Chase's mouth was fuming with steam. Bre and the rest of his friends struggled to touch his body like it was hot iron. This was only the latest of their concerns. Chase would scream to the heavens at the beginning of the procedure, coming out paler and paler after each trial. Chase would continue despite the pain, eventually regaining some color. The problem was he gained a bronze color that was not quite natural looking when he turned into his leatherback form. Chase kept pushing himself despite the plea from his friends to at least slow down. Eventually, he would slow down enough to put his friends at ease, but he had to go back to testing as his body was unstable.

Chase's body was finally cooled down enough to receive comforting hugs from his girlfriend, but he had to be left alone with the doctors. Bre was ready to fight for her right to stay, but even with her friends, she was outnumbered by doctors and nurses that were not afraid to use their skills for harm.

Once Bre did leave, one of the stout doctors spoke to Chase. "Such a loyal group of friends you have there. I feel bad to have to kick them out like that." Chase did not respond. "Despite their concerns, you're doing surprisingly well in these clinical trials." Chase did not respond. "The success rate is pretty low. And by low, I mean some end up warped into something horrific. Are you still with us, Chase?"

Chase finally responds to the question. "Why are you doing this?"

"So you can survive the procedure, of course."

"I meant for this rebellion or whatever Shadow Fang calls this."

"Do you really want to hear the story of a random doctor like me?"

"I won't talk to you if you don't answer my questions."

"Seems a bit cruel, but I have nothing to hide. I was sought after by Shadow Fang to be part of the medic team and for my knowledge about the Silver Challenger Project."

"You sound like a mercenary; no personal stakes in this."

"You're right. The stakes I face are not personal, but being here is dangerous all the same. Shadow Fang is after a power that he says will rival the Blue dragon and, by extension Skyland."

"But why do you care? What would it matter if that happens?"

The doctor paused, and she put down her notebook and other medical tools. "What do you know about the goings-on in Asgard?"

"Nothing," Chase replied.

"What about the recent scandal in Olympus or the Soul Stock Wars in the underworlds? When was the last time you heard of the Otherworldly coming and interacting with Earth?"

"What's your point?"

"We haven't been a part of the bigger universe in over 4000 years, or if you want to be generous, 1000 years. We have been looked down on and forgotten. They think we have nothing to offer anymore, and this world is weak, a place needing protection. Does that bother you?"

"It always has."

"I no longer want this world to be seen as the weakest. I may not be the one to change the minds of those who live in the outer worlds, but I may be able to empower the soldiers that will.

Chase, for the first time after meeting the doctor, took the time to understand what she was. Her race was never officially named, but he always called them rollers. They were small, like goblins, with their large ears folded backward and their body formed in a way that would make it easier to roll into a ball. Her eyes were big, like a cow, with the whites of her eyes being less visible. She was like him but had no notable abilities to make her a worthy fighter. She couldn't pass off as human, forcing her to stay in hiding.

"Shadow Fang may not be the one fighting for you," said Chase.

"No one said he had to be." And with that, Chase allowed the doctor to work on his body. To her surprise, Chase's body was more stable than the last she checked.

-----------

Mindplay held his aching head as he leaned on the nearest tree. Everyone had dropped to the ground, leaving him the only one to resist being put to sleep. He felt like he was wading through water as he struggled to pull out his gun and the booster. He struggled to remove the cap on the syringe, but once he did, he quickly stabbed his leg and injected the compound into his body.

Mindplay wasn’t ready for how quickly the booster worked. Already, he was feeling lighter despite the sleep being pushed harder on him as if someone was trying to keep him underwater. His mind raced faster than ever as he located his target and took the shot. To anyone else, it looked as though Mindplay shot randomly at the forest. A yelp proved differently as the weight of sleep lifted from him, or at least enough for him to move correctly. From the tree Mindplay hit emerged a humanoid female-shaped person with skin like the bark of the trees around her and her hair as green as the leaves above. She was inspecting her left leg and found it was fine while floating through the trees, slowly getting closer to Mindplay. She had healed from the gunshot wound.

"How are you doing that?" she asked. The surprised look on her face told Mindplay she was still in control but was caught off guard. "Your aura is weak, so you can't use magic."

"I carry many magic items to defend myself," Mindplay lied. Mindplay didn't even know if magic items worked in a way to defend his mind, if they existed at all.

"I doubt that."

Of course, she did. Even still, the goal now would be to buy time and work carefully. Mindplay needed one of the others to wake up and fight this woman on his behalf. Although the booster provided some physical enhancement, the increase was insufficient to deal with the threat before him.

"How can you be so sure?" Mindplay asked. "Here I stand amid your power with a weak aura."

"If you really wanted an item to defend your mind, you would have gone with one that offered immunity over resistance. Other than that, I know humans have hidden abilities that can offer all kinds of boons. You must have one to defend your mind."

"You clearly don't know humans too well. No one just gets the ability that deals with the mind. Only one out of ten thousand could get it, and even that is too high of a chance."

"Then you explain how you are resisting the power of the Quetzalcoatl."

Her curiosity gave Mindplay the best time advantage, but he couldn't abuse it. Sooner than later, she would use her plant manipulation to bury everyone, leaving no trace of their existence.

"Your guess would be better than mine. I've just recently found out magic exists. Maybe I have some natural resistance."

"Maybe," she landed before Mindplay, getting closer to him on foot. Vines and roots moved to block any potential escape route he could have had. "Normally, killing you would be better than letting you become a potential threat. But I could offer you a chance to become more with that ability."

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"I'm not comfortable with that."

"Maybe that was a bit insulting. I mean, you were able to outlast 'The Great And Powerful Iron Werewolf, Silver.' You may not understand the significance of that, but just know I'm complimenting you."

"Even still, I'm the weakest in this group."

"Just do what I did. Overcome your limits and reach heights only few can dream of."

A pit formed in Mindplay at those words. "I've surpassed human limits before. I'm not going through that again."

And with that, Mindplay forced his mind to click with her, briefly deactivating her concentration on the sleep spell while also stunning her. He mentally kicked himself, knowing he had rushed the later part of the infiltration of her mind. He only had a few minutes or less to try and revive one of the others. During the dive into the dryad's mind, he understood that the sleep spell lasted long after the concentration was lifted. While concentrating, the dryad would push the target(s) deeper into a dream making it near impossible to be woken up by outside forces.

Mindplay could dodge every vine and root jutting out of every which way like never before. Eventually, he slid next to Silver and delved into his mind. He could be more hasty with this task since he didn’t need to hide what he was doing from a sleeping Silver. It helped that Mindplay had been in Silver’s mind before, if only briefly. But just like before, the problem was Silver’s mind was a maze. Mindplay thought the dryad would be challenging, but she was configured like every other human. Silver had hundreds of memories locked and obscured by means Mindplay didn’t understand. He could have unlocked them if he had the time, but for now, he used them as a guide. He pushed away all the memories he could not access, allowing the unlocked one to boil up for him to grab onto and hopefully awaken the one that was Joe Backsberg.

Almost as soon as Mindplay got to Joe, he felt something wrap around his waist, ripping away from the dreadlocked kid. He was slammed against a tree and tied down to it, knocking the air out of him. When he opened his eyes, black dots blinked in front of him.

"You're a sneaky one," said the dryad, hovering over the ground and holding her head. "And you said humans couldn't gain powers over the mind."

Mindplay had to push out his words with what little breath he had. "I didn't say it was impossible. I'm a tragic exception."

"Now I'm even more impressed. Would have blown me away even more if you could wake up anyone."

Mindplay laughed. "Funny thing about my ability. When you spend as much time on the computer as I do, you move as fast as a computer."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means checkmate. I may be too weak to fight you, but my future employees--" Then he stopped. Mindplay's body forced him to breathe as if he hadn't for three minutes. To be clear, aside from the potential concussion, he was functioning fine. It was all in his head, and there lay the problem. There was an ungodly amount of hatred, guilt, and sadness in the air, and it was being contained. Bottled up, one may say. To Mindplay, such containment could burst inside a person resulting in one's mind exploding and shutting down. But this wasn't a bomb. It was a generator. The negative emotions were like heat from a light bulb. In simple terms, the byproduct. Or was it the fuel? It didn't matter what it was. Someone was going to be a target of whatever it was, and Mindplay couldn't stop it.

The dryad was confused at Mindplay's sudden cut-off. "Did you pass out? You can't be dead, so finish your sentence."

"Long time no see Jurya," Joe's voice reverberated through the forest. He was now on his feet, and his hood was spotless, while the rest of his body had mud on it. His tattoos were glowing blue despite being black, and his eyes were shining silver instead of blue when he used his abilities. What's more, he didn't sound like the Silver Mindplay knew. It was his voice, but the inflections were different.

Jurya, the dryad, turned to him and was trembling. Despite that, she tried to sound happy, as if seeing an old friend. "Silver. You look good and different. I'm sure you're doing well."

"I was going to say the same thing,” Silver replied, matching Jurya’s jolly nature. The malice was still radiating from him. “Speaking of, you're a long way from home."

"W-w-what do you mean? Our home was burned to the ground. No one would stay there after what happened."

"That's true. A sensible dryad like yourself would do the reasonable thing and leave the forest where her tree is. Especially if that tree got burned in a fire that engulfed the entire forest." A low growl came from Silver. His jolly tone was gone and now matched the malice from him. "I'm not dumb, Jurya, and neither are you. So, let's cut the crap and tell me what you know about that day."

"I don't know what to tell you. It happened over 1500 years ago, and you can't expect--"

The tree Mindplay was on shook violently, accompanied by a loud crack sound. Mindplay then slid down the tree as the vines had been cut. As Mindplay stumbled to get to the others, he realized that Silver had suddenly closed the distance between him and Jurya, pinning her to the tree with his extended golden claws.

Mindplay still reached the remaining sleepers when Silver said, "I told you to stop playing dumb! You could not have survived that extinction event without help before it happened."

Jurya struggled in Silver's grasp as she said, "What point is there in telling you? You weren't there when it happened, and even in the event you were, you would have been overwhelmed."

"That was why I left; to stop the problem at its source. I left because I trusted the likes of you to keep the forest safe until I got back. I trusted you with Gabori's life and the life of those in the forest, only to come back to death! How many others survived?" The dryad was silent. "Only you."

"You can't criticize me for wanting to survive. You can't villainize my past self, who thought she was doing what was right. Now look at us. We both ended up as the right hands of dragons in one way or the other. As for me, I moved on, and so should you."

At the time, Mindplay was trying to move everyone out of harm's way in case things turned hectic. Though distracted, he could have sworn he heard laughter from Silver. It was a sad laugh with tears and an undertone of crying, but Mindplay couldn't see. "You may be right. All that time has passed, and I doubt many remember it even existed. Who would I be avenging?" Mindplay fell to his knees as a surge of malice flooded his mind. Though he could endure it with the help of the booster, the emotions coming off of Silver were unnatural. "After all, that pharaoh had every right to hire mercenaries to take the gem. His homeland was dying, so he had a right to look at me like he wasn't part of a genocide he could get away with unpunished! To avoid war, I can't do anything to him for his crimes! But you..."

Mindplay turned just in time to see the dryad merge into the tree behind her. Silver looked around him, completely unphased. He then mumbled something under his breath, and immediately after, his eyes glowed brighter, and ten spectral claws appeared, five on either side of him. Silver began to swing in the air, sending the spectral claws flying in the direction of his choice. They were blindingly fast, cutting down trees almost on contact. Mindplay watched in awe as Silver moved and bent his fingers, most likely causing the spectral claws to change trajectory.

"You're not getting away, Jurya!" Silver cried. He motioned his hands in a downward clawing movement as he yelled, "Legacy Style: Wolf Pack!" and was flung to who knows where.

Mindplay felt small as he heard trees fall one by two, then five by ten, some landing on the ground in more pieces than one. Vines and the like tried to slow down the onslaught but were unsuccessful. It was astonishing that the fighting lasted as long as it had, but Mindplay knew it would be unfavorable when Silver won. Mindplay began to work on waking up BD, only to find that her mind was similar to Joe's, with only one locked area he couldn't unlock even if he had the time.

BD was about to wake up when something crashed next to Mindplay. Silver lifted Jurya off the ground with his hand around her neck. Only five of his spectral claws were active. All of them were focused on the dryad.

"Is it fear or loyalty that keeps you quiet?" asked Silver. "Why won't you tell me anything?!"

Gasping, Jurya says, "I draw my power from Quetzalcoatl to whom as given it willingly. She knows me by name and by scent. If she finds me dead, all her wrath will be on you, and you will be overwhelmed."

Silver’s eyes seem to stare deeper at Jurya. "...What made you think I would stop hunting you after death?"

A cold chill ran down Mindplay's spin. Knowing things would get worse, he gritted his teeth and spoke. "Joe!" Silver's wolf ears twitched. "I know you're frustrated. I know. Put her down."

"And why should I do that?" Silver growled.

"I have reasons to believe that she has connections to Shadow Fang. If you kill her, we could lose--"

"Why is every time I want to avenge someone, someone else is there to tell me about the consequences?! You weren't there when the pharaoh presented Gabori's killer. The pharaoh was practically smiling as he had his scapegoat from day one! He stole the Gia gem, whether he admits it or not, off of life lost on his orders! Now once again, I am being robbed of closure. What am I left with after that?!"

Mindplay took a step forward toward Silver, causing the werewolf to flinch. Mindplay was scared senseless, but he had been in this situation before. He took another step raising his hand to reach for Silver.

Before Mindplay could say anything, a childish voice arose in the calm of the forest. "Silver?" Silver dropped the dryad to the ground. The spectral claws disappeared, and the intense glow of Silver's eyes subsided. He rushed to the sound of BD's voice while Mindplay dropped to his knees. "Please don't leave in anger, Silver."

Mindplay could not see what was happening behind him with Silver and BD. His vision was blurry enough, allowing him to see at least one more terrible thing. The dryad quickly recovered and disappeared into the forest. A single word slipped out of Mindplay's mouth. "Shit."