"Did you make any headway in your training?"
"Well Malus' training has finally resulted in some faint musculature." Momo reported, "But he's still far from facing Kajou and the like."
"That's the least of my concern right now." Roko scoffed, "How's your work on amp? It's going to be a pretty important tool in the upcoming war."
"Good question." Momo crossed her arm, "I think I understand it a bit more and I can sort of intentional cast it now. But...I'm having a hard time thinking of what to do with it. I get the concept, increase sensory interpretation speed and use the accelerated thought to adjust the spell for environmental factors to improve it's efficiency but...I don't know how else to use my time with it. I can snake a lightning bolt around a million obstacles but there's no power the more I control it and there's no control the more I empower it."
"Can't have one without losing the other huh?" Roko mused, "A common problem."
"One brought to 11 with this spell." Momo sighed, "I can focus my efforts on one. And I mean REALLY focus on one. But then I lose the other. Really lose the other."
"...Correct me if I'm wrong but it's not a matter of one taking away from the other. A spell like lightning is not like an animal with limited resources. It is as strong as the power you give into it."
"I guess so." Momo nodded along, "But a raging spell is still hard to control."
"No, that's not the point." Roko replied, "In our minds, the best way to control an imbalance is to add or subtract from that balance. But what if we don't see it as a spell we have complete control over but as a wild animal we need to guide?"
"...I see where you're coming from." Momo said as she considered Roko's words, "So you're saying I determine the spell's power first, then after firing the spell, control its trajectory."
"You will have to feed it more mana to maintain it's power while being redirected." Roko nodded, "But it should be much easier to multitask that than thinking about controlling both."
"The spell as a raging beast." Momo thought aloud, a smile coming to her face, "I like it. I think I'll give it a try ASAP."
"Do tell me how it goes." Roko nodded.
"Of course."
"Roko?! Roko?!"
"Aranea?" Roko excused himself from his talk with Momo to consult the voice in his head, "What's wrong?"
"Medeia's been kidnapped!"
"What?!" Roko cried out loud.
"What happened?" Momo asked.
"Medeia's been kidnapped."
"WHAT?!" Momo cried, "Where is she?!"
"Aranea's on it, hold on." Roko said before turning his thoughts back to Aranea, "Aranea, where are you?"
"I'm in...the east district of Mulapin I think?" Aranea answered, "I'm following the two right now, I can attack at anytime."
"No." Roko replied both in his thoughts and aloud to make it easier for Momo, "Stay on their tail until they reach their hideout. If there's more of them, we want to catch them all."
"What's going on?" Helena asked as she arrived nonchalantly.
"Medeia's been kidnapped." Roko answered.
"She's been WHAT?!"
"Well not quite kidnapped just yet. We're tailing her."
"But what if they try and kill Medeia?" Aranea asked nervously.
"If they wanted to just kill Medeia they would've just done so upon meeting her." Roko replied, "Unless...you heard them say something specific?"
"They said they wanted to give her some candy."
"And Medeia fell for that?"
"No they...also wanted to give her medicine to help with her fear...of spiders..."
"That tracks." Roko chuckled, "Still surprised that she fell for it though."
"Fell for what?" Kaguya asked as she showed up.
"Medeia's been kidnapped." Roko answered.
"KIDNAPPED?!" Kaguya cried.
"Don't worry, Aranea's on it." Helena grinned.
"Oh good. Should we inform anyone?"
"We're tracking them now so we can catch all of them." Momo explained.
"Smart choice." Kaguya nodded.
"Aranea, do you know who's kidnapping them?"
"I dunno, they're wearing a pretty heavy cloak."
"Any specific features you can pick out?"
"Ummmm...oh, I think there's an armband over one of their arms."
"Is it red?"
"Yeah, with some kind of symbol."
"It's the Starry Knights." Roko reported.
"Those rat bastards!" Momo shook her head.
"Sorry, what happened?" Melia asked as she arrived.
"Medeia's been kidnapped." Roko answered.
"Kid-WHAT?!" Melia shouted.
"Aranea's got this." Helena grinned.
"Oh good." Melia breathed a sigh of relief, "Can she handle it on her own?"
"Now that she doesn't hide that she's a spider?" Momo smirked, "Yeah, I'd say so."
"They're heading into a building now." Aranea reported.
"Can you sneak a look inside?" Roko asked.
"Yeah."
Off in Aranea's viewpoint, she watched the Starry Knight man bring Medeia into the building. It was a pretty well constructed building, or rather, one that had survived the despotism quite well. No easy holes to peer through like most other buildings in Mulapin. But that didn't matter. A window was open on the second floor, or rather, was shattered. Aranea easily climbed the wall up and made a quick peer to see if anybody was looking in her direction. When it seemed like everyone was preoccupied, she quickly scurried into the building, finding a corner in the rafter that offered complete darkness in the midday sun. And she began to watch.
"You brutes!" Medeia struggled as her kidnapper tightened the ropes around her body, "You'll regret this!"
"You know, I'm somehow not comfortable with this." a lackey dressed in their Starry Knight uniform said, scratching his head awkwardly.
"Yeah, I thought we were like...policemen. For like Muldingirmus."
"You fool, the Muldingirmus Police Force is an entirely separate group." Medeia's kidnapper scolded their lackies.
"Yeah but were't we like...the super police? Like the FBI or something?"
"No! We're a private military group under direct orders of Sirius himself!"
"Then how'd I get promoted from being a police officer to a Starry Knight?" Another lackey asked.
"You WERE promoted. I mean technically it's like more like a transfer but it might as well be a promotion."
"So...do the police kidnap children too?"
"What do you think?" The kidnapper scoffed.
"My dad is gonna kick you ass!" Medeia shouted as she struggled futilely against her bindings.
"Who's her dad?" one lackey asked curiously.
"Argo." the kidnapper responded.
"Aw man, he's pretty damn strong."
"Stop your welching. He's up against all of us here." the kidnapper gestured to the room of about 20 Starry Knights all armed and armored up for the job, "What's more...you have me!"
The kidnapper finally flung off their cloak to reveal a woman, dressed in Starry Knight armor. A rarity as the majority of Starry Knights that Aranea had seen were male.
"Ursala Delporte! Child Extraordinaire!"
"That's a really dubious title." one lackey remarked.
"What? No, not in that way!" Ursala scowled, "I meant I'm good with kids!"
"That really doesn't make it any better."
"Look, I captured this kid didn't I?!"
"Yeah, it's...it's not a good look for any of us is it?"
"Hey, guys." One timid Starry Knight spoke up, "Are we the baddies?"
"Usrala Delporte?" Roko mused, having received Aranea's report on the situation, "I've never heard of her."
"Mic check, anybody here heard of her?" Helena asked around.
"Nope." Momo shook her head.
"Not my area of expertise." Melia crossed her arms.
"I...might've heard the name somewhere before?" Kaguya frowned, "I dunno. Hard to tell."
"Well, it doesn't really matter." Roko sighed, "What next? Do we wait for their demands?"
"Do we know what their demands are?" Momo asked.
"I can hazard a guess." Roko said as he quickly checked away to listen to another report from Aranea, "Ah. Yeah, I knew it. They're after Naga."
"So this is his mother's doing again then?" Melia asked.
"Most likely."
"She's relentless isn't she?" Helena noted, "And we haven't even met her."
"Well she is a mother trying to catch her kid that ran away from home." Kaguya said, "That's halfway conscionable."
"Should we tell Naga?" Momo suggested.
"Well we're not going to actually give him up at this point." Roko replied.
"How about Argo? Or even Corissa?"
"They're usually busy and we can resolve this quickly without their help. No need to tell them."
"No need to tell me what?"
"Medeia's been kidnapped."
Roko had replied offhandedly like he had many times before but it wasn't until a moment later that he realized who had just asked and he looked up to see an Argo, face frozen in shock.
"Now, hold o-"
Roko could barely get his words out before Argo turned and began to storm off in a hurry.
"Wait wait wait wait wait!" Momo cried, grabbing onto Argo and holding him back as best she could, "We don't even know where they are exactly right now! But Aranea is there! She can rescue Medeia and capture all of them right now!"
"Aranea?" Argo gasped, the name bringing back a bit of reason to his panicked brain, "Right...right, if anybody can save Medeia, it's her."
Argo returned to Roko with his frenzy not quite calmed, rather just bottled.
"What do you want to do now?" Roko asked, "Do you want for them to make a demand? Doing so would make it easier to incriminate them."
"I..."Argo gasped, "I...wouldn't be able to sleep knowing that my daughter has been kidnapped."
"Me too." Aranea added, "I don't want to see Medeia like this."
"Then can you capture them all right now?" Roko asked, turning to Aranea in his head,
"...There's a lot of them but...Ithinkso."Araneareplied, "It's just...no...no, I should be able to handle it."
"Thenwe'll leave it to you." Roko nodded, "If you need stat adjustments then just inform me. Though I doubt you'll need it now that you're free to use your full power."
Aranea quietly turned her attention from the call to the situation in front of her. The Starry Knights were all chatting casually about their plans. How they'll wait til tomorrow to cause a panic before sending their demands. Right now, some were arguing if they should add Corissa to their demands.They were too busy to notice her right now so this was her chance. Sneaking out of her shadowy corner, Aranea climbed around the rafters, hoping she didn't get spotted. By the Starry Knights sure, but more from the one person she needed to rescue. Someone she felt deeply regretful for what she had to do first.
"Sorry." Aranea whispered anxiously.
Once she was positioned over an enemy, she carefully lowered her spider abdomen, taking careful aim...before firing off a single shot of web.
"Gwah!" Medeia cried as her eyes were suddenly covered out of nowhere, "What's going on?! I can't see anything!"
"What's this?" the Starry Knights crowed around her curiously, "Is this...webbing?"
"It can't be." Ursala gasped.
But her realization was a second too late. For once Aranea re-positioned herself over the Starry Knight that had moved, she jumped down, landing her entire body against his head and slamming down onto the ground.
"What is that?!" A frightened Starry Knight pointed at her.
"It's the monster!" Ursala growled, "Everyone draw your-"
"Light!"
Aranea unleashed a wide flash of light from her hands, not quite blinding them as effectively but it was enough to slow down most of them as they tried to pull out their swords. Aranea took this time to scurry forward and lunge at the closest Starry Knight, grabbing onto him with all of her spider legs. Using her human hands to grip onto this knight's head, she unleashed her sharp spider legs upon the poor man, shredding through his armor and into his skin before he collapsed onto the ground. Alive but unconscious.
"Get her!" Ursala shouted.
The remaining knights having fully recovered from their temporary blindness began to run at Aranea with their swords. Aranea brought her hands close together before shoving it forward as she shouted, "Dark!"
A large black cube spawned out of her hands and hurtled towards one of the knights, smashing into his face and knocking him over in one blow.
"What was that?!" The other knights cried, their advance stalled as they looked to their fallen companion in fear and surprise.
"You idiots, focus!" Ursala shouted as Aranea took their hesitance to lunge onto another knight, "That's the monster we were informed about! The one the rebellion had been keeping like a pet!"
"The rebellion are employing monsters now?!" One knight shouted as they turned to Aranea, having shred their companion to metaphorical pieces with her legs again.
"Fight!" Ursala roared.
One wary knight approached Aranea and raised his sword to attack her. Faster than the man can react, Aranea jumped again, grabbing onto the man with her spider body again. Unnerved, the man began screaming in terror and dropped his sword. Aranea could slash him with her legs again but this time, she pushed her body forward into a midair roll as she threw the entire man at another knight, knocking him off their feet and the two into unconsciousness.
With their boss screaming at them to fight, the next two knights approached Aranea with more bravery and tried swinging their swords at her again. But with another Dark spell, Aranea lifted herself up on a black square pillar as their swords slashed into the magical pillar instead. The knights looked fearfully up at at monster on top of the pillar before she jumped down towards one of them. The man yelped but pointed his sword up at Aranea, waiting for her to land herself upon his sword. Instead, in response to the man's tactic, Aranea lowered her abdomen again and fired a web net upon the poor man, quickly wrapping him up in her threads. As the man struggled against his bindings, Aranea landed next to him, a single thread in her hand that she whipped around, pulling the knight off his feet as she swung him into his companion. Another two down.
"Can't you lot do anything properly?!" Ursala shouted as another two approached Aranea from the sides only to be met with a spread kick knocking them both out.
S-She's freakishly strong, ma'am!" One knight reported as another got webbed in the face then smashed into the ground with a pull of her string.
"I'll handle her then!" Ursala shouted as she approached Aranea, "I'm good with kids."
The head kidnapper walked purposefully towards Aranea as she shot another Dark cube into another knight's stomach. Whether to attack or coax her, it wasn't clear.
"Hey, sweetie." Ursala said with a sickeningly sweet voice, "Why don't we calm down for a minut-"
The kidnapper's falsetto was met with a rock thrown into her face. Ursala stumbled back but the rock was also quickly withdrawn, wrapped in a web and tied to a string in Aranea's hands.
"Watch out! She's got a sling!" One knight cried out in terror.
"You idiot! You all got swords!" Ursala scowled.
"Oh. Right."
When Aranea next made an attempt to throw her sling at one of the knights, the knight ducked and swung his sword at the connecting thread. But instead of slicing the fragile silk apart, the thread bent and the rock was tugged back around, wrapping around the knight's sword.
"Wait."
But it was too late as Aranea yanked the sword from the man's hands.
"Dammit Spenser you dumbass motherfu-" One of Spenser's comrades was shouting at him until Aranea swung her her sword holding flail around and stabbed it into his side, downing that man. With a flick of her wrist, Aranea unwrapped the sword from her sling and pulled it back towards her.
"Servers you right, Ten-" the man whose sword was taken was gloating when a webbed sling smashed into the side of his head and knocked him out as well.
"Take the sling from her!"
At Ursala's orders, one Starry Knight managed to catch the sling and begin pulling on it, trying to take it from Aranea's hand. Aranea struggled to pull her sling free but the sling was pretty inconsequential at this point. All that mattered was that the string was taunt. And that someone was trying to attack her from behind. Cutting the thread from her end, Aranea threw her end of the sling up into the air, over a bar in the rafter before firing off a Dark spell. The dark cube flew up into the air, attaching to the free end of the sling and then multiplying in size until a behemoth of a block slammed down on the knight trying to attack Aranea from behind. The weight pulling down the sling also pulled the poor knight who was still holding onto the other end and he was flung across the rafters and smashed through a part of the wooden roof. Two more down.
"You're all competent." Ursala scowled as she looked at her dwindling force that had been more than halved in the few seconds since the fight started.
"You're the one who wanted to give her candy." one snarky Starry Knight muttered.
"What was that?! I swear, after this, you're-"
But Ursala's scolding was cut short when Aranea shoved a Dark rectangle across the floor, knocking the legs out from that one knight as he fell face first into the ground.
"Hm." Ursala blinked, "You can get a vacation day I suppose."
"Boss, I don't think we can win!" one cowardly Starry Knight whimpered as another of his fellows was blinded by a Light spell then jumped upon and shredded by Aranea's spider legs.
"Don't falter!" Ursala barked, "We still outnumber her!"
"Not for long!" The man shouted as another of his comrades was jumped over and slammed with the back of Aranea's spider carapace.
"Whatever, I got this." Ursala said as she tossed away her sword and pointed both her fingers at Aranea, "Light-speed spell, Lightning!"
Aranea jumped to the side, letting a rather weak looking bolt fry a part of the floor. But the second bolt came just as fast and Aranea barely had a chance to dodge that too. Bolt after bolt came faster and faster, Aranea forced to put as much strength into her speed in order to avoid it.
"Hahaha! How do you feel now?! Can't do a thing can you!"
"That's awesome boss!" Ursala's only remaining Starry Knight cheered, "How long can you keep that up?!"
"About one more minute."
"What?"
The end of the minute never came as Aranea finally cleared the distance around Ursala so as to place her directly behind the remaining Starry Knight.
"No wa-"
The Starry Knight scrunched up his body in fear of getting shot but Ursala fired anyway, shooting past her subordinate to try and hit Aranea. Aranea jumped instead, landing in the rafters above them. Ursala changed her aim again but Aranea already had a plan. She jumped off and shot a web thread way in front of her, hitting a mid point between Ursala and her Starry Knight. With lighting firing off around her, Aranea swung down from the rafters, slamming into and picking up the lone Starry Knight as she began to swing back up, carrying the knight with her spider half. At the height of her swing, Aranea cut her thread free so she, and the knight she was carrying was free in the air again. Ursala tried to aim a spell at them but Aranea was spinning around too much for her to get a clear shot. When Aranea finally stopped spinning, Ursala finally realized what was about to happen as Aranea aimed her body and the knight underneath it to crush her.
"Oh no." Ursala gulped, her spells ineffective with her own knight in the way.
She tried to turn and run but it was too late as the weight of two people, one of them half giant spider, slammed into her, knocking the last of the kidnappers unconscious.
For a moment, Aranea stood there, having gotten off the humans she had slammed together to take a short break after all that work. She had been so focused that she had almost forgotten why she was here until she spoke up.
"Ara-"
"Is it over?"
The voice of another figure from the building's second floor sent Aranea back into combat mode. She jumped up and landed on the banister of second floor, glaring angrily at...an impoverished man. The poor man wore tattered clothes upon an almost skeletal body. He screamed in terror and cowered in fear in front of Aranea,
"AAAHHHH!!! A monster! Please don't kill me!"
The poor man pleaded helplessly in front of Aranea. His story was clear to Aranea. This poor Mulapin man had been paid by the Starry Knights to use his inn as a home base for their kidnapping. He wasn't innocent...but he wasn't evil either. His cry of monster couldn't even do any damage to Aranea's heart like so many others did. So wordlessly...without consulting anybody, Aranea jumped back down. There she picked up the still blinded Medeia, chair and all, and ran back to the Earthbounds' base.