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The sun slowly went down. Golden rays fell onto Pearl’s face, making her look like a goddess.
She chatted away to Skizz.
“Hey, you don’t have to tell me this,” Pearl said, “But why were you away for so long?”
Skizz’s eyes widened, “I- uh-“
“Are you okay, Skizz?” Pearl asked, tenderly.
Skizz sighed.
“So, basically-“
“WATCHER! THERE’S A WATCHER!” X yelled. He ran up to the two of them.
Skizz pulled X into a hug and sheltered him in case the watcher was nearby.
“Where?” Pearl questioned, in a stern voice.
“It’s at Jev’s place…” Xisuma sobbed.
Pearl teleported to Jevin’s base, to see a watcher that she was not expecting.
The necklace.
Pix’s necklace.
“What are you doing to them, River?” Pearl snarled.
“Go away, Crescent Moon.” Pix replied, “You aren’t a hero, this isn’t a cartoon.”
Pearl growled, “I can tell everyone who you are right now, do you really want to be insulting me for protecting my friends?”
Pix looked down at her with a tint of worry in his eyes.
“I apologise, but it is worse than you realise.” He murmured, then teleported away.
Pearl looked at Jev.
“Don’t worry about him. He is intelligent, though he doesn’t use that knowledge with malicious intent.” She consoled.
Jevin looked up at them, “Can I uh- have Cleo…?”
Ames teleported Cleo in.
Cleo ran up to Jev and hugged him.
“It’s ok, buddy. Come and…”
Pearl and Ames teleported back to X.
“All dealt with now, Cleo is comforting Jev.” Pearl smiled, walking up to X and sitting beside him on the couch that was there.
“How did you teleport away?” He asked.
Ames laughed, “Oh, that was me, I teleported them.”
Pearl silently thanked Ames for the cover-up.
“Can you get Zed, please?” X asked Ames.
“Of course! I’ll go grab him now.” Ames grinned.
Pearl waited beside X as they watched the sunset.
“Dad, are you okay?” Zed frowned, rushing up to him.
Pearl stood up and let Zed take her seat, then walked back over to Ames.
“Let’s go find Gri, yeah?” Pearl said.
Ames nodded, and teleported them to Grian.
He was sitting with Ren in Doc’s base.
“Hey, you two alright?” Grian asked.
“Pix is, or was here.” Pearl stated.
Pix appeared in his human form and cried, “Please don’t hurt me, I- I’ve done too much trying to save Pris from the watchers… so they’ve got me back again…”
Everyone gasped.
Pearl pulled him down to the ground and hugged him.
“Hey, it’s okay, just calm down, it’ll be okay.” She comforted him.
Pix sobbed as Pearl kept on consoling him.
“I’m just going to go check on dad, I’ll be right back.” Grian said.
Pix nodded through tears.
“I know what happened with the watcher,” Grian muttered, “But they didn’t hurt you… did they?”
Xisuma looked at him.
“He did, didn’t he..?” Grian murmured.
“They hit my chest, but they were aiming for my neck.” X stated.
Grian fumed.
He teleported Martyn to X, and then teleported back to Pix.
“Where did Martyn go?” Ren asked.
“Oh, I just needed to teleport him to X to heal him!” Grian smiled, but not warmly…
He stood close to Pix, who was now standing up.
“Why did he need to be healed?” Pearl asked.
Grian powered up his watcher magic and shot Pix with it.
“BECAUSE SOMEONE WAS TRYING TO GET HIS MASK OFF WITH THEIR POWERS!” He yelled.
Pix fell to the floor, bleeding, coughing, and crying.
Pearl rushed up to him and made sure he was okay, while Ames held Grian in a protected bubble.
Ren stood there, conflicted. He needed to help, but how?
He also ran up to Pix, then turned to Pearl, “You need to go find someone to help, now.”
Pearl nodded.
Ren cared for Pix the best he could while Pearl teleported away.
“Martyn! We need you, RIGHT NOW!” Pearl yelled, dragging Martyn closer to her with her watcher magic.
She caught X’s glance.
“Oh… oh shit.” She stuttered.
“What happened, dove?” X asked.
Pearl started crying, “Just- my… Grian hurt someone… my friend. Our friend.”
Martyn hugged her and then sighed, “Teleport me there, Pearl.”
“Can I help?” X frowned.
“No, no you can’t. I don’t want Grian hurting you, he’s… really dangerous right now. I don’t know what triggered it.” Pearl stammered.
“Ok, don’t worry, sweetheart.” X smiled.
They teleported back to the drama.
“P-Pix…” Martyn gasped, looking at a bloodied Pix. He darted over to him and healed him.
Pearl glanced at Ames, struggling to keep Grian in her control.
She had to make a hard decision, quickly.
She teleported BigB to them.
“Get False and Xisuma, now.” She said.
BigB teleported away.
Pearl helped Ames hold back G.
“Why are you doing this..?” She cried.
BigB teleported to X, just to find Taurtis already sobbing in his arms.
“Are things getting worse?” X asked B.
“Yes.” BigB replied. “Get Taur to teleport you, I need to go get False.”
He teleported away.
“I don’t want anyone to get hurt…” Taur cried.
X comforted him and calmed him enough so that he could teleport them.
X saw the state of Grian’s fury.
“What the hell…” he muttered.
“False!” BigB yelled.
False flew up with a confused expression.
“Pearl requested your assistance with Gri.” BigB murmured.
False knew that something bad had happened, so she let BigB teleport her.
“I don’t even know who you’ve injured. I don’t care to know. But no matter what ‘River’ has done to me, I don’t wish death upon them.” X scowled, “I wouldn’t expect you to either.”
“But it’s Pix! You were meant to trust Pix!” Grian howled.
Xisuma glanced back, as did Ames.
Pearl didn’t.
“You got out of Ames’ grasp, but not mine.” She snarled, “Stop hurting him.”
“You don’t understand!” Grian shouted.
“But I do.” False said, walking closer towards him.
Ames started helping Pearl with Gri again.
False took a deep breath, then spoke, “Every single day when we were younger, our parents would yell. They would hit me, and try to hit you. I never let them, but you still saw. Even if you don’t remember those experiences, I do, and your brain and body does. All of this behaviour stems from our parents. You are becoming like them.”
Pearl and Ames both lost control of Gri, his anger fuelled his power. He tried to hit Pix again, so everyone stood away, except for Pearl. She used a shield with her watcher magic, that reflected Grian’s power back at him.
It hit him.
He fell to the floor and suddenly all of his adrenaline disappeared.
“I’m so sorry Pix…” he coughed through tears of disbelief.
False walked up to him and gently hugged him.
“It’s not your fault what our parents did to us, but if it’s causing you to hurt your best friends, I think it’s time we work on that properly.” She said.
Grian nodded, but barely.
He was in so much pain; emotionally and physically.
Martyn and BigB rushed up to him and healed him.
“Get Jim and Netty, we need to heal Pix more than me.” Gri smiled as Taur and X walked over.
Taur clung onto him and sobbed.
“Don’t die on me…” he mumbled.
“I won’t. I promise.” G cried softly.
Ren dragged Martyn and BigB into another room. They had very clearly used all of their energy to heal Grian.
“You need rest now. Let Joey take you home, and I’ll join you soon.” X said.
Taurtis teleported them away.
“Before you say anything, I don’t care at all that you’re a watcher, Pix.” X stated, walking over to Pix, “Are you okay?”
Pix mumbled, “I- uh- not really…”
Pearl ruffled his hair.
“We love you, bud.” She sighed.
Pix muttered, “I love you too.”
He tried to reach out to Pearl for a hug, but just groaned in agony instead. Pearl lifted him up into her arms and started gently petting him. They were both shaking.
“Pearl, take Pix to your base, lay him down.” Xisuma spoke softly.
Pearl nodded and teleported Pix away.
X then went into the room that Martyn, BigB and Ren were in. Ren was lying down in bed with both Martyn and BigB clinging onto him.
“Are you alright, Ren?” X asked with a slight smile.
“I mean, I’m calming down, I guess.” Ren said, “And these two are asleep by the way.”
“I figured.” X chuckled. “I’m going to go make sure Grian is okay.”
Pearl lay silently in her bed holding Pix close to her chest.
Pris teleported in, shaking.
Pearl started to growl. Prismarina was the whole reason that Pix got injured in the first place.
But then they remembered that Pris was friends with Pix.
“He’s okay.” Pearl said.
Pris walked up to the bed and sat down.
Pearl rolled over so that Pix was closer to Pris.
“Hey Sy.” Pix smiled slightly.
Pris lifted him up into a hug, crying.
“I’m sorry for arguing with you.” She sobbed.
Pix whispered, “It’s ok, I know why you were worried.”