Chapter 23 - Mentors

Akumi took a bite out of her dragon burger. The spicy beef didn't let her transform into a Dragon Girl Knight like she'd wanted. All it did was burn her tongue, which only increased her foul mood.

Emma, Michelle, Jane, and herself were sitting across from Monster Slayer and Bunny-Bear in the Monster Burger restaurant at Infinity Train Station. All of the girls looked miserable.

Bunny-Bear poured honey onto her carrot cake and grinned with her big buck teeth. 'I'm sorry me 'n' Slayer had to beat you up like that, Akumi darlin'. When the ruckus started, we sent the Good Guys out to restrain ya'll as peaceably as possible, but you girls ended up whoppin' their keisters. When we saw you'd run into the Renegades, we knew we had to end things quick-like.'

Monster Slayer nodded. 'You should be thankful we found you when we did. There's no telling what Grimalkin would have done to you if we hadn't. That one has been known to conduct experiments on her enemies after defeating them.'

Akumi and the girls nodded.

'So,' said Bunny-Bear, 'have ya'll decided which universe you'd like to live in yet?'

Akumi shook her head.

Emma sighed. 'Since there's no way of getting back to our universe, I guess I'll become a wandering mercenary and try to find a homeland for the Jews in the Multiverse instead.'

Akumi raised an eyebrow. 'Aren't there any Holy Lands in the Multiverse already?'

Emma shook her head. 'Apparently not. The Empire hasn't even discovered the Middle East in the High Fantasy Universe yet, the Holy Land in the Cyberpunk Universe was destroyed by something called the Grey Goo Incident, and the entire region in the Space Opera Universe was nuked to hell during World War IV in the same way it was nuked to hell during World War III in our universe. There always seems to be something that goes wrong across the Multiverse, so us Jews are a diaspora everywhere.'

Jane bit down on a chicken tendie. 'Probably false flag operations to get sympathy bucks. Easy to pull off since the Jews control the media.'

Everyone stared at Jane. Akumi facepalmed. While such a statement was outrageous in the real world, it was common parlance on YouChan's Conspiracy Theory and Radical Politics boards. Emma looked as though she was about to slap Jane across the face (again), but the 13-year-old wasn't done yet.

'Of course, the Jews are actually controlled by the Knights Templar, who are actually controlled by Majestic 12, who are actually controlled by the Illuminati, so it's not really the Jews' fault. There's always a deeper conspiracy.' Jane sipped her choco milk.

Emma turned her attention to her pretzel, too tired to be angry. 'Remind me to never visit your universe, kid.'

Jane's crazy eyes sparkled. 'Me?! I'm going to the Conspiracy Theory Universe! My dad was abducted by a UFO! I just know I'll uncover the truth there!'

'No, you're not,' said Michelle. 'You're 13-years-old, you're mad as a bag of frogs, and you need a legal guardian, so you're coming with me to the Superhero Universe. I'm sure I can get a job with the Superhero Society. It sucks that we can't go home, but we have to find some way to start again and keep living, sugar. We'll manage somehow.'

'About that....' Bunny-Bear drummed her bear claws on the table. 'Me 'n' Slayer were wondering...if you girls would like to come and stay with us.'

All the girls stared at Monster Slayer and Bunny-Bear except Akumi, who had seen this coming.

'We live in Babel in the Space Opera Universe,' said Bunny-Bear. 'We were thinking we could train you to be Adventurers. It ain't much, but it's an honest living.'

'Really?' said Michelle. 'What would we be doing as Adventurers?'

'Freelance work mostly. Monster Slayer hunts monsters as a monster hunter, and I capture and train beasts as a beast master.'

'Huh,' said Emma. 'Sounds like a good deal for us...but what do you get out of it?'

'Power,' said Monster Slayer. 'When Bunny-Bear and I saved you and Monster Girl from the Tomb Dungeon, we thought you were weaklings. We were wrong. You girls have potential. You and those three other godlings. The way you took down the Good Guys was impressive. I would have loved to see the look on Jaguar's face; Boy Scout bastard was probably furious.' He laughed. 'As strong as you are, you could be Gold Rank Adventurers one day, and we could use allies like that in the long run.'

All the girls made agreeable noises. Akumi stayed silent.

'Well, that settles it!' Bunny-Bear smiled. 'The train to Babel is leaving in fifteen minutes! We better get going, girls! Welcome to the party.'

Everyone stood up except Akumi.

So, this was her new life?

An image of her and her family running through falling cherry blossoms flashed through her mind.

The anger she'd been holding back boiled over.

'I won't accept it.'

Bunny-Bear turned around. 'What?'

'I won't accept just moving on!' She stood up, suddenly full of determination. 'My family raised me for 18 years, and I'll be damned if I'm going to just give up on them!' She transformed into a Werewolf Girl Warrior and smashed the table under her fists. 'I'm going to find the Easter Egg—and I'm going to go home!'