Night had set over Canterlot City, Thunder and Summer still sitting inside the Magnum Opus. Thunder was walking around, unable to sit still. “Dammit, this idiot. It has been hours, and he still hasn’t come back. I think he has gotten lost again. And of course, he didn't take his phone with him. Sometimes I could just strangle him.” The nervousness was written on his face.
“Calm down; I’m sure he will come soon.” She tried to calm her boss down.
At this moment the bell above the door rang as someone stepped inside. It was Phoenix, and he didn’t look good. His entire body was covered in sweat, and he looked utterly exhausted. Small bruises covered him, all the result from his fight with the Corrupted. He stumbled more forward then actually walk. All in all, he looked miserable.
“Sorry that I’m so late. I totally blow it. I failed you both because I didn’t think this through.”
To Phoenixes surprise his brother ignored what he had to say and went straight for a hug making him wince in pain: “Ow, ow, I appreciate your concern but, could we wait with this till I don’t feel like a walking corpse anymore.”
“Sorry.” He immediately released him from his grasp. ”Where were you anyway? We have been worried sick because of you.”
“Well, I couldn’t get the seal that appeared when I hit the ground out of my head, and I needed some way to get her next time. I realized I don’t even have full knowledge of what I’m actually capable of. So I decided I need time to figure that out before I face her again.”
“You want to do what? In your current condition? Are you insane? She ripped you apart today, what are you expecting if you go there tomorrow, battered and bruised? Can’t you just once think your action through? It is always the same with you. Heal first and think of a plan before you rush in again.” Thunder was furious at the apparent recklessness of his brother.
“I have a plan, and it is going to work, believe me. And I can’t just lay back while people are in danger, that is not how I roll. No matter if I’m hurt I just can’t do nothing.” Now Phoenix was getting aggravated too.
“If you are dead, you can’t help anyone, so just knock it off!” With that Thunder stormed into the kitchen.
“You know he is right, do you?” Summer asked him, a concerned look on her face.
“Yeah, I know. But sometimes doing the stupid thing is the only right way. I have a plan, and I’m sure I can pull it off, just wait. I’ll show him that I’m not useless.”
“Sounds to me you want it to prove it to yourself as well.” Phoenix just stayed silent, trying to avoid eye contact. “Are you sure that you have to do this? There is no shame in retreating to fight another day.”
“I know, but if I don’t stop her now who knows who might get hurt and I have to thank Rainbow in some way for saving my life. So what better way is there then bet Sparky?” He chuckled only to stop all of a sudden and hold his side in anguish.
“Are you ok?” She rushed over to him supporting him so he wouldn’t fall over. “Do you need something? Should I get Thunder?” Concerned could be heard in her voice.
“No, no. I’m fine, just exhausted. I don’t want to bother you but do you have something to eat; I’m starving?”
“Oh, yes. Thunder already prepared something when you would come back. It’s in the kitchen; I get it for you.” She let him sit on one of the seats and rushed off to get his dinner.
“I might have overdone it. But at least I now know what this seal was. Still, I hope I’m ready to fight tomorrow.” He muttered to himself, lost in his thoughts.
Summer returned with three huge sandwiches and a bottle of water. “Here now eat. And if you need something don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Thanks!” Wasting no time he bit into the first of the three groaning in a happily. He needed really that right now.
“Wow, you sure are hungry.” Standing there awkwardly for a second, unable to say a single word, she finally broke the silence: “Are you sure you can beat her. She mopped the floor with you today. I was afraid for you the whole time and for how the boss would react if something would happen to you. You should have seen the face he made; it was that of utter fear. It was unsettling; I never want to see that face again. Promise me you won’t die tomorrow, for the bosses sake.”
Phoenix was stunned by her request; he hadn’t thought how his friends would react if he actually died. “Sure, I can’t really leave you alone with him, now can I? I promise that she will not kill me.”
“Good. Now eat and then time for bed, you will need all the energy you can get for tomorrow.” She had gotten her usual confident tone back.
Phoenix sighed and sarcastically added: “Yes, mom!” Summer just chuckled.
>-------<A>-------<
Like yesterday the sun was shining through the gaps between the leaves that were shielding the forest-ground from its light. Rainbow was stretching herself, awaiting her opponent. The air was tense; she didn’t know if or how she could beat Lightning. And even if she won she was uncertain what would happen after that. She doubted she would give up this easily. She had pressured Sunset into not telling anyone about her race with the monster today because she didn’t want them in any danger if things went south. Still, the fire-haired girl didn’t let her go entirely on her own and had accompanied her to the forest.
“You are really sure you need to do this?” Sunset was still trying to change her mind.
“Yes, I have to; I’m not letting my friends get hurt because of me being too much of a coward to go through with it.”
“Admirable. Willing to risk your own life for others is never easy, but have you thought about how your friends might react if you actually lose it?” Someone said from behind them.
“Pah, I won’t, it’s as simple as that.” She replied, only to realize that the voice didn’t belong to her friend. “Wait, who?” She turned around; the moment she saw to how she was talking to she frowned. “What are you doing here? Get pummeled into the ground again. I don’t need the help of some coward. The chance that I can save your sorry butt again is next to zero.”
After a short moment of silence he replied in a mellow voice: “I know, by the way, thank you for yesterday, without you she would have probably gotten me. And I can understand your reaction; I blew it last time. I rushed in with no plan and thought I just could beat everyone. But this time it will be different, I have a plan, I promise you.”
“And why should I trust you, you can’t even protect yourself. You are just going to repeat what happened yesterday. Let someone handle it that actually beat her.” She seemed rather angry, but Phoenix could swear he could hear some concern in her voice.
"You are not getting rid of me, not if I can do something. You know, I’m not that smart, so the idea of liking my wounds and fighting when I’m at full strength is lost on me.” He chuckled.
“Fine, you can stay.”
“Thank you.” Phoenix moved his head in the direction where the voice came from. Sunset had stepped closer to him. “Without you, I would have been toast.”
“Umm, no problem. You really don’t have to thank me.” He seemed somewhat taken aback by what she had just said to him. “Like really, it comes with the job or something like that. It’s really no big deal.” He seemed rather uncomfortable.
“Aww, how heartwarming, want to hug him before I reduce him to a smoldering corpse?” Their heads suddenly turned in shock as they heard that crackling voice.
“Leave him out of this; you race me. This is between you and me. I didn’t invite him, so just ignore him.” Rainbow was the first to regain her composure.
“Oh, I could use a small warmup. Are you up for the task Alchy? Or are you going to run away with your head between your legs again?” She started laughing, small bolts of lighting erupting from her monster form uncontrollably.
“No, this time I will beat you, I assure you that. But I will give you an out, turn back and give me your magical artifact. You can step away from all of this, I promise.”
The uncomfortable laughter grew to even more unnerving highs. “Giving up, why? I beat you once, and I will beat you again. You are to slow for me. Slowpokes should know their place. And I intended of showing you exactly where you belong, beneath my heals.” A mad spark was apparently visible in her eyes; apparently, she was already too far entranced by the magic, unable to give it up.
“I at least needed to try. So you want to rechallenge me? This time you will not get the upper hand on me Sparky.”
“Oh sweet, you actually think you can win? Do I really need to remind you what happened last time, or do you remember yourself? I can show you again.”
“Hey, this is between you and me, why won’t you listen to me?” Rainbow tried to get their attention back to her, but it was all in vain.
“I think I’m going to ignore that offer, Slowpoke.”
The air around Lightning started to surge, small bolts of electricity were hitting nearby objects, and electricity connected the tops of her horns. “What?! I’m the fastest there ever was; you have no right to call me slow!” Lightning was fuming with rage, how dare this loser call her slow.
“Oh did I strike a chord? I’m sorry I shouldn’t have been so insensitive since you don’t want to talk about your shortcomings. I’m truly sorry.” He replied in his usual mocking tone.
“Ok, that’s enough; I will make this as long and painful as possible, and after that, I’m going to beat the girl.”
“Ahm, Dash, I think we should get out of the battle zone. I would prefer it if I’m not electrocuted or burned to a crisp.” With that, she grabbed her friend and dragged her further away.
“Hey, let me go! This is my race.” Rainbow was struggling furiously against her friend's attempt of dragging her away.
“No discussion Rainbow. They are going to fight, and you wouldn’t want to be injured if you have to race, now would you?” Rainbow just signed knowing that she was right and ceased her resistance.
“Fine then I just have to beat you, shouldn’t be so hard since you are so slow.” His hands and feet began to glow in orange shimmer. He made a forceful step towards his opponent, but this was the moment Lightning had waited for and rushed towards him. Phoenix reacted quickly and delivered a punch in the direction he expected the Corrupted to appear. Sadly Lightning saw the attack coming, and he just hit the ground, his right hand stopping to glow for a moment. Immediately after his missed swing, he used his hand that had hit the ground as support to deliver a roundhouse kick. Lightning dodged in the last second and his attack again only hit the ground.
“You see, you can’t hit me.” She taunted him and delivered a punch to his stomach letting electricity flow through his body. Alchemy flinched but didn’t falter and used the opportunity to hit her again. To her delight, he still missed her and only hit the dirt beneath her feet.
“Was that all? And I thought you were the fastest. Really disappointing, you are just not as fast as Rainbow.” He continued his futile efforts to hit her, kicks and hits continuously only hitting their battlefield.
“You little… You seriously don’t learn, do you? Then I’m going to make it crystal clear. You! Are! No! Match! For! Me!” With this, she charged towards the rider and let electrical punches rain down on him, all while he still was determined to hit her. But even when she was attacking him relentlessly, he didn’t hit her. After a few seconds of the constant barrage of attacks, she let him breathe for a moment. “Now you see, all you will do is hurt you more. Your efforts are futile; you have no chance of winning.”
Heavily breathing he encountered: “You sure talk big but in the end, you just can’t live up to your own hype. You are slow on the uptake and slow in your fighting style. The fastest? Not by a longshot.” He keeps taunting her, even baiting her to attack him again by gesturing with his hand to come closer.
Lightning was losing patience, she clenched her fist, execs electricity erupting from her. She released the voltage through her hand, an ark of lightning hitting Alchemy. “I really don’t like a woman that can go through lightning at me. Oww!” He muttered under his breath. “That was all? Way to slow and that is supposed to be a thunderbolt? I have seen birds flying faster than this.” This time screaming so she could hear him.
The stray bolts flashed up again, why wouldn’t he stay down? No matter, she just had to hit him harder. With that she rushed towards him and planted her fist in his stomach, keeping it there. The electricity was surging through his body, sparks flying off everywhere, his pain-drenched screams were filling the clearing. “How do you like that? No one defies me, no one underestimates me, and no one calls me slow, is that crystal clear?”
“No!” With that Alchemy managed to sweep her off her feet with left leg, in turn, loses her grip on him. As she was falling, and spinning during it, he used his opportunity and retracted his left leg and planted it firmly on her backside, sending her flying about twenty meters. He removed the flame disc from the driver and started to activate it.
\ Flame Disc Attack Mode! /
\ Flame Saber! /
“And you are supposed to be the fastest? I’m slow as hell and managed to hit you. You are not fast, just not as slow as I’m. If you truly were fast, you wouldn't have been hit once. But I managed to hit you on two separate occasions. So you are slow, that is fact. Anything to say about this, Slowpoke?” Every word he spoke used with his mocking tone.
“Enough! You will pay for this!” She had completely lost it, how dare this loser do this and call her slow. He would pay. Raging lightning bolts erupted from every part of her body, hitting the ground and some trees. Then she rushed towards him.
“Gotcha!” The sound of a flick could be heard.
An orange light started to glow before her; she only now realized that every time Alchemy had missed her and hit the ground had left a seal behind. And now she was racing towards the glowing seals, unable to stop thanks to her incredible speed she was stepping closer and closer to the trap he had set up for her. As she reached the middle of the collection of seals they glowed their brightest. The following explosion sent her flying; completely disoriented she spun around in the air. Her body was overcome with unbearable pain, but the worst parts were her right heel and back, both spots Alchemy had managed to hit.
Under his helmet, Phoenix sported the biggest smile he ever had. But it was still too early to celebrate, so he channeled his magic in his Flame Saber and started to spin the handguard. “Flaming Slash!” With this, he unleashed the wave of flaming energy, which in turn hit the Corrupted square in the chest. Lightning landed face first on the ground, thanks to the injuries to her upper body, back and right leg unable to stand and to groan in pain. “All of this went down like clockwork! Well time to finish it.” He returned the disc to its rightful place on the driver.
“Lightning, you have used the power you were given to threaten, endanger and hurt people, all to satisfy your wish for speed. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!”
He placed the flame disc into the driver again and started spinning it.
\ Flame Disc Maximum Power! /
The magic again gathered in his right leg, and he jumped into the air, adjusting his position and heading straight for the monster, with his foot aiming for Lightning, the whirlwind of flames engulfing him.
“Flaming Whirlwind Kick!”
As he struck the injured monster a massive explosion consumed her. After coming to hold of her, he admired his handiwork and moved over to her. Now back in her human form, she laid their unconscious, the only thing still giving off bursts of electricity were her shoes. He took one of the nearly-full magic discs from the pocket on his belt and held it towards her sneakers. The voltage now concentrating on it. After the disc glowed blindingly bright for a moment, it changed form, now resembling four lightning bolts that curved to form a tornado. The thunder disc had been recreated.
Raising his fist into the air, he screamed: “Yes! I got it, awesome. Wuhu!” Looking around and remembering that he wasn’t alone he immediately tried to calm himself and continued: “I mean, of course, it worked.” Rubbing his head sheepishly he didn’t look at the girls, settling on a rather interesting tree branch.
“Aha, sure!” Rainbow looked at him with a skeptical look.
But before they could continue their conversation, a strange sound filled the air. It was nothing you would expect in a forest, let alone after a fight like this, where every reasonable person would get to a safer place. It was clapping, and it was getting closer.
Out of the shadows of a huge oak stepped a white man with gelled-back light blue hair. Dressed in a long, flowing white lab coat and strange, futuristic glasses he seemed entirely out of place, his clapping only reinforcing this.
“Splendid, splendid. I didn’t expect you to outmaneuver your opponent, sadly I now owe Ocean a coffee, but this is great. I couldn’t be happier, all the data I could gather thanks to you. I’m truly grateful.”
“Ahm, and who are you? Why do I always meet the strangest people in these woods?” Phoenix just stared confused at the odd figure that was accompanied by two police officers with strange futuristic looking weapons. One had grey skin and white hair, while the other had dark and light blue hair and white skin. Both had their weapons ready if something or someone would try anything dangerous.
“Oh, where are my manners? I’m Ivory Diamond, head researcher of the MRG-division that was sent here. If I remember correctly you already meat agent Skies, right?” There was a smugness in his voice that really didn’t make him appear any less shady.
“So, what are you doing here? Didn’t ‘agent Skies’ let me off the hook or something? So what is your deal?”
“Oh, sure she did, that is why she couldn’t be here today. She is too busy holding a press conference regarding our stand on you, Kamen Rider Alchemy. I’m here because, well you, or to be more precise the data of your fight. And I have to say it was magnificent, all the information from you and Corrupted number seven will keep me busy for several days.”
“Oh, that is good… Wait, what? Data? What data?” Confused Alchemy looked to the strange man in his lab coat.
“Data, information. I hope this is nothing too complicated for you. If so I can explain: When you fight you release magical energy, with these glasses, I can record and analyze the properties of these energies. What we could do with enough material, oh the possibility. I can’t await it, and you are going to help us get the data required.” Rubbing his hands together Ivory's lips had curled into a blissful smile.
“Wait, wait! Timeout! Since when have I agreed to help you, I can just break the glasses and be out of here. I don’t trust you, not a single bit. Have you ever watched a movie, the government is always evil, always, or at least incompetent. No, I will not be your lab rat.” Crossing his arms, he glared at the scientist, as good as he could with helmet and visor.
“Oh, that is too sad, but understandable. We, however, had to arrest you and everyone around you. You are threatening a government official right now, that certainly wouldn’t be so good when it comes to a judge. Yesterday agent Skies gave you the offer that we ignore your vigilante activities. She thinks you ultimately do something good for the city. However, she didn’t mention the catch last time.”
“Of course there was a catch. There is always a catch.” Annoyance clearly audible in his voice.
“You let us gather the data; we don’t get in your way. It’s as simple as that. Do we have a deal?”
“Clever, clever. Use me as your little lab rat and reap the rewards. Fine, I will let you, for now. However, if I find out that you are doing something shady with the data, you are going to regret it.”
“Sounds fair, then we have a deal.” Extending one of his hands out towards the Kamen Rider, expecting him to return the gesture. Phoenix just stood there, staring at the hand and Ivory, both being twenty meters away. Signing he moved closer, reaching out with his own hand.
“Deal!”
“Sir, I still don’t like that we are working with a someone that takes the law into his own hands.” The blue-haired officer said.
“Duly noted Officer Armor, now would you please restrain Corrupted number seven, I don’t want her to make a fuse if she wakes up.” Glaring over to the officer Ivory made it crystal clear that he didn’t want to hear about it anymore.
“Yes, sir.” With that, they moved over to the unconscious girl and started to cuff her hands behind her back.
“Is that really necessary? She didn’t hurt anyone and had no powers anymore. Besides, it was the magic that let her act this way.” Rainbow Dash had interrupted their conversation.
“Oh yeah sure didn’t hurt anyone.” A quick glare from Rainbow silenced the rider.
“This is standard procedure. We will decide later what we will do with her. Don’t worry; we are well aware of the effects magic can have on the user, right Miss Shimmer?” Sunsets face froze out of sheer shock, unable to move after hearing what the strange scientist had just said. Dash's mouth just hung open, unable to comprehend how he could know that. “Oh don’t be surprised, it is not that hard to get information about the Fall Formal incident. It was what tipped us off about this place in the first. But to get back on the topic of little Miss Corrupted over there, she will probably face no real consequences, as long as she cooperates that is. Magic can screw with someone if used uncontrolled. However she should be cautious, we will have an eye on her. Only for her own safety of course.” After he had spoken his last word he turned on the point and order the two officers to follow him, both carrying Lightning on a high-tech stretcher, they had pulled from one of their pockets. With a simple touch of a button, the small cube expanded into a two-meter-long stretcher, complete with blinking lights and monitors. He had to admit that was impressive.
“See you Alchemy.” And so he moved away from the clearing, leaving the shocked Rainbow and Sunset behind with Alchemy.
“How... How can he know that?” Sunset was the first to break the silence; utter confusion had spread through the very essence of her being.
“Well, he is a government agent; they know a lot of stuff. With all the rumors about spying on the population, it is only logical that he knows it. But one question persists, what does he know?”
“Uhm, well, you see…” Rainbow started but was interrupted by her friend.
“Just let him know if he is smart enough he will figure it out anyway. I was once not as good of a person as I’m now and ultimately I ended up becoming something similar to what Lightning turned into. A corrupted, like he called it. I enslaved the entire school and nearly did something worse, but my six friends saved me from myself. I have no idea how they found out about it and worse I don’t know what else they could know.” She had started to look at the ground seemingly uncomfortable with the entire situation.
Rainbow moved closer towards her friend and placed her hand on Sunsets shoulder. As she looked up a bright smile greeted her and the fire-haired girl visibly relaxed. “You are not going to hit her or something, right. She is not affected by the magic anymore.”
“No need to be afraid, as long as she is not affected by magic I won’t harm her.”
“Yeah, good that she is not affected by magic…” Rainbow laughed uncomfortably.
“I will just ignore that.”
“So you seem to know what is up with these MR-whatever guys. Care to explain?” Rainbow now had taken over the conversation, giving her friend time to recover.
“Oh I don’t know much, just they are a government organization, and they specialize in magical activities. That is all; it is not like the gave me a pamphlet or something. But one thing is sure; I don’t trust them, at all.” Alchemy replied.
“Oh, well better than nothing I guess. By the way thanks for the help and sorry for the way I treated you.” Rainbow now looked at him with regret in her eyes.
“Don’t sweat it. You had every right to do so. I failed yesterday, really hard. I would be more worried if you wouldn’t have reacted the way you did. So in short words, we are even. Now I don’t know if I should hope we see us again or if we not, because if we see us again the chances of you being attacked again will be high and I don’t hope that happens to you again.”
“If you knew…” Sunsetchuckled, apparently having regained her composure. “I wanted to thank you as well.”
“As I said, no problem comes with the job. So see you or not, whatever you prefer.” And with that, the rider walked off into the woods.
“You think we see him again?” Rainbow asked.
“Knowing our track record, I’m one hundred percent sure we will.”
“Yeah, probably.”
>-------<A>-------<
The sun was already setting behind the mountains that surround Canterlot City, bathing everything in golden light. The light gave offa relaxing atmosphere, very much welcome after the exhausting fight and following weirdness of the day. Phoenix had transformed back into his civilian form and was now riding his bike towards the pizzeria. The wind was blowing by reinforcing the feeling of relaxation even more.
As he reached his stay and opened the door, Thunder was cooking vigorously. He had never seen someone prepare food with so much passion. He didn’t even notice him as he entered. Standing there awkwardly for a few seconds he didn’t know how to start until he finally broke the silence. “Hey!”
Thunder immediately stopped, knife held high. For a few moments that felt like hours, he just stayed silent. “Hey!” Was all he replied.
“So, I’m back. I’m sorry that I could not help you out today. I needed to finish this.” His voice wasn’t his usual cheery self; it was way more mellow and severe.
“I assume you won. How? Did you just rush in again or was actually tactics involved?” Still not looking in the direction of his brother he continued with his work.
“Yes, the slacker actually came up with a plan.” He chuckled. ”You remember the delayed explosion that blows up in my face yesterday? I trained a little after the fight to understand how it worked. That was why I came home so late. It turns out I can place magical seals on the ground and remotely detonate them. I placed them in an area and used her slow uptake and rage to lure her into a trap. In the end it I managed to pull it off. I won, she is down, and everything worked out.”
He turned his head towards Phoenix, smiling at him. “I knew you are not a complete idiot, still what you pulled today was risky, how much did you take?”
Avoiding the look of his brother Phoenix shifted his attention towards the stairs leading up to the living room. “Not much, really.” He tried to lie, with the most innocent voice he could muster. But he could not hold withstand the look of his brother. “Fine, a lot. I needed to get enough laid down so she couldn’t recover and make her so angry she wouldn’t realize what I was planning. It was a gamble, but ultimately worth it.”
“This is exactly what I was afraid of. You only care about what is right in front of you, you don’t think about the consequences, for you and others. Today everything went as planned, but what about tomorrow and the day after that. I don’t want to lose you.”
“I know, but this nagging feeling in the back of my mind, it tells me that I have to do something, anything or all the pain and misery rests all on my shoulders. I just can’t help it.” His voice started to tremble.
“You and your stupid sense of justice and righteousness.” He started to chuckle. “I can’t stop you, can I? Well if you won’t listen to reason, I will have to make sure you survive. That means you will make sure to train, routinely and know your abilities. Learning in the middle of a battle is a no go, only if there is no other way. If you can’t think ahead on your own, I make sure you do. Maybe something will stick.” He now turned entirely to his brother and hugged him.
“Sure thing,” Phoenix replied, embracing the hug of his brother.
“By the way, when did you plan on telling me that you now work with the police, or the MRG to be precise?” Thunder asked him, releasing his grip on Phoenix.
“I assume you watched the press conference, am I right?” Thunder nodded. ”Well, yesterday but, you know, didn’t work out quite that well. And working together is a little bit exaggerated. I let them watch my battle and record data; in return, they don’t annoy me regarding the vigilante thing.”
“Data? What kind of data? Can you even trust them?” Concern was spreading on Thunder's face.
“Well, data about the magic that is created during the fights. I don’t know what they plan on doing with it, and I don’t trust them, but man is they good at persuading someone. If I don’t comply they threaten everyone around me.”
“They know who you are?” The shook in Thunders' voice could not be overheard.
“No, at least as far as I’m aware. But given the track record of them, I don’t think that would stay a secret for long. However, if I find out they do something fishy with it, I make sure they pay for it.” Determination was showing on his face.
“Well, then we are stuck with them for a while.”
“Oh, there is something I totally forgot. Look at this little beauty.” He took something out of his pocket and presented it to Thunder, pride flowing through his entire body.
“No way, you completed another one? Let me see, let me see!” Thunder grabbed the thunder disc and pulled it out of the grasp of his hand.
“Yep. I’m so eager to try it out. What cool powers could be unleashed?” Rubbing his hand together in anticipation, a bright grin had taken hold of his face.
“Well sometimes, your short-sightedness really pays off. Still, don’t pull a stunt like this again without telling me your plan beforehand.”
“Sure. As long as you can give me something to eat, I’m starving.” Right on cue, his stomach started to growl.
Thunder just laughed, seemingly nothing could shock his brother and the way he always bounced back from these serious topics was always refreshing. “Sure thing, your favorite pizza coming right up.” With this, he moved back to his workplace and resumed his work.
“Thanks, you are the best.”
“I know.” He jokingly replied.