“The Fracture of Team Starlight” (80.1) (Kalei)

Another band was playing on stage now, but my mind blocked out whatever they were playing, I had no idea if they were great or terrible.

Zeta looked like I'd just stabbed her, and I felt like I just had. After all this time keeping secrets, trying to protect my friends from the dangers of what we were doing, all of it snowballing into this big stupid thing, now it felt like the point of impact, where all my mistakes would come to bite me. 

Zeta saw Jeans by me and us talking about helping her. It was hard to think about how this didn't seem like the big secret we were keeping was that we were cool with Jeans now, Zeta's ex that put her through hell.

"Hey..." Zeta said. "Hey, wait..." She took a half step, like she was about to stumble from the shock of what she was seeing.

"No, Zates, it's not...let me explain," I said. When you get caught doing something and have to say 'let me explain,' you're already lost. I must've been lost for a long time on this. "We're not working with her, we're just...helping her."

"Is that what you were keeping from us?" Oka asked, her voice sounding like she was trying to hold back smoldering anger. "That Jeans is your friend now?"

Roux stepped forward and cleared their throat. Normally I'd want them to not step in and say something that'd make this worse, but maybe they could help here as I had nothing.

"Jeans is more an unwitting ally," Roux said.

"That's not much better," Oka said.

"OK, not an ally, just someone we're helping out of the goodness of our hearts," Roux said. "Really, it's Aira we're helping."

"Aira?" Lillia squinted.

"Ehehe...it's kind of my fault," Aira said, scratching the back of her head. "We went to that Taramin lab in LE..."

"What Taramin lab? Why?" Lillia asked.

"Well..." Aira sighed. "Guess I can't hide it, me and Syval started doing the Tokickaman thing, right? During the void storm we wanted to go rescue people, and Kalei came along. One thing led to another..." She gestured to Jeans.

"What are you even saying right now?" Lillia asked. "You and Syval...? Tokickaman was you...?"

Syval stepped forward, I forgot he still had his wig and dress on, but I think that was lost in the shock of everything else for the others. "Hi, yeah, we kinda. Accidentally became Tokickaman. I'd say don't tell anyone but..."

"This doesn't make any sense..." Zeta said. "But why...?" She looked right at me, like a kitten that'd just had her treat stolen from her and thrown out.

"They're not lying, it's all true," I said. I had to explain myself, fast. "It was during that storm. I found out they're doing superhero stuff. I wanted in, but I heard it was dangerous, so I wanted to protect you three, so I didn't tell you. When we got to the lab, your dad was there trying to break in."

Zeta took another small step, I was worried she was going to faint. "My...my..."

Why'd I bring up her dad now? But I had to tell her. Why didn't I just say anything earlier?

"No, no, wait! Your dad was there, with a retention sprite of your mom," I said, my voice frantic as I tried to recall everything. "We snuck around him and beat the sprite, then figured out how to get into the vault that he wanted to get into, and there were these crystals, right? And the devil serum! And..."

"So the crystals we thought would power us up, so we...kinda ate them," Aira said. "But it turns out they had people in them, some Atria crystal thing? And Syval got Rem, and I got Jeans."

Jeans just kept staring at Zeta. I don't know if it was hatred in her eyes, but it sure looked like it. Cold, unwavering disdain at the very least.

"And then I drank the devil serum, and we've been trying to figure out how to get Jeans out of Aira, and Rem out of Syval, and it's just been a lot, and—"

"Slow down," Zeta said, holding her arms out like she was trying to block an unwanted hug. "Or...something, I don't know, I can't..."

"Kalei didn't do any of this to hurt you," Marmalade said, stepping in front of me. "She wanted to protect you all. We were...too scared to say anything earlier, but we've been trying."

Zeta, Oka, and Lillia were silent.

"I wanted to protect you, yeah," I said. "I didn't want you all involved, it's dangerous. Once we got Jeans away from Aira, then I was going to tell you, and...but...it's dangerous, and Caya said I'd lose you if you all were...so I couldn't..."

No response. It was hard to act like I couldn't have the three of them around with the big party near me. I could see it on their faces, asking, 'So it's too dangerous for us, but not Roux, Marms, Aira, Syval?'

"Please, just hear me out, I can't lose you three—"

A horrible clanging sound rang through the ballroom. We all stopped, turning to the stage where the lead singer had just clobbered someone with a frying pan.

"Thanks, love," the lead singer, said handing the pan to one of her bandmates. "I don't know if anyone noticed, but they weren't even playing." The bandmate took her mask off, revealing Caeda.

And the girl the singer just knocked over was...Anastasia. Zeta was running that way before I even processed that, with the others following.

"Told you," Jeans said. "We could've had this all squared away. But now you'll lose everything."

We had to weave through the crowd a little, but as we did I noticed that there were far less students on the dance floor than before. We probably were in another imp made world in the void. And it was pretty clear who the star of this one was.

"Now it's time to really get this show started," the singer said. She was gorgeous, her two toned hair looked like it almost sparkled on stage, and her presence was radiant, which is where I assumed she got the band name "Radiance" from. She waved casually as she stepped on Anastasia's back. "Howdy all! My name is Zoey Delta, a pleasure to introduce myself formally. You may have seen me skulking around campus in a hoodie and shades and other various looks to conceal myself, but no more of that. Now, it's my time."

Zeta was already trying to climb up on stage to help her sister, but a pink wall of energy came up in front of her, knocking her backwards and spreading around the stage so none of us could get in.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Zoey said, wagging a finger. "You can try that again in a few minutes. You'll lose, but I want to let you at least try. First, I need to explain some things. I've been rehearsing this speech for a long while, and I'm not gonna miss out on it, not after my months upon months of planning." She smiled as she scanned the front, where Zeta, Oka, Lillia, me and my group, and the devils approached. "Oh, goodie, just about everyone I wanted to talk to is here."

Wanted to talk to...? I was still physically shaking from talking to the others, but now this girl knew of us? Could I even beat her in the state I was in mentally? I had no one to blame but myself for that, but still.

"Yeah, I've been watching for a while, I wanted to make sure I did this right," Zoey said. "When you have astronomical power, it's important you act carefully. And oh have I been careful studying my enemies. In case you don't believe me about that power thing by the way..." She twirled her hands, sparkling energy behind her glistening and forming into a tall being, an apparition of an armored warrior. "This is a retention sprite, those ghostly recreations of people, of one of the strongest people in history, General Astraea Blade. Her history doesn't really matter, just know that she's unbelievably strong, and that her power is now mine, but grown even more so." The armored ghost absorbed back into Zoey, not quite looking the same as when Jeans stopped her own projections. An aura of energy surrounded her now, and I could feel it somehow. An unfathomable amount of power was within her. Even the Downside part of me deep down was terrified of what this girl was capable of.