Oh, you'll find out, Saffa.
CHAPTER NINETEEN:
Cut to the Chase
Skinwalker had made it outside the manor's grounds, to the dark road beside it, which had a dark forest on his right side. He glanced all around, looking for the spies who had discovered his carefully covered-up secret.
He heard a low bellowing roar right behind him, a flash of blue and teeth. He did not wish to stick around anywhere near that thing. He ran in the opposite direction, and soon came across another frightening beast, that seemed almost skeletal to him in the dim light. He fled in the only direction that those two monsters weren't. He came along two more monsters that came in his path.
Unbeknowst to him, he was being herded.
The physical exertion, the fear-induced sweat, the lack of a recent goo treatment -- all factors of why the Dustin skin seemed to deteriorate quickly. Soon, his body ballooned out to match the frumpy middle-aged man who wore it, which somehow his clothing expanded to fit for some reason, albeit not comfortably. The skin began to pale, and raplidly lose realism and detail, becoming more of an obvious mask with attached bodysuit. Hair became white and wispy, looking more like melting cotton candy than hair.
Soon the skin was becoming more of a hindrance than help. He began to rip it off as he ran, with the pieces immediately curling up in to formless, crusty dust or ash. He felt the cool night air on his true face, and found it too cold, which wasn't because his face, body, and clothes were slick with goo. Hee was fine for a moment, but he knew he had to hide.
He would take another skin, he thought. He would have to. These spies hadn't left him any other choice! He had to. No one even remembered Ivan Skinner anymore, he was now Skinwalker. He did not want to be Ivan anymore.
Soon enough, he came to a clearing where there appeared to be no one in this dim light. He looked around, and saw forest on all sides. With a stab of fear, and a minor body ache (which he put down to his exhaustion), he realized he didn't know the way out of this forest. He did not know where he could get his next skin from.
Suddenly, the body ache became stronger, as he visibly winced from it. He looked around, hoping to divine a way out, when a huge wall of earth encircled him. When looked around again, light had come up and he saw his pursuers -- an akylotyrannus, a Tyrannopede, a Crabdozer, and a Rancor. The Tyrannopede was demorphing into Saffa, the Crabdozer was demorphing into Abby, and the Rancor was demorphing into Noelle.
"What the --" Ivan said.
"Very good of you to join us today, Skinwalker." Cloak said conversationally, as if talking about the weather. Cloak sat on an old tree stump, and beside him, on his left, on a surprisingly comfortable rock, sat AniDragon. To Cloak's right stood Underseen, who apparently couldn't quite decide what his hair should look like because it shifted from a blond bowl-cut, to red Bieber hair, to black Lucas-from-Earthbound hair.
"What do you want with me?" Ivan said.
<I should think that obvious,> Noelle said, as she and the other three joined Cloak, AniDragon, and Underseen.
"We cannot allow you to persist in stealing lives," Underseen said.
"We cannot permit you to harm another family," Abby added.
"We cannot let you kill another innocent." Cloak said.
"Are you going to kill me, then?" Ivan said, who had gotten over the surprise of this.
"No," Dino said, shaking her massive head. "Death will allow you to evade your responsibility for your crimes."
"So," Ivan said, perplexed, "what are you going to do?"
"I am going to bind your powers," AniDragon said. "I'm gonna take them away."
