“Shit.” Tim runs his hands down his face.

  “Agreed.”

  How the hell is Tesla still managing to worm his way into Tim’s life? He’s already permanently ingrained himself into Tim’s psyche, taken away from his grades, distracted him from taking care of Cristine, and now it's possible he can just show up in his house?

  Not to mention, as if Tesla isn’t bad enough, this implies Robert has far more influence then Tim expected. He got a judge to let Tesla go on bail? Sure he’s backed by a Cartel now but how far can that get you?

  “Man, this is bullshit.” Tim groans. “Its just one thing after the other! Everytime I think I have one less thing to worry about, something new springs up to take its place.”

  “Such is life.” Lance pats Tim’s shoulder. “But we will handle it.”

  “What if I go home and he’s just there? I can’t just let him get away.”

  “It would make little sense for him to show up there, it's a nonissue.”

  “Yeah... Yeah you’re right. Robert has to have gotten ahold of him because of the fight, he wants Tesla so he can make weapons to use against me. They’d send him to, I don’t know, a chopshop or something.”

  Lance nods, “With someone like Tesla that’d likely be enough, I’ve certainly made do with the scrap in junk yards.”

  “Well, at least we know now.” Tim crawls into the passenger seat from the back of the van. “We should start looking for him tomorrow.”

  Lance nods, “Indeed, you should get home before it gets too late so you’ll have time to talk to Jane and get rest. I’m sure you’ll need it.”

  Tim just stares at Lance for nearly a minute.

  “Yes?” He raises an eyebrow to him.

  “Can I spend the night at your house?” Tim asks.

  “It isn’t close, and putting off however you devise to handle your feelings will just be a distraction.”

  “It isn’t close? Where do you live.”

  “I feel as if you’re stalling.” Lance reaches over and opens the passenger door for Tim.

  “Can you just indulge me?”

  “Go home Tim.”

  “But...” He tries.

  “I live in a secluded part of Alpine, now go.”

  “If you ever want to procrastinate on dealing with an awkward social issue I'm not letting you.” He says as he gets out and crosses his arms.

  “Yes, that is indeed what a good friend would do.” Lance nods and waves as he drives off.

  “Boo! Enable me!” Tim calls out after him before sighing, then leaping up into the air and flying off towards his house.

  He paces along the top of the neighbors fence and hones his senses in on Jane. She’s still awake, probably waiting for him to come back home. How’s he going to handle this? In truth, he really has no idea, so maybe it’s best just to go with the flow, wing it. After all, he’s always been more improv than planner.

  He climbs in through his window, Jane letting out a small eep at the sound—-an eep that Tim mentally sighs at, as he finds it adorable.

  “Sorry I... wasn’t paying attention.”

  “It’s all good.” Tim answers and retracts his suit, opening up his shirt drawer and flicking the Amp into it.

  “So,” Jane plays with her hair before moving it out of her face. “What um, what did you and Lance do?”

  “Build stuff and find out who bailed out Tesla.”

  “Was it that Arch guy?”

  Tim shakes his head, “No, it was Robert.”

  “Robert? Like Uncle Robbie, Robert?”

  “Yeah, him.” He scrunches his face.

  Honestly it bothers him to no end Jane still calls him Uncle, Tim hasn’t for years now, but Robert has done plenty for her and her dad, her mom too when she was around, so he gets it.

  “What the fuck?” Jane's demeanor shifts from awkward to concern. “What are you going to do?”

  “Nothing, for now. It's not like Tesla is going to show up in the next room, but, just one more thing on my plate.” He goes to lie down on the bed, but hesitates.

  Jane picks up on it and reaches for his hand, grabbing it guiding him onto the bed.

  “Listen, we don’t- let's just forget what happened ok?” She bites her lower lip with uncertainty. “It's all too much, you don’t need anything extra on your plate, and like, what if something did come of it? That’d be crazy?” She gives a half hearted laugh. “I mean, we share a room and... it's just too much.”

  She’s offering an out? Though, it’s pretty clear she doesn’t want to. That makes Tim happy, he thinks.

  “And like,” She continues, “I don’t know, like I said, I wanted to find other stuff before I told you I loved you.” She blushes, “I mean like you, in that way. You know? Like what we talked about in the library? You’re always so sure about what you want and—“

  “Not really, not anymore.” He says.

  “What do you mean?”

  Tim’s entire face flushes red as he begins to stammer. “I... you, is what I... I don't know. I know I've been thinking about you more and more and more lately, and thinking you’re, yeah, and stuff.”

  Jane blinks and her face twists in confusion as Tim's sorry attempt to explain.

  “What? How are you talking so much but not saying anything?”

  “Sorry, this is... hard.”

  “That's why I'm saying forget it!” She groans and throws herself down. “I don’t want to make your life harder! I don’t want to complicate things, I don't want to lose what we have! It’s too important! So what if you know I love you, like you, fuck!” She groans. “I’ve felt this way for years and we’ve still always been able to hug and bop foreheads and... whatever!”

  “Are you mad at me?”

  “No! I’m mad at me! For messing everything up.” She shoves her face in a pillow and sniffles. “Uuuugh.”

  That makes Tim’s heart ache, why was he so bad at articulating his words when it came to this? He could think of stupid jokes on the fly when he was three punches away from dying but he can’t put his feelings for his best friend into words?

  “I’m shy!” He realises out loud.

  “What?” Jane looks at him, again, with utmost confusion.

  “I’ve never been shy about anything before so I couldn't figure out why I was just yammering like an idiot.”

  “O-ok?” Jane wipes her wet eyes with her arm, still confused.

  Tim takes a deep breath in, and lies down by Jane, taking her hand.

  “You don’t make my life hard, you make it so, so much easier.”

  Now Jane seems like she’s sent reeling, her own cheeks flushing.

  “Wh-what are you even saying right now?”

  “We’ll never lose what we have either, there’s not a chance in the world.”

  “Are you building to a point? What’s happening Tim?” She blushes harder and scoots closer.

  “I’m trying to hit each point, hush.”

  “I’ll kill you, get to the end.”

  “I love you more than anything in the world, and I have for a long time, but I always just thought that’s because you’re my best friend.”

  “Oh...”

  “Not at the end yet.”

  “I’m going to actually strangle you.”

  “My point is, I never considered the possibility my feelings were romantic, not for a long time. But looking back now, I know I’d catch myself staring at you sometimes, just thinking about how beautiful your hair is. I already knew your habits, but I didn’t realize I started thinking they were adorable till recently, like the way you kick your feet when something exciting is happening in a manga, or the way you chew your lip when you’re not sure how something is going to go down and you skip a few pages to try and sneak a peek.”

  “Tim, I...” She begins to chew her lip.

  “What? Wanna skip a few pages?” He teases.

  “Shut the fuck up, so what are you saying? That you...”

  “That I feel the same way, I think.”

  “You think?”

  “I know.” He corrects.

  “I... but I wanted to wait until I figured out what I wanted to do.”

  Tim shrugs, “Either way, I’m helping you figure that out, dummy.”

  She snorts, “I’ll kick your ass.”

  “As if you ever even could.” He laughs, relief now filling his chest as they fall back into their normal banter.

  “Uh huh, I kicked your ass plenty of times before you got powers, cheater.”

  He shrugs, “Nah, I was holding back, obviously.”

  She rolls her eyes, “Whatever.”

  “Not even a way to prove it anymore.”

  “Whaaaaateveeeeeer.” She laughs, and he laughs with her.

  After the giggle fit, he places his forehead on hers and smiles.

  “So, are we figured out for now?”

  She blushes, “Say it.”

  The butterflies return along with the red in his cheeks at her demand.

  “Say what?”

  “That we’re together, like together together.”

  “Isn’t it obvious enough from that entire exchange Jane?”

  “Nope, say it.” She tries and makes her voice authoritative but her face betrays the display.

  “No you?”

  “Tim, please?” She had never tried to appear intentionally cute to him before, probably, but tucking her face half way into the pillow and fluttering her eyelashes at him, she definitely is now.

  “Fine, you are my girlfriend now.”

  She squeals and turns away from him, kicking her feet.

  “You’re such a girl.” He rolls his eyes.

  “Fuck you.”

  “Welp, time for borderline nothing to change since everyone already thought we acted like we were together anyways.”

  “A few things can change... You can hold my hand on the way to and from school.” She cuddles up next to him as he puts his arms around her.

  “Ew, PDA.” He teases.

  “You’re so annoying.” She snorts.

  “Aren’t you a weeb? Isn’t hand holding banned until marriage with you guys?”

  “Maybe for ones that are losers.” she shrugs.

  “So no hand holding till marriage? Got it.”

  “Ugh,” She rolls her eyes and giggles.

  “Anyways, big day tomorrow, let's sleep?”

  “Mhmm.” She squeezes his arm and covers them both up with their blanket before drifting off to sleep.

  “This is ridiculous.” Tim comments, cheeks flushing. “We get into street fights every other week, we’re fucking, violence goblins but we can’t handle walking down the street while holding hands.”

  “Shut up!” Jane blushes hard while refusing to make eye contact, the same with Tim.

  “Dumb.” Tim tries to pull his hand out of Jane’s grasp but she pulls it back.

  “Just deal with it, till we get closer at least.” She grumbles.

  They do, but bit much longer, as soon as they spot another student their bashfulness overwhelms them both and they let go of each other's hands.

  “So... see you at lunch?” Jane manages to look at his face.

  “Yeah, see you soon.” He says, meaning to add some teasing flirting at the end but can’t find the words.

  Jane is an overwhelming presence in his mind today, even though she probably shouldn’t be. There’s so many other bigger things going on, that should be tearing their way into his mind, but they just can’t make it past the absolutely hurricane of butterflies constantly swarming in his chest.

  He should be thinking about how to hunt down Tesla and what to do with him, but Jane is his girlfriend now. What does that even mean anyways? They just also hold hands now? They’re best friends that sometimes kiss? They can just kiss now? When? How does he even go about that? Just lean in? That’s what she did.

  “Tim-Chan!” Cristine yells.

  “God damn it.” Tim pinches the ridge of his nose as he takes his seat.

  So much for those passive ponders, as much as Jane is a wall between him and his super hero struggles right now, Cristine being right in front of him is a different story. God he wants to throw her into the sun just as bad as he wants to apologize for not being there to stop her from doing something so disgusting.

  “Tim-Chan!” She pokes at his back. “You’ll never guess what happened to me last night!”

  Tim scunches up his face at her, she’s acting like nothing happened, like nothing's changed.

  “I’m not doing this.” Tim scowls at her.

  “I started hearing voices!”

  He pauses, and turns to her. She seems genuine enough, but obviously she’s more malicious than he ever thought her to be. It might just be some play at pity,

  “We aren’t friends Cristine.”

  “And then I started seeing them, turns out, they were ghosts.”

  Tim frowns, “Have you heard or seen them before?”

  “Kinda, it's what got me on my demonology kick.”

  Tim’s first instinct is to worry that she actually got powers somehow. With everything he’s seen it's perfectly possible, but anomalies are rare, so he shakes it off and gets into a more realistic mindset. She might be having some kind of psychotic break, brought on by what went down yesterday.

  “Did you tell your parents?” As much as Tim wants nothing to do with her, he’s not gonna just sit by and watch her snap.

  “I was gonna but that my new friend told me not to, they might think I'm crazy.”

  “The ghosts told you not to? I think—”

  “No, not the ghosts, my new friend.”

  “Your new friend isn’t the—”

  “Anyways, I eventually buy the ghosts from another ghost I get introduced to!” Cristine claps her hands together.

  “What?”

  “I know right!? So cool! He has a bunch of really cool Yokai and of course I go for those, why would you pick anything else?”

  “What?”

  Ok, this has to just be some play pretend shit, what's the word? Chunibyo.

  “Yep! So—”

  The bell rings and the teacher demands their attention up front.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “Cristine, tell your parents” Tim orders her.

  “What the? That was kind of hot.”

  Tim cringes and grimaces as he turns back around.

  “Also, I cannot be more clear about this, do not talk to me anymore.”

  “Is this about what happened yesterday?” She pouts.

  “Seriously? Yes, obviously.” He turns back.

  “Tim-chan, Henry is a bad person. He led me on, wouldn’t you get some payback if someone led Jane on?” Cristine frowns.

  “You’re actually insane, that isn’t remotely what happened.” He turns his back to her, resisting the urge to dig his fingers into his desk. She isn’t sorry at all, remorseful at all.

  “Henry is a bad person Tim, him, his skank girlfriend, and all of his pals. I thought you knew that? You fight Darik all the time, he’s always been bad.”

  “You probably ruined their lives.”

  “Good, and I’m not done yet.” Cristine begins to rapidly scribble on her desk, “I’m going to make Henry pay, all those guys pay.”

  Great, another thing to worry about. This time though, he won’t let Tesla split his focus nearly as much, he’s going to keep a close eye on Cristine.

  For now though, all there is to do is get through class, not that he’s in a state of mind that’ll let him pay attention. He quickly finds his mind wandering to what Jane’s doing right now, when he’s snapped out of it again.

  Not by anything annoying this time, this time it's a scream, coming from the courtyard. Not the usual nothing screams that come from kids messing around, one that sounds like it's in agony.

  He’s already standing by his desk, ready to rush out of the classroom before the thought even crosses his mind that any action could compromise his secret identity, not that that matters if someone is hurt or dying. He takes a step forward, and then his leg buckles as overstimulation washes over his body.

  He falls back into his seat, trying to figure out what’s happening. It's not any of his normal senses, it feels closest to the prey response when the Phantasmaraptor is after him. But this isn’t that, this is more intense, like the feeling of dread right before a natural disaster, like watching a huge wave about to hit a beach full of people or a tornado about to rip apart a home. It feels like a calamity is about to happen.

  But different still, another nigh indescribable aspect of his powers. It isn’t an anxiety coming from inside of him, it's emanating from somewhere, it has a source, and like any of his other senses, he can hone this calamity sense to find it.

  It's close, up front, on the teacher’s desk. Tim steals a glance, and sees glowing, yellow eyes. The lights call on him to gaze deeper, but another shot of Calamity snaps Tim out of the spell and lets him resist.

  Avoiding the hypnotic gaze, Tim’s able to make out what exactly the creature is. A white flame, constantly shifting, moving, in the vague shape of a monkey. It has a flat, 2-D, red face that never moves unlike the rest of its ethereal body, never blinking those dangerous eyes. It sits there, drawing in the rest of the class's gaze, leaving them comatose zombies, some even starting to drool.

  As he considers his next move, a chair pulls out behind him and hits the ground, while the scent of cherry blossoms fills the room.

  “Yatta!” Cristine claps and walks past Tim, grinning wildly and giving the monkey a thumbs up “Good job Satori! Sugoi sugoi!” She pokes the girl in front of Tim’s head a bit. “It really worked! Now no one will realize a thing.

  The same scream from the same spot, and Tim knows he needs to act now. He filters out the calamity sense, leaving only his hair standing, and gets to work.

  “Ever taste drywall before?” Tim asks as he uses his hand to push himself straight up on his desk, sending his chair into the air.

  “Wha—” Is all Cristine manages as Tim twists into a kick, his foot hitting her head and sending her face into the nearby wall of the crowded classroom.

  As his chair falls, he snags it from the air and hops onto the spot behind Cristine, ripping two of its legs off. He quickly bends one around her arms and then trips her, sending her onto her back and then binding her legs with the second.

  “You’re the dinosaur guy?!?”

  “Prehistoric Kid.” He corrects and activates his suit. “Stay put, we’re going to have a serious talk when I get back.”

  “Wait!” Cristine calls after him. “Tim-Senpai! We’re on the same side!”

  “Stay.” PK orders as he opens the door and jumps high into the air.

  His eyes search the campus as he extends his senses to encompass the school, the Calamity sense pinging every room. He hopes to God this is just a power and Cristine doesn't actually have enough of these monkeys to fill every classroom, including Jane’s.

  His eyes snaps to Jane’s class, that’ll be his first stop, but the scream steals his attention back. Tim spots the source at bathrooms by the courtyard, Henry and his girlfriend. The small girl holds a limp arm while Henry holds his stomach and writhes in pain, a creature stalking towards them on sickle arms. It's long, its body zig zagging all the way inside of the bathroom, where it phases through the closed door. Its white form is covered in small, spike bristles, and its Fox like face wears a nefarious, dagger teeth filled smile. A wispy moustache comes from the tip of its snout, right behind its nose, moving independently of any wind going through the school.

  It raises up its huge, scythe-like arm to plunge into Henry, its weapon and body outlined in a deep purple, as PK dives down as his Pteranodon. He goes human and slides against the concrete path towards Henry, yelling “Scoop!” as he grabs the bully up into his arms, the momentum carrying them away from the strike. The creature gives PK a glance before turning to the girl, and raising its weapon up high. PK turns his momentum into a slide, and then angles his leg so he springs up, twists his body, and kicks a metal column that supports the concrete roofs that run throughout the school to protect students from the sun. It sends him towards the girl, where he once again yells “Scoop!” while bringing her into his other arm,just as the creature swipes its scythe and launches a huge slash of razor wind, it cutting through the concrete and grass of the spot where the girl just was.

  “As if Site-51 didn’t have enough reason to show up, ugh.” PK complains as he lands on a rock, smirking as the creature’s red eyes stare into his lenses now, licking its muzzle.

  “Site-51? Like Area 51? Is that thing an alien? Are you an alien?” Henry’s girlfriend quickly rattles off questions.

  “Weird panic response, but sure, we’re both aliens.” PK shrugs as then flips into the air as another air slash comes for them, bisecting the rock, sending its top straight up into the air.

  “I’m going to be sick.” The girl puts a hand over her mouth as they spin through the sky.

  “Turbulence ain't over yet.” PK says as he lands on a grassy patch and gently sends the civilians rolling, then turns to face the weasel monster.

  He leaps at it, readying a punch to land on the top of its head. His body twists to give his fist more power, and expects a small shockwave to come when his punch makes contact, but instead his lenses go wide as his attack phases through and sends him into a spiral. The creature snickers as it turns its scythe arm upwards and slices straight through him.

  There’s no physical damage, no blood in the air, but PK still feels the blade go through him, sending pain all throughout his body. Familiar stars burst into his vision and his brain almost forces him to lose consciousness, but he hangs on and is able to shift, becoming small and shrinking towards his left in order to dodge a follow up strike, before landing and backflipping away to try and make some distance.

  The weasel pursues, slicing through the air in a zigzag pattern after PK, who turns into a Pteranodon and flaps his wings to send himself backwards faster. The creature opens its mouth up, and air begins to rapidly enter it, sucking PK back towards it as its tries to X-Scissor him with its blades, but he briefly makes himself a few tons heavier to send him back to the ground, and then shifts back into human to roll beneath and out of the way. He uses his hands to send himself up, trying to land a kick to no avail as he phases through again, then lands and runs towards the bathroom, using the wall to run up and dodge a bite from behind.

  His momentum carries him up and onto the ceiling, where he falls and grabs ahold of another of a metal pole, spinning around it and seeing if his feet find purchase anywhere on the beast. They don’t.

  “Tsk, if you’re actually a ghost then how the hell do I...” He stops talking as it swipes at him, the scythe making contact with the pole as he ducks under it, causing a loud metallic pang right by his head that briefly throws him off, enough for a follow up strike to rend through his arm, making it start to feel numb.

  He tenses his legs and leaps forward in a burst of speed that makes nearby windows rumble, and the weasel gives chase. PK’s eyes quickly dart around, confirming that Henry and his girlfriend are gone, before a shot of wind from the ghost’s mouth nearly trips him up.

  PK looks behind him and watches it chase, trying to think of something, anything he could do to fight this thing. He didn’t know anything about ghosts, especially the Japanese flavor of them, but if they exist then people have to have dealt with them before.

  He looks back again, struggling to remember any stories Jane had told him about them, when he notices something that makes his lenses narrow. It’s chasing in a zigzag pattern, never once making contact with the metal loadbearers. A few seconds ago its scythe made contact with the one who was spinning on too, no phasing.

  Tim turns and kicks off the ground, winking at the creature as he sends himself backwards. He flattens his hands out and spins, carving through a small portion of a beam as he passes by, sending a piece flicking forward that he catches with his foot and sends up into his hand. Reaching the end of the path with a skid out onto another grassy patch and planting his feet, he pitches the small bar forward, and it makes purchase on the creature's snout, making it scrunches up like an accordion.

  “Heh.” He takes the chance and sprints to the next closest pole, carving through its top and bottom, letting it fall onto his foot, then flicking it up into his hand.

  “Siri,” He says as he twirls the pole around. “Play Duel of Fates.”

  The creature snarls and rushes him, slashing. PK quickly deflects, jumps up, and slams the makeshift weapon into the creature's head. He kicks off the ceiling onto the floor and follows up with another swing, sending the creature out into the courtyard. Purple outlined fangs litter the ground, and the weasel licks its gums and watches as they evaporate and reform in their proper place.

  “Aw man, my healing factor felt so original before!” PK complains as he rushes the creature, tossing the pole a head as he transforms into a Utahraptor and grabbing it with his mouth.

  The weasel charges back and their weapons make contact with a loud pang, then PK pivots to make another strike. The creature sucks in air as it positions its back half behind PK, making PK’s attack miss, and then lets out a torrent of wind that sends him off his feet. Its back, sickle feet begin to kick wildly, like a cat attacking a toy, and the blades poke in and out of PK as he passes by. He tumbles and loses the pole, becoming human he tries to reach for it, but finds himself leaving the ground as the creature begins to fly in a circle above him, quickly forming a whirlwind and sending him spinning.

  Around and around as he goes, vertigo taking his body as he spins faster and faster. His mind quickly goes through his large catalog of animal facts as his vision blurs and his sense of balance is thrown. Vertebrates, from mammals to fish to dinosaurs, could get dizzy because of their vestibular system, so maybe something without one can remove the effects? The most obvious answer is an arthropod, but Tim has tried them before, their senses so wildly different from his that they’re completely disorienting. They’re just so different, alien. but he makes out the sight of the weasel sniffing the air and starting to fly off, so he decides to suck it up.

  First he has to escape the whirlwind, and becomes a sauropod to escape its grasp, stumbling and leaving behind large craters. The dizziness nearly topples him onto a classroom, but he transforms into a Meganeura, the arm sized dragonfly. Impossible to describe sights flood 360 vision, his antennae feed alien stimuli into his all to human mind, but hey, the dizziness is gone.

  His wings beat a mile a minute, keeping his vibrant blue and green body hovering in place a few feet off the ground. He retracts his senses, and gives himself a few moments to feel them out, before flying in a straight, diagonal line to the pole sitting by him, and picking it up with his 6 legs.

  The speed of this form far exceeds Tim’s expectations, over shooting the Yokai, and just as quickly correcting himself. He rockets directly backward, not needing to turn at all as the tip of the pole bashes into the ghost. The weasel shoots out and goes to rip at him, PK tries to dodge but his inexperience with the form shows as he isn’t able to interpret exactly where the claw ends up and takes another strike.

  His body goes numb for a moment, his wings stuttering to a stop and he’s sent skipping along the ground. The weasel capitalizes on the opportunity and chases, stabbing into him over and over and over again as he bounces like a stone across a lake. His wings completely stop as the pain spikes through him, his already confusing vision growing more so, forcing him to become human just to feel like he’s staying sane. Tim kicks himself away, into the air, briefly losing consciousness. He lands and rolls into an area where multiple, decommissioned, portable classrooms sit, gathering dust and wood rot.

  PK struggles to get up, something is wrong, he can barely make it to his feet as he watches the weasel approach him, grinning and licking its lips. His body’s going numb, shaking, his vision blurry and his senses dulling. Whatever this thing’s doing to him, his healing factor can’t deal with it.

  A clap comes from nearby, and PK glances to Cristine hopping up onto some railing that separates the old buildings from the newer ones.

  “Wow, you’re so cool Tim-Senpai.” She dangles her legs off the railing as pink fire begins to waft off her, white spirals coming out of it and forming into another the monkey.

  “Stop whatever you’re doing Christine." His lenses narrow at her as he struggles to stand straight.

  “I was trying to tell you before you rushed off, we’re on the same side.”

  “We aren’t, you’re trying to kill people.” His legs buckle and he falls to a knee.

  “Aww, that's so like you.” Cristine slides onto the ground, the monkey trailing after her. “Ever since we were little, always fighting, always trying to defend the helpless. But they don’t need your help, they’re not innocent, they’re not helpless, like I always was when I wasn’t with you.”

  “Cristine,” Tim clenches his fist, “you need to stop.”

  “No, I just need you to understand, you know I thought, since you’re Prehistoric Kid, you’d be my senpai, but maybe I should be yours.”

  “You really live in your own little world don’t you.” PK looks up at her, swaying back and forth.

  “Mhmm, wanna see it?” She smiles at him, the weasel appearing behind her and wrapping around him. The monkey clambers on top of it, eyes glowing, and Tim turns to avert his gaze, but Cristine places a hand on his cheek. Her body ignites in pink flame, and she forces his face the monkey's way.

  “It's ok, I'm going to make you understand, then we can do those super hero team up things! Yatta! It's going to be so fun, Tim.”

  Tim tries to resist, but his strength is fading and Cristine’s is growing as she transforms, a white fox mask creeping over her face, pink flame exploding from behind it. Decorative, pink and white cloth emerge and swirl into something resembling a shrine maiden outfit, though more designed for combat. Pink balls of flame swirl around her hips as a katana manifests in another flourish of fire. Finally, nine tails spout from behind her, each tipped with more swirling pink accents, making them resemble huge paint brushes.

  “Ooo, I need a name too! Like you, secret identity and all that.” She muses as she continues to force Tim’s face towards the monkey’s, now grabbing the top of his head.

  If only he brought his Amp, but he left it in his drawer at home, there’s no way he thought he would have to use it at school, in broad daylight.

  “I know! Call me Tamamo no Mae, I bet you don’t get it, but don’t worry, Prehistoric Kid-Chan, Senapi will teach you all about it once you see it her way.” She giggles.

  Dread, disaster, calamity, he has to escape, get away from this, get away from these ghosts. But how? He’s not transforming no matter how much he wills it, he feels too weak. If he could struggle enough, get to the ground, rip out some rebar, it has to be close enough to the pole right?

  But it's no use, he’s about to be brainwashed by this insane girl, she mentioned she can affect memories, who knows how much she’ll be able to change him. What would she have to change to make him ok with killing? How did it work? What else would she do to him after? She’s gone insane, is attached to him, a self proclaimed yandere? Would she remove his love for Jane and replace it?

  Jane asked him what if he died it had never really crossed his mind before, just like how it never crossed his mind that he might face a fate worse than death.

  All the Yokai turn towards an approaching sound, the revving of an engine. The area with the decrepit portables lead directly to the street, gated and locked during school hours, so at first Tim didn’t think much of the sound of a motorcycle, likely just passing by, but it sounds like it's growing closer.

  Tim’s gaze now matches the group of ghosts and he spots a large, black motorcycle approaching, a figure in black and gray riding it. His goggles fill with an eerie green light, and then a beam fires from them, shattering the padlock on the fence right before his bike smashes the gates open.

  He angles his bike into a slide and lets his own body drop, his suit shielding him from any damage. The bike slides forward and hits a divot, sending it spinning into the air towards the ghosts. Cristine jumps high in the air as the vehicle collides with Tim and the Yokai, carrying them all along with it. Tim skids across the ground, the Yokais recovering mid air and heading towards their new foe, while the motorcycle fires several anchors from its side into the blacktop, righting itself and coming to a stop by where PK lies.

  Cristine draws her katana on the newcomer and goes to stab him in the gut, but he pulls out a handful of what looks like salt from his coat and throws it into the air, sending Cristine reeling back as smoke bellows from her. The weasel Yokai dives for him, and he taps the right side of the sole of his boot, a compartment unfolding from the front of it. He quickly spins, drawing a near perfect circle around him, and the Yokai seems to collide with an invisible barrier, sending him back into the sky, bellowing the same smoke as Cristine.

  He reaches into his heavy coat again and pulls out a loaded crossbow, and fires black, metal tipped arrow up into the ghost. The first one goes through the creature's jaw, the next finding purchase all through his body. The monkey hoots and goes to make eye contact with him, yellow eyes meeting the eerie green goggles, and a beam fires from the man’s eyes again. The monkey’s head and most of its upper body explode, sending it up into the sky and evaporating as it falls, never hitting the ground.

  The weasel Yokai makes a swipe, sending a gust of wind that blows the circle away and sends the man off his feet and into a wall, while Cristine rushes him, katana ready to slice.

  Based on the assumptions on how fast he’s been moving during the fight, who Tim assumes is Lance’s cousin is only slightly superhuman. He won’t be able to counter Cristine if her strength from before is any indicator, PK has to get up.

  Just as Tim makes another push to stand, a compartment on the motorcycle unfurls, revealing the power source Lance intended on using on his new gadgets. He reaches out his senses, and drinks it up, green energy beginning to come out of his hands. It doesn’t heal whatever the ghost has done to him, but it offsets it, and puts PK back into the fight.

  Cristine’s katana almost finds Lance’s cousin’s stomach, but PK puts his hand out in front of it, the blazing energy deflecting the sword to the side.

  “Heard you liked drywall,” PK balls his hand into a fist. “Get ready for seconds.” He launches his punch, stopping short and letting the pressure wave do the rest,

  It sends her flying into one of the decrepit buildings, collapsing it on top of her. PK takes a step forward to launch himself for a follow up, but he stumbles, the amp fading and the numbness returning. The cousin catches him, and pulls him over his shoulder as Tim’s vision fades, and he passes out.