Chapter 192 - Invasion

"What happened? Why did she suddenly pass out?" Von asked while hesitating to lock the collar around the fake Petunia's neck.

"Do you think it's because of that?" Gem said and pointed at the collar which made Von drop it out of fear.

"Oh no, we're doomed," Von turned around and panicked, after almost making the sleeping fake Petunia fall from Lei's arms.

"What's happening? What did you do?" Lei also asked, agitated after balancing the fake Petunia in his arms.

"We thought that extra collar was a fake! Who knew Petunia has an extra collar with her memories in it!?" Gem said.

"Wait, you thought you were giving her a fake collar? Why?" Lei asked and shook his head, "And why am I even holding her like she's the real one?!" he added and carefully placed the sleeping Petunia on the floor.

"Wait! I thought you were on this fake Petunia's side?!" Gem said and pointed her hands with floating slimes to Lei.

"No! I-It's weird! It's like I was being manipulated! I don't know what got into me but the moment I saw her puking rainbows, it felt as if my mind became blurry when it came to Petunia."

"But why do you think she's not the real one all of a sudden now?" Gem said, still being cautious of Lei while Von was panicking behind her.

"Because I trust you! I did not spend that much time with Petunia only to mistake her for a fake one!" Lei said, in denial about the confusion that just happened to him earlier.

"Okay… then what should we do now?" Gem asked.

"First, what do you think is happening now?" Lei asked while turning around from the fake Petunia and making his way to stand with his friends.

"She's obviously obtaining Petunia's memories! We need to do something to make sure she's not going to be acting like Petunia anytime soon!"

"We should just kill her now," Von suddenly said, which shocked Gem.

"I agree," Lei said and grabbed a blade from his pockets but Gem quickly ran in front of him to prevent something bloody from happening.

"I don't think that's the best solution right now, especially since she has Petunia's memories. What if Petunia needs that?"

"Then we can just give her the collar back," Von answered.

"I don't think this is just as simple as that, I mean look at her! She's obviously suffering from all of those memories of other people suddenly invading her mind!"

"Or it's just the effect of a first-timer having a Stut-hut crawl inside their brain," Lei said and pushed Gem aside softly.

"Don't worry, I'll just lock her up with this," he said and showed Gem his sticky rope.

"But what about Venedette and the real Petunia? What should we do now?"

"Well, that cat knows where Petunia is, we should ask her," Von said even after suggesting to kill her.

"Done, let's go," Lei said and carried the fake Petunia like a wrapped sack of rice behind him before starting to run back to the location where they just came from to check on Venedette.

"Come on," Von said and lowered himself so Gem could hop on his back easily, "We don't know if he's telling the truth yet so we should not lose them."

"Okay," Gem said, staying silent the whole trip while brainstorming about what she should do with that fake Petunia and how to make her tell them where the real Petunia was.

***

"Gem! I need your slime!" Fily said while waving at Gem, Lei, and Von's figures, approaching them in the hallway.

"On it!" Gem said and released a ball of healing slime from her hand.

"Just put it around her head and she will be fine," Fily said and continued on explaining what the fake Petunia did to Venedette.

"It's just a simple brain freeze, although it's temporary, the freeze will need a longer time to completely wear off which we could just immediately remove with your healing slime, so anyways, what happened back there? Why do you guys look so gloomy when you've clearly caught the impostor and even roped her up."

"Ask Von," Gem said and moved closer to Venedette to do her magic which made Von a little bit nervous.

"What is it?"

"W-We accidentally gave this cat a copy of Petunia's collar."

"YOU WHAT?!" Fily shouted and turned around with her hand slapped around her forehead, seemingly trying to calm down and think about the situation thoroughly.

"I thought you were giving her a fake collar?!" she shouted again which made Von look down out of guilt.

"We thought so too, but based on her reactions, we thought she was actually obtaining Petunia's memories."

"Or it's just the normal reaction of someone having a Stat-hut invade their brain, right Fily?" Lei said, trying to keep the tension and negative assumptions down.

"No! Where did you get this collar?!" 

"From the yacht," Von answered timidly which made Fily even more stressed.

"Okay, for now, make sure that fake cat won't talk while I check the components of that Stut-hut."

"But we need her to tell us where the real Petunia is!" Gem said and even accidentally pushed Venedette's head in the wrong direction, "Oops, sorry."

"You do that, I'll just check this first to see which one of your assumptions got it right."

"Okay," Gem said and glared at Von and Lei as a warning for them to keep watch of that cunning fake Petunia while she and Fily do their thing.

"How is she still inside her head even after getting the collar removed?" Von asked, "Do you think we should put the collar back to her again and ask it to cancel instead?"

"Only the host can do that, Von," Lei said and wrapped his rope around the fake Petunia's limbs again, making sure there was no way she could escape from his ties.

"But Fily can hack," Von said and pointed at Fily who glared at him for mentioning her name.

"We should just do what she said, okay?" Lei said and diligently placed the fake Petunia between him and Von for them to keep an eye on her.

"I hope it's just what I thought," Lei said, which Von agreed with silently.