Chapter 37 – Don’t Stop Me Now
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Clawing my way up to Sue-Zee’s roof, I lay low against its tiles as I assess the situation. Thankfully, the town’s population is rather small as is and it seems they weren’t able to rally too many to their cause. Only enough people showed up to form patrols of one, maybe two townsfolk, but they’re spread out pretty consistently. They even have people roaming about the outskirts of town, meaning we’d be spotted pretty easily if we tried to leave directly. The scene completely changes the atmosphere around Railsent. The night seems all the darker in the oppressive flames of their torches, flickering against the rickety wooden houses, the circles of light painting the ground trailing up and down the worn dirt roads. It’s easy to tell no one here is really guard material from their stiff stances and shaky flames, but if Rosestein’s ability to deduce our identities from a single glance tells me anything, it’s that we’re toast if we’re caught.

“...Maybe we should give up, Fox,” I hear Cat mumble as she makes her way beside me. 

I turn to see her staring sadly at the regular town folks hunting for our heads. “Cat…”

She shakes her head at me. “I don’t feel very comfortable here at the best of times, let alone when there’s a mob roving the streets! Yombroila might be getting better, but these people are brandishing weapons to strike us with! I…”

My claw comes up to her back and rub it comfortingly, giving her a weak smile. “We’ll start looking for a way out after tonight, okay? I’d be lying if I said I was any more comfortable here than you are, I just…”

I sigh and look out and over the town once more. It used to be so unassuming when we first got here, I’d actually believed it to be our last bastion of hope for a normal life. Now the town wants us dead.

“...I had hoped for so much more. I just wanted a normal life for you and me. I wanted Sue-Zee to be a part of it. I wanted…so much better than this.”

It’s Cat’s turn to comfort me, leaning over and pressing her cheek to mine as we laid atop our navigators’ roof, the faintest smile working its way across my face.

“It’s okay. It’s not like there’s any reason to lose hope when I’ve got you around.”

We grab each others’ hands and kiss briefly. I look out at the town again when our navigators sound off.

“Brzt-- H-hey, I know we stayed back here this time, but there’s something we need to do in the city, a-and…we’re not sure how comfortable we are staying in town like this…?”

I think for a moment. It’d probably be best to keep Sue-Zee under wraps… Oh. Now there’s an idea…

“...Hey Niamh...wanna cause a scene?”

I can practically feel her smile beaming brightly down on me as she hops down from her cloud above us. She then proceeds to worm her way between Cat and me, much to my partner’s chagrin.

“Finally seen the light, have ye? Took you long enough, darling~ And what exactly would you have me do?”

My devilish grin is quite comparable to the snake’s smile as my ‘plan’ coils about in my mind.

“Maybe a show too good to be true. Something where they can’t take their eyes off you.”

Cat sighs as she stands up and steps back, Niamh and I highfiving before the serpent woman takes to the skies and becomes lost to the darkness of the night.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Cat asks, amused frustration evident in her voice. “Obviously we don’t have anything to lose now that we plan on leaving, but…”

“Well, Sue and Zee need a way out of town too. They still live here, it’d be better if no one was suspicious of them. Besides…if they wanna treat us like monsters, we’ll have to show em just how fun a band of monsters can be…~”

 

It’s not long before we see the scouts on the ground begin to meet with one another, warning each other of something happening in town square; our cue to be on the move. Cat and I leap from the tops of buildings, not a sound heard from the lightness of our paws against the tiles of the roofs. Looking below, we keep an eye on the skating Sue-Zee, directing them when we see stragglers in their path. Even said stragglers get the message eventually and make their way to town square. This makes navigating a bit more awkward with folks walking up from Sue-Zee’s 6 o’clock, but they’re able to skate their way out of sight with the help of Navi giving them an extra eye in the sky, though I doubt they need it with how well they know this town.

Soon, we find ourselves approaching our destination, and seeing the swirling patterns of clouds whirling gently above the fountain in the center of town and beyond. It’s clear that Niamh’s already having fun with this.

“But if you feel how I feel…~ Please let me know that it’s real…~”

Her voice booms from over the low hanging clouds, unseen by those below. From up here, I can see her shaking her head and tail rhythmically as she lays atop her sky bed, paddling it in circles above town square with her wings.

“You’re just too good to be true~ Can’t take my eyes off of you~”

The crowd below is a mix of wary and enamoured as the song continues. These feelings are only heightened as I leap unseen onto a nearby roof and whip up my guitar to join in the snake’s performance. Cat shakes her head at me, smiling with a roll of her eyes as she takes the opposite direction. A sudden blaring sound takes my attention away from my partner and back to Niamh, and what do you know, she’s a trumpeter, building the song up and up, higher and higher until it’s my cue…

“I~ LOVE~ YOU~ BA~BY~!!” I belt out.

My strumming gets more intense as I play and leap around the roofs of Railsent, the height letting no light touch me so only a foxy shadow can be seen. I soon find my heart jumping with me as it’s pierced by another voice joining in.

“And if it’s quite alright~” Cat sings, her gentler but more vibrant singing voice continuing the song. As reluctant as she is, the way she swings her hips and jumps as she sings shows she’s having just as much fun as we are.

“I NEED YOU…~ BABY~!”

“To warm your lonely night~”

My partner and I continue to go back and forth, the rhythm so infectious I can even see towns folk tapping their feet and almost bouncing along to our mysterious song~

“Krzt-- Kay! Outta town, the coast is clear, let’s wrap up this gig, girls!”

Our trumpeting conductor from above smiles down at us as Cat and I bounce closer and closer to the north side of town, still singing and playing.

“OH~ PRE~TTY~ BA~BY~!!”

“Come on and find you stay~!”

Just as we’re about to put a cap on this performance, a much louder KRZT than usual makes itself known above the town, before…

“AND LET ME LOVE~ YOU~ BA~BY~ LET ME LOVE~ YOU~!!”

Zee’s voice masked by a voice filter sounding like the man of the night himself blares out from Navi and finishes our show. Cat and I reunite on our rooftop run as Niamh swoops down to our sides.  We all laugh with one another as we leap down to the ground next to Sue-Zee, standing right behind the town hall. Swooping in, I pick up our navigators in my arms and we all begin our dash towards the city…though, not before turning my head back to Railsent and noticing a disgruntled Harold staring at us all from the windows of town hall. I reposition Sue-Zee in my arms to better hide them from Harold, then stick my tongue out at him and leave it at that.

 

“O-oh! Just drop us off here for now…”

I tilt my head at the folks in my arms before easing them back to their feet, having arrived just at the edge of town.

“Something the matter, you two?” I ask.

They shake their head. “No no! N-no, nothing’s the matter, we’ve just gotta be somewhere else to put the finishing touches on our next project. Promise it’ll be useful!”

Sue offers me a smile, one much less exaggerated than Zee’s, but you can see the charm shine through still.

“Alright, but stay safe. I know you’re not Ascended yet, but the city is still a dangerous place.”

Sue nods solemnly at me. “Mhm, I gotcha. I’ll keep an eye out for y’all…!”

Our navigators then speed off around the edge of town towards the east. Godspeed, you two.

“What a convenient pair to have around~” Niamh comments, leaning back against a cloud with her hands behind her head, eyes closed and looking very relaxed.

“They’re definitely our ace in the hole,” Cat admits with a nod. “How do you think they do it? Having just what we need when we need it?”

The snake shrugs with a smile. “Humans have a certain ingenuity to ‘em. Besides, I’m sure it’s not exactly what you need, just that their tech happens to fit many different situations. Also, flame resistant metal? Kitten, they saw you spit fire like verses.”

My partner rolls her eyes and huffs.

“True, whatever. Anyways, how are you gonna fit into this? You don’t exactly seem like the stealth type, no offense.”

Niamh grins mischievously, raising one hand into the air and snapping her fingers, prompting a whirling mass of clouds to surround her, engulfing the snake in a coil of mist before dispersing with a poof and revealing… Uhh…?

“Down here, sillies~”

Uh huh. Looking down…there she is. A garden snake sized Niamh. Her new tiny form lacks the arms and curvature of her previous form, making her more akin to an actual snake, albeit one with angel wings and wearing a hood. The now smaller Niamh flaps her wings and flies up to wrap herself over Cat’s shoulders, my partner not seeming pleased by this in the slightest.

“No one said I’d have to do any sneaking, dear~ Just keep me close, and I’ll keep you all safe~!”

“Just don’t get too comfortable here…” Cat groans, nudging me along as we set a course for the Greenhouse.

 

Now, I didn’t have many expectations for this raid to begin with, I’ve got no idea what Minhocão or their borbs have in store for us besides a literal army of eyeballs. Still, something I would have never expected was finding our marked location being lit up like a Christmas tree. I’m about to start jumping up one of the buildings surrounding central park, when I feel Niamh fly over and slither atop my shoulders. Her small wings then poof out to their normal size despite her staying in her small form. The leap I’d already prepared is then super charged for the skies, the snake’s wings giving me an incredible boost to my vertical leap that allows me to reach the roof with only a single grab of a windowsill between the ground and here. Cat follows close behind, and Niamh returns to whence she came, all three of us then peering over the ledge facing the green house and-- Wow.

Central park is always fairly fancy and well maintained, even more so when festivals and concerts are held here, but the view from above combined with the spectacle below blows all of that out of the water. The entire garden is decked out with festive lights and lanterns, bathing the park in fiery orange and red hues and brightening the already vibrant greens of the well maintained flora, and the earthy tones of the many winding paths and the overgrown trees, whose roots twist and turn over one another, flourishing. It’s odd seeing how well trimmed their leaves are in comparison to how wildly their roots grow, but the latter just means the trees themselves are healthy, right? Just as pristine and well cared for are the ponds and streams woven throughout the garden, shimmering and glistening in the glow of the festive lights. The park is always brimming with life, but with the way it looks now, its calm tranquility has become a jungle fever, all thanks to the borbs scattered about.

There must be thousands of them spread all over the entirety of the park, most holding what look like glowsticks and waving them about wherever they go! Dancing in the lights of the fountains, in the fountains themselves, up in the trees where borbs down below point garden lights and spotlights alike up and around at their friends, they’re even atop the greenhouse itself and in its gardens! Some appear to be play fighting with their glowsticks, others actually fighting with weapons, many more playing music, and in the center of it all: a feast. The decapitated head of some otherworldly beast stands mounted center stage in the middle of the garden, a shadowy mix of a dragon and a rhino, while borbs gather around, singing, dancing, eating. It’s absolutely wild, infectious even! I almost feel like jumping down and joining in--

“Now now, dears,” Niamh says, interrupting my train of thought, which might be a good thing for once, “listen not to the sound of their song, but your own~”

Cat and I look at one another, and I can tell from the look in her eyes that she was just as eager to join in the fun before our serpent friend’s advice. The two of us close our eyes, and I can almost immediately tell what Niamh is trying to point out. Despite marching to the same beat, the song of my soul feels different from that which plays below. It’s quieter at first, almost like their sound is overpowering mine.

“Minhocão was a pain in the ass the first time Yom and the rest of us fought him,” the snake begins to explain, “and he was so frustrating for the very reason we had to do battle with the worm. He has an incredible mastery over orchestrating the soul’s song. Our triumph over him is partly what allows you Ascended folk to hear it so clearly, but that’s a story for another time~”

“Wait, first of all, are you going to be okay here then, Niamh?” I ask, looking to our chuckling serpent friend.

“Of course, I helped to fell him once before, did I not say~? Yom gifted me this,” Niamh gestures with the tip of her tail to the broach holding her hood together, looking like a spiral of angel wings, “which boosts my already strong connection to the soul’s song~”

“Alright, and secondly, the soul’s song?”

“Mmm, a bit much to explain. To put it simply, there is a reason your magic is that of wind and sound, wind as a result of its composition and how you hear it, and sound because of your own interpretation and use of it. That is the soul’s song. There’s a lengthy story as to how we figured this all out together, but again, another time~”

“M’kay, so it’s not really important to what we’re doing right now then, yeah?” Cat chimes in, looking antsy to get this raid started.

“Oh, I suppose not~ Just don’t let the ponpa control the music~ Oh, and don’t even think about flying over it all, a ponpa’s aim is true~ Or rather, there’ll be so many firing they don’t really need to. Force the lil’ minions to march to your tune~”

I nod at Niamh and look down at the battlefield before us. The density of foes is strongest closer to the center of the park and surrounding the greenhouse itself, but we should be able to sneak in a little closer before engaging the borbs. They all seem fairly distracted, so approaching won’t be too difficult, though, once we’re in, we’ll clearly be swarmed quickly…

“You said you’ll keep us safe, right Niamh?”

“Indeed I did, foxy~”

“Then you are the plan, let’s go!”

My devilish grin returns as I throw myself over the edge of the building, hearing Cat complaining about my impulsiveness as I free fall towards the ground. A good way before the concrete below, I throw my weight forward and nosedive like a professional swimmer. The sound of water splashing echoes around me as the air around me mimics the density of water, slowing my fall more and more until I’m swimming in the air down to the ground. Beside me, I watch my partner land on and then bounce off a cloud, landing on her feet gracefully where the cloud now disperses. My magic dispels itself to let me back on my feet.

“Show off.”

“Only for you, kitty~”

My partner punches my arm, and we both dash behind the bushy pillars making up the front gate of the park, using what darkness we can before we’re forced into the dancing lights of the festival.

“I guess all that sneaking practice we did here as kids is finally paying off, huh?”

Cat snickers at me, “If this also ends in you falling on top of me accidentally, I’d still call it a success.”

Ough. I feel my head rattle at the thought. Cat really has always been the better climber of the two of us, as my falling from a tree way back when reminds me. Thinking harder, was she blushing when I fell on her? Oh my god, we really go back, huh?

I shake my head and lean to the side. If we’re lucky, the dancing borbs will prove easier to avoid than the last dancers we tried to sneak by. The two of us zip in, crawling along the base of a fountain, staying just out of view of the foes circling around it. I almost find myself lulled into their rhythm before I let the airy strumming in my heart keep me on track, infiltrating their song without an eye on me.

Ahead of us is a little more chaotic, glowsticks raving about in the borbs’ hands, providing little darkness for us to cling to. Something catches my attention…the tune is different in the hoard of ravers, a more aggressive pounding drum keeping them moving as opposed to the steady prattling before. Thankfully, we can avoid that by following one of the many other winding paths about the garden, each of us gripping the other’s hand before splitting off, me to the west and she to the east.

I find myself laying low still, observing the borbs swimming within the pond in the center of the area within these bushy walls. Some are even using their weapons to paddle while sitting atop other borbs… They all seem rather light atop the water actually… Sticking to the shadows, I pull out my grappling hook and begin spinning it in the direction of the borbs, summoning the sound of a fan that builds and builds, generating a powerful wind that pushes all the confused enemies towards the far edge of the pond, even throwing some out of it! I take this opportunity to slink around to the adjacent wall and make my way along another path that quickly leads me past the raving borbs, and closer to the center of the park, where the real festival is taking place. I see Cat on the other side and give her a wave from the dark, and she smiles back and offers the same. Now begins the assault.

Now, how to open this with a bang… A...bang…! Oh ho ho, now it’s time to listen to my song. I take a deep breath and let my hands move on their own, the quiet of my strumming guitar slowly building in volume as I put together something big. Opening my eyes, I can see the borbs can even sense something is up, but by then, it’s too late.

“Yippee-ki-yay, mother fuckers!”

Pchooo-- BOOM!!

A rocket launcher of wind crashes the party with a whirling vortex of an explosion sending borbs flying far and wide, their high pitched wails becoming distant while all that remain look to me in silent disbelief. They then all promptly drop their festivities (besides the music players, who immediately resume playing) and replace them with swords, bows, axes, clubs, you name it!

 

A swarm of small little folks begin marching at us on either side, chanting rhythmically in their high pitched voices to their musicians’ tunes. The battle is on! Cat’s already blasting lasers and hurling lantern bombs into the crowd, helping to clear the first wave before spinning an orb of light atop her finger and tossing it way above the army. Said orb begins flashing all different colours, looking like a disco ball as heated lasers begin firing from each panel in time with our rhythm, spinning and frying any unfortunate enough to be standing in the seemingly random lasers paths!

Feeling the rhythm of Cat’s attacks, I zip in, knowing exactly what spots to avoid to stay out of her fire. Unfortunately, that does not mean I’m out of harm's way, as the arrows being volleyed from above quickly prove! I bring my tail up for protection, but before I can even attempt to withstand a pointed assault, I watch a mass of clouds materialize above me, then quickly freeze into a block of hail that absorbs the blow from each projectile!

The ice bursts harmlessly into sparkling diamond dust, taking the projectiles with it. With Niamh covering me, my turn approaches. I dash from side to side, feeling the wind in me with each step as I spin out a windy scythe from my claws, cutting through the borbs surrounding me before launching a punch straight forward with a dash. The sound of a speeding car accompanies me as I clear out a good amount of them in a row before slashing at my sides with magic blades to clear out the area around me.

“Brzt-- Enemies to the south are up to something!”

And our navigators arrive, prompting me to slam my tail behind me in the direction of our threat, the sound of an anvil slamming down on both my enemies and a seesaw that launches me over a sea of cycloptic foes. From up here, I see Cat slam her foot down as a blazing streetlamp bursts forth from the ground like a plume of lava, incinerating a hoard approaching her before she leaps atop the lamp and watches me. With a smile and a wink, she starts spinning, energy gathering in her hand before hurling a flaming, whirling ceiling fan. It’s light leaves a trail of ash below before landing and exploding just behind my landing point, clearing out the threats at my back. I then watch as she jumps and stomps the streetlamp into the ground, sending out waves of fire in circles around her.

Looking back to the threat at hand, I find the raving borbs from before formed into a circle, wielding wands and staves… All wearing wizard hats too. The pounding, aggressive rhythm rings through the air, all the borbs chanting as a large spell circle forms in the center of them all, and with the way it’s glowing, it looks just about to go off! I almost feel myself shuddering from the strength of their beat, but thankfully Navi above is already tossing scrap bombs! With a deep breath, I grip a windy gun and take aim. The three of us attack one after another, taking out the casters until only one remains, pointing their staff towards me as a weak stream of what would have been a sandstorm from the looks of it. Navi simply charges at their back and knocks them onto their face, literally bursting into butterflies out of embarrassment more than anything.

I offer Navi a thumbs up before finding myself winded by a giant cannonball launching me from behind! Niamh whips up a thick fog behind me, slowing the huge bullet enough for me to stop it in its tracks. Whipping my tail at the ball with the sound of a baseball bat hitting a homerun, I watch Cat on her side leaping off a tree and into the air, a flaming morningstar in paw before slamming it down into the bullet. The resulting effect is a giant explosion of dirt and fire where it lands, borbs flying every which way! Good thing everything will return to normal after this…

With each of our areas mostly cleared, I zip back to the center, reuniting with Cat and Niamh, only to look ahead at our destination and find not just more borbs in our path, but a specific one; one armed with a giant cannon. A new melody echoes around us, bounding into our hearts from the army ahead, a hunkering vibration of percussion that makes the wall of borbs look impenetrable. I look to Cat, and she smirks back down at me.

“Here’s a stupid idea,” Cat begins.

“Now you’re speaking my language!” I interrupt with a devilish grin.

“Big cannon ball, yeah? Think you could, I dunno…reflect it, like a certain other iconic fox?”

My grin only gets wider.

“I have absolutely no idea, and that makes me all the more inclined to try!

Without a second thought, I hop onto Cat’s back, and she dashes forward, even as the cannon ahead of us begins to charge up its next big attack.

“Oh~? So this ride seats two, does it~?”

“Shut up and watch this,” Cat responds to Niamh.

She promptly ignores the snake’s giggling before the sound of a stampede has the wind pushing at her back, speeding up her mad dash even further. Her arms reach back and I take her hands, my girlfriend once again launching me forward into a spin. As soon as I hear the firing of the cannon right in front of me, I release it. A flash of green prisms surround me with the sound of a mechanical light blinking, all of that wind immediately pushing back against the bullet that would be colliding against me were I not reflecting it right back at them with twice the force~.

BANG-- BOOM!!

The cannonball crashes right where it was shot from, only to explode into a violent fury. We finally clear our path into the greenhouse itself, though, perhaps a little more thoroughly than expected. I land on my feet and look to what was once the entrance, and has since been replaced with a gaping hole and shattered glass. Cat dashes up to my side, and looking around, we can all see more borbs beginning to make their way towards us. With our chance wide open before us, we swiftly make our way in, Niamh summoning more misty clouds behind us that form into icy walls where the glass ones had been before. Hopefully that gives us all the time we need.

“Krzt-- Holy SHIT, Fox, did you just do what I fucking think you did!?”

“What? Why would Fox not be able to shine?” I say with a smirk and shrug, “I’m just surprised the wind allowed me to even attempt that…”

With the knowledge of my powers growing, we move onwards. Minhocão… Here we come.

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