Inner-Selves, No. 8, Part B
“I’m Cody, I was the class clown at the academy, I’m sure you’ve heard of me before” the cougar said to Kat. “Um, no, I haven’t” Kat replied. “Huh?! Really?!” the cougar said shocked. He quickly regained his composure. “Oh well, I’m sure you know why I’m here though” Cody grinned. “Don’t tell me, you’ve been sent by the ECC to find out why I haven’t returned home” Kat said. “Ding, ding, ding, someone give the lady a prize!” the cougar chuckled as he displayed the O on his rattle. “Ugh, he’s so annoying!” Kat thought to herself. “This is bad, if he finds out that Kat lost her powers, who knows what he’ll do…I can’t save her on my own, not in this weak plush body of mine, I gotta go get Fidget” Superfoot thought. He ran off to find Fidget, hoping Kat would be alright until they got there.
Fidget was on his way to the gravesite when Superfoot caught up to him. “Fidget, Fidget, this is terrible, we gotta help!” he yelled running up to him. He clung to Fidget’s leg and continued pleading. “Stop clinging to me, what’s going on?” Fidget said holding Superfoot up to eye level. “It’s Kat, there’s this youth sprite with her trying to find out why she hasn’t gone back home yet, if he finds out the truth, she’ll be in big trouble!” he said to Fidget. Fidget remembered not being able to help his sister back then, he decided he wasn’t gonna let the same thing happen twice, if Kat was in danger, he was gonna save her. “Alright Superfoot, cough it up” Fidget demanded. “What do you mean?” he replied. “The nipple of the pacifier, cough it up!” “I’m just a stuffed animal, I can’t cough!” “Fine, I’ll get it myself” Fidget said. Superfoot’s next words were muffled as Fidget stuffed two fingers in his mouth, trying to find the end of the pacifier. “Got it!’ Fidget exclaimed. He pulled it out and the stuffed panda lay motionless, Fidget put the end of the pacifier in his mouth, it took him a few seconds to force himself to swallow it. When he did, his spirit left his body and he became a youth sprite. Superfoot now inhabited Fidget’s body. “Superfoot, stay out of this, I don’t want my body to get damaged, got it?” Fidget said in his baby voice. “Hold on, I wanna help too!” Superfoot snapped. “If you do anything of the sort, I’ll punish you again!” Fidget replied. Twitch came up to Superfoot, thinking he was Fidget. “Hey big brother, come on, we gotta go pay our respects” he said taking Fidget’s hand. Superfoot was led by him in the direction of the gravesite, even though he wanted to help protect Kat. “Don’t worry, I’ll handle it, just pretend to be me” Fidget reassured him. Fidget picked up his rattle and ran back in the direction he came from. “I’m coming Kat!’ he thought.
“I need your answer now Kat, why haven’t you returned home, you know you’re supposed to give a full report in person” Cody said. “I can’t tell you why, all details pertaining to a mission are strictly classified” Kat said defiantly. “Well, if you’re gonna be uncooperative, then I guess I’ll have to take you in and let the higher-ups find out why” Cody said taking a battle stance. Kat grew more concerned, she knew that without her powers or her rattle she wouldn’t be able to defend herself against him. Cody ran toward her and raised his rattle, just as Fidget burst into the clearing. “Don’t you dare!” Fidget screamed as he swung his rattle at Cody. Cody didn’t expect the surprise attack, but raised his rattle and blocked Fidget’s strike. “I don’t think I’ve seen you before, what unit are you from?” Cody asked him, still blocking his attacker. “Fidget why did you come here? You’re putting yourself in danger by revealing yourself to him” Kat thought. Fidget slashed and swung at Cody a few more times, Cody blocked each one effortlessly. “That’s a pretty big rattle you’ve got, your energy level must be enormous, and yet I’m feeling hardly any power behind your attacks” Cody said while continuing his defense. “Shut up! I’m not interested in your battle critique, what does the ECC want with Kat?” Fidget demanded. “He doesn’t know the rule? How did this guy become a youth sprite anyway? He can’t even put his spirit energy to good use” Cody thought to himself. “Fidget stop this, you don’t know anything about being a youth sprite, you can’t win against him without knowing the basics of spirit energy!” Kat shouted at him. They both stopped fighting; Cody was shocked and confused now. He looked at Fidget and then at Kat, then it all became clear to him.
“Oh Kat, you’ve done a terrible thing, you know that what you did is strictly forbidden in the ECC” Cody sighed. “Forbidden? What is?” Fidget asked, looking to Kat. Kat lowered her head and sighed. “It’s clear to me why you didn’t return home Kat, without your powers you can’t come back. You transferred them to this guy and created a substitute youth sprite, that’s a crime in the Eternity Care Center” Cody explained. Suddenly, Kat’s phone went off in her bag, another spirit eater was in the area. Kat picked it up and looked at, but then she felt strong, evil spirit energy. “This energy, it’s so strong, much stronger than anything else I’ve felt in this town” Kat thought. Fidget felt it too, it was the first time he’d felt spirit energy, perhaps it was because he was resonating with the other youth sprite that was with them. Fidget remembered that his family was here, and then worried about them. “Kat, where is it?! Is it nearby?” Fidget said. “It’s over by the gravesite, but Fidget, you can’t win against this one” Kat told him. Cody had sensed its presence too. “Oh yeah kid, this one is WAY out of your league” he said. “I don’t care how strong it is; I won’t let it hurt my family!” Fidget shouted as he ran away from them both. “Fidget wait up!” Kat said running after him. “Hey come back here!” Cody shouted at Kat.
Fidget and Kat were running at full pace, closing in on the gravesite. “Kat, what was it that guy said about a crime?” Fidget asked. “Never mind that, what’re you thinking?! This one is way stronger than anything you’ve fought before” she replied. “I’ll say it again, I don’t care!” Fidget shouted, running ahead of Kat.