Unfinished Business (Tech 10: Rebooted)

Unfinished Business is the eighth episode of Tech 10: Rebooted's second season, and the twentieth episode overall.

Episode
In an office building arguably more ancient than the Earth itself, a rather frustrated man with dark blue hair and a pale, somber complexion sat at his desk, filling out mounds after mound of paperwork.

“How are humans so damn bad at staying alive?!” He eventually snapped, slumping over the current sheet of paper. “One hundred and fifty thousand people a day?! What is wrong with them?!”

“Mostly heart disease and cancer these days.” His assistant, who was working at a separate desk replied.

“Again with the cancer! As long as humans have been around, cancer, cancer, cancer! Can they still not do something about that?!”

“Not as of yet, though mortality rates have been falling.”

“Yeah, falling.” The man scoffed. “Not enough to get me a lot less paperwork!”

“Weren’t we going to get computers and a sorting algorithm set up for that?”

“That was the idea, but noooo, according to Zeus, since better versions keep coming out each year, we should just wait until they create the ‘best’ version of a computer, ignoring the fact that a ‘best computer’ might not even be a thing!”

Before his assistant could reply, a phone on his desk began ringing. Grumbling, he begrudgingly answered it.

“Who is this and whaddaya want?”

The voice on the other end of the line began gibbering wildly, speaking too quickly for the man to understand.

“Hold on, hold on, slow down.” He said into the phone. “Now, calmly tell me what’s going on.”

The voice on the other end of the line gradually calmed down. After listening to the now-intelligible information for a few moments, the man’s eyes widened.

“What, are you serious? That many?!”

There were another few moments of listening.

“Alright then, I’m on my way.”

The man quickly set the phone back down and got up from his desk, grabbing an elaborate staff and an ornate helmet, then heading towards the floor’s elevator.

“Cardea, you’re in command as usual while I’m gone.” He told his assistant. “If Persephone calls, tell her I’m dealing with some business in the human world.”

“The human world? What’s happening there?”

“There’s a breach. No solid idea of who caused it yet, but I have my own theory as to who it is.”

“The one that’s been causing so much trouble with the filing system?”

“Right.”

The man’s eyes narrowed as he punched a special code in on the elevator’s number pad, opening up a temporary portal to Earth.

“Isaac “Tech” Logical.” He grumbled to himself. “What are you?”

“One more time!” Igneoux yelled. “Give it all you’ve got!”

Tech had been training with Igneoux near the shop all evening, switching through various forms. At the moment, he was transformed into Heatjet, going over armor-cutting techniques. He took a deep breath and stepped up to a large boulder, summoning a stream of fire from his right hand.

“Focus!” Igneoux reminded him. “Fire without focus is just a mindless force of nature! You need to concentrate, or you’ll never be able to unlock this form’s true potential!”

Tech took another breath and focused, narrowing the fire into a small, blue flame being expelled from his index and middle fingers. He put his fingers up to the rock, beginning to melt a hole in it.

“This seems kinda over-the-top.” Napoleon remarked, watching from a few meters away with Moranna. “And if I’m the one saying that, you know something’s fishy.”

“Over-the-top it may be, but it’s necessary.” Moranna replied. “Tech’s never been the greatest at focusing on one form’s powers, and it’s gotten him into trouble before, if what Aquadilus has mentioned is any indication.”

Tech began slowly moving his fingers down the face of the boulder, leaving a thin yet deep hole in the rock where he was aiming. Once he reached the bottom of the boulder, he picked it up and used a blast of fire to launch it over his head, catching it as it fell and splitting it in half with his bare hands. He dropped the two halves on the ground, kicking up a bit of dirt.

“Good job.” Igneoux told him. “We still need to work on your speed, though. Seventeen seconds to cut something open leaves your enemies way too much free time in combat. Let’s see if we can find another boulder to work on."

“Why not just carve one out from the cliffside?” Tech pointed out. “It’s like, ten meters to your right.”

“Tech, I practically grew up in the version of this gorge from my home dimension. For the record, it was pretty much the exact same as this, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that causing a rockslide can really ruin someone’s day. Well, that and you should never shift Earth’s magnetic poles while training, but that’s sorta unrelated.”

Before Tech could reply, a thick fog began rolling into the area. It quickly obscured anything more than a few feet in front of the group’s eyes, creating an eery gray void.

“Hold on a second, I think I got this!” Napoleon remarked.

A few seconds later, a brisk whirring and a heavy breeze could be heard from Napoleon’s location, but nothing else seemed to happen. After a few moments, the whirring died down.

“Whelp, the fan construct’s a bust.”

“I don’t think this is normal fog, people.” Igneoux said, activating his helmet. “Even my suit’s sensors ain’t getting through this thing.”

“Do you think this could be the same sort of Dark Mana fog we ran into back in my hometown?” Moranna asked.

“Only one way to find out!” Tech replied, transforming into Golurth.

He stretched his arms out, using the same fog-dispersing process he had used in the ghost town. The fog in front of him began to clear up a bit, but was swiftly replaced by even more fog.

“Well, it might be, but this stuff keeps regenerating.” He remarked. “Not much I can do at the moment.”

“Man, if I could actually use my dang transformation matrix, I could’ve probably cleared all this stuff out by now!” Igneoux lamented.

“Yeah, what’s the story behind that, anyways?” Tech asked. “How would you end up with a matrix that doesn’t actually work?”

“It did work! Thing is, it’s missing a critical component.”

“What component would that be?”

“A Galvanic Mechamorph. My version of Alvono used to be bonded to the Ultimatrix, but...”

“What happened?”

“Remember that one time I said I blew up a pyramid?”

“Yep.”

“Well, that was sort of indirectly caused by Alvono. He ended up disintegrating in the explosion. I think. Maybe he just ran off while I wasn’t looking. Either way, I haven’t seen him since.”

“...Harsh.”

“Yeah. He was pretty much the one person I thought I could trust in the field before that incident. I was able to keep the Ultimatrix running for a few years using my own Galvanic Mechamorph transformation, but without a proper bond, it ended up shutting down anyways. Hasn’t worked for years.”

“I wonder...” Tech began scratching his head in thought.

“Wonder what?”

“Wonderwall!” Napoleon interjected.

“Anyways-” Tech began, rolling his eyes.

“Hah!”

“Damn it, Napoleon!”

Tech paused for a moment to smack his hand to his forehead in frustration.

“Look, as I was saying-”

Before Tech could finish, a massive wind suddenly blew through the area, howling so loudly it drowned out any other noise. The group was barely able to keep their balance, planting themselves firmly in place. After a few moments, the wind died down, having blown away the fog. Tech looked up to see a stern young man holding out an ornate staff standing about twenty meters away from them.

“Oh, for the love of...who are you?!” He snapped.

“Pluto, god of death.” The man replied sharply. “I’d like to have a word with you, Logical.”

“Uh, which Logical?” Igneoux asked. “There are two of us here.”

“The large one on fire.”

“Fair enough.”

“Wait, wait, hold on a second.” Tech said. “Did you just say that you were Pluto, the god of death?”

“Yes.”

“...And you expect me to just believe that?”

Pluto responded by wordlessly pointing his staff at a nearby patch of vegetation, causing it to wither up and die.

“...Fair enough.”

“What the hell did you do to piss off the god of death?” Moranna asked.

“I don’t know!”

“I don’t get ‘pissed off’.” Pluto said. “Well, okay, I sort of do. A lot. Regardless, my presence here right now is of a more pressing concern than simply being pissed off.”

“Then what are you here for?”

“To speak concisely, there’s a massive breach in the spirit world. All sorts of demons and wayward spirits are popping back into this world, and as the god of death, you can imagine how detrimental that would be for my job.”

“What do I have to do with this?”

“We don’t have any real idea of what’s going on yet, but the only significant anomaly I’ve noticed in the past year or so is you.”

“...Is it because I died and came back four or five times?”

“Who does that?! Do you have any idea how much extra paperwork I’ve had to fill out because of you?!”

“The god of death has paperwork?” Napoleon questioned.

“I wanted to switch to an electronic method a while ago, but that’s besides the point.”

“Yeah, good for you, but I don’t think I’m responsible for opening the gates of hell.” Tech grumbled. “I’m pretty sure I would’ve noticed something like that.”

“Perhaps not directly, but there’s not much else that’s really stood out to me during the past while.”

Before Tech could reply, a loud whipping noise suddenly sounded from the distance, swiftly accompanied by the sound of trotting hooves and carriage wheels approaching them.

“Hey, uh, when you say ‘breach’, does that mean spirits from any part of the world can come out of it?” Tech asked.

“Generally speaking, yes, though most tend to stick to their home territory.” Pluto replied.

“Would part of that ‘most’ include the Dullahan?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“What’s a Dullahan?” Napoleon asked.

“Irish version of the headless horseman, basically. When he stops riding, someone dies. If you see him, he’s liable to either whip your eyes out or throw a bucket of blood on you, marking you as the next to die.”

“And he’s pretty much insufferable compared to most spirits of death.” Pluto interjected. “Never takes any regard for how much extra work he’s making for me!”

Far down the gorge, a headless rider on a black horse came galloping around a bend, carrying its head under its right arm. The head itself had the color and texture of moldy cheese, with a vicious smile that stretched to both sides of the head. Beady, black eyes adorned the head, constantly darting around in every direction.

The body was holding a whip made from a human spine, the horse dragging along a carriage decorated with candles and human bones, with its covering made from what appeared to be dried human skin.

“Looks like a pleasant guy.” Napoleon said dryly.

“Do not let him stop riding or get close, or someone here dies and I have more paperwork to file!” Pluto snapped.

“No problem!” Napoleon replied, summoning his arm cannon construct. “I’ll just blast him into moving a different direction!”

“Alternatively, we could just use the obvious solution.” Tech said.

He swiftly pulled up the SpecTrix and transformed into NUclES, reaching to the ground and picking up a small rock, which he turned to gold. He hurled the newly-formed clump of gold some fifty meters in front of them, near the Dullahan. Upon catching sight of the gold, the Dullahan reacted instantly, turning around its mount as fast as possible and running into the distance. Napoleon stared on in confusion.

“Uh...what just happened?” He asked.

“The Dullahan is deathly afraid of gold.” Tech explained, detransforming. “Even a small golden pin would send him running.”

“That is an oddly specific weakness.”

“It’s not like I came up with it.”

“Well, I see this endeavor was pretty much useless.” Pluto sighed. “I suppose I’ll need to search elsewhere for the source of the breach.”

“Hey, hold on a second!” Napoleon exclaimed. “What do we do if more spirits try and attack us and don’t have stupid weaknesses?!”

“We all have ethereal transformations.” Moranna pointed out. “Your Hallow Fire, Tech’s Spiritualist, and my Briiz. They could probably help in that sort of situation.”

“The best form to use here would be an Anima Devorantum, if any of you have it.” Pluto said.

“That’s what Spiritualist is.” Tech replied. “...Wait, why do you know about an alien species?”

“The Anima Devorantum were a collaborative project between the various gods and spiritual beings of the universe. Before they were around, wayward spirits were creating breaches all over the damn place. Nowadays, the more troublesome ones have been caught, for the most part.”

“...Neat.”

Pluto held out his staff, creating a portal back to his office.

“At any rate, I need to get going.” He said. “This should all be sorted out in a day or so.”

Before he could step through the portal, Cardea caught sight of him from the other side and walked over to it.

“Hold on a second, sir.” She said. “While you were gone, we’ve gotten several more reports in. We know where the breach is, and it’s relatively close by your position on Earth.”

“Where is it?”

“A place humans call the Shielbasa Iron Mine in northern Utah. You’re in southern Utah at the moment, so it should be an easy teleport.”

At the mention of the Shielbasa Iron Mine, Tech unconsciously shivered a little, a gesture that did not go unnoticed by Moranna.

“I see. Thank you, Cardea.”

“Hold on a second, Cardea?” Tech interrupted. “The Roman goddess of door hinges? She’s your assistant?”

“Yes. Why?”

“...How is the goddess of door hinges in any way related to the god of death?”

“Back before the world’s population exploded so much, Pluto was in charge of both death and the distribution of wealth and goods.” Cardea explained. “I had the same duties regarding prosperity, but at a much smaller scale. Opening the doorway of opportunity and all that.”

“And so, after the world population exploded, you got a promotion or something so Pluto could focus on all the dead people coming in?” Tech guessed.

“Right.”

“...Neat.”

“If you’re done asking inane questions, I believe I have a job to do.” Pluto snapped at Tech. “Thank you again for the information, Cardea.”

“Not a problem.”

Pluto the portal, setting his staff back at his side.

“Tech, what was that earlier?” Moranna asked.

“What was what?”

“When Cardea mentioned the iron mine, you had a visible reaction. I assume you have some sort of history with that place?”

“Yeah, a history of almost getting killed by some demon thing that Dethrouge made.” Tech explained with another shiver. “Granted, nowadays I could probably kill one no problem, but still.”

“Hold on, you’ve encountered a demon in those mines?” Pluto repeated. “How is that possible? There hasn’t been any breach there until just now.”

“I don’t know exactly, but I think they can move between the spirit world and our world whenever they want, considering how Dethrouge summoned them. Besides that, it seemed like there was another spiritual presence down there, trying to keep the thing from escaping. How it got there in the first place, though, I have no idea.”

“In that case, it may prudent to suggest that you accompany me to the mines, seeing as how you already have experience with them.”

“Sorry, but I’m not going anywhere without my team.”

“Then take them along as well, if you need. I doubt the backup would be needed, but I don’t believe they’d really slow us down, either.”

“Hey, what about me?” Igneoux asked. “I’m not going to just sit around while some wayward spirits come over to eat my face off!”

“I would, however, object to bringing him along with us.” Pluto said. “He doesn’t seem to have any way of fighting a spirit.”

“I would if my transformation matrix worked!”

“Hold on a second, that’s right!” Tech said. “I had an idea earlier! Hold on a second while I go to the shop!”

With that, he transformed into Terminano and ran off, the other staring after him in confusion. After a few minutes of waiting, Tech finally returned, carrying the upgraded version of the Pyronaut Blade.

“Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to run with swords?” Napoleon remarked jokingly.

‘Trust me, if my mother knew I even had a sword, she would flip out.” Tech replied. “Besides, the sword’s not the important part.”

“This had better be worth waking me up from my two o’ clock nap.” Alvono grumbled from the sword.

“Oh, shut up and make yourself useful for once.” Tech snapped. “Anyways, Igneoux, you remember this universe’s Alvono, right?”

“Yeah.” Igneoux replied. “Definitely different from the one I knew.”

“And about one-hundred percent less likely to muster up the energy to betray you. Anyways, I was thinking-”

“Must’ve been difficult for ya.” Alvono remarked.

“...Look, let’s just have him fuse with your Ultimatrix or whatever and see if it works.”

Igneoux unbolted the metal cap covering the Ultimatrix dial and held out his arm. Tech tapped the Pyronaut Blade on his armor, prompting Alvono to begrudgingly move from the sword to the Ultimatrix. After a few seconds of silence, the Ultimatrix whirred to life, the dial flashing back online with a green glow. Igneoux stared at it in a stunned silence.

“Holy crap...” He said. “I...I think it worked!”

“Well, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to try it out where we’re going.” Tech said. “Anyways, Pluto, we should be all set to go!”

“Took long enough.” Pluto replied. “Why couldn’t you have just done that at any prior occasion?”

“Didn’t occur to me.”

“...Fantastic.”

With that, Pluto tapped his staff on the ground, causing the group to disappear in a dark blue fog.

They reappeared inside a large cave littered with apparently abandoned mining equipment. Several large craters dotted a nearby part of the cave, one being on the ceiling.

“Ah, memories.” Tech remarked, staring up at the ceiling crater. “Terrible, terrible memories.”

“You put the hole in the ceiling?” Pluto questioned.

“Yeah, while I was fighting the Death Hound. Ended up just having to eat the damn thing.”

“You ate a demon?”

“Yep.”

There were a few moments of awkward silence.

“No reaction?” Tech asked.

“What do you expect me to say to that?”

“Fair enough.”

“So, what are we looking for, exactly?” Napoleon asked, looking over their surroundings.

“You know that portal I opened earlier?” Pluto replied.

“Yeah.”

“Basically something like that, but with supernatural beings that want to murder you flowing out of it.”

“Sounds dandy.” Tech snarked.

“Where did you find this ‘Death Hound’ the last time you were here?”

“As I recall, I had to slip through a crack somewhere in the tunnel system wall right over-” Tech gestured over to where he had entered last time, only to catch sight of a massive, smooth hole where the previously small, natural entrance had been. “...there. What?”

“I take it the area has changed a bit?”

“Well, for one thing, it was about ten times more claustrophobic.” Tech explained, leading the group over to the tunnel entrance. “It looks like it’s been carved out by something.”

“Well, this is a mine.” Napoleon pointed out.

“Mining equipment doesn’t leave this smooth a mark.”

“Can’t we all agree that it was probably a demon and move on already?” Igneoux interjected.

“I agree with the bronze one.” Pluto said. “I’d rather have this done and over with as quickly as possible.”

“The name’s Igneoux.”

“I don’t care.”

Igneoux mumbled something under his breath in response. The group then began moving into the darkness of the tunnels, none of them noticing the faint knocking in the distance.

“Okay, when are we going to see this thing?” Napoleon grumbled. “We’ve been walking for ages.”

“First off, it’s only been a half hour.” Pluto replied. “Secondly, spirit tunnels like this can drag on for miles.”

“Yeah, it took me forever to find the Death Hound the first time I came here.” Tech said. “Besides-”

“Hold it.” Moranna interrupted, holding her fist up in a ‘stop’ gesture. “There’s something closing in on us.”

“How do you know that?” Igneoux asked.

“Vibrations from the ground.”

Pluto placed his staff to the cave floor and closed his eyes in concentration. After a few moments, his eyelids flew open into a stern expression.

“You four may want to transform.” He said. “We’ve got a Baxbaxwalanuksiwe approaching.”

“Say what?” Napoleon asked.

“A Baxbaxwalanuksiwe” Tech repeated. “A man-eating monster from Canada.”

“...Okay, aside from the fact that I’m ninety-percent sure you’re just making stuff up on the fly now, I don’t think I’m going to be frightened of something from Canada of all places.”

As Napoleon finished speaking, a large humanoid creature rounded a corner from further down the tunnel. As it approached the group, it was revealed to be a grotesque creature with sickly grayish-pink flesh absolutely covered with misshapen mouths.

“Hap, hap, hap.” The creature slowly hissed as it approached. “Hap, hap, hap.”

“...I am now officially afraid of Canada.” Napoleon remarked.

“Hap, hap, hap.” The creature continually repeated.

“What the hell does ‘hap’ mean?” Igneoux asked.

“It means ‘eat’.” Tech explained. “Pretty much the only thing it ever says.”

“Great.”

“Hey, uh, Pluto?” Napoleon said nervously. “Shouldn’t you be trying to send this thing back or whatever?”

“Canada’s not in my jurisdiction.” Pluto replied. “Officially speaking, I’ve got my hands tied.”

“Oh, but the US is?!”

“It’s a complicated sorting system.”

“So, the god of death’s greatest weakness is apparently red tape.” Tech said dryly. “Good to know.”

“Let me handle this.” Igneoux said, stepping forward. “It’s been ages since I’ve transformed, and I’m itching for a good fight!”

“You sure you should be fighting this thing when you’re years out of practice?”

“Hey, what’s the worst that could happen?”

“You could get eaten.”

“...Still doing it.”

With that, Igneoux selected an alien on the Ultimatrix and slammed down on the dial. A green flash poured into the area, Igneoux’s body vanishing into a dark, wispy substance that formed together to create a tailed, legless humanoid figure surrounded by several rings.

“Spectoring!” Igneoux shouted.

Tech gave him a heartily judgmental look.

“You call out your alien names when transforming?” He asked. “Seriously?”

“You have your way of doing things, I have mine.” Igenoux replied in a dark, raspy voice. “Bigger issues at the moment, though.”

Igneoux whirled around to face the Baxbaxwalanuksiwe and fired a few rings of ectoplasm at it, slicing off several chunks of flesh that disintegrated as they fell to the ground.

“Okay, the disintegrating thing’s new.” He remarked.

“You’re not disintegrating it.” Pluto explained. “Without a proper body, spirit ‘flesh’, so to speak, doesn’t have the willpower necessary to manifest in the human world.”

“...I like my version better.”

“Whatever helps you get that thing out of our way faster.”

Igneoux rushed at the Baxbaxwalanuksiwe, firing several golden ring discs at it, slicing off more chunks of flesh. The creature roared in anger and tried grabbing at him, but he was able to phase right through the blows and appear behind it, firing off another few rings.

“Let’s go for the gold!” He exclaimed, swirling his body into one large disc.

“WEAK!” Tech yelled.

Igneoux hurled his body directly at the Baxbaxwalanuksiwe, slicing through its body and cleaving it in half, causing the entire creature to disappear back into the spirit world.

“Well, that was anticlimactic.” Tech commented.

“But I’ll be damned if it didn’t feel cathartic as all hell!” Igneoux replied, detransforming. “Besides, everything’s easy like that when you’re overpowered!”

“You know, I said the same thing once.”

“Let’s keep moving.” Pluto interjected. “I have a feeling we’re getting close to the breach.”

“Whatever you say, man.” Tech shrugged.

The group once again began walking through the tunnels. After a while, they came across what appeared to be the entryway to an expansive cavern. Cautiously entering the area, they found a large portal of light on the far wall, the cavern itself being decorated with ancient carvings too worn to properly make out. In the center of the cavern sat what appeared to be a nest of bones, stained by old, dried blood. The remains of an eggshell laid in the center.

“I believe we’ve found the breach.” Pluto said. “I can take it from here.”

Pluto walked over to the portal and held out his staff. The portal slowly began to close, expelling a strange static noise as it did so. Just as it was about to fully close, a claw flew out of it and snatched Pluto’s staff, pulling it through with it. The portal snapped open, creating a shockwave that sent Pluto stumbling back. A starnge creature began to emerge from it.

The first thing to come through was an exposed skull, resembling that of an elk, with only a few muscles connecting it to the neck of the creature. Two glowing red orbs floated in the otherwise empty spaces where its eyes should have been, and its canines were frighteningly long.

As the rest of creature came into view, it became clear that it was built for fast hunting. It had unnervingly long, thin arms that dangled limply from its torso. Claws like scythes were misshapenly attached to the end of its arms, and its legs were bent in two places, similarly to a dog's. Oddly enough, Pluto’s staff was nowhere to be seen.

“What the hell?!” Tech yelled. “I thought I got rid that thing!”

“I think you got rid of something different, Tech.” Moranna said, having examined the nest. “Did you ever check for any offspring?”

“Well...no.”

“And there’s your problem.”

Before anyone else could react, Igneoux flew into action, selecting an alien and slamming down on the Ultimatrix dial. His body morphed into a large, four-armed alien with red skin and orange spikes.

“Destramonium!” He yelled.

He lunged forward at the creature and slammed his fists into its body with a volley of blows too fast for the human eye to see, following up with a massive kick that made an impact so hard it created a shockwave through the air. The creature went flying back through the portal, disappearing into the spirit world.

“Close it now!”

Pluto acted swiftly, throwing up his arm and creating an odd glow that gradually closed the portal, finally sealing the path between worlds.

“Wait a second, you didn’t even need the staff to begin with?!” Tech snapped.

“I am the literal god of death!” Pluto snapped back. “I don’t need anything!”

“Then why were you carrying it around?”

“Having a tool makes it easier to focus the energy, but it’s not really necessary.”

“So there wasn’t any power to it at all?”

“Well, it’s probably been infused with some of my power at this point, but spirits can’t use it anyway. I’ve made sure of that.”

“So it’s over, then?” Napoleon asked. “We’re good to go?”

“Correct. I should be getting back to my paper-”

Pluto was interrupted by a roar that sounded through the caverns, immediately followed by a portal of light opening up and expelling the Death Hound back into the physical world.

“What the hell?!” Pluto exclaimed.

“Wouldn’t it be ‘what the Hades’ in your case?” Napoleon questioned.

“Common misconception, actually.” Tech said. “Hades is the name of the underworld in general. It doesn’t really carry the same connotations of ‘heaven’ or ‘hell’ that modern ideas imply.”

“How did that thing get back out?!” Pluto snapped. “You can’t just create portals to the spirit world whenever you want!”

“You can.” Tech pointed out.

“I’m a god, I can do whatever I damn well please!”

Before Tech could reply, the creature leapt forwards and smashed its claws into him, sending him flying. As he scrambled to his feet, the creature paced around, glaring at him.

“I don’t think it’s a fan of yours, Tech.” Moranna said.

“Well, I did kinda kill its parent.” Tech replied. “Presumably.”

“Where does this thing you apparently know so much about originate?” Pluto asked. “I may be able to help.”

“Egypt.”

“...Osiris, I swear, I am going to bitch-slap you at the next meeting.” Pluto grumbled under his breath.

The Death Hound lunged at Tech, who quickly jumped to the left, narrowly avoiding being impaled by one of the creature’s large claws. He swiftly activated the SpecTrix and transformed into Spiritualist, summoning a wendigo to fight for him.

“One man-eating spirit versus another!” He exclaimed. “Not the most efficient strategy, but this should at least be entertaining if nothing else!”

The wendigo and the Death Hound circled each other for a few moments, each sizing up their opponent, then simultaneously lunged at each other, claws extended. The creatures slammed into each other with a tremendous force, the wendigo using its antlers to gain a quick upper hand. It hooked onto the Death Hound’s exposed skull and reared to the side, slamming its opponent’s body into the cave wall with a nasty cracking noise.

Tech took advantage of the creature’s dazed state, summoning dozens of long, thin arms from his box. The arms shot forward and wrapped around the Death Hound, then slowly began to drag it back towards the box. The creature struggled, attempting to break free, but to no avail. When it reached the edge of the box, its body compressed to a small, wispy state, and was absorbed into the energies of the container. Tech swiftly retreated into the box himself, snapping it shut before detransforming.

“See, if this were Pokemon, this would be the point where I give it some sort of name like ‘Butts’ and stick it in the PC, never to be seen again.” He remarked. “As it is, I have no idea what just happened.”

“You just did what the Anima Devorantum were designed to do.” Pluto explained. “We won’t be seeing that creature again unless you decide to free it.”

“Not a chance.”

“I thought not.”

With that, Pluto turned and summoned a portal back to his office.

“I’m off to my desk job, then.” He said.

“Is that better or worse than adventuring with humans?” Tech asked.

“For most humans? It’s probably worse. For your...strange group?....Jury’s still out on that one.”

Pluto stepped through the portal, initially turning to close it before pausing a moment.

“One more thing, ‘Tech’.” He said.

“What?”

“Stop dying. Seriously. You’re killing me with the paperwork.”

“...Somehow, I feel as if you’re exaggerating.”

“Only somewhat.”

With that, Pluto closed the portal, leaving the group to stand in the dark cavern in confused silence. After a few moments, Napoleon spoke up.

“Well.” He said. “That was egregiously weird.”

Protagonists

 * Tech
 * Moranna Ceres
 * Napoleon Eldridge
 * Igneoux
 * Pluto

Antagonists

 * Dullahan
 * Baxbaxwalanuksiwe
 * Death Hound

SpecTrix Aliens

 * Heatjet
 * Golurth
 * NUclES
 * Terminano
 * Spiritualist

Ultimatrix Aliens

 * Spectoring
 * Destramonium

Trivia

 * Just for clarification, every spiritual entity in this episode is a real thing, excluding my aliens, of course. Cardea, Roman goddess of door hinges, the Dullahan, the wendigo, and even the Baxbaxwalanuksiwe (pronounced 'backs-bucks-wah-lah-nook-si-way') are all from various mythologies from around the world. Look them up, you just might learn something new!