“The Fracture of Team Starlight” (80.6) (Kalei)

I begged Downside to let me shift, but she was silent. Part of me wondered if I shouldn't even fight back. Let monster-ified Zeta slam me on the ground over and over with her tentacle tendril thing. Maybe if she worked that out, she'd just go back to normal. I deserved it, too. Maybe this could be my punishment for being an idiot and not telling her or the others. But I knew I couldn't. I had to save her, and the only way to do that was with Downside. I was able to beat Ovie when she got hit with a Sharai Dagger on my own, but I felt like this time was different.

"Hey! Zeta! Stop!" Marmalade called as Zeta wailed out. Her monster cries weren't half as heart wrenching as Oka's, who was still desperately trying to reach out to her girlfriend.

"Oh, you wanna jump in?" Zoey said. "Commander Raytris! Let Miss Marmalade go."

The slime around Marmalade's feet let up, and she rushed for me, using her power to lift a chunk of some kind of metal from the ground, just grabbing whatever she could to fling at the tendril, severing it. I fell to the ground, and once again had to convince myself to get up.

"Don't hurt her!" Oka cried out.

"I'm not, I...I have to protect Kalei too!" Marms said. She stood between me and Zeta. Monster Zeta didn't look like she knew what to do, while still looking like she was a moment away from attacking again.

"Oh, some more tension? Maybe it's time we let all of Team Starlight go," Zoey said. "Hey, wait! Isn't that that thing they say?"

"Pfft, 'Team Starlight go?'" Chickadee mocked.

"That's it," Zoey said. "Team Starlight, go! And while you're at it, commander, please free Roux, Aira...is Syval here?" She held a hand on her brow to try and look across the crowd of captured students. "I guess he wouldn't have a reason to be here, so whatever. Yes, those lot and Lillia and Oka, yay! Scoot everyone else back a bit too so we have more room for fun."

Raytris obeyed, allowing our two teams to return to the front again, pulling the rest of the class back. My trapped friends and other classmates all watched on, a mix of fear, annoyance, boredom, the faces of people who had dealt with so much dumbass business at this school that this felt like just another step of that. Roux rushed to Raytris' side, but the slime girl ignored them.

"Aira, where are you going?" I asked as Aira teleported past us. She zipped back.

"I have Jeans stuck in me, if I'm by you all it's just gonna make everything worse," Aira said.

"Kay, fair..." I said.

Aira tried to teleport past the energy bubble again, still just bouncing off of it. But maybe she could find a way through if she kept at it, and it would maybe keep tensions low to keep Jeans as far away as possible, her projection range while she was stuck with Aira didn't seem to be too strong.

"It's OK, I'm here, I'm here," Oka said as she tried to hug Zeta, but Lillia grabbed her arms.

"Wait!" Lillia said. "She's been stabbed by a Sharai Dagger, she might not even recognize you."

"No, no she has to," Oka said, her voice shaking as though the realization that Lillia may be right struck her halfway through speaking. "Zeta, look at me, it's alright..."

Lillia wouldn't let go, though. Monster Zeta went low, ears going back as she let out a low growl.

"Just stay back for now, give her space," Lillia said.

"But...!" Oka scowled. Her eyes went to me, and my stomach dropped at her expression. I'd never seen her that mad. She didn't have to even say it, I felt it. "This wouldn't have happened if you just told us."

"No. Not now," Lillia said, reading Oka's clear expression. "We'll deal with that later. For now, we need to stay united and keep clear heads the best we can. She's trying to split us up, she wants us fighting. We cannot let that happen."

Oka shut her eyes and took a deep breath. "You're right. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She turned to me for the second sorry, but I didn't feel like I deserved the apology.

"Oka, I..." I said. "We're not friends with Jeans."

"We're seriously not working with her," Marmalade said. "She's awful, but she's like in this spirit form glued to Aira all cosmic style, and—"

"I don't want to hear it right now," Oka said.

Sensing an opportunity, Zoey hustled over to us again, crouching as she grinned.

"Doesn't it piss you off?" Zoey said. "Your so-called best friend putting you in a spot like this? I bet you know how bad Jeans was to Zeta, and now Kalei's just all buddy buddy with her—"

Oka's head whipped to the side, staring up at Zoey on stage.

"I'm going to hurt you," Oka said. "I'm going to make you pay. I'm going to hurt you. You are going to suffer."

I felt genuine terror at Oka's tone. I'd never heard her speak like that. If Zoey wasn't the one ruining all of this, I'd tell her to run. I wasn't sure if I was just going by her body language or if I genuinely sensed it, but I felt an incredible power rising in her. Zoey didn't seem to care, though.

"Can't you channel some of that fire towards Kalei? Don't you just wanna smack the dumb look off of Marmalade's face?" Zoey asked. "Anything?"

Oka didn't take her eyes off of Zoey.

"We need a plan," Lillia said. "Something to get through this barrier to start, then—"

Monster Zeta let out another howl, sounding like just existing in this form was painful. It broke Oka's terrifying glare at Zoey for now.

"Zates first," I said.

"Right," Lillia said.

"What do we do?" Oka asked.

"Here's what we do, we make this less boring, because this monster girl is taking forever to do any monster-ing," Zoey said. "If one monster Faleur isn't gonna do the trick..."

Zoey twirled the Sharai Dagger in her hand, still dripping with Zeta's blood. She flicked it away. "You can't be too careful when turning someone into a monster, practice safe monster-ing, everybody." Zoey got out another dagger. "You know how hard these are to come by? Well, for me, not so bad. Taramin Labs folks got a hold of them, and figured out how to copy them recently..." She stomped over to Anastasia, who had managed to lift her head up, but was still out of it. Zoey stabbed the second dagger down into her, then booted Anastasia out of the bubble, a window opening for just a split second, not long enough for me to grab Zoey or fire some ice volley at her.

While I was useless as Anastasia fell in front of Zeta, writhing in pain and screaming already as some horrible transformation began for her, someone else used that brief window.

I thought it was a lightning bolt at first. A vine shot through the window opened for Anastasia, rocketing right for Zoey.