Rising Shards

Kalei should have been with them, getting crushed by Ovie’s giant claws. It didn’t make sense. She saw the hand reaching for her. And then in the next second, everyone else that was fighting—her friends, her own mom—were in the monster’s grasp. It took Kalei too long to realize why. To recognize what the pushing feeling was a few moments earlier. What the tapping footsteps behind her were. The flash of red hair in one of Ovie’s hands was clear. Risa somehow gained impeccable timing in her absence from Kalei's life. She had pushed Kalei out of the way, saving her by getting herself caught by Ovie. 

Most of the important people in Kalei's life were getting crushed in front of her, and she felt powerless. What could she do? All her attacks sucked. She sucked at doing them. She sucked at everything. And everything sucked so hard for her, what good was she here?

As one of Ovie’s arms swung by, for a a split second, maybe even less, Risa was right in front of her. Risa, who Kalei thought she’d never see again, who Kalei at times never wanted to see again, at others desperately missed their friendship, had just rescued her. Risa could have been thinking anything, most likely trying to think of ways to not get smashed, but what Kalei felt from a moment’s glance into her eyes was something else. A plea maybe, or maybe something more like a demand from her estranged best friend.

Don’t screw this up.

She felt a spark deep inside from that look.

Kalei now stood face to face with the monster that wasn’t the root of all her pain she’d been through, but sure as hell was a lot of it. Ovie’s arms all held Kalei’s friends, holding her own mother. And now Kalei was alone, as Caya and Kitty were still embroiled in their own fight too far away, and Diast had to protect the rest that stayed behind. Seeing the big ugly monster and knowing Ovie’s big ugly personality was buried somewhere in there felt like a last straw for Kalei. So she screamed.

She stood with her fists clenched and screamed again, a wail almost worse than the warbling howl of Ovie and 09 in their beastly forms. Kalei screamed out all the pain inside her.

“I’m so sick of this,” Kalei said. “I just want this to be over!”

Ovie didn’t drop anyone, but her attention was now focused on the shouting girl beneath her.

“I’m so sick of having to be around you!” Kalei yelled as the beast was face to face with her. “You giant moron! Why’d you have to bring me with you? Couldn’t you just leave me alone? I got freaking rejected like a jackass, and then you dragged me all the hell around just so you could turn into…this? What the hell even are you?”

Ovie tilted her head. She opened her mouth wide and roared again, bits of acid dribbling from the sides of her mouth, but Kalei didn’t flinch. She screamed right back at Ovie, once more sounding like all the hurt inside her was coming out with her voice. Kalei kept roaring as her ice energy formed in her hands. She swung her fists, not connecting with anything but flinging chunks of ice forward. Some of them missed, some hit Ovie, not doing much damage. But Kalei kept lobbing them at her, and the more that she landed stuck to the monster’s face. The chunks of ice stayed there, fused together, and started to block Ovie’s mouth, making almost a makeshift chain that Kalei, whether she meant to or not, connected to the ground. Ovie roared, trying to break free in vain as her jaw was stuck, the ice keeping her in place. As she strained, she dropped the others to the ground.

“Stay there.” Kalei hissed, grabbing a spiky part of Ovie’s face to climb up. She strode across the monster girl’s nose and head, her beam chasers experience helping her keep her balance as Ovie’s head bucked around. She had an easier time walking on the beast’s back even as it churned and moved beneath her feet, using the spines jutting out as a guard rail of sorts.

“Ah ha.” Kalei said. She kicked at Ovie’s back, causing a frantic screech. After another kick, Kalei grasped the Sharai Dagger jutting out of Ovie’s back. “At least you’re not as ugly as you were before.” She got her hands around the dagger, which pulsed with a deep red. “Shame to make you go back, but…” She pulled, straining like she was forcefully pulling a tooth out. With one last yank, she tore the dagger out of Ovie’s back. Kalei leapt off, barely stumbling as she landed on the ground. Her friends had gotten their bearings back and rushed to her.

Kalei’s mom cheered as Ovie started to shrink, changing out of her beastly form. She gave her daughter a hug even bigger than the one Oka and Zeta had given her.

“That’s one down,” Ko said. “We just have…”

As she said that, the group turned to see Caya and Kitty were still hitting 09 with a barrage of blasts. Kalei winced at the attacks; the energy bolts were horrific to look at as they tore apart whatever they hit. The damaged body parts grew back quickly, which only added to the unsettling sight before the group. Caya and Kitty didn’t share Kalei’s strategy of climbing to find the dagger embedded in their target (Kalei thought she saw the two trying that earlier so maybe it didn’t pan out as well for them), they just blasted away until they knocked it out.

As 09 and Ovie changed form, it wasn’t clear if they were normal yet, just smaller. Dr. Diast shouted over to the group. “Escape route’s ready, come on!” Diast yelled.

Caya picked up Ovie and 09 once they were small enough, and Kalei rushed back with everyone else, finally on her way home.