putting the boys down as he kicks two away only for the others to go past him and towards Shade.

“H-hey stop, he's not an enemy!” Dillon shouted as he realized who they were.

Shade simply sighed as he watched the blurred figure coming towards him as he twisted his body to the right sidestepping the incoming figures before grabbing one from the air by the back of its neck. “Okay… two questions. One, do you know these wolves, and two, is there a reason they tried to attack me?”

“Yeah, they're the new additions of the pack, since they didn’t know you they thought you were an enemy….” Axel responded with a sigh.

The one behind him let out a growl and lunged at him only to phase through Shade’s body, as the wolf just looked on in shock at what had just happened. He looked back to see that he was completely fine, “W-what are you?”

“Do you want another try?” Shade asks, throwing the other wolf in his arms to the floor.

Before the wolf could do anything his head was grabbed by Dillon who took a deep breath as he let out a loud howl causing a small shockwave that stopped the wolves from doing anything else as the wolf he grabbed onto went limp.

“I said stop” Dillon growled out before removing his arm from the wolf’s head as the others just looked towards him scared before they heard him shout out, “SIT!”

They immediately do what he says as he looks back at Shade, “Sorry about that”.

“Are we sure you’re not the Alpha of the pack?” Shade asks as he looks at Dillon.

“Honestly at this point, I have no idea” Dillon replied, exasperation in his voice.

“I'm still in the ballpark that they're afraid of you” Ziggy commented.

“I just think they don’t want to get marked by you,” Axel added.

Dillon lets out a groan in annoyance before speaking, “All of you go back to the lake!”.

They immediately ran back into the forest, the one next to him slowly stumbling behind them as Dillon pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Are they really that bad?” Shade asks curiously.

“It’s more so the new additions that are like this…” Dillon responded.

“Yeah the ones that have been in the pack longer tend to help reel them in but they can’t be around them all the time since most of the time they’re out foraging for food or defending our territory” Axel added

“I feel like I may regret asking, but how big is the pack now, before I remember it being just you, the pups, and your mother.”

“Given how traditions work for packs if one attacks your territory and wins the pack that loses becomes part of theirs but we've encountered multiple packs that attacked us but lost so it’s definitely a lot more members in the pack now” Dillon responded.

“I’m surprised the entire forest doesn’t belong to one single greedy wolf with that rule in place,” Shade points out, “I mean all you’d need to do is challenge a pack's Alpha and then force them into your own to take both the pack and their land right?”

“Yeah that’s how it works I'm surprised we haven’t encountered a wolf like that yet” Dillon answered.

“I feel like your tempting fate when saying that,” Ziggy states with a brow raised.

“Same here,” Axel added.

“Heck I might be doing that I just don’t care” Dillon quickly responded to the both of them.

“Let's just keep going, we're not that far from the lake,” Dillon said as he walked forward the group following behind as they brushed past some of the trees and bushes.

“Why do I get the feeling this is going to end badly for someone,” Shade responds with a shake of his head.

“Given the amount of crap that has happened I wouldn’t be surprised” Axel answered, glancing back towards him.

“Dillon, wait up!” They heard Ziggy shout as they looked to see him trying to catch up to Dillon who continued walking forward.

Dillon stopped for a moment and Ziggy, noticing this immediately asked, “You okay Dillon?”.

“Y-yeah for a moment I felt like I was being watched like someone's watching me and I don’t know where” Dillon responded as he looked around.

“Really?” Ziggy asked.

A figure in the forest wearing a hood was looking towards Dillon in silence before looking behind him to see that Shade was looking directly at them, holding his hand up towards them as if he was holding one of his guns.

“Shit!” they say under their breath before jumping into the darkness out of his view.

“Huh, the presence is gone,” Dillon said before shaking his head, “Probably just my nerves getting to me”.

“Probably,” Shade responds lowering his hand, “let’s get you three to your mother okay.” The boys nod as they continue their walk to the lake as Shade looks back towards where they had seen the figures.

‘Harmony… keep track of them, just to be safe.” He mentally asked back to Harmony.

‘I planned to,” Harmony responded as Shade walked behind the group without another word.

The group immediately pushed past one of the trees and found themselves at the lake, letting out a sigh in relief, “Ah home sweet home” before they heard multiple growls coming from the direction of the cave as they looked to see a large majority of the pack in a defensive position outside the cave.

“He’s a friend everyone it’s okay” Dillon stated as they slowly moved out of the way the group slowly walked past them as some of the wolves even the ones they encountered before looked towards Shade.

“Mom, we're back!” Dillon shouted out.

The Omega who was laying down with the pups looked up to see the group standing at the entrance of the cave as she stood up walking towards them immediately nuzzling up against the boys before noticing Shade.

“It's nice to see you again, Shade,” she said with a smile.

“Same towards you,” Shade responds with a bow, “I would have been back sooner, but things have been a bit… chaotic.”

“Seems so, I noticed that the castle has been rebuilt too” She replied before adding, “So what brings you back to the lake?”.

“I think I’ll leave that one up to your son to explain,” Shade responds pointing to Dillon.

Dillon just let out an embarrassed chuckle in response.

“Go ahead and ask her dude” Axel stated as he nudged him forward.

The boy was silent for a moment to get his thoughts together before taking a deep breath and asking, “Mom, would you mind if Shade became my….dad?”

She looked at him in silence which was slowly making him get nervous until she let out a laugh which confused the boys.

“Of course I'm okay with it Dillon I’m just surprised you actually asked him,” She said as she nuzzled Dillon who had blank look on his face

“I was surprised when he asked him too,” Axel added.

“Did one of you two want to request that as well” she then asked as Ziggy slowly raised his hand in response.

“Yes, he can be your dad too Ziggy” She responded as Ziggy lowered his hand.

“Honestly, I thought you would have been against the idea,” Shade admits.

“I don’t, I trust you, and given how he looks up to you I feel like you would be a good father figure for him” She replied before she went into deep thought, ”maybe you can be the…” before she could finish her thought she heard multiple howls coming from the outside of the cave.

“What the?” Dillon muttered before hearing a loud yelp coming from outside the cave as he immediately stood up and ran out of the cave.

When he exited the cave the first thing he saw was the pack fighter another which had higher numbers than them and it seemed that every moment more and more of the other pack came into the fold seemingly starting to overwhelm his fellow pack members as three wolves came up behind him about to attack him, only for them to be hit by three beams of crimson lights sending them flying backward.

“Maybe stay aware of your surroundings or do you need another warning like the day we met,” Shade warned as he walked out of the cave, “You check on any members of your pack that is injured, let me deal with the others… and pull the pack back… I’d rather not have to end up harming them by mistake.”

“Got it” Dillon replied as he whistled which brought the attention to the wolves that were still fighting to him, “Pull Back!” The pack immediately listened as they ran past Shade who just silently walked past them until it was only him and the enemy pack.

“I’ll give you all one warning out of courtesy, leave on your paws now and I won’t attack you, come towards this pack, and you won’t leave here a free wolf,” Shade warned as he held his Eyecon in his hand, while his belt formed on his waist.

The other pack in response just slowly went towards him, letting out low growls in response before one of them in the back immediately barreled past the others and towards Shade as it lunged towards him.

Shade then quickly spun around before kicking the wolf in the side of the head in midair sending him flying into a nearby tree, “I see you have chosen captivity… anyone else stupid enough to try?”

The wolf that Shade had kicked had a look of pure shock on his face as he struggled to get back up on his feet which made the enemy pack step back slightly before Shade turned glaring at the downed Timberwolf, “Sit and stay unless you want another.”

The wolf in response tried getting up again only to collapse on his feet before his pack members snapped out of it and began charging towards Shade.

“I see… I guess you all chose to never leave as free wolves,” Shade adds quickly placing the Eyecon in his hand into the belt around his waist before closing it before a red and black ghost with chains adorning it appeared from the belt crashing into the oncoming wolves as black glowing chains wrapped around the legs of the wolves it hit pulling them together, while the ghost-like figure flew around Shade.

“Yep, those guys are screwed” Dillon muttered as he watched from the entrance of the cave as he saw the wolves try to break out of their bindings, only for them to coil around their legs more tightly each time they moved.

The Wolves in response tried harder to break out but the feeling of defiance slowly started to get replaced by the feelings of uncertainty and fear.

“What is this?” one of them said with fear in his voice.

“I warned you, that you wouldn’t leave here as free wolves,” Shade stated again as he pulled the handle on the belt as the ghost-like figure attached to his back as his body was covered in his Rider suit, his voice distorting into an almost demonic tone, “now… I recommend you don’t try to escape, or you may lose your legs.”

The enemy pack immediately laid themselves down out of fear as Dillon walked next to Shade, as he asked the pack, “Which pack are you from?”.

“Why should we tell you?” one of them growled out before feeling the chain on them tighten, as they saw a red glow on the chains adorning Shade’s form and their bodies.

“If you don’t tell him, I’ll ensure you don’t walk again,” Shade warned, the chains tightening around the wolf's leg more tightly.

Dillon walked in front of the wolf before asking once again, “What pack are you from?”.

“I'm surprised you haven’t heard of us, we’ve been taking over packs throughout the forest out of everyone, your pack was the only one that was untouched and our Alpha didn’t like that” the wolf replied as Dillon just looked confused in response.

Shade then knelt in front of the wolf, “I’d start answering clearly, or do you want to either lose a leg or have an ear bitten off?”

“And I'm not against marking you, I've done it before” Dillon responded barring out his fangs the wolf in response immediately speaking, “Were from the pack called the Rabid Maw we reside on the opposite side of the forest”.

“See wasn’t that easy now you don’t get a chunk bitten out of your ear,” Dillon said in a condescending tone as he patted the wolf's head.

“Now… Why did you attack the pack here? If it was to take them I think you made a very foolish mistake,” Shade asked.

“Our Alpha wants control of every pack in the everfree and this one was the last one he needed” the wolf replied.

“Oh goddammit it's one of those types…” Dillon groaned out.

“We don’t have a choice in these matters if we don’t were either forced out to starve or killed whatever his mood feels the best punishment” the wolf continued,

“So even if you didn’t want to do this you had no choice?” Dillon asked.

“Yeah….either death or banishment is what you get and believe some have tried to overthrow him to stop this but they failed and were used as examples to not fight back”.

Dillon hearing this immediately clenched his fist and grit his teeth before looking towards Shade who saw pure anger in his eyes.

“Calm down,” Shade calmly said, placing a hand on Dillon’s head before looking down to the bound wolf, “I hope he at least treats the pack’s pups well.”

“Thankfully he doesn’t hurt them but everyone feels like he’s close to snapping and if he does I hope he doesn’t hurt them” the wolf replied.

“You said the pack resides on the opposite end of the forest right?” Dillon asked.

“Yeah, why?”.

“Take us to it,” Dillon stated blankly.

“Dillon. Just think for a second. You can’t run straight in, and besides you need to think about the others here, I doubt these are all he will send and they did injure some of the pack, you can’t go running off and leave here in a weakened state. Especially considering the lack of a leader here.”

“I know it’s just….Dammit!” Dillon shouted, slamming his fist into the ground, ‘I just hate guys like that, thinking they deserve everything because they have power!”.

Dillon then walked past Shade and towards the cave, “I'm gonna check on the others….” Dillon said agitation in his voice.

As soon as Dillon had left Shade looked at each of the wolves below him, “Now… what to do with all of you.”

“Since we lost you can do what you will with us” one of them answered.

But as a result, another did the opposite of accepting their fate but instead started to plead for their life, “Please just let us go we won’t come back!” and as a result, some of the others started to do the same.

“Well, I did say none of you would leave with your freedom… I can’t go back on what I said,” Shade says to himself

“Will you lot stop blubbering at least you weren’t killed” Shade heard the Omega as he turned to see her walking up to them.

“So is there a reason why Dillon came back into the cave angry? Did one of these idiots say something to him?”.

“He found out they are from a pack with an Alpha who is controlling and power-hungry, and I stopped him from going after him that second,” Shade responded, “I told him we couldn’t leave this place unprotected.”

She just shook her head in response, “That boy I swear, but thank you for stopping him he’s been getting a lot more hot-headed than usual”.

“Still… What should we do with this lots? I mean I know the Alpha would normally handle this stuff but…”

“Yeah I was going to ask you before these idiots decided to attack, maybe you can be the alpha since Dillon is too young and not patient enough for it, Ziggy’s afraid to do it and Axel has shown he’s not interested in doing it”.

“And you want me, why?”

“Because you're dependable and I trust you,” She replied.

“But wouldn’t you want the Alpha of a pack to be, you know… the same race?”

“You think I cared about that when I brought those three into the pack” The omega replied as she motioned towards the boys who walked out of the cave.

“I think you did so because they could become part Timberwolf and at least be half your race.”

“Not really I mainly did it to get rid of the language barrier, but I care about them either way” she replied before the boys came up to them

“Alright most of the pack isn’t gravely wounded so they can move but some weren’t lucky and are unconscious so I used some of the medicine I had to patch them up and numb the pain” Dillon stated.

“So it had nothing to do with the fact you had barely any pack members left at that point and needed anyone to rebuild it,” Shade responds seemingly having not heard Dillon.

“I'm not disputing that but again I care about them all the same” she quickly replied.

“So this isn’t a fact that you are worried about this new pack and wanted someone who looks to be able to fight back to ask as a deterrent,” Shade suggests.

“I did know about the pack but I more so brought Dillon in so he can somewhere to go to, I was worried about the pack, but bringing in Dillon did help in protecting us” she replied as she glanced at Shade.

“And I get that, but even still it doesn’t solve the root of the issue you would need a pack’s Alpha to do beyond leading… a thing I cannot do as I am.”

The Omega sighs in response, ”I understand, but if you change your mind let me know”.

“Let me be clear. It’s not a no, I just need you to know that at this time, I can’t fill that need of yours, But I can manage everything beyond that.” Shade explained, “Maybe we should go somewhere away from the others to talk about it?”

She nodded in response before looking to the opposite end of the lake.

“Um, am I chopped liver here, what's going on, what are you two talking about?” Dillon piped up as he walked in front of the two.

“Umm, sorry Dillon I didn’t see you there… to answer your question. It’s something important between the two of us.”

Dillon’s face immediately went into a frown, “let me guess grown-up stuff I’m not allowed to listen to?”.

“For now… no. But later maybe,” Shade responded.

“Fine…” the boy groaned as he walked past them, “also most of the wolves aren’t gravely injured but some are unconscious” he added as he walked back to the front of the cave.

“Maybe you should handle this first, along with these captives from the other pack,” Shade suggested, looking at the Timberwolf next to him.

“You're right,” She responded.

“Maybe, for now, take them all into the cave bound as they are. We can have a nice long talk with them all later,” Shade suggests looking at the group of bound wolves again. “I think they can enjoy a nice long stay with the pack don’t you?”

“I do” she responded as she then yelled out, “Axel, Dillon!”.

“Yeah?” they hear the two yell out.

“Bring these wolves into the cave there gonna have a long stay with us” she stated as the two ran from the cave and grabbed onto the bound wolves and picked them up.

“H-hey put us down, you wretch!” The boys hear one of the wolves say before Shade and the Omega see Dillon jab the wolf in the stomach, the wolf letting out a yelp in response.

“I suggest you stay quiet, he doesn't have much patience for wolves like you” Axel commented as they carried the group of wolves toward the cave.

“Please don’t do this, this isn’t fair” they hear one of them whimper out.

“Life ain’t fair, get over it” Dillon blankly replied.

The boys continued, as the wolves continued to whine in response which annoyed Dillon to know end which could be seen from the positions of his ears and his tail frizzing up.

“I want you to keep an eye on them for a while okay! If any cause trouble you can gag or silence them!” Shade shouted to Dillon.

“Alright, dad!” Dillon shouted back as he and Axel chucked the wolves into the cave before walking in themselves.

“Now… shall we go somewhere and talk,” Shade asks, looking at the Omega.

She nodded in response, “We shall” as she walked into the forest Shade not far behind as they continued for a few minutes before finding themselves in a clearing, the omega then sitting in front of him.

“Okay then, so if I did become the Alpha, what would you need me to do?” Shade asked, canceling his transformation.

“To lead and to help manage the pack and to show that the pack is not to be trifled with” She replied.

“Okay, how large is the pack at this moment numbers-wise?” Shade asked as he sat down in front of the omega.

“I would say there are over 30 members in the pack but to be completely accurate I would say maybe 40 excluding the boys and the pups”.

“Okay, now what should we do with the wolves who attacked you. I don’t think we can leave them like that,” Shade admits, “We need to decide how to handle both those we captured and the pack they came from.”

“We can handle the ones we captured by giving them an ultimatum either they join us or..they die”.

“Well maybe not death, they could join willingly, or I can forcibly make them join against their will… I mean I can alter creatures' minds.”

“True, we could negotiate with them since if they go back they would most likely be worse off with what their alpha can do”.

“The easiest way would be to remove their Alpha from the equation.” Satou points out.

“But doing that would require someone going to the pack's home which most likely has a lot more members there than what attacked us” The Omega added.

“If they are as strong as those who attacked us just now… I really doubt that they’ll be much of a threat,” Shade admits as he looks around the area.

They then heard a twig snap come from one of the bushes and turned their attention to where the sound came from.

The omega immediately sprung up and jumped into the bush as a loud whine could be heard as Shade saw her pull a wolf from the bush by its neck as it tried to get away from her.

“So… I’m going to go with this one being a straggler from the attack that tried to hide, but was too scared to move” Shade suggests as he looks at the wolf in the Omega’s grasp.

She nodded in response as she placed him down, “Seems like he didn’t want to fight at all when he saw me he looked like he was paralyzed”.

“Maybe he will explain himself to us,” Shade asked as he looked down at the wolf, “Unless we need to be more… persuasive.”

The wolf in response looked completely terrified before blurting out, “I didn’t want to fight, I didn't want to hurt anyone so I thought hiding was the best option!”

“And what do you think your best option is now you’ve been caught and been eavesdropping on our conversation and know what your choices are?” Shade asked as he knelt in front of the wolf.

“T-That I show you where the pack is?...” The wolf stuttered out.

“We already have the others from your group for that” The Omega quickly comments.

“Besides. This is about what we do to you… not what you do for us,” Shade adds, “Unless you want us to decide your fate for you that is?”

“I-I don’t know what you want me to say”.

Shade then placed a hand against the back of the wolf's neck holding him in place, “let me put it this way. You have been captured by a pack who your groups attacked. You won’t be leaving a free wolf, so you can choose one of three options, joining this pack, being a mindless puppet enslaved to this pack, or death.”

The wolf’s breath hitched as he spoke, “I’ll join the pack, I don’t want to be a puppet”.

“Okay then. I assume you have a name, little pup,” Shade asks in a condescending tone as he patted the wolf on the head.

“My- my name is Rio” the wolf stuttered out.

“Well Rio, you are now a part of our pack now, welcome” The omega commented, the wolf shaking in fear in response. “Oh don’t be afraid we're not gonna kill you if you decided to be defiant then that would have been one of the results so be a good boy and nothing bad happens to you” The omega added.

Rio didn’t say anything, only nodding in response.

The omega just looked towards Shade, “What should we do with him, he looks scared to death”.

“Honestly, I’ll leave that one to you. I mean you are the mother of this pack,” Shade points out.

She just sighed in response before nudging Rio, “Come on get up”, she spoke as Rio slowly got onto his feet.

“Let's get this little one back to the others,” She said towards Shade.

“Maybe a good idea. I doubt the others will react well to him if he appeared by himself,” Shade responds.

The omega nodded as she nudged Rio forward, the wolf walking forward with Shade and the omega walking in front of him as they guided him to the lake.

“I get the feeling someone’s going to need to look after him,” Shade points out as they reach the mouth of the cave.

They then see Dillon holding one of the wolves in a headlock while Axel was holding in a laugh while he watched Dillon having an annoyed look on his face while this transpired, the boy immediately dropping the wolf when he sees Shade and the Omega.

“Oh hey, who’s the new addition?” Dillon asked as he saw Rio behind them.

“His name Is Rio, we need one of you to watch him,” The Omega said as she nudged Rio forward.

“And preferably not harm him… he’s scared enough as is,” Shade added.

“I can tell he looks like he’s about to piss himself,” Axel commented as he looked to see Dillon glancing at the wolves.

Axel sighed, “I’ll watch him,” he said as Rio slowly walked towards him until he sat next to Axel, the wolf shaking slightly.

“Sheesh lighten up we're not gonna hurt ya as long as you don’t do wrong by us we won’t do wrong by you” Axel stated.

“We’ll just be outside, if anything happens you need either of us for. Just shout,” Shade requested looking back at the Omega.

“Alrighty” Dillon and Axel replied.

Shade and her go back outside to the lake as they continue to speak. “So where were we before that happened?”

“I think we were talking about you being unsure since you're not a wolf yourself?” the Omega replied.

“Well, that is a bit of an issue considering that if we want to grow the pack without forcing others into it that we would need to… well you can guess and I don’t think me and you can really do that.”

“Yeah, that definitely wouldn’t be ethical, this is definitely a conundrum isn’t it?” she replied.

“Besides… I very much doubt that it would even be possible between us,” Shade adds, sitting down in front of the Omega.

“You're not wrong” The omega responded, “but even then even if that’s not possible I still believe this can work with helping to lead the pack” she continued.

“By what scaring everyone half to death every time?” Shade asks.

“No, by having them trust you first, the boys trust you, especially Dillon if he didn’t he wouldn’t have sought you out today, things like that for the pack will take time but I do believe it will work”.

“So dealing with that pack that attacked you for example,” Shade suggests holding his hand out slightly.

“Let's not resort to scare tactics, let's try to have them trust us so we don’t have them fight back and die trying if anything the root of the issue is the alpha of the pack they were part of”,

“So to keep everyone safe I need to remove the Alpha of that pack from power. So the easy way would be to beat him into submission and drag him off kicking and screaming?” Satou points out.

“Either that or scare him so much he doesn’t want to be the alpha anymore” she quickly responded.

“So what makes him think that the ghosts of packs he’s wronged are trying to grab him and drag him through the floor?”

“Precisely he’s clearly has a lot of ghosts in his closet if most of the members of his pack don’t think highly of him we can use that to our advantage”

“Well all we would need is a Timberwolf who can phase through objects to do it. I don’t think that is something you can do though right?”

The omega shook her head in response, “Sadly no I can’t do that”.

“And I doubt an Alicorn or Human doing that would really affect him. I can’t think he’s wronged either of those races,” Shade adds his hand still out.

“Then how should we go about this then?” The omega replied.

Shade paused for a moment lost in thought, “I’ll need to think on that. But for now, we need to think about strengthening the pack itself… Do you know of any smaller packs that may have been missed by this larger one. Any that might be inclined to group up with ours to help protect themselves?”

The omega immediately went into deep thought, this went on for a moment before she spoke up, “There might be three packs that are willing to help but I don’t know for sure that they're still around or not”.

“How long would it take to get in contact with them? And beyond that could they be of any threat to our pack if left unchecked.” Shade asked.

“It wouldn’t take long since last I remember their vicinity to the lake isn’t that far, and from what I remember they weren’t aggressive at all unless they were provoked so they aren’t a threat to our pack” she replied before going silent, “Did you just say our pack?”.

Shade only smiled back at the Omega as he simply nodded his head, “I suppose I did, besides if anything did happen to any of the pack I can’t imagine Dillon would be happy, and I do need to at least try and look after him and Ziggy considering the fact I’ve adopted them both.”

The Omega just shook her head with a low chuckle, “I suppose that is true huh, still surprised you took me up on my offer” she said as she walked forward and nuzzled against his hand.

“It’s not a problem. Besides, someone needs to deal with that other pack before they cause too many issues.” Shade responded, before a spark leaped into the bracer on his arm as he recoiled back in shock, crimson lights flickering from it before Shade said, “Don’t say it’s broken. I’ll kill her myself if she damages this thing.”

“What's wrong?” The Omega asked.

“It’s nothing,” Shade responded as the lights stopped flickering before a small screen appeared on top of the bracer, looking to show an image of an Alicorn on it, “What the hell?”

“What is it?” she then asked as she stepped a bit closer.

“No idea. Before now it had only two buttons. One for my human form, one for my Alicorn one and no more. Now there’s this screen on it,” Shade admitted as he flicked the screen with his finger, finding multiple images appearing on the screen. One human, one Alicorn, one Unicorn, and the last one being the most confusing to him. A Timberwolf-shaped icon. “Okay… that’s weird.”

“Is that….a timberwolf?”.

“I think so… but why is it on this thing?” Shade responded, tapping the image of a timberwolf once as his form began to shift before being surrounded in a crimson glow as the Omega looked in interest before covering her eyes with her paws.

Once the glow subsided the Omega uncovered her eyes to find a Timberwolf over twice her size towering over her. The wolf had completely black bark covering it with its tail being blood red with two glowing red eyes staring down at her.

She immediately jumped back and growled towards the wolf in response who just looked at her confused in response. “Is there something on my face?” in a very familiar voice.

She immediately stopped and tilted her head in confusion, “Shade?” she asked as she got a nod from the wolf as she slowly walked towards him.

“Yes?” the wolf responded in confusion. “What's wrong?”

“You don't look like how you were before” She commented as she circled him to get a good look at him before adding, “You're a Timberwolf and a big one at that it's been a long time since I've ever seen one of that stature”.

“Huh? What do you mean by me looking like a Timberwolf?” Shade asked, looking at her confusion clear on his face.

“Maybe look down and you’ll see what I mean,” The omega replied.

Shade then looked down towards the floor, seeing his legs below them, now looking to be paws, “Wait… what the hell.”

“I suppose that wasn’t meant to happen?”.

“As I said the bracer on my arm had two forms, human and Alicorn. No others. So no… this should not have happened… hell I didn’t know I could turn into a Timberwolf.”

“Maybe that person you spoke about killing did something to add that feature” She commented.

“It’s possible… though I would have thought she would tell me if she did make any other changes beyond what we agreed to.”

“Even then you look good and it definitely looks like you fit the role of an alpha in this form”.

“And how should an Alpha normally look?” Shade asked with a curious tone in his voice.

“From the ones I've known during my life personally, they have a commanding aura to them as well as a high stature to them both of those things you have in spades” She replied as she circled him again.

“So being this size is normal for an Alpha?”

“Yes, but for others, they can be the same size as any of the other wolves”.

“So is this a common size for a Timberwolf… It’s weird everyone here seems so much smaller… I mean most of the grown ones are the same height as you.”

“When I was younger it wasn’t like this, but over the past few years that started to happen to them slowly more and more that were born started to go towards the size they are now, honestly you're around the same height as my father was when he was still alive”.

“Anything I should know of him? I assume he was the Alpha of the pack at some point.”

The Omega just shook her head in response, “other than he tried being as patient as possible, no”.

“And did that work well for the pack?”

“He passed peacefully in his sleep with the pack around him, so yes it did”.

“At least he lived a long and mostly happy life,” Shade responded, “But I think I need to work out how to get the other members of the pack to accept me. I doubt they will all jump to follow a strange wolf they’ve never seen in the pack before now.”

“If we can find a way for them to trust you, they might accept you, maybe even have the boys help with convincing or just Dillon since he likes to be blunt about certain things”.

“To be fair, I think Dillon is the only one that actually trusts me for the right reasons. I mean all Ziggy knows of me is that I saved Dillon.”

“To be fair I don’t think Ziggy has a reason to distrust you especially since you adopted him” She responded.

“That’s also not a good reason. That's just blind trust.”

“You're not wrong, but even then as Ziggy gets to know you more he’ll have reasons to trust you”

“Then I suppose I’d better start with the others then,” Shade responds with a shake of his head.

“That's most likely the best course of action from how I see it,” The Omega admitted.

“I guess so,” Shade responds before pausing, “You know… it’s been kind of rude of me but I never asked your name all this time… and I don’t think I can call you just ‘my omega’ constantly.”

“Oh, y-yeah I didn’t tell you, well you can call me Ryka” she responded.

“Well then it’s a pleasure to meet you Ryka,” Shade responds as he places a paw on her head.

“Likewise Shade,” Ryka replied.

“Now then Ryka. Shall we see how this goes with the pack?” Shade asks, placing his paws on the ground.

Ryka nodded in response as they began walking back to the lake and after a few minutes, they were back and looked to the cave to see Dillon in front of the cave with his sword out.

“Why do I feel like I’ve missed something really important?” Shade asks, looking at Ryka nervously.

“Probably best to assume that” Ryka replied as Dillon turned towards them the boy’s stare softening when he saw Ryka but immediately hardened when he saw Shade not knowing it was him.

“Who is that?” Dillon asked as the two noticed a scratch on his face.

“Why do I think this is going to end badly,” Shade asks Ryka as he smiles down at her.

“Because It’s probably going to” Ryka replied with a giggle as she leaned against him.

Dillon just looked at the two in confusion as he overheard them, “What the?” the boy muttered as he saw his mother lovingly lean against Shade.

“Am I missing something cause I'm confused” Dillon then said.

“Dillon, who would be the most important part of the pack?” Ryka asked the boy who only tilted his head in response.

“I guess the alpha would, why do you ask-” Dillon was about to respond before stopping as he glanced at Shade and back at Ryka who only had a smile on her face, “No…” Dillon groaned out only for Ryka to nod.

“Who is this!?” Dillon shouted out only for Ryka to chuckle in response as Dillon shouted again, “Why is this funny I don’t get it!”.

“As your mother said. I’m the pack's new Alpha,” Satou said, distorting his voice slightly making him sound older.

Dillon didn’t say anything in response as his eye twitched slightly.

“Dillon time to switch out!” Axel shouted out as he walked out and stood next to Dillon who didn’t respond.

“Dillon, what's wrong?” Axel shook him only to get nothing again as he turned to see Shade and Ryka, “Oh welcome back, who’s that by the way?” Axel asked as he motioned towards Shade.

“He’s the new alpha of the pack,” Ryka replied.

Axel just glanced at Shade and then back at Ryka before going into deep thought, before he heard a familiar voice say in his head, “Axel. It’s me. We’re just messing around with Dillon, try to play along. We want him to work it out.”

Axel quickly nodded in response “Ok Lord Shade” he replied, as he went silent as all of them looked towards Dillon.

“Are you okay little pup?” Shade asked, looking at Dillon.

Dillon in response just grabbed his headache, “All this thinking is giving me a headache!” as he then proceeded to bonk himself in the head.

“Ow,” Dillon groaned out before immediately going quiet and looking towards Shade specifically in his eyes seemingly starting to connect the dots.

“.......Dad?” Dillon said in a mix of confusion and bewilderment as Ryka and Axel looked like they were about to laugh while Shade held an amused expression on his face.

“Took you a while to work it out little pup,” Shade responds with a smirk on his face.

Dillon just gave a pout in response as he walked back into the cave embarrassed, “W-were switching out Axel!”.

“I think you made him mad,” Axel commented with a chuckle as Ryka went into the cave.

“Dillon it was just a joke” Ryka they heard her say.

“He’ll calm down.” Shade responds, “besides, I think it bothered him more that his mother was close to a random wolf.”

“Probably” Axel admitted.

“Probably not much better that said wolf is his adopted father as well,” Shade adds.

“I think more so that he didn’t expect it” Axel responded before adding, “Honestly can’t really blame him for not knowing off the bat because he’s only seen you in your alicorn and human form”.

“Couldn’t the same be said for you. But you clicked on to it being me pretty quickly. I could tell you was going to call me out before I asked you not to,” Shade points out, “buy the way. How did you tell it was me?”

“It was the glowing red eyes that tipped me off in all honesty” Axel replied.

“Glowing eyes?” Shade responded in confusion. “I didn’t even realize they were glowing.”

“Is that normal?” Axel asked.

“Well I didn’t know I was doing it so… Is it normal for Timbewolfs eyes to glow like mine do?” Shade asked, looking at the Omega.

Ryka just nodded in response as she walked back towards the two, “Yes that's normal it takes a bit for Timberwolves to actually show them, Dillon and Ziggy have shown some signs of their eyes glowing for the past few nights and Axel’s is yet to show anything yet”

“So it’s just weird for me to have it happen instantly… and not be able to stop them from glowing. Any ideas on how everyone normally does it?”

“Most Timberwolves usually do it in a way like focusing your vision,” Ryka replied.

“As in focusing to trigger it or focusing to stop it?” Shade asked.

“It works both ways,” She replied.

“Okay then,” Shade responds as he closes his eyes taking a single deep breath before opening them, “That any better or are they still the same?”

“Yep, they're not glowing anymore” Axel commented with a nod.

“Does a wolf's eye glowing like that mean anything normally?” Shade asks

“More so to show that a timberwolf is not messing around with their business” Ryka replied.

“So don’t activate it around the pack. Got ya.”

“That's the gist of it, yeah”.

Ryka then looked to Axel as she spoke, “Axel get the members of our pack out here I want to introduce them to their new alpha and get Dillon and Ziggy while you're at it, I want them both here for the announcement”.

“Got it” Axel replied with a salute as he walked towards the cave, the older boy immediately shouting into the cave when he’s at the entrance, “Alright everyone who isn’t bound come out, the omega wants to make an announcement!”.

The wolves slowly came out of the cave as Shade and Ryka saw some of the others helping Dillon and Ziggy pull the wolves that were bound together out of the cave until all of the members that were still conscious were in front of them including the boys who just sat down in front of them.

“Alright everyone’s here” Axel stated as he and the pack looked towards Ryka and Shade.

“Okay, everyone now that you're here you're probably wondering who is this large Timber Wolf next to me” Ryka stated as she motioned towards Shade as she continued, “This is Shade and he will be the alpha of the pack”.

The pack started to murmur in response all of them being unsure of trusting Shade which started to get on the nerves of Dillon who immediately spoke up, “Shut up, you guys had a problem with the pack not having an alpha before and now you have a problem with it having one now make it make sense!”.

Shade then rose to his full height looking at some of the wolves, “Some of you have already met and tried to kill me… I think at least one of you tried going for my throat and went through my body. Who did that again?”

“It was that one” Ziggy said as he pointed the wolf in the back,

“Maybe you want to tell the rest of the pack the results of your attack on me?” Shade asked, looking at the wolf at the back.

The wolf’s ears went down as he replied, “I couldn’t touch him but he was completely capable of touching me”.

“Also all of you who are currently bound. You also tried to attack me when you came for this pack. How did that go for all of you?” He added looking at the bound wolves.

“We were completely outmatched” one of them quietly replied.

“Now all of you who have a problem with me. Make yourselves known. I would like to resolve this without causing issues for the pack as a whole, just don’t shout at once, I’ll hear anyone who wants to point out an issue.” Shade adds looking around the pack.

One of the pack members immediately walks forward stopping in front of the group, “Why are you alpha of the pack now I mean no offense but none of us know you other than the ones you said attacked you”.

“That is true, but maybe you want to ask both your Omega for an answer here. After All, she asked me to become your Alpha,” Shade responds, “Or if you have an issue with trusting a random wolf you’ve never met, ask Dillon about me.”

Some of the pack members look directly at Ryka and Dillon expecting an answer from them as Dillon sighed in response, “He’s trustworthy if it wasn’t for him I would be dead right now you don’t have to trust my word completely but if he had bad intentions he would have hurt all of you gravely without any difficulty”.

The pack murmur among themselves before looking at Ryka who spoke, “the reason I asked him to be the alpha is because I trust him and I knew if something ever happened to me if we didn’t have one the pack would fall apart, I've seen that happen far too many times”.

The wolf who spoke up prior looked to the others in the pack who nodded in response as he stated towards Ryka, “I'm not completely sure about this but me and the pack trust your judgment” as he then turned to Shade stating ”it may take some time for us to get used to you being our alpha but we put our trust in you”.

“And I thank you for taking the chance on me,” Shade responds with a bow of his head as the rest of the pack do the same in response as the boys and Ryka smile in response. “Do any of you have anything else you need to get off your chests?”

Most of the pack shook their heads in response as Ryka immediately stepped forward, “Okay now that this is out of the way I'm gonna need some of you to go scout out into the forest and recruit the more friendly packs, am I clear?”.

Most of the pack nodded in response before they heard Dillon ask, “It may just be me being stupid but why are we recruiting other packs?”.

“Simple. If any packs are left chances are their members have been taken away and forced into the pack that our captives are from against their will. If they are in too bad of a state they will need help, and it just might be a way to prevent that other pack from harming anyone else.” Shade explained.

“Oh now I understand” Dillon replied as he looked at the pack, “Alright any one of you that isn’t gravely injured and is willing to do this come forward!” the boy shouted as ten of the wolves came forward.

“Alright you heard what she said, look for any of the friendly packs and recruit them into ours and no attacking them they may be our only allies in this got it?” Dillon said as the wolves nodded to him.

“Good now go!” Dillon ordered as the wolves immediately ran into the forest as he turned around to see Axel smirking at him, “What?”.

“You sure you're not fit to be a leader?” Axel asked as Dillon quickly nodded in response, “very sure I don’t have the patience for it”.

“Are you sure that you're sure because you did pretty well just now” Ziggy commented as Dillon just grumbled in response.

“Now, could you get everyone who needs to recover somewhere safe,” Shade requests looking at the group, “But leave your ‘guests’ outside. I think that we need a nice long talk with them.”

Dillon and the others nod in response as they take the wolves and guide them out of the lake while Axel and Dillon pick up some of the wolves who could barely walk in the process.

After the group exited the area all that was left in the lake was Shade, Ryka, and the wolves who were still bound together.

“So… Now we can have a nice long talk and sort out everything,” Shade responds as he walks towards the bound wolves till he stood towering over them as he stared down at them, “Now, I assume you all have things you want to say to the Alpha of the pack you attacked.”

The wolves stayed silent as Ryka sighed in annoyance, “I'd recommend actually speaking and some of you not looking at us with eyes of disgust”.

“I’ll make this simple. Right now all of you have two choices. You join us, or…” Shade paused bringing a claw to the nearest bound wolf’s neck slowly moving it across his neck leaving a scratch across it.

“I’ll join you!” one of the bound wolves yelled as the other ones that were bound looked at him in shock, “What are you doing!?”.

The wolf in question responded, “Choosing to live and honestly being in their pack looks a lot better than our own”.

The wolves then began to argue amongst themselves until a good majority agreed to join the pack but the outliers that continued to refuse to join the pack were the most vocal and stubborn out of the few.

“Ryka, could you pull the new members to the side? I need to deal with the others,” Shade requested, his voice deepening slightly as his eyes began to glow.

“Okay” Ryka replied as she grabbed the wolves who joined and sat them somewhere separate from the more stubborn ones.

“I’ll give you all one last chance, then that’s it,” Shade warned, standing over the remaining wolves. “So say whatever you want. You might get lucky.”

“I'd recommend choosing your words wisely!” Ryka shouted from the side.

“Why should we, you're probably not any better than our previous one!”.

“Yeah, why should we? You're probably just as much of a bastard!”

Shade paused looking at the ears of two of the wolves seeing that each had a large chunk bitten out of them.

‘Harmony. Are you able to help them?’ Shade mentally asked.

‘Of course. Just touch their ears and I'll handle the rest. It should look like you're doing it,’ she responded with a small chuckle.

Shade then focused back on the wolves in front of him before calmly saying “Tell me… did he take your ears and choices away from you?”

The wolves in response just looked away one of them stating, “He breaks you down until you join him or until you die there is no in between..”.

“Then let me give you a choice back,” Shade responds a soft glow forming near his paw as he placed it against the bitten ear, before pulling it back, the missing skin having reformed, “That any better?” he asked releasing one of the wolf’s paws guiding it towards his ear.

“What, how did you do?” the wolf asked as he looked Shade in the eyes.

“I’m not going to abuse my pack, and that extends to anyone who is willing to accept and follow me,” Shade responds, “now… does that feel better?”

The wolf looked to the ground in response as he nodded, “I- I'll join you”.

Shade only smiled back before the chain binding him disappeared and Shade rubbed the wolf's head, “welcome to the pack.”

“Thank you, Alpha” The wolf responded as he walked to the other pack members.

“Now, anyone else?” Shade asked, looking at the others.

The other wolf from before immediately spoke up, “Please, I don’t want to go back”.

“If you didn’t want to go back there, why did you refuse to join a new pack away from your old one?” Shade asked as he looked at the wolf that had spoken.

“We don’t know whether he’s watching us or not, back in the pack you have to watch what you say or you're punished and he’s very creative…” the wolf replied.

“If he was watching you I would think he would have attacked by now seeing all but four of you jump ship and join this pack,” Shade points out.

The wolf in response looked to one of the other wolves behind him who was giving him a hard glare before looking away fear in his eyes as he quietly spoke, “I’ll join you”.

“Traitorous bastard!” the wolf behind him shouted before snapping its jaw on the wolf's leg who let out a yelp of pain.

Shade then walked over to the wolf that had shouted glaring down at him before stamping a paw down on his head forcing it to the ground, his eyes glowing brighter and he forced the wolf to stare at him, as Shade’s voice deepened further now almost sounding demonic in nature his as he shouted, “I’ll deal with you in a minute, and you will regret what you just did! Understand!” pushing his paw harder against the wolf's head.

The wolf looked towards Shade in defiance as he growled, but only to feel the force on his head getting much heavier, before Shade glared down at the wolf moving his paw to the wolf's neck, as he brought his own head nearer to the wolf's ear before shouting, “do you understand!”

“Screw….you” the wolf responded with gritted teeth.

“I think a punishment is in order,” Shade responds, moving her jaw towards the wolf's ear, “I think a bit off the ear will suffice for now.”

“No!” the wolf shouted as he tried moving out of the way.

“It will only hurt for a moment, young pup,” Shade responded as he opened his jaw over the wolf's right ear placing each of his paws on different parts of the wolf's body preventing him from moving even an inch.

“No, No stop!” The wolf pleaded as he continued to attempt to struggle but to an avail, as Shade placed his teeth against the ear, not biting down fully on it but enough to leave a small mark, before pulling away.

“What will you do for me in return for me not taking a chunk of your ear as punishment for harming a member of my pack little pup,” Shade asked, still glaring at the wolf under his paws as the wolf immediately shrunk down in fear, Shade’s glare making him stay in place and go completely silent. “Nothing? Then I guess I'll simply take your ear as payment,” Shade adds, moving back to the ear again.

The wolf glanced back at his comrades who shook in place they couldn’t say anything they could only watch until the wolf felt a tearing sensation on his ears as he let out a loud yelp that could be heard from where Dillon and the others were.

“Now. Will you behave for your new Alpha, little pup,” Shade asked again, looking at the wolf who saw the remains of his bitten ear against Shade’s teeth before he spat it out, as it landed on the ground in front of the wolf's face.

“I-I’ll behave alpha” The wolf stuttered out in pain as he covered his face while Shade then looked to the other ones, all of them hearing the quiet sobs coming from the bitten wolf.

He then knelt down to the wolf that had been bitten first, rubbing the back of their head, as he pulled them close to his side “Are you okay little one?”

“Y-yeah I’m okay his fangs didn't dig too deep” the wolf replied.

“Let me help with that,” Shade responds, placing his hand over the bite on their leg as it was covered by a faint glow, quickly healing before moving his hand to the wolf’s bitten ear, healing it as he had with the other wolf, “feeling any better?”

“How can you do that?” the wolf asked as they looked at their newly healed leg and rubbed their healed ear.

“That's a secret little one,” Shade responds rubbing the wolf's neck, “and don’t worry, I’ll make sure you don’t get hurt by your last Alpha ever again okay.”

“O-okay” the wolf replied with a nod.

“I assume you have a name for me to call you by my little pup,” Shade responds looking at the wolf with a smile.

“My name's Fern” the wolf quietly answered as she leaned into him glancing at the wolf who bit her before looking away in fear seemingly trying to hide herself.

“Fern. Would you like to go to my Omega, I’ll deal with the rest of them.,” Shade responded in a kind tone in his voice as his eyes returned to normal again.

She nodded as he gently nudged her towards Ryka and the other pack members, Ryka immediately nuzzled against her to show everything's going to be okay before glaring at the wolf who bit her.

Shade only nodded at Ryka as he stood back over the sobbing wolf looking down at him again, “are you going to be a good boy now?”

“I’ll behave” The wolf replied as he continued to say it on repeat, as Shade nodded releasing him from his bindings as he curled up into a ball, before Shade walked over him before looking at the two remaining wolves.

“Do you need me to say anything or are you going to give me an answer?” Shade asked the remaining bound wolves as he looked at them.

“We’ll join you just don’t hurt us” one of the wolves whimpered out.

“Do you both promise to do as me and my Omega says from now on,” Shade asks looking at them both.

“We promise” the first replied as the second quickly nodded, “Yeah we won’t cause any trouble”.

“You promise me that?” Shade asks, looking at the two of them carefully, as the wolves quickly nodded their heads in response before Shade released the bindings from the two of them, “Now that's done. We need to decide how to prevent this from continuing,” Shade adds, turning to look at Ryka.

Ryka looks to Shade before looking behind him to see the second wolf knock the other away and lunging at Shade who immediately grabs and pinned them down.

“Really… was that really a good idea,” Shade asks, his eyes glowing once again as he pins him in place like he had with the other wolf.

“Damn you!” the wolf snarled out.

“Are you trying to get me to kill you? Is that what you really want?” Shade asked, looking down at him in confusion, as it continued to snarl out in opposition, the wolf having a manic look on its face.

Shade then looks to the other wolf that had been pushed to the side, “Who was he to your old pack?”

The wolf that was knocked away stood up as it stated “He and the other one were the most loyal to the alpha. You can basically consider them his first and second in command and that one in particular is his younger brother”.

Shade pauses in thought before a grin appears on his face before he looks down to the wolf under his paws. “You know… I think I have a worse fate for you than taking an ear, a fate miles worse than death even.”

“W-what are you planning!?” The wolf shouted as attempted to break free only to still be unable to move.

“Well… I’m going to take complete control of your body and mind, leaving the current you trapped in your own head for the rest of your life, you’ll be a puppet for me to pull the strings of only being able to do whatever I desire of you for the rest of your life.” Shade responds with a smirk on his face as he stares at the wolf under his feet.

The wolf’s eyes widened as he tried getting himself free again, “No, No!”

“In fact, I could force you to be whatever I want. I could change your coat color, alter your memories, give you a brand new name and make you into whatever our pack desires,” Shade responds as he rubs a paw over the side of the wolf's face.

He tried moving his face away in response only to feel Shade press more weight against him.

“I’ll march you back to your brother as my newest pup, and have you tell him who you now serve to his face. How do you think he will feel, his own brother abandoning him for a new Alpha, and he won’t even know why.”

“Please no, I’ll give you anything you want just don’t do this!”.

Shade ignored him looking back at Ryka, “Say, what do you think we change about our newest pup when I start the changes. Any preferences on the new him?”

Ryka walks over to the wolf and gets up close to his face, “Make him more pleasant, he's too abrasive, maybe during his time he’ll actually learn a thing or two”.

“Still I feel like he needs a change to his coat… maybe black or red would look nice,” Shade suggests.

“Please no…” the wolf quietly whimpered out.

“How about we give him a new name, maybe I’ll call you Kai”

“Grey, my name is grey please don’t take my name away from me!”.

“I think I like the name Kai more,” Shade responds as a crimson glow appears on the paw that had been near his face, black sparks moving down his leg, “Any final requests before the old you disappears from this world forever?”

Grey began to hyperventilate, not knowing what to say until he whimpered out, “tell my brother that I'm sorry”.

“Why would we let him know you're sorry. You're going to help break his pack apart,” Shade adds his paw moving closer to Grey’s forehead, before making contact with it the black sparks moving across his body focused near his head.

Grey just looked to the ground as tears formed in his eyes and fell to the ground, his coat slowly going darker in color, as a red light focused on his forehead, and a faint symbol began to appear near Shade’s paw.

“In this life that I've lived, I know i don’t regret a damn thing” Grey spoke before going silent, as his eyes lost their color before what appeared to be a crimson eye-shaped symbol formed creating his pupils, his head raising looking blankly forwards.

“Ryka. I’ll leave the rest to you, just say what you want from him and he’ll become it,” Shade responds, kissing her on the forehead before looking over his shoulder towards the formerly bound wolves.

“Got it,'' Ryka replied as she sat in front of Grey who blankly looked towards her.

“Your new name is Kai” She stated as they both saw one of his eyes twitch in response to a pained look showing on his face for a moment.

“My name is Grey” he replied as Shade placed his paw on his head again, “my name is G-grey”

“Little pup, your name is Kai,” Shade calmly says, a single spark jumping towards his forehead before looking at Ryka as he nodded his head slightly, “I am your Alpha.”

Ryka then placed her paw beside his as she stated, “And I am your mother's little pup”.

Grey continued to show resistance for a moment before his face went blank before he slowly spoke, “y-you are my alpha and you are my mother” he struggled with the first bit of the sentence but as he continued the struggle he was showing before was completely gone.

“Good boy Kai” Ryka replied

“Thank you mother,” he responded.

“you will be acting as one of this pack's protectors and will help in dealing with this pack that's a threat to our’s, do you understand Kai?”.

“I…. understand” He blankly replied.

“Good” Ryka replied before looking at Shade, “I think he’s ready”.

“I think we need to give him an actual personality… Do we really want him talking like that constantly?” Shade asks.

“Do you have any suggestions for one?”.

“I could keep him mostly the same, just erase his old Alpha and family from his memories and input us in their place,” Shade suggests.

“That's not a bad idea, maybe keep some of his old memories intact though, how about keeping some of his memories from when he was a pup to before he became a tyrant along with his brother and for the others to input us in”.

“If that's what you want from your newest son,” Shade responds, placing his hand on the wolf's head again, making the adjustments to his memories that Ryka had suggested, “Anything else to add before we wake him up?”

“Have him be protective of the pack, especially when it comes to the boy’s” Ryka replied, getting a nod from Shade before pulling his paw away.

“Do you want to do the honors of waking him up?” Shade asked with a smirk.

Ryka nodded before going next to Kai’s ear, “Kai it’s time to wake up hon” she softly said as he slowly stirred from his sleep.

Kai groaned slightly as he opened his eyes and looked to Ryka before his tail immediately began to wag, “Hey mom, was I asleep for too long”.

“No it's fine Kai” Ryka replied with a smile to which Kai gave the same in response before he looked towards Shade.

“You feeling better Kai,” Shade asked looking at the wolf with a smile, “You seemed to fall asleep during the meeting… you have a habit of doing that don’t you.”

“Yeah sorry about that dad guess I was really tired” Kai replied with an embarrassed chuckle.

“Do you even remember what the meeting was about?” Shade asked.

“I think so” Kai responded before going quiet and asking “It was about an aggressive pack right?”.

“At least you were awake for that part,” Shade responds with a chuckle.

Kai then looked around before asking, “Where’s Axel and the others I remember seeing them during the meeting”.

“Hey dad, is it ok to come back now!?” They hear Dillon shout as they turn to see him peeking out from one of the trees of the forest.

“Yeah, you can come back,” Shade responds back.

“Okay!” the boy responded before disappearing for a moment before walking with everyone else behind him including most of the injured wolves who looked to have their injuries patched up slightly.

“Are you all okay?” Shade asked, looking at the entire pack as his eyes focused on the bitten wolf who was slightly beaten up and had dried blood on their fur who looked a bit shaken which slightly concerned Shade as he noticed that Dillon had a new bandage on his arm as well.

“Dillon… what happened to your arm?” Shade asked, looking at him.

“One of those wolves from the other pack attacked us out of nowhere and got a lucky bite on me, But...I took care of him,” the boy replied.

“And where is this other wolf now?” Shade asked.

“I….I,” the boy tried to find his words while Shade noticed some dry blood on his nails and hands.

“Dillon, come here,” Shade responded in a kind tone, as Dillon slowly walked towards Shade until he was directly in front of him before gesturing for him to sit in front of him.

Dillon does what he’s told as he looks towards Shade, “Tell me what's wrong, whisper if you need to.”

“I..I killed him, he attacked me first and went to attack another and only for that moment all I saw was red and when I was able to see clearly the wolf was dead and I had its blood all over my hands” Dillon whispered as he looked at his hands.

“It’s okay Dillon, let's just get you cleaned up… along with him,” Shade responds as he points to the wolf whose ear he had bitten off.

“O-Ok,” Dillon replied with a nod.

Shade then walks over to the wolf he had bitten tapping his side with a paw, “Come on, get up.” as the wolf just slowly stood up as he shook in place, as SHade said “Let's get all this blood and dirt off your little pup.” while slowly leading him towards the lake with Dillon following close behind.

Chapter 10 (Rewrite)

Dillon had just finished washing up his hands as he looked at them for a moment as he flashed back to when they were covered completely in blood before shaking his head before looking towards Shade trying to clean the blood from the wolf's bitten off ear.

It took him a moment to put two and two together but it didn’t take him long to ask, “dad did you mark him?”.

“If you mean bite his ear off. Yes,” Shade responds, “one of the others joined our pack and he bit her for choosing to do it… I reacted to it for some reason and bit his ear off as a punishment for what he did.”

“Guess that’s some instinct that kicked during that moment” Dillon replied as he shook his hands off the water.

“I take it that was your first time killing someone. Right?”

“I think so, I could have killed someone way before this point in time but then again I don’t remember”, Dillon paused. “But that feeling in the pit of my stomach, it was awful I felt sick...” Dillon then said as he looked Shade in his eyes.

“It never gets easier does it?” Dillon asked, getting silence in return.

“it just… makes me question how some are capable of doing it without hesitation, when I saw the light drain from that wolf's eyes I felt like at that moment I was a monster”.

Shade remained quiet for a moment before saying, “It normally doesn’t get easier to take a life. If it does, then it’s a sign that you're losing sight of who you are. You become numb to the feeling and don’t see it as something that matters anymore.” He then paused again, “as long as you still feel something about it, then it’s a sign you're still alive and not some cold lifeless ghost just watching life pass you by.”

Dillon just put Shade’s word into deep thought before replying “I... I understand dad”.

“Good,” Shade responded, still struggling to clean the blood from the wolf’s coat, “I really miss my hands.”

“I'm surprised you haven’t figured out how to turn back” they hear Ryka state as she sat in between them.

“Normally I just tap that thing on my arm but well,” Shade responds holding his leg up, “It’s kind of missing.”

“That's definitely concerning,” Ryka replied.

“Maybe it requires you to manually turn back?” Dillon commented.

“What, you don’t like your new Alpha as a timberwolf like you?” Shade asked, smirking at Ryka, “And pray tell how would I manually turn back to normal. I don’t even know what happened to the damn thing to do this in the first place.”

“I didn’t say that,” Ryka replied with a chuckle.

“I mean when I first got bit, fur basically covered my entire body but over the two weeks before I kinda learned how to make the fur go away” Dillon replied, before adding “now that I think about it probably wouldn’t work the same”.

“I’m sure I’ll figure it out eventually. It’ll likely be some kind of trigger…. Or a really long timer.”

“Probably” Dillon and Ryka replied as they saw Shade continue struggling to clean the blood.

“Let me help, I'm used to coats of fur,” Dillon said as he sat next to Shade, cupping some of the water in his hand and rinsing it onto the wolf’s fur.

“Thank you, I don’t know why I was struggling so much,” Shade asks.

“You’ll get used to it sooner or later” Dillon replied before scrubbing off some of the blood.

“You don’t need to stay quiet you know… you could at least give us a name to call you by… unless you want us creating a new one for you,” Shade states looking at the wolf he had bitten.

The wolf was silent before quietly responding, “My name is Nago”

“Nice to meet you Nago” Dillon quickly replied.

“Nago… I’m sorry for taking your ear,” Shade says looking at him.

Nago just quietly gave a nod in response.

“It's gonna be okay we're not gonna hurt you unless you give us reason to” Dillon stated as he rinsed Nago’s fur again.

“Ok,” Nago replied.

“Alright and done,” Dillon said as he got rid of the last bit of blood from Nago’s fur, “Much better”.

“Thank you…” Nago quietly said, Dillon hearing this, smiled before patting his head, “Your welcome”.

“Now… I think we need to deal with that other Alpha,” Shade responds, “Ryka, Dillon. Can you two gather a group willing to help take him down?”

“Yep,” Dillon replied with a nod.

“I’ll see what we can do” Ryka responded as she and Dillon stood up and walked towards some of the pack members Ryka not far behind.

Shade sees them speak with the pack members, some of them showing hesitation but over time some of them showed some willingness for what they were asking.

This went on for a couple of minutes before Dillon and Ryka came back with a good amount of members behind them.

“We got around fifteen of them to agree to do it,” Dillon commented.

“And we also have our guide to their pack right here,” Shade responds looking at Nago, “So now we just need a plan.”

“Yeah what are we gonna do now this has been taken care of” Ryka stated.

“First we need to wait for everyone to return from their recruitment trips and see if we can learn anything else about the other pack,” Shade responds before adding, “Unless any of you have any information you want to pass on about your old pack that could prevent us from harming as many of them as possible.”

The wolves just shake their heads in response before one of them spoke up, “I know an old passageway that leads to the alpha”.

“How well hidden or known is it to the pack?” Shade asks, looking at the wolf.

“It's basically been forgotten no one goes through there anymore but I do know it's still there and intact”.

“Do you know how large the passage is and where it would come out?”

“The passage used to be used to hide some of the wolves who couldn’t fight so it isn’t small and if I remember correctly it comes out south of the territory and going in it leads almost directly to the alpha’s area”.

“Do any of you who were there before still have either family or Pups that were left behind?” Shade asks, looking at each of the wolves.

Ten out of the fifteen wolves nod in response while the last five shook their heads.

“If we were able to distract the Alpha long enough, could you get them out through the passageway without being seen? That goes double for any pups that he could endanger.”

“Yeah that's doable, '' one of them replied.

“If possible I want to ensure that none of the pups gets harmed, if we can get them out of that pack and safely to us it would be a good idea. Besides, if their pups are being used as leverage against them, if we get them away it could cause others to turn on the Alpha.”

“We’ll make sure to get them to safety,” one of them responded.

“But what about the omega she’s basically stuck with the alpha at all times” another one of the wolves comments.

“Well, we have two options for her. One is to get her pups away from the pack, in which case she may leave to stay with them. Two if she is with their Alpha… we may need to handle them both,” Shade responds.

“Let's hope she isn't with the alpha then” Dillon stated.

“Next we need to decide how we approach this,” Shade adds, “we know of at least two entrances, the main door which could draw their attention, and the hidden route into the base. I would say we split into two groups. One to distract the pack another to get the pups and your families away from them.”

“Alright since there are fifteen wolves in this group, who goes into each group then?” Dillon asked.

“That still needs deciding on. I don’t know how effective each of you would be in a fight against that other pack, or who will be able to persuade the others to leave with you,” Shade points out, “also we need to wait on the others to get back from trying to recruit the other packs.”

“True” Dillon replied as his ear twitched as he looked to the side, Shade noticing this does the same as the first two groups they sent to find those other packs came back and with a lot more wolves with them as well.

“Nice!” Dillon shouted out as he stood up, “I take it you guys were successful?”.

“Yeah we were able to convince them to join us but I don’t know about our third group though”.

“Why?” Dillon asked.

“Because we haven't heard from them we passed them not too long after we set out on finding those packs”.

“The pack was probably already taken or they went into hiding so that group is probably still looking for them” Ryka commented

“How did your old Alpha go about getting captured packs to follow him?” Shade asked, looking at the wolves from the pack that attacked them.

“He used fear tactics to get them to follow him, and if they still refused he killed them” one of them replied.

“How long do we have to prevent him from harming them?” Shade asked, taking a single breath closing his eyes.

“A couple of hours, maybe five depends if he’s in a good mood today,” the wolf replied.

Shade then opened his eyes again, “Change of plans… we go now and stop him, hopefully, they weren’t taken too long ago.”

“Alright let's do this everyone!” Dillon shouted.

“Also if he has harmed them. Don’t kill him. I feel like death for someone like that is too merciful… and both punishments used so far are too lenient.” Shade adds.

“Oh if I get my hands on him I'm not gonna kill him I'm gonna make him wish he was dead” Dillon replied before letting out a whistle towards Nago who turned his attention towards the boy.

“Nago we need you to take us to your old pack alright?” Dillon asked the wolf who nodded in response as he slowly stood up.

“Kai… you're coming too,” Shade adds, looking at the wolf.

“Oh...Ok!” Kai replied immediately standing up.

“Just remember what I taught you and you’ll be fine,” Shade adds with a smile before looking at the entire group, “any of you who just arrived we are going to eliminate the pack who’s been attacking us all en masse. If you need to hide you can use this place as shelter. If he has attacked you before you are welcome to join us in taking him out.”

Most of the wolves Shade had addressed nodded in response before a large majority laid themselves down before a small group stepped forward one of them saying “We’ll help”.

“Also before we go, if anyone who just came wishes to merge into our pack to help defend yourselves from here on out, I will welcome you with open arms, also this is your choice, and I’m not forcing it on any of you. None of you needs to make any decision now. The offer is out there now for you to consider at your leisure. My only desire is to try and prevent other packs from colliding and hurting each other as much as I can.”

The groups of wolves who were brought into the lake went silent for a moment weighing out their options before one from the second group came up afterward saying, “we’ll think about your offer, just give us some time to think it over”.

“You don’t have to make the decision now hell you don’t have to accept it, we're only doing this to stop that one pack from causing more crap than its worth” Dillon commented.

“Now let's get going, I don't want our pack members to get hurt by that bastard,” Dillon then announced as he then shouted, “Nago let’s go!”.

Nago just nodded before walking in front of the group before all of them went into the forest following closely behind the wolf.

The group had been walking in the forest for a bit before nearing an exit that had light pouring through it as Nago suddenly stopped moving.

“Why’d you stop Nago?” Dillon asked, confused as he looked at Nago’s face which had nothing but pure fear written all over it.

Nago only looked back towards Dillon and then towards Shade who had a glare on his face which caused the wolf to look forward again and keep moving forward.

“When we get to their pack I want half of you to go towards the hidden pathway, the rest of us will distract the pack from the front,” Shade states looking at the group.

Everyone in the group nodded in response before Dillon asked, “any place you want me, specifically dad?”.

“I want at least you, Nago and Kai with me. And if what I do works, I want you to keep anyone who collapses out of my way.”

“Got it!” Dillon responded as he and the group continued to follow Nago through the exit as the next thing they saw was a large cave that seemed to have a large number of wolves residing within it.

“I know they said the pack had a lot of members but jeez….” Dillon commented before looking at Shade.

“Less than I was expecting,” Shad responds, his eyes scanning the area, “Once your inside keep yourselves from being noticed, if you're lucky they shouldn’t realize you’ve left the pack yet.”

The wolves nod in response and immediately go forward to the cave leaving the other wolves with Shade and Dillon.

“Okay now what?”.

“Now. We cause a distraction. Stay out of sight until you're needed,” Shade responds, taking a step forward.

“Got it,” Dillon nodded.

Shade then closed his eyes before opening them slowly, a bright crimson glow coming from them as he walked out of the forest towards the wolves outside the cave.

The wolves notice him and immediately go into a defensive position, “Who are you!” one of them growled out.

Shade didn’t respond initially as he paused a meter away from the wolf simply looking at them, his eyes glowing brighter with each second.

“Answer me who are you” the wolf states still getting silence in return before it lunges towards Shade.

“Down!” Shade shouted a large black and red shockwave moving from in front of him as the wolf immediately fell to the ground as well as the others not far behind him, “Sit!” He ordered again, his eyes glaring at the wolf who had jumped at him as he walked towards them again.

The wolves tried getting back up on there but couldn’t as Shade continued walking towards them “what the hell are you!?” one of the grunts out.

“Down and stay put!” Shade orders again his eyes looking at most of the pack around him.

The pack just looked at him in silence, some just showing faces of pure shock and some showing apprehension to go anywhere near him as silence filled the area but that didn’t stop some from showing hostility towards Shade as some of the wolves growled towards him before attempting to surround him.

“What can’t a lone wolf walk around?” Shade asks, “I mean isn’t this a bit over the top, all of you for a single wandering wolf?”

They didn’t respond, only letting out more growls towards him making him raise his brow slightly.

“Can’t we talk this out?” Shade asked looking at each of the wolves as they growled at him, “No? Alright then.” he added before pushing off on his back legs towards the nearest wolf biting and tearing one of their ears off as he passed, turning back to face the other wolves. “Come on!”

The wolf trembled on the ground as blood slowly gushed from its ear prompting Dillon and the others to flinch slightly. Nago on the other hand looked away while they watched from the treeline.

The wolves immediately rush towards Shade barring their teeth at him as three jumps towards him while others continue to swarm around him, as Shade turned on his feet pouncing forwards headbutting the nearest jumping wolf in the chest sending him backward into a nearby tree near where the rest of the pack was waiting.

“Yeah they're gonna be tossed around like ragdolls” Dillon muttered out as the wolf that tossed into the tree slowly fell off of it “Yikes…”.

The wolves who were still fighting Shade attempted to switch things up, any wolves that he knocked back would use them as a springboard to get closer to him some succeeding in getting closer only for him to knock them back farther.

Shade raised a paw above his head before shouting, “On my mark!” letting the remaining wolves surround him again, each of them facing away from the rest of the pack hidden in the forest. “Now!”

The wolves barrel towards him to attack him again but the moment they close enough Dillon and the wolves rush out of the treeline including Nago who follows behind the boy as they knock right into the wolves immediately pinning them down.

“If they try to attack any of you, have a quick bite,” Shade warns, “If they are smart they won’t try anything” he adds walking towards the wolf he had bitten the ear off of.

The wolf looked up to see Shade walking towards him and tried to move back “D-don’t come any closer…” the wolf stuttered out in pain, as Shade ignored him moving to stand in front of him.

“Sit,” Shade ordered, now bearing down on the bitten wolf, The wolf immediately did what he was told as he looked up at Shade in complete fear. “Calm down little one,” He added, placing a paw on her head before a spark jumped between where Shade had touched her.

In a matter of moments, her fearful face started to disappear as her memories were being rewritten, all the memories of her being in her current pack were rapidly changed. Replacing each one from her current packs to Shade’s removing any negative events in the process, and not even a moment later she looked up at Shade.

“There you go. Feeling better pup?” Shade asked placing his hand over her ear as it healed quickly without any trace of damage.

“Yes alpha, but where am I?” the wolf replied as the members that were pinned down immediately started to speak confused as to what transpired.

“What did you do!?” one of them yells trying to break free of Dillon’s grip only for him to tighten it.

“Hey don’t make me do something I’ll regret now, stay still!” the boy growled out as the wolf slowly stopped.

“Help!” one of the others yell before others do the same before the sound of flesh tearing could be heard simultaneously as multiple pained yelps could be heard.

The wolf Dillon had pinned down stayed silent as he looked to him in a blank expression as he remembered back to the wolf he marked two weeks prior, “Good thank you for not forcing my hand”.

The wolf only nodded in response as Dillon looked to see Nago who didn’t do anything to the wolf he had pinned down who was completely silent and had stayed silent as well, while Nago only looked away from the wolves who had been bitten.

“Kai, Nago, Dillon with me. The rest of you stay here. Ensure none of them tries to leave or escape,” Shade ordered rubbing the ear of the wolf he had corrupted, gesturing for her to pin the wolf Dillon had pinned in place, “and if any of them fight back, handle them at your discretion.”

The wolf immediately goes towards Dillon and pins them down, letting Dillon stand himself up while Nago and Kai immediately do the same.

They then hear sounds coming from deeper in the cave, Dillon letting out a scoff as he commented, “Why couldn’t they be quiet?”.

“Well, it did distract everyone inside like we planned,” Shade responds, “So now… we get to their Alpha… and maybe take more of their pack while we go. Let's move.”

“Got it” Dillon responded as Nago and Kai nodded as they immediately ran deeper into the cave.

For ten minutes they encounter over fifteen wolves deeper within the caves a small majority being bitten by the group than ones who surrendered peacefully this continued until they reached the end of the cave seeing two wolves, one who had pups hiding behind them and one that looked like he was about to attack her.

Dillon immediately rushed forward in front of the wolf who immediately lunged forward the boy twisting his body around and landing a kick on the wolf's muzzle, the wolf staying in the air for a moment before Dillon punched right into its chest launching him towards Shade, as he skidded to the half by Shade’s feet.

“Hello there. Are you the Alpha of this pack,” Shade asked with a smirk on his face as he looked down at the wolf.

“What is it to you?” the wolf replied as he slowly got back to his feet.

“You ok?” they hear Dillon say as they see him check on the wolf and the pups who nodded in response.

“Simple,” Shade responded, stamping the wolf back to the floor, “I came to both talk and deal with the Alpha who attacked my pack, Also I wanted to show you two of my newest pack members,” Shade added, allowing the wolf to look at both Kai and Nago.

“G-grey, Nago?” The wolf said with a whisper, completely shocked at what he was witnessing, Nago only looked away in response while Kai just looked at him in confusion.

“Who’s Grey, my names Kai,” the wolf said

“What did you do to them!?” the wolf shouted as he saw that one of Nago's ears was missing.

“Why don’t we have them tell you themselves,” Shade responded glaring at Nago and placing a paw in the mark on Kai’s eyes, temporally allowing Grey control back of his mind and voice, while Shade retained control of his body.

“I'm sorry brother I couldn’t stop him he marked Nago and i-” Grey was about to say before Shade immediately took control back away from him giving control back to Kai.

“Now that's enough from you,” Shade responded, rubbing Kai’s neck.

“Grey, what the hell did you do!?” the wolf shouted as he tried getting back up again.

“My name’s not Grey, it's Kai!” Kai responded with slight annoyance in his voice.

Shade then pinned the wolf to the floor again, before saying “I know my son's name, and it’s Kai.”

“Who is this guy dad? Why is he calling me Grey” asked, confused, which made the wolf's eyes widen.

“I think he’s the Alpha of the pack who attacked us,” Shade responded with a smile.

“Oh ok,” the wolf replied with a smile in return as the wolf looked like his whole world was shattered.

“The pups and the omega are okay,” Dillon says as he walks next to Shade.

“Any injuries on any of them?” Shade asks.

Dillon just sighed as he replied, “The Omega isn’t able to walk, she has lacerations on her legs”.

Shade looked at the wolf under his paws before saying, “Keep a hand on this one for me. Don't let him go anywhere.”

Dillon nodded as Shade moved away from the wolf, the boy immediately pinning the wolf down with his foot Nago and Kai helping him.

“Nago do something please!” the wolf shouted only for Nago to look away from him out of fear and shame.

“Please just do someth-” the wolf responded before Dillon and Kai bore down harder on him, silencing him.

As the group was doing this Shade walked towards the Omega and the pups at the back of the cave, his eyes having returned to normal.

The omega and pups look towards him in a mix of shock and fear as the omega tries keeping her pups behind her.

“Don’t worry, I’m not here to harm you. I’m here to help you,” Shade responded as he got closer to the wolf. A strong sweet smell hit his nose, the scent seeming to come from the Omega in front of him.

The Omega just looked away from him before he heard the wolf Dillon and the other had pinned down shout, “Stay away from her she’s mine!”.

“Shut up!” Dillon shouted before Shade heard him hit the wolf.

As soon as Shade was standing over her he paused looking down before lowering himself to her level, “Are you okay little one?”

She looked towards him and responded with a nod, “I can’t move my legs but I'm just happy that my pups are okay”.

“What happened to your legs,” Shade responded as he looked at the way she was sitting.

She looked away from Shade as she responded “I refused to give the alpha what he wanted and he punished me”.

“Who is the Alpha and what did he want?”

She immediately motioned towards the wolf the others had pinned down, “He wanted my body to bear more of his pups”.

Shade then looked back at the pinned wolf for a moment quickly looking back with a sad look in his eyes before saying, “are you saying that he took your legs from you and… forced you to bear them in the past and kept you here?”

She only nodded in response, and at the moment she began to think about it Shade saw that she began to tear up and cry, the second Shade saw this he wrapped his paws around her, “It’s okay, I won’t let him hurt you or any of your pups ever again.”

“Th-thank you” she sobbed as tightly held Shade, Dillon overhearing this began to tighten his grip Nago and Kai seeing his eyes go red for a moment.

“Little one… Do you want to abandon this pack and leave with me and join mine?” Shade asks, looking at the omega again, as he rubbed his paw over her neck.

“Yes, my alpha” she replied as she nuzzled against Shade before hearing the wolf knock Dillon and the wolves off of him as he jumped to his feet and immediately charged towards them roaring out in anger, “No she belongs to me!”.

Shade didn’t respond for a moment letting the Alpha get closer to him before turning around and glaring at the Alpha as he shouted, “Get on the floor you damn mut!”

The alpha immediately fell to the floor seemingly listening to Shade out of fear.

Shade then rose to his paws, his eyes shining brighter than they had ever before as he walked over to the Alpha, “When I came here I planned to only stop you from harming any other packs… but now I see simply stopping you won’t ever be enough.” He then stood over the Alpha before stamping hard into his back cracking the ground under the wolf, “taking your ear like I did with Nago, changing who you are like I did you brother or even death is too much of a mercy for you as well.”

“Then what do you plan on doing to me then?” The alpha replied with a sneer.

“I’m going to take everything from you the only way that two different packs Alpha’s should if you refuse it, I’ll simply force what I intend to do on you and make what little life you have less as hellish as I can,” Shade responds, “If you win though, I leave and return all your pack to you, if I win, I get everything including you.”

The alpha went silent for a moment.

“You don’t get a choice, accept and get a chance to escape, or reject it like a coward and I make you suffer anyway,” Shade added putting more force down on the Alpha’s back.

He let out a groan in pain before speaking, “I.. I accept”.

“Good. We do this outside in front of the whole of your pack so they can watch what happens to you with no doubt on the outcome,” Shade responds, “Agreed.”

“Agreed” the alpha replied.

“Good, Dillon, Kai, lead him outside, we’ll catch up in a moment,” Shade requests.

Dillon and the Kai immediately listened as he wordlessly took the alpha out of the cave Shade, noticing that his demeanor changed.

As soon as they had left, Shade took a deep breath before looking at the injured Omega, “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

“It's ok, thank you for stopping him.” She replied.

“Still I’m sorry I’ve just put your safety at risk due to my reaction… which is strange I don’t normally act like that,” Shade admits before saying, “Can I look at your legs?”

She quietly nodded in response as she slightly struggled, having trouble attempting to move as Nago helped her up her legs shaking.

“Do you have a name for me to call you?” Shade asked as he began examining the mare's legs finding multiple deep cuts covering each of her legs, many of them having been targeted at her muscles and nerves.

“My name is….Ivy,” she replied.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ivy. You can either call me Shade or if you want to remain formal can call me Alpha, it’s your call,” Shade requested as his paw began to glow as he placed it against one of the damaged legs.

“Likewise Shade,” Ivy replied before asking, “What are you doing?” as she felt an odd sensation on her legs.

“If it goes right… helping you walk again,” Shade responds as he moves to the next leg.

“Do you think it will work?” she asked.

“Hopefully,” Shade responds as he finishes healing her front two legs, “Do your front legs feel any better?”

“They don’t hurt anymore but they feel a little tingly” Ivy responded.

“How long have your legs been like this?” Shade asks moving on to her back legs, her scent getting stronger the longer he lingered near her, ‘block it out Shade, don’t force yourself on her.’

“Only for a few months,” she replied as she felt the odd sensation again.

“How many times did that other Alpha lay his hands on you in that way?” Shade asks moving to the last leg.

“Far too many…” Ivy muttered out, as she saw Shade step away from her.

She placed her paws on the ground, putting her weight on the ground, her legs shaking slightly as she slowly made a step forward, “I can walk..” She said in shock as she looked towards Shade happy.

“I’m glad I could help,” Shade responds with a smile, “If I can do anything else to help you just say.”

“Thank you!” Ivy replied, thankful before nuzzling against him, her tail wagging which caused Shade to smell her scent even more.

“Ivy.. try to control yourself,” Satou requests as he looks away from her.

“O-oh sorry” Ivy apologized as she backed away from him as she knocked into Nago who flinched in response as she looked to see a blush on his face Ivy seeing that his “equipment” was forming as he said, “I-Im gonna go where the others are” as he immediately ran out of the area.

Ivy just stood there in silence before looking towards Shade giving him a look that seemed to ask him for help.

“Ivy… I know what you want me to do and the answer is no. It’s not the right time or place to do that for many reasons, and not just because of the pups being with you,” Shade responds turning away slightly, “Besides, on the minuscule chance your old Alpha can beat me, I would doubt he would be happy that I did that with you.”

Ivy just nodded as she replied, “I understand if it's alright with you just so I don’t distract anyone I’ll stay in here with the pups”.

“You sure that you don’t want to see if I am still your Alpha after the duel and get the chance to watch your abuser suffer?” Shade asks.

She began to think it over for a moment before stating, “I’ll look but I'll keep a good distance away, I want to see him pay for what he’s done”.

“Oh trust me. He’ll pay,” Shade responds as he begins to walk out the cave, with Ivy walking a small distance behind him.

As Satou reached the outside of the cave he found his pack and the newly bitten wolves on one side and the other side being wolves who looked to be willing and other wolves who showed that they were still on the side of their alpha as they all argued with each other.

Dillon during all of this was covering his ears trying to tune them out as the noise and the yelling was beginning to get to him.

“Shut up, shut up, shut up” The boy repeated over and over with gritted teeth.

“Shut up you annoying pests!” The alpha yelled only for the yelling to get worse as Shade saw that Dillon was about to do something.

“Quiet!” Shade shouted a crimson wave moving through the area hitting everything outside the cave.

All of them go silent as they look to Shade who stood in the center between all of them, “I assume you all know why he is out here,” Shade asks, pointing to the Alpha.

“Yeah the brat told us” one of them commented pointing to Dillon who growled in response, as Shade glared at the wolf his eyes glowing red.

The wolf immediately looked away out of fear, “I apologize”.

“Alright you may already know this but I'm gonna say this again your alpha is gonna fight against ours if he wins we join but if he loses all of you join us any objections?”.

The wolves didn’t say anything, seeming to agree to the arrangement, “Good” Dillon stated as he pushed the alpha forward, he looked at the boy in anger only to see the boy look at him with nothing but hatred.

The wolf turns away with a scoff and walks to the center as well sitting across from Shade.

“You could surrender before I beat you to a pulp, but even then you would just prove how much of a coward you are,” Shade remarks.

“I'm not surrendering,” the alpha replied.

“Good. I bet almost all of your pack want to see you get tossed around for the things you’ve done… Maybe when I beat you down I'll break each of your legs. Does that not sound familiar.” The alpha only growled in response as he glared at Shade. “Oh, what's wrong don’t like the truth. , You know what after this is done, maybe I'll take care of your Omega. I don’t see an issue in having more than one Omega to care for, afterall… you won’t need an Omega anymore in a few minutes.”

“Let's just get this over with” he responded with a snarl.

“If you're sure,” Shade responds with a sigh, “But you do know that this isn’t going to end well for you.”

The alpha just looked towards him in silence before saying, “I know it won't, I just don’t care”.

“Fine then,” Shade responded as the two circled each other in silence, the two keeping their view on each other.

“This would be so much easier if I could go back to normal,” Shade thought to himself as he kept his eye on the Alpha.

“Shade. We’ve got it… you should have a mark somewhere on your body, touch it to go back to normal. It should be on your ear or back hind legs,” Harmony quickly shouts to Shade.

“Care to be specific, on which one?” Shade asks as the Alpha begins to rush towards Shade

“Back of the right ear!” Harmony shouts back.

Shade then quickly jumped backward reaching towards his right ear, his paw scraping against it as a robotic disembodied voice shouted “Mutation activated!” as his body began to change slightly as his form changed in many ways to look like his Alicorn form, however, his ears had turned more wolf-like and his arms looked to have black bark creeping up them creating an almost armored look to them.

“Okay… that wasn’t what I thought would happen,” Shade states looking at his hands which were now covered by wood, but apart from that looked like he before turning into a wolf.

The alpha meanwhile landed on the ground as he stared at Shade in disbelief, “What are you?”.

“Have you not seen my son?” Shade points out gesturing to Dillon, “you know… the wolf who hit you first?”

The alpha just glanced at Dillon who just smirked at him before flipping him off, the alpha only let out a snarl in response before putting his focus back towards Shade.

“But yeah… I am so much worse than he is,” Shade responds, “Still… I'll be kind, you can have one free shot, but if you waste it. You're gonna regret it.”

“Gladly” the alpha replied as he rushed forward towards Shade bringing out his claw to slash him only to phase through him.

“What!?” the alpha said in shock, looking back to see Shade looking towards him with a smirk.

“Now… is it my turn?” Shade asks before teleporting in front of the Alpha, a hand grabbing him by the throat and lifting him into the air before throwing him upwards.

“Yeah he’s gonna get absolutely destroyed” Dillon stated as he looked up.

The alpha attempted to move his body to get his view back on Shade only to see that he wasn’t on the ground anymore, “Above you,” Shade responds a crimson glow shining above them,

He turned to look at Shade and one thing he saw was that his horn was glowing before a crimson beam of light struck the Alpha in the chest launching him towards the ground.

The alpha was slammed into the ground as a plume of dust covered the area for a moment preventing the wolves from seeing him.

“Is he dead?”.

“No, I don’t want him dead,” Shade responds as he lands in front of the wolves as the dust clears revealing the Alpha on the ground, his wooden coat covered in black and red markings covering his rear legs and back. “Get up, you can still do more.”

He slowly got back up to his feet, his legs slightly shaking before he looked to Shade defiantly with a glare as he went to attack him again, as Shade sidestepped each of his attacks.

Each of his attacks left him more and more tired until his last one had him fall right through Shade who was about to attack him.

“Hey!” Shade heard Dillon shout as five of the wolves that were still loyal to him jumped into the fight to assist their alpha as they went to attack Shade.

“So…. six versus one. Are you really that desperate and weak?” Shade asks as he kicks the Alpha to the feet on the incoming wolves.

The alpha got back to his feet as he immediately rushed back to Shade the wolves not so far behind in his attack.

Dillon looked like he was about to step in only to see Shade hold his hand up, the boy immediately stopping as his father glanced at him, Dillon just nodded as he sat down, understanding that he shouldn’t interfere.

The wolves and their alpha attacks didn't do anything since each time they attempted to hurt Shade only led to them phasing through him, the alphas frustration starting to show more and more with each attempt leading to failure.

“How long do you think you can keep going for?” Shade asks his hand reaching to his side.

“As long...as I need to” the alpha replied as he noticed where Shade's hand was.

“I really was hoping you would just tire out so I could stop without hurting you too much at this stage,” Shade responds as he places his hands on his waist before his belt appears on his waist, “By the way… If you want to run you each have a head start before this gets… painful.”

The alpha eyes widened in response as a small amount of fear showed on his face as he stepped back a moment as everyone that watched had their eyes on him.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Shade responded before shouting, “Hensin!” as a green figure flew towards the group from the belt around Shades waist knocking them flying into nearby trees, a loud snaps being heard from two of them as what looked to be light amber blood dripped down the trees from where they had impacted them.

“Dad's gonna tear him apart, isn't he?” Kai asked as he stood next to Dillon who just silently nodded.

“ If you five don’t want to die I'd recommend not fighting him, you're not gonna win!” Dillon shouted towards the wolves who looked at him before looking back towards Shade.

“Your funeral” the boy then muttered under his breath before seeing the Omega Inside the cave watching.

Shade then looked back to the group of wolves ahead of him, a sad look in his eyes as he said “As I said, you should have started running,”

The green figure then seemed to float above his head before a second later attaching to the back of the newly formed suit that covered him, a new voice shouted “Kaigan: Robin Hood! Hello! Arrow! Mori de Aou!” As Shade slowly looked forward again.

The alpha stumbled in slight fear, unable to move he started to growl anger showing on his face as he shouts "how dare you!" As he lunged towards Shade, the agitation from before started to show again as the only instinct he had at that moment was to kill him

“You knew what you were getting into, and they all willingly ran into this to assist you,” Shade responds as the group saw that he was covered in a black and red armored suit, that had a green and yellow Jacket, that looked to have a feather on the hood, with the jacket covering the chest and head, while in his hands looked to be a black and red bow of some kind. “Just know that whatever happens to them next is on both their heads or yours for not stopping them.”

The wolves that had interfered before were about to go fight Shade as well until they heard their Alpha yell, “Don’t interfere you idiots!”, as they all suddenly stopped, “Do you want to end up like Grey or Nago!?”

“I don’t understand what happened to them?” one of the wolves asked.

“Nago’s marked and following them, and do you see Grey anywhere around us!?” The alpha shouted towards them as they looked unsure for a moment before looking back towards Shade with defiance.

“You idiots….” the alpha said with an exasperated sigh before seeing them run towards Shade the alpha immediately grabbed one who looked shocked that he stopped them as they saw the others lunge towards Shade.

Shade however quickly sidestepped them striking one in the back with his bow and punching the second to the ground as both wolves landed at his feet, before SHade pulled the string of his bow back pointing it down at the wolves he just knocked to the ground, releasing an arrow into one of the rear legs of both wolves pinning them in place.

The wolf the alpha had grabbed just looked on in shock as Shade shot another set of arrows into the opposite front leg of the wolves ensuring they couldn’t move and were bound in place.

“What?” the wolf that the alpha had grabbed whispered, before he saw Shade reach down towards the wolves heads who immediately tried to move away from him fear in their eyes, before his hands make contact with their foreheads before their eyes go blank, both wolves looking forwards vacantly at the free wolf and Alpha before their heads droop forwards almost seeming to rest lifelessly while drool falls from their mouths to the floor.
The alpha’s breath hitched from what he had witnessed and when he looked towards the wolf he had grabbed just looked horrified as it whimpered out, “What did you do?”

Shade didn’t respond to the wolf as he rubbed the drooling wolves head, their eyes still looking vacant as their heads seemed to move to rub up against Shade’s arms, before Shade calmly said “Good boys” before pulling the arrows from the wolves legs quickly healing them after, before turning head towards the two remaining wolves as the two drooling wolves eyes followed Shades.

“Go back,” the alpha said to the wolf who slowly backed away before going back into the pack as the alpha just grit his teeth.

“What the hell did you do to them?” The alpha growled out.

The wolves who were near Shade just turned to the alpha saying, “we’re following our alpha” as they nuzzled against Shades' leg

“What the fuck..”The alpha muttered to himself.

“Maybe I should explain. I have an ‘ability that allows me to persuade creatures and objects to follow me and do as I ask,” Shade explains looking at the wolf that had rejoined the pack before saying, “and you all knew the risk of joining the fight.”

He then rubbed the necks of the wolves next to him before saying, “could you check on the wolves that hit the trees, and bring them here if you can?”

The wolves nodded as they stood up and did what they were told as they passed the alpha who just looked towards them in disgust.

Shade’s eyes then landed on the wolf who had retreated to the pack, glaring at him before pointing to his feet

The wolf looked to the alpha before slowly walking towards Shade until he was directly in front of him.

The wolf couldn’t say anything, the fear overtaking any semblance of him speaking a word as he was only able to stutter as he looked like he was about to piss himself.

Shade only looked down before saying, “there, there little pup it will be over soon,” as his hand slowly reached down towards the wolf's head.

“No, stop!” The alpha shouted as he ran to the wolf about to knock him out of the way of Shades' hand, only for Shade’s hand to make contact with the wolf's head as he was a meter away from them, the wolf's eyes and face going blank like the two wolves before him.

“No….” the alpha said with a whisper as he immediately stopped himself, a look of horror in his eyes as the wolf that was changed looked at him in the eyes.

But the wolf didn’t stay in place, he started to growl towards the alpha before his entire body towards him in a stance like he was about to attack him.

“Hey, think about what you're about to do,” the alpha said as the wolf ignored his statement

Anger then started to show in his voice as the alpha then stated, “This wouldn’t have happened to you if you hadn’t interfered dammit!”.

The wolf didn’t say anything as attempted to get closer to the alpha only for Shade to stop it in place. “Stay. You don’t need to waste your energy on him alone… besides he’s not worth it.”

Everyone who was watching this began to talk amongst themselves as the alpha who every single one of them began to speak other than Dillon who he looked towards only saw him look at him with a dead stare.

The alpha looked away as he turned his attention to other parts of the packs that slowly did the same, “Let's just get this over with” the alpha said towards Shade as he went into attack position again.

“You do realize you could run away right?” Shade points out.

“I do, I just refuse to run away like a coward”

“Maybe you’ll want to run for your life then,” Shade responds, firing an arrow at the Alpha, the arrow grazing past his cheek amber blood dripping from it.

The alpha just looks at Shade and then to the forest, staying in place in silence for a moment before letting out a grunt and running into the forest hearing Dillon shout, “Yeah run like the coward you are, you bastard!”.

“Dillon,” Shade calmly said as he fired another arrow into the forest, a loud yelp being heard in the distance, “look after everyone here for a bit… I’ve got to deal with a little problem.”

“Understood dad,” Dillon replied with a nod, as Shade walked into the forest without another word.

“I have to get out of here, I need to-” The alpha thought to himself as he ran through the forest as one of the arrows Shade shot grazed his leg causing him to let out a yelp as he tripped over himself.

“Keep running my little prey, don’t let the big bad wolf catch you,” Shade’s voice echoed through the woods around the Alpha, “If you don’t move faster, I’ll hit you soon.”

He got back on his feet and looked around himself before running again trying to go as fast as he could as multiple arrows shot past him, some grazing his body more and more as he ran through the trees.

He then jumped into a nearby bush and stopped to have a breather, his exhaustion showing as he then heard Shade’s voice again.

“Where are you hiding, by a tree… or in this bush next to me?” Shade asked as the Alpha saw an armored hand brush through the bush next to him. “What should I do with you after I catch you. Do I take an ear? Or do I do what I did to your little brother?”

The alpha stayed silent, he didn’t even dare to breathe just so he wouldn’t make noise, but even then he wanted to make a break for it.

“Or I could put a collar on you and try to train you like a dog. I wonder what tricks you could do?” Shade added firing an arrow that went through one of his legs, letting out a yelp the alpha fell to the floor but each time he attempted resulted in him falling back down. “Did I hear someone in this bush?” Satou asked, his voice distorting as the Alpha saw a shadow looming over the bush he was behind.

He continued to try and get up but each time only gave more pain in return, “I need to get out of here I need to run, but I can’t, I can’t do anything” the wolf thought to itself fear in his every thought

“I can feel your fear mutt,” Shade’s voice rang out through his head, “What will the big bad wolf do when he catches his new toy?”

He attempted to crawl out of the other end of the bush, his amber blood trailing behind him as his instincts were completely on self-preservation as another shot passed him, nearly hitting his eye and giving him a cut on his muzzle.

“There you are,” Shade's voice rang out his shadow looming over the Alpha’s body before weight was placed on his back pinning him in place. “Do you remember what you bet on this, I take it?”

“I...remember” The alpha gritted out Shade seeing the fear in the wolf's eyes who then clenched his eyes shut just so he wouldn’t have to look towards Shade.

“Remind me. What did you bet?” Shade asked as he looked down at the wolf below him

He let out a strained cough, the alpha staying silent before feeling Shade put more pressure on his back, “That my pack along with me would...belong to you”.

“And then what am I to you?”

The wolf went silent refusing to say the word before feeling Shade press his foot into his back harder causing him to let out a whine.

“It seems I’ll need to go forward with your punishment earlier than planned,” Shade responds as a chuckle is heard in his voice.

The wolf immediately thought to Nago and Grey thinking about what Shade did to them as fear appeared on his face again, Shade seeing this immediately spoke, “Oh… what do you think your punishment will be?”

“Nago….Grey” the wolf quietly said in response.

“You know… both of those are good, but I want you to not look different but still be yourself and suffer like everyone in your pack did,” Shade responds, kneeling placing his knee into the Alpha’s back softly enough to not hurt him, but just enough to hold him in place.

“What are you gonna do?” he asked in response.

“This,” Shade responded as the Alpha felt something close around his neck, some cold rubbing against his neck, while the sound of something rattling was heard from the front.

“What?”

“Stay,” Shade calmly says as he pulls the arrow out of the Alpha’s leg, “now sit.”

The alpha immediately did what he was told as he sat down in front of Shade.

“Good boy,” Shade responded in a demanding tone, canceling his transformation as he smirked down at the wolf.

“What the hell did you do!?”.

“I gave you your punishment, it’s around your neck,” Shade responds calmly, as the wolf glanced down to his neck to see a metallic collar in place, “do you like your new collar?”

He attempted to bite down on the collar to remove it, desperation on his face while attempting to do so. “Don’t waste your time. That’s tied to you till death, and only I can remove it from your neck. So that's going to be bonded to you for the rest of your life, so get used to it.”

The wolf ignored him and continued to attempt to take off the collar until Shade shouted, “Stop now!”

He immediately stopped as his mouth moved away from the collar as Shade saw a line of saliva come from the collar to the wolves mouth.

“How are you doing this, why can’t I control my body!?”.

“That simple pup. Your punishment is your new collar, which will from here on us force you to do what you’re told by anyone of a higher status in the pack, and will force you to answer any question asked honestly without question.” Shade explained. “So, how do you like your first gift from your Alpha?”

The wolf let out a whine as it looked like he was about to cry which brought a smirk onto Shades face.

“I want an answer from you… or do I need to force you to answer me?”

“I….I hate it” the wolf said in response.

“I hate it, what?” Shade asked with a smirk.

“I hate it….Alpha” the wolf said with grit teeth as he looked away in shame.

“Do you feel ashamed to lose everything, how does it feel to have no control of your life anymore and be a puppet to someone else for the rest of your life,” Shade asks.

“I feel ashamed to the point that if I was able to, I would take my own life”.

Shade then leaned in towards the wolf before whispering, “Well then, I think I know the first thing I am going to use your new collar to enforce on you. From this day onwards you are forbidden from ever taking your own life or letting someone kill you. Understand?”

“I...understand”.

“Good boy,” Shade responds, patting the wolf on his head. “I suppose I need to think up a name for you now, you need one on your collar after all.”

The wolf eye widened for a moment before as he remembered that Shade given Grey a completely different name, for a moment his breathing began to slowly get more and more rapid before he attempted to lunge towards Shade, only for him to get pushed back to the floor with Shade’s hand against his collar, “No, No, I refuse to lose my name” the wolf said with a snarl.

Shade just smirked before saying, “Well then, please remind me, what does a collar signify about you to others who see it?”

“I’ll just be seen as a pet”.

“That's a bit of a push… I mean I’d actually care about a pet. Your closer to a slave than that,” Shade points out

“Figures,” the wolf replied.

“Maybe I should have you calling me master instead of Alpha… I mean, I am your owner now and I’m just keeping you in my pack to prolong your suffering and to ensure you can’t start a new pack or harm anyone else.”

The wolf just went silent.

“Tell me. Which do you prefer that I have you call me?” Shade asks as he looks back down at the wolf by his feet.

“I’ll still feel ashamed either way but I'd rather call you Alpha than master”.

“Well then,” Shade responded forcing the wolf’s head up slightly before a loud click was heard as Shade took a step forward before the wolf below him was pulled to his feet, as he saw a long chain coming from the collar that was wrapped around Shade’s arm, “I think it’s time I took you back to see the others. They all need to see how you turned out.”

The wolf's eyes widened as he attempted to run away only to the chain on his collar to tug him back as Shade began walking back to where everyone else was, the wolf shouting, “No, no!”.

“Stop complaining,” Shade responds as he drags the wolf behind him without any issues, “Did you really think after what you did and was going to do it your Omega I was going to let you out of my sight?” He then paused before saying “Oh by the way. I’m taking Ivy as a second mate for my pack, and you're forbidden from laying a claw on her ever again.”

The wolf didn’t respond as he continued to try to claw himself away from Shade whose words reverberated in his head.

“Any final words you want to say to your new Alpha?” SHade asks as he continues dragging him behind him.

“I’ll leave the forest forever, I won't make another pack and stay in solitude for the rest of my life just please don’t let them see me like this!” the wolf pleaded.

“What makes you think I’ll trust you? Your word means less than nothing to me anyway,” Shade responds as he sees the cave ahead of them, “and we’re almost back so I hope you are ready to formally surrender in front of the others, not that they won’t all know from one look.”

The wolf's movement became more desperate as his claws dug into the ground causing some of the dirt to get dug up, the two then passed multiple trees and bushes, the wolf looking back to see the cave as he began to shout and kicked his feet back in one more pathetic attempt to getaway.

“Everyone we’re back!” Shade shouts out to the wolves around him as he dragged the former Alpha towards the group.

Everyone looked to Shade as they saw him drag the wolf towards them, some of them whispering amongst themselves as they saw their former Alpha look desperate to get away from Shade.

Among all of them Dillon and the Omega who was still within the cave looked like they were about to laugh at him.

“Now then, what do you need to say to everyone here?” Shade asks looking at the wolf he had been dragging, “and stand up straight looking at everyone as you do pup.”

The wolf had been pushed forward as he stood in front of both the packs who looked directly at him, some of them having an expectant look on their faces before he spoke, “He won so my pack, including myself, are a part of his pack”.

“And the first thing I want to say to anyone who was forced to be with his pack. You do not need to stay in mine. You are all free to separate off from me into your old packs, take your old land back and live peacefully,” Shade offers, “If you do wish to join my pack though you are all welcome to do so.”

The pack were quiet for a moment as some spoke amongst themselves before one spoke up, “We’ll join your pack!” as the other wolves who weren’t opposed to Shade taking over shouted out in agreement.

Meanwhile, with Ivy, she just smiled while she was surrounded by her pups.

“At least you'll have a choice now” Dillon commented as he glanced at the former Alpha before letting out a scornful scoff as he then looked to Shade shouting, “So what now dad!”.

“Well. If any of you want revenge on him for what you did. Go for it. Do what you want beyond killing him! I’ll heal any wounds to prevent him from dying but don’t go too far!” Shade shouts to everyone as he wraps the chain around a tree, walking away from the former Alpha. “All of you have fun making him suffer!”

The former alpha looked to see a small amount of the wolves walking towards him with malicious intent as he looked on in fear towards them back away slightly before Shade could hear him scream in pain, “Someone please h-help!” he then screamed before his screams of pain got louder.

Shade just ignored the screams as he walked towards Ivy and Dillon, “I’m sorry for the delay you two. Are you all okay now?”

“Yep,” Dillon replied, giving him a thumbs up.

“I'm just glad he’s getting what he deserves,” Ivy replied.

“Oh trust me. This is just a start of his new hell,” Shade responds, “If you want to add anything to his punishments just suggest them.”

“I have none at the moment but I'll let you know when I do” Ivy responded.

“Seeing a guy like that get put in his place definitely is satisfying though” Dillon commented as they heard another scream from the wolf.

“How’s it feel to be able to walk again Ivy?” Dillon asked.

“It feels great,” Ivy replied with a smile.

“What are you going to do with your newfound freedom first Ivy?” Shade asks.

“It's..it's been so long I don’t even know”, Ivy replied.

“Well now that you have that freedom you can think about what to do next” Dillon stated before motioning towards the whole cave, “especially since this place isn’t under your old Alpha’s control anymore”.

Ivy went silent for a moment remembering what Shade said, “I’ll be joining your pack Shade”.

“You sure. You are free to go off on your own with your pups and create your own if any others want to,” Shade responds.

“I'm sure about this besides I find it safer to be in your pack” Ivy replied.

“Is it the fact of it being my pack… or is it being near me you're wanting?” Shade asks.

Dillon glanced at Shade in confusion, the boy raising his brow before looking back to Ivy, “It's a combination of both including the fact that as long as my pups are in a safe place that’s all that matters to me”.

“Then I suppose we’ll need to find space for you… and everyone else,” Shade points out.

“I mean some can stay at this cave since this place isn’t that wolf’s territory anymore” Dillon commented.

“Still… how many of them could we take back with us and house without issue?” Shade asks, looking at Dillon.

“We could probably take ten or fifteen back with us, give or take but it's not a guarantee, since during the two weeks that had passed we had gotten a lot of new members,” the boy replied.

“Either that or we need more space,” Shade mutters to himself, “If only one of us could control the forest and land around us.”

“You wouldn’t happen to know someone that can do that, do you??” Dillon asked.

Shade didn’t respond, only smirking as he looked at Dillon.

Dillon gave him a confused expression before giving his father a blank stare, “That was dumb question wasn’t it?”.

“Not really,” Shade responds as they hear another pained scream from outside. “Do you think he is still alive?”

“I'd say he’s either alive and in a great amount of pain or either half-dead and in a great amount of pain”.

“Maybe we should check on him?”

“Eh...yeah we should check up on him, don’t want him to die”.

“Well… not yet anyway,” Shade adds before looking at Ivy, “do you want to see his current state or are you going to stay here a bit longer?”

“I want to see him,” Ivy replied as she stood up.

“Alrighty then” Dillon stated as he did the same as they began to walk back to where the former alpha and the other wolves were.

As they approached them they found that the former Alpha had multiple gashes and bite marks on his body and legs that each seeped blood, while one of his eyes had a large cut over it.

The wolf's good eye slowly glanced at them as he quietly gasped out, “Mercy…”, Dillon looked away from the sight just so he wouldn’t look at the blood while one of the wolves immediately went towards him to hurt him again.

“All of you stop!” Shade ordered as he approached the group, as all of them stopped as they looked towards Shade, confusion on their faces. “Maybe give him a small break, if you continue like this he won’t feel anything from it.”

“Fine…” one of them grumbled out as they dispersed walking past Shade.

Once they were clear Shade knelt in front of the former Alpha before calmly saying, “how does it feel to be treated like you treated your pack members?”

“....T-terrible” the wolf responded, “it hurts, make it stop, please make it stop..”.

“Did you stop when your pack members begged for you too?” Shade asks, “Or did you stop when Ivy begged you to before you took her legs from her?”

Ivy quietly walked to him as she stopped next to Shade, “You deserve every bit of this Arno, for all the wolves that caused the suffering of, this is a fate you deserve”.

“Help me, please…..” Arno gasped as Dillon immediately spoke up.

“You have a lot of nerve to ask that you bastard!” Growled out as he began to shout towards Arno, “After everything you’ve done you deserve nothing but death!” Dillon snarled out his eyes flashing red for a moment.

“But if we are going to make you repay everyone for what you did. We can’t let you die this easily,” Shade responded, holding his hand out over the open wounds as they slowly healed over, “Anything to say to us?”

“Thank you….” Arno just muttered out, Dillon scoffing out in disgust.

“Oh I wouldn’t thank me yet,” Shade responded, stamping down on one of the healed limbs before a loud cracking noise was heard from the leg as Arno screamed out in pain, “Besides, I never said I was stopping.” He then turned to Dillon, “I have a feeling you want to do something as well… just no killing him.”

Dillon just silently walked in front of Arno the wolf seeing the boy clench his fist his claws digging into his hand before he began to reel back his fist as Ivy and Shade watched as Dillon began to pummel into Arno the wolf letting off yelps of pain.

Dillon’s vision began to go red for a moment he began to hit Arno harder before starting to go into another hit, reeling back his fist as he let out a low growl before going in to hit him in the head before Shade grabbed his hand, “Dillon enough!”

Dillon stopped as he looked down to see Arno’s body in a bloody pulp as he looked to his hand which was covered in blood, his hands shaking slightly as he spoke, “Did..I?”.

“He’s not dead,” Shade responded as he healed Arno’s wounds, reverting his body to normal, “but you need to control your emotions. Okay.”

“Yeah, s-sorry” Dillon replied as he stood up and looked at his hands before shakily wiping them off with his cloak.

“So.. much.. pain” Arno muttered out Dillon overhearing him just covered his ears.

“I assume you have learned your lesson,” Shade responds, looking down at Arno again.

Arno just quietly nodded his head, “Yes..” quietly repeating

“Okay then,” Shade responds before rubbing the back of Arno’s collar, as the chain disappears, “no running away. You are to stay near me whenever you're not on a lead until we get back home. Understand..”

“I...understand,” Arno replied.

Dillon and Ivy just looked at Arno before walking away, Dillon going towards a nearby tree while Ivy went back towards the cave.

Shade then looked up at the wolves who had been part of the former Alpha’s pack, finding ten wolves in the area around him before he said, “Arno… sit by your feet until I tell you otherwise.”

Arno immediately does what he was told as four of the wolves glared at him before looking away from the wolf.

“I'm just going to confirm this before I start. All of you that are still here intend to join my pack, correct?” Shade asks, looking around the group.

“Yes, we are,” One of them replied.

“Are any of you only wanting this because you think it’ll let you harm Arno like you did today constantly?” The four wolves from before immediately raised their paws while the other six didn’t. “I thought so. Just knowing that is not happening constantly, I allowed it then to vent everything and make him see what living under him was like for you all. You will only get to watch him with no control of this life from here on out. If that is not what you want you are free to leave. If you did try that again once we leave here… well you saw what happened to the three wolves that attacked me earlier.”

“We won’t cause any trouble” one of the four wolves spoke up.

“Wait… didn’t five of you attack me… what happened to the two of you that was slammed into the trees?” Shade asks, “I take it they’re okay.”

“They’re okay there just laying down in the cave to rest” one of the wolves replied pointing back to the two who were laying down in the cave.

“I hope they don’t intend on causing any trouble,” Shade states looking at the group, “Now… for now, I want you all to still stay here… I need to prepare some room for you all before you can move in under the same roof as the rest of the pack.”

“Understood” they all reply in unison.

“Okay then,” Shade calmly said before his eyes turned towards the forest “we’ll be heading back to my pack to sort things soo-” Shade then stopped looking towards the woods, “Who’s hiding there!”

There was complete silence in the area before a small group of wolves came out from the wolves getting the attention of the closest in the area including Dillon, who immediately materialized his sword.

“Dillon, weapons down for now,” Shade ordered, before looking at the new group “Who are you all and why are you here?”

“Were just here to take care of one of our former pack members we were tipped off that he resided here” the first wolf replied as his sights immediately fell to Arno.

“There were a lot of wolves here. I’m afraid I don’t know who you mean,” Shade responds, “And most of them have already left, chances are the one you are looking for has gone by now anyway.”

“No he’s here he’s actually near you,” the wolf said before pointing to Arno, “Long time no see, Pitch”.

“My name’s Arno,” Arno quietly replied.

“Pitch?” Shade asks looking down at the wolf by his feet, “I think you have the wrong wolf. He’s called Arno according to the others here.”

“I'd recognize him anywhere besides he left our pack while back along with his little brother Grey, we tried to find him but the trail went cold never thought he would actually change his name”.

“The hell are you going on about?” They hear Dillon say as they walk next to Shade.

“It’s quite simple actually since he was building a fairly big pack previously we started to hear whispers about it, not all of them concrete or definite but when we started to hear about that packs expansion we slowly started to realize it was him and decided to snuff him out ourselves so he wouldn’t come after us”.

“So you just wanted to save your own asses?” Dillon commented.

“I wouldn’t put it that way but essentially yes, but it seems you were able to take care of him before we could”.

“So what now you're gonna attack us like he did?”.

“On the contrary, we want to reward you” the wolf replied, causing Dillon to raise his brow in response as he crossed his arms.

“Why would you want to reward us? Did you not just say you planned to snuff him out?” Shade points out, “besides if Arno here is who you say he is. Then he clearly isn’t dealt with as you wanted.”

“Given how he hasn’t made a move, he doesn’t prove to be a problem to us anymore, and honestly the reward is just so we are not indebted to you”.

“You make it sound like there is something I would want from you,” Shade responds calmly, looking at the wolf.

“You won’t like what they give you…” Arno muttered out.

Dillon glanced at Arno in confusion from hearing what he said.

“Can’t be too sure” The wolf replied before turning his head to the forest and nodding as others came out with something that made Dillon clench his fist.

The wolves came out with a female wolf who was being dragged by her front paws towards the group. She looked to have a white bark coat with multiple open wounds staining it with red marks while it appeared that each of her legs was broken, with both her ears bitten off.

“What the fuck is this?” Dillon said in shock.

“Your reward, do with her as you will,” the wolf replied as the wolves threw the female to Shade’s feet, “She should be ripe and ready to bear your pups tomorrow morning. It’s all they are good for after all.”

“N-no please don’t,” the wolf that had just been thrown at Shade’s feet begged weakly, her voice sounding pained. “I-I don’t want to l-live like this.”

“Ignore her, her feelings or choice mean nothing in this matter,” the wolf said towards Shade.

“So to confirm… you are giving me… her as a reward?” Shade asks.

“Yes, we are”.

Dillon, hearing all of this went to take out his sword again, pure anger in his eyes as he looked like he was about to attack them only to be stopped by Shade.

“Don’t do it, Dillon. It’s more trouble than it’s worth,” Shade responds.

“I...but, fine….” Dillon replied.

Shade then looked at the female wolf by his feet, finding that both eyes had large gashes over them, her eyes looking to be unable to be opened, “P-Please let me go. I-I-I don’t want to be bred like the rest of them. I don’t w-want pups with random w-wolves I'll never see.”

“Oh please, you’ll like it just like the rest” one of the other wolves commented.

“Shut the fuck up…” Dillon muttered out

“Huh?” the wolf said, overhearing Dillon turning his attention to the boy.

“You gave us your reward so you can go now” Dillon spat out venom in his tone.

“Seems like we're not welcome here”.

“I think I will make our stance clearer,” Shade responds as what looks to be a black and red pistol appears in his hand, “I will take your reward, but just so I never have to ask for anything from you. If I see you again or hear of you coming into our territory or trying to attack my pack,” He then shot a small boulder beside the wolf who had been talking at it shattered into pieces, “I will personally make sure you never leave with your minds intact.”

“You definitely made your point clear, we’ll leave” the first wolf replied as he motioned for the other wolves to go back into the forest before going back into the forest himself, the last thing they saw of him being the smirk that was on his face.

Dillon just dropped his sword to the ground and just put his face into his hands as he let out an unsteady breath.

“Okay then. Arno… Pitch… whatever your name is. Answers now!” Shade orders.

“Those were my old pack members the one I was born from and if you think I was bad they’re a lot worse, fear, torture or death and don’t get me started on how they treat females there”.

“Not much better than you I take it,” Shade responds before shouting “Kai! Come here!”

Kai immediately runs towards Shade as he stops in front of him, “Yeah dad?”.

Shade then tapped Kai on the forehead before saying, “Gray. You don’t get to avoid questions this time. What did you both do!”

“We….we left, they were planning on killing us because they were running out of space, they didn’t care about any of us unless we had a use or could give birth and as you can clearly see me and Arno can’t bear pups”.

“P-Pitch… G-Gray… is that you,” the wolf by Shade feet weakly asked, trying to look towards them.

“S-snow?” Grey said in shock

“I-Is it you… I can’t see… or hear well-” the wolf said, trying to locate the source of the voices she had heard.

“What happened to you?” Grey asked while Arno looked at her with a sad expression.

“Y-You know what they do to the last member of a litter when the others die or leave… Why did you both abandon me.” the wolf now known as Snow asked, still trying to find the voices.

“We tried to go back for you but there were too many, we would have died before we even got close to you...” Arno replied.

“You could have taken me with you before fleeing,” Snow weakly said as her paws reached Shade’s legs, “D-Do you both think I am worthless like the others. Am I only useful for my body like the others?”

“We don’t think you're worthless Snow and what that tried to hammer into your head isn’t true” Grey responded.

“You still left me alone… to be used to bear pups till I die… alone…” Snow states, still unable to locate the others. “Look what they did just to prepare me for my first heat… they took my eyes... And my legs.”

“I'm so sorry…” Arno quietly replied.

“They killed the others because you left… two for each of you… they killed our brothers, and had me watch before taking my eyes… because you both abandoned us all.” Snow states, “This is all your faults!”

Dillon covered his mouth as he looked like he was about to throw up, the boy then quickly backed away.

“Your right it is our fault, we are completely to blame for what happened, If you hate us that's okay because we don’t deserve your forgiveness” Arno replied, his voice completely dead, Grey glancing back towards him before nodding.

“But...this pack is better, their alpha, he can help you, he can...heal you” Arno then stated.

“You can’t heal something like this back to before it was done. No wolf can do that!” Snow shouts at Arno, “Pitch, don’t bother lying to me! I know I’m going to get used tomorrow and be forced to bear the Alpha of this pack's pups from now on!”

“I'm not lying to you Snow,” Arno replied.

“Stop giving me false hope! I know it’s a lie! Nowolf can help me… nowolf!” She shouted at the two of them.

“If you don’t trust their word then listen to mine, My dad, the alpha, he can heal you he’s done it before I’ve seen it ” Dillon said as he crouched in front of Snow.

“Stop lying! Stop lying! Stop lying!” Snow kept shouting, ignoring everything that was said to her.

“Dad?” Dillon said, glancing towards Shade.

“Got ya,” Shade responds before placing his hand over her eyes, a crimson glow covering them before he removes it from her over them, “try opening them.”

Snow's eyes slowly tried to open before shutting them rapidly, “that too bright… wait… bright?” she then tried to open her eyes again, the light still blinding her as she clenched them shut again, “It… hurts.”
“Maybe take her in the cave for a minute,” Shade suggests picking Snow up in his arms and walking towards the cave before placing her down away from the exit. “Try again.”

Snow then tried opening her eyes a third time this time the darkness causing her no issues, “I-I can see… I can see!”

“Now do you believe me?” Dillon asked as Snow looked towards him.

“W-Who are you?” Snow asked looking at Dillon, before pausing looking at both him and Shade… “and what are you?”

“Do you want the long or short answer?” Dillon asked her

“Short may be best,” Snow responds

“Fair enough, My name's Dillon and this is my dad, his name's Shade and for your other question, I think he should answer that” Dillon replied before pointing to Shade.

“I’m the Alpha that my son said could help you,” Shade explains.

“You don’t look like an Alpha to me?” Snow responds.

“You’d be surprised,” Dillon commented. “I mean I'm a human with the features of a timberwolf” as he motioned towards his ears and tail.

“He is one, he has made that very clear” Grey states.

“Grey… you look strange,” Snow says before looking at Arno, “And why is he wearing that thing around his neck.”

“A lot has happened,…” Grey replied.

“I and the alpha fought and he won, this is my punishment” Arno stated.

“Punishment for what exactly? What does it do?”

“For all the monstrous things I've done to the pack and for not being any better than my old pack, and it takes my choice away, I can't refuse, I can’t fight, I can only obey” Arno replied.

“And Gray… why do you look strange?”

“That's because I’m not Gray anymore, It's Kai now, and I was changed to fit that name” Gray replied.

“I don’t understand… what do you mean, are you not my brother?” Snow asks with a confused look on her face.

“I still am, but my punishment was that I wouldn’t have control of my body anymore and would be replaced by something else, that something being Kai”.

She then turned her head looking at Shade, “What did he do?”

“Well, he was part of a group that attacked my pack and after they were captured many started to abandon your brother's packs and join me… he chose to attack one for leaving, taking a bite at their leg. And let's just say… I’m very protective of anyone in my care.”

“And who exactly is Kai?” She asked curiously looking at Shade.

“Well… in simple terms I remade him as a loyal son and in a way made him a separate personality from your brother. A personality I placed ahead of his and locked Gray’s in his own mind.”

Gray just looked away from the both of them not saying anything, the only thing Snow could see was pain in his eyes.

“So you intend to lock him away again soon and rarely let him out?” Snow asked.

“Well… I did make Kai the new him. So he will spend most of his life as Kai from now on,” Shade responds.

“It's just darkness in there too as I just watch through Kai’s eyes unable to do anything” Gray commented his voice wavered.

“It could be worse,” Shade points out.

“Yeah it could, you could have fazed out my personality entirely” Gray replied, going quiet.

“I was more meaning you could have been chained in place in there, eyes forced open constantly forced to watch everything non-stop,” Shade points out.

“I mean… he is alone with his thoughts constantly,” Snow points out.

“I can attest to that, back before I was in the pack I was alone and just stuck in my head constantly only with my thoughts and the whispers, It's one of the worst things someone can experience” Dillon commented as he gripped his arm.

Arno didn’t say anything; he just stayed silent as they spoke amongst themselves.

“Still could be worse. I could be doing what I’m doing to your other brother,” Shade points out, “and I’m going to make his life hell.”

“What did Pitch do?”

“...What they did to you, but she still had her eyes.”

Snow stopped turning to look at Arno, a glare in her eyes, as she shouted in anger “You did what!”

“You heard him, that's why I said you can hate me because I'm no better than those bastards,” Arno replied.

“If I had my legs I'd kill you myself!” Snow shouted.

“I want to die, but even then he’s keeping me alive so I can suffer for everything”.

“Besides this is just day one and he wants death… how bad do you think it will be in a week or a month?”

“Honestly I don’t even want to think about it,” Dillon said with a shudder.

“I have a lot of suggestions on things you can do to him… if you can repair the injuries after, that is,” Snow responds.

Arno just looked down, his eyes looking completely dead from their look.

“Well if he did try and cause trouble he could keep him in a pitch-black room and seal him inside for a few hours or weeks at a time,” Snow suggests.

Dillon looked at Arno who was shaking slightly, “Let me guess was that some trauma he had as a pup?” the boy asked Snow.

“Yeah… When he was a pup it was a common punishment used in our pack when you failed at something. But once they did it but bound his paws… and forgot about him for a few days till they went to throw another wolf in.”

“No wonder he was like that, they screwed him up doesn’t justify what he did though”.

“There was that one near-drowning case as well, they bound our entire litter up and held us underwater only letting us up before we drowned... Some barely made it,” Snow admits.

“Why did we let those bastards walk away?”.

“If we started a fight there they would come back in full force and considering how little we know of their pack, it wasn’t the best idea to go to war with them just yet.” Shade points out.

“Fine..,” Dillon replied.

“Although I very much expect that they will be back,” Shade responds.

“To deal with us I assume,” Snow responds.

“I ain’t hesitating if they show their faces back here” Dillon stated.

“There are better and more useful ways than killing them on sight though.,” Shade responds.

“I think they deserve nothing but death, but it’s your call,” Dillon replied with a sigh.

“You can’t learn anything from the dead. Nor can they be of use,” Shade points out, “Besides. There are many fates worse than death.”

“You're gonna do the thing you did to the other earlier wolves aren’t you?” Arno asked.

“That's a quick way to handle it… but what if I just took control of their bodies like puppets and left everything else intact,” Shade responds, “like you but without the collar.”

“So if you wanted to do surveillance on that pack they wouldn’t realize it?” Dillon asked.

“In a way, yes. But that would more be a way of taking prisoners to interrogate,” Shade responds before placing his hands near Snow's back legs covering them in a crimson glow.

“What did you just do?” Snow asks, looking at Shade in confusion.

“He just healed your legs!” they hear Ivy shout from the back.

“What! How! Who are you!” Snow shouts, turning to look for the voice.

“I'm Arno's former victim but you can call me Ivy” they hear her say as she walks next to Dillon.

“When you say former victim… you don’t mean…”

“That's exactly what I mean”.

“But you can walk… how?”

Ivy silently pointed her paw towards Shade, “He healed me just like he healed you”.

“Well in the process of,” Shade points out moving to Snow’s from paws repeating the process.

“How are you feeling Snow?” Dillon asked, crouching next to her.

“Strange… I mean I can feel my legs for one,” Snow responds, trying to stand but falling to the floor each time, “but I may have forgotten how to walk.”

Dillon immediately flashed back to when Axel taught Ziggy to walk again before shaking his head, “You’ll figure out how to do it again soon”.

“Do you need someone to help you?” Shade asks.

“I might do,” Snow responds with a nervous chuckle.

“If need be I wouldn’t mind helping her” Dillon added as he gently picked her up from the ground.

“Wait, not too fast,” Snow said with a nervous tone in her voice, “just not too fast… please.”

“I’ll try to be as careful as I can,” Dillon replied.

“Please do.” Snow responded with a nervous tone in her voice.

“Okay then,” Shade calmly days before touching Gray on the forehead, “let’s all get home.”

Grey’s eyes widened before his personality came back as Kai’s, “We’re heading back home now?” the wolf asked as he looked towards Shade.

“Yeah, we’re done here now.” Shade responds by rubbing Kai’s head.

“Who is she?” Kai then asked as he pointed towards Snow.

“Do you not recognize me?”

“No I don’t, but I do have a sense of familiarity coming from you,” Kai replied with a tilt of his head.

“Kai, are you sure you're feeling okay? I would think that you would remember your own sister.” Shade responds.

Kai looks at both Shade and Snow for a moment before shaking his head and saying, “Maybe I am under the weather”.

“You should probably get some rest once we get back Kai” Dillon stated.

“Maybe I should…” Kai muttered to himself before turning his attention back to snow, “Well It's good to see you…”.

“Snow,” Dillon commented.

“Snow! Yeah snow, It’s good to see you” Kai then said with an embarrassed chuckle while Dillon just held in a laugh in response.

“You really do need some sleep,” Shade responds before letting out a loud whistle as many members of the pack that had originally come with them turned their heads before the group made their way home.

“Wonder how the others are doing” Dillon comments to himself as the members of the pack follow behind them through the forest as all of them continue back to the lake.

Chapter 11 (Rewrite)

As the group made it back towards the clearing they saw Axel and Ryka who were standing next to each other, the two talking to one another before noticing the group.

“Oh welcome back everyone,” Ryka said towards the group before turning her attention to Shade and Dillon.

“Hey ma” Dillon replied, Ryka then noticed Snow in his arms.

“Who are you holding?” Axel asked with a tilt of his head.

“This is Snow she’s one of the wolves we helped after we finished up our business with the other pack” Dillon responded.

Ryka nodded in response before turning her attention to Shade and asking “So, what happened?”.

“We reached the pack that attacked us and handled the large majority of them before entering their den. I went inside with Nago, Kai and Dillon and found their Alpha who had been doing rather… unsavoury things to their Omega, and let's just say we reacted as you could expect.” Shade explained.

“Y’all beat the utter crap out of him didn’t you?” Axel commented.

“You could ask him yourself,” Shade responds, pointing to Arno at his feet.

Axel crouched down in front of him and looked Arno dead in his eyes for a moment before speaking, “Yeah I can tell, y’all messed him up”.

Not too long after Dillon walked past the two, “I'm gonna find a soft place to set her down if any of you need me just let out a holler” getting a nod from everyone.

“Dillon seems a little less talkative than usual” Axel started with a brow raised.

“Lets just say he’s seen and heard about a few things he shouldn’t have,” Shade responds, “And witnessed a few things that led to this one's punishment,” he added looking at Arno.

“I'm not gonna ask further into what he did but from what you said before he deserves every bit of it” Axel replied looking towards Arno before walking away, “I'm gonna keep Dillon company”.

“What’s with the collar on his neck?” Ryka asked.

“It’s part of his punishment. I wanted everyone to be able to see and for him to feel a constant reminder about what his actions caused for those around him, but maybe you would like to ask him about the collar and what he did to warrant it out of the way of everyone… I don’t think the pups or other pack members should hear it.”

“That’s probably for the best” Ryka admitted as she looked back to other pack members lingering around the cave.

“If any of them find out what this idiot did, they’ll tear him apart” she then stated as she looked to where Dillon and Axel were, seeing the two of them make a soft surface to place Snow on, Ryka seeing the look in Dillon’s eyes.

“How bad was Dillon’s reaction to it?”.

“He would have and almost did kill him over what he did, and his pack wasn’t exactly nice to him after they got ten minutes to repay him,” Shade admits.

Ryka shook her head before looking back towards Shade, “So what do we do now my alpha?”.

“Well one thing is to create more space for the pack. I mean some of this idiots pack decided to join up with us after he was defeated, including his Omega. But I'll tell you what he did to her when I explain who he is wearing a collar.”

“Alright, but it may just be me but what was wrong with Snow that Dillon had to carry her, what’s her story?” Ryka asked Shade while glancing at Snow who was laying down peacefully on the soft surface Axel and Dillon made for her while the two boys were next to her, Axel was propped up against a nearby tree, while Dillon was laying on his lap.

“As I said, maybe best that we explain that away from everyone else.”

“Good point” Ryka admitted as she looked to the forest before glancing back to Shade.

“Want to discuss that with me in the place we were talking in last time?” she then asked as she motioned towards the forest.

“I think it may be for the best,” Shade responds with a nod of his head.

“Alright, then let’s go” Ryka replied, walking past Shade who closely followed her into the forest as they walked towards the area they were in before, while Arno silently followed the two.

Once the three of them got into the forest, Shade looked towards Ryka before saying, “Where do you want me to start from.”

“What did this idiot do to his former omega?” Ryka asked, motioning towards Arno.

“Well the quick and simple way is broke his legs and left her unable to walk, and while she couldn’t move forcibly bred her constantly even when she refused to do it,” Shade explained.

“I see why Dillon almost beat him to death….” Ryka said with a sneer.

“Well, I can partly forgive him for it what we learned later on about his past,” Shade responds

“What do you mean?”.

“The pack he came from was and is hundreds of times worse than how he acted… and Snow is from his litter and from that pack. They did the same as he did to his Omega, but also took her eyes, locked her alone in a room and had her watch the rest of her litter be killed before they left her blind, and that's just the tip of the iceberg from what they told me.” Shade responds.

“Oh my….” Ryka whispered as she looked to Arno who just looked to the ground.

“Supposedly said pack see it normally to treat females as worthless beyond being bred and abuse any member that fails even once,” Shade added.

“I’ve heard of some packs being awful to their members but this is just….monstrous”.

“Maybe you would like to explain more to us about this and actually be clear to us on who you really are. Besides considering your new place she is your Omega now.” Shade orders looking down at Arno.

Arno let out a sigh before responding, “My old pack, the one that you met is one of the worst you could come across in this forest, and what Snow told you was barely under the surface” Arno took another breath before continuing, “If any females are unable to bear pup’s they’re immediately killed or much worse, once my mother outlived their perceived definition of usefulness they took care of her and we never saw her again”.

“So you don’t even know if she is actually dead or not,” Shade asks.

“No I don’t, for all, I could know she could be alive and experiencing something much worse”.

“I know I said that there are fates worse than death, but… what could be worse than what you’ve just told us?” Shade asks.

“They always threatened us with a punishment that they never elaborated on, but to those who knew about it, they always kept their mouths shut about it even with the looks of pure fear on their faces”.

“Why were they so scared?” Ryka asked.

“Because they knew no one was safe, no one was exempt from that punishment not even the wolves with the highest standing in that pack”.

“Did they really not value any of the pack members?”.

“No, they didn’t, not even towards the pup’s, if some died they just showed indifference to the matter like its something that didn’t matter at all but one thing they’ve always shown is that if they had to choose between one pup or another, they’ll always choose the boy in that matter”.

Ryka’s face went through multiple emotions before her face landed on surprise and disgust.

“Also, I don’t trust that they won’t come back for the three of them considering that they wanted to kill Gray and him for leaving the pack and decided to give us their sister as a reward, with no strings attached.”

“They’re going to come back, one thing about that pack is that they don’t let things go too easily, and since they didn’t get to do what they wanted to, this pack and specifically you and your son are now in their sights,” Arno said as he looked up at Shade.

“I don’t think they understand just what they are playing with here,” Shade responds, “besides there's a lot more to this pack than meets the eye, and considering that even if we aren’t happy with you. The three of you are now part of this pack, so you're not being killed by them easily.”

“I believe you, it’s just that part of me knows that they have something much more sinister on their side but I….I don’t know what”.

“Well if they are coming back, I think we need to make some improvements to the den,” Shade responds, “Considering all the new members on their way here we need a lot more space.”

“How are we going to do that?” Ryka asked.

“It's easier to show you than explain… but we may want everyone out the cave when I do,” Shade responds, “also maybe tell me what you want from the place before I start.”

“Not sure..” Ryka replied, going into deep thought before saying, “Maybe have an area for the pups to go if there were to be an emergency and maybe somewhere the boys can reside?”.

“What if I created multiple new caves for us beyond one. Have one cave be for me, you and our immediate pups, another for others and one to keep any new wolves from other packs that attack us?” Shade suggests.

“...That would definitely work better than what I was suggesting” Ryka admits before asking with a slight blush “But do you think you and I could share a cave?”.

“Is there a specific reason you want me in the same cave as you?”

“Should I have reason to want to be in the same cave as my alpha?” she asked with a false naive tone.

“You make it sound like you want to officially be a couple,” Shade points out, Ryka’s blush became more intense as she attempted to stutter out a response before Shade added, “That is the reason isn’t it.”

“M-maybe, so what?”.

“I just needed to confirm that was the reason,” Shade responds as he turns into his Timberwolf form before kissing Ryka on the forehead.

Ryka’s blush intensified further while Arno looked towards the two in silence before looking away.

“But before we sort our home, we need to sort out this troublesome pup,” Shade adds, looking at Arno, “So, we have a choice here. We call you by your first name Pitch. The name you chose to call yourself. Or we give you a new name for us to call you by.”

Arno just looked down to the ground as he remembered the look of hatred on his sister’s face before he spoke, “I’ll...have a new name”.

“Oh no, you don’t get to choose. Thats for me and my Omega to decide,” Shade responds.

“Let’s have him be called by his original name, Pitch” Ryka commented.

“In that case, I think a colour change is needed,” Shade responds, reaching down towards the wolf by his feet, as Pitch didn’t move an inch as this happened the wolf staying quiet, before Shade touched the wolf’s forehead before his fur instantly began change colour from brown to jet black, with the few faint red marks on her tail and tips of his ears.

“Much better” Ryka commented as she circled around Pitch who didn’t speak.

“Pitch. Anything to say to your new Alpha and Omega?” Shade asks.

“Thank you Alpha and Omega,” Pitch replied.

“Your welcome Pitch” Ryka replied with a smirk as Pitch looked to the ground again before Ryka added. “Alright, let’s head back to the others. We don’t want to be away for too long” As she looked at Shade.

“That may be a good idea, I mean we need to get everyone out first before we can do the remodelling,” Shade responds.

“That’s true” Ryka admits as she and Shade began walking back to the others with Pitch following behind them.

Right, when they got back they see Dillon and Ziggy sparring with each other and while the wolves and Axel watched.

The two boys went at each other with precise and fast movement as they clashed with each other the two showing slight exhaustion and they could be seen taunting each other as Axel watched with an amused smirk.

They walk next to him, Axel noticing this looks towards them before hearing a slight commotion before seeing Dillon and Ziggy tackle each other the two rolling around on the ground growling towards each other as they bared their fangs towards each other but before things escalated further they were grabbed by the scruff of their necks by Axel and Shade.

“Are you two done fighting?” Shade asks, his voice sounding annoyed at the two boys.

“He started it…” Dillon muttered.

“Oh that’s bullcrap and you know it!” Ziggy retorted as the two growled towards each other.

“Oi knock it off, you’ll get over it” Axel commented as the two just crossed their arms as they were placed back on the ground separate from each other.

“Why were you two fighting in the first place?” Ryka asked.

“Dillon was sleeping on my lap and when Ziggy came out the cave and stepped on his tail, not too long afterword due to how irritable Dillon was they started to argue with each other till it devolved into them fighting each other you two only saw the brunt of it” Axel replied to Ryka.

They then look to the boys who had multiple small scratches and dirt on their arms and faces as well as some bite marks.

“You two are too much sometimes…” Ryka sighed.

“I really get the feeling I'm going to need to discipline you two myself next time,” Shade responds, shaking his head at them both.

Dillon and Ziggy quickly shook their heads in response.

“there’s no need for that dad!” Ziggy quickly said in response as he nervously chuckled while Dillon just quickly nodded in agreement.

“So if I catch wind of this kind of thing happening again, you will not argue over me sorting you both out,” Shade asks looking at the two of them again.

“We won’t argue…” the two reply their heads down.

“Good,” Shade responds looking at everyone outside the cave, “Is anyone still inside the cave right now?”

“Some are still inside but the rest of us are hanging out here” One of the wolves replied.

“For their safety, I would recommend getting them all clear,” Shade suggests

“Alright,” the wolf replied immediately howling, as the wolves that were inside the cave slowly walked out drowsiness on their faces.

“What’s going on?” Dillon said before immediately asking, “Wait, does this have to do with what we talked about earlier, when it came to space for the pack?”.

“Hopefully if my plan works, but I wanted everyone out just in case things went wrong,” Shade responds.

“Yeah, that’s probably for the best now that I think about it” Dillon admitted as the last of the wolves exited the cave.

“Alright, I think that’s all of the wolves that were in the cave” Axel commented before double-checking and peeking inside, “Yep that was the last of them”.

“Okay then,” Shade responded by rubbing his hands together as he sat on the floor before calmly saying, “Harmony. Are you ready?”

‘Of course, just think up the changes you want… or any changes your omega wants and I’ll do the rest,’ a voice responded in Shade’s head.

“Wait, whose harmony?” Ryka asked as she and the others looked towards Shade confused amongst the ones being the most confused being the boys.

“Lets just say that they are a really close friend of mine,” Shade responds calmly as he closes his eyes as the ground begins to shake around them.

“Whoa!” Dillon said in surprise as he stopped himself from tripping while some of the others were unaffected as some of them backed away further from the cave just in case.
After a couple of seconds of shaking everyone saw the cave slowly begin to widen in size before the area around it began to open with separate caves of their own, while in the original cave paths opened up that seemed to connect all the new caves with the original as some of the trees were moved out of the way.

“That's a good start,” Shade responds, opening his eyes looking at the cave, “but somethings missing.”

“Maybe add a symbol somewhere” One of the wolves suggested.

Axel looked to Shade before looking towards his mark in silence before suggesting, “How about adding your mark to it, you are the alpha after all”.

“Are you sure you're all okay with having a large bleeding eye shaped mark on the front of your home?” Shade asked, looking at everyone around him.

Everyone immediately nodded in response as Ziggy commented, “I mean since your the alpha I don’t think anyone of us minds you doing that,” The pack immediately nodded in agreement.

“Well. If you're sure,” Shade responds nervously, closing his eyes again before multiple copies of his emblem appear between the mouths of the caves in different colours seemingly made from gemstones that seemed to faintly glow. Out of all of the many colours only three seemed to be visible, one red, a second black and a third green.

“Hey, dad, what's with those ones?” Dillon asked curiously as he pointed to the gemstones.

Shade then opened his eyes before looking to where Dillon was pointing before saying, “I have no idea. I expected it to be basically like a faint indent in the walls, not glowing symbols giving off light,” Shade admits.

“Those three seem to be the noticeable ones too,” Axel commented before pointing out, “They seem to be you, Dillon, and Ziggy’s colors specifically”.

“Really…” Shade responds before looking at the symbols again, “I suppose you could be right, but still I don’t know why it did that.”

“Im slowly starting to learn to not question stuff like this…” Dillon commented.

“And you’d think I’d have learnt it by now,” Shade adds with a shake of his head before looking at the other wolves. “Anything else any of you want me to try and add?”

“I have a suggestion,” Axel said before stating “maybe add small area’s around the lake that can be used as surveillance that can be used to see if any enemy is near so if any wolves are assigned there can see them first and then warn us so we can be a step ahead”.

“And how exactly would you want these made? What design would you suggest we use and where do we place them?”

“I was thinking of a section of caves that could be used for them that’s around the outside of the lake, and the way they could be designed is that could possibly have a small window-like opening that could be used to look through and a mechanism could be used to sound an alarm of sorts, at least that’s how I think it would work anyway” Axel admitted.

“Okay then, let’s see what we can do,” Shade responds closing his eyes yet again before the ground began to shake again as some of the caves started to extend further out into the outside of the lake as the cave systems that surrounded the outside had a small opening that let light inside those portions.

These also had small blue crystals that protruded next to the openings with a slight glow that seemed to fluctuate from blue to white that seemed to have a line engraved into the walls that connected them with the next opening’s crystals as some of the new caves gained new pathways into those caves as the rumbling of the ground stopped.

“Is it done?” Axel then asked Shade.

“I think so,” Shade responds, opening his eyes again, “I can only probably make one last change for now though so if any of you have anything specific you think we may need to say so now.”

“You got any suggestions mom?,” Dillon asked Ryka who shook her head in response,

“None that I can think of at this moment” Ryka replied.

“Anyone else then?” Axel then spoke up before looking at Snow, “How bout you, Snow?”.

“Well… I suppose some kind of traps to handle any unwelcome guests before they can reach us… maybe something matching to their fears,” Snow suggests, “A pit or ravine perhaps with flowing water to drag them away or if we have somewhere to hold them have it knock them out and hold them to deal with later.”

“That would definitely be useful and if need be we can interrogate for information” Dillon commented.

“What do you think dad?” Dillon then asked Shade.

“My only question is who would be keeping an eye on them from you all?” Shade asked as he looked at the group around him.

Five of the wolves within the group raised their paws in response to this, “Well guess we have our volunteers then” Axel stated.

“Okay then,” Shade responded placing his hands on the floor again before pausing, “I think we need a way for this not to affect us lot, don’t want one of you running into the trap on the way back here after hunting or scavenging for supplies.”

“That’s true, how about giving the pack members a mark that allows them to walk through it without falling through?” Dillon suggested before adding, “Because the pups like running around a lot and may end running near there so that would prevent them from getting injured from said trap”.

“Just confirm, how many wolves and pups would need a mark adding in total to be safe?” Shade asks.

“Since we have some members who are still not that well acquainted with the area including the pups it would be maybe ten or thirteen?”.

“It’s thirteen,” Axel commented.

“Yeah thirteen, thanks Axel”.

“No problem”.

“It would be thirteen with the larger majority being the others who were in the pack longer and already know the area pretty well”.

“So those and the other member are at the other cave,” Shade replies taking a single breath as he closes his eyes again, “okay, after I do this be careful we won’t actually know where the traps are.”

The ground then shook again this time having no visible changes being seen in the area around them before the shaking stopped.

“Okay, so I should probably sort this hidden mark before we do anything else,” Shade states opening his eyes.

“Alright, I’ll sort out the newer members, then,” Axel said before walking towards the pack.

Ryka immediately just howled in response which caused five pups to jump from behind the bigger group as they barreled towards her and sat down.

“Hi mama!” one of the pups shout as they all nuzzled against Ryka who only smiled.

While Axel could be seen separating the newer members from the group before directing eight of them towards Shade.

“Alright, one, two- yep that’s all of them dad” Dillon stated they all sat in front of Shade.

“Okay, so who’s first?” Shade asks, looking at each of them.

One of the wolves from the bigger group walked up to Shade saying, “With whatever you need us to do were willing to do it” before angling his head down.

Shade didn’t respond for a moment before looking at Ryka, “Is there a place that you would prefer that you all have this mark placed?”

Ryka thought about it for a moment before responding, “How about behind the ear?”.

“Does that work for all of you?” Shade asks looking at the wolves infront of him.

They all nod in response not including the pups who were distracted playing with their siblings.

“You have your answer” Ryka commented with a giggle.

“I suppose I do,” Shade responds with a shake of his head before placing a finger behind the wolfs ear, a a red light coming from his finger as a faint black eye shaped mark matching that of the ones on the cliff faces appeared behind the wolfs ear.

Shade then pulled his hand away as the wolf walked back to the group as another came forward multiple minutes passing by as Shade marked each of them on the back of the ear up until he was marking the last of the pups.

“Thank you,” the pup said giving Shade a fanged grin before getting patted on the head by him.

“No problem,” Shade responds taking his hand away from the pup.

“I believe that’s the last of them,” Dillon commented as the pup ran back to their siblings.

“Not all of you,” Shade responds looking to Dillon, Ziggy and Ryka.

“Were getting marked?” Ziggy asked with a tilt of his head, while Ryka just sat in front of Shade.

“You two do technically come down as pups,” Shade points out, “and in your mothers case lead by example.”

“Oh, fair enough” Dillon replied as he and Ziggy sat next to Ryka who Shade began to mark first.
After a moment Shade finished up marking Ryka and moved to Ziggy stood still as he did the same with him the same amount of time passed until he immediately went to mark Dillon.

“Is this gonna feel weird dad?” Dillon asked glancing up towards Shade who placed his hand behind the boy’s ear.

“As weird as Midnight scratching it? I doubt it,” Shade responds.

The boy shuddered in response, “Fair enough” as he felt Shades fingers press behind his ear, leaving them there for a moment before backing away from the boy.

“Kinda tingly, but not as bad as the scratching” Dillon commented.

“Do you want a scratch behind the ear?” Shade asks.

“No!” Dillon shouted as he immediately covered his ears as he looked towards Shade.

“Is it that bad?” Shade asks with a smirk.

“My ears are sensitive ok!?” Dillon whined as Ryka and Ziggy just chuckled at this much to Dillon’s dismay.

“Okay then I won’t scratch them,” Shade responds simply smiling at him.

Dillon grumbled a bit as he removed his hands from his head before seeing some of the wolves laughing, “H-hey shut up it’s not funny!”.

“I mean it is a little bit” Axel commented with a chuckle.

“W-whatever….” Dillon replied with a pout as he looked away in a huff.

“So what do we do now dad, do we head back to the castle?,” Ziggy asked curiously as to what’s going to be done next.

“I suppose that depends on what you all want to do.”

“Im still kinda hungry to be honest” Ziggy commented as a stomach growl could be heard from Dillon.

“Guess your hungry too Dillon?,” Ryka asked her son who just quietly nodded in response as he placed his hand on his stomach.

“Oh yeah, we were going to get something to eat back at the castle before we came back to the lake guess we got pretty preoccupied huh?” Axel commented before hearing another stomach growl from the boys.

“Maybe we should go back and get you something to eat… unless berries will do you three,” Shade responds.

“I have no issue with going back neither with just eating berries” Axel replied as the other two nodded in agreement.

“I agree with Axel on this but I’d rather eat something else other than berries” Ziggy commented as he scratched the back of his head.

“Are you okay with us going, mom?” Dillon asked Ryka.

“You can go back if you want to,” Ryka replied with a nod.

“You sure, if need be I’ll stay behind if you need assistance” Axel responded.

“I'm sure Axel you can go back with them,” Ryka replied.

“If you say so”.

“I’ll make sure they get back before dark,” Shade offers before continuing to say. “Also it may be best for everyone to get used to the improved den.”

“We’ll make sure to Shade, some are already starting to head inside” Ryka replied as some of the wolves walked into the den.

“Just make sure that the main cave is kept just for our family, okay,” Shade requests, rubbing Ryka on the head.

Ryka nodded in response as she smiled towards Shade, “I’ll make sure too” as she began walking back into the cave the pups not far behind followed her.

“Ok, so after we get something to eat back at the castle, what are we going to do afterward?” Dillon asked.

“Yeah I'm kinda curious about that as well” Ziggy added.

“Well, I think someone wanted something from me,” Shade responds, turning back into his Alicorn form whilst looking at Axel.

“Yeah, I wanted to prove myself,” Axel replied with a nod of his head.

“Really?” Ziggy asked.

“Yep” Axel responded with a nod.

“Well, no point in delaying then right?” Dillon commented.

“After you’ve had something to eat,” Shade adds as he turns to walk back to the town. “Besides, I don’t think you can handle me when you're hungry.”

A moment later a growl could be heard from Axel’s stomach who scratched the back of his head, “Guess I was that hungry”.

Dillon and Ziggy just smile before grabbing onto Axel’s arms who immediately lifted them up before giving a smile of his own and picking up his walking speed to catch up to Shade.

Five minutes after the group had left the den they arrived back in the main town finding that some of the buildings had already begun to seemingly repair themselves.

“I know I was told they repaired themselves but it’s jarring to see that in action…” Dillon commented with a tilt of his head stopping in place.

“Yeah..” Ziggy said in agreement before they heard Shade call out to both of them.

“Come on, you lot. We’ll still need to prepare whatever you want to eat,” Shade responds as he walks towards the castle.

“Alright, dad!” The two shout as they ran to catch up with Axel and Shade as they saw the two walk inside, the two boys immediately picking up their speed as they dashed into the castle ending up directly behind them.

As they walked through the halls they saw only a few creatures walking around many of them paying the group no mind.

The boys just looked towards the creatures that passed by them as Dillon was nudged by a random hooded figure making him stumble for a moment as he looked towards them as they continued to walk down the hall, the boy seeing that they had red hair peeking out from their hood before he was nudged by Ziggy causing him to flinch.

“Dillon you ok?,” Ziggy asked with concern in his voice.

Dillon looked towards him before looking back to where he was staring before only to see that figure was gone.

“Y-yeah im ok” Dillon replied as he shook his head continuing to follow behind Shade and Axel.

“You sure, you looked a little out of it back there” Ziggy continued.

“I'm sure, It’s probably because I'm hungry” Dillon quickly replied.

“If you say so,” Ziggy replied walking up ahead but not f as Dillon heard a faint whisper in the back of his head that he could barely understand a word from.

Not even a moment later he felt a splitting headache that caused him to tightly grasp his head before he saw the figure again who was walking towards him before crouching down in front of him.

“Y̷̪̮̜̎̄̈́ǫ̶͚̫͉͗̀̚ư̴͉̟̻̤̏̋ ̵͖̿̑̄ͅw̶̫̱̗̆̆̈̚o̸̞̚n̸̼̤͑'̴̭̻̳͈̄̏̿ẗ̵̥̟́͒ ̵̬͋f̵̨̘͝i̸̧͌̓͠ň̵̖̜d̵͍͋̏͝ ̵̘͘ẗ̵͙̞͚̫́͑̎͘h̷̥̊͛̉͝ȅ̸͈̞͈m̷̯̌̾ ̷̧͎͇͊̈́̍͝J̵̜̺͂͝ạ̶̪̘͌̿s̴̮͝o̷̼̥̹͝n̷͍͑͘” the figure spoke confusing the boy, “What?”.

Dillon’s vision blurred for a moment before he blinked, the red-haired figure being replaced by Shade who was in front of him, giving him a look of concern.

“Dillon… are you sure that you are okay?” Shade asked as he knelt down infront of him, “Or is it the same thing as last time?”

“I think it’s the same as last time, but I keep seeing this person and I can’t make out their face” Dillon replied before looking past Shade as he saw the figure across the hall before his vision flashed for a moment causing him to grasp his head again.

“Don’t force it, we both know that doesn’t help.” Shade responded before picking Dillon up in his wings allowing the young boys head to rest against his chest.

Dillon just tightly shut his eyes as he attempted to ignore what he was seeing Ziggy looking up to him in worry.

“What’s wrong with Dillon?” Ziggy asked, concerned for his brother.

“The best we can say for it is that old memories from his past are causing him pain,” Shade states simply as he rubs Dillons neck.

Ziggy nodded in response as they continued walking again while Dillon’s low groans from his headache slowly went quiet, the boy not making any noise other than low snores.

“How far until we reach the place we’re walking to?” Ziggy then asked Shade.

“Not long,” Shade responds as he rests his hand against a nearby doorhandle.

Ziggy quietly nodded as Shade opened the door motioning Axel and Ziggy to follow him through before they found what looked to be a large open kitchen that looked to be capable of fitting multiple people inside at once.

Ziggy just looked around before commenting, “This is a really nice looking kitchen, nicer than most I’ve seen anyway”.

“Well most don’t have to look after the needs of royalty,” a voice responded from across the room, as the group looked up to see Alexis standing at the far side of the kitchen standing by what looked to be a baking tray.

“That’s fair” Axel commented.

“Hi, aunt Alexis!” Ziggy said with a smile.

Alexis didn’t instantly respond to the group seemingly focused on what she was doing as she seemed to be carefully taking something off the tray.

“What’s that on the tray?” Ziggy asked curiously.

“Oh I was just doing some baking. I wanted to see what I could make with what we had in.”

“What were you baking?” Axel asked leaning over one of the counters next to Ziggy, finding what looked to be cookies on the tray, each seeming to be designed in a familiar eye shaped pattern.

Ziggy just gave a look of awe as his tail wagged from the smell of the cookies, while Dillon just nuzzled further into Shade’s wings.

“Those smell good” Ziggy commented on a small amount of drool going down his chin.

“I would ask if you wanted one. They are a bit warm though… and this is my first time with this setup,” Alexis offers as she looks at Ziggy.

Ziggy’s tail wagged faster, the boy smiling while Axel chuckled, “Doesn’t seem like he minds”.

“Well if any of you want to try one, I won’t say no,” Alexis responds grabbing a small plate from one of the cupboards in front of her and placing three small cookies on it before pushing the plate towards the group.

Ziggy immediately grabs one and starts to nibble on it as he sat himself down, Axel then grabs one himself before biting into it, “I must admit this is a good cookie” Axel admitted before biting into the cookie again.

Not long after Axel said this Alexis could hear a low groan from Dillon before seeing his head slowly pop up from Shade’s wings.

“So you finally woke up,” Alexis responds, a chuckle being heard in her voice.

“Huh?” Dillon said confused before shaking his head and turning his attention towards Alexis.

“I’ll have to remember to get you milk next time aswell as these for when you go to sleep on us,” Alexis adds with a smirk as he points to the cookies on the plate.

Dillon just grumbled in response before being let down to the floor by Shade as Ziggy passed him one of the cookies, the boy silently nibbling on it in turn.

After a moment he groggily spoke, “What’d I miss?”.

“Nothing much” Axel replied before seeing Dillon start to doze off again and snapping his fingers in the boy’s face keeping him awake.

“Stay awake bud we have to eat soon I don’t think you want to sleep thought that” Axel stated.

“Yeah I know,” Dillon replied.

“What was it you all wanted to eat?” Alexis asks, looking at the three boys..

Dillon and Axel just shrugged in response before Ziggy swallowed the last bite of his cookie and spoke up, “I wouldn’t mind having pizza”.

“Never had pizza before but I ain’t against the suggestion” Axel commented.

“Same here,” Dillon said in agreement.

“Well I can see what I can do… just not expect much for toppings,” Alexis responds as she walks towards a nearby room seemingly looking for something as she shouted back, “What kind of things do you want on it.”

“Is there anything you can use as meat toppings on or anything else?” Ziggy asked in response.

“Standard for humans… no other kinds of meats. A few strange things from what I can see.”

“I'm okay with it being a plain cheese pizza, to be honest, if none of the stuff in there can be used” Dillon stated.

“It’s less that it can't be used, more I’m sure how long the bits need cooking for. I mean it says this stuff is called hydra steak, Cragodile steak, cockotrice breast, just to name a few I can see.” Alexis shouts back out.

Dillon’s ears immediately perked up in response, “I’ve actually eaten cockotrice before it isn’t bad”.

Ziggy and Axel turned to him in response before Axel asked, “When did you do that?”.

“That was before I joined the pack; it was one of the instances where I needed to defend myself and ended up killing one” Dillon replied.

“Huh good to know” Ziggy replied before Dillon spoke up again.

“It didn’t help that I ate it raw, got sick, and threw up not too long after”.

“Yikes..” Axel replied.

“If that's the case do you want me to try it on the pizza cooked?!” Alexis shouts back out.

“Heh, sure I wouldn’t mind” Dillon replied with a nervous chuckle.

“Okay, looks like we have peppers, onions, bacon… I think,” Alexis quickly adds, seeming to be reading off what she can see.

Dillon and Ziggy tilt their heads in response before turning their attention to Shade.

“Should we go somewhere until she’s done with the pizza thing or should we just wait here, dad?” Dillon asked.

“That’s up to you, but there is something I need to do while I’m back here… it’s around that time of day,” Shade responds with a sigh.

“I guess we’ll wait here then, but what are you gonna be doing?” Ziggy asked.

“It’s easier to put it as, dealing with my mistakes,” Shade responds as he moves to walk towards the door.

“Oh..ok see you later then dad” Dillon replied as he gave a short wave, as Shade left without a word.

Dillon immediately stood up as he looked to the room Alexis walked into before walking towards it and walking inside.

Right, when Dillon went inside he immediately smelled multiple things, including the cockatrice meat that Alexis mentioned before he saw at the other end of the room.

He saw her picking out specific ingredients that she listed out loud before seeing Dillon standing next to her with a look of interest on his face.

“What are you thinking about?”

Dillon didn’t say anything only sniffed the air before pointing to one of the ingredients in her hand, “One of the peppers isn’t good and that other bit of meat your holding isn’t good either”.

“Really? Can you tell if anything else has gone off in here?” Alexis asks.

Dillon nodded before taking another sniff and pointing out“Some of the stuff to the right of you isn’t good either but a large majority of the stuff to the left of me and above you is still good though”.

“I’ll need to find out just who didn’t check this stuff before it went in here,” Alexis responds as she grabs some of the ingredients that were still usable.

“Do you want any help with that?” Dillon asked.

“If you can remove the rotten things that would be a great help,” Alexis responds.

Dillon nodded in response as he crouched down next to Alexis and picked out all the rotten ingredients separating them from the bits that were still good to eat before immediately smelling something foul that caused him to gag before he saw one of the veggies at the bottom of one of the containers seeing that it was leaking juices, “Ew..is there a trash can around here?”.

“There should be one next to the sink.”

Dillon nodded as he grabbed that ingredient and placed it into the pile he had collected before picking it up and heading back out into the kitchen.

He walks up to the sink and opens the trashcan dumping the rotten ingredients in there before shaking off his hands of the juice, he looked back to the sink and turned it on, and soaked his hands in the water, washing them off.

After a few moments, he turned the sink off and dried his hands off with his cloak before walking back into the room Alexis was in and doing the same before leaving the room and going back in another two times until he didn’t smell any more of the foul smell from the rotten ingredients.
“Ok, that was the last of the rotten stuff auntie,” Dillon said towards Alexis.

“Thank you for that, now I shouldn’t end up grabbing something that's gone off,” Alexis admits walking out of the room with a small basket full of ingredients.

Dillon closely follows behind her as she placed the basket on the nearby counter while Dillon immediately went back next to Axel and Ziggy.

“So you said you wanted pizza, correct?” Alexis asks

“Yep!” Ziggy replied while Dillon and Axel nodded in response.

“Okay then,” Alexis responds as a pink light seemed to form on her arm before what looked to be a glass bowl and measuring scales appeared from it which she placed on the counter in front of her.

The boy watches her intently in silence as Dillon and Ziggy look with wide eyes of innocent interest.

“These things won’t cook a pizza correctly either,” Alexis muttered to herself as she walked to an empty space in the room before grabbing out a small notebook from her side and flicking through it for a couple of seconds. After she had finished looking she nodded her head before a light began to shine before a long silver modern pizza oven appeared in front of her. “This should do it.”

“How did you do that?” Dillon asked as he leaned over the counter.

“What’s the little notebook for?” Ziggy then asked the boys tilting their heads out of curiosity.

“Okay… do any of you know who I look like?” Alexi asks, looking at the group.

“....Nope” Dillon replied.

“Not a clue” Axel added.

Ziggy just shook his head in response.

“Okay. I became a character with an ability called a quirk. My quirk is called Creation which allows me to create almost any non living object as long as I know the atomic structure of said object. The book basically is an encyclopedia with the information in it on mass.” Alexis explains, “but to create it I need to use the fat from my body to create the materials.”

“That sounds really useful” Axel responded before adding, “but sounds very taxing at the same time with the need of fat to be able to create these things”.

“Normally it would be… but when I became this… well the experiment they did on me caused my body to regrow lost fats at an accelerated rate,” Alexis responds as she begins creating the pizza base at the table.

The boys nodded in response.

“Either way, do you want to ask me anything while I make all this stuff?”

“I can’t think of anything..” Dillon stated.

“Same here…” Ziggy added.

“What was it like seeing your brother again?” Axel asked as the room went silent.

“What was it like seeing a man I watched die in the hospital after being run down in a terrorist attack… I didn’t believe it was him, and in many ways, I still don’t believe it is him even now.”

“Sorry if that’s a sore subject I meant no offense by it” Axel replied apologetically.

“I didn’t take offence… it’s more the fact he’s changed a lot. I mean death changed him a lot more than you would know. He takes everything on himself be it the thousands of infants that cult mutated into monsters, or all the kidnapped and tortured women he’s trying to help recover from what happened to them. Hell before he wouldn’t have even considered looking after and adopting as many children as he is.”

“I think I remember him mentioning that earlier to us” Dillon commented.

“Yeah he did” Axel confirmed, “I believe it was when we were walking to the carriage or at some other point”.

“At least the guy who is responsible for kidnappings is getting what he deserves,” Dillon added.

“Yeah” Ziggy commented in agreement”.

“Either way, I doubt a single individual did it alone, considering the fact there were more than just one race being experimented on,” Alexis responds.

“True but at least one of them was caught,” Axel replied.

“I believe that eventually the others that were a part of it will be caught” Ziggy added with a smile.

“I would assume so,” Alexis responds calmly as he begins to knead the dough she had made.
“Do you mind us helping you with making the pizza?” Axel asked Alexis.

“Im not opposed to helping” Ziggy commented.

“Neither am I” Dillon added.

“Well have any of you made pizza from scratch before?” Alexis asks looking up from the dough for the moment still moving it on the counter.

“I have a faint idea of how to prepare the ingredients” Dillon replied.

“I haven’t but I’ll follow his lead so I don’t screw up” Axel quickly added

“I remember how, but I don’t trust myself not to cause a fire” Ziggy commented

“Okay then,” Alexis responds pausing for a second before saying, “Axel, Dillon. Could you prepare the rest of the ingredients for me and Ziggy could you pass me the ingredients as I ask for them?”

“Yep,” Dillon and Axel replied in unison as they did what they were told.

“Yes ma’am!” Ziggy replied with a salute smiling while doing so.

Dillon began to carefully slice the meat, Axel doing the same as he made sure to follow Dillon’s same movements before immediately pushing some of the cut ingredients to the side Ziggy immediately picking up and holding them up to Alexis.

“Let me finish preparing the base first, we can’t put anything on it till I finish making that,” Alexis asked with a kind tone while smiling at Ziggy.

“Ok” Ziggy replied placing the ingredients on a nearby counter as he sat down on a nearby chair watching Alexis prepare the base.

“Can I ask you a question auntie?” Ziggy asked Alexis who looked at the boy.

“You can. What do you want to know?” Alexis asks looking over her shoulder at Ziggy.

“What was dad like, before all this?” the boy asked curiosity lacing his voice.

“In what regard do you mean?” Alexis asks as she finishes kneading the dough.

“Before everything related to being displaced and changing so much” Ziggy replied.

“Before he died… well even though to me he was my brother, he filled that role for many others as well. He cared for everyone and always put them before himself if needed. When our little brother and his friends got into trouble he’d normally be the one to sort problems out for them, in many ways even for the others he was the big brother to each of them.”

Ziggy smiled in response, “sounds like those were pretty happy times huh?”

“They were, it was rare to ever see him angry at anyone. He almost seemed to know exactly what to say to handle a situation peacefully without conflict. He always looked to be able to control anyone emotions when he needed to.”

“Kinda similar to his powers if you think about it” Axel commented before passing another ingredient to Ziggy who organized them in specific groupings.

“I suppose so,” Alexis responds as he reaches for what looked be a small jar of tomato puree as she pours some out from the jar before spreading it on the pizza base.

“You two talking about this makes me wonder how my life was like before all this” Dillon stated out loud as he intently looked at his reflection in the knife he was holding before it flashed to a face that had a black haze obscuring its facial features the only visible thing being its black hair as it looked back the boy.

Dillon was unnerved by this immediately put the knife down and shook his head.

“I take it you don’t have any memories of your past then?” Alexis responds as she begins placing the toppings onto the pizza base.

“No, the only thing I remember is that I had a team before this and that I have a big sister if she’s even still around” the boy replied.

“And you don’t remember anything about her at all?”

“Only that she has red hair, anything other than that is a blur, and when I try to remember I just get these splitting headaches”.

Dillon let out a sigh, “If she is alive I just hope that I can find her”.

“If she is in this world and hasn’t come to you yet. You can bet that something extremely important is holding her up or stopping her from reaching you,” Alexis responds with an almost motherly tone in her voice while smiling at Dillon.

“Thanks, auntie” The boy replied, giving her a fanged smile.

“It’s not a problem. I’m happy to talk to you about things if you ever need me,” Alexis responds.
“I’ll make sure to remember that Auntie” Dillon responded.

“Auntie Shade are you in here?” a voice asked from near the door.

“Huh, what?” Dillon said as he and the boys look to where the voice came from tilting their heads in confusion.

As they looked towards the door they saw two children standing near it. The first looked mostly human, but had cream interlocking scales covering his body along with a horn and wings on his back, and was wearing a simple green top with some jeans.

The second figure was also a young boy who had blond hair and red eyes, he was wearing brown cargo shorts, and an open white jacket which allowed everyone to see the red tattoos that were on his chest, also around his waist was what looked to be gold and blue plates of armour.

The groups looked towards each other in silence before Dillon decided to speak, “Um who are you two?” Dillon asked.

The first figure seemed to duck behind the second as he heard Dillon before the second looked at Dillon before calmly saying, “the same could be asked for you.”

“Fair enough, but I asked first” Dillon replied.

“Okay. You can call me Gil, the child behind me is Hiryur,” the first figure now known as Gil responded, “but who are you three?”

“Im Dillon, that’s Axel and the one over there is Ziggy” Dillon replied as Axel gave a silent wave.

“Hiya it’s nice to meet you” Ziggy said as he walked next to Dillon

“Who exactly are you… I swear you look familiar,” Gil responds looking at Ziggy.

“I- um” Ziggy attempted to reply before giving up, “I don’t know how to explain it”.

“Gil. Can you stop being rude to your brothers,” Alexis responds looking over at Gil and Hiryur.

“Brothers? What are you on about?”

“Your father adopted the two of them earlier today. Not sure if they’re older or younger than you though for which way this goes.” Alexis adds.

“Im fifteen and I think Dillon’s a year younger than me” Ziggy commented.

“Probably” Dillon replied to Ziggy.

“How old are you guys then?” Dillon asked Gil and Hiryur.

“No idea,” Hiryur responds nervously as he hid behind Gil.

“For me… to be fair after I was kidnapped I lost track but I think maybe ten… or was it eleven?” Gil responds.

“Let’s not get too deep into that, it may just cause a headache for all of us..” Dillon stated.

“Is there a reason you two came in here?” Axel asked finally speaking.

“I was looking for my dad and assumed Auntie Shade might know where he was. I was told by some of the guards he left the town for some reason,” Gil responds.

“He was in here earlier but he went to go something” Dillon commented

“At this time… maybe with the others like me,” Hiryur suggests.

“Maybe, I did overhear him say something though, he said something along the lines of dealing with his mistakes before leaving the room” Dillon replied

“Well, it was the ‘cult of Shade’ that did this to us,” Hiryur responds quietly.

“He does blame himself for the existence of the cult. I mean they were formed with him as the figurehead, and did what they did in his name.” Alexis points out.

“Yikes…”Ziggy muttered.

“What is wrong with people…” Dillon spoke with a mutter, clear discomfort in his voice.

“From what I know of the group before it wasn’t in the state it is now. The group used to protect people from aggressive monsters, but at some point new leadership took charge and started working with the monsters and started doing experiments to both create new monsters, sustain and strengthen the old ones and selling some off as ‘products’ to the highest bidder,” Alexis responds.

“If dad didn’t arrive when he did… I would have been turned into a mindless servant the next day and sold to someone in another nation with the others born on the same day as me,” Hiryur stated clinging onto Gil tightly.

Dillon’s eyes widened as his face went from shock to anger the boy gritted his teeth before immediately closing his eyes and taking a breath, “Don’t get angry, don’t get angry…” before saying to Hiryur, “I’m just glad dad was able to save you”.

“I wish he was earlier to save me before they did this,” Hiryur responded stepping away from Gil before taking a breath as his entire body was covered in flames before fading to see that Hiryurs arms had changed into two long scythe-like blades, while his face and wings looked to be a mix of that of a bug and dragon while he also had a horn on his head that looked to be twisted with holes through it, while his eyes were two different colours one being red slits while the other looked to be a normal green eye.

Axel looked towards Hiryur with sympathy while Ziggy and Dillon were completely silent not knowing what to say at all.

“And mine is tamer than the others he saved, at least I can control my changes to some degree,” Hiryur responds turning back to normal, “most of us end up harming either ourselves or others by mistake or from the mental conditioning they did to them before dad arrived are seemed to be unable to avoid attacking or kidnapping specific races of creatures or a specific target.”

The boys just looked towards Hiryur in silence not knowing what to say in response before Axel broke the silence.

“Is there anything we could do to help?”.

"You may be able to help calm them down and get them to sleep. They seem to react well to dad… but that may be due to the mental conditioning to follow the cult’s god,” Hiryur responds, “you can try though it couldn’t hurt as long as you're careful.”

“and there’s a chance we could get attacked on sight?” Dillon asked.

“I don’t think they have a hit out on any of you that could make them target you. So you should be safe,” Hiryur responds.

“That’s good,” Ziggy said with a sigh of relief.

“I can take you down to them if you want, but if you think I'm in a bad way, you may not like what you see.” Hiryur warns the group.

“We might see it later on so we might as well go now” Axel commented Dillon and Ziggy nodding in agreement.

“I’ll make sure to finish your food for you to eat after you finish then,” Alexis responds with a calm smile.

“Ok!” Dillon replied with a smile.

“You might aswell follow me to where Shade is. You’ll never find him otherwise,” Gil responds as they see Hiryur grab ahold of Gil’s hand.

“Alrighty then, lead the way” Ziggy replied as he and Dillon were picked up by Axel.

“How far is that place anyway?” Dillon asked.

“If I was Shade, a minute’s walk… for us five minutes to reach it if we are lucky,” Gil responds.

“That sounds about right,” Axel admitted.

“Let's get going then don’t want to make the walk last more than five minutes” Dillon added.

“OKay then follow me,” Gil responds as he begins to walk out the door.

Axel closely followed behind the two while having Dillon and Ziggy in his arms, the two boys giving Alexis a slight wave as they left the room as she waved back to them.

Five minutes after the group had left the kitchen area they found themselves walking down a long flight of stairs, the walls lit with some shining crystals showing them a faint path through the darkness.

“At the bottom of these stairs we need to take a right then three lefts and we should be there,” Gil responds calmly.

Axel and the boy’s quietly nodded as they follow behind him as they continued down the stairs, Dillon and Ziggy just glancing at the crystals on the walls before they came down to the last steps of the stairs, before seeing a passageway to their right, Gil immediately walking in as they continued to follow behind him.

Two minutes later after following Gil they were in the last passageway before Dillon asked, “This was the last left we had to take, right?”.

“Should be, as long as the maze hasn’t changed again,” Gil calmly said, “If it has… we may be a bit longer.”

“Alright” Dillon responded as they continued down the path and after another few moments of walking they began to faintly see a large door at the end of the room softly lit with similar crystals to the path they had been walking down.

They quickened their pace slightly until they were directly in front of the door as Gil slowly opened it the Axel backing up slightly just so he wasn’t in the way.

As soon as the door opened they found themselves in what looked to be a mostly empty room. It had multiple tables and chairs set out and a single window at the back of it.

“This definitely isn’t barren and slightly creepy…” Dillon muttered out,

“To be fair, this is basically a break room,” Gil points out gesturing for them to look out the window.

The boys go up to the window and look out to see a large long room that looked to have rows upon rows of cots down one half of the room and small beds on the other side, each row seeming endless as they look down into the room below.

“Whoa…” Ziggy gasped.

“I knew there were a lot of them but, I didn’t think it would look like this” Dillon stated out in shock.

“Every one of those beds and cots has someone in them, and most of those in the cots were born not even ten minutes before Shade arrived, minutes after birth they fed them something that physically aged us up to look around the age of seven in less than three minutes,” Hiryur points out.

“Dear lord…” Axel muttered out.

“At least dad was able to get y'all away from them” Ziggy commented

“These are just the ones that were born that day… there is more room than this,” Hiryur adds, “around five more rooms like this one last time I checked.”

“That's definitely a lot,” Axel admitted.

“You can say that again….” Dillon replied as he pinched the bridge of his nose, “I can’t imagine going through something like that, that sounds horrible and the fact that there’s so many as well…”.

Dillon a moment later shook his head and asked Gil, “So any place else down here we need to see?”.

“Depends, what bracket do you think you can handle looking after? Remember many of these only psychically look old, most are mentally not smarter than newborns.” Gil calmly points out, “Unless you want to have to try changing them I would recommend going for the older ones, but then you will be to be careful of the mutations.”

“I don’t really trust my judgement so maybe the older one’s?” Dillon replied.

“Same here,” Axel added.

“How old are you wanting to go for?” Hiryur asks looking at the group with a curious look in his eyes.

“I don’t really know to be honest with you” Dillon responded

“Not gonna lie I feel the same way” Axel admitted.

“What about you Ziggy?” Axel asked the boy who just shook his head.

“I don’t trust myself not to screw up so i’ll pass” Ziggy replied as he rubbed his arm.

“You sure?”.

“Yeah I'm sure” Ziggy quickly responded.

“You can’t be bad at everything,” A familiar voice responded from behind the group as they turned to see Valkyrie standing behind them.

“Oh, hey Valkyrie,” Dillon said in surprise.

“I don’t want to risk it” Ziggy just quietly said before sitting himself down on one of the chairs.

“I take it you all came to see Lord Shade?” Valkyrie responds with a shake of his head, “He’s a bit preoccupied right now looking after a rather… troublesome group of children down there.”

“Those two were looking for him when we were in the kitchen with Lord Shade’s sister and these two decided to go along with them” Axel said as he motioned towards Dillon and Ziggy.

“Either way you are welcome to stay here if you want, but he will be a while. If you want to try and help we’re onto the third chamber of children,” Valkyrie responds.

“Me and Dillon are willing to help, Ziggy on the other hand wants to sit out for that” Axel replied.

“I take it he doesn’t like dealing with children,” Valkyrie calmly responds looking at Ziggy.

“It's not that I just don’t want to hurt one by accident” Ziggy replied.

“I think you’ll be fine, the kids were at now are mostly in a physical and mental state just below Hiryur’s.”

“I… Alright, I’ll do it” Ziggy replied with a nod getting a pat on the back from Axel and Dillon.

“I don’t think it’ll be too hard as long as you all have enough stamina to play with the kids,” Valkyrie responds, “If you want I can lead you to Lord Shade first.”

“S-sure” Ziggy replied with a nod.

“Well then follow me,” Valkyrie responds gesturing for the group to follow him as he walked towards a nearby door.

The group closely follows behind him as he opened the door and walked in the group following him through before Axel closed the door behind himself once everyone was through.

After a minute of walking down a long staircase along with a corridor, they heard what sounded like the sound of laughter echoing from further down it.

“Sounds like he’s already started with the last group of kids from this set.” Valkyrie calmly says as he continues walking forwards

They continued to follow behind him as the boys just tilted their heads slightly hearing the laugher a bit more clearer as their ears twitched slightly.

Dillon during this looked to Axel and Ziggy before just speeding up his pace slightly as he heard the laughter again.

“Dillon slows down,” Axel said before immediately jogging up to the boy and picking him by his waist.

“It’s best not to tire yourselves out before we reach the kids, if you do they’ll run circles around you.” Valkyrie responds

“Fine..” Dillon replied.

“It’s a good thing that Im used to stuff like that then” Ziggy commented with a chuckle.

“What do you mean?” Dillon asked.

“I used to take care of some orphans a long while ago before everything else happened so im used to be around kids with a lot of energy”.
“Why did you not want to help before then?” Axel asked.

“Something happened that led them to get hurt because of someone I knew and something I did I had to leave because I didn’t want them to be threatened anymore”.

“If you want to talk about we won’t force you to” Dillon replied.

“No, it’s fine” Ziggy responded.

The group went silent as they continued walking before Axel grabbed Ziggy and ruffled his hair the boy smiled in response as the group came up to a door and they heard the sound of laughter coming from behind it as Valkyrie stopped walking turning towards the door.

“Okay they should still be here,” Valkyrie calmly says his hand reaching towards the door.

The boy’s nods in response as Valkyrie opened the door, the group sees Shade and Luna at the back of the room with multiple children sleeping in both her arms and wings while Midnight was playing with the other children who were laughing as they seemed to chase after her.

The boys smile as the group walks into the room, Axel placing the two boys down as Gil and Hiryur walk past them, before running towards Shade.

Luna looked up seeing the two approaching them before her horn began to glow and she slowly moved to the side her magic covering the children she was carrying as the two boys quickly sat beside Shade as Hiryur placed his head against his side while Gil sat there patiently.

Dillon and Ziggy just walk towards them, Axel silently following behind them as went in front of Shade Ziggy for a moment glancing at one of the children which seemed to be a dragon, Ziggy tilting his head for a moment as he intently looked at the child.

“Cute…”the boy muttered.

“Is that a dragon?” Dillon muttered to himself before noticing that the children had differences in how they looked, one had an appearance of a bear with some red splotches in the fur and another with an appearance of changeling with grey and blue eyes.

The children didn’t answer as they looked at the group before two of them seemed to notice Dillon and Ziggy as a mischievous grin appeared on their faces.

“I feel a disturbance in the force” Ziggy muttered as he and Dillon stepped back for a moment before they saw a flash of light as Ziggy felt two things touch his ear and begin to rub them.

Ziggy immediately went cross eyed as he fell on his butt, Dillon seeing this covered his ears as he attempted to back away.

Ziggy meanwhile every few seconds would twitch from the rubs on his ears as he attempted to reach for Dillon for assistance only for his ear to get rubbed again and his body tensing up.

Dillon just hid behind Axel’s leg who just gave an amused smirk in response.

“That didn’t take long for one of them to see the ears,” a voice said from behind Dillon as he felt someone wrap their arms around his shoulders.

Dillon's eyes widened as he turned his head back finding Midnight looking at him with a smile on his face.

Dillon let out a low whimper in response as he saw Midnight's hand reach for his ear only for him to block it with his palm.

“No touch” Dillon said with a whisper before looking up to Axel who just glanced at him.

“Help me” Dillon mouthed out.

Axel in response just looked away with a whistle.

“You traitor!” Dillon said under his breath.

“No touchy!” Dillon said as he continued to stop Midnight from touching his ears.

“Don’t worry, I don’t want to tickle my little brothers ear right now,” Midnight responded before teleporting, as they heard her voice above them, “I’ve got another set in mind,” She adds before she began to rub Axel’s ears.

“Hey wait a minute-” Axel attempted to say before his head began to twitch slightly before immediately sitting on the ground as his leg could be seen thumping on the floor.

Dillon silently backed away from the two before backing himself into a wall.

Not too long after some of the other children turned their attention to Dillon who let out a low whimper in response as they began to approach him each with wide smiles on their faces.

The boy just looked at them with fear before one of them went to grab him.

“No!” Dillon shouted as he jumped out of the way, the children immediately running after him as he tried his hardest to keep his distance.

He attempted to run away again only for one of the kids to grab onto his tail causing him to fall over as they began to dogpile him.
“No, mercy!” Dillon said as he attempted to get away only for the kids to rub his ears and tail causing him to go limp.

“Does the doggy like his ear scratched?” one of the children asked Dillon as they paused for a moment, their hands still on the back of his ear.

“I'm not a do-” Dillon attempted to say before his words just turned into incoherent babbles as his ear was rubbed once again.

“Can’t move…” Axel whispered out as his foot continued to thump on the floor.

Ziggy couldn’t say anything of note since the noises that came from him were just random babbling.

The three were unable to do anything at all as they endured what was dealt to them.

This continued for a couple of minutes before the two children that had been rubbing Ziggy’s ears suddenly stopped their bodies moving side to side almost looking like they were drunk before they both dropped to the floor beginning to snore with a content look on their face.

Ziggy for a moment held a dazed look on his face before he pushed himself off from the ground, his legs wobbling for a moment before he looked to the two children in confusion, “I…what?”.

“So full…” both children said in their sleep as they looked to hold their bellies.

“Huh?” Ziggy said, confused as noises from Dillon and Axel were heard in the background.

The boy turned around to see the state Axel and Dillon were in.

“Mercy…”

“Can’t move…”

Ziggy started back away from the two, a nervous look on his face before he backed into someone and when he looked up he saw that it was Shade, the boy giving him a look that said that he needed an answer to what just happened.

“Dad, what was that?” Ziggy asked.

“In simple terms. You three fed these mutated changelings,” Shade responds, “and in their case. They are tiring the kids out so they’ll go to sleep. You got the easier job, those kids will be like this for a while. As for Axel… Midnight has a think for rubbing your guys ears. I think she finds the reactions funny.”

“I got that much..” Ziggy replied as he and Shade heard Axel’s foot thumping on the floor again.

“Your ev-” Axel attempted to say before Midnight interrupted him by rubbing his ear causing him to let out a low animal like whine.

Meanwhile with Dillon he was just laying there while the three children crowding around him continued what they were doing as his tail, ears or body would twitch every few seconds.

“Yikes….” Ziggy said with a wince.

“I would say we leave them to it, but I feel like they would hate us for it,” Luna responds leaning in to kiss Shade.

“Knowing Dillon he’d probably hold a grudge” Ziggy commented before seeing one of the kids drag said boy by his tail.

“Well, do you want to help them, or help me with the rest of my rounds… I just have three more groups left… although none of them are playful children after these.”

Ziggy went to answer only for him to go silent once one of the children around Dillon look towards him, the boy immediately hiding behind Shade.

“They’re not that bad Ziggy,” Shade responds with a calm smile as the child that looked at Ziggy waved to Shade, while each of the children near Dillon stopped as they each smiled at Shade with huge grins on their faces.

“H-hi” Ziggy said as he waved to the kids while Dillon slowly stood up from the ground muttering, “Oh sweet relief…”.

As soon as Dillon spoke all the childrens heads turned back towards him, “Is the little doggy ready for more ear scratches?” the one that seemed to be leading the group asked as he rubbed Dillon ears again using magic.

“No-” Dillon said before falling to the floor again.

Each of the children simply began giggling at this as two of them began to rub Dillons belly, while another began rubbing the bottom of his feet.

“Guess Dillon’s popular with them” Ziggy said with a chuckle.

“To be fair, some of them were kept with Diamond dogs who are very close in how they react to this as you three did,” Shade responds.

The two that were rubbing Dillons belly not too long after saw his leg start to shake, seemingly like it was attempting to thump on the ground.

Not too long after the kids started to see that Dillon’s tail was starting to wag.

“Looks like the doggy is starting to enjoy this,” the child rubbing his feet states as she began to rub Dillon feet quickly while doing the same to his hands using magic.

Dillon’s demeanor slowly started to change from trying to get away to pushing into their hands as some of the fluff of his fur started to show more from his cloak.

“I think he’s starting to like it dad” Ziggy commented.

“Lets hope he does… I imagine they have another half hour of energy in them before they tire,” Shade responds.

“Hopefully” Ziggy replied.

The kids were enjoying their time with Dillon especially since it seemed to them that he began to enjoy it since he started to make dog-like noises every few seconds.

Not too long after Axel fell forward, his face on the ground as a groan could be heard from him, Midnight sitting on his back with a smug look on her face.

“Have you had enough?” Midnight asked with a grin on her face.

“I understand why Dillon’s afraid of you….” Axel replied before his face fell back to the floor as he let out a low groan.

“So you admit defeat? Or do you want some more ear or belly rubs?” Midnight asked her voice still sounding calm and cheerful.

“No more, I admit defeat!” Axel quickly said while Ziggy looked on with concern.

“I've never seen Axel act like this before it’s kinda scary…” Ziggy said in a mutter.

“Its a shame it’s about to get worse for him,” Luna responds in a kind tone.

“Huh?” Ziggy said in confusion before looking back to Axel.

“So you admit defeat then,” Midnight calmly said before leaning in and whispering into Axel’s ear, “So I can do whatever I want to you and you’ll not argue as long as I stop petting you?”

“Yes,” Axel quickly replied.

“Okay then. But you still need to sit here okay,” Midnight replies, her voice still remaining calm and childlike as she blew into Axel’s ear.

Axel’s body immediately tensed up when she did that, his eyes widening in response.

“Oh Axel you poor fool” Ziggy muttered to himself.

“What was that, what did you just do?” Axel said to Midnight as he glanced towards her only getting a smile in response.

“Oh and no actions preventing what I do.” She added, still smiling as she blew into his other ear.

Axel’s body tensed up again as he gave her a concerned look, “I've made a grave mistake…”.

“Oh Axel you poor fool..” Ziggy said in a mutter.

“Now… let's find out where else you react to being touched,” Midnight responds as she begins to rub Axel’s belly rapidly.

Axel’s leg began to shake the same way Dillon’s was as he began to twitch slightly.

“Mercy-” Axel attempted to say only for Midnight to Rub his belly faster.

“So the belly has that reaction,” she responded before stopping, “where to try next?”

Axel’s head was spinning, he never experienced something like that before and part of him felt concerned because of it.

“Do you have any suggestions?” Midnight asked, her voice still not changing in tone as she began rubbing Axel’s chin.

Axel’s head began to twitch slightly and after a moment since she started doing that, Axel’s head began to push into her hand the opposite of what he wanted to do, “What the..”.

“Do you enjoy that?” Midnight asks her head cocked to the side slightly.

“No I didn’t” Axel quickly replied, denying that a part of him actually enjoyed it.

“I think she’s starting to break him. '' Ziggy started with a giggle.

“Well then I guess I need to find another place then,” Midnight responded after a few moments tapping the front of his nose before Axel felt something rubbing against the bottom of his feet.

Axel’s eyes went wide for a moment as low noise could be heard from him, his face angled to the floor before everyone heard a low chuckle come from him.

“What?” Ziggy said as he leaned to the side only for him to cover his mouth to prevent a laugh.

Axel's face was scrunched up as he attempted to not laugh.

“I think we’ll keep with this for a long time,” Midnight responds as she looked at Axel’s face as one of her wings reaches under his right arm before pausing her actions for a second, “I hope you're ready for the next thirty minutes at the least.”

The look in Axel’s eyes screamed for help as he looked to Midnight, “Please mercy…”.

“Oh this is merciful,” Midnight responded as her wings began to rub under his arms in slow circles as his body started to go limp as she did this and Ziggy could see that Midnight was enjoying every moment of this.

“And now to add the feet.” She added as her magic began to rub against Axel's feet again, “welcome to our next half an hour.”

During this Ziggy could see Axel’s writhing on the floor with Midnight still on his back with that same smile, the boy also hearing Axel struggling to hold in his laugh.

“As fun as this is to watch, I need to deal with the other groups,” Shade states as his magic begins to slowly levitate the sleeping children in his arms towards some nearby beds.

“Can I go with you dad?” Ziggy asked, looking up to Shade.

“Sure you don’t want to stay with your brothers,” Shade asked as he looked at Axel and Dillon.

Ziggy just looked at Axel and Dillon, Axel was completely unable to move from under Midnight as he writhed under her and Dillon was slowly starting to act more like a dog from what the kids were doing to him.

Ziggy went quiet for a moment before saying “Yeah I'm sure” as Axel and Dillon glanced towards the two Axel’s eyes screaming for help and Dillon’s being completely blank from all the rubbing.

“Okay then.” Shade responds as the last of the children in his arms were placed in the nearby beds along with the two that had fallen asleep on the floor, “If you're ready to go just say… unless you want to try and help them first.”

“Im ok to go now” Ziggy quickly replied.

“Okay then,” Shade responds leaning in and kissing Luna on the forehead again, “I’ll spend some more time with you later on after I finish up my rounds.”

“Take as long as you need, just try and help the others that are still in control of themselves,” Luna responds.

“I will try,” Shade says back with a simple nod of his head as he stands up, and begins walking towards the door, “Lets get going then.”

“Ok dad” Ziggy said as he quickly ran to catch up to Shade, Dillon and Axel looking towards him before Ziggy came up next to Shade and grabbed his hand.

“Help-” Axel attempted to mouth out only to burst out in laughter, the older boy finally breaking.

Ziggy looked back to Axel before saying, “I'm sorry…”.

“Please stop, I can't!” Axel said through his laughter which only spurred Midnight to continue doing it, her magic appearing at random places over his body.

“Oh no. I can’t stop… we’ve only just started,” Midnight calmly responds, as Hiryur and Gil look to eachother before running up next to Shade as they walked out the room.

“Don’t leave, help!” they heard Axel say before they heard him laugh hysterically again, as they door shut behind them.

“I used to be an only child and always wanted siblings but never have I thought I would be afraid of one of them” Ziggy muttered under his breath.

“And she is terrifying,” Hiryur adds as he grips Shade’s hand tightly.

“But still… I feel like there hell is only just starting,” Gil responds, “Once she’s done with him… I think the other is next while he’s out of it.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised, by the way Dillon acts around her, he may have been her first victim at some point and I have a feeling I’ll be next…” Ziggy replied.

“You would have been if you stayed around there,” Shade responds.

Ziggy just shivered in place, “then I'm glad I went with you dad”.

“You may change your mind on that once we get to the next part of my rounds,” Shade responds.

“It’s the ones who were freed in the middle of their ‘training’ isn’t it,” Hiryur responds, his voice sounding almost sad as he did.

Ziggy didn’t say anything as they continued walking down the halls without another word.

Chapter 12 (Rewrite)

After five minutes of walking the group reached a large door similar to the one Ziggy had seen when he arrived; however, it looked to have an intricate lock keeping it closed.

“That looks…like a very complicated door,” Ziggy said out loud.

“Considering what's on the other side… it needs to be,” Shade responds, placing his hand on the door as red flames lit up the symbols on the door before it slowly opened the room behind still being dark.

Ziggy just narrowed his eyes as he stared into the darkness of the room, his vision partially being able to see into it, finding the room inside to look to be a long corridor with seemingly no lights inside.

“It’s pretty dark in there, kinda gives me an eerie vibe to honest” Ziggy commented.

“There's a reason it’s dark in this area,” Hiryur responds, “it’s for both ours and their own good.”

“are they not able to handle the light?” Ziggy asked looking up to Shade.

“I wish it was that simple, if it was I wouldn’t need that lock active at all times,” Shade responds walking into the room as familiar crystals in a similar style to that which appeared on the den lit up along the ceiling covering the room in a crimson glow illuminating the pathway forwards as Ziggy saw the room was mostly barren.

“I don’t understand..” Ziggy said in response.

“This isn’t the stop we need,” Shade responds solemnly before saying, “Harmony, open the two doors ahead and shut off the traps.”

Ziggy hearing this grasped onto Shade’s hand tighter as some fear showed on his face.

“Don’t worry, the traps are just a precaution to keep those ahead safe if we were attacked by something,” Shade calmly says as he rubs Ziggy’s head before the door ahead begins to open the room ahead filled with a soft red light like the room they were in.

Ziggy’s eyes widened slightly as he quietly looked towards the room ahead of them.

“Which is it we’ll handle first dad, those who were in the process or too late to be saved with their free will intact?” Hiryur asked, looking up at Shade.

“Those I barely reached in time,” Shade responds in his voice, seeming to show barely any sign of emotion.

Ziggy got a shiver up his spine once he heard Shade speak as he elected to not speak, as Shade took another step forwards toward the newly opened door, as Ziggy followed him through Gil and Hiryur not far behind.

As the group reached the doors on the other end of the room the door closed behind them leaving the group in darkness.

“So dark..” Ziggy said as his eyes attempted to adjust to the darkness, before red lights suddenly turned on illuminating the room as Ziggy immediately quickly covered his eyes as he let out a low groan.

“Just give it a second,” Shade responds.

Ziggy just rubbed his eyes for a moment before removing his arm from his face as his vision started to go back into focus again, as he found that the room was filled with what looked to be medical beds, each one having a figure laying on them, many seeming to be vacantly looking to the ceiling while others looked lifeless as drool ran down their faces.

“Oh my god” Ziggy muttered before looking back up to Shade, he wasn’t able to see any emotion on his face before saying, “So this is what you were talking about…”.

“All of them have no memories, no personalities, no dreams or aspirations for the future. The cult wiped away everything to create blank slates as soon as they were physically old enough to be of use before reprogramming them like machines to follow orders or do what whoever brought them required.” Shade responded.

“This would have been my fate if dad didn’t arrive the day he did,” Hiryur responded, his voice weak and hoarse as he walked to one of the nearby beds that held a figure that looked almost identical to Hiryur.

The figure staring at Hiryur blankly while his hand was held, looking at Hiryur blankly drool running down his face.

“Is he?” Ziggy attempted to ask only to stop.

“For all purposes… my biological brother,” Hiryur responded, “we were born from the same dragoness and hatched at the same time, shared a room until he was taken away one night as we were each bound to a bed. He never was brought back. I only found out he became this the day after I was saved and found him linked up to a machine, in the middle of the wiping process with everything erased.”

Ziggy’s eyes widened as he went quiet not before saying, “Im so sorry, Hiryur”.

“The only way to help him or almost anyone in this room would be to repeat the process and turn them into mindless puppets only able to follow orders that they were told to do. But even then… they can’t be turned back to who they were before.” Hiryur responded as he began cleaning the drooling child's face. “That is the fate the cult gave us to live as a mindless slave and nothing more till they discard us and buy a new one.”

While Ziggy listened to Hiryur words his face slowly started to go into a mix of multiple emotions as he absentmindedly let out his claws while he tightly clenched his own fist.

“I…” the boy attempted to say before going quiet once more.

“They were only a mass produced product to sell for profit to other creatures for whatever purpose they desired… I mean any purpose no matter how horrific, cruel or immoral. It didn’t matter to them as long as they could make more loyal puppets.” Shade admitted, “And they did it all in my name.”

Ziggy just covered his mouth in silence as he looked like he was about to vomit the boy's eyes tightly shut closed.

“Dad… How many are you ‘fixing’ today,” Hiryur asked, looking at Shade.

“Say it how you mean it,” Shade responded, still sounding like he had before entering the room.

“How many of them are you going to finish the process for it your own way,” Hiryur repeated, before looking back to his brother, “I think… I want you to try and save him.”

Ziggy overheard this and looked over to Hiryur confused, “I thought it wasn’t possible to reverse it?”.

“There's a stark difference between reverse and save,” Shade responds.

“Just… can you at least have him remain with me?” Hiryur asked.

“How are you wanting him to remain with you?” Shade asked.

“I know this is against everything you wanted to do for them but…” Hiryur then paused, “could you remake him as both a friend and guard for me?”

“You want me to remake your brother as your personal guard and friend… that a big change from being your brother.”

“I know but… I can’t bear to see him like this for even another day. At least that way he’d always be with me… right?” Hiryur asked as he finished cleaning the boys face.

“He would but…”

“He wouldn’t be my brother anymore… I know. Just please… do it for me.” Hiryur asked, looking at Shade pleadingly.

“Its better than being a mindless shell” Ziggy muttered out.

Shade looked down for a moment before sighing, “okay just… sit him up for me and hold him still.”

“Okay,” Hiryur responded carefully, placing his arms behind the child's back but struggling to move him.

Ziggy silently moved next to him and helped him move the child as Ziggy remained quiet.

Once the child was sat up straight Shade placed his hand over the child's forehead before closing his eyes a red flame moved up his arms before making contact with the child's head. The second it made contact the child began to breath hard and fast seeming to shake his head slightly in reflex.

“It’s okay. Don’t worry. It’s okay,” Hiryur calmly said, looking away with tears in his eyes as the child's blank eyes seemed to flick around an almost panicked look forming on his face.

Ziggy just sighed before placing his hand on the child's head and softly rubbing it causing him to stop moving like he was before as Ziggy let out a low shush. “It's ok, It's gonna be ok..” Ziggy then said in a low whisper, the child's blank eyes seeming to water.

“Okay. we’re almost there,” Shade calmly said as the child's eyes seemed to roll into the back as his head tilted backwards, his scales that had turned gray slowly shifted in colour turning black with red markings appearing on some of his scales, while what looked to be small dragon like wings grew out on his black the membrane being black in colour with a red eye shaped mark inside along it.

The child then began to violently shake his eyes opening revealing two red marks in them each in a familiar eye shaped symbol which shrunk to create the pupil for his eyes, his breathing quickening throughout.

“Its gonna be over soon” Ziggy said as he just continued what he was doing not letting what was happening deter him from comforting the child.

After a few more moments Shade remove his hand from the childs head before saying, “let him lie back down.”

Ziggy and Hiryur do as they are told as they gently lay the child back down as the child closed his eyes again his breathing returning to normal, “Now we will just need to rest to let everything settle in his mind… he’ll be very confused when he regains consciousness,” Shade states as he looks at the child as his eyes closed again as his breathing softened.

“Like the others who need this doing normally he’ll not remember his name and will need to be taught how to care for himself won’t he.” Hiryur says, getting a nod from Shade.

“At least you’ll have him back even if it won’t be the same” Ziggy commented.

“I know. But was it the right thing to do?” Hiryur asked looking at Ziggy, “Did we make the right choice?”

“That's not for me to say” Ziggy replied before adding, “I know Dillon would say this would be the better choice given how he is, but if anything that's up to you to figure out Hiryur”.

“I know…” Hiryur states as Shade moved to the front of the bed grabbing what looked to be a long scrap of red and black fabric before moving to the side of the bed beside the child.

“Dad, what are you doing?” Ziggy asked

“When he fully regains consciousness they end up going into panic mode if the first person they see is not the one they are programmed to serve or a clear cult symbol is present in front of them. I’m going to blindfold him so when he wakes up he remains calm until we are ready for him,” Shade responds.

“The last time someone wasn’t they went into a panic attack the second they woke up and started attacking everyone around them until they were restrained again. It took a week of them being bound and confined in a dark room alone to calm down enough for dad to finish helping them,” Hiryur responded.

“Jesus…” Ziggy said with a mutter as he glanced at the child, as Shade wrapped the piece of fabric over his eyes before Valkyrie appeared beside him.

“Valkyrie. Please take him to the recovery room and keep an eye on him in case anything happens,” Shade requested getting a nod from Valkyrie in response as he slowly wheeled the bed the child was out of the room inside a smaller room at the side.

Ziggy just continued to look to where the child was being taken before turning his attention back to his brothers and Shade.

As soon as the child was out of the room Hiryur looked around them before saying, “but now we need to take care of the rest.”

“Are you gonna do it the same way with them?” Ziggy asked.

“Eventually but there is an issue. I can only do two a week at most,” Shade responds.

“It must take a lot out of you then” Ziggy replied.

“You could put it that way,” Shade responds looking away, “but it’s more the fact that the mere thought of doing it upsets me and I normally don’t want to do it after two people.”

“I wouldn’t blame you, all of this is, just thinking about it is too much”.

“Either way… We’ve got a lot of people to clean up and check on, think you can help with that?” Shade asks.

Ziggy nodded in response, “Yeah I think I can”.

“Okay. Lets get these done as quick as we can then we can get to the last area,” Shade responds.

“Alright dad” Ziggy replied as he went towards one of the children and going front of them as they started to do what they needed to do and after a couple of minutes Gil, Hiryur and Ziggy came back to Shade.

“Alright were done with everyone in here dad” Ziggy stated as he, Gil and Hiryur looked up to Shade.

“I’m almost done here, a few need a bit more doing so I just have the last five ahead of me to do. Think you could help deal with them while I finish up with the two here?” Shade asks.

“Alright,” Ziggy said with a nod as he went ahead of Shade as he looked at all of them but his vision immediately went on one of them which looked like a mutated Timberwolf as he immediately walked towards them, the boy then walking in front of them.

“Any idea about this one’s story dad?” Ziggy asked as he looked intently at the mutated timberwolf seeing that it had a small scar under its eye.

Shade stopped walking over to Ziggy looking at the wolf, “Sadly no. We don’t know anything about this one. I was told they found him strapped down alone in a room by himself during whatever they did to him.”

Ziggy clenched his fist in response as he continue looking at the timberwolf seeing that the scar was shown from under the fur which was a light auburn color before seeing that the rest of the timberwolves body seemed to be fairly human-like barring from much larger claws and hind legs.
“The more I see the more it makes me angry that damn cult thought that this was ok,” Ziggy said with a growl.

“The cult doesn’t care about any creature. If they can get ahold of a living creature they will try to mutate and control it for their own agenda,” Shade responds.

“None of these children deserved this..” Ziggy then muttered as he wiped the drool that dripped down the timberwolves mouth before looking into its eyes which blankly stared back at him.

“No creature deserves this… beyond the cult members themselves,” Shade responds as he rubs Ziggy’s head.

“Were you able to get them all?” Ziggy asked.

“As many of them as we could… although we are sure there are more than one group that are still active and continuing to do this to other creatures.”

“If you find one of them I want to make them suffer by my own hand” Ziggy replied as the boy gently grabbed the timberwolves hand feeling it twitch slightly.

“Trust me. If I find another group of them, I fully intend to make them suffer,” Shade responds.

“Good” Ziggy quickly responded as he went silent, continuing to look towards the mutated timberwolf.

“What's on your mind?” Shade asked as he looked down at Ziggy.

“I just wish I could help a lot more than I am capable of, but the more I wish for that the more I realize that I'm out of my depth,” Ziggy said in a whisper before adding, “And I keep remembering how useless I am”.

“Why do you think that?” Shade asks, kneeling down to be at eye level with Ziggy.

“Back before I was displaced, I was close with an orphanage that I would visit to help with the kids, and one day they were losing medicine due to being threatened and my dumbass decided to get it back,” Ziggy said before he took a breath.

After a moment the boy continued “Once I did that the people who stole it, they hurt the people at the orphanage and I couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it, heck back then everyone in the team other than Dillon treated me more like a nuisance than an ally or a friend”.

Shade then wrapped his arms around Ziggy before saying, “sometimes the right choices aren’t the best for everyone around you. But even then you can always fix them.”

Ziggy went quiet as he wiped his eyes before feeling Shade grab him and pull him into a hug.

“But still… what can you do with what you have now? What do you want to do?” Shade asks.

“I want to help the best I can, but I don’t know if that’s enough..” Ziggy answered.

“Just you being here and wanting to help is enough… it’s more than most would do.”

Ziggy just glanced back at the mutated timberwolf before asking, “Dad…do you think you can help this one as you did with the other one?” his voice wavered as he added, “I..I just can’t stand to see them like this”.

Shade looked at the wolf's body before he said, “You do understand what me helping him means for him… right.”

“Yeah I do, if need be I’ll take full responsibility for him, to watch out for him, to be a guide, and teach him some stuff” Ziggy replied as he looked towards Shade.

“No I mean… you understand what is forced onto him from what I’d do to him. It is essentially brainwashing them to follow me… like the cult was doing to them,” Shade points out, “Once this is done, he essentially will essentially see me like Valkyrie and the others do. Either referring to me by a title or treating me like a real Alpha.”

“I understand dad, even then at least he’ll actually be able to live compared to how he is now”.

“Fine. But you will need to look after him both during the process and while he recovers after this understand,” Shade responds.

“Yeah I understand dad, I’ll make sure to” Ziggy responded with a nod as he looked back to the timberwolf.

“Okay then. You know what to do,” Shade responds looking back at Ziggy, waiting for him to ready himself.

Ziggy nodded as he gently grabbed onto the Timberwolf and propped him up as Ziggy looked back to Shade.

“Okay then you ready. Once I start there is no turning back,” Shade repeated once again moving his hand towards the wolf's head, the flame moving up his arm.

Once Shade’s hand made contact with the wolfs head there was an almost immediate reaction from it as its claws suddenly dug into Ziggy’s arm who winced in response as he saw a reddish mark start to form on the back of its neck.

The mark itself slowly formed into a diamond like shape before the sides splintered off around the neck before going up the face and around the eyes.

Not too long after the wolf started to convulse in Ziggy’s grip, at first it was a slight twitch but as time went by it became more and more violent until Ziggy could hear them gasping out with tears going down their face.

“It’s gonna be ok” Ziggy said to the wolf as he tightly wrapped his arm around them.

“We’re almost done now, just a few seconds left,” Shade calmly says as a small eye shaped mark forms inside the symbol on the back of the wolf neck.

Ziggy continued to hold onto the wolf before hearing the wolf make more noises as its mouth opened and closed before it actually spoke, shocking the boy, “Please don’t”.

Ziggy’s eyes were wide in shock before he immediately spoke up, “D-dad stop!” as the mark on the back of the timberwolves neck shined for a moment, and not even a second later Shade removed his hand from the timberwolves head.

“And we’re done,” Shade responds, opening his eyes before looking at Ziggy, “Is something wrong?”

“He was still in there, he spoke…” Ziggy quietly replied before adding with a dead look in his eyes, “It was just for a moment but I heard him, he was still in there”

“If he was still in there before the mark flashed… I’m afraid he will be gone now,” Shade responded, “What did he say?”

“He said please don’t right before the mark flashed..” Ziggy responded with his voice completely monotone.

“...Did he not say anything else… anything more that that?” Shade asked.

“No, he just said that” Ziggy replied before adding, “It was like he was trying to come back through”.

Shade then looked back to the now unconscious Timberwolf as he rubbed his hand over the side of it’s face, “if he was trying to come back then it is not your fault that this happened to him. It is mine and mine alone, I should have noticed even the smallest change and acted the second you heard him.”

Shade’s head then lowered as he took a single slow breath, “I couldn’t save him and so many others originally and now I’ve done the same as the cult to someone who could have still recovered from what had happened to them.”
“I still suggested it..” Ziggy replied.

“Ziggy, listen to me. This is not your fault. It’s mine for failing him twice. I didn’t save him. I chose to do this to him. This is my sin to bear, not yours.”

“But…I understand dad” Ziggy quietly replied.

Shade then walked around the bed before wrapping his arms around Ziggy, “Just don’t worry about it okay… just focus on giving him the best new life you can. Okay.”

“Ok dad” Ziggy replied before he hugged Shade.

After a moment Ziggy grabbed the blindfold and placed it over the unconscious timberwolves’ eyes. “I promise that I’ll do my best dad” Ziggy stated.

“JUst you better decide on what he will do… I imagine you will take him back to the pack when you go home. But the question is what should we end up calling him?”

“I’ll call him…Logan” Ziggy stated.

“Well I suppose I’d better sort the last thing out before we move him to the other room,” Shade responds before pushing his right ear forward slightly before the packs mark formed behind the ear before removing his hand as the ear rested back against the unconscious wolf's head.

Ziggy just rubbed the top of the wolf’s head gently before gently picking him up, Ziggy making sure to hold the wolf in a position that wasn’t uncomfortable for the wolf.

“The place that we’re putting him in, is in the next room right?” Ziggy asked Shade as he looked up towards him.

“Yes, we need to take him to the same place Valkyrie went,” Shade responded as he looked at the last few people in the room, with Gil and Hiryur looking after two of them and the last being directly next to the door they were heading towards as he gestured for Ziggy to follow him.

Ziggy struggled to lift Logan for a moment before he slowly stood up and immediately followed behind Shade.

Ziggy slowly followed behind Shade before stopping as Shade opened up the door and during this Ziggy looked to the side to see a girl in a bed next to said door Ziggy couldn’t see her but he saw a fox-like tail poke out from under the blanket which not even a moment later completely knocked off the blanket that covered her body.

The boy immediately looked away from her but a moment before he did he saw that her hair had pinkish-white color to it and her skin was slightly pale but the most noticeable detail was that she had a fairly large chest.

“Um dad” Ziggy attempted to get the attention of Shade while averting his gaze from the girl.

Shades' eyes then turned noticing the girl before he shook his head, “really again. That tail always knocks her blanket off.” He adds before walking over to the side of her bed grabbing a clean cloth from the end of it and he does, seeing drool covering most of her upper body.

“Okay let's get you cleaned up.” Shade adds as he begins cleaning the drool off her body, “don’t worry little one you’ll be clean again soon just bear with me.” Once he had cleaned her chest up towards her neck he began to slowly wipe the remainder from around her mouth, “Almost done little one.”

The girl let out an incoherent mumble of words seemingly attempting to speak as her arm twitched every few seconds, which Shade noticed as he leaned in towards her, “Wait… can you see me?”

Her head twitched for a moment before it turned towards him as she spoke in that same incoherent mumble again.

Ziggy who glanced toward the two for a moment immediately spoke up, “I think she turned her head towards you”.

“It’s the first time any one of them have responded to anyone's presence here before I tried anything,” Shade added before looking back to her again, “if you can hear me try and blink for me”.

The girl looked towards him before her eyes began to twitch and after a moment of that happened they quickly closed and opened.

“Yep she’s aware of the world around her,” Shade responded, “Ziggy I’ll just be a second okay.”

“Alright dad” Ziggy replied with a nod.

“Okay then little one,” Shade calmly said before placing a hand on her head and closing his eyes, before forming a mental link between them, “Little one. How are you feeling?”

“I feel cold..” she replied.

Shade then used his magic to grab the blanket before recovering her tucking it in around her, “is that any better?”

“Yes much better” she replied before asking, “What is this place?”.

“How much do you remember from before you were here?” Shade asked as he finished tucking her in before rubbing the back of her neck.

“I was, I was laying on a table with two people in white coats next to me I couldn’t see their faces due to a light blinding me and I was barely able to make out what they were saying,” She said before going silent before speaking again, “But the only words I was able to make out were “Almost complete” before I Iost consciousness,” she said before letting out a pained groan.

“Don’t strain yourself okay,” Shade calmly stated, “those people you saw, they were doing experiments on you. From what they said I believe they mean they were close to finishing whatever they were doing to you.”

“So they didn’t finish what they were doing with me?” She asked.

“No… chances are the last step was to… basically brainwash and sell you off to someone.” Shade explained, “I arrived just before that and saved you and a lot of others. We got you away from them and brought you here.”

“Ok, then how long have I been here?”.

“You’ve been here for a bit over a week,” Shade responded, “D-do you know who I am?”

She went to answer him only for her to see something flash in her head that looked to be a badge of sorts before it immediately changed to a logo that was slowly burning itself into her head.

The girl attempted to not look at the logo but no matter what she did it was still there it wouldn’t go away.

Not too long after she went quiet as she let out a low noise of discomfort, Shade hearing her as if she was in pain, his hand then began to glow in a soft red light as he said, “don’t worry little one i’m here. Nobody’s going to hurt you.”

She saw the mark beginning to show again but it started to overlap over Shade as she went silent the girl not saying anything to him before her eyes focused directly at him and physically spoke with a stutter struggling to say his name, “Sh-Sh..ade”.

“Yes, that is my name. Do you remember who you are?” Shade asks, still rubbing her head.

“M-My N-Name is Auro..ra” She stuttered out towards him.

“Aurora. Please try and stay calm okay,” Shade responded as a small glass of water appeared to rise from the ground as he placed his arm around the back of her head bringing it to her lips, “Drink this slowly okay. “

Aurora did what she was told and attempted to drink the water as carefully as she could but due to her taking too big of a sip of water she started to have a coughing fit due to choking on it.

As soon as Shade realised this he quickly leaned her forwards as he began patting her one the back calmly saying, “Aurora, stay calm. It’s okay. I’m still here.”

She continued to cough before she slowly began to stop, “S-sorry” She then apologetically.

“Don’t worry it’s okay,” Shade responds slowly, cleaning her up again. “Are you feeling better?”

Aurora slowly nodded in response, “Y-yeah” she stuttered out.

“H-how do I-i know your n-name?” Aurora asked Shade.

“The people we saved you from… they are called the Cult of Shade. They formed while I was gone for a very, very long time and see me as their god.”

“Then why a-are they doing this if you’re against t-them?” Aurora replied confused.

“Well… their leader is pretending to be me and they believe he is the real one and I'm an imposter,” Shade responds with a hint of sadness still clear in his voice, “I’m sorry I didn’t find you sooner and prevent this from even happening to you.”

“At l-least, they didn’t finish w-what they were doing..” Aurora slowly responded before asking, “H-how many were worse off than m-me?”.

“Well… you’re mind is still somewhat intact and your not blindly following orders so your better off than at least a couple hundred grown creatures but… are I wouldn’t say that you are better off than the younger children either considering that are dealing with all of the changes to their body and having no control of them in most cases… so a few thousand that we know of so far.”

“At least those m-monsters don’t have them a-anymore” Aurora replied slowly, the stuttering still there but lessened.

“A lot of them they wouldn’t have still been there anymore anyway,” Shade responds, still rubbing her neck.

Aurora attempted to reply but the only noise that came out of her mouth was a strained yawn, as Shade saw that her eyes looked slightly out of it.

“Little one, try and get some sleep. I’ll come back and visit you again soon okay,” Shade responds as he slowly rested her back down against the bed, rubbing his hand slowly over her head.

“Okay…” Aurora drowsily replied before her eyes completely closed as Shade heard low snores coming from her.

Shade simply smiled back without another word before turning back to ZIggy, “Sorry for the delay, shall we get Logan to the next room so he can get settled?”

“Yep,” Ziggy replied with a nod as he adjusted his arms so he wouldn’t drop Logan.

“Do you want a hand?” Shade asks, walking back beside Ziggy.

“I got it dad” Ziggy quickly responded as he looked up to Shade with a smile as they began to go to the other room Shade opened up the door and motioned for Ziggy to follow behind him.

Ziggy doing what he was told nodded his head and walked through the door following closely behind Shade.

Once they were through the door Ziggy saw two beds set in the room, the first had Hiryur’s brother resting on it with Hiryur sat behind him holding his hand, while the second bed sat vacant.

Ziggy immediately walked over to the second bed and placed Logan down on it and making sure to be as gentle as possible.

“What do you intend to do for him once he wakes up,” Shade asks looking at Ziggy.

“I'm trying to figure that out myself,” Ziggy replied.

“Well you’ve got at least some to piece a plan together for him.”

“I'm not saying I don't, it's just taking a bit to piece it together in my head”.

“Well you do have around an hour until they normally become aware of things,” Hiryur points out, as they see the sleeping dragon on the bed's tail move slightly.

“Seems that one isn’t that far off from waking up” Ziggy pointed out.

“He’ll be a while yet. They always begin to move their bodys in places but their minds are still fragile for a while after. The fact his tail moved just tells me he’s getting feeling back in his limbs.”

“That’s good at least” Ziggy replied before he looked back to Logan.

“For this one, once he wakes up and settles in after becoming aware of things, I may ask for the help of Dillon and Axel to help teach this one the ways of our pack to start off” Ziggy stated with a soft smile as he rubbed the top of Logan’s head.

“So… I suppose he would be a new baby brother in your eyes.”

“You're not wrong” Ziggy admitted before he felt a hand on his head..

Ziggy looked to who had their hand on his hand as he saw Shade looking at him with a smile before saying, “I guess it also means you're not the baby of the pack anymore as well.”

“True but I doubt that would stop the others from treating me like it” Ziggy replied with a smile.

“Well yeah. I mean you are still the weakest of my kids,” Shade responds as he pinches Ziggy’s cheek, smirking at him as he did.

Ziggy let out a low whine as he attempted to move his face away, only for Shade to switch to the other one, “Don’t try and get away from me doing it. Besides, your aunt will be so much worse when she gets a chance to do it.”

The boy just grumbled in response as the others could see an embarrassed blush on the boy’s face as he attempted to glance away from Shade, “Even then it’s still embarrassing dad..” the boy then said with a whine.

“As embarrassing as Dillon and Axel’s current predicament is with those other kids?” Shade asks, still pinching Ziggy’s checks. “You know, maybe I should see if we can get cameras made and take pictures of them some day while your in those citations to put up on walls or give to your aunts or so your mum can see.”

Ziggy’s eyes widened, “Please don’t do that”.

“Or a video camera and record it happening to play back for everyone to see on repeat,” Gil suggested as he stood against a wall next to Hiryur.

“Why would you suggest that you’re giving them more ammo,” Ziggy said with desperation in his voice.

“Oh trust me. I know,” Gil responds with a chuckle being heard in his voice, “and honestly… I think Aunty Alexis would love it.”

Ziggy’s eye twitched for a moment as for a moment he thought about what would happen if they did this not even a moment later they see him shudder from the image he saw.

“Ya’ll are evil…” Ziggy then muttered out.

“Oh I don’t think I am that bad. I mean it’s not like you’ve been framed here to put it out to the world,” Shade points out. “I mean if it did and we sent a video of what happened earlier to it, that would have been evil.”

“You got a point…” Ziggy responded as he rubbed Logan’s head again but immediately stopped once he heard a pained groan come from the child as Ziggy looked at him with wide eyes.

“They normally don’t react that quickly,” Hiryur responds, looking over at the Timberwolf.

“That’s definitely peculiar” Ziggy muttered as they saw Logan squirm slightly.

“Hey take it easy,” Ziggy said as he rubbed his head again attempting to comfort him.

“What..why can’t I see, who are you?..” they hear the Timberwolf quietly say noticing that his voice was slightly hoarse

“My name is Ziggy and the reason you can’t see anything at the moment is that your wearing a blindfold” Ziggy replied.

“W-Why” Logan asked confusion in his voice.

“It's just so you remain calm and don’t get overwhelmed” Ziggy quickly responded.

“What do you mean?” Logan asked concern starting to appear in his tone.

“You’ve been in a bad state for a while, your entire body had no feeling and apart from breathing you seemed dead to the world. The second the blindfold is removed everything around you will hit you all at once. I thought it best we let your other senses catch up first.” Shade explained.

“I don’t really get it, but ok” Logan replied “Wait who are you?” Logan then asked after realizing it was a different voice.

“My name is Shade. I’m the one that found you and brought you here to recover.”

“Nice to meet you….How long have I been here?”.

“You have been here a little over a week,” Shade responds as he sits beside Logan.

“Oh..” Logan said as he partly saw Shade and Ziggy’s silhouettes through the blindfold the timberwolf going into deep thought before realizing that he couldn’t remember anything, “Wait who am I…”.

“Your name is Logan and you're my baby brother” Ziggy replied.

“My name is Logan and you're my brother?...” Logan said as he thought about what Ziggy said.

“Don’t think about it too hard bud don’t want you to push yourself too much, '' Ziggy said as he rubbed Logan's head again as the timberwolf unconsciously nuzzled into his hand before he snapped out of it and asked, “Wait who exactly are you Shade?”.

“It’s a rather long list,” Shade responds with a chuckle, as Logan just tilted his head in response as Shade shook his head, “the easiest to say is your brother's adopted father, and the packs Alpha.”

“Pack, alpha im confused,” Logan said before asking, “ Wait would that make you my father?”.

“I suppose it could… although it was because I adopted him so take it as you will.”

“Like I said don’t think about it too hard” Ziggy commented while he continued rubbing Logan’s head.

“Can you give me a clear answer please?”.

“With the pack and alpha thing, I’ll explain it to you later, and if anything if you want him to be your dad you can just ask him”.

"Oh ok, can I take this blindfold off now?" Logan asked.

"Oh yeah, just give me a second," Ziggy replied, grabbing the blindfold and gently pulling it away from Logan's eyes, the timberwolf blinking rapidly as he tried to focus his vision.

After a moment, his vision started to go back into focus and the first person he saw was Ziggy, seeing that he had brown curly hair along with wolf ears on top of his head as he saw that he was smiling towards him, before he saw Shade, his eyes widening slightly as his heterochromatic eyes looked at him in silence.

“Are you doing okay? Nothing hurting at all?” Shade asked, looking at Logan.

“N-no Im fine, you just look familiar for some reason” Logan replied.

“How so?” Shade asks as he runs a hand over Logan’s back, “Do you have any idea as to where you remember me from?”

“I can’t explain it, I just do and I don’t know why” Logan replied with an unsure tone as Ziggy and Shade saw that his tail was wagging from Shade rubbing his hand down his back.

Logan then looked back to Ziggy and saw the mark behind his ear the timberwolf tilting his head in curiosity before asking, “How did you get that mark Ziggy?’.

“Oh dad’s the one who gave me it” Ziggy said as he turned his slightly giving Logan a better view of said mark.

Logan’s eyes widened for a moment before he spoke, “That mark I remember it from somewhere I think that’s why…”.

“What do you mean?” Ziggy asked.

“That mark on your ear I remember it far too well, at one moment I don’t remember a thing, and then for another when I see that mark it’s all I see in my head, it’s the only thing im capable of thinking about and for a moment, deep in the background I can hear someone saying your name on repeat and then suddenly it just stops”.

Ziggy in response just looked to Shade with a concerned look on his face

“It’s the same response as always to why they know him after coming out of this process. The
Cult place their mark into the subjects mind and their gods name on loop till it’s all they can think about and remember,” Hiryur calmly points out, “it won’t be long until the dots connect in his mind fully and he starts acting that dad is his god aswell.”

“Is there a way to stop it?” Ziggy asked.

“He already did before you brought him here,” Hiryur points out, “it won’t reach the point of him viewing him as a god, but his mind is already rewired to loyalty to Shade. Just only to the name Shade and not the actual cult of Shade.”

“That’s a relief…” Ziggy muttered as Logan just listened to them speak before commenting, “I feel very out of the loop But I don’t think I want to ask”

“That’s probably for the best..” Ziggy replied.

Shade simply sighed as he stood back up beginning to walk to the exit of the room again, “I guess I better get to my least favorite part of my day now. Especially that one group.”

“Huh?” Ziggy said confused as he turned his attention back to Shade asking, “What was that dad?”.

“Think about the groups you’ve seen. What would be next,” Shade asked.

“O-oh yeah, sorry,” Ziggy replied before immediately asking, “Are you ok with me going with you?”

“Do you want to see creatures even further down the line of what the cult does than what you’ve seen to date?” Shade asks.

Ziggy gave Shade a quiet nod in response, “Yeah In all honesty I just want to see it for myself” then said as he stood up from where he was and walked to where Shade was.

Logan seeing this immediately tried to move from his bed only for him to slip off the edge of it, Ziggy seeing this immediately jumped back and grabbed him placing him back onto it.

“Logan just stays here I’ll be back in a little bit,” Ziggy said in a reassuring tone.

“But..”.

“Like I said I’ll be back in a little bit, Hiryur can you keep eye on him till I get back?” Ziggy asked.

“I should be able to do that,” Hiryur responds as he looks up from his brother for a moment, “besides he won’t be strong enough the go far for a while.”

“Thanks, Hiryur” Ziggy replied with a nod before immediately going to follow behind Shade.

“I’ll stay with these three for now and make sure nothing goes wrong when he wakes up,” Gil adds with a smile as he waves the two of them off, as Shade leaves the room without another word.

“Dad when we get to them should I keep my distance just in case?” Ziggy asked.

“You won’t need to worry about it for the most part… as I said this is the final stage of what the cult do,” Shade responds, “So if their is anything you want to do before we handle that better say so now.”

“Can we check on Dillon and Axel first?” ZIggy responded.

“I assume you want something to laugh at first before something else upsets you,” Shade suggests, “If that is the case sure why not.”

“You’re not wrong there…” Ziggy admitted.

“Okay then follow me,” Shade responds walking back the way they had originally come from.

Ziggy closely followed behind Shade as they walked through each room they had gone through previously before they left the area.

Not too long after they started to hear the noises made by Axel and Dillon before they were in view again Axel was twitching a mess on the floor, his eyes completely blank and Dillon was just laying on the ground acting like a dog. The boys more feral features showing.

Ziggy just covered his mouth as he let out a snort, “Oh no” he then said as he attempted to hold in his laugh.

“Do you think they will be okay after this?” Shade whispers as he leans down to Ziggy.

“Given how they are like this now, maybe not for an hour or two” Ziggy replied with a snort attempting to hold in his laugh again.

The two of them looked at Dillon, finding that all but one of the children had fallen to sleep with content looks on their faces, the last of the group almost looking dizzy and barely awake as they fell forwards onto Dillon’s chest not a moment later.

“And they are out like a light” Ziggy said smiling down at the children.

“Maybe you should check on the little puppy?” Shade suggested with a smirk as magic surrounded the sleeping children as they were moved to the nearby beds.

Ziggy immediately crouched in front of Dillon who was on his back his tongue out and his eyes blank like Axel’s.

The boy waved his hand in Dillon’s face eliciting no response, “Jeez they messed you up Dillon” Ziggy said as he raised his brow.

“How would you normally wake him up… do I need to get a cold bucket of water for you?” Shade asks with a smirk on his face as he walked towards Axel and Midnight.

“That would probably work, lemme try something first” Ziggy replied reeling his palm back as Shade saw Midnight was on top of Axel’s head messing with his ears again.

When Shade was in front of Axel and Midnight, he heard a resounding slap from behind him, glancing back, he saw Dillon grasping his cheek while Ziggy covered his mouth, preventing him from making noise the boy’s muffled protests could be heard as he wriggled around in pain.

“Welcome back to the land of the living pup,” Shade calmly said as he looked back over his shoulder, “Did you enjoy your time with the kids?”

Dillon shoved Ziggy off as he replied, “I remember being dogpiled by them and not too long after everything going blank..”.

“Think yourself lucky,” Shade responds, grabbing Midnight by the back of her neck and lifting her off Axel.

“Awww why are you stopping me!” Midnight responded, crossing her arms like an annoyed teenager would.

“You’ve had your fun and it’s gone a bit too far,” Shade responds, walking past Axel and placing her in front of Luna.

“But he agreed to let me do what I wanted as long as I didn’t scratch his ears,” She argued back.

“I don't think he agreed to be in that state though,” Luna points out, placing Midnight in her lap, as the young girl crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks out. “Stop complaining or it’ll be your turn next.”

“You wouldn’t!”

“Really?” Luna responded as Midnight was covered in Luna’s magic holding her in place.

“What did you do to Axel…” Dillon muttered as he fearfully stared at his brother’s near unconscious state.

“I just tested a few things on hi-” Midnight began to say before her eyes widened and they saw Luna’s hand and wings rubbing all over her body as the young girl began laughing uncontrollably still being held in place by Luna’s magic unable to act.

“This… she did this… for over half an hour,” Luna responds before blowing into Midnights ears as the young girl wreathed in her mothers magic, “and I’ll pay it back for you for a whole hour.”

“P-Please no… mercy,” Midnight quickly says before breaking out in laughter as she continued shaking in her mothers magic, tears welling up in her eyes, “P-Please help me.”

Dillon just hid behind Ziggy who just chuckled in amusement.

“Oh I know every way to mess with you. Afterall I am like you,” Luna responds as she begins rubbing behind Midnight's ears. “And I know where we are much more sensitive then they are.”

“No… no, no, no.” Midnight screamed her eyes wide, “please save me! I won’t do it again! Please he-” Midnight began to say before going quiet as he dropped forwards a drunk look on her face.

“I guess..the shoes on the foot now…huh” they heard Axel groggily say as the boys looked towards him.

Axel attempted to push himself from the ground only for his arms to immediately slip resulting in him falling on his face, “I think I may stay down here a bit longer..”.

“You want some help, Axel?” Axel overheard his little brother ask only to give a slight wave, “Nah Im good just give me a bit”.

“O-okay” Dillon replied.

“Axel, Dillon can you two come with me and dad we have to tell you something,” Ziggy said towards his brothers who looked towards him confused.

“Um sure” Dillon replied while Axel gave a silent thumbs up his voice now feeling sore from the laughing prior.

“Follow us outside please” Ziggy instructed his brothers as he began to walk outside, Dillon immediately scrambled to his feet while Axel slowly pushed himself from the ground and back onto his feet as he and Dillon followed him outside.

As soon as the boys had left the room Shade looked back to Luna and Midnight simply smiling and waving to them both with Luna only smirking as she blew into Midnight's ear while tickling her at the base of her wings as Shade left the room and closed the door without another word.

“What did you need to tell us Ziggy?” Dillon asked.

Ziggy attempted to answer Dillon but the more he tried to say it the more uncomfortable he looked..

“Ziggy what’s wrong?“ Axel asked concerned.

After a moment of not being able to say anything Ziggy just let out a sigh, “Maybe it would be easier to show you than trying to explain it…” Ziggy stated prompting his brothers to look towards him in concern.

“What do you mean Ziggy?” Dillon asked, confused.

“Again it’s probably better to show you” Ziggy responded as he saw Shade come up towards them.

“If you saw what he did while you were out, you wouldn’t like to repeat it,” Shade responds walking past them gesturing for the group to follow him.

Doing what they were told they closely followed behind Shade, Axel, and Dillon glancing towards each other with an uneasy look on both their faces.

As soon as they reached the end of the hallways to the door leading to the room that held the unconscious group of people Shade looked back to them, “Beyond this door is what Ziggy wanted you to see. Although they are in a cleaner state than before he arrived earlier.”

Axel and Dillon just looked at Ziggy, they couldn’t see his eyes but they could tell that what he saw before left him shaken.

After a few seconds Shade slowly opened the door as Ziggy immediately walked forward and grabbed his hand, “It’s not that bad. You know what awaits us on the other side this time.”

Ziggy just stayed quiet as the group began walking into the room and once they were inside Dillon and Axel saw the unconscious group.

“I…What is this?” Dillon said, confused while Axel just stayed quiet, the troubled expression on his face showing how he felt at that moment.

“This is what would’ve happened to the kids if dad didn’t save them…” Ziggy replied.

“Oh my god…” Axel responded with a horrified look on his face whole Dillon remained quiet a whole spectrum of emotions cycling on his face.

“Well… it’s the better outcome in one way… but worse in another,” Shade responds as he walks past the boys.

The boys closely follow behind him, Dillon and Axel, in particular, glancing around the room before they focused on the ones in the bed before their attention was immediately turned to Aurora who was still sleeping.

“Who’s the girl?” Dillon asked his head tilting slightly.

“From what I know her name is Aurora. She is the only one of them that seems to have their mind intact or faintly remember anything about herself,” Shade responds.

“She’s able to speak as well she struggles a bit with it though” Ziggy commented.

“Basically almost everyone on these beds are essentially in a vegetative state and can barely perceive the world around them.”

“So they’re basically brain dead?” Axel asked, getting a nod back from Shade in response.

“Jesus…” Dillon muttered his voice sounding pained for a moment before he went silent again.

The boy’s continued following behind Shade through the room until they were outside the room beside Aurora's bed before Ziggy spoke, “You’ll be meeting someone when we go past this door, and be careful I think he’s still adjusting”.

“He?” Axel said confusedly.

“You’ll meet him after we pass into the next room” Ziggy responded as Shade opened the door and passed through prompting the group to follow behind him.

They continued following behind him until he stopped next to Hiyur, Gil, and Logan, “Dillon, Axel this is Logan our new little brother” Ziggy spoke getting the attention of the three especially Logan who once he saw Ziggy he immediately jumped off his bed and hugged him.

“I missed you” Logan muttered as he nuzzled against Ziggy.

"I said that I’d be back Logan" Ziggy replied, patting the timberwolf’s head before saying, "Logan, this is Dillon and Axel, your other brothers".

Logan looked over at the two who just gave the timberwolf a slight wave only for Logan to look away from them.

“I…ok,” Dillon said, scratching the back of his head before turning his attention to Hiryur and the child in the bed.

“Who’s the other kid?” Dillon asked.

“He is… well was, my brother,” Hiryur responds, “you saw everyone outside this room. Well he was out there earlier in that state.”

"Wait, he isn’t braindead, how?" Dillon asked, confused before being answered by Shade.

“I am able to in a very limited capacity bring them back from the brink but… they aren’t who they were anymore. I basically finish what the cult started on them, but the focus is towards me instead of them,” Shade explains calmly.

“Oh..” Dillon said with a mutter.

“Least the kid isn’t cursed to braindead anymore” Axel commented as he glanced back at Logan and Ziggy, Axel noticing that Logan, in particular, was looking at him and Dillon intently again.

Axel waved at him again only for Logan to do the same as last time prompting Axel to chuckle.

“Logan at least say hi to them” Ziggy said towards Logan who wouldn’t budge causing Ziggy to sigh in response, “Sorry guys,”.

“It's no problem Ziggy” Dillon replied, Axel agreeing with a nod.

Logan just huffed as Ziggy let out a nervous laugh before Shade glanced looked towards the two and smiled.

“I see you’ve recovered feeling in your legs somewhat Logan,” Shade responds looking at the young wolf.

“Y-yeah not too long after you guys left I started having feeling in my feet but it was more of a pin and needles sensation not too long after” Logan replied as he wiggled one of his legs.

“That good,” Shade responded before kneeling down infornt of him, “are any of your memories coming back to you?”

“No, a lot of it is still hazy” Logan responded.

“If you do remember anything make sure to let either of us know, okay?” Ziggy said, smiling down towards Logan who gave his own fanged smile in return.

“Ok I’ll make sure to” Logan replied letting out a giggle as Ziggy ruffled his hair.

“Besides this, what was the other stuff you wanted to show me and Dillon?” Axel asked.

“It’s less show you and more I may need a bigger hand with handling it,” Shade responds rubbing the back of his head as he stands up.

“Oh-” Axel said as Dillon just looked towards Shade confused.

“I take it that the other section isn’t safe is it?” Dillon asked.

“You’ve seen what happens before they are brainwashed by the cult, what happens if saved during it… that leaves one set to deal with… I think you can guess what state they are in.” Shade calmly points out.

“Oh, yeah I get what you're saying….” Dillon responded.

"If you want, we can go now to take care of it," Axel said towards Shade, Dillon nodding in agreement.

“Do you all think this is going to be a quick job to do or something?” Shade asks, looking at the group.

“No” the boys respond in unison.

“I just think it’s better to take care of things now than later,” Dillon added.

“This isn’t a simple thing to take care of this time… it’s a real issue that I can’t solve simply,” Shade responds before pausing, “although it may be easier for you to understand what we’re dealing with once you see what the state they are in is like.”

The boy’s just looked at each other in response before nodding towards Shade.

“Okay then. I suppose we’d better get moving,” Shade calmly says standing back up.

Dillon and Axel immediately walk towards him while Ziggy attempts to do the same, noticing that Logan immediately attempts to follow behind him.

“Logan, I'm gonna need you to stay here again” Ziggy said towards his little brother before noticing that the timberwolf was tearing up slightly.

“But I want to stay with you..” Logan whimpered.

“Like before, I'm gonna come back don’t worry” Ziggy replied, attempting to calm him down.

“No!” Logan shouted, as a force caused Ziggy to be pushed back, Ziggy’s eyes wide as he looked at Logan in shock.

“What did you just do?” Dillon asked as the group looked towards him.

“What?” Logan said, confused.

“Your shout just knocked him backward,” Shade points out, “I guess the cult mutated your vocal cords in some way.”

“I…guess that explains why my throat was sore when I woke up” Logan responded as he placed his hand on his throat.

“I suppose so,” Shade responds as he rubs Logan’s head.

“Can I please go with you, please?” Logan then asked.

“Are you sure you want to… it will be dangerous,” Shade states looking towards Logan with a wary look on his face.

“I’ll stay far back so I won’t get in the way,” the timberwolf responded.

“Logan I really wouldn’t recommend that besides I doubt Ziggy would want you to get hurt” Dillon immediately said towards him.

“But…” Logan said as he looked towards Ziggy.

“Logan please I’ll be back,” Ziggy said to him.

“Promise?”

Ziggy smiled, “Promise” Ziggy replied as Logan hugged him again.

“Okay then. If that's all settled shall we get going?” Shade asked as he stood by the door.

“Yeah” Ziggy replied walking away from Logan along with Dillon and Axel towards Shade who opened up the door.

“Keep an eye on eachother okay,” Shade requested getting a nod back from Hiryur and Gil as he walked out the room.

The boy’s exit the room as well as they closely follow behind Shade, Dillon keeping his normal pace while Axel and Ziggy were directly behind Shade.

After a minute of walking Dillon decided to break the silence, “So, how bad are the ones were going to have to take care of and what will we have to do?”.

“Dillon… take care of it, a very loose term this time. All of them are completely brainwashed by the cult and are all hostile to anyone but the cult member they were programmed to follow orders from.” Shade explained, “you can either consider this next place as a prison or an asylum.”

“Sorry, poor choice of words..” Dillon replied, slumping his shoulders.

“But… There is one group I want to handle this time if we can. One I couldn’t even hope to control the actions of before today.”

Dillon and Ziggy just furrowed their brow in response.

“I take it those are gonna be the most difficult ones?” Axel asked.

“I would say they could be… but not for the reason you think. All of them are kept bound in prison cells but these ones… they get out of their bindings constantly but luckily can’t get out of the cells they are in.” Shade explains as they come up to another set of doors like the ones leading into the room they were currently in. “Also… it might also be from what they are.”

“That doesn’t sound terrifying at all” Dillon muttered grasping his arm.

“It’ll be easier to understand when you see them,” Shade calmly responds as he places his hands on the door, “Oh and if you have them, maybe have your morphers ready just incase.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice” Dillon replied, taking out his morpher, Ziggy doing the same while Axel just readied his sword.

“Axel… don’t brandish that thing unless it’s needed okay,” Shade added, not looking back as he pushed his hand against the door as it began to glow in a red and black light before slowly opening backward without making a sound.

Axel just removed his hand from his sword, while Dillon and Ziggy just looked on in a mixture of uncertainty and fear before Shade motioned them to follow him.

He walked through the door with the boy’s following behind him, Dillon and Ziggy quickly glancing around feeling as if they were being watched, as they saw what looked to be rows upon rows of prison cells each seeming to hold multiple figures inside of them many with their arms bound behind their back as they glared forwards at the group.

“What the…” Dillon said attempting to get a more clear view while attempting to keep his distance.

“I’ll kill you!” a voice shouted from one of the cells as they heard a voice from once of the cells hit the ground, “I kill you, you fake god! You are not the one we serve!” the same voice shouted again, “You hear me!”

“Shut it you!” Another voice shout as the entire room quickly began being filled by shouts, arguments or insults with almost all of them being aimed directly at Shade, none of them seeming to notice or care about the others around them.

“Yikes, They sound worse than me and Dillon when we argue …” Ziggy muttered to himself, one of them overhearing him.

“If you follow that fake god! I’ll gut you aswell!” one of the creatures in the nearest cell shouted.

“I’d recommend you all hold your tongues!” Shade shouts, his voice no longer calm like it normally was, as everyone in the room retreated backwards in fear at his tone.

He then walked up towards the cell where the shouting had come from his eyes looking towards the creature ahead of him, “and you would you like to repeat what you said?”

“Go to hell you god damn fake! I- I’ll k-Kill you in the name of S-Sh-!” The creature shouted back but stopped as he made eye contact with Shade as Dillon saw the creature’s legs shaking as a yellow puddle formed on the ground below him.

“I…holy crap,” Dillon said as he turned away from the creature and looked towards Shade.

Shade didn’t stop though as he continued forwards towards the cell the creature was in, his eyes never breaking contact with the creature in the cell. As soon as he standing in front of the bars his body seemed to phase through causing the creature inside to scramble backwards trying to get its distance away from Shade, but finding itself unable to look away.

“Here I am, are you going to say that again?” Shade asked his voice still sounding angry as he glared at the creature infront of him.

“G-G-G-” the creature inside said, now shaking against the wall as it tried to cover its head, but found its entire body almost seem to freeze up preventing him from either moving or breaking eye contact with Shade, “Stay away! Don’t come any closer!”

“I thought you said you were going to gut me?” Shade asked his voice still sounding dark and angry as the creature below him shook violently his eyes wide and his body frozen in fear while Shade continued moving closer to him till his shadow covered the figure below him.

The boys attempt to see past Shade but the only one to see anything was Axel who’s heart dropped once he saw the creature's face it was terrified.

“What do you have to say for yourself,” Shade responded still glaring down at the creature below him as Axel saw faint black sparks beginning to flicker near the creatures feet with a second spark near the top of his chest, that seemed to be moving over it forming some kind of pattern.

“I- I- I-” the creature repeated his voice shaking, as Axel saw it desperately try to move its head from Shade gaze, but only finding it moving an inch still keeping eye contact with Shade, as a red spark was seen for only a moment in it’s eyes.

Axel continued to watch this unfold as he stopped Dillon and Ziggy from getting a better look by covering their eyes.

“I- I…” the creature continued to try and say before the flames faded on his chest a familiar symbol being seen on it while his head dropped before a moment before looking up at Shade.

His eyes focused again before he quickly dropped to the floor his head bowed, “I’m sorry Lord Shade, please forgive my transgressions!”

“You think I should. How many times have you threatened me now?”

“T-To many Lord Shade. I swear I will never speak like that again. You have my word! Please forgive me!” the creature shouted still shaking now on his knees with his forehead against the ground.

“See that you don’t,” Shade replied walking back out of the cell the creature inside not moving atall from his position the room remaining silent as Shade eyes moved over each cell, “Anyone else want to say anything!”

Shade waited for a moment getting no response as everyone in the room remained silent.

Dillon removed Axel’s hand and stepped forward, Axel attempting to stop him only for Dillon to look at Shade's face, Axel seeing the boy’s face pale before the boy just silently backed away from Shade.

“Dillon?” Axel whispered to the boy who just glanced back at him, seeing the fear in the boy’s eyes as he noticed that the boy attempted to calm himself down.

“Lord Shade…” Axel spoke, getting Shade’s attention.

“Yes Axel,” Shade responded, as his voice returned to normal and he looked at the group.

Axel just motioned towards Dillon who was shaking, the boy fidgeting around taking deep breaths, counting to ten in his mind in an attempt to calm himself down.

“Oh….” Shade responds with a guilty look on his face as he wraps his wings around Dillon pulling him into his chest, “Dillon are you okay?”

“I-im fine, I just need to take a breath” Dillon replied, taking another deep breath, “O-okay…I'm better just a little overwhelmed a bit” Dillon then said giving a forced smile.

“Do you need a break before we continue?” Shade asks looking at him with a calm smile.

“No, I'm good,” Dillon replied.

“Dad, what just happened to that guy?” Ziggy asked, pointing towards the creature that was still on the ground in its cell.

“I’ll explain later… once I know myself,” Shade responds as he begins walking again trying to not look at anyone in the cells around them.

The boys just followed him behind him quietly, Ziggy and Axel glancing back to the cells while Dillon kept himself next to Shade as they began coming up to another area.

The area itself looked to be designed to look like that of a cave, the inside of it seeming to be even darker than the room they were in with what looked to be two large cells at the back of the room, that seemed to hold multiple figures inside them.

Dillon and Ziggy walk forward to get a better look but once they did one of the figures jumped forward, the boys falling back as the chain on its neck went taut and pulled it back as they heard it growl towards them.

Dillon just held his hand forward seemingly attempting to keep it back before noticing the chain on its neck as Ziggy could be seen tightly holding his morpher.

The two only see his hazel eyes and open maw which had saliva dripping to the ground the boy’s seeing that said creature was on all fours.

“What..the…hell” Dillon spoke with wide eyes.

Ziggy remained quiet while he continued to tightly grip his morpher both the boy’s shaken from what the creature did.

“You both okay?” Shade asked as he walks towards the two of them.

“Other than almost having a heart attack, yeah” Ziggy replied, standing himself up while bringing Dillon up with him who just looked towards the cell.

The boy placed his morpher into his back pocket as he glanced at Shade, meanwhile, Dillon looked towards the creature out of fear before just Zeroing in on it.

He looked towards it intently, his focus immediately focusing up on top of its head, the boy seeing something twitch on top of it.

“Is that a timberwolf?” Dillon said out loud while he intently stared towards it, fully standing himself up.

“You won’t like my answer,” Shade responded plainly.

“Course I won’t…” Dillon replied frowning.

“The best way I can say this is. I think he is… well they all are Timberwolves.” Shade responded.

Ziggy went quiet for a moment before asking, “Wait did you just say they?”.

Shade did not respond as he simply gestured to the other cell in the room.

The boy’s look to the other cell in the room before taking a few steps towards it, seeing seven other Timberwolves in it each held in a similar fashion to that of the larger wolf in the other cage.

The two looked at the Timberwolves in silence before two of the identical ones with snow white fur who noticed the boys before growling towards them, Dillon seeing this takes a cautious step back while Ziggy just stayed in place keeping his Morpher in hand.

“The way they're looking towards us, it’s kinda chilling…” Dillon muttered out as Ziggy just gave a silent nod of agreement.

“It’s normally like this,” Shade responds before all of the wolves in the room's eyes jumped towards him as each looked to charge forwards the chains going taut as they each angrily barked at him. “As is that.”

“Yikes…” Dillon spoke under his breath as he backed away from the cell Ziggy doing the same as he kept his view on them.

“Something’s different with these one’s isn’t there?” Axel asked Shade.

“I have no idea,” Shade responded simply as he looked away from the wolves.

The two then heard Dillon speak up, “What's with the big one, he’s giving me a look and it’s weirding me out”.

They glance towards Dillon before looking towards the cell to see that the first Timberwolf from before is looking towards the boy intently.

“Just to be safe get away from the cells same to you Ziggy” Axel said in response to the two.

Dillon feeling uncomfortable just turned around and began walking away from the cell’s, Ziggy doing the same as they went towards Shade and Axel.

But once they reached Axel and Shade, the group heard a loud metallic snap ring out from behind them followed by a loud ringing noise. “That can’t be good,” Shade responds.

“Oh no…” Dillon groaned out.

Chapter 13

The group turn around, Dillon and Ziggy having looks of unease on their faces while Axel just motioned his hand towards his sword, the group seeing that the larger Timberwolf had broke from its bindings and was bashing itself against the bars of the cell he was in.

“He can’t get through that right?” Dillon asked, placing his hand near his morpher.

“Remember when I said they keep getting out,” Shade responded with an annoyed groan, “he gets them all out.”

“This is gonna suck…” the boy muttered to himself.

“Pretty much,” Shade responds as they hear the wolf charge against the bars to his cell yet again before the sound of two more chains breaking was heard.

Axel brought out his broadsword while the boys used their morphers going into their suits and bringing their own respective weapons out.

“Yeah… this is going to be annoying,” Shade responds as they hear more of the chains snapping as one of the bars to the larget wolfs cage break loose being launched into the wall opposite to the cell as the wolf tried to force its head through the bars.

“Ah crap,” Ziggy groaned out as he and Dillon attempted to keep a good view of the wolf.

“Get ready everyone” Axel spoke as he and the boys readied their weapons hearing the growls from the wolves get louder.

“Don’t have to tell us twice” Dillon spoke as the wolf broke through the bar’s launching parts of it forward causing the group to move out of the way.

The large wolf came out of the cell before swinging his claw to the side, catching the other cell and pulling it forward and ripping the cell bar’s off.

The other wolf’s seeing this immediately began to pull against their bindings before their chains could be heard snapping as well.

“Here comes the cavalry” Axel commented as the group saw the other wolves walk out of the cell.

Two of the wolves stayed near the back of the group both having white coats with hetrochormic eyes, ones of them having one green and one blue eye whilst the others eyes were switched but shared the same colours.

Standing infront of them were three other wolves who’s arms seemed to be slowly changing shape, as the arms of two of them creaked and twisted before what looked to be swords formed from their arms.

Two other wolves moved ahead of them before reaching towards the back of the bladed arm before tearing it loose both wolves howling out in pain as their arms were torn free as the two of them turned towards Dillon and Ziggy.

The larger wolf then looked towards the third who recoiled back in fear attempting to stay away prompting the larger wolf to growl out in anger as the wolf stopped going towards the wolf.

A loud howl of pain could be heard as the larger wolf removed its arm the limb then morphed into a large greatsword with jagged teeth on the blade, the wolf tightly gripped its limb in desperation before immediately getting kicked back into the cell.

“What the fuck..” Dillon whispered as he covered his mouth, while Ziggy just looked on in horror.

Axel meanwhile just stayed silent as he tightened his grip on his broadsword.

The larger wolf meanwhile set his sights on Shade letting out a low growl before charging toward him, knocking into him and somehow sending him flying backward out of the cave before running off after him.

“Dad!” Dillon and Ziggy shout before attempting to run after him only for Axel to stop them.

“You two stay here I’ll assist lord Shade, just try to incapacitate these ones,” Axel told the boys before running to where the Wolf and Shade went.

“But” Dillon attempted to say something but Axel was already gone, “Ah crap…” Dillon then turned his attention back to the other wolves the boy seeing that they were slowly surrounding him and Ziggy.

“You lot wouldn’t be opposed to going back into your cells right?,” Dillon asked immediately getting growled in return, “I’ll take that as a no”.

“Dillon I’d recommend keeping your guard up” Ziggy spoke keeping his Axe pointed towards the wolves.

“Right” Dillon responded as he brought out his blaster and sword.

The wolves hearing this began to come closer to the boys as the boys could see nothing but pure malice on their faces.

The wolf with silver coat immediately bounded towards them, it’s claws reaching out to Ziggy who jumped back and disappeared the boy teleporting behind it, grabbing it by the leg and throwing it back, only to find the second wolf appear directly infront of him swinging the sword it had torn from wolves limbs towards Ziggy’s arm.

Ziggy attempted to block the swing with the flat on of his ax the sword hitting against it and grazing his arm the impact knocking him to the ground before thre wolf lunged forwards it’s free claw swiping towards his chest sparks coming from it when it landed the hit.

Ziggy just let out a shout of pain as he attempted to get them off, “Get off of me…” the boy gritted his teeth as he slowly began to push past the pain.

He then heard a struggle as he turned his head to see Dillon struggling to push off the other wolves who were attempting to overwhelm him, luckily he was able to toss one of them off, the boy attempting to run and help Ziggy.

But the other immediately barreled into him causing him to get slammed into the floor cracking his mask and having him hit the back of his head.

Ziggy shouted to his brother as he tried harder to push the wolves off of him, feeling one of them bite into the shoulder of his suit.

The other wolves then began to prowl towards Dillon who slowly pushed himself off from the ground pieces of his helmet falling to the floor revealing his eye and blood that slowly dripped from it as the boy began to stare into space the boy’s arms shaking.

“It was one hit, one hit and I can’t stop shaking…” The boy thought to himself his heart beating like a drum.

“Ĵ̴̛̜̦̼̙͕̍̕a̷̲̮͍̻͈͑͒͛s̵̯̟̝̓̈́̀͝ỏ̴̘̪̤̂̆̽ͅn̷̢̹̦͇͑ ̷̥̌͗ĝ̸̪̼̅́͊e̸̫͇̽̕͠ṭ̸͖̣̦̗̾̇ ̷̮͉̺͇̈͆u̴̲̿p̵̧̑́̓̎” Dillon’s eye’s widened as he heard the voice again, images flashing through his mind as he heard screaming and saw flames.

“Ỳ̵̘̎̆̐ö̷͇͖́ụ̷̢̹̣͐̍ ̸̜̀ḩ̴̀̌͠a̴̡͋̽̔̋ͅṿ̷͕̠̝̈́͋̆e̸̛͎̱̾̔͆͘ ̴̲̦̂̇͒͗ť̴̲̟̺̗̭͂ơ̶̬͉̬̹̤͐̆ ̷̡̯͓̗̪̀̈̈̎̃f̶̣̪̃̈̂ȋ̵̘̦̑̅g̶̨̳̈́ḥ̷̯̯̜͓́̍͑̈́͘t̶͎̺̀̿!” the voice screamed, the boy’s eyes beginning to flash in a familiar red glow before the voice shouted finally clear enough for him to understand.

“Jason, get up you have to fight!” the voice shouted as Dillon let out a howl, grabbing onto his helmet and ripping it off as one of the wolves lunged towards him.

the boy shot out his hand a small blue field appearing in front of the wolf before it expanded knocking it away.

Dillon then stood up to his feet, his hair shrouding his face as a low growl could be heard from him as saliva could be seen dripping from his maw the other wolves stopping as their attention immediately went towards him.

“Dillon?” Ziggy said trying to get his attention.

One of the wolves from before immediately stepped forward prompting Dillon to extend his claws as he looked up showing his eyes blood-red as the wolves rushed towards him.

Ziggy just propped himself against a nearby wall as he watched Dillon and the wolves go at each other before muttering, “I hope dad and Axel are faring better..”.

As soon as Shade had been knocked back he brought his wings out to control his flight backwards before stopping in the air as he turned back to facing the cave he had been launched from.

‘Okay… how the hell did he manage to hit me. I’m sure he should have phased though me like everything normally does,’ Shade thought to himself before he saw it barreling towards him wolf letting out a howl as he shoulder-checked Shade knocking him back again sending him flying further back.

Once Shade managed to straighten himself up again be continued flying back bringing his hand to the floor, his entire body jolting to a stop before rose back to his feet. “Okay. Enough is enough.”

He then pauses as he looks around finding himself to be standing in the same spot he had been when they entered surrounded by the cages of mutated creatures around him.

The wolf didn’t let up as he bolted towards Shade again, lifting up his sword and swinging it aiming for Shade’s wing, only for Shade to this time sidestep the wolf the blade embedding itself into the ground before Shade kicked the wolf in the side of its body knocking him into the front of a nearby cage, the force from the collision bending one of the bars.

“I’d stay down if I was you,” Shade warned looking at the wolf his hand moving to his side as flames appeared around his waist and his driver formed from it. Shade only got a growl in response as the wolf just stood himself back up, “I take that as a firm no.”

It then came up to its embedded sword before ripping it out from the ground the wolf tightly gripping onto it as it looked like it was about to charge him again.

“Okay then,” Shade responded before activating his eyecon, inserting it into his driver as his Parka ghost shot forwards from the belt striking the wolf in the chest knocking it back to the floor again.

After a second Shade’s eyes forced forwards on the wolf ahead of before he shouted “Henshin” pullingthe handle on the side of the driver with his left hand as a symbol appears on the driver, his body facing sideways crouched slight and his fights clenched, before a new voice shouted "Kaigan: Shade! Let's Go! Kakugo! Akuma-tekina Shade!" as he rose to his fet the Parka ghost attaching to his back.

The wolf in response just widened his stance as he ran towards Shade swinging his sword from the side which was aimed towards Shade’s neck, only for the chains around Shade moved wrapping around the wolf sword arm before throwing him to the floor the sword skidding away from his grasp, before the the sound of a bone snapping was heard from the wolf arm.

The wolf layed on the ground for a moment not making a noise before suddenly getting back up, the wolf looked towards it’s arm in silence looking at the chain before looking to Shade as it took one step towards him before feeling the chain tighten on its arm the wolf just staring at him.

“I wouldn’t try if I was you,” Shade warned the wolf as he took a step back the chain pulling him back to the floor again, “Stay.”

The wolf let out a low growl before using it’s free arm to grab onto the chain, only to feel nother chain grab one of his back legs as he fell back down attempting to get back onto it his feet, as his feel was pulled out from under him as he fell onto his back looking upwards as Shade placed his foot on the side of his head forcing him to look at Shade as he stared down at him before shouting, “Stay!”

“Go to hell!” The wolf snarled out towards Shade as he pulled against his bindings trying to pull his arm free to hit Shade, only to feel a chain begin to wrap around his free arm,..

“Damn you!” he shouted out.

“Will you behave now?” Shade asks placing his other foot against the wolfs remaining free limb.

“Never!” he heard the well yell as it tried to set itself free, before feeling something wrap around his last free leg, holding each of his limbs against the ground as Shade took his leg off them.

The wolf wriggled around on the ground gritting his teeth as a loud snarl could be heard from him and as the moment went on he progressively became more and more unruly.

“I would calm down if I was you,” Shade warned as he cancelled his transformation the chains still remaining around his limbs while Shade knelt down never to the wolf forcing him to look directly at him before smiling his teeth having turned sharper, “or do I need to take a bit off the ear?”

This cause the wolf to stop and look towards Shade with a malice filled glare before speaking,“Damn you to hell, you bastard”.

“Are you sure you want to talk to me like that?” Shade asks as he placing his hand against the wolf head holding it down and turning the wolfs ear to face him placing his mouth over it before running his teeth against the ear leaving a small mark.

The wolfs eyes wided as tried move his head away fear finally showing, as he felt his ear touch Shade’s sharp teeth as he moved, “Please don’t do that, anything but that!”.

“Will you behave and do as I say,” Shade asks moving his mouth away to speak, before placing it back rubbing his teeth over the corner of the ear leaving a mark but never biting into it.

“Yes, I’ll listen, I’ll behave!” the wolf whimpered out as it looked to it’s ear.

“Good. Now… what will you do for me if I agree not to take a small bite?” Shade asks rubbing his teeth against the ear again.

“I’ll follow you willingly, I won’t go against you I promise!” the wolf quickly replied.

You’ll follow me willing eh… tell me. Do you know who I am?” Shade asks moving away from the wolfs head before pushing the ear backwards to see behind it.

The wolf just stammered with his word before remembering earlier the symbol on Shade’s more so the eye that was on it, “Your….your Shade” the wolf said in response as the symbol started to be the only thing he saw in his head.

“Yes I am. Now If I do release you from your bonds, what will you do?” Shade asks as he releases the wolfs hands.

The wolf immediately placed his hands and head on the ground, “I’ll follow you and do what you say without question Lord Shade!”.

Shade simply nodded his head before placing a finger behind the wolfs ear a mark forming behind it before his ear legs were released, “do you have a name pup?”

“No I don’t they only called me by a codename Lord Shade” The wolf responded.

“I see. We’ll figure out what to call you later then,” Shade responds before releasing the wolfs back legs. “Now… I want you to help me stop the others, you started this so you help stop them.”

“Ok lord Shade” The wolf replied as he slowly went back to his feet.

“One thing, Stop with the Lord Shade. Either Shade or considering what I just did, Alpha works aswell I guess,” Shade suggests.

“Yes L- Shade” the wolf replied with a nod of his head, before Shade rubbed him behind the head.

“Is everything ok over here!?” they hear Axel yell as they see him run into the room as he saw Shade rubbing the wolf’s head who’s tail was wagging while Axel just tilted his head in confusion.

“I take it he’s not a threat anymore?” Axel then asked.

“Does he look like one?” Shade asks scratching the wolf behind the ear.

“No, but considering how he tackled you earlier… eh nevermind” Axel just responded with a sigh as he saw the wolf thumping his foot on the floor.

The wolf didn’t say anything it just showed enjoyment from getting scratched from behind the ear as Axel just shook his head.

‘Let's just go back to the boy’s they most likely need some assistance” Axel stated as he turned around and began to run back through the cave, worry showing on his face as the only thing he could think about was his two younger brothers.

After a moment of continued running he heard a commotion back at the area with Dillon and Ziggy, it sounded like a vicious snarl along with growling accompanying it as he heard a pain-filled yowl echo down the corridor causing Axel to double down on his speed as he rushed down the cave.

Once he made it back to the room what he saw left him terrified and confused, it was Dillon and the other wolves they were fighting but Dillon was acting strange.

It was like he was feral, a loud snarl could be heard from his mouth, his hair was much wilder than usual his hands were covered in blood and his eyes were just a haunting red as then saw Ziggy who was propping himself up against a nearby wall, assisting him he grabbed Ziggy’s arm.

“Ziggy what’s wrong with Dillon?” Axel asked his little brother who just shook his head, “I don’t know after he got hit by one of them I think something switched on in his head”.

As they spoke Dillon was just rushing around like a madman the wolves attempting to hit him but only getting to graze him in turn but once they got close enough they would feel grab them by the head and slam them into the floor before kicking one of the white-furred ones into a nearby wall.

The second one attempted to slash Dillon in the neck but once he got close enough Dillon immediately just a bit down on its limb making it let out a pained-filled howl as it made an attempt to have him let go which only made him bit down harder.

The black wolf from before just jumped over Dillon who immediately just bit off the flesh of the white wolf before grabbing onto the black wolf's tail slamming it back to the floor before extending his claws again aiming for its chest as he shot his hand forward he was going for the kill.

“Thats enough!” A voice shouted from behind the group as every wolf in the room was wrapped in chains and pulled backwards away from Dillon being bound back against the walls, while Dillon’s arms were bound to his side and his legs held together. “All of you calm down now!”

The boy was just letting out loud growls as he struggled against his bindings biting out randomly as nothing else could be seen in his eyes other than pure malicious intent.

“Dillon calm down, it’s ok!” Ziggy shouted to Dillon but was unable to get through to him.

Axel immediately walked up to the boy grabbing his head, Dillon attempting to bite him while doing so before Axel spoke, “Dillon snap out it, it’s ok, it’s over, look at me!” Axel shouted as the boy continued to growl towards him.

Angered by this Axel shouted, “Snap out of it!” before he hit his head against Dillons who at that moment went quiet before he shook his head the boy let out a tired breathe as he looked up to Axel one of his eyes going back to their dark brown while the other stayed the same.

“Axel?” the boy rasped out as he looked down seeing the chains, “Why am I chained up..” the boy then asked as he then looked around Shade and Ziggy looking towards him in concern before his attention went to the wolves who were covered in multiple injuries, “What did I do?” the boy said in a whisper.

Dillon looked to Shade, “Dad what did I do?”.

“From what I saw of it you lost control of yourself. Beyond that I have no idea I didn’t see much else,” Shade responds.

“The only thing I remember was getting knocked back and hitting my head and after that I heard the voice again, everything went red after that, I think i remember some stuff though” Dillon replied.

“What exactly do you remember?”

“I remember my name, some parts of the day I lost everything, and how I died…” Dillon muttered.

“Whenever you want to talk about any of it. I’ll be here to listen okay,” Shade responds as he places his hand of Dillon’s shoulder before he was released from the chains.

Dillon just rubbed his arms as he stepped forward before he placed his hand on his mouth and when he pulled it away he saw blood, “This isn’t my blood” he thought to himself before he looked to the wolves before realizing what he said, “I can remember my name the one I had before all this”.

“That’s great Dillon!” Ziggy said with a smile as he walked towards him placing his hand on his shoulder.

“What is it then, your name?” Axel asked as he walked towards them.

“It’s Jason, my name is Jason” he replied smiling towards them before it immediately dropped.

“But I remember how I got into this, my last day being a normal human with my sister and our friend in a diner” Dillon's voice went low as the events that happened back then replayed in his head.

“We were having a nice time with each other I was giving our friend shit for something that happened and not too long after two guys came into the diner they were jumpy and then one of them pulled out a gun they made it a hostage situation and the first guy grabbed me” Dillon paused taking a shaky breath.

After a moment he continued “Our friend he tried to help me but he got shot in the shoulder and the guy that grabbed hold of me got shot by some cops outside the place and once the other saw that he detonated a bomb he had in his bag it enveloped everyone in the diner and in my last moments of consciousness I heard nothing but their screams and then I woke up in Equestria”.

“I-Dillon im so sorry you had to experience that,” Axel said rubbing his little brother's shoulder.

“It’s fine it’s in the past now” Dillon replied before Ziggy asked, “Do you want us to call you by Jason now?”.

Dillon just gave a soft smile before responding, “Im ok with you guys calling me either it’s still me either way”.

“Whatever you say Dillon” Ziggy replied with a smile, Axel doing the same before Dillon looked to Shade, who almost seemed to look away from Dillon, seeming to not want to say anything.

Dillon looked to him confused before speaking, “Dad, is something wrong?”.

“No. Nothing’s wrong. Don’t worry,” Shade responded still looking past Dillon towards the injured wolves ahead of him.

“I..are you sure?” Dillon replied as Shade walked towards the injured wolves.

“Dillon leave him be for a moment, I think you talking about that may have opened an old wound from his past,” Axel said to his brother.

“Alright…” Dillon replied as he felt Axel touch the gash on his forehead the boy let out a low hiss of pain in response, “Ow.. “

Shade simply sighed as he heard Dillon and looked at the bound wolves, “what is it with you all getting injured.” After a couple of moments all of the wolves, Dillon, and Ziggy were covered by a faint crimson light as their wounds healed over almost like they had never been injured in the first place.

The wolves were surprised at what he did including the twin white wolves as the piece of flesh that Dillon bit off was back, the large wolf didn’t notice much of a difference since he could feel any pain from attacks that Shade had dealt to him but was grateful for it either way

“Thank you Shade” they heard the wolf say as Dillon and Ziggy finally noticed him, the two just backing up slightly out of surprise.

“Don’t worry he’s not a threat” Axel said to the two who eased up slightly, the two then seeing the wolf walk in front of the bound wolves before facing Shade and bowing.

The bound wolves look to the large wolf in confusion before looking to Shade, that confusion rapidly being replaced by fear, as they try to get free and their bindings to get away from him.

“He is not the enemy, calm yourselves,” the large wolf said to the bound wolves who once they heard him, most of them not stopping while just letting out growls while the two white ones quieted down.

One of the two white wolves simply looked up almost glaring at the large wolf, before the smaller of the two calmly said, “He is the enemy of the cult, and is ours to kill under our last orders.”

“You should be following those through a we were commanded,” the other white wolf added.

“Those orders don’t matter to me now, because Im following the true Shade” the large wolf replied causing the two wolves to look at him confused.

“What are you on about?” the smaller wolf argued, “that thing is not the real Shade.”

“We all saw the real one on repeat. We know him to be fake.” the other wolf argued.

“He has the mark the one we all know too well, it is him” He responded his voice remaining clear and calm.

“That is not him. The real Shade is a weird looking thing. Not a pony,” the second wolf argued.

The wolf just looked to Shade as he spoke, “Can you show them so they can see what Im saying is true?”.

The boys who just watching this unfold just looked to Shade before glancing back at the wolves, “you sure that would work, this lot seems to be pretty stubborn” Axel then commented.

“And the fact you’ve all seen it before it it hasn’t worked,” Shade points out, “I mean I only did one thing beyond normal and that was…” He then paused looking down at the large wolf before looking to the white wolves smiling as he rubbed his tongue across his teeth.

The large wolf noticed this and looked back to the wolves, “I think it would be better to follow him willingly” he said as the smaller of wolves looked towards Shade fear showing on their face as she realized what the larger wolf meant.

“He wouldn’t. Afterall, he’s not one of our kind it won’t mean a thing even if he did!” the larger of the two argued.

“You say that, and yet your in a room with three timberwolf hybrids behind him what does that tell you?” Axel commented.

“It means nothing! Just because he’s with you doesn't mean he is one!” the wolf argued as Shade walked to stand over the wolf, placing a hand against its neck and turning his head so one of his ears was facing towards Shade. “You wouldn’t dare!”

“He would,” Dillon said with a blank stare.

“Like hell, he would!” the wolf shouted, “He’s just bluthing, he has no authority for it to mean a thing even if he did,” the wolf continued arguing with a smug look on his face.

“I wouldn’t say that” Dillon replied with a smug look of his own before just turning his head revealing the mark that was placed by Shade before the white wolf saw the same mark on the larger wolf’s ear.

“This mark was given to the wolves in our pack by the alpha and who do you think it is?” Dillon added.

The wolves eyes rested on Shade before he shouted, “like hell he is!” as he began wreathing in his bonds trying to get both free of the chains and away from Shade’s grasp. “Don’t you dare touch me!”

“Just gonna say this, you would better off not resisting,” Axel said to the wolf, only for the wolf to glare back at Axel, as the older boy just brought his hands up, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you buddy” Axel said to the wolf.

The wolf just continued glaring at Axel beginning to growl at him before he suddenly froze up feeling something scrape against his ear before his eyes widened, “no… don’t you dare!”

“Will you behave?” Shade asked as he slowly ran his teeth over the wolfs ear leaving a scratch running over it.

“Go to hell!” the wolf shouted back in an instant, “I’ll get free! Kill you! Both you, those boys and that traitor!”

When the wolf looked at the boy’s the only thing it could see on their faces was just the intent to kill especially from Dillon who still had some of the glow in his eyes from before, “You’ll die before you get that chance” the wolf heard Axel turning his head to see him next to him.

“So again, I think you're better off not resisting” Axel reiterated venom in his tone.

Shade then paused bringing his mouth away from the wolf before he said, “you know. I heard one ear being bitten off is a horrible fate. But what if we take both of your ears at once?”

“I heard from one of the wolves back at the cave that a wolf with both of its ear’s taken are treated lower than normal wolves like their nothing but mindless fodder” Dillon commented adding, “They're treated like their lives mean nothing due to that, you want that to happen?” the boy finished his eyes directly on the wolf.

“Y-You wouldn’t dare!” the wolf shouted his eye wide and voice sounding terrified.

“What do you four think we should do?” Shade asked looking at the group.

“Just do the one ear, don’t want him to lose his will to live” Ziggy replied.

“I agree” Dillon nodded.

“I agree with the young one’s” the larger wolf responded while Axel just nodded his head in response.

“Okay then,” Shade responds looking back at the wolf again, “looks like my pack decided to show you mercy in some regard.”

“Go to hell!” the wolf shouts back again glaring at the entire group as he begins to growl at them.

“Say… do one of you want the honours or should I?” Shade asks. “I could use a large bite or two.”

“Y-You wouldn’t dare…” The wolf responded his voice now shaky and fearful.

“I wouldn’t mind doing it, if it will get him to stop being so full himself but if you want to do the honours go ahead” Axel admitted.

Shade didn’t respond for a second before he said, “Someone hold his head still.”

“No… you're not going to actually-” the wolf began to say before looking at Shades face his eyes turning into pinpricks as he began to struggle in his bonds again, “No! No! No! Stay away from me!”

Dillon walked up to wolf and grabbed his head making sure to have a tight enough grip to keep it still.

“Please I’ll do anything you ask! Just don’t do this!” the wolf screamed out in terror as he felt Shade’s teeth against his ear again, “Please don’t I’ll do whatever you ask! Just don’t take my ear!”

“If he doesn’t take your ear will you listen to him?” Dillon asked his tone devoid of emotion.

“N-never! I will never follow that fakes orders!” the wolf argued back.

“Then you’ve brought this on yourself” Dillon replied.

“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you all for this!” the wolf screamed again trying to force his head free from Dillon’s grasp, “And after I’ll make sure they cult gets your bodies to use as well I swear you will all suffer for this!”

“The same bullshit those bastards did to innocent children that didn’t deserve any of this!” Ziggy growled as he and the other glared at the wolf.

“They all are better that way! They are more useful to the gods like that than they would be otherwise,” the wolf argues back.

The wolf then felt Dillon’s claws beginning to dig into his head, the boy letting out a low snarl, “Those kids deserved to live normal lives, to live like kids not be turned into mindless monsters!”.

“Dillon… make both his ears accessible if you would,” Shade said his voice showing no sign of emotion.

Dillon did what he was told by angling the wolf's head so both ears could be seen.

“Ziggy, Axel. Which one of you want his other ear,” Shade added his voice not changing in the slightest.

“I’ll take it,” Ziggy said as he walked up to Shade and the wolf.

“Make sure to tear it slowly, draw it out as long as you like,” Shade stated.

“No…. you wouldn’t.” the wolf said before looking at both Ziggy and Shade. “You can’t!” the wolf shouted his eyes wide, and his breath erratic, “You can’t do this to me!”

“We can, and we will” Ziggy replied.

“TW-BER78! You can’t let them do this to me! Help me!” the wolf shouted in terror.

“You should have taken the chance this wouldn’t be happening if you did” the wolf replied going silent afterward.

Ziggy leaned forward opening his mouth and drawing it out for a moment to mess with the wolf and after a moment he immediately sunk his teeth into the wolf’s ear making sure to tug from side to side to make the pain that much worse.

“No! Stop! Please! Mercy!” the wolf screamed out in pain as he clenched his eyes shut tears falling down his face.

“Not a chance,” Shade responded as he brought his teeth to the other ear, before biting into it slowly biting through the ear but as the wolf began to scream again.

“No! No! Stop! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!” the wolf screamed out his eyes still clenched shut, before Shade tore the ear free and the wolf howling out in pain as blood ran down his face from his missing ear.

“Your words mean nothing here,” Axel said to the wolf who began to feel Ziggy beginning to slowly tear off his ear.

“S-S-Stop it… D-Don’t do it.” the wolf said shakly now openly crying unable stop himself.

Ziggy didn’t stop when the wolf spoke it just pushed him further to do it and Ziggy made sure to be extra slow about it.

“P-please stop! I’ll do anything! I swear I’ll never harm you! Just don’t take my other ear!” the wolf pleaded.

Ziggy just snarled in response a he began to pull back the wolves ear beginning to separate from its head as blood began to slowly gush from it before the boy immediately ripped it back tearing it off.

“No!” the wolf screamed as he dropped to the ground as Dillon released him as he lay there sobbing, “Kill me… please kill me.”

Shade only looked to Ziggy nodding his head before spitting the ear he had bitten off out, as it landed on the floor infront of the wolfs eyes.

Ziggy did the same as he looked down towards the wolf, wiping his mouth of any of the blood, “Pathetic..” the boy then said to the wolf.

“K-kill me. Please. Just kill me now,” the wolf repeated his eyes focused on his ears on the ground.

“No” he heard Dillon say before hearing Axel add, “Death is too good for you”.

“Then… what will you do to me?” the wolf asked still looking at his ears.

“This,” Shade responded as glow appearing around the wolfs head, as he wreathed in pain a burning sensation being felt on his head as both ears slowly regrew on his head, before magic covered his body holding him in place.

“W-What did you do?” the wolf asked in shock as he felt his ears twitch.

“Dillon and… you who I need to name,” Shade began to say pointing at the larger wolf, “time for part two.”

“No! No more I beg you! Don’t do that again!” the wolf screamed as he tried to move away but found his entire body frozen in place unable to move an inch.

The two immediately walk over to the wolf, Dillon crouching next to him and immediately biting down on his ear while the larger wolf hesitated slightly, “Im sorry” the wolf could hear him whisper before he felt him bite down on his other ear.

“Don’t! I’ll behave! I swear! Not again!” the wolf screamed tear running down his face, “I’ll be a good boy I swear!”

Dillon’s aggression was showing on his face as he bit down and that aggression caused the boy to bite the wolf’s ear off with much more quickly while in comparison the large wolf was much slower with it, tugging on the wolf’s ear until it was ripped the way Ziggy did it.

“Not again please stop this. No more… no more,” the wolf sobbed as he was released falling back to the floor again not even moving a inch from where he lay.

“Bring his ears back” they hear Axel say as they see him walk up to the wolf.

“Okay then,” Shade responds with a smirk as the wolfs ears reformed again.

“Stop this. I won’t do anything to harm or threaten you again. You have my word. Just don’t take my ears again,” the wolf quickly said opening sobbing.

“Oh I believe you this is just to get the message across” Axel replied before biting off the wolves first ear clean off, “You’ll follow Shade, you won’t do anything or say anything harmful to anyone here if you do you will lose the other one am I clear?”.

“Y-Yes. I understand,” the wolf responded in defeat as he lay on the ground sobbing.

Shade didn’t say a word as he looked at the sobbing wolf then towards Axel, “once we finish up here, I’d like a word with you in private.”

“Understood” Axel replied with a nod as he looked back down to the wolf no emotion could be seen on his face before he turned to the other bound wolves, “Any objections?”.

None of the remaining bound wolves looked to say a word or even respond before the smaller white wolf looked to the group, before speaking in a pained voice “they can’t respond… never been taught to speak in words. I speak for my pups.”

“Then are there any objections?,” Axel asked before saying, “if you do join they won’t be hurt any further,”.

“None from me… but request to Alpha,” the smaller wolf asked looking at Shade.

“What do you want to ask?”

“Permission… to bear… yours next,” the smaller wolf requested as the chains disappeared as she turned to the side showing her belly to the group that was slight distended.

The boys just looked to her with wide eyes as Dillon just looked to his hands thinking to himself, “Did I hurt a pregnant wolf?”.

“No. Did not harm. Stayed back behind group. Don’t worry.” the wolf calmly said before adding, “mutated to talk to mind over distance. Me and him linked.” she added pointing to the wolf that had his ears bitten off.

“What do you mean by linked?” Ziggy asked confused.

“Can speak over distance with eachother. Pass messages or orders eachother.” the wolf explained. “Can hear others thoughts if wish.”

“That's cool and kinda terrifying at the same time now that I think about it” Dillon commented before adding, “Please don’t read my mind”.

“Too late… Sorry.” the wolf responds her head lowered slightly.

“Don’t worry about it…” Dillon replied.

Shade then coughed to get the groups attention before saying, “would you all keep an eye on them for me while I speak with Axel alone.”

“Um sure,” Dillon responded while the others just nodded as Shade motioned Axel to follow him.

“Axel… bring him with you,” Shade requested gesturing to the sobbing wolf.

Axel had just nodded in response and gently picked up the wolf in his arms, and followed behind Shade.

Once they had left the room they walked back through the room they had been thrown into many of the figures in the cages around the room dropping to the floor, and placing their heads to the floor with their hands beside them the second they saw Shade pass them.

“Ok..” Axel commented as he looked to the cages with a brow raised before looking forward to see that Shade was ahead of him he picked up his pace to catch up a bit, “Why are they acting differently now, what changed?”.

“I don’t know,” Shade responded shaking his head before stopping looking at the cells around him.

The room was then filled with a single sound as they heard almost everyone shout in unison, “Please forgive us for our transgressions Lord Shade! We your humble servents wish to serve you for the rest of time!”

Shade paused before raising his voice, “Your prayers have been heard, you will have my response soon.”

“Yes Lord Shade!” the entire room shouted at once, looking up for a momment to look at Shade before lowering their heads again.

“Through here,” Shade calmly says pointing to a small room beside them as he walked towards it.

“Alright” Axel followed him into the room before moving his arm’s a bit to get a better grip of the wolf.

Once they were all the room what almost looked to be a wall dropped from the doorway sealing them inside, “Okay then. Earlier you said you wanted to know if I had anything to make you stronger correct?”

“Yes sir” Axel replied with a nod.

“Of then, first put him down for the moment,” Shade requested gesturing to the wolf in Axel’s arms.

Axel immediately put the wolf down to the floor and moved away from him, “What now?”.

“Show me the mark on your hands,” Shade requested.

“Ok” Axel did what he was told holding out his hands towards Shade.

Shade then placed his hands over the marks as a spark moved up Axel’s arms before moving back down his arms the marks on his hands now pulasating in a red light before Shade pulled his hands away. “Now I want you to try imagine magic flowing through them, then after try to do the opposite okay.”

Axel nodded before closing his eyes doing what Shade told him to do and after a moment he began to see it, one of the marks was constantly glowing and the other went completely black entirely, “What’s happening, what do I do now?”.

“Okay in simple terms I gave you access to a weaker version of my magic. Do you remember what I did to you when we first met?”

He immediately got flashes to what happened that night before responding, “Y-yeah I remember”.

“Please tell me what you remember of that meeting,” Shade requested.

“I couldn’t move but I felt you making changes to my body adding things and I could only watch in my head an-” Axel said before shaking his head.

“Correct.” Shade calmly said, before adding, “you are able to do the part you don’t remember. But do you remember what I did to Kai?”

“You changed him into someone completely different, different personality and changed memories” Axel replied.

“Correct,” Shade responded before looking back to the wolf on the ground whose eyes were wide as he was scratching at the door they had come in through. “And we have someone else who needs a blank slate and new start.”

“N-No I’m not going to do anything to harm you I swear,” the wolf responded as he began sweating nervously still clawing at the door frantically.

“Then why are you so nervous then?” Axel said to the wolf about to walk towards him.

“I-I’m not I swear,” the wolf responded as he felt magic surround him again dragging him away from the door. “No! No! No! Let me go! Let me go!”

“Your a bad lier pup,” Shade responded glaring at the wolf before he turned to Axel. “I can't be around to handle dangerous wolves who mean us harm and control them. I want you to take that job for the wolves we capture if attacked that remains a threat to us.”

“How would I do this job then, how do I use that ability you gave me?” Axel asked

“In simple terms. Think of yourself as a jail warden for the new section with the cells in when needed,” Shade stated before adding, “As for using the ability, make the mark on your hand glow like before and place it on the targets head. I’ll join you inside his mind to lead you through the process.”

“N-N-No… stay away from me! Don’t you dare touch me!” the wolf shouted.

Axel took a deep breath as the mark on his hand began to glow again walking towards the wolf reaching his arm out towards his head before placing it on the wolf's head and in the next moment he was somewhere else.

“Where am I?” Axel said to himself confused as he looked around finding himself in what looked to be a large room that looked to have photos of the wall each with a knife through them, while at the foot of each of them was a pile of bodies piled on top of eachother.

He walked towards one of the corpses and flipped it over, seeing that it was Dillon looking back at him his eyes and ears were missing and his mouth was open showing that his tongue was missing as well, Axel just looked at the body to see multiple gashes and holes on the body that were still dripping blood, before he looked away covering his mouth turning his attention to the image above them.

He grabbed onto it and looked at it intently for a moment looking through the image to find Dillon in the background leaning against a tree his face the exact same as the body next to him which caused his hands to shake, “What the fuck is this?” he whispered.

“This is the mind of that wolf. This is his current thoughts of what he wants and how he intends to do it,” Shade responds as he walks beside Axel. “My guess is that he intends to kill everyone in these piles leaving them as they look here after he’s done.”

The older boy just looked at the bodies for a moment his vision stuck on their wounds before he spoke, “What do I need to do to reform the disobedient pup?” his voice showing no emotion.

“Simple. Grab the version of him here and do what you desire. You can seal the current him here to suffer for the rest of his life as a prisoner in his own mind, or erase him completely like he never existed.”

“And where is the version of him in here?” Axel then asked.

“I would assume he’s nearby,” Shade responded as they heard a scream from nearby them.

Axel immediately began moving towards where the scream came from Shade not far behind and once they found the source they just saw him killing a version of Ziggy who looked to be choking on his own blood causing Axel to clench his fist.

“You..” Axel began snarling out as he began to walk toward the wolf.

The wolf stopped dead slowly turning his head as Axel saw that the wolf's face and claws were drenched in blood with the remains of two ears in his mouth, before his eyes focused on Axel a sadistic smirk on his face, “Oh look another toy to play with.” He then looked back to the figure infront of him before plunging its claws into the eyes of the figure pulling them out before placing it into its mouth.

“Oh, I'm going to be the only one that enjoys this…” Axel muttered venom in his voice.

“Oh, you’ll be next when I’m done here. Just sit tight,” the wolf responds before walking up beside the corpse and raising a leg as a yellow stream of liquid covers the body, as it looked at Axel with blank eyes which the liquid filled before dripping the floor around the body.

“I'm going to rip you apart piece by fucking piece” Axel blankly stated before rushing to the wolf bringing out his claws, the wolf seeming to not care about Axel’s presence as he continued abusing the body beneath him.

Once Axel closed the distance he immediately sent a hook to the side of the wolf’s body landing the hit causing the wolf to lurch over.

“Wait… you hit me… how?” the wolf responds confusion in his voice.

“Because I'm not one of the figments of your mind, I'm real” Axel coldly replied before grabbing the wolf by its head and slamming it into his knee as it recoiled backwards before bumping into Shade’s leg before Shade stamped down on its back holding it in place.

“How are you here?” the wolf responds with a pained tone in its voice as it tried to get free.

“Im here because im rooting around in this head of yours, to change some things for the better I was contemplating having you trapped in your own head as a punishment, but I think im just gonna erase you and replace it with something else entirely” Axel replied, the wolf looking at him in the eyes.

“E-Erase?” the wolf responded a fearful look on it's face.

“Is that not the easy way out for him?” Shade asks, “I mean I’m sure if you trap him you can do much worse in that state. I mean we could remove his legs, arms, ears, teeth and bind him in a small cage alone forced to watch the world go on without him for the rest of his days.”

“You make a good point” Axel replied, “What do you think pup?”.

“Get the hell away from me!” the wolf shouted terror in its eyes.

“I mean… you could do what he did to the bodies to his as well… just leave him alive, bound and conscious throughout after we take everything,” Shade added, as they saw the wolf belong Shade shake his head rapidly.

“You won’t miss your arm’s or leg’s since you won’t have a use for them,” Axel said to the wolf as he reached his arm towards its head as the wolf tried to recoil away but was pinned in place by Shade’s foot.

Once Axel placed his hand on the wolf’s head and in the next moment, one of his arm’s disappeared the wolf’s eyes widened as he began to wriggle around more.

“What did you do to me!” the wolf shouted looking at the void where his limb was his eye wide in fear.

“And that’s one, onto the other one,” Axel said before he made the other limb disappear.

“W-W-What the-” the wolf said eyes wide as it attempted to wriggle against the ground helplessly. “Where are my arms!”

“I took them away” Axel blankly replied to the wolf, “Now for the legs” he then added.

“W-Wait what do you mean! What are you doing to me!” the wolf shouted in fear still trying to get free.

“I giving you what you deserve nothing more nothing less” Axel responded as the wolf's left leg disappeared.

“W-W-What the-” the wolf responded before Shade took his foot off the wolf back as he tried to move his last remaining leg as he tried to stand only to fall back onto the floor. “N-N-No way what are you doing to me! Stay away!”

The wolf could see a smirk on Axel’s face who said “You know just because I find it funny I'm gonna leave you like that, what’s the face for pup don’t like being on the other end of it?”.

“Stay away from me!” the wolf screamed as he tried to crawl away from Axel and Shade his one arm barely able to move him, his eyes going wider as he tried to get away from them.

“You're not going anywhere” he heard Axel say before he was pulled back toward him and Shade.

“No No No! Stay away!” the wolf shouted.

“Why not take an eye, he seems to like tearing them out of people.” Shade suggested.

“D-Don’t do that!”

Axel just wordlessly just brought his hand to the wolf's face and vision in his left eye went dark.

“Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!” the wolf shouted as he began hyperventilating.

“Calm down pup I'm taking both” Axel said to him.

“Axel… leave him one. He needs to be able to watch the rest of his life which he won’t live after all,” Shade points out, “Although why not make his ears match the physical version of him.

Axel nodded before he placed his hand on the wolf’s ear for a second before it resembled how it does in the physical world.

“K-Kill me…. J-just kill me.” the wolf said still wriggling it’s one remaining limb.

“Death is too good for you” Axel immediately replied.

“W-what are you going to do to me?” the wolf asked trying to back up from them.

“I'm gonna have you be stuck here in this head of yours while the other you live’s the life you won’t be able to” Axel responded.

“At least I have the bodi-” the wold began to say before howling out its pain as Shade grabbed the wolf’s tail before dragging him out of the room towards the other one.

Once they entered the first room they found it to be void of the bodies and images from before as the wolf looked around in confusion as he saw a single screen infront of him. “Now to set you in for the rest of your life.” Shade states before the wolf slumped to the ground his limbs seeming to spread out.

“This isn’t that-” the wolf began to say trying to move its arm but finding it unable to move an inch. “B-bad… what did you do!”

“Set you in your new spot,” Shade responds before tapping Axel on his shoulder. “Now we leave him and do the rest outside. Unless you have anything else you want to do to him before we leave.”

Axel just crouched in in front of the wolf the smirk on his face returning, “Maybe after this. If you're on good behaviour I’ll give you your limbs back. But don’t get’s your hopes up though” Axel said tapping the back of his hand against the side of the wolves face before backing away.

“W-Wait! Where are you going!” the wolf shouts at Axel.

“Going back to the physical world” the wolf heard Axel reply before he saw him turn to Shade, “So is leaving the mindscape the same way going into it, or is it something else?”.

“For me I just think of a door to leave though and… well walk away.” Shade explains.

“Alright seem’s simple enough, I’ll try my best with the job you’ve given me” Axel replied to Shade as he held his arm up to the side a moment passing before a wooden door appeared.

“Wait! You can’t leave me like this!” the wolf screamed at them as he heard them speaking about leaving.

“We can actually, so see ya” Axel replied before he walked to the door and opened it giving the wolf a short wave before walking through.

“Don’t leave me like this! Come back! Please!” the wolf shouted as Shade turned away before disappearing, leaving the wolf alone, frozen in a single spot.

Once the two of them were out of the wolf mind they found themselves back in the room, the wolf stood in place staring towards with a blank look in his eyes drool running down his mouth to the floor.

Axel shook his head trying to get his composure back, “That’s definitely gonna take a bit to get used to” he said before looking down to the wolf.

“You won’t need to go into the mind of every wolf. You can do most things from the real world unless you want them to be aware of things still and be forced to watch everything,” Shade explained, “now as for the fun part. You just need to do the same again but this time imagine what you want to mentally change about him out loud, then order him to repeat back and for,
minor visual changes just think them and they’ll slowly happen.”

“Got it” Axel nodded before crouching in front of the wolf and placing his hand on his head again and saying, “We are not your enemy, were your friends your allies, you have known us for a long time, your my son and your name is Silas, you are a kind and determined soul, now repeat”.

“You are not my enemy, your my friends and allies I've known you all for a long time, Im your son, my name is Silas I am a kind and determined soul” Silas replied as Axel patted his head, “Good boy”.

“Ok now for the appearance,” Axel said before placing his hand back down the mark glowing again as the symbol appeared on the back of Silas’s head before some of the fur on his body turned to the same color as Axel’s dark brown hair keeping some of the white coat on Silas’s face legs and stomach.

“Alright Silas im gonna snap my finger and your gonna be waking up from a deep sleep am I understood?”.

“Yes…father..”Silas slowly replied.

“Good, now wake up Silas” Axel stated as he snapped his finger Silas closed his eyes, the room completely silent before Silas could be heard yawning as he opened his eyes to the first person he see’s being Axel, “Oh hey dad..”.

“Have a nice nap Silas?” Axel said to him with a smile.

Silas just nodded in response as he rubbed his eyes, “Yeah, when did we get in here?”.

“Me you and Shade were having a talk and you fell asleep” Axel replied with a smile.

“Oh sorry about that then dad” Silas said in a disappointed tone.

“Don’t worry about it Silas” he heard Axel say before he saw him talk to Shade.

“So what now?” Axel asked.

“Is their anything else you need to know first before we head back?” Shade asks, before kneeling down infront of Silas.

“More so in reference to the ability you said I wouldn’t have to go inside of one's mind all the time so how would I do it for the ones like that?” Axel replied.

“Simple, If you have no desire for the target to remain as they are and remain aware. The process is mostly the same but it’s easier if they are unconscious or their defences are down,” Shade responds, “but the way it works may be different for you than it was for me.”

“Fair enough,” Axel said with a nod before adding, “Alright let’s head back to the others” noticing that Silas was looking at Shade intently.

“Silas?” Axel said with a brow raised as he heard him speak to Shade, “Y-your Shade right?”.

“Yes I am. Are you sure your okay?” Shade asks looking at Sila’s curiously.

“Y-yeah just really tired, how long was I asleep?” Silas replied shaking his head slightly.

“Only for a few minutes your probably just drowsy bud,” Axel said to him.

Silas was silent for a moment before letting out a low yawn, “Oh…okay”.

“Try and stand up we need to head back to the others,” Axel said to the wolf who drowsily nodded to him before slowly standing himself up.

“Might be an idea for you to carry the sleepy pup,” Shade points out with a smile as he rubs Silas’s head.

Silas just rubbed into Shade’s hand for a moment before feeling Axel gently pick him up, “Comfortable?” he heard Axel ask as he just nodded into his shoulder, “Good, now let's head back” Axel stated as Shade opened up the door as they left the room.

Once they had left the room they made their ways back past the rows of cells all of the figures inside once again bowing her heads to the floor as they past until they reached the caves.

Upon entering they found that Dillon and Ziggy were asking the white wolf from before questions they seemed to get a bit more talkative while Axel and Shade were gone, and the larger wolf was just laying around on the floor behind them it seemed like he was resting his eyes.

“Seems like you lot are getting yourselves acquainted” Axel commented everyone looking towards him and Shade.

“Yeah after you and dad left we started asking her about how her mind reading works and after that we started talking about other stuff” Ziggy replied.

“Anything I should be aware of?” Shade asks looking at them curiously.

“The ability is very efficient even the most drawn back thoughts aren’t hard for her to read from what we’ve been told” Dillon admitted.

“But can’t stop voices… it’s very bad.” the wolf responds, “I hear everyone in other room. All thoughts on Alpha.”

“Yeah being unable to turn something like that off sounds stressful…” Dillon commented.

“Cult kept me isolated. Seperate from pups to use me often,” she responds again her voice calm as she walks towards Shade, before rubbing up against his leg. “But need name. Alpha provide?”

“You sure your happy for me to decide that for you?” Shade asked looking at the wolf getting a nod back from her.

“Yes Alpha. I want you to decide. I want to belong to Alpha.” the wolf responds again happily nuzzling his hand.

Shade paused for a second before rubbing the wolf head, “does the name Reina work for you?”

“Yes Alpha. Reina is good name,” the wolf responds with a nod,before adding “also, my pups. Also yours. Will need names. Can you when able?”

“Of course. I will when I am able to,” Shade responds as Reina didn’t say anything in response as she contently rubbed up against Shade’s hand her pups quickly sitting beside her.

Shade slowly looked around everyone before smiling, “I guess we better get you all out of here to somewhere more comfortable for you.”

“Yes Alpha,” Reina responded still rubbing up against him as they saw the pups nod in response to him.

“Hey dad, while you were gone Ziggy mentioned that I used some form of shield right?” Dillon said turning towards Ziggy to confirm Ziggy giving a nod in confirmation, “Yeah a shield and I used it while I was going crazy earlier and I think I remember how to use it,” Dillon said to Shade.

“Why does it make me worry it took you going crazy to remember things.” Shade responds with a shake of his head.

“No idea…” Dillon replied with a sigh.

“Technically that only happened because he hit the back of his head pretty hard surprised he doesn’t have a concussion” Ziggy commented.

“Anyway, I think it might be good for you all to get some fresh air. I just need to get some people from the other room,” Shade calmly responds as a set of stairs appear beside them leading upwards.

“I’ll go with you Logan will probably not move from that spot if im not there,” Ziggy said to Shade as Dillon looked to the stairs before walking up, “See ya in a little bit then” they hear Dillon say out loud as the others followed behind him.

“Follow me,” Shade responds as he walks back out the cave back towards the previous room passing the cages of monster who once again began bowing the second they saw him.

“Feels weird to see them do that after earlier…” Ziggy muttered as he attempted to keep his attention away from the monsters until they left the room.

“It’s just as bad for me having everyone bowing constantly,” Shade responds as they entered the next room finding Logan pacing around the room an anxious look on his face, “Logan were back” the wolf heard Ziggy say, turning towards him before running and jumping onto the boy in a hug.

“I missed you..” he could hear the wolf mumble into his shoulder before patting his head, “I missed you too bud,” Ziggy said smiling at the wolf as Shade walked to Gil and Hiryur, finding the boy who was unconscious before sitting up looking Hiryur with a confused look on his face.

“You all doing okay in here?” Shade asks looking at the group.

“Well he woke up,” Gil responds, “but he isn’t really saying anything.”

“To be fair we didn’t ask him anything,” Hiryur points out.

“W-Who am I?” the figure asked looking at Shade with a pained look on his face, “I feel like I’m forgetting something.”

“It’s a long story,” Shade replied calmly as he walks to the other side of the bed sitting beside the young boy. “But to make it quicker, you were asleep for a long time.”

“Explains why I’m not tired,” the figure responds with a nervous chuckle, “But still… do you know who I am… and why something about him looks familiar,” he adds pointing to Hiryur.

“Do you remember anything?”

“Well yes. A faint outline of a egg… bars blocking my vision, many long thin spikes poking me and lots of colours… but nothing close to who I am.” the figure responds his head falling into Shade’s lap. “Do I know him?”

“If I said you are close does it help?”

“No… I doesn’t,” the figures responds with a shake of his head. “Do you know what my name is?”

Hiryur pauses for a moment looking at the figure before he said, “Ace… that was a name you were called in the past.”

“Ace?” The figure responds tilting his head to the side slightly.

“Well… I believe they referred to you as that… maybe their ace in the hole sort of thing.” Hiryur added as he looked to the ceiling.

“Why would someone call me that?” Ace asked looking at Hiryur curiously.

“I have no idea… I don’t know what they did to you for you to become that,” Hiryur responds before looking back to Shade, “Still… is it safe to move him?”

“Well…. Can he walk?”

“I haven’t tried mr… umm,” Ace began to say before pausing in confusion.

“Oh thats Shade… and also my dad,” Hiryur responds calmly.

“S-Shade…” Ace began to say his voice shaking as his eyes widened as he looked to try and back away into the back of the bed. “Stay away! Don’t touch me!”

The group all looked towards Ace in confusion before they heard him say, “No more needles… please no more.”

“It’s ok Ace that isn’t gonna happen anymore,” Ziggy said in a gentle tone.

“I- I don’t believe you… s-s-stay away.” Ace responded his voice shaking.

“Ace… He won’t I can promise you that,” Hiryur responds as he grips Ace’s hand the young boy almost seeming to calm down in an instant, “he hates the people who did that to you more than anyone.”

“B-But he’s carries their name… isn’t he the one leading them,” Ace responds back trying to avoid looking at Shade.

“I would rather erase that group that have anything to do with them. Honestly… I would wipe that entire cult from the face of the planet if I could find them all,” Shade responds, “and honestly… I will when I find evem a single one of the places they are hiding at, I likely will.”

“B-But I thought you were-” Ace began to say before being cut off.

“I’m not their leader. I may be the person that some of their founders viewed as a god but I will never lead them as they are.”

“Well… he does capture, reform and set them to work if they are capable of it,” Hiryur points out, “but in those cases he makes sure they are being watched at all times.”

“Well their former head scientist anyway,” Shade adds with a shake of his head, “I make sure someone always keeps an eye on her.”

“Who are you talking about?” Ziggy asked with a raised brow.

“A rather annoying pony,” Hiryur responded clenching the hand not holding Ace’s into a fist, “And the one who did the tests done to everyone.”

“And the one who created most of the cults equipment,” Shade adds.

“Just hope you never need anything from her,” Hiryur responds gritting his teeth as the hand he had clenched into a fist turned into a long bladed sword.

“Noted, should probably not let Dillon near her then might try to kill her” Ziggy muttered.

“Just… not alone and don’t tell him she’s responsible for what you have seen down here… she only did some of it from what I know… others may have been involved,” Shade responds.

“Dad… can we all head above ground?” Hiryur asks looking at Shade.

“That was one of the reasons we came back in here,” Shade responds with a smile, “if Ace can walk that is… if not I can carry him.”

“I think I can,” Ace responds nervously as he climbed out of the bed before trying to stand up only to fall forwards as Gil catched him, “No… I don’t think I can.”

“I’ll help him,” Gil responds as he lifts Ace onto his back, as he wrapped his legs around Gils body and rested his arms over his shoulders..

“Are we leaving?” Logan asked Ziggy who just nodded towards him the boy picking him up and carrying him on his back.

“The stairs from before are back from where we came right?” Ziggy then asked Shade as he pointed back.

Shade simply smiles before placing his hand out as an archway forming beside them with stairs behind them leading upwards a few moments later, “Yes if you want a longer walk.”

“Nevermind then” Ziggy said with a chuckle as he and the group began to walk up the stairs with him and Logan in the back.

Chapter 14

The group after a few moments of walking up the stairs got out and were above ground as they saw the others just sitting around waiting for them before Axel and Dillon noticed them and waved the group who walked over to them and once Ziggy and Logan were through the door it shut behind them

Dillon stood himself up and walked up to the group about to say something before he noticed Ace who was being carried by Gil.

“Oh he’s awake,” Dillon said out loud before smiling Axel came forwards afterwards and placed his hand on Dillon's head.

“I take it he can’t walk yet?” Axel asked.

“No… I just fall forwards onto my face,” Ace responds looking at Axel.

“I know that feeling far too well..” Ziggy muttered remembering his training from Axel a week or two back.

“It probably won’t take too long for you to be able to walk again so don’t worry” Axel stated with a soft smile.

“That's easy for you to say,” Ace responds his head resting atop Gil’s.

“It didn’t take Logan too long to be able to walk again and he woke up earlier today” Ziggy commented glancing at Ace.

“Off that topic for a moment, what’s your name?” Dillon asked.

“The code that I was given or the name that was chosen?” Ace asks nervously

“The name that was chosen…I think” Dillon replied.

“Well… Hiryur said my name was Ace… although I think that code was something like DR-AC-01.” Ace replied, rubbing his head.

“Oh…I think I’ll just stick with Ace then” Ace heard Dillon reply.

“Might be for the best,” Ace agrees with a nervous chuckle.

Dillon did the same as Axel just smirked in response before ruffling Dillon's hair, the boy attempting to swat Axel’s hand away, “Axel knock it off!” the boy whined as the older boy just chuckled at his little brother's attempts.

“I’m surprised the lot of you didn’t find somewhere to sit down for a bit,” Shade points out as he walks towards the group.

“We decided to wait here and we kinda got into the topic on how I got amnesia,” Dillon said while he held Axel’s hand back.

“And how much do you remember regarding that?” Shade asks as Reina rubbed up against his leg.

“I remember a lot of it in that regard…” Dillon admitted.

“Anything specific?” Gil asks looking at Dillon.

“I remember talking to someone I think it was my sister, the conversation is still fuzzy but she pushed me out of the window of what looked like our base of operations which were a few stories up and not even a moment later an explosion went off,” Dillon said before taking a breath, “I was scared I couldn't move I couldn’t think the only thing I could see was the fire that was spreading in the area and that our enemy was surrounding me and I lost it, the anger took over and I fought them till I couldn’t anymore, but they wanted to make an example out of me”.

Dillon took another breath as he shook his head, “Dillon you don’t have to if it makes you uncomfortable” he heard Axel say.

“No I'm ok,” Dillon replied as he continued, “One of them seemed like one of the guys in charge he grabbed me by the face and lifted me up in the air and began taunting me and my response to those taunts was slamming my foot into his face, that pissed him off and I felt who knows how many volts of electricity being directed into my head my body felt like it was losing every bit of strength until I couldn’t move entirely once he was done he walked to a nearby cliff and dropped me the last thing I saw was him looking at me with that sickening smirk before I lost consciousness”.

It was silent as everyone looked at the boy who just sighed, “I don’t how I survived but once I find that bastard I'm gonna tear him apart”.

“And you think it would go any better this time than it did before?” Gil asks with a curious look in his eye.

“Won’t know till I try, besides he got me after I couldn’t fight anymore” Dillon replied.

“Either way, just don’t go looking for a fight with him if you can help it,” Shade responded as he walked towards the castle, “Besides. If you were at a base I can assume you had a group who all were defeated before that as well. Chances are he did that to you.”

“Fair point…” Dillon said with a sigh as he and the others began to follow behind Shade.

Once the group reached the castle they saw what looked to be a large open field, that had multiple benches scattered around the area. One of the benches had Luna sitting on them with Midnight sitting on her lap.

Dillon along with Axel, Ziggy and Logan just sat on a nearby bench, the boys just sitting there in silence before Dillon just laid his head to the side next to Axel who gently grabbed the boys head and placed it on his lap meanwhile Ziggy just had Logan laying on his Axel just glancing towards the two with a soft smile before seeing Shade walk to Luna and Midnight.

“I assume by the fact your both up here already that everyone was out like a light when you left?” Shade asks as he sits down next to Luna.

“Well, they were all asleep if that's what you mean,” Luna responds, “Although two did wake back up and asked if they could play with Midnight and as they referred to him, ‘the doggy’ again.”

Dillon’s ear twitched from overhearing her saying as he defensively placed his hands on his ears while letting out a low whine.

“Have you not learnt to keep your ears covered by now?” Midnight asked to a chuckle as she appeared behind Shade, her chin resting on the top of his head.

“Easy for you to say you’ve barely been on the other side of it…” Dillon grumbled.

“She will be getting used to it from now on,” Luna responds a magic hand reaching behind Midnight’s ears as Dillon saw the hand begin to scratch behind her wings her body tensing up as she fell backwards laughing uncontrollably on the ground behind Shade. “I mean she is a princess even if she doesn’t look like it.”

The boys seeing this just let out a unanimous snort in response and attempted to stop themselves from laughing.

“I’m surprised she doesn’t have her own little tiara on by now,” Shade points out.

“Same could be said for you not having a crown on your head,” Luna points out with a smirk. “I mean I’m sure my sister is trying to sort one for you.”

“I’m more surprised there isn’t some kind of outfit being sent my way by now,” Shade responded.

“Well she is trying to find a tailor to make you one. But its not like we have ever had a Alicorn prince to measure or design a royal outfit for before now.” Luna points out.

Dillon overhearing the two sat up looking at the two before asking, “What are you two talking about?”.

“Oh all we are talking about the fact that he is in the eyes if most creatures royalty, that and the fact he doesn’t really look the part.” Luna asks looking at Dillon.

Dillon just looked to Shade for a moment before chuckling “Now that you say it he really doesn’t, guess I didn’t really pay it any mind, to be honest” the boy replied.

“Also at a glance he doesn’t fit the title my sister gave him,” Luna added with a chuckle. “I mean the title ‘Alicorn of War’ is what she gave him and people see a kind hearted creature looking after children.”

“Guess it would be jarring to see that after hearing title like that” Dillon replied letting out a low laugh at the thought.

“Yeah it would, imagine hearing that title before the meeting if I didn’t know him, id be shitting bricks” Axel commented.

“Maybe have the outfit for something like that be one of those cliched outfits for royalty with the red robe and furred collar, I remember that I read a lot of fantasy-based books with royalty as that” they hear Dillon say.

“Aren’t those kinds normally portrayed as self serving assholes?” Gil points out.

“Usually but not always, if not that maybe have it be like a two-piece suit of some kind, any of you got any suggestions?” Dillon asked.

“Nope” Axel blankly replied as Ziggy went into deep thought for a moment before shaking his head, “Yeah I got nothing”.

“Then I can assume you can see the issue my sister is having regarding this. He is the first Male alicorn in equestria. Nopony knows what is suitable for both his looks and a style to fit his title.” Luna responds.

“Definitely seems like a conundrum” Dillon admitted.

“Even then finding the right tailor to design clothing for him is a big ask,” Luna responds.

“Definitly the case when very few ponies are aware of me and my title,” Shade responds shaking his head.

“And the fact many refuse to design something around his title out of fear the bearer of said title with strike them down if it is not to their liking,” Luna adds with a shake of their heads, “it would be so much easier if their was a tailor or even a designer who both knew and trusted you.”

“Blame your sister for giving me a title that puts off most normal people,” Shade responds with a shake of his head.

“Possible dumb question, why did she give him that title?” Ziggy asked with a brow raised.

“Have you seen him fight up close before,” Luna responds with a curious look towards Ziggy.

The boy attempted to respond before stopping and going into thought again, “Have I?” before looking back to Luna, “I don’t think I have actually”.

“Let’s just say you would be unnerved if you saw for yourself,” Axel said looking towards him, while Dillon just quietly nodded in agreement.

“He capable of defeating a large group of monsters before we were sent to the moon,” Luna points out, “and that was before he had any experience with his belt.”

“Well… I did have one thousand years training with you on the moon,” Shade points out.

“I never worked out why we could fly on the moon although it did help you when you crashed for the first year.” Luna responds with a chuckle.

“Wait yall were on the moon?” they heard Ziggy ask.

“Yes. For one thousand years… give or take,” Shade responds with a smile.

“I…how- okay im not asking any further into that, probably gonna give me a headache,” Ziggy said with a sigh.

“May be for the best,” Luna responds, “It’s kind of hard to explain without using magic as a reason.”

“Given how neither me nor Ziggy understand magic your most likely right” Dillon added with a chuckle.

“You can explain a lot away with that in this world,” a voice responded from behind them as they saw Alexis and Simon walking towards the group carrying several small black cardboard containers, in their arms.

“Is that?” Alexis heard Dillon ask as she saw him point to the cardboard containers.

“You took a bit longer than expected so I ended up making a few more than planned,” Alexis responds as the boxes are placed on the table and opened revealing pizza’s inside each of them.

Dillon and Ziggy just looked at the pizza’s before smelling them causing both of them to drool before the two boys immediately grabbed a slice and began to snack.

“You might aswell all try them they’ll go to waste otherwise,” Shade responds as he stands up allowing others to sit down as Simon simply shrugs his shoulders taking Shade’s seat.

“Your not going to have a slice?” Alexis asks looking at Shade.

“Don’t need to eat remember. You take my slices, you’ve earn’t them,” Shade responds gesturing to the table as Alexis sits down beside Simon grabbing a piece of pizza.

Ziggy was taking another bite of out his slice of pizza before noticing that Logan was looking at it intently, taking this as a good indication that he wanted some Ziggy grabbed another slice and passed it to him Logan sniffing the slice before taking a bite and not even a moment later quickly scarfing it down.

“Logan slow down, don't want you to choke,bud” Ziggy said with a chuckle.

“Sorry…” Logan said with his mouth full before slowly chewing and swallowing down his food.

“Don’t worry about it bud” Ziggy replied, rubbing Logan's head before going back to eating.

“Is it any good?” Alexis asked looking at the group.

Axel gave a thumbs up while chewing on his last slice of pizza, and Dillon immediately swallowed the food in his mouth, “It’s delicious!”.

“It's really good,” Ziggy said in response while Logan quickly nodded while he continued eating.

“This may be my first time eating it but you definitely raised the bar for pizza for me,” Axel said to Alexis.

“It’s not something I’ve had the pleasure of trying before,” Luna responds calmly looking at the group, “But still it’s better than most of the things they eat in Canterlot.”

“Well that stuff is made my the best chefs in Equestria,” Shade points out.

“And I’m no Gorden Ramsay or Jamie Oliver,” Alexis responds with a dismissive wave.

“Still can make a really good pizza though I think this is the first hot meal I've had in a while” Dillon replied as he grabbed another slice.

“I've been meaning to ask since you remember how you got amnesia how long do you think you were by yourself for?” Ziggy asked Dillon who placed his hand on his chin, “From the fire and what that guy did to me maybe a couple of weeks maybe a month some of it still blurry though”.

“If we do encounter that guy we’ll be there for you,” Axel said towards the boy.

After a little while, everyone began to finish up with eating and stood up from the table as the boys started stretching out as all of their tails extended out in tandem, “Man that was good” Dillon said as he saw the others looks towards them, “What?” the group pointing towards their tails which were wagging.

“Nothing really. You just look a bit too excited,” Simon responds with a smirk.

The boy raised his brow before looking back to see his tail before immediately attempting to grab it trying to stop it from moving.

“Im not even gonna try it,” Axel said blankly while Ziggy just nodded in agreement.

“I don’t think it’s long enough for you to chase your own tail yet,” Luna points out chuckling as she looks at Dillon.

“Thing has a mind of its own!” Dillon grunted out attempting to grab it before falling over his own feet letting out a yelp as he fell to the ground as his tail continued to wag.

His brothers just let out a snort after seeing this as Dillon just grumbled to himself, “You ok down there?” Axel asked with a smirk.

“Screw you, Axel…” they heard the boy mumble in response.

“I think he enjoyed it a bit too much,” Luna points out as she smirks looking down at Dillon.

The boy just let out a low whine, “Give me a break it’s been a while since I had a hot meal…” Dillon then pushed himself up from the ground.

“I hope at least one of you knows how to cook or create a fire to cook on,” Alexis asks looking at the three of them.

“I just follow what those two do” Axel said as he pointed to Dillon and Ziggy.

“I know how to cook but since we got turned into timberwolf hybrids we can eat raw meat so didn’t really need to make a fire” Ziggy stated.

“But our diet usually consists of either raw meat or berries mostly” Dillon added.

“Your are still human though. Being half Timberwolf won’t satisfy your needs as for the human parts of you,” Shade points out.

“I know that just been trying to get used to things it’s only been the past week that things started to actually feel normal again, I mean as normal as Equestria gets I suppose” Dillon replied.

“Trust me when I say. If you think your living a normal life as a Displaced you have no hope of it lasting,” Simon points out, “I mean chances are considering your Displaced as what you are you’ll be attacked by monsters on a weekly basis at best.”

“Yeah, your right, guess it’s just a matter of time until it happens I guess” Dillon admits.

“Is that spoken from experience or assuming Murphy’s Law will be at play?” Shade asks looking at Dillon.

“Honestly?” Dillon said before adding, ”Given my luck, it’s pretty much a mix of both” Dillon responded with a sigh.

“Then may it not be an idea to ensure you are all capable of holding your ground in any situation?” Shade asks looking at the group.

“Im not opposed to it” Axel responded as Ziggy nodded in agreement, “Neither am I”.

“If it prepares us for certain situations might as well” Dillon adds.

“Then why don’t you use the arena to train for a bit?” Alexis suggests looking at the three of them.

“There’s an arena?” Ziggy asked surprised.

“Well there was one in the process of being made but it’s not intended to be used for any more than a training ground right now,” Shade calmly responds.

“Works for me,” Ziggy said with a smile as his brothers nodded alongside him.

“Are you ok with us going there now?” Dillon asked before adding, “Because Im willing to start now if it means we’ll be prepared”.

“Same here,” Axel and Ziggy say in unison.

“I guess we can start now if you are all ready,” Shade responds as he looked away from the group into the distance.

“Yep were ready!” Dillon said with a smile before they heard nibbling back at the table, looking back to see Logan snacking on another slice of pizza before he noticed all of them looking towards him.

“What?” the wolf said with a mouthful before swallowing it down.

“Logan if you want, you can grab a slice to take with you so you can eat while we're training,” Ziggy said to the wolf who just nodded as pizza sauce could be seen on his mouth.

Not even a moment later Alexis could be seen walking up to Logan before crouching in front of him, taking out a napkin she gently wiped off his face of the pizza sauce, “What is it with you lot and being a mess,” Alexis adds with a kind smile.

Logan in response just looked away embarrassed as he rubbed his index finger against his cheek.

“You ok bud?” he heard Ziggy say to him before he looked up to see Ziggy covering his mouth in a chuckle.

“Shut up…” the wolf said in a pout as he looked away again.

“Oh come on, I didn’t mean any offense by it Logan” Ziggy replied, while Logan just let out a huff feeling Alexis wipe the last bit of sauce from his mouth before looking at Logan.

“If you want to take some time to sit and talk about anything in private, i’m happy to stay with you so you can get things off your chest,” Alexis added rubbing the top of Logan’s head avoiding touching his ears.

The wolf just gently shook his head in response, “No..im fine” his eyes then shut, a small smile showing on his maw as a mild reaction from Alexis rubbing his head.

“You sure?” Alexis asked looking at the young wolf with a kind smile.

Logan just glanced to Ziggy who just gave him a nod, “It’s ok Logan you can trust her”, the young wolf just looked back up to Alexis, “I-i wouldn’t mind that”.

“Okay. Do you want to stay here for now while the others go and do what they need to. I need to clean all this up anyway,” Alexis replies, gesturing to the remaining food on the table before leaning in a whispering something to Logan the others couldn’t hear.

The young wolf’s face just changed to one of surprise before he smiled and quickly nodded towards her.

“You all make a start with whatever you are going to do. We’ll catch up with you once we’re sorted,” Alexis responds with a smile.

“Take as long as you both need,” Shade responds smiling at the two of them before looking at everyone else who was present. “Any of you want to come along?”

“I’ll catch up soon,” Luna responds as Midnight nods in agreement.

“I’ll stay with the princess. Someone needs to lead her to you when she’s ready,” Simon points out.

“I’ll stay with you. Besides it might be a good idea for me to keep an eye on how you all fight,” Gil responded as Hiryur grabbed ahold of Gil’s hand while Ace grabbed Hiryurs just as quickly.

“Don’t be surprised if you see these two argue and fight like animals then” Axel said with a smirk as Dillon and Ziggy looked at him with frowns before he immediately scooped them both up and held them up by their sides.

“I resent that!” Dillon growled out attempting to get out of Axel’s grip as Ziggy attempted to do the same, “We don’t fight that much!”.

“I have a lot of times of seeing you two doing that to say otherwise” Axel retorted with the same shit-eating grin.

“And I need to see how capable all three of you are right now to decide what training you each need,” Shade adds before gesturing for everyone to follow him. “”Where we need to go is this way.”

They closely follow behind Shade as they left the area while Alexis and the others stayed behind at the tables.

As soon as they group had left Luna looked towards Alexis, “So… who wants to place a bet on how that goes with them?” the Alicorn only getting a smirk back from Alexis.

After five minutes of walking through the town the group arrived outside a large enclosed area, stone walls raising upwards into the sky, the side adorned with banners each vibrently coloured with many different emblems on them.

“Whoa” Ziggy said in awe as his two brothers just nodded in agreement.

“Well this is the place. It’s not really in use yet considering we’ve not had cause to use it so i suppose this is it’s grand opening in a way,” Shade admits as he walked towards an arched entrance that had three flags hanging above them. The sun, The moon and in the centre the familiar red eye-shaped mark that was resting a black background.

“Glad we're part of the grand opening then” Axel commented as he and the others followed Shade through the arched entrance.

Dillon just glanced at Ziggy before whispering to him, “Methinks were going to get our asses kicked once we start in there”.

“Glad im not the only one that thinks that” Ziggy responded to Dillon with nervous smile on his face.

“I wouldn’t worry. Your not the ones who are the focus for this to start with,” Shade adds looking at Axel, “only one of you will be facing me.”

Dillon just looked to Shade before turning his attention to Axel, “Oh ok, good luck then brother”.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence little brother” Axel blankly replied.

“No problem” Dillon replied with a coy smile.

Axel just shook his head in response as he and the others continued to follow behind Shade the group walking through the path as they saw some light illuminating the end of it and once they reached it the boy partly covered their eyes before they found themselves in the inside of the arena.

The interior of the arena was sparsely decorated and beyond what looked to be stone steps lined up like seats around the edge of the arena their was no defining features to the interior.

“You know you don’t really think about it, but you don’t really expect a stadium or arena to be as big as it is when you look at it from the outside” Ziggy commented as Axel placed him and Dillon back on their feet.

“Now that you say that I kinda agree you don’t really expect it until you see the inside” Dillon replied stretching as low pops could be heard from his joints.

“I know this place isn’t much but we’re still working on making the interior looks suitable,” Shade responds as he stepp inside the arena, “but right now I would recommend that everyone but Axel goes into the stands and watches.”

The group just nod and walk up to the stands while Axel stayed where he was with Shade as everyone sat themselves down. Once Shade was sure that everyone was clear he turned back to Axel, “Okay then. I assume you know what i’m expecting of you?”

“Most likely but just to be sure can you remind me?” Axel replied.

“Firstly. What weapon do you normally fight with?” Shade asked looking at Axel.

“The weapon I usually fight with is a broadsword” he heard Axel answer as the older boy made one appearance in his left hand, “like this one, I managed to nick this one off of one of the dismantled robots from two weeks ago”.

“Do you mind if I borrow it for one second?” Shade asks holding his hand out towards Axel as he nodded before handing the sword to Shade with it’s handle pointed towards him, which he took slowly turning it in his hand.

“Okay then, we can work with this,” Shade responded holding the blade in one hand his others palm open facing the ground as a hole opened beside him and a wooden sword rose from it the handle stopping next to his waiting hand as he grabbed it turning it the air, before turning bith blades back towards Axel. “This should be around the same as what your using.”

Axel just grasped onto the blade before looking at it and giving it a test swing, “Alright then, what now?”.

Shade didn’t respond for a moment taking a step backwards away from Axel, “using the wooden sword. Fight me. I’m not transformed and am remaining unarmed, your goal is to get three clean hits on me.”

The older boy just nodded in response before flipping it backward and placing it in a reverse grip while tightening his grip on the handle before immediately rushing towards Shade before stopping, the momentum causing him to slide forward using an upswing towards Shade, who quickly side stepped Axel’s blow before striking his hand his blade being knocked from his grasp to the floor.

“Not good enough. Pick it up. Try again,” Shade ordered facing Axel again standing sideways his back hand clenched and front open towards him.

Axel immediately picked the blade back up before rushing back toward Shade as he swung towards Shade again before twisting his body to the side and aiming for his legs attempting to use a feint against him.

“Axel. Your too predictable,” Shade respond before spinning backwards his foot kicking the arm holding the sword forcing the arm to lock straight the blade to far forwards from Shade as his kicked his leg back kicking the side of Axel’s head before jumping off his back leg kicking Axel dirfectly in the centre of his chest.

Axel let out a loud cough as he was pushed back the older boy fell to his knee, “Oh that looks like it hurt” Ziggy said as he winced as Dillon just covered his mouth with his fist.

“Axel. Again,” Shade ordered, “this time don’t try and fight me head on, rushing in won’t make it any easier for you,” Shade warned him.

Axel just stumbled back onto his feet before grabbing onto the sword again, and once he did he began to slowly circle around Shade, as Shade slowly turned on his feet keeping Axel in his sights.

“Ok Axel, just don’t overextend but don’t be too defensive” Axel muttered to himself before he saw Shade begin to move forward seeming to be bouncing on the feet slightly moving towards Axel before throwing a punch forwards towards axel’s chest.

Axel's eye’s widened as he bent backward Shade’s punch narrowly missed him before he swung his blade from the side about to hit Shade before he moved away from the last second, still bouncing on balls of his feet..

“Damn it!” Axel growled out as he bent back forwards finding Shade’s foot high in the air above him as he brough it down onto the shoulder of the arm holding swords the force of the hit sending a jolt down his arm.

The older boy’s arm immediately went limp as the blade fell to the floor he grit his teeth as fell to his knee his free arm grasping onto where he was hit “what did you do, why can’t I move my arm?”

“It’ll go back to normal soon,” Shade responds standing over Axel’s body looking down at him as Shade kicked the blade up from the ground into his hand bringing the wooden blade down stopping just above Axel’s head.

“And stop.” Shade responds bringing the wooden sword back from above Axel’s head, “you still have a lot to improve on.”

Axel just looked down before removing his hand from his shoulder which was shaking , “I’ll make sure to get better”.

“And i’ll make sure to ensure you do,” Shade responded holding his hand out to Axel.

Axel just grasped Shade’s hand and was pulled back up to his feet before he grasped onto his limp arm again.

“This may hurt,” Shade responded before striking Axel’s limp shoulder with the palm of his a loud pop being heard after, “that better?”

Shade just heard a low hiss of pain from Axel, “Yeah…that’s better” Axel replied before he stretched it out.

“He barely stood a chance….” Dillon said as he and Ziggy just looked on in shock.

“If we are gonna stand a chance against our stronger enemies we're gonna have to double down on getting better…” Ziggy though to himself.

“If he’s the best of you three you have no hope in tartarus at your current levels,” a new voice responds from behind them.

The two perked up before looking back and seeing a Pegasus hovering behind them, he had a jet black coat, with a silver and orange two tone mane, and looked to have a Cutie mark in the shape of two crossed swords, he was also wearing light black armour over his chest with his wings and head being in clear view.

“Who are you?” Dillon said to the pegasus with a brow raised.

“One of King Shade’s guards, but you can call me Rapid Shadows,” the pegasus responds looking at Dillon as he landed behind them.

“Well nice to meet you Rapid Shadows” Ziggy replied as Dillon just looked back to the arena.

“Same to you,” Rapid Shadows responds looking into the arena, “So which of your is next to fight my king?”

“Don’t know yet no one has been called down” Dillon responded.

“Well he did say only one of you would be fighting him,” Gil points out looking at Dillon, “So how he’s gonna test you and Ziggy is a good question.”

“True” Dillon admitted before saying, “Even then for whatever he’s gonna test us on were probably gonna get our shit rocked”.

“Language!” he overheard Axel say before he growled out, “What are you, my mom!?”.

“You really have little faith in yourself,” Shade responds as he walks up beside them, “now… I’m going to put this on you both. You can either face me, or someone else here… also Dillon your next either way.”

“Who would I be fighting if I don’t fight you?” Dillon asked.

“Well if he needs someone for you to gauge his abilities against I could face him, my king,” Rapid Shadows suggests as he looks at Dillon, “as long as he has some sort of belt that is.”

“I’m ok with either if im being honest” Dillon admitted, “also what do you mean by belt?”.

“Can you transform into a armoured suit?” Rapid Shadows carified.

“He means do you have a morpher,” Shade adds, “he’s a Kamen Rider he used a belt like I normally do.”

“Oh, yeah I do” Dillon replied as he took out his Morpher from his cloak.

“Do you want to try fighting him?” Shade asks looking between Dillon and Rapid Shadows.

“Sure I have nothing to lose other than the little confidence I have in my abilities, to begin with,” Dillon admitted before noticing everyone looking at him, “What?”.

“Do you not think that amounts to most of your problems?” Gil asks looking at Dillon.

Dillon went into deep thought before saying, “Maybe, I just don’t know how to deal with it”.

“You should probably fix that man,” Ziggy said in a concerned tone of voice as Dillon just waved it off.

“Eh, let’s just get this over with,” Dillon said blankly as he vaulted over the stands and down to the arena while Axel jumped up to the stands.

“Were really gonna have to get him to stop thinking like that” Axel commented as he looked to where Dillon was in the arena.

“I’ll try to hold back against him my king,” Rapid Shadows responds with a bow as he flys into the arean landing infront of Dillon, “Are you ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be” Dillon responded before flipping the switch on his Morpher and transforming into his suit before he pulled out both of his weapons.

“It doesn’t look that bad on you,” Rapid Shadows calmly states before holding a green object with a large pink handle on the side of it to the side of his head, bringing it to his waist a loud ping was heard and a belt formed behind it.

He then held a large blue rectangular object in his hand before pressing a small button on the top as a voice shouted out “Hurricane Ninja!” which was followed by a strange oriental style of music. After a couple of seconds, Rapid Shadow’s turned the object in his hand downwards before shouting “Henshin!” before placing the object into the object on his waist, the same voice as before shouting back “Gashatto!”

Rapid Shadows then reached down to the handle before flipping it open before the voice shouted, “Gachan! Level Up! Makimaki! Tatsumaki! Hurricane Ninja!” as a large gold and blue screen moved back towards him, and once it had past his figure was replaced by a strange armour.

The armour looked strange in design. It had hexagonal patterns on the sides of the torso and the tops of the arms, pointed pads on the sides of arms and a dark purple underneath that shows in the middle that cuts off when it gets to the boots two long strands of white hair hanging at the sides of his head.

Dillon took a deep breath before bringing up his nitro blast and keeping his sword at the ready before he and Rapid Shadows began to slowly circle around the ring the two keeping their attention on each other.

“Alright Dillon just stay focused you can do this” the boy muttered to himself before he saw two figures in armour that looked similar in design to that of Rapid Shadows jumped beside him each wielding a single sword, while Rapid Shadows drew two swords from his back holding them in his hands.

Rapid Shadows didn’t respond as he pointed one of his swords towards Dillon before the two figure that had appeared began to run towards Dillon.

“Yep Im gonna hate this!” Dillon said out loud as one of them swung towards him the boy blocking the blow before he saw the other behind him as he used a forcefield to block the other figures swing.

Dillon then turned his attention to the one he was blocking with his sword before he slid himself under the figure as he used the momentum to try and get as much distance as possible.

“These two are your opponents! If you beat them I’ll face you!” Rapid Shadows shouted over to Dillon as one of the two figures continued it’s pursuit.

“Alright guess were doing this” Dillon muttered to himself as rushed down to the figures, who seemed to move independently from eachother, with the second of them running to the side of him while the first continued to run towards Dillon bringing his sword down towards him.

Bringing up his sword again the two’s blades scraped against each other as sparks flew from them while Dillon got progressively closer to him before he brought up his other hand his claws protruding out before he clenched it into a fist and slammed it into the figure's stomach launching him back as he ducked under a swipe from the other one.

“You need to keep moving!” Rapid Shadows shouted over to Dilllon as he saw the figure he had struck stand back up running towards him from behind the figure who was infront of him, as the second figure leapt over both of them before swinging it’s sword towards Dillon’s back.

He felt the second figure's sword scrape against his back causing him to stumble forward before he was knocked back by the first figure as he used his sword to stop his momentum from knocking him out of the arena.

“Stay focused, stay focused…” Dillon muttered to himself before he heard the voice again, “Keep going”.

“Oh, not this again” Dillon groaned as he stood up as the voice continued to speak again, “You know I could help, you know”.

“How so, are you gonna make me go crazy again?” Dillon muttered in response.

“No that was mainly because you hit your head pretty hard” The voice replied.

Dillon shook his head in a sigh before saying, “What do I need to do?”.

“Just let me take control and everything will come naturally” the voice replied.

Dillon was just silent for a moment as he responded “Alright, do your thing”.

Once the boy said that his body began to writhe his hands and head twitching slightly for a moment before he stopped as two red glows could be seen from his mask before he hunkered down and slid his left foot forward and kept his sword to the front of him.

“Something changed…” Axel muttered.

“What do you mean Axel?” Ziggy asked as he looked up toward him confused.

“See that stance, Dillon has never used it when sparring with us back at the lake” Axel responded.

“Oh yeah your right ive never seen him do a stance like that” Ziggy replied.

They then saw the figures about to hit Dillon again only for him to grab its arm and flip him over onto the ground and before it could get back up slamming his sword into its head, once he did that he turned his attention to the second figure who was swinging its sword towards his head.

Dillon dodged the swing before reciprocating with his own as his blade clashed with the figures a loud clanging ringing out from each hit before Dillon jumped back a few feet to acess what he had to do.

“He’s faster than before…” Axel muttered to himself.

Once Dillon figured out his strategy he then rushed down to the second figure before reeling back his arm and throwing his sword like a javelin directly towards its side the figure dodged the blow before Dillon clenched his fist and swung it up and brought up a construct made of his forcefield and hitting it straight in the head launching up slightly.

Dillon taking the chance ran to the figure and grabbed it by the leg before using as much strength as he could to slam it to the ground the place he slammed it into was right where his sword was which was embedded in the floor causing the figure to be impaled by it.

“D-did he just?” Ziggy attempted to say only for him not to be able to get the words out before he looked up to Shade looking for an answer.

“I get a feeling there may be a tiebreaker after this one… and I assume you know what that means,” Shade responded his voice still sounding calm as he looked at the scene below.

“Probably…” Ziggy said in a mutter before they heard Dillon speak towards Rapid Shadows, “So do I fight you now?” as he grabbed his sword and ripped it out, as everyone in the stands noticed the inflection of his voice had changed.

“Why is he speaking like that?” Axel muttered as he looked intently towards the arena as Dillon just walked forward until he was directly across from Rapid Shadows.

“Are we sure your the same as the other one before you,” Rapid Shadows calmly states as he looks at Dillon, who only gave a shrug in response as he just looked up at him.

Rapid Shadows then slowly walked towards Dillon before suddenly jolting forwards the sword in his right hand swing upwards towards Dillon’s chin.

At the last moment, Dillon swung his sword up the blade hitting Rapid shadow’s sword only for the other blade to slice sideways across his chest causing the front of Dillon’s suit to let out sparks from where he was slashed the boy placed his hand on his chest before shaking his head, “Im getting sloppy, I need to do better”.

Dillon then tightened his grip on his sword before twisting the handle a low click could be heard from it before it extended out into pointed chains with flexible metal lining the middle of them that allowed complete free movement to which he had begun to swing from multiple directions the chains immediately launching towards Rapid Shadows who had jumped back dodging most of them but got nicked in the arm by the last one.

“Huh…forgot I had that implemented” Dillon muttered to himself.

“Are we sure your not copying my kings fighting style?” Rapid Shadows asks moving back towards Dillon as he threw what seemed to the shirukens towards Dillon.

“I'm sure, I remember implementing this a long time ago” Dillon replied as he used the chains to block the shurikens some passing the chains and slashing his arms which caused sparks to appear before he ducked down to dodge the last one only for it the graze his helmet as it left a scratch as well as a small crack in it.

Rapid Shadows didn’t slow down quickly bringing both of his swords downwards slashing into both of Dillon’s shoulders.

The boy just let out a grunt of pain as he stumbled back his arms shaking slightly before he swung the chains again, this time Rapid Shadows falling back out of the chains range.

“The same trick won’t work twice!” Rapid Shadows shouts back before he removed the object he had placed in his belt and placed it into a small holder at his side pressing a button on it before a voice shouted “Kimewaza! Hurricane Critical Strike!” He then started spinning his swords black clouds surrounded the blades as he ran forwards.

This was swiftly followed by the clouds moving forwards surrounding Dillon who glanced around before taking a breath, “ I can’t see…” he muttered before ripping off his helmet and right when he did he saw Rapid Shadows in front of him and taking his chance brought up his shield from below Rapid Shadows who was hit backward into the air.

Dillon then jumped up into the air and grasped onto the Rapid’s neck before he slammed him to the ground causing a plume of smoke to surround the two.

“Did he win?” Ziggy muttered to himself before the smoke cleared revealing Dillon who was on top of Rapid’s chest with his sword against it, the boy could be heard taking deep breaths.

“Okay… note to self. I need to learn to remain aware and not let my guard down,” Rapid Shadows reponds as they see his suit disappear scattering into an orange lights around him as they saw him on the floor, his armour having deep dents in them.

“H-holy crap, I won?” Dillon said as he stumbled back the boy still taking deep breaths before he leaned over with his hands on his knees his suit disappearing as he was back in his cloak.

“Yes by the skin of our teeth mind you” he heard the voice again before Dillon shook his head, “Oh shut up…”.

“You both doing okay?” Shade asks as he lands behind Dillon placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah just doing dandy, just need to catch my breath” Dillon replied with a thumbs up.

“I’ll be fine my king. Nothing but my pride… and armour is damaged,” Rapid Shadows responds with a nervous chuckle.

“Am I the only one surprised that I actually won that?” Dillon asked as he looked to the others, “Honestly I was expecting to get my ass whooped to next Tuesday…”.

“Im just surprised as you are, how did you do that!?” Ziggy yelled from the stands.

“I don’t know it just happened!” Dillon shouted back to him.

“Least you didn’t get your butt completely whooped” Axel commented.

“Thanks for the input, Axel….” Dillon replied before saying in a mutter“It feels weird to actually win a fight like this I don’t know how to place that feeling either” before he felt Shade’s hand rub the top of his head the boy looked up to see Shade smiling down to him.

Dillon smiled back in response before looking back around the stands before asking Shade, “So who’s going next since I finished the spar with Rapid?”.

“Im curious about that also!” They could hear Ziggy say from the stands.

Everyone just looked to Shade as they waited for him to answer on who was going next on the arena.

Shades eyes scanned the area around him as he saw Simon, Luna, Midnight, Logan and Alexis standing near the door leading into the stands, “Well there is one person we know is in here next.”

“And who is that?” He heard Axel asked before looking around the stands before turning his vision to Ziggy, “Oh”.

“Why did you say oh?” Ziggy asked in confusion.

“Because you are the one going next” Axel replied with a smirk much to his little brother's dismay.

“Guess I should go down there then, right?” Ziggy then asked prompting Axel to nod as he let out a groan before jumping down to the arena.

“But still… who is he facing off against?” Simon asked as he leaned over the edge of the stands, “I mean. It can’t be anyone competent, it should be someone on the same level as the comic relief!”

“Alexis. If you could,” Shade responds getting a nod from Alexis who span around and kicked Simon in the side of the head knocking him out, “thank you.”

“Always a pleasure!” Alexis shouts back waving to the group.

Dillon and Ziggy let out a snort in response to seeing that happen as they attempted to keep in a laugh.

Ziggy after a moment calmed down while Dillon continued to keep his laugh in, “Alright, who am I going against?”.

“Well… how confident are you feeling… ignoring Simon’s comments.” Shade asks looking at Ziggy with a curious look in his eyes.

“I would say it’s a bit of a middle ground Im not too confident but my confidence isn’t depressingly low” Ziggy admitted.

“There really isn’t many people around who could really give you fair fight,” Shade said as he rubbed the back of his head.

The area was silent for a moment before they heard Gil speak up, “I may not be much of a challenge but I could try.”

“Im not opposed to sparring with him,” Ziggy said in response.

“Alright, then it’s settled Gil and Ziggy are sparring with each other!” Axel shouted from the stands.

“Y-yeah…” Gil responded a nervous tone in his voice as he walked towards the stairs leading down towards the arena.

“I wish both of you good luck in this!” Axel shouted as Gil went out of view from the group.

As soon as Gil was out of sight of the others he took a single slow breath, “why did I just agree to do this. All I have is a barely usable ability to pull a rusted sword and spear from a portal and thats it. This is going to be embarressiing.”

He then continued walking towards the arena before pausing as he heard a voice from behind him shout, “Gil wait!” a feminine voice shouted to him as he turned to see a figure covered in a long red and blue hooded lab coat with the colours alternating red and blue diagonal lines running down it. She also wore a mask in the shape of a rabbit that covered her face ensuring nobody could tell who she was. “I work for Shade, and was looking into that card you found.”

Gil stopped looking at the strange masked figure a unsure look in his eyes, “What about that card?”

“I know you're busy… but please take this,” She responded, handing him back the card that Shade had found previously along with a strange gold and blue arm guard that had two openings in it, one on the top, the other the bottom. The design looked to strangely match the rest of Gil armour. “It’s a prototype but I’m still working on improvements, I was hoping to see if you could get it working.”

“Why would I be able to?”

“Well… my tests on the card show you emitting a similar energy wave to the card. Maybe something about you is linked to them. Who knows,” the figure responded before turning away, “If anything works ask your dad to tell me. I need to get some more work done on that weapon I was designing.”

“Yeah sure,” Gil responded unsure of what he had been told before looking to the arena then back to the figure to find her gone, the armguard still in his hands as he thought “linked to me? I don’t know what she is expecting but who knows.”

Gil then placed the arm guard on his right arm as a band wrapped around it almost creating a glove that covered his hand, with the actual ornament he was handed resting just above his wrist. He then turned looking back towards the arena before walking out towards it, “If this thing works, I will be surprised.”

As Gil walked out into the arena he saw that Shade and the others had moved into the stands along with finding Ziggy on the other side of the Arena stretching, after a moment Ziggy noticed him and stopped what he was doing, “I wish you good luck in this match Gil honestly I hope you win” Ziggy said towards him

“I’m going to need-” Gil began to say before he suddenly fell forwards gripping his chest, eyes clenched shut with a pained look on his face.

Ziggy flinched before stepping forward, “Gil what’s wrong?”

Gil, however, didn’t respond as they saw the object on his wrist glow in a faint golden hue, the glow slowly moving towards his chest where his hand was as he began to scream out in pain as he fell onto knees.

"Gil!" Ziggy shouted as he ran towards him stopping to his side "C'mon Gil talk to me, dude!"

“G-Get away quickly,” Gil said in pain, the golden light changing growing dark as black smoke began to surround him, his body faded behind it and every part of him looked to gain armour behind the smoke, in a style familiar to Ziggy.

“What the…” Dillon muttered as he looked intently towards Gil before he heard the voice again, “Knew he was that guy”.

“What do you mean you knew it, share with the class please,” Dillon asked before the voice sighed, “He Gilgamesh and from the looks of it the alter variant”.

“Alter?” Dillon muttered before turning to Shade, “Dad do you what's happening?”.

At first Shade did not respond as he looked at the figure gil had turned into as he muttered to himself, “Why does this look familiar.”

“Shade! There is a major magical surge below you just like when those quakes occurred, what's going on!” Harmony shouted to him.

Ziggy meanwhile just brought out his Axe with an unsure look on his face not knowing what to do at this moment.

“Oh… that's where I saw it,” Shade said to himself with a hint of urgency in his voice before quickly jumping to his feet looking at Luna, “keep everyone safe and get a barrier up around the arena now!”

“Why?” Luna asked, a look of confusion clear on her face.

“Because for the safety of everyone here he cannot be allowed to leave the arena at any cost!” Shade responded.

Once Dillon looked back at Gil his hair stood up on end as his hand reflexively went to grab his morpher.

“Dillon stay here,” Shade quickly said as he placed his hand infront of his body as his belt appeared around his waist.

“But” Dillon attempted to say before the voice pipped up again, “Just listen to him it’s for the best”.

“Fine…” Dillon said in a mutter before backing away from the railing.

“Just stay back no matter what happens,” Shade adds looking at Dillon closely again before speaking into Dillons mind, “I want a explanation from whoever you are once this is done.”

“Oh shit, you can actually hear me? the voice said in surprise.

“After this is dealt with,” Shade repeated before jumping over the edge of the standing into the arena transforming into his rider form as he left with Luna creating a barrier around the arena seconds later.

“At least someone other than you can actually hear me” Dillon heard the voice before Dillon just gave a grimace in response.

“Ive barely even talked to you and you annoy me already….” Dillon muttered before the voice replied with some added snark “Well get used to it it ain’t ending anytime soon”.

“Word of warning just don’t piss dad off you won’t like what happens,” Dillon said with a sigh.

As soon as Shade landed in the arena he sent his Chains out towards ZIggy wrapping them around the boys waist pulling him away from Gil.

"Dad what the hell's going on!?" Ziggy shouts as he looks back at Gil.

I’d say I know… but I don’t,” Shade admitted as Gil slowly rose to his feet removing his hand from his chest revealing a large hole in it with what looked to be a small card inside the gap of which was slowly being sealed shut.

“Every time I look at him I get a chill up my spine…” Ziggy said before swallowing down some spit.

Shade looked between Ziggy and Gil for a moment before saying, “Do you think you can move?”

Shade then looked back over at Gil’s form again seeing him constantly wince almost thrashing around in pain as he stood where he was as black holes appeared and shut quickly after as he seemed to be internally arguing with something.

“Y-yeah I can move, why does it look like Gil’s fighting back against something?” Ziggy asked as he stepped forward slightly.

“I’m afraid I don’t have an answer for that. But at a glance I can say it does look that way,” Shade responds looking back at Ziggy, “Ziggy… I don’t know if you can handle this so if you want to run you can.”

“N-no I’ll stay I want to help” Ziggy replied before adding “anything as long if I can be of use dad im not gonna let fear make me run away”.

“And what do you think he can do in this situation?” Shade asks keeping his eyes focused on Gil.

“Im not sure but I have a feeling if im touched once it’s over” Ziggy admitted as he looked back to Gil the boy’s hair standing on end like Dillon’s did prior, “Even then what do we do to snap him out of this state because he’s definitely gonna put up a fight if we try anything”.

The two then looked directly toward Gil before noticing that the hole in his chest was almost completely closed.

Shade looked to him for a second before sighing, “I’m gonna regret pulling a child into this,” as he placed a small toy car that looked like a taxi in Ziggy’s hand, “keep that on you somewhere you won’t lose it.”

“Got it” Ziggy replied as he placed the car in the pocket of his jacket before zipping it close so it wouldn’t fall out.

“We just need to hold him still and I should be able to stop him… I hope,” Shade responded.

Ziggy just took a breath before sliding his foot back placing himself at the ready, “Whenever your ready dad”.

Shade then quickly turned as his chains jolted forwards towards Gil as they saw that the hole in his chest had sealed up with the card no longer being visible, “Ziggy quick warning this is going to feel and look weird.”

Before Ziggy could respond to Shade he flicked a metal band on his wrist as a pulse of energy moved through everyone as everyone in the stands except Simon seemed to slow to a crawl.

“Yeah, that feels funny,” Ziggy said as shook his head in an attempt to get rid of that feeling.

Dillon had stumbled back in an attempt to get away but only for him to fall back into someone having his head slowly fall between their breasts.

But once he looked up to see who it was he saw that it was Luna who was just focused on the arena before a blush slowly appeared on his face as he covered it out in embarrassment, “Oh god” he mumbled out.

“Oh get over it ya baby a lot of people would kill to be in the position you're in,” the voice said in a dismissive tone.

“Easy for you to say this isn’t happening to you…” Dillon replied.

“Technically it is but that's neither here nor there” the voice replied

“Whatever…” Dillon grumbled.

“Wait, why am I unaffected?” Ziggy then asked as he noticed everyone else other than Simon was slowed.

“You can thank the toy car I gave you, it made it so you won’t be effected by slowdown,” Shade responded before the chains began to surround the slowed Gil.

“Huh, so I assume he’s affected by it too?” Ziggy asked, pointing towards Gil.

Luckily he is,” Shade responded, before continuing to say, “Just be ready to act as soon as I tell you too.”

“Alright” Ziggy replied with a nod as he readied himself once more.

Shade just nodded back before he grabbed the chains before he pulled on it and it quickly propelled him forwards towards Gil, his hands slowly rising as the black mist began to slowly form with black marks flicking inside it. As this was happening Shade inched closer to Gil as he saw tears in his eyes behind them smoke.

“Gil! Hold on!” Shade shouted as he reached forwards his hand aiming towards where the hole had been on his chest before his hand stuck it Gil’s body falling forwards before the smoke began to shift revealing a black mud-like substance behind it that covered Gil’s body. The area near the card still reveals Gil’s skin underneath it.

As Shade’s fist struck it as a pained scream was heard, the sound being a mix of both Gil’s and a distorted one as the mud-like substance began to shift ever so slightly.

“I generally hope this works,” Shade added as a red eye shaped symbol formed in the air above Gils chest before moving forwards towards Gil, landing on his chest as the mud-like substance began to recede more of Gil’s skin appearing as it did.

Ziggy looked ready to do whatever Shade needed him to do and continued to wait in place for Shade’s signal, “Alright just tell me when dad!”.

“When you see a clear signal start attacking the thing I'm holding, make sure to do as much damage as you can!” Shade shouted back as Ziggy saw a small form beginning to move backwards and Shade’s chains kept pulling the form forwards and the distorted screams grew louder, as Shade forced his body deeper into Gil’s form as a bulge began to form from his back which slowly got larger before seeming to begin to tear open.

As soon as the bulge tore open Ziggy saw Shades armour force its way completley through the figureas it lurched forwards and the chains wrapped around the arms and legs of the figure as loud snaps were heard followed by just the distorted screams, as the normal screams went silent.

Ziggy watching tightly grasped his Axe with both hands as he continued to look waiting for the right moment before rushing forward his axe scraping against the floor with sparks flying behind it before he jumped up and teleported above the figure head and a slammed his axe right down the center as he ripped it out and continued to swing into it’s head.

The figure just glanced at Ziggy in silence with its cold lifeless eyes as the boy was left unnerved by it, “What are you?” he then whispered before he attempted to hit it again only for a black portal to appear near his face as a weapon launched forward out of it prompting him to jump out of the way.

When he did that more black portals opened up and shot weapons at him prompting him to yell “Holy crap!” as he ran across the arena in an effort to dodge them and for the last one Ziggy wasn’t able to move out of the way so used his teleport to dodge it.

Once he reappeared he grasped his ax with two hands again before launching it towards the figure as it was embedded through its chest.

Ziggy teleported back to the figure as he attempted to rip that axe out to attack again but it wouldn’t budge it was like the figure was preventing him from getting it back.

It was then that Ziggy saw multiple chains wrap themselves around his waist before he was quickly pulled backwards as Ziggy saw multiple weapons pierce the figure where he was been only seconds before.

Ziggy had patted himself down to check if he had any injuries before letting out a sigh in relief, “Thanks for preventing me from becoming swiss cheese dad”.

“I’d say your welcome… but,” Shade began to say before he looked to the black figure to see Ziggy’s axe still wedged in his neck as the figure looked to ignore it, “You’re kinda missing your weapon.”

“I attempted to rip it out but the thing wouldn’t let go of it” Ziggy pointed out as he glanced back the figure.

“I’d say use another weapon, but get Gil out of here,” Shade responded as Ziggy saw Gil near the entrance to the arena.

“Alright” Ziggy replied with a nod as he dashed toward Gil’s unconscious form and once he reached him he picked him up and hung his arm over his shoulder.

“Alright buddy let's go,” Ziggy muttered as he and Gil slowly walked into the tunnel out of the Arena before Shade heard Ziggy shout, “Kick his ass dad!” before saying out loud, “Your gonna be ok Gil don’t worry” before the two went out of sight.

As soon as the duo was out of sight Shade slowly looked to the dark figure, “If you can hear me… You are done,” Shade responded malice clearly in his voice, as he held his hand out to the side flames surrounding his hands as time slowly began to return to normal and the Damned Shade Eyecon appeared in his hand.

He then held it out before clicking the Eyecon in before a demonic voice shouted out, “stand with sin!” before he placed it in his driver, and two burning portals appeared around him and a crimson liquid filled the land around him forming a large crimson eye by his feet before a bright red light burst upwards into the sky around his body and a demonic voice shouted out “Kaigan! Damned Shade! Honō o aruite kudasai! Satan no sanran!”

As soon as the light faded the group looked down to see Shade to find his form now consisted of a red and black jacket that had silver and white flames constantly burning over its arms and legs which seemed to constantly shift in the wind. Chains still adorned his arms and legs as they wrapped around them, along with a single red demonlike wing on his back and a mask covering over his face which was completely red with white eyes and a sadistic grin on it with two small horns appearing on the top of the mask.

“Holy crap!” Dillon said shocked tone as he and the others watched from the stands, “Yeah it’s not gonna end well for the other guy” the voice commented.

“No duh dad’s gonna kick his ass and it’s probably not gonna be pleasant….” Dillon then replied.

“Lets hope he doesn’t make this too slow then” the voice then responded as Dillon and the others saw Ziggy come up with Gil before placing him down gently.

“What’d I miss?” Ziggy then asked as he looked at the others.

“If you look out to where you were you’ll be able to guess” Alexis replies a nervous look on her face.

Ziggy looked to the arena before finally feeling heat on his face causing to him to recoil back as he saw Shade along with the figure who was on fire, the distorted screams echoing throughout the arena before his eyes went wide, “What…what happened?”.

“When you left the arena with Gil dad transformed into that and from the looks of it he’s burning that thing to death” Dillon replied before covering his face with his left hand feeling a gust of heat hitting it before attempting to move from Luna’s lap only for Luna to pull him back his head falling back between her breasts again.
Dillons face heated up again as he let out a groan as just smirked at his brothers predicament before turning his attention back to the arena and shouting, “Make him pay dad!” while Dillon just remained silent in the position he was in.

Shade did not respond to him either not either not hearing or ignoring him his hand grabbing one of the chains on his suit as they shot out in every direction many of them piercing though the burning figures body black blood covering the chains as they left its body before twisting back going back into another body part as blood covered the floor around them, the screams getting louder and louder.

“Your getting blood everywhere. I’m sure you want it back,” Shade said his voice distorted, sending chills down the spines of everyone in the area as the blood on the chains and the floor began to rise into the air lifting the figure with them, it’s arms and legs beginning to swell up while the blood in the air began to reform into multiple long spears hoving over it’s form which suddenly fell piercing though the figures body causing more blood to fall from it’s body.

The chains then suddenly retracted quickly pulling the figure back towards Shade who’s hand was held open as the figures chest collided with Shades waiting hand which almost seemed to piece though it coming out the other side of it’s body, the figures blood covering Shade’s arm the blood covering it beginning to burn up into a white flame as he pulled his fist back a hole being left as blood poured from the open hole, and new spears piercing it’s body.

Ziggy seeing this just could’nt say anything he couldn’t think of anything to say after seeing that display of cruelty from Shade as he could only cover his mouth while Dillon just looked on with wide eyes in shock.

“Holy shit…” Dillon heard the voice before he then nodded in response.

"why is dad acting like that?" Ziggy muttered under his breath as he was unnerved from what he was witnessing.

"I don't know" Dillon replied as he overheard him say that fear clear his voice.

“Did he tell you about what he did to the cult when he found their leader before?” Luna asked, both Dillon and Ziggy.

The two just shook their head in response, “We were only told the slight gist of it never really went into detail about it” Dillon then responded.

“The last time he used this form he used those spears to leave someone pinned to the wall in a collapsing hidden bunker under a mountain with him only being able to hear,” Luna responded. “You have seen what they did to everyone under the town, and I assume know of their intentions for them.” Luna explained.

They just gave her a nod, not saying anything as they looked back down to the arena, as they saw that the figure was trying to crawl away from Shade who looked to have thrown him to the floor a trail of blood being left in the figures wake as portals kept launching weapons at Shade who used to chains to stop them in midair, each weapon being held in the air by the chain as he walked towards the figure.

“You want to hurt my family, well try taking on someone your own fucking size!” Shade shouted in anger as spears of blood impaled the figure’s hands before floating back up as the figure kept crawling only for the spear to piece another limb.

“I forgot how terrifying it is to be on that side of him,” a voice responded from beside Ziggy as they turned to see a hooded figure looking wearing a rabbit mask beside them seemingly shaking at the sight, almost in excitement.

“Who in the heck are you?” Dillon and Ziggy said with their brows raised as they looked the figure up and down.

“A… ‘follower’ and employee of Lord Shade,” the figure responded before shouted, “my lord! Catch!” as she threw something towards him which he caught.

As Shade looked at what he had been thrown he foud that it almost looked like a long gun of some kind. It had large barrel on the front with a holographic screen forming on the back. It was black and red in colour and seemed to have three Eyecon shaped holes along the surface in a similar style to his other guitar-shaped sword.

“Huh…hardcore” the voice commented, “Took the words right out my mouth” Dillon replied with a nod.

“That looks so cool!” Ziggy said outloud as Axel who was in the back just nodded in agreement.

“Let’s see what this does,” Shade responded flicking a small button before aiming down at the figure and firing once as a scream of pain was heard as they saw the figure's legs reduced to two stumps as a pool of fresh blood began to pour from the figure’s legs before the flames from Shades armour sealed them shut the screams continuing as they group saw burns covering the figures entire body.

Shade seemed to smirk as the figures tried to crawl away from Shade as more portals formed around Shade each launching a bladed weapon at Shade as his chains grabbed each of them from the air like before, only for this time of the chains to bring two of the swords down as each were stabbed into the figure's arms pinning it in place before his gun disappeared in black flames.

Shade then reached down grabbing the handle of one the blades in the figures arm before forcefully pulling it back out a loud scream being heard again from the figure as Shade turned the sword in his hand. The weapon in question had gold and blue carving spiraling around the handle while the blade itself almost looked like a drill as the blade spun around.

As soon as his hand gripped the handle tightly a demonic voice was heard echoing around them, “Weapon identified, Accessing Shade link,” as the blade was surrounded by black and red flames, as the blades colours changed from now matching Shade’s own before the voice spoke up “Shade enhancements accepted, new fighting style uploaded for analysis.”

As soon as the flames disappeared Shade turned back towards the figure the strange sword in his hand as the blades begin to begin to rotate as he approached the figure as it tried to frantically free its pinned arm, a fearful look on its face.

“Huh he took his weapon didn’t know that could happen or that he could do that” the voice spoke again.

“You know what that weapon is?” Dillon asked the voice who immediately replied, “It’s Gilgamesh’s weapon if I remember correctly it’s called Ea it’s a strong blade from what I remember”.

“Ea….huh” Dillon muttered to himself Luna overhearing him as she looked down towards him.

“Whats a Ea?” Luna asked as she rubbed Dillon’s head with her hand.

“It’s that sword that dad’s holding and it’s original owner is called Gilgamesh and from I remember it’s pretty powerful too” she heard him reply before they heard a low groan coming from Gil.

Ziggy turned to Gil before crouching down as he asked, “How are you holding up buddy?”

“I feel like someone tried to kill me,” Gil responded as he began to shake, “what’s going on?”

“Dad’s currently massacring what looks like a dark version of you down in the arena” Ziggy replied as he pointed behind himself.

“...So like that time where a weird woman almost killed me with a chained dagger?” Gil asked as he shakily walked towards them only to fall forwards.

Ziggy catches him and managed to pull him back on his feet before they heard Dillon ask “Someone tried to kill you with a chained dagger?”.

“Huh must have been attacked by Medusa then” the voice piped up before Dillon immediately replied to it, “Ok your gonna have to explain those people to me later the more you mention the more confused I get”.

“You’ll get used to it” the voice nonchalantly replied before everyone turned their attention back to the arena as Ziggy walked Gil to the railing, as a card fell out of his pocket, which he saw looking down towards it, as he knelt down on shaky legs picking it back up, turning it in his hand as he examined it before stumbling towards the railing and looking down to the arena.

As the group looked back to Shade they saw the dark figure being lifted by his arms, it’s body hanging limply, small twitches being seen from it’s form. On a closer look towards the end of it’s arms they could see that both of its hands had been cut off to the wrist, the wound having been sealed by flames like its legs had been.

The figure was then smalled to the ground by the chains holding him up multiple loud snapping sounds being heard from it’s body as it hit the floor, as the figures pained screams were heard and fresh pool of blood formed below the figure as it surrounded it’s body..

Shade then looked down to the figure kicking it onto it’s front as it looked at Shade with fearful eyes, as it saw the weapon Shade has taken disappear in flames the gun from before reappearing in his hands as Shade’s chains seemed to pierce through the what remained of it’s arms and legs again lifing it from the ground, the figure weakly lifting it’s head looking at Gil and Ziggy as it looked to try and speak, it’s lips moving slowly.

It Axel him a moment but he kept replaying it in his head before connection the dots and realizing it said “Spare me….” causing him to suddenly stand, his eyes widened in shock as he muttered “What the hell?”.

The boys then saw Shade begin to raise his gun into the air pointing it towards the figure, as he began to place something into the slots on it, the figure weakly shaking it head, it’s eyes wide focused on Axel, at it mouthed the words “help me.”

Axel face turned to one of shock to conflicted as he sat there in silence not knowing what to do and after just shaking his head he stood up and slammed his hand on the railing, “Shade stop!” he shouted his voice echoing in the arena.

Shade then paused his hand resting against the final space on the gun his head slowly turning towards Axel, as he didn’t say a word.

“You don’t have to kill it, if anything we can make use of it” Axel stated towards Shade.

“How do you intend ondoing that,” Shade’s voice respond, sounding more distorted than normal, as they saw the figures eyes shut as it shook it’s head. “How could we even use it?”

“You could have it pledge loyalty to you and given the abilities it’s showed earlier it could be useful in battle” Axel replied.

“So what, you want it to become like you,” Shade responds looking back to the figure

“You could turn it into a new breed of timberwolf” Dillon commented before Ziggy added, “Or a new creature entirely that’s up to you though”.

“I could facilitate that if you you desire. But it would need to be cared for like a newborn,” Harmony stated to Shade.

Shade didn’t respond to the boys as he lowered his gun again the figure being brought down to Shade’s eye level, its eyes remaining shut tightly, “I’ll leave the changes to your discretion Harmony.”

Shade then plunged his hand forward into the figure's chest as a pained gasp was heard from it as it went limp and Shade pulled his hand back as a small card being held in his hand, as the figure was released from the chains and dropped to the ground, lying there motionless, as Shade canceled this transformation and walked away.

“Did he…kill it?” Dillon muttered out in shock the other was completely silent as they looked towards its limp body before they noticed that it began to change.

Its body in specific parts such as the arms and legs began to grow back the figure thrashed around slightly pained on its face as they slowly formed back to how they were before the figure let out a ragged breath once the pain went away and when it did the forearms and hands began to grow fur as well as the legs.

The hands themselves were slowly drawing out claws as well as their feet and the figure's legs turning into a more digitigrade structure.

While its teeth were growing longer and sharper with fangs that began to point out from its mouth a look of discomfort could be seen while this happened but soon disappeared once they stopped growing as its hair lengthened down to its neck having a messy appearance like Dillon’s hair.

The group then saw something growing from under its hair as it slowly began to push out from the figures head the look of discomfort returning before a sudden pop sound could be heard and a pair of ears could be seen on top of its head and tail could be seen behind it, both parts seemingly appearing at the same time.

The fur then began to spread to the figure's chest where Shade ripped the card from which then began to form his mark which looked to be engraved into it until the changes slowly stopped with small patches of fur being changed to an amber colour.

The others don’t say anything as they see this happen but the boy’s being curious decided to go down to the arena, as Luna dropped the barrier surrounding it, vaulting over the railing to get a closer look and once they did Dillon and Ziggy just crouched down next to it, “It is done changing now?” Dillon asks curiously.

“Looks like it, wonder when it’s gonna wake up though” Ziggy replied as Axel just walked up from behind them looking at the figure in silence.

Axel continued to look at the figure before turning to Shade and asking, “What was that thing you ripped out of it?”.

“It looks to be some kind of card, it has the image of an archer on it from what I can say… thinking about it when I dealt with something similar before it dropped a cart with a chariot on it,” Shade responds looking at the card in his hand.

“That’s definitely interesting to hear but why was it inside it is my question” Ziggy commented.

“Any ideas from you mysterious voice?” Dillon asked the voice.

“Even my knowledge is limited and even then it’s been a while” the voice replied.

“Great….” Dillon replied in a mutter before standing back up and asking Shade, “So what do we do now, it’s gonna be a bit until it wakes up”.

“I assume after that we can count Ziggy’s duel as cancelled,” Shade responds walking over to where Ziggy’s axe had landed, before picking it up and finding a long deep crack going through the entire blade.

Ziggy just looked to Shade before seeing his Axe as a look of shock, “I-is that a crack in my axe….” he asked pointed towards it with a shaky hand.

“Yikes looks like a big one too” Dillon commented as he walked up and just closely looked at it.

Ziggy just looked down to the ground while grasping his head, “It’s gonna take so long to fix that thing….”.

“You know how to maintain and fix that thing?” Shade questioned looking at the weapon as he ran his finger down the crack, “that's a lot more than just cosmetic damage.”

“Yeah I do, but it usually takes a while which basically left me with the choice to only run when conflict came last time that thing broke it took me a really long time to fix” Ziggy admitted.

“When did it last break on you and was it as bad as this time?” Shade asks again.

“If i'm being honest it looked a bit worse since it looked like it was on the verge of snapping in half last time” Ziggy responded.

“What do you need to repair it then?”

“If there's any durable steel here, I can use that to repair it” Ziggy answered.

“You’ve seen the town do you really think I have steel here?”

“Fair enough, guess I’ll just wrap this up so it doesn’t fall apart on me til get some or find something that can repair it” Ziggy replied.

Shade paused looking at the axe again, “actually there may be one person who could have… even if I don’t entirely trust her.”

“If it means I can get this thing fixed I’ll take that chance” Ziggy replied.

“I take it that the person you're talking about isn’t someone you particularly like?” Dillon asked Shade.

“I dislike said person enough to use what you saw a minute ago on them,” Shade responds, “so you make that decision.”

“Oh, yikes…” Dillon muttered in response as Ziggy just looked at his axe before saying, “I’ll do it, if it means I won’t be without my weapon I’ll take it”.

“She should be around here I mean she did throw that weapon down to me earlier,” Shade responded as Ziggy saw a shadow loom over him.

“If I had the old schematics for it I could replicate the technology, maybe create more variants and upgrade that broken thing,” a familiar voice said from behind the boys.

Dillon and Ziggy flinched before looking back to see the person from before, “Oh it’s the person from before” Dillon commented.

“I mean I think I still have it before I got displaced I kinda swiped it lemme check if it’s still in here” Ziggy said before taking off his leather jacket and putting his hand in a secret pocket his hand rummaging around in it for few seconds before he took out a folded piece of paper before unfolding it and taking a good look at it and nodding, “Yep this is it”.

“How did you?...” Dillon attempted to ask only for Ziggy to immediately say, “You’d be surprised about how much stuff I can hide in this jacket”.

“Noted…” Dillon then replied before Ziggy showed the schematic to the person and Shade.

“Well… that explains why it broke. Using steel isn’t going to cut it for anything beyond a display piece,” the figure responds, “I think if I gathered some things from my lab I could repair it, but without the schematics for your suits there is no guarantee any upgrades will be effective.”

“I'm just content with my axe being repaired if we somehow find the schematics for those I’ll try to let you know” Ziggy responded.

“In that case, if you wait here I can gather the things I need and do most of the repairs in the stands,” the figure responds before looking at Shade, “With your blessing of course my lord.”

Shade simply looked down at the figure as he seemed to shake as he looked at her, before saying, “See that it is done for them.”

“Of course! It would be my pleasure to fulfill any of your desires,” the figure responded before running off.

“She seems….interesting” Dillon commented before the voice said, “More like strange and I'm being generous when I say that..”.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Shade responds as he walks back towards the stands.

Dillon just followed behind him while Axel and Ziggy just stayed behind with the still unconscious figure.

Chapter 15

Twenty minutes after the masked figure had left, many of the groups had split off into their own groups, Luna talking with Shade and Alexis, while Dillon spoke with Axel and Ziggy who were somewhat close proximity to Simon as they talked about what had happened in the arena.

“Seeing dad act like that in the arena earlier, It’s terrifying,” Dillon said as the scream of the figure came back into his mind prompting him to shake his head.

“You're telling me, there was so much blood…” Ziggy replied.

“I was lucky enough to convince him not to kill it” Axel commented as he glanced back to where Shade and the others were.

“At least you did it, I don’t think I would have been able to listen to those screams any further” Dillon added with a mutter.

“It's kinda worrying to think what he would do to someone if anyone he cared for was harmed by them.” Gil adds, “I mean I was part of that thing beforehand and he did that.”

“Just imagine if all of you were gravely hurt by someone I don’t think there would be anything left of that individual,” Axel said with a shudder.

“I think we're all in agreement that if that happened, it would be terrifying,” Dillon said as they nodded in agreement.

“I’d be more worried for one other person we used to know. If Alex finds out what he did to his younger brother in the past,” Simon responds shaking for a moment, “If he ever finds out about that may god have mercy on that man's soul, because he sure as hell won’t.”

Dillon looked at Simon with wide eyes before one word came out of his mouth, “What?”.

“Wait a minute he has a younger brother?” Axel asked curiosity lacing his voice as Ziggy immediately asked afterword “And for one what happened to him?”.

“Yes he had a little brother… and I don’t want to talk about it,” Simon responds, “let's just say… Alex’s death hit him hard.”

“Oh…I will not pry then” Dillon replied as Ziggy nodded in agreement, “Neither will I seems like a pretty sore spot” Axel added.

“Might be an idea you don’t at least for now,” Simon responds looking over his shoulder at Shade.

“Noted Simon” Dillon replied as he did the same.

“Dillon… a word in private with both of you,” Shade’s voice rang out inside Dillon’s head.

“A-alright dad” Dillon replied to Shade before walking towards him while the voice chimed in again, “Bout time I was getting bored”.

Shade only nodded to Dillon before walking towards the main entrance to the arena gesturing to a door in the wall as he opened it, and walked inside.

Dillon followed him through the door before the voice said something again, “Dillon let me take over”.

“Really?” Dillon said with a low whine as the voice replied, “yes really now do it, you big baby”.

“Fine…” Dillon said with a mutter as his eyes rolled into the back of his head while the rest of his body began to writhe in place before stopping the boy's eyes going back to where they were but were changed to a glowing red before he immediately began to stretch as he spoke out loud, “Oh that’s so much better…”.

“I can bet you know what I’m going to ask.”

“Probably but go ahead I’ll answer it” the voice replied as he looked at Shade.

“Okay then. Who or what the hell are you.”

“That's a little complicated but here we go” the voice replied before adding, “You can consider me the Dillon before all of this before he met you, Ryka, and the others”

The voice then continued as he said, “All In all you can call me Jason since Im a manifestation of who Dillon once was before his brain got scrambled and got amnesia as well as one of the things that came out as separate identity or being or separate personality if you're being technical about it,”.

“What?” Jason heard Dillon say before shaking his head in response, “I’ll try to explain it to you more later Dillon just listen”.

“Alright…” he heard Dillon muttered before he continued, “I also act as something of a safety net for Dillon especially when it comes to his memories because every single time he started experiencing a lapse of his memories returning I would stop it and your probably wondering why you would you stop that Jason, well if I didn’t your adopted son would most likely succumb to a fatal aneurysm and we both know neither you nor I want that”

“Other than that in comparison to him I remember everything but I can’t just force the memories to come back it needs to be a slow burn because he’d most likely start to have a meltdown or said aneurysm from said memories coming back if not that just a bad nosebleed and a lot of rest”.

Dillon while hearing this just shocked to hear what seemed to be himself talking about this with his dad but he didn’t know what to say so he elected to stay silent.

“I think that’s all I have for that question anything else you want to ask?” Jason asked Shade as he looked at him with a curious look on his face before placing a hand on his head a small spark jumping into Dillon’s head before looking back at him.

“Jason… I’ve blocked Dillon off for a bit. Now… I want the full explanation, because I know your hiding some very important information from me.” Shade stated looking down at him.

“Back when Dillon or we lost our memories our mind was fractured splintered off into different facets of our mind some stuff remained in place and some didn’t and the stuff that didn’t remain funneled into my existence coming into being,” Jason said to Shade

He then took a breath and continued “I remember the first day we woke up in Equestria but not too long after we were captured by the robots and woke up In a facility I believe it was one of those you were talking about with Dillon and the others we were there for three months while they experimented on us and other children they implanted something in my head that whenever I wouldn’t comply with orders they would take control they forced me to kill the other kids”

Jason just bit his lip for a moment before continuing “They forced me to kill my friends luckily after I got out I took it out of my head though but the thing that screwed with me the most was that the people who conducted the experiments were humans,” Jason said as he moved his hair to show a scar and barcode below it.

“This continued in those three months until something happened the facility was in chaos for some reason and our cells opened we took the chance and ran and one of the rooms we had passed had my Morpher and my weapons but once I looked I was pushed inside and the hallway was bombarded with gunfire I couldn’t do anything but watch as my remaining friends were gun downed in front of me I was scared but the anger and hate took over and once I grabbed my weapons I just ran out of the room and began slaughtering them”

“I could only see red as the walls in that place were stained with blood until all the there was left was the last scientist the only one alive in that facility I didn’t hesitate though and I cut her down in that next moment I was walking out of the facility and what I was greeted with was weapons pointed at me by Scott and Flynn our blue and red rangers and Knila my sister the pink ranger they didn’t recognize me but Knila did if it wasn’t for her I neither Dillon nor I would be here right now”.

“Safe to say after I was in that place I lost part of my humanity” Jason said before saying “And that guy that scrambled our brain he’s most likely stalking in the shadows around the forest or near the castle to finish us off or capture us”.

“I don’t show Dillon those memories because I don’t want him to relive them and I think it’s better that way because I don’t want him to end up like me” Jason finished before looking back up to Shade and adding, “If you want more information that facility Is most likely still there and the data it holds is probably still intact”.

“Do me a favour. Keep him away from that place if you can.” Shade responds, “It will be better for everyone if they don’t go looking for it.”

“I was planning on not letting him go there anyway, at least we agree there” Jason replied.

“If I find that place, and find anything or anyone there still… I’m wiping both them and it from the face of this world,” Shade responded, not even hiding the anger in his voice. He then stopped taking a single deep breath. “One last question and I hope I’m wrong. Did you see the logo for the group that did all this?”

“It was a glowing eye…” Jason slowly replied

“If she had anything to do with this… she’s got a fate worse than death coming to her.” Shade responded, “do you know what any of the people experimenting on you looked like?”

“No when they planted that thing in my head every time I looked at them their faces would be obscured by that eye symbol, it would hurt If I looked at them for too long” Jason responded before adding, ”A lot of what they did was fuzzy especially when they used the chip to make me listen to them”.

Shade stopped for a moment before looking back to Jason. “Is that chip still active?”

“As I said before I was able to get some of it out of my head but not all of it if I did It would have killed me, it isn’t active but there’s still the risk of them reactivating it,” Jason said as he rubbed the part of his head where the chip was planted.

“Okay… You may not like what I am about to say, but do you want me to try using my powers on the chip. I might be able to modify the chip's programming or change who can use it… but I can't be sure that it won’t cause you some discomfort.”

“If it can stop them from using it against me and Dillon then go ahead, I won’t stop you” Jason replied as he moved his hair to show where the chip was.

“Okay. If it starts to hurt tell me to stop okay,” Shade responds as his right-hand moves towards where Jason had told him the chip was his hand phased through his head before resting on the chip a black spark moved down his hand before hitting the chip.

Jason feeling the spark hitting the chip tightly clenched his right fist as he felt a combination of discomfort and stinging pain ring out from where the chip was.

Shade paused looking at Jason checking on him, “You good? Do you want me to stop?”

“No I’m good, I've felt worse…” Jason replied as he took a breath.

Shade didn’t respond nervously looking back to where his hand was sparks constantly moving down his arm into the chip, as Shade mentally began modifying the code the chip inside his head slowly beginning to shift and change, what felt to be an ovel in shape began to change in shape ever so slightly as a red glow in a shape of a eye was seen under Jason’s skin.

Jason just let out a low groan of discomfort as he attempted to ignore the chip’s change in shape as his left hand just attempted to grab out at something to squeeze before he grabbed onto to Shade’s.

“We’re almost done okay. I just need a few more seconds okay,” Shade calmly said in a comforting tone, as the light began to pulse slowly before fading, “Your doing very well.”

“Thanks…I try” Jason responded before he bit down on his lip to distract himself from the discomfort and pain.

After a couple of moments, a Shade saw flashes of Jason which seemed to go by quickly but the ones he was able to notice were ones where Jason was locked in a cell, strapped onto a table, and in a testing room on the floor with blood dripping from his nose, eyes, and mouth the boys scream could be heard as he saw multiple people around him the person doing it to him was an unfamiliar robot that had a sadistic smirk on his face it, he had pulsing blue energy flowing up his arm and legs and blades that protruded out of his fingers and shoulders any other detail was shrouded by darkness,

But the others that could be seen were mainly humans in lab coats with notepads just writing down what they were seeing and some holding similar smirks to the robot but out of all of them Shade saw one that he know far too well as a familiar voice could be heard saying in a cold, uncaring voice, “How are you feeling HU-RPM-B1.”

Jason didn’t say anything before growling, “When did.. you…fucking care?”.

The robot kicked the boy in the stomach launching him back as he heard it yell at him, “How dare you speak towards her that way!”

“Calm yourself BL-495-1” the figure stated placing a hand infront of the robot before looking back to Jason, “HU-RPM-B1, Code 3112006.” As soon as she finished speaking Jason’s body stiffened up in response before his eyes went completely blank, “now. HU-RPM-B1. How are you feeling.”

“Im feeling fine….” Jason blankly spoke.

“Good. Now I want you to pick up that sword in front of you and slowly deal with the subject we bring in. Draw it out as long as you can. Is that understood HU-RPM-B1?”

“Yes..” Jason replied as he grabbed the sword as a second subject was brought on a rail on the ceiling the figure being bound by their wrist and they were slowly pulled along the rail and recognized him, “Jason?” the subject said out of fear as they saw him walking towards them, “What's going on why are you looking me like that?” the fear could be seen in their eyes as Jason could be seen raising the sword and swinging it down causing the second subject to let out a yelp of pain.

Following his orders Jason did what he was told as what he was doing to the second subject was drawn out for what seemed to be minutes on end and the second subject's screams were getting louder and louder until suddenly they stopped, blood was stained against the floor and dripped off the tip of the blade as it echoed in the test chamber.

Jason just looked at the body of his friend which was still breathing as it held multiple deep cuts on their body as one of the scientists came up to them injecting the second subject with something before they were dragged out of the test chamber Jason still having that same blank look on his face but when looked at closely tears could be seen running down his cheeks.

“Well done HU-RPM-B1. That is all for today’s test. Please enter recovery mode.”

“Understood…” Jason said before immediately falling to his knees before falling to his side on the pool of blood as he dropped the blade to the floor, as the robot from before walked up to his body and bound up his limbs, before placing a dogs collar around his neck with a chain holding him against a wall.

“Now HU-RPM-B1. Release code 3112006.” the cold voice calmly says as a recording of the test begins to play on a screen placed in front of Jason’s face.

Jason just gasped out as his eyes went back to normal as he saw the screen in front of him his eyes widened, “Wha-What is this?”.

“You did a good job today HU-RPM-B1. We’ll let you watch the results of your test today for the night. We will continue your training tomorrow.” the cold voice responds before saying “Enjoy the show!” as the lights went out in the room and the screen became much clearer as Jason was forced to watch it on loop.

“No no no, please don’t do this, please!” Jason could be heard screaming his eyes were forced onto the screen.

The flashes then stopped as Shade backed away from Jason, clenching his fists as he stops near a nearby wall before smashing his hand into the it large cracks moving through the wall with an impact point remaining visible. “I am going to make her wish I killed her back then.”

“What happened?..” Jason groaned as he stumbled forward.

“I saw one of the tests they made you do,” Shade responded walking back to Jason before wrapping his arms around him, “I’m so… so sorry for what they forced you to do.”

Jason just shut his eyes before moving his arms and hugging Shade the boy just kept his eyes tightly shut with a low whimper before Shade heard crying into his shoulder.

“It’s okay. Let it all out. I’m here,” Shade responded bringing his hand and wings around Jason as he slowly rubbed his shoulders.

The boy didn’t say anything as he continued to cry, his tears running down his face while he held onto Shade, the boy unable to say a word from his cries.

This continued for multiple minutes until he stopped his breathing turning into rasped breathes before Shade could hear him slowly speak through them, “Even after I got out of that place I had nightmares that I was brought back there, that they got me again, that they made do those things again…”.

Jason then looked to Shade before asking, “Am I a bad person?”.

Shade looked at Jason with a look of confusion on his face, “why would you think your a bad person?”

“I hurt them…I killed my friends and it kept happening over and over” Jason said before the last word went into a whisper.

“Did you ever do it willingly?” Shade asked.

“I..I don’t know…,” Jason said as he glanced towards his hand before seeing them covered in blood for a moment before they went back to normal.

Shade then placed his hand below Jason’s face lifting it to look at him, “I don’t think you are a bad person. But could you say the same for me?”

“I….no I don’t think your a bad person” Jason replied with a shake of his head.

“And why do you say that i’m not a bad person?” Shade asked looking at Jason.

Jason went silent for a moment before answering “I say that because for some reason a part of me trusts you, and you remind me of my…dad”.

“Sure thats not just Dillon’s current mindset rubbing off on you?” Shade asks as he rubbs Jason’s head.

“Well Dillon and I are somewhat of the same person so it makes sense” Jason replied before adding, “But you do remind of my biological dad though, your just as kind as he was”

“I thinks that more experience acting like a replacement for Simon’s disgrace of a father before I died,” Shade responds as he rubs the back of his head.

Jason quietly nodded in response as they stayed like that for a few moments before Jason spoke up, “We should probably head back and let Dillon take control again”.

“If you’ve not got anything else you want to tell me.”

The boy looked up to him before shaking his head in response to Shade, “No I don’t have anything else to tell you” Jason said before asking, “Can you unblock Dillon now, I think he’s starting to fall asleep in our head”.

“And here I was thinking he needed some sleep,” Shade responded with a smile as he places Jason back on the ground and letting Dillon take control back from Jason.

Dillon’s body began to writhe in place like before until he stopped the boy silent before letting out a yawn, “You guys finished talking?” Dillon drowsily said before stretching both his arms and tail.

“Yeah we finished talking. Did you have a nice nap?”

“Yeah it was a lot more pleasant than usual” Dillon replied before letting out another yawn.

“What were you talking about during my nap or is that just between you two?” Dillon then asked as he looked up at Shade.

“The best way to put it is he had a lot that was playing on his mind, that he needed to get off his chest,” Shade calmly said, “but it was nothing that you need to worry about.”

“I won’t pry then, at least you got him to open up though” Dillon replied before smiling.

“In some capacity I guess… although I could say you and him act pretty much the same.”

“Really?”Dillon said surprised before saying, “Well that kinda makes sense even though he’s a lot more snarky and deadpan compared to me”.

Not even a moment later Jason spoke up with a yell, “You’d be the same if you remembered everything!” Dillon flinched not even a second later before scratching his head nervously.

“Jason. Calm down,” Shade requested, “I can still hear you.”

“Sorry dad….” he could hear Jason mutter before going silent, “Did he just?” Dillon said in response to hearing Jason say that as he got no response, “Yeah that’s still gonna take a little bit to get used to…”.

“Either way. We better head back to the others,” Shade responds once again rubbing Dillon’s head.

“Right,” Dillon said as he and Shade began to walk out of the room and back to the arena.

Once they got back they saw that the others were still talking amongst themselves until Luna, Simon and the boys noticed them walking towards them, the first to say something to them being Ziggy.

“Welcome back,” Ziggy said with a smile before Axel came up and asked, “What did you two need to talk about that only required Dillon to be there?”.

“I think that is something that he should explain himself,” Shade responded with dismissive wave.

They then looked at Dillon who just sighed before saying, “It was just a talk about Jason…”.

“Aren’t you Jason though, I thought that was your original name?” Axel asked as Dillon just stood their in place trying to get the right words out, “I mean yeah it is- it’s kinda hard to”

Jason immediately just spoke up, “Dillon let me explain it to them and don’t give me that nonsense from before”.

“Fine, fine” Dillon said as they began to switch again the way his body was twitching and writhing in place, prompting the others to ask if he was ok.

“Dillon, are you ok?” Ziggy said as he waved his hand in front his brother's face before Dillons eyes opened back to Jason’s red, causing Ziggy to jump back.

“He’s about to go crazy again!” Ziggy shouted out in a whimper.

“No im not, now calm down you big baby” Jason spoke surprising the others from how the way he spoke his inflection changed his voice having a different accent compared to Dillon.

“One question why are you speaking like that?” Alexis asks as she looks at Jason in confusion.

“Because I'm Jason after Dillon got his brains scrambled his mind was fractured when that happened to who he was before aka me became a separate personality I hold the memories he can’t remember at the moment and I prevent him from getting a panic attack and a fatal aneurysm from too much stress from reexperiencing those memories”.

After a moment he took a breath and continued, “ also I didn’t fully manifest until recently but you’d probably noticed Dillon going crazy whenever his eyes turned red, that’s partly my fault so sorry about that”.

“....What?” Ziggy said before he smacked on the back of his head, “OW!”.

“Just think of it as two people in one body and we can switch to fit the situation!” Jason growled out before pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Why’d you have to hit me though…” Ziggy whined as Jason just scoffed in response, “You’ll get over it”.

“Do any of you have a question if not I'm switching back with Dillon” Jason quickly said impatience could be heard in his voice.

He gets no response from the others who just looked at him in silence, “No questions, good” he then said before he immediately switched back with Dillon.

“That will always feel weird…” Dillon muttered before shaking his head.

“....The heck was that!?” Ziggy then shouted.

“He already explained it to you and I don’t think you want him to hit you again” Dillon responded.

“And besides I don’t think either of them fully understand it themselves,” Shade points out.

“I'm still trying to understand some of it myself,” Dillon muttered.

“Are you fuc- I’ll try explaining it to you again later…” Shade heard Jason say to Dillon in frustration before smirking toward Dillon who just gave a nervous chuckle in response.

“We should probably head out since the spar with Ziggy was canceled due to what happened earlier” Axel commented.

“Do we go back to where we were earlier or somewhere else?” Ziggy asked curiously.

“Thats up to what you. Unless you need to head back to your mother,” Shade points out.

“We don’t need to head back to the lake yet mom usually doesn’t want us back unless it’s late in the day” Dillon replied

“Then where do you want to go?” Shade asks looking at the with a curious look in his eyes.

“....Can we go back to the place where the tables were?” Dillon asked.

“I could do for some quiet it was relaxing” Axel then added as Ziggy gave a nod in agreement.

“I suppose we could head back there then,” Shade responds with a smile, “If you want to head back now we can.”

Dillon and his brothers just gave Shade a silent nod in response while both Ziggy and Dillon had smiles on their faces.

The group then started to walk out of the stands and down to the arena as everyone slowly walked towards the entrance of the arena.

Dillon and his brothers lagged behind a bit while they walked behind everyone the trio having blank looks on their faces as the others waited for them, Axel and Ziggy made it to the entrance first, but once Dillon took another step he stopped.

Ziggy noticing this looked back and asked, “Something wrong Dillon?” as Shade looked back toward them.

Dillon didn’t say anything only looking around, Shade noticing that he had switched with Jason before something close lined into the boy causing him to cough up blood before being thrown back into the arena.

“Dillon!” Ziggy shouted as they saw the boy being grabbed by his neck by a figure who had pink hair coming out from under the hood as the boy struggled in her grip, before a crimson glow covered the figure’s body as Shade’s leg slammed down on the cloaked figures arms forcing them the release Jason before she was thrown away from him.

“You okay Jason,” Shade asked standing infornt of him his eyes focused on the figure.

Jason let out a rasped cough, “Y-yeah im fine, think she might have cracked one of my ribs though”.

“Great,” Shade responded in a sarcastic tone as he covered Jason with a crimson glow his injuries healing almost instantly.

Ziggy and Axel run-up to the two as they checked up on Jason, “Dillon are you ok!?” Ziggy said in shock.

“Im fine but again Jason not Dillon” Jason muttered as he slowly stood up the group noticing that the figure got back up as he saw her hand tense up for a moment as Jason heard a voice that made him immediately clench his teeth.

“HU-RPM-B1!” the voice shouted as the figure jumped back as Shade saw the robot from Jason’s memory, “Been a while miss me?” said BL-495-1 as he gave that same sadistic smirk the Jason hated so much.

“You have a lot of nerve showing your face here you bastard!” Jason growled out as he glared at BL-495-1 his body seemingly shaking with pure anger and hate.

Shade then stopped placing his hand infront of Jason before slowly looking towards the robotic figure, “I’m going to give you once chance and one chance only to leave this place and never come back.” He then paused his voice almost seeming to change in tone, a tense pressure surrounding him, “but if you don’t leave now. You will never leave here in one piece.”

BL-495-1 after hearing this just looked at Shade in silence before bursting out into laughter causing Jason to let off a growl.

“Oh did I make you angry..not like you could do anything to me, you couldn’t do anything to me back then!” BL-495-1 said in a mocking tone before saying, “HU-RPM-B1, code 3112006” he said with that same smirk expecting something to happen but nothing did causing him to lose it.

“HU-RPM-B1, code 3112006!” he said it again, still not getting the expected response from Jason.

“Whats wrong your orders not going through to your chips,” Shade responds with a smirk as he looked at the robot.

“You have no hold over me anymore…” Jason said as the robot couldn’t see his face at first it was obscured by his hair before he saw nothing but a condescending smirk prompting BL-495-1 to get frustrated, “HU-RPM-P1 to me!”

The figure from before then appeared right next to BL-495-1 as Jason just looked towards her and BL-495-1.

“HU-RPM-P1, wipe them out!” he shouted as he pointed towards Jason, the figure seemingly resisting the order before BL-495-1 shouted, “Code 2776744” causing them to stop before he said again, “Wipe them out!” as the figure brought out their weapon and dashed towards them.

Shade however took a single calm breath igniting her horn as he covered the figure with his magic lifting them into the air. “Yeah… I’ve decided. Neither of you are leaving this place intact.” He then threw the figure in his magic backwards out of the arena. “I want you all to deal with him. But don’t kill him I want him alive if possible so I can ensure he suffers for a long time.”

“My pleasure” Jason growled out as he used his morpher to get back into his suit as Ziggy did the same, Axel bringing out his sword as all of them glared to the robot, as Shade teleported away after the figure he had thrown out of the arena.

“Well bring it on, I welcome it!” he shouted as the trio were about to attack him.

“Hey. Green. Catch!” a voice shouted out from the stands as Ziggy saw his axe being thrown down towards him.

BL-495-1 eyes widened as he turned to the stands where the voice came from, “Doctor?”.

Ziggy jumped up and caught his axe before looking at his newly repaired axe before smiling and giving a thumbs up towards the stands, “Thanks doc!”.

“Hello BL-495-1. I see you are still serving the false god, maybe you should surrender before the real Lord Shade comes back.” the figure responds from the stands.

BL-495-1 eyes widened before he clenched his fist, “To think you would betray us, once im done with these three your next…”.

Not even a moment later he shouted, “Subjects 7, 4, and 9 to me!” as three individuals around Dillon’s age walked up from behind him, and Jason specifically recognized one, “Marie?” he said in shock as the robot gained his smirk again, “How’s it feel to see an old friend HU-RPM-B1?”.

“What did you to them” Ziggy muttered as he looked to them.

“Oh we only improved them, only the best for true Lord Shade” the robot said as Jason looked towards them, Marie still looked human-like the other subjects she had short auburn hair while sharing metal plates and markings on her arms and legs the similarities end there with the other two subjects faces and hair being obscured by masks.

“Fun fact the other two were from tests from HU-RPM-P1 and HU-RPM-R1 respectively I’d say they did a pretty good job” BL-495-1 said placing his hands on the other subject's heads.

The boys don’t say anything as he looked at Ziggy before looking behind him and seeing Logan in the stands, “You know after Im done with you I’d say that little one up there would be a good test for you HU-RPM-G1” he said causing Ziggy to give him the same look like Jason, “You won’t touch him!”.

“We’ll see about that, now subjects attack!” he shouted as they ran towards the trio who went on the offensive, Jason going up Marie and his brothers against the other two while the robot walked around the arena and passed them.

Jason was clashing with Marie who was at every moment slashing at his face and neck at every moment the boy seemingly holding back against his old friend not wanting to hurt her while his brothers went no holds barred against the other subjects.

“HU-RPM-B1! Stop holding back! She has a code like yours we can use to stop her if you can restrain her!” the masked figure in the stands shouted down to him.

“DON’T CALL ME THAT!” Jason shouted back before ducking a slash from Marie before swinging his leg above her shoulder and slamming it down causing her entire arm to go limp before sweeping her leg causing her to fall back.

Taking his chance he grabbed her by her still moving arm and placed her face-first on the ground with his knee on her back restraining her as she tried to throw him off as he shouted, “Make her stop!”.

“Just give me one second,” the masked figure responds holding a small bottle in her hand as she shook it a few times before punching BL-495-1 in the chest sending him flying backward into a nearby wall. “I wanted him out the way.” the robot just looking toward her in shock before he fell as he saw her shake her other hand a few times as she seemed to instantly move from his sights appearing beside Jason.

“Subject 7, Code 1658971,” the figure said as Marie’s body seized up for a moment before going limp entirely before the figure said “Subject 7. Enter full lockdown and recovery mode.”

Marie's eyes went completely blank before they closed allowing Jason to let her go and stand up as she was now out of the way before one of the other subjects was launched his way prompting him to grab them by the arm and spin them back towards Axel.

Axel using the handle of his sword hit the subject in the head with it before slamming it to the ground causing a crack to form from under it while Ziggy could be seen teleporting around the last subject and slashing against it with his axe before he appeared above them slamming down into them with his leg causing the subject to buckle from under the weight and collapse to the ground.

“HU-RPM-B1. Handle BL-495-1. You two bring the other two subjects here now!” the masked figure ordered.

“Whatever” Jason said as he jumped up to where BL-495-1 was while Axel and Ziggy just dragged the other two subjects towards the masked figure.

As Jason was walking towards the robot who just slowly stood up looking at Jason, “when did you get the stones to walk up to me like that huh?”.

Jason didn’t say anything he just converted his sword into the chains from before and grabbed him with it the robot attempting to break free before he felt Jason pull back and launch him into the air before pulling down with all his strength slamming BL-495-1 into the nearby seats before pulling him back and into the arena.

“You have a lot of nerv-” BL-495-1 attempted to say only for Jason to interrupt him, “Shut...the hell…up”.

“What?” BL-495-1 said confused before Jason slammed into him tackling him into the arena floor before he felt the boy's fist slam into his face the robot felt his face begin to dent from it as he attempted to get the boy off as he pushed his hand against Jason’s face before going further and grabbing him by the hair as he pulled back.

Jason used his sword to cut the hair that BL-495-1 was holding in turn shortening it as the robot lost his grip he had before as he shouted back, “Ziggy give me your ax!”.

“Why?” Ziggy asked before immediately complying after seeing a glare from Jason, “G-got it..” Ziggy then said as he tossed it over to him.

“Rememeber! Lord Shade wants him alive! He didn’t say in how many pieces though!” The masked figure shouts back to Jason, as he see’s one of the two remaining resting in the same state as Marie.

BL-495-1 just looked at Jason his smirk almost returning before it was replaced by fear, Jason was just smiling toward him his eye showing their glowing red as he raised Ziggys axe before slamming it down on his left arm.

The robot screamed as he felt pain run up through his body, “What's wrong what happened to you wiping us out?”.

“Damn yo-” he attempted to growl out before Jason slammed the axe down on the other arm prompting another scream of pain.

“Come on what happened to all that good shit you promised you’d do huh?” Jason said as he slammed his foot against BL-495-1 chest.
“Jason?” Axel said concerned as he looked at Jason who continued to slam his foot into the robot.

“You’ve done enough for now,” the masked figure responds walking up beside Jason pulling him off BL-495-1, “leave him as he is and let me handle the rest until Lord Shade returns… you should look after Subject 7.”

Jason just looked at the robot in silence.

“You can bring her mental capacity back by saying her subject number and the code M-16589718-6.” the masked figure responds.

Jason jus stepped off of BL-495-1 as he walked towards Marie as he heard the robot shout, “Where you going come back and finish it!”.

“Oh trust me. That would be the easy way out for you. And we have so much to do. BL-495-1, Code-” She began to say before pausing and grinning down at the robot.

His eyes widened in response as he looked like he wanted to scream, “Your insane”

“Oh… I think you’ve just made this so much better for yourself,” the masked figure responds. “BL-495-1, Code 0623353. Enter reprogramming mode. Release memory and coding data chip. Delay 30 seconds.”

“No, stop don’t do this!” the robot screamed thrashing on the ground attempting to move from her.

“Oh don’t worry. We’ll make good use of your old shell before we set you up in a new body,” the figure responds.

He then screamed as Jason made it to Marie crouching down he gives her a somber look before stating “Subject 7, code M-16589718-6.”

For a moment nothing happened but after a second he saw her head move, and after a second her eyes opened as she looked towards him, “J-Jason?” she whispered out.

“Yeah it's me,” Jason said with a nod as he gently lifted her head and placed it against his lap.

“What happened?” she asked as she looked up to him.

“You were just taking a long rest” Jason gently spoke to her.

“Did we get out?” she then asked.

“Yeah we got out Marie your safe” Jason then spoke as he heard her yawn.

“Im tired…” she then said.

“Don’t worry rest” Jason then gently said as she closed her eyes as whistled a gentle tune and not too long after she fell asleep in his lap.

Jason then stopped as he whispered, “Rest well Marie”.

As soon as Shade had teleported away from the group he landed just outside the arena as he looked down finding the cloaked figure who was pushing themselves back up from the ground their arm bent the other way before grabbing onto it and putting it back in place before looking towards him.

“Just stand down. You don’t have to do this,” Shade calmly says as he looks at the figure, “We can talk this out like civilized people.”

“The only thing I need to do is follow my orders nothing more nothing less” the figure replied.

“I know what they did you. You don’t need to fight. I can help you,” Shade calmly continued to say, “just put your weapons down. We don’t need to fight.”

The figure didn’t respond before bringing out a morpher that was like Dillon and Ziggy's before flipping the switch and transforming as the cloak was thrown away revealing a pink ranger with hair flowing out of the back of the helmet.

“Don’t make me do this. It won’t end well for you,” Shade repeated again his belt forming around his waist.

She doesn’t say anything only bringing out her weapons which looked similar to a sickle with chains on the bottom and wrapped on it with a steel ball swingling below it as she rushed toward him before swinging at him.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Shade responded before quickly transforming as the Parka Ghost struck the figure knocking her backwards while her weapon was knocked from her grasp.

She flipped backward before falling back to the ground and using her hands to stop her momentum before Shade saw her hair extend back and grab her weapons from the ground before placing them back in her hands somewhat surprising Shade as she noticed the symbol on his chest before her eye darted to her coat that was on the ground with a similar logo to it, “Wait why does he?” she about to say something but immediately shook her head, “No i gotta focus on the fight” she muttered to herself as she went to attack him again.

Shade didn’t move his hands resting against the chain on his chest as he let her approach him, while the figure sped up as she swung her Kusarigama's towards his neck in attempt to decaptate him only for them to phase through his body before Shade’s chains wrapped around both her arms binding them together, before yanking for forwards and kicking her legs out from under her.

Falling to the ground her hair extended again angling her legs towards his head before launching her up, her foot almost hitting him before it phased through entirely, “What!?”.

“Yeah… This isn’t going to be fun for you,” Shade calmly responded as chains wrapped around her leg pulling her back down Shade’s fist up as it collided with her chest.

She let off a loud cough as she had the wind knocked out of her the woman let out gasp in an attempt to breathe, as the chain wrapped around her other legs pulling them both together and pulling her body straight.

In an attempt to fight back she tried using her hair to grab but just like when tried hitting him with her foot it phased through, this time the chains seeming to twist and turn wrapping her hair between the chains pulling it tightly.

a grunt of pain could be heard from her as she attempted to fight back again but was left unable due to her hair, legs, and arms being held in place by the chains as she yelled, “Who or what the hell are you!?”

“You can call me Shade,” Shade responds calmly his eyes focused on her.

“Liar!” she growled as she attempted to break from her bindings, only for them to suddenly tighten further, beginning to dig in to her skin slightly.

The woman continued to thrash around in place as she attempted to break free only for the chains to dig into her skin more tightly causing them to draw blood. “Miss please surrender,” Shade asked again, as his sword formed in his hand. “Your going to hurt yourself if you keep going.”

“Why would I listen to you, you faker!” She growled out towards him as she continued writhe around in the chains, “I’ll fucking kill you!”.

Shade didn’t respond simply shaking his head as he swung his sword the blade cutting though her hair leaving it short as the figure watched it slowly fall to the ground infront of her before the blade cut across her chest sparks coming from her suit.

She let out a scream of pain as she continued attempting to get free again, “I’ll kill you, you damn imposter!” she screamed towards him before feeling him swinging the blade cut across her chest again causing the suit to spark up again before it disappeared entirely revealing a female figure underneath it. The womans clothing was completely shredded leaving her entire body exposed revealing a scar on the right side of her chest which had three parts that extended to the left side of her chest, beyond this he could that her back looked to have multiple deep cuts that looked to have been done surgically in some kind of operation along with a scar and barcode on her head similar to that of the one he had seen on Jason’s head.

The woman’s eyes were struggling to keep themselves open, her head fallen forwards as she hug in the air swaying side to side as he heard her breath slowly rasp in and out, “You bastard….” he heard her say.

Shade then placed his hand on her chin lifting it to face him before adding, “you say you are loyal to the cult that drag their gods name though the mud. Let me show you the truth.” Shade adds before placing his hand on her forehead, sparks moving down his arm striking the womans head.

Her eyes widened as she began to see images of him multiple as they began to flash by in her mind and for each one she saw a faint image of his symbol could be seen until the mark itself took over everything in her vision her mouth agape as she said, “Shade” before her head fell forward the woman going completely silent.

Shade then lowered her towards the ground finding her to be unconscious, her breath slow and steady as he draped her unconscious form over over his shoulder and a small doorway formed beside him leading down into the ground as he walked inside before it closed hiding both of them from sight.

Once he reached the bottom of the stairs he was in a dimly lit room as he sat on the floor releasing the girls arms as the chain tied her wrists behind her back before Shade cancelled his transformation and took the morpher from her side tossing it to the other side of the room.

Shade didn’t say a word as he placed his hand on her head his hand phasing though like it had with Jason before as he repeated the process reprogramming the chip in her head causing the womans face to scrunch up in pain, however unlike with Jason Shade did not stop to check on her continuing the process with a care until he was done.

Once he was finished he paused placing the woman in his lap as she fell forwards her face against his chest while her breasts pushed into him, as soon as he was sure the woman was unable to fight back he placed a hand against her back before a spark shot up her spine, waking her up,

Once she opened her eyes she jumped back, as he was held in place by Shades wings, as he calmly said “How are you feeling?”

“What did you to me, let me go!” she growled as she attempted to get away from him.

“I showed you the truth of who I am,” Shade responded looking down at the woman infront of him, his gaze focused solely on her, as he forced her to look at his face.

“I…what..how” she slowly said with a confused tone, “If your Shade then who is the one I’ve been loyal too this whole time have I been living nothing but a lie?”.

“Tell me. What do you think the truth is?” Shade asked his hand preventing her from looking away from him.

She didn’t say anything her eyes darting around as she looked like she trying to find an answer but ultimately couldn’t as a result.

“Do you need help with finding out your own truth,” Shade responds his hand moving to the side of her head again.

She just looked at his hand with nothing but fear on her face as she saw it moving towards her as she closed her eyes with a low whimper, before feeling something rub itself though what remained of her hair, “there is no shame in now knowing what to believe… I have seen many creatures in your position, due to the lies they have told you all. Just say what you personally think from everything you know.”

She opened her mouth before closing it still not knowing what to say as she slowly began to shake her mind attempting to sift through everything that was said to be lies to her before she broke down letting out a sob, “I don’t know what to believe anymore!”.

Shade simply smiled and began rubbing her neck with his hand, “it’s okay. Who do you to believe to be true. Those who have spent years experimenting on you and having you hurt people without reason, or to try placing your trust in what you have just seen, and can currently feel.”

“Even if I know the truth why do I still want to follow him?” She asked as she looked at Shade.

“They have forced you for who knows how long to belive what they said to be the truth and take it to the core of your beliefs. To you, the very idea that you may have hurt so many innocent creatures for a lie cannot be true to you… if it is a lie… what would it mean for you?”

“That all i’ve done with those beliefs are truly nothing but monstrous that i’ve been following the wrong individual who instilled them in me…” She slowly replied.

“So… what is it you want to do now,” Shade asks still rubbing the woman’s head.

“I want you to decide my fate to whatever you see fit Lord Shade” she responded before adding, “Your more fit to decide what to do with me than I am with myself”

For a moment Shade didn’t respond before he said “before I decide on your fate I want you to answer some questions for me.”

She just nodded to him in response, “I’ll answer whatever you ask me”.

“First what’s your name?” Shade asked, looking down at her again.

“Its…” she went silent for a moment before remembering, “HU-RPM-P1….” she replied looking him in the eyes.

“No… I asked for your name,” Shade repeated, “you're not working with the cult now.”

“That’s what they call me, it might as well be my name” She replied.

“I’ll deal with that later,” Shade responds with a shake of his head, “but first I’m going to find some deeper truths,” Shade then stopped placing both hands on the woman's head without another word as HU-RPM-P1 closed her eyes not saying anything. Shade simply smiled back before he too closed his eyes, and upon reopening them as he found himself in what looked like a cell which looked be darkened the only bit of light being a red flickering light on the ceiling.

A moment later he then saw two versions of the woman, one in the corner clutching her head and whispering to herself and the other outside the cell with her hands on the bars with a bored look on her face, as he overheard the one in the corner speak in incoherent babbles before she got his attention when she said a specific name, ”Jason”

“Oh ignore her she’s gotten crazy from the isolation,” the other said to Shade.

“And you are,” Shade asks walking towards the woman outside the cage.

“HU-RPM-P1” she replied with a smirk.

“She’s the one that’s loyal to the monster the one who made us do all those terrible things…” he heard another voice chime in as he looked to see another one behind him.

“Who the hell are you?” the one from before spoke to the third while getting into her face while the third one just looked at her blankly. “Answer me!” the second shouted attempting to grab the third only for her arm to be grabbed and flipped over to the floor.

The third then looked to Shade before saying “If your looking for one to get rid of Id say get rid of her she is the part of us that still has loyalty to the cult”.
“Get rid of me, you can’t do that!” the second shouted as he pushed herself back up from the floor.

“That's all I needed to know,” Shade responds walking up to the second figure, lifting her into the air by the throat choking her. The second figure placed her hand on his in an attempt to get herself free as her legs could be seen kicking in the air out of her struggle.

“You need to be removed and you can’t do anything to stop it” the third said to the second who eyes widened in response.

Shade the paused before walking towards a nearby wall holding the second figure against it before seeming to push her right arm back as it seemed to shift and change before merging into the wall before her legs hit the wall as they stuck fast to it before shifting looking to merge into it as well until only her body and head remained as Shade stopped choking her, stepping away.

“I think you look better like that.” Shade responds looking at her.

“Bastard!” the second growled out towards him before the third snapped her fingers making the second stop speaking, “it’s time to let the adults speak”.

“Screw you!” the second growled out towards her, “You think im gonna let you do this, let you get rid of me, I’ll kill you!” she then shouted towards the both of them.

Shade then paused looking back at her, before punching her in the chest causing her to let out a pained cough from the blow as her head slightly hung low, before Shade grabbed her by the neck again, “let me make this clear. If you speak to us like that again. I will ensure the rest of your existence is a neverending living hell. Do you understand me?!”

She grit her teeth from feeling his hand on her throat before replying with a strained, “Crystal” before he let her go, before she felt Shade pat her one the head like he would a child. She let out a low growl towards the action but immediately went silent once he looked her in the eyes again.

“Good girl,” Shade responds with a smirk before walking towards the cage ahead of them.

“The one in there she’s hasn’t been together for a long time” the third said as she walked next to Shade as the second just scoffed as heard the one in the cell could be heard saying incomprehensible nonsense.

“She’s barely even able to pick up the pieces what are you even planning to do?” the second spoke before adding, “Even then look at her, she looks like she about unravel further than already has”.

Shade didn’t respond to her as his horn ignited before what looked to be a ball-shaped gag was forced into her mouth before a strange black rubber covered her head obscuring all her features as they heard a muffled protest come from her gagged mouth.

“If we want to hear from you then, and only then we will let you speak!” Shade shouted back as the second just angled her head down her shoulders shakily raising up and down it looked like she was crying.

The third then went up to her and went to the side of the seconds head, “it’ll be ok as long as you do as your told and behave it will be ok” she whispered before walking away from the second who shook in place as she pats her on the head the same way Shade did earlier, “Good girl”.

The second didn’t do anything she continued to sob in place as the third walked away and back with Shade as she placed her hand on the door of the cage before pushing it forward the door opening without any resistance as the third motioned for Shade to walk inside, he nodded at her leaving her at the entrance as he walked into the cage with the other woman.

“Little one. Are you okay,” Shade asks as he slowly walks towards the woman in the corner of the cell, kneeling down infront of her.

The woman continued to speak nonsense her body seeming to twitch every few seconds as her hair covered her face in a wild fashion until she looked toward him, Shade only saw her eyes before she only said one word, “Who?”.

“I’m a friend. I know Jason. He’s okay and I’m here to help you,” Shade responds holding a hand out to her. “Do you need some help?”

She looked at his hand in silence before looking behind him and seeing the third woman who, “It’s ok you can trust him”.

She didn’t say anything as looked back at his hand before she slowly reached her hand out and grabbed onto his hand as he pulled her up from the floor, “Thank..you, will I see him” she then slowly said.

“I can promise you that as soon as you feel ready to do so you can,” Shade responds with a kind smile, “do you want me to help you leave this cell?” She quietly nodded towards him in response as she gave him a smile in return.

Shade smiled as he slowly walked her towards the cell doors as he stepped out turning, “If you are ready to leave. You just need to take that first step. I can’t force you to.”

She immediately took a breath as she looked to Shade who continued to give her the kind smile from before until she decided to take the step, the woman's foot immediately going forward until it was out of the cell.

“It’s ok just one more step” she heard the third woman as she kept going until she was out completely the woman's eyes widened before tears began to develop in her eyes before she immediately hugged Shade.

“There you go. You are out of the cell and you don’t need to go back in. You’re free and safe now,” Shade said as he wrapped his arms around her.

She just cried into his chest as she held onto him tightly not wanting to let go of him, “Thank you” he heard her repeat over and over.

“It’s not a problem I’m happy to help,” Shade responds as he rubs the girl's head.

She looked at the second woman with a glare tears still in her eyes as she held onto Shade tightly, Shade noticed her reaction before saying, “What do you want to do with her?”

“She isn’t going to do anything it’s ok” the third said to her causing her to calm down slightly.

“Although… do we really want her kept like that… I think we could do so much better,” Shade responds.

“What do you suggest?” the third asked as she and the woman looked at him.

“Well… She is part of your mind… what do you want to do with it?” Shade asked.

“We could take responsibility for her and keep teaching her a lesson until she stops acting the way she does or we keep her in that wall as a punishment when she doesn’t behave and it keeps happening until she learns to coexist with us or she accepts the situation” the third replied.

“What do you think, do you wanna be trapped in that wall all the time or do you actually want to live in this body without your life being threatened, nod to me if you say yes” the third said to the second who after a moment continued to shake in place.

“One second. Let's make this a bit easier,” Shade responds before clicking his fingers, as the mask and gag shift allowing her eyes to become visible and allowing her to breathe through her mouth, “Now she should answer be able to answer easily, and you should be able to control it yourselves… and maybe having it cover her entire body if you want.”

The third nodded before going in front of her, “Now, do you accept the arrangement?” she asked the second who looked at her in silence before she felt the third grab her head, “Do you accept?’,

She was silent for a moment before she quietly replied, “Yes…”.

“Yes what?” The third asked expecting an actual answer.

“Yes, I accept the arrangement…” she replied.

“Good girl was that so hard?” The third replied rubbing her head of the seconds who didn’t do anything but angle her head down.

The second just stayed silent as the woman who was holding onto Shade just looked at the second woman with tears in her eyes before she heard Shade ask her something.

“Little one. Do you have a name for me to call you by?” Shade asks looking down at the crying girl in his arms.

“My name is…” she slowly said unable to say the last part for a few moments until she said, “Knila” as she looked back up at him.

“Knila. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Shade responds smiling kindly at her.

“Likewise,” she said replying to him.

“Still… I think you two both need names to go by,” Shade states looking at the other two figures.

The third went silent for a moment in deep thought before answering, “You can call me Arya and this one right here Tori” she said as she motioned to the second who didn’t do anything as she felt Arya grab onto her before she was pulled out of the wall, “Me and her need to have a talk you’ll see me later though” she said towards Shade and Knila before they saw her walk away with Tori over her shoulder as they slowly went out of view.

A moment after that happened the environment began to change into that of a hallway with white and blue walls with multiple doors that had separate names one each, two of which had Jason’s and Knila’s and two others that said, Scott and Flynn as an entrance could be seen behind them as Knila then looked to Shade and smiled.

“It feels nice to feel free again” she then said to Shade.

“Looks like your talking normally again aswell,” Shade adds looking at her, “How are you feeling Knila?”

“Honestly, tired yet refreshed at the same time” Knila replied before turning her head to see the other parts of the environment before seeing Jason’s door and placing her hand on it, “We’ll see each other soon hon” she then said as the door opened revealing not the room of an adult instead it was one of a baby, a crib resting against a wall instead of a bed.

“I feel like this is strange question to ask… but why is their a crib in his room and not a normal bed?” Shade asks standing behind Knila.

“Because Jason in some manner is my son, but not in the way that you think” Knila quietly replied, before she felt a hand of her shoulder, as she flinched looking back towards him.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Shade askes looking at her with kind eyes, “either here or with the physical version of you?”
“Here is fine” she quietly replied, getting a nod from Shade as she gestured for her to start.

“Back when I being displaced I woke up in a room after what happened in the diner. My first thought was for my little brother, I tried to look for him but the only one I found was a single man in the room, just standing their looking at me. I asked him where was my brother was and he told me that he was already gone that his body was damaged beyond being saved. I asked him if he could be brought back, but was told that only his soul remained, he could save him but he would need a new body that could hold what remained of his soul.”

She paused for a moment a pained look on her face until she took another breath and continued, “I was pregnant at the time, and If i was displaced with it…” She placed her hand on her stomach, “it wouldn’t have survived the trip so even it hurt for me to do it I offered the body of my unborn child to bring my brother back.”

“Although. The little one couldn’t be used while still being in her,” a new voice responded, a voice familiar to Knila, as she saw a figured in a black trench coat standing in the doorway of her room.

“The man from before….” Knila whispered.

“Wait… thats the man who displaced you,” Shade said looking at the feature.

‘Yes.. it is” Knila replied as she slowly walked backward before hiding behind Shade.

“You still okay… he didn’t hurt you when he Displaced you did he?” Shade asked standing infront of her keeping himself between her and the man.

Knila didn’t say anything only shaking her head in response before she placed her hand back onto her stomach.

“Her child could not be used from inside her, I created a room for her to rest in and accelerated her body’s age till the child was ready,” the man calmly said.

“In other words…” Shade began to say looking at Knila.

She didn’t say anything for a moment before she whispered “He sped up the pregnancy so I could give birth to the child and bring back my brother”.

“After it was born he allowed to me have some time with it even feed for the first time and after I was done I gave my child to him”.

“Then why are you scared of him… it doesn’t sound like he meant you any harm?” Shade asked, looking at Knila in confusion.

“For it to fully go through me and him had to make a deal I accepted and he told me that sometime in the future he will come and take it from me, something that I do not have yet” Knila replied.

The man then walked towards the two of them before kneeling down infornt of Knila who flinched slightly as she look at him, the figure reaching up to his face pulling down a mask revealing a human face, he had black hair that was neetly combed over his head with bright green eyes. “I had originally came today to see if their was anything I could use for the payment from the past… but due to your current state I can see that is not viable at this time.”

The man then held a hand out to her, “Miss Williams, how are you faring after what happened to you.”

“I feel..better now that im not trapped anymore” Knila replied before slowly taking his hand.

“Thats good to hear,” the man states smiling at her, “while I am here is their anything you want to put forward to clear your debt in the furure, or do you want to wait until I need something fulfilling?”

Knila stayed silent, not sure of what to say for a moment before saying, “I’ll wait until you need something”.

“Okay then,” the man responds as he stands back up placing his mask back over his face, looking at Shade. “take care of both her and the child.”

Shade didn’t get a chance to respond as the figure’s body seemed to fade away leaving him and Knila alone.

The two were silent for a moment before Shade heard Knila ask, “Can we go now please?”.

“If you are sure you want me to return to face the real you,” Shade responds.

“Im sure” Knila then replied as he gave a nod before she added, “And again thank you for saving me”.

“You might not be saying that soon,” Shade responds, as his horn begins to glow but before he disappeared she reached up and gave him a peck on the cheek before she smiled to him as his body disappeared.

As soon as Satou had faded from Knila’s mind he opened his eyes and removed his hands from her head as it fell back forwards into his chest.

Her eyes opened and blinked a few times before she realized where she was and that she wasn’t wearing clothes as she attempted to cover herself but couldn’t due to her arms being bound as well as her legs spread around Shade’s sides, her face then going red.

“Are you okay?” Shade asked as he looked at Knila who’s head was against his chest.

“What happened to my clothes?” he heard her quietly say.

“I would say either you wasn’t wearing them when the cult used that code on you and the end of the fight left you with nothing to wear,” Shade responds wrapping his wings around her body to keep her warm, and attempted to cover her body.

Knila went silent for a moment her face still red before she asked “can you remove the chains on my body and possibly give me something to wear”.

“Depends. Are you going to try and kill me and Jason again?” Shade asks.

“No, I'm not” she immediately replied.

“...Knila… how much do you remember from before you woke up on my chest?”

“Everything, you bringing me back from the brink, before I was captured and turned to the side of the cult, and finding Jason after months of not seeing him when I was displaced, every last bit” Knila replied to Shade

“So I assume you are also aware of why you're currently in this position?” Shade responds by placing his hand on the back of her head and pushing it into his chest.

She face scrunched up in anger, “Yeah I understand but Im not gonna attack you or my son she isn’t in control I am, especially since the other is gonna help keep her in check” the latter half of her sentence sounding more upset than the former.

After a moment she realized what she had just said, “I tried killing my son, she was in control, my hand was on his throat I was going to….” the woman began to break down her eyes developing tears as she began to sob into Shade’s chest.

“Don’t worry. It wasn’t your fault, let it all out,” Shade responds taking his normal position in this sitation as he rubbed the back of Knila’s head slowly, “take as long as you need.”

She continued to cry into his chest unable to speak the only noise she could make were the sobs that came out of her mouth.

This went on for a few minutes as she continued to cry and after a little bit she slowly began to calm down, once she went quiet he looked down to see that her eyes were bloodshot and that she was attempting to take a breathe but kept choking up from her crying Shade hearing let out low gasps from her.

“Feeling any better?” Shade asks as he started rubbing her back his one of his hands the other holding her close to him.

“Yeah…Im feeling better” Knila replied before feeling Shade wipe the remaining tears from her eyes. After a moment she spoke again, “Can we just go now I just want to see him…please” as she looked at him with pleading eyes.

“Are you sure your ready to actually see him?” Shade asked again looking at her nervously.

“Yes,” Knila replied without any hesitation.

Shade shook his head as he looked at her, an unsure look in his eyes as Knila felt the bindings on her legs fall away, looking back to her before adding, “either way… I don’t think you can go like you are.”

She then moved her legs from Shade’s side as she looked at him in confusion before she then looked at her body again before her face went red, “H-how much have you seen?”.

“Do you want the honest answer or the one to make you feel better?” Shade asked, his response making his answer blatantly clear to Knila.

Knila just looked at him with a blush before muttering in response “Just be honest with me please….”

“I saw everything when I carried you down here,” Shade responds, his hand moving from her back as he accidentally pushed he chest towards his own, as Knila let out a squeak in surprise before the red on her deepened her embarrassment showing on her face in its entirety as she attempted to move away from his chest, “Sorry. I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

“N-no worries, c-can you let me up now?” She replied with a stutter, getting a nod from Shade as he stood up before holding his hand out to her, the chains on his wrists disappearing as the woman slowly grabbed onto his hand before feeling him pull her up to her feet.

“Do you have anything I can change into so I'm not naked?” Knila then asked as she attempted to cover her body.

“That would suit you… not fully,” Shade responds “but I can at least somewhat cover your chest.” He then quickly switched forms into a human as he looked back to Knila finding himself to be taller than her, as her head rested just beneath his chin.

Knila immediately backed up from him in surprise as she noticed the height difference between the two of them her blush returning slightly before she shook her head to refocus herself, “And what would that be?” she then asked, as she saw Shade remove the jacket he was wearing as he handed it over to her.

“It might be a bit too big for you,” Shade responds, “do you want some help?”

She gave him a nod in response as he then helped her put the jacket on specifically by putting her arms through the sleeves and once that was done she zipped it closed.

“How does it fit?” Shade asked looking at her.

“It's a bit large for me but I can work with this” she admitted as she then adjusted the zipper a bit before she looked back up at him and asked, “Is there anything I can use to the cover the rest of me” as she attempted to pull the jacket down to cover her lower half.

Shade only shook his head in response, “I don’t have anything that could even come close. That jacket is the best I can do right now.” He then stops before saying, “either you use it to cover your body or wrap it around your waist and try to cover the rest of you. But thats up to you.”

Knila just gave a sigh in disappointment before she turned around and took the jacket off before attempting to wrap the jacket around her body so it would cover her lower and upper body and after a minute or two she succeeded with one of the sleeves wrapped around her chest and the rest wrapped around her lower body that just barely covered them.

She then turned around to face Shade as she asked, “Is this any good?”.

“You’ve got most of it,” Shade responds, “Though i can still make most of it out… and I expect if you try and move a lot will be seen.”

Knila just looked down at her body before turning her body slightly to see what he meant before feeling part of the jacket move slightly as she felt it riding up before she immediately pushed it back down.

“I really don’t think it’s a good idea to go out walking as that is. I have no doubt it will either start to rub against more… sensitive parts of of your body or get very tight very quickly,” Shade warned her with a unsure look on his face.

“I mean if you have a better Idea I won’t say no” Knila replied as kept her end on the jacket to keep it from riding up again.

“...Are you against being carried in my arms and hidden with my wings?” Shade asked looking at her, “I can’t offer you more to wear right now, but I can get you somewhere and try and get you something.”

Knila just looked down for a moment before Shade heard her sigh, “I’ll take what i can get epsecially if it means I can wear clothes that cover both my upper and lower body”.

“So you don’t mind me carrying you out of here in my arms and wings… I mean what if Jason see’s you like this,” Shade calmly states looking at Knila again, mearly turning her body an inch making the jacket she had wrapped around her tighten around her form in some cases looking to dig tightly into her body.

“It can’t be helped either I let you carry me or I look like someone about to flash a person” Knila replied as she attempted to adjust the jacket again.

After a moment she saw Shade’s form revery to that of an Alicorn again before he picked her up in his wings, the jacket instantly going tight again this time rubbing between her legs and squuezing on her chest, every part of her becoming more and more visisble at a glance.

She let out a noise from feeling what was happening and once she did immediately covered her mouth as she attempted to keep her mouth shut in an attempt to not make any noise.

“Are you sure your okay with this?” Shade asks looking down at Knila, her face was beet red as she stuttered out in reply, “Y-yeah im o-ok with this..” as she squirmed around his wings.

“Do you want to be carried without the jacket on… it is just going to tease you more if you keep it on,” Shade warns as he begins to walk forwards, as the jacket begins to rub again just as he said it would.

She went in thought for a moment before Shade felt her moving around before seeing her hold up his jacket the same blush on her face as she did so, “H-here take it back…”.

“Okay then,” Shade responds ajusting the way she was held in his arms as his jacket is placed over his shoulder, while his wings brushed up against her side and back.

Knila face only moved for a moment from feeling Shade’s wings around body as it looked like she was about to laugh from feeling his feather but she was able to keep her composure as she saw a stairway form infront of her as Shade began to walk up it, his feathers occasionally rubbing her body as they moved.

After a few minuites of slow walking back towards the arena, Shade saw the walls looming over the two of them, looking down at Knila finding that she was attempting to cover the more sensitive parts of her body with her hands, “You still okay Knila?”

She didn’t say anything before he heard her let out a squeak from one his feathers rubbing against her lower and upper body as she attempted to hide her face.

“Do you want me to put you down now if this this getting to you too much?” Shade asks once again looking to check on her, one of his wings gently moving over one of her breasts.

Feeling the wing pass over one of her breasts caused the woman to flinch from the feeling it before she shook her head no in response, Shade just shrugging his shoulders as he contiued to walk towards the enterece to the arena.

“Last chance to change your mind on going towards Jason like this,” Shade warns her as he stops just out of view of everyone inside.

“Im sure about this” she replied, but once she did she heard Jason’s voice, “If I get my chance to get payback on the asshole from earlier that d- Shade went to take of Im taking it, felt one of my ribs crack because of them..” she heard him say as her eyes went wide as she heard continue speaking.

“You ok Jason?” Ziggy could be heard asking the boy.

“No, Im sick of this crap, over and over having to deal with these bastards and for what, anything I do barley doing crap against it, I…I hate every last one of them!”.

Knila’s eyes began to water as they then heard Axel shout “Language!” before Jason could be heard yelling, “Oh shut up Axel your not my goddamn mom!”.

Right when Shade was about to go into view he could feel Knila tapping his shoulder as he looked down to see her on the verge of crying again, as he stopped looking at her with a worried look on his face, “yes. Is something wrong?”

“I’ve changed my mind take me somewhere else….please” she shakily spoke clearly hurt from what she heard from Jason as she saw him in the center of the arena before looking away adding, “Anywhere but here”.

Shade paused looking down to her before nodding his head before his horn lit up, teleporting them away, before reappearing in small bedroom as he moved Knila over placing her head back against his chest, “Knila… whats wrong?”

She didn’t say anything for a moment before whispering, “I wasn’t as ready as I thought I was, he hates me…” clearly hurt by Jason’s words.

Shade didn’t respond for a momment before placing a hand on the back of her neck slowly rubbing it, “well he does rememeber everything they did to him… and everything they made you do to him both before and today. He also has no idea it was you who attacked him today.”

“But what if he figures out that it was me, that I was the one that attacked him the one that almost killed him” she quietly asked.

“He knows about them controlling you and the others against your will… they did it to him and had him murder those he called his friends before,” Shade replied still rubbing Knila’s neck.

Knila didn’t say anything while Shade continued to rub her neck as she went into deep though and was like this for multiple minutes before she slowly broke down again her sobs breaking through her demeanor as she pulled herself into his chest as she cried into it, Shade lying himself on the bed and holding her close to him, as he placed a pillow behind her head, “Take as long as you need. But you’ll need to say in this room until we decide what to do with you. Okay”

It took her a moment through her crying but she spoke, “O-okay” she stuttered out before her she was overcome by her tears again, Shade sighing before covering the bed covers with his magic and pullinh them over the two of them, his arms holding her tightly, as he rested his chin against her head.

After a few minutes her crying began to quiet down and bit by bit she went completely silent Shade moving his head to look at her seeing that her eyes were closed with small streaks of her tears still on her face, she fell asleep.

Using the back of his hand, he wipes the tears away before making his body phase though Knila’s arms, pulling one of the others pillows into the space he had been as he climbed out of the bed before placing the covers back around her tightly, before leaning down and kissing her on the forehead, “get some rest. I’ll be back soon.”

He then turns and walks out the room slowly closeing the door behind him and placing a sign on the door before teleporting away.

Knila just squirmed in place on the bed as she faintly whispered, “love you…” as she snuggled further into one of the pillows.

As soon as Shade had reappeared he was standing back near the entrance to the arena, slowly walking inside as he remained invisible stopping just out of sight of Jason and the others.

“Hey Jason-” Ziggy could be heard before Jason was heard immediately snapping at him, “What!”.

“Yikes no need to be so hostile dude…” Ziggy said as he hid behind Axel who just shook his head towards the boy.

“What are you shaking your head for huh, think your better than me!?” Jason growled out before he felt the switch happening again only to have his fist hit into his face causing him to reel back clutching his face, “Mother fuc-”.

“Stop being a dick!” he heard Dillon shout in their head, “How did you even do that!?”.

Jason then felt the feeling like someone was bearing down in him, a shadow covering him, Alexis looking down at him, “just because your father isn’t here doesn’t mean that you can misbehave.”

Jason was about to respond before hearing Dillon say, “Dude Id recommend not saying what your about to say you won’t like what will happen I can just feel it…just say that your sorry”.

Jason attempted to say something before stopping himself with a sigh as he turned towards Axel and Ziggy and said in a mutter, “Im sorry…”.

“Apology accepted” he heard Ziggy say as he could still be seen behind Axel who just gave him a silent nod in response.

“See that wasn’t so hard!” Dillon said to Jason who muttered, “Dillon please shut up,” as he felt Alexis rubbing his head.

Jason flinched slightly before asking “What are you doing?” as he glanced up at her.

Alexis didn’t respond as she instead reached behind Jason’s ear and slowly began to rub it, “just teaching you a lesson before someone else does.”

“Wait what-” Jason attempted to speak but that was immediately replaced with random babbles and Jason thumping his foot to the floor.

Dillon could be heard laughing in their head as Jason lost his footing, falling into Alexis’s waiting arm as he held him in place with one while continuing to rub his ear with the other, Dillon then could be heard struggling to speak with his laughing, “Oh my god….you weren’t prepared for it at all, this is golden“ as he then broke down laughing again.

“Anyone else want to join in?” Alexis asks with a smirk as she looked at Ziggy and Axel gesturing to his other ear.

Axel just smirked before nudging Ziggy forward the boy stumbling before he was in front of Alexis and Jason the boy looked at Jason’s ear before a smirk could be seen on his face before he joined as scratched Jason’s other ear prompting the boy’s other leg to twitch.

“Oh this is evil and still hilarious either way!” Dillon commented as he continued to laugh at Jason’s expense.

“Do you want to join in Axel?” Alexis asked looking at him with a knowing smile.

“...Eh sure” Axel said with a shrug as he walked towards the three before crouching in front of Jason, Alexis moving her hand away from Jason’s ear and wrapping both of her arms around his waist to hold him in place, pulling him back towards her chest as Axel immediately began to scratch behind Jason’s ear as the boy let out similar noises to Dillon whenever Midnight got her hands on his ears.

“He’s definitely similar to Dillon in the aspect that he makes almost the exact same noise as him” Axel said with a smirk.

“You all enjoying being the first ones to make his experience this?” Alexis asks smirking as she begins to rub Jason’s belly.

“Im finding it hilarious so far” Axel replied as they saw Ziggy using both his hands to scratch Jason’s other ear the boy not saying anything and just having that same smirk.

Shade then walked up behind them keeping himself invisible before he said, “is this some kind of initiation to be in this band of brothers?”

The boy’s stop for a moment hearing him before looking around confused before Ziggy said, “Dad, where are you?”.

“Nearby… watching and judging you all,” Shade responds smirking at them, his hands next to Ziggy’s ears.

“That doesn’t sound ominous at all” Ziggy replied as he felt a hand near his ear.

“It does doesn’t it,” Shade responded as Ziggy felt his ear start to be rubbed by some invisible figure.

“I think we just might have to make this some form of initiation because this is just entertaining” Axel commented as he looked at both of the boys.

“You know seeing this from an outside perspective actually is kinda funny, I see why Midnight likes doing it so much” Dillom commented with a chuckle as he continued to watch.

Jason then faintly said, “When this is over….. i'm kicking your ass Dillon” before his voice just went silent as he was overwhelmed by the sensation again.

“You’ll try,” Dillon retorted with a chuckle.

After a moment of the continued scratching of his ear’s Jason stopped movingt as his eyes went completely blank Axel waving his hand in front of the boys face and getting no response, “I think we made him pass out”

“He really needs to work on his stamina,” Alexis responds as she stops rubbing his belly.

“I think that would be kinda difficult when something like that is sprung on you like that” Axel said with a chuckle as Jason’s limbs faintly twitched.

A moment later they saw Jason’s left arm move before it limply raised up and smacked himself in the face snapping Jason out of it and causing him to clutch the right side of his face, “Ow!”.

“There we go” Dillon then said as Jason just let out a grumble in response.

“Was that Dillon who did that?” Axel asked as Jason gave a silent nod in response before remembering where he was and trying to get free of Alexis.

“Am I that bad?” Alexis asks with a kind smile.

Jason just stopped before looking back towards her with an embarrassed look on his face before he attempted to cover it up with his hands, “I'm not used to this…” he said as he felt Alexis rubbing his head again.

“I’m sure you’ll get used to it in time.”

Meanwhile, with Ziggy who was unintentionally nuzzling into Shade’s hand before Shade stopped prompting Ziggy to snap out of it as he let out a sigh of relief before everyone heard him speak, “Oh sweet relief it’s over I can finally move of my own accord again” before he asked, “Dad are you going to stay invisible or are you gonna show yourself?”.

Jason meanwhile just gave him a look of confusion before asking, “What are you talking about?”.

“Dad’s invisible” Ziggy replied.

“He can do that?” Jason asked with a tilt of his head.

“Please I can do it aswell,” Midnights chearful voice responded as Ziggy saw two disembodied hands appear behind Axel’s ears.

Axel’s eyes went wide as he heard her voice before he covered his ears his face turning to one of fear than his usual blank deamenor.

“Awww… you’ve all learned,” Midnight groaned out in annoyance as her body appeared resting on Axel’s head, her hands under Axel’s, “but…” she said drawing her words out as Axel felt something moving against his ears, “you're too slow.”

“Oh no” Axel whispered before feeling Midnight's hand scratch his ears causing the older boy to fall to the side with his right leg twitching in the air.

“I have a feeling you lot like doing that a bit too much…” Jason muttered as he looked at Axel and Midnight.

“To be fair, I think they just like acting like young children,” Shade responded turning visible as he sat Ziggy down in his lap, rubbing his head, “So… how did things go here… the first question I have is… who are those three figures against the wall?” Shade asked pointing at Marie and the other two test subjects, as he quickly ignited his horn, Jason noticed that Dillon had seemed to be silenced ensuring he couldn’t hear what was being said, “Speak in your mind. Let's not let the others hear.”

Jason just nodded as he did what he was told, “The other two no idea most likely more recent subjects but the one right there that’s my friend, her name’s Marie she was in the same laboratory I was when I was still stuck in that hellhole” Jason replied before adding, “Guess they decided to turn some of the other kids into unfeeling killing machines and she was apart of that, I thought she died with the others but I guess either they placed her somewhere else since she’s still alive”.

“Is she the one I remember they had you slowly cut up and dragged out a room barely alive after some kind of injection before having you bound and watch what you did on loop for a night?” Shade asks.

“Yep….” Jason replied with a clenched fist.

“Okay… and idea what was done to them… also where is the robot that was left for you to handle?”

“How bout you ask that psycho who fixed Ziggy’s axe last I checked was she was the one near him last when I went to give Marie back control of her body” Jason responded before muttering, “I'm just confused to what they did Marie and those two because it’s definitely different from what they did to me and the others they replaced part of their bodies, and they made it that they are in that order taking state indefinitely compared to those bastard taking me out to rub in what they made me do in my face”.

“But one thing I was glad for was that we were able to stop them and I got my friend back well at least one of them to my knowledge, since for all I know some of the others are still alive” Jason then added.

“But… that leaves the question… what would they have done to the others beyond what we can see?” Shade asks his eyes looking at Marie again.

“No idea, it’s clear for some of their experiments they changed something and I don’t think either of us would like the answer” Jason responded.

“I think it’s something we need to look into when we can… how did this Marie seem when she was awake?”

“It was like she was in a deep sleep before I woke her up from that controlled state as if she was in a constant dream while they were controlling her, she also didn’t remember how she got here or what happened before that either” Jason replied before adding, “My assumption is that any consciousness from the subject is near non-existent when their being controlled”.

After Jason said this they heard one of the subjects let out a groan before their eyes opened and a moment later they lurched forward before screaming, “No more, No more!” as they went into a panic.

“Hey it’s ok your not at that lab anymore, it’s gonna be ok,” Jason said to the subject who just looked at him with a familiar look of fear on their face as he slowly walked towards them before holding his hand towards them, “It’s ok we're not gonna hurt you I understand why your scared they experimented on me as well”.

They just looked towards him with apprehension as they shook in place out of fear, Jason lowering his hand with a sigh before heading back to Shade and sitting back down.

“No luck?” Shade asks looking at Jason.

“Nope, don’t want them to get more panicked than they already” Jason admitted as he looked back to the subject in question who was fidgeting around in place while glancing around.

“You sure she’s okay?” Shade asks looking at her again.

“No” Jason quickly replied as he looked to her before turning his head away, “After having to experience what they had to that lead them here im surprised she’s still able to speak”.

Shade paused looking back at the shaking girl before he saying, “No… I meant physically okay… somethings not right.”

The girl slowly brought her shaking hand towards her chest before grabbing it the girl letting out a shaky gasp as she lurched forward.

“Shade! Something wrong with her heart!” Harmony shouts through to Shade an urgent tone in her voice.

“They didn’t…” Jason muttered before running to the girl and grabbing her shoulder, “I think they placed a failsafe in her heart!”.

Shade then appeared by the side of them before he said, “I will assume if the chips were anything to go by then it would be a similar thing here,” Shade’s hand then phased through the girls chest resting against her heart as sparks travelled down his arms into her body.

“Yeah, guess they didn’t want anyone who got out of their grip to live and tell the tale” Jason muttered as he held the girl up.

The girl in question she just let out low gasps as she attempted to catch her breath as her eyes glanced to multiple places at once before her vision landed squarely on Jason and Shade before looking down to see Shade’s hand phasing into her chest he gasping starting to become more erratic.

“Calm down little one slow breaths,” Shade said in a slow calming voice his free hand rubbing the back of her head, “I’ll get this fixed in a few more seconds, just stay take slower breaths for me. Okay”

The girl attempted to say something but was only able to say, “Scared…”.

“Its ok he isn’t gonna hurt he’s helping you just take a slow breath it’s almost over…” Jason gently said to her and after a moment she listened as her breathes slowed down they were still somewhat quick.

“How much longer?” Jason asked Shade.

“Only a few seconds,” Shade responded calmly as Jason saw a red light glowing under the girls skin, faintly fading in and out, while Jason saw a second light glow near the back of her neck, this one almost seeming to move on her skin.

Jason just stared in silence while this happened before turning his attention to the girl who slowly began to have her breathing turned back to something normal before she stopped gasping all to together, as Shade’s hand was removed from her chest.

“There. That should have stopped them from using that against you from here on out.” Shade calmly stated before looking at the girl, his hand still slowly rubbing her head, “You feeling okay?”

The girl looked to him before giving a silent nod in response, “Yeah…”.

“You sure?” she heard Jason asked before she whispered, “Yes it doesn’t hurt anymore” Jason giving her a soft smile before he said, “That’s good, if you don’t mind me asking what’s your name?”.

After a moment of complete silence from her, she answered, “My name is…Luz”.

“Hello Luz, Im Jason and this is Shade, it’s a pleasure to meet you” Jason responded with a smile towards the girl who immediately just crawled backwards and hitting her back on the wall upon hearing the name Shade as she covered her face in fear

“Hey it’s ok, he’s not gonna hurt you” Jason then said with his hands up not wanting her to lose it again.

She just brought her knees to her chest as she whispered to herself Shade and Jason unable to hear what she was saying, only knowing that she was utterly terrified.

Jason just sighed before slowly taking a step towards her the girl flinching as she looked to him as he asked,“What do you remember?”.

“What?” She said quietly said confused.

“What do you remember before this?” Jason asked as the girl slowly moved her legs from her chest.

“I…remember being hung up in a lab with others, as they were being pulled into a room I heard them screaming until they stopped and that continued until they got to me and everything went dark, before that I remember being in a cell it was one across from another with two other girls”

“What did they look like?” Jason asked.

“I didn’t see them that much but the first was an older woman with pink hair” Luz said causing Jason’s eyes to widen as she continued, “and the other who was somewhat younger around my age with dark brown hair”.

“Is the one over there the other girl?” Jason asked as he pointed towards the other unconscious girl as Luz looked over before giving him a silent nod in response.

“Do you know what happened to the one with pink hair?” Jason asked as Luz shook her head, “No I don’t”.

Any light in Jason’s eye disappeared once he heard her response as he just clenched his fist in silence before feeling Shade’s hand on his shoulder, “I’m sure she’s okay. Even if this is the case and she went though the same as her, the chances are that she’s still alive and can be saved.”

“Yeah…” Jason muttered before he heard Luz speak, “Who is she to you?”.

“The… pink haired woman she’s my sister her names Knila” Jason quietly replied as Luz looked at him in suprise.

“She talked about you” Luz said causing Jason to look to her in shock, “What?”

“She talked about you with her cellmate she care’s about you a lot” Luz said as Jason continued to give her a shocked look before it was replaced with a smile, “Thank you for telling me” as Luz gave him a nod in response before she heard him speak again. “You may be afraid of Shade but the one that’s responsible for your suffering, he’s a fake, the one right here is the real one and he wouldn’t do any of this to you or the others, he’s kind” Jason said to Luz.

Their eyes then turned to Shade as he stood up standing over the girl sitting next to them as he paused before knelling down next to her, “Jason… she’s in the same position. They’ve messed with her heart, and I’m going to assume Marie will be the same.”

“That’s the most likely case” Jason replied as he looked to Marie before standing up, “I-im gonna go check up on her you take care of the other one first” as Jason quickly walked towards Marie.

“Once I’m sure this one is safe as well, I’ll ensure that they can’t use this thing on her aswell,” Shade calmly responded as his hand slowly moved toward the girls chest beginning to phase though it like he had with Luz before reaching her heart, similar sparks moving down his arm as before.

Luz just looked towards Shade with the same fear as before as she saw him do the same thing he had done prior with her.

Shade didn’t look at Luz before he said, “little one. Do you understand what would have happened to you if I didn’t do what I did to you before?”

She just placed her hand on chest to where her heart was, “I-i would have died”.

“Yes… and currently this girl would go through the same as you if I don’t do this. I understand that my name will cause you and all the others a lot of pain, and it has all right to.” He then paused looking to Luz for a brief moment, “Those things that did this to you all and so many other did so in my name, and intended for you all to harm so many people you cared for against your will, and for that nothing I can say or do to fix it will ever be enough.”

Luz stayed silent as she looked to him before turning her attention to the other girl who’s chest raised up slowly from her breathing a low glow emanating from it and after a moment she saw his mark slowly appear on the other girls shoulder.

“The symbol..” Luz muttered to herself as the girl Shade was helping grit her teeth with a look of pain for a few moments until Shade pulled his hand out prompting the girls face to go back to normal.

“That symbol it’s all saw before I woke up nothing else just that mark looking back at me nonstop” Luz whispered as she continued to look at the symbol.

Shade then sat next to Luz before saying, “does the symbol match with what you can see on her shoulder?”

“No, it was upside down yours isn’t” Luz replied as she looked to Shade and asking, “Why are they doing this, I don’t understand”

Shade didn’t respond holding his hand out Luz as he crossed his legs gesturing for her come closer to him. She was hesitant to move at first but scooted towards him after a taking a deep breathe the girl looking at him in silence. “I don’t fully myself. But they don’t stop at people like you. They will take any creature… be it already having a life… or not have a chance to start one and do what they did to you or simply make it suffer and sell off like they are someone's property.”

Luz gave him a saddened look as she looked to the other girl as well as Jason and Marie, “I can’t imagine the number of innocents they have turned into monsters or slaves…”.

“...I’ve seen one location they were using…. They had thousands of children younger than you some boxed up to be sent off to whoever brought them…. Others tied to machines or operating tables their bodies cut apart or being limbs being changed. Mothers having children like they were just parts of machine as the children were sent away on conveyor belts to be used elsewhere. They have no respect for life in any capacity to them they are just things to use and throw away if they don’t work.”

“And if they can’t have those that they turned into tools, what happens to them?” Luz then asked.

“If what I just saw with you is any indication… I would assume to kill them in the worst and slowest way possible to the creature. If they had them in their care still… I don’t want to think about what they would do.”

Luz then looked to her hands before clenching them into fists as she said, “I want to make them pay for what they’ve done for what they made me lose and what they’ve taken”.

Luz then felt Shade’s wings wrap around her pulling her into his chest as she heard him say, “what did they take from you?”

“Parts of my body and my…brother he wasn’t fit for their tests and died becuase of it, they threw him away like trash too once they realized that their test killed him” she quietly spoke, “They even called me the successful sibling after that, like it was an achievement that I survived and he didn’t” Luz then said in a bitter tone.

“He didn’t deserve something like that kind he liked to help others and he put himself in the way so no one who didn’t deserve wouldn’t get hurt, I swear they were hard on him for those tests because he didn’t give them results they wanted as if they cared in the first place they treated all of us like garbage…” Luz said before whispering, “I miss him…” as Shade saw her wiping her eyes of any tears that began to develop.

“I don’t want to give you false hope… but are you sure he is truly dead and that they didn’t lie… they did the same to Jason with the girl he’s with now… but that would mean they did something else to him if he is alive… and in that case I can’t say what of him is left intact.”

“Given how they did the test I did see what happened to him, and afterword they dragged him out of the test chamber he wasn’t breathing and I didn’t him again after that” Luz replied.

“He probably is alive to some capacity but we can’t be sure, afterall I didn’t see Marie after my test and I thought she was gone for a good while” they heard Jason comment.

“I guess your right about that” Luz admitted.

“Sometimes it’s better to keep some hope, especially since it helps you keep going, hell you might even get surprised about what you encounter” they heard Jason replied as they looked back to him seeing that Maries head was on his lap.

Luz just looked at the boy before asking, “how long did you think she was gone?”.

“Nearly a year” Jason quickly replied before looking to Shade, “Hey dad can you do what you did with Luz and the other girl with Marie?”.

“One second” Shade responded as he slowly stood up and walked towards them, “If she wakes up… I imagine she will panic, be ready just in case.” Shade warned Jason as his hand phased into her chest like it had previously with Luz.

Jason nodded towards him before placing his left hand on her shoulder and his other on her head as he gently caressed his hand on it as he saw Marie’s face scrunch up from what Shade was doing as low whimpers could be heard from her.

“It’s ok” Jason whispered to her as he continued to rub her head as what he was saying was able to comfort the girl during the process albeit she was still letting out low whimpers from discomfort as this went on.

Jason looked at Marie’s face in silence before seeing her eyes faintly opening for a moment as he took the moment to make that she only saw him and not the hand in her chest.

“Whats happening?” Marie groggily whispered as Jason just smiled to her, “Don’t worry Marie just continue resting”.

The girl just gave him a tired smile before her eyes slowly went back to being closed and a few moments later Shade slowly pulled his hand out of Marie’s chest. “That should be it for now.”

Jason nodded towards Shade “Thank you”.

After a moment Jason looked around the arena to see that Ziggy and Axel were gone, “Wait where did Axel and Ziggy go?”.

“I think they both left earlier,” Alexis responds walking over to the group kneeling down and looking at Luz, “They didn’t say anything though but I assume they didn’t want to interrupt your reunion.”

“They probably went back to the lake, honestly when I get the chance I can’t wait to introduce them to Marie and possibly those two” Jason said as he then pointed Luz and the other girl, while Luz just looked to Alexis with an apprehensive look on her face not knowing what to do at that moment.

Alexis then paused for a moment before looking at Luz, “I’m sorry if I scared you. I came to check on my grandkids and brother, but saw that you may be in need of a few thing to cover yourself.” he skin then began to shift as a large blanket appeared from her body which she held out to Luz. “If you want I could try and make you a few new things for you to wear. I doubt you want that mark on your neck being visible to everyone… or the metal parts on your body.”

Luz just looked to her before quietly nodding in response before gently grabbing the blanket and covering herself with it, “C-can you make me some clothes..” Alexis heard the girl ask.

Alexis simply smiled back at her holding her hand out, “ I would be glad to… do you want to come with me so I can start getting the right measurements for you?”

The girl just nodded towards Alexis before slowly standing herself up with a slight stumble forward before Alexis caught and placed her back on her feet.

“Thank you…” the girl whispered as she began to follow behind Alexis.

“Alex, I’ll look after this one, you find rooms for the others to stay in for now till they recover,” Alexis responded before picking Luz up in her arms, as she begins walking out of the arena.

Luz had surprised look on her face as Alexis walked out of the arena until Luz slowly layed her head on her shoulder before giving a slight wave towards Jason and Shade who reciprocated with their own before Alexis and Luz were gone.

“Hey dad…” Shade heard Jason speak as he turned towards him, “Do you think you can keep these two here in the castle?” Jason asked as he motioned towards Marie and the other girl, “As much as im glad she’s alive I don’t think she’ll be used to things at the lake like Dillon, Axel and Ziggy”.

“And you are?” Shade points out before shaking his head, “I can find them a room to stay in for the timebeing. But if they choose to leave it’ll be up to them.”

“Understood, thank you” Jason replied before gently placing Marie’s head down and standing up and after a moment he grasped his head with a low groan as Shade saw a trickle small blood going down the boy’s nose.

“You okay?” Shade asked as he placed his wing around Jason’s back.

“Need to..switch back I was out for too long…” Jason quietly responded before he closed his eyes and went quiet, then hearing a low groan coming from the boy before his eyes slowly opened back up showing Dillon’s eye color, “What happened?”.

“Sounded like Jason found out he has issues that he didn’t account for,” Shade responded.

“I take it that’s why I have a nosebleed?” Dillon then asked as he rubbed his thumb from under his nose, wiping away the blood that was there.

“Pretty much.”

“Seems there’s a limit to how… long I can out at a time” Dillon heard Jason slowly say before he added, “Im just gonna rest for a bit….” as he then went quiet.

“Take as long as you need Jason” Dillon replied before looking around, “Dad where did the others go?”.

“We think they headed back to the cave. I imagine to let Jason catch up with Marie,” Shade points out.

“Marie?” Dillon repeated out of confusion, “Who’s Marie?”.

Shade didn’t respond simply gesturing to the girl in question, Dillon just glanced at the girl for a moment and got a good look at her he felt like he recognized her to a degree but didn’t know from where and after a moment he began to zone out again, Shade noticing this gently shook him snapping him out of it. “Earth to Dillon.”

He let out a low gasp flinching in place before shaking his head, “S-sorry dad, guess some part of me recognized her albeit somewhat hazy…”.

“Maybe you should get home and rest,” Shade suggested rubbing Dillon's head, “You’ve had a long day.”

“True I probably should, I don’t want mom to get worried” Dillon replied as he stood up, “What about her though is she staying here?” Dillon then asked pointing towards Marie.

“I’m going to get them moved to somewhere safe in a moment.” Shade responded pointing to both Marie and the other girl, “You get home and get some sleep, okay.”

Dillon nodded in response before going towards the arena entrance turning around and giving a wave towards Shade who reciprocated with his own before the boy walked out of the arena.

As soon as Dillon had gone Shade picked both Marie and the other girl up in his arms before teleporting the three of them away from the Arena and into the castle.

Chapter 16

As soon as Shade reappeared in the castle he lifted Marie in his magic placing her onto the empty bed in the room they had appeared in, carefully pulling the covers over her body before leaning in kissing her on the forehead, before slowly pulling his head back away from her.

Marie squirmed under the covers before gently grabbing onto him and hugging Shade before he could move away as he saw her nuzzle against him “Thank you…for helping me...” he heard the girl quietly mutter.

“Don’t worry little one. I was glad to help, I just wish I could have found you before this and stopped them from doing this,” Shade responds, his free hand rubbing her head.

“It wasn’t your fault you didn’t know, I'm just glad you helped now than later” Marie replied before grabbing onto his hand, “If it weren’t for you I probably wouldn’t have seen Jason again I wouldn’t be here right now”.

Shade looked away for a moment, “and yet the people that did this to you all did so in my name. By all rights, I’m the one responsible for their actions.”

“Your not, the ones responsible are the ones who decided to use your name for those acts, they are responsible you don’t need to blame yourself for something that was out of your control” Marie replied.

“Say that to everyone who looks at me like a monster at the mere sound of my name. In most of their eyes if it wasn’t for the fact in most cases that they are too young to know what happened I bet they would all despise me.”

“Then look in my head to see how I feel about you if your so sure about that” Marie said in response.

“Are you sure your fine with me doing that after everything you’ve been through?”

“Yes, yes I am” Marie responded without hesitation as she felt Shade place his hand on her head and after a moment he then saw her thoughts of him “if it weren’t for you the people you helped wouldn’t be here I wouldn’t be here freed from those monsters control and if other’s knew of the good you had done to stop those monsters from hurting innocents than they already have I believe they wouldn’t consider you a monster”.

“I don’t believe that people’s perception of you defines who you are, it’s your actions and the ones you took today with helping me it shows that you are kind and are willing to help others I feel like you're capable of inspiring hope in people” as she said this Shade then saw an image of himself kneeling down and reaching his arm out to people reaching out for help.

Shade then began to slowly pull his hand away from her head before hearing her speak again, “Wait…there’s one more thing”

“What do you mean?” Shade asks pausing with a confused look on his face.

“Can you look again?” she requested, Shade noticing that she had sheepish look while she looked toward him.

“Okay,” Shade asked with a nervous tone in his voice as he placed his hand back on her head before seeing an image of her suddenly hugging him before he heard speak in a stutter, “W-would you be willing to be my…” she attempted to say but stumbled over her words, Shade realizing what she was asking before smiling to her pulling back from her mind to see that she was hugging him physically.

After a moment he then heard her speak again she was still stuttering but she was able to actually ask this time, “W-would y-you be willing to be my…dad?” and once she was done speaking she used some of her hair to hide her face out of embarrassment.

Shade didn’t respond at first only smiling at her before lifting the other girl with his magic and pulling Marie into his chest whose eyes widened in response before she tightened her hug, “is there a reason you want me to become your father?”

“You remind me of mine before he… passed” Marie quietly replied, adding, “And because you make me feel like I can have hope again after so long being without it” as she looked up at him, giving him a sad smile.

Shade paused for a moment before rubbing his hand through Marie’s hair, “still… it wasn’t me that made it so you could hope again… that was whoever stopped you before I came back.”

Her eyes just narrowed slightly as she processed what he had just said before saying, “It was her, that doctor” Marie said with disdain before saying, ”But I know that you helped me afterwards I heard you and Jason talking faintly when I was unconscious if you didn’t do that I would be dead”.

“...How much do you remember of what was said?” Shade asks as he looked down at her.

“Not a lot just something to do with stopping something that was happening and Jason asking if you can do the same for me, anything else was just silence or too faint for me to hear” Marie responded placing her hand to where her heart is.

“Okay then,” Shade calmly responds his hand rubbing the back of her head, “if you're sure about this I can act like your father, but you should know it means you have a lot of siblings… this happens a lot more often than you would think it would.”

Marie let out a giggle in response to what he had said before responding, “I believe you, honestly I'm kinda glad I have siblings now since I never had any I think the closest to a brother I had was Jason back at the lab”.

“You do realise that his other personality right now is my adopted son right… so technically he kind of falls into the same category as you do.” Shade states as he looks down at Maria.

“Jason has another personality?” Marie asked as she looked up to Shade with a confused look.

“Yeah… supposedly it formed after he escaped the lab,” Shade responds before removing his hands from Maria and resting her back down on the bed.

“I’ll ask him about the next time I see him then” Marie replied.

“This is a warning for you. Do not mention anything about the lab when near him. We don’t know how he would handle learning about all that.”

“I..ok I won’t say anything about it when around him” Marie responded with hesitance in her voice before asking, “If Jason told you about the lab what did he tell you exactly from his experience?”.

“He didn’t tell me. He showed me what he was forced to do,” Shade responds with a sombre tone in his voice before adding, “Now. You need to get some sleep.”

“O-ok” Marie replied as the bed covers were placed over her before she laid on her side, the girl then closed her eyes and after a moment Shade could hear low snores coming from her before he placed the other girl back into his arms before silently teleporting out the room.

As Shade appeared in the next room he walked towards the bed beginning to place the girl down as he had previously with Marie and she didn’t move at all but after a moment of nothing but silence, her eyes shot open as she lurched forward with a fearful scream seemingly waking up from a nightmare.

Shade then quickly picked her back up in his wings slowly rocking her side to side while rubbing her neck, “don’t worry little one. Your okay, it was just a nightmare. Your safe here.”

“Wh-where a-am I, who are you?” the girl asked in stutter clearly shaken from the nightmare.

“You are as far away from the cult as you can be right now, and they won’t be able to harm you. As for who I am… well… that's dangerous ground for me to tread for you right now. But for the easiest, you can call me Alex.” Shade respond as he sat down on the bed continuing to rock her in his wings.

“My name-my name is N-nadine” the girl stuttered out as she continued to shake in place.

“It's a pleasure to meet you, Nadine. How are you feeling?”

“I-i feel scared” she responded as her eyes glanced around the room her breathing still fast before she finally was able to take a deep breath which calmed her down a little bit.

“Take as long as you need okay.” Shade responds lifting Nadine so she could rest his head on his shoulder, “get everything off your chest.”

Nadine quietly nodded in response and after a moment her eyes began to well up with tears before sobbing into his shoulder her tears running down her face as Shade noticed faint scars near her neck.

“I…I thought I would die in that place….I was so scared” She choked out in a sob her vision going blurry from her crying as she shakily brought up her hands and grabbed onto Shade in a tight hug.

From what he could tell out of the three Nadine seemed to come out the most worse for wear as he could feel that she was still shaking including from her hands which had tremors that went nonstop, after a minute or two she had stopped crying as he gently pushed her away from his shoulder to see her face.

Tears were still stinging her eyes as she could be heard letting out low gasps before she felt Shade wipe her eyes of the tears, “Feeling any better?”

She just quietly nodded in response, “Y-yeah I'm feeling better” she spoke as wiped any of the remaining tears from her cheeks.

“That's good. Anything else you want to get off your mind?” Shade asked as he continued rubbing her neck.

Nadine shook her head in response, “N-no” Shade could tell that she didn’t want to go any deeper into what she was thinking, especially with the way she woke up.

“Okay. But if you ever want to ask or tell me anything I’ll be here for you.” Shade responds looking at Nadine with a kind smile on his face.

“I-do have a q-question though,” Nadine then said before adding, “What happened to me, how am I here?”.

“How much do you remember about what happened to you before you woke up,” Shade asked sitting Nadine in his lap.
“I remember being wheeled into a room with bright lights and doctors above me they were speaking but I couldn’t make out what they were saying, after that, I felt something being drilled into my head, and someone saying something with numbers and letters before everything went black and then I woke up…here.”

“Does the name. The Cult of Shade. Mean anything to you?”

Nadine in response just stiffened up in place the girl started to shake again which gave Shade all the information he needed as he wrapped his wings around her again, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

She let out a low whimper before she took a deep breath, “No, it’s fine”, It took her a moment but she continued, “It does, they held me captive along with others for who knows how long in that place but it wasn’t the first place we were held in”

Nadine then took another breath before continuing, “The first place was compromised and some of the others who were there got free but they were gunned down by the guards but one got away it was a kid with black hair he somehow got his hands on some weapons and used them to fight back, and after they relocated some of the others who didn’t get free to the new place they decided to make an example of one of us, to scare us so we wouldn’t try to run”.

She wanted to continue but she began to stumble over her words from remembering what had gone back then and she began to cry her composure from before completely shattered,

“Don’t worry I'm still here,” Shade calmly responds wrapping his arms and wings around her again holding her against his chest, “let it all out. Okay.”

She held onto him tightly and let out gut-wrenching sobs that tore through her chest her eyes red and her tears stinging her cheeks, what they did to her in that place affected her more gravely than Marie or Luz they almost broke her entirely.

“Nadine… Do you want to show me the memory of what happened so you don’t need to say anything else?” Shade offered still holding her close.

The girl didn’t say anything only letting out another choked sob before slowly giving Shade a nod.

“Okay,” Shade responded as he moved one of his hands from around her placing it on the side of her head slowly rubbing it, “You ready?”

He only got another quiet nod from her in response as she held onto him tightly like she didn’t want to let go before she felt his hand rest against her head as he closed his eyes.

Shade then opened his eyes to see the lab that Nadine was talking about, as he saw her being wheeled in on a wheelchair the next moment the girl thrashing around trying to get free out of pure terror before they brought out a screen similar to what Jason was put in front of from his memory.

After a moment of silence, he could see a scientist placing a speculum in her eyes to keep them open before the room went dark and they turned the screen on showing the girl horrible acts of violence being done to people she continued to try and break free but to no avail and after a while of being forced to watch she had a heart attack.

But the memory didn’t end there one of the doctors came in and injected her with something in her neck and at first, nothing happened but after another second passes her body immediately lurched forward as she let out a scream of agony, they brought her back and they continued to have her watch the video, but this wasn’t the first time they did this.

Over and over anytime that she died during a test they would inject her with that fluid that brought her back from the brink they didn’t want another failure and they would bring her back as many times as they needed to and from each test they did, the more scar’s that she gained especially from one test that a familiar girl with pink hair was apart of, but again they refused to let her die.

At one instance he could see her in her cell just shaking in place her breathing ragged and tears just going down her face, once she saw one of the guards walk in she attempted to get away but to no avail as she was wheeled into the lab again on a stretcher before being locked onto a metal table by the doctors whose face’s were obscured by the light.

But what can be seen were a drill in their hands and a mechanical chip that they placed on the side of her head before they motioned the drill towards it and the last thing Shade heard was her screaming in pain as the memory went dark.

Shade then reopened his eyes bringing his hand away from Nadine’s head before pulling her close again, “I’m so sorry for what happened to you. I wish that I could have stopped them before this even started.”

She didn’t speak she just held onto him tightly as if her life depended on it, the girl just attempting to do deep breaths before she slowly went quiet he could still feel her breathing which would hitch every few moments but she wasn’t sobbing anymore.

“There you go. Are you feeling any better?”

He could feel her pull away slightly before seeing her wipe her eyes as she stuttered out, “Y-yeah” before she then looked up to him her eyes still red from the crying before she hugged him, “Thank you….”.

“It was no problem,” Shade replied, “Anything else I can do for you?”

She shook her head in response, “No” she said before pulling away from Shade a look on her face saying that she had a question, “...Did you find a girl with pink hair when you helped me?”.

“Well… not when I helped you but… I did find a pink-haired girl, a bit before I helped you through. Her name was Knila if that helps you.”

“How is she…. is she faring any better than I did?” Nadine then asked.

“I don’t think you’ll want the answer to that question,” Shade responds.

“Why, was something wrong with her?” Nadine said confused.

“When I found her. She was almost completely under the influence of the cult even after the chip they used to control you all was removed she was still forced to work for them. They affected her mind so much to the point she was barely able to keep herself sane.”

“They…broke her?” Nadine said as her eyes widened.

“Near enough to it. She’s okay now and is recovering but…” Shade then paused for a moment, “She heard something that deeply affected her. And it stemmed from something she was ordered to do when I first saw her.”

“What did she have to do..?” Nadine said hesitance in her voice.

“She was ordered to either capture or kill someone… someone important to her.”

“It was her… brother wasn’t it” Nadine quietly asked.

“Yes… he was the boy who escaped from the cult, and they had her try and get him back under their control.”

“Oh, is her brother ok at least?” Nadine then asked curiously.

“He’s mostly okay but… she really isn’t coping very well with what happened to her and he said about the one who attacked him.”

“He didn’t have anything good to say I take it?” Nadine replied.

“Would you if a cloaked figure covered with the cult’s marking grabbed you by the throat and tried to choke you?” Shade responded.

“No I wouldn’t I probably would have done the same thing given the circumstances” Nadine admitted before adding, “I just hope his sister ends up being ok”.

“How well did you know Knila?” Shade asked rubbing Nadine’s head.

“She was my cellmate back at that lab I met her after they transferred us to the new place, when we weren’t doing those test’s we would be in our cell just talking to one another she always talked about her brother seemed like he was the only thing that kept her going we talked a good amount of times to the point I think we considered each other friends” Nadine answered.

Nadine then let out a breath before speaking again with venom in her tone, “They’d always taunt her about him too, just to get a reaction out of her, just for their own amusement….sadistic monsters”.

“I already know that much… I’ve seen what they do to newborn creatures as well… way too many of them to count,” Shade responds with an annoyed sigh, “But… if you know Knila well… maybe you could help her right now.”

“If me helping mean’s there’s a possibility of her being ok then I’ll do it,” She said in reply before she pulled away from him jumping up from where she was and onto the bed and saw her appearance in a nearby mirror, the girl seeing her scars from her neck to her arms and metal plates on her forearm and the back of her neck and where her heart was.

“So this is what they did to me….” Nadine muttered placing her hands on the metal plates her fingers gently touching the cold metal before she clenched her fist.

Nadine then turned her attention back to the scars on her arms and hands a memory immediately flashing through her mind prompting her to take a deep breath through her nose, “Where is she?” she asked Shade as she turned towards him.

“She was sleeping in what was my room,” Shade responds, “but… you sure your okay with going to see her as you are?”

“What do you mean, I can’t change how I look” Nadine replied before asking, “Wait can I?”.

“I don’t actually know. I don’t know what changes they actually made to your body.” Shade responded, “But I more meant walking to see her, though the castle… showing off well… everything.”

Nadine just looked at her body muttering, “True….” she looked at her forearm where one of the metal plates was before she saw it disappear in a blue flame that covered that area before it dissipated just showing the skin of her arm causing her to flinch, “What the….” she muttered in shock looking like she about to panic, “What did those monsters do to me?” she gasped out with a shaky breath.

Nadine then felt two wings wrap around her, “it’s okay. I’m still here take some deep breaths and calm down okay.”

She did what she was told and took deep breaths her shaky breathing slowly reverting back to normal but still felt quick, “The metal plate on my arm it’s gone I saw blue fire cover it and then it was gone, What did they do to me?” Nadine said confused as she looked up to Shade.

“I can only hazard a guess from what I saw from the others. But I would say modified your DNA with that of other creatures… I would say Changeling DNA from what I can see.”

“How does that even work?” Nadine said as she looked back to her arm.

“You said they injected you each time you passed out correct,” Shade asked as Nadine just nodded back to him, “Well… I would assume the tests went beyond just bringing you back… I would say they did other experiments on your body after you well…” Shade stopped again looking at Nadine.

“Yeah…” Nadine quietly said, “Guess they couldn’t pass up a test subject who couldn’t do anything about it,”.

She grabbed her arm that had the metal plate as she asked, “My question is how do I even use it, I didn’t even know about this til now” after she stopped speaking Shade noticed a small spark of flame appear on the back of the girl’s neck which targetted the metal plate that was there as well but it didn’t stop there the blue flames progressively spread around her before completely setting her body alight causing her to scream out of fear, “What’s happening to me!”.

Shade didn’t respond to begin with, his hand making contact with the mark on her shoulder his own spark moving into it as the flames surrounding began to flicker some of the sparks changing from blue to red and black before fading revealing Nadine who was ok as she looked around her out of fear before Shade motioned her to look to the mirror.

From what she saw her body changed she no longer had the metal plates on her body and her auburn hair now had a red and black in it but the scars she had on her neck and arms could still be seen except for one’s that were on her hands those were absent, any other changes of note that could be seen as the color of her eyes were yellow and her skin color wasn’t as pale before, “Is that…me?” she muttered out of shock as she looked over her body especially the area’s that had the metal plates.

“Right now it is,” Shade responds rubbing Nadine’s shoulders, “Changelings can change how they look and disguise themselves as anyone they like. Though some of the others that they did this to could change their limbs into weapons.”

“I can’t imagine how that feel’s….” Nadine replied as she looked to her arms imagining them turning into blades, “Do the ones that can change their limbs feel pain when they do that?” she then muttered to herself before shaking her head to get the thought off her mind.

“In some cases… yes. But in most cases they are very young children or newborns,” Shade responded, “for most, it just scares them each time when they end up hurting those around them.”

“That’s horrible that they have to go through that…” she replied before looking at her hands and shaking her head again, “Can we go see Knila now?”.

“If you are ready,” Shade responds walking toward the door as Nadine moved away from the mirror to follow behind him, “As ready as I can be” she then said in reply as Shade opened the door and walked out of the room.

Nadine slowly walked out from behind looking around where they were out of hesitance before looking to where he was walking and running towards him to catch up, “Is she far from the room I was in?” she asked.

“Not too far down this hall,” Shade responds as he continues walking Nadine saw multiple creatures of all looks, many of their bodies showing scars like the ones she had covering their bodies or having missing limbs, many of them looking at her with curious looks in their eyes.

She looked to her own scars before giving them a hesitant wave and continuing to walk behind Shade, “Are the creatures here like me when it comes to the cult?”.

“In some cases… though their experiments were different. Their bodies were changed into what you see now,” Shade responds before stopping and turning towards a nearby door.

“Is this the room?” Nadine then asked as she looked to the door in question, as Shade nodded knocking on the door twice before opening it and walking inside. Once he got inside he saw Knila who was under the covers of the bed still asleep. Nadine walked towards the bed her face unreadable before a smile could be seen, “She doesn’t look much different from the last time I saw her”.

Knila just squirmed around under the covers overhearing her before Shade and Nadine open her eyes the woman slowly sat herself up her hair covering her face for a moment before moving it out of the way as she then saw two people her vision slightly blurry but she knew one of them was Shade.

“Who’s there?” she asked in a tired voice.

“It’s me Knila,” Shade responded walking towards her, “also… I think I’ve got someone you might want to see.”

“Who?” she asked before she heard Nadine’s voice, “It’s been a while Knila” causing the woman to rub her eyes allowing her to see the two, “N-Nadine?”.

“Yeah It’s me it’s good to see you” Nadine replied with a smile as she saw Knila’s eyes begin to tear up prompting Nadine to try to calm her down,“H-hey it’s ok I don’t blame you for what they made you do”.

“But I” Knila attempted to reply only to be interrupted by Nadine, “No they did that not you, I know you wouldn’t have done that to me willingly were friends remember?”.

Knila just stammered over her words before she felt Nadine grab her in a hug the woman let out a gasp before slowly reciprocating and crying into Nadine's shoulder, “Im sorry…”.

“Don’t be, it’s not your fault”.

“But I did all those horrible things, especially to you how do you still look the same?”.

“All those things that happened weren’t you, besides from the cult did to me I can make myself look how I did before” which made Knila look to her in confusion.

Shade then looked to Knila before she said, “Do you remember the Changlings that the cult had?”

“Y-yeah I do I only saw them once or twice though” Knila replied.

“Do you remember what they can do to their bodies?”

“Not I don’t” Knila replied with a shake of her head.

“Apparently they are able to change parts of their bodies into weapons, and experimented on me with changeling dna” Nadine responded.

“Were those part of the experiments they put you through?” Knila asked as Nadine just gave her nod.

“Every time they put me through tests, and if my heart gave out they would inject me with something and continue with other tests of something while I wasn’t conscious, I think you can surmise what those tests were” Knila gave her a nod in response before she noticed Nadine’s scar’s on her arms and neck.

Nadine just looked at her confused before realizing where she was looking, “It’s fine Knila these scars are always gonna be part of me im gonna try and live with them even if they're tied with….unpleasant memories”.

“Some of those were from me, I remember that test” Knila said as she gently grabbed onto Nadine’s arm and traced her finger near five specific scars that went up to Nadine’s shoulder.

Nadine gently grasped onto Knilas's hand before moving it away from her arm,“ You don’t have to beat yourself up for my expense were not in the cult’s grasp anymore, so stop blaming yourself…ok?”.

“I’ll try….” Knila replied getting a nod from Nadine who backed away from her, “And that’s all i can ask from you, besides if I want to I can change my appearance, once I figure out how to control it that is…”.

Knila looked toward Nadine in silence before letting out a giggle in response causing the girl to look at her in surprise, “What’s so funny?”.

“It’s just that I missed talking to you, you always found a way to brighten up my day” Knila replied smiling at her.

After a moment Nadine smiled back at her, “I missed you too Knila”.

Knila then turned her attention to Shade, “Thank you for bringing us back together Lord Shade I'm grateful” Shade noticed that the cult version of her was taking over for a moment.

Nadine's eyes widened before she turned to Shade, “Lord Shade?” Nadine muttered to herself for a moment before shouting, “I thought your name was Alex why do have the name of the guy those monsters worship!?” as she backed away from him out of fear.

She then backed into Knila who gently grabbed onto her shoulders, “The shade that they worship is a fake he took his name and used it to further his cult and ambitions, and Shade is trying to stop him whatever you think of the Shade you’ve heard of, that doesn’t apply to the real one he’s kind, he helped you and me and many other’s”.

“I…but” Nadine attempted to speak but couldn’t get the words out, “I know it’s a lot to take in but believe me if he was like the fake we wouldn’t be here right now”.

“Besides if I was the cult's version of me, I doubt you would be freely walking around? From what I saw of your memories you were all either kept in cells, bound in rooms, drugged or all three” Shade points out.

“True…” Nadine mumbled placing her hand on her face in a groan, “this is driving me nuts….”.
Shade then stopped lost in thought before saying, “Nadine… do you remember anything about the creatures who did the tests on you? Any of their features or attitudes?”

“I think…one, it was this robot I think that always had a creepy smile on his face especially when it came to viewing or participating in tests” Nadine replied before adding, “He had some glowing bit’s too, don't remember where though but I can always remember that creep's smile”.

Knila's eyes harden at the moment Nadine mentioned the robot as she then spoke with venom in her tone, “I remember him he’s the bastard that told me my brother was dead when I was still in the cell with Nadine I wanted to rip him apart every time he spoke to me”.

“What would you say if I told you the roles between him and you two are currently flipped… and that I could allow you both the chance to give him a taste of his own medicine… a test of his own so to say.” Shade offers as he looks at the two of them.

Knila and Nadine exchange a look before turning back to Shade, “Let’s do it” he heard them say in unison.

“But first I should probably get a change of clothes too cause I'm still…you know” Knila then said before also pointing to Nadine, “Maybe for Nadine too”.

Nadine in response just looked down at her body, “Huh…didn’t notice”.

“I forgot that you basically have no shame….” Knila muttered.

“I don’t see the issue i'm ok with going to pay back that a-hole in kind like this” Nadine replied with a smile before Knila grabbed her by the ear, “Ow what's the big idea!?”.

“You're wearing clothes and not walking there naked, am I understood?” Knila gritted out.

“Yes, I understand, just let me go!” Nadine whined out prompting Knila to let her go, “Ow…”.

“Oh lighten up you, baby, it didn’t hurt that much” Knila then said in response as she saw Nadine rub her ear.

“It's cute that you think there's shame in her showing off her natural form,” a feminine voice calmly said that echoes around the room as a large bug-like creature appeared beside Shade. The figure's body looked at a first glance to be covered by black and red armour, but upon a second look, it became clear that the armoured parts were no more than bare skin, as she moved slightly her features became clearly visible to them.

“See she gets it” Nadine commented before shutting up once she saw Knila frowning, “Not helping…got it I’ll shut up now”.

“You act like it's wrong to use every asset you have to feed yourself. Besides, it is what Changeling do to survive daily, after taking the form of a male deepest desire that is,” the figure responds before being covered in black flames before her form changed to look like Dillon, “I mean, with practice, we can become anyone we want.”

Knila just went completely silent as she looked towards the figure, “Why did you change into my little brother and how do you know what he looks like?”.

“I can go younger if you want!” the figure responds before repeating the process again now looking like a toddler, her voice having changed to sound much more childlike, as she smiled at Knila, “I mean. It is what Changelings like myself do, and I may have learned some spells to scan the minds of less aware creatures around me to make it easier to get a full meal.”

“Don’t lose your cool” Knila thought to herself before saying to the figure, “As much as that sounds interesting please don’t do that again…”.

“Why not? I could go to the moment you cherish most of the little one,” the figure responds with an innocent smile, “let you carry him around like you missed the chance to.” The figure's body then started to be covered in flames again, shrinking more as Knila saw a small baby sucking its thumb infront of her eyes.

Knila in response just looked away from the figure as Nadine just looked at the two in awkward silence.

After the moment of silence, she looked back at the baby in silence and slowly her vision focused on it before her eyes began to tear up she slowly picked it up and hugged it against her chest.

She then cradled the baby in her arms as she looked at its face which had small freckles and green eyes that looks back to her in innocent curiosity that made her tear up with a melancholic smile as the baby grabbed onto her hand causing her tears to run down her cheek, “It feels nice to…see my child again from before all this…thank you”.

“Not a problem,” the figure responded in her normal voice, before saying, “but maybe put me don’t. You don’t want to feed me too much love to start with.”

Letting out a sigh Knila nodded as she put the figure down as she then wiped her eyes of any tears, as the figure returned to normal.

“You ok?” Nadine asked Knila who nodded, “Yeah Im ok, probably better even, again thank you for doing that” Knila said to the figure with a smile.

“Not a problem. I needed to show the little on there how the Changeling part of her should work. I need to take care of them afterall.” The figure responds with a smirk, before looking to Nadine, “now if you need someone to try and teach you how to control that side of you just find me and ask.”

“I wouldn’t mind learning to control it, cause I don’t want to involuntarily just change out of nowhere” Nadine replied as she looked at her hands before looking towards the figure.

“And I assume you want to… expand on a few things,” the figure responded with a smirk before walking back beside Shade.

“You are correct in that assumption” Nadine replied with her own smirk.

“Your unbelievable….” Knila muttered to herself.

“What, if im gonna learn to control it I might as well use it to my advantage,” Nadine said with a nervous smile while raising her hands up defensively.

“I feel like your planning something very perverted once you learn to control it,” Knila said as she narrowed her eyes towards her who looked away.

“Considering the fact the more visabbly appealing she is the better she gets fed it’s to be expected,” the figure responds before she seemed to turn into a green light which quickly shifted before jumping to a metal band on Shade’s arm.

Knila and Nadine just look at the metal band on Shade’s arm before looking at him in confused silence, “What was that, why did she jump into that?”” Nadine then asked.

Shade paused for a moment, tapping his chin, “whats the best way to explain this. The simple answer is that she is serving multiple life sentences that cover way beyond her lifetime. So instead of serving it in a cell never seing the light of day. The band on may arm is essentially a prison cell or a room she uses to rest… or to use to summon the weapon she’s bound to.”

“Oh well that makes-” Nadine slowly said, “You didn’t understand a thing he just said didn’t you,” Knila said with a deadpan.

“I mean some of it I did, but the rest no, no I did not” Nadine replied with a nervous chuckle.

“She’s facing multiple life sentences and from what I understand the band allows her to live far past her normal life if she faced those life sentences normally and the band basically being her residence,” Knila said to Nadine in an attempt to explain it to her.

“Oh I get it now, thank you” Nadine then said to Knila who just nodded to her, “No problem”.

Nadine eyes then widened for a moment before saying, “Can I ask her a question before we head out?’.

“I suppose you can,” Shade responds Shade turned the band as the figure reappeared from the band.

“Do you have any tips on how I can control how I change because I Invonluntarly did it earlier and almost gave myself a heart attack” Nadine asked.

“Considering the fact I don’t think your a pure Changeling or naturally have magic. It would take time a practice with someone to guide the magic inside you though your body until you get a feel for it,” the figure responds, “It would need to be someone with a bond to you in some way, who can control magic.”

Nadine mulled it over before nodding to herself, “Thank you i’ll try my best to figure it out with whoever is willing to help me”.

“Just be careful when you do,” the figure responds with a smile

“What did you do…. if you don’t mind me asking?” Knila asked.

“Multiple murders, kidnapping, stealing the bodies of anyone I wanted and taking their lives,” the figure responds counting on her fingers, “my last attempt was Lord Shade’s body but… well you can’t take a body of a being who doesn’t have a purely physical form to being with.”

Nadine and Knila just looked towards her with wide eyes, Nadine in particular with her mouth agape.

“What do you mean no physical form” Knila asked before closing Nadine’s mouth.

“You don’t know? Lord Shade isn’t technically alive for the most part.” the figure responds, “I mean the form you see him in now isn’t his real one either.”

“....What!?” Nadine shouted in pure shock as Knila was left speechless, “How does that even work!?”.

“Simple… I died a long time ago. Before I even arrived in this world to be exact,” Shade responds before changing into his Eyecon for as it hovered infront of them in the air for a moment before Shade reappeared standing infornt of the two of them, this time in his human form, “That object holds what is left of my soul, and is allowing me to remain mostly alive.”

“Im sorry you had an experience that” Knila muttered.

“How long have you been here?” Nadine asked.

“In this world… a bit over 1000 years by now I think. Though most of that was spent on the moon,” Shade responds.

“You were on the moon?” Nadine then asked with a tilt of her head.

“Yes I was there for those 1000 years and was on the planet for only 3 weeks before that.”

“You weren’t alone up there were you?” Knila asked.

“No, I was there with two others creatures, in all honestly we ended up viewing eachother as a little family, technically still are.”

“That’s good at least your not stuck up there anymore” Knila replied.

‘What happened to the three of you to cause you to be stuck in the moon in the first place?” Nadine asked curiosity in her tone.

“Well the other two were sealed there as a last resort to stop them from harming a lot of creatures, I held them in place so it could happen, but it sent all three of us up there until the spell wore off,” Shade responds.

“And after the spell wore off after a 1000 years the three of you were brought back, but what happened after you came back?” Knila then asked.

“Well, they put on an act at her sister's request which ended with me moving them away from a spell similar to that of the one used to send us to the moon and well now they have gone back to living in the capital with their lives. One of them is one of the two Princesses after all.”

“Huh, that’s interesting to know,” Knila said with a nod, “Doesn’t that mean your royalty as well since you said you basically became family?”.

“Well we see eachother as such… but the people see me as it regardless, with being an Alicorn and all that,” Shade responds before turning back into his Alicorn form again.

“Fair enough” Knila replied.

“As much as I find this interesting to talk about can we go and take care of the robot now?” Nadine asked.

“Again I would rather be wearing clothes before we do that” Knila commented, “If I get could some new ones I’d appreciate it since my old ones were shredded”.

“There is only one person I know who could make them for you both. But you’d need to talk to her room to do so.” Shade responds before looking at Knila, “Which either means walking through the castle as you are to the room, or me carrying you in my arms.”

“I’ll let you carry me..” Knila muttered as she stood up from the bed, as Shade held his hands out to her. She let out a sigh before walking toward Shade and once she was in front of him before she felt him pick her up in his arms.

Knila let out a low gasp out of surprise before Shade and her heard Nadine speak, “Heh I wonder when’s the wedding” Knila’s reaction was her cheeks went bright red blush as she muttered, “Shut up Nadine…”.

“What, you look cute like that, what do you expect?” Nadine replied with a chuckle.

“He already has someone else…” Knila then quietly said.

“Really wouldn’t make a difference if I was married to another person,” Shade responds, “From what Luna told me, it’s not strange for a single stallion to have multiple wives at the same time.”

“See that solves that” Nadine commented with a smirk prompting Knila to cover up her face with her hair.

“Shut up Nadine!” Knila shouted towards Nadine who continued, “Look at your face, you don’t seem that opposed to the idea the blush ain’t helping your case either!”.

Knila in turn couldn’t help but just groan out of embarrassment as Nadine let out an amused chuckle in response.

Shade didn’t say another word before he brought his wings around Knila and walked towards the door using his magic to open it.

Once Nadine was done chuckling to herself she saw that Shade was already out of the room with Knila and decided to jog out to catch up, “Hey wait up!” she then said as she went behind Shade who continued to walk.

Knila meanwhile spoke in an embarrassed mumble towards Shade, “Sorry about her she tends to not have a filter sometimes…”.

“Or any sense of shame,” Shade said into Knila’s mind so Nadine wouldn’t hear.

Knila just nodded towards him as she saw Nadine just walking behind them her smirk still on her face before Knila replied to Shade in her head, “I don’t know why she’s like this, and even if I did I don’t think I would get it”.

“You are the one who knows her best, if you don’t know what hope would I have?”

“I know her well enough to get her to stop sometimes but when it comes to how she became like that…I never got to ask that question”.

“I get the feeling there are a lot of questions you want to ask about but are too fearful to do so,” Shade responds continuing to walk down the hall as Knila saw multiple creatures walking down the hall beside her, their eyes staring at Nadines naked form lustfully.

“I won’t dispute that…” Knila responded as she glanced at Nadine again before looking around the creatures in the hall and asking, “What’s with them their looking at Nadine like she’s a treat”.

However, before Shade could answer he and Knila heard Nadine shout toward the creatures, “Hey eye’s to yourselves!” causing them to look away from her.

“Well the reason is definitely not due to the fact that she’s parading herself around like a prostitute,” Shade responded back to Knila.

“Fair enough…” Knila replied before they heard Nadine ask, “how much longer until we're at the place we're heading to?”

“Shouldn’t be too long,” Shade responded, before he added with a smirk on his face “Why don’t you show off a bit more, I’m sure everyone around us is loving the show your putting on for them.”

Nadine was about to retort but Shade’s reply left her speechless before she looked away with an embarrassed huff covering her chest and crotch prompting Knila to let out an amused chuckle.

“Oh so now you're embarrassed huh?” Knila said towards Nadine who continued to look away embarrassed unable to give a retort, as the group walked on in silence.

Meanwhile, in one of the other rooms in the castle, Alexis sat on a bed with Luz in her lap, a towel wrapped around Luz’s body, as Alexis combed a brush through Luz’s hair. “So you feeling any better now?”

Luz gave her a quiet nod in response, “Y-yeah I feel better” as she tilted her head so Alexis could the other side of her head before letting out a hiss of pain in response when the brush Alexis was using caught a knot in her hair, “O-ow,” as she then said “T-thanks for helping me wash up,”.

“It’s not a problem,” Alexis responds softly rubbing her hand against Luz’s neck as she continued slowly brushing her hair, “have you decided what kind of outfit you want yet?”

Luz went silent for a moment as she thought it over before answering, “A gray and black dress with a waist strap, a zipper on the top and…two pockets on the skirt segment.

“I should be able to do that for you.” Alexis responded with a smile, “Is there anything else you need before I start on it for you?”

“No, I'm fine” Luz replied with a shake of her head.

“Okay then,” Alexis responded before moving Luz from her lap to sit her on the bed. Her arm then began to glow before two things appeared in her hands. These two things were a medium bra and some underwear which were in a light blue color, which she passed over to Luz, “These should do to help cover things if anyone comes in unannounced.”

Luz nodded to her before putting on the underwear but she showed some sign of struggling when putting on the bra before she felt Alexis help with the clip on the back, “Thank you”.

Alexis didn’t respond as she once again rubbed Luz’s head before walking to a nearby desk, “two more questions. Do you want me to add a personal touch of some kind, and what are you planning to do once you’ve recovered fully?”

“Can you add a white flower on the back of it and for the other part of your question, I don’t know yet haven’t really thought that far ahead” Luz replied.

“I should be able to add that,” Alexis responds as Luz sees an outfit close to that which she asked for being pulled from Alexis’s skin as she laid it out on the desk, “but still you kinda need to work out what you want to do. I mean chances are if you just go out the group that did this to you will try and capture you again.”

“I know, I don’t really have a reason to leave here in the first place, well none that I know of at least” Luz replied.

“Do you have any friends or family you remember?” Alexis asks as she begins to embroid a white flower into the back of the dress.

“No I don’t when I was little I lived in an orphanage other than that I remember being on my own for a long time” Luz responded as she rubbed her hands together, her left hand shaking slightly, as she then muttered “Guess the people who were my family didn’t want me if they left me at that place..” a pained tone in her voice.

After a moment she stood up and walked behind Alexis to see what she was doing, as she saw the start of a white flower beginning to appear on the back of the dress. Seeing this Luz gave a small smile the flower embroidery gave her a sense of comfort and happiness, “this reminds me of the flowers that were in the orphanage I was in, they were my only comfort there”.

“Hopefully this will come out like the ones you remember then,” Alexis responds before saying, “Still you make it sound like you never had a mother-like figure in your life before.”

“I didn’t, the nuns that worked there were only in it for the money they got from the government they’d feed us and clothe us but we would be treated like trash” Luz replied before adding, “But once the money started to come in less and less they would have some of us be thrown into the street’s to fend for ourselves me being the first of them after that I was alone for a very long time.”

Alexis stopped what she was doing and spun her chair around holding her arms open to Luz before gesturing for her to come towards her, which she did before feeling Alexis sit her on her lap and hug her, “there, there. I’m here for you. Let it all out.”

Luz couldn’t understand it but she felt comfortable around her she felt safe and cared for and once she wrapped her arms around Alexis she felt tears beginning to form in her eyes before a low sob came from her mouth as she broke down and cried, tears running down her face as her breath hiccuped each time she took a breath.

After a moment Luz felt Alexis pull away for a moment as she looked at the girl's face, her eyes were red from her crying and her tears continued to run down her face as she heard her say in a sob “Why didn’t they want me?” before she felt Alexis pulled her close again comforting her.

“I can’t answer that for you. I can only assume they were young and foolish children, who could not handle the responsibility of caring for you,” Alexis responds as she rubs her hand though Luz’s hair again.

Luz continued to cry into Alexis as she held on to her for dear life not wanting to let go of her feeling as if she did Alexis would disappear from her grasp before she felt Alexis’s hand cup her face before feeling her wipe her eyes as Luz let out a hiccup from each breath she took.

“It’s okay. Take as long as you need,” Alexis responded before lifting Luz up and walking over to the bed again lying down on it holding Luz against her chest as they lay down, Luz’s head resting on one of Alexis’s breasts.

After a few moments, Luz’s crying slowly came to a stop to the point where Alexis could only hear the hiccups that came out, as she then felt Luz curl up against her as she heard her quietly say through her hiccups, “T-thank y-you,”.

Alexis just smiled to her before placing her head on the back of her head and rubbing it gently as Luz’s hiccups slowly began to go silent like her crying until they weren’t heard at all, the only thing Alexis was able to hear being Luz’s breathing which was shaky but was slowly starting to go back to normal again while Luz kept the same vice grip as before not wanting to let her go.

“Is that better?” Alexis asked turning to sit up to get off the bed, Luz quietly just nodded to Alexis, her eyes still red from the crying as she looked up at her, as Alexis began to stand up, but she felt something hold her back slightly as she turned to see Luz still holding onto her for dear life refusing to let go of her clinging onto her like a lost child. “Luz, I need to go back to my desk to finish your dress.”

“No!” she heard Luz shout with a quick shake of her head as she refused to let go of Alexis the girl holding onto her tightly Alexis felt Luz’s hands shaking in place as she then shouted in a childish manner, “I don’t want you to leave mom!”.

“Don’t leave me alone” She heard Luz whimper out, “Please don’t leave me alone….”.

Alexis sighed shaking her head at Luz’s actions as she sat back down placing Luz’s head onto her lap as she softly rubbed the girls head, “now since when did you become my daughter?”

Luz's eyes widened for a moment as she realized what she had said before quietly saying, “S-sorry” her voice meek while she lay in place.

“Don’t worry sweetie. Just explain why you said it okay,” Alexis responds still rubbing her head.

“I-its… because this is the first time that it actually felt like someone cared… like they actually cared about me. It reminds me of the comfort I had around when it came to the flowers back at the orphanage it gave a warm feeling inside, and when I look at that you the word mom is the only thing that pop’s up in my head” Luz responded in a timid tone.

“I swear you make me sound like my big brother does for so many other,” Alexis responds, “the amount of people who want him to be there father is getting out of hand.”

Luz was quiet she didn’t know what to say at all as her voice was caught in her throat before finding her voice again, “I-im sorry for calling you mom”.

“Don’t be. It sounds to me like you’ve never had anything close to that… or a real family either,” Alexis respond moving her hand away from Luz’s head.

“Y-you can go and finish up with the dress if you want, I’ll just lay down for a little bit” Alexis heard the girl quietly say.

“No you don’t.” Alex says before picking Luz back up and sitting the girl in her lap facing her, “I want you to say what you want to ask me first. I can it in your eyes you want to ask me something.”

Luz looked away from her for a moment before feeling Alexis turning her head to face her, Luz did not say a word just struggled to actually get herself to say anything before working up the confidence to ask “Can..can you be my mom?” hope in her eyes as she looked at Alexis directly.

“Depends… Do you want to end up being known as Luz Shade?” Alexis asks.

One thought that immediately came into her mind as she thought to herself, “Wait if I end being called Luz Shade does that mean that Shade is her brother and would technically be…my uncle?”.

Her thought then went toward who Jason was, “then who Is Jason, is he Shade’s son, would he be my cousin I don’t know how to think about this, it’s making my head hurt…” the girl clearly had no qualms with the surname before deciding to toss the thought aside, as she looked back up towards Alexis and nodding, “Y-yes im ok with being known as Luz Shade”.

“DIdn’t take you too long to accept that last name… not sure if your old family name meant much to you if you wanted to keep it in any capacity,” Alexis responds once again rubbing Luz’s head.

“I was never told my last name, everyone just called me Luz” Luz replied before adding, “the most they call me other than my name was a number which was 12 it wasn’t any different than what the cult did when addressing us”.

Alexis didn’t respond at first as she placed Luz’s head on her chest before saying, “Okay then, my little one. If you really want it I can adopt you, but to need to promise to behave yourself when with the others.”

“I promise…mom” Luz said with a nod before giving Alexis a smile her innocence showing through it.

“Thats a good girl,” Alexis responds rubbing her hand through Luz’s hair again.

Luz nuzzled against Alexis’s hand with that same smile on her face before she hugged her Luz felt warm on the inside as she continued to smile.

“Now, can I go and finish your dress,” Alexis asked as she removes her hand from Luz’s head.

Luz moved away from Alexis’s allowing her to go to her desk as she sat herself on the bed waiting for her to finish.

“If you want to pull the other seat up beside me, you can rest your head on my legs while I work that way,” Alexis offers pointing to the other chair in the room.

“Ok mom” Luz replied as she stood up from the bed and went to grab the chair pulling it to where Alexis was before sitting herself down and laying her head on Alexis’s lap, as she once again felt Alexis’s hand rub her neck.

Luz just gave a smile in response before closing her eyes Alexis heard the girl's breathing as she continued to rub her neck and after a few moments, Alexis noticed that Luz had gone quiet for a moment before looking down to see that the girl was falling in and out of sleep.

Alexis only smiled at her before taking her hand away finishing up the dress, her eyes moving down to the girl as a smirk appears on her face, as a second outfit appears from her skin.

As soon as she was sure that Luz was asleep she carefully moved her before dressing her in the second outfit. The outfit being a onesie that had the colors of a penguin with white on the stomach and black on the sides and the top of it had the eyes and beak of one on the head which looked at act as a hood of sorts before Alexis gently picked the girl up and began to put her into the said onesie making sure not to stir the girl awake as she then zipped it closed. Once she was finished she carefully sat back down resting Luz’s head back where she was.

After a couple of seconds she carefully folded up the other dress she had made moving it to the side before hearing a knock on her door, turning her head towards its, “Who’s there?”

“Sorry Alexis, it’s me. I know your busy but I need your help with something. Are we safe to come in?” She hears Shade’s voice say from behind the door.

“Just give me a minute,” Alexis responds once again picking Luz up and carrying her over to the bed before placing her under the covers and walking towards the door before opening it finding Shade, Knila and Nadine standing behind it. “Need I ask who the other two are?”

“Hello, Im Knila and this is Nadine” Knila said as motioned towards Nadine who just gave a casual wave, “Hi,” Nadine said with a wave as stopped covering her chest as she then noticed Alexis’s outfit, “That's a nice outfit you got there”.

“Don’t mind her she just doesn’t have a sense of shame…” Knila then muttered averting her eyes after what Nadine said.

“You could say the same for me, Tthough in my case there’s a reason,” Alexis responds with a smirk before looking at Knila, “and I would say the same you. Do you like showing yourself off to people?”

“N-no, my clothes were shredded after an altercation and I have nothing else” Knila quickly responded her face going red.

Her eyes then look between Shade and Knila, “Say are you trying to start a haram now. She’s not too bad on the eyes if that is the case.”

“W-what!?” Knila said out of shock and embarrassment before Nadine laughed, “I knew I wasn’t the only one thinking it!”.

Alexis then walks up towards Knila rubbing her hand up against her chest, “And I assume you want a outfit making. It it just the basics or the whole kit, bra’s and the like aswell?”

Knila gave her a quiet nod in response a blush still on her face before she let out a gasp from Alexis giving her chest a slight squeeze.

Alexis then saw that Knila’s legs were shaking slightly before looking to her face and seeing that blush intensified and that she let out little squeaks every time Alexis moved her hand before giving her the same smirk as before, as she stopped taking her hands away from Knila’s body

Knila just crossed her legs together and covered her chest with her left arm, what Alexis did clearly had an effect on her, causing Alexis to chuckle at her.

She then knelt down infront of Nadine a similar smirk as she had with Knila before saying, “Same questions to you as I ask her, what are you after?”

“Same reason as Knila but I'm not opposed to being naked or showing skin to be honest” Nadine replied with a smirk of her own.

“Well then I suppose I need to sort you both out then,” Alexis responded patting Nadine on the head, “I’ll just need to get some measurements for you both then I can get started.”

Nadine and Knila give her a nod before Knila asked, “Anywhere you need to stand specifically?”.

“Just away from the door with enough space for me to move around you,” Alexis replies calmly as the skin on her breasts begins to glow as a tape measure appears in her hands.

“How did you do that?” Nadine asked with a tilt of her head as Knila walked into the room and into the more open area of it.

“Well the character I was Displaced has a quirk called creation. It allows me to create objects from my body by breaking down my fat to do it,” Alexis responds calmly walking toward Knila and standing behind her, “Oh and Alex, think you can leave us alone while I sort them out.”

“Not an issue, I’ll come back in around half an hour,” Shade responds before teleporting away without another word.

Once Shade was gone Alexis focused back on Knila before wrapping the tape measure around her, before pulling it away getting a measurement before her hands moved to squeeze her breast again as she leaned in toward her ear before whispering, “So… what do you like about my big brother so much to get you like this?”

Knila let out another gasp, her leg’s beginning to shake again as she quietly replied, “It’s not like that, it's just that my clothes were shredded after a fight with him…”.

“And yet you're blushing like a teenager embarrassed to ask their crush to prom” Nadine commented.

“Shut up Nadine…”

“What I'm not wrong, look at you, look at how red your cheeks are” Nadine then said.

“You not very good and hiding your feelings,” Alexis responds one hand still rubbing her beasts while the other began to move further down her body, rubbing up against the inside of her leg, his hand brushing up against her groin for a moment, “You're really not good at hiding it.”

“She really isn’t” Nadine then said with a smirk as she saw Knila panting out unable to say anything before she and Alexis noticed a white fluid beading from one of her breasts before they saw her cover it with one of her arms instinctually.

“Was that?” Nadine was going to ask but was immediately interrupted by Knila who was completely beet red at this point, “No…it wasn’t”.

“Are they uncomfortable,” Alexis responds applying more pressure to Knila’s breasts.

Knila just covered her mouth as she let out a low moan, her breast beginning to leak more of the fluid into Alexis’s hands.

“I didn’t know you could lactate Knila” Nadine commented looking towards her in curiosity, Knila meanwhile just bit her lip in an attempt to keep herself quiet, it didn’t work of course since when Alexis squeezed her breast again she let out another moan before Alexis stopped applying more pressure and let go.

Knila meanwhile just stood in place her legs crossed together and her eyes half lidded as they heard her let out a shuddering breath.

“Do you feel any better now?” Alexis asked as she seemed to write something on a piece of paper on her desk.

She got a meek nod in response from Knila, “Y-yes” she then said as Nadine just looked at the state her friend was in, “Never seen you like this before…I like it”.

Knila looked like she was about to tell Nadine to shut up again but nothing came out of her mouth this time she just shook her head as she covered up her chest and crotch again.

Alexis then walked over to Nadine before wrapping the tape measure around her, “you know. Maybe you should learn to be quiet at times. Otherwise, you're going to get in a lot of trouble around here.”

Nadine just went into deep thought for a moment before shrugging, “Fair point, I should probably work on that”.

“And you think that now?” Knila muttered before getting another shrug from Nadine, “Didn’t really cross my mind”.

“Of course it didn’t…” Knila muttered with a scoff.

“I would recommend it. You really don’t want to get on my brother's bad side. It was terrifying before he was Displaced, never mind now.”

“N-noted,” Nadine replied thinking about what Alexis said before saying, “Yeah I’ll try to keep stuff to myself just so I don’t cause issues”.

“At least you're actually aware of it now” Knila commented as Alexis continued to use the tape measure on Nadine who tried to stay as still as possible just so It wouldn’t mess up the measurement.

After a minute of Alexis trying to get Nadine's measurements, she stepped away moving back to the desk again before looking back at the two, “Anything specific you want for your outfits?”

Nadine then spoke up, “Can you make me a hooded top with long sleeves that’s see through at the chest with a fishnet material and chains that connect to tight black pants?” Knila looked at her with a twitch as she commented, “Why are you like this?” getting another shrug from Nadine.

“Do you want me to add a spiked dog collar to that with my brothers name on and his logo?” Alexis asked with a smirk.

“Don’t say yes Nadine, please don’t say yes” Knila thought to herself before she and Alexis heard her say, “Yes please!”.

“Goddammit Nadine…” Knila then muttered.

“Maybe add a leas-” Nadine was about to suggest before getting slapped in the back of the head by Knila, “No”.

“Ow what’s the big idea!” Nadine whined as she saw the look in her eyes, “Whatever your thinking of suggesting, no”.

“But” Nadine attempted to speak but was interrupted again.

“No!” Knila repeated as Alexis and Nadine saw her hair start floating up, “Your gonna get what you asked for prior and what you agreed to and add nothing else understood?”.

Nadine gave a fearful nod and chuckle, “Yeah loud and clear” as she held up her hands defensively.

“Good” Knila then said with a sigh before her hair went back to normal, “Barely into my twentys and I feel like a nagging mom…”.

After a moment Knila heard Alexis speak towards her, “And do you have any ideas for your own outfit?”

Knila thought it over for a moment but let out a sigh before saying in a shaky tone, “I-im not sure what to go with”.

Alexis then pauses for a moment before taking Knila by the hand before leading her to another room, “Come with me.”

“O-ok” Knila stuttered out as she followed behind her as they walked into the other room, where upon entering she found it to be a bathroom.

“If I may ask, why are we in a bathroom?” Knila asked as she glanced around for a moment before putting her attention back to Alexis, as she found that she was beginning to remove her outfit.

“Just wait a minute okay,” Alexis responds before turning on the shower, “step under it.”

Knila’s face went red for a moment when she saw Alexis doing this before she stuttered out, “O-ok then” before slowly stepping under the shower, shortly being followed by Alexis who stood behind her.

“Okay now. Tell me everything.” Alexis ordered as her hands wrapped around Knila from behind, her breasts pushing into Knila’s back.

“W-What?” Knila stuttered out confused her blush returning.

“Simple. Speak your mind instead of bottling up your feeling. Get them out in the open and we can talk them though.” Alexis responds, “The first is your reaction each time my brother is mentioned. You like him a lot don’t you.”

Knila stuttered in attempt to refuse but gave up in a defeated sigh, “Y-yeah I do, he saved me, he put my mind back together when it was broken, and when I was talking to him I felt warm on the inside alongside my heart beating like a drum, but I’m afraid…”.

“Keep going,” Alexis responds as Knila’s feeling something soft running over her body as she looked down to see Alexis carefully cleaning up the dirt from around her cuts and scars with a sponge

“Back before all this, back when me and my little brother were still in our world, I was in a relationship with this guy his name was Parker, we had a rocky relationship but we went pretty far along to the point of me getting pregnant with his kid, but once I told him, he didn’t say anything to me for days he didn’t even yell at me, and after a while one of my friends told me he left the city leaving me to raise the kid on my own, after that In spite of me knowing not everyone’s gonna be like him, it’s just that fear, that anxiety, it just makes me afriad of actually pursuing a relationship with anyone else…”.

“And you think my brother may do the same?” Alexis responds carefully cleaning the remaining liquid up from around her breasts, “If you’ve seen how many abandoned and misreated children he’s cared for you would know he doesn’t do it… he’d put you before himself most of the time to be fair.”

“It’s just that fear of it happening again it just overtakes any bit of rationality in my mind even if I know he isn’t like Parker” Knila quietly replied.

“So you fear the thought that he may disappear from your sight, and you’ll lose him,” Alexis responds as Knila feeling the sponge rub against her breasts softly.

“Y-yeah I do” she replied with with a whisper.

“Have you told him how you feel,” Alexis asks.

“No I haven’t, wouldn’t be surprised if he probably already know’s though from how i’ve acted around him”.

“He may do,” Alexis responds with a chuckle, “but he’ll stay quiet until you say something, and knowing him if you say you wanted to be his wife, he would likely take you as his wife in a heartbeat.”

Knila glanced back at Alexis, “Really?” she asked.

“Really. Since he disappeared and came to this world he no longer puts his wishes first, he seems to always put others happiness before his own. So if you wanted to start a family with him, if you desired it he would do everything in his powers to help you do so.”

Alexis then saw Knila’s blush from before deepen in color before she heard her say, “If that’s the case I may ask him given the chance” as she then felt Alexis wiping the sponge around the scars around her back.

“I might just ask once were done with the clothes if I don’t stumble over myself that is” Knila said before placing her hand on her chest, “My hearts beating like a drum just thinking about it”.

“You’ll just need to calm yourself down so you can say it to him,” Alexis responds, “But you may need to deal with your current issue,” She adds gesturing to Knila’s breasts that were once again leaking.

She just let out a sigh in response, “Their so hard to manage when their like this” Alexis heard her say in a mutter before seeing her press one of her hands to her breast hearing her then let out a whimper as more milk began to leak out.

“You really need someone to release all the pressure on a constant basis now don’t you,” Alexis calmly responded as she kept squeezing them almost seeming to milk them like you would a cows udders.

Knila just bit her lip before replying, “Y-yeah but even then they were still bad when i was still captured and had to get a machine for it so It wouldn’t get in the way of things and don’t get me started to how sensitive they get…”.

“Still it’s strange they haven’t stopped, how long ago was it that you had a child for this to happen?” Alexis asked not stopping in her actions as she spoke, milk constantly dripping from Knila’s breasts.

“Since I ended up in this world but even then it didn’t get this bad before I got captured but afterword there were times I would wake up in my cell and they would be doing this where I don’t remember what happened in the test”.

“Suprised you didn’t have someone drain them when you were in the cells,” Alexis responds pulling one hand away from her, “Or did someone do that?”

“One decided to be too handsy with me and ended up with a severed arm after that anytime It needed to be done they just brought a machine to relive the pressure because they didn’t want to end up like him” Knila replied.

“I do remember one thing from those tests is at the beginning was that I was strapped into something don’t really remember what and after that they called something in and I heard multiple footsteps and afterword everything went black and I woke up in my cell like usual” Knila continued before adding,”Sometimes or sometimes every part of my bed sensitive to the touch even at my chest and…other regions”.

Knila then rubbed her hands on her face before letting out a sigh, “Im so glad im not with those monsters anymore..” she said in a mutter before gathered some of the water in her hand and used it to rinse her chest afterwords she then used used the showerhead to rinse off any lingering dirt from her skin.

Alexis then walked out of the shower turning her head back to Knila, “take as long as you need i’m going to get started on some outfits for you and your friend outside. You have any ideas for it or should I go with what I fancy?”

“Go ahead with what you fancy, ive never been good with outfits anyway” She heard Knila respond.

“You may live to regret that choice,” Alexis responds with a chuckle before adding, “theres some Shampoo and Hair conditioner on the side. Use it it you want,” She then walked out the room with a towel wrapped around her.

“Thank you” Knila the said before looking to the shampoo and hair conditioner as she heard the door close behind Alexis.

Knila the grabbed the shampoo bottle and deposited some of in her hand before she rubbed it into her hair for a few moments afterword she then rinsed it out also doing the same with the conditioner, once she was done she stepped out of the shower almost slipping on small puddle of water while she slowly stepped to a towel rack and grabbed one using it to dry her hair before wrapping it around her waist.

Chapter 17

Knila finished wrapping the towel around her waist as she shook her head to get any lingering water out of her hair which immediately curled up before she walked out of the bathroom.

Five minutes later Knila and Nadine stood in the centre of the room across from Alexis who was smirking at Knila who didn’t say a word, Nadine meanwhile was enjoying her new outfit with a smile on her face the outfit consisting of a hooded top with transparent fishnet material near the chest with the chains that attached to the tight black pants including the spiked collar that Alexis had suggested before.

Meanwhile, Knila who was heavily blushing was wearing only a very small and revealing pink Swimsuit that only barely covered her chest.

Nadine let out a whistle, “Didn’t know you were into that Knila” Nadine commented as she and Alexis saw Knila just covering her body, “Shut up Nadine…” she muttered getting a laugh from Nadine, “What you look good in it!”.

After a moment she spoke in a mutter to Alexis, “And you were right I do regret that choice” Alexis meanwhile still had a smirk on her face before handing her another outfit.

The second outfit consisted of a piece leather suit that covered her upper body the outfit seemed similar to that of a one-piece swimsuit that had multiple buckles and straps as well as an accompanying hood the outfit also had leather thighs highs the whole outfit looked to be skin tight.

Knila looked at her body with wide eyes before saying, “Where do you get these ideas for outfits from!?”.

“Have you met some of the residents in the town… especially that former Changling queen?” Alexis points out.

“Fair point…” Knila muttered.

“That makes a lot of sense actually,” Nadine said in response

“She asks for new outfits whenever she wants to seduce anyone new,” Alexis responds with a shake of her head.

“Of course she does…” Knila said with a shake of her head before looking at the outfit again and thinking to herself, “I'm not gonna lie this is kinda comfortable”.

“Knila are you admiring her handiwork?” Nadine asked Knila causing her to flinch, “What, I don’t know what you're talking about” she heard Knila respond immediately with a nervous laugh.

“I’ll take it as a compliment… Also considering the fact you fought my brother I assumed you’d need it rather resistant so it shouldn’t tear easily if you did choose to go out in it… and if you wanted to turn a few eyes,” Alexis responds,

Knila glanced back at the outfit before thinking it over and nodding in agreement, “Thank you” she said before asking, “Do you have anything else that I can wear casually since I don’t think this would be good for me, I'm not Nadine”.

Nadine raised her hand to respond before stopping and nodding in response, “Fair”.

“Well there would be a leash you could get for her to keep her in line… but let me see,” Alexis responds before walking to a nearby cupboard and pulling out a black long sleeve and blue jeans before handing them to Knila.

“This works,” Knila said as she grabbed the pants and shirt before going into thought before saying, “I think I know what to do I’ll just wear this under these clothes and if I end up in a fight and if these get shredded I won’t end up naked again”.

She slowly put on the Jeans and pulled them up to her waist before fastening the button into the hole afterwards putting on the black long sleeve, the outfit overall looked somewhat tight but still manoeuvrable as well as emphasizing her curves, “Much better” Knila said before looking to Alexis and saying, “Can I make a request?”.

“Depends on the request,” Alexis responds calmly with a smile.

“Fair enough” Knila replied with a nod before asking, “Could you make a cloak of sorts for me with Shade’s mark and colours on it as well as a mask?”.

“Can I ask about the reason you want that?”

“it's mainly to help keep my identity a secret to some and another is that the cloak I had before was shredded by Shade”.

“I can understand the mask then… but why a cloak with his mark on it?”

“I have a feeling that after a bit I'm gonna do some assignments for him eventually and if I encounter an enemy I want them to know I'm not on their side, You don’t have to make the cloak if you don’t want to though”.

“What do you mean by assignments?” Nadine chimed in.

“Missions, I want to help Shade with the cult since he helped me and I believe doing that is good enough to repay him for bringing me back from the brink”.

“Why a cloak again though, you want to look like one of the grunts from the cult?” Nadine asked with a brow raised.

“Guess I got used to it wearing subconsciously when they were still controlling me” Knila replied with a shrug.

“Clearly” Nadine responded before turning to Alexis and asking, “You have any ideas for anything else just so she doesn’t look like the cult members because I don’t want anyone in this place that was in the cults grasp to have a panic attack whenever they see her and misunderstand her for being a cult member”.

“Most of the creatures here know the difference between the two logos but how would you want it modified,” Alexis responds as she sits back at a desk and creates a dark grey cloak from her body. It had black linings on the arms as well as the back that connected to the hood with clips on the shoulders that looked to be able to separate the hood from said cloak entirely with the back section of the cloak being blank from where Knila remembered the cult symbol was.

“They had the symbol on the back of those things right?” Nadine asked getting a quiet nod from Knila.

“Yep they did, but let’s change it to something else and I think I know what I want it to be” Knila stated, as she looked over Alexis’s shoulder finding her creating some basic designs on a sheet of paper showing the front of back of the cloak with a large version of Shades mark emblazoned on the back, the colours having not yet been added.

“Could you change the mark on the back to a yellow raven” Knila suggested.

“I can do it, but you did say you wanted Shade’s mark on it. Where exactly?”

Knila went into her thoughts for a moment before suggesting “Could you add it at the side of the hood then?”.

“I should be able to,” Alexis responded modifying the design on the drawing before looking back to Knila, “This what you were picturing?”

Knila gave her a nod in response, “Yep this is what I was picturing”.

“Okay then,” Alexis responds before laying out the cloak on her desk, “this may take a while.”

“If that's the case we can probably take care of that a-hole of a robot with Shade” Nadine stated.

“He said he’d be back after half an hour right?” Knila asked.

“You do realise he is going to try and get information on the cult out of it… right?” Alexis points out as they hear a knock on the door before hearing Shade's voice from outside.

“Girls, how is everything going in there?”

“We're done for the most part Shade” Knila replied raising her voice slightly.

“Your good to come in!” Nadine added, as the door opened and Shade walked into the room closing the door behind him.

“What do you think?” Knila then asked as she motioned towards her and Nadine’s outfits.

“I think my sister has spent a bit too much time making outfits for a specific Changeling Queen to help her get the attention of men,” Shade responded as he gestured to Nadine's outfit, “and why exactly are you wearing a dogs collar with… is that my mark for the tag?”

“It wasn’t gonna be there at first but she made the suggestion” Nadine replied.

“And you still said yes to it…” Knila commented in a mutter.

“C'mon Knila, don’t be a prude it looks good!”.

“I’ll be a prude as much as I want to thank you very much”

“It makes you look like you want to be treated like either a slave or a pet by me,” Shade responds, looking at Nadine, “Which or it or is there another reason?”

Nadine shrugged, “Guess I just like looking like that”.

“Be glad I stopped her before one of the other things she was gonna ask for, she was gonna ask Alexis to add a leash into the mix….” Knila commented.

“So it was to be treated like a pet dog and led around like one then,” Shade replies as he shakes his head at her, “If she wants to try that I’m sure I can wrap a chain around the ring on it and lead her around like one on her hands and knees for the few days.”

Before Nadine could even say anything Knila interrupted her, “Nadine I swear to god if you say anything I will punch you so hard you’d wish you weren’t able to talk” Nadine In response just defensively raised her hands.

“Knila, Maybe let her have at it once. If she does it and has me treating her like one I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t ever ask for it again,” Shade points out.

“I- but…..fine” Knila replied with a tired groan.

“Yes!” Nadine shouted with a grin.

“I hate you so much sometimes…” Knila muttered only getting Nadine's trademark smirks in response.

“Alexis… Can I ask you to create the full suit for her? Every part,” Shade requested.

The group heard a chuckle from Alexis as she looked at Nadine, “A full custom outfit in that design for her… I think I can do that for you. Do you want me to create all the extra bits as well?”

“That would be great. Maybe set them up if you get the chance. One set in my room and the second set in the throne room,” Shade responded.

“It may be just for this one moment but I am glad my little brother isn’t here at this very moment…” Knila said to herself before asking, “Are we going to see that robot, or are you doing that walk first if it's the latter I think id rather stay here”.

“it's not that bad Knila” Nadine replied.

“Nadine”.

“Yeah?” Nadine said in response.

“Please shut up, just…no” Knila replied before leaning against one of the walls of the room and pinching the bridge of her nose.

“I was going to say we go deal with the robot now. I think you’ll enjoy the show,” Shade responds with a smile.

“Alright, let’s go then,” Knila said with a smile of her own.

“Agreed can’t wait to see that guy get a taste of his own medicine” Nadine added with a smirk.

Shade simply nodded in response reopening the door, “And Alexis. I’ll bring them back after we’re done if there is anything you are still sorting.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Alexis responds with a nod as Shade walks out the room.

Knila and Nadine follow close behind him as they stepped out into the hall, instantly beginning to pass other monsters again.

While they did this Knila and Nadine noticed some of them were staring at them, some towards Knila’s chest but the majority towards her and Nadine's behinds.

Knila's eye twitched for a moment as Nadine noticed it as well before following her lead, the two turning around for a moment and speaking in unison, “If your gonna stare, take a picture it’ll last longer” causing them to look away from the two before they began walking behind Shade again.

But one of them decided to be a bit handsy and looked to be attempting to grab at Knila who immediately just grabbed their arm and squeezed causing it to writhe in pain, “Hands off” she spoke in a cold tone before shoving them back.

Nadine who looked to the two just gave out a chuckle in response before she and Knila followed behind Shade again before the three turned the corner.

“You’re both still getting a lot of attention,” Shade responds as he continues walking without looking back.

Knila didn’t reply only sighing as Nadine looked be thriving from the looks that directed toward her and Knila.

“If you don’t mind me asking how far is this area your keeping the robot locked in?” Knila then asked.

“Not too far,” Shade responds as a doorway opens up beside them and he walks into it.

The two walked into the doorway not far behind him Nadine’s arm behind her head while she let out a low whistle before they heard the passage behind them close.

“What do you plan on doing to the robot specifically once we're in the place he’s held in?” Shade heard Nadine ask.

“Well, I’ll let you both get payback first for what he did to you all before I do anything myself. But after… I intend to get everything out of him,” Shade calmly states, “My only request is you don’t kill him.”

‘I….. I’ll try to restrain myself from doing that, but if he says anything about what happened back then I can’t promise anything” Knila replied.

“Depending on what he says about that, will dictate his fate after I’m done,” Shade responds as he reaches the bottom of the stairs.

“Understood…” Knila and Nadine quietly say as they reached the bottom of the stairs as well.

Shade then turned to the side before opening a large door against the wall and walked inside as the girls were close behind him. Once inside the room the group saw that the walls had large desks and tables scattered around, many with what looked to be mechanical weapons or strange belt-shaped objects placed on them in different stages of completion, while at the back of the room stood a robed figure with purple hair who was wearing a mask to cover her face standing infront of the seemingly unconscious body of BL-495-1 who was stapped to a large metal table that was standing upright, the robots head slumped forwards.

“Finally he’s the one strapped to a table for once” Nadine stated in a cold tone.

“Who did that damage to his body?” Knila said out loud seeing the deep slices and dents on the robot's body.

“It was a mix of your brother and his friends doing,” the cloaked figure responds, “He’s still operational so I have him shut down while I made a few… changes to his setting that Lord Shade requested.”

“Oh well, nice one Jason” Knila muttered to herself before Nadine asked, “What were those changes exactly?”.

“Oh we just enhanced his ability to feel pain and added a new order to allow us to remotely increase his pain sensitivity when we desire.” the robed figure states, “when he first wakes up he’ll get hit by all the pain from that damage in an instant.”

“That’s kinda cool yet terrifying at the same time” Nadine commented.

“Yeah but at least if he says anything he’ll feel a lot of the pain we felt in that place in spades” she heard Knila say.

“Lord Shade. Are you ready to begin his tests?” the robed figure asks looking at Shade.

“You girls ready?” Shade asked looking back at Knila and Nadine.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Knila stated as Nadine gave a quick nod towards him, “Yep I'm ready. Let’s do this”.

“Okay then.” Shade responded, “Twilight. Wake him up.”

“Of course Lord Shade,” The robed figure responds with a bow of her head inserting something into the BL-495-1’s neck.

After a moment of silence BL-495-1’s head twitched in place before it lurched forward his eyes shooting open as the group heard him scream in pain his body writhing in place he continued the moment feeling like it was going longer than it was before he stopped the group hearing him gasp out trying to get his breath back.

“Welcome back BL-495-1” Twilight calmly says as she steps away from the bound robot.

“What, where am I, what the hell did you do to me!?” he shouted towards her

“All I did was stop you from breaking down completely. It wasn’t in Lord Shade’s desires for you to do so,” Twilight responded.

BL-495-1 in response just attempted to break free from the table but failed to do so, as Knila and Nadine just looked at him in silence.

Noticing the two he then shouted towards Knila saying ”HU-RPM-P1 free me now!” before getting a scoff from her, “Go to hell”.

Shade then walked towards BL-495-1 stopping infront of him and looking him in the face, “How do you like the preparations for the first of today's many tests?”

BL-495-1 looked Shade in the eyes before his own widened, “No, No you can’t do this, you bastard!”.

“Why not, you and the cult didn’t have a problem doing tests on kids and other humans” Knila stated venom lacing her tone.

“Either way. It's time for the first test… this one is not unpleasant for you luckily,” Shade responded as BL-495-1 saw red sparks covering Shade’s hands as they moved towards the robot's open wounds before they struck them setting them alight with a red flame.

BL-495-1 just grit his teeth as he as he felt a burning sensation at his open wounds the group heard him make grunts of pain as he writhed in place his eyes clenched shut this continued for what seemed like a minute before Shade pulled away his hand prompting BL-495-1 to gasp out to get his breath back again.

“There we go that wasn’t so hard,” Shade responded as he held a mirror up to show BL-495-1 the area where his wounds were before, “What do you think about the repairs?”

“What, how the hell did you do this?” BL-495-1 said as he looked to see the damage that was caused by Jason and the others were replaced with black metal but near one of the bits of black metal he also noticed something glowing right next to it.

“What is that, what did you put on my body!?” he shouted as Shade just came closer with the mirror carried in his magic as he saw that it was Shade’s mark and once he realized it he attempted to break free again shouting like a madman.

“Silence!” Shade ordered glaring at him the new mark beginning to glow in a crimson light as he spoke.

BL-495-1 immediately went silent his mouth closed as his eyes looked around the room glancing to Twilight and then to Nadine and Knila as for once he looked panicked.

“What’s wrong big guy? scared.” He heard Nadine say before he heard her add, “Good”.

Shade then stepped away taking the mirror with him before looking at Knila and Nadine, “Have fun,” he then clicked his fingers allowing BL-495-1 to speak again.

He looked up to then see Nadine and Knila in front of him both of them having glares on their faces.

“Hello, you two miss me?” BL-495-1 said with a weak smirk trying to keep his bravado but the two could tell it was wavering as Nadine just raised her leg and slammed her foot into his head, “Hell no”.

BL-495-1 just let out a grunt of pain in response as he felt Nadine pressing her foot into his head harder than before Knila saw Nadine twist her body around swinging her other foot to the side of his head causing him to let out a grunt of pain again a small dent being seen on his cheek as he let out a low laugh.

“At least those test’s taught you how to actually hit someone,” BL-495-1 said with a mocking chuckle before spitting to the floor.

“Shut up”.

“Or what subject 9 you’ll kill me you don’t have the guts for it, you always hated fighting its why we always forced you into fights for tests to get you to hurt someone to get you stronger!”.

“Shut up…”.

“What you know I'm right!” BL-495-1 shouted with a grin before he felt Nadine slam her fists into his face, her knuckles getting progressively more and more bloody until Nadine was pulled back by Knila.

Nadine broke free and went to hit him again but stopped midway through for a moment before she pulled it back and looked at her hands and saw that they were shaking, that they were bruised and bloody while BL-495-1’s words made her remember the tests back at the lab before she just backed away and stood towards the entrance.

“I told you that you didn’t have the guts for it…” BL-495-1 said with a mocking chuckle.

Knila meanwhile just glared at him before the others saw her hair extend in the air before it shot forward and wrapped around his neck.

“Oh so are you gonna be the one to do it… huh, Knila are you doing this for what we did to you back at the lab?” he said before feeling Knila tighten her grip on his neck.

“Shut up”.

“Oh come on you have to be somewhat curious about what we did to you when you were unconscious aren’t you?”.

“What the hell are you talking about!?” Knila screamed, tightening the grip on his neck again.

“You have to be…a bit curious….how do you think we got all those human children yet we started with just one woman because before that they weren’t in high supply in Equestria you know”.

Knila’s heart dropped as she realized what he meant, the woman whispering, “N-no”.

“Yes Knila, every human subject, every single one of them that came after you, are your spawn you supplied us with the process of giving us more subjects, to use, to experiment, to exploit for our own ambition and honestly I think you deserve a good round of applause!” BL-495-1 said that sadistic smile returned once he saw her face and then laughed.

Knila’s eyes widened as they began to tear up as she let out a shaky breath as those fresh tears started to stream down her cheeks as she remembered the tests where she fell unconscious and all the times that she began to produce milk afterwards while BL-495-1 continued to laugh.

“You want to know what happened to them too, your boys and your girls, the boys became some of our prime test subjects some died of course but some became the strongest of the bunch, and your girls let’s just say once we had them aged up they held the same role as you when you were still there” BL-495-1 spoke, Knila’s breath hitching as despair showed the woman's face her hair removing itself from his neck.

“Don’t be sad at least your children are helping in a cause bigger than themselves” He then added as he looked like he was about to speak again however before he could Shade appeared infront of him his fist swinging into BL-495-1’s face a loud crushing sound being heard as blood splattered to the ground beside him running from the robots face.

“Shut the hell up now!” Shade ordered glaring at BL-495-1 an almost dark aura coming off Shade, as a sudden pressure bore down on everyone in the room. Knila placed her hands over her mouth her eyes wide, while Nadine just looked in a shocked silence her mouth agape.

Shade then placed his hand over BL-495-1’s jaw healing it instantly the jaw now being covered by the same black metal that was on his chest. Shade’s form still towering over him his gaze never leaving the bound robot.

BL-495-1 spat out his blood to the floor before looking up to Shade, “Heh you look angry was what I said too far?”.

“BL-495-1. Code 76529816-Shade. Reduce pain resistance to zero. Amplify pain sensitivity by 1000%,” Shade stated, his voice cold and emotionless.

“You didn’t, no you can’t do this!” BL-495-1 screamed before seeing Shade walk to the side.

“Twilight. Please get me the saw,” Shade calmly said ignoring BL-495-1’s screams.

“Of course Lord Shade,” Twilight responded as BL-495-1 heard her walking around the room behind him.

As she did Shade picked up a knife from a nearby table before running it over BL-495-1’s right arm, leaving a shallow scratch on his arm.

BL-495-1 felt an indescribable pain at that moment when he felt the knife leave the shallow scratch, it felt like multiple knives digging into it, the pain being nothing but excruciating as he let out a low scream before attempting to catch his breath.

“How does that feel bastard…” He heard Knila say as he slowly looked at her, seeing that her eyes were red from her crying.

Shade didn’t give him time to respond to her though as he cut him again, this time a slightly deeper one on his cheek as he shook in place attempting not to scream so he held his breath but failed due to the lingering pain as he then let out a scream that tore through his throat.

Shade then pulled the knife away placing it back on the table beside him, “How does that feel?”

“...Screw you…” He gasped out.

“Let's see how long that bravado lasts shall we,” Shade responds as Twilight passes him a saw which he holds out infront of BL-495-1’s face. “You know what this is for right.”

“I…I have a slight idea for what” he spoke his voice slightly hoarse.

“Girls… what should I remove first!” Shade shouts to Nadine and Knila.

“Remove his left arm” he heard Nadine say before looking back to Knila who hadn’t said anything yet the woman only gave a nod in response.

Shade didn’t respond only nodding as he slowly lowered the saw towards BL-495-1’s arm resting the blade against the end of his shoulder, the blade slowly scraping against it. “Anything to say for yourself before we start.”

BL-495-1 just looked at Shade again before repeating, “Screw…you”, before Shade began to slowly saw through his arm causing the robot to let out a scream of pain as each slow saw caused a gnawing and excruciating pain over time the most noise Shade and the other’s could hear was a pained gurgle coming from BL-495-1’s throat.

After a few minutes of slow progress, the arm came away from the body falling to the floor before Shade set the open wound alight searing it shut before looking to BL-495-1 finding that he was shaking in place from the lingering pain, his eyes quickly jittering from area to the room to another before heard Nadine speak again, “Take his other arm”.

“No!” BL-495-1 shouted before saying, “I know where her offspring are being kept!”.

“What?” Knila said in a whisper.

“Start speaking, before I start on the next one,” Shade calmly responds picking up the arm on the ground and holding it infront of BL-495-1’s eyes where he could see it. “Or do I need to start to make your other side match?”

“They're back at where we had her and her runt of brother some may have been deployed but some have been put in a form of stasis so they’re still young, the facility is in the mountains you can find them there!” BL-495-1 blurted out.

“How do we access it?” Knila spoke.

“What?” BL-495-1 said with wide eyes as she replied, “You heard me, how do we access it”.

“You need a specific code or identification from an implant you won’t have any trouble since you still have yours do you not?”.

Knila slowly brought her hand to where the chip was in her head before quietly nodding, “Well you can access it then”.

“No… you’ll be the one to get us in,” Shade responded coldly as BL-495-1 saw the arm Shade was holding ignite into flames the entire arm changing to black metal with a crimson eye on the palm. “Once your experiments are done that is.”

“You’re not gonna be let off the hook just because you told us this” Nadine spat.

BL-495-1 looked to Shade before saying, “I can get you lot inside without anyone alerting the others they won’t be any the wiser of what happens especially since the place is barely occupied by our grunts who are usually sent out to find others for the lab including that one’s little brother”.

“What’s with your group's fascination with my little brother!?” Knila screamed.

“He has a lot of stuff that was implanted within him barring from his inhuman amounts of strength he also has an exoskeleton grafted to his bones its safe to say that we’d rather have what we created with us rather than against us since he’s the catalyst to some of our successful experiments” BL-495-1 replied.

“You love digging yourself a deeper hold don’t you,” Shade responded moving the saw to his other arm, and placing the left one on the table next to him. He then placed his face next to BL-495-1’s ear. “Once we're finished with this arm, it's time to fix the rest of your body to something more… appealing to us.”

“N-no-” BL-495-1 attempted to say but only ended up screaming after he felt Shade begin to saw through his other arm, while the robot’s screams went on for what seemed like forever before Nadine and Knila heard him begin to quiet down as all they began to hear was raspy breathing and gasps from him.

“There we go,” Shade responds holding the removed arm up infront of BL-495-1 as it ignited changing in design to match that of the other arm, before being placed next to the first one, “that wasn’t so hard was it?”

Any words that the robot could have said at that moment were just replaced with just his pain-filled gasps and whimpers, before he felt a hand under his chin lifting his face to look at Shade’s, the smile on his face causing BL-495-1 to shake in fear before he heard Shade say, “Do you want your new arms back?”

BL-495-1 trembled in place his eyes wide as he was unable to look away, the fear making him unable to respond well enough, only able to give a fearful stutter, “Y-yes…yes I-i do”.

“If I give them you back. What will you offer me in return?” Shade asks as he traces a finger over the unchanged metal on BL-495-1’s body, the path he traced changing to black metal, as his finger moved across his chest.

“I-i…..I don’t know”.

“If I return them to you. How much are you willing to sacrifice to the real Shade,” Shade calmly asked tracing his finger around BL-495-1’s old cult mark.

BL-495-1 just glanced at his still severed arms before looking back to Shade and still feeling the lingering pain from them being removed before he spoke, “E-everything” fear still in his voice, “I'm willing to sacrifice everything”.

Shade leaned in towards BL-495-1’s ear, “Do you know who I am now?”

“Y-your Shade, The real one” he replied with a stutter.

“And what do you think of the cult's version of me?” Shade asked.

“He’s a fake…using your name to further his own goals…”.

“Who do you serve?” Shade asked again tracing a cross in the air over his old cult mark on his chest, ensuring BL-495-1 could see his motions.

“I-i serve you, the real Shade not the fake,” BL-495-1 shakily responds before he saw Shade’s hand raise towards his head as he shook in place, only to feel a hand pat him on the head. “W-what?” BL-495-1 whispered out of shock before he centred his eyes back on Shade.

“Good boy,” Shade responds, “In that case in return for reattaching your arms, you agree to serve me for the rest of your life without question. Understood.”

“U-understood L-lord Shade” BL-495-1 replied once again feeling Shade’s hand rub his head, BL-495-1’s eyes went wide from shocked at what was happening at the moment so much that he was utterly speechless.

He then saw Shade’s holding both of the removed arms in his magic before being placed over where they had originally been, before the arms began to merge back together with the rest of his body, flames spreading from where they reconnected spreading the black metal further over his chest his old mark remaining untouched.

His reaction to seeing the black metal spread was more so of a stunned silence until it stopped his eyes wide before he saw Shade place the mirror in front of him again seeing the black metal take the majority of his body, “W-what is this?”.

“If you're serving me for the rest of your life. I thought it best you matched the rest of my guard's armour. There are a lot of things we need to fix though, and you have a lot to tell us about the cult as with us finishing the rest of your modifications,” Shade states as BL-495-1 saw Shade’s hand cover the old cult mark on his chest with his hand sparks appearing below the covered area.

BL-495-1 winced slightly from feeling the sparks and after a moment he saw Shade pull his hand away revealing that he had changed BL-495-1’s old mark to that of Shade’s own.

“What do you think of your new mark?” Shade asks the mark brightly glowing on BL-495-1’s chest.

BL-495-1 just looked at his new mark intently, “How did you do that, it's like the old one wasn’t even there” BL-495-1 said confused.

“Think of this as your god erasing what he dislikes from his servant's forms,” Shade responds, “Once I have finished there will be no trace of them remaining anywhere on your body.”

“Understood, Lord Shade” BL-495-1 replied as he felt Shade place his hand on his head, BL-495-1’s thoughts of the cult flashing through his head, one of a cell block with people in them and the second of a large hall filled with tanks organised row by row with people in them especially children frozen in place.

After a moment the parts of the cult he thought about were being slowly modified along with the thoughts of the cells and the room with the tanks before Shade saw some aspects of the cult that he exhibited that he chose to remove entirely, causing the demeanour of BL-495-1 to change and after Shade finished removing those aspects he pulled his hand away from BL-495-1’s head.

“What did you do to him?” Nadine asked Shade, walking up to the two with a brow raised as she looked to the BL-495-1 who just tilted his head.

“I essentially reprogrammed him,” Shade responded calmly before releasing BL-495-1 from his binding as BL-495-1’s arms twitched slightly before he raised as he looked to his hands, “He fixed me”.

“How do they feel,” Shade asked his hand rubbing over the mark on the shoulders.

“They feel…better like a clear improvement to my old one’s”.

“Do you have anything to say to the people here?” Shade asks gesturing to Nadine and Knila.

“I…I'm sorry for everything for the awful things that me and the cult had done, I'm sorry for all of it” he said bowing his head forward, “You don’t have to forgive me, with all those horrible things I did I don’t think I’d forgive myself”.

“That's a good boy,” Shade calmly says patting BL-495-1 on the head like he would a young child or pet.

The robot flinched slightly before he heard Knila answer him “I can’t. At least not yet every time I look at you I remember those tests and that anger but maybe after some time I can learn to forgive you”.

“Same here” they heard Nadine add.

“Understood, take as much time as you need” He replied with a nod as he looked to the floor.

After a moment of silence, Knila looked to Shade and asked“So….what now Shade?”.

“Well. There are a few things we need to finish off for him… one possibly being a new name as we want him to move as far away from the cult's system as we can, and a few other minor fixes.”

Nadine hearing this just leaned forward looking at the robot's face who just looked towards her with a tilt of his head, “.....Yeah I got nothing”.

“Well before we continue with him. I need to get the rest of the modifications we need to add finished, so either if you need to talk with my Lord in private about anything you can,” Twilight responded, “and if one of you want to I could use an assistant for a bit.” Knila and Nadine just look at her in silence, “Oh! And Subject 9. When we last did one of your blood tests we found some… strange results if you have some time would you be willing to try and help me understand them?”

“Oh alright then…” Nadine hesitantly replied as she slowly looked to Knila who just gave her a quiet nod in response before Nadine walked toward Twilight.

“H-hey Shade,” Knila said getting the attention of Shade who looked toward her, “Do you think you and I could talk outside for a little bit?”.

“Sure,” Shade replies without a moment's hesitation walking towards the door, as Knila immediately followed behind him and after a few moments of them walking they were outside as Shade looked at Knila. “What did you want to talk to me about. I imagine there is a lot after that.”

“I-its about” attempted to speak but stopped immediately her face going red slightly as she attempted to find the words before she felt a hand rubbing her neck.

Her face just went completely red before she remembered what Alexis had told her before she took a breath and looked toward Shade, “S-Shade would you be willing to take me as a….” She attempted to say but stopped at the last half.

“Take you as my what,” Shade calmly responded pulling her into his chest, as his wings wrapped around her, “Take your time, don’t force it.”

Knila felt her heart beat like a drum as her blush had her face beet red before Shade heard her stutter out, “Would you be w-willing to take me as a….wife?” as she looked up to him.

“You do understand what you are asking… right. You do know about me and Luna… are you sure you are okay with that?”

She gave him a quiet nod in response, “Yes I do and I'm completely ok with it”.

“And you definitely do not think you're skipping a step or two first,” Shade responds, “Maybe slow down before deciding you want to be married to a man over 500 times your age?”

Knila in response just looked away from him her face showing a dejected look before she looked back up to him and asked, “A-are you rejecting me?”.

“I’m not rejecting you. Why would you think that I am?” Shade asks, “What I meant was why do you even want to be with someone who is so much older than you.”

“Because….I don’t care if you’re older than me, I want to be with you” Knila replied, before adding, “and for the first time in so long I've felt something real with feelings like that it doesn’t feel like a part of me just faking it”.

“All In all I want to be with you because… I love you” She then whispered before she slowly reached her hand to his face gently placing it on his cheek as she slowly caressed it the two stayed like that for a moment until she pulled her hand away. As soon as she did Knila felt something reach around under her before she was suddenly lifted until she was looking Shade in the eyes before he kissed her on the forehead.

Knila looked him in the eyes in silence as she felt her heart beating like a drum in her chest fast and hot in anticipation of something, anything. Shade didn’t do anything for a couple of seconds before Knila felt his wings push her chest into his body, his arm remained under her holding her in place, “Knila. Just to confirm one last time you understand. I am already in a relationship with Luna. I know herds are still a thing some ponies have, but if it blows keep going on like this regarding the number of women I have been married to me. Are you sure you’ll still be okay with it?”

“Yes, I’ll be okay with it” Knila replied as Shade felt her heartbeat, before he leaned in again, this time kissing her on the lips, holding it for a couple of seconds.

Knila felt like she was on cloud nine during this as she kept her eyes closed and pushed into the kiss her heart still beating fast and after a moment the two pulled away from each other a thin string of saliva connected between the two, Knila panting out for a breath as she looked to him with a smile.

“Are you feeling better now?” Shade asks with a smile as he brushes her hair out of her face.

She gave him a shy nod as she replied, “Yeah, I'm better now, honestly I feel great”.

Shade just nods back in response before saying, “For now how about until we make a final decision on things, we place ourselves as just boyfriend and Girlfriend for the time being.”

Knila smiled at him, “I’d be okay with that” she replied before she hugged him, her chest squishing against his as the woman covered her mouth to prevent a moan as her blush came back full force, and after a moment Shade felt the chest of her shirt grow damp.

Shade decided to not so say anything about what he felt, not wanting to cause Knila to get any more embarrassed than she already was.

After a moment he felt her move one of her arms to her chest to separate her damp shirt from his chest as he heard her mutter, “S-sorry…this had been happening since I woke back up”.

“Let me guess you need something to drain them?” Shade calmly replies as he rubbed the back of her neck, “Do you want me to take us somewhere and try and sort it?”

Knila didn’t answer him for a moment before giving him a shy nod in response before she felt her body move slightly as she was being held like you would a sleeping child.

“T-Thank you Shade” he heard her stutter out before she thought to herself, “This is so embarrassing…”. She then saw Shade's horn begin to glow before they disappeared in a flash of light and moments later reappeared in an entirely new place as she saw a long window behind her.

“Where are we?” Knila asked Shade while she looked around.

“Right now… the easiest place for us to get someone to help with that little problem,” Shade responded walking towards the window letting Knila look out of it as she saw a large chamber filled with cots below them, small bodies in each of them.

“Is this place a nursery?” Knila asked as she felt Shade slowly place her back on her feet.

“It is… but the kids here aren’t exactly orphans… I doubt any of them even ever met their mothers considering what the cult did to them all.”

“All that heartache and for what, more test subjects?”.

“No… test subjects seem to be from your labs… these were all bred to be used as weapons to sell for profit by the cult,” Shade replies with a shake of his head.

“I may not like the circumstance they were in before but at least they're safe, I think their mothers would at least be glad for that” Knila responded.

“There mothers know they are here… they just don’t know which children are theirs… it may be easier to explain after you see them.”

“If that’s the case then lead the way ” she replied as she at the window to see the cots again as she slowly followed behind Shade.

“You may want to prepare yourself,” Shade responds as he reaches the door.

Knila then nodded then took a deep breath holding it in for a moment before letting it out the woman did this two more times before saying, “Alright, I'm ready”.

“Okay then,” Shade responds before opening the door and walking inside as Knila followed behind once they were inside Knila now realised the true scale of what was infront of her, the room looking to go further than she could see while around the room were creatures of all shape and sizes looking after the children, some of which were standing naked as they held one of the infants to one of her breasts as she seemed to be feeding them.

Knila looked on in silence as she looked at all of this unfolding in front of her before looking back to Shade and saying, “Is this what you meant when we were looking through that window, that some mothers wouldn’t know which kid is there’s and would just feed a random with the little knowledge that it may or may not be theirs?”.

“Considering that some of them have had their bodies merged with multiple races they don’t know if the child is even of their own race. Every creature down here is either some of my guards or the mothers the cult forced to have the children on repeat for who knows how long… Kind of like you but they were constantly aware of it happening.”

Her hand twitched in response to this as she slowly placed it against her stomach with an unreadable expression before she closed her eyes before took a breath again, “To be completely aware of it every time it happened and too not even know what your child even looks like, I wouldn’t wish that on any mother” Shade could tell that there was a pain in her voice, “I don’t even know what my own looks like other than Jason”.

“I know there is not much I can for you about them right now until we go after them,” Shade responds rubbing Knila’s neck again, “but right now this may be the best way to deal with your little problem. But if you are too uncomfortable doing this I don’t blame you.”

“N-no I'm ok with doing this” she replied as she then looked to the cots taking a deep breath before she slowly walked up to one of them and looked over it seeing what looked to be a canine-like infant in the cot its fur being a dark black its ears being a small v-shape with a small tail poking from under it.

From what she could see the little one was asleep but not wanting to disturb it she went to walk away but hearing a yawn she stopped and turned back around seeing that it woke up its eyes still closed before it opened them showing its vibrant green eyes that looked around the cot before it landed on her the two making eye contact with one another before the infant smiled at raising its hands towards her.

Knila looked toward the infant in silence before smiling and slowly reaching into the cot and gently picking it up, “Hello little one” she whispered towards it as she lifted it towards her chest and slowly rocked it from side to side until she heard a low stomach growl as she saw its demeanour changed to discomfort, “Are you hungry?” Knila then said as she placed the infant on her left arm and used her right to pull up her shirt revealing one of her breasts before bringing the infant up to it, and after a moment she felt the infant suckling from her.

“Aren’t you Just adorable, is that better little one?” Knila said giving a soft smile to it, its eyes glancing towards her while it fed before she switched to her other breast and while this went on Shade could hear her hum a low melody towards the infant which over time caused its eyes to slowly close until they were completely shut and it stopped feeding prompting Knila to gently place it back into the cot.

Afterwards, he saw Knila pull her shirt back down before seeing her lean over the crib looking at the infant in silence.

“You doing okay,” Shade asks looking at Knila.

“Yeah” Knila replied going quiet before saying, “You know even if this isn’t my child it feels good to actually watch over them”.

“That's probably what the other think as well,” Shade admits as they saw a blue-scaled dragoness walk towards them, with a young hatchling with matching scales in her arms.

“Lord Shade. It’s good to see you down here,” the dragoness responded as she rubs her head against him affectionately, before looking to Knila, “I assume this is your first time down here?”

“You would be correct in that assumption” Knila responded before saying, “I'm Knila, it’s a pleasure to meet you”.

“Likewise I suppose,” the dragoness responded as she kissed Shade’s neck.

Knila’s cheeks went red for a moment before she looked away turning her attention back to the infant in the cot.

“I don’t remember there being any of your race down here though,” the dragoness states, “is there a reason your down here?”

“Just needed to relieve some pressure…..” Knila replied in a mutter her embarrassment clear in her tone.

“I assume it was a cult injection into them. These things never drain fully now, mine refill to bursting after a minute each time.” the dragoness responds as the Hatchling in her arms stops feeding before she places it on her shoulder patting its back.

Knila then looked to her chest before placing her arms over her breasts, “Yeah It was and I understand that feeling very well especially back when I was still in the labs".

“You were in one of their labs?”

“Yep…locked in their cells and tested on nonstop and was controlled by them like a tool and after a recent revelation, I now know I have more kids than I realized” Knila answered before sighing, “I hate the cult so much…”.

“At least they haven’t ruined your wings to the point I’ll never fly again,” the dragoness points out uncurling her wings and Knila saw that a large majority of them were missing, while the inside the wings looked to have been sealed shut.

Knila winced slightly as she looked at the dragonesses wings “I'm sorry you had to experience that”.

“Don’t be. In any case, I would assume if I hadn’t been through it I doubt that I would have ever met Lord Shade,” the Dragoness replies as she once again rubs up against Shade as Knila saw an almost lustful look in her eyes.

Knila glanced at the two in silence before electing to just look at the infant again not knowing what to say at that moment as she attempted to distract herself with its sleeping form her blank look changing back to that of a smile as she looked towards its face.

“Ember. Your leaking again,” Shade responded gesturing to the Dragoness who simply smiled back at him, seemingly not bothered about it.

“Blame the cult for it. When you capture some of them again, let me help with the punishment. I’m sure I’d be able to get a few of them to behave.” The Dragoness responds by blowing a small wisp of fire from her mouth.

“You’d be surprised…” Knila muttered in response as she remembered what the robot had said to Nadine before shaking her head, “They're always persistent with messing with your head”.

“Oh trust me. After what they did to me. I think I could let some of them get a good mouthful of the results of their efforts,” Ember responded with a smile before turning and walking away, “I’ll see you next time you need to empty yourself.”

“It was nice to meet you” Knila then said before she stood up from leaning over the cot.

“We should probably get back to Nadine soon,” Shade suggests looking at Knila.

“Yeah, we should let's go” Knila replied with a nod before walking towards him and gently grabbing onto him before they teleported back to the lab.

Once they reappeared back outside the lab Shade rubbed Knila’s head again, “You feeling better now.”

“For now at least” She replied with a nod before she began to walk towards the front of the lab and once she made it to the door she pushed it open and walked through.

Once she walked in the first thing she saw was Nadine who was spinning around on a chair while looking to be in her own world before she noticed Knila standing at the entrance, “Oh welcome where did you and Shade go?” Nadine asked.

“Went to take care of something, you don’t need to worry about it” Knila replied as she walked up to her.

“Cmon what did you two do, wait did yo-” Nadine was about to say before Knila interrupted her, “Whatever depraved thought in your head get rid of them cuz none of that happened”.

“Aw your no fun….” Nadine replied with a mutter.

“I'm just not a pervert”.

“So exactly what I just said?” Nadine replied causing Knila’s eye to twitch slightly.

“As much I want to smack you upside the head for that I'm not going to, what have you and her been up to while we were gone”.

“Something to do with blood tests, apparently something in my blood is weird” Nadine then said causing Knila to look at her confused.

“What I said was that the test showed something with your DNA is weird. In the labs, some of your samples seemed to absorb a certain type of light and store it.” Twilight responded, “considering I was captured before the tests could be completed on this I don’t know if they learned more about them in a further test or not.”

“I don’t understand all of it but I think I get the gist of it, doc,” Nadine said giving a thumbs up.

“Any idea why they're able to do that?” Knila asked.

“If I knew I’d tell you,” Twilight responded, “I was hoping she would have had an answer on why.”

Shade paused looking at Nadine, “Nadine… before you appeared in this world, do you remember anything about the event leading up to it?”

Nadine went to reply but stopped for a moment going into deep thought before saying, “I think so, it was an event that had a lot of people in costumes I was wearing one too, it was one of the characters in a game one of my friends played, her name was…Fetch I think?”.

“Well, your a Displaced that's for sure. Do you remember any about this Fetch character?”

“If I remember correctly I think she had powers like stuff she can shoot from her hands and I think some form of super speed”.

“Right. I’m just going to say this. You likely have the same powers as she did. So maybe you use that light you take in to allow you to use your powers?”

Nadine just looked to the light with a brow raised before slowly raising her hands toward it causing it to flicker slightly causing her to flinch back slightly, “You sure this isn’t gonna hurt me in some manner?” she asked looking back to Shade.

“I don’t even know who this Fetch is to know what you can do,” Shade points out, “what I just said is wild speculation at best.”

“Fair point…” Nadine replied with a sigh before extending her hand out again this time have her arm fully extended towards the light which flickered again before the light within it could be seen flowing out of it and towards her arm and absorbing into her skin as the light itself then looked devoid of energy, “That….felt weird”.

“Do you feel any different?” Knila asked.

“If I'm being honest here I have no idea” Nadine admitted as she looked at her hands looking at the both of them in silence trying to make some hand motions to see if anything happened before clenching her fists which caused them to have a neon glow as she looked on with wide eyes.

“I would say it’s best for you to try and work out how to use them in your own time… while not in a tight space,” Shade suggested as he looked to BL-495-1, “Twilight is that special upgrade sorted yet?”

“Almost, it just needs adding to him, but I thought it best you were back for when we did,” Twilight responded walking over to BL-495-1, “Besides after this I think a new code is needed anyway considering the trait this adds. He’d be more like some kind of scout or mole if it works as intended.”

“What are planning on doing with him to have him be like that, a double agent or some junk?” They heard Nadine ask.

“Well it was either that or…” Shade began to say only for Twilight to jump in.

“The original plan was to reuse some of his old system protocols and modify them, along with this modification with other things added to his limbs to make him into some kind of special forces type variant to either capture cult members of use or eliminate high profile members who are hidden out of our reach normally… or have diplomatic immunity to place the blame elsewhere.” Twilight explained calmly. “We were thinking a small blade hidden in his wrist he can extend and retract at will along with some other weapons hidden inside his robotic limbs.”

“So it would be like an assassin?” Nadine asked with a raised brow, adding, “For what it’s worth it doesn’t sound like a bad idea but what would you have him do once you implement that?”.

“You do realise the cult wasn’t just your one test lab… right,” Twilight responded, “they have a lot of bases all with different purposes and tons of benefactors from all reaches of society… especially rich nobles who would just buy their way out of jail or have diplomatic immunity.”

“He would spend most of his time finding information on where the cult hide or in some cases act as a body double for a captured cult member while we would… have a nice long chat with them,” Shade adds.

“But it will only be possible if this works once inputted,” Shade added holding up a small black disc with Shade’s mark on it.

“So he’d take their place while you did what you need to do with them?”.

“Pretty much… and if some are of greater importance well… I still have some knowledge on how the cult brainwashed captured subjects we could employ, to make them more compliant,” Twilight states with a cold dismissive shrug.

Knila and Nadine went silent after hearing Twilight say this, with Nadine immediately backing up and going behind Knila who could be seen clenching her fist out of instinct.

“I take it you don’t like the idea,” Twilight responds, “we would only be employing it against those who would be useful pawns or hold control of a useful resource.”

“It’s just hearing compliance just makes me remember what they did to control me, just bad memories overall” Knila replied as she took a breath.

“Would it help if I said his first target would be to capture is the scientist they used to drug and satisfy you when your more… intimate tests were done, and also was the one who currently cares for the more carnal needs of the female subjects?”

Twilight and Nadine just looked to Knila who had an unreadable expression on her face before seeing the woman's hair begin to wave around, “.....I don’t have much of a problem with it anymore now”

“I thought so,” Twilight responded before walking toward BL-495-1. “Now it’s time for us to continue with your new upgrades. Are you ready?”

“Yes I am” he replied with a nod

“Good. Please turn over onto your front, so I can access your back for this part,” Twilight ordered.

BL-495-1 did what he was told with a nod as he turned his back being in clear view so Twilight can do what she needed to do.

As soon as he turned over the group saw that BL-495-1 back was largely unaltered compared to the rest of his body with the metal he had before still there along with a large cult mark on the base of his back, “Is that supposed to still be there?” Knila asked.

“It was not. But we’ll make sure that mark is erased before we are finished,” Twilight responds as her horn begins to glow as a large panel on BL-495-1’s back opens up relieving the inner workings of BL-495-1 which had pumps, cogs, and tubes working in tandem with each other along with a square panel to the upper right section of it.

“Looks like they never applied any new upgrades to you after I left,” Twilight calmly says as she levitates the object into BL-495-1’s back sparks suddenly lighting up inside as the object seemed to fuse into his body.

BL-495-1 could be seen tensing up slightly before the group heard him breathe out, “Will never get used to that.” he muttered.

“If you manage to help Lord Shade I’m sure that in the future he will gift you with more things so you can help him,” Twilight states as she closes the hatch as it is sealed and the light from her horn faded, “Now my lord if you would do the honours of setting that in place we can get this mess on his back removed and deal with the other parts.”

Shade only rolled his eyes as his hand was placed on BL-495-1’s back flames rapidly covered the entirety of it as they saw the old mark begin to be burned away, Shade’s mark quickly replacing it as his body changed to match his front.

“I take it the changes are done with my back now correct?” BL-495-1 asked as he glanced back to the others.

“For now,” Shade responds his hand resting on BL-495-1’s wrist, “Did you know that your arm has a small needle made to inject a drug into a target?”

“No, the guy who did the upgrades prior didn’t really tell me, liked being vague about it found it annoying if I'm being honest” BL-495-1 replied his wrist igniting before a hidden blade extended out, the blade being segmented parts before the same happened with his other arm, “Huh… interesting,” he said out loud before looking to Knila and Nadine, Nadine being in Knila’s arms with wide eyes.

“Are you… ok?” BL-495-1 asked.

“Yeah… I’m fine” Nadine replied before she was set back onto the ground by Knila as they saw him retract the blades back into his wrists.

“What's the drug that's injected when he stabs the needle into someone, is it like something that causes someone to go unconscious?”.

“I think I depended on what they wanted at the time,” Twilight responded, “Most of the time we used either hallucinogenics or a drug called Midazolam.”

“Midazolam, what's that?” Knila asked confused

“A strong drug used to knock someone out causes drowsiness, and memory loss while also putting the target to sleep quickly. We improved upon it to make it almost instant and last up to 16 hours with a single dose.” Twilight calmly states, “If we needed to keep something down longer we hit them with a new dose as soon as the first was about to wear off.”

“Yikes….” Nadine muttered in response.

“At least it’s effective…but back to him, what happens now?” Knila said pointing towards BL-495-1

“I’ll deal with the last few changes and updates myself, then set him to a rest mode to make sure his systems reboot correctly before reinstating him with a new code number before making sure he has no bugs in his systems,” Twilight responds.

“How long will I be in rest mode?” BL-495-1 asked looking to Twilight.

“A couple of hours at worst.”

“Understood” he replied with a nod before leaning his back onto the table and laying in place.

“And while I finish up here. I think you three need to get everything else sorted,” Twilight calmly states ushering the three of them out of the room.

“I get it Twilight I get it,” Shade replied with a chuckle as he left the room.

“Ok we're going, we're going, jeez….” Nadine said as she walked out of the room behind Shade with Knila silently doing the same.

Once the group left the room Shade looked at the two of them, “Maybe I should get you back to my sister to get the rest of your things in order.”

“Alrighty then,” Nadine said with a smile as Knila gave a nod in response, “Let’s go then, She’s probably done with that thing I asked her about while we were gone”.

Giving the two a nod he began walking with them close behind but after a few moments of walking, he felt Knila grab onto his hand looking to his side to see her next to him the woman blushing as she did so before feeling Shade’s wing rub her neck.

“You know maybe I need to put another order in for you… Something super absorbent.” Shade suggests with a smirk.

Knila in response just let out an embarrassing squeak. while Nadine just looked at her friend's demeanour in amusement as all that could be heard from Knila afterwards was incoherent babbling from her while the group continued to walk back to Alexis’s.

Chapter 18

Dillon was sleeping in the cave next to the pups in the fetal position his breathing matching their pace as he slowly breathed in and out the suns light peeked through the entrance and hit directly on the boy's face stirring him awake, after a moment he opened his eyes and stood up with a yawn.

Looking around, he saw that Ryka and the others were still asleep so he slowly tiptoed around everyone until he was at the entrance of the cave which he then usually walked out towards the lake.

When he looked around he saw that some wolves were awake but not a large amount it was safe to say possibly only four or five were out at the moment and they were at the lake drinking from it as Dillon stopped in front of the lake rubbing his eyes before going to knees and cupping some of the water in his hand and splashing it on his face.

After a moment he looked at the water again seeing his reflection in the water the boy looked at it in silence, “Dear God you need a haircut….”.

“Bout time you woke up, and what's wrong with my hair?” Dillon replied with a brow raised.

“What’s wron- look at it, its raggedy mess there’s even small twigs in it!” Jason yells causing Dillon to wince, “Please don’t yell it’s too early in the day for this….”.

Dillon could hear Jason scoff before he said, “Fine, but next time I'm in control I'm giving you a haircut”.

“Whatever you say, Jason,” Dillon said as he grabbed another handful of water and drank from it.

After a couple of hours, everyone in the lake was up and walking around the wolves walking through the multiple caves and talking amongst each other and the last ones to wake up were Axel and Ziggy who just walked out of the cave with yawns of their own before they saw Dillon laying in place in front of the lake.

They could see that he was awake but also that he wouldn’t move as they could see some pups running around him playing before the two walked up to him Dillon noticed the two as he said, “Oh hey guys, what’s up?”.

“Nothing much, when did you wake up?” Axel asked.

“In the morning pretty early too might I add,”

“Was Jason the one that woke you up?” He heard Ziggy ask.

“Nope, did that all on my own, even some of the pack were awake too” Dillon replied as he slowly sat himself up.

“What have you doing since then?” Axel asked.

“Since the morning I helped some of the pack members scavenge for some food, patrol around the area, and some other junk, other than that I’ve been laying over here for the past couple of hours” Dillon replied.

“You’ve been keeping yourself busy” Axel commented.

“Had nothing better to do,” Dillon admitted with a shrug.

The trio went silent for a moment, not knowing what to say before Axel asked, “You two want to spar for the time being?”.

Dillon and Ziggy look towards each other before nodding, “Sure let’s do it” Dillon jumped to his feet, the pups running somewhere else to play.

The trio makes so space away from the lake and takes out their weapons, 'Alright, I’ll be the opponent this time who’s going first?'.

Ziggy raised his hand, “Alright Ziggy you’re up then” Axel said waving him over as the two were five feet apart from one another, some of the pack members noticed the two and surrounded them before the two went into their respective stances with Ziggy having a wide stance and having his axe to his side, with Axle having his great sword above his head and pointed towards Ziggy.

“On three ok?” Axel said getting a nod from Ziggy, “Ok, one, two, three!” Axel shouted as Ziggy swung towards him, Axel jumped backward evading the slash as he saw Ziggy teleport in front of him to close the distance.

Taking the opportunity Axel ducked down and grabbed Ziggy by the arm and attempted to throw him away but Ziggy latched onto Axel’s arm that was holding his sword and wrapped his legs around the section with Axel’s elbow in an attempt to keep Axel from moving it.

“Got you!” Ziggy grunted out Axel struggled for a moment before smiling and dropping his sword, Ziggy noticed this before he felt Axel grip the hem of his shirt and his free hand’s index finger finish pressing onto a specific spot of his neck forcing the boy’s legs to go limp which led to Axel swinging Ziggy over his head and slamming him into the ground causing him to slide towards some pack members who moved out of the way.

“Ow….” Ziggy groaned out as he slowly pushed himself from the ground, “Just because you could keep my arm from doesn’t mean I couldn’t counter it, you forgot my other arm and left yourself open to that”.

“Yeah noted…” Ziggy replied rubbing his side before he suddenly caught his axe looking to Axel who had already picked his greatsword back up, “You're not giving up now are you?”.

Taking a breath he swung his axe again before smiling, “Nope” getting a nod from Axel, “Good now again”.

Ziggy just rushed down towards him as the two clashed again Ziggy picked up his speed and Axel matched that speed with little difficulty a resounding clang whenever the two’s weapons hit together while Dillon and the pack watched them spar and after many minutes had passed from the back and forth between the two Axel was the eventual victor with Ziggy on his back gathering his breath with sweat going down his face.

“Nice job Ziggy you lasted a good amount of time there, one thing I’d recommend doing for your teleportation is to use it when the opponent doesn’t expect like make them think you're going to slash them but teleport at the last second to throw them off”.

“Got it…” Ziggy replied still on the ground giving a thumbs up before Axel looked to Dillon, “Alright Dillon, your up”.

Dillon walked forward to Axel passing Ziggy before being face to face with Axel who smiled before stabbing his weapon to the floor, “Let’s do hand to hand first”.

“Alright” Dillon replied doing the same as he stabbed into the ground beside him before he and Axel went into their respective stances the two going quiet before they rushed towards each other.

The two shot their fists forward both their fists colliding causing Dillon to wince slightly from the action.

Axel who noticed then ducked down and sweep him from under the leg making him fall back to the ground.

In response to this action, Dillon reached his arm to the ground and used it to keep him from the ground and had him upside down he twisted his body launching a flurry of kicks toward Axel who blocked and dodged them before jumping away from him.

Dillon then pushed up from the ground causing him to jump back onto his feet, “Not bad right?” he said with a smile.

“Not bad at all,” Axel said with a smile of his own he and Dillon rushed towards each other again the two continuing to spar against each other until Axel grabbed Dillon by the arm and flipped him behind him launching him towards his great sword the boy grabbing onto it and causing the blade to drag into the ground as it stopped his momentum.

Dillon then looked up to Axel who was standing at Dillon’s sword before taking it out of the ground, “Let’s change things up shall we?”.

“Alright let’s do this!” Dillon shouted as he removed Axel’s greatsword from the ground hefting it over his shoulder with some difficulty but was successful.

The pack looked on in silence towards the two before Dillon threw the greatsword towards Axel like a spear Axel jumped up as it landed on the ground, Dillon rushed forward and grabbed onto it as he swung his arms up causing the greatsword toward Axel who blocked it with Dillon’s sword.

Grabbing onto the end of the blade Axel pushed forward launching himself towards Dillon and landing on him a plume of dust shrouding the two of them the pack watched in silence before they heard Dillon shout, “Ow ok, ok, uncle!” as they then saw Axel had pinned Dillon to the ground and restrained him with his arm on his back and his hand on Dillon’s head.

“Alright, that was good spar Dillon your getting better,” Axel said while getting off of Dillon who rubbed the arm that Axel had restrained.

“Thanks…” Dillon replied as he stood up from the ground as their weapons disappeared, “One word of advice Dillon don’t telegraph your move’s too much it lets the opponent know what your gonna do before you do it”.

“Got it” Dillon replied before the pack dispersed and after a few moments of them just standing there they saw Ryka walking up to them, “Boys I need you to do something for today”.

“What is it, mom?” Dillon asked.

“I need you three to go with some pack members to scavenge today some of them felt some unfamiliar presence around the forest I want you three to accompany them just in case so nothing awry happens”.

“Oh alright when are we going?” Ziggy asked before the boys saw her point to the side as they saw a group of six-pack members sitting there, “Does now work?”.

They nod to her, “Yeah now works” Axel then said as the pack members began to walk out into the forest with Ziggy quietly following behind them.

“We’ll be back in a little while then mom” Dillon said to Ryka who nodded as he and Axel ran into the forest to catch up with Ziggy and the others.

“Be careful you three!” They heard her shout.

“We will!” she then heard Dillon shout back, Ryka smiling in a nod before turning around and walking towards where the pups were.

Thirty minutes had passed as the boys helped their pack members scavenge for food in the Everfree with Ziggy and Dillon holding multiple berries and nut’s in a makeshift sack made out of leaves that Axel had made.

“Thanks for making these Axel,” Ziggy said to the older boy who nodded, “No problem it would have been more tedious if we didn’t have anything to hold those in”.

“True enough” They heard Dillon reply as they saw him pick some fruit from a nearby tree, “There are a lot of weird fruits in this forest”.

“Well the Everfree isn’t normal so I think that’s on brand for this place” Ziggy responded to Jason.

“True” Dillon replied as he tightened his bag shut so none of the food would out meanwhile the pack members they came with were dragging a piece of bark that had fresh meat laid on top of it.

“Seems they found their quota” Axel commented as he stepped out of their way so they can head back to the lake.

“We should probably head back with them, don’t want something bad to happen,” Axel said to his brothers who nodded to him before he began to follow the wolves.

“Understood Axel” Ziggy replied while he and Dillon walked behind him before Dillon stopped in place Ziggy noticed that his brother wasn’t next to him as he looked back to see him looking around.

“Dillon, what’s wrong?” Ziggy asked while Dillon continued to glance around cautiously.

“You ever get the feeling you're being watched?” He asked with narrowed eyes.

“Yeah sometimes” Ziggy replied,
“Let’s go I can’t shake this feeling and it’s bothering me” Dillon then said before moving again passing Ziggy who looked at him concerned

“A-alright” Ziggy replied as he jogged up to catch up to Dillon and Axel meanwhile something in the shadows was watching them a faint red glow coming from its eyes.

Over the next couple of days Dillon and the others just preoccupied themselves with stuff to keep themselves busy Ziggy mostly kept track of the food they scavenged so everyone could get their fair share so no one got more food than others.

Dillon mostly watched the pups along with Ryka when he didn’t help with scavenging and scouting out the area so no one would come in and hurt the pack since he was the one who was up the most at night.

And Axel just when he wasn’t helping the two just trained by himself or sparred with Dillon or Ziggy to keep their training up so they wouldn’t get sloppy and that they could be prepared to fight back against something if they needed to.

But over those days every time, the pack would scout around the area with the boys who accompanied them by the order of Ryka, With the feeling that Dillon had of being watched got worse as if there were more eyes on them before it bothered him greatly to the point that even if they weren’t inside the brush he could feel someone’s gaze on them, and that feeling scared him so much that he couldn’t sleep and just stayed out of the caves and looked to the forest.

This continued until the fifth day in the dead of night when Dillon was keeping a lookout since it was his turn again his eyes had bags under them and he looked to be dozing off every few seconds but would fight that feeling by dunking his head underwater as the only sounds that accompanied the silence were that of crickets

“Dillon you know to keep yourself awake like this isn’t good for you” He heard Jason say scoffing in response, “What do you suggest I do then I know you had that feeling just as much as I did Jason”.

“Yes I did but you shouldn’t be jeopardizing your health for this, whatever is watching us is gonna try and use that against you, you need to sleep”.

“N-no I can’t let what’s watching get the chance to get past I need to be prepared,” Dillon said before he let out a yawn.

“Dillon, sleep,” Jason said as Dillon immediately responded “No….”.

“You're being an idiot again….”

“I….don’t…care” Dillon responded nodding off slowly he attempted to splash water on his face but his arms or legs wouldn’t move before he suddenly closed his eyes the boy went quiet, low snores could be heard from him as he slumped to his side, he had fallen asleep.

The night had passed and Dillon slowly began to wake up his hearing beginning to fade in as he began to hear panicked comments from some of the pack members.

“None of our hunters came home last night!” One of them said as numerous others began to say the same with panicked comments having the boy open his eyes and push himself up from the ground, “What’s going on?”.

“Our hunters who went out last night didn’t return!” one of them shouted towards him.

“Wait what do you mean they didn’t come back, they shouldn’t have gone anywhere at all last night,” Dillon said.

“One of them said they wanted to scout out the area while scavenging for food they said they wouldn’t take long but they haven’t returned” the wolf replied.

“Oh no…” Dillon muttered standing himself up, “This can’t be happening!”

“What’s going on?” he heard Axel turning to see him and Ziggy walking towards the group, “The hunters in our pack decided to go out last night and haven’t returned yet”

“They shouldn’t have gone out at all last night!” Ziggy shouted.

“That’s what I said…” Dillon replied before his ear twitched hearing movement from a nearby bush as he and the others turned around to see movement in said bush before one of the hunters slowly limped out of it.

“It’s one of the hunters!” A wolf yelled.

“He’s hurt!”.

The boys run over to the wolf who collapsed once they got close, “What happened!?” Dillon shouted.

“W-we got ambushed by another pack they got the others one by one it happened so quickly I don’t know how I escaped”.

“Just be glad you got out of there,” Axel said to the wolf.

“Dillon I think this was related to that feeling you had, someone must have been watching the pack know when to strike and I think their starting now” He heard Jason say.
“Yeah I think so too” Dillon replied before shouting getting the attention of the pack, “Alright everyone we need to get preparations underway an unknown pack is attacking ours and went after our hunters and I feel it won’t be too long until they start coming after us!”.

The pack's reactions were just pure panic as a large majority of the pack members couldn’t fight as well as the ones in late pregnancy or were too young to fight.

“We're gonna die!” One of them shouted as all of them began to talk all over one another completely ignoring the boys who were trying to calm them down.

This went on for multiple minutes with the boys still trying to calm them down but to no avail until they heard Ryka shout, “QUIET” the pack then went to complete silence as they looked towards her.

“Dillons right we need to prepare for the worst if another pack is coming after us and panicking isn’t gonna help anything”.

“I’ll go get them ”They heard Dillon say as Ryka turned to him “Dillon no we don’t need to lose anyone else right now what we need to do is prepare for the worst”.

“I have to, If I didn’t fall asleep last night I could have stopped them from going out there, stop them from being in whatever condition they're in now, this is my fault….” Dillon replied his hands shaking.

“Dillon we need you here, I know you think you are at fault for this but you are not this was out of your control” Ryka tried to reassure him only for the boy to back away, “I'm sorry…” He said before he ran into the forest Axel and Ziggy attempted to stop him but he already disappeared into the brush.

“Dillon no!” He heard Ziggy shout as he continued to run through the forest their voices began to fade out as he went deeper and deeper until he couldn’t listen to them anymore as he took a breath.

“I knew you were an idiot but I didn’t expect it to be this bad” he heard Jason speak.

“Shut up Jason….”.

“No, because you're being unreasonable your not responsible for what the hunters did to get themselves ambushed and once you get that into your thick head of yours the quicker you can go back to the pack and help them prepare!”.

“Shut up!” Dillon shouted.

“No go back and help your family prepare you dumbass because if you don’t things are gonna get much worse and your gonna blame yourself for much more than some of your pack members being captured!”.

Dillon didn’t respond, Jason’s words not swaying him, “Dillon if your gonna do this at least go to Shade for help he’d be willing to help you!”.

“No, I have to do this alone….” Dillon replied causing Jason to scream at him, “YOU GODDAMN IDIOT IF YOU GO ALONE YOU’LL DIE YOU DON’T KNOW THEIR RANKS!”.

“I'm sorry Jason, I have to do this and I can’t let you stop me” Dillon replied as Jason's vision of the outside began to slowly close shut, “Dillon don’t do this, I swear to god if you do I’ll never forgive you!” he shouted his words falling on deaf ears as Dillon completely cut him off and walked forward.

The boy walked through the forest in silence for a few minutes as he carefully traversed through it, he then hopped over a nearby log before hearing nearby some movement as he sped up towards the noise before finding himself peeking over a bush.

His eyes widened once he saw wolves he didn’t recognize as he carefully scanned around the area before seeing the majority of the wolves congregating in the center of that area around what looked like the alpha but he looked different he looked like a hybrid-like Dillon.

Taking a breath he snuck around the brush and went to get a closer look and once he did he saw a glowing mark on the alpha’s shoulder but one thing, in particular, but once he backed away slightly the alpha immediately looked towards his direction the boy trying to not be seen.

Dillon held his breath but that didn’t help as he saw the alpha running towards him and grabbing him from the bush and hitting him in the stomach causing him to gasp out in pain as the hit caused him to go limp.

The alpha dragged the boy to the ground as Dillon’s vision blurred slightly seeing some of the hunters laid out in a line before he heard the alpha faintly speak towards a blurred figure he couldn’t make out any features, “Thank you, your reward will be sent to you soon” he heard the figure say before feeling him grab onto his neck as something was injected into his neck.

The boy’s vision began to blur again as he saw the alpha walk towards one of the hunters who let out a scream of fear as the boy saw him grab their head and bite into their ear before ripping it off as Dillon fell unconscious.

Ziggy and Axel were just at the lake with wide eyes, Axel just standing in place as Ziggy just paced back and forth, “Why did he just go and do that he may have fallen asleep last night but he wasn’t at fault for what the hunters did of their own choice, but why did he have to do this!?”.

For once Axel didn’t have an answer for Ziggy and just continued to stand in silence.

“What do we even do…..” Ziggy said with a mutter before looking to where Jason ran and beginning to walk towards it only being stopped by Axel who grabbed him by the arm, “What are you doing?”

“Going after my brother”.

“No, we need to stay here and help if we go out there we’ll just leave our pack members at a disadvantage!”.

“Axel let him go” they heard Ryka say to the two.

“What!?” Axel shouted, “We don’t need to lose access to anyone in this pack if I let him go there's a good possibility he’ll get captured!”.

“Dillon needs someone with him and if Ziggy finds him they’ll be able to watch out for each other” Ryka replied as Axel looked towards her in disbelief before letting his little brother go.

“Thank you,” Ziggy said to Ryka before running into the forest and disappearing into the brush.

“What now” She heard Axel ask as she replied, “We prepare” the two went silent as they had the more helpless members of the pack go into the caves for their safety.

Ziggy meanwhile was running through the everfree looking for Dillon his eyes quickly glancing around to find any clue to where Dillon went before seeing footprints and electing to follow them jogging forward.

After a couple of minutes, he stopped in place to see that the footprints didn’t anywhere they just stopped he looked around for a moment before hearing a twig snap behind and once he turned around something hit him on the head making him collapse to the ground as his vision saw someone standing over him as his vision then went dark.

A low ringing noise could be heard in a white room with Dillon and Ziggy bound against the walls, Ziggy’s eyes fluttering open before closing back shut from the bright light going into his face, “What, where am I, what is this?” Ziggy spoke.

“I see our newest acquisition has woken up. Welcome HU-RPM-G1,” A voice calmly said into the room, “We will begin with your introduction and preliminary tests once HU-RPM-B1 wakes up.”

“What..” Ziggy said confused before looking to the side to see Dillon limping hanging from where he was bound, “Dillon!” he shouted.

Dillon didn’t stir only staying still as Ziggy shouted again, “Dillon wake up!”

“HU-RPM-G1 please do not try to wake HU-RPM-B1. He will wake in due course.” the voice stated as Ziggy saw what looked to be human-like figures, with large metal plates covering their bodies walk into the
room wheeling what looked to be a tv screen into the room in front of him before it suddenly turned on
revealing an image familiar to Ziggy. The Den.

“No, no, no, this can’t be happening!” Ziggy shouted his thoughts immediately going to worst.

“We will begin soon for now please enjoy the show,” the voice stated again now sounding almost creepy, as Ziggy saw one of the figures approach Dillon with a needle in their hand before injecting him.

Not even a second later Ziggy saw Dillon’s body lurch forward as he let out a loud gasp Ziggy saw him let out loud breaths as he shook in place, “Dillon?” he heard Ziggy as he looked towards him, “Z-ziggy what are you doing here?” he stuttered out.

“I went after you but they, I think they knocked me out”

“They did the same for me when I was captured by that other pack's alpha…” Dillon grunted.

“Welcome back HU-RPM-B1,” the voice that had spoken to Ziggy calmly said cutting him off, “please look to the screen ahead of you both. The entertainment is about to begin.”

“Entertainment what are you-” Dillon said confused before seeing the den on the tv, “No” he then said in a whisper as what was on the screen played.

The two saw the opposing pack coming into the den with monsters alongside them with large cages as some of the wolves attempted to run away from them only to be pursued by the enemy wolves and made immobile from injuries made to their legs and the few that did fight laid onto the ground with grave injuries as some monsters and wolves could be seen beating down on them, Ryka could be seen fighting back and defending the pups but she was slowly overwhelmed by some of the others wolves and pinned down.

Axel thought he was fighting back alongside Ryka he didn’t fare any better he was piled up upon by the monsters and wolves leading him to be beaten to a bloody pulp as he was grabbed by the neck Axel’s body weakly trying to fight back before he was seen shocked causing his body to go limp.

“Mom, Axel no!” The boys screamed as they saw the monsters and wolves slowly grab onto each wolf and throw each of them into the cages some letting out yelps of pain as the boys heard the slam of each cage closing, the entire pack was captured by the cult.

“They captured them all…” Ziggy said with a whimper Dillon was completely silent as he shut his eyes with gritted teeth

“I hope you enjoyed the show. And don’t worry, you’ll them all again soon enough,” the voice responds as they see what looked to be a group of scientists walk into the room wheeling in a small table with multiple strange objects on it along with a large medical table as they stopped near Ziggy’s side.

“W-what are you doing get away from him” Dillon shouted the scientist not listening to him before his body seized up his fists tightly clenched before he changed to Jason’s red as he screamed, “Don’t you touch him damn it GET AWAY FROM HIM!”.

The scientists paused two of them stepping away from Ziggy and walking toward Jason, “That was a strange and must I say quick reaction HU-RPM-B1. I suppose we need to restart your training again all that time after your escape has given you a rebellious streak.”

“SCREW YOU BASTARD!” He shouted with a growled out struggling against his bindings.

“I wouldn’t do that if I was you,” the scientist calmly says, “I mean who knows what we would do to your friend here if you cause trouble again.”

Dillon then saw Ziggy before bound back in place on the medical table his limbs pulled wide preventing any movement while his head was bound in place.

“NO, Don’t you fucking dare you monsters!” Jason shouted.

“What’s happening?” Ziggy whimpered out fear in his voice.

“Don’t worry HU-RPM-G1. We’re just starting your first of many tests and changes,” the scientist said walking back towards him and turning the table for Jason to see Ziggy a lot more clearly.

“What the hell are you doing you monster!” Jason growled out anger in his voice as he heard them starting the boy struggled with his bindings again, as Ziggy whimpered, “Jason I'm scared” Jason tried to comfort him the best he could but not even a moment later noises could be heard ringing out as his screams could be heard from echoing in the room with Jason shouting, “Stop it, please!” his voice in complete desperation.

The scientists just ignored their screams sadistic smirks on all their faces as they continued, nobody in the rooms looking at the TV screen that was still running, all of them missing a single wolf emerge from the den. A wolf wearing a black metal dog collar.

Chapter 19

Meanwhile, in the Everfree Castle, Shade sat on his throne many creatures had been entering and leaving throughout the day, many of them catching glances as a second figure sat beside him on the floor.

The figure was covered in a red latex outfit that had a fake dog muzzle as well as a fake tail whose limbs were also bound upward seeming to only let them move by crawling, besides that there were also two bowls next to the throne, one that had food in it and the other having water.

Shade’s hand was constantly reaching down rubbing the bound figures head every once in a while scratching the side of one of the ears causing them to nuzzle into his hand with what looked like satisfaction, “I was not expecting you to enjoy this as much as you are,” Shade states as he listens into the bound figures mind, a method they had agreed on.

“What can I say I tend to defy expectations” he heard from the bound figure

“Even the fact that you are being treated like a dog for all aspects… I thought dealing with your urges would have embarrassed you more than it had, that and being led around with your tail raised and private parts on show constantly,” Shade responded, as his hand moved down her body rubbing against her chest.

Her body jolted a noise coming from her as the muzzle made said noise sound like a dog bark with the other parts of her body shaky, “G-guess I just have thick skin then”.

Shade didn’t respond as his hand moved away again as he placed his hands on the throne’s armrests, “Still how are you enjoying the fifth day of this Nadine?”

“Honestly it’s been getting more and more enjoyable with each day but I think today may have been my favourite” she replied as she crawled in front of him laying her head on his lap.

“And why is that?”

“I don’t know, it's just how I feel, I don’t know how to explain it” He heard her reply rubbing her head against his legs, before feeling Shade’s hand rub her ears again.

A few moments later one of the doors could be heard slamming open as Shade looked to see that it was Pitch, “Alpha, we need help!” Shade heard the desperation in his voice.

“Slow down. Take a breath. Then speak,” Shade requested as he looked at Pitch.

Pitch doing what he was told took a deep breath, “Another pack attacked us they must have been scouting us out because they picked off our hunters the night before” Pitch spoke before taking a breath again “ T-the next day they came at us full force with some monsters and captured everyone no one was able to fight back I was the last one left if I stayed they would have got me too”.

Shade went silent for a moment taking a single slow breath, “Pitch… tell me where were Dillon, Ziggy and Axel?”

“Dillon decided to try and find the missing hunters and Ziggy went after him, and during the attack, Axel got overwhelmed by their numbers he didn’t stand a chance, and since I didn’t see Dillon or Ziggy in the cages with the other they were probably captured before the attack”.

“Do you know where they went to look for the hunters?” Shade asks gesturing for Nadine to move to the side.

“N-no I don’t” Pitch responded while Nadine did what she was told.

“It was a den not far from our own, on the border with our territory,” A new voice responded as a white-coated timberwolf appeared beside Shade rubbing up against his leg, “I know Dillon at least arrived there but I know the other one didn’t.”

“How do you know that and who are you?” Pitch asked confused.

“You are a foolish pup you know that,” the new wolf responded, “I’m Harmony, one of Shade's other Omega for the other pack he’s caring for. A pack who was supposed to help protect you but failed to act.”

Pitch just looked to Shade and harmony in confusion.

“I’m the new Omega until we get the others back,” Harmony explains, “I would recommend trying to recover the kidnapped hunters first and to take at least one capable wolf with you.”

“Who would we bring then?”

“I have a suggestion for someone in mind. I had him prepare himself to be deployed as soon as I realised what had happened,” Harmony responds gesturing to the wall as a hole opened before a figure walked out.

The figure in question was TW-BER78 as Pitch just looked at him with wide eyes, “I was told that I was needed for an operation?”.

“If you want to call it that,” Shade responds, “the main pack was attacked, and everyone bar this one was taken. We know that some of them were taken by another pack so I want to rescue them first. I would find it useful to at least have someone else beyond him with me.”

He nodded “Understood, when will we be leaving?” TW-BER78 then asked looking to Shade and waiting for an answer.

“Immediately,” Shade responds raising to his feet, before pausing to look at TW-BER78, “Say… Did we ever get your name?”

TW-BER78 only shook his head in response, “No I believe you became busy with other matters before you could, but… I do remember something faintly concerning a name”.

“Would you mind telling me so I don’t have to rely on what the cult called you?” Shade requested.

“It’s… Sol you can call me Sol” he replied.

“Okay then. Sol, will you come with me to rescue the others?” Shade asked.

“Of course Shade,” Sol said, nodding towards Shade.

“And Pitch,” Shade said now looking towards him.

“Y-yes alpha?” Pitch said, looking back towards Shade.

“You're coming with us,” Shade ordered, “And depending on how things go maybe you’ll get a reward.”

“U-understood” Pitch responded with a nod the fear from before still on his face for a moment before he took another breath.

“Depending on what happens… you may like it,” Shade responds before looking to Nadine, “And Nadine.”

She looked up towards Shade, “Yeah Shade?”

“You're not coming with me… but in case something does happen I would recommend going to my sister and getting that removed and redressed with actual clothing and armour. If you do well I’ll allow you to do this again as a treat. Maybe with some more improvements to the costume or accessories.”

Shade saw her eyes widen in response before he heard her say, “Got it!”.

“Good now get going,” Shade ordered rubbing Nadine's head again.

The woman nodded towards him as she crawled out of the room Shade turned his attention back to the others once she was gone.

“Now let's get moving, place your paws against me,” Shade ordered.
Doing what they were told they placed their paws against Shade before he ignited his horn and teleported them away back into the forest.

As the group reappeared they were at a large stretch of the forest with multiple footprints heading north of them but suddenly stopped but the area where said footprints stopped had a large imprint next to them, a body was there previously.

Pitch approached the imprint and began to smell it as he then recognized the scent, “Ziggy was here…”.

“If he was taken from here, he must have been close to where Dillon was,” Sol said looking over the footprints again.

“You got any other nearby scents we can follow?” Shade asked as he looked around carefully.

“All the other wolves nearby are all currently near their den,” Harmony calmly stated to Shade who kept Sol and Pitch linked to their conversation, “There's a lot of them as well.”

“Any idea on the exact number?” Sol asked.

“Not sure… it seems most of them are either kept inside the base… and have a lot of lives in one spot, guarding said spot or waiting outside,” Harmony responds, “In fact… I can sense at least a few of them are biologically close to you Pitch.”

“W-what?” He said with a stutter before realization showed on his face, “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to go back there, but I guess you have to confront your past at some point…”.

“You sure you are going to be okay?” Shade asks looking at Pitch.

“No I'm not, but I still have to do this I need to stop my monster of a father from hurting anyone else” Pitch replied before asking, “Would you be willing to help me?”.

“Oh trust me… If said father is the Alpha, and has done anything to our packmates… well let's just say he won’t be harming anyone else ever again.” Shade responded starting to walk forwards towards where the other pack's den is.

Sol and Pitch follow close behind him as the group walked towards the enemy den.

Once the group reached the den they saw some wolves waiting outside of said den guarding while some of the other members were faintly seen inside of the den the group was unable to discern their numbers.

“Yeah, this place definitely hasn’t changed,” Pitch said before looking to Shade, “What are we gonna do?”.

“You two are going to stay here for now… I’m going to negotiate with them,” Shade responds starting to step towards the den, transforming into his form comprising of a Timberwolf and Alicorn.

“Alpha with all due respect this pack isn’t one to negotiate, how are you going to get them to agree?” Pitch asked.

“Did I ever say I was going to talk,” Shade responded, “I was thinking more aggressive kind of negotiation?”

“Fair enough”

“Make sure they regret what they did Shade” he heard Sol say before walking out of the bush towards the den.

Once he did some of the wolves that were guarding the outside of the den noticed him immediately and growled at him, some of which he recognised and once they saw him just backed away from the wolves who continued to growl at him.

Shade however did not stop moving toward them, “I would recommend you get your Alpha out here right now for your safety… If you don’t you will not like the consequences.” He then looked at some of his hunters finding the ear with their marks having been bitten off, his voice already sounding angrier in tone by what he saw, “And my hunters behind you can attest to my warning.”

“We’d recommend listening to him you won’t like what happens if you don’t” One of the hunters spoke before she flinched from getting growled at.

“I’d stop threatening my pack if I was you,” Shade suggested, his eyes focused on the wolf who had growled at the hunter.

“Or what?” One of the wolves says before ordering two of them behind him, “You two take care of him” the two wolves immediately ran forward lunging toward Shade with a snarl

“Strike Two,” Shade calmly stated glaring at the wolves as their bodies instantly ignited black flames enveloping their forms as they fell to the ground the two letting out yelps of fear and pain as they attempted to put out the flames.
.As soon as Shade was standing over them he glared down at them before the flames stopped, but their bodies had changed their fur turning black with a visible red brand on their backs their heads being the only parts not changed, “Stay pups.”

The two wolves stayed in place their eyes looking up at him in fear as he heard the wolf from before say, “What the hell did you do!?”.

“Do you want a firsthand experience,” Shade warned, “If not bring out your Alpha now, or yours will be much more thorough.” As soon as he had finished he placed his hand on the nearest wolf's head as her entire body turned black as the wolf rubbed their head against Shade’s hand affectionately.

The wolf flinched in response as he looked at Shade after seeing him do that, fear slowly showing on his face as he stumbled back stuttering before he ran into the den, the hunters outside took the chance to run behind Shade.

“There you all go. Your safe now,” Shade calmly states as the wolf he had turned dragged the second one towards Shade's feet as he looked at the second wolf before after a few moments of waiting they then heard a pained yelp from inside the den as they saw the den’s alpha slowly walk out of the cave seeing blood near the corners of his muzzle.

“Who are you, why are you attacking us? ”

“I would ask the same to the tyrant who attacked my pack and kidnapped my hunters,” Shade responded coldly, as he completed the changes to the second wolf, getting the same reaction as the first from her.

“You're the alpha, I thought we already took care of him when we attacked the den?”.

“Well thank you for confirming my suspicions,” Shade responds with a glare at the wolf. “That makes this a lot easier.”

“What are you going to do we captured your entire pack. Your alone,” The alpha replied as some of the wolves that were inside the den stepped out coming up behind him.

“I suppose I’ll take yours as repayment first,” Shade calmly said looking at the wolves that had appeared, “Honestly you all don’t look like much of a threat to me. I’d hardly call you all a starter to be honest.”

The wolves who were behind the alpha just growled at Shade in response to him saying this as the alpha then pointed towards Shade, “Get him” they hear him say as they all charged towards him.

“Idiot,” Shade responded once again glaring at the approaching wolves as just like the first two their bodies ignited changing all but their heads before he stopped as they collapsed to the floor by Shade's feet, “Honestly it didn’t work last time, what made you think it would this time?”

Some of the wolves' voices were one of fear for their own lives, some of them saying that they didn’t have a choice, while the majority just yelled out in anger at what had just happened.

Shade ignored them walking past the downed wolves, “The rest of you… take a bite of them,” Shade ordered the freed members of his pack.

He then heard some of the wolves begin pleading out towards the freed members of his pack who slowly approached them, “You don't have to do this!” one of them plead but this plea fell on deaf ears some of the wolves still trying to stop them,

After a moment though Shade heard the sound of flesh tearing as he heard the wolves one after another let out yelps of pain.

“You want this to stop. Give me back the others and I’ll leave,” Shade states looking at the Alpha ahead of him.

In response, the alpha just frowned “I refuse” before he took out a familiar object from behind him, it was a morpher and it had a brown cartridge inside the slot in the centre, “Let’s get this over with already” Shade then heard him say before seeing him transform.

Once he finished transforming it showed what looked to be a brown ranger suit with the added feature of a fur coat around the neck of it and the gloves having a sharp set of claws, “I assume you know tradition right?”.

Shade simply smirked at him, “That I do… my question is what are you wanting me to place on the line?”

“You win, you get my pack and my loyalty, I won’t fight back against what happens, what are you willing to place on the line?”.

“Considering you already kidnapped my pack… Whatever you desire is on the table. So you pick your prize” Shade replies calmly without a hint of fear in his voice.

“If I win I get the wolves you took back and….you as my slave that seems fair enough?” he responded as the hunters looked towards Shade before backing up, giving them room.

Shade simply nodded at the hunters before looking to the Alpha, “I can agree to those terms, but no running away when things don’t go your way.”

“I won't, I may be a bastard but I keep my end of the bargain” The alpha replied as he and Shade walked over to a more open segment of the area so they could have room as the hunters just watched from nearby.

“I’m going to ask one last question before we begin. What have you done with my sons.” Shade asked his eyes still focused on the Alpha.

“Your talking about those hybrid runt’s right, well after I got the first one who found his way here I subdued him and gave him over to one of the monsters the second one was just found nearby by the monster and incapacitated by him”.
.
Shade paused for a moment before saying, “Monsters from where?”

“The Cult of Shade. They told me if gave them over we would be rewarded”.

Shade did not respond for a moment, before looking at the Alpha, his voice no longer hiding his feeling, as his glare solely focused on the wolf ahead of him, “You are going to suffer for the rest of your life for this.”

“Guess that pissed you off huh?,” he said with a smirk before baring his claws toward Shade.

Shade did not respond as his belt formed on his waist and he held his Eyecon out, “You have no goddamn idea how much you have doomed yourself with what you have done,” Shade added before transforming.

As the Alpha ahead of him heard the words "Kaigan: Shade! Let's Go! Kakugo! Akuma-tekina Shade!" he looked directly at Shade's armour before seeing the icon on his chest the alpha tilted his head in confusion before saying, “Who are you, what's with that symbol and suit?”.

At first, Shade did not answer as his chains shot out striking the Alpha’s chest and sending spark flying from the suit, knocking him back slightly the alpha gasped out from the hit since he had no time to react at all, “W-what the hell”.

“My name… You want to really know. It’s Shade. I assume you can guess the rest,” Shade responded coldly as his chains continuously struck the Alpha with no mercy as sparks endlessly came from all parts of his suit.

He tried to counter or move away from the chains but each time he did he was just hit again and again with them he couldn’t do anything they were too fast and was then struck in the chest knocking him into the side of the den causing any of the wolves inside to feel it quake his suit disappearing. He was then yanked from the wall as he felt the chains tightly grab his limbs pulling them tight and spread outwards as he was carried towards Shade.

“Do you know who I am?” Shade asks still looking at the Alpha who didn’t say anything before feeling the chains giving a painful tug at his limbs causing him to let out a muffled groan of pain with Shade repeating the question, “Do you know who I am?”.

The chains were pulled again once the alpha didn’t reply again but this time a lot rougher as a loud snapping sound came from one of his legs getting a shout of pain from the alpha who gasped out, “Y-your Shade”.

“And what am I to you now pup,” Shade said as he grabbed his face and forced him to look at Shade.

He didn’t say for a moment before another sound snapping could be heard causing him to yell in pain as he gritted out “Your…my alpha” the pain lingered in his voice as he continued, “I-i follow you by tradition a-and I-i listen to you without question, ok I said it happy?”.

“Not by a long shot,” Shade replied coldly.

“What are you going to do now then?…”.

“Pitch! Sol! Over here now!” Shade shouted over to both wolves.

Doing what they were told walked out from the bushes and went towards Shade the two were quiet before Sol spoke to Shade “What do you need?”,

“Sol hold him in place,” Shade requested before reaching down behind Pitch’s head towards his collar.

“What are you doing?” Pitch asked confused while he felt Shade’s hand on his collar before the weight was suddenly released from it as he saw Shade raise the collar infront of his eyes.

“Please help restrain your father,” Shade requested, making it clear what he was about to do.

He nodded as he and Sol kept his father in place so he wouldn’t move away from Shade Pitch hearing him say, “So you decided to come back and help my downfall, huh, I'm surprised you didn’t stay away Pitch”.

“I wanted to be here to see your downfall father. And to see you get every bit of what you deserve” Pitch replied before going silent.

“You know your mother was turned into birthing cattle by the cult but they decided to give her back to me as a thank you for my constant supply of subjects,” the Alpha said with a smirk, “You should have seen her when I got her back. She definitely helped in raising our numbers.”

Pitch growled at him as he spoke before he bit down on the spot he was holding him down in retaliation causing him to let out a grunt of pain, “Little bastard…”.

The Alpha shook off the pain quickly as his grin appeared again, “You know with how she acts now she doesn’t have much of a mind left she just spreads her legs for us on command like the good little whore she is.”

The Alpha was quickly cut off before he could say more as his mouth was grabbed by Sol who just growled out, “You just like the sound of your voice huh?” before he looked to Shade prompting him to put on the collar before the Alpha could react.

“You can let him go now,” Shade responded as Pitch and Sol let him go, Pitch just glaring at his father before calming himself down.

“Now mutt. Sit,” Shade ordered glaring at the Alpha as he rubbed Pitch’s head.

The alpha immediately sat himself down in front of Shade, before he realized what he did, “What is this?”.

“Maybe your former son wants to explain this to you. After all, he wore it for a while and knows the effects well,” Shade states gesturing for Pitch to explain.

“That collar makes that no matter what you will follow any order given to you, you won’t have a choice in the matter and you won’t have any control” Pitch coldly said to his father who he then saw clawing at the collar before Shade shouted him, “Stop!” causing him to stop doing that action entirely.

“You can’t take it off either only he can” Pitch then added motioning towards Shade.

“And when we say any order… we mean any order and unless it is ordered to be cancelled you can’t stop it,” Shade adds, “For example… From now on you are not allowed to try and kill yourself to escape your punishment, and you must answer any question from any higher ranking member of my pack honestly without hesitation.”

“What!?” he shouted as once he raised his hand his arm stopped in place preventing him from moving it.

“He meant when he said any order” Pitch commented.

“The hell do you know runt!?”

“A lot actually because I had to wear that thing and let me tell ya its really effective” Pitch said before getting up in his father’s face, “Just because you had the pack with you doesn’t mean your strong, without them your just a scared pup trying to claw at some power that’s clearly out of your reach, your pathetic”.

“I think theirs more we can do to him,” Shade responded cancelling his transformation and turning into his pure timberwolf form, “Pitch… you take one ear… I’ll get the other. And you… sit up and don’t move a muscle.”

The alpha sat himself up and stiffened in place as Pitch and Shade went to the sides of his head as he realized what they were about to do, “N-no no don’t do this please!”.

“You lost any chance when you did all of this” Pitch said towards him as he opened his maw near his father's ear, and Shade did the same both their teeth making contact with his ears at the same moment.

He continued to try and plead to the both of them but that stopped once he felt them sink their teeth into his ear the two being very slow about ripping it off as Pitch and Shade slowly pulled their heads back from his head.

“N-no stop please!’ He begged before he felt both Shade and Pitch rip both his ears off in a quick motion the two then spitting them out to the ground.

“And done… for the first time,” Shade calmly said. “After all… we need to take an ear for each of my hunters you kidnapped.”

“W-what?” he whispered fear in his voice finally.

“Yeah, you thought we were done with you, no not yet” Pitch replied.

“P-please no” they heard him whimper out before Sol spoke up again, “Stop being a coward and take your punishment with some dignity it’s not like you’ll have any once this is over”.

Shade could only smirk as he rehealed the Alpha’s ears before blowing into them, getting a flinch from the alpha the fear showing in his eyes, “and after that, we will be repeating it equal to the amount of your own pack you’ve harmed… so it’ll take a few days of us doing this constantly to complete it I think.”

“D-days?” they heard him stutter out as he looked up to see all three of them smirking down at him.

“Although I have a life beyond you so there will be breaks between removing the ears… so it may take a few months to a year… if you're lucky.” Shade says before clicking his fingers, “Oh that reminds me. From this day forth any pain you feel with be felt tenfold.”

The alpha in response just looked down with a helpless look on his face as he sat in place not making noise before he heard Pitch ask him a question, “What happened to mom”.

“She passed not too long ago” he heard him reply as Shade saw Pitch shaking in place.

“Tell the truth mutt,” Shade ordered grabbing him by the throat.

“She's in the back of the den, most likely mid birth” they heard him choke out as Pitch looked to Shade, who dropped the Alpha back to the ground.

“You know Pitch what do you hope to accomplish with her she’s just a mindless slut who bends to my whim do you plan on taking her with you, do you think she’d even recognize you after all you did run away what makes you think she won’t despise you like Snow?,” He said to Pitch whose face dropped Shade seeing a look of pure hatred in his eyes the alpha letting out a laugh shouting “There he is, there’s the angry runt that was raised in this den!”.

“You really do like the sound of your own voice too much,” Shade responded before kicking him hard in the chest knocking the wind out of him, “If you must know I don’t take kindly to lowly creatures like you speaking of my pups that way.” Shade stopped again kicking him in the chest again, “And need I remind you mutt. I can do what I wish to you and you can’t fight back or complain. So… what to do to you now?”

He then heard Pitch speak, “Alpha can I do something to him? Afterward you can do whatever you want with him”.

“Depends what you want to do,” Shade responds his foot resting on the Alpha’s head forcing him to look at him with one of his eyes.

Pitch glanced at the alpha for a moment before replying, “I want to take one of his eyes”.

“Go right ahead,” Shade said without hesitation taking his foot off the wolf before saying, “I forbid you from moving from this spot or position.”

The alpha let out a growl when he saw Pitch walk up towards him the wolf spoke, “You won’t do it Pitch you were too scared back then what makes now any different?” Pitch not saying a word to him and extends one of his claws out and digging it into the alpha’s face and trailing it up towards his eye Pitch makes this moment agonizingly slow before swiping up slashing the alpha’s eye causing him to let out a scream of pain.

“Y-you damn runt!” The alpha said in pain blood seeping down from where his eye was before seeing the look in Pitch’s eyes again hearing him say, “Shut up you mutt…” before seeing him walk back next to Shade.

“You know maybe we should keep it like that,” Shade responded looking down at the Alpha. “Personally I think it’s an improvement.”

“Go to hell….” They heard him say as they still saw him shaking from the pain.

“Is that any way to speak to your alpha mutt?” Shade asked kneeling beside him. “I want a response from you now.”

“Screw you..” He spoke.

“So you're playing that game,” Shade replies with a shake of his head, “I order you to tell me your name now.”

“My name is Hex” He blankly replied any emotion in his voice gone.

“Good boy,” Shade replied in a demeaning tone before patting him on the head. “You can sit up now.”

Doing what he was told he sat himself up and looked down to the collar as the realization of the lack of control he had sunk in, Shade had all the control and he couldn’t do a thing about it.

“It looks like you finally understand,” Shade calmly said.

“It’s not fair…” Hex muttered.

“What did you say?” Shade asked looking back down at Hex.

“It’s not fair!” He heard him shout followed by him screaming, “This is not what we agreed, I never agreed to be your slave!”.

“So much for keeping your end of the bargain” Pitch commented with a sneer, “You really are a coward Hex”.

“Oh trust me. This isn’t turning you into my slave. Right now this is only a punishment,” Shade responded placing his hand over Hex’s missing eye before it healed, his new eye being red with the pupil being Shade’s mark. “There. Now we can all see who you serve.”

Hex looked confused as to what Shade was talking about before he saw Pitch looking at him with a smirk, “Honestly the new eye’s definitely an improvement too bad it’s attached to him”.

“What?” Hex said, confused.

“Do you want a look,” Shade asked as a mirror appeared in his hand and he held it up to Hex allowing him to see his new eye. “I personally think it’s a good start for now.”
“I can agree with that” They heard Sol comment as Hex just looked in silence.

Shade then turned a band on his arm as Valkyrie appeared at his side, “Valkyrie, please head back to the castle and tell everyone to push up the timetable. We are moving on the cult today. Get Twilight to send a message to Celestia as well.”

“Yes Lord Shade,” Valkyrie responded before flying away back towards the town.

“Now… I think you have someone to lead us to.” Shade responds as he heals Hex’s legs.

“Sorry I think after all that I forgot where I put her…” Hex replied.

“Have you not learnt a thing about your little gift,” Shade asked tapping the collar, “Do I need to spell everything out to you?”

Flinching he just looked down, “F-fine” he replied in a mumble as Shade had him stand up.

“And the rest of you from this pack. Who am I to you now?” Shade asked looking at the wolves whose ears the hunters had bitten off.

“Your…our alpha we follow you and only you…” One of them spoke in response while the others did the same.

“Good I want you all to tell the entire pack of what happened. If any don’t believe you tell them I will be publicly marking him as mine outside the den after I’m done dealing with other matters.” Shade ordered.

“U-understood,” another one of them said as they could then be seen walking into the den.

“How Hex. Lead the way,” Shade ordered, “Or I will make sure you do become an actual slave by the end of this.”

Hex was shoved forward by Sol as they followed behind him into the den the group followed close behind as they went all the way to the back of the den, the closer they were the more they began to hear the noises of someone straining, that someone's voice sounding familiar to Pitch who quickened his pace slightly until they came up to a small segment of the den that had a timberwolf with white and black fur.

“M-mom?” Pitch stuttered out in a mutter.

The Timberwolf almost seemed to not notice their presence as they saw a single small shiny body between her legs, with many others by her side. The wolf's eyes looked blank almost lifeless as she kept her legs wide her entire body on display for everyone to see.

Pitch looked at this as if he was about to cry before he looked away and Sol just looked in silence as the wolf blankly spoke towards them, “Spread for alpha?” as she attempted to make her body more easily accessible causing Sol to also look away.

“I told you she’d be like this” They heard Hex speak seeing him walk towards her with an almost lustful look in his eyes.

“Hex… I order you to sit and stay. You are forbidden from touching her.” Shade stated glaring at him.

The wolf immediately sat down staying in place as he heard a low growl come from both Pitch and Sol.

After a moment Shade then heard Pitch ask, “Can you help her?”.

A smile formed on his face, “I can… but it depends on what you want me to do… I can’t promise she’ll be completely fine with what I do.”

“As long as she isn’t like this anymore I accept what happens” Pitch replied.

“Even if your mother becomes mindlessly attracted to me and wants me to breed her as he did?” Shade asks, “I can’t be sure that I can completely stop her from being like that again. I don’t know how far the Cult pushed her mind before this point.”

“I've come to learn that you can’t always get what you want as long as she is free of him and can actually live a life that isn’t this, I accept what happens” Pitch admitted.

“Okay then,” Shade responded as he walked towards the timberwolf her blank eyes following him, as she said, “Breed?” with a tilt of her head

“No, I’m not here to do that. I came to talk. Can you understand me?”

She tilted her again giving him a look of confusion in response.

“Are you okay?” Shade asked as he stopped next to her body and knelt beside her.

“Yes,” He heard her say while she looked towards him but could tell that she didn’t know what she was saying.

“Okay. I’m going to try something to help you. It may feel strange,” Shade responded placing his paw on her forehead and closing his eyes.

As he reopened them he found himself in a faded room he looked around to see that the place looked to be in complete disarray, with what looked to be hundreds of cracks filling the area with collapsed doors filled with static or void of any kind of features as he heard what seemed to be lustful moans echoing around the area.

“Why do I feel this is a bad sign, to begin with?” Shade muttered to himself seeing an open door at the far end of the hall, with what looked to be two shadowy figures inside one on top of the other, the sounds Shade could hear making it obvious what was happening.

As he began to make his way down the hall towards the door as he heard two voices ringing out from the room ahead.

The first voice was that of Hex’s, while the second sounded almost like the female Timberwolves although it sounded much more lively than before.

“I hope you're ready for your next litter slut! Because I am,” He heard Hex’s voice shout while moans could be heard from the other wolf below him.

“Yes! Please fill this worthless slut up to fulfil her purpose. I exist only to serve you master Hex! I am your loyal plaything! I exist only to bear your pups for my entire life!” the wolf screamed out in pleasure.

“Damn right you do slut! Now take your reward!” Hex shouted as he saw the shadow thrust forwards locking in place.

“Thank you, master Hex! This slut is not worthy of the honour!” the female voice screamed back as Shade heard multiple smacking sounds being heard as he reached the door.

“Your right slut! Your not. But even then you….” Shade hear the voice of Hex shout before he entered the room the shadows being clear as he saw Hex atop a female wolf the colours matched that of the real-world version of the Pitch’s mother.

“Yeah… this is going,” Shade said to himself as he walked towards the two of them.

“How dare you interrupt me you insignificant creature if I-” Hex began to say turning still locked in place before Shade’s hand struck its body before it disappeared into a black mist fading away.

“That's that done now to fix…” Shade began to say before looking down at the female wolf to find that she had turned around glaring at Shade her teeth bared towards him. “This mess.”

“Who are you, what did you do!?” he heard her growl out towards him.

“I’m just an Alpha here to check on his newest mate,” Shade responded looking at her, “and I didn’t want that messing with your mind.”

She didn’t speak in response her eyes glancing around the area quickly before they glanced up Shade’s eyes followed her glace upwards seeing a small swinging metal cage above them.7

“Why am I getting a feeling you are not the one who is supposed to be in control of this mind,” Shade responded his eyes lowering to look at the wolf again.

The wolf in response just snarled at him and attempted to lunge toward him, only for Shade’s magic to pin her to the table they had been on, merging her legs into the table.

She just writhed on the table attempting to get free her snarls could be heard as Shade directed his attention back to the metal cage above them, “So mind telling me what's in the cage above us?”

She didn’t answer still attempting to get free and after a few moments she stopped moving, “Just someone that isn’t needed anymore…” she said with a growl towards him before immediately backtracking and saying the opposite attempting to have Shade not look up there.

“So it’s the real one of you then,” Shade responded flying up towards the cage.

As soon as he left the ground the bound wolf shouted towards him, “You won’t find anything up there!” she shouted still attempting to stop him, as sweat visibly dripped from her head.

“You reactions say otherwise,” Shade responded as he reaches eye level with the cage as found a bound wolf inside it. The wolf's body was covered entirely in a white suit hiding all of the wolf features, a small ball-shaped object in her jaws under the mask, while a loud buzzing noise was heard under the suit.

“Yeah I’m not standing for this,” Shade responded as the lock on the cage disappeared and the door opened Shade lifted the wolf out of the cage in his arms, as she squirmed in his grasp.

“Damn you!” He heard the other wolf shout toward him

“Nothing in the cage eh?” Shade responded as he landed in front of the wolf, “Your right there isn’t.” He then shifted the wolf his arms reaching to a lock keeping the mask over her head as it disappeared the mask fell to the ground revealing the wolf's face to Shade.

Her eyes were very hazy as if she hasn’t seen any light at all for a very long time and her mouth still had that ball-shaped object in it and any noise she made was muffled by it.

“I’m going to remove the gag now okay,” Shade responded reaching behind the wolf's head before unclipping the gag as it fell into Shade’s hand freeing the wolf's jaw. “How are you feeling?”

She let out a low cough, “I-i don’t know…” she replied Shade noticing she was trying not to make a noise.

“I’m going to try and get your limbs free okay, then we can get that thing out of you,” Shade states as he begins removing the locks from the suit each one hitting the floor as straps began to loosen around the wolf's body.

The other wolf just looked on in silence with a glare while the wolf that Shade was removing the locks from was twitching every few seconds.

“You’re doing very well. Just a bit longer okay,” Shade says in a calming tone as he rubs the wolf's head, as she just gave a faint nod while Shade continued to remove the locks until the last lock on her body fell to the floor, “Now I’m going to get this suit off you. Are you ready?”

He got another faint nod from her as she still attempted to stay quiet the buzzing still being heard.

The second the wold had nodded Shade began removing the suit from her body as slowly bit by bit it began to loosen from the wolf's body until the lower part of the suit fell away and the buzzing got louder as he saw multiple wires sticking out of her leading to a small object with a dial on it, the number 0 to 5 being visible on it as he dropped the dial to 0 and the buzzing ceased.

“T-thank you…” She said to Shade attempting to catch her breath after all that time from stopping herself from making noises.

“No problem. Take as long as you need to catch your breath okay,” Shade responded still rubbing the wolf's neck. “Once you're ready I’ll get that thing out of you.”

Nodding she then took a deep breath over and over before she quietly spoke, “I-I’m ready…” as she slightly braced herself, before Shade reached behind her reaching to where the wires were pulling whatever was inside the wolf out before a loud pop was heard followed by a loud moan that came from the wolf who couldn’t hold it in as the object inside her was removed, the object turned out to be a large phallic-shaped object that looked almost to large to have fit into the wolf.

As soon as it was out he placed the object onto the table he wrapped his arms around the wolf, her entire body now free of her bindings, “There we go. Everything is over now.”

He could hear her let out a slight gasp of air afterwards before hearing her breathing get back to normal after a few seconds of her catching her breath during this she attempted to say something she struggled at first but over time she was able to get what she wanted to say out, “T-thank you f-for helping me” as the look on her face indicated that she was tired.

“No problem. Do you have a name I can call you by?” Shade asks looking at the wolf as he rubbed her neck, letting her head rest against his arms.

“My name is…Juno,” She quietly replied her voice unable to go higher.

“Juno. I’m glad to meet you. I was asked to help you by your son. Pitch.” Shade responds as he rubs her neck again, “He’s been missing you for a very long time.”

“P-pitch he came back?” She said confused before immediately asking, “Is he ok?”.

“He is… and his father is no longer in control anymore… He lost in an Alpha’s challenge with another pack. He offered the entire pack and himself if he lost and he did. Spectacularly.” Shade explained.

“So everyone’s free from him?” Juno asked getting a nod from Shade. “After all that happened I didn’t think something good would happen I lost any hope of that a long time ago” she then said.

She then asked, “Who was the one who beat him and became the alpha?”.

“Your talking to him,” Shade responded with a smile, “I’m the Alpha who beat him.”

“What did you do with him afterwards?” He heard her ask.

“Let's just say we had a special object that makes him behave and do as he’s told without question… He’s suffering a fate worse than death for him from this day forth.” Shade responded before looking at the wolf on the table as he pointed to her. “But for now… what do you want me to do with that?”

It took Juno a moment to formulate her thoughts before saying “Get rid of her” the other wolf on the table writhing in place, “No!”.

“Or… how about she is treated just like you were instead?” Shade asked looking at the object he had removed from Juno’s body. “I can even set this thing even higher than it was for you.”

She didn’t say anything to him before looking at the same object and the other wolf as she said, “Go ahead” the other wolf’s eyes widened in response, “W-what?”.

“Okay then,” Shade replies placing Juno down and grabbing the object walking before the wolf on the table.

“Don’t even think about it you bastard” She shouted towards him trying to set herself free before she felt the object get pressed against her, “W-wait don’t-” She attempted to plead before feeling him shove it inside in one push causing her to let out a loud moan.

“And it’s in,” Shade responded with a smile before turning the dial from zero to two. “Let's start you low while we prepare the rest of you.”

Meanwhile, she just bit her lip while attempting to stifle her voice., As Shade began to cover the rest of her body in the outfit that had been on Juno before grabbing the gag and holding it infront of her face “Open wide.”

She attempted to move her head away from the gag but Shade stopped her by grabbing her head and forcefully putting it into her mouth, before tightly sealing it around her head before looking into her eyes, “You’re getting closer to your treat.”

The look in her eyes showed that she was confused by his statement before felt his hand move down her legs towards the dial before she heard the buzzing get louder causing her to let out a loud but muffled moan while she attempted to keep quiet but not faring as well as Juno, but before she could get used to it she heard Shade say something she was dreading, “Now to set it to the highest setting.”

He got muffled protests from her before he twisted the dial the wolf immediately moaned out as they were the only muffled noises she made with her eyes rolling back, as she felt the rest of the suit cover her body until only her head was free her limbs having been released for only a moment before being bound to her sides, as she saw the blindfold being held infront of her face.

“Now to seal you in and place you in your home before we lose the keys.” Shade states with a smile, “Hope you enjoy yourself.”

She let out muffles of protest as her eyes widened her vision being obscured slightly by the blindfold before it completely covered her eyes the only thing she saw was complete darkness Shade leaving her in the state that Juno was left in.

“What do you think Juno?” Shade asked placing the figure on the ground and allowing her to look at her, “Prod her if you like she can’t do anything to stop you.”

“I'm good just leaving her like that, what happens now?” He heard her ask.

“I’ll lock her in the cage just like she had you, then you can have your life back,” Shade responded placing the wolf in the cage and prodding her a few times as she squirmed in response before he locked the cage and destroyed the key.

Shade then landed back beside Juno, “Now… just a warning when you wake up you may see a lot of small pups around you. You had… a lot of them with that former Alpha.”

“Given how Hex is I'm not really surprised by that” Juno replied.

Shade then kissed her on the forehead before saying, “I’ll see you when you wake up.” getting a nod from her before Shade disappeared from her mind.

Once Shade's eyes reopen he finds himself back in the den as he removed his hands from Juno’s head taking a step back from her as she opened her eyes blinking a few times before she looked directly at Shade and the others before her eyes landed squarely on Pitch, “Pitch?”.

“H-hey mom,” he said towards her a sad smile on his face as he slowly walked towards her and nuzzled his head against her before she attempted to stand herself up the wolf almost fell to the ground but was stopped by Pitch who held her up while she got back onto her feet.

It took her a moment but she nodded to Pitch who moved away from her as she then looked to Shade and smiled, “I can’t thank you enough but I'll say as many times as I need, thank you so much”.

“It was my pleasure Juno,” Shade responded rubbing her head.

“What did you do!?” they heard Hex say who just looked at them in shock.

“He freed me Hex, I'm, not your toy anymore,” Juno said to him with a glare Hex was seemingly about to say something before noticing that Shade and the others were glaring at him making him keep his mouth shut.

“Juno. Any requests for the fallen Alpha. I can force him to do anything we wish,” Shade offered as he moved the newborn pup near her legs towards her head, so she could see it.

“No, I think he’s plenty humiliated from how he stayed quiet” Juno replied as she nuzzled against the pup.

“You sure mom because we that thing on his neck he wouldn’t be able to refuse an order hell if you tell him to not speak unless spoken to he won’t be able to” Pitch suggested.

She thought it over before asking, “Can you have him do what Pitch suggested?” looking to Shade.

“Of course I can,” Shade responded looking at Hex with a smirk on his face, “Hex. From this day forth you are forbidden from talking unless you are spoken to first. Respond if you understand.”

“I understand” they heard Hex say blankly before seeing his face go back to normal his face showed that of shock before attempting to speak but no sound came out of his mouth.

“Nice he doesn’t get to talk for once” Pitch commented with a smirk Juno giggled.
“Or ever again unless someone starts to talk to him first unless I rescind the order. But who would want to start a conversation with him normally.” Shade added, “Isn’t that right Hex.”

“That’s right alpha” Hex replied again before he went back to normal again his frustration showing as Juno and the others looked at his predicament with amusement.

“What’s the matter sad you can’t hear your own voice by your own choice anymore?” Pitch said to Hex as he then add, “Good because you deserve every bit of this” getting a glare from Hex before Juno looked to Shade.

“What are you going to do now?” She asked Shade.

“Well… We have a former Alpha to mark as mine infront of the pack. Then I have the group that harmed you to wipe out,” Shade responds, “I’d say for you to watch but I think you have a lot of pups to care for.”

“Yes I’ll still stay here to watch over them you do what you need to” Juno replied with a nod.

“Pitch… I assume you’ll want to stay with her,” Shade states looking at him.

“Yes, I do” Pitch replied to Shade with a nod.

“Okay then,” Shade responded with a nod before turning to Hex, “Now it’s time for us to go and give my pack a good show. I hope your ready pup.”

Hex just looked away in response as Sol pushed him forward prompting him, Shade and Hex to walk out of the den.

Once they reached the outside of the den they found fifteen wolves outside as they immediately noticed the group with the wolves muttering amongst themselves before hearing Shade speak “I assume most of you are aware of what transpired earlier and the fate of this one.”

He waited for any response from the wolves his eyes looking between them before one of them replied, “Y-yes you and our previous Alpha had dueled and you won and you're going to be marking him”

“And do any of you have anything you wish to say regarding this? If so you are free to say so,” Shade added waiting for any responses from the surrounding wolves.

The wolves surprisingly had nothing to say about the matter, “Huh surprising” Sol commented with a brow raised.

“So none of you wants to defend your former Alpha and is fully accepting me in his place along with my judgement for him,” Shade asked looking at them all again.

He had gotten nods from them, “Yes we fully accept you in his place you won the duel” one of them spoke as Hex just looked towards the entire group in disbelief Sol chuckling at his expense.

Hex being as stubborn as he is, shook in place trying to fight the effects of the collar as he attempted to open his mouth but it was like it was glued shut muffled shouts being heard from him panic showing on his face as he realized what’s happening looked towards Shade to find him smirking.

“As you can all see he has nothing to say in response to his fate and has fully accepted that he will be serving me for the rest of his life, and do as I ask of him without question” Shade stated still smirking at Hex, before transferring a new order into his mind ‘from this day forth you will always agree with me no matter your feelings on the matter.’

“W-what no wa-” Hex attempted to say in his thoughts but they immediately changed to agree to them, “Yes I will no matter what”.

“Hex. Do you have anything to say in response to what I have said so far?” Shade asked knowing he couldn’t argue back against him anymore.

“No, you won and I will follow you for the rest of my life” He responded with a blank tone as all the wolves that watched looked in shock to see him admit them all of their eyes wide

“Before we continue do any of you anything you wish to say to your former Alpha before I mark him as mine for the rest of his life?” Shade asked.

Not even a second passed before some of the wolves insulted Hex who just sat there and took this moment lasted for a few seconds before they died down and went quiet.

“Now I think it’s high time for me to seal the deal,” Shade responded his hand moving towards Hex’s ear, Shade listening in to Hex’s thoughts as his hand moved closer and closer to its target.

“This is it, after this I’ll be nothing but someone who has no say or control ever again” He heard his thoughts having a tone of hopelessness to them.

Shade’s hand then reached Hex’s ear sparks moving through them as a new mark was placed behind the ear as the cult mark on his body began to change as well, Hex’s eyes instantly being drawn to the change.

The mark itself changed from its normal white to a bright red as he then turn itself upside down a moment passes as the change was done and it was official he belonged to Shade for the rest of his life.

Afterwards, Shade decided to listen in onto Hex’s thoughts again but he couldn’t hear anything only seeing the hopelessness in his eyes from his silent demeanour before Shade heard one of the wolves ask, “What happens now that you’ve done that?”.

“Well… the rest is up to you. You can either stay here or join me at my den… after I recover the other that you all helped kidnap and give to the cult that is,” Shade responded glaring at Hex again while looking at the others with a disappointed look on his face.

They just look away with looks of shame on their faces as they all went quiet while Sol then spoke up, “We should probably prepare to get everyone back then right?”.

“It is about time to sort that yes,” Shade responds before looking to the others, “Do any of you want to ‘play’ with this fool? I give you my full authority to do what you wish to him as long as he stays alive.”

Some just looked at Hex with glares while the others didn’t really do anything, “lets head out then” Sol replied as he and Shade stepped away from Hex some of the wolves glared at Hex who looked at the two with a pleading look on his face which said, “Please don’t leave me here I’ll do anything!”

Shade and Sol paused their steps, a smirk on Shade’s face, not looking back as he said “Are you willing to destroy the very cult you gave my pack to? I fully intend to destroy that whole group.”

Hex’s eyes widened before they heard him reply, “N-no” he replied as Sol and Shade continued walking again Hex saw the wolves inch closer and closer to him before he backtracked on that choice, “YES, I’ll help you just don’t leave me here!”.

Shade and Sol looked at eachother, before Shade said, “You're not convincing me. The rest of you. His eyes, ears and limbs are all on the table!”

The Wolves from before then began to yell out specific parts of his body causing the fear Hex was experiencing to go on overdrive, his eyes darting between the approaching wolves and Shade, as he saw Shade take a step further away from him.

“Please I’ll do anything I’ll let you change me however you want ill surrender every fibre of my being to you since I have that device I'll fight for you til the day I die!!” Shade heard him say in a panicked tone.

“So you agree to debase yourself to the point of being my personal slave for the rest of your existence, and I can change you. Use your for any desire I wish with no arguments from now on?” Shade asked once again stopping and waiting for a response.

“Yes I agree!” he heard Hex shout.

“I assume the rest of you heard my new slaves admission,” Shade said to the wolves that had been approaching Hex as he turned around walking back towards them.

The wolves had stopped in place nodding in confirmation towards Shade.

“Hex. From this day onwards you will serve me following my orders without question and will find no greater pleasure in life than pleasing your Master like a good obedient pet.” Shade stated standing over Hex whose head was lowered to the ground between Shade’s feet.

“Y-yes m-master” he heard Hex stutter out as Hex saw his collar glowing the emblem on the front glowing brighter it fused with the skin on his neck before dropping from Hex’s neck, however below where the collar had been now being strange red markings matching that of the collar that still glowed the fur around it turning black making the markings instantly visible.

“Hex. Bring me your collar.” Shade ordered.

Hex doing what he was told grabbed the collar and slowly walked towards Shade and presented the collar.

“Thank you Hex,” Shade responded taking the collar in his hands before it disappeared. “How do you feel?”

“I feel…great master” He heard Hex reply, before feeling Shade pat him on the head, as the wolf’s eye widened for a moment before he nuzzled into Shade’s hand.

“That's a good boy,” Shade responded before saying, “The rest of you. Look after everyone here. Once I fix what you all did to the rest of my pack I will come back and decide what to do with you all.”

“Understood we’ll wait until then” one of the wolves replied with a nod the rest of them doing the same, as Shade nodded back before teleporting him, Sol and Hex away.

Chapter 20

As soon as Shade, Hex and Sol reappeared they found themselves back in Shade’s throne room as Shade turned sitting back on his throne.

“Welcome to your new home Hex,” Shade calmly said pointing to a spot next to him on the floor beside the throne, “you sit here.”

“Yes, master” Hex replied as he sat beside the throne not moving an inch.

“So” He heard Sol, “What do we do now, do we call everyone in?” before they hear someone’s voice, “Won’t have to call me in” looking to the side and seeing Knila walk into view.

“I take it you were waiting after hearing that I’m moving the timetable up to deal with the cult base that had you?” Shade asked.

“Yep, haven’t had to wait too long though” Knila replied before looking towards Hex, “Who’s that?”.

“Before I start on who he is. I need to tell you some bad news Knila.”

“What is it Shade?” She asked looking at him confused.

“The cult has your brother again,” Shade stated, “And they also have Ziggy too.”

For a moment she didn’t say anything she was completely silent before Shade heard her stutter out in a whimper, “W-what?”

“The cult and the idiot next to attacked the pack he was taken in by and kidnapped both him and all of the wolves in his pack.”

Knila turned her attention to Hex who was still sitting in place a glare on her face before Shade and Sol saw her face cycle through other emotions before she let out a shaky breath tears stinging her eyes before she wiped them, “H-how are we gonna do this?” she said towards Shade.

“Well we know where they are, so we’re planning to set up a ‘military training exercise’ with Celestia and Luna right outside their base which will place us in the best position to deal with them,” Shade calmly says. “But there is one thing I think this idiot also should show you before telling you what his punishment for what he did is.”

Knila looked to Hex with a brow raised before she saw him take out a morpher her eyes widening in shock, “a Morpher?” she muttered before she heard Hex speak, “My punishment is to serve my master until the day I die to do what he wants me to do without question no matter what it is”.

Knila just looked to Hex and the morpher in confusion before looking back to Shade, “Why does he have a morpher?” she asked before going into deep thought, “Wait….is the cult making more rangers?”.

“I can’t be sure… but from the fact, that he tried to fight me using that and did transform I think they have at least succeeded with that one. And considering they had access to your morpher before you met me it’s not out of the question that they could be mass producing rangers, I mean I know they were doing it with Riders before meeting you.”

“Crap….” Knila muttered as she pinched the bridge of her nose the woman looked back to Shade as she asked, “How long do we have before we start with everything, or are we not talking about that until everyone else gets here?”.

“We just need a response back from the princesses and for Valkyrie to prepare everyone then were moving out,” Shade replies.

“Alright” Knila replied with a nod before turning her attention to Hex again, “Now how the hell did you get that morpher?”.

Hex immediately replied to her, “It was one of the rewards gave me whenever they were happy with what I gave them”.

“What you gave them?”.

“Subject’s for them to use” He responded as he then added, “Mostly the females” causing Knila to clench her fist in response.

“Another one of the rewards they gave was my former omega who turned into something that was for breeding and only breeding she acted like a mindless breeding tool who only wanted to do that and spread her legs whenever I came to her,” he said as Knila was starting to look angry before he felt a fist strike the side of his head as he hit the ground.

“Hex! Nothing else from you until I say otherwise!” Shade orders.

“Yes, master” Hex replied the marks around his neck glowing as he felt like he was being choked, as Shade glared daggers at him.

After a few moments Shade looked away as the marks faded releasing him, “When I found her she could barely speak properly. I had to do what I did to you to fix her mind… but hers was overly sexualised for a better sense of the word.”

Knila looked at Hex in disgust before shaking her head, “At least you freed her and stopped this bastard right here from continuing his reign just hate that it happened to someone else…”.

“Oh trust me he won’t be able to harm anyone like that again,” Shade responds with a hint of venom in his voice before he added, “but using that morpher of his he’s going to help destroy the cult.”

“At least he’ll be using it for something other than himself” Sol commented.

Knila meanwhile stayed silent with that same glare pointed towards Hex before sitting on the ground at a nearby wall the woman sat there for a few moments before standing herself up and walking towards Shade on his throne and sitting on his lap pressing her head against his shoulder.

“I promise we’ll get them all back safe and sound by the end of today,” Shade states as he rubs Knila’s head before she closed her eyes and nuzzled close to him. Shade then stopped a moment before calmly saying, “Say… Considering that little Hex here has agreed to be little more than an obedient pet at best do you want him? I mean it does give you a loyal ranger to work for you. I can even modify him in whatever way you want to suit your needs.”

She thought it over for a moment before replying, “I mean if he’s useful I won’t refuse extra help, In what ways would you modify him though?”.

“Coat colour, his mind and memories… with the help of a certain friend I could make him a woman. Almost anything is possible if we want it.” Shade responded, “I could even make him want to please you for the rest of his life. Make him see you as his goddess.”

Hex had wide eyes as heard Shade speak unable to say a word due to Shade's order.

“Could you make him see me as his goddess and could you make him a combination of male and female I somewhat want him to experience what his former omega experienced” Knila commented

“I think we can do that,” Shade responded, “Would you like that Hex?”

“Yes master” he heard Hex reply.

“I’ll help with the physical changes,” Harmony responds as she walks out from behind Shade’s throne looking at Hex with a smile.

Shade and Knila saw her walk up beside Hex’s body placing a paw on his back before his body begin to slowly change before their eyes.

Hex meanwhile just looked at the changes to his body with a mix of fear and shock in his eyes as he couldn’t do anything to stop it, he could only sit in place as the changes took their course, once the changes were finished Shade placed his hands on Hex’s head inputting the changes Knila had asked of him before stopping.

“Knila. Why don’t you check on your new servant.” Shade says with a smirk gesturing for Hex to come to the front of the throne.

Hex does what Shade told him to do and stood in front of the throne, “Hello Hex how do you feel?” Knila said to him.

In response, Hex beamed at her, “I feel great my goddess!” Knila looked toward him in surprise.

“What do you feel about me?” She then asked.

“I want nothing but to serve you, I live for nothing but your pleasure, if you want please tell me how I can please you” they heard him reply.

Sol meanwhile looked toward him with a raised brow from hearing Hex say this, “I'm not gonna say I didn’t expect this but it still caught me off guard”.

“Same here” Knila commented while she continued to stare at Hex who just looked at her with a smile, “Hex sit down next to the throne I’ll tell you something later once we're done with the cult”.

“Understood!” he said beaming towards her before sitting next to the throne again before hearing her say, “Hex concerning Shade you can consider him a god but that depends if he accepts you as his follower for your crimes”.

“I understand” Hex replied with a nod.

“So… regarding you new servant what do you think?” Shade whispered to Knils with a smile on his face.

“I like him” Knila replied with a smile of her own placing her head back onto his shoulder as she then pulled him into a kiss.

After a couple of seconds, Shade pulled away, “Well think of him as an early gift for your second date,” Shade added with a smirk.

She blushed giving Shade a sheepish smile in response, “T-thank you”.

“Not an issue,” Shade responded kissing her again before they heard a knock on the door before Valkyrie walked into the room.

“Lord Shade. Everyone is making their way towards the trains to prepare to move out for the ‘special operation.’” Valkyrie responded dropping to a knee and bowing to Shade, “The princesses have also said they are in the process of moving the needed personal into position.”

“Thank you Valkyrie, we will make our way there momentarily. Please make your way to the training for departure,” Shade orders as Valkyrie stands back up nodding his head before leaving.

“Is there anything you would have me do Shade?” He heard Sol ask.

Shade paused looking at Sol before calmly saying, “Do you think you would be able to help in any way to stop the cult or get the others out safely?”

“If you would have me, I would be glad to be of assistance to you” Sol replied.

“If you could it would help. I want you to go with Knila, she’s got a deeply personal task to accomplish and will need all the help she can get.” Shade stated.

“Of course” So responded with a nod, “I’ll do the best I can to help”.

“Wait why is he coming with me specifically?” Shade heard Knila ask.

“Because your less likely to get into a large-scale fight than I will be, and most of the wolfs they took were pregnant females… which means your children and them could be near eachother.” Shade explained.

She took a moment to think about what he said before nodding “I understand”.

“As agreed 5 days ago you will be going with AS-001-SH1 as he knows the locations they were held and are to try and capture any scientists alive who could be useful.” Shade calmly said before gesturing for Knila to get off him.

She got off his lap and walked off the throne allowing Shade to get onto his feet, “Alright is there anything else we need to know or is that it?”.

“Well maybe give you new servant their orders. So he… she… whatever you class them as now can assist you,” Shade suggests.

“Hex you will be accompanying us to take care of the cult and help save individuals who were kidnapped am I clear?” Knila said to Hex who nodded towards her “Loud and clear!” Knila heard them say in reply.

“Alright good” Knila spoke before looking back to Shade with a nod and saying, “You ready to go then?

“Of course,” Shade responded standing up from his throne before walking towards the door, as the others followed close behind.

Once the group had arrived at the train the group entered as they find Nadine waiting outside for them, “Ready to get this show on the road?” the woman could be seen wearing a black overcoat with armour placed in the vital areas with glowing neon pieces inlaid into the shoulders of it as well as greyish black pants and combat boots.

“I am,” Shade responded walking towards the front of the train opening a door and walking inside gesturing for them to follow him inside, as the group do as he asks.

Once they are inside they found that he had led them into the main train itself as he sat on the seat at the very front as red lights filled the room before a voice calmly said, “Welcome Kamen Rider Shade, as an eye-shaped symbol appeared on the roof above his seat.

“I would suggest you get some seats of your own,” Shade suggests gesturing for Knila to take the one nearest to him as she that sitting herself down while Hex sat on one of the seats that was near her as well

As the two of them sat down they heard the same voice that had responded to Shade sitting say, “new operators located. Please place new power sources for authorisation.”

Knila just raised her brow confused before going into her coat and bringing out her morpher and engine cell, “I'm supposed to put my engine cell in here right?” she asked before the console in front of her seemed to respond as two slots appeared one that looked to fit her morpher the second to slot the Engine cell into.

“That answers my question” She commented before she inserted her morpher and engine cell into the console, “Hex you do the same,” she said as Hex placed their respective morpher and engine cell into the console.

“New power sources identified. Scanning information,” the voice responded, “Welcome Ranger Operator Series Pink and Ranger Operator Series Brown.” The space above their heads then changed as two RPM symbols appeared above their heads, one pink and the other brown.

“Huh, neat” Knila commented saying a phrase that Dillon would frequently say as Shade kept his attention on the console in front of him.

“Do you want me to start on the new vehicles for the Shade Gattai?” the voice responded before Shade pressed a button on his console.

“Shade Gattai, what’s that?” Nadine asked curiously.

“Nadine… what do you know of either Super Sentai or Power Rangers?” Shade asked looking at Nadine.

“Almost next to nothing, my parents never really let me watch stuff they didn’t deem good for my developing mind as a child as well as other things, you can tell how that made me turn out”

“What do you know of it then?” Shade asked.

“Other than the toys that were made based on….” She paused going into her thoughts before saying, “Zord’s yeah those big mechs, over the years I would see some media of it but not enough to have a faint knowledge of it though”.

“You have your answer on what it is then,” Shade responded as the train began to move.

“Huh that makes a lot of sense” she replied as she sat back down as everyone felt the train slowly gain speed before she and Knila immediately spoke up in unison, “Wait a minute this is a Zord!?”.

“Well technically even by itself it's a full Megazord but yes it is a Zord,” Shade responded acting like it wasn’t something important.

“Where’d you even get this thing in the first place?” He heard Knila ask.

“Let's just say someone attacked us in the past, and I commandeered this thing from them.” Shade responds calmly, “and then did some refitting of it to suit my needs.”

“At least you were able to make use of it” Knila replied before smiling, “I feel like Jason would think this would be cool”.

“I would have thought considering what you both became that you would have all used a Zord in the past right?”

“Something happened with the enemy that led us to be unable to use them it was like a form of emp that kept them out of commission for a while most of us had used our’s previously but Jason hadn’t at that point…and you know the rest of the story” she responded.

“Yeah I do,” Shade responded, “I hope they never got ahold of those things.”

“I hope they didn’t either” she replied.

It was silent for a few moments before Knila heard Nadine speak up, “Hey Knila want to know what I was doing for the past five days?”.

“Given your track record of nonsense probably not”

“Well I was just playing for the five days and enjoyed every moment of it, especially every time I was pet as a reward,” Nadine said as she went into more detail about it causing Knila’s eyes to twitch slightly and while this went on her hair could be seen rising before going towards Nadine’s mouth and covering it, “Nadine honey as much as I am happy you got to enjoy yourself please keep those minor details to yourself id rather not see that image in my head when I close my eyes”.

Nadine gave some muffled protests before sighing and gave a muffled “Fine…” as Knila uncovered her mouth.

She looked like she was about to say something but thought about it for a moment and decided to keep it to herself and sat back on one of the seats causing Shade to chuckle at her, “Try to keep that enthusiasm for your rewards under control okay.”

“Yeah, yeah…..” Nadine mumbled in response as she and Knila sat in their respective seats quiet before Knila turned to Hex, “Alright Hex to be clear right now if you do your job correctly I’ll reward you later I'm not gonna tell you what it is now alright” she said as the only response she got from Hex was an excited nod.

“You know he’d be more motivated if you actually tell him the reward” She heard Nadine comment as Knila just sighed, “I hate that your right,” she said as she then went to Hex and said, “If your able to do your job well enough once everything is done with I’ll….allow you to have release when you and I have one on one time and Nadine don’t even think about saying it”.

“Aw you're no fun”

“Am I understood Hex?” She then asked getting an excited nod from the wolf.

“Alright, Shade how long til we get to the place?” Knila asked as went back to her seat.

“Look out the window. We should be flying in now,” Shade states as everyone then looked out from their respective windows to see that the train was not even on the group and that they seemed to be in the sky. The town below looks like tiny specs to them, “Their base is hidden by the gorge just ahead with a few hidden exits spread across the landscape. We’re meeting the princesses in the clearing nearby.”

“Got it” Knila replied before she and Shade heard Nadine speak again, “Wait a minute, is this thing flying?”.

“Yes, the train is flying somewhat. It can create rails anywhere below its wheel without them being there before,” Shade responds. “You don’t have a fear of heights I hope.”

“No, it’s more of anxiety if anything but I can manage” She replied as she stopped looking out of the window as the train continued going until the clearing that Shade mentioned was close enough so that they can start landing.

“We’re almost there, I would recommend you all get back in your seats.” Shade calmly said as the train slowly began moving downwards.

Any one of them who weren’t in their seats sat back down as the train went down to the clearing and after what seemed like a minute or two everyone looking out the windows saw the train land down on the ground, the area they were in being surrounded by large tents with ponies in white and gold armour moving around the area.

Once the train came to a complete stop Shade stood up, “You two will want to get your morphers and Engine cells back before we go.”

Knila and Hex nod as they grab their morphers from their respective consoles as they as well as everyone else stood up from their seats and began to follow Shade out of the train.

Once the group was outside the train they saw creatures of many shapes and sizes leaving the other carriages many carrying tents which they began pitching mirrors those of the guards that had been present when they arrived.

Standing outside the door were both Celestia and Luna the latter of the two instantly grabbing Shade and pulling him into a hug before looking to Knila, “Are you doing okay? I heard about what happened.”

She gave them a half-hearted wave in response “I’ll manage I’ll be ok once we get everyone out of there”

“Well, I can see that you are both rather friendly with eachother… I assume you snuck out one night and ignored your duties recently,” Celestia responded looking at Luna who rubbed her head in embarrassment.

“I may have gone to visit Al- I mean Shade a few nights ago. I met her during that night.” Luna responded.

“And she’s a human… How many of them are there now?” Celestia asked looking at Luna.

“More than you would expect,” Shade says.

“Oh definitely not even accounting for the amount the cult may have if the three you saved account of anything… like the one there,” Luna added pointing at Nadine, “You look different when your not wearing that spiked collar.”

“I can’t always have myself look like that” Nadine replied with a chuckle keeping her gaze away from Knila who was looking dead at her after Luna mentioned the collar.

“You do seem to enjoy the extra in your dreams as well,” She added with a chuckle, “that dream of you with Shade was enjoyable to watch two nights ago. If you remember it that is. You did stay rather… intimate with him.”

Nadine in response just let out a nervous chuckle as Knila continued to stare at her with a piercing gaze, “Intimate huh….”.

“If we have time I would love to tell you about them. I’m sure as two of Shades lovers you would love to see how others see him in their dreams.” Luna responded with a smirk.

Knila just stayed quiet while Nadine quietly attempted to step away from Knila immediately stopping her by grabbing her with her hair, “I wouldn’t mind having a conversation like that with you she wouldn’t either right Nadine?”.

“Y-yeah I wouldn’t mind” Nadine stuttered out in a nervous tone.

“I’m sure I can make time later,” Luna responds with a smirk.

“What’s wrong Nadine why are you so nervous your so usually so flamboyant what’s changed?” Nadine heard Knila say to her not looking her in the face but even then she could feel them smirking at her.

“As much as I enjoy watching you lot talk about this I believe we have important matters to discuss,” Celestia calmly says, “Shall we head towards the main tent to go through everything?”

“That may be for the best,” Shade responded with a nod, “Please lead the way.”

“Of course. And I would love to catch up with you once this is all over. I have a lot I need to discuss with you,” Celestia calmly said with her normal smile before beginning to walk towards a tent further into the camp.

“When this base is torn down, I’m sure we’ll get plenty of time to speak about your feeling for Shade,” Luna responded tapping Nadine’s back with her hand before kissing Shade and following Celestia.

Nadine just stayed quiet with a blush on her face Knila chuckling at her expense, “You know I think I might get used to this it's actually kind of entertaining to see you like this” Knila stated as she continued to hold Nadine in her hair as she followed behind them with Hex keeping his attention on her but with every few seconds could be seen glancing around the area but for the most part, just kept his attention on her.

Shade’s eyes glanced around the area one more time as he saw both AS-001-SH1 and Twilight whose face was hidden under a white rabbit-shaped mask walking toward him before they walked just behind him before dropping to one knee.

“Lord Shade we await your orders,” both of them responded at the same time.

“Follow me,” Shade ordered before walking after the group as both AS-001-Sh1 and Twilight followed behind him.

Once the group reached the tent they walked inside finding it to have a large table inside with three seats at the top of it. Each has a large symbol engraved into the top, the first a Moon, the second a Sun and the last being a red eye.

“That looks cool,” Nadine could be heard commenting as she was then placed back onto the ground as she then felt Knila’s hair unwrap from her body.

“So what’s the plan?” Knila asked as she saw them sit down on the seats.

“Well, I suppose that partially depends on you,” Luna calmly says, “I have been told that you were under the cult's control for a period, and of the amount, they took from you.”

“In which case, it leaves us with a few options,” Celestia responded pointing to a map of the area they were in.

“The first plan would be to use your robot here to get you into the base before everything else and try and locate any important targets to save or deal with.” Luna calmly said, “That would mean you going in with him and likely acting as if you are still their puppet to gain access… but there is a chance you would need to act like you still are and do what they say… no matter how horrific it is.”

“The second is a full frontal assault but considering the fact we don’t know their numbers or current resources, there is a high chance of my ponies getting killed during it,” Celestia says.

“The third is… we pack up and leave those inside to their fates,” Twilight responds coldly.

“Piss off we're not doing that” Knila snarled out with a glare before sighing, “How long do you think we would have to be in there for this to work?” She then asked referring to Luna’s plan.

“You're actually thinking of doing that!?” Nadine shouted.

“If it means there won’t a lot of casualties then yes I am” Knila replied.

“...You remember what they had you do in the past… right?” Shade asked looking at Knila, “Chances are they’ll have you do that again.”

He could see her clench her fist for a moment before she nodded, “Y-yeah I know”.

“You still remember how to act under the influence of the cult I assume,” Twilight asked Knila.

“You don’t really forget that after being around them for so long” Knila muttered in reply.

“Give me your best act then,” Twilight replied with a smirk under her mask, “try and convince your former head scientist that you are still under their control.”

Knila just rolled her eyes before the group noticed her demeanour changed her more calm stature turning stiff and her eyes having a lifeless look to them “Standing by for orders….” She then blankly said her voice devoid of any emotion from before and hadn’t wavered at all for each word, it was like it was muscle memory.

“HU-RPM-P1. It’s time for your ‘special’ session. Are you ready?” Twilight asked seemingly continuing with her act.

“Affirmative” they heard her quickly reply the woman then standing at ease.

“Okay then, please… prepare yourself for your mate,” Twilight respond before she was struck by three beams of magic sending her to the ground.

“Twilight! Shut it!” Shade shouted in an angry tone in his voice while both Celestia and Luna glared at the mare.

Shade had noticed that Knila hadn’t moved her eyes still the blank look to them it was like she was in a trance as they saw her shakily bring her hand to her cloak.

“Knila… what are you doing?” Shade asked his eye still following her movements. She didn’t say anything only grasping onto her cloak and looking like she was about to tear it off along with what was under it before he grabbed her hands stopping her, “Knila. You’ve proved your point.”

In the next moment, he saw her blink her eyes the life returning to them, “W-what just happened?”.

“Knila… just confirm with us… that was part of an act and that you didn’t truly fall under their sway properly,” Shade asked.
“At first but after the second thing my body went on autopilot”

“So to confirm this… if you go in and they say any kind of specific trigger you may end up fully doing as they say without a way to snap yourself back to your senses,” Luna points out.

“And that includes going through with what she just told you to do?” Celestia adds pointing at Twilight who was getting back to her feet.

Knila just gave them a quiet nod in reply the woman feeling her hands shake.

“If you do this… There is a high chance they will do that to you again… and you will be used again like cattle,” Shade warned her, “are you positive you want to risk it?”

“Yeah…I’m positive”

“You’ll truly be putting your body on the line this way,” AS-001-SH1 stated, “and depending on how things go… you could end up fully aware of what they do this time, and feel it happen.”

“I know, I wouldn’t be doing this if it didn’t mean I could help those in that place get out” Knila responded.

Celestia and Luna both looked at Shade before focusing on Knila before Celestia calmly says “Miss if this goes wrong… You may never get free again. I hope you understand that.”

“And I'm willing to take that risk” Knila replied adding, “Jason would want me to keep going if it meant this plan works”.

“Okay. So we go with that first,” Shade responds, “Thanks to Twilight we know all of the nearby hidden entrances and exits they can use to escape as such I want us to have the mock skirmishes taking place near them if anyone tries to use them to run we should be able to capture them or track them down.”

“And while you all manage that side of things I will be inside with Knila and the others hopefully I’ll be able to prevent any active tests from harming anyone and free the other captives.” Shade adds.

“If I may add something to this. They use a specific method of transferring completed subjects to their final destinations,” AS-001-SH1 calmly said, “If they plan to transfer them to a new base elsewhere in Equestria they store them in large wooden boxes, normally drugged and use specialised bondage equipment to keep them quiet to avoid detection. If you want to sneak out a high-priority target without anyone knowing it may be an effective way to do so.”

“Could that be used to sneak the other subjects out as well?”

“In theory yes… but…” Twilight began to say before pausing.

“The boxes are very small… and if the said subject has been stored in a cell or cramped space for as long as most were I doubt they will willingly be placed in one and considering what those things are like I doubt it would be pleasant… they keep screens in them to ensure they are fully brainwashed by the time they are unpacked.” AS-001-SH1 explains, “If you place someone you want to save in them you’ll end up with a Cult solder by the time you release them.”

“Of course, if you waited to place someone you wanted to torture after Lord Shade or myself gets to it we could change it for some rather… fun experiences for your victims,” Twilight adds. “There was one box that places them in a rubber suit and sucks all the air out of the box and only lets them breathe in a special air lased compound that makes them highly… sensitive in specific parts of their bodies. Of course, the suit prevents them from getting any satisfaction from it whatsoever.”

“Why does that even exist?” Nadine commented.

“It was made to control a specific race that could feed off Lust. It used their feeding method to power the suit and screens keeping them in a docile loop until they arrived at where they needed to be,” Twilight explained.

In response, the woman just shook her head disgust on her face before she said, “Alright just so I can switch my thoughts to something else if they get to the subjects the way they would get out was from those hidden entrances you mentioned right?”.

“It would be the only way they could unless they used the main entrance,” Twilight responded, “but even then if we are already attacking they are more likely to force them to defend them rather than flee the labs without their research.”

“And to ensure they can’t. I’ll just need to get access to their systems and I can shut down their external communications and prevent them from getting any information out of the labs.” AS-001-Sh1 adds, “and considering that they keep records of all their breeding stocks in a computerised system I can use that once we reach them.”

“So no one else would be any the wiser to what was going on in there?” Knila asked.

“Exactly, and if we could keep the systems intact we could transfer it all back to my lab to repurpose for other uses,” Twilight adds, “besides… there are a few scientists who I would like some… personal sessions with.”

“Part of me wants to feel bad for what you plan to do them but I really don’t after what they did to me and so many others” Nadine commented.

After a moment they then heard Hex speak up and ask, “What would you have me do?”.

“I honestly don’t know if you can come with us I doubt they would let you inside” Knila replied.

“Considering that my absence needs an explanation to them… I could try and spin it… I mean currently, they know we failed to capture your brother… but he did complete the mission. I could claim I agreed to get him a reward if he finished my mission for me,” AS-001-SH1 suggested.

“So we can have him inside with us since they most likely would be inclined to agree after they got my brother back”.

“It would depend on what reward we have him claim to receive.”

They then heard Sol speak up, “If anything he could say that Hex is being given a second wolf as a gift since his last reward was his former omega, it wouldn’t be too far-fetched”.

They then saw Hex shake his head as he said “I only need my goddess”.

“Hex your not getting a second wolf it’s just so we can get you inside the place alright” Knila clarified to him as he then gave a nod in understanding.

“So if he gets inside with us where do we have him go?” Knila then asked.

“Well… If he’s getting a second wolf to breed… I would imagine they would be kept near to the human breeding stock so they can all be monitored at once.” AS-001-SH1 responds, “So he would stay with us as I lead you there.”

“That's good if it goes smoothly enough we’ll have him with us and once AS-001-Sh1 gets access to the systems no word will get out and no backup will be sent” Knila muttered before asking, “Anything else that we missed?”.

“I don’t there is” Sol commented as they then looked to the princesses and Shade.

“We will stay out here and keep appearances up while you start this,” Celestia responds.

“Just make sure that once you save your little ones I can see them,” Luna adds smiling at Knila.

“Will do” Knila replied nodding towards her with a smile.

“You better all get yourself ready. Once you start there no going back,” Celestia calmly states, “I wish you all luck.”

“And a lot of misfortune for anyone that meets you Shade!” Luna responds with a smile.

“Trust me… anyone who does meet me won’t be having a good life after,” Shade states as he stands up, “The rest of you. Let's get started.”

“Yes, Lord Shade!” Both AS-001-SH1 and Twilight shouted once again dropping to one knee before standing and walking out of the tent.

“Roger that!” Nadine replied with a nod as she also walked out of the tent while Knila stood there in silence an image of her brother showing in her mind before she took a breath and did the same as Nadine with Hex and Sol not too far behind her.

“Shade we wish you-” Celestia began to say turning her head to find that he had disappeared, “He always does that.”

“And you still don’t catch him each time,” Luna responds with a chuckle.

“Let's just play our parts right and help him this time,” Celestia responds as both sisters nod to eachother standing up and leaving the tent.

Chapter 21

hrAs the group made their way towards the edge of the cliff that held the hidden entrance to the cults lab, AS-001-SH1 looked at Knila with a nervous look in his eyes, “Are you sure that you are ready for this?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be for something like this” Knila admitted as she took a breath and glanced toward Hex, “Alright Hex just as I told you. Be as careful as possible during this understood?” she said towards him getting a quick nod, “Yes my goddess”.

“And how do you want to play this HU-RPM-P1?” Twilight responded as she walked up behind the group, “I assume you need to be already in your controlled act before we even start and stay like that for a long time.”

“Yep just give me a sec”.

“Hold up before you do,” Twilight responded throwing her a different cloak. A cloak that looked identical to the one she was forced to wear before meeting Shade, “I don’t think a cloak with Lord Shade’s mark on it will go down too well if they see it.”

“Fair point” Knila replied taking off her cloak and replacing it with the one Twilight tossed towards her, during which time AS-001-SH1’s body changed back into that of how he looked before Shade captured him.

“You ready to return to your duties HU-RPM-P1?” AS-001-SH1 asked trying to return to how he used to act.

In response, Knila stood straight and replied in a blank tone, “Affirmative”.

“Good then get moving,” He responded.

“Make sure she remains controlled at all time BL-495-1” Twilight responds, “I’m sure the new head scientist will be eager to get her back into her tests.”

Knila’s expression faltered for a moment before returning to its blank state as she as AS-001-SH1 replied to Twilight, “Understood Professor” as he, Knila and Hex then walked away from Twilight.

“You sure this is a good idea Lord Shade? She is one more suitable vessel to bear your foal. She could get taken if she’s not careful.” Twilight said once they were out of earshot.

“Twilight. She’ll be fine. Besides, we have our own task at hand, and your former rank in there is the best chance to have of getting near free access around here.”

“Yeah, yeah… I know that.” Twilight responded with a shake of her head, “I just feel like you are wasting some of the cult's best breeding stock if this goes wrong,” Twilight said before getting a sudden jolt as sparks shot from her chest. “I’m sorry lord Shade I won’t insult your future wife again!”

“You better not. Now move.”

“Yes Lord Shade,” Twilight responded before starting to walk after the others.

Once they reached the cliff face AS-001-SH1 held his hand out in front of them before placing his wrist against the wall. “BL-495-01 returning from task 7593248932145.”

No response came for a moment before a voice said, “I hear you failed the task and that TW-PK-21 and his spawn captured the escaped subjects and then some others.”

“Indeed. I hate to say that I underestimated the strength of the boy and was unprepared for the other two’s interference… I escaped and managed to recover HU-RPM-P1 but we lost the other subjects we were being hunted until they were captured it causing our pursuers to fall back. As Such I offered TW-PK-21 a reward for finishing my mission, he asked for a new breeding bitch to use to increase his numbers. I accepted to get him one for his help.”

“The operation wouldn’t have worked if it weren’t for his information it was quite the help” Hex spoke up.

“And you can vouch that his assistance was an asset to the successful capture of the escaped asset?” the voice asks Hex.

“That is correct” Hex replied with a nod.

“BL-495-1 we will need you to complete a full report of what you learned once your finish rewarding TW-PK-21 for his part,” the voice responds.

“Understood,” AS-001-SH1 responded before a large door appeared in front of them which quickly opened, allowing the group inside.

Hex just let out a low sigh of relief in response as he and the group walked inside, “Thought they wouldn’t let us in at first…”.

“We almost didn’t. If you hadn’t told us of his part in the success of your task they would have needed to wait for a team to collect them,” a figure responded as they saw two figures walking towards them, each wearing matching white armour in style familiar to Knila.

The arms and legs had black tyres on them while the helmets had two small black slits where the eyes would be, while the front of the mask seemed to be shaded outwards with a black line going down back, almost like a horses mane.

“I see the prototypes for the white suits are coming along,” AS-001-SH1 calmly said as he looked at the suits.

“Indeed the information from that new cell managed to allow us to complete them, we have hundreds of these suits being made a week now.” one of the figures said.

“A hundred a week I assumed they were mass producing them but not to this degree”

“Sadly most of the suits need to be linked to my own to stop them from frying the minds of the other users like this test subject learned,” the figure responded as the other one removed their helmet allowing Knila to see their face.

Their eyes were blank, almost lifeless as drool ran down their face, but the most shocking sight for Knila was the figures' bright pink hair and features that looked a lot like her own, “It seems that most of these suits react best to that of the human cattle we have a surplus of thanks to HU-RPM-P1 and the supply of subjects she bore for us.”

Hex glanced over to Knila for a moment and saw that her right hand was shaking while she kept it behind her back their words were getting to her but she was hiding it.

“But now we have her back we best get her back to creating more perfect hosts. You may take her to her personal mate so we can begin. It’s still in the normal place.”

“Of course, I will get her taken to him immediately.”

“That's…my child their using them for those suits, they're using them,” Knila thought to herself as every one of her thoughts went into overdrive Hex then saw her grip the back of her cloak, it was like looking into a mirror of how she was before.

She then saw a figure appear just behind the first ranger, a figure in a familiar black suit as a hand touched their head before their body jolting straight as its arms fell to its side. “I await your orders, Lord Shade.”

“Are there any more of you coming this way,”

“No Lord Shade. We are the only two heading here for the next few hours. We just changed the guards.” the figure responds.

“In that case please reopen the door and let my associate in,” Shade ordered as the figure walked towards the door opening it as Twilight walked inside.
Knila let out a breath as she looked at Shade and Twilight, “Felt like I was about to have a panic attack there…”.

“Lord Shade. Your fears were right… they have somehow mass produced ranger suits,” AS-001-SH1 stated, “he seems to control them, but… the others in white suits seem to be…”

“They're using my kids for them,” Knila said out loud as she placed her hand on the other ranger's face wiping the saliva.

“So I would assume if they are using the accelerated newborns for this instead of trained soldiers that the process is anything but safe for most of them,” Twilight responds looking at the drooling ranger, “by the looks of this one it slowly burns away the subjects mental stability until they can bearly think for themselves… anyone who has this suit on is most likely a mindless puppet after a day at best.”

“So it's a death sentence for their mind once they're in the suit?” Knila asked glancing at Twilight.

“Being a test subject for the cult is a death sentence itself… it’s just a matter of how they do it,” Twilight states. “These white rangers are just that… but even after the damage is done they can no longer think they will function until they finally expire.”

“So the same thing the cults been doing, using an asset until it can’t be used anymore” Knila muttered out.

“Frankly… these suits technically keep them usable the longest. I mean depending on how it may act it could ensure they don’t need any natural processes to survive… they could technically work endlessly until… well you can guess.”

“Until something kills them,” AS-001-SH1 responds. “Until they are killed they are just like machines.”

Knila just closed her eyes and took a deep breath to gain her composure as she backed away from the ranger, “Let’s just get this done and over with”.

Shade paused looking at the Ranger, “Knila… what do you want me to do with her?”

“Can you fix her, and what I mean is that can you make her not a thoughtless tool” She replied.

Shade placed a hand on the ranger's head her eyes seemed to twitch for a mere moment before Shade pulled his hand away letting out a sigh, “Do you want the bad news… or the really bad news.”

“Just say it Shade” he heard her reply.

“Her mind as it is is almost beyond repair. Even if I used my magic to enforce my will upon her there is a high chance she will never be able to form a single thought of her own without being told to. However… looking at what is left a lot seems to be intact that could be salvageable, with some tweaking she could recover but…”

“What is it?” he heard Knila ask.

“Chances are the parts of her mind that are left would leave her dependent on another person for a very long time.” Shade admitted, “Like looking after a young child.”

“But by some chance, she would get the chance to live her life even if she needs to depend on someone to help her?”.

“It's a slim chance she may get to live a full life… but as I said she will be dependent on a mother-like figure for a large portion of her life,” Shade repeated.

“I’m willing to take that chance” Knila responded looking over to her daughter.

“But if we’re too late the chances are you will get a mindless baby instead,” Twilight added.

“So what, she’s still my kid a mother cares about their children no matter what”.

“As long as you are prepared to spend time diapering, feeding and cleaning up after an adult-sized baby for a long time if things go wrong, it’s your call,” Twilight warned her.

Nodding Knila then looked to Shade and then back to her daughter, “Shade…do it”.

“Okay. Just don’t blame me if this goes wrong,” Shade responds placing his hand on the girl's head as sparks pass through her entire body after he couple of moments he pulled his hand away. “Done… I’d be ready to catch her if I was you.”

Knila then got in front of her daughter as she saw the light show in her eyes before she collapsed forward prompting Knila to catch her.

It took a moment but she felt her daughter move slightly before Knila saw her glance up at her with Knila looking right back at her.

The look she gave Knila was something similar to either familiarity and curiosity, she could see her opening her mouth in an attempt to say something before she heard her say, “M-momma?”.

The woman gasped slightly from hearing her say this before hugging her tears clearly seen on her face as she did this, “Y-yeah I'm your momma”.

They saw the girl's eyes widen in wonder as she slowly brought her hands around Knila.

“I don’t mean to make this awkward for you HU-RPM-P1… but you still have the others to save.” Twilight points out, “You kind of need to decide how you are going to move on with this.”

Knila separated from her daughter, “I’ll go but I can’t leave this one by herself don’t want her to get in the crossfire”.

“So what you're going to have her come with you into where your heading?” Twilight calmly says. “Not sure that a suitable place for her to go.”

“Then what do you suggest I'm not hearing any better ideas”.

“You're literally considering taking her towards a place where you could be placed in a very… dangerous position do you really want her seeing that while her mind is so fragile?” Shade asked

“No I'm asking for idea’s so I don’t have to take her into the place, leaving her by herself isn’t a good idea either”.

“If you want I could stay over here with her and watch her for the time being” They hear Hex comment.

“It's not a terrible idea but would they notice at all?” Knila asked.

“If she’s not at her post yes,” the other ranger started walking back towards the group, “If she remains at her post I doubt it.”

“Are you in the same area as her when she’s at her post?” Knila asked.

“She is. The white series is made to follow one at the head. Sadly she is the only suit I am linked to at this time to control, many of the others are bound in large herds headed by a mid-ranking cult member. Their suits have coloured marks depending on their ranks and some have other improvements to their suits.”

Knila nodded, “Alright I’ll leave her with you for the time being until we're done with what we need to do alright?”.

“Not like all we do is watch the door,” the first ranger stated.

“Let’s just get this done, time is of the essence right?” Knila said looking at the others.

“Depends… how long do you think a child can last with a scientist who used you like a fleshlight?” AS-001-SH1 asked.

Knila's eyes widened in response to him asking this as she stayed silent before her eyes went back to their blank look, “Let's go”.

They nodded towards her before AS-001-SH1 and Hex walked ahead of Knila, the three separate from one another with Twilight and Shade staying back where they are.

After a couple of minutes of walking the group reached a small open door, a musky smell coming from the room as faint green lights could be seen flickering inside it.

“Looks like we are here,” AS-001-SH1 stated looking at Knila, “You sure you are ready for this?”

“No” she replied honestly before adding, “I have to do it anyway even if that smell is bothering me…” she covered her nose for a moment before she and the others slowly walked through the door.

As soon as she walked through the door she saw rows upon rows of pods each having naked women of many ages and sizes inside them floating in some kind of liquid that hid any colour from their features, each having strange masks over their faces, with most having visibility distended bellies.

On the other side of the room were multiple small open rooms with medical beds in them, that had both strange coloured straps on them in the places where someone's body would rest and metal cuffs where their arms and legs would be.

At the far end of the room looked to be a large male figure in a white lab coat who was holding a clipboard as he looked at the woman in the pods, his eyes looking towards the figures inside the pods as he seemed to almost licking his lips before writing something onto the clipboard.

Knila’s face a moment went to one of disgust for a moment before taking a quick breath as her face went blank again.

The scientist's head then turned seeing the group that had entered the lab, as a creepy, perverted smile appeared on his face as he saw Knila, “BL-495-1. I feared the worst when I heard you had disappeared and that HU-RPM-P1 had been lost. I hope that she’s not been harmed during that time.”

“Don’t worry Professor Spark. She made it back unharmed,” AS-001-SH1 replied as the scientist approached the group and stopped infront of Knila.

“And how is my favourite slut doing?” The Scientist asked his hand rubbing up the side of Knila’s body.

“Adequate” He heard her reply, before feeling him squeeze one of her breasts with his hands.

As she kept her mouth closed and made sure not to allow herself to flinch in place to keep up with the act while he continued.

“These sure are full again today, we’ll need to get them drained during the examination,” Professor Spark stated removing his hand as Knila saw a small bit of white liquid on his fingers which he licked off them, a smile on his face, “I never tire of the taste of this stuff, it’s great in my morning coffee.”

Hex looked at Professor Spark with a disgusted look under his visor but kept himself quiet so he wouldn’t jeopardize anything.

“Now. HU-RPM-P1 please strip down out of your cloathes, and please try to make a show of it. You know how much I enjoy my time with you.” Professor Spark responds with a lustful grin.

Knila complied with his order the woman took off the cloak and dropped it to the floor she then slowly rubbed her hands around her body and she slowly took off her pants and panties and pressed her hands against her chest the professor seeing that her shirt hugged tightly to her chest.

“HU-RPM-P1 please push those breasts of yours out I want to see every part of your wonderful subject-bearing body.”

She then pressed her arms against her breasts which pushed from between them making her shirt look tighter than it was before as the woman slowly trailed her hands to the hem of her shirt.

The professor watched in anticipation while he saw her grab onto it and slowly lift it up seeing her stomach and midsection before seeing her breasts which raised against the shirt before seeing her pull it off entirely seeing them jiggle as they fell back down as he ogled her naked body.

“Keep them just like that,” Professor Spark ordered as he walked to a table at the back of the room before returning with a small clear glass, “Now bend forwards and let those wondering things rest for me.”

She did what she was told and bent forward her breast hanging down as she felt him place his hands on her right breast again slowly kneading the ends between his fingers.

“Don’t lose your composure Knila, don’t lose your composure” She thought to herself on repeat.

“Moan for me slut. Let me hear your sweet voice,” he responds as he holds the glass under the breast he was squeezing before milk began to slowly drip into the glass, before shortly after coming out in continuous long streams.

She let out a moan from the sensation of Professor Spark’s actions as he felt her body shake as he squeezed the milk out of her breast he saw her pant out in a blush before he stopped holding a full glass in his hand, “You can stand straight now.”

She shakily stood herself straight her blush still on her face as the lingering milk on her breast dripped to the floor. She then saw the Professor lift the glass to his lips taking a small drink of the liquid before smiling at Knila, “I always prefer this stuff when it’s fresh.”

He then held the glass to Knila’s lips, “I would assume you would like a taste.”

She slowly brought her lips onto the glass and drank from it while Hex looked at her in worry and after a moment she pulled her head back and swallowed down the milk.

“How did you taste Slut?” the professor asked with a smirk placing the half-empty glass on a nearby table.

“I taste good” She replied with the same blank tone as before.

“Good to hear,” Professor Spark replies smirking before looking to AS-001-SH1. “BL-495-1 please get HU-RPM-P1 restrained in booth 3, both me and my assistants will be with you in a minute.”

“Of course Professor,” AS-001-SH1 responded in a calm tone before leading Knila to the booth he had been told to place her in.

As soon as they reached the bed Knila climbed onto it and got herself into position AS-001-SH1 seeing her take a breath to gather her composure before allowing herself to go back to her blank stare before he began to bind her body using each of the bindings on the bed, the ones on her lower body forcing her legs wide in a way ensure she couldn't close them.

“This is only to get everyone out, don’t let it bother you Knila,” She thought to herself before she heard footsteps coming from outside of the booth.

As the source of the footsteps came into view what Knila saw shook her to her core. Professor Spark was now standing completely naked infront of her but the bit that shocked her the most was the three naked girls beside him, each of them having long pink hair one of which had walked infront of him as soon as he stopped in front of Knila as she instantly began to suck on his cock taking into deep into her mouth instantly, as the remaining two girls began rubbing their hands against his legs.

“What the fuck…” She thought.

“HU-SLT-69B please prepare HU-RPM-P1 for her treatment.”

“Of course master,” the second girl responded with an almost jovial tone in her voice as she walked towards Knila’s open legs bringing her head between them before Knila felt the girl begin to push her tongue into her groin.

She attempted to stop herself from making a noise her disgust showing for a moment before she closed her eyes letting out a moan from feeling the second girl's tongue, her legs shaking in place.

“That's it HU-SLT-69B. Get your mother nice and wet for me,” Professor Spark states, as the girl redoubled her efforts pushing her tongue deeper into Knila.

Knila’s face went to that of horror as she heard what he had just said she was unable to do anything about it the woman continued to let out more moans as she endured what her daughter was doing to her, “This sick son of a bitch why would he do this, why would he enjoy this…..” she thought to herself.

After a moment she looked to the one that was sucking him off as he just looked on in enjoyment, before he looked to the third girl, “HU-SLT-69C. Please get the scissors and remove your mother's hair. She has a nasty habit of controlling that stuff like a lethal weapon I would hate for her to maim her own children.”

“Of course master,” the girl responded walking to a nearby table before grabbing some long scissors and walking behind Knila before cutting her hair away until it was extremely short before walking away, “Is that enough master”

“Plenty. Now… why don’t you help reward your sister for how she’s helping your mother?”

“Can I!” the girl responded with a look of glee in her eyes getting a nod from Professor Spark before she began to copy what her sister had been doing with Knila to her sister instantly earning moans from the girl.

The woman tried hard to not let any tears come through as she experienced this, she hated every moment and couldn’t do a thing to stop it and every few seconds would let out a moan from what the second daughter was doing.

It was then she heard what sounded like grunts coming from Professor Sparks shortly followed by him saying, “get ready for your meal HU-SLT-69A,” she saw the man push the girl's head down as a loud moan came from the man before he began to slowly pull back as Knila saw ropes of white cover the girls face as she held her mouth open holding the same liquid in her mouth swishing it around like mouthwash before swallowing it.

“That's a good slut,” Professor Sparks responded before forcibly grabbing the girl's hair and using it the clean the remaining fluids off his penis leaving the girl's hair wet and sticky with flecks of white being visible in her hair.

Knila’s hand gripped the bed tightly as this continued her thoughts just jumbling together as she trembled in place before she whispered “N-no…no more please”.

Professor Spark stopped looking at Knila as he walked towards her, his eyes glued to hers, before a sadistic grin formed on his face, “I see you are awake slut… or were you aware of the whole thing from the start? Tell me did you enjoy your session with our offspring?”

“S-screw you bastard…” she stuttered out tears stinging her eyes.

“And you have some fight left in you! Wonderful! I can’t wait for you to be actually aware and feel everything I do to you my loving whore!” Professor Spark responded with a grin, as he walks towards her side, “As long as you are awake, I think I’ll take a drink, fresh from the teat.” he added before leaning over the breast he hadn’t miked earlier before squeezing and sucking on it, milk flowing almost instantly.

The woman let out a moan instantly as she felt him suck out her milk as she continued to grip the bed her knuckles going white as each suck he made her moan, she attempted to stay quiet by biting her lip but it didn’t last long as she let out a moan that was significantly louder than the ones previously.

“That's it moan like the slut we all know you are!” Professor Sparks shouts pulling his lips away from her after draining all the milk he could from her breasts, wiping the remaining milk from his mouth, before looking at Knila with a perverted grin on his face.

“Your a sick….bastard” she gasped out.

“Oh please keep the compliments coming my favourite whore. You’ll only get me back in the mood quicker,” He responds before pausing, “Would you like to see our two most recent offspring? They both just came into season this morning.”

“W-what?” she stuttered out before seeing him moving away from her a moment.

“Girls. Please lead HU-RPM-P1 to booth 1,” Professor Spark ordered the girl as they moved away from Knila one of the girl's faces was covered in her fluids as they moved to the back of the bed and began to push it out of the booth she was in and down the hall.

Knila couldn’t look at either as they pushed the bed down the hall and after a moment or two they were in front of booth one. A curtain covered the booth as she saw a single shadow inside but even then she could see that their legs were spread like her own.

“Are you ready to you your second youngest daughter?” Professor Spark asked, grinning at Knila as he lifted her bed upwards so she could see whatever was beyond the curtain without any issue.

“Screw you” he heard her growl out, but not getting a response from him as he pulled the curtain open. As soon as it was pulled back Knila could see a girl who barely looked older than nine years old, she looked almost identical to Knila, who could easily see a white puddle leaking from between her legs, as it dripped down her groin onto the bed.

“What do you think isn’t she wonderful.”

“What is wrong with you, you sick monster!” She shouted at him anger in her voice.

“Oh there is nothing wrong with me,” he responded with a smile, “This is what you had them to live for after all. This is the life purpose of most of your girls, to give us plenty of suitable subjects for our tests.”

“You're all sick in the head if you think this is ok!”.

“M-More master… please more,” Knila heard a childlike voice stutter out, followed by a moan that sounded to come from the booth infront of her.

Her breath hitched as she looked at the girl her hands shaking in place as tears started to go down her face.

“Don’t cry you still have one more daughter to see,” Professor Sparks calmly says as he begins rubbing his hand between Knila’s legs, “Then after her… it’s your turn.”

She looked away from him as he did this her disgust showing on her face as she let out a low whimper, before he pushed his fingers deep inside rubbing up against the deeper part of her body, “Girls… move her to the next booth and HU-SLT-69A please prepare me for HU-BRD-2451 session.”

“Yes, master!” Knila heard the first girl respond wrapping her hands around his groin again.

Knila then felt her bed being moved again as one of the girls carried the freshly bred woman over to a nearby tube placing her inside as a mask covered her face and sealed her inside as the liquid surrounded her lifting her into the air.

“Depraved monster,” She choked out as the tears kept running down her face.

“Keep talking. You're only going to help me get ready quicker,” Professor Spark responded again letting out a grunt, “Don’t do too much sweetie. I need to save it all for HU-BRD-2451.”

She then saw the second curtain open this one having a child that looked younger than the other one, her legs spread like the child before her, her features looking the same. However, this one seemed to not have been touched yet.

“Time to break her in,” Knila heard Professor Spark say as he walked away from the HU-SLT-69A and towards the girl in the booth.

“N-No Please stay away!” the girl screamed out in fear as she saw him approach her.

“Stay away from her!” Knila screamed at him in anger which went to horror when he didn’t stop as he saw him rub his fingers against the girl's groin, pained screams coming from her shortly followed by sobs.

“I don’t want this. Let me go! P-P-Please!” the girl screamed again before Knila heard a loud smacking sound followed by the girl's cries.

Knila shut her eyes, “Someone, anyone…. save us…please” she whispered out in a sob.

She saw a faint light appear on her hand, as a small sword-shaped pendant appeared, and she heard a familiar voice. The voice of her Displacer says to her, “Miss Williams. If you need to be saved or to save another life state your wish and call for me… but be prepared to pay a cost.”

She clutched the pendant tightly, “I need your help, please save my kids Craig I beg you…” she sobbed.

The world around her began to slow to a crawl, “Miss Williams. What are you willing to give in return for my intervention,” a voice responded.

“I'm willing to give…..my girls I can’t look after them by myself but I know that they would be safe with you…” she replied.

There was complete silence for a moment, “Your request has been heard, and accepted. Please be aware the cost will be taken upon completion of your request.” The voice responded as time began to speed up again.

“I hope you enjoy the feeling of my touch because after today. Your all mine for the rest of your life,” Professor Spark stated over the sobs of the girl as he moved his groin closer to the girl’s unprotected body.

“Leave her alone!” he heard Knila scream at him before a black portal appeared infront of her the professor's eyes jolting backwards toward it as a figure walked out.

The figure that appeared wore a long black trench coat, the bottom of it bellowing backwards, while the figure's face was covered by a mask hiding his features, “You have one warning. Back away from the girl.”

“Who the hell are you!”

The figure then removed his mask as it felt like the gravity in the room increased tenfold as Professor Spark was pulled into the floor a crater forming below him as he looked to be pulled further down, “Stay or else.”

“G-Go to hell!” he shouted before a gunshot was heard followed by a pained scream as Knila saw the Professor's right leg missing a bleeding stump in its place, as the new figure held a gun out and pointed at where Professor Spark’s leg had been moments before.

“Miss Williams… Are you okay.” the figure asked in a calm tone ignoring the pained screams from the Professor as he placed his mask back on the pressure in the room disappearing.

“I would say yes, but I’d be lying if I did” he heard her reply.

He then held his hand out as her bindings turned to dust as she fell to her feet, “I assume that's better?”

She quietly nodded towards him as she covered her chest and crotch with her hands.

“Don’t be so modest I saw that the first time,” the figure responded without much of a care.

“I know I just don’t him to see any more than he already has” Knila replied as she glared at the Professor her eyes filled with nothing but hate towards him.

“Then let me deal with that,” the figure responded before the professor was kicked onto his front before letting a scream as a sword cut through both his eyes leaving him blind as he screamed out in pain. “That any better?”

“Much better” Knila replied as she stopped covering her body as saw him writhing in pain.

“Stop hurting Master!” the three girls screamed at the figure as they ran at him striking them with their arms as he ignored them, “Miss Williams… do these three count as your kids or not?”

“Yeah…they do” She replied.

“Then I’ll ignore them for now,” the man responded, “Now… Before I deal with any other issues regarding your kids. I believe the terms of our agreement need clarifying. How many are you giving up in return for my aid.”

She went silent thought before replying to him “For the ones I'm giving up I’ll give you half of them in return” as she looked at him.

The figure looked at the three girls who were still pounding on his legs, “Any ideas on any you specifically want out of your hair before I pick at random in the end?”

She looked at them in silence before replying, “ Could you help with them being sane so whatever garbage he put into their heads doesn’t remain?”.

“You mean wipe their mind clean of him from their lives and make it so he never existed to him?” the man asked looking down at the girls again, all three of them stopping their actions terrified looks on their faces at what the man said.

“You three get away now!” Professor Sparks shouted at the three girls, “Don’t let them take you away!”

“But Master they’ll!” one of them said.

“Just run before it’s-” he repeated before he heard two of the girls screaming as Hex and Knila could be seen holding them in place, “Sorry you're not going anywhere” Hex commented.

“Let them go!” Professor Spark shouted trying to find the source of the screams even while he was blinded.

“You really think that happening?” the man asked as he held the third girl in the air her legs kicking wildly at the man’s chest as he tried to get free.

“Let me go! I want to stay with Master!” the girl screamed.

“No you don’t he’s filled your mind with nothing but lies” She heard Knila reply

“NO! I hate you! I hate you!” all three girls screamed the ones held down by Knila and Hex biting them in an attempt to get free.

Knila let out a low grunt of pain while Hex remained quiet the two not letting the girls go for anything.

Knila then looked to the man again as she said “Do it” she tightened her grip on her daughters.

The man began to place his hand on the girl's head before stopping, “Umm… Miss Williams… her minds not being controlled… they’re doing what they did willingly.”

“What?” Knila said horror showing on her face.

“There’s nothing beyond the normal going through her mind… nothing attached to them to control them… and seemingly no changes to their bodies… I think all three girls actually want what they are doing for him.”

She went quiet as she looked at the professor one of the girls glanced towards her seeing that Knila’s face was unreadable before pure hatred showed on it directed squarely at professor Spark.

“Is there anything you could do about them?” The man heard Knila ask.

“The girls… well I could make them forget who they are completely… but that requires me to give them something in return for taking the memories and could alter every part of them depending on what they get… but they would need to agree to it. Which I doubt they would do.” the man admitted, as the girl he was holding glared at him in anger before spitting at him.

“Maybe… Just maybe should Dispaline the three brats,” the man suggested, “Or I might just do it myself to this one. A few hard strikes should be enough.”

“Go ahead, kinda have my hands full with this one” Knila replied as the daughter she was holding bit onto her hand drawing blood this time before Knila tightened her grip again.

“Maybe deal with yours as well,” the man suggested as he sat on a nearby chair bending the girl over his knee.

“Don’t you dare touch me!” the girl shouted glaring at Knila before a single loud strike was heard shortly followed by a pained scream.

“How many should you get,” the man asked, “Maybe your mother should decide?”

“I think ten should work” He heard Knila comment before seeing her grab the daughter who bit her hand by the face and growled out, “Stop fighting me and BEHAVE or else you’ll get the same treatment as your sister!”.

“I don’t care you two-bit whore! Let me go!” the girl shouted again biting Knilla harder, as she tried to turn her body to punch Knila, all the while hearing 9 more hard strikes followed by loud sobs from the girl being held by the man.

“Sorry in advance” Knila then muttered as she let the girl go prompting her to try and punch Knila who just moved out of the way and slapped her hard in the face causing her daughter to fall to the floor her hand on her now red cheek.

The girl Hex was holding meanwhile stayed still not trying to fight off Hex after seeing what was happening with her sisters while continued to hold her just in case she does try something

“I-I-I’ll behave… Just don’t hit me.” the girl stuttered out shaking on the spot as she saw Professor Spark’s head rapidly turning as he heard each strike.

“What are you doing to them? Stop it!” Professor Spark shouted as he heard the girl's cries. “Leave my girls alone!”

“Shut up” he heard Knila say before feeling her foot hit the side of his head as he crawled around aimlessly trying to find the voices.

“M-Master no…” the girl the man was holding said through her sobs, a bright red handprint on her rear.

“If you start behaving like good girls maybe she won’t hurt him,” the man whispered to the girl who brought her hands up to her face to hide her tears.

The daughter that Knila had hit slowly got up from the floor and looked like she was about to attack her again only stopping once she saw Knila kicking Professor Spark onto his back and placing her foot on his throat, “Don’t test me just because your my kid doesn’t mean I'm not against you hating me now stop before your precious master gets his windpipe crushed”.

“Y-You wouldn’t,” the girl responded her eyes darting between Knila and Professor Spark.

“You want to bet, I hate this son of a bitch he used me when the cult still had control over me so I have no attachment to him and it would just take one more bit of pressure it would be that easy for me”.

“S-S-Stop-” Professor Spark let out through pained gasps.

“Miss Williams. A worthless speck like him is not worth blooding your feet over,” the man calmly said as Knila saw the girl over his knees go to bite the man before a loud smack was heard followed by the girl's cries again.

Knila just grits her teeth while she looked to be contemplating whether to do it or not and after a second removing her foot from his neck the woman let out a scoff as she heard the professor gasp out for air the woman then moved away from him and grabbed her daughter who attempted to go to him.

The man's eyes then paused a moment his eyes following the directions the professor had been moving before as he stopped letting the girl he had held go, “don’t move any of you.”

Knila and Hex complied staying where they were not completely sure of what was happening at this very moment.

The man then held a hand up before four beams of light shot out from his finger hitting something at each point of the room, “Okay. Now… Explain yourself.”

“You think I would talk about anything to you,” Professor Spark angrily said.

“Depends… whoever has been watching you and getting off on our antics can’t see or hear you now so I think it’s the best chance you have of getting her to not want your head on a spike,” the man responded as his eyes went wide.

“You didn’t!”

“Destroy the cameras and other things listening in… I did.”

Professor Spark’s head then darted around before he said, “I-I-I can stop this act… Girls… we can… finally drop the act for that monster.”

“S-S-so we don’t have to harm our mother anymore,” the girl who had been biting Knila asked, as she saw the Professor shake his head.

“W-what the hell is going on here?” Knila said raising her voice confused.

“T-The head scientists… gets off on the suffering of others… he forces those under him to… hurt those they care for his own pleasure… he watches everything… records everything we do. Kills those who don’t do what he wants or worse if he can.”

“Many of us are forced into strange suits if we resist even once… other taken by him as prizes… personal playthings he calls them.” the girl held by Hex adds.

“M-master was given a deal… pick one child of his own and make them serve his carnal desires for the heads… enjoyment.” The one held by the man added.

“If we followed orders… we were spared from pain and the tests,” the last girl responded with a scared tone in her voice at the mention of the tests, each girl shaking in fear.

Knila went quiet before asking “How many of your siblings have you lost”.

The girls didn’t respond shaking their heads before Professor Sparks said, “hundreds… in the last five days… before that… thousands. We lost track of them, all I could do was save these three and those in the tubes around us. Their children… I can’t say what their fates are.”

Knila could be seen clenching her fist before letting her daughter go in response as she let out a tired sigh pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Knila… I’m done!” she heard AS-001-SH1 shout over to her before they heard alarms blurt out around them.

“I think he’s seen the broken screens,” Professor Spark states all three girls running over to him grabbing him tightly, as he slowly feels around finding the three girls and wrapping his hands around them.

“We need to go” Knila muttered before shouting “Hex toss me my clothes!”

“Got it!” He then replied as he tossed her clothes and cloak towards her as the woman placed her clothes back on.

“HU-RPM-P1… you don’t stand a chance… we don’t stand a chance. He’ll take them from me,” Professor Spark says his fear clear in his voice as he wraps his hand rightly around the three girls around him.

“I don’t care if I don’t stand a chance I'm still going to try” Knila replied as she materialized both her kusarigama, “You can come with us or stay here but I doubt you want these girls to get hurt, and neither do I but I can’t force you it’s your choice”.

“He took his eyes… what could he even do now!” one of the girls shouted back at her.

Knila scoffed in response “You can carry him if you need to” Knila replied, “Besides if any of the cult forces get here he won’t be doing anything”.

“Oh yes… and then I can hear them rape every woman who’s not carrying a child yet. What a great plan,” Professor Spark responds

“Oh go fuck yourself”.

The group then heard the sound of footsteps running down the hall they had come down to reach the room, “W-were all doomed,” the youngest of the three girls said her voice shaking clearly terrified.

“Miss Williams. Please stand back if you would,” the man calmly said walking towards the door.

“Understood” Knila replied keeping her weapons out as she backed up.
The man lowered his head for a moment as he was heard taking a slow breath Knila heard him whisper a word in a language the woman recognized and looked on in shock, “LaasYahVir” as a red light moved from the man through the hall.

“Okays… around 35 living enemies in a cramped hall, poorly organised and seeming to be led by only one of them,” the man responded his voice unnerving and calm, “Should only take a moment to handle I’ve dealt with much worse.”

Knila glanced to the others before she nodded in response, “Alright you opposed to me helping out or do you got this?”.

The man didn’t respond walking out of the room as she saw his mask being taken off before hearing pained gasps and screams outside the room after only a moment the man walked back in, “If you want to go after the rest… I’m not stopping you… but that lot will not be moving for at least 5 hours. I will stay here and look after your kids as per our prior agreement.”

“Thank you,” She said to him before she said out loud “AS-001-SH1 have any idea where the others are being kept?”.

“Active subjects are on the other side of the complex. New females in the rooms below… the freshly captured creatures are scattered around the labs… most of the captured wolves are mid experiments.” Professor Sparks states.

“Thanks for the info” Knila blankly replied before letting out a sigh and asking the man, “Is there a way for you to bring back his sight or is that gonna need something else for me to give?”

“Why would it be you who has to give something up,” the figure responds with a smirk, “It’s not something of yours that needs saving. If he wants them back I’m sure he’ll give something up of his own.”

“What do you say then?” Knila said to the professor paying no attention to the girls as she waited for his reply.

“Is that not my choice to make… I’ll decide in my own time,” Professor Spark responds with an angry tone in his voice.

“Whatever you say doc” Knila replied with indifference before saying, “We need to get them out of here though don’t want to linger for too long”.

The man looked at the tubes, “Leave getting them out to me. I have more than enough hands on deck to get them to safety.”

“Thank you” Knila replied with a nod before glancing at her girls and the professor, “Does that include them too?”.

The man looked to the professor, “Depends if what he offers me Is good enough suppose.”

“I… I get it. If I want to be saved by you I need to give you something in return… I don’t count under HU-RPM-P1’s offer I guess.”

Knila stayed silent during this the woman looking away from the four as she leaned against one of the tables before sighing, “I'm gonna go need to look for the others, and if I were you doc I’d offer something, those girls care for you a lot” she said before turning towards the door and walking out Hex not too far behind her.

AS AS-001-SH1 turned to follow them he caught a glimpse of the man's face under his mask, as a cold chill ran through his body as he thought ‘the professor is going to suffer… this man is dangerous.’ before running off after Knila and Hex.

As the group got out of the room they saw that unconscious bodies were strewn across the hall, many robotic bodies with missing limbs or embedded into the wall, while any living creature was laid against the wall, many of them having mothers on their wrists or shattered helmets over their heads revealing both men and women with pink hair under them.

“So many of them…” Knila whispered as she looked over their unconscious bodies, “Let's go we’ll take care of them later from what the man said we’ll have enough time since they won’t be waking up to quick” Knila then said as she carefully stepped over their bodies and once they were out of the way ran.

“Understood my goddess” Hex replied as he and AS-001-SH1 did the same as Knila before the group turned a corner.

As soon as the group had left the room the man turned back to the Professor taking a small breath before four copies of him appeared behind the Scientists three of them pulling the girls away from them and pinning them to the ground, while the last held the professor in place.

“You know… now she’s out the way, as long as the girls are not harmed… your free real estate for me to do what I wish to. And you have really pushed your luck with me.”

“W-What do you mean.”

“Oh you care for those girls I can see that. But I’ve watched my Displaces world for a long time. I watched what you did to get those girls and trust me… I am not amused at any of it.” The man slowly walked over to the pinned man before the one holding him released him for a moment, as the man placed his foot on the Professor's head. “And in all honestly… I’m going to enjoy taking everything you love from you.”

“W-What do you mean!”

“I will start with taking those girls from you, I will erase you from their minds and replace every memory they have of you with me. They’ll never know you existed as their master and that's just to start. I could change how each looks, acts and talks you’d walk past them in the street and never even know.”

The girls hearing this just looked at the man in fear and tried to get themselves free but couldn’t.

“I would start with the youngest. You know the one you seemed to love between your legs oh so much. But what to do with her…” the man responded as the girl he was referring to was lifted to her feet and carried towards him by the clone, her feet unable to reach the ground.

She attempted to shake off the clone grip her legs waving around in the air while she screamed, “No let me go!”.

“Maybe I can turn her into my own little girl, maybe I’d have her forget that her sisters ever existed in the first place and have her believe she was abandoned at a young age and left to fend for herself. Have her believe I found her and, took her in, fed and clothed her for years.”

“No!” her sisters shouted as the youngest stopped moving after hearing what he said, her face just showing pure fear as she looked like she was about to cry.

Even though the professor was unable to see them he still heard what the man said as they shouts, “Y-You wouldn’t! S-She wants her daughters to be safe and happy! You’d break your promise.”

“Oh no. She said she wanted to me protect her kids. That was our agreement, and while they are with a sex-crazed scientist they won’t be safe. It would be better if you never existed for everyone involved.”

The professor's breathing began to speed up before he said, “W-What do you want!”

“Parden.”

“What do you want me to give for you to leave them alone and save the four of us!”

The man rubbed his chin for a moment before a large robot ran through the door, the man turning quickly flicking his wrist before the robot's body seemed to freeze up, its legs almost looking to turn to dust infront of them as it dropped to the floor unable to do any more that look from its spot on the floor.

“I’m sorry I was having a conversation, I’ll deal with you first though.” the man responded before clicking his fingers as the robot's body ignited into flames, the metal on its body beginning to melt almost instantly as it screamed out in pain, it’s body slowly turning into a silver puddle on the ground. “Now where were we?”

“T-T-Telling me what you wanted from me as payment to save us,” the professor asked in fear of the screams he had heard.

“Oh, you can’t see that. Maybe one of the girls would like to tell you to want just happened,” the man stated looking at the three girls their eyes wide in horror glued to the melting figure’s body.

“H-he made one of those robots melt with just an s-snap of his finger” the third girl stuttered out.

“Oh I can do more than that,” the man responds clicking his fingers again as the robot's body began to slowly reform its eyes darting around in fear, “I-I died… but I didn’t… but I did…” the robot began to say it’s breathing erratic as it repeated the same words on repeat.

“I can change the objects and creatures around me as I see fit. I could make the robot there into a mindless puppet if I desired… you know like the people here did to the four people I sent to this world.” He clicked his fingers again as the girls saw the robot's body begin to change its form compressing and twisting, its screams echoing around the room before it turned into what looked to be a floating sword the man holding his hand out as it came directly towards him. “As I said… I can change them how I like, like make an enemy a permanent tool for me to use as I see fit.”

He then forced the blade into the ground before a face appeared on the hilt, the eyes opening a terrified expression on its face as it looked at the girls unable to look elsewhere. “S-Spare me… please.”

They shook in place as one of them stuttered out in fear, “W-what a-are you?”.

The man didn’t respond as he pulled the sword from the ground a gold scabbard appeared in his hand as he placed the sword into it the face’s eyes looked around in fear before it was hidden inside the sheath, the creature going silent. “I have been many things. I was a Displaced at one point, now I Displace others normally I go for those who are about to die and save them… like I did you mother.”

One of them looked at him confused, “S-she was going to die?”

“She and her friends were going to yes. You could say if I didn’t save her… you wouldn’t be here talking to me right now.” The man responds holding the sheathed sword in his hand. “I go between worlds, saving those close to death or in rare cases just departed and give them a second chance at life. Your mother was my first.”

“W-what led you to do this?” The youngest stuttered out.

“My father…” the man responded plainly, “He did it before me but… he killed those he wanted to turn… I’m trying to rewrite his wrongs… and there are billions to fix,” the man responded before shaking his head, “but now I have this one to deal with. You asked what I want to save you. Only one thing will suffice.”

“W-What is it?” Professor Spark asked

The man's hand pointed at his body, “You. In mind, body and soul. I want you to submit your entire being to me and serve me. Do that and I will save you, give you back your eyes and leg and you will still be able to see those three girls entirely unaltered.”

“Y-You want me to become a mindless puppet bound to you for the rest of my days!” the professor shouted, “you can’t do that! It’s not a fair deal!”

“But it's what you have. If you don’t well. Your girls saw what I can do to you instead.” the man responded tapping the sword, “Maybe they should tell you what is at stake. I mean I might do it to one of them,” his finger moving to point at the oldest of the three, “Maybe her.”

The oldest gave a fearful look in response, “H-he turned the robot into a w-weapon into a sword” she stuttered out.

“And I intend to keep it. Use it as I see fit.” The man said. “So let's talk about your sacrifice, one piece per part of the deal.”

His empty eyes looked to dart around for a moment before giving in his head falling to the ground in defeat, “I-”

-One hour ago-

As soon as Shade and Twilight had separated from the group they made their way down the hall ahead of them.

“Okay, you used to work here leading this mess. If we wanted to cause delays to their tests without being seen where would you start?” Shade asked.

“I’d use my old backdoor access to completely delete their current tests, it would halt them for at most a few minutes while they try and find the fault and recover the data. It will also give us the locations of any targets to strike.” Twilight responded placing her hand against a nearby wall as a hidden door opened beside it and they walked inside.

Inside the room was a lot of old computer dust covering the screen Twilight cleared it off before the screen flickered into life as she cracked her fingers, “let's see what we can do with this.”

She then began rapidly copying files from one place to another, “Okay checking all info on the RPM- Series of tests. G1’s preliminary tests were completed 2 hours ago he’s been transferred to HU-RPM- series storage until deployment… that's strange. Their multiple details for HU-RPM-B1… something about strange reactions that needed deeper tests… possible personality division.”

“Twilight… slow down and explain.”

The woman sighed, “it looks like the green one’s tests have creased… That would mean he’s now chipped and had his first upgrades and control mechanisms added to his body to control him. For HU-RPM-B1 something about 2 minds in his own… and a test to split the two into their own bodies to use for special tests.”

“Any idea where there being kept?”

“One is being kept with all the successful ranger tests that are currently being stored… at a deeper facility on this side of the base… the other is nearby to him I assume after they separate them they’ll move them to be tagged, profiled and tested.” She then paused for a moment flicking through multiple screens, “Theirs about to be a few tests on Timberwolves beginning soon… one they have written down as ‘pack Alpha, remove limbs and replace with suitable replacements… and one other that is 80% complete, something about female Timberwolf test to turn bipedal. A possible candidate for a TW-RPM-BR Series Suit if successful”.

“Where are they being tested at?” Shade asked looking over her shoulder.

“A few rooms down for the female… this ‘Alpha’ one is slightly further into the base, and I will find out the accurate locations for the storage room and the other test,” Twilight stated before passing Shade what looked like a small in-ear headphone. “Keep that in and I’ll update you on any changes that appear.”

“Okay then,” Shade responded placing the earpiece where he was told.

“Testing, Testing 1 2 3 testing,” Twilight said looking at Shade who nodded back to her, “Good. You start by saving the woman… depending on the test it may be best to wait, a early extraction could lead to death.”

“I’ll keep it in mind,” Shade responded phasing through the now closed hidden door before running down the hall.

After a couple of minutes, he reached the first room Twilight had suggested he walked inside finding the room to be large and white, almost like a hospital operating room. The walls had large bleachers spread around it with two figures sitting watching seeming to be recording things on the pad.

In the centre of the room was a woman who was suspended up in a large tank of water with an oxygen mask placed over her mouth her most notable features being a wolves ear and tail along with claws that poked out of her fingers, the woman with her black hair floating around in the water as Shade heard a heartbeat monitor let out a low beep.

“Her body is progressing nicely she may be suitable to use as part of a breeding program for the Brown series of suits if she is not compatible with it.” one scientist said looking at the woman in the tank.

The other nodded back Shade was able to see a horn on his head, a black mane being bearly visible un showing him to be a Unicorn, “Yes at the rate she’s progressing with these changes she’ll be fit to be taken out of the tank soon”.

“And with that body… I’m sure any of the breeders will be eager to use her,” the first one responds, “She’s just too good on the eyes… I may just take her myself the second she is out of the tank.”

“Don’t let the head scientist hear you say that” the second replied before recording more data onto the pad he looked to be a young human with pink hair and he could be seen wearing glasses.

“Why not he took a few himself from the human stock and the stock of the other races as well. You remember he gave Spark three little girls as a reward for breeding so many from HU-RPM-P1 and her spawn.”

“Don’t remind me still avoid that guys area like the plague….” the second replied before setting the pad down and walking up to the tank with the woman in it, “Given how that one wolf from before took the brown series suits, I have a feeling she’ll take to it as well”.

After a moment he went to a console that was next to the tank and began to type onto it the screen showing specific percentages of progress before he swiped it to the side, “Oh would you look at that the human DNA is finished melding with hers”.

“So we can mess with the size now?” the first scientist responded, “maybe up her jugs by a few sizes?”

“It looks like it” the second replied keeping his attention on the console.

As the two continued speaking Shade walked up behind the guard who was still sitting in the seats, “Lord Shade, I looped the footage for this room on the cameras. you are free to handle them without interruption,” Twilghhr calmly stated before Shade sent sparks into the nearest scientist as Shade's brand appeared on the back of their neck.

“So… when are we getting her out of it?” the marked scientist asked walking down towards the tank.

“Id say mostly like in two minutes possibly four at the latest, why?” the second replied.

“Normally don’t they start thrashing around and wake up if we leave them too long?” he asked, “I don’t want to have to call then guard in to pacify her and lose my first dibs on her to them.”

“You want me to let her out early?” The second asked as Shade then saw eyes open in the tank.

“Not early, I just mean we’ve had it too many times where that progress bar was delayed and they caused a mess when we go them out.”

The woman could be seen looking around before her attention went to Shade who motioned for her to be quiet as the second scientist shrugged, “Alright then” as he could be seen pressing his fingers onto the console and a second later the water could be heard draining from the tank.

“I’ll get the restraints ready,” the marked scientist calmly said, only to pause as he turned to see Shade behind him, “Umm… Thomas?”

“Yeah, what is it?” Thomas replied his attention still on the console.

“We have a problem here,” the marked scientist said before he was grabbed by the throat sparks coursing through his body, as he screamed out in pain.

Thomas immediately turned around to see what was happening to his colleague, “Oh shit”.

Shade then dropped the first scientist grabbing the second, “Yeah… Oh, shit is right. Why don’t you help finish releasing your experiment there? Your friend will wake up soon.”

“Y-yeah you go it” Thomas struggled as he shakily reached his hand to one of the buttons and pressed it blue which caused the tank to fully drain causing the woman to go on her knees before the tank itself opened.

“Good boy,” Shade responded looking at Thomas.

“Y-your gonna put me down now right?” Thomas then asked.

“Of course,” Shade responded as a spark struck his neck as Shade’s mark appeared on his throat, before dropping him “now… both of you kneel and stay.”

The scientist marked first got onto his knees as ordered looking up to Shade fearfully while the second went onto his knees looking to the ground out of fear.

“Good Boys. Now you can stay there like good dogs and beg… I’ll deal with you soon.” Shade stated looking at the woman in the tube.

The woman was looking at him in a slight daze her vision blurry before she looked to where Shade was she narrowed her eyes to try to focus her vision, hearing her slowly say, “Who are you?” as Shade recognized her voice.

“Ryka?” Shade asked looking at the woman.

“S-shade?” the woman stuttered out reaching her hand towards him.

“Okay… this is a strange new look for you my not-so-little Omega.”

“Yeah, I guess it is” Ryka replied as she attempted to move out of the tank only to fall forward and be caught by Shade. “Need a hand?”

“If you don’t mind” Ryka quietly replied as she felt Shade being her up back to her feet, carrying her out of the tube in his arms.

“So… maybe you two want to explain what the hell you have done to her?”

“W-we were making more compatible subjects for either the brown series ranger suits or whatever the hell the head wanted subjects to be used for if they weren’t compatible, and we needed them to be more humanoid” Thomas replied with fear in his voice.

“And the whole thing about raping her,” Shade added glaring at them both.

“And you blame us she’s-” the other scientist began to say before being kicked in the head knocking him out.

“Not interested,” Shade responds, “You will explain everything.”

“Why should we?” Thomas asked before the mark on his throat began to glow causing his head to throb.

“If you don’t I can force you into telling me… and make you my mindless puppet for the rest of your life,” Shade responded.

“Alright, alright!” Thomas shouted, “It’s so we can have more subjects to use the more that are birthed the more we could get for the brown series rangers or if they can’t be used for that used as breeding stock for more subjects once they're ready that is as much as they let me know”

“I see,” Shade then looked to Ryka, “Well thanks to your actions we're low on wolves. I think someone needs to help fix that problem.”

“W-what?” Thomas stuttered out looking up to Shade.

“Ryka, which disrespectful pup do you want?” Shade asked ignoring Thomas’s response, as his form changed into his human, hybrid timberwolf form, as he grinned showing his fangs to the scientist.

Ryka gave a fanged smile of her own before looking at the two in silence before pointing to Thomas, “I’ll have him”.

“Okay then,” Shade calmly said, “Pup. Bear your neck to us.” Thomas’s mark on his neck began to glow in response as he forcibly moved his head giving Ryka access to his neck, as Shade moved her head towards it...

“W-what are you doing?” Thomas fearfully spoke.

“Don’t worry it’s just a small bite” He heard her say before he felt her sink her teeth into his neck Thomas let out a grunt of pain before he felt her remove her teeth from his neck.

“What did you do?” Thomas spoke as the bite she had placed on his neck closed up before his mouth closed the scientist let out muffle shouts of pain before they saw him opening his mouth again and see his teeth fall out, blood pouring from his mouth to the floor.

The man just shook in place as she choked on the blood that poured out of his mouth the man coughed it out as sharper replacements for his teeth could be seen coming out very quickly as he tightly grasped onto his legs which began to draw blood from the claws that formed from his nails, the process was going very quickly a lot more quickly than she remembers when it came to Dillon and the others.

After a few moments, they could see Thomas lurching forward with loud grunts of pain as a tail and pair of ears popped simultaneously from his head and his back Thomas let out gasps after the changes stopped, and Ryka and Shade saw a low green glow in his eyes before it went back to his brown.

“You don’t look too bad my little pup,” Shade responds looking down at Thomas. “What do you think Ryka?”

“He looks good I like this look better if I'm being honest” she responded.

“Wh-what did you do to me?” Thomas gasped out.

“I made you part of my pack, and by me doing that your now my pup and you will listen to your mother right?” Ryka replied looking to Thomas who nodded, “Y-yes mom” he quietly spoke.

“What happened?” the first Scientist asked with a pained groan as he rubbed his head before his eyes landed on Thomas’s, “Why do you look like the new bitch?”

Ryka just looked at the first scientist in silence with an unamused expression before saying, “Grab him” Thomas immediately listened to her and held the first in place.

“What are you doing!”

“Listening to my mother professor Ebony” Thomas replied before adding, “And soon to be yours”.

“What! Your insane Thomas!” Ebony shouted looking at Thomas with a shocked look in his eyes.

“Tom. Bring him here to your mother if you would.” Shade asked as he looked at the two.

“Understood” Thomas mindlessly replied as he dragged Professor Ebony towards Ryka and Shade, the man struggling in an attempt to get free.

“Thomas show us Ebony’s neck” She spoke as Thomas used his right hand to tilt Professor Ebony’s neck to the side.

“What are you doing? Stop! Thomas let me go!” Ebony shouted thrashing around in Thomas’s grip.

Thomas had an iron grip on Ebony not letting him go at all as Shade brought Ryka close to the professor's neck as not even a second later he felt her bite into his neck before seeing her pull away.

“Was that so hard” he then heard Ryka say.

“What did you do to me you bitch!” Ebony shouted glaring at Ryka.

“As I told Thomas before I made you part of my pack and by proxy your my pup”.

“What the fuck do you mean bitch! You are not my mot- AH!” Ebony began to say before covering his mouth with his hand as blood ran through his fingers pooling on the floor below him. He then slowly moved his hand away his teeth falling out all at once landing in the pool of blood, his new ones taking their place in an instant.

As soon as the pain stopped he turned his head trying to glare at both Ryka and Thomas. “What have you done to me you bitch!”

“You should behave pup,” Ryka said as he then felt bumps forming at the top of his head and back but they were pushing out incredibly slow and the pain that came with them lingered a lot longer.

Ryka saw Ivory biting his lip drawing blood as he winced in pain, before shouting “I hate you. You damn bitch! I hate you.”

“If you hate me now it’s only gonna get worse, the painful part is next” Ryka replied as the bumps poking out went slow to a crawl causing much more pain than before she then said, “Thomas drop him please”.

“Understood” Thomas replied as he let go of Ebony who fell to the floor.

“I hate you all!” Ebony shouted again as he writhed on the floor in pain before his ears popped free, and black wood began to creep down his neck from them

“Oh, You don’t mean that,” Shade responded, “Once this is over you’ll love your, new mother and father.”

“F-Father?” Ebony tried to say in confusion through his pain, his new ears twitching at every sound as he tried to cover them his stronger hearing making each word he heard sound a lot louder than normal.

“Yes, father because he’s the alpha of the pack” Ryka replied.

“I’m not going to be” Ebony tried to say before accidentally cutting her ears, letting out a yelp in pain as he pulls his hands away seeing blood drip from between his nails as they sharpened into claws.

“What are you all going to do with me? This is torture!” Ebony shouted the pain still affecting him.

“I could make this faster if you behave Ebony” Ryka commented.

“Go to hell!” Ebony shouted spitting the blood in his mouth at her.

“I think he needs more doing to him before you're done,” Shade pointed out as he saw Ebony grip his head, “Maybe you can try to rewire his brain to follow orders better.”

“Ebony look at me” Ryka then said as she saw him look up towards her seeing her eyes give a green glow before his own gave the same, “You're going to behave and be a good pup won’t you?”.

“N-N-N” Ebony began to stutter out looking to try and fight Ryka, “No M-M-M”

“You’ll listen to your mother right?” Ryka continued as Shade brought her closer to Ebony the glow in her eyes getting brighter.

“Y-Y-Your N-Not M-my M-M-mother” Ebony began to say trying to shut his eyes to avoid looking into Ryka’s.

She glanced to Thomas for a moment who then grabbed Ebony’s head and forced his eyes back open as Ryka spoke again“Yes I am and a good pup listen’s to his mother Ebony”.

“N-No Y-your M-Mother… Not M-M-ine,” Ebony responded still fighting Ryka as hard as he could.

“Yes I am, stop fighting me” Ryka replied before the glow in Ebony’s eyes intensified.

“Y-Yes Mom,” Ebony responded tears running down his face.

“Good boy Ebony,” Ryka said as her and Ebony’s eyes went back to their normal colour, “Before Thoma lets, you go will you be a good boy?”.

“N- Yes Mom,” Ebony responded as Ryka saw a small amount of fight left in his eyes.

“Good boy” Ryka then replied as she then looked to Thomas who then let him go, “Thank you, Thomas”

“Of course mom” they heard him reply as the group looked to Ebony again, who had tears running down his face as his tail appeared.

“It's ok Ebony it’s over now” he heard Ryka say to him.

“I-It H-Hurts.”

“It will stop soon okay,” Shade responded before seeing what looked to be milk leaking from Ryka's new set of breasts, “Umm… Ryka… You may need someone to help with those.”

“Y-yes I believe I do” Ryka replied before she looked toward Ebony, “Ebony come here please”.

“Y-Yes M-Mom,” Ebony said still looking to try and fight his own mind as he walked towards her.

“Good boy” he heard her say before he was in front of her as he felt her hands on the back of his head as she pulled him towards her breast as she felt him try to push back away from her.

She didn’t let him go only pulling him back to her breast “Don’t fight back Ebony it’s ok” he heard her say before she felt ease up allowing her to place his mouth onto her nipple, as she saw a panicked look in his eyes, as he slowly started sucking.

“That's it, Ebony, it’s ok” He heard her say in a soothing tone, his eyes looking back at her like he wanted to beg her not to make him do this.

In the next moment, he then felt her milk starting to leak into his mouth and slowly flow down his throat, his eyes going wide as he continued swallowing, his eyes taking on a faint green glow, tears once again forming as he looked to try and shake his head at Ryka, looking like he was pleading with her.

He felt her rub the back of his head as her next words echoed into his head, “It’s ok Ebony mommy’s not gonna hurt you..”.

“M-MMMM” Ryka heard Ebony try to speak but was muffled as he quickly continued swallowing the green glow in his eyes getting more clear each second.

She just shushed him as she looked down at him with a gentle smile as she felt her milk being sucked from her breast.

The glow then took over the entirety of Ebony’s vision as he slowly raised his hands towards the breast squeezing it as more milk began to flow the panicked look in his eyes began to fade being replaced with a content look in his eyes as he continued taking in more and more milk.

“Good boy” Ryka quietly spoke with a smile before she motioned for Thomas to do the same as she saw him place his mouth over her nipple and suck on it as well.

“How do you feel Ryka?” Shade asked looking at the two newly mutated creatures contently feeding from Ryka.

“Better, still gonna take some time to get used to how I am now though” Ryka replied glancing at Shade.

“At least you can be more sure that any pups we have will be fine now,” Shade points out with a smile.

“True” Ryka replied with a smile of her own before she gave a gentle look toward Ebony and Thomas prompting them to separate from her breasts.

“Is that better you two?” She asked as she gently rubbed the tops of their heads.
“Yes mom,” Ebony responds as Ryka saw no sign of resistance left in his eyes, as he licked the last few drops that leaked for her breasts before his head rested against them, a content look in his eyes.

“Good boy” Ryka replied rubbing the back of his with a smile before looking back to Shade, “We should probably get going right?”.

“I would say you keep yourself hidden. I’ve got everyone else to save still. You're the first I found,” Shade admitted, “And I don’t think you can walk or fight properly like this.”

She nodded, “I understand I’ll just stay in here with Ebony and Thomas until then” She replied.

“Just make sure they look after you and that you keep them well fed. Okay.”

She just gave him another nod as they saw him walk out of the room.

Once SHade was out of the room he looked around, “Twilight where next?”

“10 doors down,” She responded, “they are about to start on whoever is in there so be quick. I’ve already cut the camera so you can start taking them down as soon as you enter.”

“Thanks,” Shade responded running down the hall and entering the room Twilight had mentioned as he found Axel he was laid down on a table with a blank look in his eyes and his limbs looked to have been replaced with ones that were made of a dark red metal that looked to have slots in the arms that look to split in the middle that leads to a hole in the middle of the palm all four limbs having small lights that gave a faint glow.

Stood around him were four figures each wearing a lab coat with a faded cult logo on the back, they could be seen surrounding where Axel was as small sparks could be seen from the second doctor who was connecting the bits of metal in place while the others did the same for Axel other limbs.

As Shade saw this his glare focused on each of them, their lab coat igniting in a second covered by crimson flames which began to rapidly envelop them, as three of their bodies were completely engulfed only one of them managed to get the coat off before it enveloped him, revealing him to be a dragon.

He looked to have scales that trailed up his arms and to his face and snout which were small bits of scarring and his lizard-like eyes were red as other bits of his scales could be seen faintly.

The dragon just jumped back from the table his eyes glancing at his colleagues who were enveloped by the flames before looking at Shade, “W-what who are you!?”.

Shade didn’t respond as he jumped forwards grabbing the dragon by the throat and pinning him to the floor punching into his arms two sickening crunches were heard, as the man let out a scream of pain causing his arms to go limp.

“What have you done to my son!” Shade shouted looking down at the dragon by his feet.

“W-we were making him u-useful” the dragon choked out before shade stuck his left knee shattering the bone, the man screaming out in pain again “Damn it, you bastard!”.

“What. Have. You. Done!” Shade repeated, “Answer clearly or I brake the other leg… then other parts of you until you answer me!”

“Were turning him into an assassin for the cult of Shade so we decided to replace some parts of him to make him more useful for missions.” The dragon grunted out.

“Well guess what.” Shade said still glaring at the dragon, as the flames creased burning the others around him, their skin turned black as they slowly sat up, blank lifeless looks on their faces as the man saw each of them were branded with Shade’s mark on their chests and back.

“What the hell did you do to them!” he shouted fear in his voice

“You try and take my family. I take you as payback,” Shade responded before breaking his last leg and saying, “Your friends here are my mindless playthings now. However, I have better plans for you.”

The dragon only looked back at Shade with a fearful look as he stuttered out, “W-what are you gonna do to me?”.

Shade lifted him off the ground opening his mouth and revealing his teeth, “I’m going to turn you, into my loyal pup. And keep you aware of it but unable to control your own body for the rest of your life.”

“N-no get away from me!” the dragon shouted as he saw Shade inch his mouth towards his neck before feeling him bite into it.

“This will hurt. A lot. But you’ll live,” Shade responds placing him on the floor and walking beside Axel placing his hand on the boy's chest as a spark jumps into his body.

A moment had passed and nothing happened but not even a second afterwards Axel let out a gasp as his eyes shot open he lurched up sitting himself up and clenching his chest with a panicked look on his face.

“Woah there Axel, Take it slow okay,” Shade asked placing his hand infront of the boy.

“W-what happened I remember the attack I was defending the den the best I could but I got swarmed and everything went black…” Axel stuttered out.

“You were captured by the cult… you all were,” Shade responded.

“W-what?” Axel whispered out before his eyes widened the boy attempted to move but only made himself fall over prompting Shade to catch him, “Are Dillon and Ziggy ok!?”.

“I don’t know… but I think they were both captured and are here somewhere,” Shade responds.

“Do you know where?”

“Only that they are deeper in here, no actual location to narrow it down, Same goes for the whole pack.” Shade responds, “Your all scattered thought the place in different tests… I found your mother but…”

“Is she ok?” He heard Axel say with concern in his voice.

“Yes… but she doesn’t look like a normal TImberwolf anymore,” Shade responds.

“What did they do to her?” the boy asked.

“She looks like Dillon and Ziggy… just female. And her ability to make anyone her pup amplified to 11.”

“So they made her look like a hybrid?” Axel asked and while the two talked the dragon from before was just writhing from the ground as he could be heard coughing out he seemed to be experiencing his teeth somewhat changing if barely only some of the falling out as many of his teeth did not change, the ones that did, however, forcing his old ones apart to make room.

Axel from overhearing this glanced towards the dragon and saw him cough out blood before commenting, “Did you bite him?”.

“Yes I did,” Shade responded, “I think it’s a fair deal, the cult took you all… The pack takes them in return.”

“P-please make it….stop it hurts so much…” they heard the dragon choke out.

“Oh, this is just the start. It gets more painful soon,” Shade responds with a smirk.

“What do you mea-” the man attempted to speak only to cough out more blood as his old teeth were seen falling out of his mouth with the replacements coming in he attempted to speak again but once he tried he felt very painful bumps forming on his head and his own tail looked to be rapidly changing as it seemed to recede into his body slightly, red coloured wood moving from his spine down the end of the tail, the tip of which hand seemed to sharped into a sharp point, the entire process seeming to cause a lot more pain than the bumps were.

“This. I mean this,” Shade responds with a smile before looking to Axel, “Either way. How are you feeling after what they did to you.”

Axel looked at his hands and clenched them into fists “I feel….different but not too far from how I felt before”.

“Think you can control them or need to continue resting for now?”

Axel tried to see if he could do anything but as a result, felt a headache, “Y-yeah I think I need to rest…”.

“Then it may be best that you stay here and keep out of sight,” Shade responds rubbing Axel’s neck, “I’ll find the others.”

“Yeah got it..” He replied with a nod his eyes then glancing back to the dragon, “What about him?” Axel asked.

Shade looked to the dragon who was writhing in place from the pain before seeing his ears finally pop outwards and his tail finish reforming, “God it hurts so much!” they heard him shout in pain before they saw his claws begin to change as they receded into his skin form blood beginning to drip from his hands.

The dragon's hand slowly dragged against the floor trailing the blood that was dripping from in between his nails and after a few moments, they saw that his claws had stopped moving as they saw him fall onto his chest gasping out for air after experiencing the pain from the changes.

“How you feeling pup,” Shade asked looking down at the man.

“Screw…..you” he heard him gasp out.

“That's not how you speak to your Alpha and father,” Shade responded with a shake of his head, “Let me help you,” He added placing a hand on the dragon's head, faint sparks moving towards him.

“W-what are you doing…” Shade heard him say before the man went silent his face going blank for a few seconds before they heard him speak, “I-I’m sorry father I was out of line when saying that” his change in demeanour and attitude was immediate but on the inside, he was just watching unable to do anything and unable to say anything he had no control anymore, even if Shade could see the fear behind his eyes remain.

“I’ll have to get Ryka to give him a feed later, just to make sure he won’t fight back at all,” Shade thought to himself.

“Do you want me to keep an eye on him until you are done with everything?” he heard Axel ask.

“That might be best,” Shade responded kneeling to the dragon by his feet, “now just be sure your okay. Do you remember who you are and who I am?”

“M-my name is Deacon and your my….father” he heard him reply.

“And your feeling towards me?”

“I feel…happy towards you” Deacon responded before looking up at Shade, only for him to click his fingers as Decon’s eyes seemed to change colour a panicked look on his face.

“See the picture pup?” Shade responded with a smirk placing a hand on Decon’s chin keeping him looking at him.

“W-what the hell did you to me….” he whimpered out of fear.

“Made you my pup. But I decided to be a nice father and let you have a chance to accept me yourself before sealing this you up before your mother locks the door and throws the key away instead.” Shade responded.

Deacon's hands could be seen clenched slightly his hand shaking out of fear towards Shade before he looked like he was about to lunge towards him only for him to be switched his eyes changing colours again and stopping in place before switching back again the panicked look returning.

“I take that as a no,” Shade responded with a shake of his head, “looks like I will need to wait for you to meet your mother and get your first feed to make you behave like a good pup.”

“N-no please don’t I’ll listen I promise !” he shouted out in desperation fear in his voice.

“I’m sorry pup. Your previous actions tell me otherwise. We’ll speak again when you meet your mother and get your milk,” Shade responded calmly raising his hand to click his fingers again.

“I’ll listen father I promise!” He heard him shout before hearing Shade click his finger as he was then switched his eye colour changing as he silent for a moment before hearing him say, “What…happened?”.

“I’ll leave you to handle the rest, Axel. I’ll find and save the others. When you can move I want you to head to the rooms down your mother is inside.” Shade calmly states patting Axel on the back.

“Yeah, got it, good luck dad” Axel replied nodding towards Shade as he shakily placed his hand on the table to keep him from falling off.

“Maybe remain lying down until you feel well enough to stand,” Shade suggested before looking at the three scientists he had burned, before saying “I want you to protect them with your lives,” as the three figures nodded their heads in agreement.

Axel just gave a quiet nod before slowly laying down on his side on the table as Shade walked out of the room.

“Alright, Deacon, your part of the pack now which makes you the pup of Shade and Ryka, the alpha and omega of the pack, the pack is organized by the-” Shade heard Axel begin to say before leaving with a smirk on his face, knowing full well the mind inside would be hearing everything said to up until he meets his mother.

For half an hour Shade travelled deeper into the cult's base, Twilight leading him to each room with tests taking place as he halted them saving the creatures inside, many of the times finding members of his pack.

Most of the pack members he found had had their bodies altered varying from being turned into human hybrids to some that were a combination of human hybrids and changelings, with one of the human hybrids being the pup that Dillon was close with named Hato who was unconscious once he found him with the other changed pup’s.

The changes were varied for each pack member but all of them had a humanoid frame with different features from the changes made some had the features of changelings and others had the features of dragons or minotaurs.

As Shade sat infront of Hato, he rubbed his neck slowly as the boy slowly opened his eyes his vision blurry before it focused enough to see that it was Shade, “papa?” he heard him whisper out.

“Yeah, papa’s here little one,” Shade responded smiling at Hato softly, “How are you feeling?”

“Tired…” He heard him say before seeing him rub his eyes the boy then noticing his new hands, “What happened?”.

“Don’t worry, you're okay. Papa’s got ya,” Shade replied resting Hato’s head against his chest. “Some bad people got ya but you're safe now.”

“Where’s mama?”

“Safe. Papa save her earlier,” Shade replied rubbing Hato’s neck, “She’s hiding with some of your newest siblings.”

“I have new siblings?”.

“Yes. Remember what she did to Dillon, Ziggy and Axel?” Shade asked looking at him.

“Oh” Hato replied before nodding to him.

“We did that to a few of the bad people here. I also did something extra and they are being very good boys and girls for mama and papa,” Shade responds, his hand rubbing the side of Hato’s head, “Can you be a strong and brave pup for papa?”.

The boy just looked up to Shade before giving him a quick nod of his head, “Y-yeah”.

“Then please look after everyone here for papa. Dillon and Ziggy are still missing I think they are nearby I need to look for them. Can you be brave enough to look after everyone for papa?” Shade asked looking at Hato.

Hato looked to the floor for a moment before lookin back up at Shade with a determined look in his eyes and nodding again, “Yeah I’ll try papa”.

“Good boy Hato,” Shade responded looking at everyone in the room, “All of your stay quiet and listen to Hato for me okay.”

Everyone gave him quiet nods to Shade as Hato stood in front of the group, “I’ll try best to look after everyone” he heard the boy say as he turned to exit before feeling the young boy hug him.

“I’ll get you home to your mama soon Hato don’t worry,” Shade responded wrapping his arms around him before kissing him on the forehead.

They stayed like that for a moment before Hato separated from Shade before he left the room.

“Cute kids you have Lord Shade,” Twilight responded, “The next room is the Ranger Operator storage section. Hopefully both the boys are there I’ve meddled with the timetable as much as I can, if they want to do anything to them they can’t be delayed anymore now.”

“Thanks for the warning. Keep an eye on the camera in case anything else happens, keep me informed.”

“Understood Lord Shade. I hope you find them both.” Twilight responded before going quiet as Shade opened the door walking into the room.

As he got inside he saw rows of clear tubes filling the room from floor to ceiling each row containing around 50 tubes that rose three columns high, with metal gangways infront of each tube.

As Shade walked infront of the nearest one he saw a young man with short brown hair his eyes looking forward as he looked to be placed in a demeaning pose with his hands near his crotch circling his cock with his body pushed forward so it pushed through the hole, Shade could tell that his build was slightly muscular as muscles could be seen flexing to a slight degree.

Shade then looked to the screen infront of the tube to find the code ‘HU-RPM-BL1’ written on it. “Is this one of Jason and Knila’s original team?” Shade asked himself before he saw the figure's eyes open, the figure’s eyes glanced around for a moment glancing down at himself and saw that he was naked before his eyes landed on Shade his face going red slightly.

“Let's see if I can get him out,” Shade said to himself looking at the console, only to find it needed an authentication code of some kind. “Yeah didn’t think it would be that easy.” he then looked back to the man in the tube seeing some kind of needle leading to the back of his head as a small spark running down it before the man could be seen rubbing himself off Shade seeing the mans eyes closing out of shame for what was happening

The man's hands continued moving going faster and faster as time went by before ropes of white coated the inside of the tube, white streaks running down the glass, the man’s hands stopped once it was done as his eyes opened again, looking directly at Shade.

The man gave Shade a begging look as he wasn’t able to say anything before another spark moved down the line again forcing him to repeat the process.

Shade saw that once the process started again, he saw the man begin to develop tears in his eyes and slowly stream down his face as he saw him shaking slightly.

Shade could only look at the man with a sad look on his face, “I’m sorry I can’t get you out,” before starting to walk away from the tube taking one last look at the man as he did to find him still looking towards him before seeing him close his eyes before Shade heard the sound of alarms going off the man opening his eyes out of shock and looking around before something could be seen changing in his demeanour before the tube opened up.

Shade then heard the sound of hissing around him his eyes moving around the room as he saw every tube in the room open as figures walk out of each turning towards him. “This is not good.”

Chapter 22

Shade’s eyes continued looking at the figures in the room, each of them slowly moving towards him, the alarms still ringing around him his eyes jumping around the room hoping to find a sign of Ziggy in the chaos.

In the next moment Shade heard them all shout, “Rpm get in gear!” as he saw them transform into their suits. At a glance, he could suit multiple suit colours including, red, blue, yellow, black, white, and brown although some of their movements of them seemed slow and forced.

At the very back of the room, he saw one single green-colored suit, that had two wolf-shaped ears sticking out the top of them, Shade instantly reached out towards the mind of whoever it was. “Whoever this is can you hear me?”

“W-what?” he heard them respond as he recognized their voice.

“Ziggy. If this is you answer me,” Shade repeated his eyes following the figure in the green suit while eyeing up each other figure in the room.

“Y-yeah it’s me.....” he replied.

“Your in a room full of other rangers, who just transformed… with all of you looking like you want to kill me,” Shade states his eyes looking at the figure he had seen in the first tube who was now covered in a blue suit.

“What are you gonna do?” he heard Ziggy ask.

“Likely have to fight you all and force you to stop… sorry in advance,” Shade responded quickly transforming into his standard rider form.

“Don’t worry about it…” he heard Ziggy reply before he saw the rangers charging toward him as he saw Ziggy teleport from the back and above him attempting to swing his axe at Shade’s head, as Shades chain moved to intercept the attack blocking the strike as others struck the rangers around him knocking them back away from him.

“Care to tell me what happened to you Ziggy?” Shade asked as his chains wrapped around Ziggy’s suit squeezing it as it started sparking.

“I…don’t know but they did something to me so I couldn’t get back control of my body I faintly remember when I unconscious was them mentioning something about my heart….”

“Okay. Once your suit breaks I’m going to help you. This will hurt I’m afraid but bare with me,” Shade responds his chain tightly crushing ZIggy’s suit sparks flying from it before it flashed with a green glow falling apart.

As soon as it disappeared Shade could see that Ziggy had a black marking that trailed from his right eye and to his neck with a barcode directly below his neck that had a code below said barcode saying HU-RPM-G1 Shade also noticed a metal plate on the back of the boy's neck.

“What did they do to you!” Shade shouted quickly turning the Roidmude band on his arm as slowdown affected the area around him and he walked towards Ziggy, his hand phasing into the boy's head and chest at the same time as a spark ran through his hands into the two locations quickly reprogramming the implant they had placed in those spots.

“I don’t…know I was strapped to a table they were…. having Jason watch and then I felt a lot of pain and everything went black…” he heard Ziggy reply before seeing a flash of Ziggy on a table fear on his face with two scientists around him and one of them holding a drill near his head the memory cutting short once the scientist pressed the drill against the boys head as Shade heard the echoed screams of the boy.

“Sorry bout this Ziggy, but I’m sending you up out of harm's way while I hand the others,” Shade responds.

“W-what do you mean-” Ziggy was about to ask before he felt Shade’s chains grab onto him and pull him towards the ceiling holding him there as he saw Shade fighting off the other rangers and after a few moments of seeing his father fight he saw the blue ranger creeping up from behind him, “Dad look out from behind you!”.

Shade didn’t have time to react as the ranger struck him in the back sending him flying into one of the nearby tubes on the side of the room, as it suddenly sealed shut trapping Shade inside.

“Dad!” Ziggy shouted as he looked at the tube Shade was sealed shut in as one of the other rangers walked up to the tube and pressed one of the buttons as fluid began to fill up inside it, “Stop what are you doing!” Ziggy shouted again as the fluid-filled the entirety of the tank, Shade’s head then moved to look forwards at the ranger outside before his hand phased through grabbing the ranger by the throat sparks shooting through his entire body as the suit began sparking, as Shade phased through the tube slamming the ranger into the floor with enough force to cause the figure to demorph before chains launched the figure into the air binding him to the ceiling as he had to Ziggy.

Ziggy looked to the demorphed figure before looking back to the floor and seeing Shade begin to dispatch the other rangers, as the second their suits failed they were bound to the ceiling each lying limply after falling unconscious.

This continued for a few more moments until only 6 of the rangers were left which were blue, red and yellow could be seen, assembling a large blaster that was directed toward Shade before they were seen inserting their engine cells into their respective slots as red could be seen placing a yellow car like object into it, the three being heard shouting, “Road blaster!” as they then fired it towards him.

Shade did not have a chance to get clear of the blast as it hit his head sending him flying backwards into another one of the tanks, his armour falling apart as he hit the back of the which just like the last one once again sealed him inside.

The three stayed in place not moving an inch as they prepared to fire another shot from the road blaster, expecting him to come out like he did last time as the black ranger that was with the other slowly inched towards the two and inched his hand towards the console of the tube before slowly pressing his finger against the button as the fluid once again filled the rube the rangers getting clear the second their finger left the button.

Ziggy watched on expecting Shade to emerge from the tube like he did last time until after 20 seconds of waiting he realised that Shade had not moved.

“Dad?” Ziggy spoke with confusion in his voice before he shouted, “Dad get out of there, please!” as he felt the chain binding him and the others begin to loosen lowering them to the ground, Ziggy’s eyes seeing Shade floating in the tube as he reached the ground, his hands against his throat thrashing around.

“No, no, no!” Ziggy shouted as he ran to the tube and banged his hand against it before looking to the console and scrambling to it his hand pressing against any buttons he possibly can as the other rangers began to rush towards him.

“Cmon, there has to be something…” He muttered out fear in his voice before swiping the screen to find a release button, taking the chance he quickly pressed his hand against it before he was grabbed by a brown ranger the button Ziggy had pressed caused the tube to open and the fluid to pour out onto the floor, Shade’s body falling out with it as he lay on the ground his body not moving.

“Dad” Ziggy spoke getting no response, “Dad please wake up!” he shouted clear concern in his voice as he struggled in one of the ranger's grip, tears developing in the boy's eyes.

The black ranger from before slowly walked towards Shade’s body weapon in hand before he was directly in front of him, “Don’t do it” Ziggy could be heard as the ranger raised his weapon towards him before shooting it forward in a piercing motion, “No!” Ziggy shouted as he watched the round strike Shade’s head.

“Dad no…” Ziggy whimpered out as the black ranger stood over Shade’s body in silence before the red ranger ordered, “He’s unresponsive place him back in we’ll have the others bring him back so he can be of use later”

The black ranger nodded in response before picking up Shade’s body and slowly began to place it back into the tube, Ziggy shouted out with tears in his eyes, “No, stop it!” as he wriggled in place trying to get free only for him to be hit in the back of the head putting him into a daze.

The yellow ranger noticed his behavior and spoke, “ HU-RPM-G1’s programming seems to have failed, place him back into his tank and fix it” getting a nod from the ranger that was holding him as they began to drag him towards the tube he was in before the boy quietly saying, “N-no don’t….”.

While Ziggy was being dragged towards his tank, he passed Shade’s vision switching from blurry to clear before seeing Shade’s eyes shoot open with the fluid of the tank he was in immediately began to bubble on the inside.

One of the rangers near the tank noticed this and asked, “ HU-RPM-BL12 you did hit him correct?”.

The ranger in question immediately replied, “Of course I did I saw it hit him”

The ranger then saw Shade’s hand move through the fluid, his belt reappearing on his waist as an Eyecon appeared in his hand moving towards the belt.

“Dad…..” Ziggy muttered as he then saw the rangers beginning to surround Shade’s tank with their weapons out as he faintly heard the ranger from before shout, “ HU-RPM-BL12 contain him!”

“I'm trying nothing’s working!” the black ranger shouted back before a bright white light fell from the sky striking the black ranger's arm his weapon fell from his grasp behind the light as it seemed to create a wall they could all see though, while feathers looked to fall behind it.

The black ranger grasped his arm as the other rangers pushed passed him and attempted to hit the wall, only to find it to be almost solid their attacks bounced off it until they saw a strange figure stand up on the other side the wall.

The figure's body of looked like that of a woman, long hair falling down her back, the group being able to see a single wing on their back, the strange figure not wearing clothing of any kind, as it looked at the tube Shade was in.

“Identify yourself,” The red ranger said towards the figure as he saw their form begin to flicker.

The figure seemed to ignore the ranger before they heard it say, “I have watched you walk your chosen path for a while now, and deem it to fit with my own. If you seek the salvation of those cast aside by the one above like those here. I request you to offer me a vessel to hold my shattered soul. Do this and I will bestow on you my power.”

The group saw the object in Shade’s hand begin to raise of its own accord before a stream of light moved towards the figure, its body rapidly seeming to shirk and move towards the object floating infront of Shade.

The rangers attempted to prevent this from happening but exactly like before their weapons bounced off from the wall, even a shot from the road blaster did nothing to destroy the wall as the red ranger shouted, “Stop them!” only for it to be too late as they saw the strange figure fade and the object in the tube drop into Shade’s hand.

The second it did the wall shattered Shade’s eyes snapped upwards focused solely on the red ranger, a cold chill running down his spine before the glass on Shade's tube began to crack, the boiling water instantly seeping through it while damage began to spread through the tube.

“S-someone stop him!” the red ranger shouted out in a stutter but the other rangers didn’t move from their spots, the cracks growing before suddenly shattering, the bubbling fluid bursting outwards, the fluid covering the black ranger, the visor on his suit shattering from the force of the water, as it burned his face.

The black ranger let out a scream of pain as he fell to the floor and writhed in place his hands on his face as a moment later he demorphed.

Shade then walked out of the tube standing over the demorphed black ranger’s body, still holding the object that fell into his hand before kicking the ranger over to the other his face looking at the group.

The rangers backed up slightly from this action but still held their weapons pointed towards him, with some being seen with their hands shaking.

They then saw Shade click the side of the object as a voice shouted out “Rise up!” an eye-shaped icon appeared above his head, the same light that had created the wall surrounding Shade before seeming to be sucked inwards towards his body surrounding him before disappearing, the same voice as before shouting “Kaigan! Fallen Shade! Kami ni yotte kyasutodaun!” as white feathers fell around the figure.

As soon it stopped the group saw a new armoured figure standing in the place Shade had been moments before. The armour that covered him consisted of a white and black jacket that had white light shining off the back of his legs and wrists. The chains that normally adorned his arms had disappeared being replaced by the light that circled him seemingly of their own accord, as a single white angel wing was seen coming from his back. The most glaring difference to his normal look was the logo on his that now looked to match that of the Cults, but instead of being white, it look to be gold with a black outline making it stand out from the white armour.

The mask over his face seemed tame resembling a simple face the eyes being golden in a colour that gave off a glow like the lights coming from his legs and wrists.

“W-what are you!?” he heard one of the rangers shout towards him.

“Shade.” the figure responds his face raising to look at the group as they saw the mask covering his face was completely white apart from golden features imitating his eyes. The moment the figure looked at the rangers, an almost powerful almost intoxicating aura began to surround them.

The rangers who felt this aura that were afraid immediately lost their will to fight and stood in place with some dropping their weapons with the black ranger who was on the floor slowly standing up from the floor with a blank look in his eyes before regaining himself panic showing on his face as he realized he couldn't move, “W-what did you do to me!?”.

“Remorph and fight the white and brown ones,” Shade ordered not answering the ranger as golden light seemed to move like strings towards the black ranger's body before seeming to fade under his skin.

“Like I would do that” he heard the ranger reply in a mocking tone before he saw him do exactly what he told him to do causing the ranger to look in shock as he remorphed into his suit and turned to the other rangers before taking out his weapon and ran towards them taking some by surprise by this actions as he slashed them caused sparks to go off in their suits while shouted, “What, how are you make me doing this!?”

Ziggy looked on in shock before feeling the brown ranger that had hit him before dropping him to the floor the boy let out a low grunt of pain as he slowly pushed himself off of the ground, as he saw the ranger get slashed by the black ranger knocking it back against one of the tubes.

“I'm sorry I can’t stop myself, my actions are not of my own will!” the black ranger could be heard shouting before he could be seen grabbing the ranger he had hit and throwing them into the tube which sealed shut causing the ranger to hit against the inside of the tube in an attempt to get free, “Someone get me out of here!” they screamed.

“Fill it,” Shade ordered, seeing the visor of the trapped ranger shattered leaving his face visible.

The black ranger brought his hand to console the brown ranger shouting, “Don’t do it, please!” he heard him beg the black rangers hand shaking in place as he heard the other’s panicking before his face showed panic as well before he pressed the button causing the tube to fill up with the fluid fear showing on the brown rangers face once he did.

“I would cancel that transformation and get the mask on if I was you,” Shade suggest to the trapped ranger.

The trapped ranger just panicked as she canceled her transformation before grabbing the mask and placing it over her mouth while the black ranger walked away from the tank shouting out, “Let her out!” before being forced to attack the white ranger and slashing their chest causing their suit to let off spark causing them to demorph and collapse to the floor.

While this happened the red blue and yellow rangers looked at what was happening to see the black continue to attack the other rangers before electing to retreat, running further into the base while they left the others at the mercy of Shade, sealing the door behind them hoping to buy themselves some time.

“Cease your actions,” Shade ordered towards the black ranger who by Shade’s order stopped in place as he looked down at the demorphed ranger with fear on his face.

“Enjoying yourself,” Shade responded with a chuckle that made the black ranger hairs stand on end.

“No why would I!?” the black ranger replied.

“Didn’t think you would,” Shade responded walking towards him, “But I am very much. Think of this as payback for shooting me in the head.”

The black ranger didn’t say anything only have that same fearful look on his face. “Not gonna answer me?” Shade asked smirking as he looked at the white ranger by his feet, “Maybe you’d be happier with a friend to join you like this… maybe this one… or the one in the tube?”

“The hell are you talking about, how are you doing this!?”

“You lost the will to fight me… and now you shall serve me,” Shade leaned in to whisper to the ranger, “And you’ll be like this for as long as we desire you to be.”

“You're crazy!” the ranger replied before he and Shade heard the white ranger let out a low groan as they looked up revealing a woman with pink hair and yellow eyes.

“Hello,” Shade responded looking down at the figure placing a foot on her chest.

She let out a grunt of pain as she looked up at him, “W-who are you?” she stuttered out as she shakily grabbed onto his foot.

“Shade,” he simply responded as the girl felt the pressure on her increase the strange aura getting a lot stronger as his foot remained on her chest.

Fear showed on her face as she stuttered out, “What are you doing, why are you doing this?” fear overtook her voice before she went quiet and Shade removed his foot from her chest, the gold threads merging with the girl's body.

“Kneel,” Shade ordered towards both rangers pointing to the floor by his feet.

The two immediately do what they were ordered kneeling in front of him the two still had looks of fear on their face as Ziggy could be seen walking next to Shade.

“Good boy and girl,” Shade responded with a chuckle as he looked at the two rangers before placing his hands through their chests and placing them on their hearts a white spark jumping into them.

“What did you do to them?” Ziggy asked rubbing the back of his head still feeling the hit from earlier.

“...I don’t actually know,” Shade responds looking at Ziggy, “but… thank you for saving me Ziggy.”

“I couldn’t let that happen to you, I didn’t want to lose you….” Ziggy replied.

“And I owe you big time for doing what you did.” Shade responds smiling as he removed his hands from the ranger's chests.

“W-what did you do?” the black ranger asked.

The white ranger just looked up to Shade giving a look that seemed to ask the same question before Ziggy spoke up, “I think he stopped the stuff the cult did to your hearts, the same stuff they did to mine I think” once he went quiet the white ranger just slowly pressed her hand on her chest.

“If you manage to escape their control they would kill you via a heart attack,” Shade responded, “Now they can’t use it on you… but I could still do it if I see a reason to.” Shade’s eyes focused on the black ranger as he said the last bit.

The black ranger kept his vision to the floor too afraid to look up towards Shade.

“What's going to happen now?” the white ranger asked.

“Well… I will save you all from the cult and bring you back with me… give you a safe home and life to call your own.” Shade responds looking at all the unconscious figures on the ground, before looking back to the ranger in the tube walking towards it.

The ranger looked at Shade with the mask still over her mouth providing herself oxygen in the tube as she looked towards Shade.

Looking at the figure he saw that she was a female hybrid Timberwolf, looking similar to how Ryka did. She had a white coat, with the same colour for her hair and tail.

“Hello there,” Shade responded linking to her thoughts so he could speak with her.

“Who…are you?” he heard her reply

“Depends what you want to be to me. You want to fight me. Shade. You want to be part of my pack as one of my pups. Then I’m your Alpha.” Shade responds, “I can let you choose.”

She went silent thinking over her decision and remembering how it went earlier before replying, “Alpha”.

“Good choice pup.” Shade responded, “Are you going to behave like a good pup for me from now on?”

She gave him a nod from inside the tank, “Yes…I’ll behave from now on”.

“Good girl,” Shade responded looking at Ziggy, “You can reopen this right.”

“Yeah just give a moment” Ziggy replied going in front of the console and swiping through for a moment before pressing on one of the highlighted buttons causing the tube to open up and have the fluid spill out onto the floor.

The hybrid slowly took herself out of the tube and looked to Shade before doing the same thing as the white and black ranger, “I’ll follow what you say without question” they heard her say.

“Good girl,” Shade responds cancelling his transformation kneeling infront of the wolf placing his hand against both her heart and brain reprogramming both implants and pulling his hands away. “There you go all better.”

The wolf in response just nuzzled against him while the white ranger gave her a confused look, the black ranger on the other hand gave an angry one, “Damn traitor!”.

“Silence you,” Shade responded pointing at the Black ranger before clicking his fingers to silence him.

The ranger’s mouth just closed as he attempted to speak the only thing being heard was just muffled protests causing Shade to chuckle at his actions.

He then looked to the white ranger, “anything you want to say to me?”

“I-i’ll behave” he heard her stutter out.

Shade then gestured for her to stand up and come nearer to him and she does, pushing herself up to her and slowly walking towards him, before he wrapped his arms around her, “None of this is your fault. Okay.”

She went wide-eyed for a moment before she began tearing up as she hugged him back a low sob coming from her, during which time Shade reprogrammed the chip in her head.

“Little one. Your mother asked me to find and save you and all your brothers and sisters. I intend to do that okay,” Shade replied rubbing the sobbing girl's head allowing her for the first time in her life to speak freely of her own will, “Do you want to come with me?”

The girl continued to sob before stuttering out, “Y-yes I want t-to go with you” she then hugged him tighter.

“Okay then,” Shade responds before looking at the last conscious ranger in the room. “And then there was one.” She responded clicking his fingers allowing the black ranger to speak.

“Finally!” the black ranger shouted glaring at Shade, “So what are you gonna do with me, you gonna kill me or what?”.

Ziggy just looked at the ranger with a concerned brow, “I wouldn’t say that”.

“Than what?”

“You could just give up and let him help you” Ziggy replied.

“And why should I?”.

“You won’t lose what little control you have left from your body”

The black ranger looked at the two in silence before looking and down and muttering, “Fine….I give up”.

“I’m sorry I didn’t hear you. You’ll need to speak up,” Shade responded holding a hand to his ear.

“I said I give up!” the black ranger replied louder as he looked up towards Shade with a glare, “I give up and I’ll listen to you ok, is that loud and clear enough for you!?”.

Ziggy just glanced at Shade as he asked, “That good enough dad?”.

“It was but due to your attitude I think I will keep the effect active for the moment,” Shade responded coldly, “However you can stand and act of your own accord but any attempt to go against me will force you back into a subservient state until I cancel the order.”

“Fine…” the ranger replied looking away from him.

He then looked at all the unconscious rangers around him before saying to the entire group, “get them all brought over here. I’ll get them all sorted the normal way before we continue to find Dillon.” The last bit is more focused on Ziggy than the others.

“Alright” Ziggy replied as he and the rangers started to pick up and drag the unconscious one’s towards Shade and after a minute or two the unconscious rangers were sorted in a straight line in front of Shade, “There we go,” Ziggy said patting his hands off.

“What are you going to do with them” the white ranger then asked.

“This,” Shade responded walking up to the first ranger in the line and placing his hand into their chest and head like he had with them before they saw a red eye-shaped mark appear on their chest above where their heart would be. “Where with you lot I used fear to take control. This mark does the same thing but through this, I can force actions, bury less desirable traits and keep them docile when needed.”

“So the mark lets you change them how you see fit?” the brown ranger replied.

“It can. I normally use it though as a symbol for those that follow me to know eachother. It’s the same we use for our pack's mark,” Shade responds gesturing to Ziggy.

Ziggy then angled his head to show where his mark was, “Yeah it’s pretty useful when we need to identify one of our own”.

“Interesting” the brown ranger replied before seeing Shade go towards the next ranger, repeating the process as he went down the line.

As he reached the last two figures, he placed his hand on the first of the two, finding them to be a male timberwolf, their body was covered in a light yellow coloured wood with the same colour matching for there tail, they looked to have two scars on their body a large one on the chest that had been covered by a metal place while the second was over their right eye in the shape of a cross.

As soon as Shade’s hand was removed from their head their eyes shot open with a gasp, “N-no!” he heard him scream panic in their voice as they then spoke, “W-what where am I!?”.

“Your safe little one. Your safe okay,” Shade responded his hand around the wolf’s body as his hand phased through their back to deactivate the implant on their heart.

“W-who are you” the wolf stuttered out.

“Before I answer that. Do you remember what happened to you?” Shade asked looking at the wolf with a kind smile, trying to keep the wolf calm.

“I-i was given up to these people by…..my alpha because he thought I held no use to him, h-he discarded me like trash”

“Let me guess. Hex was your Alpha.” Shade replied with an annoyed groan in his voice as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

The wolf gave a nod in response, “Y-yeah how did you know?’.

“Let's just say that Hex… is no longer an Alpha for your pack… and that said wolf is now in a status lower than that of even the youngest pup in my pack,” Shade responded. “And even then… I don’t think he has any desire to be anything close to that anymore.”

The wolf went quiet for a moment before asking, “if you know all this, does that mean your the alpha now?”.

“Yes. I am the Alpha of your old pack,” Shade responded rubbing the wolf’s neck, “and I’m here to save every member of it that I can and bring you all home.”

“Home….” the wolf muttered before saying, “I thought I wasn’t part of the pack anymore from how my old alpha discarded me he did the same with others”.

“Do you still deem him as your Alpha?” Shade asked looking at the wolf.

“No him doing that basically said I wasn’t part of the pack anymore so he doesn’t have any claim to me anymore” the wolf replied.

Shade then rubbed his hand over the wolf's neck, “Do you want me to lay claim to you as my pup and take you as my own?”`

“You would do that?”.

“I would. But you need to agree to behave and follow both mine and my many omega’s orders from here on out in return,” Shade responded, his hand skimming the wolf’s left ear.

“I-i will you won’t get any issues from me I’ll follow both you and them without any fuss” the wolf replied before tilting his head towards Shade allowing him to do what he needed to, “Here do you what you need to”.

“Just to confirm… You agree to me being your Alpha, and for me to mark you as my pup,” Shade asked again his hand behind the wolf's ear.

“Y-yes, yes I do” the wolf replied with hesitance in his voice

Shade paused at this before kneeling in front of the wolf, “before I do… do you have anything that you want to check with me before I do this… I can see you not sure of this just at a glance.”

“How do you treat the members of your pack?”.

Before Shade can answer Ziggy jumped in, “He treats them great and helps them when needed, if it wasn’t for him our home wouldn’t be in the great condition it is now, he treats everyone like family no matter where you come from”.

“Really?” the wolf replied their eyes widened slightly.

“I do make exceptions on that last part. In the case of wolves who do something irredeemable… like Hex’s actions to his pack.” Shade responded, “in his case, he’s currently had his mind and perceptions altered and is bent to the whims of someone I trust… he sees this individual as a goddess and will do anything for her to please her. And I mean anything she desires.”

“Least he’s got what deserved…” the wolf muttered before saying, “I'm sure now, I want to be a part of your pack”.

“Okay then,” Shade replies as he places his hand behind the wolf's ear as his mark appears where his finger had been, “Have you got a name for me to call you by?”

“My name is Theo” he replied.

“Welcome to my family and pack Theo,” Shade responds his hand rubbing against Theo’s newly marked ear.

“Thank you for having me,” Theo said in reply as he could be seen nuzzling his head against Shade’s hand.

“No problem,” Shade responds with a smile pulling his hand away and walking to the last ranger before pausing, “Why does this one look familiar?” He then placed his hand near the wolf's ear pulling it back before stopping as he saw a familiar sight. His own brand.

“Ziggy… it looks like one of our own was stored in these tubes… they have our pack's mark behind their ear.”

“Really?” Ziggy replied.

Shade didn’t stop for long, the wolfs look still bothering him as he failed to place who they were his hand deactivated the chip in their head before they woke up lurching forward as they looked around for a moment before looking at Shade in silence shock before saying, “...Alpha?”.

“I recognize that voice..it’s Fern!” Ziggy then said.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Shade responds rubbing his hand over her neck, “Your okay now.”

“What happened, I remember coming back to the den and nothing else afterwards everything went black”.

“The pack got captured and sent to a lab to be experimented on, I don’t think you were the first one of us that dad had found”.

In response to hearing this Fern just looked at their body and looked at their new hands, “What did they do?” as they looked at Shade.

“They merged your genetics with that of another race… looking at you now. That of a human, just like Ziggy.” Shade responds, “I know they did the same to Ryka, when I found her she was near the end of her changes.”

“Did they do the same with the little ones?”.

“To most of them. Yes. Though not all of them human,” Shade responds, still rubbing Fern’s neck. “But almost all the pack were changed into hybrid races in some capacity, bearly any of us is just a pure Timberwolf now.”

Fern went quiet for a moment before saying, “Is there anything you need me to do, do you want me to go to where the little ones are so I can watch out for them”.

Shade’s hand rubbed her ears for a moment, “If you could do that it would take a lot off my mind.”

She nodded in reply as Shade felt her slowly attempt to stand herself up but once she got to her feet she stumbled slightly causing her to fall back into Shade’s arms, "Could you tell me where they are?"

“It’s hard to believe you were able to be part of a group that almost beat me when you can’t stand by yourself,” Shade responded with a chuckle rubbing Fern behind her ear.

Fern's eyes widened in response as she just let out an embarrassed groan from what he said, as she then muttered “It's not every day where your entire way of moving changes entirely….”.

“And yet you think you could walk down the hall to find a specific room and protect the pups in your state?”

“Had to try at least…” Fern replied.

“I can take her if you want since I'm still out of it I probably won’t be useful in any fights at the moment” Ziggy suggested.

“It might be a good idea… besides if she’s with you you’ll be able to teach her to walk… same with Hato,” Shade points out.

“Fair enough” Ziggy replied with a nod as Fern reached her hands towards his the boy gently grabbing onto it before pulling her up to her feet and placing her arm around his shoulder as he turned his attention back to Shade, “Alright, dad where are the pups at?”.

Shade then directed the two to go towards the nearest room to the left outside of the storage section, “Nearest room to the left got it” Ziggy said with a nod as he and Fern slowly began to walk out of the room Ziggy then shouted, “Good luck dad!” as they then exited.

“I get the feeling I’ll need it,” Shade muttered to himself hearing a lot of pained groans around him as he looked to see the other unconscious figures beginning to wake up as he looked to the other in the room. “Think you lot can help them while I continue to save others?”

“Whatever you say..” he heard the black ranger mutter out but the others just gave nods in confirmation.

“Cheer up,” Shade ordered patting the black ranger on the head.

The black ranger afterwards just gave a smile in response his demeanour changing as he and the others then just walked towards the waking up figures while Shade began to walk to the sealed door that the other rangers had run through.

As soon as Shade left the room he shook his head, “that was not a good session for me.”

“You're telling me. Never thought someone here would be able to knock you down… although I suppose it took them catching your off guard and using a powerful weapon to do so,” Twilight calmly said, “And they did run when they realised that they were all that was left so chances are all three of them are rather weak.”

“Or they had orders to handle something else.”

“Like the alarm. It appears there was some kind of incident deeper into the facility… but I couldn’t find it on my screens, whatever happened is in one of the newer sections of the facility, I don’t have access to.” Twilight calmly says. “Also good news I have found HU-RPM-B1’s location, he’s being stored in the room in the hall, but I don’t know what happened in it, the room has no cameras.”

“I’ll investigate. See if you can find anything about the cause of the alarms,” Shade responds making his way towards the room.

There was no other noise other than alarms as he stepped towards the door before phasing through it, and upon getting towards the other side he saw a scene that made his blood boil.

In the centre of the room was a single bloodstained medical table, blood dripping from it to the floor in a large puddle at the base. It was surrounded by five scientists who were standing around the table with multiple robotic guards surrounding the room.

And the one in between them all was Dillon his body was being modified by the scientist who looked to be rushing to finish, his arms and legs were replaced with metallic ones and his head seemed to have a visor attached to it, but the look in the boy's eyes angered Shade to his core, it didn’t the light it usually had, just completely devoid of any of the humanity that was once there.

“How long til we're done!?” one of the scientists shouted.

“Don’t rush me!” the other shouted back.

“We need to get the other subject back so hurry up!” the first shouted back.

“I would step away from the boy and put him back together if any of you want to keep your heads,” Shade's voice echoed around the room in its dark demonic tone sending shivers down each of the scientist's spines.

One of them quickly turned around and paled upon seeing him, “W-who are you, how did you get in here!?”.

“I’m not in the mood for questions pest,” Shade responds his belt around his waist and twin Eyecon in his hand. “Fix him now, or your all going to be begging for the embrace of death for the rest of your pathetic lives.”

The scientist just backed towards the table and stuttered out, “O-ok we’ll do what you ask just don’t just do anything rash”.

The third scientist had different plans, “Screw that, kill him!” he screamed as he sent the robots to attack Shade.

“You're the first to suffer for the rest of your life,” Shade responded activating the Damned Shade Eyecon as the robots approaching him ignited into flames the blood by the scienists feet rapidly moving towards Shade’s body until he stood above them, red spears of blood hovering around him before they speared the robots each being torn apart, except for one who’s limbs were pinned to the wall.

“Last warning pests… or do you want to find out what happens if you don’t follow my orders!” Shade shouted walking towards them heat radiating off his body as the spears of blood floated above his head, whilst the remaining robot's body began to turn black.

“Just do what he says you idiot!” the first shouted as he picked up the tools he had placed on the table, “we’ll put him back together ok” he then said as the third frantically looked at the dismantled robots and the single remaining one which was now completely black and walking towards Shade.

“Oh no… you decided your fate already,” Shade responded looking at the third scientist as chains grabbed his limbs pulling him towards Shade. The chains pulled the scientist's limbs well beyond where they should have been as he was held infront of Shade’s body the heat from the armour almost burning the scientist's skin.

The robot reached Shade instantly dropping to a knee without a word awaiting some kind of instruction, “Gather any parts of the other robots parts in the room and upgrade yourself after which pile their remains in one place to recover later. Spare any memory chips and keep them safe,” Shade ordered the robot instantly nodding rising to his feet beginning with his task.

All while this happened the third scientist's face just twisted in pain before he let out a scream as he writhed in agony from what was being done to him before he heard something tear from his arm blood running from his body instantly turning into blades like the ones surrounding Shade.

“Where do you want me to start first? Your arms… or legs?” Shade states his intent clear as the scientist saw the blood on his arms beginning to move and sharpen cutting into his skin, drawing more blood from his body to create the crude spears.

The only sounds that the scientist could make were screams of pain before feeling excruciating pain in his arms until the open wounds were burned shut and the tension was released from his limbs allowing his head to fall forwards slightly.

The scientist let out gasps from the pain as he felt his heart rate go at a rapid pace before letting out another scream of pain once he felt pain in his legs.

Shade then forced the scientist's mouth shut using his chain to ensure he couldn’t look anywhere else, “Where do you want me to start? Arms or legs!”

He looked at him terrified before unintentionally glancing down at his legs causing Shade to take that glance as the scientist wanted him to start with his legs, as the spears impaled them both going through the limb multiple times blood pouring from the new wounds before Shade sealed them shut keeping the scientist alive.

“Do you have anything to say to me?”

“I-I’m sorry” he choked out before he let out a whimper while some of the other scientists watched in fear but the first one along with the help of another could be seen slowly reverting the things they did to Dillon.

“What did you do to my son,” Shade asked glaring at the bound scientist. “I would recommend telling me unless you want this to continue.”

The scientist let out a fearful gasp before replying, “We were reinstating the programming we had in place before but we didn’t want him to run again so we decided to replace his limbs with robotic ones so we can turn them off so we can catch him but we wanted to add some newer tech into the mix to make him more useful!”.

“What like,” Shade responds his voice still dark and menacing.

“Like The visor that we added it’s supposed to give the subject better data comprehension and even the limbs who have the capability of forming into blades when they're not used to keep him in place!”.

“Was that all you did?” Shade asked as the scientist felt the chains dig into his arm a bit.

“Yes, YES THAT’S ALL WE DID I SWEAR!”

“Then what about this other subject,” Shade asked taking a sweep of the scientist's mind, “I know you did more to get access to him.”

“It was part of the kid, we noticed he would exhibit different behaviours than how we see him act he would be highly aggressive towards us we surmised that it was a separate entity inhabiting the same body” the scientist replied before continuing “ and one of our colleagues suggested to separate the two and we placed him into a cloned body similar to the kids but made to be slightly older but when we tried to implement control into him, it didn’t work he busted out of his containment he’s still free at this very moment doing who knows what….”.

“Escaping most likely.” Shade responds before punching the scientist along the face breaking his jaw and blood coming from his mouth before being healed, “That for harming both my son at the same time.”

The scientist let out a gasp of pain before Shade turned his attention to the other scientists who backed away from Dillon who looked to be back to normal as he had his original limbs returned to him including the visor that was removed as well, the boy still unconscious as one of the scientist spoke, “O-ok we reverted what we did”.

Shade didn’t look at them for the moment dropping the bound scientist to the ground the chains wrapped around his arms as he dragged him behind him, “And you can promise me he’ll recover from what was done to him.”

“Y-yes, once he wakes he’ll feel some lingering pain but other than that he’ll wake up like nothing had happened” the scientist replied as Shade stopped in front of the table.

“Good… now tell me… have any of your done experiments on Timberwolves today,” Shade asked in an almost calm voice.

“N-no sir we’ve only done modifications for body parts nothing else” one of them stuttered out, “Except for him possibly he gets called to do other things at times” he then added as he pointed to the bound doctor.

“Did he do anything today to the Timberwolves you captured,” Shade repeated glancing at his captive.

“Last I checked just merging human DNA with a few of them other than that no idea”.

“Did you do one today with two scientists called Thomas and Ebony?” Shade asked looking at the bound Scientist.

“I-i was overseeing those t-two earlier before being called here” the bound scientist replied.

Shade didn’t respond as he cancelled his transformation before stamping down on the bound scientist's chest getting a gasp of pain in response Shade looked to all the remaining scientists, “I’m giving you all a choice here. Surrender yourselves to me this instant and you’ll not be harmed. Resist and attempt anything…” Shade stamped down again getting a scream from the scientist below him, “you get the picture.”

“We surrender you’ve made your point very clear” the first scientist replied panic in his voice as the others gave similar responses.

“Good. From this day forth you four serve and work for me. Any objections to this?” Shade stated looking at the four of them awaiting a response.

“N-no objections here sir” The fifth one replied with a stutter.

“Yeah none!” the first added as he and the others backed away from the still unconscious Dillon before the fifth brought out a weapon from his lab coat aiming it towards Shade with the second and fourth scientists screaming out, “What are you doing you psycho!”.

“Put down the weapon do you wanna die!?”

The fifth scientist paid them no mind but before he could pull the trigger he was engulfed in flames, the second and fourth watching in horror as they heard him scream in pain.

Shade left the scientist burning before shaking his head, “those of you that tried to stop him… thank you for trying but it seems he chose his own fate. He’ll still work with you all but after this… well you saw what happened with our robotic friend.”

The robot in question walked back towards the group, his body covered in black metal that looked to now be heavily armoured, with white accents around the sides of the attachments, while his right arm looked to have a gun merged into their wrist while resting on his back was a large black shield with no markings on it. The second he was beside Shade he once again dropped to a knee his head bowed awaiting his next orders.

“W-what's gonna happen now?” the first scientist asked as he and the others glanced at the robot.

“Well… I’m going to make sure my son wakes up. Then save my other son that you all harmed,” Shade responds as the flames burning the scientist began to cease, as they saw the labcoat he wore had been burnt to cinders, his skin had turned black while his eyes had Shade mark inside them, a similar mark burned into his throat.

“What did you do to me….” the fifth rasped out to Shade.

“A punishment,” Shade responded before the new mark on his throat began to glow, “From this day forth you will never raise a weapon against your master, you will be following my order to the letter without question and thoughts that deviate from this path with lead to great physical and mental pain on your part.” The mark then stopped glowing.

The scientist looked like he was about to say something in response but before he could he made sounds of choking as he grasped his throat for a moment before it stopped causing him to gasp out to catch his breath Shade seeing that the scientist was visibly shaken from experiencing that.

“Do we have an understanding now,” Shade responded glaring at the scientist.

“Y-yes sir” He replied, keeping his hand on his throat and going completely quiet.

The other scientists were about to speak but stopped once they heard a low groan from Dillon who slowly opened his eyes only to be blinded by the light that was above him causing him to grunt out in discomfort.

“What’s going on?...” They heard him speak before seeing him attempt to sit himself up only for his hand to slip causing him to slip onto his back again Shade immediately went to the boy's side.

“Careful there Dillon. You are okay now,” Shade responds as he places his arms around the boy.

“Dad?” Dillon spoke looking toward Shade as his vision was slowly starting to go back into focus.

“Yeah, it’s me. Your safe,” Shade repeated carefully sitting Dillon in his lap, “How are you feeling?”

“Tired and a little sore…” the boy replied while rubbing his eyes, “wait…why can’t I hear Jason?”.

Shade didn’t respond as he placed Dillon’s head against his chest, “Dillon… She cult have removed him from you and put him in a new body, hoping to control him as a powerful tool.”

“Then where is he…” Dillon then asked, Shade seeing that the boy's exhaustion was getting to him.

“Dillon… He’s not here… they separated you both,” Shade responds, “I don’t know where he is.”

“Oh…” He heard Dillon say in a saddened tone before feeling the boy lean against him and going quiet as Shade heard him let out low snores.

“You just get some sleep okay,” Shade responded rocking Dillon in his arms.

“Is there anything you want us to do sir?” he heard the first scientist ask.

“You can tell me where to find the head scientist of this place. I have a special kind of hell in mind for him,” Shade responds, his voice returning to its cold state.

“The area he resides in isn’t too far from here you leave this room and continue down the hallway and take a right and you’ll find his office”.

“Okay,” Shade responded walking away still carrying Dillon before pausing, “the four of you… I give you my express permission to use this one for what you were ordered to do to Dillon,” Shade adds throwing the bound scientist to them, “Take as long as you want to make him squeal.”

“Understood sir” the second replied with a nod along with the others as they could be seen approaching the bound scientist, as Shade sat on a nearby seat watching them start.

“Please don’t do this!” he heard the bound scientist plead out as he saw them strap him against the table the chains releasing him as they did this and once they were done the first and fourth could be seen picking up tools that were on nearby

“You can all do whatever you like to him as long as he’s alive after. Think of this as your interviews!” Shade shouted at the four of them

They gave slight nods in response before the fourth could be seen holding an electric saw of some kind in his hands Shade saw him place it against the bound scientist’s arm before seeing him saw into it prompting a scream of pain the scientist then continued afterwards without stopping as screams of agony echoed through the room from the bound scientist.

“Stop please!” they heard him yell out in pain while Shade covered Dillon’s ears so he wouldn’t wake up as he watched them continue h theme saw the bound scientist's arm go limp from separating from his body as the scientist then began to replace that limb with similar robotic ones that they had on Dillon prior.

The bound scientist continued to scream in pain his voice choking up, “N-no more, p-please no more!” as the others were seen going to his other limbs to do the same they had done to his arm.

“I’m sure after your operation is done you’ll understand how everyone you have harmed feels,” Shade responds standing up, “all of you… I’ll come back to see your completed work later. Show me your best!”

“Yes sir!” he heard them reply as they continued working on the bound scientist while he walked out of the room with Dillon and the robot in tow.

While they left Shade heard the bound doctor scream, “No!” before the door closed behind Shade.

“Let's drop you off with your brothers,” Shade responded quickly running back to the room Ziggy had gone to.

Once he arrived he walked inside as he found Ziggy and Hato with the pups and Fern, as they specifically see Ziggy helping Hato and Fern with walking the two struggled slightly but were able to keep themselves up without falling before Ziggy noticed Shade, “Oh hey dad!” Ziggy said before noticing Dillon in his arms with a relieved smile, “Thank goodness he’s ok”.

“You need to define okay,” Shade responded placing Dillon against a nearby wall.

“How is he?” Ziggy then asked as he walked toward the two as he then crouched in front of Dillon.

“Alive and mostly unharmed after some… persuading with a few scientists,” Shade responds before pausing, “but he’s missing someone.”

“What do you-” Ziggy was about to say before stopping himself and asking, “What did they do to Jason?”.

“They said they separated the two, and put Jason in a new body… chances are they want to use him as another weapon as they intended for you and Fern.”

“They can do that?”.

“Dillon said he couldn’t hear him anymore so we have to hope they did do that otherwise it’s more likely that he’s… well you know.”

“Yeah…” Ziggy replied before asking, “I’ll keep an eye on Dillon for the time being so you can take care of the rest and probably find Jason if he’s still even around”.

“Of trust me. I fully intend to make whoever is in command suffer… and maybe deal with those other rangers,” Shade responded with a smile before looking to the robot by his side. “Protect them all.”

The robot simply nodded in response before seeming to focus on the task he had been given.

“I’m going to handle this. Just look after eachother okay,” Shade added looking at everyone in the room.

“We’ll look after each other dad, do what you need to” Ziggy replied with a nod along with everyone else before he left the room without another word.

“What's wrong with Dillon?” Hato could be heard asking as Ziggy responded, “He’s just resting Hato, leave him be for a little bit”.

“Oh ok,” the young hybrid replied as he scooched away from Dillon.

“Ziggy I think I got it this time” he heard Fern before smiling as he saw her standing up on her own and taking small steps, “That’s great Fern you're making good progress,” he said as he stood up and walked towards her.

As soon as Shade left the room he began to run down the hallways looking for anything of note until he skidded to a stop in a hallway finding that there was blood and viscera with multiple bodies of murdered scientists laying on the ground with a majority showing holes in the chests or flesh torn at the neck he also noticed some white rangers but they looked to be only unconscious with some of their visors being cracked.

As he continued to look he noticed the splattered blood and shattered windows to test chambers until he heard someone screaming as he saw one of the scientists crawling from one of the diverging hallways, “Help me please!” they shouted before they were suddenly dragged back with blood splattering on the nearby wall not too long after.

“Why do I get the feeling they did too much on an experiment,” Shade asks himself as he runs towards where the scientist was dragged as he turned to find a figure who was standing over the scientist's body with their hands dripping blood as their body twitched every few seconds it looked like they were about to turn around but their attention was immediately diverted towards the oncoming rangers who began to shoot at them the lights flashing red as they did.

The figure let out a snarl towards the ranger's Shade seeing them hop from place to place before seeing the figure pounce onto one of the rangers and slamming their fist into the ranger's visor shattering it before grabbing onto their legs and slamming them into the other ones.

Once they did that Shade got a glimpse of the figure's face, they looked like an older Dillon and taller almost around Axel’s height but shorter as well as having a wolf's ears and tail, but right when the figure spoke he knew who it was right away.

“IM GONNA RIP OUT YOUR FUCKING SPINES!” He shouted out with a loud snarl the rage could be heard in his voice as the rangers that were attacking him began to fall back running away from the boy.

“YOUR DEAD, DEAD, DEAD, FUCKING DEAD, I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!” He screeched, his foot stomping forward as he was about to run after them before he was grabbed by Shade’s chains.

“Jason! Calm down!” Shade shouted as he brought the second set of chains out in front of them pulling Jason further back towards him.

He felt Jason fight back from the chains, the boy was in a blind rage as he let out loud growls, “NEVER AGAIN!” he then shouted as the chains pulled him back again as he felt Shade grab him.

“I promise you, Jason. They won’t get you again, just please calm down,” Shade responded as he wrapped his arms around Jason.

Jason was still frantic as he wriggled against Shade but after a few moments, he began to slow down as Shade heard his breathing go back to normal and relax.

After another moment passes Jason slowly looks up to Shade before whispering, “Dad?” his voice wavering as he looked like he was about to cry.

“Shush, it’s okay,” Shade responds rubbing his neck, “I’m here. Your safe.”

The boy broke down then and there and cried as he tightly held onto Shade, the boy sobbing as he let out a stuttered breath, “I… I thought they got me again, I thought they were gonna hurt me again…”.

“Jason… You do remember what happened to you… right,” Shade asked.

“No, I just remember waking up in a tank and seeing one of those scientists before I blacked out”.

“Look at yourself when I let you go okay? And don’t panic,” Shade said slowly letting Jason go as he took a step back.

Jason looked towards him confused before looking at his body was covered in blood including his hands which were still dripping some of it, “W-what did I do?”.

“From what I saw, went on a rampage and slaughtered the scientists in this place… but it looks like you only knocked out the other subjects they sent after you.”

Jason didn’t reply as he looked around and saw his handiwork as if he was about to throw up before turning his attention to his body a look of confusion then showed on his face, “When did me and Dillon get taller?”.

“...Jason. Don’t panic with what I’m about to tell you okay.”

“W-what happened?”.

“Jason… your not part of Dillon anymore… they captured you and split you and him apart… this is your own body now… a body they want to control for their own means.”

Jason looked towards him with a slightly panicked before Shade saw him take a few breathes, “I-i didn’t think they would know how to do that”

“Neither did I,” Shade responds before looking at Jason, “Jason… do you want me to get the blood off you?”

Jason looked at his body again before giving Shade a quiet nod, as SHade held his hand near Jason's body the blood covering him got absorbed into Shade’s suit until only his bare body was visible. “That better?”

“Y-yeah” Jason responded with a nod as he then asked, “If you found me, you found Dillon too right?”.

“Yeah… I found him and the others… they’ve all been used by the cult in some capacity. Be it turned into mutant creatures or used for other means.” Shade says. “When I found Dillon they were in the middle of experimenting on him. They had removed his arms and legs replacing them with robotic limbs they could shut down if he escaped, and did other things to him as well. Payback for his last escape… or should we say… your escape.”

“So he suffered because of me…”.

“No… he suffered because they didn’t want to take the chance of him escaping again. It looked like they were doing what they did to Marie and the others to him.”

“Of course they were” Jason muttered before he asked, “So what are you gonna do now then?”.

“Capture every last one of them, and ensure their leader goes through hell for the rest of his life,” Shade responds

“Is there anything you need me to do?” the boy then asked.

“Jason… you don’t have your morpher anymore… you are a lot weaker than when you were linked to Dillon.”

“Dad I'm not completely helpless I was able to do all this without a Morpher albeit it was adrenaline driving through it but still I was able to do all this” the boy replied motioning towards his handiwork from earlier.

“And how much longer do you think you can push yourself before you collapse?”

“For as long as I can and If I can’t go any further I’ll stop and fall back so I don’t get in the way” Jason responded as he grabbed a weapon from one of the unconscious rangers' bodies the weapon being a sword.

“If you think you can handle it I doubt I can persuade you otherwise,” Shade responds with a shake of his head as they hear the sound of running ahead of them, “also… try not to kill all the scientists if you can. I’ve been taking a liking to either a quick bite or turning them into servants.”

“I make no promises” Jason replied as he tightened his grip on the sword he had picked up.

“Then at least spare the ones in white armour,” Shade requested, “If many of them get killed she’ll have my head.”

Jason looked towards him confused “Who are you talking about?”.

Shade paused before shaking his head, “It’s not my place to say… just please for my sake do not kill any in white armour.”

“Fine…” Jason replied as the two of them saw multiple rangers round the corner beyond the chain wall.

“Here they come…” Jason muttered as the rangers could be seen coming in their direction.

“Just be careful okay,” Shade repeated before the wall of chains dropped before shooting towards the oncoming rangers knocking most backwards with many of the weaker ones disappearing as they collapsed.

Jason didn’t respond as he rushed towards the other oncoming rangers weaving out of the way of the projectiles before lunging forward towards a small group of the rangers and slamming his fist into one of their stomachs before grabbing onto their arm and swinging them around making them hit the surrounding rangers.

As soon as any of the rangers were knocked out, Shade's chains wrapped around their bodies hoisting them to the ceiling or binding them to a wall, as the chains struck one of the white rangers Jason saw their suit disappear.

The rangers that were left began to retreat like the last ones allowing a reprieve for the two as Jason then looked at the unconscious rangers specifically the ones that were brown and white, “What’s with the brown and white one there definitely not standard and yet there’s so many of them”.

“They have mass-produced your morphers and engine cells, those rangers are their creations… and you can guess what most of the rangers under the suits are,” Shade responded.

Jason just grunted in reply before looking at one of the white rangers whose suits had disappeared before he noticed the colour of their hair, “What the?” before immediately remembering back to what Shade said earlier, “If many of them get killed she’ll have my head.”.

“No….” Jason muttered before going toward the ranger in question and used his hands to open their eyes to see their colour and saw a yellow eye stare back at him causing him to step back as he went into deep thought going quiet.

“Jason… are you okay?” Shade asked walking towards the boy and placing a hand on his shoulder.

“That woman you were talking about earlier, it’s my sister isn’t it?”. Jason asked not getting a response from Shade, “It is, and I guess all those white rangers are supposed to be her kids right?” Jason then said.

Shade tried to look away from Jason, “It’s a bit more complicated than that… but yes most of them are children bred here.”

Jason let out a breath as he clenched his fist, “Let's just go and get this taken care of, and afterwards I want answers alright?”.

“I'll answer what I can,” Shade responds before thinking, ‘Knila… this is your mess to answer for.’

“You know where to go right?” Jason then asked, “If so you can lead the way”.

“I know where the head scientist should be and I can bet all of these are being sent out to protect the coward,” Shade responds looking at the rangers around them.

“Hey, one of them’s waking up,” Jason said pointing towards one of the brown rangers who slowly opened their eyes, the boy’s head tilting in confusion as he then said “Is that a…timberwolf?” once he noticed the ears and tail.

“I have a lot to catch you up on… about everyone,” Shade stated looking at the waking wolf.

As soon as their eyes opened they instantly focused on Jason, as the TImberwolf started growling at him trying to thrust herself forward to bite at him, “I will capture you for the Master!”

Jason gave her a blank look in response as moved away from her, “You probably shouldn’t be focusing on that at the moment”.

The wolf seemed to ignore his words her arm looking to try and reach for her morpher again as the chains tighten the cell falling to the ground below her, “Give me masters gift back! I need it to serve Master! To kill for Master!”

“How about you tell us about your master instead” Jason commented.

“Will not betray Master! You not trick me!” the wolf screamed, “Ordered to protect! Kill any who come after Master and his toys!”

“What do you mean by toys?”.

“His toys… his relief… not yours to take!”

Jason’s hand tensed up, “Relief?” he replied with slightly gritted teeth.

“Relief for Master. Feeds Toys… pleases his toys,” she stated as she looked to lick her lips.

Jason didn’t say anything the next moment could be seen grabbing her face and tightly squeezing it, “Your gonna tell me everything you know and if you don’t I’ll make sure you don’t get to see your precious master again”.

“N-Never betray master. You can’t make me,” the wolf responded with a glare.

“You’d be surprised” He replied before she felt him squeeze tighter.

“Y-You’ll have to kill. I refuse to betray master,” the wolf responds still glaring defiantly at Jason trying to bite him.

Jason just gave a glare of his own before speaking, “Hey dad you can get her to talk right”.

“I could,” Shade responded, “but she would be following me like a lost puppy after… and see me as her master instead, and expect me to do what he does to her.”

Jason took a second to think about what Shade had said before he shook his head out of disgust before asking her, “How does your master feed you?”.

She tilted her head at Jason, a confused look on her face, “at what times?”

“Just answer the question” Jason replied with annoyance in his tone.

“Well… during the day either bowl on the floor or hand if I was good girl. At night… from the tap.” the wolf responded with a smile, “I enjoy at night the most. Pleases Master, calls me a good girl.”

The boy looked at her incredulously before gagging slightly as he let go of her face and backed away from her, “Make it quick”.

“Will do,” Shade responded walking towards the wolf, “This will only take a moment pup.”

“W-What do you mean?” the wolf responded with a grown as she saw his hand reach towards her, panic forming on her face, “No! Only master allowed to touch me!”

“Don't worry. Your master is the one who will be touching you.”

“No! You, not Master! Stay back!” the wolf shouted trying to get free as Shade’s hand touches her head, “No touch Masters spot! That masters only!”

Shade ignored her shouts as his hand rested on her head the wolf screamed at Shade as sparks moved into her head before she went silent drool ran from her mouth as she looked blankly at Jason.

“Don’t worry pup. I’m your master. I’m here.”

“Y-You, master? No not… but are… Master?” the wolf said a conflicted and confused look in her eyes.

“What's going on with her?” Jason questioned.

“You remember the chips they put into you. The thing is being rewired in a way. Any memories link to that and what I need to correct conflict a lot.”

“So her confusion is linked to that thing being rewired and once it's done she won’t show that confusion anymore?”.

“Pretty much… it is kind of hard to change a memory of her being fed a prevented monster's cum each night as a reward and replace that with something that still seems natural to fit.”

“Understandable…” Jason replied as he gave a disgusted shudder.

“P-Please not erase master… I don’t want to forget master's taste. I be goooood. Stop erasing master.” the wolf responded old memories seeming to flicker in her mind before disappearing tears in her eyes as each memory was altered.

“D-Don’t take bone from me, master… I will be good. Let keep bone.” the wolf responded looking be pant like a domesticated dog instead of a vicious wolf.

“At least it’s better than the alternative” Jason commented.

“Please master… let me play with the pink-haired pets again.” the wolf responded in an almost happy tone, “I enjoy the time with your pets.”

Jason in response to hearing this just tensed up before backing away from the wolf.

“The big blue male is the best,” she added seeming to moan a bit at the thought.

“That's not one I can do anything with… looks like a large muscular human with a bear helmet on fed her once for the head scientist as a reward.”

“Flynn…” Jason muttered, “anything else that needs to be changed for her or is that it?”.

“Almost done,” Shade responded as Jason saw some of her coat start to turn black with red flecks in them, the wolf letting out a faint moan, “That it master. Fill me with your essence. I’m all your master.”

“Ew…” Jason could be heard saying with a groan in response to her saying this.

“Trust me, burning these memories are worse than hearing her comments,” Shade responds as Jason sees a small clear puddle forming below the wolf faints drips being heard with the inside of her legs looking damp.

“She may or may not be replacing some of the more… pleasurable memories and linking them to keep her mind together… so yeah it’s weird.”

Jason didn’t say anything in response only backing away from the wolf just so he doesn’t step in the puddle by accident.

The wolf's head then fell forwards before she opened her eyes letting out a moan, “Master Shade… what can I do to please you today.”

“Answer my son's questions,” Shade ordered getting a nod from the wolf who looked at Jason.

“Tell me about the head of this place” Jason then asked.

“He is in the room ahead, uses the best subjects as his personal guards… and the best females and his personal pets. He likes to watch the screen on ongoing tests to see other creatures suffer… he enjoys watching pain or watching others fulfil their deepest desires with unwilling victims..”

“How long had that been going on for?”.

“A year. He took control a year ago. He enjoys the feeling of a dog against him. The younger the better”

“Oh yeah, I just know I'm gonna enjoy making that guy suffer” Jason spoke.

“How many guards does he have now?” Shade asked.

“He has 10 with him at all times. Currently has his big three with him. HU-RPM-BL1, HU-RPM-R1 and HU-RPM-Y1. The rest are 2 black suits, 3 whites and 2 brown. He keeps one of the browns on his lap at all times.”

“Of course he does…” Jason muttered before he asked, “Is there any way to catch him off guard in that room?”.

“Wait till release and he changes pet,” she responded. “He has 10 pink hairs that serve his other needs. He never leaves the room. One entrance and dog door for pets”

“Alright…what do you think dad?” Jason asked Shade glancing at him.

“I think however we get in… I’m going to end up seeing someone I care about getting played with like a toy, for his enjoyment. If only we had more help to handle them all”

The two then heard footsteps behind them as Shade saw Hex, Knila who was wearing her mask, and AS-001-SH1.

“Lord Shade. I apologize for being so late,” AS-001-SH1 quickly said as they reached them Shade released the wolf as she instantly crawled to Shade rubbing up against his legs.

Hex just looked towards the wolf with a brow raised while Knila just looked at Jason in silence before the boy noticed, “What are you looking at me for?”.

The woman just shook her head in response before turning her attention back to Shade, “Do you require our assistance?”.

“We do. The head scientist is ahead with a lot of guards… and his personal pets as this one by the feet calls them.”

“Yes master Shade, he has a lot of pink-haired pets with him,” the wolf responded sounding distant in her voice as he continued rubbing up against Shade's legs.

Knila just clenched her fist in response to hearing this Jason noticed this for a moment before turning his attention back to Shade, ‘So what's the game plan?”.

“With the 5 of us we should be able to handle them if we catch them unaware,” Shade responded.

“Six master. I’ll fight for you master,” the wolf at his feet added.

“Correction six of us, so how should we go about this then?” Jason commented.

“You only can attack head-on. There is only one door to his lab,” the wolf added again.

“So we have no choice but to use the front door on this?” Jason asked.

Jason got a nod from the wolf, “pretty much. They love to protect him… it’s both trained and bred into them by now.”

Knila and Jason both just clenched their fists in response with Knila letting out a frustrated sigh from under her mask with Jason saying, “Yeah I want to rip that guy's head off…”.

“You may want to… but I want him alive so he can suffer for a long time,” Shade responds with a shake of his head, “He’s ahead right pup?”

“Yes, master! The next turn at the end of the hall!” the wolf responded her tail wagging excitedly.

Hex just looked bewildered from seeing the wolf act like this before turning to AS-001-SH1 and asking “Do I act like that with her?” as he pointed to Knila.

“Do you want the honest answer?”

“I'm probably gonna regret this but yes”.

“From what I have seen… not that far gone… yet,” AS-001-SH1 responded looking at Knila.

Hex had a blank look on his face for a moment before replying, “Thanks for being honest”, as he saw the wolf rubbing up against Shade yet again, visibly able to see the fluids dripping down the inside of her legs.

He just looked towards the wolf in silence not sure of what to say before hearing Knila say, “As long as you behave Hex you won’t end up like that”.

“U-understood” He then shuttered out

“Let's do this” Jason they then heard him speak as he began to walk ahead.

“Just be careful you lot,” Shade said before creating a link between them keeping Jason out of it, “keep an eye on him, he’s running on adrenaline alone.”

“Does he know?”.

“I think he’s close to knowing … he saw one of your girls, and I told him ‘She’ would kill me if anything happened. He’s connected most of the dots and wants answers soon.”

“I’ll tell him once this is over with, it’s the least I could do” Knila replied as she looked to Jason who continued to walk ahead of him, “I wouldn’t blame him if he’s angry at me right now….”.

She then looked back at the bodies she and the others passes by when getting there before asking Shade, “I take it those bodies are Jason’s doing right?”.

“Yes, they are. He was in a frenzy when I found him. I arrived just after he ripped one of the scientist's throats out,” Shade responded as they rounded the corner, finding it filled will many rangers standing there. Most of them were in white armour.

Jason let out a low breath as he brought up the sword in his hands and angled the blade near his waist.

Shade’s eyes quickly looked at the rangers ahead of him before his chains shout past Jason’s body knocking down all the white rangers ahead of him slamming them against the walls and binding them in place, their heads falling forwards as their suits disappeared revealing most of them to be Knila’s children.

“........” Jason just looked at them in silence before he stepped past them with the other’s not too far behind him with Knila looking at all the white rangers in silence while she walked past them.

A moment had passed while they did this and afterward the group was in front of a door the group did not say anything for a moment before Jason asked the wolf, “This is the door right?”.

The wolf went to respond before Jason heard what sounded like a moan from behind the door as a voice was heard shouting “Please master! Deeper! I want you inside of me!”

They could hear the boy let out a snarl in response to hearing this before seeing a large metal door with no lock infront of them, besides it being what looked to be a keypad and microphone beside it.

“Needs a code and something to do with voice, any idea how to get passed it?” Knila asked.

“Sorry his pets were always taken in himself, and let out when he wants to take them out,” the wolf responded.

“Oh great” Jason muttered with a roll of his eyes.

“Come to master HU-SLT-5. Come and give me more pets!” a gruff voice responded. “And TW-SLT-65391. Prepare me.”

“NO! I will not let anyone touch me! A-Alpha save me please!” they heard an almost familiar voice scream.

“This is why I have Spark break the sluts on camera for me first. So disobedient. HU-RPM-R1 please get her in position. I think she’ll learn quicker on my lap and stuffed full to the brim.”

“N-No!” the voice screamed back again.

“Yes sir…” they heard another voice respond with Jason and Knila recognizing it as Jason muttered, “A-adam”.

“Stop struggling slut! Fine then! HU-RPM-BL1 help him! I want her impaled in one single go! Push her down if needed!” the loudest voice shouted his voice sounding furious. “The pain should drill it into her considering she’s dry!”

“No!” the female voice shouted, “Alpha! Dad! Please save me!”

“Understood” another familiar voice spoke, as Knila muttered, “Flynn”

“Wait… Snow?” Shade said to himself his eyes going to pinpricks, “If they harm her they're all going to suffer!”

“Dad if you want to stop this phase through or something and have someone else let us through!”

Shade seemed to have not heard his response as he ran through the door, before summoning his pistol and shooting the lock on the other side the door opening instantly.

He then turned to find the room covered with girls that looked identical to Knila, their limbs bound to the wall with chains, many with swollen bellies clearly late into their pregnancies while others with thick white liquid dripping to the floor.

In the center of the room was a white unicorn, who was sitting naked in a chair, as a pink-haired girl sat below his chair her mouth licking the area around him clean, while two rangers one in red armour and another in Blue armour looked to force a still normal Snow down onto his cock biting and kicking the rangers.

“NO! NO! Let me Go! SHade! Dad! Anyone Help!” Snow screamed, her eyes shut not seeing the door having opened as both rangers' heads turned towards the door, but not having time to react as Shade punched them both in the head sending them to the floor his chain grabbing now and throwing her towards Jason with his chains.

“Who the hell is-” the head scientist began to shout before being cut off as Shade punched along his face blood splattering to the floor, as he shattered the unicorn's jaw, but continued his strikes each one knocking the Unicorns head to the side until the last stuck his horn as it shattered shortly being followed by an ear-piercing shriek.

Jason caught Snow when she was tossed towards him but went quiet once he brought her to her feet and looked at what was in the room itself.

“Stop h-” the scientist tried to order the rangers around him but never finished his sentence each time he spoke getting another strike to the face

“Must protec-” the red ranger had spoken about to stand himself up before he and the blue ranger were knocked back down and pinned by Hex and Knila respectively, “You're not going anywhere”

“What type of sick monster would do this…” Jason had spoken as he walked forward and saw the head scientist's handiwork, it made his stomach turn before seeing what looked to be younger-looking hybrids with swollen bellies as well as the boy let out a growl as he began to walk towards where Shade and the scientist were, finding the scientists face to have caved under Shade’s strikes.

He then stopped before holding his hand out to the scientist's face beginning to reform to the state before Shade had begun striking him, his horn still missing, before punching him again muffled screams coming from the scientists after each strike. “You! Will! Never! Touch! My! Family! Again!” Shade shouted each word matching to a punch to the head scientist's face, an almost feral animalistic look in Shade’s eyes as his transformation ended, and Jason saw Shade’s face.

Jason's face at that moment stayed unchanged as he looked at Shade’s face. As blood spattered from the scientist's face covering both Shade’s hands and face.

“Dad you said you wanted him to suffer, so don’t go too far with that we don’t want him to die on you,” Jason said to Shade.
.
“Oh this won’t kill him,” Shade said his voice growling like a rabid dog, “but he’ll wish it did,” he added still striking him as he spoke before pulling back and reforming his victim's face a second time.

“S-Stop h-him H-H-H-” the scientist began to try and say before being punched in the groin by SHade letting out a high-pitched scream.

“You want a couple hits on his body… anywhere you like,” Shade responded his voice cold and heartless.

Jason just smirked in response as Shade saw the boy stomp his foot onto the scientist's leg a loud snap is heard followed by a scream as the head scientist began to writhe in pain.

“How’s it feel to be on the other end of it, unable to do anything to stop it?” Jason spoke to the scientist, “I doubt it feels good but I could care less”.

“W-W-Who… A-Are you?” the head scientist said through his pain as Shade punched him in his groin again causing another scream from the victim.

“My name is Jason, but some of you know me as HU-RPM-B1” Jason replied before pressing his foot into the scientist's leg hard prompting the scientist to writhe in pain.

“You have no idea how long I wanted to do that, how’s it feel to be taken down a peg?” Jason said with a sadistic smile as the Red and Blue ranger continued to try and break free of Hex and Knila who in response slashed their suits causing sparks to come off from their respective suits and having them demorph.

“Take their morphers,” Shade ordered seeing some rope at the side of the room, “and bind them so they can’t move.”

“Yes Lord Shade,” AS-001-SH1 responded walking to where the rope was and bringing it to KNila and Hex.

Knila and Hex then propped the two they were pinned to the floor against the wall as they grabbed the rope from AS-001-SH1 and tied the two demorphed rangers together and took their morphers from them, “Alright that's taken care of” Hex commented as Knila could be seen making sure that the rope was fastened properly.

“Yep all done” Knila then said as she handed the morphers to AS-001-SH1, “Hold onto these” which he took placing them into a slow that appeared in his legs, which quickly closed ensure the bound ranger couldn’t get them back.

“Thank you,” Knila said as she and Hex stepped away from the two, “You’ll be taken care of soon don’t worry” She then said to the demorphed rangers before turning her attention back to Shade.

“I think it’s time for the main event,” Shade responded healing the head scientist's injuries again. Before a familiar collar appeared in his hand.

“N-no more… no more.” the head scientist tried to say through his tears.

“You didn’t stop when the others begged why should we?” Jason replied.

“I-I’ll never do it again. Stop… I’ll disappear… you’ll never see me again.” The scientist said with fear in his voice.

“Well you’ll never do it again that's true,” Shade responded before forcing the collar around his neck and stepping away, “On the floor slave!” Shade ordered before the head scientist instantly fell from his chair to the floor.

“W-What did you.” he began to say before being cut off.

“Silence!” Shade shouted as his orders were followed with a terrified look on the scientist's face. “Jason… you have any requests for him?”

“Hmm….none that come to mind at the moment any suggestions?”.

“Hmm… not myself, any of you got one… or should the one who has direct experience tell the new toy about his outfit?” Shade asked looking to Hex.

The scientist looked at the group with fear in his eyes, before Shade chuckled, “You can speak.”

“What do you mean by a new toy!” the scientist shouted fear still in his voice.

“Exactly how it sounds like,” Hex replied as he walked up to the scientist and tapped his collar, “This collar will make it that you will follow orders no matter what, you don’t get a choice you don’t get a say, you just do”.

“Like Tartarus it does!” the head scientist shouted trying to get to his feet but being unable to even move a muscle. “Why can’t I get off the floor!”

“As I said before when you're given an order when you have that collar on you will follow it even if you don’t want to”.

“And it remains active till I say otherwise. So enjoy crawling on two knees like a pet for a long time!” Shade response.

“Let me go now!” the scientist shouted glaring at Shade.

“You really think he’s gonna listen to you, don’t make me laugh” Jason replied with a smirk.

“Oh. You're not going anywhere… my new pet…” Shade said clearing his thought before smirking, “From this day forth you will follow any order given to you by my family. You are a tool to be used by them as they see fit. Any order given by my family holds as much weight as my own.”

“N-No! You can’t be serious! Like Tartarus I’ll follow any of your commands like that!” the head scientist screamed.

“Jason… do you have an order for your new toy?”

The boy only smiled before saying to the scientist, “Zip it” causing the head to go silent.

“Lay down” he then said to the doctor following the order before he said, “Roll over” as he did what he was told a panicked look on his face, ‘Good boy!” Jason then said in a mocking tone.

“Thank you, master,” the scientist responded in a blank tone before sobbing, his hands remaining pinned to the floor preventing him from covering his face, as tears began to form in his eyes.

“Was that so hard?” he heard the boy say before feeling him pat his head.

“P-Please stop,” the scientist responded through his sobs.

“A-Alpha… Can I do something?” Snow asked walking towards Shade.

“Depends what it is,” Shade responded.

“I want to take something he used to almost harm me.” Snow responded, “I could use a bite.”

Shade paused for a moment before smirking, “Hex, would you like to join her? He has two on offer.”

“I think I’ll pass for this one I’ll let her do what she wants to him” Hex replied.

“Okay then,” Shade responds as he sees Snow walk towards the scientist, “Roll onto your back and spread those legs then stay.”

The scientist looked to try and fight back as he did what Snow told him to, “you wanted to use this to make me suffer… I think you would be better without it. Don’t you?”

“N-No stop, Don’t do that!” the scientist responded with a panicked look on his face as he looked to try and move his body as snow positioned her mouth next to one the of testicles.

“I thought you liked us here. I’m sure a small bite won’t be any worse than us sucking them,” Snow responded opening her mouth and pulling one of the swollen orbs into her mouth before biting down and pulling a blood-curdling scream coming from the scientist as she yanked it free a loud popping noise is heard as she bit into it before she swallowed what she had taken.

“Alpha please stop him bleeding out,” She requested with a bloody grin as the missing part was seared shut, and she moved to the other orb.

Jason and Hex meanwhile just winced after seeing this transpire with the boy immediately placing his hands over his crotch, “Yikes…” Hex then muttered out.

“Sure neither of you want the other!” Snow asked looking at Jason and Hex.

“Yeah, I'm sure!” Jason replied with Hex giving a quick nod in response as well.

“Your loss,” She responded quickly tearing the other one free and walking infront of the wailing Scientist, “Open your eyes,” She ordered as the scientist did so unwillingly as he saw what was in her mouth as she bit into it before swallowing, “I’m sure you’ll never miss them.”

The scientist didn’t respond just lying in place as he shook in pain as Shade healed the missing parts, as Shade said, “I’m sure you’ll get used to the wolves taking a few bites,” as the scientist continued crying now louder than before upon hearing Shade’s statement.

The others just watched in silence as they heard the scientist, none of them felt bad for him but it definitely had Jason and hex slightly shocked from seeing it with Knila doing the same.

Snow then walked away a happy smile on her face as she walked up to Shade rubbing up against his leg, “Thank you Alpha.”

“No worries,” Shade responded as a leash connected to the Scientists collar, “now… we better help everyone here… while I deal with our two rangers.”

He then walked towards both bound rangers passing the leash to AS-001-SH1 who took it with a smile before Shade knelt in front of the two of them, “You two got anything to say to me?”

The two didn’t say anything in reply as they looked at him blankly as Jason said, “Flynn, Adam what the hell did they do to you both….”.

“Why not ask the new toy,” Shade points out smirking

Nodding Jason then turned to the scientist, “What did you do to them?”.

The Scientist tried to look away before his own body forced him to look towards Jason before saying, “We had their consciousness put very deep so they wouldn’t be able to fight back from the order’s basically locked them in their head, essentially what we had done to HU-RPM-P1”.

“So you locked them up in their own head!?” Jason shouted in anger before taking a breath, “Now is there a way to reverse this or are they stuck like that?”.

“Why would we engineer a way to reverse the programming,” the scientist responded, “I mean if it could be stopped its defeats the purpose of doing it.”

Jason just growled before going into thought before remembering what Shade did with the wolf earlier, “Dad with what you did with the wolf earlier could you do something to get them out of this state?”.

“I doubt it! I mean your dear sister is still my toy! Just one hour ago she let herself be bred like a common animal. It was her who gave me all the wonderful toys around the room… well all the human ones that is. You can’t free her! And you can’t save them!”

Jason didn’t give any more time to speak as he ran up and kicked him in the stomach the scientist rose into the air for a moment before flying into a nearby wall, “Shut your mouth about my sister you sick bastard!” Jason growled out, Shade seeing the same look he had earlier started to show.

“Jason… don’t,” Shade responded placing his hand on the boy's shoulder.

The boy just let out a low growl before he stopped clenching his fists as he then heard, “He’s wrong about that happening to me you know”.

“What?” Jason said as he turned towards Knila with a glare which then turned to wide-eyed shock once she took her mask off, “Knila?”.

“Y-yeah it’s me….surprise” She replied while walking towards him as she saw his face turn to a whole range of emotions before settling on anger.

“Where the hell were you huh!?” he shouted as he pushed her back his sister's eyes widening in response, “Here I am thinking of the worst when you were ok, how long?”.

“What?”.

“How long were you safe and didn’t try to come and see me huh!?” he shouted.

“Five days,” Shade responds. “She has been free of them for only five days.”

“I was scared that hated me after what happened in the arena” Knila spoke.

“Hated you?” Jason looked at her in disbelief, “I would never hate you, I wouldn’t put anything over you. You’re my only blood family left, you’re my sister, our dad passed away and our witch of a mother not too long before, your all I have left, yeah I’d be angry with you, but I would never hate you, your damn near more of a mom to me than our actual mom!”.

“You’re not that far off on that one” She replied before she saw him look at her confused, “....What?”.

“Technically I am your mom…”.

“I'm sorry, please explain!” Jason shouted.

“When we were displaced your body was too damaged to make the trip so I made a deal with the one who saved us by giving up my unborn child to bring you back, the body you were in before wasn’t your original one”.

“So let me clarify, you're telling me by you making that deal, Dillon and by proxy me, since I'm in a clone of his body are your sons?” Jason replied.

“Y-yeah…” Knila replied with a sheepish smile.

“I would say that's not the strangest thing I've heard but I’d lying if I did” Jason replied in a mutter.

“How in Tartarus are you free slut!” the scientist shouted in anger as he looked at Knila.

“Didn’t I tell you to shut up!” Jason shouted back towards the scientist who also saw Knila flip him off, “Your new master freed me from that, albeit I have two voices in my head that annoy the hell out of me though”.

“H-He freed you,” the scientist stuttered out his head moving to look at Shade, “Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare mess with them!”

“You really think you have any control in this situation, don’t make me laugh!” Knila commented.

“Actually I have a better idea. I will deal with them in a bit but I think this toy needs breaking in a different way,” Shade responded, getting an anxious look from the scientist, as he took the leash back from AS-001-SH1, “But for now… Knila, check on your kids he has here, the rest of you check on the wolves, some of them look way too young to be carrying pups safely.”

The others just nodded towards him and walked to the pups with Knila going towards her children.

Shade then looked down the scientist, as he said “And very soon… I’ve got a special test for you to do,” the scientist could only gulp in fear lowering his head out of fear of what was to come.

Chapter 23

Half an hour after the group had stormed the room, they had unbound each of the women from the walls. The female Timberwolves had mostly remained frozen in fear throughout not wanting to approach the group a few changed their minds as they saw Shade’s Alpha form beginning to rub against him. While with the Human girls all of them looked at Knila in stunned silence none of them saying a thing to the woman.

“It’s ok, he isn’t gonna hurt you anymore” Knila softly spoke to the girls

“Master. No hurt. Master care. Give back master,” one of the girls said in a broken tone, Knila able to see fresh white screaks between her legs.

Knila face went to a pained look as she shook her head, “No….he doesn’t”.

“Yes. Master does!” the girl shouted back, glaring at Knila.

“If he did, he wouldn’t have done all this, that doesn’t care it’s far from it!” Knila raised her voice, before sighing, “I just wish none of you had to experience this in the first place…” She said sadness in her tone, Jason glancing back at her for a moment with a look of concern.

“I hate that they did this to them, it makes me sick….” he muttered.

“If you think this is bad you know nothing of our ways,” the head scientist responds with a chuckle.

“Your right… we don’t.” Shade responded before a smile formed on his face, “Toy. Repeat back to everyone in this room my next order. To all of my toys in this room. You are now to serve my master, and forget that I was ever your master. You belong to him from this day forth.”

“N-N” the head scientist began to say with a shake of his head before his eyes went blank, “To all of my toys in this room. You are now to serve my master, and forget that I was ever your master. You belong to him from this day forth.”

Shade smirked before rubbing the scientist's head, “Good boy.”

“Yes master,” the scientist responded before returning to normal shaking his head.

“And now silence till I say otherwise,” Shade ordered before the scientist could react, a terrified look in his eyes as he began whimpering in fear.

The girl's demeanor changed near immediately as they looked at Shade with curiosity.

“Girls, come here,” Shade ordered, pointing just in front of him.

The girls immediately went towards him and stood in front of him.

“What am I to you all?”

“Your…master” One of them spoke towards him.

“And we are all your toys. We only exist to please and pleasure you,” another one added.

“No, it isn’t….” Knila muttered out from behind them.

Shade saw her reaction before creating a mental link between them mentally saying to her, “Knila… will you accept me taking them all as my daughters?”

“Yes,” She replied with a nod towards him.

“First of all. I am not your master,” Shade states looking at the girls, “Your purpose in life is not what you said. That is the furthest from it.”

“Then what is it?” the first asked looking towards him with a tilt of her head.

“First. I am your father. Not master. You are my daughters, not my toys or slaves or any other thing like that.” Shade responded, “and second. Your purpose is to live a happy life and decide the rest for yourselves.”

“We understand…papa” the first replied with a nod with the other girls doing the same.

Shade then knelt to the floor holding his arms open, “now… do any of you need a hug?”

The girls immediately went towards Shade and hugged him all of them had smiles on their faces while they did this.

While they did this, Knila could be seen with a soft smile as she looked towards them, she was glad that the nonsense put into their head was replaced with something more positive for them.

After a moment one of the more younger girls looked up at Shade and asked, “If you're our papa then who’s our mama?”.

“Do you not know who she is little one?” Shade asked looking at the one who had spoken, who just gave a quiet shake of her head in response. “Your mother is Knila,” Shade responded pointing behind them at her.

The girls then looked back to Knila who just gave a wave to them as the little one slowly separated from Shade and walked towards her, “Hello there” Knila softly spoke to her as the girl looked up at her in curiosity before Knila felt her jump onto her in a hug the woman immediately reciprocating and holding the girl against her, Shade seeing Knila slightly tearing up from this happening as she smiled.

After a moment Knila then glanced toward Shade and said, “Thank you”. As he simply smiled back at her.

As each of the girls began to surround Knila each going to hug her Shade looked over his shoulder towards each of the Timberwolves, all of them by his feet their heads bowed before they all said at once, “We will follow your Alpha!”

“That… was a lot easier than expected,” Shade said to himself looking at Jason.

Jason was giving a look that showed surprise and hesitance at how quick this was going, “This is going well so far…..I don’t trust it”.

“No reason it shouldn’t they can’t call out of here for any reinforcements anyway,” AS-001-SH1 pointed out before they heard the head scientist chuckle.

“Why are you laughing?” Jason said, turning toward the scientist with a brow raised.

“Tell me. How often do you think the waste product is collected to transfer to other bases around Equestria? I mean we possibly are the third biggest subject manufacturer for the cult, and the failures need to go somewhere.”

“.....What?” Jason spoke in response, “The hell are you talking about?”.

“Oh I mean with the accelerated birthing process and so many suitable women to give birth we have on average thousands of failures a day in this base alone,” the head scientist responds with a smirk, “And some of the late failures we can’t use are awfully uncontrollable with their modifications and all that. They can’t be stored here, they need to be moved on to greener pastures.”

“Excuse me?” Knila then spoke as Jason went quiet before he could be seen clenching his fist again.

“You thought every subject born here stayed here. Oh no we sell them on to other branches. We sold a ton of your to a base near canterlot just a few weeks ago, to be used for the creation of monsters and weapons development.”

In the next moment, Knila and Jason could be seen giving him a death stare with the others noticing that Jason’s hands started to show claws and his hair starting to stand on end along with a low growl, they could tell that the boy was about to do something.

But before the others could say anything Jason ran up to the scientist and kneed him in the face knocking him back into the nearby wall before he felt Jason pin him there with his arm with his other arm extended back with his claws at the ready.

“Jason don’t. He’s not worth the energy,” Shade responds shaking his head at the boy, “Besides if he’s dead we can’t find out anything.”

Jason just growled out while the scientist began choking Jason’s arm pressed hard against his neck before they saw the boy back away from him, the scientist coughing out as he fell to the floor.

“Oh look the subject can follow orders after all,” the head scientist responded with a cough

In the next moment, the scientist felt Jason’s foot slam on his leg again a loud snap ringing out the scientist screaming out in pain, “I listen because I choose to, if it were up to me I would rip your head off” Jason replied before walking away.

“Now… start talking,” Shade responded bearing down on the scientist his eyes going blank.

“The next collection is due in an hour. It’s supposed to be the largest to date, and we were to be handed the supposed newest AI from the new head of R&D. Supposedly the subject this AI was made from designed the original ranger’s equipment before he transferred her consciousness into data and repurposed her.”

Jason and Knila immediately perked up from hearing this before Jason spoke up, “Wait they turned Dr. K into an AI!?”.

“No idea who this Dr.K is, but who knows,” the head scientist responded, “Beyond that, we were to be given the newest production equipment to manufacture the completed designs and equipment for our best in the RPM line of Subjects to speed the process up of selling them on to our buyers.”

“Only she knows our gear well enough to be able to do that, she made the damn things” Jason muttered before saying, “Tell me where that AI is”.

“It's supposed to be coming with a large contingent of cult soldiers today at the time we were going to hand over the latest set of rejects… likely the former HU-RPM-B1 and the new HU-RPM-G1 would have been handed over.”

“Well, they got another thing coming then” Knila comments.

“What are you going to do? You all snuck in here and used that to get around here with no issues. How are you going to stop a full contingent of fully trained rangers, cult-trained monsters, and our Riders all at once.”

“It’s not our choice to make, even If I want to fight” Jason replied before turning toward Shade and asking, “What do you think we should do?”.

“I doubt you have much fight left in you this second Jason,” shade responded looking at the boy.

“But I don’t feel…” Jason attempted to say before groaning as he fell to his knee his hand grasping his head, his vision blurring slightly, “N-nevermind” he muttered, his arms and legs giving out as he collapsed to his side, Shade holding his arms out where he was falling catching him.

“Yeah… your in no shape,” Shade stated as he lifted Jason over his shoulder, “Knila… what do you think we should do? With Celestia and the others outside, they’ll be directly in the firing line when their force arrives.”

“I-I don’t know if we stay and fight we might lose some people in the crossfire, but if we leave and take the others with us they just might try and occupy this place again and continue with those experiments”.

“There won’t be enough time to get everyone out and pull the guards back,” Twilight said from behind them as she walked into the room, the entire group seeing the head scientist try to scramble back away from her, as Shade pulled his leash taught forcing him back to his side, a pained yelp coming from the scientist.

“Then are we just supposed to fight?” Knila questioned.

“If you want to protect the most lives… you either fight and lose some of them, or flee and leave your girls behind to be used again. There are not many other options.

“Of course, there isn’t….” Knila muttered going into deep thought not knowing what to say.

“Any Idea how many would be lost if we did fight?” Hex then asked.

“It's a toss-up between most of the solar guard and very few of them getting hurt, it solely depends on what they send to deliver this stuff and collect their delivery.”

Knila just took a deep breath before speaking, “I’ll fight then, I'm not letting them stay in this hellhole to suffer”.

“You really think you can do anything? If they have the person who created your stuff… you can bet they devised a way to get everything to work of yours.” Twilight points out.

“I don’t think I can do anything. Me getting captured before was evidence of that” Knila replied.

“Then shouldn’t you just flee? I mean if they have anything better than what we saw here coming I doubt you could do much… besides unless you can get the mindless dolls there to wake up and follow orders I doubt they’ll be any help,” Twilight added pointing to the two bound rangers.

“A mother should never abandon their children even if it’s the most logical action to take, even if I don’t know my own children well I wouldn’t care I’d protect them with my life”.

Twilight simply shook her head, “that's one thing I will never understand about you lot and maternal instincts. You’ll always do something crazy for your little ones.”

“You’d understand if you were a mother yourself” Knila replied.

“I’m still a bit too young for that myself,” Twilight responded before looking down at the Head scientist, “So you replaced my role here Onyx Specter? And you decided to turn this place from what it was into a breeding ground.”

“N-No I-” The head Scientist now known as Onyx Specter shuttered out before Twilight grabbed him in her magic.

“Don’t lie to me. You worked under me from the day I started here. I know you better than anyone working here, you perverted pest.”

“I was follo-” Onyx Specter tried to say.

“Don’t try to say you were following orders. The purpose of this place was to hold and train perspective soldiers to serve the cult. Not to kidnap creatures around Equestria, rape and breed them and keep them as your toys.”

Knila who heard this sent a death glare toward Onyx which gave the vibe as if she was looking into his soul.

“So this bastard used this place as his personal playground instead of doing what he was supposed to?” Knila then asked as the others heard the loud crack of her knuckles.

“Sadly it looks that way. Not that what we are supposed to do is much better for those who are kept here,” Twilight responded before looking at Onyx, “but… if you want to have others kept as your toys and mindless pets, I think I have the perfect test for you to participate in.”

“W-What?” Onyx responded with fear in his voice.

“I was thinking we turn you into a dog, remove those limbs attach you to robotic replacements of a dog's paws, cover you in a completely new skin and a secondary cover to hide you from the world… maybe turn your body around so your mouth replaces a very special place for a woman.”

“N-No! You wouldn’t! That is beyond demeaning and disgusting!” Onyx shouted trying to bite at his leash.

“You have no place to talk” Knila commented as she walked over and crouched in front of him, “Honestly it’s a fitting punishment for disgusting waste of space like you, especially for what you did to my sons and daughters” she then said before punching him in the face causing him to let go of the lead and fall back, the hit causing blood to be drawn as a small trickle of blood could be seen running down the side of his face.

“I suppose at worst he could be kept as a mate for Hex, or to be used by the male wolves as stress relief,” Shade suggests as Onyx just shook his head in fear.

“What’s wrong don’t want to be on the other end of what you did to others?” Knila said in a mocking tone before her face went into a stern glare as she added, “Cry about it”.

Meanwhile, Hex just stayed silent as he heard this transpire not sure of what to say about any of it.

“Hex. Would you want to keep them for you to help relieve yourself?” Shade asked looking at him.

Hex was silent as he thought about it before he heard Knila say to him “Hex I’d like you to have the honour of feeding him I feel it would be fitting” before he nodded, “Understood”.

“Well then if we are all in agreement, I hear there are four very experienced scientists nearby who excel at replacing limbs with robotic replacements. I think they could be rather useful for this.” Twilight states.

“I know of them. They are currently dealing with a special test I asked them to do.” Shade responds.

“And what was that test for?” Knila asked glancing at Shade

“They removed all Dillon’s limbs and were doing other upgrades to make his more usable for them. I had them revert what they did and do the process to him instead, along with anything else they desired.”

“Least some people who worked here have common sense” Knila replied before asking, “By the way is Dillon ok?”.

“Exhausted and confused due to Jason not being in his head anymore,” Shade calmly responds before pulling on Onyx’s leash the pony digging his feet in trying to avoid moving.
“At least he’s ok” Knila replied before seeing Shade pull Onyx back with more force.

“No! I don’t want this!” Onyx screamed trying with all his might to keep himself in place as Shade began to drag him forwards with bearly any effort.

Shade paused for a moment before saying “And AS-001-SH1, Could you please get the princesses and the others to begin to either get clear or move into the base so they can have a bit more defence to work with.”

“Odefensee Lord Shade,” AS-001-Sh1 responds before running off ahead of Shade and the others, Onyx still being dragged by Shade.

“Have fun!” he heard Knila shout as he was dragged away from the group who showed no remorse for what was about to happen to him, the unicorn’s shouts echoing down the hall.

“You know what I want to see this happen,” Knila said as she jogged out of the room with Hex not too far behind her with Adam and Flynn over his shoulders the two still bound together as Hex and Knila attempted to catch up.

As they reached the room where Dillon had been being tested they walked inside finding the four scientists sitting around the room the fifth still being bound to the table, his limbs now replaced with black robotic replacements and a white visor covering his eyes currently showing multiple swirling colours to him, drool running down his mouth.

“What’s going on with him?” Hex could be heard asking as he looked towards the face of the fifth with a brow raised with Knila doing the same.

“He is the scientist that led the test on Dillon,” Shade responded.

“And the other four are the ones I was going to suggest help with his modifications,” Twilight added getting the attention of the remaining four scientists.

The first scientist was the first to speak up as he noticed Shade, “Oh didn’t expect to see you back so soon sir, is there anything else you want us to do?”.

“How did everything go with your tests first,” Shade asked looking at them all curiously, “I’d like to see how it went before we give you a new task.”

“We did what you asked of us and had his limbs replaced along with adding the visor from before which were currently using to see how much we can modify his behavior” the first replied.

“And in what ways are you trying to modify that,” Twilight asked making herself known to the scientist.

“Head Professor?” the second replied as they looked at her in surprise before the first replied, “We were attempting to see if we could modify his perception or thought process but haven’t seen a result from it yet”.

“And in what way were you aiming to alter his perception? What was it his perception of,” Twilight responded walking past them towards the bound scientist.

“We were attempting to alter his perception of our new boss like trying to alter his attitude towards him but we haven’t made much progress yet”.

“Well this stuff is hardly any of your guy's expertise,” Twilight responded standing by a small console before typing something into it the bound scientist's body began to shake before going still, “remember to isolate the parts of a subjects mind you want to alter and any memories linked before starting the program otherwise it won’t work effectively and take a long time to complete.”

The first scientist nodded in understanding before replying, “Understood Ma’am, we’ll make sure to remember that”.

“Now we have a special task for you all, suited to your skills, you will have to follow my orders to do it as it's a very specific task for Lord Shade.”

“Alright what do you need us to do?” the second replied.

“Remove his limbs, cover his body in the latex fluid, while keeping his mouth wide open with a ring gag and attach his limbs to dog-like robotic legs. He needs to be facing backwards with a mechanicabackwardhead to control the legs where his head should be, also cover the entire thing with a fake skin looking like a Timberwolf.” Twilight responded. “Also make sure his mouth is in the position where a woman's vagina should be, making sure they are at the right height to be used by her mate”

“Consider it done ma’am” the first replied as all the scientist's sights went to Onyx.

“Maybe remove the other test first,” Twilight suggested with a cough. “You’ll need the table as the visor should handle the rest for him.

They nodded as they walked towards the bound scientist and removed him from the table as they sat him down against a wall before looking towards Onyx, the fourth and third walking towards him and grabbing him

“Get off me! I am your master! Let go of me now!” Onyx shouted thrashing against their grip.

“No resisting them Onyx,” Shade ordered as Onyx stopped fighting a blank look in his eyes as he was led towards the table.

The scientist placed him onto the table and fastened him in place so he wouldn’t move the group seeing the scientist prepare as Knila saw the third bring a gag of sorts as the first kept Onyx’s mouth open before seeing them place the gag into his mouth which kept his mouth open.

Shade then clicked his fingers releasing Onyx from his commands before they heard him try to shout something his words came out distorted leaving everyone unable to understand him.

“I would suggest that you gather the new limbs and special parts to complete the suit first before starting on his limbs.” Twilight suggested. “Make sure to decide what colour his body will be for the suit and get it made first."

They nodded towards her before dispersing from the table the group saw them walk to separate parts of the room as they individually took out specific limbs and parts before they came back and placed them on separate tables next to Onyx’s body before they could be seen talking amongst themselves.

“So what colour should we make it?” the first scientist said to the others “Would white work?” the second asked before the others shook their heads.

“No don’t want it to like the cult don’t want to insult our boss with that’ the third replied before suggesting, “What about black?”.

“No it would be too hard to see him in some instances” the second replied.

The first immediately got an idea, “Let’s go with the colour of our boss's mark for the main body and make some parts where his head will rest a more visible colour, maybe have that white to make the target clear? anyone in agreement?” he said getting nods of agreement from the other’s, “Then let’s do this”.

As the scientists began to run around preparing everything they would need Shade walked towards Onyx shaking his head at the writhing captive as he removed the collar around his neck and walked away without another word.

The others then saw the scientist begin to start making the suit for Onyx as they saw the third scientist begin to use a machine to bring out the suit while the second and first could be seen typing onto nearby consoles.

“Also we don’t want any mental changes for him. He is to be unable to talk but be aware of everything that happens to him,” Twilight added.

“Understood” the third replied before they saw him press one of the buttons on the machine as he took out the suit from its slot.

Once he did that the other scientist converged back to the table, the newly made suit being placed on a nearby one in view of Onyx who was trying to shake his head in disapproval at the sight of the suit.

“Sorry don’t understand what your saying” the first replied paying him no mind before Onyx saw him take out an electric saw of some kind, as they heard muffled screams coming from Onyx.

Shade during this time sat down on one of the seats watching the scene unfold the saw the first was holding could be heard turning on as he could see the saw inching forward towards Onyx’s leg and once the saw touched him Onyx felt the saw begin to cut into him.

The muffled scream from Onyx could be heard getting louder as the scientist cut through his leg leaving Hex to wince slightly from seeing this as this went on for a few moments before the saw cut all the way through as one of the other scientists grabbed the limb and placed it somewhere else as the first proceeded to go onto Onyx’s other leg with the third making sure that he wouldn’t bleed out.

The group continued to watch as they continued with the procedure with the saw ringing out and Onyx's muffled screams echoing out in the room.

While this happened Knila motioned for Hex to place Flynn and Adam in front of Shade the two still unresponsive as he glanced down toward them.

“Which do you want me to start with?” Shade asked looking at Knila as he placed Jason on the seat next to him the boy's head resting against his side.

“Start with Adam first” Knila replied motioning to the one to the left.

“Any idea what I should expect for him,” Shade asked moving his hand towards Adam’s head.

“Not really” She admitted.

“So take it as it comes, got ya,” Shade responded as he closed his eyes as his hand touched Adam’s head.

As Shade opened his eyes he found himself outside of a burning building with stagnant figures outside of it with some being seen dragging some away as he then noticed Adam who was slumped over against the burning building, blood covering his face to a degree with what looked like to be a copy standing over him, blood staining his fists and looking like he was about to attack him.

Right when the copy was raised his fist was about to hit Adam only for him to miss entirely and Adam grabbed him by the collar and headbutted him causing the copy to fall back while Adam slowly stood himself up, Shade seeing that his face was bruised and bloody with Adam’s eyes closed shut from the swelling

“You…ain’t getting rid of me anytime soon asshole” He spoke spitting out some blood as the copy could be seen slowly getting back up again.

“You know you wouldn’t be in this situation if you hadn’t failed your team” the copy spoke as it glanced up at Adam, “What?”.

“If it wasn’t for your weakness your friends wouldn’t be serving the cult they wouldn’t have suffered from the experiments, the torture as well all that mental anguish if it weren’t for you” the copy continued as it stood up each word that came out of its mouth starting to slowly get to Adam who just shook his head.

“N-no that’s not true!”.

“Isn’t it though if you had stayed with your team and devised a plan instead of running head first into a fight you wouldn't have been captured, you would have stood a chance but no your ego and your stubbornness wouldn’t let you”.

“Shut up!”.

“Face it Adam it would have been better if you didn’t exist at all, everything would just be better if you just disappeared because if you did, you would be doing something worthwhile”

Adam attempted to refute what his copy was saying but stopped, he couldn’t and in the next moment, he fell to his knees with tears running down his face, “Knila, Jason, Flynn….I'm so sorry” he could be heard sobbing out as the copy was standing over him with a smirk.

“After all that pushback and this is what get’s you, it’s pathetic really” The copy commented with a chuckle before he saw a shadow fall over him confusion showing on his face for a moment before he turned around, “What, who are you?”.

Shade didn’t respond to the copy as he simply stared at him, a feeling of dread falling over the copy.

“Who are you!” the copy then shouted balling his fists frustration showing as Shade didn’t respond before he attempted to hit him, only for Shade to catch the hand clenching his hand around the fist and pushing the copy down to its knees below Shade.

“Kneel,” Shade responded in a commanding tone glaring down at the copy, tightening his grip on the copy hand a loud cracking noise being heard from them.

The copy let out a painful yell as his legs buckled as he fell to his knees, “D-damn it!” he gritted out as he looked up to Shade, “Who the hell are you!?”.

Once again Shade didn’t respond to his question before punching the shoulder of the arms he was holding a loud snapping noise being heard as the arm went limp.

“Bastard!” The copy shouted out in pain as he glared up at Shade.

“Are you going to try the other arm,” Shade said in a sadistic tone.

The copy growled out before attempting to hit Shade with his other arm but the result ended up the same with the arm hanging limply at the side of his body.

“Let me tell you something. If you were better at your task the cult would not be being dismantled by me, each of your bases torn apart by me and the people you harmed saved by me,” Shade responded as he lifted the copy off the ground, to look directly at him. The copy's legs were unable to reach the ground as they dangled below him.

“Who…the hell…are you” The copy grunted out.

“What do you think I am?” Shade asked smirking at the copy, “I will humour your guess.”

“Your…that imposter aren’t you?” the copy replied.

“Are you sure I’m the imposter?” Shade responded pinning him to the wall, using his free hand to trace his symbol on the copy’s body leaving it crudely burned into his body on top of his old mark.

The copy let out muffles of pain before stuttering out, “W-what do you mean?”.

“Do you think I am the impostor or have you been inputted into him to believe that I am fake?”

“Why wouldn’t you be the imposter your our enemy” The copy replied.

“And your mine,” Shade responded walking towards the burning building holding the copy and walking inside, “So… I hope you like fire.”

“Wait, no what are you doing!?” the copy shouted before he felt Shade place him into the fire as its body slowly began to get engulfed by the flames its legs were the first to catch fire before trailing up to his chest and then his face Shade hearing the copy scream out in pain.

“Submit to me and I’ll spare you,” Shade responded coldly.

“N-never!” the copy screamed out.

“Okay then,” Shade responded before removing his legs and placing him in the fire as he walked away from him, the copy's screams filling the room as he burned.

Adam meanwhile was still on his knees as he continued to cry every few seconds wiping his eyes “I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…” He sobbed out as he saw a shadow come over him as he looked up to see Shade.

“W-who are you,”.

Shade knelt infront of Adam before saying, “Someone who really hates the cult and what they have done. Also, a friend of yours asked me to help you.”

“A-a friend, who?”.

“Knila did,” Shade asked pulling Adam closer to his chest and rubbing his neck.

“She’s ok?”. Adam asked as Shade nodded his head in response still rubbing his neck.

“What about the others?” Adam then asked.

“For Jason… it’s complicated to explain, Knila… lovestruck teenager,” Shade responds calmly.

“At least their ok, I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to those two…” Adam replied as he wiped the tears from his face, his eyes going wide the next moment as he asked, “W-what about Flynn is he ok?”.

“I don’t know of a Flynn,” Shade responded, “If I assume he’s the other ranger who attacked me earlier I would assume he’s currently knelt infront of me looking blankly forwards.”

“W-what did they do to us, I only remember being strapped to a table and then everything going black, how much time has passed?”.

“I don’t know,” Shade responded with a shake of his head, “neither Knila nor Jason know either they both were in a similar state to you.”

Adam flinched slightly from feeling Shade rub his neck but didn’t stop him as he looked down to the ground before glancing at the burning building behind them, “All I remember for who knows how long fighting that copy of me in front this forever burning version of our base one of the other things I remember was while I was getting captured, and I saw Jason fly out of the base he was pushed out and was surrounded by the enemy, of course, he fought back because he’s stubborn and I saw the anger in his eyes but I saw one of the leaders of that raid subdue Jason I saw him get electrocuted and go limp, I saw him get dropped off that cliff and after that, I got knocked out,” Adam paused before continuing his voice choked up, “I had no idea whether he was alive or not none of us did”.

“Well, he survived… and seemed to have got captured after that, escaped again then was captured another time before now… oh yeah, and got separated from his body and placed in a new cloned one.”

“W-what?” Adam replied, shock in his voice, “cloned, why was that done in the first place!?”.

“It seems something that happened created a split personality, they wanted two strong creatures they could control instead of one, and split them apart placing Jason in the new body and the other one in his old one.”

“So there’s two of him now?”.

“In a way… yes. Although one of them has no memories of his life before coming to Equestria.”

“So he’s basically a blank slate”.

“Was a blank slate… now he’s grown. Goes by the name Dillon and is part of a pack of Timberwolves.”

“So by some manner, he’s been raised by wolves?” Adam then asked.

“Yeah… also Jason has wolfs ears and a wolf tail… and both see me as their dad.”

“Suprised about that with Jason ever since his old man passed he was very hesitant about gaining new relationships with people, especially after what happened with his birth mom”.

“Don’t know anything about that, and if he doesn’t want me to know I am not gonna ask,” Shade responded looking down at Adam, “but now the question is what are you going to do? If you wish I can free you from the cult… but you will be left with a mark linking you to me from there on.”

Adam went silent before giving a nod to Shade, “If it means I'm not gonna be the cult's puppet anymore then by all means go ahead”.

“Hold on kid. If I do this, you realize you’ll be stuck following me… feel a faint compulsion to do so,” Shade warned him stopping rubbing the boy's neck and letting him look at him, “Are you sure you’ll be okay with that?”

“Yeah, I'm sure, it’s better than being part of the cult” Adam replied before adding, “besides if it means I can be with my friends again that it's worth it”.

“You can be. If you are still willing to do that after seeing them all,” Shade responds before rubbing Adam’s head, “You’ll wake up in a moment likely with your head in my lap, don’t panic okay.”

“Alright” Adam responded with a nod before Shade removed his hand closed his eyes and disappeared from Adam’s mind.

As SHade reopened his eyes he found Knila and Hex in the same places they were in before, as they then heard Adam let out a low groan as Shade saw him wake up, “Hello world…” he then muttered as they saw him open his eyes, his head falling into Shade’s lap.

“Glad to see you awake. Do you like being where you are?” Shade asked rubbing the top of Adam’s head.

“I'm not gonna say no” Adam replied, Knila noticing as she gave a smile, “Adam!”.

“Hey Knila” Adam then said giving her a smile of his own, “It’s good to see you”.

“Same here you dummy” she replied placing her hand on his shoulder.

“What’s going on, where are we right now?” Adam then asked as his eyes glanced around the room.

“You don’t need to worry about that right now” Knila replied as he then felt her move his onto her lap, Shade using this moment to see how far along the scientists were with the test.

As he looked at the test he could see that Onyx was now missing all of his limbs with his arms having been replaced by the new prosthetics, the ones on his legs in the process of being attached to him.

“Alright just a little more” the first commented as he and the second pushed the two prosthetics onto his legs and once they did he saw the two prosthetics tighten around his legs with a low hiss, with the two scientists twisting a bolt on both the prosthetics so they stayed in place, “There we go” the second spoke before wiping his forehead.

The scientists then grabbed the latex suit that was on the table next to the one Onyx was on and they began to place it over him as they heard his muffled shouting but ignored it, Adam glancing over slightly before asking, “What are they doing?”.

“Preparing a long punishment for the head scientist who controlled this place,” Shade responds moving the other unconscious ranger into his lap. “If you want to know ask Knila.”

Adam just glanced at Knila who said, “Let’s just say the head of this place had done a lot of terrible things and is paying for all of it”.

“G-got it” Adam replied with a nod before glancing back to Shade, “Your gonna help Flynn like you helped me?”.

“I’m going to try,” Shade responded rubbing the other man's head not getting any reaction.

Adam looked at Flynn in silence and stayed unresponsive as Shade then placed his hand on Flynn's head and closed his eyes.

As Shade reopened his eyes he found himself to be back in the room he had found Ziggy in, the same tube lining the room each of them having a figure inside them just like when he had been there, but this time the room itself looked to be a lot longer than before.

Shade then walked to the nearest of the pods finding a figure looking exactly like Flynn floating inside the pod, however unlike the previous tubes that had a subject number this one had the word ‘test 125’ on it.

“It wasn’t like this before,” Shade muttered to himself looking at the next pod and finding an identical figure inside, this one with the words Test 126 on it.

Shade continued walking down the row of tubes the number increasing with each tube and each figure's body only having slight changes, to their body.

Once he reached the end of the hall he found what looked to be Flynn in the last pod with someone in front of it wearing a lab coat, looking ahead for a moment he couldn’t see anything else no more pods only a dark void before he turned his attention back to the pod and figure who turned to reveal it was another copy.

The copy looked to its clipboard for a moment before looking to the pod and tapping it with his pencil, “You know putting you through these tests is really fascinating you know, seeing the reactions and results are quite helpful” the copy said a sadistic smirk.

After a moment the copy looked towards his watch as he said, ‘Oh I believe it’s about time to harvest the next batch”.

“What does he mean by next batch?” Shade thought to himself walking towards the figure who continued to speak, “You can not imagine the number of subjects you’ve helped us create with each batch, you are an invaluable asset just like that friend of yours, maybe you’ll get better treatment after this and only used for the breeding program,”.

The figure only chuckled to himself after that, “Don’t get your hopes up though, I wouldn’t” he then said.

“Wouldn’t get your hopes up for what exactly,” Shade responded now standing behind the copy, as he looked into the tube to find another copy of Flynn inside acting just like he had been when Shade had seen him in a tube previously.

The copy flinched as he looked behind him and saw Shade, “What, who the hell are you, how’d you get in here!?”

“I walked down the hall,” Shade responded calmly placing a hand on the copy's shoulder, “can I ask what you are doing?”

“Just working on the subject about to do an extraction from him” the copy replied with apprehension in his voice.

“And how often have you done this,” Shade asked the copy not noticing as sparks entered his body and his legs began to turn from white to black.

“A-a total of three hundred and fifty-five times” The copy stuttered out.

“And who is this extracted sample going to be used on,” Shade asked the copy's legs now having turned completely black. “I mean you must have someone in mind for it to be used with?”

“I-it’s not up to me after the samples are extracted they either get taken to one of the other female subjects or in some rarer cases with his friend” The copy replied.

“I see,” Shade responded before a smile appeared on his face, before he said in a calm and commanding tone, “Kneel,” as he pointed to the floor.

The copy immediately kneeled in front of Shade, his eyes widening in shock as he looked up at Shade.

“I assume you’ve worked out who I am by now correct,” Shade stated with a smirk, as he looked down at the copy by his feet.

“Y-yes” the copy stuttered out.

“Who am I,” Shade responded smiling at the copy as its body had turned black up to his neck.

“Y-your the other Shade” the copy replied.

“By other Shade which do you mean? Real or fake?”

“I…don’t know”.

“I see,” Shade responded before sayings, “Stand.”

The copy did what he was told and looked towards Shade in silence.

“Good. Now I want you to turn around and release Flynn from his tube,” Shade ordered.

The copy did what he was told and turned around towards Flynn’s tube his hand reaching out towards the console but his hand could be seen shaking the copy trying to stop it from moving the copy’s face gritting out in a struggle but failing as his hand went onto the console before pressing one of the buttons which slowly opened Flynn’s tube.

The next moment the fluid that was in the tube spilt out and Flynn fell out of it about to hit the floor, only to be caught at the last second as Shade caught him in his magic, before slowly pulling him towards his arms. “There you go Flynn your safe now.”

Shade heard him take breaths in and out seemingly too weak at that moment to do anything else.

“What are you going to do?” he heard the copy asked fearfully.

“Me nothing… but you're going to walk into the tube, and let it seal you inside” Shade responds.

“W-what?” the copy stuttered out before he felt his body move on its own and start to go inside the tube Flynn was in previously, he tried to stop himself but he couldn’t do much of anything as he stood inside the tube as it slowly closed in front of him and then sealed him inside, Shade hearing muffled shouted from the copy until fluid began to fill up the inside of it.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll start to enjoy it once the extractions start,” Shade adds as the copy’s cloak burned to ash infront of him, “in fact… let's get started now.” Shade added before changing the commands on the console infront of him changing it from 'extract on command’ to ‘Extract constantly’ as he looked at the copy with a smirk.

“No!” the copy shouted before Shade saw the command go through as the process started for the copy once the fluid completely filled the tube. “N-no not like this, not like this!” the copy thought as he felt the machine go to work with extraction as Shade heard his thoughts and began to go almost completely unintelligible from him experiencing the extraction.

Meanwhile, as this happened, Flynn slowly opened his eyes, his vision blurry for a moment before it came into focus as he weakly spoke, “W-what going on?” his voice low and quiet.

“Don’t worry. I’m just letting your jailor get a feeling of what they put you through,” Shade responds rubbing Flynn’s neck.

“Who are you?” he weakly asked.

“A close friend of Knila and Jason,” Shade calmly says his eyes looking at the copy whose hand had moved down starting the fiercely rub himself as a large clear was attached to his groin seaming to seal tightly around his cock.

“Jason and Knila…..they’re ok?” Flynn asked as Shade nodded back to him,

“Oh…that's good” Flynn quietly replied as Shade saw him slowly attempt to stand himself up, “You know the screwed up thing about it is that part of me was still conscious in there I could hear his voice

“Can you remember seeing me outside your mind earlier… putting on that show like he is?” Shade asked pointing at the copy.

“I…remember seeing someone but my vision was blurry but yeah I remember that” Flynn responded, “I-im sorry you had to see that” Flynn then said as he shook his head, “I swear those sick bastards just had me do that for shit’s and giggles”.

“You mean like I have for him?” Shade points out as he gestured to the copy in the tube as he used his wing to support Flynn’s weight.

Flynn let out a low chuckle, “Yeah exactly like that” he replied as he then said toward the copy raising his voice slightly, “Not so fun to be on the other side of it huh?” before he let out a loud cough, “Damn my voice is still weak…”

“Do you want to speak into his mind to torment him?” Shade asks with a smile, “and let you hear his mind break from the experience. I may have set it to never let him rest.”

“Nah, I'm just satisfied to him get a state of his own medicine,” Flynn replied before asking, “Is there a way out of here?”.

“Well this is your mind… so imagine what you want to see here and I guess it will appear. Just keep his tube in it, we don’t want to let him rest.”

Flynn thought about it for a moment before slowly bringing his hand up as an opening then shown next to the two with the other tubes disappearing leaving the one with the copy as the only one.

“Does that work?” Flynn then asked.

“I would have thought you would have another location in mind for yourself.”

“Give it a second” Flynn replied before the area lit up showing a hallway with multiple names at each door Shade sees Jason, Knila, and Adam’s names on them with the room the two are next to having the pod inside and Flynn’s name on the door.

“Been a while, since I've seen this place” Flynn commented, “Home, a lot of good memories here and equally as bad ones too” he then said as Shade’s wings helped him stand up, “Wonder how it looks after everything happened..” Flynn muttered to himself as Shade began to walk him through the opening.

The two then disappeared through the opening as the machine continued the extraction on the copy, the door they left through sealing shut.

As soon as they had left the room Shade opened his eyes finding himself back in the lab, Flynn’s head still in his lap while everyone was watching what was happening ahead of them.

“You know seeing this happen is kinda fascinating to some degree” Adam commented as he saw.

“I'm somewhat inclined to agree with you on that” Knila replied as she saw the scientist begin to place the suit over Onyx “who’s body was covered by a thick black latex suit leaving his head visible and his penis seeming to be forced outwards jutting forwards into the air.

“Now. You need to let him stand up to do this correctly. He needs to be able to support his own weight before we add the second skin,” Twilight calmly stated smirking at Onyx who was just shaking his head at her.

“Understood Ma’am” the first scientist replied as he and the other scientist had Onyx stand up on his new limbs a few moments later the other’s heard muffled noises coming from Onyx to some they ignored and to others just looked in amusement.

“Alright seem’s like there’s no issue here, he’s able to keep his own weight” the second scientist commented with the first nodding, “Seem’s good enough to add the second skin”.

“Don’t rush that yet,” Twilight responded, “it still needs its robotic head adding, it won’t look or function right without it,” Twilight added walking towards Onyx’s rear with a large robotic head in the shape of a wolf as she placed it above his rear as a loud hiss was heard and a tube forced itself inside Onyx to hold the head in place as the latex shifted to cover the head, a low moan coming from Onyx in response.

“Did that just?” Adam was about to ask before Knila immediately replied, “Yes, yes it did”.

The first scientist checked to see if it was gonna stay in place by pressing his hand against it slightly prompting another moan, but once it was confirmed it wasn’t moving, he nodded to the other scientist to start to add the second skin.

The group just watched this happen for a few moments as they saw them place the second skin over Onyx and made sure it actually fit and after a second or two afterwards they had finished fitting it onto him.

“Any issues with the fitting?” the first asked as he and the others examined Onyx's body with the others shaking their heads in response, “None that I could see” the third replied.

“Now then. Onyx take two steps forwards,” Twilight ordered as they saw the eyes on the robotic head light up with a green light as it tilted its head to the side before taking two steps forwards as ordered.

“Any issues on the systems?” Twilight asked looking at the scientists.

“Nope, everything here is stable from what I can see” The second replied.

“So how does this work exactly?” Adam then asked with a brow raised.

“Lets me put it this way. He turned this place into a forced breeding ground and turned every child from it into either another test subject or used to breed more children,” Shade explained, “Now think where his mouth is and what it is taking the place of if he was a woman.”

“.......Oh” Adam then said with a realization showing on his face.

“Yep” Knila commented with a blank look on her face.

“Alright then, how long until this is done or is it already done?” Adam then asked.

“It’s done. We just need a willing mate to do the final test on it,” Twilight responds looking up at them.

Knila just glanced at Hex as he saw her nod towards him before he nodded back, “I’ll do it” he then walked up towards the table, before asking Twilight, “What do you need me to do?” as he glanced towards Onyx.

“Do you really need me to tell you,” Twilight responded with a smirk, “Onyx. Present.” She ordered before Onyx’s head dropped to the floor raising its rear and spreading its legs and raising its tail, “enjoy yourself.”

“If you say so…” Hex replied as he went closer and placed his hands on its rear, Adam somewhat realizing what was about to happen to turn his head to look away as Hex could be seen dropping down onto all fours his body draping over Onyx’s back as his dick began to rub against the space where Onyx’s mouth was now placed as what would have looked to be Onyx’s hips of the began to shake as Hex’s groin moved slowly into the new hole.

Over time Hex’s dick slowly went deeper into the hole until his crotch began to press against it a low noise could be heard from Onyx as Hex slowly began to pull out of it before giving a thrust back inside, as he heard the robotic head began to howl a replica of a tongue hanging out.

“We may need to sort the wolf out its own voice instead of just howling,” Twilight stated, “Think of you can start sorting that?”

“Yep, it’s a fairly easy fix, one moment” the fourth scientist replied as he went to the wolves head as he could be seen opening a slot and tweaking the inside of it before closing it and backing away, “Let’s see how it works now” he then said as Hex thrust into the hole again, this time a moan coming from the robotic head, the voice, however, sounding robotic and unnatural still sounding more masculine than feminine.

“Close but not feminine enough, let me try again” the fourth commented as he opened the slot again and began to fiddle around with some wires and two dials once he was done with those he closed the slot again and waited to see how it sounded now, immediately hearing a more feminine voice from the robotic head once Hex thrust inside again.

“How does she sound and feel?” Twilight asked, “Is she to your liking?”

Hex who stopped for a moment gave a quiet nod in response, “Y-yes she is, she feels great” he then by instinct thrust inside again prompting another moan, “She sounds great as well”.

“Make sure to keep putting pressure on the head. It should help stimulate her,” Twilight responds pushing Onyx’s head inwards a low squeal being heard under a loud moan. “Get her worked up enough and it’ll feel much better.”

Doing what she said Hex brought his arm forward and placed it on Onyx’s head, two moans coming from Onyx as she began to grind her hips against Hex, as he heard the feminine voice moan out, “F-f-faster... H-harder.”

His instinct taking over to a degree Hex complied and began to get rougher with Onyx as well picking up speed over time and while this happened Hex made sure to put pressure on the wolf's head before he saw both clear and white liquid run down the inside of her legs.

Taking this as a reason to go harder Hex began to thrust into Onyx with much more force loud slapping ringing out in the room from his thrusts with him hearing the wolf moaning out.

As this continued Hex could be seen gritting his teeth and once a few more seconds had passed he thrust into her one more time and keeping his crotch pressed against the hole he began to drool slightly as a satisfied smile showed on his face and after a moment passed he slowly pulled out of her before Onyx’s tail dropped down, as low sobs and gaging noises were heard from before soon after a loud gulp.

“Any excess leaking from the seal?” Twilight asked.

The first went to check as he shook his head in response, “None from what I see Ma’am”.

“Everything seems to be in working order now” the second commented.

“That good. Hex, how is everything for you?” Twilight asked looking at him.

“I'm fine, definitely relieve some stress from doing that” Hex replied.

“Well, I’m pretty sure she’s all yours now to do with as you please.” Twilight responded, “So I guess you can take her where you like to either release more stress or use it for other purposes.”

“Understood” Hex replied with a nod.

Adam then turned his head back to see before asking Knila, “Is it over?”.

“Yep,” Knila blankly replied as she saw Hex come back toward them with Onyx not too far behind him.

“Satisfied for now Hex?” Knila asked getting a nod from him, “Yes my goddess”.

“Why did he-” Adam attempted to ask before Knila answered, “I’ll explain later”.

“She has a lot to catch you up on,” Shade adds, one arm wrapped around Jason while the other rubbed Flynn’s head.

Adam just grunted in reply before asking, “How’s Flynn doing?”.

“Mostly okay. Where you had your mind being battered into submission, he was left in a conscious and aware state of what was happening when he was in his tube.” Shade responds looking down at Flynn.

“Have any idea why he hasn’t woken up yet?” Adam then asked glancing toward Flynn

“Considering he could barely stand up in his mind, I would assume exhaustion,” Shade responds.

“Honestly he deserves some rest after that having to experience that on a constant basis” Knila commented as she slowly rubbed the top of Adam’s head, who just glanced up at her in surprise with Knila just giving a motherly smile towards him.

After a moment passed Knila then looked to Shade and asked, “So what do we do now that the procedure done to Onyx is done?”.

“Well you get ready to protect everyone in case something goes wrong I doubt we have long left until the cult arrives.”

“Alright” Knila replied with a nod as she stood up and gently sat Adam up in the chair she was in, “I’ll go prepare now then, as you said we probably don’t have too long until the cult arrives” She then said.

As she said this the group heard a low noise coming from Jason as they looked to see him opening his eyes, the boy blinking a few times to focus his vision, “What…happened?.

“The adrenaline ran out and you collapsed,” Shade responds as he rubbed Jason’s ears.4

“How long was I out?”.

“I'd say an accurate estimate would be thirty-five minutes” Knila replied before Jason noticed the state Onyx was in now, “....The hell is that?” he then muttered as Knila and Hex walked out of the room.

“Wait Knila where are you going?” Jason then said noticing them walk out as she quickly replied, “Don’t worry Jason we’ll see each other soon just need to prepare for when the cult arrives” she then walked out of the room and out of sight.

“I think she’s just going to check on the kids,” Shade responded patting Jason on the shoulder.

“Oh alright,” Jason replied with a nod before he looked to the table where the scientists were standing, as they flinched from seeing him look towards them.

In response, Jason just scoffed as he slowly stood up and went toward one of the drawers and began to dig around inside of it Shade looked towards the boy with a brow raised.

“What are you looking for?”

“One moment…” Jason replied before pulling out what looked like a white shirt and shorts, “Here we go, I remember being in rooms like this the first time I was captured and they almost always had clothes like these so we wouldn’t be in outfits that dried blood on them” Jason then added as Shade saw him put the clothes on.

“They look a bit plain,” Shade responds looking at Flynn and Adam.

“They may be plain, but it will work for now” Jason replied as he then tossed another pair of clothes towards Adam who said, “Thanks Jason” Adam replied getting a nod from Jason, “No problem Adam”.

“Also question what’s with the ears?” Adam then asked as he pointed toward Jason’s wolf ears.

“My body is a clone my original is currently occupied by Dillon who was adopted by a timberwolf and turned into a hybrid of sorts and since they made a copy of his body and put me in it, I'm also a hybrid”.

“Alright, then I have another question what happened to you?”.

Jason looked back at him with a brow raised, “Care to clarify what you mean?”.

“After what happened to your old man, why are you so… you know” Adam replied motioning towards Shade.

Jason was silent after hearing this before shrugging toward him, “I…don’t know a part of me just trusts him I don’t how to explain it…”.

“If you’re not ready to talk about it, I won’t pry” Adam then said.

“...Thanks” Jason quietly replied as Adam gave a nod of his own.

“Off that topic, now what was that thing next to the ranger that Knila was with?” Jason then asked as he looked towards Shade.

“Now or formally?” Shade asks with a smirk.

“Preferably both but let’s go with formally”.

“The head scientist,” Twilight responds walking towards them, “He was the one in command of this place, and we decided to make his punishment to be forced to live in the most humiliating, demeaning and disgusting way possible.”

“Well that’s definitely a quick change but completely deserved” Jason replied what she had said completely flying over his head for a moment before she realized what she had meant, “Oh, ew…..”.

“Be glad you weren’t awake to see or hear it..” Adam replied in a mutter as the group continued to talk amongst themselves.

Knila was walking down the hallway that she and Hex walked through previously to head back to the room she was in before while she was walking back she noticed Jason’s handiwork from before as she thought to himself, “The fact Jason was able to do this while running solely on adrenaline is amazing as well as terrifying…”.

Her walk continued for what seemed like three minutes before she came up to the room where her girls and the displacer were in as she walked inside only to find him the scientist the girls along with half of the tubes were gone, “Where did they go?” she heard Hex ask.

She looked in the room in silence before she replied “I kept my side of the deal so he took them along with half of the others”.

She then saw what looked to be a note on a nearby table which looked to have a small object on top of it.

Knila walked over to the table as she picked up the note first and began to read it, “Miss Williams. As per our agreement I have taken half of the children into my care and away from any danger. I also took Spark with me after he agreed to an offer, giving me his mind, body and soul to do as I please. On this note is a small memory card that holds everything he knows about the cult and its current situation. If you ever need me again or wish to see the kids I took, you only need to ask. However, please remember the same rules as before applying for my assistance. I wish you luck in your future endeavours.”

Knila smiled in response, “Thank you” she quietly said before picking up the memory card nodding to herself, and placing it in her pocket.

“What’s on that thing?” she then heard Hex ask as she replied, “Some info that was provided by my displacer”.

“Understood, should we head back now or do you still have some business to take care of?”.

“No, just wanted to check if they were ok, and given what was written on this note im content now, let’s head back Hex” Knila replied as Hex nodded towards her as he began to follow her out of the room with Knila placing the note in her cloak.

Once they were out of the room they began to walk back to where the others were as Knila thought to herself, “Let’s hope this info is helpful enough”.

Prologue (Rewrite)

Its the afternoon in a city bustling with people walking around and working as many went into a Diner while three people talk amongst each other in one of the booths all three of them eating pie the boy next to the girl had short black hair and dark brown eyes as he wore a costume reminiscent of the black ranger from Power rangers rpm.

The girl next to him was taller than him and had flowing red hair that went down to her back. The costume she was wearing was a pink ranger with the design of an rpm ranger, the costume itself having an accent of white on the sides of the torso.

The one across from them was wearing the red ranger costume, his hair being slightly short on the sides but puffed up and slightly longer on the top.

“So today was fun” the red ranger commented with a nervous chuckle.

“Yeah, it was before you kicked me in the dick Adam” the boy in the black ranger costume stated.

“C'mon Jason give me a break it was an accident” Adam responds with a groan.

Jason just frowned as he went back to eating his pie the girl giggled at his response “C'mon little bro it was an accident”.

“I don’t care it fucking hurt Knila” Jason Grumbled.

“Alright jeez, sorry Adam you heard him” She stated as Adam sighed in annoyance as they sat there in silence while Jason continued to eat his pie.

“So have you seen Jake at all when we were at the convention?” Knila asked.

Jason raised a finger as he chewed on a piece of pie before swallowing “Yeah he was with some friends of his, I talked to him for a bit but he had to go since he was participating in the contest they were having in there”.

“That’s good, at least you were able to spend time with him”.

“What were you guys up to?”.

“I was with Adam we were just getting some stuff from the booths so pretty much most the same, to be honest”.

“ Oh, I was meaning to ask you earlier how’s the pregnancy going?” Adam asked.

“It’s going pretty well actually” she replied with a smile.

“How far into it are you sis?” Jason asked then asked.

“Im about five months into it right now” Knila replied rubbing her belly which had a noticeable bulge on her midsection”.

“Still can’t believe im gonna be an uncle in four months”.

“Yeah..” she replied.

The trio continued to talk for a couple of minutes until two men in black masks rush into the diner.

“What the…..?” Jason said in confusion as he saw the two men pull out guns.

“Okay this is a hostage situation so if you don’t want to die don’t do anything stupid,” one of the men says as they walk down the aisle of the diner as the three lower their heads.

“Just keep your head down and maybe he’ll leave us be” Adam whispers to Jason and Knila as the man comes up to their booth seemingly ignoring them as he passed them before stopping abruptly.

“Get up,” the man says as he grabs Jason by the shoulder.

“What?, No let me go!” Jason replies trying to get out of the man’s grip.

“Get up!” the man growls out pulling Jason up before pushing him in front of him the man then heard police cars outside of the diner.

“Oh shit,” the man said before grabbing Jason and wrapping his arm around his neck pointing a gun to his head.

“Don’t you fucking come in here I will fucking shoot this kid if you do!”.

“Oh crap” Jason repeated over and over in his head as he tried to stay still so he wouldn’t set the guy off.

“I will fucking do it, don’t test me!”.

Jason just whimpered out as he heard Adam shout out “Let him go he’s just a kid dammit!”.

“Adam don’t!”.

The man then shot Adam in the shoulder, the young man fell back into the seat clutching his bleeding shoulder as he grits his teeth in pain.

“That ought to shut you up,” The man said before placing his gun back on Jason’s head.

“Oh my god,” Knila whimpers out as she tries putting pressure on the wound before hearing a struggle coming from the man and Jason “Let go of me, you bastard!”.

“Stop struggling you brat!” the man shouted before a gunshot rang out as the windows shattered around them and the man holding Jason fell forwards, his gun dropping to the ground as Jason was released.

“You bastards!” his partner shouts before throwing down his bag and taking a detonator Jason realizing what’s about to happen shouts out “Everyone, get down!”.

The man presses the detonator as the bag blows up the blast knocking Jason back into a wall the blast mowed through multiple people killing them as he heard the screams of agony come from them his body having burned all over as he lost consciousness.

As Jason regained consciousness he found himself in a large open white room with nothing around him, no breeze from the wind on his skin, and no feeling from his body.

His eyes widened as he checked his body frantically for burns before looking at his hands “What? Why am I not burned?”

“Wait where are my clothes?” he said before saying “That dream..”

“The explosion. The screams. It felt so real” he muttered to himself before saying “Where the hell am I?” as he frantically looked around him finding nothing in the area around him.

“What the?” he said confused.

He then heard what sounded like footsteps from behind him before he turned to see a figure in a black trench coat, with black hair along with what looked to be an acoustic guitar over his shoulder.

“Who are you?” Jason asked.

The figure didn’t respond instantly as he looked at Jason with an apologetic look on his face, “I’m sorry.”

“What?” Jason replied confused before saying “Why are you saying sorry and can you not look at me while I’m not wearing clothes?” embarrassment clear on his face as he tried covering up his body.

“It’s not the worst I’ve seen,” the figure responded before shaking his head, “anyway I’m sorry I couldn’t save you, or the others.”

“Wha-” Jason was about to say before flashes of the dream flashed through his mind as it dawned on him “n-no wheres my sister where’s Adam!?”.

The figure looked away from Jason before he said, “They’ve already been sent away… and I don’t mean back to where you were before.”

Jason looked shattered as he fell to his knees tears streaming down his face as he choked out sobs.

“I think you have the wrong idea… they’ve moved on- to another world, none of you could go back. You had no bodies to go back to.”

“W-what they’re okay?” Jason replies.

“You need to define okay. Are they alive? Yes. Did you survive the attack… no.”

Jason stands himself up as he asks “Then why am I here and what is this place!?”.

“How to explain this in a way that makes sense… you all died when the restaurant was blown up. Me and a friend pulled the souls of everyone who perished in the attack to safety, this is essentially an empty space where I can speak with you… where I can try and save you.” the figure responded.

“Save me?”.

“Yes. Save you like the others have been… you're the last one left from the attack that needed help… well beyond the ones who are going to be punished. But you don’t need to think about that, there for me and my friend to handle.”

Jason nodded before saying “Whatever you do to them they deserve every bit of it”

“Okay. Well, let’s just say. To save you, I’m sending you to another world,” the figure responded before they heard what sounded like a baby crying, “One second.” the figure added before turning around before what looked to be a crib appeared behind him as he carefully picked a small child that almost looked to be newborn up in his arms slowly rocking him as the child seemed to calm down.

“Cute kid” Jason comments.

The figure didn’t respond as he looked back to Jason, “anyway. I want to send you to a new world, in a body like your old one… just with some alterations.”

“What kind of alterations?”.

The figure then placed the baby back in the crib before it disappeared and he turned back to Jason, “well what you died dressed as could work.”

“You're changing me to Dillon?”.

“Well… that's how it normally goes. Although it usually happens at a convention. The one who started bringing someone back to life after they died was my dad but he was,” the figure paused before he added with an annoyed sigh “not a nice guy about it.”

“He did it for fun didn’t he?”.

“That… and orchestrated the attacks to get subjects to do this too,” the figure admitted.

“He sounds like a bastard...”.

“He was. Anyway back to the matter at hand.” The figure stated, “are you willing.”

Jason nodded in response “Yeah I’m willing”.

“Okay then,” the figure responded, “Right what are you missing?”

“ My weapons, my bag, and my costume and clothes since im not wearing anything….” Jason replied.

“Also I’m curious the people who turned up missing at cons are people like him the reason why?”.

“Yeah, people like him,” the figure responded, “either way, maybe get something on,” he added as a bag appeared by Jason’s feet.

“Thanks” Jason states as he went into a bag pulling out a set of clothes, the last bit of clothing being a jean vest.

“That’s better,” Jason said as he put on the jean vest.

“At least you're not wearing nothing now,” the figure responded as he appeared to be scrolling in front of a screen in front of him.

“What are you doing?” Jason asked curiously.

“Just finding something,” the figure responded before saying, “why does it always take me so long to find things when I need them… here it is.”

The figure then held out a small black wooden box that had a number five stylized into a wolfs head on the top in gold on the top, “normally someone would have to pay for this but, I’ll give you a discount… something in the ballpark of… 100%”

“What is it?” Jason asked as he took the box into his hands.

“Just open it,” The figure responded.

“Ok…” Jason replies as he opened up the box revealing a Morpher inside of it “ A Morpher…?” Jason then said as took hold of it taking it out of the box the Morpher itself being rectangular with a lever on the bottom and three red buttons near the center of the Morpher while the color on the outer parts of it was black while the center was a goldish yellow the lever part having the same color on the ends of it.

“Let’s just say… you’ll kinda need it.”

“Where are you sending me?”.

“You’ll just need to wait and find out,” the figure responded before he held out a small black rectangular block in his hand, that looked to be made to slide into the Morpher.

“Alright then....”. Jason took the rectangular block as he opened the Morpher and slid the block into it.

“If you are lucky, you will never see me again,” the figure responded before the world began to blur around them.

“What’s happening!?” Jason Shouted out confused before he blinked to find that the figure had disappeared.

“Where did he?” Jason mutters frantically looking around himself before he falls to the floor his body losing its strength as he slumped to the floor losing consciousness.

Chapter 8 (Rewrite)

After they began walking through the second carriage they made it back to the first one, all of them sitting themselves down.

After a moment of complete silence, Dillon and Ziggy just decided to play rock paper scissors again while Axel just sat there without a care in the world.

“Today has been pretty strange hasn’t it?” Axel mused getting the attention of Dillon and Ziggy.

“I mean you're not wrong it has been pretty strange” Dillon replied.

“You said at least it's slightly starting to be “Normal” at least” Ziggy commented as he said out loud, “wonder how mom is doing right now”

“She’s probably keeping the others in the pack in check right now while we're gone” Dillon chuckled.

“So… this is where he keeps the train when it’s not in use,” A voice responded from the door to the carriage.

The boys looked to where the voice was coming from before Dillon spoke up, “Who are you?”.

Standing by the door was a young man with black hair and green eyes. He was wearing some old tracksuit bottoms with a black and blue t-shirt that had a familiar stylized ‘R’ on it, before he looked at the two of them and said, “I’m sorry to bother you. I was just looking for my adopted father, is he around here?”

“Oh he’s in the last carriage” Ziggy quickly replied

“Wait Shade’s your dad” Dillon then asked.

“Well it’s what we’re going with now… it used to be a case of being in his friend group before he disappeared from our old world, then I found him here, learned how old he was now and considering what I was like them and how I saw him asked him to make me his son in this new world,” the figure responds calmly, “Still who are you three. And what are you doing here?”

“I’m Dillon, this is Ziggy and that's Axel,” The boy responded as he pointed to the other two before continuing, “we're here because we noticed some stuff happening near the castle and went to see what was going on, and since Shade occupies this place and were acquaintances I wanted to see how he was doing and after that he decided to show us around” Dillon replied.

“Okay… how exactly did you three meet him?”

“I met him two weeks ago and he saved my life” Dillon replied

“I also met him two weeks ago,” Axel added.

“I just met him today” Ziggy then replied.

The figure's eyes focused on Dillon and Ziggy, his eyes looking over them curiously before he said, “This is bothering me, but why do you both look so familiar?”

“I have no idea dude” Dillon responds with a shrug, Ziggy doing the same.

“I don’t know why, but I’m sure you two both look familiar. Something about you both screams, ‘American knockoff’.” the figure responds, still focused on Dillon and Ziggy.

“The hell is that supposed to mean!?” Dillon yelled as he jumped back on his feet, while Ziggy just looked like his feelings were hurt.

“Just what it sounds like,” the figure responds with a shrug of his shoulders.

Dillon’s eye twitches for a moment as he tries to say something but does not find the right words as he decided to sit next to Axel who was just sitting down not paying attention to what the figure said.

The group waited in silence for a couple of minutes before Shade walked into the carriage glancing at each person in the room before his eyes settled on the figure before seeming to address the figure by name, “Okay… what did you do now Simon?”

“He’s being a prick” Shade hears Dillon grumble out as he sees Ziggy just in the corner looking depressed from what Simon had said.

“What exactly did that idiot say this time?” Shade asked as he looked up pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I didn’t say anything!” Simon responded.

“Simon. This is you were talking about!” Shade shouted as Simon lowered his head. “So Dillon what did he say?”

“He called us knockoffs, I don’t even know what I'm a knockoff of, I barely remember anything I don’t even remember who I was before this….” Dillon responded.

“Well knowing how that idiot thinks I can only assume he is referring to the fact that the Power Rangers series are a localization of the Japanese versions.” Shade points out.

“Wait… they are supposed to be rangers?” Simon responds looking at the two of them again, “you know if it wasn’t for the ears and tail I could almost say he looks like the black ranger from one of them… which was the name… RPM?”

“Series, localization… What?” Dillon responded completely confused, which showed how deep his loss of memory was.

Ziggy's eyes widened slightly as he sat against a nearby wall clearly in deep thought.

“Well, I suppose the best way to put it is that The Power Rangers are part of a long-running tv show in our world, the show of which is a crude copy made from the original’s fight scenes that are from Japan called Super Sentai.” Simon responds, “and if I am calling it right that means your friend there dressed up as the comic relief of the series he was from.”

Ziggy in response stopped spacing out as he asked, “I'm from a show?”.

“Of course not. You bought something from your character at a convention or something like that and became who you look like now. Although I don’t know why you chose to be Ziggy of all people. I mean he’s the most useless of them all,” Simon responded with a dismissive wave.

“Oi piss off you asshole!” Dillon yelled anger clearly on his face.

“What can he not take the truth like a big boy?” Simon responds, speaking down to them both like they were little children.

“Simon! Out now!” Shade shouted glaring at the grown man as Dillon and Ziggy saw what looked to be a chain-shaped ring around his neck begin to glow, “We’ll be having a talk about your attitude later!”

“Y-Yes dad,” Simon responded, his voice shaking sounding terrified at Shade’s raised voice as he left the train leaving the group inside the carriage alone.

“I’m sorry about him, are you both okay?” Shade asked, looking at Dillon and Ziggy.

“He was pissing me off and what he said was bothering me but I'm more worried about Ziggy…” Dillon said as they both glanced at Ziggy who was next to Axel who was trying to comfort him as he was clearly hurt by Simon's words.

“Do you want to talk about anything to do with what he said?” Shade asked as he knelt down in front of Dillon.

“I….I” Dillon tried to reply only to be unable to find the right words.

Shade didn’t say anything, to begin with as he wrapped his wings around Dillon pulling him close before whispering, “Don’t worry. Take your time, just say what comes to mind.”

“E-everything he said he was nonchalant in the way he just looked down on us” Dillon quietly spoke.

“You want to know something about him, he acts that way because up until a few days ago he was under the control of someone living as a mindless puppet to them without any free will of his own,” Shade admitted, still holding Dillon close to him “He just followed anyone’s orders like a zombie and was spoke to just like he just did to you.”

Dillon didn’t know what to say so he just stayed silent as he thought what Shade just told him.

He couldn’t say anything and he couldn't think of any word to respond with and as a result, he began to tear up and immediately hugged Shade.

“It’s okay. Let it all out,” Shade responds as he lifts Dillon up in his wings before sitting on one of the nearby chair’s, still rubbing the back of Dillon’s neck with his hand as he sits Dillon in his lap, “I’ll stay here as long as you need.”

Dillon stayed next to Shade in a hug as he continued to cry, as it continued for multiple minutes until he went quiet Shade looked down to see Dillon wiping his eyes from the tears as he looked up to him.

“T-thanks Shade,” Dillon said as he let out a low sniffle.

“Any time” Shade replies with a smile before adding, “Anything else on your mind?”

Dillon just shook his head in response, “No I’m good for now”.

“How’s your friend doing?” Shade asked looking over his shoulder towards Ziggy to find him just spacing out while Axel continued to attempt comforting him only to get no response from him at all as they noticed tears slowly developing in his eyes.

“Do you mind?” Shade asks, looking at Dillon gesturing for him to move and sit beside him.

Dillon immediately nodded in response as he sat next to Shade placing his head on Shade’s side.

Shade’s horn then glowed in a soft crimson hue as a similar coloured light surrounded Ziggy as he was softly lifted from the ground and carried over to Shade as he slowly placed in his lap like Dillon had been before, Shade’s wings supporting Ziggy’s back and head as he said, “Little one. Are you okay?”

Ziggy didn’t even move for a moment before he slowly looked towards Shade, the boy looking at him in silence before he immediately broke down crying as he immediately hugged Shade.

Shade only smiled back at the young boy rubbing his neck as he had with Dillon, as he rocked him in his wings, “Shush, Don’t worry little one. I’m here. Take as long as you need. Let it all out.”

The boy continued to cry letting out low hiccups as he tightly hugged Shade, same with Dillon went on for multiple minutes before he slowly began to stop crying before he slowly pulled away from Shade as the boy began to wipe his own face of his tears.

“Are you feeling any better?” Shade asks.

The boy nodded in response as he looked up to Shade who saw that his eyes were red from the crying.

“Do you want to talk about anything with me, little one?”

“He said I chose to be Ziggy...even though I know I am, but the way he talked about me hurt a…” Ziggy slowly replied, grabbing his own chest tightly.

“Keep going, I'll listen for as long as you need me to,” Shade responds, still holding Ziggy close.

“I don’t remember what he was talking about…, nothing about any convention or even choosing anything, the only thing I remember was being in the garage and then being pulled through something” Ziggy slowly continued.

“Wait… just to confirm, what do you remember from before you arrived in this world?” Shade asks, looking at Ziggy curiously.

“I was in a garage with three cars in it, l” Ziggy replied, “but I was in another room entirely. This small woman was having me test out my suit after bonding it to myself so a bad guy wouldn’t get the rev morpher” Ziggy continued.

“Okay, I’m going to say something here and if what I say matches your memories I’ll explain further okay.” Shade began to say, “before getting your Morpher you were trying to find someone to take it up via an audition. Before you could select a user, the morpher was almost stolen by… I believe her name was Tanaya?”

“Yeah, she tried posing herself to be human so she can get it” Ziggy replied as Dillon looked at the both of them.

“Tanaya...why does that name sound familiar?” Dillon thought to himself.

“I used the morpher and it bonded to me and after that was over everyone else other than Dillon gave me crap for it, even though I had no choice” Ziggy then stated.

“To be fair considering how things end if that virus gets access to the grid, you really didn’t have a choice,” Shade admits.

“Yeah, at least I was able to stop it considering how “useless” I am” Ziggy responded.

“Trust me when I say there was only one useless person in this room before I walked in, and it wasn’t you,” Shade responded.

Ziggy looked at Shade in surprise before saying, “T-thanks Shade that means a lot”.

“It’s not a problem,” Shade responds, “now is there anything you want to ask me about?”

Ziggy shook his head in response, “No I don’t”.

“Then are you all better now?” Shade asks again.

“Yeah I'm better,” Ziggy replied.

“Wait, I actually do have one question though, earlier what did you mean by series?” Ziggy immediately asked.

“In the world, I was from before I died. What happened to you and the Dillon you knew along with the others in Corinth was seen as a tv show people watched. Essentially it’s how I knew what happened before you got your morpher without being told,” Shade admits. “But just because in my world it was a tv show doesn’t mean that you are from that show. I mean… in that you didn’t disappear into another world after linking with your morpher.”

“I think I understand what you mean,” Ziggy said with a nod of his head.

“The best way to think of it is basically a multiverse… which could be true considering the whole Displaced thing we live with. I could have been Displaced from one reality while you come from your own where what I saw as a tv series really took place and many other realities.” Shade suggests.

“So from what you're saying the way that that works is that I could be a Dillon from one of those realities or universes or whatever, or could be something or someone else entirely?” Dillon piped up curious.

“That's kinda the basic premise, yes. But as you said, you have no memories from your life before so we can never be sure what world you came from before this one.”

“You got a point there,” Dillon replied.

“Heck, you could be from an alternate future where I never died and you were my biological son for all I know,” Shade pointed out.

“That's...oddly specific but I see where you're getting at” the boy responded.

“I just hope I actually get my memories back at some point so I can actually know where I came from or not,” Dillon said to himself.

“So what you mean is where you're from, I'm a character from a show, but where in my reality do I exist since that reality or universe exists?” Ziggy asked

“Theoretically, that is the case. But in the same logic, Simon’s statement could also be true. We just have no proof of either one.” Shade responds.

“True…” Ziggy admitted.

“There’s still a chance that he’s wrong though” Axel interjected before saying, “We have no idea if what he says is true or untrue so we shouldn’t let what he says bother us”.

“And that's the way you should look at this whole thing. Besides, there is an infinite number of worlds out there, many of which have people in similar positions to us.”

Ziggy was silent for a moment as thought about what they were saying before stating, “I understand I'll try to not let what he said get to me”.

“That's the best way to go about it in all honesty” Dillon commented.

“Just know that you know that you’ll always be you Ziggy, nothing can change that” Axel stated.

“Yep,” Dillon said in agreement

“And I doubt anyone would change that about either of you,” Shade adds, rubbing the top of both Dillon and Ziggy’s heads.

The two boys let out a giggle in response as they both smiled at Shade, as he simply smiled back before pulling his arms and wings away from them both.

“Thanks for talking with us, Shade” Dillon stated.

“Yeah, we appreciate it” Ziggy commented.

“Any time.”

They both then stand up in front of him as Dillon stated, “We should probably head out soon right?”

“I would say so. I would assume there are other things you want to do while you're here right?”

“I'm kinda hungry, is there a place where we can get food?” Dillon asked.

“I’m sure there is something we can sort you in the castle,” Shade suggests, “I'm sure the kitchens will be usable.”

“Can we go then I'm hungry too” Ziggy added

“Eh, I’m down to eat” Axel commented.

“You’ll still have to deal with Simon’s idiotic responses,” Shade points out as he stands up.

“If anything we’ll just ignore him” Dillon replied.

“That's for the best” Axel commented in response as they walked out of the carriage following behind Shade.

Ziggy just took a breath as he walked behind them thinking to himself, “Don’t let what he says bother you, just ignore it” As he followed them out the train where Simon was waiting.

“What took you so long?” Simon asks, looking at the group. “I mean isn’t at least one of you three supposed to be an adult… not the smartest adult but still an adult.”

Ziggy not really wanting to focus on him just kept walking until he was near the staircase from before as he stayed completely silent before breaking the silence, “I'm not an adult I'm fifteen” as he then went silent again.

“You really don’t let up do you?” Dillon commented towards Simon before walking to where Ziggy was.

“You two might want to duck,” Shade warned both Ziggy and Dillon as he stopped walking forwards as he saw Simon following close behind the group as Dillon and Ziggy immediately ducked down before Shade’s leg shot outwards just above their heads as Shades foot struck Simon in the centre of the chest as he keeled over pain, “Simon… start behaving yourself or I will start acting like you old father.”

“R-Right… I… Understand.” Simon responds, shaking through shaky breaths, as Shade placed his foot back down where he was standing.

“You better,” He added, not even looking back as he started walking again.

Dillon and Ziggy wince after seeing Simon get laid out the boys feeling slightly bad but not enough to say he didn’t deserve it.

“Damn..” Dillon quietly said as he and Ziggy glanced at each other Ziggy covered his mouth to not show his amused smirk.

Axel was still next to the train when this happened and covered his mouth to stop himself from laughing as he passed Simon as he picked both Dillon and Ziggy up closely following behind Shade.

“Are you dying down there or are you gonna get up?” Simon heard Axel comment as he looked to see Axel glancing back at him as he continued walking behind Shade.

“I’ll catch up later,” Simon responds with a shaky breath as he slowly raises to his feet.

“Whatever you say” Axel quickly responded as they continued forward, walking down the hallway and up the stairs.

“Is he going to be ok?” Dillon then asked.

“He will be later. He’s been through worse,” Shade responds calmly as he reaches the stairs and begins to walk up to them.

“Ok then” Dillon replied as he looked at Ziggy who was smiling.

“Seems your back in a good mood” Dillon then commented.

Ziggy just nodded before Axel suddenly lifted them up and placed them on his shoulders. The two of them just smiled in response as their tails started to wag.

The group continued up the stairs in silence before they came back into the throne room walking in to find it empty as they walked towards the main door.

“Guess we were the last ones to come in today huh?” Ziggy commented as he noticed how quiet and vacant the throne room was.

“Apparently,” Dillon replied.

“Well that or they decided to stop more of them from visiting today,” Shade suggests, “It doesn’t mean much considering they will be out the door and back through town by tomorrow morning.”

“Yeah and that guy from before will be back by tomorrow” Dillon responded
“And he will make the same obscene orders of me again and get rejected… again,” Shade responds as he opens the door.

“We could turn him away in future Prince Shade?” one of the guards outside the door stated as the door opened, as each guard bowed their heads towards Shade.

“Yes… but then we’d have to deal with the nobles complaining about the fact I’m refusing to listen to them as they start rioting in the streets and spreading rumours around the country… and I really don’t want to deal with that and I bet the others wouldn’t either.”

“That sounds stressful honestly…” Axel commented letting out a shudder as he imagined that scenario.

“Well that or a few would start trying to burn the homes of some of the non-equine residents,” the guard responds, before holding out a scroll of paper towards Shade. “For now we’ll leave things as they are… although I was handed this to pass on to you once you finished for the day.”

“Thank you,” Shade responded as he took the scroll holding it in his hand, “If possible could you set some of the training equipment up in the arena. I may need it later on,” Shade requested getting a bow from the guards around him as they each left without a word.

“Now… shall we get you all something to eat?” Shade asks, looking at the group again.

“Yep!” Dillon and Ziggy reply with smiles on their faces as Axel just nodded in response giving his own smile as well, as the group walked down a side doorway deeper into the castle.

After a couple of minutes of walking the group reached the castle’s gardens, the area looked to be covered with trees and overgrown bushes, which surrounded a large hill in the centre of the area.

Dillon let out a whistle as he looked around, commenting, “This place looks nice.”

“Let me guess, it feels like the rest of the everfree?” Shade responds.

“Yep, feels just like home” Dillon responded with a smile looking towards Shade.

“I’m not surprised you are still in the same place. I’ll be honest this is where I spend most of my nights… well at the top of the hill stargazing to be more exact.”

“This does look like a good place to stargaze in all honesty” Ziggy commented.

“Well it helps that he spent a long time on the moon with a princess who can control the night sky,” a voice points out from behind them.

Dillon slightly flinches as the group looks to where the voice was coming from to find a tall woman with jet skin covering her body which had holes in her legs and arms, she also had green insect-like wings on her back that looked have a small red eye-shaped logo faintly hidden in the membrane that formed them, while her head had a single long horn which looked to have large holes cut out of the sides.

“I uh…. Who are you?” Dillon asked.

“You could say that I am a very close… ally of my kings,” the figure responded, bowing her head towards the group.

“She’s also the one who tried to take my body for her own before finding out I didn’t have a body to take,” Shade points out, “we use the same method as mine to force her soul into a new body before I… dealt with her.”

Dillon and Ziggy's heads tilt slightly as they glance at Shade for a moment with slight confusion on their faces before they remember what he told them.

“Oh now I remember, the same thing was done for her?” Dillon asked as he pointed towards her.

“Well, in my case I was forced into this body. But when you did try to kill people in another world, and they chose my punishment to be either death or be tied to my king it’s not hard to decide which to go for,” the figure responds.

“....Fair enough,” Dillon replied as he looked back at Shade, “And how long ago was this?”.

“Well I would say nearly 1000 years ago… might be a few months less actually.” Shade responds with a tap of his chin.

“I keep forgetting you were stuck on the moon for 1000 years” Dillon responded.

“Well it’s even harder for me to accept that my big brother is now older than when our grandfather died by over 9 times,” a new voice response from behind them.

The group turns around to where the new voice came from, ZIggy speaking up, “Who’s here now?”.

As they turned and looked behind them they saw two new figures. The first looked to be a young woman who had long black hair that rested by her shoulders along with white eyes and was wearing a red skin-tight outfit that showed a lot of her skin. Her legs, arms and chest were visible with her breasts sticking out slightly from the sides of her clothes barely covering her figure.

The second figure looked to be a young child standing beside her, he wore a basic black t-shirt, with an open red and blue jacket with a hood covering his head along with blue jeans.

“Who are you two?” Axel questioned, tilting his head slightly.

“I thought for me it would be pretty clear,” the woman responds as she looks at Axel while pointing at Shade, “you know with me referring to him as my big brother and all that.”

“Good point” Axel admitted.

“So that's your sister” Dillon stated before walking up to the two and holding out his hand, “My name is Dillon nice to meet you!”.

“Alexis Shade,” the woman responds, holding her hand out to Dillon as he grabs hold of her hand and shakes it as he smiled, his fangs showing while his tail wagged behind him.

“I’m Axel and this is Ziggy” Axel commented as he walked beside Dillon with Ziggy hiding behind him, the boy giving a shy wave towards the two.

“So Alex, where did you find these three?” Alexis asked.

“Dillon I met two weeks ago when he was almost killed by some Gamma, Axel, met the same day as Dillon just under different circumstances, and Ziggy…. Just today.”

“Me and Axel found Ziggy I think a day or two after that night” Dillon commented.

“Okay… so are all three of you Displaced?” Alexis asked.

“I don’t know” Axel blankly replied.

“What's a displaced again?” Dillon asked.

“I-im not dressing as him, I am him,” Ziggy muttered out.

“Okay… Alex have you had ‘a talk’ with the three of them about what we are yet?” Alexis asked.

“Alex?” Ziggy said confused as he looked back towards Shade.

“Right. We haven’t formally met in my real body have we,” Shade responded as he tapped a small watch-like band on his arm before he was covered in a crimson light as his form changed into that of a human. “Ziggy. This is what I looked like before I came to this world.”

Ziggy went silent for a moment before smiling as he said, “Oh, well it's nice to formally meet you then Alex.”

“The pleasure is all mine.”

“Seriously, what’s a displaced again?” They both heard Dillon ask in confusion.

“Okay, how much do you know about the multiverse?” Alexis asks.

“Only about as much as Alex has told us in relation to Ziggy” Dillon replied.

“And how much was that?” She asked again.

“The possibilities that Ziggy could just be from a different reality where he’s younger than his normal counterpart” Dillon responded.

“Okay… well the simplest way to explain a displaced person is a person who was sent to a world, not of their own, who has the ability to traverse other worlds around them,” Alexis admits.

“But most of us need to create an object called a token to travel between them. That is for you to call someone here or for them to call you to their reality,” Alex added.

“How does the process of making a token work?” Ziggy asked curiously.

“I'm kinda curious about that as well,” Dillon commented.

“Well the simple way is that you get an object related to you, think up a message you want someone to hear when they find it, and then send it off into the void in some way… if I remember correctly the last step can happen naturally once you finish.” Alex explains.

“Well once I actually have an item related to me I’ll try and do that later” Dillon replied.

“Same here” Ziggy stated in agreement.

“Question is there a place where I can get clothes because the only bit of clothing I’ve had for the past two weeks has been this cloak I’ve been wearing,” Dillon asked as he motioned towards the brown raggedy cloak.

“Well… I could help in that regard,” Alexis quickly responds, “I did try my hand at making clothes before I was sent here… and with the power that was forced on me I could create stuff like that quite easily.”

“If you're not unwilling I won’t refuse” Dillon replied scratching the back of his own head.

“It would take me some time to actually work out, design and make them fit you, but I could do it,” Alexis responds before pausing, looking back at Ziggy, “Wait… did you say you were the ‘real’ Ziggy?”

“Y-yeah I did” Ziggy quietly replied

Alexis then walks over to Ziggy kneeling down in front of him, “would you want something designed for you as well… I might have a semi matching design that links both you and Dillon over there… but I won’t exactly feel… normal for you.”

“S-sure” Ziggy shyly responded

“Is something bothering you,” Alexis asked as she scratched Ziggy behind one of his ears.

“He gets shy around new people” Dillon commented as Ziggy quietly nodded in response with a small blush on his face.

“Is that a blush?” Dillon commented as he looked at Ziggys face.

“No…” Ziggy quietly responded.

“No that definitely looks like a blush bud” Axel replied as he crouched next to him.

“No it isn’t!” Ziggy shouted out embarrassed as he covered his face as he let out a groan.

“Ok, ok we’ll stop, '' Dillon stated with a chuckle.

“Jerks….” Ziggy muttered out in response.

“It’s not that bad,” Alexis responded rubbing the top of Dillon’s head before looking at Alex, “So… when do these three little kids become my grandchildren?”

Dillon’s tail poked out through his cloak and wagged in response as they just gave her a smile in response.

“What sort of ideas are you putting into his head, Lexi?” Alex asked.

“What… it would be easier for me to spoil them if they were,” Alexis argues, “I assume they have asked you about it… right?”

“They haven’t asked me about it yet,” Alex points out.

“I wouldn’t mind that actually” Dillon quietly stated.

“What was that?” Axel asked.

“Nothing!” Dillon quickly replied.

“Do you have something you need to say to my brother?” Alexis asked as he turned her head away from Ziggy looking at Dillon.

Dillon immediately looked away with a blush on his face.

“Look who’s blushing now,” Ziggy said with a sneer.

Dillon just grunted in response before letting out a sigh, “S-shade can I ask you something?”.

“Sure, ask away,” Alex responds as he looks towards Dillon.

“Would you be…” Dillon began to speak but stopped suddenly, seemingly trying to find the right words.

He continued to try and speak but decided to take a deep breath and quietly asked “would you mind if I called you….dad?”.

“I’m sorry… what did you say, I couldn’t make out what you said,'' Alex asked as he walked over towards Dillon kneeling down in front of him, “What are you wanting to say to me?”

“W-would you mind if called you dad” Dillon repeated in an embarrassed tone.

Alex then leant in towards Dillon before whispering back to him, “Is it just you just want to call me that… or do you want me to be that to you?”

Dillon went quiet for a moment going into deep thought asking, “C-can you be my dad?”.

“You don’t have to say yes” Dillon then stated as he looked away.

Alex then placed his hand on Dillon’s head as he turned it to face him before he said, “less the answer being no, but more just wanting to check, are you asking if I’ll adopt you?”

Dillon nodded in response, “Y-Yeah I am”.

Alex wrapped his arms around Dillon before pulling him close, “is there a reason you want me to be that to you?”

“I see you as a father figure, and since I don’t really remember my birth parents seeing you as my dad felt natural to me, I feel safe around you”.

“Huh, he actually said it” Axel commented.

“I mean he seems to have that effect on me too” Ziggy stated.

“He has that effect on most people,” Alexis adds.

“It seems to match for those who have been through trauma as well,” a new voice adds from behind Alex. They look behind Alex to see where the voice was coming from as they saw Princess Luna standing behind him, “I mean if being on the moon for as long as he was with me means anything.”

“True,” Dillon admitted.

“Also,” a second voice added as he felt a small body wrap its arms around his neck, “did I hear you asking my dad to adopt you?”

Dillon just yelped in response as he immediately covered his ears, “The demon is back!”.

Ziggy immediately reeled back in response to Dillon’s outburst.

“What don’t you want your ear scratching,” the voice asked as Dillon felt something against one of his ears.

“No, no don’t do it” Dillon quickly squeaked out before feeling her scratching his ear making him fall forwards into Alex’s arms as his body twitched slightly.

Ziggy just looked on in horror as he hid behind Axel who just had an amused smirk on his face.

“Help m-” Dillon tried to speak but it immediately turned to gibberish once Midnight started to scratch his ear faster.

“Please stop it’s too much” Dillon then said, his voice shaky as she continued to scratch his ear.

“Midnight, stop tormenting the poor boy,” Luna states looking at the figure who was scratching Dillon’s ear.

“But why? He makes such cute noises,” MIdnight responds with an annoyed groan as she stops scratching Dillon’s ears and teleports onto Luna’s head.

“Oh, sweet relief!” Dillon gasped out as he placed his hands on top of his ears and rubbed them, “My ears feel funny…”.

“Pretty sure that's normal. Didn’t you feel the same after she did that last time?” Alex asked.

“Maybe,” Dillon replied.

“Note to self never let anyone touch the ears” Ziggy commented.

“Noted” Axel quickly replied.

“It might only be an issue for him… I mean I was scratching you behind your ears and you were fine,” Alexis points out.

“Fair enough but I'm still wary of it,” Ziggy replied.

“Honestly I don’t even think he noticed” Axel added with a brow raised.

Ziggy just showed a bashful smile in response.

“I think he was too busy blushing to notice… or that is how he reacts to getting his ear scratched,” Alexis suggests.

“Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case” Axel added with a smirk as he ruffled Ziggy’s hair.

Ziggy just shook his head to get Axel’s hand off before he got picked up by him.

“H-hey!” Ziggy shouted out as he wriggled around in Axel's arm before he was put over his shoulder as Axel looked back at Dillon.

“Would you be willing to be my dad?” the boy asked as he hopefully looked up to Shade.

“If you can accept a very old man for a father,” Satou responds.

“Say… if you adopted him how many kids would you have adopted here?” Alexis adds.

“Wait, how many kids has he adopted?” Axel then asked curiously.

“Depends… is this excluding Dillon?” Alexis asks.

“Yeah,” Axel replied.

“Including Dillon… 5 unless you include those who I haven’t said are my kids, but see me as a father nonetheless… hundreds,” Alex responds calmly.

“I can’t say I'm not surprised but damn…” Axel commented.

“Language” Ziggy immediately piped before getting his face covered with Axel's hand.

“Shush” Axel said as Ziggy let out a muffled protest in response.

“So… does the number of those who you accept as a son or daughter need to increase more than five?” Alexis asked as she looked at Ziggy.

Ziggy removed Axel’s hand from his face as he said “I mean I wouldn’t mind him being my dad”.

“There’s one other person that needs asking about this beyond myself though… and you three know exactly what that is.” Alex points out.

“Oh yeah, we're definitely gonna ask mom about this,” Ziggy said in realization.

“Yeah, you two seemed to have forgotten that” Axel added with a chuckle.

“I mean the lake isn’t that far if anything we can go back and ask her” Dillon stated as he looked back towards them.

Dillon then looked back to Alex as he asked, “Would you mind coming with us so we can ask mom?”.

“Why do I get a feeling that you need to get this mother of there’s to approve you,” Luna responds with a smirk.

“Well, considering that their mother is a Timberwolf, I would expect it will be a strange thing to see,” Midnight adds.

“Nothing in the everfree is normal” Dillon commented as stood up.

“You think I don’t know that considering I lived in this very castle a thousand years ago,” Luna argues.

“I'm not saying you don’t know that” Dillon raised his hands in defense.

“We should probably get going then if we were actually doing this” Axel stated as placed Ziggy back on his feet.

“I’m sorry to rush off, I’ll help these three out and be back soon,” Alex responds, reverting back into his Alicorn form.

“Just come back soon… I have something I needed to talk with you about,” Luna responds.

“I’ll try to be as quick as I can,” Shade responds as Luna simply nods back.

“Alright let's go!” Dillon and Ziggy shout in excitement.

“Ok calm down you two” Axel stated as he patted both their heads as they began to head out back to the lake, as Shade followed close behind.