“This is nonsense,” I told myself, and joined Fletcher II in the lab. “Let’s get this settled.”

“Oh,” I told the other clone. “Yeah, good idea.”

One clone opened the special storage closet from the God of Doors, and allowed the other clone to head inside. Then, OG Fletcher opened the stone door just as Drat appeared, allowing Fletcher III to usher OG back into Saxwhacket.

“You’re so weird,” Drat said, looking at me holding the door open, and also me waving at him from within the storage room.

“You’ve been wishing for a clone ability or dimensional storage room ever since you became a Rogue,” I told him through two sets of vocal cords.

“Of course I have. Doesn’t make you less weird for having them. Bad news by the way.”

“Report?” I asked, and eased the stone door closed so Fletcher II could open it in Saxwhacket.

“Full mobilization is being organized,” Drat replied, and a moment later, Skulkins appeared in his hands, twining around one arm. “They’re making up tactical teams with specific instructions regarding you and your people.”

“That’s not great,” I said.

“That’s why I opened by saying bad news.”

“How long have we got?” I asked.

It turned out the answer was not clear. That left a cloud of tension hovering over the whole place. I had to speed up the work.

This meant first sending Drat back into the field to look for more information on the agency, and that meant opening the door, getting him (and a placid Chrysta) into the room, followed by getting them back out into the portal cavern. First though, I needed to get Azalea detangled from where she’d attached herself to my legs.

Drat waited for Azalea to unwrap herself entirely around my legs, and clapped a hand on my shoulder.

“That one,” he said, “Is very weird. She’s just your type.”

Azalea’s head turned almost a hundred and eighty degrees before she opened her nightmare mouth full of needle teeth, and hissed in his direction.

“Best watch out,” I said, grinning, “she’s also very dangerous.”

Drat gave me a look that told me he had noticed, before getting out of there.

Fletchers reorganized, I cracked my neck and flexed my fingers. It was nice having a lady in intimate contact with me at all times, but it was also lovely to have freedom to move and be.

The first result of me having a bit of fun time with Poppy, oddly enough, was another level in Pleasure Seeker.

Level 46: +1 Likability, +6 skill points

I put these all in the save bucket, on the off chance I advanced in level as a Healer as well. I also eagerly awaited getting up to level 50, where something would happen. Something.

The next thing that happened was I leveled up to Devotees with Poppy.

Congratulations! You have joined in the flesh with Fairy Poppins. Your relationship has increased to Devotees.

Partners devoted to one another are something special to behold. Friends, family and even bystanders will remark upon how good they look as a couple, how natural.

This is the fifth level on the Relationship track, and brings with it the first tangible system benefits.

*You lose Relationship points with Fairy Poppins more slowly.

*You gain a Meld ability.

The concept of a Meld ability was already known to me, but Fairy Poppins didn’t have a character class like Larelle or Chrysta. I wasn’t entirely sure why, come to think of it. I had too much on my plate to ask about it, or about why Larelle had a bond mate with her Magmamander, while Chrysta didn’t.

I had a look over how different this was from Regina and Cinzy.

Meld Ability: A powerful fusion of class abilities, this would ordinarily replace your current ability shared with Fairy Poppins. You do not currently have an ability shared with Fairy Poppins.

Choose from among the fairy aspect abilities:

*Charm

*Star Magic

*Glamour

*Purity

The only two abilities I could see using for the Meld right now would be Psyspeech and Draconic Spirit. Both had come in very handy, but Draconic Spirit was simply amazing.

Still, when I tested out the different combinations using Mana Affinity, all four of them seemed to work with Draconic Spirit, and in a similar way. Glamour, Star Magic, and Purity all changed the form of the dragon into a fairy of some kind or another. Now, with Mana Affinity some ten levels higher than it had been before, I got a much clearer picture of the different forms.

A Charm fairy spirit would surround me with an aura of extreme likability, making people unlikely to attack me. The breath weapon attack of the dragon would be changed into a suggestion, where I could tell people to do things—non-violent things—and they would have a very strong compulsion to do them. Charm fairies had butterfly wings, so I’d get a cuteness makeover and butterfly wings.

A star fairy spirit would surround me with a twinkly, star-like form that would still allow me to fly, but the attack would be like dropping a meteor shower on my enemies.

A glamour fairy spirit would surround me with a shifting aura, making me look like anyone I wanted, or just shift my features around so I didn’t mimic anyone at all. Instead I could make myself into a square-jawed jock, a dumpy otaku, or even a woman with any features I wished. This one had moth wings, and the glamour ‘breath weapon’ was a series of illusions meant to confuse and distract.

Finally, a purity fairy spirit was the dragonfly type, the line that Fairy Poppins came from. Which was sort of hilarious to think about. This fairy type had dragonfly wings and radiated pure light, usually white or tinged with yellow or pink. Their ‘breath weapon’ attack could literally burn away the impure. I wanted Mana Affinity to explain what the heck that meant, but it only told me in a sort of instinctual knowledge. Impurities were eradicated. The impure were repelled.

I spared a look at Psyspeech, but didn’t immediately love anything there. A star magic Meld meant I could ‘talk to stars’ and that was even more vague. Both Charm and Glamour were pretty similar, in a way, using nonviolent social means to get your enemies to stop bothering you. Both melded with Psyspeech well, allowing me to project images or good thoughts into people’s minds.

I ended up deciding on Draconic Spirit melded with purity magic. It was much less about Poppy or dragonfly wings or the other options being decent, and much more about Buttercup. If that Nkamamon reappeared, I wanted some kind of option to go up against her overwhelming power. I doubted that if she could mess with gods, I would be able to take her down, but I burned with the need to surprise her, punish her for what she’d done to Ivy, Isabelle, and Shakindria.

Spirit of Purity

(Special Ability, Ridonkulous, Active)

I- Spend a Token. Your body is wreathed in spiritual power of fairy purity, giving you increased Affinity and Likability, along with eyes that see true. These last 1 minute.

II- You may manifest fairy wings and the aura of purity while the spirit is active. Wings allow for a controlled, gliding fall, rather than true flight. The duration of the Spirit increases to 5 minutes.

III- Your spirit of purity reaches the full limit of its power. Wings now allow for true flight. Your spirit can burns away impurities inside you, the surroundings, and all targets within 50 feet. The duration of the ability increases to 10 minutes.

IV- You may spend 2 Likability Tokens to increase the duration to 1 hour.

It was very nearly the same as the original ability, though ‘eyes that see true’ was an interesting shift away from teeth and claws. I activated the ability immediately, using a Likability Token. There were plenty of those to go around.

I saw her immediately.

“Buttercup,” I muttered, snarling. I really ought to have given her a different name.

Time froze.

For the first time seeing her, I could see her clearly. She was still a being of darkness, that much was clear. She wore a dress of leather and buckles, although it flared out in unpredictable ways, it still felt like BDSM gear. I could now make out hefty cleavage, and her slitted pupils within the pinky purple glow.

“Well this is a surprise.”

I also saw, for the first time, the three who had gone missing.

A few things were happening at the same time. One, the ‘aura of purity’ was doing its business in burning away the impurities inside me. Meaning I would not need to go to the bathroom while this ability was ongoing… nor would I be able to get drunk. Tiny flakes of dead skin and dirty were hissing out of existence. The aura of purity was also having an effect on Buttercup, who shied away from the light and reappeared nearer to where Ivy, Isabelle, and Shakindria hovered in cages made of weird, dark energy. They appeared to be asleep, thankfully.

“You need to release my friends right now,” I told her.

“I need to do no such thing,” she said. “I will actually be taking more of your people, now that I see you using this ability and you have gained the ability to see me.”

“Don’t,” I told her.

“I warned you, Fletcher. You are to head north, where there’s a God of Lies that needs your assistance. And after that, you head further north.”

“Why? What’s up there?”

“That is information you are not yet allowed to have.”

I flew up towards her, and watched as she grew uncomfortable with my presence. Still, she was strong enough to stay where she was for now.

“I want my people back and you out of my life,” I said.

“It simply will not work like that,” she told me.

“Explain why.”

“I cannot,” she said. “Now, which of your women will you be handing over to me this time?”

I attacked, flying to her and grabbing onto her. She hissed in pain and twisted to get away, but I opened my ‘eyes that saw true’ and peered at her.

“Who gives you these orders?” I demanded. “Who are you working for, and why?”

“You’re… hurting… me,” she said, but the answers were there. They appeared into the light, forced out of her mouth. “It’s Claudius. He hates Jocinda and wants her shoved back to earth. He… controls me. He gives me power and tells me what I must do. Please, I will be punished for disobeying his commands. No more.”

“You’ve been ordered to take my people, is that it?” I went on, ignoring her pleas. She had made gods sick. She had taken my friends from me.

“Yes!” Purple light flared to life all around her, constricting itself around her body. The chains pulled tight, and ripped her out of my grip. Buttercup began to groan and writhe in pain.

“Come to me on your own,” I told her. “I’ll help you.”

Her eyes opened and regarded me, and I could see her will there. The phrase ‘eyes that see true’ wasn’t kidding around. I knew from her expression that she would come to me on her own, if she could, but she could not. She was under a compulsion from Claudius. She was sorry, because even as a dark aspect Nakamamon, she didn’t like giving up her free will to another. Even if she reveled in darkness, it wasn’t supposed to be for someone else’s benefit.

The ‘eyes that see true’ were absolutely worth the price of giving up dragon wings and dragon breath.

The moment I emerged from the time stop, Ivy and Isabelle were standing before me. They seemed bewildered at my jumping up and hugging the two of them.

“What?” Ivy asked. “I mean don’t stop, I’m glad to see you… but what are you doing?”

“This… this isn’t where we were,” Izzy said, peering around like she didn’t recognize the exterior of the mansion. “Where were we, actually? Wait…”

It took some time to explain that they’d been abducted by a Defrit, who I’d named Buttercup. I had to gather everyone, to ensure Buttercup hadn’t followed through on her promise to take someone else instead.

She had.

There was some wailing and gnashing of teeth at the losses of Fairy Poppins, Muppin, Larelle and Regina. I held onto a trembling Tweedle Dee and stroked his fur, trying to calm the little guy. Tara and Cinzy held onto Ivy and Isabelle, or rather, Cinzy and Isabelle held one another and commiserated over the loss of their bond mates.

No one was more upset than me, but I had to be stronger than my fear and anger.

I reassured them that just like Ivy and Isabelle, our friends were held in a kind of stasis and not really gone. That included Shakindria, who I dearly missed. I hadn’t spent enough time with Shakindria as of late; I felt like I hadn’t spent enough time with any of them, now that they were gone. I wanted that to change, even as I wanted to work through my mother’s cure.

“We’re going to make it through this,” I told them. I might not have Persuasion skill, but I scored four successes on Likability alone. A lot of relief appeared on their faces, and a lot more hugs went around. But once they were done comforting one another, they puffed out their chests, threw back their shoulders, and asked what they could do to help finish this cure. Pair of cures.

“You hear that, Buttercup?” I asked. Just because I couldn’t see her any longer didn’t mean she wasn’t there. I knew she was still watching, but now from a more comfortable distance. Once I got to work, I activated the Spirit of Purity once again, found her, and gave her a friendly wave.

She gave me the bro nod, which I found wonderful.

Now Shakindria had been joined by the mammoth form of Muppin, sleepily suspended in midair, along with Poppy, Regina, and Larelle.

This time I engaged Psyspeech and communicated with her directly. I know you’re not happy about being in this position, I told her. You don’t deserve to be pushed around by someone like Claudius.I’d like to know if there’s anything you can do to assist me in my quest. Better yet, let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you.

“What are you doing, Healer? What do you hope to accomplish?” She called out.

I aim to free you, if I can, I told her with Psyspeech. Look for a loophole in the orders Claudius has given you. Whatever you find, just tell me and I will endeavor to make it happen.

I had a third Nakamamon I could bond… but I wasn’t certain I could break the bond that already existed between Buttercup and Claudius. I also wasn’t at all certain I wanted a dark aspect Nakamamon with insane level of power bonded to me. The power she had was scary, and I wasn’t even sure that would be able to handle it well if handed to me.

This is Christopher trying to get his people back.