Orso Fiction 015

Orso Fiction 015-A Little Different (Part 3 of 3)
“This is where we’re supposed to meet the Ferraro.”, Laura said, approaching a casino. Japanese signs hung all around it. She and her group- Cody Cooley, Josh Wells, Cortni O’Hara, Catherine Murray, and Tori Walls, walked in. She came to a counter, and flashed her ring. The man behind the counter nodded, and unlocked a door for them. They entered, and found it led to a staircase leading to a basement. They took the stairs, leading to a room with a large table, which had a well-dressed man with short, messy green hair at it. He smiled up at them.

“Hello, there. I assume you’re the Orso?”, he said.

“That’s right. My name is Laura, I’m the one in charge of this mission.”

“The captain, eh? Well, I’m Arduino Ferraro. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Excellent. This wasn’t hard at all. Are you prepared to leave? Do you have the package on you?”, Laura asked.

“Sadly, I cannot leave, right now.”, Arduino said. “I received a message from the man you met at the counter when I arrived. I’m sure you’ve heard about the group targeting my brothers, the Seven Roses? That’s why you brought so many men with you on this mission, I’m sure. Well, they informed me that I was not to leave until that gentleman gave me the signal to leave, lest awful things happen to my brothers.”

“Oh…That’s uncomfortable, for us…”, Cody said. “Well, you do have the package on you, yes?”

“Oh, I have that, no worries there.”, he said, revealing a box containing a chunk of green metal. “Here’s the green Arcoferro. And a letter from my father, telling me that I’d need to help you, to protect our family’s honor. He knows how to motivate me, that old man of mine. But I am pleased to serve. If Father’s found you worthy of our aid, then I’m sure you’ll be able to help me greatly in turn. I expect we’ll have to fight our way out of this casino.”

“That…sucks.”, Laura said. “So now, all we can do is wait?”

“They have us trapped like rats…”, Cody said. “Damnit! Of course this becomes inconvenient just as soon as it looks easy.”

“Well, no worries.”, Laura said. “Mr. Arduino, can you fight at all?”

“Oh, better than you, I imagine.”, he chuckled. “Not to be offensive. I have much more experience, and I’ve made my own weapon. I have utmost faith in my ability to help you fight.”

“Good. That’s helpful.”, Laura said.

“So, this Arcoferro…You know how to work it?”, Cody asked.

“Well, not by myself, no. My father taught each of his sons a step in the process that all the Arcoferro have to go through to be crafted, but eventually, I will be left to work on this piece alone. I understand your Thunder Guardian came to a rough patch recently?”, Arduino asked.

“Yeah, we all did.”, Laura said. “But, explain more about this metal. I haven’t heard much about it.”

“Well, the Arcoferro can only be made in a set of seven, its most peculiar in that.”, Arduino began. “If you don’t have one of each color, you won’t be able to shape it in the slightest. The metal is placed close to the others, so that they resonate with each other in a particular manner. Then, all seven of us will use our Dying Will in the way Father taught us, to prepare them for shaping. Then, it’s left to the individual metalsmith to work the metal. My personal style calls for clearing my mind of plan, and to just begin to work. My instincts at every second will help me craft the perfect metal. It’s something Sansone and I disagree on, but, whatever works for him is fine with me.”

“What else do you know about the weapons made from them?”, Cody asked.

“Well, the weapons are made using blood from their master, so it becomes like a new body part to them. When they die, it will fuse to the body and decay with them. Anyone who isn’t the weapon’s master, who tries to use it, will be attacked by it itself. The weapons are almost sentient. In addition, the weapons display…peculiar powers when used alongside one of its set, as if in response to them.”

“And how effective have they been, for other users?”, Laura asked.

“Well, the weapons are very rarely crafted, understand. My father crafted a set for the Maestoso Family recently. They’re a very, very elite family from Europe. It was considered an honor for him to be selected to work for a family as powerful as them. I’ve never heard of the Maestoso ever needing to fight, so the weapons have never been seen by anyone but my father and the Maestoso.”

“Are there any others?”

“The metals are EXTREMELY rare. It’s no exaggeration to say that there is perhaps only that one set, in the world. Until, of course, the set for the Orso is made. Now, there is an old family story we pass down the Ferraro bloodline. Would you like to hear it?”

“We’ve got time to spare.”, Cody said, sitting beside him.

“So we do. Alright. This story takes place at the founding of the mafia world. The warfare was immense. The world was in chaos. One mafia boss contracted a poor blacksmith to help him. He revealed that he had collected, through all sorts of means, an entire set of Arcoferro. The blacksmith agreed to help him, by making them into weapons. He did so, and the boss equipped himself and his six closest allies with the weapons. With those weapons in hand, they were able to rise above the warring families, and impose an order to them. That boss chose seven other families to join him at the top of the mafia world, with himself leading them. Those families were referred to as the “Elite Eight”. As for the blacksmith, the boss graced him with the last name Ferraro, and spread word of his skill far and wide, hiring him as his personal armorer. Eventually, that Ferraro retired, passing on his secrets to his son, and so on, until the knowledge has reached us. So, you could say that because of the Ferraro Family and the Arcoferro, the mafia world has the order it does today.”

“I see…”, Cody said. “Interesting. Were they any between the set your father made, and the first set?”

“Not that I know of, specifically.”, Arduino answered. “So, I know your question. I can’t give you an idea of what to expect these metals to be. I can’t, either. The metal helps shape itself. I just have to be the force that allows it to evolve from metal to weapon.”

“Excuse me…sir?”, the man from behind the counter called. “You have a message from a Miss Adelina. You are permitted to leave, and advised to come quietly. They say they will take you by force, if need be.”

“I see…Thank you, sir.”, Arduino said. “Now…shall we go, friends. I do hate to make you my bodyguard detail…”

“Don’t worry about it.”, Laura said. “None of us are too fond of these girls, to be honest. Alright. Is everyone prepared for combat?”

“No!”, Catherine shouted.

“Oh. Right. Mr. Arduino, could you protect that one? She’s new.”

“I’ll do my best. Truth be told, defensive fights are my specialty.”

“Good. Let’s do this.”, Laura said, taking her first step up the stairs. “Get ready.”

---

“Cara, I…I don’t want to admit this, but I don’t feel right about Alex having met with Zeke.”, Nick Seese said.

“I understand. I felt like you were acting a little strangely. You don’t think he’d actually go with them, do you?”, Cara Lundgren asked.

“I…I don’t even know. Alex is a great guy and all, but he’s…what’s the word?”

“An asshole.”

“Yeah, that’s it. But really, I hate the thought of anyone trying to leave the family. This is…this is a good thing, that Zach’s done. Anyone who tries to destroy it, I just can’t let myself forgive. Zeke is an absolute monster. Alex would be a fool to trust him. I…wish I could have fought Zeke ages ago, so none of this could have happened.”

“I’m sure Alex is smart enough to figure out that switching sides would be a miserable idea.”, Cara said, patting his shoulder. “Now, what was I hearing about these chicken wings?”

“Oh, right. Tatsu and I stole them. And Alex didn’t believe me, so he owes me an invisible intangible nonexistent dollar for losing a bet. Want some?”

“Sure, let me have a few. Wait, you don’t have a microwave anymore. How are you going to heat them up?”

Nick chuckled, passing Cara the plate and nodding, urging her to try it. She took one, and began eating it.

“Poor Cara….Haven’t you noticed? This room’s temperature is set to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. The wings are still very warm.”

“Oh. I literally didn’t notice. That’s weird.”

“Well, that’s probably because you’re so hot.”

“Did Zach teach you that one?”

“Yes.”

“Huh. He does it better, you should stop.”

“Okay. But, no, really, this room is heated to 120 degrees at all times. It’s my own kind of passive training. Just being in this room is like sitting in the Sahara Desert. Doing any kind of physical work is training in a high-resistance environment.”

“Nick…that’s crazy.”

“Crazy awesome.”

“Okay, that too. Seriously? 120 degrees?”

“Yes. I honestly have no idea how you’re surviving being in here. I usually have to leave the door open to keep my guests from dying.”Cara got up to leave, but before she walked out the door, she turned and flashed him an angelic smile.

“You said it yourself, Nick. I’m too hot.”, she said, and left.

Nick sat in silence for a moment. Finally, he spoke.

“Today…I stole a kitchen’s worth of chicken wings from my mafia family, with my pet genetically engineered mongoose. Then I went to meet the evil clone of my boss. And that’s STILL the weirdest thing that’s happened to me all day.”

Tatsu, who had been wolf-whistling in his mongoose way as Cara turned around, nodded.

---Cara on her way around a corner, bumped into Adrien, who was clearly rushing.

“Oh, I’m sorry!”, Adrien said urgently, and ran around her. Cara paused for a moment, and then ran after her. This could turn out to be interesting.

---

Alex sat at his desk, quietly contemplating. The thing on his mind was “Why me?”

It was a question he wanted to be able to answer with “Because I’m awesome.”, but he knew there was more to it than that. Sure, he had beaten Miriam in Choice, but that couldn’t have been THAT impressive to Zeke. Wait. He had mentioned a second. Perhaps that really was part of it. He knew one way to find out. He silently crept to Mike Fornaro’s room. He knocked, hoping he wasn’t in. No one responded. Good. Alex prepared his lockpicking kit, then thought better of it, and just turned the knob. Of course Mike had forgotten to lock his door. Alex came to Mike’s phone, and called up the list of recent calls. Zeke’s number had been the three most recent missed calls. This confirmed Alex’s original hypothesis. Mike had defeated Malachi, Zeke’s right hand man, and Alex had beaten Miriam, his left hand woman. Maybe that alone HAD convinced Zeke the two of them were worth looking into. Alex deleted these calls without thinking, but when he realized what he had done, wasn’t too concerned. He had to wonder, though…Why had Mike not answered Zeke at all?

---

“I have no idea how to operate my phone.”, Mike said suddenly.

“Mike? You okay?”, Paige asked.

“Yeah, yeah…I just felt like saying that, for some reason. Some guy tried to call me, like, three times today. It only just now occurred to me that I don’t know how to work my phone.”

“…Really?”

“Yeah. I tried shouting at it to work, but that didn’t do anything, so then I just threw a shoe at it and forgot about it.”

“You’re…a special guy, you know that?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty awesome. I also lost my shoe this morning. No idea where it might be. I’ve been walking around with one shoe all day.”

---

Paying no attention to the shoe next to Mike’s desk, Alex walked out of the office, and back to his own. So Zeke had chosen two excellent fighters from the family to tempt. But he seemed to know just what to say to Alex…It was too eerie. Almost like he could read his mind. Regardless, if Zeke thought petty promises of power would turn him against Zach, he was dead wrong. He wouldn’t win him over that easily.

---

So…Here we are.”, Laura said, upon reaching the ground floor of the casino.

“Did it feel like that staircase took forever to climb to anyone else?”, Josh Wells asked. “No? Just me?”

“Alright, everyone. We’re running as soon as we hit the doors. Bear Force One is waiting where we left it, about a quarter mile away at the forest clearing.”, Cody said. “Laura, do the honors?”

“Alright...GO!”, Laura shouted, and started running. Immediately, the six girls she had heard so much about jumped to get in her way. “Oh. That was fast.”

“I guess this means you won’t be handing over the package quietly?”, the girl with the purple helmet and the long brown hair asked. “Good. We have permission to hurt you as much as we want, this time. Girls! Take whoever you want. I’ll take the little blonde one.”

The other five girls sprung to action, pointing to a member of the group.

“So, it’s me you want?”, Tori Walls asked he one with the red helmet and wavy black hair. “I hope you know what you’re getting into.”“Who, me? Do we really have to fight?”, Josh Wells asked the one with the yellow helmet and the short, highlighted black hair.

“I…Josh, stay close…”, Cortni said, a little less confident, now that the one with the green helmet and the short brown hair was staring her down.

“Who are these guys?!”, Catherine asked loudly, facing the girl with the blue helmet and the long red hair. “What’s going on?”

“Don’t worry, Miss Catherine.”, Arduino said to her. “I will do my best to keep you safe.”

“Well, here we go. Another mission, another head to crack in.”, Cody said, stretching, as he stared down the girl with the indigo helmet and short blond hair.

“You’re sure you want to do this?”, Laura asked. “Two of us are, well, some of the best fighters the Orso has.”

“I have to do this.”, the girl with the purple helmet replied. “You could never understand what this battle means to us.”

“I guess not.”, Laura said. “Well…so you know. I’m one of those ‘best fighters’. I’m Laura Wise, Primo Mist Varia Officer for the Orso Family.

“And I am Adelina, the Cloud Rose of the Seven Roses. Let’s finish this quickly. I feel ill, having to fight you Orso scum.”

“Team!”, Laura called. “Not a single one of you is permitted to die on me, are we understood?”

“Understood!”, the other five shouted.

“Then…CHARGE!”

---“This is just what we need. Laura’s gone on a mission, and we’re trying to collect these metals and getting attacked already, on top of the Apostle threat, and the Guardians being gone.”, Adrien complained. Hayley, Matt, Megan, Rachel, and Bradley sat around the table with her.

“Well, let’s look at what we know.”, Rachel said. “There’s a new enemy looking to take us out. I looked back into the Rairyu base Bradley and I raided. It was burned down, with everyone in it, the night we were there. Whoever we’re talking about is merciless.”

“This is such an uncomfortable position…”, Matt said. “How do you propose we handle it, Commander?”

“Me?”, Bradley asked. “Well…We should try to deduce if any of the groups are working together. That should help.”

“Until we can do that?”, Matt asked.

“Well, absolute vigilance.”, Bradley said, unusually serious. It’s all we can do, against a group hiding in the shadows like this.”

“One group of evil clones. One group of mysterious biker chicks with a grudge. One group of shadowy thugs bent on seeing us fall. We have a lot on our plates, guys.”, Hayley said.

“Well, with the Guardians gone, we’ll just handle it all as best we can.”, Megan said. “Trevor and the others can’t know that we’re facing this problem, it would only distract them from training.”

“Right. So, I’ll declare it now. This new group is specifically the target of the Orso’s Varia. Outside of that, it will be absolutely secret.”

Outside the room, listening in, Cara’s eyes widened. This WAS becoming interesting.

---

Laura wasted no time in opening her box, releasing her Mist Turtle, Metis.

“Metis! Cambio Forma!”, she called, and the turtle, breaking all preconceptions about what a turtle could do, jumped toward her, the pattern in her eyes changing from three concentric circles to three circles along the same line. Metis began to glow indigo and change shape, as it latched itself to Laura’s arm. When it was complete, it was a large buckler with blades running along the end, with a turtleshell design. In the center was an indigo gem with a white “I” on it. “Sagezzo Scudo!”

“That’s an impressive bauble.”, Adelina said.

“One of the perks of being one of the Primos.”

“Ah. So the filth runs all the way to your weapony?”

“I don’t really appreciate that badtalking my family.”

“Well, that’s just too bad.”, Adelina said, opening a box to release a Cloud Mink. “Cloud, we can’t lose this.”

“But why? What have the Orso ever done to you? And why do you want these metals so badly?!”“Why? You could never understand. While you’re lusting after more power, you’re oblivious to those suffering below you.”

“Oh, there’s a story here.”, Laura thought.

---

“So you’re the best the Orso could manage to scrounge together?”, the girl with the indigo helmet asked Cody. He smirked, releasing Osiris from his box.

“This whole team, probably not. Me? Yeah. I’m up there. I’m Cody Cooley, Secondo Thunder Guardian. You are?”

“I’m Malvolia, Mist Rose of the Seven Roses.”

“Malvolia? Like Malvolio!?”, Cody asked, getting excited.

“Um…yes.”, she replied.

“Cool!”, he exclaimed, then regained his composure. “It’s an odd name, though. From the Latin “mal”, meaning “bad”. Did you parents want you to grow up evil?”

“Who knows what our parents wanted of us? We all named ourselves.”, Malvolia said scornfully. “I named myself Malvolia, because of all of us, I’m the…cruelest.”

“Whoa whoa whoa, what?”

“The time for talking is over.”, Malvolia said, pulling two daggers from the belt on her riding suit. “Feel free to hate me for this.”

---

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!”, Josh shouted, dodging bursts of Sun Flame spat at him by the Sun Cobra released by the girl with the yellow helmet. “Careful with those!”

“As if.”, she said darkly, lunging at him with a set of brass knuckles, aiming punch after punch at him. He dodged expertly, but was eventually hit in the chest. He fell to the ground, and the girl prepared to crush him with her fist, but he tripped her, toppling her. They rose at the same time.

“You haven’t even told me your name, yet!”, Josh shouted. “Do you have any idea how much those hurt?”

“You want my name, punk?”, she asked. “Fine. It’s Orabella.”

“Oh. That’s a pretty na-Oh my god your fist!”, Josh said, dodging another punch. “That’s it. Time to fight back.”

He pulled his own box from his pocket and opened it with his ring, releasing a Thunder Hawk.

“Fiyeroooooooooooooooooo!”, he shouted. “Attack!”

Fiyero, rolling his eyes at Josh’s enthusiasm, soared at Orabella and took the full force of her punch. Orabella jumped back and began rubbing her hand.

“Not bad.”, she said.

“Fiyero’s one of the best defensive box animals in the family.”, Josh boasted. “The Thunder Flames all over his wings harden his feathers so nothing so simple as a fist can hope to hurt him. He’s not much good at support, though.”

“Apophis…”, Orabella said, speaking to her snake. “That bird is your next meal. Go.”

Apohis lept at the bird, who expertly flew out of its reach.

“You won’t get Fiyero that easily.”, Josh said, preparing another box. “And, he’s not the only weapon I brought with me.”

He opened the box, and a wickedly curved spear emerged, tip crackling with Thunder Flames.

“Time to get serious, Fiyero.”, he said, gripping the spear tightly.

---

“Can’t you just leave?”, the girl with the green helmet asked Cortni. “A little girl like you isn’t worth the trouble.”

“Oh, I’ll change your mind of that.”, Cortni said, preparing a Sun box. “Just why do you hate us so much?”

“You’re too young to get it, kid. You’re too happy. You can’t fathom suffering like we’ve had to bear.”

“Why won’t you just talk, and not fight us?”, Cortni asked.

“Why do you think talking will help? We’re from totally different world. Orsos and Roses will never be able to come to an agreement. Your greed…we won’t let Princess die because of you.”

“What are you talking about? Princess?”, Cortni asked. “Just…what is your name?! What can I call you?”

“Call me Raimonda, kid. I’m the Thunder Rose of the Seven Roses.”, she replied.

“It’s not kid. It’s Cortni!”

“Like you matter.”, Raimonda said, plunging a lit ring into her box, releasing a Thunder Gorilla. “Skrymir! No mercy!”

The gorilla leapt at Cortni, who, panicking, released her Box Animal, a red-furred Sun Rabbit. Skrymir effortlessly smacked it out of his way, but it bought Cortni enough time to run from it.

“No! Angel!”, Cortni shouted, changing direction to run to it. Skrymir wasted no time in grabbing Cortni and squeezing her tightly in his fist.

“This is reality, kid. War is hell.”, Raimonda said.

---

Arduino readied a steel boomerang with green stones laid in it. Catherine got behind him.

“I cannot go with you, ma’am.”, Arduino said. “Nor can I relinquish my Arcoferro.”

“I don’t care what you think you can do.”, the girl with the blue helmet and long red hair said. “I have to get that metal.”

“Miss Catherine, please stay behind me.”, Arduino said, turning his head around slightly.

“You don’t need to tell me twice.”, the girl said, ducking for cover.

“It’s not like I need her.”, the girl said. “The metal is all I need.”

“Well, if battle is the only way to settle this…”, Arduino said, adjusting his tie and suit jacket. “My name is Arduino Ferraro, son of Berenger Ferraro.”

“And I’m Nerina, the Rain Rose of the Seven Roses.”, the girl replied, releasing a Rain Scorpion from her box. “Tiamat, destroy them.”

---

“My name is Ernesta.”, the girl with the black hair and red helmet said to Tori, as she opened her box to release a Storm Fox. “I’m the Storm Rose. And this is Inari.”

“Oh…um. I’m Tori, from the Orso.”, Tori replied, taken off-guard by how blunt the girl had been.

“I won’t hold back, Tori.”, Ernesta said. “Inari…The same as always.”

---

“That’s strange…”, Laura said. Adelina stopped her assault.

“What’s strange?”, she asked.

“Inari. That’s the name of a fox demon from Japanese mythology. Tiamat is an ocean monster from Babylonian mythology. From Norse mythology, Skrymir is the name of an evil giant. Apophis is the name of a monstrous snake from Egyptian mythology…But your mink is named Cloud. With so many animals with such monstrous names all around it, yours seems out of place. Is there a story there?”

“I…choose not to use the animal that fits into that set.”, Adelina said hesitantly. “I…don’t like using it, in situations like this one. I use a variety of animals named Cloud, so as to avoid needing to rely on that one.”

“That’s weird…”, Laura said. “But, whatever. Your choice.”

---

Malvolia’s evil giggling distracted Cody.

“You can’t see me, can you?”, she taunted him from all sides. “You didn’t expect me to be such a good illusionist, did you?”

Cody took a step back, took a deep breath, and prepared for what he was about to try. With absolute terror in his eyes, he ran.

“Hahaha! Coward!”, he heard. “You Orso are just as garbage as I thought!”

Cody ran past Laura and Adelina, and began to shout to Osiris, who was running alongside him.

“Osiris! Cambio Forma!”, he called, and the ram changed shape into his mask form, and fell over his eyes. In the blink of an eye, he focused all the power in his body to his right arm, and spun around, hitting the girl square in the face. She fell to the ground, and Cody put his foot on her stomach.“Not good enough.”, he said simply.

“You…how did you see through my illusion?”, she asked, growing furious.

“Well, you see…”, Cody said, chuckling. “The Primo Mist Officer’s weapon is peculiar in that it does nothing to help her create illusions. It dispels any and all hostile illusions around it. Your mistake was coming too close to Laura. Of course, I’ve learned how to get around illusions in other ways. This was just the simplest one. This is my victory.”

---

“That’s one down.”, Laura said. ‘Want to quit yet?”

“Never.”, Adelina spat.

“You’re just so prideful…”, Laura mused. Cloud the mink jumped at her, but she batted him away easily with her shield. “Cody, get to Cortni’s aid!”

“You got it!”, Cody said, running at his superhuman, Thunder Flame boosted speed to her. He punched the gorilla holding her to the ground, forcing it to release her. She thanked him, and took Angel in her arms. “Cortni, are you alright?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine.”, she said, a little embarrassed. She was surprised by a scream a little ways away. She looked to see Arduino stabbed by Tiamat’s stinger, protecting Catherine. His blood ran down his immaculate jacket.

“Run…Miss Catherine…”, he gurgled.

“No!”, she gasped, stunned by what she was looking at. Suddenly, a yellow ring and box fell next to her. She looked up, and saw Cortni staring at her determinedly.

“I don’t know how to use this!”, Catherine shouted.

“Try!”, Cortni screamed back.

Tiamat threw Arduino down, and Raimonda began to root through his possessions. She came to the package, and held it up high.

“I have it, Roses!”, she shouted. “Let’s go!”

Catherine, in desperation, threw the ring on, and focused all her energy into her desire to save Arduino. Her flame exploded in an golden inferno. She plunged it into the box, seconds before the ring broke from the intensity of the flames. A Sun Canary emerged, burning brightly with Dying Will Flames.

“Wow.”, was all Cody could say.

“I knew she’d be a Sun-type, with how reliable she is.”, Cortni said happily. “So…I stole the emergency Sun box off the plane, and threw it to her with my ring.

The canary flew at Tiamat, and tackled it at high speed. Blue and yellow flames scattered all over the battlefield, and the scorpion was flung several yards away.

“No canary should be that powerful…”, Cody said, trying to keep his jaw from dropping.

“Yeah…Well, those boxes were designed to protect Bear Force One, so they’re probably all really powerful.”

“Yeah…”

---

“Apophis…Do it.”, Orobella said, opening a yellow Battery Box, releasing Sun Flames

The snake hissed its approval, and ate the ball of flames that came toward it. Suddenly, the snake’s scales became black, and his eyes bright red. Wings of Sun Flames shot out from the snake’s back. The snake, before Josh could respond, flew at Fieryo too fast to counter, and bit it. The hawk fell to the ground, and returned to its box.

“What…what!?”, Josh gasped.

“That’s Apophis…Suneater.”, Orobella said darkly. “The secret dark side to this box. Now, Apophis…STRIKE HIM!”

Josh couldn’t counter as the snake soared at him and bit his chest. He felt nothing as he fell, but heard Cortni’s scream.

---

“Surrender.”, Adelina said. “I…don’t like having to use the dark sides…Orobella has much fewer qualms about it.”

“I…I surrender.”, Laura said angrily.“No! Laura! We can win this!”, Cody shouted.

“No, Cody…We underestimated them…”, Laura said.

“You’re not so much of a fool, for an Orso. Perhaps we’ll meet again. Girls, let’s go. Get the package and get out!”, Adelina shouted. They all boarded their bikes, and sped off.

Laura fell to her knees.

“No…No…”

Tori sat down herself, grumbling.

“I didn’t even get a chance to attack her…”, she muttered.

“I…I don’t know what to say…”, Laura said. “We didn’t have a chance, if they could all do that.”

Cody sighed, seeing Laura’s point. Maybe some of them could win, but there was no way they would all survive. He patted her shoulder, not sure how to comfort her.

“There…there was no plan I could make, to counter that.”, Laura said. “Was it…was it the look in that girl’s eyes? Cody…The look in her eyes…It wasn’t anger…or fear…or hate…but it was a darkness I couldn’t comprehend. That girl, and the others ones, too…Are terrifying…”

“Laura!”, Cortni called. “Angel just finished healing Arduino and Josh! They should be fine! Arduino is fine!”

“See? Laura, we got half the mission complete…”, Cody said. “We got Arduino…”

“I…I can’t believe this…”, Laura said. “How did this go so wrong…”

---

“Arrrrgggghhhh!”, Orobella shrieked. It took three of her sisters to hold her down, so she wouldn’t flail and hurt herself further.

“Get her out of here.”, Madame Boss said. “Her voice is grating my nerves.”

“You gave her a weapon that would do this, and you knew it!”, Adelina shouted. “The dark sides have too much of a risk to use!”

“I believe that was my doing…”, Osvaldo said, stepping out from the shadows. “And the pain is a small price to pay for the power it granted her. It’s because of my Box Weapons that you were able to retrieve the metal at all, isn’t it?

Adelina looked away, biting her lip.

“I thought so. Now, you just follow exactly what Sonia tells you.”, Osvaldo said. “If you don’t follow her exactly, she can’t lead you to getting the cure for your poor sister, can she?”

Adelina closed her eyes.

“Fine.”, she spat. “We will follow you. For Roseangela.”

--

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