Chapter 63: Truth

thesaintnoobish - I'm happy you enjoy this so much, I know I do.

depressedcoper - While I get where you're coming from, that'd still be a bad way to start the relationship because it'd not only be physically focused, but somewhat unhealthy. Amy could easily start to believe that the only reason Phoenix and Taylor would want her is for sex, which would then lead her to do things she normally wouldn't do so they could keep wanting her. No, the best way to handle Amy would be to work on the emotional aspect of the relationship, and go from there.

Guest - And now I'm thinking of making said gravity hammer for the size shifting saurian. The idea is good, and I'll probably figure out how to do it when there's time. As for the Digital World... It's... A Digital, World. The most common beginning for the Digital World is that it came about because of Humanity, so even though it usually doesn't have a sole physical server in the Human World, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to consider one could be made if 4 unshackled A.I'S and a pair of super intelligent aliens went to work.

As for the rules, it's less about trust and more about necessity and peace of mind. They're going to be constructing an entire world, filled with countless sentient lifeforms. They NEED ground rules that have to be agreed too, even if they also know they'd be agreed too. Though I do get the annoyance, it had to be done, but I do get it. And no, The Danger Room isn't necessary for them to play Yu-Gi-Oh, it's just the best place to do it because it's got a fuckton of space.

As for Melody, because it's just her, wanting to hug the kids, she's essentially kicked down the door labeled 'Mother' and made herself home in the room.

TheClowningPrince - Worm really was 'Everyone suffers' the story.

[Phoenix's 3rd person POV]

Taking a 'Break' was easier then I thought it'd be, especially given the circumstances we were currently operating under.

Not much had happened the first day of our 'Break', we'd mainly defaulted to our normal schedule, but with a few differences. The first one was that one of us was to wake up earlier then the other and start the day by cooking something for breakfast.

The second was that we ran for longer, a talk about incorporating hunting to the run once in a while being brought up, and tabled for another day. We probably would've decided whether to do it or not had we not been taking care of Amy, but it was whatever. (And it's not like I'd say no. Hunting as Wildmutt or Blitzwolfer is great. Especially if I use Set and we run together.) We didn't do that often, but it'd been done once or twice.

Third thing was that we spent alot of time with Amy, for obvious reasons. Neither of us was fond of the idea of leaving her along for long, but we both knew that she needed time to herself to think and process. Whenever that happened one of us would stay nearby, mostly in the livingroom, but depending on the time of day we might be elsewhere.

Thank fuck she couldn't say 'No' to Scylla, which probably stopped a majority, if not all, of her downward spirals from happening.

Though whenever she was in her room, which was something I made in my 'Free time', and took 2 days considering I was more focused on my projects, she was oddly quiet. It was the same kind of quiet that came around when she'd followed us into The Lab, another thing she'd been doing alot of was following us like a duckling, not that we minded, and saw her pendent and the display of a blank Suit behind it. It was like she wasn't expecting it, and seeing it was like someone kicked her in the ass. I obviously had ideas about why, so did Taylor and the rest of our family for that matter, but we hadn't brought it up yet since it wasn't the right time.

Mentioning my family, the Dragon Sisters had taken me aside for a chat, but that would come later.

All that aside, there wee a few things that happened that were worth mentioning. On the first day the cooking 'Fell' to Taylor, though I later put it together she went first because she needed something to do to get rid of the building Anxiety in her. I figured that out halfway through the first day when she'd essentially dragged me to the Danger Room, Amy and Scylla following along since they had nothing else to do, or they just wanted to be with us.

After that I decided that XLR8 therapy was going to be even freer then it was before.

It helped, but only after spending 30 minutes a day as the supersonic dinosaur for over a week. By the end of it Taylor was able to... Not forget, but more contain, her Animosity and Anxiety to move on Cauldron.

Though, that wasn't the only thing that came out of that session. While we were there we decided to test out Ghostfreak to see what we could do, and... Well...

It was safe to say that some things from my childhood had come back to haunt me.

Somewhat literally in this case.

[1st person POV]

"Ghostfreak" Letting my eye roam over my body, I had to admit that turning into Ghostfreak was fucking cool. Like, I knew I looked like a corpse covered by white flaking skin, the eye traveling along my body not making the look any better, but that all just added to the cool factor. (Not just anyone can say they turned into a ghost.) That aside, I flexed my claws, making my eye stop on my chest so I could take them in. Unnecessary, but okay.

My claws were sharp, I knew they were, but it was somewhat strange to see thin bone like claws, and knowing they could do the kind of damage they could do. Especially when one saw Ghostfreak in all of his emaciated ghastly glory, That's... One way to call it. Eh... "Well, this could be weirder." And it really could. I could've had the Omniverse version that looked like I was into some BDSM shit.

There was a pulse of Amused Exasperation, followed by a verbal response. "You say that like looking like a rotting ghost is a 'Normal' thing." I snorted at that, turning towards my Other Half to s...- I froze, eye wide as I stared at her. This form may not have had hormones or the necessary equipment, but if it did I'd already be off the deep end seeing my Other Half. Well that's always a nice thought.

Starting off with the most obvious thing about her Hybrid form was the fact that she was gray. Her hair and skin were a more ash whitish color, the linings of her dress/cloak were still black, and her only visible eye was a striking violet, but she was mainly gray. Her hair had grown to cover her left eye for some reason, and had a zigzag pattern at the top, but aside from that it seemed mostly the same, if only a little curlier. Wait, is it? She idly raised a clawed hand to her hair at that thought.

Moving on from that was her covering... Which took the form of a dress. Said dress had a half hood that stopped halfway up her head, glove like portions that stopped up by her forearm, exposing some parts of her pale skin, and flared out at the middle to create a kind of cape, but I knew it seemed to serve as her tail. Though the rest of the dress constricted a bit, hugging from her hips down to her legs, only breaking apart by her feet, which seemed to be covered by pure black heels which brought her up to a solid 6'2.(apoloniodraws on gelbooru)

Definitely knowing what I was feeling, my girlfriend blinked, then raised her visible brow at me. "Yes? Something you'd like to saaay~?" Oh she definitely knew if the purr and Cocky smirk she shot me meant anything. It also didn't help that she sounded like a seductress.

Not even caring about what I was thinking, I replied with the first thing that went through my mind. "It's my sexual awakening all over again."

"Fucking same, man." Neither of us missed that rather low whisper coming from the only Human in the room.

Still, we shared a look at that, both sure that Amy hadn't meant to say that outloud. [Blackmail?]

|Blackmail.| I mentally snorted at that, but wholeheartedly Agreed that it would be worth it to wait.

Back on point, the earlier spike of Interested Amusement meant she hadn't been expecting that kind of answer. "What do you mean by that?" She was genuinely Curious too, and considering Amy was looking between the two of us, but mainly Taylor, with a look on her face, she probably was too... Well, when she probably wasn't busy thinking about looking under Taylor's dress.

Bringing my eye back to my face, I made a show of 'Rolling' it by moving it up and down. "I grew up on Raven," I noticed the pulse of Surprise from that, but didn't pay it much mind in favor of sending over an image of said Titan. "Blackfire, Jinx, Darcy, Sam(Danny Phantom), Mai, and Shego. My fate was sealed by then, and seeing Morticia Addams from the old 'The Addams Family' movie was the final nail in that particular coffin." With each listing the Surprise grew, and when I was done I turned around, a Suspicion having formed when I was halfway done.

And just as I expected, there were projection of each named character standing, or floating in the case of Raven and Blackfire, behind me. I took in all of them, tilting my head a bit at the portrayals. I'd looked up some art, as well as some 'Art', about a majority of these characters at one point or another, so seeing some of them looking nearly identical to said art/'Art' wasn't that much of a Surprise. (Probably have to ask Aunt Erin if she's gone through all the porn in my memories.) That was going to be an... Interesting, conversation.

|One that maybe you shouldn't have for the sake of my sanity.| Now there was a thought. |I don't know why I bother.| I was tempted to cackle at that, but decided not too given the circumstances.

Brushing all those thoughts aside, I nodded at the projections. "Yep, sexual awakening, thy fetish is goth."

My girlfriend snickered at that, making me move my eye towards the back of my neck, Kinda a waste that I can't do that. "Okay, could you not?" My eye automatically darted towards Amy, who shivered as it did. At the moment the brunette healer was in one of Taylor's more baggy shirts and a pair of my comfy pants, our Daughter wrapped around her waist as she usually was. Said Daughter was just staring at me though, head cocked to the side like a puppy as she watched me, while her Mother was also staring, but looking more creeped out then anything. "Seeing an eye moving along a corpse's body is sort of freaking me the fuck out."

I laughed at that, the sound coming out like a death rattle. "Aww, is Ms. 'I've seen everything and can't possibly be freaked out', freaked out about a little old ghost?"

Amy just raised an unimpressed brow at me. "I will rip out and stab you with your own rib." My Other Half cackled for a moment, catching herself the next one. The Surprise was enough to tell that she hadn't meant to laugh aloud like that, so her Hybrid form probably had some emotional fuckery going on with it as well.

That aside I just shrugged, floating towards Amy and Scylla. They both saw me coming, but didn't move away, even when I was right in front of them. "Anywaaay, want a look?" I reached out a clawed hand and held it in front of Amy. There was no brain for Amy to fuck with, so even if her Power tried to fuck with me it wouldn't take, so I wasn't Worried about that, and since I was in a different form it would make sense for me to not have either Coronas. (Though, she isn't stable enough to know neither of us have them when we're in our base forms either... If she doesn't already.) I wasn't sure if she knew or not, but didn't think about it for now.

Amy froze, eyes laser focused onto my sole violet eye. I just stared back, waiting for her to do something, which only happened after a bit of silent staring... And both of us choosing not to address the snake sniffing my hand. "... Okay." And with that she reached out and grabbed my hand...

And immediately jolted like she was shocked. "What the fuck?" An appropriate first response. "What the fuck am I looking at?" Another appropriate response given the situation. "Just what the actual fuck is this shit?" Taylor and I snorted, my eye reflexively traveling to my shoulder as I noticed the fact my Other Half was floating by my side.

Though before I could say anything about it, the voice of my Daughter sounded out. "$Daddy, Auntie, what does 'Fuck' mean?$"

Taylor and I shared a look at that. [Dump it on Amy again?] I say again because after the revelation that her Father had offed himself she hadn't given Scylla a talk about not cursing.

I sure as fuck wasn't going to do it, being fully in the camp of letting my little alien snake Daughter curse to her hearts content, while Taylor was in the opposite camp. |Yes. The answer is always going to be yes.|

Well then, tough shit for Future Amy.

[3rd person]

We'd learned alot from that session.

When it came to Taylor's Ectonurite Hybrid, which she'd named Melinoe, we found out she could do almost everything Ghostfreak could, and was pretty much as strong and durable as he was. Though for some reason she had more control over her density shifting, being capable of mimicking a Haunter and Mimikyu with some of the things we learned she could do. She did the former by turning her wrists to 'Smoke', and using that 'Smoke' to make her claws even more dangerous then they already were. One could figure out how she did the former by being creative with what she did with the latter.

Those aside, the only thing we couldn't test was possession. Amy had given permission to try it, Concerningly quickly mind you, but considering she was still hooked up to an alien parasite that gave her Bio-Kinetic Powers, we weren't really jumping at the bit to see if Taylor could pull it off. Hell, I didn't want to see if I could pull it off. I was pretty sure her Shard was on the same, if not close, level as Taylor's old Shard, and no goddamn way in hell was I going to give it the chance to get into my mind.

I was the one that would do the mind fucking, thank you very much.

That little bump aside, my Other Half and I had taken a good hour to familiarize ourselves with our new forms. During that time we found out that yes, Melinoe had some emotional dampening/amplification going on, specifically with the more self depressive kinds of thoughts, and anything that promoted aggression and sadism. Those weren't Surprising, so we noted it and moved on to the last of the tests... Which included Ah Puch...

On the one hand I liked him, I liked him alot. He was a big scary murder ghost...

On the other hand I promised not to use him unless we were going to ambush the fuck out of someone, or when we needed some non destructive crowd control, because holy fuck did he bring my Sadism meter up to 200. I'd also had to continuously restrain myself from possessing Amy, or having one of my feelers detach and put a baby in her because of the sheer amount of negativity she was bottling up... Which was also a Worrying thing since I could tell said bottle was cracking, and would undoubtedly break soon.

It was only a matter of time.

It turned out that Ah Puch was a pretty good Empath when it came to negative emotions, which was probably what an Evolved Ectonurite looked for when it came to their victims/unwilling nannies. If their prey were already fed up enough with the world then it wouldn't be out of character for them to begin a downward spiral that ended in them 'Disappearing.' (Note to self, find College Freshmen/Seniors during exam week if I ever want to have a ghost child.)

I'd amended that thought after remembering something real fucking important a half hour later. (Ask Aunt Tess, and whoever is in charge of The Birdcage, if she's fine with donating me some fucks to seed with an Ectonurite.) There were a bunch of people no one would miss in there, making prime real estate when it came to spawning Ectonurites. I doubted they'd let me do it, but it was something to think about.

Finishing up with the stuff that happened during that session was us figuring out that Amy could sort of read Ghostfreak's genome. She couldn't read all of it because 'There's this weird purple shit that my Power can't feel it', which sort of reminded me about what she said about Snare-Oh.

That thought led me to think if that was just a shared trait between the aliens from the Anhur system. We could test that if I just turned into Blitzwolfer, but I didn't trust her Power to not pull a fast one and try to enslave me. (Wonder how her Power would see Frankenstrike.) I'd never find out though since I didn't have him, and wouldn't get him without going to the Ben 10 universe and scanning one myself...

That was another thing though. My Future Self filled me in on what else would earn me new forms, and I wasn't Surprised at the criteria.

Killing Behemoth would earn me Way Big.

Killing The Simurgh would get me something called Toepick, a stupid name that I would change to something better whenever I got it... If I ever used it. Apparently the fuck was a walking Trigger Event, so using him would kinda be like shooting myself in the foot.

Killing Leviathan would get me Ripjaws, which I was kinda looking forward too. Sure, he wasn't very strong outside of the water, but he was a classic. You could never go wrong with the classics.

Apparently there were more Endbringers, because for some ungodly reason we hadn't killed Eidolan by the time we killed Leviathan, and they got me some more forms... Though considering neither Taylor, the Dragon Sisters, or I were in the department of letting more living siege engines come into existence, we resolved to come up with a plan to kill the High Priest when we had the chance...

Though, that was getting ahead of ourselves.

Before that could happen we were focused on taking care of Amy, and working on our new project. We wanted to work on the Suit and her gear too, but for some reason Amy was stopping us from doing that. Whenever we asked why she would clam up and look away, but we could both tell she was bottling shit up, so we didn't say anything.

As fucked as it was we were expecting an inevitable meltdown. We weren't leaving her be or feeding into it happening, fuck, we were actively doing what we could to mitigate the damage/chance for it to even happen, we were just expecting it and were prepared/preparing for if/when it happened. She had way too much squirreled away for one not to happen, and without being able to turn her into a Kineceleran or a Hybrid, there was no shortcut to getting it all out before it burst out of her. We just hoped that we'd stave it off long enough for it to be a shadow of what it could be if she were alone.

Thankfully we could work on other things.

Other things like the Digital World Initiative.

As it stood we would be working in groups.

The physical portion of this plan, and one of the most important, was a server strong enough to not only simulate an entire world, but capable enough of sustaining it for years, if not decades. This was going to be what Taylor, Aunt Illiyana, Aunt/Mom Melody, and I would be primarily working on. We learned early on that mundane metals wouldn't be powerful enough to work with, so we'd need to use the more exotic stuff, which meant we were going to need an ungodly amount of trash to refine into finer material, which would then be refined again into even better material.

Thank God that Humanity had a pollution problem. (Something I'm sure no one has ever unironically thought.) Thanks to that it only took a half hour of me heading out as Lodestar, and Aunt Dragon supplying us with a storage craft big enough to apparently hold '200 tons of material', to get enough scrap metal to work on that.

The other half of this undertaking was going to be worked on by, my Aunts, given their inherent nature as A.I'S, and myself in my Thoth and Prometheus forms. Taylor wasn't all that Confidant about programming compared to the rest of us, and decided to just stick to the more physical aspect of this project. Anyway, this part would be responsible for programming the seed that would sprout into the Digital World.

A week of work had gotten us around 80-85% done... Which should say something given this was being worked on by 4 A.I'S, a Galvan/Cerebrocrustacean/Galvanic Mechamorph/Planchakule, and a Hybrid of those aforementioned species. Hell, even using Thoth and Prometheus for this hadn't led to instant success.

But again, getting ahead of myself.

The first day hadn't had much happening, just the foundations of what our break was going to look like, and what we would be doing. Amy had her moments of silence or near episodes, but we, which included Scylla, were quick to stop them before they could go anywhere. We quickly found out that physical contact, hugs specifically, would snap her out of her thoughts, making her focus on whoever was hugging her at the time. Scylla also managed to get her to stop spiraling by nudging Amy's cheek with her head, which made me proud of my little snake, and a bit Sad that she had to do that in the first place... Which was a strange experience for me, but it was whatever.

By the end of the first day we had the foundation of our break set up, plans for the Digital World Initiative, ideas on how to help Amy, and Taylor wasn't liable to run off go 'Lord of the Flies' on Alexandria.

Things had been looking up.

The 2nd day followed that pattern, wake up and cook, it was my turn this time and I went with simple pancakes, bacon, and boiled eggs. Morning conversation was somewhat stilled, for good reason since both of their Fathers were gone, one missing and the other dead, but we made due.

But it was when we were about to go for our morning run that something new happened.

[Amy's POV]

After sparing my Daughter one last look, I turned away, setting my sights on my only two friends and crushes. Scylla would be fine on her hunt and would end up back with me in an hour or something. (She might sun herself a bit though.) Shooing that thought away, I focused on the now.

Looking at Phoenix and Taylor doing some stretches, I couldn't help but stare and think. Part of it, a big part really, was because they were both hot and seeing them in a muscle shirt and sweat pants/sports bra and yoga pants was not helping me stop being a useless bi-sexual. But the other part was something that I'd thought about before, but hadn't tried to do anything because I hadn't really worked out before. (I'm going to hate myself for this, I know I am.) Chewing my lip I stepped towards them, two pairs of green eyes turning towards me as I did.

For a moment, I paused, feeling like this was a bad idea for a whole fuckton of reasons. But seeing the way my friends looked at me, the mirrored raised brows and small smiles, made it easier to forcefully set those thoughts aside. "Can... Can I run with you two?" There, I said it, the ball was out of my court now.

I watched as Phoenix and Taylor blinked, shared one of those looks that made it seem like they were talking with their eyes, then turned back to me. ""Sure."" And of course they were doing that whole twin talk shit. I knew they did it to fuck with me, but it was still kinda weird to hear them talk at the same time. ""But..."" Their eyes raked over me, making me wring my hands. I showered earlier, so the turtleneck and plaid pants I was in were fresh, though part of me was still worried they'd see something wrong with me.

More then there already was atleast. ""You'll need some actual workout clothes.""

The sound of a beep went off, catching all of our attention as Melody appeared. "# Reminder, it is 3 degrees Celsius outside. She'll need far more then what you two are wearing to keep herself warm. #"

""Ah/Oh."" Those twin responses nearly made me snort.

The confused looks on their faces only reinforced that. But then, with one of the most nonchalant faces I'd seen on him, Phoenix spoke up. "As an American, and despite already knowing what it is, I'm obligated to ask. What the fuck is a 'Celsius?'" That did it, I snorted.

Melody scoffed. "# Ugh, Americans. #"

(Said the woman with a New York accent.) I snorted again. (Maybe asking wasn't a bad idea after all.) My lips twitched at that thought, but that was it.

After that bit Taylor and Melody brought me to Taylor's room to get a change of clothes... Though, we figured out an issue a minute or two into the search for workout clothes...

Mainly the fact that I had fuck all that would qualify in this weather/environment. Hell, even if we weren't in fucking Alaska of all places, I STILL wouldn't have had anything that could qualify as 'Proper' workout clothes. (Doesn't help that I'm both shorter and bigger then Taylor.) I was pretty sure this was some kind of karma or something. Since I was two whole cups bigger then her I couldn't use her sports bras without my tits either spilling out, which was a thought that almost made my eyes flick over to Taylor, or constricting them to the point of uncomfortably choking me... (Wait... What?) I thought about that for a second... Then chucked that thought into the 'Don't think about it' box... Which was getting uncomfortably full at this point...

That whole thing aside, I didn't really have anything good enough to work out in 'Oh good fucking God it's cold' weather.

Thankfully for me, Taylor had an alternative. "Well, we can just use the Danger Room. That's part of why it was built for in the first place." I let out a sigh that I didn't even know was building, satisfied that I didn't have to freeze my tits off by running outside in a snowed in woodland.

Now I just needed something to work out in, which should be easy enough now that I knew we were going to be indoors for this.

[15 minutes later]

I was going to figure out time travel just so I could murder the me of however the fuck long ago. My feet were on fire, a feeling sort of shared by the rest of my body and lungs. I knew I was, not exactly out of shape, but not as fit as I could be, but holy shit! (I'm going to die, and it's going to be because I can't fucking jog!) And of course it was when I thought that that the fucking unthinkable happened...

I fucking tripped! "FUCKI...-" Two different arms latched onto me, one gripping the back of my collar, and the other wrapping around my waist, both stopping my from eating shit. Since I wasn't falling, my eyes darted towards who was holding what.

Phoenix was gripping onto the back of my shirt, like I was some kind of kitten in its mother's jaws, while Taylor had her arm wrapped around my waist. Two different ways of keeping me from eating metaphorical dirt. Two ways of making sure I was safe. I'd already felt better just by being in the center as we jogged, but this just reinforced that. (And fuck me if that doesn't make me feel like a needy bitch.) I didn't say that. Hell, I didn't say anything. I was just content to be held by the people I wanted to be with.

But like they always did, this good thing came to an end when both of my feet were firmly planted on the ground, getting the two of them to let go. I wanted to tell them to keep holding on, to not let me go, but I didn't, staying silent as they both looked me over. "You good short stack?" I 'Glared' at the taller greenette, trying not to blush at the question, and the way he said it. It didn't help that he'd decided to start calling me that for some reason, making my already fast beating heart hammer in my chest hard/loud enough that I'd bet he and Taylor could fucking hear it.

Speaking of my other green eyed crush, she reached over me and tried to whack the dumbass. "She almost fell and looks like she ran a marathon, she obviously isn't." On the one hand I wanted to say something against that, because why would she call me out like that?

On the other hand she was right. I was exhausted as fuck and only standing by sheer will and desire not to bust my ass after they saved me from breaking my face. (And if I fall I'm not going to get up, so one of them us going to have to pick me... Up...) In that moment I contemplated falling just so one of them could pick me up and physically carry me... Then I threw those thoughts away.

That was overstepping the line. It would've been a bitch move to manipulate one of them like that, and probably make them uncomfortable too... "..y?"

'Phoenix probably wouldn't mind though.'

I shooed that thought away. (But Taylor would and could beat my ass.)

'She could also bench our weight and not break a sweat.'

".my?"

(... Well, she could.) I'd seen Taylor life my weight and more, so there was no doubt in my mind she could do just that.

'And it's not like Taylor would be against a little ogling, the both of them do it to us so turnabout is fair play.' That...

Well, they did... But... "Amy?" Blinking out of my thoughts, and noticing I was chewing on my lip, I looked over to Taylor, seeing the pretty and fit girl looking at me with a raised brow. My eyes took in her form, her hair up in a high ponytail, sports bra and yoga pants practically a second skin as her midriff was fully displayed. Taylor wasn't body builder levels of fit, more of a swimmers build similar to her boyfriend's, but fuck if it didn't make me want to run my lips down her abs or get her to squish my head between her thi...- "You okay?" And suddenly I felt like someone dropped a bucket of cold water on me.

Here she was, one of my only friends, worrying about me while I was thinking about fucking her or having her fuck me. Shaking my head I gave her a fake smile and hoped she didn't see passed it. The small downturn of her lips told me I failed. "Yeah, though I think I'm just going to go sit down for a bit somewhere." I turned around after that, forcing my legs to take me to the conveniently placed reclining chair that appeared a bit away, not wanting to see Taylor, or Phoenix's, face after that. They were too good, too nice, for me to ever be something more.

While I was stewing in my self deprecation, I didn't notice the look Phoenix and Taylor shared. Nor the mental conversation they were having along with it.

[Phoenix's 3rd person POV]

We'd both gotten a little Concerned for Amy after that, both knowing she was beating herself up for whatever thoughts she had about Taylor. We both knew she'd been checking her out as she thought them, so they were probably sexual. That was fine and all, we were encouraging her to fall for us after all, but seeing her deny herself those thoughts had still been something to Worry about.

We spent the rest of our morning run thinking about what to do about that, and how to cheer Amy up.

None of us, this included the Dragon Sisters, thought it'd be a good idea to let Amy stew too much, so we thought about finding some time to dedicate to getting her to use her Power. It was a good idea, especially because the less high strung the alien space parasite in her brain was, the less chance of her snapping and doing something crazy was.

So then we had to figure out how to get Amy to experiment with her Power. The initial idea was easy to figure out, she'd obviously want something to distract herself with instead of thinking about recent events, but it was the execution that needed some work...

Despite the fact my idea of just going 'Hey short stack, wanna play God?' Was one that would easily work. (Everyone just has to be a critic.)

By the end of our run we decided to start off small, doing something that would both appeal to her 'Hero ' sensibilities, while also doing something that her Power would probably enjoy.

And that was how we got Amy to start a garden of fruits/vegetables that were not only far healthier then their natural counterparts, but could be grown with minimal resources. Hell, she even ended up coming up with stuff that would passively enrich the soil they grew in so after they were harvested something that would need that kind of soil could be planted.

Aunt/Mom Melody had somehow managed to get her to consider splicing some stuff into other stuff, as well as getting a shipment of even more fruits/vegetables delivered for pickup so she could mess with them more... I didn't know how she managed it, I'd zoned out when they started talking about greens, and decided to think about how long it'd take for us to finish the Digital World Initiative.

I'd already had my Partner planned out, Psychemon would be mine and no one would stop me, but I already considered the multiple partner angle too. But again, that was getting ahead of myself. We'd need to get it done first before I thought about getting a Dracmon and Piyomon... And a pair of Dorumon... And a Monodramon... And a Hagurumon... And a Black Agu/Gabu/Guilmon... And a Keramon... And another Hagurumon. Though it was a tossup between that, and a Tsukiamon. I wanted a Grand Locomon, because really, who wouldn't want a literal fucking train? But Lilithmon was Lilithmon. The Ara Ara would be in reach, but considering I was already with Taylor, and we were angling to get Amy in our relationship, I doubted they'd let that slide. (Ophanimon Falldown Mode is an option though.) Well, there was that.

I'd figure out who I really wanted later, after the whole thing was done, but having a possible team thought up and planned out wouldn't hurt.

But back to what happened in the garden, which ended up getting me to use Heatblast since he was the only one with some form of Terrakinesis, without counting Cabrakan, but going Ultimate would be overkill. Anyway, garden was set up and we now had access to super plants.

Now, as an unrepentant meat eater, that meant fuck all to me, but Taylor and our Aunts/Mom praised Amy enough that the caustic eyed healer was visibly trying to keep herself from blushing like a little girl. It was fucking Adorable in Taylor and I's opinion, and we both Agreed to tease her about it when she was in a better headspace. Doing that now would be too much too soon.

That aside, the rest of the day went on, but there were a few more things that happened that... Well, they fucking sucked.

[Taylor's POV a few hours later]

I stared at Tess, refusing to blink as I processed what she just said. "I think Something might've gotten lost in translation. What did you just say?" We all, my Other Half was right besides me at the moment, and Amy was in the room too, knew that we hadn't misheard her, but it was just what she said that was getting close to setting me off.

Not one to hold it against me, Tess just sighed and repeated herself. "Bakuda's transport was hit by what seem to be mercenaries. The Troopers transporting her were wiped out, and Bakuda herself has been taken."

Annoyance surged from both sides of our Bond, my eye twitching as I breathed in and out. "I don't want to say 'I told you so...'" I glared at my Other Half, knowing that he was lying. "But we should've just killed the bitch."

I looked away, huffing as I did. He wasn't wrong, we both knew that. I could've just blown Bakuda's head off and called it a day. Could've slipped one of my more venomous bugs into her cell and ordered them to bite.

The fact Bakuda, who was constantly Triggering for some reason, was in Cauldron's hands could be blamed on me. [I'm just going to stop this Self Deprecation spiral here.] I glanced at my Other Half at that, seeing the flat look in his eye. [I coulda just as easily walked into the room and blew her brain out myself. Blaming yourself for not killing her is stupid, and we both know you're not a dumbass, so stop it.]

I rolled my eyes at that. |Wonderful words of advice My Corazon. You should become a motivational speaker.| He snorted, and I had to admit, as shit as the advice was, it worked atleast.

The additional Calm he sent over did wonders too.

[Phoenix's 3rd person POV]

That wasn't the best news, but we could work with it.

And work with it we did. We all, excluding Amy, knew this was Cauldron. Coil had fucking vanished into thin air earlier, only to momentarily reappear outside our home to test the defenses. We knew he had joined up with Cauldron, and this just turned into the last straw.

We had to do something, and after an hour or so of plotting with Brainstorm, we came up with an idea to start eroding The Protectorate's power, The first step was to get the government to annex more PRT installations, which would be easy considering the process had already started thanks to the shitshow that was Brockton Bay. Like, it was fucking ridiculous how fast the government jumped at the chance to take it over.

It was even easier considering the cities Villain count was going to drop thanks to Lisa of all people asking Aunt Tess for a favor. That'd Surprised Taylor and I, both of us having some interaction with the blonde Thinker and knowing how she was. So to hear that she went out of her way to get her friend's a deal, one that they not only took, but ended up dragging Faultline into, I had no goddamn idea how Grue managed that, but it happened.

Bitch/Rachel was simple, she'd get her record cleared, since she hadn't really hurt anyone... Aside from the dumb bitch that made her Trigger, but the dumb whore won her Darwin Award, so she was irrelevant. (Also gotta congratulate the girl. She did good by getting a puppy killer.)

Regent/Alec was a weird case, he apparently wanted money and a dedicated game room... Which I Respected the fuck out of to be fair. He convinced Trainwreck and Chariot to come with him, getting The Guild some more Tinkers, while Circus was sort of in this middle ground. They apparently hadn't decided if they were going to join or do something else, but they still had a few days to do it.

Then there was Grue/Brian. He'd already been involved with Faultline's crew, which made her his boss... Which also made sense after I'd thought about it. She'd most likely been involved in the negotiations, and Aunt Tess had most likely made a deal with the woman since they had agreed to have another meeting in person. That was going to be a day, and I thanked God I wouldn't be involved.

Back on track though, the next step was to negotiate with the government to give The Guild some of those installations. That would not only increase Guild presence in the states, but also weaken The Protectorate.

Then came the next step, PR and numbers. The Guild would need to be seen doing better then the PRT, not only in community service, but by taking down criminals and Villains. If people saw, and knew that The Guild was better then The Protectorate then they'd start losing alot more then face.

The eventual next few steps were dependent on that, and were more long term, but that was fine. We had a plan to bring down The Protectorate, and that was good enough for now.

Though, not everyone thought that.

Taylor had been getting jumpy after that impromptu strategizing session, and no matter how much we cuddled or the amount of Calm Comfort I nudged at her, it didn't stop. I knew why she was jumpy though, we had a plan to take down The Protectorate, but not one for getting her Father back. Had I actually had a proper relationship with my family I'd probably be in the same place, but I didn't so I couldn't say I got it and actually mean it.

So that meant needing to do something else to get her to take care of her nerves.

And thankfully, I knew just what to do.

[Phoenix's POV 30 mins later]

Riding down the mountain highway, the wind whipping around me, music filling the air, was probably my new favorite thing. (We'll need to do this later at night.) It was around 3 in the afternoon, so not exactly ideal in my opinion, but still okay. (Scylla's enjoying it though.) And she was. My Daughter was sticking herself up like a flag, feathers ruffling as she swayed and constantly hissed '$Wheeeeeeeee!$'

Though, she wasn't the only either. Feeling the Contentment coming from my Other Half, I knew I made the right choice 'Suggesting' this at the current moment. That thought was cemented further when I saw how Relaxed Amy looked as she clung to my girlfriend like a limpet, pressing as much of herself against my girlfriend's back as she possibly could. (Her blush is fucking adorable too.) Amy had been close to Taylor today, but neither of us really minded. She'd probably do something similar to me later on, so the heads up about what to look for was nice.

[Feeling better?] My Other Half's mental gaze shifted to me for a moment, before a steady stream of Affectionate Contentment flowed over to me. My lips twitched up at that, positive emotions were such a nice thing, making me grin. [And Amy? How's it feel to have a stacked little brunette pressed against your back.] I could practically feel the blush that got me.

Then the turns tabled when she replied. |It feels really good. What a shame you aren't feeling this.| I mentally lagged at that, then cackled over our Bond when I processed that she'd just teased me. My laugh was met with Amusement, and small snickers of her own.

It was nice...

But it could still get better. [Want to test out the Duel Runners?] The spike in Competitive Pride was enough answer for me. "Hey lovie?"

My Daughter's coils lightly tightened against me, her head dropping onto my own. "$Yes Daddy?$"

I registered the Warmth I felt at the address, but didn't let it distract me. "Wanna see some real cool shit?" Exasperation was felt and ignored, my focus on my Daughter rather then my Other Half.

Said Daughter wiggled a bit, the grooves of her skin brushing against my Suit. "$Yes! Cool shit is best shit!$" I snorted at that exclamation, far too Amused at my little girl to correct her lack of 'The.'

That was for Taylor to do, cause I sure as fuck wasn't gonna care about proper grammar. |We're gonna have a talk about your corruption of my Niece.| I just whistled innocently at that. |Anywaaay, Amy's fine with it.| That got me to stop whistling and grin. |4,000 or 8,000?|

[8k.] She sent over her Agreement, and we both revved our prospective rides engines.

With the uplink between our Suits and our bikes active, they began firing up the Duel Runner systems. Behemoth's front two wheels snapped together, merging into one, while the front, back, and sides expanded. A pair of glittering blueish green blades appeared from the sides, made from Diamondhead crystals so they were sharp enough to tear through steel easily. The front and back though changed just as drastically, the back raising and curving a bit in a way similar to Yusei's Duel Runner. The front though gained a sharper look to it, becoming similar to Behemoth's Digimon namesake, but green and black instead of red as my emblem appeared in the 'Glass', which was just hard light, the eyes of Anubis glowing a caustic green as it did.

Johanna's changes on the other hand were less drastic, but still noticeable. The scarab wings started glowing, gold and emerald light leaking from them as the exhausts grew larger, a pair of forward facing razor sharp hard light scarab wings materializing on Johanna's sides, while the bike itself grew just a bit longer, so Taylor could lean down a bit in the event of a high speed Duel.

With both Duel Runners active, the Duel Cores activated. For me and Behemoth that took the form of a caustic green DSD Duel Disk appearing directly in front of my handles, the deck itself appearing at the base of my handles where the core was. For Johanna that was nearly the same, the differences being the color of her disk, a solid gold, and where the deck was, on the right hand side and below the handle, coming out like an instillation of the bike instead of the hard light construct that it was.

After taking a moment to switch decks, no fucking way was I using my 'Judgement' deck right now, didn't need someone reporting Raviel or Slifer as new Endbringers, especially if their size fully translated to the real world, and equipped my 'Scent of Roses' deck. This was for fun, and I had no OTK strats in this one. |Ready?|

I just grinned, revving Behemoth's engine and pulling ahead in response. Anticipation boiled from the both of us, and we went for it.

""Duel!""

[Amy's POV a few minutes later]

Watching a 'Duel' and being somewhat involved in one were two wholly different things. The first time was exhilarating, and couldn't really be described without feeling like I was underselling it. (Really is one of those 'You have to see it to believe it' things.) And that still felt like I was underselling it.

But being involved in one? Hanging onto Taylor as she and Phoenix speed up and started acting like maniacs as monsters took form and fought above/around us? I felt alive! It didn't matter that Taylor was playing with fucking zombies, activating some witchcraft with 'Rituals' that summoned some big creepy fuck with a sword.(Vendread Warlord)

Didn't matter that Phoenix had some cute magical plant girls(Aromage), even though I had to take a few seconds not to burst out laughing when a midget called Jasmine came out, that seemed to fuel themselves by getting more health.

That was practically nothing to the sound of my heart pounding in my ears, my blood rushing through my body as the two opposing sides fought and beat the shit out of each other, or Taylor taking a hard right when a twist in the road came up. The wind was whipping around me like a storm, and through all of it I was alive, and I loved every second of it! I didn't have to think about some stupid bitch that couldn't pull her head out of her ass long enough to be an actual adult.

Didn't have to think about a fucking stupid city that took more from me every day that I lived there.

Didn't have to think about the broken family I'd been saved from.

Didn't have to think about what finally broke that family...

Here and now, I was alive...

And I was free.

And as I thought that, my male crush's voice filtered in, the roar of the wind or their bikes engines not enough to overpower the mad cackle coming from him. " I'm using Evilswarm Mandragora and Roxrose Dragon for a Synchro Summon!" The aforementioned monsters shot off like a rocket, the latter letting out a little screech as it exploded into rose petals, then those green circle things, while the former turned into stars. "Bloom, and ensure their destruction, Black Rose Dragon!" As I watched one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen appear in front of me, I thought that maybe... Just maybe, I could feel this free outside of riding an adrenaline high while my only friends/crushes were fighting each other with zombies and plant girls/dragons.

When I wasn't feeling like this I'd have alot of things to think about... But for now, I just let my head drop onto Taylor's shoulder, watching as my Daughter erratically hissed up at the far bigger dragon in front of her, getting a low growl/hiss in return. The fact that they were somehow communicating with each other didn't even have time to cement itself in me before I brushed it away.

Here and now, I was free. Existential crisis' had no place in me right now.

Looking at how many mons are in my ideal team made me reconsider having that many mons, because holy fuck the work I'd have to do to get them all settled is fucking insane.

I went through like, 4 different team situations, and spent a few hours on the Wiki, but eventually decided on this. These'll be everyone's Partners and their Mega forms.

The Partner is whose egg they'll get after the Digital World is up and running, while the other 2 will be gained later on. Obviously there are exceptions, Jogress pairs and all that, and the X-Antibody mons will have an in universe explanation, but that'll come later. Gotta make it organic and all.

Phoenix - Partner Digimon: Psychemon -] BelphamonS/RM(7 Great Demon Lords)

Phoenix: Piyomon -] Houomon(Ornismon Burst Mode)

Phoenix: Bearmon -] Saberleomon(Dinotigermon Burst Mode)

Taylor - Partner Digimon: Tentomon -] Hercules Kabuterimon(Tyrant Kabuterimon Burst Mode)

Taylor: Lunamon -] Dianamon(Olympus 12)

Taylor: Renamon -] Kuzhamon(Kuzhamon Miko Form Alternate Evolution)

I was tempted to give her a Funbeemon and Dokuwamon, but decided these two would be better.

Amy - Partner Digimon: Palmon -] Lotusmon(Rafflesimon Burst Mode)

Amy: Floramon -] Ceresmon/Ceresmon Medium(Olympus 12)

Amy: Pomumon -] Hydramon

Tess/Dragon - Partner Digimon: Dorumon X -] Alphamon(Ouryuken Jogress)(Alphamon/Ouryuken X-Antibody)

Tess/Dragon - Partner Digimon: Ryudamon X -] Ouryumon X

Tess/Dragon: Salamon/Salamon X -] Ofanimon(3 Great Seraphs)(Ofanimon X-Antibody)

Erin/Stheno - Partner Digimon: Guilmon/Guilmon X -] Dukemon(13 Royal Knights)(Dukemon X-Antibody)

Erin/Stheno: Impmon/Impmon X -] Beelstamon(Beelstamon X-Antibody)

Erin/Stheno: Salamon/Salamon X -] Lilithmon(7 Great Demon Lords)(Lilithmon X-Antibody)

Illiyana/Athena - Partner Digimon: Hagurumon -] HiAndromon

Illiyana/Athena: Commandramon -] Cannondramon

Illiyana/Athena: Hagurumon -] Grand Locomon

Melody/Medusa - Partner Digimon: V-mon -] ImperialdramonDM(Paladin Mode Jogress)

Melody/Medusa - Partner Digimon: Wormmon -] ImperialdramonDM

Melody/Medusa: Jazmon -] Metallicdramon(I didn't even know Digimon had it's own Valstrax.)

It should be easy to guess who this is.

? - Partner Digimon: Falcomon -] Griffomon

?: Gomamon -] Marine Angemon

? - Partner Digimon: Dracmon -] Grandracmon

?: Black PawnChessmon -] Queen Chessmon

?/Ruler of the North - Partner Digimon: Xuanwumon

?/Ruler of the South - Partner Digimon: Zhuqiaomon

?/Ruler of the East - Partner Digimon: Qinglongmon

?/Ruler of the West - Partner Digimon: Baihumon