Karl stared in shock at the dove robed transformee hovering over either side of Larry's bisected corpse. The white, feather-patterned robe billowed over the dirt. All the transformees pinned to the ground by Larry's spell were taking flight once more, and there was little if anything that Karl or anyone else could do to stop it.

Karl lashed out with psychokinetic blasts, striking in rage more than anything else. He fired bolt after bolt at the dove robe transformee, but the bastard bounced off the ground before Karl could get close enough to claw a couple new holes into his face, forcing him to attack from a distance. Bever and Ichigo flew after the rising transformees, but this time, their weapons' strikes simply phased through their opponents without effect.

"Karl, it's not working!" Bever shouted.

Larry's killer darted out of sight.

Karl groaned. If only I could fly… he thought.

"Karl…!" Ichigo said.

Psychic blasts spat down from above pounded the ground before Karl could react. Transformees flopped and slithered about. Some got thrown against buildings, or crashed into wayward vehicles.

Nurse Costran, Dr. Rathpalla, and one other defender managed to take flight, but the rest of them were clueless.

Larry's killer dove down at the other side of the garden and levitated up a tank. Soldiers leapt off the vehicle, only for the dove robe transformee to splatter them onto the walls with a wave of his hand.

Karl slithered down the street, trying to get a better view of Bever and Ichigo.

Nurse Costran and Dr. Rathpalla chased after the transformee with the tank. Dr. Rathpalla managed to divert the tank with a psychokinetic blow right as the dove robe threw the war machine at the hospital, but another of Verune's cultists crashed into the psychiatrist head first, cutting off his redirection.

Knocked off course, the tank flew to the side, where it plowed through the walls of one of the hospital's buildings and caused a massive explosion.

Inspired by the dove robe, other of Verune's wyrms joined in, chucking trees and flying machines at the hospital, breaking windows and walls. Others bombarded the buildings with their powers directly, blasting walls open one section at a time. Some reached in with their powers and swept out the buildings' contents, spilling beds, bodies, and more onto the courtyard. Others took deep breaths and breathed out streams of spores, melting the hospital's insides from within.

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"We have to stop them!" Dr. Rathpalla yelled. "They'll destroy the hospital!"

"Wait!" Yuth said. "I…—"

Suddenly, Nurse Costran flew toward the ground. Dr. Rathpalla yelled at her, but only briefly, because he zipped off to interfere with the transformees' attacks on the buildings, blasting them with force to turn their attention onto him. But instead of landing, Yuth sped along the ground, just inches above the sett-paved street with her tail curling in the air behind her, and then came to a stop right beside Karl.

She reached out and touched him. "This should work!"

There was a tickling sensation as tendrils flowed out from her hand and onto the skin of Karl's arm where she'd grabbed him. Then everything went dark.

When Karl opened his eyes, he stood in the cornfield in his mind, back in human shape, with his tunic and breeches. Nurse Costran stood beside him, wearing a gray dress with white hat and apron.

Ichigo and Bever were nowhere to be seen.

"What are you doing?" Karl asked.

Nurse Costran placed her hand on Karl's shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "I was wondering…" she said, "what if I don't need to show you to teach you?"

"Teach?" Karl asked. "Teach me what?"

The nurse's body began to glow with aura as experiences and ideas flooded into Karl's thoughts like the spring thaw.

She grinned, and he grinned right back at her.

"How to fly!" they said, answering Karl's question in unison.

Karl recentered himself back into his physical body as soon as the knowledge took root. He used his underbelly to push off the setts to pry himself away from Nurse Costran's physical link. Slight pains stung his arm where she'd grabbed him.

Karl and Yuth looked each other in the eyes, just as they had in their minds. He slithered out of the way as she floated past him.

"What is she doing?" Ichigo asked.

"I'm going to need my power back," Karl said.

"W-Wha—"

—Karl dismissed the hyperphantasized ribbons of blue and gold that whirred around his spirits' weapons. Then, closing his eyes for a moment, he concentrated on the knowledge Yuth had bestowed upon him.

The details flitted through his mind like a flock of sparrows.

Weave the plexus into a sheath around your body to attain neutral buoyancy.

Add sheets of force vectors to use as directional thrusters.

Don't neglect the effects of wind shear!

Karl didn't know what half the words meant, but Yuth's knowledge filled the gaps for him.

Opening his eyes, he yelped in surprise when he realized he'd lifted off the ground. It was like his body had suddenly become weightless. The thoughts that maintained his magic flight surrounded Karl's body and like a tightly fitting helmet. Even with Yuth's knowledge to guide him, he still felt like he'd just discovered a brand new piece of the hospital's technology, riddled with buttons and doodads just begging for experimentation.

Ichigo yelled in shock. "I thought you couldn't fly!"

And Ichigo wasn't the only one. The other grounded transformees looked on in astonishment.

"I couldn't!" Karl said. "But, now I can!"

It would have looked better if he hadn't dropped down half a foot while saying those words, but he'd made his point.

As Geoffrey liked to say, mastery comes with time. And though the same was true for wyrms, the schedule behind that time was definitely different.

"Everyone!" Karl yelled, floating over to the other transformees. "Go to her!" He pointed at Nurse Costran and himself. "Link with us! We'll show you how to fly!"

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