Wen and Erin snuck behind the large man, keeping to the shadows as they followed him through the tunnels. Every turn he took brought them deeper into the sewers, and the winding turns would be impossible to track without an unwitting guide. Erin dropped a seed near the wall they followed at every turn, knowing they would need to return.

When he reached a group of other people, they would wait for him to move on. Erin would throw in a few black seeds and bind them before they could scream with her curse. So far, they had been through two domed sections with gems glittering in the ceiling above and webs covering the sides. Erin didn't know how many of them there were, and she hoped she had enough seeds for them to take them all.

Things would get ugly if she ran out of seeds.

Slap.

"Keep up the good work." The man they had determined was called Roy slapped the nearest man on the shoulder before heading toward the far side of the domed room.

Wen nodded at Erin, her gun held ready as Erin drew three more seeds from her bag. In the first room, she had been more liberal with them, but not knowing how many people they faced had caused her to limit the number—one for one.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

With three quick flicks of her wrist, she threw out the seeds, dropping one beneath each of the men guarding the room. One of them looked down. The other two didn't.

"Thorn's Grasp," Erin whispered.

She connected the seeds to her gate, sending the power of growth into each one. Black thorny vines exploded out from each seed, crawling up the three men's legs like long worms. Erin threw power into her gate, focusing her will on reaching their mouths as quickly as possible.

"Wa—"

Thud.

Only one had time to make a noise as the vines crawled around him. Moments later, three bodies hit the floor. The black thorned vines held them tight and prevented even a moment's respite.

"Go," Erin whispered, and Wen ran forward, checking each man before standing up and waving Erin in.

"Clear."

Erin stood, and they started together at the opening, where Roy had disappeared. The entire series of actions had taken less than a minute. However, with the constant twists and turns, Erin didn't want Roy out of their sight.

As she approached the entry, a face waited for her, smiling broadly and looking down at her. It took Erin a second to understand that Roy looked back at her, his hand raised, ready to strike down. Then, everything happened all at once.

"Get back!" Wen grabbed her cloak, pulling her away from the opening.

Whoosh.

A fist cut through the air, slamming down where her head had been. Erin fell back, landing on the hard stone floor. Her vision shook for a moment as she tried to focus on Roy.

Crack.

"Almost got you a second time." Roy cracked his knuckles as he stepped through the door. "That would have been two knockouts on 'Thorn Queen.'"

"Get down!"

Bang.

Wen fired her revolver as Erin fell to the floor. Roy snapped back, and Erin's elbow hit the ground hard. Roy staggered backward on one foot but caught himself using the rim of the archway.

"That hurt."

Clack.

The bullet fell from a small black mark on his cheek as he raised his head. The skin turned purple around the black mark, but Roy was unharmed otherwise. Erin grimaced, reaching into her pocket and grabbing a seed before throwing it at Roy's feet.

"Thorn's Grasp."

She tied the flowing energy of her curse to the seed, sending vines bursting out from in and wrapping up Roy's leg. Roy pulled back against it, ripping away the vines from the seed before slamming his foot down hard.

Thud.

"We can't have that," Roy said, grinning. "You two have done a number on the other Knuckles. You're not going to take me down that easy."

The essential problem when fighting on Erth was the difference in power between people. While everyone was resilient due to the presence of aether, some were born better off, and some trained their bodies to be strong. Roy was one of those people. A simple attack wouldn't take him down.

Guns were fine against the general person but quickly became useless to a strong opponent. Swords could cut down a guard but needed technique and aether to pierce a soldier. That was the reality of aether.

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They needed a plan, and they needed one fast.

"Shaking Rock!"

Brrr.

Roy's arm began to vibrate as he pulled back. His fist blurred as Erin watched. Her mind screamed to move, but her body refused to listen. Roy lunged forward with his fist, and Erin closed her eyes tightly.

Boom.

A hand grabbed Erin's shoulder, pulling her back as the fist slammed into the ground. Debris slapped her in the face as she rolled away from the strike, and she fell against Wen's leg.

"Come on!" Wen held out her hand, and Erin took it.

Her breath came in ragged gasps as they retreated. Erin didn't look back. She knew that Roy would be right behind them, and she could do nothing to hurt him.

They turned two corners that Erin didn't remember going down before. Wen was panicking, leading them down any spot that might lose their pursuers. Erin forced down her fear. If she did nothing, they would be lost entirely.

"Stop." She grabbed onto the nearest edge of the tunnel, her fingers finding purchase on a brick.

Wen reached the end of her arm before she brought their arms taut. She practically bounced at the end of Erin's hand and nearly broke free from the grip. Erin held on, forcing Wen to stop.

"Useless," Wen whispered. "We have to run, Erin. The gun's useless. I'm useless."

Wen's eyes were wide in the dark, and Erin saw her fear mirrored in Wen. However, Erin knew they couldn't just run. They needed a plan. They needed to act. She had to do it. She couldn't believe it, but she was the only one of them thinking clearly enough to act.

"You're not useless!"

She said it louder than she thought, and her voice echoed through the tunnels around her. She knew Roy had heard it, so they had little time. She took in a deep breath, drawing on her aether as she repeated herself.

"You're not useless. Now help me think."

Wen didn't respond momentarily, but she blinked and shook her head. Erin could see that her eyes were no longer wild when she did. She was thinking again.

"He's still after us," Wen whispered.

"We need a plan." Erin nodded.

"What can we do?"

Erin paused at that question. They were undoubtedly disadvantaged, but that didn't mean they were out of the fight. Roy had a defense against her and Wen, but that didn't mean they could do nothing. If she could hold Roy still, Wen might be able to get a shot off inside of Roy, which would bypass his defenses. He had also taken the time to destroy her vines, which told Erin that he was cautious of them. That meant she might be able to bind them.

"We'll have to go back," Erin said, turning around and pulling Wen with her. "We need to find a place to set up a trap."

"Erin." Wen's eyes widened, and Erin ducked down.

"Shaking Rock!"

Boom.

The fist slammed into the wall where her head had been, knocking away the stone. Erin didn't take the time to look, pulling Wen with her as she dodged a grabbing hand and headed back the way they came.

"You're better at dodging me without your memories!" Roy yelled after them.

Roy knew her. That much was obvious. He couldn't seem to stop bringing it up. However, Erin didn't know where they had met—that was to be expected, considering the state of her memories.

Clatter.

As they ran, she dropped a few seeds to the ground. She needed to try something, and the only way to find out how well it worked was to sacrifice a few seeds. She turned a corner with Wen and looked back into the darker tunnel they had left, waiting for Roy to follow.

Thump. Thump.

"We should run," Wen said, pulling on Erin's hand but not running away. "We can get Jean."

"He might be facing his own problems," Erin whispered.

She understood. She didn't know why, but she knew that they had to handle the problem themselves. It was expected. They might work together, but they were a crew that handled its own battles with what it had.

That was how they grew stronger.

The first seeds cracked in her senses, and Erin reached out, tying the rest to her curse. The power of growth flowed into the seeds, and they cracked open, spilling out an explosion of vines.

"Thorn's Grasp."

"What is—"

Erin envisioned the vines climbing Roy's leg and wrapping around his arms to bring him to the ground. She needed to bind him tightly, hoping the darkness would keep them from being destroyed. For a moment, she thought she had succeeded.

"Shaking Body."

Her vines were immediately stretched to the limit, ripping back and forth within her senses as she watched the darkness. She couldn't see what he was doing but could feel it through her shared connection with the vines. He was vibrating his body back and forth with a repetitive motion, his muscles stretching and contracting faster than the vines could adjust.

Rip.

The vine ripped off of Roy's body, and Erin lost their connection with them. She frowned. The black thorn vines, her most common plant, weren't working. She'd have to try something else and had a few other plant seeds in her pocket.

"Come on." Erin started running with Wen, heading back where they had run from, or at least she hoped it was.

The myriad of turns they had taken while running from Roy were now coming back to bite her. She couldn't remember which way they had gone, and the few lights that operated out in the tunnels didn't provide enough light to see any signs of passage.

"Let's go." Wen pulled her forward when she had paused too long, taking them both into darkness.

"You remember how to get back?"

"No." Wen shook her head as they passed into another lit section. "But doing nothing wasn't working. If we keep going, we'll find our way back eventually."

Erin wasn't sure that was right, but she had no better option. So long as they kept ahead of Roy, they could come up with another plan. The one thing she didn't want was a direct confrontation with them.

Neither of them would walk away from that.

"And we meet again." Roy stepped out from the shadows before them, clenching both fists tight as he stepped through the shadows.

Erin froze. He had been behind them, but the tunnels were more connected than she thought. He had to have come around somehow to cut them off. Wen raised her revolver, even though it was pointless.

"Why are you so intent on me?" Erin stepped forward, letting go of Wen and putting her hands in her pockets. "How do you know me?"

"How do I know you?" Roy tilted his head, his fists shaking as he smiled a wicked grin. "You really don't remember. I guess I should have expected it because of the spiders, but I hadn't talked with someone who had their memories taken."

Crack.

He cracked his knuckles along his fist in his hand as he towered over them both. Erin gulped down her fear. The longer he talked, the more time she had to think. Her eyes roved the area for options and spotted a nearby grate.

"We met on Dry Turtle," Roy said. "And after a scuffle, your crew murdered my brother!"

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