Buddy landed his rocket couch down in the forest. A large group of blightmares had reportedly been seen in the area and were wreaking havoc, so it was our job to stop them. We all hopped off.

"I sure don't see anything," said Buddy.

"Me neither," agreed Ariel. "We didn't even see one from the air."

"Do you reckon that I could take one of these on my own?" I asked.

"You?" said Buddy. "Yeah, even you would be able to take one of these things. Well, as long as you can dodge their charges that is."

How reassuring... "In that case why don't we split up and meet back here in a little bit? If we spot them we can get the other two and take them down!"

Buddy laughed. "I said you could take down one, not all of them! These guys hunt in packs, so you won't just find one alone. Take Ariel with you. Splitting up into two groups should be enough."

Well thank you for your confidence in me... not. I sighed. "You heard him, let's get searching Ariel."

She pouted. "Why do I have to be the one to go with him?"

Don't say it like it's an insult!

"Because we both know that I'm stronger than you, so it's more balanced that way. See you later!" He took off running into the trees. I don't know if he just didn't want to haul it around everywhere or if he wanted to keep it out of harm's way, but he left his couch behind.

I sighed. "Whatever. We might be able to get this task down a little bit faster this way. I wish we didn't have to do all the cleanup jobs."

Ariel pouted and turned away. "You get paired with a beautiful girl and still complain?! How ungrateful!"

"Beautiful girl?! Where?!" I teased.

She popped a bubble next to my ear and made me recoil in pain.

"I was kidding, sheesh," I said, rubbing my ear.

"Sven... n't... that," she mumbled.

"What? All I understood was 'that.'"

"Nothing! Let's survey the area!"

She forced us onto her typical flying bubbles, and we drifted around above the treetops.

I thought we were done with this mode of travel, but I guess not.

-----

It wasn't too long before we reconvened.

"They should be around here, right?"

The three of us had searched the forest, but instead of blightmares all we found were uprooted trees and claw marks. No actual monsters were anywhere in sight.

"There were at least," I said. "I mean I memorized the map and everything, this is the spot."

"Did they maybe move?" asked Ariel.

Buddy shook his head. "No. If I've learned anything from my time as a blightmare hunter, it's that boar type blightmares don't move that fast. Even if they did, they tend to dawdle around an area for a long time."

Ariel jumped up a tree, then looked out from on top of it. "Hey! I think I see something!" She pointed towards a clearing. Ironically it was a place that we had already checked.

Buddy shrugged, and we all headed that way. When we reached the plain area we saw something that we hadn't expected.

Ariel ran up to a semi-transparent boar that was laying on its side. "It's nearly faded! Someone must have already taken care of all of them before we got here!"

"Faded?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's what happens to blightmare corpses after all while if they aren't destroyed..." She smiled and stuck her tongue out. "Or eaten! Pretty soon it'll disappear completely."

"I see..." I stared at the fading beast. It looked bruised, maybe with some broken bones. It looked like it had been beaten to death.

"Darn," said Buddy. "I guess we're done here then. I was hoping for some excitement."

"Well then you'll get it bro!" said a new voice behind us.

We whirled around to find yet another group of three standing before us. There were two girls and one boy.

Seriously, why is everyone always in groups of three?!

"Were you the ones who cleaned up around here?" asked Buddy.

"Haha, you bet bro-ccoli!" said the boy. He sported brown curly locks, large tan boots, and sandy colored hiking clothes that stood out against his vivid purple eyes. I would imagine that he would get along well with someone like Masamba.

Did he seriously just say "bro-ccoli?"

"Did he seriously just say "bro-ccoli?" Ariel said aloud.

I did a mental facepalm. Sure, go ahead and try to make him angry.

"Haha, yes I did! I have quite the bro-cabulary!"

"He's also rather bro-ken," said the girl on one side of him. She had darkened skin and eyes, and had metal pads spread out over critical parts on her otherwise plain attire. It looked like their purpose was to protect like armor while still allowing movement, but there was one strangely positioned on her left cheek.

"Hey!"

"It's true."

The last girl looked like she was about to burst. She had grey hair that normally rested on her shoulder, but was currently biting it to keep herself from talking. Her outfit was one of the strangest yet, with its bright white fabric and long, drooping sleeves. Red zippers ran along it at random angles, several of which were half opened, revealing more white cloth beneath them. Two zippers in particular coiled around her sleeves completely, in a fashion that could render the sleeves simply incredibly long strips of fabric if completely unzipped.

"What is it?" said the first girl. "You've been holding something in for a long time."

The other girl happily stopped biting her hair. She spoke very quickly. "Ah! Thank goodness! I was about to drive myself crazy! Hi, I'm Sandra! And Mr. Brotozoan-Brain over there is Arlen! And the other girl is Fantasia! We're so glad to meet you but unfortunately we'll have to ask you all to fight us! That's okay right? Well I guess you don't have a choice! Sorry!"

She leapt forward and reached out to touch Ariel and Buddy. They instinctively jumped out of the way, but the girl was much faster. Once she hit the ground she turned and pounced at Ariel, catching her in mid air. All she did though was touch her with her hand, then she backed off and regrouped with the other two. Several of the zippers on her clothes mysteriously closed on their own.

"Why you!" yelled Buddy, who ran towards the group.

I pulled out my dagger and got into one of the defensive stances that I learned from Masamba.

The boy named Arlen vanished into thin air, but Buddy kept charging forward. He unravelled his shirt and managed to wrap its threads around the one known as Fantasia, who did nothing to resist. She just looked blankly at him, and this look it what got to Buddy. She didn't even bother to blow the short ash grey hair that had fallen in front of her face away.

"It won't do you much good to capture me," she said. She started glowing and giving off a golden energy, which whipped around and off of her as if she was on fire.

"What?!"

Sandra used the opportunity to once again leap at Buddy, and touched his arm before he had the chance to react. When she did, the remaining zippers that were half undone sealed shut. "Thanks Fanta! I'm at my limit for now, but I think the seals on people as weak as them should hold for several days, maybe even longer!"

The hair wrapped around Fantasia loosened and fell to the ground, and the golden light hanging around her faded away.

"W-what?! I can't use my power!" shouted Buddy.

"Me neither," said the frightened Ariel, who was motioning with her hands in attempt to make something appear.

I heard an expected rustling in the tree above me. I turned around and swung my knife, narrowly missing the man who jumped out from the tree.

"Woah man! Didn't mean to bro-voke you! Well I guess I kind of did..."

I stood my ground. What's up with these guys?! What do they have against us?! All three of us were powerless against them now. We had to rely on our physical strength now, which judging by the speed of that Sandra girl we were beat on too.

Arlen was unarmed, so I took my chances and slashed forward. He ducked under my attack and reached up to catch my arm. His grip alone was stronger than the power in my entire body.

"Come on man, don't make this harder than it needs to be," he said. He twisted me around and got me in a headlock, facing me towards the action.

"Neuman!" yelled Ariel.

Buddy punched Fantasia will all his might. She didn't bother moving, and when she got hit her body hardly recoiled, as if she had gotten hit by a child.

"Run!" I shouted at both of them, struggling my best to get out of my hold.

Ariel hesitated, but must've understood that she could find Buddy's couch not too far away and fly it to get help, because she turned and started running.

Buddy tried backing up so that he could run too, but the girls' eyes locked onto the two of them.

"Too slow," said Fantasia quietly, grabbing Buddy without problem. I knew that Buddy was much stronger than I, yet he too was helpless against his opponent.

Sandra raced after Ariel, and the two of them disappeared into the forest.

Our captors held us still, but did not do anything, as we waited for one of them to come back. A moment later the two of them emerged from the foliage. Sandra was dragging Ariel back to us by the arm, like a parent guiding a child who was throwing a tantrum.

"Are we good to go then?" asked my attacker.

Fantasia nodded. "No problems here."

Sandra gave a thumbs up with her free hand. "We should be able keep them under control for at least four or five days. As long as you're back before then we should be good. Don't take any detours now!" She squinted at Arlen. "I know how you can get. Just remember that the rest of our necks are on the line if the plan doesn't work out. Even we won't be able to handle them after my Zip Lock Seal wears off!"

"Yeah, yeah. I know the drill. Quit worrying as if this is our first time. And watch how much you say, you just gave away crucial details."

Sandra looked shocked at realizing her mistake, and bit her hair again.

"Alright, see you girls in a few days then. Re-bro-cation!"

Soon as he uttered those words everything went black, a subtle "sorry" echoing through my mind.

***

A/N: The arc is a rather special one :D You see, Fantasia, Arlen, and Sandra are based off of some of my friends and greatest supporters here on Wattpad: Stormlocke, Doppelgengar, and LogicalCabbage /  respectively. I tried to catch some some of their quirks and tease them a little bit with them :P Just think of it as a playful "thanks" for being such fun and kind people :)

P.S. Making you all villains was DoppelGengar's idea, but hang tight and let me work my magic and you'll see why I decided to do it ;)