Rise Of The Black Ranger

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.