Sly kept his distance, wide-eyed as he looked between the destruction, the creeping fog... and the monster Bob had become. It didn't make sense. Gabe and Iris transformed just now. Bob transformed the moment he stepped into the Pink Fog.
Wasn't it supposed to take six hours?
Sly glanced down at his own bruises, frowning. No healing. No transformation. Nothing.
Bob wiped the blood from his hands, somehow picking up on Sly's confusion. "Eat enough, you stop dying. Simple as that."
Bob was talking about eating the pink fragments. Or in their case, absorption.
It didn't help. Sly didn't understand what Bob meant. If anything, he was even more confused than before.
After a few more minutes of silence, Gabe rubbed the back of his neck. "Bob. We should go check where you threw the fragment."
Bob gave a small nod.
They left the wreckage behind and retraced Bob's furious throw. It took them about fifteen minutes of walking through thick fog, the sky above a muted swirl of pink and gray. The street ended where a deep crater had formed from the impact, the earth torn apart in every direction.
And there it was.
What was left of the Safe Zone fragment lay at the bottom of the small crater. It wasn't whole anymore. What had once been a boulder-sized meteor chunk was now shattered into dozens of jagged, glowing pieces, most of them no bigger than a fist. One larger fragment, about the size of a baseball, pulsed softly in the center.
Gabe slid down first, crouching beside the pieces. He reached out, and the moment his fingers touched the biggest one, something strange happened.
His griffin form flickered.
For just a second, his talons and wings shimmered, his human arm flickering back into view where it gripped the fragment. The glow of the stone hummed softly against his skin.
"...Huh," Gabe said, holding it up. "This thing's still alive. Weak... but it works."
They gathered what they could. Not every piece had power left in it, but enough did. Gabe worked quickly, tying them into a bundle and placing them carefully into the cart. As soon as the cluster was settled in the back, the air shifted.
The fog around them thinned.
A faint, clear circle began to form around the cart, like an invisible bubble slowly expanding out from the collected fragments.
Iris watched the edges with awe. "We just made a mobile Safe Zone..."
"Looks like it," Gabe said, wiping sweat from his forehead. "It's weak... barely covering the cart. But it's something."
Sly tapped the side of the cart and gave a rare smile. "Not bad."
A few hours later, with the Pink Fog hanging thick around them as they moved, Sly finally began to transform. His wounds started to close, his body slowly healing.
But he wasn't happy.
He didn't understand how Bob worked, but what bothered him more was Iris and Gabe. They had transformed long before him, already fighting, already proving themselves. Meanwhile, he'd just been there—following behind, watching them handle every threat while he waited for his own transformation to start.
He felt like a burden, and he hated it.
If he was going to stay with them, he needed to fight beside them. Not like this. Not as dead weight.
---
Word travels fast in the fog.
By the time Bob and the others reached the next safe zone, people were already whispering. Stories moved quicker than the Pink Fog itself. A small base wiped out. Red Hands crushed. A man lifting a meteor fragment like it was nothing.
They hadn't even made it past the outer paths before the stares started. Quiet at first. Curious. Nervous. Then someone pointed.
"That's them. The ones from the small base."
Sly glanced over his shoulder. "Great. We're famous now."
But none of them knew the full weight of what they'd done.
---
Far away from the small, ruined base, deep inside a fortified compound untouched by fog, the real leaders of the Red Hands gathered. The meeting room was dim, lit only by the glow of old monitors and scattered lanterns. Maps covered the walls, red markers placed over lost zones, fallen outposts, and now... one more was added.
A man in a long coat leaned over the table, tapping a finger against the fresh report. "A whole base. Gone. And for what? One crew? Some nobodies?"
"They're not nobodies anymore," another growled from across the room, tossing down a bloodstained jacket that once belonged to one of their men. "One of ours crawled back before the fog finished the job. Said it was some freak. Big guy. Broke the fragment. Dropped the whole barrier."
A low silence followed.
Then the leader finally spoke. His voice was calm, but the room froze at the sound of it. "What's his name?"
"Bob. That's all we got."
The leader nodded slowly. "Then put a bounty on him. On all of them. Alive or dead, I don't care. Anyone who brings me their heads gets triple pay."
He stood, adjusting his coat as he turned toward the window. The fog swirled far in the distance, but it hadn't reached them. Not yet.
"We let this slide, we look weak. Find them."
The others didn't question it. Orders were orders. And now, the hunt had officially begun.
---
They stayed in the new safe zone for a few days. With new members joining and the group growing, they needed time to train—test their coordination, tighten their teamwork.
A mobile safe zone was good, but not enough. Training burned through time and energy, and that meant supplies: food, water, spare parts. Practicing was one thing, but they couldn't survive on drills alone. Every day they pushed themselves meant another day they'd have to go back out and scavenge to make up for it.
So, between trips for resources, they used a nearby safe zone as cover—running drills, sparring, working out formations. Each time they stepped into the Pink Fog, the same thing happened.
Bob transformed instantly.
Iris and Gabe followed hours earlier than the standard timer, their bodies adapting faster and faster.
And Sly... didn't.
By the second day, the frustration was eating at him. They were already moving, their bodies shifting, and there he was—still waiting for the change, still lagging behind. Finally, as they stopped to rest, he couldn't hold it in any longer.
He glanced over while they waited in the fog. "Hey... how are you guys transforming so fast? It's supposed to take six hours, right?"
Iris smirked and stretched her arms. "I was wondering when you'd ask. Figured you'd notice eventually."
Sly frowned. "Notice what?"
She tapped the small pink fragment hanging from a chain around her neck. "These. You thought we were just wearing accessories?"
Sly blinked. "...You are, aren't you?"
Gabe let out a small laugh, pulling his own from under his shirt. "Not exactly. The trick is absorption—direct skin contact inside the Pink Fog. When you hold onto a fragment and let it touch your skin, your body absorbs its energy, speeding up the process. It boosts you—makes you stronger, faster, and shortens the transformation time."
Sly looked down at his arms. "I mean... I thought I was changing a little quicker."
Gabe nodded. "Yeah. You probably picked up some stray contact without realizing. But to really get the benefit? You need to keep one on you, against your skin. Works better in the fog. And no, before you ask, we can't eat them like Bob."
Iris snorted. "We tried. Nearly broke a tooth."
Sly looked between them and then back at Bob, who didn't even seem to be listening, too busy stretching his arms and watching the fog shift.
"He's been doing it since the first day," Gabe added. "No wonder he's ahead of everyone."
Without wasting another second, Sly dug through the fragments they'd collected, grabbed one, and pressed it to his palm. He waited. And slowly, he felt it—the warmth seeping into his skin, the faint pulse of something working inside him.
They were right.
"Feels... weird," Sly muttered, gripping it tighter.
Gabe just shrugged. "You'll get used to it. Besides, we've got bigger plans than just faster transformations."
Sly raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"
Gabe smirked. "We're hoarding them. Every last fragment we get. Think about it—once people realize what these things can really do, they won't just see them as monster drops anymore. They'll be worth fighting over."
Sly blinked. "You're serious. You're trying to get rich off meteor rocks?"
"Not trying," Gabe said. "We are. Currency, power, survival—take your pick. Out here? This is the new gold."
And for the first time, Sly realized just how far ahead they were thinking.
From the side, Bob finally spoke up, his voice as casual as ever.
"I didn't know we were hoarding them."
Gabe rolled his eyes. "You're eating the profits, man."
---
And the day they'd been waiting for finally arrived.
It started quietly, just another slow morning in the safe zone. But when the public screen flickered to life—its signal pulled from a satellite, powered by a backup generator—people stopped what they were doing. A live broadcast from one of the larger networks was playing, and in a world where communication was rare, that meant only one thing: something important had happened.
Bob and the others gathered with the crowd, all eyes on the screen.
A reporter sat across from a man who looked like he hadn't slept in days. His lab coat was wrinkled, his glasses were crooked, and his hair was sticking up like he'd been electrocuted. But the excitement on his face was impossible to miss.
"This is Doctor Halbridge," the reporter began. "One of the first specialists studying the Pink Fog and its effects on the human body. Doctor, what exactly is happening to people out there?"
Halbridge adjusted his glasses, leaning in. "Well... the short version? The Pink Fog is changing us. Those who survive exposure aren't just getting lucky—they're evolving."
A murmur ran through the small crowd watching. Sly glanced at the others, but none of them looked particularly surprised.
"Through direct observation," Halbridge continued, "we've confirmed that Pink Fragments are key. They're not just harmless debris. They can be absorbed, and the results are... well, you've probably already seen them. People are getting stronger. Faster. Tougher."
Sly snorted quietly. "Finally someone says it."
Gabe smirked. "About time."
Iris crossed her arms. "Let's see if he gets the details right."
On the screen, Halbridge was getting into it, his voice gaining momentum like he'd been waiting days to unload this theory.
"After studying multiple cases, I've been able to outline what I believe are the stages of Fog Power. Now, these are still early observations, but the pattern is clear enough to share."
The camera cut to a simple chart while he explained:
Stage 0 – Adaptation:
The initial phase of survival. The body accepts the Pink Fog, triggers transformation, and maintains mental stability.
Stage 1 – Internalization:
The body strengthens internally. Faster healing, increased endurance, and enhanced physical durability.
Stage 2 – External Aura:
Energy begins to radiate from the body, creating a visible or felt aura that increases pressure on the surroundings and nearby targets.
Stage 3 – Extension:
Power extends beyond the body, enabling long-range attacks and the materialization of weapons or tools formed from Pink Fog energy.
Stage 4 – Enhancement:
Full control of the Pink Fog as both offense and defense. Weapons become sharper, barriers stronger, and energy use more refined and continuous in combat.
Halbridge sat back with a grin. "And honestly? I think there's more beyond that. We're just getting started."
The crowd watching the screen stayed quiet. You could almost feel the weight of it settling over the safe zone.
Gabe tilted his head. "Stage 1, huh? That's us."
Iris nodded. "Pretty sure Bob's past that."
They glanced at him. Bob didn't say anything, still watching the screen, his arms crossed over his chest like none of this was news to him.
Sly looked down at the fragment resting in his palm, the one he'd finally started carrying after realizing how far behind he was.
Stage 0. Still stuck there. But now he knew why.
The broadcast kept going. The reporter leaned back in her chair and said, "And Doctor Halbridge, what about the long-term effects? Should people continue to seek out fragments? Is there any danger to absorbing too much?"
Halbridge's grin faltered for just a second.
"We're... still studying that," he admitted. "But I have more to share. What happens next is going to change everything."
The screen cut to a map.
And the room got quiet again.