After hearing about - and seeing - the difficulty in taking the stabcrabs down, our first fight was rather anticlimactic. Micah’s first Shockwall didn’t kill it, but it turned the monster’s precisely-machined charge into a twitchy and inelegant advance, giving Micah time to place four more walls in front of the creature.

The last one was enough to finish it off.

“Wow,” Kat said.

Micah grinned, pleased but a little embarrassed. “I think they’re just weak to electric stuff, even though they look like rock types.”

I patted his shoulder. “That was great, buddy! Let’s try some other stuff on the next one, though.”

William looked surprised. “What? Why? That one died way faster than the one back at Cozy Grove. Took less than half the Abilities, too.”

“Yes, but we have just the six of us fighting here, not the twenty-plus they’ve got defending the walls. They can afford to be wasteful. We can’t.”

Micah frowned. “I wasn’t wasteful.”

“No, you weren’t, but it might not be the best possible way to kill them. We won’t find out unless we experiment. Also…” I gave my son a raised eyebrow. “Exactly how many of them do you think you can kill like that in a row? Ten? Twenty?”

Micah looked away, uncomfortable. “Uhhh… I don’t know…”

I gave his shoulder a squeeze before letting go. “Then maybe the rest of us should figure out how we can help, okay?”

Gavin waved an arm. “I want to grab the next one with my Super Tail!”

I almost denied him, reflexively, but I forced myself to stop and think. The stabcrabs were new, and tough, but they had relatively few weapons. When I’d Analyzed them, it had suggested they couldn’t attack anything above their backs effectively. If Gavin was careful, this might actually be a very good idea.

We were currently in the weedy backyard of an abandoned one-story house, not far north of Cozy Grove Apartments. I’d been surprised that we hadn’t needed to travel farther to find things to fight, but the steady stream of people traveling to and from Cozy Grove were sticking to the road. It made sense, in retrospect; people were pretty hungry, and they were focused on getting food and getting to safety, not earning more Points. Things would likely be different tomorrow, but for today, there were plenty of Points to be earned in the drainage ditches, backyards, and parks. And yes, Micah and I were still earning Points and Money, so that was one worry sorted out.

A basic charcoal grill lay on its side on a cracked cement patio behind the house. The lid was about as big around as a stabcrab’s torso, and the squashed-hemisphere shape was only a little thicker.

I picked up the lid and turned to face my middle son. “I’m okay with you trying to grab one of them, but I want you to practice first. You need to bring your tail down in the center of the stabcrab’s back, and wrap it around the torso quickly and tightly, so the monster can’t stab your tail with its legs. Pretend this is a stabcrab.”

The first time, Gavin just grabbed the lid by the handle, but after I reminded him that the real stabcrabs would not have handles, he did things properly, if overly slowly. We practiced a few more times until he could grab the lid confidently and smoothly.

That left me all out of excuses to stall.

“Alright,” I said. “Let’s go hunting. Micah, next time we see a stabcrab, please just hit it with one Shockwall to slow it down and make it easier for your brother to grab.”

“Got it!” Micah said.

“He doesn’t need to. I am super fast and super cool!” Gavin ran to catch up to me, using his enhanced strength to launch himself into a flip. One foot slipped as he landed, and he had to whip his tail down to keep himself from sprawling to the ground. He didn’t let the mishap get him down, spreading his arms wide in a “tah-dah!” pose.

I rolled my eyes. “Super careful is what I want, Gavin. Not super cool.”

“Yes, Mommy!” Gavin smiled sweetly at me. Did his cherubic face conceal attentiveness or daydreams about explosions? I had no idea. I hoped he was paying attention.

The monsters didn't seem to see any difference between Micah and I and anyone else, a blindness that was almost as irritating as it was relieving. It seemed horribly unfair that the mobmu could see us while Pointy couldn't. We cleared out three badblankets, two mobmu, and one leafenrat before we found another stabcrab, or it found us. It thundered over the fence to our left, footsteps making a crack-crack-crack that reminded me of a nailgun. I wasn’t sure how it would handle the narrow peak of the fence, but it managed the change in direction neatly, carefully tilting its torso over the top and heading down the other side with only the barest loss of momentum.

Micah remembered his job as the monster landed, hitting it with a single Shockwall and looking to me for confirmation that he’d done a good job. He didn’t get it, because my eyes were locked on Gavin, who’d stepped in front of the rest of us with an expression of extreme excitement that didn’t seem appropriate in the slightest.

I braced myself for something horrible to happen.

Gavin’s tail snaked around the monster, diving in on its top and smoothly threading the gap between its spiderlike legs as if he’d practiced the move a thousand times. He lifted the monster into the air and it flailed wildly, legs whipping around to try to dislodge my son’s tail.

I waited for a scream or an explosion of blood as the legs that had shattered wood and blacktop dug into my son.

Gavin giggled. “It tickles!”

Analyze had been correct; the monster could reach him, but not with any real force. The legs that had flipped backward were bouncing off Gavin’s tail with barely any impact, ruffling his fur and little more. When I stepped around to see the monster’s underside, I could see that the legs could reach that side much better… but still not with the explosive pavement-piercing force. One pointed foot tried to wedge itself in between the monster’s stomach and Gavin’s tail, but my son was too strong for the monster to dislodge at the awkward angle. The legs came to a point, but they were more like awls or chisels than needles; appropriate for punching through surfaces, but not sharp to the touch.

“Great work, Gavin,” I said, then jumped back as the monster pistoned a leg toward me. Analyze connected the dots for me, letting me know the stabcrabs likely used sound or vibration as their primary sense. I kept the ability active as I looked at the monster’s underside. The armor that surrounded the rest of the monster was still present here, but there were… differences. Just behind each leg was a patch that seemed differently textured, with a central crease that Analyze tentatively identified as a possible mouth. I lifted my sword to go for an Assisted Strike, then paused.

“Kat, make sure you throw a pebble at this. William, you too.”

I thought about offering William the chance to kill it, instead of me, but the gaps in the armored plating were only inches away from Gavin’s tail and guarded by the monster’s thrashing limbs. I trusted Assisted Strike to help me strike true, but William had been holding a sword for all of forty minutes. He needed a little more experience before I’d trust him to swing it near my six-year-old.

My ability guided my blade directly into the probable weak point I’d identified with Analyze. Something vital must have been located near the aperture, because my sword was caught for only a second before the monster broke down into its component nanomachines.

The abruptness of the kill took me by surprise. When Gavin had volunteered to help, I’d been expecting the worst. Instead, that had been… smooth. Easy.

I held my hands up, inviting high fives from my kids. “That was great!”

Micah wrinkled his nose. “It was kind of slow.”

I laughed. “Hey, celebrate a little! It wasn’t too bad. It’s true we’ll have to count on you if we get two at once, though.”

Kat nodded. “That was good. I might take that Shockwall when I get enough Points. It should be soon. I can’t thank you all enough.”

“Hah! Maybe I’ll take Gavin’s monkey tail,” William added. “We can take down all the stabcrabs.”

I held up my hands. “Whoa! I wouldn’t jump into anything. My kids have good abilities, but they have downsides. Maybe talk to Pointy after we get back today. It took Gavin a lot of practice to get as good as he is. At first, he could barely control it at all.”

Gavin nodded somberly. “Yep. I still wear a butt bag for bedtime.”

“And the Shockwalls will shock your friends, too. I got Mom once, by accident,” Micah added.

“Hmm… That’s something to consider,” William said, sharing a look with Kat. “Thanks for the expert advice.”

Micah and Gavin grinned at each other, and Cassie nodded smugly. My daughter might have done little more than cling anxiously to the hand of the nearest grownup while her Automated Assistant circled overhead, but she was walking around amidst monsters with no Tagon to protect her. She wasn’t going to let praise go by without claiming her share.