Again with the threats! In the back of your mind you wondered, where have you chosen the wrong path? Had you spoken with not enough NPCs? Had you spoken with too many NPCs? Since when was all this so dark and looming body horrory?
Racer must have felt your internal struggle. "Everything okay?", asked the bird-girl, which was just cured from horrible spasms of pain. "You can run, if you want. I will hold her off."
Of course the Forest Queen laughed at that. "You can surely try, both of you. But this is Ercu Forest. Bugs are everywhere!"
You just wanted to go back to the jokes about game mechanics ......
Your Heatguana Annie chose this moment to come back from her minion-bullying solo-adventure. She dragged a battered ladybug-boy at the color of his red cape with her. "Not necessary, birdie! No heroīs last stand today. We stalled enough, now letīs sweep!" With this, she kicked the butt of the ladybug, and crying he fled the scene.
She put her hand into the leotardīs pocket, pulling out the medal you got from Brick, besides the Crest. "Now!"
Racer reacted on that, throwing a Zephyr at the Forest Queen, who threw a Psi Blast in retaliation. She did it effortlessly while looking away from the bird-girl, staring right at your Heatguana.
Annie transformed the medal into a weapon. A whip which moved like one out of leather, but seemed to be chiseled out of marble. "Here comes Rock Rope!" She threw it like a bola.
The Queen just dodged, her hands full with Racerīs air bombardment. The Rock Rope flew past her, and she laughed. "Way to simple, little one!"
But then, the Rock Rope hit. Not the Queen, but the Vultarrow, still battling Josh. The Mountain-Attack hit the Sky-Type hard in the back. Josh was perplexed for a moment, then seized the initiative. He grabbed the whip himself and stroke the Vultarrow down into the bushes, finishing this fight.
"Yes!" You saw the tables turn. "Now itīs three versus one!"
Annie smirked. The Vultarrowīs defeat was the one who pushed her over the treshold, as your Pager informed you. She was at 16 again, and rapidly transforming. The fire on her tail was the first to grow, her human body following suit. You had seen her ageing up already, gaining height and curves and athletic muscles. Her blonde hair grew to shoulder length and tied itself into a pony tail, with flaming orange and red on the tips.
Her outfit transformed as well, the leotard ripped into a skintight jeans and a burning red hoodie, baring the midriff. Scaled bracers appeared on her arms, and brass knuckles on her hands.
Annie admired herself for a moment. "Not as climactic as the first time, but good enough."
By then, it was just fire and gusts of wind and ninja throwing stars, overwhelming the psychic blasts. You had the last word, by throwing a BeastCube at the Forest Queen.
One beep. Two, three beeps. Then the beeping stopped.
You picked up the Cube, warily as if it could spontaneously combust. "So", you said, looking at your team. Everyone of them was now taller then you, and way cooler looking of course. A ninja with a black and yellow armor out of chitin, a bird-girl with large feathers sprouting out of her arms, and of course your Starter, restored to her former glory. "Thatīs ... that is that, right?"