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The Red Panda closes the notepad she had written this entire saga on, I mean it's her tragedy, but even she's self-aware that it's a well good story like. Maybe she'll get to publish it one day, dunno. She reclines on her computer seat as she glances at the clock, 12:07, a perfect time to start another day at hunting down her luck again. She now shares a flat in Newark with Carly and until recently a 3rd Monster too. But they eventually took the inevitable move from Near Nottingham too Actually Nottingham, honestly it's probably a matter of time until Feigh and Carly make a similar jump. But for now they're a roommate down and likely one will be assigned a new one, lest they find someone to fill the gap. It's important they do, to leave to chance? What if the person picked is well annoying? Or doesn't do the washing up? Unforgivable, they need to intervene.

What's changed in this time, from then to now? Well there's the entire societal structure of a Human Supremacy collapsing due to several Kaiju attacks that has all been wiped from the memory of the collective consciousness. Y'know that little thing. But a Monster controlled world hasn't exactly benefited Feigh too much in her predicament, of course. Calamity as a concept doesn't exactly have an allegiance to any particular form of life on the planet.

But Feigh's been keeping on, mainly due to the MCP (Monster Community Project) the current governing body of Normal Island for Monsters, believing Feigh's plight. She was somehow granted an audience with the Baba Yaga who confirmed her luck was stolen, which is a trusted source in the MCP's eyes. Her requirements for UBI have been forgiven, the status given to disabled Monsters. Honestly? In the fight against not dying to bad luck every time she steps out of the door, not needing to work is an absolute boon to that endeavour.

But still she also needs to do more than that to fight off calamity; Baba Yaga gave her a list of routines to do in order to promote better luck. From greeting "Good morning mister magpie" to little prayers she can recite in the day to ward away Misfortune. Feigh has also managed to procure charms, Omamoris, Gemstones and the like, to try and keep herself out of the red as much as possible. None of this will give her GOOD luck per se, or even just a neutral amount, but it does keep Calamity to the point of like... Slipping on two banana peels in a row as opposed to being struck down in the street by 4 double-decker busses. Which is absolutely where Feigh would be at had she no been proactive with this stuff.

But all of this would be moot if she could just get her luck back, not even all of it but enough to return to neutral would be incredible. Feigh has been trying to track down or even find out what exactly did this to her. She's heard murmurs of methods of syphoning someone's luck, but none every cite the golden insects that she encountered back in Essex. But there have been people who have claimed to have their luck stolen, as well as people tracking an almost fantastical upswing in influence and luck after these thefts. The biggest culprits are believed to be businesses ("Free Market" strikes again!) and government parties in cities that still function under a democracy ("Fair Election" strikes again!). There's sadly been no stories of people being able to regain their luck, perhaps the insects are the missing component in all these stories? But how is she gonna find one, let alone HER one? Does it even still possess her luck? Does it need to be hers? She doesn't know and doesn't feel any closer to learning.

Still you know what they say, today is a day like all the other days which are days and they definitely do say that. Bad news is Feigh is very much in debt to the Luck Gods right now, as her typical place for charms and dispelling misfortune has not restocked for the better part of a fortnight. Thankfully she's managed to track down another source of Good Luck Charms that's down in Market Square today! All she has to do is you know... Get there.

She recited her prayers, made sure to say good BLOODY morning and offer a bj to every magpie she saw, clasping hard to on old charms hoping there's a shred of luck left in them to get her through this journey today. She made sure to tip toe slowly on every staircase, jump in every puddle in hopes this maybe would "Spend" her incurred calamity? Oh no she put her paws in the bird poop! Awwh that's rank haha, well no need for anything else horrible to happen now! Despite this, there were still the odd getting stung by a wasp, five times in 10 minutes in fact! Nearly getting hit by cars on the crossing via lights just happening to malfunction and go green! God the world was still insisting on getting Feigh by any means.

We joke and go haha and teehee but this has very much fucked Feigh up. She rarely goes outside and has deffo lost the spring in her step she used to have. The world went from her toy box to a place of unending hostility, yet she is forced to reckon with to participate in society. There's a bit of humbling aspect to it, like this is probably how all her trans sisters feel all the time, but she's now only just living it. The crutch is gone and the uncaring cruelty of the world is now to be suffered at full force. Thankfully the world she now resides in can give her the tools to navigate this unique situation, and she is so grateful, but this always being on it uh... Decimates the life span somewhat, least that's how it can feel sometimes.

She makes it to Market Square in one piece, now okay all she has to do is find the stall, get the charm and it's all over. But god that means walking by so many stalls to find it, all with a new way to make sure Feigh meets their end in the most unlikely way. What will get her? Trip on a thread of fabric to her death? A skewer from a kebab stall will fly into her skull out of nowhere? The most poisonous vape goo is gonna just find its way into her mouth mid-yawn? She keeps these all in constant rotation in her mind as she walks slowly through the market. So far, so good? No sign of any misfortune seems to manifest, but that just means Feigh's toll is increasing. She doomsdays in her mind which is how she misses walking past a shop being refurbished, and just as she passes, well wouldn't you know it? A stray pigeon flies into the face of the guy manning the pneumatic saw blade he hoists it into the air to avoid slicing the bird into ribbons, and it flies out of his hand. Just as this happens, it's of course: Banana peel time. Feigh stacks it as she lies on her back, just in time to see the instrument of her death coming to meet her face. Reflexively, she puts her paws to cover her face, but the good that's gonna do her. She waits for the worst....

THUMP

...Like its heavy equipment, so like... ow? But also she's alive? She wakes up to the saw blade resting on her stomach. Outside of being winded she's fine! Dare she say it...

-Thank god you're alright miss! I'm so sorry I don't know what happened, but the saw seemed to have short circuited out of nowhere before it landed! What luck ey?

Luck, yeah good luck, the best luck even! But how could this happen to her specifically? Just then she feels an intense warmth behind her head, as a golden paw outstretches in her view line offering to help Feigh stand up. The paw was somehow organic, y'know fluffy as paws tend to be, but somehow with the chromatic glory of something golden. Feigh reaches out to the paw and pulls herself up.

Yup, uuhh she doesn't know how to say this but the Monster in front of her is very much a Golden Cat, the ones you see at the front of a shop to bring good financial luck, just an anthropomorphic one of those. Complete with wearing a golden mini kimono and matching golden trousers, listen there have been stranger Monsters that Feigh has come into contact with, it's not that out there!

-Well well, you poor little thing. The Golden Cat observes. I've never met someone so plagued with misfortune.

Feigh double takes, it's not often she gets to talk about this outside of her medium.

-Um yeaaahh, that's a whole thing. I'm Feigh by the way, and you are...?

Despite expecting a reply from The Golden Cat, all they do is look Feigh up and down with an analytical eye, almost.

-Oh no no no, you are not plagued, you were blessed. But somehow your luck it was stolen? Asks The Golden Cat.

-How did... Oh my god yes! I was robbed somehow? I don't have a donkeys how this works ma'am! Feigh says through a few tears. Please anything yo-

Without missing a beat, The Cat produces a big gold... Thing? Actually Feigh had come across this in her research, this is a Koban! You know the thing on a certain anime cat's head? This is another artefact of good fortune, at least here on Normal Island in the Current Year Times.

-Take this, with you're um... Enormous drag factor in calamity, it won't work for long. The Golden Cat Explains. But with luck like mine? That little time is all you're gonna need.

Feigh takes the Koban and puts in her bag and begins to ask another question, but before she can, The Cat has turned around, waving The Red Panda goodbye.

-I hope your fortune is restored! I'd love to meet a curious little thing like you again.

Feigh gives a small wave, kind of left speechless at this exchange. She feels a little gutted how the only person who can understand what she's going through is just kind of... Fucking off. But perhaps he senses that The Cat is something... Above most mortals. She should be thankful for the sponsorship she has received. Now when she said that Koban won't need much time she wasn't kidding. She wasn't even given the chance to wonder about her next course of action before she saw him. Somehow, here, in Newark, in the little cornered off dead end of Market Square, there he was, the Golden Insect. Not just any one, this is The One, she could sense it.

The Bug is looking confused at his phone, panicking about something.

-I'm lost, how could I be lost? Fortune should be with me, I should just walk and make it to my destination, to deliver this luck to The One Who Deserves It Most. How could I be lost? My steps betray me? Unless...

The Insect slowly looks up from his phone to see Feigh, but not just her, her and the golden aura that now blesses her entire being. The Golden Insect knew he could not be unlucky not with all the stolen fortune in his possession. The only thing that could explain this is if something that was even more blessed with fortune, required his calamity. Looking at The Red Panda, she was one of countless victims he could not possibly recognise her. But that aura, he knew this was it. He played with the machinations of fortune and this is how it ends. He has no regrets, no frustrations, just stillness.

Okay so, woooo hey. You know where this is going, right? Well, bare with me as I go through the series of unlikely events to which it transpires. You know robots? Like the beep boops? Cos out of both Monsters views, they were in the company of an automaton made of cogs and clockwork. He announces to his protégée that he has finally finished his device for Chronos, the Chthonic god of time. No no no, stay with me here! So okay, the Robot! He says with this device you can pierce someone with a clock hand revert their state to a time in the past by setting the clock that the hand is attached too. But of course they need to be careful when delivering this device to Chronos. Sadly Calamity cares not for the good intentions of mere mortals. So of course the robot trips on a rock immediately as the device falls from his hands.

It strikes on the floor, which jostles the inner workings of the device enough to move the clock to a point in history. Gee whiz the time it went to? Just so happens to be the exact time and date the Bug was carrying Feigh's luck and in perfect trajectory, the device then bounces from the ground and straight into the Bug's shin. This activates the device of course, reverting him to that previous state and thus carrying Feigh's luck on him instead of whoevers luck he currently occupied. Everything Feigh was looking for, it's right in front of her paws. Right here, right now, in current year and also time.

After collecting himself after being stabbed, Feigh goes in to confront the bug, but stops herself. She recalls The Golden Cat's words, how before the Koban's luck ran out, Feigh will get everything she wanted back. From day one, this hasn't just been about luck, but about faith in that luck. Feigh knew above all other times, this was a time to just... Let it happen.

So of course the ground beneath the Bug begins to groan and creek and eventually a pipe bursts from the earth. With water expelling from it with pressure at such a violent velocity that it pierces through the Bugs skull, killing it instantly in a fraction of a second before the water pressure goes back to the normal. Not a second longer then it needed too and The Golden Insect is eviscerated in an instant. Despite the horror of the crowd around them, Feigh felt a warmness envelop her. A weight that had been long missing in her life had been returned to her, like a weighted blanket or something. But it's not burdensome none, it's of a great comfort, something lost has now returned. The golden aura that surrounded her no longer felt borrowed, but innate. Feigh can't help the tears from streaking down her face. So fucking long, it's been so fucking long.

Feigh then immediately tests if her fortune has returned, she goes to a street performer to play a game of guess which cup has the red ball, after convince him to stop looking at the Monster that just got a new orifice in it's head. Hey, hey, hey stop looking at that and let's play! The Monster mixes the cups around, she picks the middle one and... she loses... A lump immediately comes up in Feighs throat, like no, come on,fuck off, after everything? The performer says tough luck to The Red Panda, before a huge gust of wind blows over all three cups revealing there was no ball underneath any of them and the red ball the falls out of the cuff of his jacket.

The Scammer prepares for the worst, but Feigh is delighted as this confirms her luck as returned and pays the scammer an additional tip, as she gives him a tearful embrace, to his confusion. She then does more tests, just to be REALLY sure her confidence isn't misplaced. She goes to random people to guess coin flips and what number they're thinking off, guessing correct every single time. She. Is. Buzzing. She runs into a News Agent and asks for Three Scratch Cards. She wins 100,000 Corona, the current currency for Monsters, on all three cards. the shopkeeper asks if she knows where to cash them in, she replies "Who cares!" and throws all three at the shopkeeper which y'know... That's his UBI for the rest of his life sorted!

Feigh breaks down in the middle of the square, tears through her paws as she desperately gasps for air. The nightmare is over, everything she went through was for this. She can LIVE again, not just meagrely survive in this world. She has no idea where to even begin, she's in no state of mind to even consider going after the folks who stole her luck in the first place, for now she just wants to live. And my god how she'll live! Actually she probs needs to funds, dammit she should've kept them scratch cards. Fuck it she can do any prize thing she wants and collect the bank, does she even need to? She's got UBI for life right? The World of Monsters, her playground once again.

But she couldn't help but feel a tinge of sadness, she can't wait to celebrate with Carly of course! But her heart aches, thinking of how none of her old comrades followed her to this point in her life. Jade, Baz and Gaz. What happened to them after The London Event? Did they fight against Monsters or did they embrace it? Did any of them think of finding her? Did they become Monsters themselves? It seems silly but what she wouldn't give to celebrate her regaining her luck with them... Well the thing about being infinitely lucky and the demand for happenstance...

-Feigh? Oh my god is that you?

That voice, she knows it, it's Jade! She looks up to the sight of fur, bright Emerald fur, coming out of a darker green shorts and tank, covered with a light tan cardy. Its occupant was a Monkey, which is an odd match for the colour she thinks, but she was unmistakably a Monkey! The ears, long curled up tail and the wrinkled face and everything.

-Jade? Oh my god, fuck the absolute shit off into the sun and die, you're a Monster now!? Feigh outbursts with radiant joy.

She shoves Jade's arm like joyously, as Jade suddenly goes a bit bashful.

-So how is it? Asks Feigh

-Honestly? Really weird! Replies Jade. Most of you lot just get to be your animals, but I'm like some living ornament thing? Also, cos I'm a Monkey I got conscripted into like a "Woo Hoo Donkey Kingdom" or something? Like I'm immortal now, I think?

-What? That's mental, what's that like?

-I mean this was 3 years ago, so I dunno! Maybe my knees would be worse otherwise? Jade replies, while doing squats on the fly.

The two Monsters laugh together but something slowly creeps up on both of them. Feigh feels a little distant, bitter even, as Jade is overcome with guilt in response.

-Babe, I'm so sorry for what I did, and I know exactly what I did. I was such a shitty friend, I clammed up so bad. Jade pleads. Like I dunno if it changes anything, but I've felt so bad ever since and I asked for you y'know? Not that it means anything, I get it if you're like mad at me.

Feigh clasps Jade's hands with her paws.

-I won't lie, i'm still a little mad. But oh babe, we got so much of the rest of our lives for you to make amends. I got my luck back, you know? Just today, and the first thing my luck did was bring you back to me. I can pout all I want but, I wanted to see you again, and I want us to get back what we used to have. I know we will, I missed you so much!

Feigh grabs Jade and gave her one of her classic bear hugs. Tho with Jade's new found Monsterusness, it feels a little less oppressive now, but no less warm. The Red Panda puts Jade down and returns to holding her hands in her paws.

-What's your living 'sitch right now? Feigh asks.

-Well uh I'm actually between places right now, I was looking here for somewhere, was on my way to the City Centre to speak to the MCP. Jade explains.

-We just had a spot open up at my place where I live! It'll only be for a 'lil while till we all move to the city I imagine, but oh my gosh we can live together like we always planned! Oh my gosh I can't introduce you to Carly! She's like my other bestie, she's a rabbit y'know, but with leg blade it's so sick. I can't wait for you two to meet! We'll go out for drinks tonight, on me! A girls night out and and...

Feigh bombards Jade with all kinds of tales and stories of her time since they parted, still sobbing through tears the entire time. In all her life, she has never known happiness like this before, a draw back of constant never ending fortune I suppose. A fortune she won't let fade into the background of her life ever again. During this Jade gets a look at what Feigh is wearing on her neck, somehow this whole time, despite it being long shattered and non-functioning, she never took off the charm that Jade gave her all that time ago, the one which saved her life. This is when Jade starts to go as well, they cry laughed all the way to the City Centre.