look... i can explain...
no, i can't.
look, i don't even know what it is anymore
it lost all plot a while ago
longer, even more chaotic chapter coming later today!

Cleo and Bdubs awoke after the battle to a frantic Impulse at their doorstep.

"Please, guys, come, you have to help me-" he begged.

"Slow down. What's going on and why do we have to help?" Cleo asked suspiciously.

"Tango and Joel and Martyn and Skizz and Ren and they're insane and they're hurting them-" Impulse rambled.

"What's goin' on?" Bdubs asked. "You gotta slow down, buddy."

"R-Ren and- Skizz- they're- they're insane- and- they're torturing them-" Impulse stammered.

"WHAT!?" Cleo exploded. "DID THEY LEARN ABSOLUTELY NOTHING FROM SCAR!?"

Impulse backed away nervously.

"Take me there right now," Cleo demanded, fire blazing in her eyes. "NOW."

Impulse nodded and scurried away back towards the Crastle. Cleo stormed after him and Bdubs meekly followed.

They found no one.

"WHERE IS REN!?" Cleo demanded.

"What?" Ren emerged from the Renchanting building with an expression of surprise.

"I have recieved word that you are TORTURING fellow server members," Cleo snarled.

Ren backed up, eyes wide. "Uhh... I didn't do whatever you think I did-"

"Do. Not. Lie. To. Me." Cleo told him. "Where are they?"

"Dude, they went home, they were just visiting," Ren told her. "Calm down."

Cleo had no evidence against him. She simply hissed at him and angrily headed to a ridge to spy.

Scott and Jimmy found themselves home in the flower valley next to a surprised-looking Grian.

"Guys, what happened?" he demanded.

"It's okay, it was just a battle," Jimmy told him.

Grian angrily walked away, muttering something about Dogwarts being evil. Scott and Jimmy exchanged a glance.

"See, he's fine," Jimmy told Scott.

Scott looked sternly at him.

"Okayyy, maybe he's not fine-" Jimmy decided.

"You think?" Scott asked.

A loud crash came from outside. The flower duo ran outside to find Grian, wings flared and hands out in a stay back pose, facing Martyn and Skizz, who were standing on the other side of a destroyed gate, bloodstained swords in their hands.

"What do you think you're doing!?" Scott yelled.

Skizz slithered along the path and grabbed Grian's wrist. Grian yelped but barely fought back as Skizz set his sword on the small hybrid's throat. "This."

"NO!" Jimmy yelled. "Don't you dare!"

Martyn grinned, trying for an evil smile. It was more of a nervous grimace. "Come with us or he gets it."

Scott and Jimmy exchanged a glance. It one swift, synchronized movement, they leapt at Martyn, who leaped back, a practiced movement, letting the two fall to the ground.

Skizz shuffled around in his pocket, hiding something. It was clear what it was when, with a loud snap, he clicked a shackle to Grian's wing.

Scott went white. "What are you do-"

Martyn smugly snapped his own shackle onto Scott's wrist and with a cry, he was dragged along.

"Jim-my, you know what to do!" Skizz called.

"What!?" Jimmy exclaimed in shock.

Martyn and Skizz dragged Grian and Scott out of the valley and into the forest, leaving Jimmy with his own thoughts and panic.

What the heck did they mean!?

Several minutes later, and nearly too late, Jimmy realized.

He was supposed to follow.

And since they'd taken both his friends, follow he did.

Cleo watched four figures approaching from a distance, growing closer. As they reached Dogwarts, Cleo realized that it was Martyn, Skizz, Scott, and Grian.

Their movements seemed odd, but Cleo couldn't pinpoint why.

They slipped inside the fortress and Cleo simply waited.

Once they were inside, Skizz dragged Grian off, away from Scott, and Scott was shoved into a cell with Tango.

"Oh, hi," Tango said.

"You're here too?" Scott asked.

"Yeah," Tango sighed. "What'd they do to you?"

"They dragged me here in a chain," Scott told him. "And I will not stand for it!"

"No, you'll lay down and whimper for it," the Red King said, walking into the room.

"Will not! I never whimper for anyone," Scott said stubbornly.

The Red King shrugged. "You will."

With that, he left them alone, in the dark room, hidden away somewhere the light would never reach.

Ren laughed.

This was too easy.

He didn't even need to do anything except stand tall to control Grian. Joel didn't even fight him anymore, not after his threats. Martyn obeyed him out of fear, and Skizz obeyed him willingly.

No one dared oppose him.

And no one would ever even think to after what he had planned for Scott.