Thornessa turned her head, moonlight sparkling off the tiny thorns on her cheek. She sighed softly, eyes fixed on the bruised sky above.
Thornessa: "You know… I read that going through hell together bonds people."
Mizukane: "Yeah? Like getting our butts kicked mid-air by flame demons?"
Thornessa (smirking): "Or lying here… breathless, burning, heart pounding like crazy."
Mizukane (squinting): "…Are we still talking about the fight?"
Thornessa (grinning, eyes glowing pink): "That's up to you, hotshot."
Thornessa: "You know… the cockpit's empty right now."
Mizukane (eyes snapping open): "Wait are you seriously saying ?!"
Thornessa (raising an eyebrow): "We could take turns piloting, dumbass. What else did you think I meant?" (She bursts out laughing as he groans and hides his face.)
Mizukane: "Damn it. Fighting fire dragons might be safer than talking to you when I'm this tired."
Thornessa: "Then don't fall asleep. Snore once, and I'll shove a cactus so far up your nose you'll be sneezing flowers for a week."
He laughed, but the moment stretched. Her body was so close too close. He shifted, trying to keep cool. But yeah, his body had other ideas.
As he lay there, his… situation was completely visible.
Mizukane (thinking): Not now. Not in the middle of the damn sky.
Thornessa caught the tension her smile flickered.
Thornessa (playful): "Is that… Is your sword activating? Or are you just really happy to see me?"
Mizukane: "What are you saying?"
Green light pulsed beneath her skin. Thorn-shaped blades shot out from her wrists.
She attacked
Mizukane (jumping back): "Whoa wait! What the hell?!"
She slashed downward right where his head had been.
His situation slowly went back to normal.
Mizukane: "Hey, thanks a lot, Thornessa."
Her voice turned cold as the sunset faded.
"I am Andy, you stupid Ghost Hunter."
Suddenly, her nails grew sharp and long.
Her body shifted a tail sprouted from her behind.
Her knees thickened, feet changed shape, and nails sharpened.
"I AM ANDY, NOT YOUR FRIEND."
"So why are you here?"
"My last wish was to save my parents… but they died."
"I think you're responsible."
Mizukane thought: I'm wiped out gotta end this quickly. But she's no longer human, she's a ghost now.
Damn, she's playing it smart.
There's only one way to kill her, he realized.
His hand slipped into his jeans pocket.
"Mizukane! Thornessa, do you copy? Return to hold ASAP. Wind's shifting storm incoming. Hello? Mizukane? Are you safe? Damn it… someone answer!"
The crackling voice came through the walkie-talkie in Thornessa's left pocket.
He pulled out his pistol, reloaded with a sharp click, finger tightening on the trigger.
Suddenly, he aimed at Thornessa's forehead then froze. A huge blade glowed violet-blue in her hand.
Veins of color spread from her fingertips up her arms like iris petals. Her nails sharpened into deep indigo, razor-sharp.
Her hand had changed.
Thornessa (calm, taunting): "Why hesitate, Mizukane? You've aimed at worse. One squeeze this ends."
Mizukane (thinking): Too close. If I shoot, she strikes first. No way I survive. Andy's using her like a mask sharp and fast.
Thornessa (mocking): "Silent now? Calculating how to kill me without losing your own head?"
She raised the blade just inches from his throat.
Mizukane (low, wary): "That blade… it's not yours."
Thornessa (smirking): "Ah, you noticed."
Thornessa (quietly): "Ever seen an iris flower, Mizukane?"
Mizukane: "I know it. The eye."
Thornessa (smiling): "Not the eye the plant. It blooms violet like dusk, gold like memory. But beauty lies. Its roots are poison. Touch it carelessly… and it consumes you."
She stepped closer, voice dropping cold and soft.
Thornessa (whispering): "Just like me."
Gun at her forehead, blade at his neck.
She tilted her head was that a flicker of the old Thornessa? Or Andy's trick?
Thornessa (smile widening): "This blade's drawn from that poison. Smart of you to notice. But clever won't stop it."
Don't tell me she's using that power and this blade's made from it. Genius move.
The flight soared fast under a sky bursting with stars and moonlight. Passengers marveled at the beauty.
Above, two figures faced off: a guy in a red shirt and black jeans, pistol aimed at a lady's forehead.
She had sharp nails, red eyes, sharp teeth, lipstick, a tail swishing behind her, muscular knees built for speed, and her right hand held a glowing blade pressed near his neck.
Thornessa (coldly): "You're done."
Mizukane (smiling): "Exactly you are."
Suddenly, a voice whispered behind Thornessa: "Cooked."
She spun Mizukane stood right behind her, gun pressed to the back of her neck.
Thornessa, possessed by Andy (thinking): "I'm cooked. How did I forget? Cloning that's Grade 4 ghost hunter basics. Slash his neck, clone shoots instantly. Attack behind me, front one fires. Don't move, both shoot. One wrong move, game over. Gotta choose wisely."
Thornessa stood still, glowing faintly beneath the starry sky. Her transformation peaked.
Her arms morphed into long, shimmering tendrils gelatinous vines glowing violet and green, pulsing with life. They floated, twitching like they had minds of their own.
Her eyes, once sorrowful, gleamed cold green ancient, unreadable.
Her skin melted into translucent jelly, like stardust trapped in crystal. Her legs flowed into a glowing jelly skirt that hovered like mist.
Suddenly, she liquefied green liquid flowing between Mizukane's legs, merging into her human form. Her clothes lay wet and tossed on the plane floor.
Naked, glowing green, her insides visible organs, curves, everything.
Mizukane fired, but bullets passed through her like water no harm done.
His clone liquefied and floated in the air.
Mizukane (eyes wide, gun shaking): "Sweet ghost of hotness what the gelatinous goddess is THIS?"
Thornessa (smooth, possessed): "Like it? This body evolved. No clothes, no shame just premium alien jelly realness."
Mizukane (wiping sweat nervously): "Why glow like radioactive lime juice?! Why are your… organs in 4K?!"
Thornessa (scary voice): "I don't know, I just used a plant called Li-jelly ancient, its leaves liquefy in autumn from heat."
Mizukane (looking away dramatically): "Trying to focus on the mission, not your haunted booty."
Andy (teasing echo): "Mission? With that shaky hand? your focus is on her, uh, well "
Suddenly, Mizukane's smile vanished; his lips pressed tight, cold and serious.
Mizukane (coldly): "Evolution looks pretty right before extinction."
Suddenly, thunder roared and rain poured down.
The flight flew through heavy night rain, droplets flying fast.
Thornessa was back to normal, but still naked. Her hair floated wildly in the fierce wind.
Her beautiful naked body stood strong as rain soaked her skin.