The reason I left my daughter behind to train with that horse-headed weirdo and went on this journey was to find Jason…and kill him. I was supposed to find him, and yet here he was, coming straight to my location to drop kick a goddamn dragon! It must’ve been that beacon Elias created that caught that maniac’s attention. I was warned one of the Radius might come and see what was going on, but I thought I’d have more time…or someone else would come!

I guess there was some fortune to be made off of this unexpected reunion. It fast forwards the “Kill Jason” plan and the invisible guy did say Jason was itching to find me and Sunshine. You’d think his eyes would be all on me, however he looked to be more concerned with all the sick ways he could carve up the dragon’s wood with his stained machete.

The dragon spun wildly, trying to fling Jason off its back, but the masked man stabbed its back with his machete and clung on to it without a trace of worry. With a swift motion, he hurled the beast forward, simultaneously carving a deep gash across its back as he did so. In response, the dragon fired a beam of crimson, and Jason reflected it, the machete redirecting part of the attack skywards while the other part zoomed towards me.

I flew up, dodging the attack, and bolted for the dragon. Jason finally acknowledged my existence and prevented me from landing a hit, striking me with a hard uppercut to the jaw, sending me spinning. As I clenched my jaw in pain, I watched Jason continue his battle with the beast. He landed blow after blow while the dragon released a barrage of blood bullets from its glowing tree, completely forgetting I was this close to obliterating it.

Sure, I could just let Jason do all the work for me as he clearly seemed to be much more suited for this fight than me, but…there was a fire in my chest that kept growing the longer I stayed still. After everything this man has done, how could I sit back and watch him ignore me?

What kind of father would I be if I watched this man scar my daughter’s face and not do a damn thing about it!?

“Hey, Jason!” I shouted, driving my head into his skull. “Don’t you dare forget about me! You’re mines to ki-”

Jason grabbed my skull and slammed my face down on the dragon’s back, shattering my chance to actually look threatening. I tried to stand back up, but he kicked my chest, sending me flying off the dragon. I activated my Rocket Feet and darted towards the two, but another Blood Beam surged forward like an unrelenting spear.

I brought my hands up just in time as my palms met the overwhelming power of the dragon’s special blast. It forced me backwards, nearly erasing my fingers, however I remained sturdy and went full throttle with my rockets. As I was fighting my body’s desire to be blown apart by the beam, I noticed something about the attack.

It was something I could absorb! I began to take in all the energy I could, lowering my mouth and feeding to speed up the absorption. The beam grew weaker and then became smaller, till it eventually dissipated. Once I felt the energy fill my bones, I started to charge my Fatherly Beam attack.

While charging it up was the easy part, the hard part would be finding an opportunity to use it considering the two fighters were moving in the air chaotically. The dragon clawed at Jason, directing him to the right. Jason grabbed onto its wings and stomped down on the monster’s back, driving him downwards—every direction was fair game to these freaks.

There was no more room to fail. I had to time this perfectly…

Weeds emerged from my feet.

One second!

From the bits of information that dripped into my mind after absorbing Rosalina’s plants, I understood how some of these plants worked. The plants on my feet were stinkweeds, a type of weed that produced a smelly gas powerful enough to blast my body forward.

Two seconds!

I leaned backward with the orb ready in my hands, eyes locked onto the roaring dragon above me. Then, gas erupted from the weeds, blasting me upwards till I reached the side of the dragon’s head.

One second!

“Fatherly Beam!”

The blast scorched the wooden head to dust, and the dragon’s limp body descended back to the…What the hell!?

To my dismay, the dragon’s head regenerated in only a few seconds, splinters and bark twisting back into a jagged, monstrous form. Its hollow eyes were now locked onto me. It flew towards me, baring its wooden claws as I crossed my arms and prepared to defend.

“Sliced to Bits!”

The dragon halted mid-flight, its body trembling as cracks began to form on its body. Only another second passed before the beast shattered like glass, the pieces falling apart like splintered timber. I froze, staring at Jason’s straightened head while I tried to wrap my head around what just happened. That confusion only broke when I heard the sound of Rosalina’s scream.

“No! Help my baby! My baby’s falling!”

The little girl and the Plant Woman were plummeting at an alarming rate. Without hesitation, I rocketed towards the kid’s grassy body. Then, I fired some energy vines and luckily, I was able to catch her before she could meet a messy end. But as I steadied her, a sudden burning sensation flared up inside me—the same searing intensity that had pushed me to strike at Jason earlier. It ignited the moment I caught sight of Rosalina falling past me. Instinctively, I whipped my other hand toward her, releasing another burst of energy vines.

“Bleed Out!”

Something was off with me. I felt…weaker. The energy on my feet disappeared, and gravity took me hostage along with the girl and Rosalina. That’s when I realized that…green liquid was spilling out of my body from holes I didn’t know were there until now.

No! They weren’t always there…they just showed up now! This must’ve been Jason’s doing!

I didn’t have enough time to think of a counterattack before Jason appeared in front of me and punched me all the way back to the arena—Rosalina and the girl still attached to my

A swarm of leaves burst out of my back right before we crashed. The impact didn’t hurt at all compared to all the times Jason decked me in the face so I quickly snapped out of my confusion and surveyed my surroundings.

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Barclays Center was nothing like I remembered it to be. The court was a grassy terrain—my radioactive attack giving it a dry, brown appearance. The hoops had been brought down by unnaturally curled sunflowers, and the seats…poking out the seats were…marijuana!? So there really was weed in here!

And there was a man by the seats, shakily pointing the knife at me…

“Elias!” I shouted. “It’s me!”

“Oh shit! Zombie man!”, he exclaimed, hopping over the barricade. “I thought that crazy bitch found me, but I see you already beat her a-”

“You piece of shit!” I interrupted, trying to crawl my way over to him. “You said you’d delay the signal if I didn’t stop you!”

He approached me with a raised eyebrow. “The hell are you talking about!? I did delay it—like twenty-one minutes ago.”

Twenty-one minutes!? Geez, did that whole fight really go for that long?

“Then tell me why one of the Radius just attacked me out of nowhere and tried to end me!”

“Radius…? You mean those guys with the powers and shit?” He took off his bag, zipped it open, and pulled out a black trash bag. “I don’t really know why…maybe they were already nearby and just saw the beacon from the ground.”

Well…that did make sense. Jesus did say Jason would’ve been on his way to Hallowsville. Though, I still don’t know why he’d go through all the trouble for some Halloween town.

“Alright, but how’d you get here so fast with all those killer plants in the city?” I asked. “You found a working car?”

“Yeah, I did. And those plants were there for a couple minutes till they just started shriveling up.” He put his bag back on and said, “But who cares about that right now? There’s a whole arena filled with weed and I’m gonna grab all this shit.”

Elias didn’t seem to care about my body’s sorry state. Then again, the guy was a slave owner. He’s probably given worse injuries.

“Where’re Rosey’s daughter and the Type Two?” I asked, worried. “I crashed in here with them but I’m not sure if they-”

“They’re behind you, under some bright ass leaves. Definitely both dead,” Elias said, bluntly. “Stop trying to brag about your win. We got more important things to worry about. C’mon, if you help me I’ll let you take some of the stash. How about 90/10?”

Ah, so that’s what those leaves did. That’s good…Wait a minute! 90/10? That’s a horrible deal!

“Listen, we don’t have time to be collecting some damn weed now” My voice raised. “I don't know when, but a masked freak is gonna barge in here at any moment and believe me when I say you don’t wanna get on his murderous side. If you care at all about your life, then I suggest you ru-”

Elias chuckled mockingly. “You think I’m stupid or something? You trying to cop all this shit for yourself, right? I’ve been dealing with freaks like you my whole life and I know how greedy you shiteaters can get. You’re not tricking me!”

“Don’t be so stupid, Elias! You’re a slave owner so I don’t care whether you live or die, but I also don’t wanna be blamed for your death when that Radius guy comes in and kills you. So just get the hell-”

My warning was shattered by a kick to my skull.

“I know you’re a zombie so a brain isn’t something that you have but I already told you…” He sneered. “I’m not going anywh-”

“Lethal Injection.”

My jaw dropped, shocked at how Jason came in here without a hint of sound. Elias’ smile faded and he immediately turned to see the psycho shadowing over him–crimson eyes locked on both of us.

“What are you…a resource adventurer? Someone from the Underground?” he questioned, taking out a status board from his pocket. “If you’re here for that signal, I already took the SB for myself so you can leave now.”

“Asphyxiation,” Jason continued.

“Ashpyxi-what now? You one of those mentally deficient whackjobs?” he insulted. “I already said I got the damn status-”

“Type Two Diabetes.”

“Huh!?” yelled Elias. “Who the hell told you about my condition? That is a very sensitive topic for m-”

Jason smacked Elias out of the way, sending him flying to the left. Assuming I would be next, I prepared for another blow to my face, but he surprisingly left me alone. Instead he walked past me and from what I could see…he stopped next to Rosey’s daughter–the tree no longer in her mouth.

“Jason, stop!” I screamed, watching him pick up the girl by her head and examine her hair. “Your target is me, remember!? She has nothing to do with me. Leave her alone.”

Rosalina didn’t say a word, only watching me plead with Jason to stop what he was about to do.

“Wh–Wh-What’s happening to me?” the girl asked, finally waking up from unconsciousness. “Who are you? Let go of me!”

Jason ignored her cries and approached me, dangling the child above my head. I could tell he was smiling under that mask.

“What the fuck is wrong with you!? Why do you people continue to torment me? Why can’t you just leave us alone and let me and my daughter live our lives!? How can someone like you hurt all these kids in front of me and continue to live your life like nothing ever happened!?”

Everything in my undead soul demanded me to move. Demanded me to get the hell up and obliterate this piece of shit…And yet I couldn’t! Whatever his power was…it completely outclassed me.

“I want my…mo…”

“Let her go! Let her go! Let her-”

“Decapitation.”

The girl’s body plopped to the grass. Her head remained in Jason’s hand.

If something like this could happen to her…then how could I, by myself, prevent Sunshine from meeting the same fate…?

“Jaaaasoooon!”

“Grassyland!”

At that moment, spikes of brittle grass rose from under Jason’s feet and slammed into his torso, pushing him all the way the the arena’s ceiling with Victoria’s head still in his grasp.

Rosalina’s oozy body slithered toward me, and morphed back into her regular body once she reached my bleeding body.

“You need to absorb me…now,” she demanded, grabbing my jaw.

“Wha-”

“You want to save my Sunflower, don’t you!? Then hurry up and absorb me. I know you can’t move your arms right now…but I saw you absorb my dragon’s attack with your mouth which means you can do the same with my body.”

“Rosalina…she’s dea-”

“I know,” she said, ooze-like tears rolling off her cheeks. It was the first time her eyes actually showed some emotion. “She’s dead right now. But the moment you absorb me, you’ll be able to use…all of my abilities. You can revive her once that happens. She won’t be human anymore but…she’ll be alive. Sunflower will keep her memories.”

“How do I know I can trust you?” I made a fist. “You said you were gonna transform me earlier, and I don’t know what you’ll do once-”

“That herbicide…or whatever seeped through the arena and killed my plants…it’s also killing me too. My ‘heart’ was…within there. Even if I did betray you here, I wouldn’t live long enough for it to matter. So hurry up and devour me before my grass is destroyed!”

“O-Ok!”

She opened my mouth and began to enter. “And remember, once you’ve absorbed me…you only have a minute before her plant body can be reattached. Ok? One minute!”

I began to devour her the best I could, absorbing her ooze, her vine dress, her essence, her feelings and…her memories.

Finally, I saw something. Many things.

It struck my mind like a bolt of lightning.

There were lots of things.