[OP: "Eye of The Tiger"--Survivor]

Zoey and Morph's time had been probably the most chaotic.

They had tracked Mystery around the corner as planned, and he'd almost had a full on panic attack when they did.

His marks were still glowing erratically also.

"We need to calm him down!" Zoey said. "Gwi-Ma is going to come for him like this."

"I'll draw another barrier," Morph said.

He did.

After that, Mystery stopped freaking out a little, and the patterns stopped glowing, but it didn't fully calm him down.

He wasn't talking coherently but just muttering something about "no" and "stop."

Zoey wasn't sure what to do. "Morph?" she said questioningly.

Mira had had no ideas either and was standing farther from Mystery like she thought he might attack, so Zoey didn't even ask her.

"Maybe try singing or something?" Morph said. "I don't know... I don't think it's just Gwi-Ma. I think Mystery might be having some kind of anxiety attack. I've never seen one of those except when I had them, but this sounds kind of like mine..."

"What is taking them so long?" Mira had looked back. "I'm starting to think the tear is somewhere else. I'd better go back and get them--and Rumi also. She could be in trouble."

"Yeah, you need to back her up more than us," Zoey said. "Morph is as good as 3 people anyway."

"Aw, thanks," Morph said.

Mira took off.

Zoey hoped that she didn't find more trouble but thought that she'd meet Rumi and probably Raven also, so she'd be okay.

Having 5 people who could fight demons certainly gave them more options.

"Mystery," she said in a more coaxing tone, "hey, what's wrong? You can tell us."

"Can't," Mystery said.

But at least he seemed to hear them that time.

"If you don't want to tell us, that's okay too," Morph said. "But just know, we're here for you. Right, Zoey?"

"Right," Zoey nodded. "We're not gonna send you back to Gwi-Ma. Don't worry about it..."

"Not sure that's what he's afraid of," Morph said. "I feel like this reaction is more guilt than just panicking... It all adds up. I think he was behind the scandal."

At the word scandal, Mystery flinched.

"Bad Morph!" Zoey said severely. "You said the s-word!"

"Sorry." Morph raised his hands. "I forgot."

"We need to talk about something else." Zoey used this solution for everything, but right now it was the wisest one. "Something totally not depressing...like...puppies."

"Or kittens," Morph suggested.

"Or turtles," Zoey said. "Did you know baby turtles are called hatchlings?"

"I did know that, actually," Morph said. "And baby foxes are also called kittens."

"And aren't baby sea lions also called pups...or is that seals?" Zoey asked.

They didn't know if it was working, but Mystery finally looked up a little.

"Okay.. " Zoey was encouraged. "See, yes, happy thoughts...like...uh, waffles."

"With syrup," Morph said.

"Yes, and whipped cream," Zoey added. "And ramen."

"That's not my happy thought," Morph said.

"There's something wrong with you then," Zoey scolded him. "Ramen is the best."

"Better than potatoes and gravy?" Morph said. "Sorry, but agree to disagree."

"No way, that's just food anarchy," Zoey said.

Their strategy might have finally worked--if they had been allowed to continue--but, they suddenly heard something.

Lucky that Zoey had the reflexes of a hunter, or the demons would have impaled them before she even got a chance to turn around, because when she did whirl around and throw a knife, she hit one that was only about 6 inches away.

"Whoa!" Morph looked. "That... I didn't even hear that thing."

"Sometimes you don't hear them," Zoey said fiercely. "Great..."

She saw more coming, crawling down the street like a wave of ugliness.

"That's a lot for two people to handle," Morph said.

"The worst part is, if they're that far away...they could have gotten some people," Zoey said, worried. "How did...how did we not see them?"

"Zoey, I think that Gwi-Ma's strategy is different than before." Morph formed his hand blades. "The tears seem to be letting in a lot more things, for one thing, and for another, the Honmoon is weakened right now. We keep reopening the tears... It's like they're targeted now. If he can send all his forces into one place, he'll have more success."

"So when he's targeting someone specific, he doesn't need to have a lot of range?" Zoey said. "I guess that makes sense...like a battering ram...but that's not normal for Gwi-Ma."

"Maybe he's smarter than we gave him credit for," Morph said. "Drat."

Zoey threw more knives.

Morph managed to slash through another few demons, but more just appeared behind them.

"No way this is going to end well," he said. "They'll attack from behind us once we're too close... We need to run instead and regroup with the others. We need someone with more range and destructive power than us."

"Yeah, maybe." Zoey threw more knives. "But I can't run and fight at the same time."

"I got it," Morph said. "I'll lift you and Mystery and let you throw the knives. Team work."

"Sounds good." Zoey threw another knife. "Might want to hurry on that."

Morph transformed into large winged creature (that was like a dinosaur and also like a dragon from a myth) and then snatched them up.

Mystery did not make any protest, at least.

* * *

Back on the ground, Mira thought they'd catch up with Morph before they met any more demons... but that was not the case.

More of them crawled... it looked like out of the gutter.

"Water demons..." Mira grimaced.

"Ew." Romance didn't like these ones because they were slimy.

"I can't keep running," Baby was wheezing. "You got us all killed... This hunter is broken, and the other two aren't doing anything to help."

"Will you shut up already?" Mira had had it with him more than Abby and Romance had. "I should just leave you to get taken back to Gwi-Ma."

"So why don't you?" Baby wasn't willing to let her have that, though it was like asking her to basically let him die.

Mira pointed her Gok-do at him. "One more word."

"Enough." Abby suddenly pushed the edge away from Baby. "Do either of you remember that we're literally about to get eaten...? Or whatever they do to us."

The water demons were already slithering towards them.

"And suddenly you're the one in charge?" Baby said.

"Baby, are you gone? We're literally about to die!" Romance was nearing hysteria, from the sound of it.

Mira wanted to clock both of them.

"Well, I can't fight off that many," she said, turning to face the water demons. "Where is Raven? She should have followed us by now... And Rumi?"

"Could we run the other way?" Romance pointed at the opposite street.

"You three aren't fast enough to get to the end before they get to us." Mira was sure of it. "Why do we keep splitting up?..."

"Perhaps if one of us acted like a decoy, the others could get away and find the rest of the group," Abby suggested.

"I can't be a decoy. They seem to want you three more," Mira dismissed it. "Not that they wouldn't want me also, but most of them might just chase you anyway."

"Didn't mean you," Abby said.

Mira gave him a sideways glance. "You're serious?"

"Please tell me you mean we'll use Baby as the decoy," Romance whined. "He's the one responsible for this."

Baby shot him a dirty look. "You were the ones who ruined our chances."

"It might work," Abby ignored them.

"But why would...?" Mira was confused. "Why would you do that?"

"Because I'm tired of this." Abby sounded pretty mad. "One thing or another...Gwi-Ma is only toying with us all... I don't think he ever intended to let us go, even if we did cooperate with what he wanted. I don't think we can really all get away."

The water demons would be on them in a minute... The only reason they weren't yet was because they moved slower outside of the water...but that didn't mean they weren't still a problem.

"But don't you want to get away?" Mira couldn't connect the idea of doing anything unselfish with anyone linked to Gwi-Ma.

Granted, Jinu had done something similar already...but that was different.

"It doesn't look like we're all going to get away, but maybe distracting them would at least mean some of us do..." Abby didn't seem to see anything odd in him suggesting this.

Mira had no real issue with the plan... It didn't sound like it would work to her, but she had no better idea without her backup available.

It wouldn't be necessary if the other girls had just come back.

Zoey would have, if she could have done it without leaving Morph and Mystery unprotected.

Yet, since Mira had not shown up yet, she was starting to think that she needed to run back.

"Just put me down on a roof and I'll get there," she told him. "I'll be fine."

"Zoey, I'm not sure about this," Morph said. "Splitting up even more..."

"Maybe just follow overhead then?" Zoey said.

"Just put me down," Mystery suddenly said. He startled them by speaking at all.

"Mystery?" Morph said. "No, that's not a good idea. They'll come right for you."

"Don't you need to help your friends?" Mystery said. "I can't... Just...put a barrier here or something... This is wasting your time."

"He's right," Morph agreed.

He landed on a roof. "Okay...this should last at least a few minutes, I think. But...I've heard that the more something attacks it, the less time it lasts, so if they show up...well, scream or something."

Mystery just nodded.

"Wow, this is kinda a brave thing for you to do." Zoey sounded kind of impressed.

"I don't think so. I'd rather not go back that direction." Mystery said blandly. "But the other three are still back there...and this is my fault...so..." He sounded gloomy.

"That's still pretty sweet." Zoey was intent on seeing it that way.

"You can flatter him later, Zoey, let's go," Morph said. "We'll be back as soon as we can, Mystery. Stay calm."

He grabbed Zoey and flew the other way.

However, they would not be in time to help Mira and the other boys before they got attacked.

Rumi, Jinu, and Derpy had been flying off the roof, but Rumi had heard gunshots and known Raven must have come out of the building.

They rushed to the side of it where the side door was and found her fighting off a bunch of demons that had come out of the other hole.

They helped bail her out quickly.

Raven had been holding her own though. Because she shifted and wove around the demons, dodging, she'd done all right.

"You are a boss, I have to admit." Rumi was impressed.

"None of your nonsense." Raven was sharp. "You all just left me there, by the way."

"We thought you were fine," Jinu said. "And...clearly, you were."

"We have to find the others right now. There's no way this is the worst of this attack." Raven could spot a distraction when she saw one.

"We were going to find Mira, but then I heard you," Rumi said. "Derpy, take us to Mira now."

Derpy nodded... At least, they thought he nodded.

"Mira's alone again?" Raven said. "Why do we keep doing this?" She turned into a...something that looked like a vulture.

"Wait...you could do that?" Jinu said.

"I didn't used to be able to do animals like this," Raven said, as a bird. "But there was this one adventure with Shine and Wally where I went to another dimension... Long story, my power seemed to get more flexible... I've worked on this, but I've not flown much before..." She sounded uneasy. "But, I'm not riding the tiger."

She lifted into the air--and, after a few seconds, she seemed to get the hang of it.

"Adaptability is one of their powers," Rumi noted. "We don't have time to ask how she did that. Try to keep up, Raven."

"Why didn't she turn into a raven?" Jinu asked.

He got a beak in the back for asking that.

Derpy took off.

Raven flew over his head, but she was faster than the tiger was.

Unless it teleported, but it couldn't take people with it when it did that, so it just flew.

Sussy, still following it, flew up to Raven and then cawed at her.

"Do you know where they are?" she asked it.

Sussy dived ahead of Derpy, and Raven followed him.

* * *

On the ground, Abby decided to do the idea.

He moved away from the other three and waved at the demons.

They turned to him with hatred in their eyes.

Perhaps they already knew that he'd turned down Gwi-Ma's offer...or they just didn't care. They never seemed to.

"Abby is crazy," Romance said, still sounding near to hysteria. "I knew he was stupid, but this is another level!"

"At least he has a spine." Mira said what she never would have said if he was listening. "Will you get a grip...? Once they're looking more at him, you and the useless toddler need to run the other way... Maybe I can distract them a little too... Though why I should stick my neck out for you is beyond me."

"I thought we all were going to run," Romance said.

"A hunter is not gonna run while the literal demon is actually trying to do the brave thing," Mira said with a deadly sounding voice. "Do you have a problem with that, or do you want to surrender again?"

"No..." Romance said. "We'll run..."

"And if you see anyone else, tell them to get over here," Mira added.

She picked up a piece of loose asphalt and threw it the other way.

Some of the demons turned that way and hissed.

Mira used her spear then and slashed the sonic wave.

"Let's just go now." Romance took Baby by his arm and started to run back the other way but not around the corner, since they were trying to avoid the hole itself.

"Abby is stupid!" Baby was still mad. "I knew he'd do something like this one day... He always was too willing to take damage for other people."

"You're the reason for that!" Romance was still angry at Baby, even if he was near to snapping himself. "You prick. I can't believe you. This whole thing is falling apart, and it's all your fault, and where did Mystery go? He ditched us all."

"What do you expect from Mystery? He was always the first to crumble under pressure," Baby said.

They ran past another building, and suddenly Derpy was hopping off the roof and two birds were overhead.

One of them said, in Raven's voice, "I think I see Mira ahead. This way."

It then flew the direction they'd just come from.

"Did...that vulture just talk?" Romance said.

"Oh, wow, a talking bird. We've never seen anything weirder than that," Baby snapped.

But Derpy now brought Jinu and Rumi.

Rumi sprang off Derpy in one fluid motion. "Where did you guys leave Mira?" She pointed her sword. "Did you just abandon her?"

"Why would we help her anyway?" Baby replied.

"Listen, you!" Rumi grabbed him by his collar again. "I have about one second of patience left for you. Where is Mira?"

"She's that way." Baby pointed. "Raven just flew after her... Didn't you hear her?"

"No." Rumi hadn't been able to hear what Raven said from where she was. "But fine--we're talking about this later, by the way."

She dropped him. "Just stay with Jinu and the tiger."

She raced after Raven.

"I'm not just standing here waiting," Jinu said. "You both get on the tiger."

"Get on it?" Romance didn't seem to be eager to ride a giant tiger.

"Do it now." Jinu's tone said he was not allowing argument.

They got on.

Derpy then followed Rumi.

* * *

Mira had slain at least 6 demons but still saw at least 10 more.

She was trying to ignore that her arm was literally on fire right now, and she wasn't using it in her swing, but...

Some of them had followed Abby, but they were coming now and seemed to remember who they were supposed to be chasing.

This had been his goal...but it wasn't going to help if they just attacked them both.

Mira knew she shouldn't be here at all... She really should have just taken off, found Rumi and Zoey, then taken all of the demons together.

But...

It was... too cruel to do that right now.

She didn't like the guy, but he had tried to help...and he wanted to be free...

She couldn't just pretend that wasn't happening, no matter how she viewed demons and Gwi-Ma's servants in general.

That didn't mean she wasn't angry though.

It might have been just as well she had adrenaline pumping into her veins at the moment, or the pain would have been unbearable.

One of the water demons got in a lucky shot when she had to turn her back on it for a second to kick one that had latched onto her boot.

"Hey!" Mira kicked at it, and another one grabbed her bad arm, biting down on it.

She actually saw black spots for a second.

But she blindly moved her other arm and hit the demon hard enough to knock it off even while she was dizzy.

She struggled to shake the one off her leg, but it tore off part of the boot in the process.

Mira hadn't struggled this much in a fight in years...

She was starting to worry that it meant something about the Honmoon was off... Usually they were most protected from damage by their speed and resilience... A few soggy demons shouldn't have been this much trouble.

She looked to see if Abby had gotten away from it.

But no, the demons had backed him to the wall now...

Not sure what they were going to do, tear him to pieces? They couldn't eat him...

Right?

Actually, Mira didn't know if demons could eat other demons... That was something she didn't need to see.

She was losing hope of someone finding them though, but she started to get to her feet anyway and pick up her Gok-do again.

Then, at that moment, knives came flying through the air and disintegrated three demons.

Mira looked up.

Zoey was currently flying up, since Morph was carrying her.

"Take that, you demons!" Zoey called. "Leave them alone!"

Then Morph swooped lower, and she threw a bunch more of them.

Thankfully, she took care of the ones about to do something to Abby.

Morph then put her down and sliced through some himself.

The ones by Mira began to back up at that, but one of them swiped at her again for good measure.

Mira tried to block it, twisting her bad arm, and she dropped her weapon yet again.

The demons reached for her--

A sword suddenly cut through them and disintegrated them both, then circled back to Rumi.

She nodded at Mira and sliced through the rest of them.

"I'm sorry we're late," She said. "So many things just happened... Raven was in trouble and... Well, anyway, are you okay?"

"Fine," Mira lied. "And you were late..." But she smiled.

And then a bird swooped down and turned into Raven.

"Huh." She shot one of the few remaining demons that was trying to run. "I thought there'd be more of them."

"Did we miss it?" Jinu called.

Derpy had appeared, with him and other boys in tow.

"Looks like it," Raven said.

Sussy landed on her shoulder and cawed.

"Oh, yeah, Mystery," Zoey said. "It's been a few minutes. Hopefully he's still okay, but we need to go get him before that barrier gives away."

"That was all of them, right?" Rumi said. "Everyone is okay? Mira? Abby?"

"Fine," Abby said, with a thumbs up. "That was close though... Also was that really the last of them?"

"I think we should check the area," Rumi said. "They could go for innocent people even if they can't get us...but we're together now...except for Mystery."

"Let me get Mystery, okay?" Jinu said. "Derpy can get to him faster than you, probably. At least he can't scare him."

"I'll go with you," Zoey said. "One of us should, anyway... I'll see if there's more that way, okay?"

"Okay, but don't go out of sight," Rumi said.

Romance and Baby got off Derpy.

"Derpy can fly?" Zoey was thrilled. "Yes!"

"Exactly what happened?" Raven said. "I was inside, trying to spy, and I saw the red lines and went to the window. I saw Mira alone again. Do any of you ever learn?"

"I'm sorry," Rumi said. "You're right."

Raven had been expecting to need to lecture longer than that, and she stopped. "What?"

"You're right, we shouldn't have split up again," Rumi said. "We thought it'd be easier that way... We thought we had enough people to cover it, but...we were wrong. I'm sorry." She looked down.

"So, that happened." Raven turned to Romance and Baby. "And why were you idiots just standing there? I thought you didn't want to get taken back."

"They approached us--" Romance was too rattled to lie to her at the moment. "They said they'd talked to Gwi-Ma and he would forgive us this time...  They sounded convincing enough, and then Baby said we should do it."

"We should have." Baby seemed to have a death wish. "That was our last chance of not getting killed over this... He won't give us that chance again."

"Oh, will you shut up already?" Abby said. "It was all a lie. Look at what happened as soon as we hesitated. He was going to take us back by force after all."

Baby was silent.

"Well, they almost did," Romance said. "But Mira showed up looking for Rumi and tried to fight them off, and it was going well, but then it wasn't because more of them showed up, and then we ran, but more of them chased us, and you all didn't come back, and more of them showed up and we had to split up again and find you, and we almost died--"

Raven suddenly hit him in the face, sharply.

He stopped, startled.

"Get a grip," she said. "I think we get the picture. What is clear is that Abby yet again is the only one who managed to keep his head in a crisis. What if you get in a bind and Abby isn't around? Do you have survival skills? Do you have a fight reflex or is it all flight?"

"Do you have to scold us about what just happened?" Romance burst out, rubbing his face. "You don't know what it's like, Raven. You don't know what it's like, waiting all the time, and you know something is going to come for you sooner or later, and then it does and you don't know what to do. I don't know how I ended up like this, but I can't just magically undo it either!"

Raven stared at him, but then she sighed. "I know."

"Yeah, well--" Romance stopped. "You do?"

"Yes, I know what that feels like," Raven said, more quietly. "You're right... It's not easy."

She looked away from him. "But still, it doesn't help to panic... I should know."

"Baby, did you really try to get them to leave?" Rumi said. "Tell me that it was just because you thought it would save them, not that you really wanted Gwi-Ma to have them."

"Same difference," Baby said. "Because he's never going to let us go, and that was our only chance not to die."

"You said you'd tell him the weaknesses of the Hunters." Romance seemed bent on sharing unhelpful facts--for Baby. "You said you were planning to the whole time."

"Yes, I knew we needed leverage if we went back to him. That's just being smart." Baby had no remorse.

Mira glared at him.

"I guess it's practical," Raven allowed.

"What?" Rumi gaped at her in horror. "You're justifying it?"

"Is he right? No," Raven said. "Would I have done the same if I were him? Yes...because he views you as his enemies... I can't blame him. Did you do any different with Jinu? I know what you told the girls."

"I..." Rumi stammered. "That's such a harsh thing to say to me."

"What? I'm not saying you were wrong." Raven shrugged. "Baby is a cad, but he's a pragmatic cad. I suppose he thinks he's helping his friends. Whether he's looking out for their safety or not, the trouble is that it's not what they wanted."

"Isn't it?" Baby said. "Till you all started messing with their heads, they didn't want it."

"We literally couldn't," Romance said. "And why won't you just accept that maybe not all of us want to stay this way!"

Silence.

"I guess I see Raven's point," Abby finally said.

"You do?" Mira said. She would have been ready to stab Baby if she were him.

"Because to him it makes sense," Abby said, with the air of someone who is done arguing. "So even if it wasn't what we wanted, we can't blame him for it. We never all really agreed on this to begin with... but I guess he's still trying to help us in his own irritating way."

Baby looked surprised to hear Abby say this.

"You're more forgiving than I would be," Raven said.

"But you were the one just defending him," Abby said.

"I'm saying that he had reason to look after his own interests, not that I wouldn't be furious at him if I were you." She shrugged. "Still, Rumi, I don't think you have the right to kill him for it...not for that."

"Fine, I won't." Rumi was doubtful about it too. She put her sword away. "But I don't trust him at all. I won't forget about that. And I'm sure now you were trying to make Jinu look bad earlier, weren't you? You lied."

"Whatever you say." Baby was not willing to admit it.

"What did he lie about?" Mira asked, standing, and then she winced.

The adrenaline dying down was making her arm hurt way more than before.

"What's wrong with you?" Raven knew that look.

"Nothing much..." Mira touched her arm, and that was a mistake. She bit her lip to keep from screaming.

Raven noticed and touched her arm.

Mira flinched.

"This... Your arm." Raven looked at it more closely. "It looks like it's dislocated..."

"It wasn't as bad till that last demon bit me," Mira said, touching it and then trying not to scream. "Maybe they yanked it the rest of the way out... Crap, this hurts so much."

"Have you ever had a dislocated shoulder before?" Raven asked.

"No...we don't get hurt that much..." Mira said.

She was looking pale.

"She dislocated it!?" Rumi was really scared. "Oh no, how bad is that?"

"Well, it's better than it getting broken, but it could get infected too if a demon bit it," Raven said. "Hold still, Mira."

"What?" Mira said.

Raven took her arm and gave it a hard shove that looked like it really hurt.

And it did. Mira actually screamed that time.

"Raven?! What are you doing?" Rumi started to move.

But then Mira recovered a little.

"Actually...that made the pain a lot better..." she said strangely. "How...? What did you just do?"

"You don't get out that much." Raven rubbed her hands together. "If you did, you'd know that that's how you fix a dislocated arm. We could have had a doctor do it, but I think the pain of taking you to the emergency room would have been worse in the long run than just doing it now...but we should still take you there... Tell me you girls have a doctor."

"We do," Rumi said. "We know some first aid too... Celine made sure of that, but we've never broken a bone or anything like that on the job. Normally the Honmoon keeps it from happening...but it's like it was not working for us at all to shield us here..."

"Yeah, it definitely didn't seem to shield me," Mira said.

Raven pursed her lips and then pulled Mira's sleeve up.

"Nice sized bite," she said. "Do demon bites get infected?"

"No," Rumi said. "They hurt, but they won't... They don't have germs."

"I would call him anyway just be on the safe side." Raven was still looking at Mira's arm. "Bruised also...and not just your shoulder... This is from yesterday when you got slammed into the wall. I thought you were okay after that, but it must have damaged more than I thought."

"It was just a little sore before." Mira didn't like her making a big fuss over it. "No big deal. I could still move."

"That's stupid, Mira," Raven said severely. "Even a small injury in battle is a huge disadvantage, especially if you are in a melee. You should have said something about it."

"I've taken hits before," Mira said.

"This isn't the time to be the tough girl," Raven said. "Call that doctor of yours." To Rumi. "And she should get X-rayed to check for fractures just in case... Do you heal super fast as well?"

"Faster than most people," Rumi said. "Depends on how strong the honmoon is... It won't happen overnight though."

Mira fully expected Raven to keep chewing her out and was already getting ready to argue with her if she did, but, surprisingly, Raven didn't do this.

"If there are any more demons around, they'll go for other people, right?" she asked Rumi.

"Yeah... I don't see any right now, but--" Rumi began, but before she finished Raven turned back into a bird.

"I'm going to check again from the air... Try not to do anything to injure yourselves in the next 5 minutes."

She took off.

"Can I ask when she was able to turn into a bird?" Abby said. "Because I thought only Morph could do that."

"She...just learned," Rumi said blankly. "Somehow..."

"They can just learn to do new things?" Romance said.

"I mean, I guess we can learn new fighting moves... Maybe their mutations are like muscles... The more you use it, the more you can do..." Rumi guessed. "Mira, are you okay now? That was...really weird to watch."

"It's better." Mira rubbed it and winced again. "I don't think anything is broken...but then, I've never broken a bone before, so I'm not sure what that would feel like."

"Bad," Romance said.

They cast him a strange look.

"Do you know from experience?" Rumi said.

"I...don't know." Romance looked blank again.

"That tracks. Oh, and what started this whole mess was Mystery freaking out," Mira said. "Seems like he remembered something."

"Yeah...I mean, what happened?" Rumi had missed pretty much all of that.

"I have no idea. Morph and Zoey probably saw more of it than I did," Mira said. "But he was talking all weird...not even talking, just muttering one word at a time."

"Maybe we should ask Baby," Romance said testily.

Baby looked up darkly.

* * *

Jinu didn't know if Zoey would ask him if he knew what happened with the attack, since he wasn't sure if she or Mira trusted him still.

But she never seemed to think about it. She just kept looking around for demons, and then she threw a knife when she spotted one that was trying to slink away toward some kids.

"I only see that one," she said. "Anything? Hey, can Derpy sense demons?"

"I...actually don't know the answer to that." Jinu didn't know how he'd confirm that when Depry didn't talk.

Sussy was following them also and cawed suddenly and veered to the left.

"Hey, go after it." Zoey was clearly taking to the idea of a battle tiger just as much as Rumi had.

Derpy did it.

Jinu didn't like her telling his pets what to do instead of him.

Sussy flew to where there were a few demons on the next street over, still trying to escape.

Zoey got them all in a few strikes.

"We seriously need to use this all the time," she said. "A bird's eye view...or tiger's eye in this case... Ooh, it's 'the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight'!"

Jinu was too old to know the song she was singing.

"And Mystery?" he reminded her.

"Yeah, we need to get over there," Zoey said.

Derpy heard them and immediately turned back to that roof.

Mystery had been fine, fortunately. They didn't see any demons.

Just when they got close, though, one crawled out of the vent in the building.

"You know," Zoey said, while that was happening, "I've noticed that demons always like to sneak around the same creepy places that you'd find bugs or rodents. Vents, damp rooms, sewers, tunnels... you think that's a coincidence?"

"I... don't know." Jinu didn't know why she was asking him this now. "Aren't you going to kill it?"

"Relax." Zoey threw the knife like it was nothing.

The demon looked like it hadn't even seen her till then and yelped as it vanished.

Mystery winced, like that bothered him.

"Can I ask why you all seem to enjoy that so much?" Jinu just didn't get it.

"I dunno...it is kinda fun." Zoey jumped off the tiger. "Oh, I guess maybe not to you, since you had patterns..." She hesitated. "Maybe that's why Rumi never seemed to enjoy it quite as much. But Mira and I like to go a little crazy... How often can you just totally let lose on anything? Especially when you're a girl. That kinda stuff freaks people out."

Jinu had seen her crazy face by now... He could see it freaking people out, yes.

"But demons are ugly and disgusting," he said. "I can't understand really wanting to be around them at all."

"We don't want to...but if you have to..." Zoey was puzzled by Jinu's reaction. "What's the problem? Are you scared of demons now that you aren't one?"

Jina hadn't put it into words in his head yet, but he realized that he might actually be scared of them.

"I... Could you blame me?" he said, feeling kind of pathetic.

"Uh... I guess not." Zoey didn't quite get it still. "Hey, Mystery, you can move now. We got 'em. Everyone's okay."

Mystery didn't look convinced.

"As soon as I step outside this, they might come back."

At least he was back to full sentences.

"It'll be fine. We're going back to the tower." Zoey held out her hand. "I promise... Come on...you can't stay on the roof forever."

She sounded like she was talking to Derpy.

Jinu didn't think this was going to work on Mystery, who, as far as he could see, was the type to just mind his own business and bark at anyone who annoyed him, and Jinu had always understood him as being kind of self contained (maybe like most of the rich people he used to know). But, to his surprise, Mystery hesitated and then took her hand.

Zoey pulled him out of the barrier, gently. "There we go, nice and easy. Derpy the attack cat is going to take us all back. Jinu...?"

Jinu guessed he should agree.

"Uh, yeah, it's all good now," he said.

Mystery didn't look happy still, but at least he got on the tiger.

The hop back down was shorter, since they weren't looking for demons.

Raven had gone the other way, and Morph had checked over the roofs of the buildings.

"All clear," they both reported.

"So we're all fine?" Zoey said, landing on the ground with a kind of flip.

"We're not completely," Morph said. "Mira got pretty badly injured in the fight."

"What?" Zoey was shocked, since Mira never got injured. "Mira, what happened?"

"Nothing, just one of them bit me," Mira said.

"Hard?" Zoey said. "Did it try to take your soul?"

"No, just to take my arm off," Mira tried to joke about it, but every time she moved it, she was still wincing.

"And dislocated it," Raven said tightly. "But I snapped it back into place. I think we need to call the doctor still."

"I feel like we should go to the hospital instead," Rumi said. "But how are we going to do that discreetly?"

"Better call Bobby..." Zoey said.