The clearing beyond the inn was already turning into a little arena.
Packed earth.
Trampled grass.
A ring of excited townsfolk and wolf cubs bouncing on their paws like this was a festival instead of a fight.
Derpy stood in the middle with Mia and Sphinx at his feet—both of them still in their chibi forms, both of them vibrating with that eager, loyal energy that made his chest ache.
He crouched and scratched behind Mia’s ears first, then Sphinx’s.
“Hey,” he murmured, voice low enough that only they could hear. “Don’t worry about winning in your chibi forms. This is a friendly match, okay?”
Mia’s little ears perked.
Sphinx blinked slow, like he understood more than he should.
Derpy set his face into something gentle, trying to make it steady.
Vambasta watched the moment like it offended her.
Not the affection.
The ease.
The way Derpy could give loyalty without demanding it.
Her tail flicked once.
Then she stepped forward, rolling her shoulders like she was about to crack the day in half.
“How about a wager,” Vambasta said.
Derpy straightened. “A… wager?”
His small dragon tail twitched behind him—an anxious tell he still hadn’t learned to hide.
Vambasta’s expression tightened into something sharp.
“Just to make it interesting.”
Vemi, standing off to the side, made a noise that was half sigh and half warning.
Derpy hesitated.
Every instinct he had said this was a bad idea.
But he nodded anyway.
“Sure,” he said, confused, cautious. “What kind of wager?”
Vambasta leaned in like she was sharing a secret.
“Winner gives orders for the rest of the day.”
Derpy blinked. “That’s it?”
Vambasta’s eyes dragged over him—slow, hungry, and not subtle.
“Mm,” she said.
Drool gathered at the corner of her mouth.
Vemi’s ears flattened.
“Sis,” Vemi muttered, shaking her head. “You’re thinking lewd thoughts again.”
Vambasta didn’t deny it.
Derpy didn’t even notice.
His mind was still stuck on a different word.
Stitch—
On a different stamp.
On the Elven Empire.
On SPECIMEN.
He didn’t realize the spar had started.
Part 2 — The First Hit
Vambasta moved.
No warning.
No courtesy.
Just a blur of pink fur and muscle.
Her fist slammed into Derpy’s ribs with full force.
At the same time, Vemi’s electricity cracked across the air—an arcing lash that kissed Derpy’s shoulder and detonated the moment it touched.
Pain flashed white.
Derpy’s body lifted off the ground.
He flew.
Through one tree.
Then another.
Branches exploded.
Leaves rained.
He hit the earth hard enough to make the clearing go quiet for a heartbeat.
Derpy tried to breathe.
Something in his side shifted wrong.
Cracked.
His vision swam.
Would you like to try the page?
Celica’s Embers purred in his skull like a cat curling around a wound.
The one you recently acquired from your friend.
Derpy clenched his teeth.
“No,” he rasped.
No?
“I want to try something else.”
He stared up at the sky through broken branches, and in the pain—through the noise—he remembered movement.
Not magic.
Motion.
The way a fighter could turn anger into rhythm.
The way Yang moved.
The way she refused to stay down.
Derpy exhaled.
Then he reached inward.
Not for a weapon.
For his own body.
Retract the wings, he thought.
Keep the tail.
His dragon wings began to pull back into him.
Bones shifted.
Tendons slid.
The sound was wrong—wet and sharp and too loud.
Everyone heard it.
Derpy stood.
And started walking toward Vambasta.
Mia and Sphinx whined.
Worried.
Derpy’s voice snapped out—harder than he meant.
“Go,” he ordered.
His eyes cut to Vemi.
“Keep her busy.”
Mia and Sphinx didn’t hesitate.
They sprang.
Part 3 — Pets vs. Lightning
Mia moved first.
Too fast for her size.
She opened her mouth and fired a blast that shouldn’t have fit inside a chibi body—frost and heat braided together, a violent breath that hissed and roared at the same time.
Vemi dodged, paws skidding.
Electricity snapped off her fur in angry threads.
Sphinx hit from behind.
A clean body-check.
Vemi stumbled.
Her shoulder clipped Vambasta.
Vambasta caught her sister with impossible strength—one arm, like Vemi weighed nothing.
“What was that?” Vambasta barked.
Vemi blinked, confused. “I— I don’t know—”
Mia and Sphinx landed in front of Derpy as he stepped into the clearing.
Like shields.
Lenora’s eyes narrowed.
Derpy’s wings were gone.
But the dragon tail remained—swaying behind him like a metronome.
Derpy looked at Mia and Sphinx.
“Thank you,” he said quietly.
Then his gaze lifted.
The air around him felt… heavier.
Like pressure before a storm.
“Thank you for the wake-up call,” Derpy said.
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
“Shall we begin?”
He opened his calamity.
The book’s presence spread.
Mia howled.
Sphinx roared—small, but real.
Frost and fire circled Mia’s paws.
Sphinx grew—just a little bigger than before.
Vambasta’s expression reset into feral hunger.
“Finally,” she shouted. “A challenge!”
Vemi’s nose twitched.
Her ears pinned.
“Sis…” Vemi said, voice tight. “I don’t think that’s Derpy. He smells… different.”
Derpy’s eyes slid to her.
“It’s me,” he said.
Serious.
“Shall we continue?”
Part 4 — Beyond Your Comprehension
Vambasta growled.
She punched her fists together.
Pink fur ignited.
Wind curled around her like a living thing.
Fire licked through it—hot, hungry, bright.
Mocked.
That’s what she felt.
Like Derpy was wearing a new skin just to needle her.
She charged.
A storm of elemental blows.
Punch.
Kick.
Elbow.
Wind snapping.
Fire cracking.
Derpy took the first few hits—then vanished.
Vambasta’s fist went through him.
Ice.
A perfect frozen decoy.
It shattered under her next strike.
Derpy was already perched in a tree above her—balanced like he’d been born on branches.
He moved again.
Tree to tree.
Fast.
Precise.
Animalistic.
Lenora’s eyes narrowed further.
It reminded her of training.
Of being chased until your lungs burned and your instincts took over.
Derpy flicked his wrist.
Frostburn gauntlets formed—ice-blue and smoking at the seams.
Vambasta closed the distance anyway.
Derpy jumped back—
—and flicked his wrist again.
“Mia.”
Mia swapped places with him.
Instant.
A blink.
Mia unleashed a full breath of fire.
Vambasta’s fury met it head-on.
Wind screamed.
Fire collided.
The clearing shook.
Riven watched from the tree line, frozen.
Derpy’s movements—more precise now, more predatory—dragged a memory up her spine like a hook.
The battle of the three.
The ones who took her artifact.
The ones who tried to make her into something useful.
That’s what they’re trying to do to him.
Riven’s hands tightened.
Then she moved.
She jumped.
Part 5 — Riven Falls In
Riven hit the ground running and shoved Derpy out of the way.
Vemi’s electricity was already mid-flight.
It struck Riven instead.
The impact snapped her body sideways.
She hit the dirt hard.
Smoke curled off her skin.
Burn marks spidered across her shoulder and collarbone—angry, blackened lines that looked too much like melted seams.
The clearing went silent.
Vambasta’s next blow—meant for Derpy—clipped Mia.
Mia rolled.
Hit the ground.
And didn’t get back up.
“Stop!” Lenora’s voice cut through the air like a whip.
Derpy’s head snapped toward Mia.
Then to Riven.
Then back to Vambasta.
Vambasta’s face tightened into a sulk, too childish for the damage she’d just done.
“Give me more,” she demanded, breath hot, eyes wild. “Show me more of those animal movements. I want to see more.”
She rushed in again.
Point blank.
A killing-range strike.
Vemi threw herself between them.
“Sis— STOP!”
Vemi’s paws dug into the earth as she blocked Vambasta’s path.
Vambasta froze.
Her ears twitched.
Her eyes cleared like someone had dumped cold water over her head.
The wind around her died.
The fire guttered.
She blinked.
And looked at Mia.
At Riven.
At the scorch marks.
At the way the whole clearing had turned against her.
Part 6 — Aftermath
Lenora moved first.
She scooped Riven up like she weighed nothing.
Riven’s body trembled.
Her burn marks smoked faintly.
Lenora’s jaw clenched.
Derpy stood in the center of the clearing, staring up at the sky like it had answers.
His breathing slowed.
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
Lewd shoved past everyone.
No hesitation.
She dropped beside Derpy.
“Are you okay?” she blurted.
Derpy didn’t look at her.
His voice came out rough.
“Why would she do that…” he muttered.
Frustrated.
Not just at Vambasta.
At the feeling in his bones.
At the way power kept changing him.
At the way the Elven Empire’s stamp kept echoing in his head.
He closed his eyes.
Breathed.
Forced himself back into control.
Part 7 — Road Teaser (Ace & Queen)
The road was dirt and quiet—until it wasn’t.
Ace and Queen walked side by side toward the pressure they could both feel in the air.
Magic fluctuating.
Fighting.
Not fighting.
Like a heartbeat that couldn’t decide if it wanted to live.
Ace’s pink-white electricity crawled faintly over her fingers—precise, restrained.
She glanced toward the treeline.
“Why is there magic fluctuating from that direction?” Ace asked. “Like they’re fighting… but then not fighting.”
Queen licked her lips.
“I don’t know,” she said, voice too pleased with itself.
Drool slid down her chin.
“But as long as they’re strong… and I get to eat them… I’m content.”
Ace’s eyes narrowed.
Queen’s expression tightened into something predatory.
“It’s time,” Queen murmured, voice thrilled. “I’ll head up there and do what King and Joker couldn’t.”
She launched forward.
A blur.
Ace exhaled.
Then followed.