Diego and Stallion raced through the endless darkness of the desert, the wind howling in their ears. But it wasn't just the wind—the ground rumbled beneath them, splitting and cracking, tearing apart everything in their path. And as if that wasn't terrifying enough, something was following them, something unnatural.
Diego: (screaming, panic rising) "WHAT IS THAT?!"
Stallion: (voice cracking, trying to be calm but failing miserably) "Bro, if you think I know, you're giving me WAY too much credit!! I'm a horse, not a quantum physicist!"
Diego: (screaming back) "THIS ISN'T THE TIME FOR JOKES, STALLION!"
They darted around a massive fissure that tore through the earth, Diego's pulse racing in his ears, drowning out everything but the sheer terror crawling up his spine. This isn't real. This can't be real.
But then, it got worse.
Diego saw something shift from the corner of his eye—unnatural, jagged movements in the periphery of his vision. He skidded Stallion to a halt, looking back in horror.
The Waitress was no longer human.
Her body, once glitching and broken, had morphed into something grotesque and horrifying. Her legs had split and grown, stretching into eight long, spindly limbs, each joint cracking as if being reset in all the wrong ways. Her torso twisted unnaturally, her eyes glowing red, and her mouth... her mouth was stretched too wide, filled with too many teeth.
Waitress: (in a chilling, distorted voice) "Would you like a refill on your SOUL?"
She scuttled toward them like a monstrous spider, her legs moving too fast, too wrong. Diego's eyes widened in pure terror.
Diego: (frozen, horrified) "WHAT? THE. HELL."
Before he could react, the Waitress lunged forward, her long legs swinging like pendulums, grabbing him by the torso. Her grotesque fingers, now claws, dug into his sides, and with a sudden, horrifying jerk, she swung Diego like a ragdoll, smashing him into the side of a nearby boulder.
Diego: (spitting blood, gasping) "AHHHHHH!!"
His body slammed into the rock with a sickening crunch, pain exploding through his ribs. He could taste blood in his mouth and feel his bones screaming in agony. But through the haze of pain, he heard Stallion scream.
Stallion: (galloping toward them, panicked but still cracking jokes) "DIEGO! BRO! This ain't Spider-Man, get your ass up!!"
Stallion charged straight at the monstrous Waitress without thinking, his hooves pounding the ground. He reared back, slamming his powerful front legs into her deformed, spider-like body. The impact knocked her back, but she only giggled—a sound that sent shivers down Diego's spine.
Waitress: (mocking, glitching) "Do you think you can run from TIME, little wolves?"
Her voice echoed like a broken radio in the night, skipping and distorting. She snapped at Stallion with those too-large teeth, almost catching him, but he danced away just in time. Diego struggled to stand, his body aching, his mind spinning.
Diego: (clutching his side, panicked) "Where's the damn Sphere?! Where is it!?"
He reached for the Gyro Sphere, but it wasn't there. His heart sank. The thing that was supposed to control time—his one edge—wasn't working. Nothing was working.
Diego: (eyes wide, disbelief) "Oh, SHIT. It's not on. IT'S NOT ON!"
The waitress let out another creepy laugh as she advanced on Stallion, her long, sharp legs clattering against the rocks. Stallion dodged, barely avoiding a swipe of her claws, but he wasn't fast enough. She lashed out again, catching him across the flank, and he cried out in pain.
