We finally stopped running and took a break sometime after lunch that day. I had started to become good at telling time, but I was also in two different places at once. Fletcher II had access to the sun, the sky, and potentially clocks, if he wanted them. He did not, as clocks made me feel far too busy, but they were available if I wanted to put a number to ‘late afternoon.’

“Something weird just happened,” I told them. “We’ve got to set down.”

The team had been making a very good pace. Jacoby had a rapid travel aura power, and everybody was burning Durability and Muscularity Tokens to move. Except me, but that was mostly down to OG Fletcher doing a bit of a flex on the main mission side of things.

We came to a stop beside a rushing stream, flanked by boogie trees and full of wildlife. I’d catalogued all these Nakamamon once upon a time, but the simple purity of butterfly Nakamamon, bugs and birds all flitting about while floofy creatures roamed about the grass… it was wonderful. I’d have preferred to just lay in the grass and use Bondsealer to coax the floofy creatures to let me pet them.

I breathed out a long and confused sigh instead. Celine clutched my hand in both of hers, and when we came to a stop, clamped it between both legs as well.

“What’s going on?”

I nearly threw up from the weirdness happening. My whole body fuzzed out of existence for a second, and when I came to, I was on my knees with both Celine and Jacoby holding onto me, and Shakindria floating down before me.

“He will be fine,” Shakindria announced. A very unnerved Chrysta hovered a little ways away, so she wouldn’t accidentally damage everyone with ice or ghost powers. “His main body went through some sort of mana displacement or redistribution effect… a teleportation, or death.”

“How can you say he’ll be fine?” Jacoby asked in a panicked voice.

“I’ll be fine,” I said. “I didn’t die.”

 Shakindria smiled placidly at the venomous look she received from Jacoby.

“How about Cinzy and Drat?” I asked.

“You tell us what happened first!” Jacoby insisted. “Right now, mister.”

“The holy eels punked me.”

“…do you want to get slapped?”

“They shoved me through the God of Doors,” I said.

She threw her hands up. “I don’t even know how to process that sentence. Is that true? It sounds like insane bullshirt.”

So I quickly told the boring story of searching through the city of Saxwhacket over the course of the last four days while I was also imprisoned, and how the Eelysians were none too keen to have me get all up in their business. I’d done a bit of a show of force then, only to have them dogpile me right in front of the God of Doors, the actual god.

“And they… pushed you through a god.”

“Look, the entire city is floating on blocks of land and every single one of those blocks has houses and buildings on all sides. All six sides.”

She stared, and finally said, “Okay.”

“I don’t know if I can get out of the portal cave, and I don’t know if people are going to show up and try to force me through the portal the portal cave, and really there’s a lot I don’t know, so we need to hurry to Saxwhacket so we can make the cure.” Before we were forced to find out whether this clone could survive the OG Fletcher being portaled back to earth.

“Right,” Celine said. “Hang onto this.” She handed me over to Jacoby, who immediately started to breathe more heavily. In the meantime, Celine gathered the Wizards from her team around for a huddle.

Soon enough, Celine and Wayne came back over.

“We’re going to put together a teleport at a much higher level than anyone can do individually. It will allow three seconds of activation at the current math estimate, but we’ll redo the math and see if we can squeeze out another second or two. It’ll be all the way to Saxwhacket.”

“Let’s do it,” I replied.

***

Stumbling and falling through the God of Doors, and the last thing I saw as I fell were the dozens of amused eel faces staring down. The next thing that happened was the door slamming shut. Then I was in a tunnel of swirling blue energy that reminded me of the portals.

When I emerged out the other side, I still had my momentum, so I tumbled out and scraped various things on the dusty, stony ground.

“I bet you thought you killed me,” I muttered, and chuckled.

Amazing to me that the first time I experienced real violence from the Nakamamon side, it was from divine aspected Nakamamon. Not impulsive electric aspects, or stubborn earth aspects, or temperamental water aspects… no, this was from self-righteous divine aspects.

“Dicks,” I said.

Standing, I got my bearings.

“Stalagmites, stalactites, pretty sure the one with the g in the name are on the ground, and the ones with the c in the name are on the ceiling. And I’m convinced I’m right because I’m the only one here, and I’m talking to myself.”

The only light came from around the bend, bathing the place in that familiar bluish, fluid color.

“Is that…”

It was. I rounded the corner of this cavern and found myself face to face with the portal. Not only that, but a familiar face stood there, taking in the cave as I’d just done.

“Speaking of Dicks,” I said, and stepped out. “Hey, if it isn’t Dick Johnson!”

The older man turned to me. “Hang on a second… Christopher, right? Christopher Fletcher? Mr. Sell-My-Kidneys?”

“That’s right.”

The portal was supposed to be completely inaccessible. At least, that’s what the girls had told me. What was my recruiter doing here, and why now?

“Are you here to capture me?” I asked tiredly. “I have to say I’m getting pretty tired of being captured and forced through portals.”

“Capture you? I have no idea what you’re talking about. Why would I capture… oh.”

“Yeah. I’m that Fletcher.”

“They want you in custody pretty badly, Mr. Fletcher,” Dick Johnson said.

“Don’t I know it.”

Apparently it was time for an abrupt change of tack. “Where are we?”  Why isn’t the portal working?”

***

“The portal isn’t working,” I told Jacoby and the others while Celine and the Wizards got their gigantic teleportation ritual set up.

“What do you want to bet it’s directly related to the God of Doors?” Jacoby asked, and gave my hand a squeeze.

The Wizards could essentially combine their spells into a mega spell, but only if more and more of them were working together. It was one of the things they seemed to think held the Divinity Rescue Corps back. Honestly, working free of the oversight of the admin was the trade off, and it was more than worth it. While Alan couldn’t communicate easily or often, we were off the leash, and the more experienced me realized that was worth a lot.

They were busy getting components together, and drawing out a ritual circle. This involved using a transmutation spell to turn earth into stone, since it was far easier to work with. They first breathed fire all over the grass, put out the flames with another spell, then leveled the spot by shifting dirt this way and that. Next, the flattened earth was turned to a large, nearly perfect circle of stone.

“That is impressive,” I muttered.

If I’d made the Divinity Rescue Corps half a dozen members stronger… would I have half a dozen more issues? Or lots more opportunities? I smirked, thinking of how I probably would have chosen mostly female Wizards.

I found the back of my hand pressed against Jacoby’s crotch. She was trying to be subtle about rolling her hips around in little circles, so I obliged her by sliding my fingers back and forth. Slowly, but it was clear she blissed out and stopped paying attention.

“How long until we get together with Cinzy and Drat?” I asked. I missed my Bard for obvious reasons: she was effective, and she would have smoothed out the situation with the holy eels without much issue. There were the side benefits, such as looking at her, and feeling like a million bucks any time she was talking directly to you.

I missed living the slow life with Tara, Regina, Cinzy, Isabelle and Ivy, and now Vellenia.

Shakindria floated down next to me. Please allow me to check. The Wizards have estimated this may take up to an hour to complete.

I reached out and stroked her face. This one, too, had grown on me with a quickness I hadn’t anticipated.

“Be safe,” I told her. “I want the team all together. Please avoid detection. We don’t know how hard the Agency response is going to be, or how fast.”

It was going to be massive. Overwhelming. All of us knew that, a deep tension thrumming within all of us.

Wayne was using his own Divination magic to monitor the situation. He’d been sitting cross legged in a trance and radiating silvery energy since we stopped. A great big third eye had opened from his forehead and was now over a foot wide, looking this way and that, and occasionally blinking.

“I will accompany her,” Chrysta said. This was another one that felt right to be with. She needed someone to touch, someone to love her.

They didn’t need my permission, but I nodded and they disappeared.

Twenty minutes later, and facing the threat of Jacoby jumping me and forcing me to have sex with her, Shakindria and Chrysta reappeared. A very disheveled and grumpy looking Cinzy and Drat floated along with them, but it was clear Shakindria had been floating them in lazy circles along behind her using telekinesis. Fairy Poppins flew off to one side, probably delighted at how mussed Cinzy’s hair was, and McCauley Skulkins twisted and wriggled in the air like a snake. The strange weasel centipede hybrid seemed to be enjoying the telekinetic flight.

“We have found them!” Chrysta said, delighted.

Shakindria set them down nearby, then set herself down and laid there in the middle of the bustling clearing.

“She is out of mana.”

I locked eyes with Drat, who glanced at me holding Jacoby’s hand. He then raised an eyebrow and shook his head sardonically.

A moment later, Cinzy was crashing into me. She had her arms around my neck and was kissing all over my face. I couldn’t help but laugh. Jacoby, of course, didn’t let go, but went with her.

“I… have missed you…” she breathed, then sat up. “Now give me your hand, you doof.”

I gave her my other hand. She immediately pressed it to the space just below her belly button. She still had a smooth stomach and was in the best shape of anyone’s life, but now there was a slight, smooth bulge.

“Holy…” I muttered. It hadn’t been a week. “That is wild.”

The slight trepidation fell away from her face and was replaced by a beaming smile.

“I can’t believe you did this,” she said. “I am… I am honestly terrified. And excited, like… way more excited than ever before.” Tears stood out in her eyes, and she hugged against me once more.

“Oh my God,” Jacoby whispered. “Are you…”

“That’s right,” Cinzy said, rubbing her face against mine, “Super pregnant. And I have no idea what’s happening or when it’s going to come due. I shouldn’t even be showing yet, since it’s only been about a week. Feels like forever.”

Jacoby broke away and stood up, then started peering at her own stomach.

“Oh jeez,” Cinzy breathed. “Jacoby too?”

“Cinzy, listen…”

“No, it’s okay,” she said. “I can’t stop you, I’m not going to, and at this point I don’t really want to. I know there’s this ability where I get to feel you fracking anyone, and honestly, I’m down with the idea of knowing what it feels like to do a whole bunch of Nakamamon. And there’s more than enough Fletcher to go around. You can clone yourself. I get the best loving imaginable. Now I get a baby!”

She paused and took a long look at the compact and lovely Ranger. “Besides, she’s really cute.”

“I am right here, you know,” Jacoby said.

“We are about to have a problem,” Wayne announced. Those of us who weren’t making a magic portal to transport us across potentially hundreds of miles all gathered round. Except Shakindria. She just lay there in the aftermath of overextending her mana.

“What’s going on?” Cinzy asked first.

“Admin is mobilizing against you.”

The large silvery eye expanded into an even larger version, and was replaced with an image of a bird’s eye view of the HQ. All the landing platforms for mount Nakamamon were full. A lot of activity was going on, more than normal.

“We can’t head in any closer?”

“If anyone sees this spell they can counter us, or try and get a fix on our location.”

If I was seeing this right, it was an all-out operation. They were putting all assets into play. All the Wizards, all the Rogues, all the Rangers, everybody.

The Wizards were done sooner than anticipated. They had all the very specific magic diagram, all the candles and the Tokens that needed to be burnt in piles in specific smaller circles, the circles for each of the Wizards to sit and channel the spell at the same time, all that stuff.

“I won’t be able to come with you,” Celine told me shyly. She had her hands clasped behind her back and was looking at the ground like she’d made a terrible mistake and was about to be punished. She even dug one steel toed boot in the earth and scratched it back and forth.

I swept her into a tight hug and picked her up off the ground.

“You’re magnificent,” I whispered. “The best slut a guy could ask for.”

When I set her back down she was even more flustered than before. She leapt up and clamped her whole body onto me, kissing my face until my mouth found hers.

“Let’s do this,” I told her.

She nodded somberly, though her eyes did flick down to my crotch.

“Not that,” I said. Though next time, we would definitely do that.

“Everybody form up!” Cinzy called with her ability. We had already discussed the order everybody would be heading through, so Jacoby and I were first. She handed me off to Cinzy, and headed back behind Fairy Poppins, Drat with Skulkins, Chrysta, and Shakindria. We’d love to get more through than that, which was why Jacoby was going through next to Savannah, followed by Oz and Ribbit, then Bri and Steph, and all the people whose names I had only heard a couple of times.

Suddenly the Wizards were saying the magic words. Wayne was already in his smaller circle, sitting cross-legged and doing the same hand gestures as Celine and the others. They began to glow a faint yellow, before the portal coalesced into being. It too was yellowish at the edges, with sparks fizzing this way and that. Once it got to about two feet in diameter Chrysta shot through head first, and I felt myself picked up and hurled through using Shakindria’s telekinesis. Everyone else started screaming, but Cinzy and I went hurtling through hand in hand.

Larelle was on the other side, lifting us up as Drat and Skulkins appeared. He had a much easier time of it, rolling adroitly away and coming up on his feet even as Jacoby and Savannah came through.

Shakindria floated quickly through, rose up out of the way, and just before the portal closed, Oz, Ribbit, Bri and Steph all made it through.

This is Christopher getting the gang all together.