Chapter 33 – Steeds of Fire and Friendship
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“HORSES!!” Waywright screeches. “DEAL WITH THE ASCENDED AND THE SPIDER!! I shall dispose of these dolls myself…”

The witch begins to create more summoning circles to replace the thralls disappearing into clouds of static. The thralls fight back against the dolls, charging, biting, scratching, even using wispy tendrils of static uncannily sprouting from their animal forms. Despite the onslaught, the Fallen Daughters simply poof into smoke when struck, simply running back in moments later to continue the fight. While this goes on, the three horses all look between each other and sigh.

“You just said our names, is it that hard to repeat them instead of being rude about it?” one of them complains.

Waywright’s gaze snaps back and she glares at them all with murderous intent before turning back to her own fight. If horses could shrug, I’d imagine that’s what they’d be doing before locking their eyes on Geppette, only to find me in their paths as I slide in front of the spider’s bed.

“Nuh uh, if you’re gonna pick a fight--”

We didn’t pick it, but--”

“--YOU’RE GONNA TUSSLE WITH A FIGHTER!!”

After my battle cry, I start twirling and chucking lantern bombs at each in rapid succession as they begin charging towards me. The wave of fiery horses is engulfed in blazing explosions, yet they gallop through completely unphased! Crap, looks like I’m resorting to brute strength. I run forward, pulling my fist back and hurling it directly at the chest of Avrak. Skinfaxi simply rams against me, sending me hurtling away as Alsvid rushes over and stamps a blazing hoof on me! Thank the goddess I can’t feel the heat very much, but this horse is crushing me!

“Sorry to do this to ya, kid, but a contract’s a contract.”

“Ghh-- You sound-- Guh-- Just like Niamh--”

“Oh, does she know Niamh?!” Skinfaxi exclaims jubilantly, only for Avrak to smack them with a hoof.

“Job, idiot, we’ve got a job!”

Shit. They’ve got a job…

KRZT-- ATTENTION MYTHOLOGICAL HORSES OF FIRE!! And Cat, hi Cat!”

I feel the pressure of Alsvid’s hoof begin to lighten on my gut as Zee’s voice blares through Navi’s speaker.

Krzt-- I’d like everybody’s eyes and other sensory peripherals on us, this is the first time we’re doing this, and it’s going to be AWESOME.”

The horses all look at each other, and I join in on the confusion. What do those two have planned…?

“Should we let them?” Alsvid asks.

“We are in the middle of something, you know,” Avrak protests.

“Oh, but they sound so enthusiastic, c’mon, I mean, remember your first time pulling the chariot?” Skinfaxi pleads.

“Oh, fine…” the first horse says, sighing in defeat as Zee’s squeeing is picked up by their mic.

“Okay! Okay okay okay, I won’t let y’all down!”

“What are you idiots DOING?! DEAL WITH TH--”

All three horses turn and shush Waywright before looking back to Navi. The eye-like camera on Navi begins to glow bright blue before looking straight down, and as Zee speaks, I can almost feel them posing and getting pumped inside their room.

“BRUTE JUSTICE: ENGAGE!!”

Lasers of light begin projecting from Navi’s camera onto the ground below, drawing shapes like small wheels, The lights rise higher as a skate is formed atop that, and from that alone, I can already see a holographic Sue-Zee beginning to form, going up their legs, over their torso and arms, and finally their head, clad in their purple pajamas. 

The holographic Sue-Zee strikes a dynamic pose before the beams of light from Navi begin running up and down their arms again, but instead of holograms, they’re…they’re constructing real machine parts?! Navi constructs huge mechanical gauntlets over their hands, spreading downwards into huge metal bracers on the back of their arms, though there’s a rather large gap in the center between the gauntlets themselves and the bottom of the bracers. Finally, Navi’s lasers travel all about Sue-Zee’s body, forming a metal skeleton of sorts to keep the gauntlets held up, before creating their skates at the bottom.

“Otherworldly fiends!” they shout through the static of their speaker, swinging their arms into more outlandish poses. “Prepare yourselves to feel the might of SUE-ZEE: BRUTE JUSTICE ENGAGED!!”

All the horses look at each other before turning back to Sue-Zee and tapping their hooves against the ground (Alsvid thankfully moving theirs away from crushing me any further) as if to applaud. Even Geppette is clapping for them. In the distance, however, I notice Waywright staring in awe at Sue-Zee for whatever reason...

“Not bad,” Asvild says.

“It was… Yeah, okay, that was pretty alright,” Avrak agrees.

“I liked it! Good job!” Skinfaxi exclaims.

Zee suddenly gets playfully bashful, rubbing the back of their holographic head with their giant metal hand and giggling.

“A rousing success, Sue!” they exclaim to themselves.

They straighten themselves out and point a huge metal finger at the horses with a wicked grin on their face. I can’t tell if it’s just the holographic pattern waving up and down their body, but the look in their eyes is so intense now…

“It’s time to whoop some flank!”

 

Just like that, everyone’s back in the fight, Alsvid neighing wildly as they raise their forehooves high into the air above me, while Skinfaxi charges towards Sue-Zee with gusto, and Avrak is… Oh shit, they’re heading straight for Geppette! I brace for impact, but in a matter of moments, the sound of Sue-Zee skating all about the battle field gives me hope. Navi materializes a bundle of what looks like scrap electronics and machine parts and chucks it at the horse charging towards their controller. An explosion of scrap sends Skinfaxi off course as the technical marvel skates circles around them, building up speed. Those skates DO have rockets built into them! I knew it!

Just as I raise my arms to block the blow of Alsvid’s hooves, the sound of a pained whinny gets louder and louder as Avrak’s body SLAMS into Alsvid above me, sending both toppling away. I roll to the side just in time and get up, looking to Zee who’d built up incredible momentum before hurling their metal fist right into the unsuspecting Avrak.

“You’re lifesavers, you two!” I tell ‘em with a thumbs up and they do the same back with their robotic gauntlets, grinning madly still.

“I’ve got Navi handling one of them,” they say motioning behind them with their metal thumb.

I see Navi summoning scrap bomb after scrap bomb, not directly attacking Skinfaxi, but terrorizing them enough to keep them away.

“Now it’s three on two! What say you, Cat?”

God, their smile is infectious. I slam my fist into my open palm and turn to grin at the two horses beginning to pull themselves off of each other.

“I almost feel bad for ‘em but...GIVE ‘EM HELL!!” I cry, charging in with Sue-Zee behind me. 

Time for some brute force! I leap towards Alsvid, paw pulled way back for a punch. They’re swift, quickly turning their body to intercept my attack with a bump of their flank, throwing me back. Meanwhile Avrak begins backing up, eyeing my partners dead in the eyes, flame billowing from their nostrils as they begin to charge forward. Barely a second in, though, Zee and I see an opening. We maneuver out of the way of the incoming horses, Sue-Zee skidding on their skates and me on my paws, before we both lunge towards our targets! Both horses huff angrily, whipping their flaming tails around and shooting waves of flame at us. I ain’t worried about it, shrugging the fire off easily as I angle my shoulder towards Alsvid. I spare a concerned glance at Sue-Zee, but as usual, they’ve come prepared. The gap on their bracers slam shut like mechanical doors, then spread out to the sides, forming a veritable riot shield as the two of us fend off the horses’ fiery attacks. We shoulder tackle them, the two horses neighing as they’re slammed into one another again.

“Flame resistant, huh?” I muse aloud.

While our enemies struggle Sue-Zee circles around to my side. At this distance, I can faintly hear the sound of intense chiptune blaring out of their headphones.

“One of the few things we had to work on tonight before we could really throw ourselves into a fight!” they explain with a smile.

Their face looks a lot less amused a second later. I see why as we all turn around: Skinfaxi got out!

“Alright… Hit ‘em hard with us, Cat!”

I nod, their music still audible as I begin to realize it’s very much matching the rhythm of my own soul. I can hear it. I can feel it. We’re in sync as I take a deep breath and I pull my hands back. Zee begins to spin in place, building up as much momentum as they can as the horse ahead of us charges faster and faster, fire building behind them and forming a chariot of flame and ash. Dragging behind it is a gigantic orb of flame, mimicking the sun itself. Even with my heat resistance this is gonna hurt, but we can do this. I close my eyes, listening. Within the blaring and blasting beeps and boops and the speeding percussion, I hear it… the chiming of a piano.

I begin to spin with Zee in the opposite direction, feeling the heat in my paws begin to build, and I’m soon gripping something burning hot in my hands, just before our target is right on top of us. My eyes shoot open with a fierce glare.

“I’M DONE FUCKIN’ AROUND!!” I scream at the incoming threat.

Both Zee’s metal fist and the newly formed morning star in my hands, molded out of burning light, collide with the horse. Skinfaxi continues galloping as the force of our attacks collide. Every one of us grit our teeth as sparks fly, the sun behind our enemy only burning hotter! But three versus one is proving too much, and as Navi’s last scrap bomb lands next to the horse, Skinfaxi yelps with fright, giving in to the impact of our attack and flying straight into their own sun, the three of us watching as it bursts into a brilliant explosion of light.

“Looks like team rocket horse is blasting off ag-- OOF--”

Before Zee can finish their incredibly witty reference, the two foes we’d neglected make themselves known once again, slamming my partners a distance away.

“SUE-ZEE!! Grr!!” 

I throw my hands up between Alsvid and I before I can look to see if they’re okay, pushing back against them and kneeing them in the chest. I reel my arm back again, but as my fist collides with their incredibly tough body, the impact throws us both back.

“We’re okay! Just a hologram! Ough, still felt that one from home…”

I sigh with relief and exhaustion. My partners are okay but we’re still fighting these horses. Brandishing my morning star once more, I start swinging, the tips of each point wispy like trails of fire in the wind. To the side, I can see Sue-Zee getting up and huffing, circling around their target again with Navi close above them.

Avrak seems determined to attack Geppette, but thankfully Sue, Zee, and Navi can fend them off easily enough. But our attackers just don’t relent! I slam my morning star against Alsvid’s fiery attacks again and again, but as the battle between Waywright’s forces and the Fallen Daughters wages on, it begins to feel like this fight is going to last forever-- Wait, where did Fox go? I look back once again at Geppette and see her calmly sitting in bed, not a plush girl to be seen around her (unless the dog counts).

“Get them close.”

Her voice whispers into my ear, but as a gust of wind soars past me, I see no one around. Alright, babe, we can play games… I begin to fight more defensively, allowing Alsvid’s attacks to push me back again and again while my positioning allows me to drag our fight closer and closer towards Avrak. Seems Fox’s message was relayed to Sue and Zee too, as the three of us begin to position our designated foes closer, dodging around them until they’re back to back, at which point Avrak looks to the side and sees Geppette out in the open.

“Ey, screw this, just go for the mark!”

The horses nod at one another, turning to the bed…upon which no one lays. They stare at each other with confusion until a gentle gust of wind begins to reveal the form of my girlfriend, as if it’s blowing away a cover. There she stands, plush no more, arms crossed, and eyes closed, until she looks up at the remaining enemies and smiles.

“Are you two the ones who so rudely tried to interrupt my rest?”

“Uhh, actually there was a third…”

Fox laughs at Alsvid’s response.

“Good job, you three. Allow me to finish the rest.”

Before the horses even get a chance to attack, Fox disappears in a gust of wind, only to appear behind them with another breeze, her claws reeled back and primed to strike, twin slashes from windy scythes making the horses stagger in pain. As they turn, Fox is already gone, appearing at their sides for another pair of strikes.

“Burning bright, can you withstand the cold winds of the night?” Fox’s voice echoes around us all. 

Her attacks start slow, allowing the targets to attempt to turn and face her, but gradually, the speed of her assault builds like a crescendo, each movement of wind sounding even more intense until she’s seemingly teleporting around at blinding speeds, her fury relentless!

“I’ll extinguish your flames…”

The panting and exhausted enemies are given only a second to breathe before the image of Fox slices clean through them. Harrowing winds whip about and slash all around the horses as she stands up next to me, back turned to the foes fallen onto their knees.

“G-guh! Okay, alright, we concede! Skinfaxi is probably already back at home anyways…” Avrak whimpers, getting my partner to look around and smile at them.

“Wish I could have met them too. Then maybe it would have been a fair fight.”

Alsvid looks up at me with a pained face.

“Is she always this edgy…?”

“Mmm, no. She’s just figuring herself out is all.”

Already I see Fox blushing, prompting me to start patting her head in an obnoxious and affectionate manner. Alsvid and Avrak nod and sigh before their summoning circles reappear around them and drag them back to what I presume is the Radiant World.

 

All four of us, oh, and Geppette who reveals herself from behind the bed, all look to see Waywright looking rather overwhelmed, but still fighting strong. I’m about to jump in and end the fight myself, when Fox stops me, pointing to someone creeping through the chaos of the battle field…

Shunk.

“GGGAAAAHHHHH!!” 

The witch screams as Annette, finally leaving her hiding place from behind the webbed tree, drives her needle into her back, pulling it out and quickly scampering back towards us and behind Fox, peeking over her shoulder. Waywright falls to her knees, and all of the TV-head thralls turn to her, quickly forgetting about their battle as they rush to the aid of their master. Although, they don’t look so much defensive as they do…sad? Some even nuzzle up to her, which…does not sound pleasant but Inkton seems amused at least. Her breathing is heavy and her gaze is intense, furious even, looking back at us with pure resentment.

“...Grrrhhrhrh FINE. Fine. I’ll TAKE MY LEAVE, YOU HEATHENS!! But know this! My will is right and true! You shall see the errors of your ways! You will then know the righteousness of the Ink--”

As her speech prattles on, her thralls have already begun dragging her back down into a summoning circle. All of them follow her down before her voice is nothing but muffled ranting, then silence. I rest my hands on my hips and sigh with a shake of my head.

“I know we’ve been over this, but man, she really just does not get it. Anyways…”

I turn to Fox, who looks up and smiles at me, patting my back.

“I’m feeling fine, good even, if that’s what you were about to ask.”

“Good. If you’d ended up unchanged or worse for wares after all of that, I was gonna be pissed.

“But hey!” Zee interrupts. “Everything is good now right? I didn’t see you do anything that fancy two nights ago, so there’s been some improvement then?”

Fox scratches her cheek. “Maybe? I definitely feel more at peace now. That voice in the back of my head…uhh…It was quiet, but…”

“But a single session of this is no cure for trauma,” Geppette explains. “I’m not too familiar with the inner workings of magic, but I’d wager having a mind that is more your own thoughts, as opposed to the thoughts of your pain, helps to improve your capabilities. Still, that ‘voice’ you speak of will return if kept unchecked. I’d highly recommend seeking help if you’re not interested in joining your sisters, dear daughter.”

Annette seems to hug Fox from behind, smiling at her as she returns to the spider woman’s side.

“...I’ll keep that in mind,” my partner says with a sigh. “Thank you for the opportunity, umm… M… Mom…?”

Geppette chuckles happily and shakes her head.

“My dear daughter, while that is true, I feel there is another in your life more befitting of the title.”

“Jeez, Fox, why does your mom let you have two moms?” Zee jokes, getting a snort out of Fox and a snicker from me.

“Because the one I started with counts as negative one. I’ll leave it at that.”

I grimace slightly. Yeah, I remember her mom… She was really superficial around me, but I could tell she looked at me with some form of disgust, and Fox too. Ugh. I don’t like this train of thought, and I doubt my partner would either.

“Well! Are we just about done here, then?”

Geppette nods at me with a smile, holding out an empty palm facing up. What look like ethereal spiders begin crawling about it, weaving something in the center until it’s nothing but a bundle of web. The spider lady peels it away to reveal a compact with a jeweled top that looks like a starry night strung about by glistening webs.

“With this, our transaction is done. These events tend to result in a…magical residue of sorts, and because you all are the victors, it seems to like to take the form of treasures. Thus, this is yours.”

I take the compact and look it over. Gosh, it’s really pretty… I’d love to keep this, but I know Jay is gonna hound me for trying. As I put it away in my belt, I watch as the magical room around us begins to fade, Geppette’s summoning circle, a weave of golden flowing symbols, begins pulling her away. Her many many daughters scramble around us before jumping in with her.

“I do hope to see you all again soon. Such a lively bunch you are…”

I sigh. My girlfriend got turned into a doll. I got stomped on by horses of fire. The tension between Waywright and us only grows. Also Sue-Zee has the base for a mech suit.

“Alright, I’m ready to go home now.”

“Wh-- WH-WHO ARE YOU ALL?!”

Behind us, an unfamiliar voice screeches. Ah. With the manor returned to normal, we now find ourselves in the bed room of its owner. Some disgruntled looking lady. Please don’t make a scene--

“Don’t worry,” Sue says, motioning for us to stay with their robot hand. 

They gently skate over to the lady’s bedside and stare at her.

“D-don’t hurt me! Inkton just needed--”

Bonk.

With a swift motion of their metal fist, the lady is unconscious. Sue turns to us and smiles sheepishly.

“Problem solved…?”

I can’t help but laugh.

“Yeah. Problem solved.”

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