After running through the forest for some time, Jon realized that he didn’t actually know where to go. All of the trees had looked similar, and he didn’t remember what direction Mercy and Tallow had gone.

He stopped and waited, holding up his gun. Here he was, in the forest by himself.

He remembered a time he would have been, staring out into the forest that bordered his home.

Now, he wasn’t afraid. He was just concerned for the safety of his friends.

“Mercy!” He called out finally. His mind began to race, wondering which direction he could run. and if he could maybe find Helia if he chose the right one.

“Heli-”

Jon heard rustling behind him.

His first instinct was to duck, just like when Mallory called out the warning from before.

Then, he decided that he didn't want to be scared, and so he tried to decide between reacting immediately or not.

That slight hesitation was enough for his assailant to land a large wallop to the back of the head.

Jon’s body stumbled hard into a nearby tree. He aimed his gun, but the shadow had already reached behind a tree opposite of him.

Jon groaned. He could deal with seeing things far away. What he couldn’t do was see through the tree.

Not only that, but the trees here were smaller than trees in other forests. That might have not have been a problem by itself, but the massive amount of smaller trees in a smaller space, as well as the intensely random assortment of them, made it hard to see further ahead properly.

“Sorry!”

Jon lowered his head to dodge the clothesline swinging over his head from behind.

He tried to turn to his opponent, but Jules brought his leg up at an angle.

Jon blocked the kick, but the force shoved him into another tree.

Jon knew he was at a disadvantage being so close to Jules without having enough room to move. His anxiety began to build faster and faster.

He heard the rapid crunching of trees, and Jules suddenly jumped more than a fair distance away.

Jon moved his gun out of his vision to see Mercy in front of him, her energy blade ready for swimming.

“Stay away!” she yelled.

“Sure! Nothing personal!” With that, Jules ran further into the forest, enough for Jon to be unable to watch him.

Satisfied, Mercy retracted her blade and turned back to him.

“Let me guess, you ran into some of them, right?”

Jon nodded.

“They didn’t have Helia,” he added.

“They?” Mercy raised her eyebrow. “How many of them did you see?”

“2,” Jon said. “3, with her.”

Mercy’s eyebrow’s arched in concern.“That means that-”

“Dot,” Jon said. “Dot has her.”

“Okay…” Mercy nodded. “I think I might know where she is. Tallow’s up ahead, trying to track them..”

“Okay,” Jon said.

“Alright. Stay with me.”

She jumped into the trees.

Jon waited for her to come back down.

“Sorry,” she responded. “I’ll stay on the ground. With you.”

“I’ll walk, you jump,” Jon suggested.

“...Okay, I’ll stay in the trees. Be careful.”

Mercy ran up into the top of the trees.

Jon walked along as he watched Mercy hop above, tree to tree. She was always slightly ahead but if she ever got too far she waited for Jon to catch up with her.

Jon liked this better. After having lightning being shot at them from up above, he preferred her being up there for cover. If necessary, she could leap down and help him below.

After they trekked for some time, Mercy waited longer than usual, to the point that Jon was directly underneath her, and she didn’t move.

“...What?” Jon asked.

“I think… there’s fighting! Tallow’s in trouble!”

She pushed off, losing her usual skip and beaming in a direct line from tree to tree, becoming a blur of shadow that moved forward quickly.

Jon jogged, not running full sprint speed to conserve his energy and to better navigate the trees.

Soon, he could see Tallow and Dot engaged in confrontation in a clearing up ahead.

However, Tallow wasn’t fighting back. She was hopping around the clearing, trying to keep away from Dot as much as she could.

Even if Tallow moved through the air faster, Dot was able to keep up, even with her heavier movements.

Dot was somehow able to predict Tallow’s movements then make the shortest moment possible to cut her off.

Jon also realized that as impressively as she could move, Tallow was still disadvantaged due to her injured arm.

It slowed her down in being able to change her direction as fast as she normally could.

Not only that but there weren’t any close enough trees Tallow could jump to in order to escape. If she tried to run in a straight direction, Dot would somehow be able to catch up to her and force her to change direction.

Jon raised his gun to shoot, but both of their movements were too erratic to get a clear shot. He could track objects and shoot where he thought the object would be based on its trajectory.

What he couldn’t do was predict what direction and object move before it started moving. Even with Tallow’s slower movements, both girls were changing directions so fast Jon didn’t have enough time to aim a good shot. Even if he guessed, he had a good chance of hitting Tallow by accident.

Where’s Mercy?

He took a glance up to the trees in time to see purple lighting mana fly right by his head. Even if it was too far above his head to hit him, he was still terrified.

Gina! Why is she here?

Gina was supposed to be fighting Hector and Mallory.

If she was here, and so was Dot, then where was Helia?

Jon groaned. He figured that he would be lost trying to aid a battle in the trees, so he turned his attention back to Tallow and Dot.

Tallow had landed on the floor and leaped high towards the trunk of a tree near the perimeter of the clearing, but Dot had just managed to bounce up and grabbed Tallows’ leg before she got too far.

Jon shot at Dot, catching her with a blast, but Dot held on firmly to Tallow’s ankle, and so they both fell to the ground.

Tallow slid out of Dot’s hand as they both landed on their sides.

“Sorry!” Jon said, running towards her.

“It’s fine!” Tallow pushed herself into Jon with her wind mana, tackling him out of the way of a large fireball.

They crashed Tallow landing on top of Jon’s chest.

Now that she was close, Jon could hear her heavy breathing and felt her heart thumping hard against her chest.

“Ohh..”

Tallow groaned as she and Jon sat up, watching the last of the fire mana burn away from the ground where they once stood.

“Shoot me,” Tallow said quickly.

Jon had just barely gotten his bearings when he saw Dot charging towards them. He didn’t have enough time to make a good shot.

“Shoot me!” Tallow yelled.

Tallow rolled in front of Jon, and Jon twisted his gun at an angle to Tallow’s back and fired.

The shot lifted Tallow off the ground and sent her towards their assailant.

Both women collided shoulder to shoulder, Dot’s shoulder pads connecting with Tallow’s injured arm.

Jon was worried until he remembered that was the arm that Tallow had equipped her golden claws on.

I almost forgot.

The momentum was stunted from both ends, and the two women landed on their feet across from each other.

“Crazy bitch!” Dot said, out of breath for the first time Jon could see. “You’re gonna kill yourself before this is over!”

“I can’t feel anything in this arm,” Tallow said, pointing to it. “That means it can’t feel pain, but unfortunately, it also means I won’t feel the side of your face when I slap you like the bitch you are!”

Dot laughed, not having any response but just laughing harder and harder in succession.

She continued laughing as the women began to jog around each other.

Jon decided this wasn’t the time to shoot. Even if they were fighting, it looked like they were having a moment. He decided to try to help Mercy again.

His eyes hadn’t even lifted to the sky when Mercy dropped down. Mercy came down in front of Jon, picking him up and jumping before he was assailed by another fireball.

“Thanks,” Jon whispered, not having enough breath to say anything else.

“Always,” Mercy whispered back.

Once they landed, Mercy ran up and confronted Dot, who had chased them down.

They keep switching targets, Jon realized.

Proving his point, he saw Gina hanging from a tree branch, shooting fireballs at Tallow.

That didn’t last long, as Tallow quickly dashed up the tree and grabbed Gina by her clothes, throwing her down to the ground.

Gina landed on her back but was able to brace herself enough to get up and push herself out of Tallow’s landing.

Tallow stabbed into the ground with her regular curved sword right where Gina had been. It had been a while since Jon had seen her use it. He wondered how she chose which weapon to use, but he just decided to trust her instead of trying to answer it for himself at the moment.

Gina dodged Tallow’s next two swings before blocking the third swing of the sword with her spiked armbands.

Her hands glowed with electrical energy.

“...Aw shit,” Tallow said, “not this again.”

She then discarded her sword and jumped back, missing the lightning-fueled punch tossed at her.

She drew her dagger and readied herself for a second approach.

“Ground Pound, coming up!” Gina yelled, the purple lighting in her hands gaining more and more prominence.

“Got it!” Dot responded to her sister before jumping up and grabbing on to a nearby branch.

Mercy scooped up Jon and lifted him into the air again.

She landed on top of a smaller tree, the branches higher up being able to support their combined weight.

“Tallow!” Mercy called out to the field.

Tallow, instead of running away to a nearby tree, charged straight towards Gina with her dagger primed.

Gina raised her hands dramatically above her head, before bringing them down to the ground below her.

Not even Tallow was fast enough to reach her before her hands landed. Purpler lightning mana spewed over the entire field from Gina’s hands in an instant.

The ground became a hotbed of purple lighting mana, and even from above, Jon could hear the loud buzzing that it had produced.

He glanced down to the scene below him.

The lighting had spread so far, it was directly beneath him and Mercy. If she hadn’t picked him up, they would no doubt have been caught in its range.

Tallow. He picked his head back up to see what happened to his friend. He thought that he would see her leap high into the air, trying to avoid the electricity as much as she could. Even if she had, he wondered how long she could stay in the air before coming down.

He didn't expect to see Tallow still in her position a few feet away from Gina on the going, but she wasn’t being electrified by the lighting mana.

Arms tucked in beside her, she was running in place so fast Jon could barely see her feet, and wind mana was gathering underneath her almost into the shape of a ball, keeping her afloat and just above the mana attack.

It appeared that if she had stopped moving, she would drop back down onto the field, so her legs continued to move and move and move as to not let that happen.

Jon was both amused and impressed. He took a glance at Tallow’s face, only to see a massive look of exasperation on her face as she moved.

Is she… mad?

He turned over to Dot, who wasn’t too far away from them, hanging on her own tree.

She would have been hurt too…

Dot noticed him staring and waved.

She doesn’t care…

Jon figured she at least cared enough to hop into the trees. There was some sense of self-preservation among the Duckett siblings, which might have meant they had a fear of losing as well.

Jon mulled over this idea until the energy finally stopped below them.

The lightning mana finally ceased its spread on the ground disappearing as quickly as it had began.

With a loud gasp, Tallow dropped to the ground, just catching herself with her hands.

Thankfully, Gina was exhausted as well, not able to follow up with another attack.

Jon thought about trying to take another shot. Gina was opened, and he might have been able to hit her from here.

Still, he hesitated. With the exhaustion after making such a large attack like that, It was a perfect moment to shoot her, but he felt as if his heart had gotten caught up in his throat.

All Jon could do was see flashes of the fight between Tallow and Jacqueline. He remembered the excitement of the crowd around them, waiting to see who would stand first, and remembered thinking that neither of them were bad people despite the fact they were fighting.

He hesitated long enough for Dot to drop down and collect her sister.

Hoisting Gina over her shoulders, Dot dashed off into the trees again, escaping the fray.

Mercy let Jon down from the tree before hopping off herself. They walked up to Tallow, who was face down in the dirt.

“...Leave me alone…” Tallow said, her voice muffled in the dirt.

“That was kinda cool, actually,” Mercy responded.

“Actually, no, just kill me…”

Mercy knelt down and picked up Tallow, who looked more disappointed than Jon had ever seen her.

Not angry. Just Disappointed.

“Look at it this way,” Mercy said. “We might tire them out. If you go that way.”

“Ha!” Tallow said. “You got jokes out here!”

“...Where’s Stewart?” Jon asked, not wanting to ruin the moment or Tallow’s recovery, but still concerned for the man.

“...Shit!” Tallow yelled, sitting up. “Shit! He’s not here!”

“Oh no…” Mercy shook her head. “Let’s just find Hector.”

She pulled out the green jewel from her small hip case and put it close to her mouth.

“Hello? Guys?” she said softly, her urgency empty from the last time.

“Heyo!” Mallory called back through the gem.

“Mallory! You’re safe?”

“Yeah, sort of. As safe as you can be in the middle of the forest alone.”

“Alone?” Mercy asked. “Where’s Hector.”

“He went up ahead,” Mallory said in a sarcastic tone. “Said he was gonna scout.”

“Right.’ Mercy’s own reply saw that she agreed with Mallory's skepticism. “Should we meet up?”

“I’ll send a signal,” Mallory said. “We can-”

“No, I’ll send a signal,” Mercy said. “It’s safer.”

“...Right.”

Mercy held up her black tool to the sky.

A single beam of energy shot up into the sky.

“The others were retreating,” Mercy, “so I doubt that they would come and attack us.”

“I see it!” Mallory said. “I’ll be over-”

The gem made a descending whirling sound.

“Dead,” Mercy said, shaking it. “I guess we can take a breath then.

Jon saw Tallow grimace, but she didn’t say anymore. She dropped down onto the floor and brought her legs closer to her chest.

Mercy and Jon sat behind her and all three of them leaned on each other silently until Mallory arrived.

“Found ya!” Mallory exclaimed.

“How are you so full of energy!” Tallow exclaimed.

“What do you mean?” Mallory asked. “I’m tired as hell! I’m probably just used to it.”

He looked around. “This place loos familiar, doesn’t it?”

“That was on my mind too,” Mercy said.

“Yeah,” Tallow said. “This where we found those bastards the first time. I came back here, wondering if I could find something more here, but it seems that they were waiting for me to come back here and attack since there’s no trees around here.”

Tallow crossed her arms as much as she could with her free hand. “Lousy monkey bastards.”

“Looks like you were right about their guerrilla tactics,” Mallory told Mercy. “Dragging us out and trying to make us tired.”

“Well, we’re making them tired too!” Tallow demanded. “Just wait ‘til I get my hands on one of them!”

“Hand,” Mallory said while pointing to her sling.

“Don’t matter,” Tallow responded, standing up. “Just wait ‘til I get close enough-”

“They got Stewart,” Mercy said, interrupting Tallow’s bravado rant.

“Crap,” Mallory said. “That almost sucks.”

“Almost?” Tallow raised her eyebrow. “What do you mean, almost?”

“Follow me,” Mallory said, turning back and walking into the forest.

The others silently followed him until there was a thud from in front of the spellcaster.

“Watch where you’re going, bro!” A familiar voice yelled from the ground.

“Sorry about that!” Malloy said. “Forgot you were so close!”

He stepped to the side to reveal Jules, who had been tied up with ropes on his wrist and his ankles.

“Ha!” Tallow said. “He hogtied him! That funny bastard!”

She pushed Jules over with her foot, pushing him around.

“I would appreciate it if you didn’t do that,” Jules said. “You shouldn’t torture your political opponents!”

“I would appreciate it if you shut up!” Tallow replied. “Mallory!”

Mallory snapped his fingers, and a tentacle wrapped around his mouth. Stopping him from speaking.

“Sorry about that,” Mallory said. “He must have loosened the gag.”

“The gag?” Mercy asked. “Why’d you gag him?”

“So he wouldn’t call out to his teammates,” Mallory said.

Jules's eyes widened upon hearing this.

“...I don’t think he even knew he could do that,” Tallow said. “But holy hell, how did you guys manage to catch him?

“Teamwork,” Mallory said. “Turns out this guy isn’t able to deal with mana very well. Not like any of his sisters, anyway.”

Jules groaned from underneath the blue gag.

“What do we do with him, then?” Tallow asked. “Can I torture him for information?”

“No!” Mercy and Mallory replied at the same time.

Jules breathed as much of a sigh of relief as he could muster.

“We could… ask nicely,” Mallory suggested.

“What?” Tallow scoffed. “After all this shit they just put us through?”

“I agree,” Jon said, not wanting to escalate things much further. “Ask nicely.”

He saw Jules's hopeful eyes look up to him. Jon tried to ignore them.

Tallow grimaced, but then didn't argue any further.

Mallory snapped his hands and the tentacle released itself from his mouth.

“Where are your siblings?” Mercy said, crouching down to meet him.

“Like I’m gonna tell you!” Jules said. “Why would I want to do that!”

“We don’t want to hurt you and your family,” she responded, causing Tallow to give a large eye roll. “We just wanna find our friends and get out of here.”

“Ha, that’s not gonna happen! When my sisters find out that you have me, they're gonna kill your redhead friend, and-”

“Stop talking and the tentacles going in your mouth next time,” Tallow cut in.

Jules shut his mouth immediately.

Tallow looked at Mallory for confirmation. “You can do that, right?”

“I will neither confirm nor deny that you nasty girl,” Mallory responded, “but he’s right. Hector is gonna get slaughtered.”

“They kidnap our people,” Tallow said, “then when but we kidnap one of theirs, and all of a sudden they get offended.”

She knelt down and started poking Jules again, who looked annoyed but didn’t voice it.

“Come on, talk,” she demanded. “I wanna see a tentacle go inside of your mouth.”

“...Let him talk, Mallory,” Mercy said politely.

Mallory shrugged. “I never said I would… yeah, he can talk.”

He turned his attention to Jules.

“Hector will at least take down one of your sisters with himself,” Mallory told him. “So, maybe you should tell us where he’s at.”

“...We have our orders,” Jules said.

“From your father?” Mercy asked.

“Maybe,” Jules responded. “Maybe it is, maybe it’s not… but really, it’s all nothing personal.”

“Beating our friend to a pulp in front of his girlfriend wasn’t personal?” Tallow asked.

“It wasn’t,” Jules said. “That was the name of the game. Dot wouldn’t have had to beat your friend so hard if he wasn’t so hard to put down.”

“That’s our Hector,” Mallory with a grim acceptance.

“...She also said that he wasn’t fighting as hard as he could,” Jules said, “so yeah, I believe you when you say that he could at least take one of down.”

“...You guys are working together so you can cover your weakness, aren’t you?” Mercy asked.

Jules found it hard to respond this time, looking at the floor.

“...Cut him loose,” Mercy said.

“Uh, pardon?” Tallow asked. However, Tallow knelt down with her dagger and cut away Jules’ bindings

“If you do anything,” Tallow said, “I’m gonna stab you, she’s gonna stab you, he’s gonna shoot you… and he’ll have his way with you with his tentacles.”

“Girl, please, that’s not even funny.”

“Why are you letting me go?” Jules asked. Jon tried to extend his hand to help him stand up, but Jules got up on his own.

“‘Cause King’s Gaurd doesn’t take prisoners,” Tallow answered. “We’re not asshole mercenaries.”

“And ‘cause you’re gonna lead negotiations with us and your family,” Mercy said. “If they really care about you that much.”

“And because you owe us,” Mallory said. “Oh, well you owe Jon.”

Jules looked at Jon for confirmation.

Mallory was right. Jules did say that he wanted to pay back Jon for the ale.

And yet, Jon felt dirty asking for something in return.

“...Please,” Jon asked.

“...Sure.” Jules straightened himself out. “I can just run up ahead and-”

Tallow got close to him with her dagger.

“Not being able to take you hostage means that I’m can just stab and kill you for being a smartass,” she told him. “So, let’s try that again.”

“Tallow, stop it,” Mercy said. “Which direction do we go?”

“...that way,” Jules pointed over his shoulder.

“Stay in front,” Mercy said. “Let’s go.”

“Jon will shoot you in the ass if you try to run!” Tallow warned.

Jon groaned, but Jules didn’t seem too concerned about that.

He waited for everyone else to go ahead.

“...I don’t trust you guys to go behind me,” he said.

“I’ll stab you whenever I want!” Tallow said. “Just move!”

Jules grimaced, but he led the group forward,