The Monster that Eats Stars

Each arm moved like serpents. How it came to be or why it was there was not a question anybody was thinking. Everybody who saw it began to think of their own survival.

Jack, Yune, and Mary all knew they had to stop it. But each of them froze in fear. The moment one eye stared at something, a bolt of lightning shot out from it's iris. The monster contained raw and untamed power. Buildings and skyscrapers began to float in mid-air. The wind and rain grew ever more violent. Janken City was no more a city, but ruins of man's world utterly destroyed by something both natural and unnatural.

The girls each snapped out of it. They jumped around the destroyed city and began to fight the creature. It moaned a loud, thundering wave like a whale's call. It paid no real attention to them. To the creature, they were just ants.

Mary and Tasha held onto Jack's back to storm through the storm. Yune kept close chaining herself with Jack as a safety harness. Mary fired her claws, but each one would just get swept away by the wind. They dashed along the destroyed ruins of skyscrapers to reach the monster above.

But the three weren't alone in facing the monster.

Nina and Anne joined into the frenzy. They felt an aggressive surge of anger knowing that the creature must have taken their parents. But they didn't believe they were dead. They thought that it must have trapped them somehow, but defeating the monster would free them.

Mirey, Venomion, and Cainus were also in the fight. The only thing Mirey feared was that she would lose her bakery, and she wouldn't let that happen. She used up whatever energy she could muster from within herself and conjured millions of different guns and rocket launchers. She began to firing at it and any rubble that came near them. And as Mirey felt no fear, it rubbed off onto Venomion and Cainus. Venomion brought out her snakes and placed them along Mirey's rockets, so they could fly up and begin biting at the arms. Cainus jumped around and with her threads threw a barrage of destroyed rubble towards it like a slingshot.

Mosaic and Schatten also joined into the fight. As she saw others fighting the monster, she felt like she had to do something, too. Schatten was afraid, but when Mosaic charged forward, Schatten transformed into a large shadowy wolf and joined her without hesitation.

The girls fought the tremendous monster in the sky, but it didn't look like it was taking any damage. When the bullets and rockets hit it only barely scratching the arms, all of the hands looked straight at Mirey. Their eyes focused in a mere second. A bright light, and then - zap! Large bolts of blue lightning from each eye concentrated into one point and then straight at Mirey. She felt a sudden jolt of fear for not just her bakery, but her life as well.

Fortunately, Cainus threw out her yo-yo and made it grow larger than three houses. It shielded Mirey from the powerful bolt, but the force blew away other surrounding buildings. However, Mirey and her bakery were safe.

They continued to fight the creature. But each minor scratch immediately regenerated. No magical bullet or explosion could penetrate it.

As Jack wasn't able to reach the monster by foot, she jumped onto one of Mirey's rockets and began to ride it like a skateboard. Mary, Tasha, and Yune were dragged along for the ride.

Before the rocket reached the surface of the monster's skin, she jumped off.

Jack concentrated her machete into a large seething hot blade and tried to cut one of the creature's arms off, but before it could touch, a bolt of lightning struck at Jack from one of the other eyes. She would have been pushed away, but Yune threw in her hook to grab onto a piece of the creature. Mary dashed forward and began to claw at one, but they did nothing. Only small scratches that would immediately regenerate in a second.

A few of the hands looked at the three girls and shot out bolts of lightning. They all got struck by it and flew away crashing to the ground with the scent of cooked flesh.

Nina and Anne were also able to reach the creature's height, but they were unable to do anything, as well. Another bolt of lightning and they were flung away like flies. But the two girls didn't give up. They landed atop one of the floating structures and continued forward with the full intent of protecting their home.

When one arm noticed Mosaic shooting beams of gray light at it, it shot out a bolt towards her. However, Schatten ran in between her and the bolt pushing both the shadowy wolf and Mosaic away.

The creature emanated no hate or anger. At most, it was slightly annoyed like it was dealing with mosquitoes.

It was chaos, and the monster was an unstoppable force.

The monster continued to rampage around the city shooting more bolts of lightning at seemingly no direction. Sparks flew. Buildings shattered by just the monster's very presence. Even space around it began to distort.

Jack, Yune, and Mary stood up while Tasha was sticking to Jack's back unsure of what any of them could do. They watched as Nina and Anne were on the front lines. They watched as a barrage of missiles and bullets did nothing but tickle the creature. Mirey even conjured a battalion of army jets to fight. They flew around, but they couldn't do anything. If the monster just slithered in their direction, they would be pushed away. Venomion conjured her giant serpent to face the creature, but it was getting overwhelmed immediately.

One of the girls, who they didn't recognize was trying to comfort an injured shadowy dog. Then, the dog turned into black coin in her arms. With a cry of grief and anger, a horde of large tentacles came out of her and wrapped themselves around the creature. However, the monster just shot bolts of lightning at it and ripped them apart with their own hands like it was nothing.

They watched as the city turned inside out. They all knew that even with all of them working together, they couldn't stop it. It was something beyond their power. But then, Jack thought about it. She remembered a power coursing through them that could possibly turn the tide.

She took a step forward and wondered to herself about it. She remembered the power, but it would turn them into a monster. But she realized that if they didn't, then the whole city would be destroyed. The three weren't aware of all of the people that already vanished. If they had, they might have thought about abandoning this place and running away. But they knew that even if they did, this Night Demon would still be alive. This storm would just go to another city and then another and then another.

They had no choice, but to destroy this creature. And Jack knew the only way to do that was to turn themselves into that other form. Her mark of the snake glowed. And Mary's and Yune's mark glowed among a shadowy mist. They also began to understand what Jack was feeling, but they weren't convinced that they should.

Jack said as she felt their doubts, "The only way we can defeat this thing is if we turn into those things. We all felt that power. It was exhilarating until we found out what we turned ourselves into. But just because we look like monsters, doesn't mean we have to act like it. We still had control of our bodies. And I have a feeling that we can only do this if we do it together. I know, Yune, that you don't want to work with me, and I understand completely that I was a horrendous and uncontrollable freak. There is nothing I can do to make up for it. And Mary, I know I bossed you around a lot into finding Annie. It must have been terrible putting up with me. The three of us aren't a family. We're barely a team. But we're the only things around that have a chance at beating this thing."

Yune and Mary were both surprised by her words. They were thoughtful. Mary nodded her head in agreement, first. And Yune, who still didn't forgive Jack, understood what needed to be done.

As they stared at the monster destroying everything around it, their marks seethed into the dark mist. They vanished and each one's marks appeared on their backs. Each one turned into a symmetrical cat with wings and a snake tail almost like a chimera.