Parasite

Deal Gone Wrong

By the time Etce, Timo, Jay, Sagaci and Dan were able to help, Vian was struggling to his feet with his parasite remaining in shards that covered the floor or his hand. Gab stood over him, his expression being the only thing necessary to know he was bored and annoyed. “To believe that was the least of what I can do… Would you like to go again or should I end your suffering?”
Before his question could be answered, though, Gab shot into the air. Timo’s spikes left two holes in the ground where he had been when they rose to his shoulders again. Dan helped Vian stand up and stayed nearby in case if he needed any help.
“What about Fyrus?” Vian questioned.
Etce waved it off, “We just hit him into the wall and he seems to be doing fine now.”
“Yeah,” Sagaci started sarcastically, “‘Fine’.” She pointed behind her at Fyrus, who was sitting on the ground looking beyond confused and dazed. There was no way he’d be able to help here.
“Are you just going to sit there all day or do you plan on fighting me?” They looked up to see Gab sitting on a cushion of ink hovering in the air. He jumped off it a moment before Sagaci impaled it with her parasite. He landed and jumped back up again, barely dodging Etce. Gab didn’t stop, though. When he jumped across clouds of ink, they poured down on the group, blocked only by Sagaci and Etce. Then, suddenly, Gab was in the centre of them. Ink burst in the core, causing everyone to fly backwards. Gab instantly ran towards Vian, even though Timo stood in front of him. Timo attacked him, but it made no difference. With a wave of Gab’s hand, ink hit him in the side and knocked him out of the way. Before he could reach Vian, his weird capsule scooped him up and trapped him, bringing attention to TarTar from wherever he came.
The phone was in the middle of the room. “You seem to be having trouble! I have a deal for you.”
“What do you want?” Dan asked as Jay stepped up beside him.
“How about this; I’ll put all the parasites back where they came from and help your dizzy friend find his focus. Only a small cost!”
Etce questioned, “And what is that?”
“I want the original parasite.”
“In what sense?” Vian asked.
“I don’t have to elaborate! Accept or don’t!”
Before anyone else could say anything, Jay decided, “We accept.”
“Jay-” Sagaci was cut off by TarTar.
“Fantastic! I trust you’ll be wanting this then.” Gab dropped out of his capsule again, but as he touched the floor the light in his eyes flickered out. Timo had to help Vian make his way over.
TarTar paused for a moment while some blocks rose behind him. A shine from Fyrus was the only sign before he blinked and sat up. Then, as suddenly as everything else all the parasites--minus Jay’s--unhooked and let go of their host. In a moment, Jay was backing up and the other parasites were surrounding him. “Thank you,” TarTar started, “For your wonderful services.” The parasites shot to Jay in that moment, causing him to fall back. He quickly rolled back to his feet, the transparent colors covering him head to toe. Dan, Fyrus and Vian’s parasites clung to his arms, giving him sleeve cuffs of spikes. Gab’s made a small crown on his head, as well as a spike down his chest. Timo’s came from his back, straight out to the sides and from his chin to knock his glasses up, where more of Dan’s wrapped around and smashed them, then held the pieces. Sagaci and Etce’s took up the space on his back in between Timo’s. The levitating spikes from Vian’s finished it off, growing in size before making the spikes from Timo’s into massive, dangerous wings. He turned around, his eyes glowing white, despite the messed up look in his pupils.

In the silence, he held up his hand for all the ink to surround the group. They formed a variety of weapons, from nozzlenoses to blasters, pointing at them but not firing yet. “Woomy…” Timo muttered. Jay’s wings rose before he jumped up, over them and landed behind TarTar. Fyrus got to his feet and made his way over to the group while TarTar began speaking again.
“Such a shame, all of this. You all didn’t have to be here, all you did was mess it up again! This was supposed to be perfect. If you had not gotten out, gotten pieces of it, it wouldn’t be this dysfunctional, imperfect mess.” Jay just rolled his eyes at TarTar and crossed his arms. “So now you’re going to pay the price of what you did, you understand? You will pay for what you, Callie, Marie, Pearl, Marina--What they all did to MY PROJECT!”
“‘Project’? That’s what you call countless players who couldn’t recover or return to their world after what you did to them?” Callie stepped out from the side, closely followed by the others.
TarTar countered, “They couldn’t return because you threw them out. You knew they’d be less likely to return to their world if they weren’t even allowed to try.”
“I was never proud of it but it was the only way.” Marie stated.
“What does that mean?” Gab questioned.
Marina sighed, “Those other players did come back. We had to put them in the ocean or the parasites would consume all of Inkopolis…”
TarTar decided, “This is what I mean! You will all pay for what you did to those players--the ones you gave no chance!” One of the levitating blocks swung towards the group, but stopped halfway. It whirled around to aim for the performers, though they stopped it on their own. The block then sat in two halves at their sides. “You won’t even take a sentence for it?”
“I’m sure they had good reasons,” Vian began. “Besides, there’s no way those people are actually gone!”
“Oh, but they ARE! Once you're here, you either exit the game or get game over. There is no other way.” TarTar finished with, “Still want to be on their side?”
Sagaci looked between them, “They were the ones making bad decisions, but it was to save us from him, wasn’t it?”
“I don’t know if you can call that thing a ‘he’, considering it’s an actual telephone, but sure.” Dan added.
“Time’s up.” TarTar decided as a new block flung itself at them. It, once again, stopped before reaching them. On one side, ink covered it and held it back, but on the other Jay had dug his claws into it to throw it right into the wall, where it took out a fraction of the wall. The drop seemed to be endless. He landed on the floor back next to TarTar, giving him a glare from the side. There was a moment of silence, then TarTar continued as though nothing had happened. “So do you plan on getting rid of all of them, too? Or will you actually let these ones go?”
“They were Infected. They need to go.” Marie decided, only Pearl and Marina’s arguments following. She quickly took her charger again, then shot at Fyrus, who was nearest to the hole in the wall. Callie didn’t waste a moment to follow her action and strike him once more, causing him to fall through the wall. The room practically erupted in alarm. No one noticed Jay had been missing until he appeared at the edge, gently touching down while putting Fyrus down to stand beside him.
After a few more moments of stillness, Jay shouted, “Are you serious? All of you are stupid enough to pick sides? At what point did any of this need to be listened to? This is ridiculous!”
“This is why you belong in the ocean!” Callie responded at equal volume. Pearl and Marina began whispering behind her.
“Do I? Do I really? Figure out how to put me in it, then you’re welcome to do as you please!” He stomped, cracking the floor multiple feet around him. He did it again and fell through as the hovering weapons turned to shield the group from the NPCs. 
TarTar waited a moment before stating, “I already told you. You destroyed it--sorry, him. Trust me, give it only a few minutes. Take him away from here and he will attack everything. I’m the only reason he’s thinking straight. Trust me.”
Dan sighed and threw up his arms, “Seriously? Why do you insist on making it harder and harder to go home?”
“When he comes up, surround him.” Marie ordered Callie, Marina and Pearl. Marina and Pearl glanced at each other, but nodded anyways.
Sagaci pointed to them, “We need to do the same. Jay can’t leave, alright?”
“Ree-bo?” Timo questioned.
They all looked to Etce, who rolled his eyes. “He said all we need to do is convince him to help us… or let us help him.”
“That should be easy,” Fyrus decided. “I need a clear path to him.”
Dan quietly high-fived himself before the group shifted to be on high alert.
“It’s really nice of you all to try and surround me leaving no escape,” Jay was just calmly hovering over them, “but I think I’ll pass.”