[OP: "The Motions"--Matthew West]

"This is kind of interesting," Mystery said, about an hour into the turtle video compilation.

Romance, who wanted to cry by now with how bored he was, shot him a look like he was crazy.

"Right?" Zoey said. "They're so cute."

"I mean, their survival is so complicated," Mystery said. "It's impressive they're still around."

"Right? They're amazing creatures," Zoey sighed. "They don't get enough credit."

"Can we put on literally anything else?" Raven was leaning on her hands and trying not to fall asleep in her chair.

Zoey pouted at her.

"I mean, it's been an hour," Morph said. "Can't we compromise, Zoey? I mean, this is kinda interesting, but...it's a lotta turtles and nothing else. I like a little variety. Maybe we could try the Nature Channel instead? I do like those Animal Planet documentaries."

"I guess," Zoey sighed.

"If it's anything about turtles, I'm going to die," Romance muttered.

"Maybe there's something about lions," Abby said hopefully.

Actually there was, but that was common for the channel.

"I'd rather watch something not about wildlife," Raven said.

"But it's research, Raven," Morph said. "You learned how to turn into a bird today... Nice, by the way. What made it finally click?"

"I don't know. I've seen it enough times, and there's that bird Jinu has around too, so I guess it can be a spiritual ability in a sense here," Raven said. "I could do animals in that other dimension... I think my mutation is a little more flexible here than it is at home. It's probably because the spiritual reality of this world is so close to the physical reality. I might be able to do a dragon."

"That would be hot," Morph said.

Raven smacked him in the arm hard enough for him to fall out of his chair, though it must have been voluntary on his part, since he could absorb the force.

"Did you say hot?" Mira had been dozing off till that word had gotten her attention. She looked at them weird.

"Turning into a dragon?" Romance said. "Why would you...?"

"Is it because she's dangerous?" Abby asked.

"No, it's because it's so cool," Morph said. "I turn into a dinosaur, but it's too big to use that attack very often. A dragon is more classy though. Takes style. Raven can do a very good one when she has the ability. That's when I knew I was going to marry her." [Reference to the X-men 2nd Redemptions story.]

"That's weird," Mira said.

"And you're single." Morph took a sip of soda.

Mira looked put out.

"Can we put on a movie or something?" Romance complained. "You've been playing nothing but animal videos for hours."

"You should put on that Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles movie," Morph said. "Then Zoey can watch turtles, and you can watch something that's not a documentary."

"What is that?" Raven asked. "That's not a real movie, is it?"

"It really is," Morph said. "Several of them, and a show also. Hey, Shine and Wally knew what they were."

"So movies about...teenaged, mutant turtles span multiple worlds," Raven said in disbelief.

"Worlds?" Abby looked up.

Pause.

"Huh..." Morph said. "Well...oops."

"Did...you never notice before?" Zoey said. "Wait, did we never tell them?"

"We never told them all of it," Raven said. "Though I'm surprised they haven't noticed it, since I think we've accidentally alluded to it plenty of times."

"They forget things as soon a you tell them," Mira said. "Of course they didn't notice."

"Do you have to remind us of that literally every day?" Romance griped.

"And who nearly walked into a death portal today?" She glared at him.

"Funny, you remember that she reminds you of it every day but not the stuff you're forgetting," Zoey giggled.

Romance gave her a frosty look.

She stopped laughing. "Sorry."

"Yeah, it's not really funny," Morph said, more serious. "And, Mira, stop bringing it up like that. No reason to remind them of their shame like that."

Mira blinked at him strangely, like she hadn't thought of it being shame before.

"I also don't see the humor in people who are cursed to forget everything," Raven said thinly.

"I think you've made people forget their pasts also, Raven," Baby remarked.

They all turned to frown at him.

Honestly, Mystery hadn't noticed he'd come in till then.

"Doesn't make it okay," Mira said testily.

"You're the one who said it." Baby leaned back.

"I wouldn't be running my mouth if I were you," Romance said haughtily.

"Oh, keep yapping." Baby rolled his eyes. "I told you, none of it makes any difference anyway."

"I can't believe how easy he's being on himself about it," Abby muttered in a low voice.

"Let's not fight," Zoey said. "We were finally getting along okay. I'll put on a movie like you wanted, Romance. What one did you want to watch?"

She clicked on some streaming platform that none of them recognized except Mira.

"So how does this work?" Morph asked. "I couldn't figure it out at all when I tried to use the TV before. There was no guide..."

"You just click this search button and select the movie from there. We have a pretty big selection since we have the biggest plan." Zoey clicked on the search bar.

"Oh, it's like a computer?" Morph said.

"Yeah," Zoey said. "So what are we in the mood for? A horror movie might be fun."

"Zoey..." Mira said in a reproving tone.

"Or not," Zoey said. "Maybe a rom-com? Or an inspirational story? Everyone loves those."

"Do you have Rocky?" Morph asked.

"Probably somewhere..." Zoey clicked the remote. "Not really what I had in mind though."

"Shine showed me this movie called Miss Congeniality that's not bad," Raven said. "It was a little ahead of our time..."

"Are we glossing over the part where you all mentioned there was something you haven't told us?" Mystery spoke.

"It's better not to say it, since Gwi-Ma could still be spying on us through you," Morph said.

Said that bluntly, it was kind of hard to hear.

The boys had almost forgotten about Gwi-Ma being able to do this... Now they looked uneasy.

"At least that can't happen with me now," Abby said, with an air of relief.

"Don't rub it in," Romance grumbled. "Really, just when I was starting to think about something else."

"Just think of it as added motivation for you to get free," Morph said. "We'll fill you all in once you are. If you haven't already guessed by then, anyway."

"Whoop dee do, that will definitely make it go faster," Romance complained further.

"Just pick a movie already," Mira said. "You're the one who made such a fuss about it."

"Fine." Romance turned his attention to the TV.

Finally they settled on a zany movie called Excess Baggage.

[This is a very funny movie. It has Alicia Silverstone and Christopher Walken in it. Watched it on a whim and ended up really liking it. Hidden gem.]

At least it got the boys to stop complaining... Things finally seemed able to keep their attention.

Actually, it was interesting... Their attention spans seemed to have gotten longer. Before, they'd spaced out so fast in conversation that they'd forgotten what they were doing within 5 minutes, but now they had no trouble paying enough attention to follow along with a movie or the conversations.

Jinu and Rumi finally reappeared, and, seeing the viewing party had changed to something less boring, they settled back in to watch also.

No one thought to ask them where they'd been all that time, and Mira and Zoey knew at least it had been nearly an hour.

Mira kept looking at Zoey to see if she was acting all weird with Mystery... She noted that Zoey did kept shooting him side glances, but she didn't seem to be doing much else.

Hopefully she was wise enough to keep her...whatever it was, to herself.

Mystery never seemed to notice it, but it was hard to tell what he really noticed.

Funny, though, he seemed mostly harmless... At no point had he shown any aggression towards them, even when they were openly enemies, other than the final fight, which could have been desperation more than anything else.

Mira didn't know if he was just checked out, or if maybe none of the Saja Boys had ever really cared about hurting them. She was so tired of asking how much was Gwi-Ma and how much was them...

It felt like it mattered less than before, but that thought was weird for her.

To experience such a paradigm shift in so few days was dizzying...and it didn't help that she'd been getting attacked constantly and was now injured.

She thought the Rumi and Zoey had accepted the changes much more easily.

That wasn't entirely true. The whole thing confused them too. Zoey just hid it because she didn't know how to deal with it, and Rumi preferred to deal with it by the trying to find solutions rather than ask herself how much it was freaking her out.

Also, if the rest of the Saja Boys turned human again...what did that make them?

Were they still enemies? Or was it all forgotten about? 

Was there any sense in resenting people who'd been controlled that much? But were they guiltless?

She didn't know.

She figured Celine would say they didn't deserve mercy even if it was possible...but Celine had been wrong about a lot lately... They couldn't rely on what she'd told them.

She absently reached for more of the snacks--all the Huntrix tended to stress eat like crazy--and pain shot up her harm when she moved it too far.

She frowned.

Being injured was the worst! And why did it have to be her both times...? Though, realistically, Mira would have been way more upset if it happened to Rumi or Zoey.

Abby reached over and shoved the snacks closer to her on the floor.

Mira shot him a strange look.

He winked and flexed his arm.

So it was just to show off...

Mira rolled her eyes. Cocky jerk...

Like she was going to look anyway...

Well, everything didn't go away with the demon curse...

Mira didn't notice how fast she'd gone from thinking of it as being a literal demon to being a curse...  Raven and Morph's take on it had caught on much faster than any of them would have expected. Sometimes perspectives shift much quicker than people realize, if someone simply re-frames it for you.

When the movie ended, it must have been midnight at least.

"Oh, wow...it's late." Rumi suddenly looked at her phone. "I guess we should turn in... I'm anticipating another long day of investigating tomorrow."

"Oh, yay..." Romance muttered sarcastically.

"Maybe...we shouldn't," Morph said thoughtfully.

"What??" Rumi said.

"Well, it's been a lot, the last few days," Morph said. "Mira got injured pretty badly. I think if we keep pushing this, there's going to be more attacks... Gwi-Ma could attack anywa,y but after what just happened, he may take time to reconsider... At least, he must be weaker. He just lost one of his anchor points. I don't want to keep fighting if we're not all at the top of our game."

"I'll be fine," Mira started to protest. "It's not like it's broken,"

"The doctor said to take it easy," Raven said firmly. "If you don't, then it'll get broken for sure. Even if you just do one of those fancy moves of yours, it could pull it back out of place. It needs to heal...but you said that you all heal faster, right?"

"When the Honmoon is strong," Rumi said. "It seems to be weakened. We need to strengthen it... but we would need to perform to do that."

"I did have some thoughts about the songs," Zoey said. "We could focus on that instead of the investigation part."

"I think we need to accept that the investigation part has run its course," Raven said. "At least, as far as the music side goes... Anything else you want to know, you'll have to go another route... And I still think Celine is the only one who'd know something about it."

"I could call her...I guess..." Rumi sighed. "So should we stay in the tower tomorrow?"

"We can fortify this place better than anywhere else," Morph said. "Wow...that sounds really neat. Fortifying the tower. Just like in medieval times."

"Without the rats and dampness, I hope," Raven remarked. "Mira, you should take your meds they gave you also."

"I'm fine," Mira insisted, but she wasn't.

But she wouldn't say in front of the Saja Boys that she was in enough pain to need those meds.

"Do it." Raven didn't seem interested in debating this with her. "And all of you should go to bed."

"Well, okay, Mom," Zoey joked.

Raven raised an eyebrow at her.

"I mean, yes, ma'am." Zoey got up hastily. "Aye aye, Captain." She saluted.

"Why are you afraid of her? You have knives," Baby said.

"She has a gun." Zoey had a good answer. "And aren't you?"

"Yes, you go also," Raven said to Baby.

"Whatever." He got up and left.

"No remorse whatsoever." Romance shook his head. "Ugh, I'm tired of thinking about it for today though... Also is anyone else strangely tired?"

"Yes, more so than usual," Abby said. "Hmm...maybe it's a side effect."

"I did feel more tired," Jinu said. "Also more hungry...and eating was weird for the first couple days, but it's been better now."

"What do you mean it was weird?" Zoey asked.

"Uh...well, my body wasn't used to digesting food still, so..." Jinu trailed off. "Nevermind. It was just uncomfortable, and so was sleeping, but it's been getting better, like I said."

"I suppose your physcial form had to get used to having the same needs as regular humans again," Raven guessed. "Interesting side effect... That means you can probably suffer the same as us now. Better not to eat any spoiled food...or touch anything unsanitary."

"I wonder what immune system you'd have after 400 years of not having a human form," Morph wondered.

"Jinu, come to think of it, have you actually...like, been immunized to things?" Rumi asked.

"Uh...what do you mean by that?" Jinu said blankly.

"Did you get your shots?" Zoey said.

"Shots?" Jinu was still confused. "Like gun shots?"

"Oh no..." Morph said. "Wow...you haven't been vaccinated? That's not good... You could get the pox."

"Or Hepatitis," Raven said.

"Or the flu," Zoey said.

"I've heard the flu shot doesn't really work," Morph said.

"Eh, depends." Zoey waved her hand. "Still nasty though. Hey, that's not good. He could get really sick if he's around someone with a bad disease...or tetanus? There's rusty stuff in the streets sometimes."

"Maybe you all need to make another doctor's appointment," Raven said.

"Shots?" Romance said. "I think I got those at some point... Wow, I feel sorry for Jinu, almost."

"Why?" Jinu said. "And what are you all talking about? I didn't know what any of those diseases were."

"Jinu, we'll need to have a conversation," Morph said. "And an internet search. I have a feeling...this could take a while."

"Then I'm going to bed," Raven said. "Mira, do what I said."

"Stop telling me what to do," Mira said.

"Act responsibly and I wouldn't have to," Raven shot back.

"Fine, I'll do it if you shut up about it," Mira said. She was too tired to keep arguing.

"She's right," Rumi said. "You need to take care of yourself... I don't want the injury to get worse. None of us ever get hurt. I'm worried that Gwi-Ma will try to take advantage of it."

That was the wrong thing to say to Mira about it.

"Oh, don't be so melodramatic, Rumi," Raven said before Mira could say anything. "You have us here now. And even Abby, though he's a moron, isn't as hopeless in a fight as you'd expect someone who's been in demon limbo for 20 years to be. That's a few more people to pick up the slack. Though it would better if you all had weapons...and if Jinu wasn't such a wimp."

"I'm not a wimp," Jinu said. "Living in a palace doesn't give you a lot of time to learn combat."

"Raven, maybe you could show him some of those moves you busted out on Celine," Zoey said. "Heck, we should fight. I want to know just how good you are."

"You want to spar with me?" Raven said.

"That's a mistake," Morph said. "Just about the only person who can hold their own against Raven is me. And maybe Logan...but he can't really get injured, so he's got an unfair advantage."

"Hey, we're pretty good at fighting," Zoey said. "I think I could handle it."

"You saw her take Celine down in 5 seconds," Mira said. "You want to sign up for that?"

"Celine is more out of practice than we are," Zoey said.

"I mean, some extra training might not be a bad idea if we're going to pause the searching for clues," Rumi said. "And honestly, if you want to give Jinu--or even the other guys--some pointers, it might be smart. Anything that can up our chances if he attacks again."

"Maybe." Raven wasn't wholly against the idea.

Zoey and Rumi walked out, both still talking about the pros and cons of it.

Mira paused on her way out and looked back.

"I...uh...sorry about the crack about the memory stuff," she said awkwardly.

Romance had forgotten all about that--ironically--but he gave her a strange look.

Abby smiled.

Mystery looked up like he wasn't sure what she was saying.

"Whatever." Mira didn't want to embarrass herself further. She walked away.

"See? Mira is nice," Morph told the boys. "She's just awkward about it... That's a running theme for everyone in this group... And Jinu, I think you need to see this webMD site."

"I don't want to know." Jinu was as bad with medical stuff as he was with gross stuff.

"You need to educate yourself," Morph insisted. He dragged Jinu towards their level.

"What a weird day," Romance said. "But...at least...something kind of changed..."

"It's almost stranger to see Mira apologize to us for anything than to see one of us break free," Mystery said.

"I think she's coming around," Abby said. "She could've left us to get reclaimed by Gwi-Ma, but she didn't. She just pretends not to care, but she actually wants this to work."

"Glad you're so confident. I still can't tell whether she wants us dead or not," Romance sniffed. "But at least I don't think she'll kill us in our sleep now. I can't read Zoey at all... Rumi just seems to want to help because of her patterns."

"I think Zoey wants to help," Mystery ventured. "She seems...nice enough. None of them really are quite like what I expected. I thought they would hate us because of our patterns, but they don't."

"I still don't know if we can trust it," Romance said. "It's...one thing now, but if we slip...well, Abby is all right now, but why didn't it work for us? Or would it? And Baby...I  just don't know... We could still end up back in Gwi-Ma's realm. If we relapsed, they'd still kill us if he didn't first. I don't think we should assume they really view us as one of them."

"You worry too much," Abby said.

"Not sure..." Mystery was ready to fall into doubt again.

[Mystery and Romance are the high anxiety duo of the Saja Boys for sure.]

* * *

The following day had Rumi kind of antsy over not having any idea what to do with herself without a "next step" of the plan.

Zoey told her she had a chronic problem with not being able to relax.

"You said you'd try more after we agreed to go on a hiatus," she said. "And outside of that one bathhouse visit, you haven't tried at all."

"We're trying to break people out of Gwi-Ma's control!" Rumi cried. "Look...I know Morph thinks we need a break, but anything could happen at any time with them. We keep getting attacked... I just feel like waiting even one day is dangerous."

"But...uh...they don't want to do anything either," Zoey pointed out. "So what would we do?"

Rumi had no idea anyway. She'd realized slowly that Morph and Raven had come up with 80% of the ideas for what to do, and the ones she and Zoey had come up with were now exhausted and they had nothing else to go off of.

Mira had never been interested in coming up with ideas at all.

She at least felt better after a good night's sleep--but she said the medication made her feel weird.

"I think I'm fine without it," she said. "Raven worries too much about injuries."

"We never get hurt like that," Zoey said. "I'm worried about it too. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, it was pretty scary for us," Rumi said. "And you've been attacked, like...3 times in a row now. It's really concerning."

Mira frowned at them. "I'm fine."

"Just take it easy," Zoey urged her. "Come on, you'd tell us to do it if we were you."

This was true.

"Well, we're taking a break today, so what am I going to do?" Mira waved it off. "I'll be fine as long as you keep Baby Saja away from me... I still want to beat his face in every time I see it since hearing what he's been doing."

"But not the other guys now," Zoey guessed.

"Well, they were the victims of his deal in some way..." Mira allowed, reluctantly. "Though they still did something bad. But we're not even sure what now."

"I think we narrowed down what Mystery did at least," Rumi said. "But what Romance or Abby would have done...I don't know. After what Raven found out, it's sounded like they were the victims in all this. But how would they have sold out to Gwi-Ma then?"

"Hmm, maybe they didn't feel like the victims?" Zoey twirled the pen she usually had behind her ear when she was at home. "Maybe they felt responsible for it."

"It sounded like one of them tried to keep the others from getting hurt," Rumi said. "Probably Abby, I'd guess... I mean, I think we all see he's the most protective."

Mira shrugged.

"Well, you know personally now, right?" Zoey couldn't resist the urge to tease her just a little about it. "Seems like he's kinda been having your back. Must have been a big surprise."

"I don't want to talk about it." Mira didn't.

"That is strange." Rumi didn't see what Zoey was implying. She was thinking of it analytically. "That one of them would ever defend any of us even before breaking the deal. I thought Jinu doing it was the same as him breaking the deal...but Abby didn't break his deal by doing that...so...what did break it?"

"Or it took a while to set in?" Zoey shrugged.

"No, I'm sure that's not it." Rumi shook her head. "But how can we replicate that with the other guys if we can't figure it out...? Do you think he'll get his memory back now? Maybe he could tell us."

"Maybe..." Zoey allowed. "But hey, turns out that they can do things that are unselfish or nice even now... Apparently the demon marks don't keep them from doing that, they just funnels Gwi-Ma's voice into their minds. What if...they always had a choice?"

"Then why did they never make it before?" Mira wondered. "I mean...okay, yes, they couldn't even remember who they were. Maybe that means they'd never try to do anything...but... decades of torment and they'd never think of it?"

"Well, it doesn't seem like Gwi-Ma lets people leave his realm that often," Rumi said. "Maybe they never got the chance. I mean, what were they gonna do? Be nice to the other demons who eat souls? That's not helping, that's making it worse. I just can't make it add up though. Jinu was different than them, but not as different as we thought..."

"Speaking of Jinu, what did you guys talk about last night?" Zoey asked. "Anything good?" With a knowing smirk.

"We just talked about what's being going on," Rumi said. Then she saw what Zoey meant. "Zoey, it's not like that."

"Really? Then what's it like?" Zoey said.

"Zoey..." Mira sighed. "Let's not push this. I think it's better to keep things at a distance."

"Wait...why?" Rumi said, turning to her now. "Jinu's not evil anymore, Mira. Clearly. He even helped you. What else does he have to do to prove he's changed?"

"Changed or not, isn't that a lot of...bad history to have with someone?" Mira said. "I mean...how do you ever forget that? And just because he's better, doesn't make him good."

"That's not fair," Rumi said. "He's been nothing but helpful since he came back. And he helped me even before that. You can't keep judging him like this. What if it makes him start to feel ashamed again? I mean, we're assuming that Gwi-Ma can't retake control just because he loses it..." She trailed off.

"You think it's not permeant?" Zoey was concerned.

"But that would mean we're doing all this for nothing." Mira didn't like the idea at all. "We did not put our whole lives on hold and get beaten up in an embarrassing way just to lose all the progress even if we succeed! That's not acceptable!"

"I just don't know," Rumi said. "But I think we need to stay away from shame. And it's not like it's necessary for us either. I prefer to focus on hope... We're more than our mistakes, right?"

Mira stared at her, but not like she was convinced.

"Mira, how can you even want to hold onto this?" Rumi was getting more upset. "Can't you kind of understand that anyway? I mean, because of your history--" She stopped short, realizing she shouldn't have said that.

Mira looked appalled.

"Uh..." Zoey said nervously, "Rumi...isn't that...kinda...too far?"

"Are you comparing me to them?" Mira got mad anyway.

"No, no." Rumi held up her hands. "I just meant we've made our mistakes too. Why judge them?"

"You said me." Mira didn't like it.

"Mine too," Rumi said. "All of us."

"I, uh...don't I really think I've ever done anything like that," Zoey said tenatively.

They both turned to look at her, and she shrank back. "I'm not saying I judge you. I don't care about it at all... We're just different. We each have our own stories."

"But our stories aren't as different from the Saja Boys as we thought," Rumi said. "I can't be the only one seeing ourselves in them? They probably were like us; they were close, and things tore them apart... Maybe it was Gwi-Ma, or it had to do with the Sunlight Sisters breaking up damaging the Honmoon. Don't you feel like this is kind of our responsibility now? We have to heal the damage of the past."

"We're already helping them," Mira said. "What more do you need from us, Rumi? It's like you still want to do something beyond helping them."

"Well, I do think we need to change a lot of things," Rumi said.

"But we're still demons hunters," Zoey said. "Even if we found out some of them are humans...most of them aren't... We'll still have to do our job until Gwi-Ma is finally sealed forever."

"What if he can't be?" Rumi said in slow voice. "They could be right... It could be impossible. So what then?"

"Then we do our job until we train the next generation," Mira said. "What's wrong with that? It's the coolest job in the world anyway."

"I know...but finding out all this and then just doing the same thing as before seems...wrong," Rumi said.

"What was wrong with what we had before?" Mira didn't like this.

"It...it was...I mean at times, it was too simple." Rumi finally said what she'd been thinking for days. "Remember what Morph told us, Mira? If you can write someone off so easily, it's a sign you're wrong about something. I knew that my father was a demon for years, and I never wondered if that that meant that some demons couldn't be full demon. Or why my mother would have ever sympathized with one at all... Was that just Celine's fault, or was it mine too? I wanted to believe it was that simple so I could fix my own problems...but it wasn't."

"It sounds like you were never that happy doing this then." Zoey voiced what she and Mira had been worried about for a while now. "That you were always just worried about fixing everything, and it wasn't as fun for you."

"No...no, I love doing this," Rumi said quickly. "I love working with you two."

"But it's not enough," Mira finally said, with the tone of someone who's resigned to her fate. "That's what it is. You want more."

"Well...uh, Mira, don't you think that just the three of us, I mean...forever, would be kind of...a small circle?" Rumi said.

Mira blinked at that in shock.

"I'm not saying that I don't value our friendship." Rumi felt like she was making it worse. "Just that...friendship isn't the only thing in life that your care about, right? Family...and...there are higher callings too... I mean, we're all great, and I want to do this with you. I just don't want us to focus only on ourselves. I think we should be bigger than that."

"I think that you're trying to say something good," Zoey said, uneasy. "But...it just...sounds a little...hurtful. Huntrix has been everything to us, Rumi, but was it not to you?"

"It was everything to me also," Rumi said. "It made me not alone anymore, of course...but...other people might...need that, you know. Why keep it to ourselves?"

"Other people can't understand us the same way," Mira said. "They'd never have the same experience as us. Even if you branch out, this is still special."

"I know it is, but there are still more things..." Rumi didn't feel she was saying it right. "I...I didn't mean to make you upset."

"It's fine," Zoey said, but it wasn't. "Hey, we're taking a break today, anyway. Let's not talk about this anymore. Bathhouse maybe?"

"I'm not sure we should leave the tower..." Rumi hesitated. "Just..lLeave Morph and Raven alone... They might get attacked"

"Fine." Mira shrugged. "I can't go there anyway...probably."

While she didn't have a cast, it would involve moving too much in a slippery place to be a safe idea.

"Okay...we'll just find something to do around here then." Zoey was trying to salvage this.

"Good morning." Morph startled them by popping out of the hallway right then.

They all jumped.

"Hey, since we don't have anything to do today," Morph said, "do any of you want to try something new? Do you have a rec room in this tower? We still haven't been all over it."

"There is a pool on one of the lower levels," Zoey said. "And a gym."

"Oh, fun," Morph said. "Abby was asking if there was a gym here."

"He can't use our stuff," Mira said.

"Isn't girls' equipment anyway?" Morph said. "Isn't that lighter than men's?"

"We're demon hunters." Mira was offended. "We're stronger than most people."

"So he does work out. That's not the...eternal form thing demons have?" Zoey said.

"Well, he's not going to have that now. I think he wants to prepare," Morph said. "I suppose I probably wouldn't want to lose a physique like that if I had to work at it. Luckily, I don't." He shifted into a more muscular person.

Zoey laughed at least. "That looks weird."

"Hey, were you serious about training with Raven?" Morph said. "Because I think that might cheer her up. She's trained some of the kids back home, and they seemed to like it. She trained Rogue too, and Rogue's a good fighter. Even Logan is afraid of her."

"I mean, I don't think she really wanted too, but I'd be down, sure." Zoey was still confident she'd be fine.

"You should ask her then," Morph said. "And I don't think she was kidding about Jinu either... He does seem kind of helpless."

"It would be good if he could at least dodge," Rumi remarked. "In case more attack happen... He did fine before, but then, he was still a demon... Well, he had the powers, anyway."

"Did you really struggle to fight him?" Zoey said. "Or was he just cute and it was distracting?"

"I was not distracted," Rumi said. "The teleportation thing was just an unfair power."

"Hm, Kurt never seemed to think it was," Morph said. "I guess because people judged him so hard for it. Same thing, I guess."

"Well, if Raven trains Jinu, I want to watch," Mira said.

"Why?" Morph said. "I thought you didn't like Jinu."

"I don't. That's why I want to watch. She'll humiliate him." Mira grinned. "I'm taking photos of it."

"Ooh, me too," Zoey said. "But for research, not...humiliation." She made a peace sign.

"That's messed up," Rumi said. "You guys can't do that to Jinu."

"You wanted us to get along better," Mira said.

"That's not getting along better," Rumi said.

"I mean, at least it's trying." Morph was thinking he'd be interested to watch this also, perhaps for slightly different reasons than the girls, but...well, the X-men weren't above laughing at their friends getting poned by someone else...and he did like to see Raven use her skills on unsuspecting people.

[I feel sorry for Jinu already.]