Chapter Thirty Eight: Elections.

"generally, politicians are idiots."

-Bastion.

Benson stood in a large room with booths for the other parties everywhere, and pipelines ran over the walls that were swarming with Bukis and humans. the pipelines had monitors set up in places with comm stations so they could safely participate in the action at each booth.
the room was divided into three sections; Virada, Gentiki, and Fira Deralo.
each continent was having its election.
the fox wrung his paws nervously as he looked over to his own booth, which was being run by Kevin and Oriado. he trusted his friends, but he knew that the other Viradans running for office weren't going to go easy on him, even if he'd helped save their world once.

"you right there, big guy?"

Benson turned to his left and saw Collin at Giki size with Bailey beside him, and Bastion upon the white wolf's shoulder.
"oh, I'm just a bit nervous..."
"don't blame you," the little wolf chuckled "it's you versus five other candidates!"
"you'll vote for mr though, right?"
the wolf rubbed his head absently "can't."
the fox eyed him confusedly.
Bastion pointed to the white armband on his left bicep "officially registered as an 'Earth-origin visitor' ... or as your culture prefers to call it, I'm an 'Earthie'."
"oh, right..." the fox rubbed his eyes "your kind aren't allowed to vote--" his expression went blank "err... sorry, I didn't mean it like that."
"s'alright, I'm used to it by now."
Collin groaned "a lot of people jeered at him on the way in."
"yeah, now that I'm completely mortal they're ignoring the whole 'I saved their lives' thing."

an announcement went over the loudspeaker.
""All candidates to the main hall, all voters to their sectors. the information time is now over, it is now time to consider all knowledge and vote.""

Benson cringed "moment of truth."

the fox stood in a hall with the other five candidates.
each one different than the rest, esspecially in their motives.
first up was Kavij; a Buki jaguar that was a Giki-hater and wanted to exile every last giant and punish all who had relationships with them. the Buki and human sizists were on his side.
next was Derek; a Giki dingo with the opposite view to Kavij, he wanted all 'smaller' citizens exiled to Gentiki and turn Virada into a sovereign nation of Fira Deralo. the sizists among Gikis and the senior citizens among them were on his side.
third was divvina; a female lynx Giki who would've been a perfect president if not for her hatred of the homosexual community.
fourth was Ogdewn; a stubborn and ever-irritated ox Buki who seemed to detest all intersize contact. nobody liked him at all.
fifth was Aurellia; an odd auburn-haired human girl who strangely wanted to ban all relationships apart from same-size same-gender ones.
the votes were being tallied.
Derek glared at benson.
"you'll be in big trouble once I'm in office, fox. you'll be tried for treason."
Benson let his eyes glow "shove your dumb opinions up your ass where they belong."
"bold words. and that little bitch of yours, the cat, she looks absolutely delicious. might be nice with a little garlic bread."
Benson narrowed his eyes and set his muzzle in a snarl "try it and you'll have to start having your meals through an IV in an intensive care ward."
that made the dingo back off.

""the votes have been tallied!""

the future trio were in the pipeline with the crowd and their families and younger selves.
Ciril adjusted his glasses.
"think he'll win?"
"who knows," future Velian sighed "things've changed a lot... maybe he mightn't win."
"that would suck." the younger Virlan grumbled, to which his older self nodded and added "that would be some major suckage."

""Ogdewn: one vote.""
the ox huffed and sat down.
""Aurellia: 20 votes.""
she rolled her eyes distainfully.
""Kavij: 70 votes.""
the jaguar grinned smugly.
""Divvina: 55 votes.""
she frowned.
""Derek: one thousand, one hundred and ninety seven votes""
the dingo looked smugly at the fox.
Benson's heart was beating so hard it might've been audiable.
""and lastly, Benson: one..."" the room went silent. ""... thousand... and ninety..."" everyone held their breath as the announcer made a lot of suspense, it would be either the utopian or the oppressor. ""... seven votes. it's a tie.""
the collective Viradans gasped.
""as per the ancient laws of our continent, this tie must be settled sportingly. what do those in participation suggest?""
"Battle." Derek said boldly.
Benson gulped "I suggest a VR, that way nobody will be in any danger."
Derek smiled smugly "I accept."

the announcer made it official ""the tie will be broken by a Virtual Reality combat. single round, first out loses.""

---

-four minutes later-

Benson ducked and covered behind a low concrete wall as Derek buffetted it with a gattling gun.
"HA! eat my sea o' lead, fox!"
Benson took a deep breath and thought logically. the gun was heavy and therefore, slow to move. if he went around the dingo at a high enough speed...
he unlatched a an object from his belt. his only chance of winning was if this strategy worked.
he bolted out from behind cover, running in a wide arc around the dingo who struggled to turn the gattling gun.
Benson analysed the scene. the gun was moving at 5 degrees per second, and he himself was going at 7 degrees per second around the gun... if he could get to ten...
he poured on the speed, reaching ten degrees per second; double the rate at which the gun moved.
it was now or never.
he leapt into the centre of the wide circle they'd made, taking Derek by surprise and shoved something in his mouth. "EAT IT!"
Derek punched the fox away, making him land painfully on his back against a concrete wall.
the dingo glared at him.
Benson smiled smugly, and lifted his left paw to show a shiny object dangling from his index finger; a small metal ring with a short rod potruding from it.
a grenade pin.
Derek grabbed his throat "you didn't...?"
Benson tossed the pin away casually "I did."
the pin hit the ground with a slight ting, and not even a second later did the almighty roar of the explosion sound out as the blast from the grenade ruptured Derek from within.

Benson panted heavily, he'd overexerted himself a bit there.

they exited back into the real world where Benson was announced president of Virada.
Derek sighed as he sat with the other candidates.
"I lost, but I guess we're in good paws."
"he fought well." Kavij admitted.
while the fox gave the acceptance speech, Lily held her breath.
Viradan leaders were allowed to add or change one law no questions asked when they came into office... what would he do?

"--thankyou, and I'll do my best as president. now, the law I'm placing..."
everyone listened eagerly.
".. will be that it is illegal to place restrictions on marriage except for being under 18."
the crowd gasped.
"he's removing the bans!" someone called out.
there was a moment of silence.
and then there was an uproar of cheers and applause.
Benson tapped the mic and everyone went silent.
"I'd like Elilabetha Heartrow to come up here, please."

Lily moved through the pipeline across the wall, everyone watched her as she did so, and her heart was beating vigorously. she had no idea why he'd called her up to him, but it had to be important.

she emerged beside Divvinna and Aurellia at the back wall.
the other women urged her on, and she soon stood at the left-side base of the podium.
Benson knelt and carefully picked her up in his right paw.
"Lily?"
"yes, Ben?" she asked nervously.
he moved to one knee, held her high, and put his other paw over his heart.
everyone gasped.
Lily stared in shock. this pose was for...!
"Will you marry me?" the fox asked, eyes glittering.
the room stood still, everyone breathless as they listened in for the feline's answer.
"will I? by the stars themselves, Ben, I could never say no to that!" the exclaimed gleefully "Yes! a thousand times Yes!"

Benson teared up as he brought her to his muzzle.
"I don't have a ring, but I hope this will do."
the collective Viradans cheered as the fox and the cat shared a kiss.

Lily couldn't explain it; although they'd shared themselves countless times before, this time felt different... it felt so much better.

iceflakes formed around Lily as the kiss broke, and the big fox winked a giant eye at her.

meanwhile, Bastion looked on from outside, watching the event on a jumbo-tron.
he smiled, as did the two tiny wolves upon his shoulders.
"good for them 'bout time something went their way."
the two smaller wolves nodded and Bastion turned and went to walk away when he felt a stinging at his hip.
he drew his handgun-- X-ODUS type 0-- as it radiated with sensation.
he cast his gaze around. there was something wrong.
the smaller wolves seemed wary, and soon, Bastion found why.

there was a cloaked figure up in the rafters onscreen, one holding a sniper rifle.
Bastion moved the wolves to his jacket pockets and ran.

---

the cloaked figure was smirking, and loaded the sniper rifle with a single shot.
he only needed one.
his eyes lit up green beneath the hood, and he could see his target foolhardily running in on a lower level, likely coming to get him.
his lips parted, exposing two silver fangs.

the wolf ran up, but he pointed his gun and made him stop.
"I knew this would work." he remarked in a voice containing static.
the wolf stared. "no... impossible..."
the figure flicked his hood off, revealing his face; a face composed of gleaming white metal shaped vaguely like a mongoose.
"Uron...!"
the android grinned broadly, his mechanical maw full of what appeared to be literal knives.
"since you ruined everything, I saw this as my last chance." he said with static.
"ch-chance for what?"
he streadied his gun, he'd been longing to say these words.
"my best chance of killing you. it was difficult to reach you, but after I found the internal network of a robotics lab... well, I'm sure it's obvious."
"why me? what's your issue?!"
"simple," Uron snorted "you betrayed me, my creator. we were supposed to use the fox's twins as the ultimate weapon."
Bastion glared "blah, blah, static-y blah."
Uron rolled his electronic eyes.
"I share all the data from your weapon-body, creator, I know how to break you now"
the older tiny wolf popped out of one of Bastion's pockets "Bastion, he's going to rip your magic apart!"
"precisely"
he cocked the gun.
"goodbye, my creator."
as his metal finger tensed on the trigger, Bastion's paw shot up and fired off three poorly-aimed bullets into Uron's legs.
"please," Uron cackled "was that meant to hurt?"
"nope," the wolf grinned, pointing down to the room below "it was to get their attention."
Uron looked down where he saw a sea of Viradans, 'the pack' included, looking up at him.
he made the censorship 'bleep' noise.
within seconds the trio from his own time were up with him, via the assistance of a pair of black felines.
Uron jumped up, only to be slammed back down.
He glared up to find the yellow fennec had hit him.
behind him was the red canine.

"betraying scum." he growled.

they shook their heads.
the fennec gave a smug look "you cubs back off, we have a personal bone... er, metal rod... to pick with him."
the other backed off and Uron groaned "oh... Fuck."

soon, all that remained was Uron's head, still functioning and indignant in Sillias' grasp.
Benson sat on the step while he questioned Kori.
"why'd you save us?"
the fennec sighed and toyed with Uron's gun.
"y'know, getting double-crossed by that jerkwad--"
"I'm still here!" Uron protested.
Kori continued regardless "--was kinda an eye opener. you mightn't like it, but legally we're still brothers."
Bastion entertained a young little wolf by rolling him in his paws as he joined the conversation "so in other words it's because of a mix of 'family first' and revenge on the mecha douchebag here."
Uron snarled "I'm still here, Dammit!"
Sillias juggled the robotic head "quiet, you."
Kori looked at the wolf "this thing, it breaks stuff, yeah?" he said, motioning to Uron's gun.
the wolf nodded "one bullet in it, made to seperate magic into it's components. would destroyed me."
Kori aimed it at Benson "does it kill?"
"no, it'd kill me 'cause my body's been reformed by magic."
Benson caught on "you want to use it to...?"
Lily stared "it'd make Ben like he was before the accident!"
by now all their friends had arrived and heard everything.
Bastion cleared his throat "you need a vessel for the magic that wasn't yours."
Carl raised his paw "I'll do it. hell, maybe I'll lose this cross on my chest."
"Malegh." Bastion corrected.

Kori readied the gun "ready, B?"
he took a deep breath "go for it."
cameras locked on.
everyone would see this.
(BLAM!!)
four streams of light escaped the bullet wound, two flowed through the air and merged, turning red and entering Carl, while the remaining two reentered Benson.
and then, there was a burst of intense green light.

Benson's body felt numb, and fire kindled in his limbs.
as well as that, his bones ached and his eyes stung.
he could hear Lily calling his name at the edge of his hearing.
he couldn't open his eyes.
"ergh... I can't open my eyes... pain everywhere..." he groaned.
"be still" came Bastion's voice "the pain is temporary."
he felt a brushing on his chest, wide arcing movements.
"who's... touching me? he whimpered past his pain.
"Lily is."
he felt a kiss on his cheek.
he slowly opened his eyes...

as Benson opened his eyes, Lily clung to him and smiled, almost crying when those eyes looking back at her were no longer blue and green, but a regular, Vulpine red-brown.
he was tearing up "Lil... it worked?"
she nodded and higged his head to her chest "it did, Benny, it did!"
she watched as the fox flexed his paws over a pile of dirt on the carpet, and burst into joyous laughter when the dirt warped in form and became a small porcelin vase.
then his phone's screen turned on by itself and displayed his photo gallery.
Benson had his Particle-Molecular Fusion Construction back, as well as his Technomagic.
the newly-engaged couple embraced normally for the first time in half a decade.

Carl looked himself over "I'm still the same..." he sighed.
he looked down at Syrus, sitting in his paws, and froze up.
Syrus looked horrified.
"you alright, Sy?"
the otter shook his head very slowly, never once breaking eye contact.
Bastion cleared his throat to get the leopard's attention.
the wolf was pointing at Radin, who was pointing at his own mouth.

confused, Carl poked at his teeth.
"argh!" he gasped as his finger was pricked by something.
Radin smiled slightly "um... you've got red eyes and fangs."
Carl checked in his phone's reflection, and sure enough, his pupils and irises were engulfed in red, and he now had four elongated fangs.
"am I a...?"
Sillias chuckled "you're a Vampire."

(Next Chapter: Blissful Utopia)