Even when I have the rest of the story sitting in my google drive, ready to be uploaded, I still suck at actually remembering to do it. Anyway, sorry for the delay, here's the next part of the story.

Friday came a lot faster than Rex would have liked. Staying in the hospital was pretty nice, all things considered. He didn’t have to worry about fighting or adventuring or anything, and Timothy was around for a large amount of time to at least try to entertain him. It was a good break from the disasters that had seemed to plague him ever since that unfortunate day where he had unfrozen the human. How much he regretted that decision in hindsight. But that was then, and this is now. He had to press on. His current task was to investigate the town of Shokodada, and it was a task he would carry out with the utmost attention.

Of course, getting to the town was no problem. The government figured that Steven had to do with the disappearance as well, and given that Rex and his friends were assigned to do whatever it took to take care of Steven, the government was more than willing to provide transportation to and from the town as needed. As it turned out, Rex’s hospital stay was also beneficial, as by then the government had managed to drive most of the reporters away. Other than Rex and his friends, the only people who were able to set foot in the town were medical personnel, in order to help monitor and take care of the bodies of the spiritless, as it was standard to not move the body when someone become spiritless, to ease the ability of the spirit to find and rejoin its still living body. Many friends and family members of those who lived in the town arrived, but none were let in. They were told it was due to the fear of the magical anomaly that had caused the disaster returning, but Rex and his friends knew the truth.

The day was grey, and there was a light drizzle falling onto the sidewalks, and the bodies of the spiritless. Bodies laid on the sidewalks, and in cars and busses on the street where their spirits had been taken from them. Not all were so lucky as to have come to rest in the street however. Many cars had crashed into either other cars or buildings, killing the body, meaning that there was nothing for the spirit to come back to even if they wanted to. Those unfortunate spirits were just dead, plain and simple. It was unfortunate, but there was nothing that anybody could do about it.

Rex and his friends walked into town, and decided to find a less crowded area to act as a base of operations of sorts for their investigation into the town. Eventually, they settled on an only slightly out of the way and incredibly dingy alleyway. The used needles were easy enough to avoid, anyway.

“So, where should we start?” asked Timothy, bringing up a map of the town on his phone.

“I think a good first idea would be for us to spirit fuse,” said Rex. “That way we can get a lay of the baseline magic, and see if anything strange is going on.”

Timothy nodded, putting his hand on Rex’s shoulder as they performed the fusion.

“Yep, that’s about what I expected,” said Rex. “Still very bad. Absolutely terrible even, but what I expected. No sign of any spirits at all, other than us, and the medical personnel, of course. They were all either destroyed, or taken away. I don’t see how Steven, as powerful as he is, could have possibly managed to get away with an entire town’s worth of spirits, no matter how powerful he is. I fear he may have just found a way to destroy spirits completely, while leaving the physical body intact. I fear that all these people may already be fully dead.

“No,” said Dan “No! That can’t be!”

“Dan? What’s wrong,” asked Timothy, approaching the deer.

“This town… This is where I lived before the government kidnapped me! This is where my parents are! This is where my brother is! They can’t be… They can’t be dead!” Dan ran off, and Rex and his friends decided to follow after him.

“Dan! Dan! It’s okay,” said Thrasher. “We can check up on them now. It’s okay. It’s just not like you to act like this.”

“Sorry,” said Dan. “I try to put aside my feelings for the missions, it’s just what I was trained to do. But once I heard what Rex said, I couldn’t anymore. I have to see my parents, and my brother, if he’s still in town. I remember the address. Come on!” Dan ran down the streets, dodging the bodies and the medical staff as he went, Rex and the rest of his friends trying their best to keep up with the deer.

After running for a long time, Dan stopped in front of a house. Presumably, it was his house.

“This is it,” said Dan, confirming what Rex thought. “This is the house where I grew up before the government took me. Hopefully my parents still live here.” The house looked just like any other on the street. A single floor, and a small but serviceable yard. The gardens were well maintained, with all sorts of flowers blooming, so at least someone was living there. Dan reached out and turned the doorknob. It was open.

As he opened the door, Dan’s worst fears were confirmed. Lying on the ground, their spirits gone, were two deer. One male, and one female. Thrasher crouched down next to them, and checked for a pulse. “They’re still alive, or at least their physical bodies are.”

“Rex,” asked Dan. “I know the answer is probably going to be no. But there wouldn’t happen to be any sort of spirits around here, would there be?”

“I’m sorry, Dan,” said Rex “but whatever happened to the spirits in this town happened to your parents as well. Their spirits are nowhere to be found.”

Dan sat down on the floor, next to where his parents laid. “Well, it took ten years, but I’m finally home. Mom, Dad. I know you;re not exactly around to hear this, but it’s comforting somehow to be back, even if you might be gone forever. I hope you’re happy, if your spirits do exist somewhere, and know that I never forgot about you, no matter what it may seem. I’m not entirely sure how the government hid me from you, but I hope that they at least made you think I died painlessly or something.”

After he was done talking, Dan spent a few minutes sitting silently next to his family members. It was then when he noticed a photo sitting, framed on the coffee table. It was a photo he remembered being taken. It was a photo of his family that had been taken just days before his disappearance. His family was standing outside of their house, on a nice, sunny, summer day. He was out in front, with his younger brother standing next to him. Standing behind the two children were his parents, just as he had remembered them. Dan looked from the photo, to the bodies of his parents, to his reflection on the glass. How harsh the years had been to all of them. How long it had been since they had been a family. How long it would be until they could be a family again, if his parents’ spirits even still existed.

Dan shakily stood up, took another look at his parents, and went down the hallway, opening the first door on his left. His brother’s room. There was nobody there. His brother must have been out somewhere when the spirits were taken. Hopefully somewhere out of town, so he would at least have someone to come back to, someday. His brother’s room was pretty empty, not at all how he had remembered it. All that remained were a bed, a dresser, and a desk. He must have moved out, and wanted a place to return, though he would now never have one. Dan left the room as it was.

There was one more place he wanted to go. Dan took a deep breath, and now entered the second room on the left. His room. It was decorated exactly as it was the last time he was there, over ten years ago. Despite the age, there was no dust on anything, it seemed that his parents were still maintaining his room, even after he was gone. Posters of old movies and TV shows, some of which he had completely forgotten decorated the walls. The sense of nostalgia was overwhelming, so he sat down on his bed. For the first time in a decade, he was home. Of course, he could never stay home. Dan decided to take his time leaving, taking in every last detail of the house that he once called home. He picked up a few things from his room, before heading back out to the living room where his parents were.

“Hey, do you guys mind stepping out for a bit, I think i need some time alone,” he asked. Rex and his friends were happy to oblige, letting Dan know that he could take all the time that he needed. Dan once again sat down next to his parents, not saying anything. He gave both of them a hug. He wanted to leave them a note, just some sort of indication that he was alive, but he couldn’t. He was too afraid. He didn’t know exactly what the government would do if they found out, but he knew that it wouldn’t be good for anybody. He did decide to grab the picture that he had seen earlier. They had more pictures with him on the shelf, surely he could at least justify taking one to himself. He shed a single tear onto the frame while doing it.

He sat for a while longer, just enjoying being back in his own home, back in the life that he was robbed of. He had to move on eventually though. There may still be a way to save them. Dan had something else to live for now. He had the hope that one day, he may be able to revive his parents, and that one day, he may even get a chance to reunite with them. To do that though, he had to finish the mission. He had to stop Steven. He had to save his family. Dan got up, took one last look at his parents, and left the building.

“You okay, Dan?” asked Thrasher. “Do you think you’ll be able to keep going with the mission?”

“Yes.” said Dan. “I-I’m fine. I’ll be fine. Let’s go.”

Rex and his friends, now that Dan had paid his respect to his family, were back down to having zero clues on where to even start. They continued to talk around the town, looking for any sort of hint, any blip in the magic fields that would give an insight into what had happened, but they were unable to find anything. All they saw were the medical staff buzzing around the town. Many were taking care of the spiritless bodies, setting up tarps, feeding tubes, and the like, and the amount of infrastructure grew as the day wore on. More morbidly, a few were carrying body bags, containing those whose physical bodies died during the attack, those who would never be able to return to the world. Rex tried his best to not think about that too much.

They walked around looking for clues for a long time, but it was clear that there was nothing. As much as they didn’t want to invade the privacy of anybody who lived in the town, they decided that they would need to start looking in houses.

For a while, it also seemed like the houses would be a dead end as well. Each one told it’s own tragic story of families torn apart, bodies laying in the spot where their spirits were taken, none offered any clues as to where the spirits, or Steven, had gone. Televisions and computers were left on, their screens reflected in the glassy eyes of the spiritless.

Eventually though, in one house, they found what they needed. A clue. At first, they thought it would be just the same as the rest, a few people laying around, maybe a television on here, a computer on there, something like that. The computer that they did find on however, finally contained the clue. It belonged to a teenage girl. She happened to be recording a video message at the time, and the camera had been left on since the incident happened.

James sent the video. That way they could watch it from the chat program, and because he thought whoever the intended recipient was might also want to see it. Along with it, he sent a message. “Sorry, she is still spiritless. I am a medical personnel dedicated to taking care of her, and I thought you might want this video, just in case her spirit is unable to be found. -J”

They then watched the video. “Hey Michael! I’m just recording a video message because I think I might be coming down with a cold or something, so we won’t be able to go out this weekend like we planed! I figured I’d at least send you a video chat or something instead. That way you can at least hear my voi-” She was cut off by a familiar voice yelling. It was Steven.

“Citizens of this puny town! Do not cower in despair, for you have been chosen! Chosen for what? You might ask. You have been chosen to help make the world a better place. Do not be alarmed, as no action is required on your part, I will do all that is necessary. Do not try to flee, do not try to run, just relax, I will do all that is necessary,”

Naturally, the girl screamed, and cowered in her chair. “Also I guess if I die, I love you always. That came out a bit wrong though, I still love you even if I don’t die of co-” At that point, a purple figure rose out of the girl. It was her spirit. Her body slumped down, falling into the same position that Rex and his friends had found her in.

“Good,” continued Steven. “Now, all of you spirits may be concerned on where you are and what is happening, but do not be alarmed. I simply need the extra magic power, but permanent spirit fusion is impossible when you have a physical body. Do not be alarmed, as your spirits will be returned to your bodies after I am done using them.”

“Oh yeah?” said James, clenching the computer's mouse so hard that he nearly broke it, “tell that to all those people who died because they suddenly fell unconscious. What are you going to tell them, asshole.”

“Now, now, I can tell some of you are trying to flee, but it’s pointless. My magical efficiency is too high. I am the dominant spirit in all of our fusions. Besides, you see this green magic flickering around my, or rather should I say our, spirit? That’s negative magic interference. Try to get out without my help, and you’ll probably pick up some of it yourself. And do you know what negative magic interference does? It slowly consumes your mind and spirit, and you eventually die, your spirit going on to cause chaos before it decays. So just stay with me, why don’t you. Together, we’re going to take down the government. They’ve been filling your head with lies. And we’re going to take down my enemies, and make their lives a living hell. Your spirits are going to change history. So just stay calm. Don’t worry about your spirits decaying either. Negative magic interference is very powerful, and even with all of our spirits fused, keeps us well above a magical efficiency of one. For those who are unaware, a magical efficiency that high means that our spirits will never decay from the background magic, no matter how long we spend outside of our bodies. Trust me, we’re going to appreciate that.”

After that, the talking ended, and the recording only showed the spiritless body of the girl, lying in the chair, completely silent.

“That’s… that’s horrible!” shouted Rex. “forcibly kidnapping spirits like that. It’s despicable.”

“My parents,” said Dan. “He has my parents there. Who knows what sort of horrible things that monster is using them for!”

“I can’t wait to punch that piece of shit right in the face!” said James. “Kidnapping spirits and using them for this. It’s wrong. It’s horrible. It’s unforgivable!”

“To abuse his magical efficiency like that,” said Timothy “It’s such a waste of the life those activists wanted for us. It’s such a waste of the gift of freedom that he and I were given. It’s wrong! We have to stop him!”

Thrasher was so angry he didn’t even know what to say. To abuse something as personal as a spirit. It was despicable.

There was no hint as to where Steven would go next in the tape, and it seemed that investigating the town more wouldn’t produce any more results. What Rex and his friends had discovered is what steven had done, and what had happened to the spirits of those who lived in the town. It wasn’t pretty, it was in fact, incredibly horrible, but at least they now knew. Dan knew that his parents were still alive out there somewhere. He knew that they could be saved. He, and the rest of the people he had come to call his friends, would just have to figure out how.