Chapter Twenty: recovering in the aftermath.

"the end is just a new beginning."

-unknown.

-a week later-

benson sat at the table in kevin's home, working on his... old bike.
it was a shame, but he could never use it again, not at his new size.
but he still wanted to fix it.

"just ... one ... last ... thing ..."
the door opened downstairs, and kevin walked up, lily in his paws.
"hey kevin, how was school?"
"meh." the german shepherd replied "BTW, lily's here."
the fox turned, happily looking down at his girlfriend "hey lil!"
kevin laughed, placing her on the table as he went to the fridge.
"did the delivery guy come today?"
"he did, we've got food for the week."
kevin opened the fridge, withdrawing an apple, and shut the fridge again.
"cool." he said, taking a bite.
benson looked down at lily "hey, can you help me, lil? i can't do all the stuff right at this size."
she nodded, and skipped over to the motorbike.
benson directed her on what to do.

kevin chuckled "i can't believe it, sometimes... it seems like some kinda dream."
"me being this size, you mean?"
"yeah... it's just so... surreal."
lily chuckled "well, at least ben's smart enough to know to stay with me~"
"pff, what's that supposed to mean, lil?" he scolded sarcastically "you sayin' nobody else'd want me?"
"oh, benny, i'm saying nobody'll ever love you as much as 'I' do~!" she charmed "even if you're too big~!"
"pff, just more of ME to love~ , and great things come in SMALL packages~" he said, bumping her playfully.
"oh, benny!"
he rolled his previously brown eyes, now, ever since the accident, they were different, his right eye was blue, his left was green.
"if this IS a dream, i don't wanna wake up."
a buzz sounded from kevin's new computer, benson had upgraded it in his spare time.
even without technomagic, he knew what he was doing when it came to machines.

kevin went to the machine, and jiggled the mouse, the chat site appeared, patrick, amelia, ian, and syrus & carl's faces came up.
"hey everyone!"
"yo, guys!" carl greeted him.
syrus sat on carl's muzzle. "'lo"

ian sighed "how's things? hasn't worn off?"
kevin shook his head
"well, it's probably permanent, then."
benson picked up lily, and headed over to the computer.
"hi!" they said simultaniously
amelia frowned "lily! you're SUPPOSED to be back here, WORKING."
"umm..." she waved her arms "nooo i'm noooot"
"i know you're there, lily. i'm not stupid. stop with the 'woooo' talk."
patrick sighed "ah, jeez."
ian looked towards patrick's bubble "how're things with your parents, K?"
"please don't call me 'K' ian... and they're..."
Aeon and verona burst onto screen, well, Aeon's eye and verona.
"we're great!"
ian fell off his seat "AAgh!"
collin walked into view on ian's window and helped him up.
"thanks... but, Aeon, a giant eye suddenly appearing doesn't help."
Aeon's laughter was heard "sorry!"
verona laughed "i'm sorry, but your face...!"
"yeah, ha ha, everybody poke fun at the angel."
amelia winked "oh, calm down, ian. it's funny!"
he rolled his eyes.
collin sighed "not to change the subject... but how's patrick's training coming along?"
Aeon's eye closed, his laughter was heard "very well! he's able to send larger items now!"
"oh blah. it's easier..."
he vanished, leaving a shockwave.
he reappeared on ian's screen "...to show them!"
ian swung around and hit him reflexively.
patrick teleported again, reappearing on his own screen.
"OWW!"
"sorry" ian shrugged "reflex"

lily chuckled "funny."
carl and syrus looked intently at the screen "amelia, there's someone watching you."
she turned to see someone holding out a book.
"Jigarra totre migrel?" (translation: i'd like to loan this?).
"brenella, motem zaga..." she said to him, then turned to her screen "just a sec guys."
she moved to help the man.

"well, i gotta go, guys. still a couple final repairs to do. later!"
benson walked off, leaving lily there to talk.

kevin hummed "i dunno why he still wants to fix it, just like it was, he can't use it ever again."
the fox poked his head back into view
"wellllll... i wasn't going to say anything, yet.... but..."
he made everyone watch in suspense "i'm.... giving it to lily."
everyone stared at him.
"one-week aniversary gift?" he shrugged.
lily motioned for him to come back, and when he did, she hugged his muzzle.
"you're so thoughtful, thanks benny!" she gave him a little kiss.
benson smiled, as talking would throw her off.

"get a room!" came from carl onscreen.
benson raised an eyebrow, then looked at kevin
"they're in a room." he joked.
"well... um..."
benson rolled his eyes.
syrus laughed "you got... SILENT BURNED, carl! tssss!"
the leopard narrowed his gaze "oh shut up!"
benson's eyes lit up, and he typed something...

ian read it "play devastation dimension? ... oh, the strategy game!"
everyone logged onto the MMORPG, lily using benson's old laptop.

---

collin couldn't play the game, and had stepped out when it was suggested.
he wanted a little time alone.
he went freerunning.

as he leapt from building to building, he started to think.
(did i make the right choice? do i really want to be trapped as a wolf forever?)
as he thought this, he felt an odd stirring in his stomach.
"uh oh..."
he hadn't eaten today, he'd been too busy.
he could feel his energy rising...
(the full gliloutation's coming! i have to get away, far away!)
he phoned everyone, using a multicall.

everyone asked who called
"it's collin... IT'S HAPPENING!"
kevin's voice broke through "what's happening?"
Aeon "don't tell me..."
"I FORGOT TO EAT! I'M GOING FULL!!" he cried, panicked
Aeon gasped.
benson shouted "why?! what do you mean?!"
"if a glilouted being doesn't eat something every 24 Hours, the gliloutation goes out of control, causing the user to mutate into a megalithic feral version of their glilou; the creature they turn into!"
"megalith...?!"
"even bigger than a giant, it dwarfs them like they dwarf others!"
amelia's panicked voice came through "the city!!"
"exactly, i'm bolting full speed OUT of cryopolis, otherwise i'll endanger everyone...ugh... it's not long..."
Aeon started talking "there's another thing, once he goes full, he'll never be able to become human, ever again!"
"DAMMIT!" patrick cursed
"i'm... not far from... the exit of the city...!"
his body began to warp "no! it's too late!!"
Aeon barked "patrick!"
moments later, patrick appeared beside him "let's get going!"
whump

they reappeared in a vast snowfield.
collin collapsed "pat...rick...GET...AWAY!" he roared.
patrick jumped himself atop the mountain, where he saw collin's transformation, clear as day.
his body began to enlarge, tearing away his clothing, his weapons vanished, he grabbed his head and roared savagely, as his body became less and less anthropomorhic, regressing into that of a feral wolf.
GUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORGH!
the landscape tore away beneath his feet, as his body doubled, tripled in size, then continued growing to at least one thousand times his original size.
when it was finally over, the enormous white beast's head loomed in front of him, glowing red eyes fixed upon him.
"c-collin?"
the beast nodded slowly.
"wait, can you understand me...?"
Aeon's voice came through the phone "he's still himself, patrick, only his body has changed... also, he cannot talk in this form."
the megalithic wolf seemed to smile at him.
"i'm... smaller than a speck of dust compared to him...!"
"he's not going to hurt you, remember, it's still collin... just... different looking"
"he could KILL ME JUST BY BREATHING HEAVILY!!!"
"don't worry, the minimum time for the first transformation is only one minute."
"a-after that... h-he'll change back? how much did he grow, anyway?"
"patrick, giants are roughly 10X your size, and well, collin's 10X a giant's size."
"he's 100X my size, then... great..."
"yes. but don't worry, he's probably more afraid of himself than you are of him right now!"
"what?!"
"think, patrick; if he so much as moves, he'll destroy something! wouldn't YOU be frightened about yourself at a time like that?"
"i... guess..."
"if it makes it any easier, just turn canine, you can up your own size 10X then."
patrick whimpered, and hung up, then looked up at... collin.
"what do you think? should i? flutter one eye for yes, both for no."
the enormous eyes rolled in annoyance, then one fluttered.
"o-kay then..."
his canine features showed, then his size increased to that of a giant, a byproduct of being the son of a 'normal' and a 'giant' as he had dscovered.
once he had, 'collin' didn't seem as intimidating, it was as if he was just a giant, from patrick's perspective.
the huge canine head lowered... bowing?
"are you... bowing?"
collin's beastial head nodded.
"er... why?"
for that, he recieved the 'are you stupid?' look.
"oh right, you can't talk..." he thought about it "is it because i saved you?... you know what i mean"
collin nodded.
"oh... okay then..." patrick said nervously.
patrick checked the time, his possesions had been made so they grew with him.
"only ten seconds...9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..."
collin growled
"... z-ze-zero..."
collin roared, making patrick cower, he felt a heavy pressure on his head, which was collin's paw, but slowly the roar became quieter, until it was meerly a pained yelp, and the pressure near gone.
patrick opened his eyes to see the little white wolf drop down onto his muzzle.
"whew, that was... well, exhilerating! very exhilerating, to say the least!" collin smiled "kinda fun, too!"
patrick sighed. "collin... you're um..."
collin looked down "ohhhh.... i see...."
"your clothing did tear off, after all. be kinda wierd if you suddenly had it back."
collin smiled, donned his mask, which he could materialise at will, and his clothing reappeared.
"i guess so, so new ones'll have to do." collin laughed.
"okay... that's wierd. i'm gonna change back and jump back now."
"please do"
collin hung in the air briefly as patrick returned to feline form, before teleporting them back to cryopolis.
whump

they reappeared on a rooftop, the one collin was on when he contacted them, midway between where ian was staying, and the outer wall.
patrick called everyone "we're back! we're back in cryopolis!"
a clamouring came from the line, everyone was worried.
"okay, calm down! one at a time!!" patrick demanded.
Aeon started "patrick!? are you both okay?"
"yeah... we're fine, by the way, he described it as 'exhilerating' and 'fun' just so you know"
"sounds about right."
ian spoke next "where are you now?"
he looked around, noticing a red neon sign reading 'bakery'
"near the bakery sign."
"okay... whew. that's halfway from here to the wall."
"who'd like to talk to collin?"
"i don't... wanna talk..." collin coughed
"alright, i'm bringing him back, ian... just be a few seconds."
he hung up, put his paw on collin's back, and jumped to ian's.
whump

ian briefly blurred into reality, but patrick dropped collin off and jumped again, appearing only as a shadowy blur to the startled angel, and to the others via webcam.

he reappeared beside his father
"a consecutive jump, nice work, son!" Aeon congratulated him.
"yeah" patrick breathed "it's really stressful, though."

through the chat site, everyone provided cheers for patrick, either for saving collin, or for performing the double teleport.

---

heritos growled inside the blackroom.
"damn him. what right does he have?"

"every right, you friggin' moron"

heritos turned to see a grown man draped in shadow standing nearby.
"how? ... the blackroom's inpeneterable..."
"not to me."
heritos stood "and you are?"
"call me 'harbinger' ..."
"okay 'harbinger' , how'd you get in?"
harbinger smiled "the front door, of course"
a red door appeared near harbinger, but it looked ghostly.

"goodbye heritos, the complete and utter moron."
heritos felt his neck ache...
then his head flew back.
harbinger had snapped his neck.
"fuck! that hurts!!"

"oh, death doesn't exist in the blackroom, eh?"
"of fucking COURSE not!! there are virtually no concepts here!!"
harbinger threw the blue feline aside, travelling through the ghostly doorway.
gone.

"fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffuck." heritos' head moaned

there is a new devil in town, and his name is none other than the harbinger of armegeddon.

the fight is not over.
it's only just beginning.