Young Writers Society

Fluff vs Fluff.

Paw vs Paw.

Squint vs Squint.

Ridiculously small limbs flailed. Fur was flying. Mocchi bobbed dangerously low, a paw almost brushing the ground. They struggled, tipping end over end, swinging madly around the room. Squeaks clashed in a horrific cacophony, raising to a fever pitch until-

"Get off me, kupo!"

Mocchi swung wildly, flinging herself at the wall. Both mole and moogle landed with a barely perceptable pomf.

As the barely disturbed dust settled, Speckles stirred. He pushed himself up on one paw, opened his eyes, and then closed them again. "Squeak."

A shadow fell across him. He quivered, pushing himself up onto his trembling hind feet. Mocchi floated across from him, panting, hammer drawn.

Silence fell as they considered each other. Mocchi's paws were shaking. She watched the mole's nose quiver, slowly raising her weapon above her head.

[BONK]

Quick as a flash, the mole disappeared into a gap in the floorboards.

"Oh, kupo it."



Director: Does it worry you that you were bested by a mole? How will you hope to keep up?

Mocchi: *deadpan* Does it worry you that you are directing reality tv, Kupo? How will you hope to get awards?



Mocchi span around, flinging her hammer back into the room. It flew straight past Spinacia's head as they struggled over the case and hit cage between his eyes.

"Ow. That was just uncalled for!" Cage blinked back tears as a red lump appeared on his forehead, just begging for a white plaster X. His momentary flinch allowed Cia to thrust him backwards, and flick a button on her reciever. "Team B, we have Cage Prime. Requesting-" she ducked under a particularly vicious kick, "that you get your asses over here right now. "

Only a few moments passed, and Dyre was already emerging through the door. "Cia, Mocchi. The others are on the way." Her cool green eyes scanned the room. "What's the situation?"

"We need-" duck "-to fix-" punch"the declaration of independence!"

"We're going to need a hell of a lot more government officials, then."

"And a time machine, kupo!" Mocchi rummaged in her bag.

"Not what I mean!" Cia span, kicking cage square in the chest. "It's filled with.... male genitalia."

Dyre advanced on the case as the brawl moved away. "Well, you can dislike the american founders all you like, but there's no reason to call names-oh." She peered through the glass. "Well, that's not great."

Cia pinned mega-cage, one hand on her reciever muttering to herself. "Okay. Yes. Yes. Yup. Gotcha. Mmhm. That's fine. Okay." She twisted cage's arm up above his head and punched him in the stomach. "Bye."

"What did Evoltrick say?" Dyre was fiddling with the catches on the case. "Mocchi, give me a hand?"

"What? No, that was the pizza delivery gu-" her eyes glazed over for a second. "I mean, of course, the Subway: Eat Fresh™ Sandwich Artist. They're out of pepperoni." Cia slammed cage into a display case. "But headquarters said earlier to remove the.... indescretions."

Dyre only just barely ducked as a hand- a whole arm, actually- flew over her head. "A hand, Kupo!"

"Is all you do throw things?"

"I'm pretty great at dancing, too."

Dyre shook her head, grabbing the arm off the floor. "Isn't this...."

"How we don't leave evidence. Let me show you, kupo." Mocchi bobbed closer, and stuck her paw into the lock. A few jiggles and the top popped open, and Dyre lifted it up and away. Mocchi took the arm back and positioned herself over the case, flapping madly. "Okayyyy, I can't see very well." She peered past her puffy tummy. "You're going to have to guide me."

"Oh god. I hate these things. Uh. Down. Left. More left. Stop. Down. Down. There, can you grab it?"

Mocchi yanked on a lever, and slowly started lifting.

"Wow, it's working! Up- up- oh, bugger. I'm pretty sure these things are rigged."

The declaration slipped from Mocchi's metal fingers and landed back in the case.

Dyre's fingers drummed impatiently against her thigh as she guided mocchi for a second and a third time. On the forth try, Mocchi remembered to flick another lever to increase grip strength.

Behind them, Cage roared. "THE DECLARATION IS MINE." Cia kicked him in the jaw, but it was too late.Thousands of voices replied in kind as every Cage in the city suddenly swung and rushed the building.

Mocchi and Dyre looked up to see the hurriCage approaching the door.
"Oh Kupo."

Raven Lebeau

“We’re all idiots.” She slammed one of the sets of mid-hallway doors that seemed to be a staple set of schools everywhere shut behind them. Evatt raised an eyebrow at her comment, and she explained, “There’s no way we’re going to outrun Ellis, and our punishment shall be made all the worse for daring to try.”

Tanya stared at her. “Wait a moment. I thought you said at the last X-Men Christmas party your uncle was in the circus and was teaching you acrobatics. Why are you running with us? Especially if you think we’re idiots for running.”

Raven glared at the others in the group. “Yes, he was. My uncle is the spawn of a demon and a shapeshifter and looks like a devil, and can teleport himself out of the way if he falls. I’d rather deal with the lovechild of him hyped up on evil mind control, the Scarlet Witch, Hulk, Loki, and Galactus combined than Professor Ellis any day.”


Director: The-
Raven: My parents are adopted! I thought you people read our files. So no, I don’t have a demon grandpa! Or maybe I do, but if I do I don’t damn well know about it!
Director: ...That wasn’t what I was going to ask.
Raven: Oh. Okay. Then what?
Director: The lovechild of- How does that even work?
Raven: ...Ah plead the fifth.


“That... actually makes a scary amount of sense for something said here at this school,” Terri commented. “But did you really have to throw my aunt into it?”

“Wait to apologize until later!” Evatt yelled. “She’s coming!” Not a single one of them needed to identify what she he spoke of. They ran for it.

Soon, Alexei spoke. “We’re going about this the wrong way. This way, we’ll just tire ourselves out and make ourselves easy targets for Ellis.”

Raven smiled as the thought came to her. Those who saw it would describe it as an evil little smile, not the sort of Joker smile that said, ‘I’m completely insane and I’m going to cut you up into little grated cheese cubes’ but moreso the ‘I know something you don’t’ type smirk. “Perhaps so,” she murmured. She assessed her teammates. Alexei hadn’t shown any powers, Tanya’s would just slow her down, Zaolin’s and Evatt’s wouldn’t prove any use, but Teri had been racing ahead of the group before she doubled back to talk to them. “Perhaps so.”

Evatt frowned. “Why do I get the feeling you’re about to go muahahaha or some other variant of evil laughter?”

Taking off a glove would be too obvious. She’d have to do this the more complicated way. “Why, it’s simple. It’s the classic problem of outrunning the bear. I don’t have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun-” She spun and planted a quick kiss on Teri’s forehead, catching a flash of surprise as the girl collapsed, lowered her to the ground so she wouldn’t end up with a concussion or anything, and took off down the hallway. “YOU!”


Director: And you wonder why you were put in the evil dorm last year?
Raven: *smiles sweetly* It’s not evil, it’s just survival.


Raven outdistanced the others pretty quickly, though she had to step carefully, unused to her feet moving that fast. The speed was a trip hazard, literally, as Professor Ellis stepped around a corner and stuck out her leg.



Raven bulldozed into the ground. Painfully. With lots of pain. Did she mention the pain? And the pretty birdies and stars. “Ow.” She touched her nose. Broken. Then she noticed Professor Ellis grinning down at her. “Dammit.”


Director: *Falsely innocent* What was that about bears?
Raven: Shut. Up.


The others had apparently at least split up, she realized, as she sat petulantly on the floor of the gym as Ellis brought them in one by one. Evatt chortled when he saw her broken nose. “First one caught, huh? What was that about outrunning us?” She ignored him. It was all there was to do.

When Ellis brought Zaolin in, he stalked over to the door. “Why aren’t you guys trying to get out?” Zapping the lock with a quick burst of lightning, he stepped through the door.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Raven called.

“Too late,” Evatt said in the tone of a very superior and satisfied man, as they heard a distant thump.

Teri was the last one brought in, oddly enough. Raven felt the time elapse and the girl’s power leave her (she’d never been able to hold powers as long as Ma) a couple minutes before Ellis and Teri walked through the door. When Teri saw Raven, she scowled. “You kissed me!”

“Sorry.” Raven paused in thought for a moment. “Wait, that’s what you’re angry about? I’d think you’d care more about the ‘took your powers and made you unconscious part.’ No hard feelings?” she offered.

“Professor Ellis,” Evatt said, fake innocence stickily dripping from his every word, “Raven’s told us her uncle taught her trapeze. Perhaps she should demonstrate her skills first.”

Raven glared at him. “Or Evatt will hold hard feelings for you,” she muttered. Louder, she said, “And perhaps you should give Evatt a break, Professor, since he’s missing an arm and all.”

Evatt stared at her, horrified. “What are you doing? You know she doesn’t give breaks!” he whispered under his breath. She only smiled in response.

Professor Ellis said, “I know what you’re both doing. But still...” She grinned, baring her teeth. “You two, partners, on the trapeze, now.”

Raven smiled at Evatt. “You’re on.”

Evatt Elric | A Veritable Freakshow

"This is ridiculous, Ellis!" Evatt shouted angrily from atop the trapeze tower. "I only have one arm!"

Addy shouted back immediately - as if it took no thought at all: "Van Goh only had one ear, darling!"

"You don't paint with your ears!"

"You don't trapeze with a smart mouth, either!"

Evatt smouldered. With a sigh, he watched Raven on the second tower and sighed, closing his eyes. He thought about the mechanics of performing a trapeze. He thought about the metal bars they'd be swinging from, the look on Addy's face when they'd fall into the pool below.

And then he thought about what else he could do with the metal bars. He put it in his hand. Even without the ability to transmute, he could sense the atomic composition. It was certainly dense enough to endure combat. He could consider it a quarterstaff.

Evatt stared ahead at Raven and raised his eyebrows, jimming his head down towards Addy. He crossed his throat in the universal sign for Take This Chick Out. Raven nodded and grabbed her bar. Together, they launched towards the middle and dismounted, ripping their metal bars from the wires. Evatt grabbed onto Raven in a one-armed hug and crashed into the water with her.

Once his feet hit the floor of the pool, tramutic light flashed from below, launching them out of the pool and onto the main floor with Addy and the rest of his team. They landed and took their combat stances, glancing from Addy to their teammates. One by one they began to nod to one another - and then Addy caught on.

"Oh, you HAVE to be kidding me!"

"Team building at its finest, Ellis!"

"Fine! Fine! You think I haven't taken on five guys at once before?" She blushed and immediately shook her head. "That's not what I meant!" Addy reached for her belt, pulled it out of her beltloops and held it in both hands, ripping it into two small batons.

Evatt launched at her, swinging below a quick swat of her left baton and striking her legs. Addy leaped to dodge the second sweep and brought down a drop-kick on Evatt's shoulder, sending him tumbling to the side.

Alexei backed up several steps and began to analyze the fight as Raven's trapeze staff started glowing red with kinetic energy. She swept it into Addy's right baton, causing a small explosion. Addy noted the advance and adjusted her stance to avoid direct contact, performing dodge after dodge. Eyes back on Evatt, he began to wonder if Evatt could potentially transmute with one arm - and suddenly felt a well of energy in his hands. Ducking below Addy's swings, he grabbed Evatt and pulled him to the side, placing his hands on his chest. A light pulsed through his energy wells and gathered in his eyes before vanishing.

"What are you doing?!" Evatt shouted as they ducked below a combo assault.

"Making you a better fighter!" Alexei yelled back. "Transmute!"

Evatt's eyes grew wide as transmutic light flooded his trapeze staff, extending it into a thin spear. "Perfect!"

Alexei ducked back out of the fight and began analyzing again.

Tanya threw her arms wide and took on a metal form, absorbing the atomic structure of the floor beneath her feet. Throwing herself into the fray, she took several blows from Addy in quick succession. Determined, Addy gripped Tanya's shoulders and threw herself up and over the steel tank, landing in close quarters with Zhao, who attempted to stop her assault with a whip of flames, Addy broke through without effort and took him down in four quick swings to his spine, solar plexus, philtrum, and golgi point.

Addy retreated into the heat of the group and focused on Terri, sweeping for her legs in a faulty attempt at disabling her - as she vanished in a quick sprint over Addy's shoulders and to the other end of the room. She winked at Addy and taunted her back her way. Addy began a sprint into a cartwheel before jumping - like an acrobat - over Terri. The acrobat put Terri into a headlock to put her to sleep, but Terri took off in a breathless sprint towards the pool, stopping on a dime and ducking to throw Addy off her shoulders and into the water. Evatt slammed his hand into the pool of water and manipulated it to bring Addy, enclosed in a bubble of water, into the field of battle. Addy couldn't be taken down so easily, though, and threw a baton, which became a boomerang, out of the bubble and into Evatt's forehead, breaking his control over the water. Addy dropped to the floor and fetched her flying baton as it returned to her.

Addy turned back to Tanya and focused on a possible weak spot near her solar plexus, but angrily adjusted her stance to focus on the thinner shoulders. Her attack stopped as Tanya readied a powerful blow aimed for her face, and she ducked as Tanya swung herself around fully in momentum.

Addy turned and threw her batons together to parry an overhead attack from Evatt. He threw himself back and thrusted forward with his spear, forcing Addy into a dance of dodges. With each stab, she brought down her batons on one weak point on the spear to break it, and nearly succeeded - until Raven returned to the fight with a slap of her staff to Addy's sacral nerve, sending her to the ground in a moment of debilitation.

Tanya slammed her body down over Addy's legs, pinning her. Evatt jumped and landed on Tanya's shoulders, holding his spear at Addy's heart.

"Match."

Addy groaned and rolled her eyes. "I concede."

After they put away their weapons, powered down Tanya, and roused Zhao from his sleep, Addy insisted she treat the team to coffee to celebrate their meshing as a unit.

It was pleasant enough - though Zhao refused to come with them, embarrassed at his untimely defeat that came so easily. There was talk immediately after that he was going to leave the Academy to focus on powering up in his home universe. The thought, while unpleasant to hear as a student, made Evatt miss home. Then he completely forgot about home when he tasted his first gingerbread frappuccino with caramel and mocha.

At the coffee shop, while they were gossipping and reviewing their fight with Addy, she got a phone call from Stark about Tanya. Addy took her off to one side of the coffee shop to talk privately, and then Tanya left.

Addy returned to the table and took a sip of her drink, shaking her head. "Your team, according to the Headmistress, just took a huge loss."

Errors have been made

“Oh C'mon! Metal fist again?!”

Evoltrick threw yet another Paichnorb hoping for the best. The orange orb turned into a giant boulder that slowly slid across the street. The Cage Clones all around the teenager simply walked aside, staring at him.

“What? Don't any of you practice bowling?” Some of the clones looked at each other, raising their eyebrows. The boy threw another orb: it turned into a tornado that engulfed him instead of his enemies. To Evoltrick's surprise, he was brought up and back on the ground a few seconds later, right in the middle of the army of clones he had been fighting.

“...Oh, Wind Waker's warp tornado. Riiiiiiiiight...”

The boy had only the time to sigh before some of the clones proceeded to stomp him.
Well this really wasn't working, was it.
For the first time in a long time, Evoltrick began to realize that his Project Random really wasn't working yet. The Paichnorb was random, sure, he wasn't wasting energy using it, sure, but goshdarn it it was way too random.

“Well it worked well at first,” he thought, struggling to get back on his feet. He suddenly remembered Khana's warning a few hours ago.

“You wanna use a weapon that even yourself can't control? That's against everything you've ever done so far!”

Yeeeeeees, now he truly realized what she had meant by that. Looks like he needed to rewrite his plans a little bit more carefully. But for now…

“HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLP!”



Director: [Staring at Evoltrick, shaking his head]

Evoltrick: [raising eyebrow] What? I was screwing up badly!

Director: Who in the world would believe that you'd be a good captain for any kind of team?

Evoltrick: Hey! I was a good leader in that one League of Legends tournament I did. 'Sides, would you prefer to have me around as a sidekick? Or a regular henchman?

Director: ...Would you prefer a lie, or the truth?

Evoltrick [smiling] I see what you did there!



Several woosh sounds were heard as Zubaluc's red arrows found their targets. Several Cage Clones fell on the ground, which another figure used as an advantage to fight his way through the hord and grab Evoltrick before retreating.

“Thanks, Dy! That was… much too close for comfort.”

“What, my hand?” Evoltrick looked up, slightly disturbed, until he spotted the boy's sarcastic grin.

“...Darn, man, you got me. I'll have to remember that one.”

“Neat. The army of clones behind us is less neat, though.”

“BEEEEEEEEEES!!!”

At the sound of that word, all Cages began to scream maniacally before rushing towards their fleeing foes.

“Yeah, agreed. But hey, you received Cia's message, right? They got the actual Cage, so let's try and regroup while dealing with those guys. I can –”

“Evo, if you say “I can handle it”, I'm seriously going to just laugh at you and repeat that every time I see you.” Flashes of various pairs of foot stomping on the teenager's face appearing before him, Evoltrick took the wise decision to rephrase his sentence in a more… believable way.

“I was actually about to say “I can distract them,” but yeah I got your point. I can, though. No, wait, don't laugh! Up until now I've been usin' my new weapon to hold them off without having to eat a cheeseburger every ten minutes. But – and I hate to admit it –, it obviously failed, so now, I'll have to revert to my old style.”

“Oh. You mean...”

Gimmick Switch! Setup: Ki Manipulator!

Evoltrick unleashed a fierce battle cry as a white, pulsing aura surrounded him. Focusing the sudden burst of energy, the boy raised two fingers in the air and the area in front of him suddenly exploded, along with a group of clones.

“THANK YOUUUU, NAPPAAAAA!” the boy shouted, before raising his second hand for another attack. A spiraling, crimson energy ball appeared at the edge of Evoltrick's open palm, at the center of which shone a pinkish sphere.

“S.S. Deadly Bomber,” was Evoltrick's sole explanation. “Dunno what the Ss stand for. Would be an awesome warship name, though. Hey, um, Dy? You'd totally refuse if I asked you to carry me on your back, right?”

The stare given in return was indicative enough.

“Thought so. Can't blame ya. Welp, I've got some vitamins in my bag anyway, so I should be fine with those. Zubaluc, you'll carry me for moment. Let's go!”
With that said, Evoltrick fired the S.S. Deadly Bomber. The huge energy ball impacted directly with the ground right in front of the remaining Cage Clones. Evoltrick felt the start of a light headache, and he began panting.

“Yeah, I'm not actually sure if they're dead or not, but let's not check that out. C'mon guys! Let us capture Nicholas Cage, get his autograph! Oh and save the Declaration of Independence, I guess. Onward!”
Evoltrick could only run for about three seconds before falling head first on the ground with a loud “OUCH”, partially ruining his elegant clothing in the process.

“Oh, right. Defective balance. Um, Zubaluc? I think you'll have to carry me sooner than expected, hahah… Sorry.”



Director: [utterly speechless]

Evoltrick: [staring, blissfully unaware of the very concept of shame]… aaaand that's how we left of to save our comrades and, incidentally, one of the single most important documents of American History. Pretty cool, when you think about it. Am I right?

Director: [slowly leaving the office without a word]

Despite all my rage, I am still just a Nicolas Cage

"Hey," Spinacia hissed from under the weight of at least seven Nicolas Cages. "Any reason you're still screwing about with that arm instead of just smashing the glass?"
"Because I'm gonna beat this stupid game!" Mocchi shouted. "Tell Evoltrick I need to borrow more quarters!"
"More- it's not- you don't- ugh!" Cia threw the throng of Cages off her back. "I'm about to have an aneurysm out of sheer stupidity."
"Really? I didn't know you were that stupid."

Spinacia wisely chose to act out her aggression on their aggressors. "Whatever. I can only hold off these guys for so long, so hurry it up! I think they're still multiplying." She ducked under a punch and began dodging and blocking attacks while moving towards the door, in an attempt to "kite" the enemies outside.

Before she could reach the door, however, it burst open of its own accord. Evoltrick and Dy attempted to slam it shut behind them, but were thwarted by the throng of Nicolas Cages that followed them in.
"There are more in here?!" Evoltrick shouted incredulously. "Okay, you've got me! How is he summoning multiple versions of himself? I'm still at a loss for how someone can even summon one!"
"It's not that hard," said Dy. "Ask my sister."
"That's not the same thing and you know it," Dyre said with a frown.

Before Spinacia could snap at the team to stay focused, Mocchi let out a cry of victory as she thrust Evatt's silver arm into the air, an old- and important-looking document with a suspiciously phallic scribble on the bottom clutched between its forefinger and thumb.
"I got it! I got it!" she squeaked excitedly. "Kupo!"

There was a pause as every last Cage slowly turned his head towards the paper. Then they all lunged for it, a wave of eccentricity crashing towards a single speck of sand. Several of them disappeared as they overlapped with others, but Prime!Cage didn't care - whatever it took to get his hands on his prize. Mocchi squealed and hastily stowed the items in her bag as she launched herself out of the way. Dyre and Dy touched hands, and the latter quickly faded out.

"Okay!" Evoltrick called out. "We're one step closer to succeeding in this mission… despite all evidence to the contrary," he added as he leaped aside himself to avoid the rush of clone-Cages. There was no sign of the original Cage, though. Cia fired a small energy blast at the door, seized Dyre's hand and Mocchi's tote bag and flew outside and up into the sky, knowing that Evoltrick had his own ways of following them; sure enough, he appeared outside in a gust of wind, hovering along with Cia using one of his flight Gimmicks.

"Didn't actually expect that warp tornado to come in handy today," he said to himself. "Pleasant surprise… oh! Yeah! We did it! Cool."
"Almost," Dyre said. "Cage isn't going to just let us leave with the Declaration. The only reason we're alone up here is I think he's exhausted his filmography of characters that can fly."
"So, let's fly back!"
"And risk revealing the location of the Academy to him?" Evoltrick said sternly. "Sorry, Mocchi, but that's a no-no. There's only room for one maniac at our Academy, and I got in first."

"I should be able to hold him off while you three deliver the Declaration," Spinacia said quietly.
"Dood! You can't be serious!" Evoltrick exclaimed. "Even I understand the ethical implications of sacrificing a team member for a scrawny piece of paper!"
"It's not just a piece of paper," Dyre explained. "This is America. The people here have a heavy sense of patriotism, and if word gets out that the Declaration of Independence has been stolen there'll be an uproar. Riots could break out. It'd be pretty funny to watch," she added, "but in the grand scheme of things, not particularly helpful."
"And it wouldn't be a sacrifice, Evo," Cia added. "I'm faster than Cage. And he can't fly, like Dyre said. Getting away from him when you guys are safe won't be an issue."
"Even when you're exhausted from fighting him? And who's to say he can't re-summon a flying character after a cooldown period?" Spinacia didn't reply.
"She is, physically, the strongest of our team," Dyre said thoughtfully. "Best candidate for taking on Cage in a fistfight."
"She'll beat him, too! Right, kupo?"
"It's… not entirely out of the question," Cia answered, her poker face masking her uncertainty.

There was a pause.
"Well, I can see I'm going to be overruled on this," Evoltrick said. "Which is weird, because I'm supposed to lead this team. Curse my democratic ways! You're sure about this, Cia?" Cia nodded.
"I'll buy you a bit of time," Dyre said, holding out her free hand towards the ground where the snake-like wave of Cage clones still slithered back and forth below them. Several figures resembling Dyre and her twin appeared, standing perfectly still in various places on the road; immediately, the wave jumped towards one and shot straight through it, then turned around to face it, as if confused. The figures were, of course, just Dyre's illusions.

Spinacia scrunched up her face in concentration; there he is. "He's behind that billboard on the rooftop nearby, and coming closer. Get going." And with that she flew rapidly down to meet Cage, tackling him onto the ground below as Evoltrick flew off with Dyre and Mocchi in tow.
"You can win, Cia!" Mocchi called out.

The fight was on again. Fists flew as Cia and Cage, stood in the centre of an intersection, struggled to gain the upper hand. The stalemate was broken suddenly when Cage dodged Spinacia's right hook, held out his hand at the Cage-mass and pointed at Spinacia. And that would be the end of Dyre's distraction. As the Cage-mass raced towards her, she jumped out of the way and grabbed an appendage at random, holding on for dear life as the mass slithered onwards.

Prime!Cage, with a scowl, held out his hand again and jerked it about. The mass, following his hand's movement, flailed wildly: it took every ounce of strength Spinacia had to keep her grip. Prime!Cage's arm swung more and more wildly until, with one mighty thrust, he sent the mass straight into the side of a building, sandwiching Cia between the two. As she slid out the bottom and dropped to the ground, a temporary wave of numbness washed over her, followed shortly by a shooting pain in her left leg. Aw, crapbaskets! That $!@?& broke my leg! Flying was now out of the question, as she knew from past experience - the weight of the broken limb would drag downwards and pull the fracture apart, which would not only hurt like HFIL but could make the injury a lot worse. She sat up, wincing, to see Cage striding slowly towards her. The mass lay seemingly forgotten at the side of the road.

Despite how serene Cage looked, especially in contrast to how Spinacia thought she probably looked at the moment, she could sense how much his power level had dipped since he had first appeared to them. If she timed it right she might just be able to… she cupped her hands behind her back and whispered as she focused her remaining energy.
"Ka… me… ha… me…"
Cage was only a few metres away when she thrust her hands towards him and finished, "HAAAA!!!"
A beam of the brightest light erupted from her hands; Cage's eyes widened, but he swung his arm, shifting the Cage-mass in front of him. Cia clenched her teeth and pushed more energy into the attack, but the barrier seemed to hold. If this went on for much longer, Spinacia would have nothing left and she'd be a sitting duck for Cage.

"You can do it, Cia!"
Oh no.
"Mocchi, you're supposed to be back at the Academy! Get out of here! It's not safe!"
"Not without you, kupo!" Mocchi was holding her pom-poms again, but was missing her bag. Well, at least she had the sense not to bring that back. The moogle began bouncing up and down, waving the pom-poms left and right and chanting.
"You can win! You feel great! You. Can. Do. This!"
Spinacia sighed internally and kept up the Kameha wave, not sure how much longer she could keep it going. She could only see one outcome to this fight, but she certainly wasn't going to let it end without giving it her all.
And yet… that ridiculous chant of Mocchi's. That silly dance she could see out of the corner of her eye. Somehow she felt better seeing it, even found herself subconsciously chanting along with Mocchi in her head. In fact… I feel stronger by the second! This is almost enough to… oh, you're in for it now, little Nicky…
With her newfound power, Spinacia redoubled the energy of the Kameha wave; the pulse of energy travelled up the beam and struck the Cage-clone barrier. The effect was instantaneous: Cages flew in all direction as the barrier shattered. With a panicked scream, the original Cage was engulfed by the blast. Spinacia held the wave for as long as she possibly could as one by one the Cage clones disappeared, before she truly hit her limit and fell backwards with a thud. She heard Mocchi's wings flapping as the moogle approached the defeated Nicolas Cage.

"All right, punk! No sudden movements! You have the right to remain silly, kupo! Anything you say or do can and will be used as footage for one of your zany movies! Now put your hands in the air, then to the side, and down, and shout 'hey Macarena', kupo!"
The chuckle that was Cage's response was highly disconcerting. "That was a good fight, but you haven't won."
"I beg to differ!" Mocchi exclaimed in a painfully falsified Great British accent.
"You argument is invalid…"
There was a louder flapping sound and Cia, looking skyward as she lay on her back, saw Cage rise into the air with a pair of brown wings poking out the top of his head.
"… My hair is a bird!"
He disappeared into the evening sky. Mocchi was outraged.
"HE COULD FLY THIS WHOLE TIME?!"



Director: Oh, right! 'Cause Mocchi can buff you by dancing, can't she?

Spinacia: Yeah, I wasn't sure about Mocchi before, but I have to say she really came through for me that day. Pretty sure I'd be a broken, bloody mess if it weren't for her… or worse, an uncredited extra in one of Nic's movies.

Mocchi (coming in from offscreen): We're best buds now! I'm like, your Puar!

Spinacia: Yeah, I guess you could say - wait, did you just reference my canon? How did you do that?