The Miyamoto's private jet landed at Athens-Ben Epps airport, and team Choice Givers filed out of the plane. The past week had passed uneventfully. Most importantly, Aiko Sakai hadn't had any further premonitionary dreams. Once this mission was done, they were caught up with their dark wyrd backlog. Hopefully, this wasn’t because the dark wyrds had gone on vacation, but because Aiko’s telepathy had completely stymied their plan such that they must have agreed to abandon it as unworkable. No one really thought they had managed to neutralize every last dark wyrd left who could make a contract. But if the dark wyrds couldn’t beat them in a straight fight, and couldn’t sneakily kill them while they weren’t watching from a distance, they would have to relapse into inaction again. If they could just beat Hank Elroy, this round of the battle was over. If the dark wyrds committed any more resources, they would only be throwing good money after bad. Once they had realized what was happening, they had stopped, just like any general would cease using losing tactics that was wasting their men. Which meant wyrd war two was coming to an end. Aiko wouldn’t miss it when it was gone. War was scary, and even when you had to kill the person standing against you, it felt like such a waste. . .because even those people still had good things about them you could respect. Even those people would’ve been better to have as friends.
Knowing the wyrd’s sense of time, their new plan may well be to wait until Aiko died, and then find a new Dead Ender with a world-ending agenda. She wouldn’t put it past them. But by then, new Choice Givers would emerge in time to stop them. The dark wyrds wouldn’t win. Because in the end, good people were stronger. Despite the efforts of evil men across the ages, the world had progressed this far. That arrow of progress would continue into the future. It was life’s destiny.
In just the six school days team Choice Givers had taken off, Hank Elroy’s radio show had drawn in millions of new listeners, as word of mouth spread that ‘this man talked sense.’ He had been invited onto a debating show on a cable news channel, and had completely floored his opponents, who had all been eager to agree with him by the end of the hour. All of the viewers of that news channel had similarly become fervent advocates of Hank Elroy. Soon he was invited onto additional shows, because his popularity was stratospheric among the ‘Hankatrons,’ and drew higher ratings every time he was invited on.
Generally level-headed news announcers found themselves bubbling over with praise for Hank seconds after he opened his mouth. Those who hadn’t heard Hank on the radio or watched him on TV found it all very strange, because the man had no credentials and never made any sense in print. But they had seen these sorts of celebrity fads come and go before. They had no idea how close to the endpoint of Hank Elroy’s exponentially growing popularity the world was tipping. If multiple world leaders listened in to one of Hank‘s rambling dialogues, there was a possibility of immediate nuclear war. Hank himself had no idea what he was doing. The poor fool was basking in his success and humbly thanking the Lord for his sudden reversal of fortune. But he had to be stopped. He had to be convinced to undo all the harm he had done and cast away his use of magic, or killed. Just one flippant remark about how all genetically altered crops should be banned could cause world famines. One humorous mention that atheists deserved to be burned at the stake like in the past and millions of people would die. While his popularity still hadn’t quite metastasized, they had to end things now.
Giving someone the power to make unpersuasive arguments persuasive was truly one of the most terrifying dead ends imaginable.
“Alright, everyone. After we’ve transformed, remember to insert your earplugs. Just in case his magic is visual, be sure not to read his lips either. We’ll have the wyrds translate what he’s saying for us. His persuasive power seems to be an emanation from his suit, not his magical forte, which means it can’t be countered or reflected like the last compulsion user we fought. I can’t think of how we could lose this fight, since Aiko has told us his ability in advance, but stay alert anyway.” Masanori advised his squad.
“Yes sir!” His squad of teenage girls of varying beauty saluted him.
“In that case, let’s find some taxis and get a ride to his trailer park. Aiko says Hank Elroy doesn’t even know what he’s doing. If we can convince him to tell everyone to forget everything he said, and turn over his wyrd to us, this can all be resolved peacefully. But either way, this is our last battle, and we’re going to win.”
“Ohhh!” The girls agreed cheerfully, punching their fists into the air. They piled into some taxis that serviced the airport and gave Aiko’s precise directions to the driver. Aiko swallowed, remembering how bad a negotiator she had been last time they relied on her. This time she definitely wouldn’t volunteer. Chiharu said Shiori made great speeches. Aiko could just leave it all up to her. She’d already done her part just by guiding them to Hank’s location and telling them his magic. That was more than enough for anyone.
Once they had piled out of the taxis and paid their fare, they lined up one more time:
“Coi, Xanadu!” “Coi, Cyan!” “Coi, Magnolia!” “Coi, Onyx!” “Coi, Awesome!”
Team Choice Givers inserted their earplugs, nodded to each other, and then Shiori stepped forward to knock on Hank’s door.
The sound of a barking dog greeted them, followed by a few dense footfalls. Hank opened the voice and gave them a gruff question, which the wyrds immediately translated with magic: “Who is it? I told my fans not to bother me at home.”
“I’m Shiori Rin, a Choice Giver.” Shiori bowed politely. “We wanted to talk to you about your wyrd.”
“I’ve never told anyone about wyrds. Who are you?” Hank asked angrily.
“Like I said, we’re Choice Givers. We have wyrds too, so it isn’t surprising we know about yours. Your wyrd has been deceiving you, Mr. Elroy. The magic you’re using is poisonous. You aren’t convincing people with good speeches, or the help of the Lord. It’s pure brainwashing. People are helpless against the sound of your voice. He’s using you to destroy the whole world.” Shiori explained.
“Oh, I get it. You’re from the government. You’ve come to hush me up. You’re part of F-12. I know all about you. I know what you want. You plan to eat half of mankind when the global cooling starts, and silence anyone who finds out. Whether you have alien collaborators or not doesn’t matter. The Good Lord has assured me I’m doing His work. I can feel it in my heart. I don’t have to answer to cannibals.” Hank sneered.
“Mr. Elroy, please, we aren’t working for anyone. I don’t know what F-12 even stands for. . .” Shiori tried to get back on track.
“Fight Force Fraud Fatally -- Favored Few Fumigate Fools -- Fellowship Finders Fake Forever.” Hank Elroy rolled off his litany.
“Umm.” Shiori bit her cheek. Were the dark wyrds getting better at finding people who simply could not be convinced? No, there had to be a way.
“In any case, we’re not from F-12. We’re just concerned citizens. Please go back to using your own voice in public. If the Lord favors you, He can do so without cheap magic tricks, right? Face the public on your own two feet. It would be good for everyone. Isn’t that the pride of a professional?” Shiori asked.
“If you aren’t from F-12 you’re transformed space lizards who deal in human skins on the interstellar black market. I can see it in your eyes. Never mind, I will cure you of your mistakes, like I’ve cured everyone else. Did you really think earplugs would make a difference?” Hank Elroy walked back into his trailer.
The Choice Givers gave each other a despairing look. Could they really kill a man for stupidity alone? But what other choice was he giving them?
There was a squeal from an overhead radio box. Everyone looked up.
“Oh no.” Chiharu said. Simultaneously, everyone realized the noise had been loud enough for them to hear.
“You will all cease your evil ways and listen to the Lord’s truth, Hank Elroy’s wisdom, from today forward!” The trailer’s sound system blared at maximum volume. Aiko ducked in pain, trying to cover her ears. Are you kidding me? Did we just fall for this? At the very last stage?
“Take out your earplugs and abandon all hostile intentions!” The radio blared.
“That seems reasonable.” Masanori said, tossing his earplugs. The other girls agreed and tossed their earplugs to the ground, giving a starry eyed stare towards the trailer in the hopes that Hank would share more wisdom with them.
Aiko watched them. She didn’t feel anything. “Bubbles, what’s happening?” She asked her partner in a whisper.
“Telepathy can instinctively parse truth from lies. Your truth sense has saved you. Thank God you use magic at all times, just like him.” Bubbles replied magically through her ears.
“So these earplugs are useless?” Aiko whispered back to Bubbles.
“It seems so.” Bubbles said. “How will you beat him? Do you have any hidden talent for martial arts?”
“I’ll continue the debate.” Aiko said fiercely, tossing her earplugs aside.
“With Fight Force Fraud Fatally Favored Few Fumigate Fools Fellowship Finders Fake Forever man?” Bubbles blinked in bewilderment.
“Choice Givers can break down any wall, right? I can beat him with words alone. I have to beat him with words! He’s like three times my weight!” Aiko hissed back.
“Now that everyone has calmed down, I’d like everyone here to admit they’re space lizards.” Hank sat down on his trailer’s steps, getting out a cigarette.
“Certainly.” Rei agreed.
“Of course.” Chiharu nodded.
“What else?” Kotone watched Hank admiringly.
“Go to hell.” Aiko Sakai put her fists on her hips and stared down her nose at him.
Hank dropped his cigarette unlit, a shock running through him. “Admit you’re a space lizard now.”
“I’m not a space lizard, and neither are my friends.” Aiko replied. “What’s wrong? You aren’t used to disagreement anymore? Why don’t you try to beat me in a fair fight, words against words? What does magic have to do with anything?”
“Without Zaffre’s magic, no one gives me a fair hearing. They just call me a conspiracy nut and laugh. They aren’t willing to consider the evidence. They shut their brains down before my words enter their ears. I’m just leveling the playing field.” Hank Elroy replied defiantly.
“And if I promise to give you a fair hearing?” Aiko asked him.
“What does it matter. I know everyone but me is a liar.” Hank shrugged her off.
“And if I promise to listen and talk to you until you yourself have changed your mind?” Aiko asked him again.
“Ridiculous. The evidence is overwhelming. We both have aliens. What more is there to say? All the conspiracies are true.” Hank said with fervent conviction.
“If it’s ridiculous, you wouldn’t be afraid to take me up on the bet. I’ll give you a fair hearing, and nothing but a fair hearing, whether you try to use magic on me or not. In return, if I change your mind, you give up your magic and tell everyone to forget everything you’ve said ever since the day you received that wyrd.” Aiko dared him.
Hank spat in his palm and held it out. “You’re on, little missy.”
Aiko closed her eyes for three seconds, then spat in her palm and shook his hand, trying not to cringe. “The name’s Aiko Sakai. From here on, I will be your opponent.”
“Do you deny the world’s temperature is actually cooling, not warming?” Hank began.
“I don’t know anything about that.” Aiko replied quickly.
“Then, do you deny the government can cause earthquakes?” Hank’s eyes started sparkling again.
“I don’t know either way.” Aiko replied quickly.
“Then, are you aware that Monsanto has been inserting special parasites into their genetically modified crops that eat our brains?” Hank challenged.
“I can neither confirm nor deny that.” Aiko answered.
“But. . .then, what is there to debate?” Hank looked at her in confusion. “What happened to your promise?”
“I’m arguing with you as promised. I just consider all of these facts irrelevant.” Aiko answered.
“Irrelevant! The world’s at stake!” Hank bellowed. “How can these things be irrelevant?”
“Because you aren’t asking the right questions. Here, how about you try answering some of mine. Why do you think you know better than anyone else? Why do you care what happens to the world? Why do you have so little faith in your fellow man?” Aiko stabbed at Hank with her eyes. She had come a long way since being afraid to talk to strangers.
“Of course I know better. I’m the only one with an open mind, who really consults the evidence. And who doesn’t care about the world? And it’s not like everyone’s evil. It’s just those few conspirators at the top, that’s all I’m saying.” Hank defended himself.
“How do you know you’re the only one with an open mind? Because you’ve already decided you were right, and therefore any open mind would agree with you. But that’s just a circular argument. What if there were plenty of people with open minds, but you’re wrong? Wouldn’t it make sense for them to disagree with you then?” Aiko challenged him.
“What?” Hank rubbed his head.
Aiko sighed. Maybe logic wasn’t going to work after all. “What do you love about the world, Hank? If it’s just idiots who will believe anything and do whatever they’re told and their cruel cannibal mind virus overlords, why protect it?”
“It’s the world, you know. It’s where I live. It’s natural to care about it.” Hank objected.
“But what about the world do you love?” Aiko asked.
“Well. . .I dunno. . . ball games, I guess.” Hank replied.
“So you have to stop the space lizards and the earthquake machines and Monsanto and K-12 so you can watch more ball games in peace?” Aiko asked.
“No. I mean. Jesus told us to love our neighbors. It’s my Christian duty.” Hank changed tack.
“What is love? Is it loving to not trust anyone else’s opinion but your own, on anything? Is it loving to think the absolute worst of everyone else on Earth?” Aiko asked.
“People can have some flaws while still being good in other ways.” Hank complained.
“But this many?” Aiko asked, giving him a pitying look. “Do we really have, as a body, this many flaws? Have you ever once believed in a conspiracy of good people that were secretly trying to help the world?”
“I. . .conspiracies live in the shadows. Good people can thrive in the light.” Hank guarded her attack.
“Hank, I’m part of a conspiracy to help the world. I’m secretly saving the world, over and over, precisely because the world won’t accept us acting in the open. You’re part of the conspiracy to destroy it. The wyrd council is the conspiracy to destroy the world.” Aiko stressed.
“Why should I believe you? You’re just a particularly effective space lizard, what does your word matter?” Hank stood up angrily.
“I don’t matter at all.” Aiko shook her head, her black hair flaring behind her. “I only ask you to believe the whispers of your own heart. Ask me the questions I asked you, and then decide for yourself.” Aiko dared Hank.
“Then, why do you want to protect the world. Why do you believe you‘re always right? Why do you think so little of your fellow man?” Hank said.
“Answer One: I want to protect the world because I love it here. I love myself. I love my sisters. I love my friends. I love my parents. I love my country. I love eating, and sleeping, and bathing, and kissing. I love learning. I love breathing. I love color. I love sound. I love reading books. I love writing books. I love the characters in other people’s books. I love the characters in my books. I love thinking. I love wind. I love stars. I love storms. I love cities. I love comedy. I love tragedy. I love it when people praise me. I love it when people pay attention to me. I love it when I win at something. I love it when I catch boys staring. I love knowing I still have an entire lifetime of these things left to live. I love knowing that someday, I’ll give all these gifts to my children, and grow them from nothing out of my own flesh, and then I’ll get to love them too.” Aiko took a breath.
“Answer Two: I don’t think I’m always right. But that’s okay. I don't have to have all the answers, because I can always learn them from someone else. If I'm mistaken or confused, I don't have to figure it out. I can just ask someone else. Artists, scientists, philosophers, friends, family, or even aliens! There's no answer that someone doesn't know. If I keep an open mind, if I just keep on learning, I'll always stay on the right path. Humans become stronger when we rely on one another. I don't have to be perfect -- if the shards of perfect wisdom are scattered across the whole world, just a tiny bit in each person's soul, then I'll just gather them all up! That's why I read minds. That's why I read books. And that's why the whole world, past and present, communicates with each other every day.” Aiko paused.
“Answer Three: You’re right, I don’t have much faith in mankind. But I don’t need them to justify my own life. Whether they’re victims or oppressors, what does that have to do with me? My choice is to keep getting better! The rest will take care of itself!"
And in that moment, Bubbles started to glow an incredibly bright sky blue. “Aiko! Aiko!”
“Not now, Bubbles!” Aiko hissed.
“You did it! Your neighborhood. . .It’s a city!. . .It’s a metropolis!. . .the skyscrapers are a hundred stories tall. The roads are snaking around each other in a giant maze. And everywhere I look. . .on top of every roof, there’s still scaffolding building up to the next floor!” Bubbles glowed so brightly it was pouring through her shirt.
“What does that mean?” Aiko asked, staring down at her wyrd in astonishment.
“Your city has infinite possibilities! Aiko, you’re a Choice Giver!” Bubbles shouted in glee.
Aiko couldn’t help herself. She couldn’t see her debating opponent anymore, even though the world was at stake. Everything was blurred behind a veil of tears.
