Mao Mao's Sisters

End of a Matriarch

Mao Mao hit the the exoskeleton of the wasp, tucking and rolling across its abdomen. Minori was down by the thorax, trying to rip the stinger out, whilst holding on for life as the wasp whipped her around. The abdomen was relatively stationary compared to the other parts of the kaiserin.

Mao Mao lit Geraldine up, focusing the light into the tip of the blade. Jumping down to the thorax, he dug the blade into the exoskeleton, sliding down the monster's body. Mao Mao made it half way down before the thrashing was too much for him to handle; it took everything he had to hold onto Geraldine's handle.

"Minori!" Mao Mao yelled out. Minori stopped tugging at the stinger, shocked to see her brother all the way up here.

"What are doing up here?!" Minori shouted over the buzz of the kaiserin.

"I'm here to help!" Mao Mao responded.

"I don't need help!" Minori went back to tugging at the stinger. The wasp swooped about, trying to throw the two of them off.

"So that's what being on this side of the Mao stubbornness feels like," Mao Mao muttered to himself. They couldn't do much in the wasp's territory, he needed to ground the behemoth. He could probably sever its wing, but he'll need to pull the sword out of the exoskeleton, which will leave him teetering on his own feet. "Minori, if you won't accept my help, then humble me by helping me instead!"

This actually got Minori to listen, much to Mao Mao's surprise, he wasn't sure that would work.

"With what?"

"I need stability, but this creature is moving too much, I need to keep steady to ground it!"

"So you want me to keep you steadfast, huh?" Minori hoisted herself over the thorax, unfastening her belt from her wrist, looping it around Mao Mao's waist, Minori held the ends as she used her claws to anchor herself to the wasp. "Whatever you're going to do, do it now!"

Mao Mao reeled back his arm, holding the other one out in front. Light began to gather in Geraldine, the blade turning white. "Lunar Lash!" With a single arc of the sword, a wave of light flung out, severing the wasps wing in two.

The kaiserin's body began to tilt, Mao Mao began to float, as the wasp's body fell out from under him, sending him into a free fall. Minori let go of the body, holding the belt steadfast, as it was the only thing connecting her and Mao Mao as they fell through the sky.

"Mao Mao!" Minori shouted. The wind whipping past their ears drowned out any sound they made. When Minori realized this, she couldn't stop herself from spilling her guts. "Mao Mao! There's so much I want to tell you! I'm sorry, I'm sorry for a lot of things. I wasn't the sister you needed, and by the time I realized that, it was too late. The guilt has been eating at me inside, so much so that I'm crying myself to sleep every night! I want nothing more than tell you all of this, but I can't, and all because of this stupid pact!"

Mao Mao and Minori continued to fall, until they were falling no more, suspended in an emerald green light. "Sorry I'm late," Ashaki apologized, floating up into their line of sight. "I had to make sure they were situated."

"Nice save!" Mao Mao said, whereas Minori turned her head, not wanting to meet her sister's eye.

"We should wrap this up," Ashaki suggested. "I have some investigating to do." Lowering the two of them safely to the ground, they found the commotion waiting that had been waiting for them.

Badgerclops sat perched on a rooftop, shooting down as many of the wasps as he had in his sights. Adorabat flew around, taking out stragglers with throwing stars that she kept who knew where. Violet and Tanya zoomed about, taking out a majority of the wasps. Further down the street, a dust cloud was beginning to settle, only to be kicked back up, as the Kaiserin flailed about, trying to right itself. The battle was almost over.