Wishing and wishing and more wishing!

Ashe stopped yelling for him to come forward and looked down at her pocket in surprise. She dug in and took out the card that had suddenly appeared out of the blue.

"You again?" she asked the card. Adrien frowned as he saw the card and he growled louder like an animal. He leaned forward and swiped at the card but Ashe pulled it away in time. 

"What, you want the card, Adrien?" 

He just rumbled and looked behind him to watch the Inexas come behind him. He walked forward and grabbed her wrist and met her bland brown eyes. With no words said, they understood each other and in the same second, they started running.

Ashe tried to keep up with him and shot forward along with Adrien who seemed to be running extra fast now. He felt Ashe slow him down so he stopped and looked at her once. Ashe panted, tired and looked back to see the Inexas also running extra fast. Dust was aroused around them and they both felt the ground shake underneath them.

Adrien blinked his eyes and the golden veins disappeared, returning from the animal like state to his normal state. He coughed and internally gasped as he saw these Inexas coming at them. 

Something was off, they both thought. The Inexas were faster and their snake legs…they watched as the snake legs slowly morphed into actual spider legs.

"Oh no, Ashe. With actual spider legs…"

"They are faster."

Adrien gulped and looked at her, "They are on Stampede mode now. But they only come to that mode when someone steals their eggs or children. Why now?" The Inexas were closing in fast but there was still some distance between them and the Inexas who were rushing forward to eat Adrien. He couldn't take out all hundred on his own. 

Ashe was feeling stupid and useless. And maybe that's why she tried to try her mind trick again. It worked exactly two times. She hoped it would work now too. She closed her eyes and tried to be calm. She reached forward and held Adrien's hand. Feeling its warmth, she instantly felt calm. Weirdly. 

'I wish for the Inexas to disappear.'

Ashe peeked her eyes open to check if they disappeared but sadly, those monsters were still there. Adrien was starting to get confused now. "Uh, Ashe. What are you doing? Shouldn't we be running?"

Ashe let go of his hand and pushed him forward, "You run, Adrien. I'll handle this."

He laughed and shook his head, "You sound crazy. How are you going to single handedly take them all down?"

She breathed, "I have to try."

"Are you depending on luck right now? Whatever you're planning inside that head of yours?" he asked, really not getting her. He had thousands of other questions to ask her. Like what the hell was that confession about?! And what company, what government?! But he tried to be calm and make her calm. 

If the Inexas didn't get finished soon, it won't be long before they found the other five boys too and killed them all. Adrien laughed at the irony of the situation. They had initially come here to kill Ashe. And now Ashe was here trying to save them from getting killed instead. 

"You're really something, Ashe," he told himself. 

"What are you staring at, you green eyed frog? Run!"

Adrien smiled and this time, he obeyed. He trusted her now. And that wasn't a decision he made with his head, or his heart. He felt a connection reach out to within him from somewhere greater. He didn't know what it was…but maybe he knew but 10 years in the game world made him forget. But standing in front of Ashe. he remembered what it is to be human. 

He turned around and ran, letting his girl handle it. No, this wasn't weak of him. He believed she could do it and so he stepped back. It's always the princes who save their damsels from distress. 

But did you know, there are many untold stories where the damsels end up saving the day? That didn't mean the princes were weak. Instead, the damsels were equally as strong. 

Ashe cringed as she thought again with her head, now even calmer that Adrien was somewhere safe. 

'I wish for the Inexas to die.'

Nothing. "Arghhh…" she looked around in frustration. To hell with damsels saving the day, she didn't even know what she was doing there. She was weapon less too. She looked at the card and started stepping back as the Inexas closed in on her. 

"You keep appearing now and then…now that I remember," she slowly started to realize, "Back when I magically fixed the sink and made the blood disappear with my thoughts, you were there in my pocket. But when the fire was on the guards," Ashe started smiling, "You weren't there!"

So…so that means…"My mind trick works when I'm in contact with this card!" Ashe finally fit all the pieces together. But why wasn't it working now? She looked around and saw a car abandoned on the side of the door. 

Holding the card tight, she wished again. And suddenly, just like her wish, the car started to move front. And on her wish, it moved backward. 

"Woah…" her eyes met with the Inexas. So maybe she should try wishing something small… something like…

"I wish the STAMPEDE mode of Inexas were switched off."

And just like that, the Inexas paused for a moment and the spider legs melted into snake legs. Ashe laughed in joy. 

Adrien who was watching from a distance was awed, 'How did you do that?'

Lucas gritted his teeth and growled in frustration. Suddenly, the card disappeared from Ashe's hands and appeared in Lucas's hands. 

Lucas smiled and opened the system once again and switched on STAMPEDE. The Inexas once again morphed into poky spider legs and pursued Ashe. This time, she also started running. 

"Shit, shit, shit….where's the card? How did it disappear so suddenly?" She ran past Adrien also as the Inexas increased their speed. Adrien came out from his hiding spot and caught up with Ashe, his speed was faster as he always jogged around the estate in the mornings. So naturally, he was more fit. He stopped Ashe and bent down, telling her to get on his back.

Without thinking, Ashe got on his back and wrapped her hands around his neck, "GO GO GO!!"

"Yes ma'am!" Adrien laughed and ran even faster. "Ashe, what are we going to do now?"

"AHH!! I don't know don't ask me!" she held him tighter in fear. 

"What? I thought you'll handle all this?"

But Ashe was going crazy. Now that she knew what possessing that card could do, she only wanted that card back in her hands again. Adrien decided to take a huge and wide U turn to slow the Inexas down.

Soon they were back at the square where it all started but the hungry Inexas were still chasing them. Lucas was having fun inside his supermarket corner, and watching the whole thing right in front of his eyes. "You're trying so damn hard, my dear Ashe. Do you like that robot so much?" 

Ashe and Adrien had halted right in front of the supermarket now. But they didn't notice anything inside the supermarket as it was dark. Lucas held a breath and bit his hand to keep himself quiet. He stared at the two through the glass doors. 

Before he knew it, the card disappeared from his hand and appeared in Ashe's again. Lucas raised his eyebrows as he saw this. 

"What! When it's not in my hand, the card goes to this little girl!" Lucas couldn't believe it. He smiled. "So if I keep her close, I'll get both her and control to the game." 

"How nice…" he thought, feeling like he was going to win today. The chances of that happening were very high. 

Ashe told Adrien to put her down and he did as he watched Ashe close her eyes and wish again. 

'I wish for STAMPEDE mode to be shut down.'

And likewise, the spider legs returned to snake legs. 

Adrien shook his head, "This isn't working Ashe, we both know that. Once the card goes away, it's automatically going to change into STAMPEDE mode. We can't take it down by ourselves either."

Ashe bit her lips and scratched her forehead. What would she write if this was a question in her exam paper? How to defeat the Inexas? 

She remembered how Adrien took one Inexa all by himself with his powers. So if she could increase that….

She raised her eyebrows and looked at Adrien with an idea. How had she not thought about this before? The solution was so simple!

She closed her eyes and wished one last time.