Why could nothing in her crazy life ever come easy?
No, it wasn’t enough that she had to fight a guy who the AIC, the gods, and her own friends couldn’t win against. Now she had to fight a giant flaming comet! This despite the fact that she had several broken bones, could barely move, and had no feeling left whatsoever in her limbs. Something both she and Mr. Xan shared, the panda cursing along with everyone else at the sight of the ever-expanding ark of flame.
“Crap.”
“Spirits.”
“Sweet whiskers.”
Sasha heard someone’s commpad chiming. It was Gabriella’s, the little girl answering the call to a sudden projection of Madame Dyre.
“Gabriella, report,” she said. “I’m reading a massive spike on your location, but the White Legion’s stopped attacking across our worlds. Were you victorious?”
Gabriella winced, only turning the projection to face the Comet Man’s burning attack. And though the projected avatar didn’t quite convey it as much, Sasha could hear a hitch on the other line. So even she hadn’t expected things to go this bad? Once again Sasha cursed the fact that she hadn’t been born stronger. Maybe then that final hit would have actually killed him instead of just knocking him down.
“I see,” Madame Dyre finally said. “Then…this is the end, isn’t it…”
The human was quiet in response. As were the rest of them, Sasha staring up at the ark of flame like it were the hand of the reaper itself. What did that make? Thirteen? Fourteen times she’d been put on death’s door? Wasn’t she supposed to only have nine lives or something? Her whiskers twitched, Sasha trying not to dwell on those old Shiny legends.
“On the bright side,” she said, “at least I’ll go out with people I actually like.”
Several eyes fell on her upon saying this, Sasha turning a few shades redder.
“What? You guys are my best friends. Cripes, don’t make it weird.”
She wanted to squirm, but the fact that she couldn’t move to cover any part of her face left her exposed to the world. Something that was only made worse by Mr. Erin patting her over the head, much to her dismay.
“It is a nice sentiment, Sasha,” he said.
“Can’t remember a grad giving us this much trouble,” Mr. Xan added. “But I guess it’s alright if it’s you.”
To add even more embarrassment, her other friends reciprocated the gesture.
“I did really miss you two,” Iris said. “And I suppose I owe my gratitude to you, human.”
“It’s Gabriella.” The girl smiled up at Sasha. “And I’m more than happy to die with my cat friend.”
“And your fox friend, I’d hope,” Cici added. “Far as I’m concerned, we’re all in this together now.”
That got brought a smile out of everyone, even Madame Dyre’s voice relaxing slightly. Sure they could all see the comet blazing in front of them, but at that moment, it didn’t really matter. Even as embarrassed as she was, Sasha felt a little better being there with everyone else. The final stand against cosmic annihilation.
GT chimed even if she could no longer feel it in her hand.
“Is this a poor time, Ms. Sasha?” it asked.
She snickered. “Nah. You’re my friend too, GT.”
“That- I appreciate the sentiment, Ms. Sasha. And the feeling is mutual.”
She grinned, only realizing at that moment how odd it was for GT to still be around.
“Wait. How are you materializing right now? Didn’t I just use up all your reserves?”
The staff’s response was silence for a few moments. When it came back, it’s voice sounded, at least somewhat, apologetic. Not the usual matter-of-fact way she’d been so used it.
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“I only have 1% left, Ms. Sasha,” the staff said. “I wish I could offer more.”
“No, that’s fine. Just glad you could join us. Wouldn’t be the same without my trusty, whacking stick.”
To that, the staff seemed to resonate. Something that surprised her a bit as she couldn’t feel anything else. But then, this was the same partner whose voice only she could hear. The same weapon who’d kept her alive when she’d been cut down. Even went through memories by her side. Of course a little brokenness wouldn’t sever that connection.
“So,” Sasha said, finally deciding to address the comet-shaped elephant in front of them. “What the heck are we gonna do about that?”
In response, all eyes fell on her again. This time, though, she greeted them with a laugh.
“Hey, just because I’d like to die with you guys doesn’t mean I’m going down without a fight.”
Both Mr. Erin and Iris looked at her confused.
“Sash, can you even move?” the wolf asked.
“No, but I can still bite.”
“The…comet?” Mr. Erin asked.
She tried to nod, but since that wasn’t working she only gave a yowl of agreement. Something that earned her a snicker from Cici and an eye roll from Gabriella. Like they could really be surprised. Even facing down hordes of monsters, an intergalactic government, and her own god she wasn’t ready to back down. So why stop here? If that Comet Man wanted to kill them so bad, he’d have to put in the work like everybody else. And so far, the only thing he’d done was get bigger. Almost like he was waiting for them to attack.
No. She was 100% sure he was doing that.
“Well, I’m game,” Cici said. “Though I’m not sure how much I can really do like this.”
“Maybe we can throw a rock at it,” Mr. Xan suggested.
“Would that work?”
“Maybe.”
“Sweet whiskers, don’t encourage this, Xan.” Mr. Erin shook his head.
In all honesty, they had no real solution to the ark of flame. Not the way they were. If she’d had more power Sasha might have been able to crush the comet under gravity. But that ship sailed several reserves ago. As is stood, she could only think of two ways in which they could possibly take down the flaming arc in front of them.
Either they somehow managed to beat it into submission in their weakened state, which was highly unlikely, or…
“Is there any chance we can make it smaller?” Sasha asked. “Even the odds a bit so maybe we can kill him?”
“You mean like wearing him down?” Mr. Erin thought a moment. “I suppose that could work. In theory.”
“Gabriella, you can steal God Tools. Any chance you can…”
She shook her head. “Not possible, Sasha. I can only really borrow powers from grads. And even then it’s more like absorbing their signals.”
She waved her hand, surprising Iris in the process as her rapier ended up in the human’s hands.
“Papa taught me to how to use their powers against them,” Gabriella explained. “But the technique doesn’t really work on gods. Something about their physiology is too different. And their signals are in a league of their own. Just like his are right now.”
Her eyes flickered back to normal, Crystal returning to Iris’s hands. Not that the wolf could really move, it looked like. In fact, only Mr. Erin, Gabriella, and Cici were even remotely capable of fighting at the moment. And even then, two of them were already weakened. They’d have to outright cripple the Comet Man to make things fair.
Something which, Mr. Erin evidently thought of as well.
“Perhaps we could try to even the odds,” he said. “Right now he’s a living mass of signals. But all signals, no matter how different, are bound to the laws of the universe. And right now, I believe his signals don't quite match those of a human or a god. At least, not solely.”
They all looked to Mr. Erin, the weasel still deliberating to himself the idea. But Sasha could already feel her own mind piecing the theory together.
Not…solely…
Her eyes lit up.
All life was made of signals. It was the energy of the universe. That which everything lived off of. Even in the realm of the gods she could feel signals resonating through her fur. Nothing, no matter how big or small, operated without using or expending signals. Including the Comet Man. Including their weapons. And including the army he had at his disposal.
The legionnaires stood around them, watching events unfold without so much as taking a step towards them. She’d assumed it was just because the Comet Man held control, but she’d never bothered to wonder why that was. Why the human could order the legionnaires around so seamlessly. Almost telepathically. There was only one such connection she could think of that was similar.
And it was between her and the staff in her hand. As the weasel himself had put it so candidly…
“They’re linked,” Sasha said.
Mr. Erin looked up from his thoughts, a smile crossing his lips.
“Yes,” he said. “A very strong link, I’d imagine. And I suppose we should be grateful for that. It may just be our key to victory.”
Sasha found a sinister grin forming across her face, of which only seemed to confuse the rest of the group. Even Iris didn’t seem to realize what they were implying. But Sasha just gave off an evil purr in response to everyone’s confusion. One by one the pieces all started to come together once again. How could they have not realized sooner?
The Comet Man wasn’t just using his own signals. He was, and always had been, using the legionnaire signals as well. And she’d closed more than enough portals to know how to deal with those easy.
They just had to get closer.