The new Marvel heroes... their something, aren't they? They Trailblazed onto the scene, might get lots of Screentime; but they tend to B-Negative Snowflakes that run to their Safespace at the mere sight of criticism.

I'm sure we all know for a fact that Stan da Man is not only rolling in his grave and trying to claw his way out, but their is NO way he'd even THINK of approving those kinds of characters. At least, not without a few changes to make them good. Personally, I think Screentime has the best chance of working, but lets be honest: the writers aren't gonna give him good memes to work with, they'll be crap or dank at best. Marvel will never be the same again...

But enough about that. It's been 2 months since last update, but so much has happened. The above "event", the virus-that-must-not-be-named, people fighting on the floor for toilet paper at Wal-Marts, I have a new DxD fanfic that's a crossover with Sonic the Hedgehog... It's been crazy! I can't apologize enough, guys! I haven't forgotten about this story, just been busy with other things... and crying in the corner of my room about the "new" heroes.

Now that we're back, we can pick up where we left off. But before we do, do go check out that new Sonic/DxD story I mentioned. It's actually doing very well despite being only 2 months old, and its not what your thinking, I promise you. The archive is full of that, so I guess that's why mine has gotten so much attention for being faithful to both sources. Before we answer some reviews and begin, there's another experimental scene I want feedback on. Leave your thoughts please! :)

1) Starlord Master: Like I said before, but you probably missed it, Carnage/Cletus will appear. Just not this year. I also can't give much information on my OC Symbiote, I want it to be a surprise.

2) CrimsonSylvan: Yup, Ruby's gonna get it.

3) gunman: The only reason Oyakata worked with Cartlon cause he basically manipulated her. More detail is in this chapter.

4) Guest: Good memory, Venom is weak to fire, so his fight with Kuyo will be one of his toughest battles yet. Can't go into much detail about it though.

5) CharNobyl (chapter 3): Yeah, the dialogue thing is a bad habit. I'm trying to fix it, but when the fingers are typing, ideas' are flowing, ya know? And the part about Venom eating some students, I explained that already. Monster energy has been shown to have an addictive-like effect on Venom, which is another plot point that is going to be used later on. Thanks for the constructive criticism, it helps allot. :)

6) AxDevilman: A MARVEL-ous man he was indeed... so what I did there? Glad you found the fight scene last chapter cool, I'm hoping you'll find this next experimental one as good too.

In other news, I've started a Twitter account. If anyone wants to follow it, hit me up on Discord and I'll send ya the link since FanFiction hates other links aside from themselves :P

Chapter 12: A Witch of a Field Trip - Part 3

A shot of a roof is shown...

POW!

And a blur is shown zooming upwards and then Ruby fell flat on her back, grunting in pain as she slowly got up. Damn, that really hurt... the slam onto the roof too. Whether she got thrown, flung or punched up here was unclear; but the pain was. Ruby didn't understand though, why'd Venom do that to her? Back on the ground; Venom, now a little upset, began climbing up the wall, following where Ruby was going. "WAIT! VENOM!" Called Moka, but the Symbiote didn't look back.

Ruby then heard rumble and bricks being hit by something, then saw Venom climb over the ledge to met her... he looked pissed. "Look lady, you either apologize and back off; or we'll throw you in a tornado back to fucking Kansas!" He demanded, pointing a claw out into the distance behind him. Ruby was now a little more scared, this parasite had some power, and a short temper... but what exactly did she need to apologize for? She didn't say anything derogatory, did she?

"Did you hear us?! We said apologize!" Roared Venom, taking a few steps towards Ruby. In self-defense, Ruby fired an orb of energy from her wand at Venom... several as a matter of fact, making a dust cloud. This creature had no trouble with getting physical with her, so she was more than prepared to defend herself.

...

...

...

Ruby's jaw dropped because as the dust cleared, Venom was shown with his arms folded and a foot was tapping, with an expression that said something along the lines of "really?" and/or "are you done?" This shocked Ruby to her core. The first 'child' was at least affected by her magic somewhat, but Venom here didn't look fazed at all! Granted, that wasn't close to her most powerful spells, but it was still concerning regardless.

WHIP!

At incredible speed, a tentacle grabbed her by the waist and Venom began to pull her close. By the time she was in range...

...

...

...

A sunflower was in Vemon's grasp. "What the...?" He asked, confused. Looking behind him, hearing something flapping, he saw Ruby 'fly the coop'. "GET BACK HERE AND APOLOGIZE!" He roared, tossing the flower aside and taking off after her.

Down in the alleyway, the girls had just seen Venom climb after the older witch, now they saw her flying overhead, "GET BACK HERE AND APOLOGIZE!", and Venom jumping after her via the rooftops. Kurumu flew up to the rooftops with Mizore following by standing on a growing pillar of ice... and where/when did Yukari get that broom?

"Venom!" Called Kurumu, but either the alien was now either too far away to hear her, or he plain ignored her due to his intolerance to that word. "What about not attracting attention!" Yukari called, but she too wasn't answered as the Symbiote gave chase until he and Ruby were out of sight. Mentally groaning, the 3 followed the duo in the same direction they went. Kurumu and Yukari flew while Mizore used the rooftops.

"Hello?! Vampire!" Moka called up to then with her hands cupped over her mouth. Kurumu was the one to fly down, looking unamused, and carried Moka up with her by locked her arms underneath hers.

"Come here, mommy! The Disney Princesses are right here!" Said a tiny girl, who dragged her mother by her arm down this alley. "Ok, ok. We can ask them for their autogra..." said the mom, not exactly believing her daughter, but went long on the odd chance it was true. It was actually the same mother and daughter from last chapter. Once they got to the alleyway, their was no one there. Geez, the hotel has to clean up back here. All those feathers, cracks in the walls, ice on the floor...

"But... but they were here! They were fighting the big-bad stepmother and..." said the little girl, who was sure what she saw was real. It was at this point the mother took initiative. "That's it, no more Disney+ for a week" she said, pulling her daughter out of this alley. Maybe the media was right about too much TV and Video Games. "BUT MOOOOOOOM...!" Cried the girl as she was dragged back into the main streets.

XXX

Even though they saw Venom take off, the girls lost sight of him and Ruby due to waiting for Kurumu and Moka. They looked around themselves, trying to figure out which way to go. They never been in this human city, and without Miss Nekonomes' map, there's no way they could traverse this place. "Dammit. Which way did they go?" Asked Kurumu.

BOOM!

An explosion came from the Mitsubishi Industrial Museum across the street. Mizore lifted up a hand slowly with an index finger pointing the disturbances direction. "That way" she said. She got unamused stares at her for this. "... just a hunch" she continued with a shrug of her shoulders.

(AN: Experimental Chase Scene)

So what happened was while the girls were formulating a plan, Venom and Ruby ended up at the museum. Ruby flew over in this direction to escape, but was surprised at how far and high Venom could jump. Upon him landing, she summoned some crows to fly into him, but all Venom had to do was turn an arm into a long tentacle and sweep with it, knocking the birds away. They gave off small explosions, but not enough to hurt Venom.

Ruby then flew towards another museum close by, the Yokohama Museum of Art. As she got overhead, Venom was over her. He was able to grab her, fear all over her face as he touched her, for she immediately thought back to the parasite that nearly ate her and her ladyship that day. She somehow morphed into a crow herself, the shrinking part was how she was able to get out of Venom's grasp. As she flew away, Venom was now on a collision course...

CRASH!

Either the roof structure was weak or maybe Venom's mass combined with his falling speed did it, but he crashed through the roof itself and through a bookshelf. He ended up on the top floor, in a study hall of some kind, with all kinds of books and magazines, even foreign ones from out west. The Symbiote was covered in these books, though they fell off him as he stood back up. One magazines in particular was on his head, so he grabbed it, and a page flipped downward due to them being folded up. He stared at the life-sized picture before him, also looking quite impressed.

This magazine had an emblem of a bunny in a bowtie in a corner...

"Hmm... interesting" Venom hummed and nodded in approval. 'Put it down' deadpanned Eddie. "Right. We have our own set of models" Venom joked, looking down at himself, talking to Eddie. 'Venom!' Said Eddie. "Aw, your no fun" Venom said, tossing the magazine aside and jumping back up through the hole he made.

Flying towards Leone Marciano, which is an Italian Restaurant, Ruby noticed Venom had taken a large leap, but ended up in front of the building this time (the fact that no none was around to see Venom or hear him slam into the concrete was a miracle). She flew to the Minato Mirai Central Tower and flew upwards alongside it, with Venom following by not just climbing the tower, but full-on charging up it with all four of his limbs at the speed of a cheetah!

Ok... that was a bit of an exaggeration, but this parasites agility for something that size was incredible.

Ruby launched a few feathers like the ones she used previously, but they did little, if anything, to the demon chasing her. They did appear to cut Venom's hard skin, there was just no visible damage to it. Once Ruby got to the top, Venom had leapt over the roof portion of the tower, only to be blasted by Ruby's magic again, grunting as it impacted him. It packed more of a punch than last time, and he was pushed back and off the roof because of it, falling to the restaurant below.

XXX

Italian Jazz-like music was playing in the restaurant, and today was a busy day. It was a full house, but thankfully the business wasn't understaffed, just a bit overwhelmed as this was around the time everyone in town was on lunch break and... well, that should explain allot. A large majority of the staff was Italian, fair enough; but there was one employee that stood out from the rest...

"So that's one Charcoal-Grilled Swordfish for the big guy, and Chicken Marsala for the lovely lady?" Asked the waiter, as he wrote down a couples order on a pad he was carrying. He stood 5'8 with brown hair and eyes, had an average figure with an average build, and facial features looked American with a hint of Italian. He seemed a bit out-of-place, but costumers liked him. Heck, he was known for working at Lezaza's; which was a popular diner in a small town called Kuoh. He also indirectly brought some business here.

Even though he only works at this location sporadically, his presence alone brought in all sorts of costumers, including all these cute girls that were apart of some weird club at that towns Academy. Speaking of those girls, the waiter appeared to be very close with all of them. Especially that redheaded chick, her being the bunt of his jokes more than half the time...

"Yes, that'll be all" said the man, him and his date smiling as they handed the waiter the menus'. "If I may, I do recommend having the Pappardelle Shrimp in Tomato Cream Sauce with it" the waiter whispered down to the couple. They looked surprised. "Oh, no thank you, Anthony" said the man, already familiar with this staff member. "We considered it, but it'll be too much for us" said the lady.

[Too much for their stomachs, or their wallets?] Asked a voice in Anthony's head, but it wasn't his own. Still, he was thinking the same thing, and he could tell that was the couple's main reason for not buying it. It was pretty expensive, being around 3500 yen, which was about 32 US Dollars. Considering what they ordered already, if they did include Anthony's suggestion, this date could amount to a minimum of 6500 yen.

"Tell ya what, I'll give ya my discount. I'll even make it myself. Shhhh!" Anthony whispered, adding a humorous shush with a finger on his lips at the end, but he was being sincere. He was about to go on break anyway, and its not like he worked at this location much. "Oh. Oh no, Anthony. That's not necessary" said the lady, her and her date touched by his kindness, but didn't think he needed to do it. Then again, they weren't surprised either.

Anthony could tell they appreciated it, both their stomachs and wallets. "Don't worry about it. I'll get your order started" said Anthony, smiling at the couple, to which they smiled back at. He went into the kitchen, and saw his manager over the stove. This was common in the restaurant business, management would sometime lead a hand when business was fast. They didn't just appear when the Karens' out there asked for one... though that was also true.

"Hey, Boss? I'm gonna take this order myself, then head on break" said Anthony. "Good ahead" his Boss granted permission, though this was a natural occurrence that happened from time-to-time. Some customers actually preferred the way Anthony prepared the dishes. And hey, the customer is always right. Even some Karens' liked the way Anthony made the dishes... most would lie, but it was hard to take them seriously when they were still eating from the very same dish.

CRASH!

Out of nowhere, the roof caved-in in the corner; and what was lying down was a large black... thing. "Ugh... Kiki's really starting to get on Our nerves" said the thing, rubbing the top of his head (it sounded like a male) and getting up from his fall... wherever that was from. Space maybe? Who the hell knows? Only the Boss was staring at the beast in shock, having never seen anything like this before.

Anthony?... He's seen some things.

After standing up, the beast looked like he was about to jump back up through the hole he made in the ceiling, but noticed a basket on the counter. "OOOOOH! BREADSTICKS!" He said, a tendril somehow coming out of his arm and grabbing the entire basket, then wolfing the whole thing down in a single gulp. Not chewing any of them. Giving a burp, indirectly showing his teeth, "*ahem* Excuse Us" he then jumped back up and out of the kitchen area.

Recovering from his initial shock, the Boss walked over to the hole the 'guest' had created, all looked up through it. "HEY! This isn't a fucking Olive Garden!" He called out.

BONK!

His only response was the now-empty basket being dropped on his head and landing on the floor. "... I'm gonna do some paperwork in the office" said the Boss, wanting to clear his head from what he just saw. "Sure, I'll take care of this order for you" said Anthony, getting to work. But before that, he darted his eyes back and forth in the room, making sure no one was around. Thankfully, he was alone. "I gotta tell her about this" said Anthony with a smile, pulling out his phone and calling a number.

After a few rings...

?: Hello?

Anthony: Oh, Rias! Your not gonna believe what I saw today...!

XXX

Ruby landed on the towers roof and took in a deep breath. That thing was finally gone. 'Ruby!' Echoed a voice in Ruby's head. 'Your Ladyship?' Ruby mentally asked the voice.

The scene changes back to the cottage on Witch Hill, with Oyakata looking out into the distance towards the city from the front porch. 'Your using so much Yoki, I can feel it all the way back here! What are you doing? What's going on out there?' Asked the elder witch.

Yoki was the technical term for monster energy, acting as a monsters level of power, but it was also tied to their life. Ruby had used so much in such little time, it was kinda hard of a witch of Oyakata's level NOT to sense it. She had told the teen witch herself this numerous times. What was she thinking?! It could even attract humans if she didn't stop soon. All she had to do was fetch a fellow witch, why would she need to use all that power for?

Ruby was gonna answer; but that's when she felt something grab her upper arm, close to her shoulder, then it yanked her backward. Venom, having appeared again, was hanging off the roof and pulling Ruby close to him with his mouth out and tongue hanging out. "APOLOGIZE!" He commanded.

Still not understanding what she should apologize for, Ruby used her magic again. This time, she summoned 2 potted plants on both sides of Venom, who looked a them in confusion. That's when a Venus Flytrap-like plant shot out of one of the pots; and it grabbed Venom's arm, the one he wasn't using. "ARGH! HEY! LET THAT GO!" Venom ordered, but that only got the Flytrap to tighten its grip. Deciding his arm was more important than Ruby, Venom released the girl and pulled back his other hand to try and punch the Flytrap.

That's when then other one decided to pop out of its pot and grab that arm too, trapping both of Venom's arms within their mouths. Venom was lifted up into the air, and he was pulled in 2 different directions. They tried to take a piece of Venom for themselves, but the Symbiote fought it off with his own strength as they yanked him back and forth in the air.

'Um, not now' said Ruby with all due respect. 'Rub-!' Said Oyakata, but Ruby cut the link off. She didn't want to cut the conversation short, but she was in the middle of trying to escape something that was probably trying to eat her. With her plants keeping Venom busy, she flew off again. Venom saw her go. He wasn't gonna let her get away, she still needed to apologize! Growing out his claws in the mouths' of the plants, they gave what sounded like a muffled whine as sharp nails poked through them, green blood leaking out of them.

Pulling as hard as he could, Venom yanked the heads of the Carnivorous Plants right off as he fell on the roof. "Yuck. I hate greens" he commented, tossing both heads aside in different directions as he had no need for them. He looked into the direction Ruby was going, saw her, and went after her again.

XXX

'Ruby?... RUBY!' Oyakata thought, continuing to call to her foster daughter despite the link was clearly severed. She looked out towards the city again, what was happening back there? All Oyakata heard was something roar "apologize", then that same voice begging to be "let go". What had Ruby gotten herself into?

Deciding she should send some assistance (thought the elder witch had no idea why), she summoned a crow in the exact same fashion as Ruby summoned her's when she introduced herself to the Newspaper Club. Giving the bird a silent order to find Ruby, it cawed and flew off as quickly as it could towards the city.

XXX

In the Yokohama Media Tower, people were bustling around inside. Since this was a corporate office, that was understandable.

SHATTER!

Out of nowhere, the windows exploded, sending glass everywhere (no one was hurt thankfully)... was that a large bird that flew in, being chased by something black and bulky? It happened so fast, no one was sure, nor did anyone take a chance at looking. They just got the hell outta the way!

"Excuse me! Pardon me!" Said Ruby as she flew above, in-between, to the side of multiple humans; trying to get away from Venom. He was persistent, Ruby'll give him that. No matter what she did so far, she couldn't shake him off. "MOVE!... LOOK OUT, LADY!... GET OUTTA OUR WAY, NERD!" Was what Venom said, ruthlessly pursing Ruby. He didn't harm anyone... 'cept the nerd by swatting him aside and into several desks, but he'll suffer some sore muscles at best... maybe a broken bone.

Just one. Probably.

As Ruby flew towards another window, she used her magic to pick up a filing cabinet, tossing it in Venom's direction. After knocking it away like the nerd, he just kept charging, the object doing very little to stop his pursuit. The filing cabinet rolling along the floor, papers flying out of the drawers as it went along.

Ruby shattered the next window she was going up to with her magic, flying out into the city again. She flew over the FamilyMart directly behind the Media Tower, which is an equivalent/rival to 7-Eleven. Venom of course followed her, but he mistimed his jump from the tower and landed on the street directly in front of the store... on top of a car parked on the side of the road, making its alarm go off. This caught the surprise of a group of friends (3 boys and 3 girls) who were just about to go into the store itself.

All 3 of the girls, and one of the boys, screamed; but Venom paid them no mind and just jumped off the car, above the FamilyMart's roof, and climbed along the wall of the MUFG Global Learning Center behind it. The group of friends just stared, and a few of them got out their phones for a picture.

Ruby was getting exhausted, so she landed on the roof for a quick breather. She couldn't keep this up forever. Then she heard Venom's claws ripping into the building, and assuming [correctly] he was on his way again, coming up the side of the wall. Slightly panicking, she saw some trees poke up from the opposite side of the roof. She quickly got her wings out again and flew to it, seeing that there was a wooded area. Hopefully, she could use this for cover, like in those fiction movies!

Yeah! All she had to do was lay low, not make a sound, and the scary monster would give up due to not seeing her on the roof anymore!... right? Flying next to a large tree, using her magic to make a bush that surrounded her and kept her hidden, she ducked down to wait out the parasite.

SLAM!

Just as she finished, Venom himself had landed in the small man-made forest. "Hmmm..." He stood up slowly, looking back and forth carefully. He assumed [correctly] that Ruby was here, somewhere. Craning his neck and facing the opposite direction, he repeated the same actions as already described. Ruby remained as quiet as she could, not wanting to alert Venom and have to flee from him again.

...

...

...

Venom: (smiles slyly) ... STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT, EXCHANGING GLAN-CES!

WHIP! SNAP! CRASH!

Venom began singing a song he once sang when he teamed up with a Spider (reluctantly mind you), then snapped a random tree in half by whipping a tentacle. This action nearly caused Ruby to jump out of her skin, but she held her breath.

Venom: WONDERING IN THE NIGHT, WHAT ARE THE CHAN-CES?

GRAB! SNAP! CRACK!

Venom, continuing his singing; grabbed another tree next to him, picked it up, and squeezed it so hard that it snapped in half. He then tossed aside the bottom part that he was holding. Ruby had to really hold in her gasps, this creature was seriously scaring her now... and by the tone he was using and the show he was putting on, he knew it too.

Venom: WE'D BE SHARING LOVE, BEFORE THE NIGHT WAS THROUUUUUUUUUUUGH!

SWIPE! ... CRASH!

Venom walked slowly with his hands behind his back, then got one of them out as he approached a third tree. He swiped, and after he walked away, the tree itself fell with another crash. Ruby had to hold her mouth closed at this point. He sounded like he was getting closer!

Venom: SOMETHING IN YOUR EYES WAS SO INVI-TING!

The Symbiote continued his song-a-long, picking up 2 trees from both side of him that must have been recently planted.

Venom: SOMETHING IN YOUR SMILE WAS SO EXCI-TING!

He hugged both trees at the same time, then threw them in opposing directions, making 2 crashes. Ruby almost yelped out, but she stood strong. She shut her eyes tightly.

Venom: WHEN WE SAID OUR FIRST "HELLO"... LITTLE DID WE KNOW, LOVE WAS JUST A GLANCE AWAAAAAAAY...

...

...

...

...

Huh? Nothing happened. Ruby slowly opened her eyes, half-expected something to either be thrown or another crashing sound.

WHIP!

Out of nowhere, a tentacle wrapped around Ruby's body again and quickly pulled her out of the bush she was hiding in. She screamed in surprise, and ended up in Venom's grasp. "A warm embracing dance away" he said, not singing anymore. Ruby realized she was trapped now, she barely had any power left, having used most of it to not only fight off 2 A-Class monsters', but also to try and escape this "Venom" character. Now that she was caught, there was not much she could really do. He resisted everything she threw at him, and didn't give up chasing her for something she still didn't understand.

All she was trying to do was recruit a witch into their ranks, battling 2 monsters' to do so, and called him what he was: a parasite. What did she do that was so wrong?

Directly above them was a single crow, and via that crows vision... Oyakata saw it all. She was wide-eyed in shock. Venom... a 'child'... was holding Ruby. But how? That didn't make any sense! Did one escape?... no. The human Carlton specifically told them that NONE could have escape his company building, having just as advanced technology and security systems that rivaled the government's. That being said, the government had no idea of their existence either.

And based on those weapons his security team wielded during their first encounter over 6 months ago, she was inclined to believe him... Well that, and he also got all that human trash off her precious hill. So then, where did this one come from?... Nevermind that! She's seen what those things can do when they get hungry, that yellow one being a prime example. The crow dove downward and towards both the Symbiote and her foster daughter.

Before Venom could do anything else, that same crow had gotten in-between him and his prey. "... really? This again?" Asked Venom with an unamused expression, assuming Ruby had summoned this crow to defend herself. Ruby just watched, knowing full well if she didn't summon it, then it belonged too...

"CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW!"

If getting screamed in the face by a loud noise wasn't bad enough for Venom's ears (or the ringing sound now going off in them), the fact that it was so powerful that it sent him flying backward like a rocket through a line of trees and into a wall itself certainly bruised his ego. Venom's whole world was also a haze, his ears ringing like a church bell. Groaning, he attempted to stand, only to find him stumble, holding his head. He also tried focusing his vision, as it was now a bit blurry, but that was easier said than done.

The crown suddenly landed on Ruby's shoulder. It looked into Ruby's eyes, giving a silent exchange between the two. After 3 seconds of that, the crow began to glow... "Ugh... NO!" Said Venom, still a little woozy, but recovered upon seeing the crow now glow. Didn't take a genius to figure out what was gonna happen if he didn't get ahold of Ruby.

FLASH!

A tiny flash of light later... and Ruby was gone. Venom couldn't have gotten up quicker if he tried, that sonic screech was too much for him. He felt both ashamed and angry.

"VENOM!" Called out the voice of a concerned Moka Akashiya. Venom looked behind him to see she was being carried by Kurumu as she landed from flying, along with Yukari on a broomstick and Mizore having jumped from somewhere. "Are you ok?" Asked Moka, getting close to Venom and seeing his out-of-it expression. They did hear a loud noise on they're way over here, so maybe Ruby exploited his weakness somehow.

"And where'd birdbrain go?" Asked Kurumu. "She's gone..." said Venom. The group normally would have assumed this meant she was eaten, but there was no evidence (AKA: mess, not counting the mess of trees) to rectify that, so she must've gotten away.

POW!

Venom punched a tree next to him in anger, knocking it down immediately. "And she didn't even apologize!" Venom continued.

Each girl blinked... THAT'S what this was about? "... I'm sure he means us too" sweatdropped Yukari, but even she wasn't entirely sure. "In any case, we'd better get out of here before the crowd shows up" said Mizore. Upon hearing that, Venom looked at the snow woman, completely confused. "What crowd?" He asked, which made the girls stare at him and blink again. Was the Symbiote that oblivious? "... You really have NO idea why?" Asked Kurumu, hoping to God he wasn't this stupid.

"What did We do?" Asked Venom in a genuine tone; which got Kurumu and Yukari to facepalm, Mizore to cock an eyebrow, and Moka to stare blankly at Venom himself. Leading him to the edge of the roof, Kurumu was the one to point out into the distance as Venom appeared a second later, and the rest of the group a second after that. Cracks in the road/walkways, some destroyed cars, holes through buildings, water firing up from the ground where hydrants used to be...

Pretty much a trail of destruction leading up to here.

"Oh, that wasn't Our fault" Venom said, nonchalantly. "EDDIE TOLD US DON'T ATTRACT ATTENTION, YET YOU RAN THROUGH A HUMAN CITY CHASING A BIRD!" Kurumu shouted at him, not in a mean way, just to get it through Venom's head. "Exactly. If she apologized, it wouldn't have happened" Venom said, still very calm. Kurumu was about to yell at him again, but Moka intervened, sounding exhausted. "Let's just go back to the Hotel."

XXX

"Your saying that that 'child' was bonded to a human? For how long?!" Asked Oyakata, who was currently inside a living room sitting on a rocking chair. After saving Ruby from Venom, she didn't even give the poor girl a chance to catch her breath. The elder witch wanted answers, and she wanted them now! Why was a 'child' out in the human world?

"I... don't know. The monsters' I fought off, a few looked to be in some kind of uniform, the same as the human, seemed to have a relationship with..." Ruby tried to explain, but Oyakata cut her off. "Monsters'?! Uniform?! Why would they be in the human world? Yokai Academy has a strict policy to not let any monsters' in the human world without a pass!" Said Oyakata, which Ruby didn't understand. What was Yokai Academy? Sounded like a school, that much was obvious, but Ruby couldn't figure out more content than that.

"And why would a human be wearing Yokai Academy uniforms?... Ugh, Mikogami; you never learn. The last experiment already failed... miserably I might add. I warned him several times humans can't be trusted, but no. S-Class monsters' never listen to A-Class ones" Oyakata began to rant, putting a finger under her chin, which made even less sense to Ruby.

She knew who Mikogami was of course... Tenmei Mikogami. He was one of the 3 Dark Lords. Not only were they 3 of the most powerful monsters' in existence, but they were also the leaders of the entire monster world. Tenmei himself was known to be very cunning, earning him the nickname: "The Strategist of the Dark Lords", but what did that have to do with Oyakata...? And what experiment was she talking about?

"Never mind that. How could this be possible? Mr. Drake assured us there were no others anywhere in the world" said Oyakata. None of this added up to the centuries-old witch. Why would one be bonded to a human, without it dying? That happened in the laboratories, where one was found dead... though it might have also been the lack of food, so it decided to eat the human it wore as skin? But then it died?... Just what was going on? Was Oyakata missing something?

"Your Ladyship?" Ruby asked her, her tone firm. Oyakata could tell she wanted to say something, and probably not something wanted to hear, but looked at Ruby and gave the younger witch her undivided attention. "These things... whatever they are... their dangerous... I don't think we should continue feeding them anymore" Ruby said. "And let them die? Ruby! This is our chance, our chance to finally get back at those humans! All they do is bring everything to ruin! They take and take and don't care about the consequences..." Oyakata ranted again, making Ruby concerned for her.

She sounded... like "he" did...

-FLASHBACK-

Ruby was sitting on a room adjacent to the dining room practicing making a crow in her hand; while her guardian was having a conversation with that businessman, Carlton Drake. He was sitting down, having some tea that Oyakata poured for him. And Ruby was able to hear every word of their conversation... but why was he still here? He already did what he promised he'd do according to what Her Ladyship told her, so why else was he still poking around?

"Mmmmm. This tea is amazing, Miss Oyakata. You must give me the recipe, my grandmother would love it" Carlton said. Oyakata just sat down on the opposite end of the small table, appearing to ignore everything the human man had said. "... why?" She asked. "Why?" Repeated Carlton. "Why did you help me? Why would a human waste his time and money, just to help a poor old woman who wants to be left alone?" Asked Oyakata, pointblank.

That's when Carlton put down his tea. "Because I'm tired..." He said, feigning honesty. "Tired?" Repeated Oyakata. "Of being called a human... the most intelligent species on the planet" Carlton answered, using fake-venom in his voice. "What do we even do for this world anyway?..." He continued, getting up from his seat and started walking around. "If we're so smart... why do we need to to take things? Why not make it ourselves?... That's the thing... All we do is take. Take, take, take, take" Carlton began using hand gestures to bring up his point.

"Truth is... we're just greedy. We want it all; power, money, land... for what? To impress? To get some sort of satisfaction? Why are humans such... parasites? We keep growing and growing, but we don't go anywhere. In the end, we just end up destroying everything we touch... then take some more. Its barbaric" said Carlton, ending up behind Oyakata. He placed his hands on the back of her chair, making her look behind herself and up at him.

"That's why I need your help... you know firsthand, as I do, how horrible humans can be. So I've developed a way... a way for humans to get a taste of their own primitive behavior" said Carlton, looking down at the witch. "Help me, Oyakata. Help me make the world a better place, for humans... for ALL species'... Feed the parasites, to the parasites" Carlton finished, smiling at the older lady. Behind that smile however, was deceit.

It was there that Oyakata... agreed to help him.

-END FLASHBACK-

"ARE YOU LISTENING TO YOURSELF?! ONE TRIED TO EAT ME! AND YOUR NOT EVEN CONCERNED?!" Yelled Ruby, her emotions on the subject too much for her to keep to herself. Not only was she on the fence about this plan in the first place, but now she was more worried this may have gone a bit too far. She wanted to stop it now... before it would get out of their control. "Of course I am, but its not their fault! They only eat humans, that's what their designed for. We just look more human than most monsters" Oyakata rationalized... a weak argument, but its all she could think of.

She understood Ruby was scared, but she was overreacting, right?

Ruby felt like a vein would pop out of her head. He own guardian was making up excuses for some sleazy human who clearly wasn't being truthful with them, despite the fact Ruby herself was nearly harmed. If he was so honest, then why hasn't he returned yet? Why hasn't he opened up shop in Japan yet? It was like he was trying to spread more of these things across the globe or something. Whatever those reasons were, Ruby didn't know, but couldn't believe her foster mother was still taking his side!

"HE'S LYING, OYAKATA! HOW CAN YOU NOT SEE THAT?! HE'S USING US! USING YOU!" Shouted Ruby, expressing how she really felt; also calling her by her real name, which she never done before. It was always "Ladyship" or "Mistress" out of respect.

That kinda hit Oyakata a little hard. Carlton... he wouldn't do that... would he? Sure he was a human, but he proved he wasn't like the rest of them... and sure, he had some guard burn some of her minions, but that was only self-defense on his part. Besides, its not like she can't make more anyway. He wouldn't try to use her, he called himself a parasite, so he was aware of his own species behavior... he was different! "He... he wouldn't... maybe he made a small miscalculation and...?" Oyakata tried rationalizing again.

But Ruby had heard enough.

"HE'S A LIAR! YOU SAID IT YOURSELF, HUMANS CAN'T BE TRUSTED! HE LIED ABOUT 'THEM', HE LIED ABOUT CREATING THEM, AND HE LIED ABOUT THEIR DIET! HE TRICKED US INTO FEEDING A BUNCH OF DEMONS, AND ALL HE HAD TO DO WAS CLEAN THE PORCH OF A SENILE OLD LADY" Ruby screamed. She didn't actually mean the 'old lady' pat, but her emotions and frustrations where too much to keep a lid on.

Now the 'old lay' thing got to Oyakata, but it hurt her more that Ruby didn't trust her. She got up from her seat, with an odd expression in her eyes. "Y-Your Ladyship?" Asked Ruby, having never seen Oyakata look that way before, but the older witch didn't acknowledge her. She walked past Ruby and went downstairs. "Your Ladyship!" Ruby called again, but got no response, so she followed her.

Once Oyakata got to a pair of double doors, instead of opening them like normal...

BANG!

She summoned tree roots through the walls of the house, and plowed down the door by manipulating those roots. She looked pissed, but was more in denial. She was going to prove Ruby wrong, but there was only one way to do that. "Your Ladyship! What are you doing?" Ruby asked, chasing Oyakata down; but she got the same response as before, which was nothing.

The room Oyakata entered appeared to be some kind of small alchemy station; with strange artifacts on shelves on a wall, and a few potion bottles on a countertop, which were below a single mirror on the back wall. A curtain blocked access to this room, but Oyakata walked through it and stared at the mirror, looking at her own reflection for a quick second.

SHATTER!

Using the same root magic as before, she knocked the mirror off the wall to reveal a hidden keypad. She punched in the code herself and with a few beeps of the keys she pushed, another beep rang out signifying the code was correct. In doing so, the wall lifted up like a door, showing another set of stairs leading even further down. She walked down those stairs without a second thought. "Your Ladyship! WAIT!" Ruby called out a third time, but still didn't get an answer back.

Why was she going down there?

Upon reaching the lower level, it was shown to be the very same lab-like area the 'children' were housed in. She just kept walking down the corridors, and picked a random room that had one of the creatures in it, though the glass room was open. As she walked inside, she pressed the Emergency lock button; and with a loud beeping sound, she locked herself inside. "MISTRESS! STOP! DON'T DO IT!" Ruby said, arriving too late to stop Oyakata, but started banging on the glass to try and get her attention.

Oyakata either didn't hear, or completely ignored everything Ruby was saying; because a random root flew out of the ground (startling Ruby of course) and started typing in some codes in a nearby computer. Which caused...

*HIISSSSSSSSSSS*

Ruby stared in shock at the control panel, then back in the room. Oyakata released one of those things, and trapped herself in a room with one! WAS SHE INSANE?! She banged on the glass, harder this time, but she still wasn't getting anything from Oyakata at all.

Inside the room, the 'child' fell to the floor, sensing its surroundings... along with a person in the vicinity. It slithered along the floor towards Oyakata. Was she scared? A little, she's seen what those things can do up close and personal, but also found them interesting because of it. Speaking of it, it poked a head out, looking up at the elder witch, who looked back down at it. It began to crawl up her clothes...

"... ladyship... ladyship..." Ruby's voice called out, clearly screaming, but it was muffled due to the thick glass. Oyakata just kept staring down at the 'child' as it continued to crawl up her. Ruby called her once more, but then gave up and backed away...

BLAST! (5x)

Ruby fired consecutive blasts of energy from her wand at the glass, but it didn't break. GREAT! First it blocked giant demons, now magic? What was this glass made of?! She even tried using the large root that was lying on the floor due to Oyakata no longer controlling it. She used it to bash the glass another 5 times and while it did crack... it still did not shatter. Are you kidding?! There was no way a human could have made this thing magic-proof too!

Did this Carlton person somehow know, or was the glass really that strong?

The 'child' was now in Oyakata's face, but she showed no fear. The 'child' cocked its tiny head and moved side-to-side, as if examining her. It then went for her neck, snapping forward with the speed of a King Cobra strike. Oyakata opened her mouth, but no sound came out. "OYAYKATA!" Ruby screamed, her voice cracking. She released a barrage of attacks upon the glass. Her feathers, orbs of energy, vines and even her exploding crows. She didn't care if she would destroy anything or make a mess, she just wanted her guardian out of there.

Even after all that, the glass still wasn't destroyed.

The 'child' appeared to enter Oyakata's body, because it disappeared in mere seconds after biting her neck. Ruby just stared inside, wondering what was happening. What did that thing just do to her foster mother? In Ruby's POV, it didn't appear anything was wrong with Oyakata. After the thing entered her, she just looked at where the 'child' once was, then she felt the spot it entered... what the hell just happened?

She then turned to Ruby...

...

...

...

...

WHIP! SHATTER!

Ruby covered her head with both arms in defense due to the shattered glass... wait? Shattered glass?

Looking; she saw Oyakata with, not just with a vine, but a tentacle on her arm with it. The same type as the Venom character had. But... that was impossible! If Ruby or the previous organism that was now dead couldn't destroy the glass, how did Oyakata just now? In fact, she looked just a surprised... just what ARE these things? Getting a crazy idea, Oyakata summoned some of her power...

FLARE!

"WOAH!" Ruby had to take several steps back, her Yoki level was even stronger than normal. HELL! It felt on par with an S-Class monster, maybe even beyond! Sure Oyakata was powerful for her ranking, but she's never flared THAT much power before either. "This is... incredible..." muttered Oyakata, looking at the hand that was now retracting the tentacles. She felt amazing! Like 100 centuries younger... maybe more! She did feel a bit hungry for some strange reason, which was odd because she ate literally a half hour ago; but shrugged it off.

Ruby heard Oyakata's mumble. "W-What?" She asked, trying to wrap her head around what was going on. "I... understand..." Oyakata said. "Understand? Understand what?" Ruby asked, not getting what Oyakata was talking about. "This is what they want... a body..." Oyakata muttered some more. "What they... what who wants? Your Ladyship, are you alright? Your scaring me" Ruby said, and it was true. It was like Oyakata was getting delusional, and it got Ruby concerned.

When Oyakata looked at Ruby, she could've sworn she saw something flash in Oyakata's eye... but it wasn't her eyeball.

"I'm fine, Ruby... WE... are fine..."

Well... that was unexpected, wasn't it? Now Ruby got a taste of what a "child" can really do, and it's been shown exactly how and why the 2 witches are watching the Symbiotes' in the first place; but it also appears Ruby might not be so sure about this plan anymore. Even worse, Oaykata has now been bonded to a Symbiote herself, and is shown to have a massive increase in the strength of her powers! How will things go from here? What'll happen next?

You'll have to come back and find out for yourself. See ya next chapter!