Fox 31

"So what do we do?" I questioned, panic eating away at me.

"Well first off we need to know for sure that they are mimics." Levi replied. "We can't just attack Alistair's parents without proof that they aren't who they say they are."

"Well how do we find proof?" I asked.

"Mimics do exactly as their name suggests; they mimic a person and their personality and they're even able to absorb main memories."

"So how can we be sure that they are mimics? It's not like we can ask them questions and try to stump them." Levi sighed.

"How about your ability to read auras? Did anything weird come up?" I questioned. Certainly there had to be something they couldn't mimic.

"Actually I wanted to tell you guys before everything happened but I haven't been seeing the auras. I didn't really realize it til now. Do you think it has something to do with us sleeping together last night?" He questioned.

"So your ability just disappeared?" Alistair questioned. "That doesn't happen."

"Well before I could see everyone's auras surrounding them. Now I don't see anything." Levi explained.

This day was just getting weirder and weirder. It was supposed to be the happiest day of the year for me and here I was about to spend it fighting creatures that we didn't even know how to fight. With a sigh I plopped down on the bed.

"Is it possible that you still have the ability but your body got more control over it when you gained the new ability? That's the only reason I can think of that your ability would disappear over night." Alistair surmised.

'So, is there a problem at the house?'  Cano questioned over the link.

'You were right. We might be dealing with mimics. Are you guys okay?'  I asked.

'We're dealing with a bit of  a situation on our end. It seems that we've been found out and they're not holding any punches. It might take a little while before we get home but whatever they've sent there I'm sure you can handle it. If not, call Jason and the others.'

'Stay safe.'

'You too.'

"You guys my dad just contacted me. He knew that there was trouble here and they've been found. He said that they'll be alright but we're going to have to handle things on our end alone."

"So any ideas on how we do this?" Levi questioned once more.

"Actually I do  have an idea. Mimics can only retain the most basic of memories. They don't have unlimited storage especially if they also have to memorize mannerism and behaviors. That means that smaller, newer memories can sometimes get lost or they just don't care to remember them. If I make up a memory that I know to be false and know that my actual parents would know to be false we should be able to trick them." Alistair mused.

"That could work. So what happens if they turn out to be mimics?" I questioned.

"Then we have to attack them but we don't let on that we know who they are until we have an opening. We've had enough training that we should be able to take down a couple of low level magical entities." Levi answered.

"Well I guess that is what all that training has been for." I hummed.

"So do we do this now?" Alistair questioned.

"Yes. The sooner we get this done the better. If they aren't your parents then that means that they may have your parents somewhere and if they are willing to involve mortals into this then there's no telling what could happen."

"I'm hoping and praying that they are my parents and they're just acting really weird." Alistair sighed.

"Me too." Levi hummed as he wrapped his hand around the small mage.

"Do you know what memory you're going to use?"

"I think so. Let's get this done." Alistair groaned.

With a determined mind we left the room and listened out for Alistair's "parents". The sound of rustling downstairs in the kitchen drew our attention. We a look one to the other we made our way back down the stairs to where the noise was coming from. Peering around the corner we spotted Alistair's parents standing at the stove mixing something in a pot, smiling and giggling as they went. They seemed just as normal as any other couple and I hoped my intuition was wrong.

"Honey? Is that you?" His mom called out to us. "You know you can't sneak up on your own mother." She laughed cheerfully.

"I know mom but I can try." He laughed, although it sounded forced and fake.

"Well your dad and I made some hot chocolate for you and your friends. I know it's not exactly snowing outside but it's still Christmas and you know it's our tradition." She smiled warmly at him.

"Thanks mom." He returned the gesture. "Speaking of tradition I was telling them about all the times that we ended up eating out for Christmas since either you or dad would always burn a part of dinner. I was joking that it had become some sort of tradition for us." He laughed sounding a bit more genuine than before.

"Not this year son. We took extra precautions. We're not even going to cook this year." His father laughed as he began to ladle out the hot chocolate into separate mugs for each of us.

"Sounds like a plan." Alistair smirked. "But if you don't do anything else you have to make  Grandma's Apple Pie like you do every year."

"Of course dear. I wouldn't dream of not making that for you." Alistair's mom smiled at him as she pressed down on the nozzle of the whip cream and topped all of our hot chocolates. It didn't escape my attention that there were only three mugs. Was hot chocolate not their thing?

She handed me a mug with a partially faded reindeer on it. With a half smile I thanked her and took it. Instantly the warmth seeped into my palms but that wasn't all. Faint traces of magic was swirling in the cup, clashing with my own and I wondered briefly if the others could feel it as well now that we had bonded.

"I think we're just going to take these in the other room and go watch some movies." Levi announced, unnecessarily. "Thanks for the hot coco! It smells delicious Mrs. Alistair's Mom."

With as much nonchalance as we could muster we quickly walked into the other room set down the hot chocolate and just waited. The sounds of them moving about in the kitchen soon resumed which gave us the opportunity to speak.

"So?" Levi questioned.

"It's not them. My grandma always made apple pies and we loved them but she never gave us the recipe. No matter how much we begged or tried to recreate it on our own she wouldn't budge. She thought that as long as she knew it we'd have to visit her to get her apple pies." He laughed. "It worked. Every once in a while we go down to see her in Florida."

"So now that we know for sure it's not them how do we attack? How do we even defeat a mimic? Do we kill them?" I questioned.

"As far as I can tell from Helion's memories we don't have to kill it but we can trap it inside a charmed vessel."

"Do we have any of those just lying around?" Levi questioned.

"No but I can charm one if the two of you will help me. It's strong magic charming things." He explained. "We need to grab something and then head upstairs to do the spell."

"Alright, I know exactly what to go get. You two go get a read on our uninvited guests and make up some excuse for us to be back upstairs." Levi decided.

"Tae when we get to the kitchen I need you to levitate the salt off of the counter. I need it for the spell and Levi I need five candles, too."

"I'm on it."

We a nod and silent agreement we split up. Levi ran to another section of the house that I had yet to see and Alistair and I made our way back to the kitchen quietly only to realize that the sound of movement had stopped and hushed whispers were barely heard until we stepped closer.

"...retrieve them..."

"They'll reward us...gold...magic..."

"...weak children..."

The voices that were whispering in the kitchen were scratchy and low  but they definitely weren't the voices of Alistair's parents. We couldn't hear everything but from the look on Alistair's face I could tell that he heard exactly what I heard and he wasn't exactly thrilled about it. We took a couple of steps back and began to talk loudly so that they would hear us approaching.

"Mom? Dad?" Alistair called out just as we walked through the door way.

"Yes honey?" Alistair mom smiled as they turned to look at us, effectively turning their backs on the counter that the salt shaker was sitting on. Since making our way to Rhyeal I hadn't really practiced my original ability, much more focusing on the newer one. I tried to keep a calm, non-suspicious face as I allowed my power to connect with the salt shaker.

The air around me seemed to crackle a bit and I bit my tongue to keep from smirking. The salt shaker lifted up from off the counter and floated down closer to the floor. I kept it close to wall and slowly moved it towards the only opening. I gave Alistair the go ahead and he captured his 'parents' attention so that they wouldn't notice it as I slipped it from the kitchen.

"Since we didn't really expect you here today I didn't have your gifts ready. Me and the guys are gonna run upstairs and wrap them for you. Then we can spend the rest of the day with you guys catching up. Is that okay?" He questioned innocently as I moved the shaker closer to the stairs so that we could grab it on the way out.

"That's perfect." His dad smiled.

"Great! See you later then." Alistair called back as he quickly dragged me from the kitchen. We rushed up the stairs and burst into the room only to find Levi sitting there already with a white vase with an intricate blue design painted on the sides with a matching lid.

"That looks super expensive. Won't your parents miss it?" I questioned.

"Nah, we got this at some store for like twenty dollars or something. They won't even know it's gone." He laughed. "So how do we charm this thing?"

"We'll pour the salt out on the floor and set the vase on top of it. Then we align the candles around the vase, light them and repeat the chant as we hold hands. The vase will be charmed enough to contain both spirits but we have to capture them in a weakened state."

"So what? We fight them and then catch them in the vase?" I questioned.

"Yes."

"So we're Pokemon trainers now?" Levi laughed.

"Pretty much." I laughed with him, until I turned to see Alistair glaring at the both of us. That cut the laughter out really quickly.

"Ahem! So let's do this..." With a cough Levi poorly covered up his laughter and straightened up.

I poured all the salt that was in the container out on the floor in one pile. Levi placed the vase directly on top of it and Alistair arranged the candles. With a flick of the fingers the candles were all lit.

"Trick I learned years ago." He laughed at my surprised look. "Alright now let's hold hands."

We interlocked our fingers and out of habit I closed my eyes as Alistair spoke the words that we would all have to repeat. The air around us seemed to get a bit more tight the more serious the situation became.

"Candle's flame burning bright. By your flame in our sight. Trap all evil, seal it well. In this vase make it remain. Never to be loosed again."

The words flowed from our lips after Alistair chanted them once. My eyes opened on their own volition in time to see the flames dancing side to side to a rhythm unheard by us. In tandem we repeated them over and over again until the flames on the candle wicks grew another inch or two before being blown out by an unseen entity.

"Is that it?" I questioned.

"That's it." Alistair answered. "Now we go down there and we beat them until they can be trapped inside it."

"Seems easy enough...when you say it like that." Levi mused.

"So do we have a strategy?" I questioned.

"A sneak attack wouldn't really work for us since we don't really know how they fight. As much as Helion knows he has never seen one in action before. I say that we confront them and see how they react and then just go from there."

"Sounds risky." Levi sighed.

"It's the best bet. If they attack first we can counter. I have faith in us and I know that we can come out of this unscathed." Alistair spoke with such conviction that I was completely swayed in his defense.

"Alright. Let's get this done before my parents get back. Let's just be thankful that the closest store is far enough away." Levi chuckled dryly before picking up the vase.

With that  we opened the door, listening for any signs of life. The quick, hushed whispers that we heard before were back. From this distance Levi and I couldn't make out too much besides a few mumbled words that amounted to nothing for us. We quietly tip toed down the stairs giving us a chance to hear more of their conversation before we approached.

"They didn't drink it..."

"We'll figure out another way."

"We must...I want magic."

Each of us looked at the other and shrugged not entirely sure what it all meant but we were certain that we had the right people; or creatures. Alistair cleared his throat just as we walked into the dining room this time. They snapped their eyes to us and smiled brightly, replacing the haggard, grim looks that marred their features seconds before.

"What can we do for you champ? Finished wrapping those gifts for us?" His 'dad' chuckled.

"Actually we have something we need to talk to you about." Alistair began. He took a deep breath before he continued. "We know what you are and what you are is not my parents. We know that you're creatures called mimics. All I want to know is who put you up to this and where my real parents are."

"Ch-Champ..." The first mimic began as they interchanged looks of worry. "We're not too sure what you mean. What are this mimic things you're talking about?"

"Cut the crap. We know exactly what you are and if you don't tell us what we want to know right now we'll skip the diplomacy and kick your asses back to whatever realm you crawled out of." Levi snapped causing all of us to look at him in shock and awe. We certainly weren't expecting that.

A deep, troubling laughter bubbled up from their side of the room. Until it was an almost deafening sound with the two of them both laughing. They looked at us and their eyes, once normal turned deadly. Their pupils enlarged until it overtook their entire eyes, strange black veins stretched from the corners of their eyes, trailing down their cheeks until it stopped midway.

"Do you really think we would give up our source that easily? We rather be trapped for a century before betraying the one who spawned us." The mimic's voice easily slipped back into, what we believed, was their actual voice. Scratchy and low with a menacing hiss when it spoke.

"We're offering you a chance to give up easily so that we don't have to fight and defeat you." I spoke up, offering my two cents.

"Defeat us?" The creature hissed. "You think you know what we can do..."

"...but you really don't." The second creature finished. Their human bodies were discarded almost like full body costumes. Long, ashen gray wiry arms were equal to the length of the legs that stepped from the body suits that pooled at their clawed feet. How the almost eight foot tall creatures fit into those human bodies was beyond me. Rows upon rows of sharpened teeth snarled at us as both bodies took up the majority of the dining room.

'Shit.'  I cursed over our link.

'Agreed. How are we doing this?'

'You two shift and we'll attack just like we've practiced plenty of times before in the training center.'

Without hesitation Levi and I both shifted into our kitsunes. The power that flowed through me was more intense than I had ever felt before. It was almost darker than what I was used for. Looking over to Levi I was shocked to see the changes in his kitsune form. Originally he looked like a regular red fox; red fur, black paws and a white tipped tail.

The white tip of his tail was completely replaced with black fur and the black fur on his paws traveled higher up his legs, almost to his torso. What caught my attention was the actual fire that engulfed his paws. Was he not aware of it? He didn't seem it. His eyes were zeroed in on our enemies and I turned my attention back to them as it should be.

'Levi I need you to double up and Tae I want you to cut through the doubles and attack head on. I'll stay back and wait for the right moment to move us somewhere else. There's no way we can fight them in here without completely destroying the house.' Alistair instructed.

With our plan in mind Levi multiplied and clearly they weren't expecting it as they took a step back and looked between all the versions of Levi that were standing in front of them. With Levi controlling the multiple versions of himself they all took a step forward, causing the mimics to shift back again.

Behind them the dining room began to disappear into what appeared to be a black hole of sorts without the vacuum. The sound of Alistair lowly chanting behind us was our cue to attack. Levi surged forward and I cut through all of the duplicates and charged with as much ferocity as I could.

With them distracted by all the visions of Levi they weren't focused on me and I was able to slam my body into one as the real Levi tackled the second one. We pushed them into the portal behind them and tumbled in after them. Since we were prepared for it we were able to land on the other side on our feet. Alistair stepped out behind us as the mimics scrambled to get back up on their feet.

We were, in what seemed to be, a large open field with no sign of civilization for as far as the eyes could see. The creatures snarled at us before charging forward. We held our ground as they drew closer and closer waiting for the right minute to attack. With the mimic about a foot away I lurched forward with a speed that I didn't even know I had and slashed at the first mimic's face. Black goo oozed from it's face as it recoiled in pain.

But it wasn't deterred as much as I thought as it reached out with it's long leg and dug it's claw into my side. The pain was unbearable but at the same time numbing. After only a few seconds my left side was completely numb. The creature pulled back it's claw and stumbled back a foot or two after I twisted my body and snapped my jaws into it's leg.

'Shit! These things aren't as useless as I thought they'd be.' I hissed in pain.

'They're a lot faster than I thought they were.' Levi admitted.

'Then we need to up our game. You're my familiars and I feed off of the energy and magic that you possess and I can tell that there has been a major shift in our power. I think that you guys need to rely on your kitsune spirits and I'm going to help you do that. I believe that both of you got a few new powers after we bonded and while we know what Levi's is we're still not sure about you Tae.'

'So what we just stop thinking and rely on our instincts?' I questioned as I snapped my jaws at the mimic staring me down.

'You both need to rely on your instincts and me. Levi you need to use that new skill of yours to predict their next move and I can help from here. Trust me and trust yourselves and we'll get through this.'

He was right. We needed to trust that we could do this and trust our mage to help us to do this. With a new found resolve I turned all my attention back to the creatures in front of us. They had been waiting for us to make the next move, clearly they underestimated our ability to fight and weren't sure what to do next.

My side was still a little numb but I could feel Alistair's magic pushing out venom so that it wouldn't spread any further through my system. My instincts weren't generally something I followed. I was logical, for the most part and liked to think things through but Alistair was right. Although we've had lots of training it was nothing like fighting the real thing. They were unpredictable and ruthless and hours upon hours of rehearsing the same fighting patterns over and over wasn't going to help us now.

'They're going to charge us.' Levi's voice interrupted my train of thought. And just as he said, so did they do. In seconds they were right in front of the both of us, claws extended ready to slash into us. Levi shifted to the side out of their way but something inside me erupted and I lunged forward, dashing underneath it's legs before quickly turning around and leaping onto it's back. I dug my claws in as deeply as I could and held on.

The creature beneath me howled in pain and tried to buck me off but the more it moved was the deeper I latched on. My logical brain was telling me that this was a dumb move but my instincts told me that this was the best move.

'Good move. Stay there for at least a minute and I can use some of your magic to flood it's system but almost like the venom it tried to slow you down with.' Alistair instructed as I held on the best I could. It spun around and bucked like a stallion not yet broken in but I didn't give up. When Alistair yelled 'done' over the link I unlatched from him and jumped off it's back.

Immediately you could see the difference in it's demeanor. It shook it's head back and forth, almost like it was trying to clear it's mind, before it stumbled from one side to the other. After a few deep breaths and a menacing growl it focused it's attention back on me. It didn't attack yet but it seemed to be trying to get it's bearings still.

Looking over at Levi I wasn't surprised to see him holding his own but it was like no matter what we did, these things would just bounce right back. The only thought in my mind was that we couldn't keep fighting these things separately. We needed to be a united front.

Without thought I turned away from the creature readying itself to charge me once more and sprinted to where Levi was defending himself. The second mimic saw me running their way and distanced itself, preparing to have to fight off two of us.

My logical side was non existent as the last few months of magic and mystery flowed through my mind. My body was running off of pure instinct and adrenaline as I collided with Levi, allowing the magic that was now freely running through me to overpower both of us. The feeling of us no longer being two separate entities was strange but not as strange as sharing the same head space with him.

'Oh my gosh...'  Was all Alistair could get out and it was no in no way an indication of what we had just become.

'What just happened Tae?' Levi questioned me.

'I was running on pure instinct like Alistair said.'

'If only you could see yourselves. You're huge. Maybe six or even seven feet tall and your whole body has been fused together. You have three tails, two black and one red and the fur on your body is constantly changing, red flowing into black back into red. The only constant is the blackness of your paws and your tails.'

'Alistair we're gonna charge both of them head first. You'll be able to see what Levi sees over our link and we need you to just anticipate our moves. I know that sounds ridiculous but I know you can do it. You know us as well as we know ourselves at this point.' I instructed him.

'Can do.' He replied and that was all the confirmation we needed to finish this. With a speed I didn't know either of us possessed we surged forward, catching both creatures off guard. With Levi's new ability we saw the magic before it was even there and kicked off the Earth, propelling us into the air.

Instead of ground when we landed there were symbols arranged in the shape of a circle, all glowing and pulsing with magic, tinged purple beneath our feet providing a platform that kept us about a foot off the ground.

As Alistair provided the mid air platforms for us we ran higher into the sky until we were high enough above them. As we jumped from the last platform the only thought that ran through my mind was that of destruction. If we didn't destroy these beings they would destroy us.

Our large jaw opened and closed on the shoulder of one of the creatures. Alistair once again laced our bite with the magical venom but this time the creature wasn't so easy to shake it off once we unlatched from it. It stumbled and fell over, not able to  find it's bearing as the other attacked us head on.

We used Levi's ability to multiply himself to create several versions of ourselves, effectively confusing the creature once more. It stopped mid attack, trying and failing to figure out which us was the real us. The second mimic managed to get back up on it's feet although it didn't look like it would be able to give 100% to the rest of this fight.

'We only need one of you alive. The other we will kill. Surrender now and you'll both keep your lives.' I wasn't completely certain that they had heard me but something in me had spoken the words anyways.

'What? Tae, we didn't discuss this. We planned on trapping both of them.' Alistair's voice was frantic over our link.

'I don't think we should kill either of them. They could lead us back to whoever sent them.'  Levi voiced his concerns as well but I didn't hear either of them. A still, dark voice in the back of my mind kept repeating that we only needed one and that destroying the other would only make me stronger.

The mimics looked at each other before looking back at us. They thought they had a chance. Silly little creatures. We were more powerful then them, with more magic and more tricks up our sleeves. We hadn't even begun to fight and if they wanted to die then they had chosen their paths.

'I see you've chosen your fates.' I snarled over the temporary link I created with them just as our body and all the multiples of us charged forward. They attacked multiple after multiple and as they destroyed one we spawned to more in its stead. They were fighting a losing battle and I was prepared to see my threat through to the end.

We set our sights on the mimic who was injured the most and pressed forward through the rest of the multiples to get to it. In the haze of look a likes it didn't necessarily notice us until it was too late. The look in those solid black eyes were undecipherable  but the body language had told me all I needed to know; it had given up, resigned to its own fate as I opened my jaw and latched it around it's neck. Without thought I closed my jaw until the sound of bone crunching resonated in my ears.

Once I was certain that the creature was dead we spit it out, its body callously fell to the ground as we set our sights on the last mimic. The multiples were gone and it was just us as we strode forward, unconcerned with this last creature now that we had dispatched of the first.

'Tae we need to keep this one alive.' Alistair reminded me. A huff of annoyance left our mouth as we turned to look back at him. He was holding the vase that I vaguely remember us charming. It was weird, almost like a dark haze covering my mind, blocking out anything that didn't have to do with completely winning this fight and killing both mimics.

'Tae, don't do it. We need it alive to find out what's going on.' Levi warned.

'I won't do anything to kill it.' I answered, but I never said I wouldn't torture it a little. As we stepped forward it took two steps back. The fear that was pouring off this weak creature only fueled my sadistic need more. With little thought and effort I used the skill that I was shaky on earlier and snapped his two front leg bones.

The mimic wailed out in pain but that wasn't enough for me as we watched it collapse to the Earth. The audible cracking sound of me shattering it's bones in it's back legs were like music to my ears as we stalked forward, closer to the damaged mimic.

"That's enough Tae!" A booming voice carried over the desolate field. Turning my head to the side I barely registered the figure that was steadily walking closer and closer to us. Cano, my father, was their with my mother trailing behind him a pace or two.

'Not yet.' I murmured.

"You need to stop this. It's not you. It's the dark magic." He called out to me. "It's controlling you without you even realizing it."

'I don't think so. I'm doing this to protect us all. It has to be done.'  I answered.

"Not like this it doesn't. Stop it before I have to stop you." He warned causing me to howl in laughter.

'I can't be stopped.' I could hear myself say but it was almost like it wasn't me.

"Cano..." Merula spoke up, her voice sounded worried.

"I know dear." He sighed. "Alistair be ready to capture that mimic and Levi, I'm sorry you're going to feel this too."

With no warning he sprinted forward, moving so fast that he disappeared from our sight only to reappear right in front of us. He placed his hands on either side our head and chanted a few words in a language I've never heard but the more he spoke the more it felt like my soul was being ripped in two. The howl that left our mouth was one of sheer pain and the tightness in our chest stopped our breathing for what felt like an eternity.

Before we knew it we had been separated and forced back into our human forms. Opening my eyes I could barely make out Levi's naked form sprawled out on the ground beside me. Frantic voices filled my surrounding but I could no longer keep focus on them anymore. Exhaustion flooded my entire body as soon as Levi and I had been separated and the last thought that passed my mind was sarcastic and depressing.

'Merry Christmas to us...'

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I know it's been a long time coming, that's why I made sure to write an extra long chapter for you guys! I hope you enjoy and make sure to...

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