Conscious, Conscientious

A few snowflakes fluttered down gently and landed in the gradually freezing slush that Lammy, Zayza, and the triplets were all in. All eyes were on Felix, who sat in the wintery mix across from the others with a grim expression on his face.

Zayza, who had been crawling away in fear from the apparently evil Felix, reached Lammy and stood up behind his shoulder. She was covered in wet snow from head to toe and was shivering violently from the cold.

Her decision to take refuge behind Lammy gave him a slight sense of confidence. He was grateful to have earned her trust.

“So it’s true,” Folel finalized. “You’ve been controlling Snowdust this whole time.”

“You’re the one who’s been attacking the village,” continued Foler.

Felix continued to stare at his brothers with fury. He spat into the ice and snow. “We already established that. Of course it was me.”

“Then there’s only one question left: why, brother?!” demanded Folel. “Why would you hide that you’re an Imaginer, and try to starve out your own family and friends?! What could possibly lead you into wishing that on us?!”

“I didn’t ‘hide’ anything,” Felix explained. “When you two knew me, I wasn’t a consciousness. I was the one identical brother who wasn’t born with powers. It was unfair! Our parents always spent more time with you two. Father would take you guys out into No Man’s Land to train while I stayed behind and did chores around the village. You could read each other’s minds and feelings, but since I’m the one exception to your powers, I always felt left out.

“And when we grew up, you guys were the heroes. I was the inventor’s assistant who could barely even use a screwdriver. It was embarrassing—I couldn’t take it anymore!”

“Felix, we never meant to make you feel left out,” Foler assured. “We love you, and Father did too—you know that.”

“LIES!!” screamed Felix, bashing his fist into the sloppy ground. “I left to find my own way, and I found it. When I became an Imaginer, I knew I had achieved who I’m supposed to be. I wanted nothing more than to get revenge for all of the pain this cursed village caused me. That’s why I created the snow monster you call Snowdust.”

Lammy and Zayza watched quietly as the brothers poured out their emotions. But something was troubling Lammy. What does he mean ‘When I became an Imaginer?’ he wondered. Everyone back home with powers were born with them…I didn’t know it was possible to get them later in life…

“It shouldn’t be possible,” Foler commented, looking at Lammy. He had evidently heard his thoughts. “How did you manage to become an Imaginer if you weren’t born one?”

Felix smiled darkly. “All I’ll say is this: it’s an interesting world beyond this path.”

Lammy was perturbed by this answer, but he didn’t think Felix would spill any more details. “Fine, if you won’t tell us that, then explain this: why did you try to kidnap Zayza?” he pressed.

Felix started. “You little—I didn’t try to steal your gorgeous friend!”

“And WHY THE HECK DO YOU KEEP REFERRING TO HER PRETTINESS?!”

“Oh dear…” Zayza said, covering her mouth uncomfortably.

Felix hesitated—he had no immediate comeback to Lammy’s persistence. “I…well…it’s lonely out there…I was tired of being alone…” This was the first time one of Felix’s excuses actually sounded legitimate. Lammy hated to accept it, but he actually felt a hint of sympathy.

It didn’t have to take Folel’s Feelreader abilities nor Foler’s Thoughtreader powers for them to feel it, too. “You’re not alone,” they said. “We’re your brothers, Felix. Come home.”

Felix looked at them with appreciation, but mostly puzzlement. “Wait—so…then I’m off the hook?” he asked. Lammy was about to ask the same thing.

Foler and Folel exchanged glances, and then burst into powerful laughter.

“Of course not!” Foler cried.

“What, are you crazy?!” shouted Folel.

They gradually returned to their earlier stature. “If you’re willing,” began Folel, “We’ll give you a second chance. If you really try to change your ways and learn to love Our Snowy Village again, we’ll convince the Chief to strictly limit his punishment.”

“Of course, if you ever resist,” Folel added, “Just know that Foler and I have grown much stronger since you last saw us. Not to mention, we have a couple new friends we can call for backup.” He motioned towards Lammy and Zayza.

“I understand,” Felix said with an eager nod. “What do I have to do?”

Folel and Foler looked at each other a second time. “Work alongside us,” they said.

“It’s the perfect way to see where your heart is,” Folel told Felix. “Our duty and passion is to help our fellow villagers in their everyday lives—whether it requires our consciousness abilities, or just a couple extra sets of hands. It’ll be impossible to fake the willingness to serve. If it’s not real, we’ll know.”

“You want me to…help you guys?” Felix repeated, seemingly in awe. “I’ll…I’ll do it.”

“Good; we could really use an Imaginer,” said Foler with a smile.

Lammy felt like this was all being resolved too fast. “Wait—how do we know he’s not going to attack us once our backs are turned?”

Felix looked like he was about to snap back, but he held it in and understood Lammy’s concern. “Kid, it’s okay: even if I did plan on attacking, the only technique I’ve mastered in my three years of being an Imaginer is the snow monster, which we all know you can handle pretty easily.”

“Don’t worry,” added Folel. “If he’s up to something, Foler and I will whip him into shape…and if we can’t, Mother will.”

“Oh great…Mom will be pretty angry with me about all this…” Felix realized. “She’s not even a consciousness and I’m afraid of her the most.”

Folel and Foler laughed, and so everyone else gradually joined in—but when Lammy did, it was with reluctance. He was still concerned: Felix never bothered to explain how he became an Imaginer, even after he supposedly decided to change his ways.

~

“THE VILLAGE IS SAVED!!!” the Chief cried in his uncomfortably high and squeaky voice.

The Chief’s igloo erupted with cheers and noise filled the evening as all the village people jumped with joy, danced merrily, and hugged each other. Lammy and Zayza (who had washed off all the slush) stood on one side of the Chief, humbly receiving praise as Folel and Foler did the same on the other side. Between the brothers stood Felix, who hung his head low like a guilty child.

“The Mountain Spirit was true to its word!” declared the Chief. “When it transported Zayza and Lammy to our village, it used them to help our beloved Folel and Foler thwart the evil that threatened us! Allow me to recount this glorious event…one that will become a legacy as it is passed down from generation to generation.”

Everyone settled down to hear the Chief’s narration.

“The morning was young when our four youthful heroes awoke to go and confront the mysterious and dangerous creature nicknamed Snowdust…” he began dramatically, emphasizing his words with overly animated hand gestures. He proceeded to recite an epic tale, but the details sounded infinitely more extraordinary than the actual fight. Lammy couldn’t tell if the Chief had misheard when they explained what happened earlier, or if he was just dramatizing it to make it more exciting. Regardless, the crowd was fully immersed.

After narrating something about Zayza scaling an entire ‘dream mountain’ and Lammy creating a ‘water explosion’ to defeat Felix, the Chief concluded his account. The villagers cheered once more, this time specifically for Lammy and Zayza.

Lammy scratched the back of his head awkwardly. He made us sound like champions or something…I wasn’t that cool…he thought.

“Haha, close enough!” Folel shouted to Lammy over the applause.

The Chief eventually raised a hand, signaling for the crowd to quiet down. The round room fell silent. “Now to address Felix’s offense—” he started.

“Let me punish him, Chief!!” a woman shouted. “I’ll make sure he never does anything so dopey again!”

“Sorry, Mother…” Felix said to her, flinching with fear.

“Oh, you will be!”

“Now, now…” the Chief intervened timidly. “You can deal with your son in private later…but as for his official sentence, Felix must stay in Our Snowy Village and labor with Folel and Foler for as long as they please. After a meeting, I and the brothers agreed that our goal is to slowly welcome Felix back into his home, teaching him that this village is not an enemy, but a family.”

Everyone seemed to be on board with this decision. Lammy was surprised at their collective forgiveness; it was inspiring to see that many people willing to give someone another chance.

The Chief turned to Lammy and Zayza. “And as for our saviors, I’m not sure how we can repay you two for your selfless act.”

Zayza smiled. “Your gratitude and graciousness towards us is more than enough reward for me,” she told him kindly.

Lammy nodded in agreement.

“But wait!” a man exclaimed from the crowd. He stood to his feet: it was an older, scrawny little man with a cone-shaped head, small eyes, a large nose and a black moustache that covered his mouth. When he spoke, the moustache seemed to move up and down in place of his mouth. “I know how we can help you kids: what you want is to get back to where you came from, correct?”

“Um…right, Tailpiece,” Lammy confirmed.

“Well then, allow me to introduce myself: I’m Opelfine, the village inventor. When I first heard your tragic story yesterday evening, I was so moved…and when you were so willing to help my village…it was inspiring…”

He wiped tears from his eyes. “So I immediately ran home to my igloo after the meeting and began to think about how I could help you. I thought and thought…and finally, it came to me: the perfect blueprint.” Opelfine paused while the crowd eagerly awaited an elaboration.

“A blueprint for what?” someone finally asked.

Opelfine’s eyes glistened. “A blueprint for…a catapult.”

“A—a catapult?” the Chief repeated. “Opelfine, you don’t really mean to try and fling Lammy and Zayza across half the Multiverse, do you?”

“Of course not, Chief,” responded Opelfine. “I only wish to give them a head-start on their journey. It’s the best I can do to help. This catapult will spare them the initial long hike, and get them all the way up into to the Mountains!”

“Really? And how long will it take to finish this contraption?” asked the Chief.

Opelfine’s moustache curled as he smiled. “With some help, I can craft it tonight.”

“Yeah, Opelfine!” a boy cheered, and soon the villagers were celebrating again.

Zayza grabbed both of Lammy’s hands and faced him. “Lammy, isn’t this great? We’ll be closer to saving your mother than we thought!”

He just stared back at her tensely. Wait—this guy’s really going to shoot us through the sky? I appreciate his effort, but what if we land on rocks or ice or something? This could be suicide! And even if we live, we still have to make it all the way back to Tailpiece...

As Lammy continued to worry to himself, Zayza joined the villagers’ vigorous celebration.

~~~

After having been defeated (completely wrecked, really,) by the dark duo of Pang and Phillip, Skrili has forced the injured Deon to join her in an afternoon session of unending fights in the woods of No Man’s Land. This sudden challenge is a frantic attempt at getting stronger before encountering Pang and Phillip once more. In turn, Skrili promises to reveal the secret of her stolen bag—that is, if Deon can defeat her a single time…

Deon’s face slammed into the dirt, followed clumsily by the rest of his body.

“You lose again,” Skrili told him plainly from where she stood a few feet away.

“THANKS FOR THE OBSERVATION!!!” screamed Deon from the ground, though it hurt to speak. This was his fifth fight against Skrili, and also his fifth defeat. So far the fights had been pretty consistent in nature: Skrili would wait for Deon to get back up, and when he did she would charge at him and knock him into the dirt with a single blow.

While Deon was beyond annoyed, his body was too exhausted to respond: earlier he had been battered with his own attack after Pang manipulated it to make it hers, and now he was taking direct hits from Skrili every half-minute. His muscles refused to cooperate.

“Come on,” Skrili said impatiently.

How is this helping us get stronger?! wondered Deon as he somehow mustered up the strength to bring himself on all-fours. After gasping for air, he proceeded to force himself back to his feet. Okay: this time I’ll imagine a—

Skrili ran at him, jumped up, and performed a graceful spinning kick into Deon’s shoulder. He stumbled over once more, crashing onto his side.

“You didn’t even announce the fight was starting!” Deon complained.

“I figured it should be obvious by now,” stated Skrili. “And you lose again. Get up.”

Deon grunted and attempted to move—but this time, his body resisted. Not only was there a sharp burning sensation as usual, but now his muscles weren’t responding to his commands. He knew he wasn’t getting anywhere soon. “Um…I really can’t move…” he told Skrili.

He expected her to scold him in response, but instead she just sighed. “My normal clothes are probably dry by now, anyway,” she said. “Rest while you can, but I’ll be right back.”

Deon heard her walking away, and then he allowed himself to relax. He laid there and thought about his adventures thus far. Despite by far being the best Imaginer in Tailpiece, when Deon came to No Man’s Land, things were different: he had only defeated one opponent out of the five fights he participated in—and that was just against another Imaginer (the thug who tried to trap him and Skrili in a hole). And when he faced Pang a short while ago, she toyed with him the whole time and took him down without trouble.

He may have been the best back home, but it turned out there was a whole other level of mastery to strive for out here in the Multiverse…and that was everything he could have hoped for. It was time to get his act together—but he wasn’t sure Skrili’s approach was helping at all…

Hearing footsteps approaching, Deon forced his head to turn and see Skrili joining him again. She was now in her usual attire once more: the sleeveless blue shirt with the same black design that was on Pang’s shirt, and tight black pants. Also, her blue hair was tied up with her signature elastic again. Deon found himself relieved to see her back to normal; she had looked absolutely absurd in the clothes he had attempted to imagine for her.

“Are you ready?” asked Skrili.

“Actually, I have a question,” Deon answered, “With all due respect…I think…what makes you think beating the crap out of me over and over again is going to get us stronger than Pang and Phillip?”

“You don’t get it. Beating you up isn’t the point. The point is to build endurance,” Skrili told him. “This is a technique my old teammate created, and we got to where we are because of it.”

“Oh,” Deon commented. “Was your old teammate…I don’t know…INSANE by any chance???”

Skrili looked away and paused for a moment. “I suppose you could say so,” she finally said. “…Since it was Pang.”

“WHAT?!” exclaimed Deon—but it started to make some sense: that probably had something to do with why their outfits were so similar, and why Pang said they knew so much about each other’s fighting.

“We met each other a year ago in Fiction Country, before either of us had ever been to No Man’s Land,” Skrili explained. “We both set out on our own for the first time, and we knew we were going to need a teammate. It just seemed like a good idea to team up, since we had a lot in common. We were both pretty young to be full-timers: Pang was only fifteen and I was sixteen…”

“Wait—so Pang’s only sixteen now?!” Deon noticed. “She seems so much more…I don’t know, mature.”

Skrili continued. “Also, we both left our families behind and had nothing to go back to. It was inevitable for us to become friends and teammates.”

“So then…what happened?” wondered Deon. “I mean, the both of you together must’ve been a pretty strong team. Why’d you split?”

“We were a strong team…Actually, we went undefeated for the ten-or-so months we were together. But then I screwed up in one fight,” she shared.

“We were facing a team that had been together for about six years, and they were the toughest team we had ever met. While we were fighting matchups-style, I was struggling so I tried a strategy that I’d used plenty of times before: intentionally trigger a Power-Rebound by allowing my opponent to hit me—but I misjudged his attacks and he hit me harder than I predicted. I couldn’t get up for about five minutes, and Pang had to worry about fighting both opponents.”

“So she got mad at you for making you guys lose?” guessed Deon.

“We didn’t lose,” Skrili told him. “By the time I stood up with a Power Rebound, it was too late: Pang had defeated both of them by herself.”

“Are you kidding me?! By herself?” Deon responded. Dang…she’s not just strong; she’s ridiculously strong! he realized.

“After that fight,” Skrili continued, “Pang had decided that she ‘outgrew’ me. She thought my type of consciousness couldn’t keep up with her growth as a fighter anymore and she needed to find a new teammate that could. So we parted ways.”

“Wow, that’s dumb,” Deon pointed out. “Well it’s okay; she seems like a complete jerk anyways.”

Skrili’s expression suddenly became more intense. “It’s different when you really get to know someone,” she snapped at him in a low tone, but gradually she returned to her default, emotionless state. “Though also, I didn’t agree with a lot of Pang’s views on fighting…and life…so splitting with her was for the best.”

“Yeah…except now she has your bag and won’t give it back…” mentioned Deon. “And I still have no idea as to why that bag is so special.”

“If you want to know that badly, stop fighting like a drunken sloth and take me down,” Skrili instructed. “You’ve put off the next fight long enough.”

Deon mumbled to himself like a bitter old man as he gathered what energy he had left to get himself to his feet.

~~~

Lammy, Zayza, and the triplets were the last to exit the Chief’s igloo besides the Chief himself, who remained inside. This village meeting had run twice as long as the last one, due to the excess of celebration and the time everyone took to personally thank Lammy and Zayza.

Lammy had never experienced such attention before in his life—usually Deon was the one getting noticed for some incredible act. While he was thankful for the recognition, he was also relieved to finally leave the crowded ice house and come into the open, chilly night. The igloos of the village were all glowing from the orange lights of lanterns hanging in front of each entrance.

Their plan was set: tomorrow morning, everyone would help Opelfine carry his catapult as they travelled to the mountains, where he would make estimates and adjustments to aim it correctly for Lammy and Zayza’s launch. After saying goodbyes, Zayza and Lammy were to be flung up into the mountains to embark on their journey. It sounded pretty much like the most unreasonable idea Lammy had ever heard, but he knew and accepted that his friends’ enthusiasm would once again override his worrying.

“Are you guys ready for another adventure tomorrow?” Folel joyfully asked Zayza and Lammy as he led everyone towards his and Foler’s igloo.

“Definitely,” answered Zayza, “but I think right now I’m even more excited about entering the Dream World again tonight. Last night and this morning showed me that my memories are still out there, I just have to find them!”

“That’s great,” said Foler. “I bet by the next time we see you, you’ll have every last memory back.”

“Oh, I hope so,” Zayza told him.

Felix, who had been walking at the back of the group, started walking slower. “Hey guys, I’ll be right back,” he said casually.

“Sure,” his brothers responded, engaged in their conversation.

Felix nodded and separated himself from the others. He made his way over to a dark, open space between two quiet igloos. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small, black device, bringing it close to his mouth with his back turned to the rest of the village. He pressed a button and spoke softly.

“I found Zayza,” he said. “She’s with an Imaginer kid named Lammy, and tomorrow they’ll be traveling through the North Mountains of Realistic Fiction.”

There was a pause of dead silence as he awaited a response.

“…Well done,” said an uncomfortably calm voice through the device.