The Hunt

Both Path and Maizy zoomed around the storage room, following their noses to delicious bugs.  There were a lot of them!

Wow, these are good!  Maizy thought, not even pausing after catching one before darting after the next.  There's so many of them!

She and Path were having the time of their lives—hunting bugs, reducing their numbers one by one—until the hunts started taking a bit longer. That's when both Maizy and Path spotted the same bug at exactly the same moment.

Neither hesitated. Neither faltered. They locked eyes as they both got within debugging range. They grinned, and ran as fast as they could toward their competing visions of the future.

They leapt at the same time—at the very moment the sugar snap beetle was thinking, that's strange, where did everybody go?  Probably. Maybe.

Maizy sensed she was about to be defeated—Path was just a smidge closer.  WHAT promised me speed, dammit!  She thought. She really wanted that bug!

She tried as hard as she could to flex that mental magic muscle in her mind—anything to gain an advantage. Then, a bright pink light flashed behind her, and she went flying.  Upward.  She soared over the beetle—over Path—and crashed into a box on a shelf at the back of the room.

Then she dropped back to the floor, somehow landing on all fours, flustered.  What the heck was that!?  She wondered, shaking herself off.

Path saw Maizy's crash and suddenly felt bad. He walked up to her, sat up, then pulled the beetle out of his mouth with one hand and offered it to her in consolation.

Maizy smiled warmly at Path.  This keedo is the sweetest thing, she thought. She reached over to accept the beetle, knowing it would please him if she took it. She would've cut it in half, but somehow that didn't seem like a good idea. This particular species is quite juicy.

She put the beetle in her mouth and chewed it slowly, while Path watched—he had a great big grin on his face. It was the same type of beetle she'd been devouring this whole time, yet somehow, this one tasted sweeter than all the others.

What a wonderful world I've been reborn into, she thought.

Then a gigantic black snake descended from above and quickly swallowed Path. He was still smiling at her when its large mouth enveloped his body.

Maizy would've screamed if she could.  GODS! What just happened!?  One moment he was smiling—smiling—and the next, he was gone. Swallowed whole.

The shock lasted only a heartbeat before panic surged through her like fire. She turned and ran, legs trembling, heart hammering against her ribs as she bolted for the door.

She didn't make it far. The snake had already seen her. It struck, jaws snapping through the air, but she veered just in time, stumbling to the side, barely keeping her balance.

SERPENTINE! SERPENTINE! she screamed inside her head, zigzagging wildly as the monster gave chase.  Poor Path!  Tears burned her eyes, blurring the world into motion and shadow.

There has to be a way out! she thought, frantic.  THINK!  But everywhere she looked there was nothing—just shelves, sealed boxes, and scattered books. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.

Then it hit her—snakes can't climb walls!  She pivoted toward the nearest one, and at that exact moment, the snake lunged.  If I hadn't turned just then... I'd be dead!

She sprinted, heart pounding, but just like when she'd raced Path for that beetle, she knew—she wasn't going to make it.  The wall was too far. The snake, too fast.

Come on, pink light! she thought desperately. Get me up on the shelf again!  She focused every shred of her will on recreating that strange burst of power from before.

One of her tails lit up blue. The other flared pink. And then—she shot upward.

The snake struck again. Its chin clipped her tail, throwing her into a wild spin as she soared toward the shelf. She slammed into it hard, breath knocked from her lungs.

Her ribbon caught.

It snagged on something, jerking her to a stop—tightening around her throat. She dangled just above the shelf, legs kicking, eyes wide. The ribbon pulled tighter. She clawed at it, gasping for air, fighting to free herself before the world went dark.

Her mom's words from that morning crashed into the forefront of her mind:  "You'll never be able to get it off, so don't bother trying."  The ribbon really was hard as steel—she couldn't even get it to bend! She struggled, yanking at the knot. She tried scratching it off with her claws. Nothing worked.

Her memory tail glowed blue as she tried to recall exactly what her mom had done to make the ribbon this way.  Mom pushed magic into it.  But that was all she did.  Can I pull the magic out?  Maizy needed to know the answer to that question—right now.

Then she saw the snake below change tactics. After failing to reach her directly, it slithered to the edge of the shelf.  Two pitch-black hands, attached to skinny little limbs, sprouted from its sides. It used them to grasp the shelf—and began to climb.

That's when she heard it—hissing laughter.  It's laughing at me!  That thought snapped her out of her panic. Now she was mad.  Really mad.

She remembered the feeling of the pink light and tried the same floating trick she'd used to get up on the shelf. It worked! She felt nearly weightless—and suddenly, she could breathe again.  Now I just need to get this ribbon off!

She forced herself to calm down and think.  Null crystals absorb magic!  She recalled.  But I don't have any.

Her memory tail lit up blue again as she tried to remember what the doctor had said before giving her the null crystal.  "We're going to do a little test to make sure your tails are absorbing magic like they're supposed to," he'd told her.

The solution suddenly dawned on her—My tails absorb magic!  She curled both tails around and grabbed them in a hug, pressing them against the ribbon.

Nothing happened. At least, not right away. Then she felt it—the ribbon is loosening!  A moment later, she managed to untie the knot. She was free!

She dropped onto the shelf, clutching the ribbon in her hand, and glided away—just in time. The snake slithered off the shelf and onto the floor, following her trajectory.

Maizy used her pink-glowing tail—whatever it did—to keep herself in the air as long as possible. It was working, but she was quickly losing momentum. There was no way to gain altitude, and by the time she reached the far wall, she'd be low enough for the snake to eat her.

THINK!  There's no safe place to stop, land, or even push off of. THINK!  What do I do‽ She was about to panic again when she heard the snake's sinister "hiss hiss hiss."

NO.  She calmed herself for just a moment before full-blown rage kicked in.  Flight is no longer an option, so FIGHT it is!  She decided then and there that if she was going to die, she was going to go down swinging.

Her tail, glowing pink, suddenly shifted to purple as she dropped like a brick onto the snake's head. It hurt—a lot—but it did the trick. The snake's head smashed into the floor, and Maizy let out a hiss of her own as she clamped her mouth over its eye and tore it from the socket. She scratched its face for good measure as she slid off its head and onto the floor.

The snake hissed in pain as Maizy swallowed its eye—not a bad flavor, she thought. A sinister grin spread across her face as the snake turned its remaining eye toward her. She flicked her ribbon like a whip, daring it to come. And it did.

Enraged, the snake lunged at Maizy with all its might. She turned as if to flee, then pumped magic into the ribbon and spun with purpose. Her momentum carried it around in a wide arc, whipping through the air as her tail began to glow purple once more.

The ribbon struck just below the snake's head, slicing it clean off.

It was over.

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Dark maroon blood spilled profusely from the snake's body as Maizy's thoughts returned to Path. Tears poured from her eyes like a faucet—she couldn't hold back her emotions anymore.

She swung her ribbon at the snake in anger, hacking at the top of its lifeless body. Then she noticed Path's tail sticking out.

Realization then hit her like a brick to the head of a snake monster:  WAIT! It might not be too late! It hasn't been that long! I might be able to save him!

She tossed her ribbon aside and, as fast as she could, reached over and pulled on Path's tail—he slid out of the snake easily. Then she turned him onto his back and began performing CPR.

Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive, she repeated a song in her head, not fully understanding how she knew it or how she knew this action could save Path's life. Her tail glowed purple with each beat of the rhythm as she pressed down on his chest.

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Path was suddenly standing in the middle of the room, watching a giant snake chase after Maizy, when he heard a voice call his name.

"I'm terribly sorry, Path," WHAT, god of mysteries, appeared out of nowhere in front of Path and seemed to speak directly into his mind. "Maizy was supposed to die, not you."

I guess I died, Path thought, which didn't seem to bother him as much as it should. He was oddly calm.

Then, suddenly, Path remembered this guy. "Wait, I remember you! You're that jerk who turned me into a doll and made me jump over the bar! Then you ran me over with a truck!"

"Hah! You remember that? Well, yes. That was me," WHAT replied. "You were one of the only souls that actually made it over the bar. It was impressive." He raised his eyebrows and gave a thumbs-up, then continued, "Maizy made it over the bar too, but she tricked me—TWICE! That little..." He trailed off as he watched Maizy escape the snake by leaping up to the shelf.

Path was astounded by this sudden revelation. Apparently, Maizy somehow beat a god at its own game. "What do you mean she tricked you? Does that mean she passed your stupid challenges?"

"Yes, she did. Sooo tricky, that one." WHAT's face instantly went from apologetic to apocalyptic. "Ooh, I hate her! Hate, hate, HATE!" WHAT stomped his foot like a child and waved his fist in the air. "It's because of her that I lost my license to smite!" His whole head began to glow bright red.

Path had been smitten with Maizy before, but now—Wow. She suddenly became much more impressive. He watched her narrowly escape the snake as she leapt off the shelf, and he desperately wanted to help her somehow.  But what could he do?  He was dead, after all. The dead can't influence the living. He decided he was going to try anyway. He started making his way toward Maizy as she glided in the air above the snake.

WHAT changed the color of his head back to normal, then spoke to Path. "Well, none of that matters now. This will soon be over, and you will both be ballooned." He brought his hands together as though he were squashing someone's hope—a round, balloon-shaped hope. "Then you will be aged for 1000 wobbles and re-evaluated.  She will be traded or sold. She's more trouble than she's worth!"

Just as Path was thinking ballooned?, another god wiggled into existence near WHAT, and then THEE, god of mysteries, asked, "What's taking so long?"

Path stopped moving, turned to THEE, and asked, "Who the heck are you?"

"Oh, you're that Path kid! You're dead? You're not supposed to be dead!" She then shouted at WHAT, "WHAT, I had plans for him! By FRICK, this screws up everything!"

WHAT just shrugged. "You think I don't know that? I'll make it up to you, somehow."

"You'd better!" THEE replied, staring him down. She then crossed her arms and made a very sad-looking pouty face that Path thought was cute.

WHAT really did feel bad about it. He sighed, "I'll tell you what; you can have Path in his next life."

Then time itself seemed to slow down for a moment as they all watched Maizy behead the snake with her ribbon.

"YEAH!!! KICK. ASS!" Path shouted while pumping his fist in the air.  SHE IS AMAZING! Path exclaimed, mentally, to himself.

Then WHAT's head exploded, and his body fell over.

THEE grinned, then kicked WHAT's limp body. "So dramatic, you overgrown poutsprite. Serves you right for killing Path!"

Path fought the urge to also go kick WHAT, then turned his attention back to Maizy.  Poor thing. She's going to be so sad.  Then he suddenly remembered that he had a mother, So will my mom, wow.  Poor Pathy, nobody ever thinks of her.

"What's she doing?" Path asked, noticing Maizy pumping her hands up and down on his body. Then he suddenly realized he knew exactly what she was doing, but decided to play dumb and see how the gods reacted to his question.

WHAT stood up, summoned a head back onto his shoulders, and then both gods watched Maizy, unsure how to answer.

"Maybe it's some sort of death ritual from her past life on Earth?" WHAT asked, looking at THEE.

She's also from Earth!? Path's level of awe and fascination with Maizy just kicked up a level. He had a lot of questions before, but now... He had at least one more.

THEE then thought of something and spoke up, "I think she's trying to bring him back to life." She shrugged. "Maybe she thinks it's possible with magic or something?"

These gods don't know about CPR‽ So much for gods being omniscient, hah!  Path couldn't remember his past life, but he could remember CPR. At least, what it was called and what it looked like.

He knew there was something wrong with these gods.  Are they even gods?  Path was suddenly very skeptical.

They all watched Maizy's rhythmic motion with rapt attention.

"Is it even possible to bring someone back to life? Could you put my soul back in my body?" Path asked, as he made his way towards his body, hoping for... hope.

WHAT replied to Path's question, smugly, "It's not possible to bring someone back from the dead. I've tried it! Many times, in fact. No matter how many times you try to push a soul back into a body, it doesn't work." He then continued, like a childish know-it-all, "A soul must be aged for at least 1000 wobbles before you can do anything with it." He stated the words like they were a multiversal law of physics.

Path finally reached his body and laid down right in it. From his perspective, Maizy's head was right in front of his face. He reached up to touch her cheek, but his hand just passed right through.

"That's not going to wooork," WHAT said, intentionally trying to sound annoying.

Path just lay there, his intangible hand next to Maizy's cheek, and thought to himself, so pretty.  He closed his eyes, lined up his arms with his body as best he could, then shouted, "You know, WHAT? I don't believe you! You promised me overpowered magic, but..."

Then, a powerful shock shook Path's soul, and suddenly, he was back in his body!

He opened his eyes, looked up at Maizy, and started coughing. He felt weak and sick, but he was alive! He didn't look like it, but he was overflowing with joy and an acute case of early onset infatuation. It was a common complication of "love at first sight."

A loud "DING!" sounded, then another, "DING!"

Maizy's face lit up with a smile brighter than a thousand suns, and she collapsed, unconscious on top of him. Path just lay there, holding her tightly, and then he too passed out.