Battle Vixens! - 111

First / Previous / Next / Latest

---

I know you might be wondering where the fifth Halloween series caption for this year is, given that it's now only a couple of days away from Halloween istelf. The fact is that I have ideas for three or four more in that series, and the very next one more than half written, but the past couple of weeks or so suddenly became very busy for me in real life, and some writer's block with that series piled on top of that. I'm optimistic I'll finish the one that's more than halfway soon, but it may not be up in time for Halloween, and I think it's realistic to expect myself to still be writing the last of it into December. I was hoping to keep up a pace of two a week, but it just didn't turn out to be realistic. As for why a story part like this is posting, well, one of my best ways of handling writer's block on one project is to go do another one, whichever one I feel like I can do.

---

Episode 111: Hello, Goodbye

Not wanting to hang around on the street long enough for the news crews to show up, the other vixens made their way into the restaurant Rory and Light had eaten at. It was empty now, temporarily evacuated due to the monster attacks. Sam got out her phone to call in for someone to come pick up Void, since it would look suspicious for her to carry a supposed coma victim to the VI in her own car.

She hung up the phone, turning to Amp. "We got a few real coma victims comin' in real soon. You mind goin' with her to wake 'em up?"

"Not at all," she said without hesitation.

"Good. You'll take the van with her so you won't be seen...maybe ride back with Dr. Quinn, in human form?"

"That works."

"How's my husband doing, anyway?" Rory asked. "And Magus?"
"Rowan didn't say, so...can't be too badly hurt."

Amp got her phone out to check on the news, waving Rory over to read over her shoulder.

Sam leaned against a wall, staring up at a corner between the ceiling and the wall silently, for a moment, before appearing to remember something. "Light, Gemma."
"Y-yes?" Emma snapped out of some nervous fidgeting at hearing her 'other' name. Light was sitting at a booth, leaning way back with her face pointed up at the ceiling; she sat slowly up to turn her head Sam's way.

"Listen, power sharing—and now fusion too—are more 'r less open secrets among the leaders of VI's allies, and several individual teams all over. Bit like Amp there." The blond vixen looked up from her phone briefly, taking a second to smile and wave cutely before returning to pointing out the news to Rory. "The line we're givin' the public is that these're secret techniques that 'require mutual trust and understanding', and fusion even more so. Just so y'all know."

"So, wait—are other teams doing fusion too?" Emma asked.
"Certainly. Tenpo and Shuriken out in Japan, for instance."

"Well—that's a relief," Light said. "Means it's not yet another thing 'only we can do'."

"I..thought it required Amp's help to do it, though?" Emma said. "Or, uh, at least having a certain level of power..or, something?"

"Seems like it isn't easy," Amp chimed in, "but yeah, several teams managed to do it today. So far, it looks like it tends to be under some extreme circumstances, so maybe the uh..'emotional boost' is pushing them over the threshold to where it's possible."

"Lift tried with me once," Void chimed in. "No luck."

"'Lift' being...someone else on your team?" Amp asked.

"Leader," Void nodded.

"But, so, wait—you're...uh, 'power sharing', with her?" Emma asked, and Void nodded.
"Only one-way. We fought, she won."

"Seems like that way of getting access to someone's power is the bigger secret at this point," Sam remarked.

A few minutes of quiet waiting later, Light's phone rang. She put it in front of her face and saw that the call was through the VI app. "..Huh. 'Lift'."

"Please remember she's 'unconscious' right now," Sam said, gesturing Void's way.
"Right..."

"Yoo!" A woman's voice came through, along with the kind of noise that would come from using a car speakerphone. "Light, right? I never used this to call someone I don't already know before."
"..That's me," Light said.

"I just heard on the radio you guys beat the stuffing outta that giant bird that swallowed Void! I was on my way to help, but—looks like you didn't need it, heheh...guess I really shouldn't be surprised at this point! Either way, sorry our troubles wound up dumping on you again."
"No problem...wait, 'again'?"

"Sure. You pretty much helped bring Braille back from the dead after that crazy girl killed her in her sleep, yeah?"

"You mean...Tobias, the puppeteer. The one with the blindfold?"
"That's her all right. Oh, yeah—I didn't even introduce myself, hah!"

"Lucille Bates, A-K-A Lift: 'Touch No Evil'."
"'Touch No Evil'?" Light repeated.

"Yeah. I have ALS—you know, the Stephen Hawking thing? Pretty close to paraplegic in human form. By some weird coincidence—or, I dunno, maybe the Giver's whim or whatever—all the fox-girls in our town have got disabilities that being in fox-form cures, so our team's 'No Evil'. Braille's blind, 'See No Evil', Void's 'Hear no Evil'—she's actually deaf, but I guess you can't really tell right now since she's a little busy taking a depowered-nap."

"Oh, I get it. We've..already called the VI to bring her to their headquarters so they can wake her up," Light half-lied.

"Yep, I thought as much. That's why I'm still headed your way, to pick her up after. Well—that and, maaaybe I could pay you guys a short visit on the way? Gemma might like a look at my powers, I thought, as a little thanks for the extra work we accidentally dumped on ya."

Light glanced Emma's way, and when she nodded said, "I'm sure she'd appreciate it. Is the rest of your team okay?"

"Hahah, yep, yep, just—totally exhausted. It's been a rough day, so we were pretty close to the brink when that invader from Sesame Street showed up, and I was mad as heck when it just took off after swallowing her whole. Aaanyway, I'll get to your town in like half an hour, maybe? Too bad my car can't break the speed of sound the way that bird did. Oh yeah—you're a speedster, right? You ever break the speed of sound running?"
"I don't...think so?" Light couldn't remember ever actually trying to run quite that fast.

"Bet you could. But I guess you got that light-iport thing if you need to get somewhere really quick anyway, right?"
"..Right."
"Okay okay, bye for real now. See you soon!"

"...She seems nice," Amp commented.
"Nice, yes," Void said. "Very high...en-er-gy."

A little while later, Sam looked out the window. "Looks like our ride's here. Void, lie down on the booth if ya don't mind. Rory, help me carry her."

"Youuu got it."
"Are you coming with, Light?" Void asked while she lay down.

"No, sorry. I'm...exhausted. I stuck around here so I can hide Amp and make a convincing illusion for you until you're in the van, and then...I'll probably just go take a nap."
"Too bad. Your text is very helpful."
"I'm..sure they've got at least one sign language interpreter at the VI headquarters. Right?" she asked Sam.

"Sure," the gray-haired vixen nodded.

While the four of them headed outside, Light addressed Emma and Ning: "We're 'not here' as far as anyone outside can see. You want to slip out with me?"
"I'd..appreciate that, yeah," Emma nodded.
"Sam's my ride back to my shop, sooo. I'm okay being visible," Ning said.
"Got it. I guess we'll need to figure out where to meet Lift whenever she shows up..."

"Outside the apartment, maybe?" Emma suggested. "We've been seen fighting monsters out there plenty of times, so it uh..doesn't necessarily mean we live there."

"Good enough."

---

Petra's head appeared leaning over Karis. "You alright there, dear?"

"Fffhh..okay, mostly. Just a little..hhhhh..winded." When offered a hand, she took it and carefully got up onto her feet, dusting herself off while looking around. "Weellp...guess this block won't be usable for traffic for the next three years."
"Heeyy, I can patch things up faster than that!"
"Oh, yeah? Can you rebuild pipework? Electrical lines? All the other infrastructure down there?"
"Nooo...but, I can make it really easy to reach, and re-bury it too."
"We'll discuss rebuilding after everyone has had some time to rest," Rowan said, taking over the conversation. Already in human form, he waved everyone toward a single location. "In the interest of that, let's just do our debriefing here."

He paused, looking around at the group. "...Where is Magus?"

"Oh, I think she's resting in there," Karis said, pointing. "I'll go get her."
On her way, Zeno ran up next to her. "Coming with you."

"..'Kay." Behind them, Rowan and Clark's phones both went off at the same time. They continued into the restaurant.

"Hhhheeey.." Magus was sitting at a table near the entrance, leaning her chin on a hand on an elbow on the table, and used the other arm to wave. "Pretty awesome fighting once I got outta the way, huh?"

"I won't even dignify that insinuation," Karis said, coming up to her. "Oof, you don't look so good. I know it was pretty noisy out there, but...you didn't take a nap or anything?"

"Well, like..my body tried, but..every time I started to doze off I kinda..felt like I was in freefall again..and panicked back awake...hahaah.." She gave a smile that was probably supposed to be reassuring.
"Listen—the VI has some licensed therapists on retainer," Zeno cut in. "You need someone to talk to, let me know. We can set it up so you talk through the app if you wanna keep anonymity."
"Uh..sure. But, I don't think it's that bad or anything. Just, y'know..how recent it is and stuff...nngh." She took Karis's hand to stand up, wobbling in place briefly. So Remedy came out and kept a hand on her shoulder to keep her stable.

"We gotta debrief outside, and then you can take a real nap, okay?" Zeno said. "Then we'll get you home."

"Y-yeah, that sounds..nice."

"Good, everyone's here," Rowan said. "First, some news: Another team had a monster eat one of their members, and instead of sticking around it took off. The Giver sent Dr. Quinn and I both a warning that it was headed Light's way. It isn't likely that any of us could get there in time to help, but most of us aren't in a condition to anyway. I'll keep an eye on things just in case."

Clark nodded; he and Simon were back in human form now, too. "Sent my wife a text she can use my powers, but she didn't reply—maybe didn't take her phone with her. Knowing her, she'll probably just assume it's fine anyway."

Rowan continued: "..That aside: Good work, everyone. There's no denying the..scale of the collateral property damage here," he said, gesturing at the giant hole. "But nobody was severely injured, and the buildings are still standing. Other monsters of that kind have demolished entire neighborhoods before they were stopped."

"Yeeaah! Go team!" Simon pitched in. Rowan gave him a brief look before continuing.

"Anyway, once the monster headed for Light's team is taken down, the person inside will join several other new coma victims that'll be flown our way for treatment. Nothing for you to worry about mostly, except that there may be some unfamiliar vixens at headquarters later this afternoon. Now...go get some rest. No telling what'll get thrown at us tomorrow."

---

"Um..sooo..."

Amp was sitting across from the formerly-deaf vixen in the van, on its way to the VI headquarters.

"I feel dumb asking this, but. How can I..best help you understand what I'm saying?"
"Talk slow. Small words. Sorry," Void said.

"No no no—it's, not like you did anything wrong, right?" she said, taking care to enunciate each word slowly.

"I did not."

"..Hmmnh. Do you know about the..dream thing?"
"Place the Giver talks to people?"

"Yeah," Amp nodded. "That place translates between different languages. I wonder if it would work with sign language too?"
"It is a language."

"Right, of course."

"..Would you mind, showing me a few basics?"
Void nodded, and then patiently helped her learn a few simple words and phrases. Even though Amp wasn't the quickest learner when it came to making the signs with her hands, teaching this occupied the time of the ride, and even seemed to cheer Void up a little bit.

---

After the two of them fielded a brief interview (even the newscasters knew they needed a break today), Sam and Ning headed back to the latter's store in the former's car. Sam got out to briefly survey the property damage they and the monsters had done to the area together, trying to assess just how long it was going to take to fix it all. It...didn't look so bad, compared to what they were probably dealing with back in the city.

"Guess this is bye for now, huh?" Ning said.

"Yep."
"Hugs?" She raised her arms expectantly.

Sam returned a confused look. "Err..."
"What?"
"It's just..knowing we're both old men deep down, I wouldn't expect you to offer that out of the blue," she shrugged.

"Well—I'm already committed to staying like this the rest of my days, and I've felt like a young woman ever since the first time I was 'Ning'. Besides, it ain't outta the blue exactly." She put her fists on her hips. "We fought four giant monsters together, not to mention all those puppets the other day, so that entitles you to a goodbye hug in my book!"

She dropped her arms and exhaled after this. "Not that you should feel obliged to or anything."

"Naw, it's fine."

"Okay then! Hugs~!" She actually approached this time with her arms held wide. Since getting eaten by a giant worm and her body 'upgrading' itself afterward, Ning was a bit taller and decidedly, well, bustier than Sam was, and she went for a full-on tight hug—if a brief one—while Sam just returned it politely and gently. It..felt nice, honestly; for as strong as she was, Ning's body was still very soft.

"There," she said after, hopping back a few steps to get out of Sam's personal space again. "You feel better? I know I do." That much was obvious: she was grinning wide, and her tail was wagging—despite the considerable effort doubtless required for the big fluffy thing to do so. It was...very cute.
"Well, I don't feel no worse," Sam shrugged. "Anyhow..better go report in. Y'all let us know if you need more help on your end; the offer's open to provide what we can."
"I can't speak with authority on our side, but I'm still sure the feeling's mutual," Ning said. She hadn't stopped grinning since the hug. "See ya!" With that, she raised a hand up in a brief wave and whirled to go continue working on her shop for a while longer...probably all the way until her grandkid was due to get out of school. Sam went back to her car to drive back to the city.

---

The first thing Cynthia did after reaching VI headquarters was go looking for Dawn. She wasn't in her room, so the next guess was the cafeteria. And, indeed, she found the tall, dark-haired vixen sitting at a table staring down at a plate which had probably contained food in the recent past. Her ears twitched and turned, and her head followed suit. "Yo." She was still a little hoarse. "Good to see you're okay."
"Uh-huh. Guess you're up and walkin' already too, huh?" The redheaded vixen came and sat next to her, pulling into a side-hug which Dawn seemed happy enough to return.
"Mmh. Took a nap, and woke up starvin'."

After coming out of the hug, Cynthia turned her seat around to face Dawn. "Listen...I know we made a promise and all, but. After seein' what happened when you remembered somethin' big in the middle of a fight..."
"You just wanna know? Get it over with?"
"Yeah."

Dawn visibly hesitated, looking away to one side. "You're gonna hate me. You—hated me before. For it."
"I sure don't remember ever hatin' you. I remember bein' mad, mad enough to scream and yell and punch you in the face. But not hate."

She sighed. "You'd hate me more if I refused to say, an' then you figured it out."

"Maybe I'd be angrier. Still ain't gonna hate you."

"You got every right to, though."

---

A dark, four-door sedan pulled into the parking lot north of the apartment complex, taking an unoccupied space relatively far from any nearby building. The driver opened the door and stepped out: An average-height, average-build young woman with short blond hair, foxlike ears and a tail both sporting dark orange fur with white at the tips, and a notable scar running a line from just below her left eye to her right chin. She had on some fairly tight jeans and a black t-shirt with a logo on it that depicted a hand with its index finger stretched out as if to touch something, all of which was behind a red circle with a line through it. The back of the shirt said "Touch No Evil", with the latter two words highlighted with bright shadowing for emphasis.

She looked around expectantly for a couple of seconds before finally noticing three words floating impossibly in the air just in front of her: To your left.

"Ah." She turned, finding Light and Gemma (the latter currently in her two-tailed, combined form). "Hey there!" She raised her hand and waved, then ran up their way. "Nice to see ya. You know, Light, you look taller than you did in the interview—on the news?"
"I..am taller. A little," she said. "Long story."
"Hah, like how Ning 'grew up' I guess? Only without a monster eating you involved, huh? Anyhow, Lift. Gemma?" She offered her a hand.
Emma returned the gesture. "H-hey..." Lift's shake was predictably aggressive, but in a friendly sort of way. She gave the same to Light afterward.
"It's a real treat to see you guys in person, though, lemme tell ya. Some of what you said in that interview really resonated with me. You write your lines ahead of time?"
"Not exactly..I did sort of try to practice some," Light said. "I'm..I wasn't really ready to be famous, to be honest."
"Hahah! Is anyone?"

Lift paused, looking around. "I'm guessing we're invisible, seeing how there's not a crowd of people around." Light nodded. "I'd totally make a public spectacle of our meeting myself, but I'll respect ya'lls' wishes. You've had a long enough day already, I s'pose. At least I get to show off a little, though." She addressed Gemma: "Check this out!"

The blond vixen swept her right hand in an arching motion, seemingly producing from behind it a set of five kunai. Each one stayed in the air where she put it, pointing straight up at the sky, and after she'd produced them, she made a twirling motion with the same hand, causing the knives to make a spiral-shaped motion through the air, following each other in a train. She then snapped her fingers and they all promptly obeyed gravity, falling to the ground with a little bit of clattering. Emma watched all of this with visible interest. "Pretty cool, huh? It's not just my own weapons I can pick up too, but I got a pretty low weight limit most of the time. I mean—I can throw people around if they let me with some effort, and one time I got real angry and knocked over a monster by like, force-slapping it."

Gemma nodded. "It's just 'force'. Um...like, directly making..what's-it-called...kinetic energy happen?"
"That sounds like the right term," Light commented. "You..wanted to be able to move again. And pick things up, and use them..."
"Well, yeah," Lift said, crossing her arms. "Wouldn't you?"
"Sorry," the white-haired vixen shook her head, "I mean—everyone who got a power, wanted something, and the power is usually based on that 'desire' in some way."

"..Huh. Really?" She paused, prodding the tip of one of her ears with an index finger. "That actually makes a lot of sense with everyone I know, now that I think of it."

Emma, meanwhile, was busy bringing out one of her own knives, carefully letting go of it while holding the other hand out toward it. She was able to exert 'force' on it, but only enough that it fell slowly instead of doing it at a normal speed. "Hmmnn..." She put the hand that had been holding the knife under it, palm-up, and with a little more effort it stopped falling.

"That's..huh. I can actually feel you doing that," Lift said. "But part of it feels different?"
"It's the um..'opposite'," Gemma explained. "I'm 'stopping' it with my left hand, and 'pushing it up' with my right."
"Ah. Neat! So you could use 'stopping' to block or slow down an attack coming at ya or something?"
"Probably? It's...n-not very strong. My 'imitation' powers never are, at least not by themselves." But with Amory's help...

"Well, I'd say you've shown everyone that a dozen 'imitations' can be better than one 'real thing' sometimes," Lift said, grinning. "At least with a li'l creativity."

Emma blushed lightly, catching the knife in her left hand and then dismissing it. "Uh, th-thanks."

"How'd you...get that?" Light asked, gesturing to her own right cheek. "If it's not too personal."
"Oh, y'know...Void and I had a disagreement. It turned kinda violent," Lift shrugged. "I'm lucky she didn't really wanna hurt me, and pulled the blade back the instant she started seeing blood. Although—I did kinda take advantage of the hesitation, too. It healed okay, doesn't hurt or anything, and I think the scar makes me look cool anyway. More battle-hardened, y'know?

"Anyway—guess I should be going. You two get some rest, yeah?"
"I've already been on that," Light said, "aside from this meeting." Gemma just nodded.

"Great. Anyway, hopefully things will calm down someday soon and we can just hang out. That'd be nice, right?"
"Yeah," Emma actually responded, nodding. But would things ever actually calm down?

Still grinning big, Lift flashed a peace sign and headed back for her car. Light exchanged a brief look with Emma, and they both headed back toward the apartment complex, each using her own power to remain invisible.

---

I was actually going to title this episode "Hello (Goodbye)", until I remembered there's a song with that exact pair of words as its title. Despite the complete necessity to keep this particular story largely focused on the main circle of characters (and even that group has gotten fairly big!), I do kind of like giving little glimpses into the fact that there are thousands or millions of other such stories going on in this world, and I think the "No Evil" team is a fun group to have done that with. No telling if or how any of them show up again, but I guess we'll see.