FCGS - Chapter 12

From her point of view, this battle was the worst yet. Being stuck in one spot didn't make her feel too good either. She kept her eyes on Lack's life levels. Even if he looked 100% well, she knew that the healing he had would have an effect on his strength and endurance. Brighteyes and illusions were already worn out and quickly reaching their limit. Tadakono was doing a good job keeping the doppelganger in one spot but she could see him reaching his limit soon too. Phenomenon and Syaoran had both suffered serious burns and were slowing down also. Minna became a secondary support but it was starting to drain her as well.

Lack blocked the force from a Bomb and slid backwards towards Chibi. "This doesn't look good." he murmured to Chibi. "Is there any way to defeat it before we reach our limits?" Hearing no reply, he glanced at Chibi. "What are you doing?"

Chibi mixed a few of her potions together into an Alchemical Coating bottle. "I'm creating an unraveling potion for you. I don't know if it'll work because it's the first time I've actually tried to make one of these. I'm almost done." She poured yellow crystal shards into the bottle and shook it vigorously. The potion inside began to shimmer a silvery yellow colour. "Pitch it at the doppelganger. It should work almost immediately…" Chibi looked away and Lack waited knowing there's something else. "I can't guarantee that it'll work since unraveling works best if an alchemist-class is the one using it."

Lack took the potion and snapped towards the doppelganger. Will Asura Strike be enough to finish it off? Throwing the potion, it smashed into the back of the doppelganger. Something flew past him into the spot where the potion broke. Looking behind him, he saw Chibi laying on her side smiling. What did she just throw? Did she leave something out again?

The doppelganger screamed. It's clothing and skin began to flake off into Fabric pieces. Lack and Phenomenon prepared to cast Asura Strike. Tadakono cast Lord of Vermillion burning away the fabric pieces as they fell. Nodding to each other, Lack and Phenomenon focused their power.

Asura Strike!

"I'll take you all with me," the doppelganger murmured finally and exploded sending Fabric pieces everywhere. "Burn!" The Fabric ignited and flames spread throughout the room. Phenomenon and Lack, who picked up Chibi's Azoth that she had thrown, moved away from the flames. Brighteyes, illusions, and Trelawney fell back behind Minna, who cast Safety Wall, and Syaoran. Tadakono block Chibi and himself from the flames with an Ice Wall.

"Wait behind here Chibs," Tadakono whispered to her. "I'll get rid of the flames." Chibi gave him a slightly annoyed look. "I forgot." He laughed and stepped out from behind the wall.

Storm Gust!

Snowflakes danced around the room, melting, turning to water droplets, falling like rain onto the fire. Tadakono walked to the centre of the room, spreading his arms he cast Frost Nova. The water on the ground joined forming a thin layer of ice over the floor. Looking around, he nodded with a smile, satisfied he stopped the fire and removed smoldering embers.

"Well done," Phenomenon patted Tadakono on the back. "But now we have a problem."

Tadakono looked at Phenomenon, frustrated he snapped back "So was I suppose to leave the fire burning or something? I am the only one here that could of done something quickly."

Phenomenon raised his hands. "What I mean is that the ice can hurt if someone was to slide on it. I know you were the only one who could of done anything against the fire but still."

Tadakono opened his mouth to snap back when Lack gave them both a slap on the back. "Easily fixed. No need to jump on each other about it," Summoning spheres, he raised his fist and cast Fury. The impact of his fist to the ground caused the ice to break into shards. He stood and sighed.

Tadakono coughed. "I wasn't jumping on him. I just felt a little unappreciated is all." Tadakono looked at Lack's face and frowned. "You alright? You don't look to well."

"I think everything just caught up with me," Lack replied in a slurred voice. Falling to one knee, he added "I need to rest a bit." Tadakono and Phenomenon picked him up, one under each shoulder, and helped him to the Infirmary.

~~~

"Chibi," Kakaxi touched her shoulder. "Where's Lack? We need to report something to him." Chibi turned to face her. Furama, leafye and FerrariSin were with her. "Rena from Under the Shadows guild gave us a message."

"Would it be alright if you told it to me?" Chibi asked them. Her normally blue eyes clouding over slightly. "Lack's not 100% at the moment and I want him to just rest. Too much has happened in such a short time and it's taken it's toll on him."

Kakaxi nodded and together they walked to one of the numerous Meeting Rooms. "Rena's found the alchemist responsible for creating the blue gem doppelgangers." Chibi's eyes flashed but remained clouded. Kakaxi wondered if she should continue on.

"The one that attacked brighteyes and the girls was created by an Creator called Momo," leafye added noticing Kakaxi's pause, mistaking it for loss of words. "He's a member of Grand Lethal. Rena is unsure if there was more than one doppelganger created."

"There's been four in total," Chibi replied, her voice slightly monotone. "The first three took on the appearance of Syaoran, Tadakono and Phenomenon respectively. The most recent one took on Siel's appearance." Chibi's butterfly tattoo flashed causing everyone to look at it. "Don't worry about that. It's been flashing a lot lately."

Kakaxi took off her glove and looked at her own butterfly tattoo. It remained a faded dull colour. Shaking her head, she picked up where leafye left off. "Grand Lethal is recruiting heavily again. Mainly recruiting alchemist-class and mage-class. After Contra and Morgue disappeared, Rena thought that the guild would die off but it seems that someone has taken up Contra's place. It's unknown who and what class they are." Kakaxi stood, leafye followed suit. "That's all for now. Rena asked us to join her. She's going to sneak into Velvet Touch of Enishi headquarters again."

Chibi watched them go. Her eyes changing shade from clouded blue to sky blue. Furama rubbed his eyes wondering if he saw that. Chibi looked back and tilted her head. "Anything else I need to know? Or…"

"We're staying to help guard Lack," FerrariSin answered glancing sideways at Furama. "We saw two doppelgangers guarding Grand Lethal headquarters. It's possible that they'll come here." FerrariSin leaned forward and whispered "Also, the three Mediators are missing. Rena says that Novus has been taking her messages instead of Shadow." Chibi nodded listening carefully.

"We'll get ourselves settled then," Furama added slowly watching Chibi's eyes. I must have been seeing things. If I get the chance, I'll talk to Lack about this. But… They stood up and left the room leaving Chibi to her thoughts.

~~~

"Hey," Furama gave Tadakono a slap on the back. "Has anything happened recently that I should know about?" Tadakono sighed and scratched his head. "According to Chibi, a lot has happened but she didn't go into detail."

"A lot has…" Tadakono sat onto a nearby couch in the Lounge. "But it's hard to know where to start." Looking up, he added "Why you ask? It's not like you to need to know what's happened unless something's gotten you concerned."

Furama 's eyes narrowed. He sat down next to Tadakono and leaned close to whisper "Chibi's eyes…"

"What about them?" Tadakono asked leaning back slightly.

"They keep changing to different shades of blue. It just seems so unusual to me," Furama leaned back against the couch. "I just get a strange feeling about it." Tadakono waited, thinking over what he just heard. "Her voice too, it went monotone for a while."

"It could be overwork," Tadakono replied frowning. "She's picked up Lack's workload as well as her own. Since Lack's been resting for a few days now, she's been acting Guild Master."

"I don't think that's it," Furama said, clasping and unclasping his hands. "I've been watching her. She's not tired, even though she runs around like a headless chicken, from allocating guild funds to creating Bombs. It's like she's got endless energy." He watched FerrariSin enter the room and sit down with them. "But her eyes, her voice, and around this time of the day she leaves the guild for three hours…"

"Is this about Chibi's strange behavior?" FerrariSin asked. Furama nodded and Tadakono sighed. "She has been acting weird. I just saw her a few minutes ago in the Foyer. She was getting ready to go out."

Tadakono looked at both of them. "Can you call Ara and Alastor from Under the Shadows? I think we're going to need a more specialist opinion." Furama and FerrariSin nodded