The 20th piece in the mission is also the biggest, word-count wise.

It also happens to be pretty epic, intense and award winning.

 
Warning: Harsh Language (obviously)

Sebastian Dash's eyes refused to focus. He had no idea where he was yet and even so, worry, doubt and maybe even fear soaked his mind. His body ached when he tried to move. Careful not to alert any potential threats he was starting to wake, Dash took stock of the situation. Wrists were bound, probably by metal. Not like any metal Dash had ever felt before. Dash's body ached, but he could sense the nanites trying to repair his body. It felt like Aleena tried to contact him for a moment, but the feeling passed.

A caught breath and a piteous mewled name of her Goddess alerted Dash to the presence of Catrina. Dash nearly responded but stopped himself. Still couldn't get his eyes to clear up. Everything sounded muffled. Dash had no idea where they were but the ground felt cold and hard, like a cave.

Was she next to him or halfway across the cave?

A growl, even cut short, and Dash knew that she was similarly bound. He smirked; being tied up was not one of her favorite ways to play, if he recalled correctly. Her tying someone else up for fun, he could picture. Dash shook his head and softly said, "Catrina?"

No response, so he said it a little louder. "Cat?"

"D-Dash?" Came her voice back to him. Then the sound of her trying- and failing- to break free.

"Save the strength," Dash said. "I need to get mine back, anyway. We've been in worse spots than this, kitty."

"I dunno… way I'm tied I think they may be planning on revisiting some of those worse times, if you catch my drift?" Cat growled.

"Whoever 'they' are," Dash said. "I think they drugged me. Not a strong drug, but enough to mess with me."

"Wish they'd drugged me. Instead of that monster taking pleasure in beating me out."

Dash let out a growl of his own. "Daisuke? Paladin?"

"No... Not Daisuke. He had learned better. But that mask...believe me, I know it's not him doing this." She mewled for another reason.

"The mask!" Dash tried to sit up, only to find his bindings didn't allow that. "Shit, that's right. Damn it to Hey Daze; that's the same one Konall had?"

"Considering we both know where he got it, I'd say yes. Are we sure that bitch is gone?"

Dash nodded, voice strained. "I saw Kadlin die from Aleena's perspective. Trying to seal the spirit back into the glaive. Gave her life to undo what the glaive did. But the mask was just an accessory, right? It's not as dangerous as the glaive was, as far as we know."

"Tell that to my ribs…" Catrina tried to laugh and failed painfully. The next word out of her mouth do not bear repeating. "Dash?"

Dash struggled, testing his restraints. He let out a pained moan. "This isn't gonna work.. yes, Catrina?"

"What's it like, having those… things inside you? Having her inside you?"

Dash frowned. "It's like.. mostly it's like nothing. Just knowing something's not right, or not normal but not being able to tell why. Sometimes it's like having access to information. Like a really strong case of deja vu. Why?"

"'Well…. You have her, and Catt has.. That other one…"

"Jen…"

"Uh huh.." Her voice sounded… unsure. "Are you happy? Do… do you think he is?"

"Oh no," Dash replied curtly. "Not that. I mean, Jen is rushing into an ambush. Or was. I hope they're okay. As for your brother.. he's definitely less angry than he was. I don't know if that's the same as happy."

"Oh…" Catrina sounded a little sad, then stopped. "Wait.. do you mean right now? You know they're in danger right now? What is it? Can we…" She struggled in her bonds again, nearly roaring with the pain.

"How long were we out?" Dash asked. "Catrina, I need to try to contact Aleena. See if I can."

"I dunno. That monster beat the … well he knocked me out. What little I remember was these Muri Dan discussing what they wanted to do to me." She shivered. "Tell her I said 'hi'." She forced a giggle after that, or tried.

Dash had to force himself to focus inward. Reaching out with his mind to contact her. I just hope she isn't injured.

Dash could almost hear her at first. Then, in a flash of light, he found himself elsewhere.

Only not really elsewhere.

Dash found himself in a small room. A single light overhead spotlit the room's occupant - Aleena. The Queen of the Morlencir empire sat naked in a metal chair. Metal restraints held her arms to armrests and kept her legs spread. A complicated device enwrapped her pelvis. Another device wound around her head, blinding her. The chair armature possessed mechanical limbs tipped with needles that dripped a strange fluid. The elf cried out in pain as a needle suddenly plunged into her arm, injecting her with the strange fluid. Her gasps and writhing could be interpreted either as great pain or great pleasure, Dash wasn't sure which.

Dash tried to move towards her, but found himself resisted by an artificial push. "Aleena? Is that what she's going through in reality? Maybe I can at least free you from this in the mindscape."

Dash tried to push against the force, but it made the room, and Aleena, tear in half. Suddenly he found himself in another scene: thousands of elves around him screaming and dying under a crimson sky. Their flesh was being shredded and torn as their cysuits consumed them and disintegrated. Dash reached out, as if trying to hold them together through the sheer force of his unmatched will, but it slipped through his hands like silky sand.

Dash looked around. He briefly noticed odd columns of smoke rising in perfectly spiral columns at the edge of the vision when the connection with Aleena suddenly broke off and he found himself back in the cave.

"Um… Dash?" Catrina was there still, at least.

"Horrible.." Dash said, more to himself, barely loud enough for Catrina to pick up on it. He'd already felt nauseous and the image in his mind only intensified that horrible feeling. "The things I saw.."

"Is that why your scent was more aroused than Todd on a Saturday night?" Catrina chuckled.

Head pounding, Dash ignored the tease. "Focus, kitten. We've been here before.. except my vision's still not clear.. wait, can you see anything? Smell anything?"

"I am focused. On the good part. That's how we always made it through, by remembering there will always be the good parts." She purred just a bit. "Even in other caves, there were good parts. It's how I survived then." There was a pause. "As for seeing… I can see a little. It isn't completely pitch in here."

"Guards?" Dash asked, mind already trying to piece together an escape route, their first obligation as prisoners.

"All I recall, besides us, was that couple of soon to be castrated Muri Dan. Please don't make me check for scents."

"Catrina, can you check for.. just kidding?" Dash forced himself to smile. "Any particular reason? Or do I wanna know?"

"They know they have a Feline captive. There's more than one way to f- screw with us. Like cooking the foulest smelling meal available!"

She sighed, then mewled. "But… we need to know so," Dash couldn't see her closer her eyes but he did hear the fight she had to keep her stomach down while she took note of the scents around her. It was how the poisons caused Dash to feel.

"Ugh… Goddess, the things I do for hot men. Okay, aside from our culinary school dropouts I… " She wrinkled her nose a bit more. "I have no idea what I'm smelling. It's like metal, almost. Ozone. Only amped up to about a thousand. I think they're trying to block me from smelling anything past that." She retreated from her task, rubbing her nose as if trying to get the stench out.

Silence. No response. Then Dash sighed. He couldn't shake off this drowsiness. "I'm not seeing a way out of this. Yet. Are you?"

"If I could talk one of the guards into untying me… but the only reason they'd do that I'm not doing even to get free!"

"Doesn't matter," Dash answered confidently, ignoring the pain. "Sooner or later, they're slip up. And we're getting Aleena. Then we're going to get to the bottom of whoever's behind this."

"You know I hate waiting," Catrina growled, "especially when I know Catt is in danger."

"That cat's tough," Dash said. "Trust me, I know."

"I know… it's just he's still my baby brother. And sometimes he bites off more than he can chew."

"So do we," Dash answered. "Is it me, or are is there a noticeable lack of guards yelling for us to keep quiet?"

Catrina stopped struggling, whining and, above all, talking. She sat quietly in the dark, using her sharp ears for 'something more than head decoration', as her mother had told her on occasion long ago.

"Dash? I don't hear any guards."

"We're upwind of where they'd be, right?" Dash answered. "At a guess. My vision isn't cleared enough to say for sure, but the way the ground's slanting, I'd say we're in a cave. Gods save us if I'm right, but it almost feels like they terraformed the cave."

"Downwind. I can smell that glop they call cooking." She paused. "Terror- whatnow?"

"Maybe terraforming is the wrong word here," Dash said, more to himself.

"I wouldn't know."

Dash paused to feel around. "It feels like the cave floor itself was adjusted. Some of the spots feel filled in by a different type of rock. Maybe it's nothing but that'd take some powerful geomagic.. or something with a cysuit, maybe?"

"Are you sayin' we're dealin' with another group of elves?"

"Probably not. Maybe. But whatever we're dealing with, they're on a whole nother level than the Goblins or even the penguins."

"Great…. Just when I was gettin' used to kicking their a- butts, these new guys show up!"

"New guys.." Dash answered. His mind briefly drifted back to the strange new spaceship. "I wonder if... Nevermind. Forget that for now. We need to focus on getting out of here."

"First, we need to get out of these restraints," the lioness offered. "Especially with the way they have me trussed up, ready for… well I'll leave that to the imagination."

The two fell silent for a while. Dash used the time to try contacting Aleena again. This took a while. As soon as Dash would make a connection, Dash wound encounter an horrific image, usually revolving around the space elves and mass destruction. And yet there seemed to be something linking the images, random though they seemed to be. Those strange smoke columns again.

Meanwhile Catrina was not idle, either, trying to concentrate, to use her Chi to heighten her senses, to judge the weak points of her restraints. It was a difficult task, as her mind continued to dwell on the spreader bar between her legs, and of half heard conversations in half awake moments. What had been done to her?

Meanwhile, Dash continued to focus on the image. Eventually, he came back to, almost smiling despite the agony he was in. Being more lucid, Dash could feel the dried blood on his skin. It almost soaked the right sleeve on his badly torn shirt.

"Catrina.." Dash said, keeping his voice so low, she barely heard it.

"Yes?" came the reply, barely a purr. Good girl!

"Little problem though. My vision still isn't clearing. I'm not even sure how badly I'm injured. How much..." Dash let his voice trail off. He didn't have to bother explaining the trick Aleena suggested - using the nanites in Dash's blood to form a blade to cut through his restraints. He just had to focus on doing it.

"But you..." Catrina started.

How much could he fight? Dash wasn't sure. "Sure, probably some."

"There's some light somewhere. Just not enough for you to work with." Catrina tried to hide a smug, Feline-centric tone since she could see more in the dark.

"It's not the light," Dash answered. Catrina could hear his voice getting closer even as he dropped his voice nearly to a whisper. Even so, he sounded more tense than usual. "The nanites should be clearing it up but they're not."

The lioness looked at Dash as if he were in a well lit room. "You say that like I understand." She chuckled. Dash however, looked around. It took several seconds for his eyes to fall on her.

"There, now to just figure out.." Dash started to say but Catrina's ears twitched and she shushed him, hissing, "The guards are coming!"

Dash looked around for the darkest corner to fall back to - then remembered the Muri-Dan's senses would be higher than his. So instead, he rushed to Catrina. She could see an obsidian colored blade on his wrist. She twisted, stretching her arms out behind her, praying to the Goddess to aid his sight! She'd then guide his blade as best and as quietly as she could.

Dash had been in this position before, but something was slowing him down. As soon as the blade touched Catrina's restraints, she could see the blade spreading over the restraints and then back.

"Hmm," Dash said. "For some reason, the nanites can't absorb it. Magic maybe? How much time do we got?"

A surprised and angry voice from behind Dash called out, "Wot're you doin' there, furless scum?!"

"Sounds about right," Dash said bitterly, quickly spinning to face his adversaries. "Gentlemen, I'm injured, half blind, and outnumbered.. looks like three to one?"

"Four to one!" said a meek voice from behind the bigger Muri-Dan.

"Right, sorry," Dash clarified. "Three and a quarter to one. But I'm also about to let a pissed off Feline off of her chain. Do you really wanna try your luck with me today?"

Catrina had been twisting to let Dash have a shot at her leg bindings when the guards arrived. She growled loudly at them, menacingly. She could see Dash bracing for a rough battle. She started to describe the scene to him, acting as his eyes in the dark for this fight, hoping this would be enough to balance the odds.

"Oh, don't worry," the boss rat chuckled, "We'll be playin' with her long after we get rid of the evidence of what happened to you!"

"Yeah!" the Muri-Dan behind them said. "And we don't mean Alice's Army either.. um.. do we?"

Before they could answer, Dash sprung into action, ignoring the obvious limp, and taking the biggest Muri-Dan on head on. Catrina could tell it, almost smell how pissed off Dash was. Letting the emotion overwhelm the pain.

One of the guards caught wind of Catrina's directions, moving to stop her. He was greeted by a twisting feline, slashing with her foot claws then jumping on the fallen muri- dan. Unable to fight with her paws or swords, Catrina took the only option she had and ripped the rat's throat out to his gurgled screams. With the others turning to attack Catrina, Dash quickly reformed his blade into a blunt weapon and dropped one with a shot to the back of the head. The next Muri-Dan swung his bladed tail at Dash who jumped back, barely avoiding it.

The scent of their comrade's blood was in the air now, however, shaking their confidence in the battle and allowing Dash to down another. Catrina struggled to her feet, then promptly was off them again, throwing her body hard into the last one, who managed to squirm and scurry away before she could finish the job. Seeking to end this, Dash turned towards the muri-dan he'd just downed- who'd struggled back to his feet. Before Dash could act, the smaller muri-dan shoved Dash hard, sending him flying into Catrina and sending both down in a heap of limbs and tail (hers).

The two scurried to their feet, only to be met by a dazzling burst of light. Catrina could smell the muri-dan scuttering off, escaping into the deeper confines of the cave. She blinked the spots away from her sight, growling at the escape of her prey.

"Mind checking this body for keys, Dash? I'm kinda tied up at the moment." She tried to purr amusedly, but it fll flat.

"Heh.." Dash almost smiled. "I got key job the last time, remember?"

"You keep track?" Catrina chuckled. "Besides, there's only one thing I can check him with at the moment- and I'm not giving him the satisfaction even dead!"

"I'm looking," Dash said, leaning over and trying to ignore the smell. "Hard to see." Dash rolled the body over, ignoring the sickening sounds of blood pouring out, nearly soaking Dash's boots. "But the keys are usually.. ahh, here we go."

Catrina lay back on the floor/ ground/ whatever, lifting her legs up at Dash. "This first. I'm sick of being spread like an Aldaran whore!"

"Soon as I figure what to stick where, kitten," Dash said, fumbling through what he'd recovered; a set of shiny new keys on a thick old rusty ring. "I knew that wasn't gonna sound right. Here we go."

Catrina chuckled, purrin as her legs were freed, turning so he could get to her wrist bindings. "I know. But…"

Her voice dropped a little. "I never left you, Dash. You understand?"

"Yeah," Dash said, voice cracking as he fidgeted. "Different key.. one moment. There we go."

Catrina rubbed her wrists. "Thanks…" She then growled. "Now to find my clothes- after I do a little private check to see just how dead these dead rats are." She moved away, turning from him.

Dash looked the other way. "I'm trying to track down where Aleena is, physically. Either I'm doing it wrong, or something's blocking it."

"Can they? Remember I have no idea what you're talking about." Catrina's growl deepened as she returned to Dash's side. The look on her face said any guards she met from here on were VERY dead!

"You know how they communicate?" Dash asked, stumbling in the dark. "Take lead. Well, it works like that, basically. Sort of.. like how bats find their way in a zucave."

"And can that be blocked? From what I gather from Catt, you're always connected."

"We should be but.." Dash's voice trailed off. "I guess we're doing this the old fashioned way."

"Some things are best when done naturally." Catrina purred as she led Dash through the gloom. Dash sighed, whispering. "Do you think we might get lucky and find your newborn down here?"

Catrina growled as only a mother can. "Only reason I'd be able to sense him down here is if they wanted me to. And I don't have to remind you what happens when they want me to- it's why we're here." She realized that her emotions were causing her to dig her claws into Dash's flesh and let up on his arm.

"On the other hand," Dash answered, rubbing his sore arm, "if it's a trap, we might have to go for it. If the baby isn't useful as a trap.."

"He's more than a trap and they know it!" Carina growled. "Remember whose child he is, Dash." She then instantly regretted saying that, remembering just how Dash knew.

Dash gave her shoulder a squeeze. (Well, hopefully it was her shoulder. With his vision, he wasn't sure.) "We'll get him back, Catrina. Count on it."

"I'm sorry, Dash," Catrima said out of nowhere.

"It's okay," Dash answered. "It's your kit, after all. I can understand why..."

"No, no… not for that. It's just.. Well, I just realized that in the whole time I've been back I've never really taken the time to apologize for all of… that."

Dash gritted his teeth. "I've done my best to move past it."

"I know you have. I just wanted you to know that whatever that bitch took from me, it pales in comparison to losing you."

Dash smiled thinly. "You haven't gotten rid of me yet. Hmmm.. we should take a left turn at the next cave."

"How can there be a 'next cave' when we're still in.. nevermind, turn here?"

Dash nodded, trying to shake off a drowsy feeling that refused to go fully away. "Sorry. Tunnel. Yeah, turn there."

The two proceeded down the tunnel, having to duck as they went. The tunnel suddenly opened up to reveal a spa. Well-built with polished black marble decorating all surfaces. Water bubbled in from unseen springs into pools that looked refreshing; some steamed with warmth, and some looked cool and placid. Guarding the spa were two of what were very apparently bugbears. They were lumbering brutes compared to Dash and Catrina, as biped humanoids with short, white hair covering their bodies, a pink canine-like snub snout and beards that were braided into three parts. Large, floppy, and pointed ears stood erect from the sides of their heads. They wore uniforms of metal and leather.

Catrina quickly pulled Dash back into the tunnel out of sight, describing the situation. "You sure this is the way?"

Dash knew they were bugbears because that is what popped, unbidden, into his consciousness. Sort of like how Dash knew far too many details on Aleena's favorite romance novels. Something informed Dash, A typical bugbear is 7 feet tall and weighs 400 pounds.

Between the two bugbear guards stood a display case containing the naked Queen of the Morlencir Empire: Aleena Sylir. Thick black straps attached to the Queen's limbs, stretching her out in a "Y" position, with her legs bound together. A featureless black mask covered her face.

The top of the display case had her name, with the words "Near mint condition" under it.

Dash whispered to Catrina, "Pretty sure, yeah."

Catt growled a little as she took it all in. "And me without weapons or…" She purred. "I think I have a plan…"

With that she motioned him to stay while she stood and walked boldly out into the spa! Now, remember that our Feline heroine had just recently been their captive, and that they had indeed taken her arms and armor. As such what the bugbears saw approaching them was a near naked catgirl with all the hotness that entails!

"Isn't that our prisoner?!" one of the bugbear guards asked the other.

"No," the other answered after a thoughtful pause. "I'm pretty sure our prisoner had armor on. Or possibly a swimsuit."

"I could be your prisoner, boys. If you like." Catrina purred, possibly turning up the sluttiness to 11, miffed that they were still talking. "I like to be tied up too, if that will help."

One of the guards turned to the other. "It doesn't sound like her either."

"You're right. I think it sounded more like a female. Her human chest was less unimpressive, too."

Catrina growled, putting hands to hips in a way that made her bounce nicely- for anyone interested, that is. "Hff! That's just rude!"

Distracted and before they could insult her further, Dash circled around to their blindside and nailed one of the guards from behind with an oversized rock to the head. It stumbled forward to one knee. When the other turned to eviscerate Dash, he found a large white feline on his back using all her natural weapons to keep him busy.

"This is for not appreciating the good stuff, ass!"

The bugbear roared and struggled to get at the feline on his back, as well as protect his eyes from claws. But she was holding fast, so he tried to use his body as a weapon, by rushing backwards at the wall hoping to squish Catrina.

Luckily, cat- like (duh!) reflexes allowed the feisty feline to leap clear before impact, with the bugbear hitting the other so hard, both slumped to the floor.

She dusted herself off and moved back over to Dash and the captive Aleena, pausing only to kick the other bugbear. (We won't say where, but you know Catrina by now..)

Dash meanwhile, had to look around to find where Catrina was standing. "There you are. My vision still isn't improving. Point me in the right direction, Catrina. I'm sure my blade can handle this problem."

Catrina did so, trying not to look too concerned either about her friend or the strange apparatus.

Aleena twitched in her bindings.

"Lil gift from Aleena," Dash explained as he walked towards the display case. "She showed me how to use the nanites to form..."

Dash was interrupted as he was suddenly and forcefully expelled backwards, with only Catrina's natural instinct allowing her to catch him, the pair falling in a jumbled heap that Catrina might have enjoyed once upon a time.

"What the Hey Daze?!" Dash asked, scampering to get back to his feet.

Catrina rose as well, approaching the case carefully. "I don't know, you were doing this and then…"

She stopped, half expecting to be thrown back but instead she felt- nothing. "What the Hey Daze indeed!"

She moved closer, finding herself within touching range of the case before looking at Dash, her face clearly reading 'what now?'

Dash gestured towards the case with a punch. "Send it to Hey Daze."

"With what? My good looks?" Catrina turned back to the case, studying it before getting an idea. She concentrated. Her Chi could boost her attacks, perhaps…

She punched the cage. The transparent aluminium cracked and collapsed under its own weight. Catrina grabbed a dagger from an unconscious bugbear and cut the straps that held Aleena bound. She then caught the collapsing Queen and dragged her from her prison to Dash.

As Catrina cut away the hood covering Aleena's head, the elf began to rouse. And then she began to fight. Screaming, punching, pulling on Catrina's fur. The feline fought back- but only enough to keep Aleena from hurting her. "Um…. Dash? Crazy elf bitch girlfriend calling!"

"Trying to get through now!" Dash answered, eyes shut tight (and not just from the poison). "Something's blocking me. Try to hold her."

This got an amused snort from the busy lioness. "You better not be living out your fantasies, Dash!" Even with the joking she did comply, hugging the elf Queen to her tightly, forgetting the fact that both women were as close to naked as you could get.

Of course, to Dash, they were still just blurs in the dark. If Dash heard her comment, he gave no indication, instead turning himself inwards. Aleena had explained he didn't need to get for the "full immersive experience" to contact Aleena, but nothing else was working. Plus, he needed to focus. Try to clear his head of the poison's effects or at least ignore them.

Without meaning to, Dash found himself standing on a virtual black plane. Endless space, mostly devoid of stars, shone in the background. Looking to the sides, he could see they were circling a dead planet. Dash then looked ahead of himself, not seeing anything. Not at first. When he tried to walk forward, he found something pushed him back.

Dash suddenly focused and saw a figure shimmy into existence. Suddenly and with no indication of how it happened, Dash felt a dozen limbs holding him back. Refusing to let him move towards a giant figure ahead of him.

Dash barely managed to force his head up to see a large bugbear. It looked different and alien. The figure was thinner than most bugbears, yet the shoulders, arms and legs were grotesquely muscular. The muscles on the creature looked wholly unnatural and entirely mismatched to Dash. Dash looked up at the creature. The creatures holding Dash, likely, were irrelevant mirages. Fighting them would do no good. This was the creature Dash would focus on. (At least his vision worked on this strange.. mental plane. Whatever it was Dash found himself on.)

"What do you want from her?!" Dash demanded. "Let her go. Now."

The grounds trembled under the deep shouts of the behemoth bugbear. "Silent, small and insignificant hairless monkey! She is my prisoner. That is all you need to know! That and perhaps the secret of grooming!"

"That's not good enough!" Dash yelled.

"So. You have a cysuit. You will die with the rest, and I will laugh as your technology consumes you."

Dash struggled momentarily. "That's not really that funny, you know."

"What do you get when you combine one part hairless monkey and one part nanite paste?"

Dash ignored the question. "Let her go."

"A monkee Squishee! Hahaha."

"You're trying my patience, bear."

"Hah! You are so insignificant, so weak. Your threats amuse me. Go ahead! Tell me another threat."

Dash looked closer, straining his eyes to see beyond the bugbear. To see behind what he could see right now. After all, this wasn't reality. But he couldn't see anything. "I could say something about 'chopping you down to size,' but I'm not sure you're worth the effort."

Oddly, the bugbear just mindlessly repeated, "Hah! You are so insignificant, so weak. Your threats amuse me. Go ahead! Tell me another threat."

Dash glanced around, annoyed. It dawned on him. No, it wasn't that he couldn't see anything past the bugbear, it was that he saw nothing past the bugbear. There was nothing to see.

The figures holding him back all looked like old allies of Dash, ranging from Aleena and Catrina to older allies like Jake and Katlana. Dash closed his eyes, unable to believe he'd missed it this easily.

"This isn't about her, is it?"

The bugbear growled angrily. "Tell me another threat or I will rip you apart!"

"We're done here," Dash said, allowing his nanites to disconnect from this strange mental torture. Whatever was going on, it wasn't going to help Dash.

Dash returned to the real world. Meanwhile, Aleena had curled up into a ball and was sobbing. Catrina was wrapped around her, shushing in her ear softly, motheringly.

It's the only piece for any of the three - Dash, Catrina or Aleena. But wow, wasn't it good?

Although voter Ichiro commented about it "lacking humor," the bit with Catrina and the uncooperative bugbear guards - where she tries to act sexy and it falls flat- always makes me smile.

It's nice having voter comments since it can be hard to fairly comment on pieces I wrote or in this case, helped write. We get introduced to the bugbears here, having not seen much of them so far this season. As you can see, they combine magic and futuristic technology, making them a threat like no other so far. I'm sure we'll see more of the threat develop in some mission, eventually.

As for now though, let's take a look at the three awards this baby won!! (These obviously apply for the KOKOL quest, duh.)

Best plot progression: For its strong writing throughout, its intensity and the big plot points here. Yup, for sure!

Best plot twist/ most dramatic moment: Although the idea was this would go to a moment rather than a co-write, it's awarded for, in Ichiro's own words, "almost every (seat-gripping) moment of this piece." Impressive! Ichiro cited a real sense of danger in this one, which I think is palatable throughout the piece. The threats just keep coming in various forms, as you see above! I am quite happy with the result - and this storyline has serious long term implications for the three, most of all Aleena.

Best co-write: For the above stated reasons.

That's two points to each player character for best co-write, and three points to each writer for best plot progression, and another three points to each character for best pot twist/ most dramatic moment! Wow.

Next up, Wildfall and Mary ran into both Alys and Todd during the mission but next we get all four together.