//------------------------------// // Chapter fifty three, Fiery Fights: Velvet Vs. Sushi. // Story: Airship Mauled // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -The Volcano, lower Tier, alleyway, Tianhuo- “Well we at least know who to prepare for… somewhat. Hardly anything good comes from a unicorn that knows how to inscribe magic symbols, not ones with a reported history of suspected theft and could be known for violence that wasn’t in self-defense.” I studied the area that Teatime was seen in recently and had moved a trash can out of the way to reveal a moderately big problem. “Now all we need to know is the matter of when something will occur and what will happen when the occurrence comes to past. I need guards near these marks wherever you can find them, Fuego Squad spread out and tell the guards to be on the lookout for any strange symbols like this one!” “Do you need anything else Captain?” One of the guards asked, he was from a different squad and wanted to know if I had any orders for him. “If not, then we’re scheduled to get back on patrol soon.” “Yes, go to the coliseum and find an odd looking unicorn mare with a floating book, she answers to Oleander.” I was looking at him, so he has already volunteered himself. “I need you to ask for her assistance in this matter, use my name and bring her back here if she agrees to lend us her aid. If she doesn’t, then do not hassle her further and find me for further instructions.” “Right away ma’am!” The guard threw me a salute, then flew off on a pair of flaming wings to carry out my orders. “You two, stay here with me and watch the area and my back. You, go inform the palace of a possible demented unicorn situation!” I turned away from the longma leaving for the palace to stare at the symbol. We didn’t exactly have a method for removing any of these symbols, yet, but finding them might stop a demented unicorn related plot in progress. The last time something like this happened, a portion of a building got turned into peanut butter… it was the bottom portion of course. At least the peanut butter transformation magic hadn’t, thankfully enough, affected anything living. A lot of people were still severely injured thanks to several buildings toppling and there was quite a mess to clean up from that disaster. I had to wonder why it was unicorns that went bad more often out of the various species that could all be put under the colloquial term of ‘pony’, was it the power that they have with those horns of theirs? All I know is that unicorns needed more discipline than any of the other pony races, for they had a higher potential to easily destroy everything depending on how far they pushed whatever talent they had. What was the special talent of that one unicorn that had caused that huge disaster again? Oh right, I remember now, their special talent was making sandwiches. It was a unicorn that went terrorist because someone made a better sandwich than her, once, just the one time and that unicorn simply went insane. The unicorn didn’t try to better herself, she didn’t try to beat the person who made that sandwich by figuring out how to make a better one, no, she just proceeded straight to wrecking half our city on a grudge with someone who doesn’t even live here! She tried to do it a second time a week later, a big mistake on her part because we thankfully caught her before she could cause any more damage. What were the words that unicorn said in a sanity challenged manner when we caught her? Oh yes, she declared that she would make the whole world a sandwich, then we would all see her talent for what it was. At least it explained why the buildings fell the way they did, the unicorn was pushing her talent to an insane degree to make destruction sandwiches… with pickles. A grain silo worth of pickles in fact, which had created a foul smell for weeks in the rubble we were busy cleaning up. Unicorns were hard to prepare for and the talent of this Teatime was making mechanical golems according to that disaster magnet of a pirate captain. A fairly honest pirate captain with little in the way of deceit and I’m frankly willing to trust her and her odd friends entirely, with the one exception being that kitsune Sweetcakes Crumble Tail. I believe Sweetcakes has volunteered for the medic team at the arena and would eventually redeem herself in my eyes. It was odd to confirm that three of the key bearers were here with a message about the seal weakening. We should also be absolutely preparing for shadow monster incursions as much as anything else that a unicorn can bring about. Both threats to the city were highly dangerous. One was far likelier to end our world and all the life on it, the other was of a more immediate concern and a big unknown that could cause us a lot of problems. -Upper Tier, Coliseum, Velvet- “Next fight, Velvet ‘Frost Dancer’ Paca La Perm, she's apparently not using 'Iceberg' since her herd's name is already a mouthful.” I pulled myself out of Paprika’s grasp and started heading for the staircase. I passed by a longma just coming in for landing, angling himself towards Oleander. “Anyway, her opponent, Sushi!” Wasn’t that the raw fish rolls that Kuril and Blade made? Maybe it’s not nearly as literal as Jacky and Savannah’s fight. When I got to the arena I saw my opponent approaching from the opposite side of the referee. At least my opponent had a rather fitting look for her name. I was facing a Kirin, didn’t see many of those around here. She had a glossy white mane and tail, her fur was a bright orange and the soft green eyes all together evoked a resemblance to most forms of sushi. I can certainly see why she would have a name like Sushi. “Ready?” The referee asked and I nodded. He turned to Sushi and she too nodded, but she looked entirely nervous about this. I considered Sushi for a few seconds and quickly figured out what I should do at the start of this battle. “Fight!” The Kirin just closed her eyes and waited for a high speed blow that never came. “So your name is Sushi? Hello, I am Velvet.” I immediately sat down and introduced myself as soon as the fight started. “Yes, I am Sushi and I am a sushi chef.” She too sat down and looked a bit relieved that my first action wasn’t to blast her with ice. I can already tell that she wasn’t a fighter. “Really now, how did that happen?” I asked conversationally. “I’d think you wouldn’t want anything to do with sushi with a name like that.” I looked to the stands to see Arizona didn’t seem upset and was just as curious as I was about this. Paprika was blowing me a kiss and Tinsel was playing with one of Pom’s flying puppies. “It’s a long story, but you’d be surprised how good I am at making sushi because of how often I was taunted for my name. May I make this a fight of a different sort?” Nodding to Sushi in acceptance, I waited for her to continue and motioned at her with my left hoof. “I wish to prepare some sushi for you, if the referee is willing to let me get my supplies…” “Yes, I wouldn’t mind having some sushi, but only if the referee allows it and provided that it’s not blowfish.” I watched as Sushi shuddered, so she doesn’t do blowfish I take it? “I would never have an ingredient with the slightest hint of a chance of poisoning a potential customer! I try to stay away from the more problematic forms of fish that could hurt someone. Fish is not necessarily required for sushi as I’m quite good at vegetable sushi.” Despite her form igniting for a second or two, Sushi quickly calmed down and bowed her head to me in apology. “I kind of accidentally entered myself into this competition. I at least hope for some recognition for my skills at the very least.” “I’ll allow it, but I will want to see an end to this match eventually.” Nodding to the referee, Sushi ran off and eventually came back with several supplies for making sushi rolls. Sushi’s supplies included a knife, a table, two seats for me and her to sit in, various vegetables, seaweed, vinegar, olive oil, fermented rice, mushrooms and even a few slabs of freshly thawing fish. “You know, I already know someone who makes some incredible sushi.” I was thinking of Blade. If there was the one dish that she had been busy trying to perfect, then it would have be something that Kuril would love to eat at any time. Aside from having some problems with getting the rice right, Blade was fairly good at making sushi. “You do? Please tell me about them while I work.” Sushi got to work on preparing her stuff and I decided to go into a tale about Blade Bright. Even as I spoke the Kirin worked at impressive speed to prepare something for us. -An hour or so later- “So, that's how Blade started making some really good sushi, because she trained under Kurillian in learning how to cook.” This was a fairly pleasant conversation and I was enjoying the nice chat we had going. Kuril would accept just about anyone, I hope she was okay... “I might look into Airship Mauled. Here’s some soy sauce, a few pieces of vegetable sushi and would you eat sushi with actual fish in it?” At least Sushi asked and didn’t just assume. “I ask because some people prefer tofu or faux fish.” “Yes, I don’t mind the taste of actual fish if it’s well prepared, Kuril and Blade certainly made a thing of it.” I miss Kuril's food and I wanted Paprika to learn how to learn how to cook like that. Sushi placed a few of the fish rolls on a plate and slid it over to me with the dipping sauce. I took up the chopsticks in my right hoof and reached for my first bit of sushi, no one has any idea just how hard it is to wield chopsticks with hooves until they try it for themselves. I lightly dipped the roll with soy sauce and popped it into my mouth and began to chew, Sushi looked surprised that I went for a fish roll first. Just because reindeer were mostly herbivorous, it does not mean that we didn’t or couldn’t eat meat. I found the taste of this sushi roll to be… I swallowed and wiped my lips daintily. “It is quite exemplary Sushi and well prepared, now to try your vegetable rolls.” I took up another roll and even the referee came over to look at the sushi, he must be tired and hungry after standing out in the sun for most of the day. After I finished the vegetable roll, I had more to say. “It’s quite flavorful, I’m quite sure you’ll go far with a talent like this Sushi.” “I agree, this is a wonderful snack and I’ve been kind of needing this.” I turned my head to see that the referee had his own plate and was enjoying the food too. “What? It’s been a long day for me!” “So are you of noble birth?” Sushi received a flat look from me, she flinched slightly. “Sorry, it’s just that your diction and the way you hold yourself, you come off as a noble of Rein and yet are far nicer than they are.” “Yes, but I rejected my noble status or any chance of an inheritance for various reasons. My biological family, they were… particularly unpleasant.” I never felt as appreciated as I do with Arizona and Paprika. “I do not wish to talk of them. Excuse me for asking this, but do you have any tea?” At least my old mother cared in her own way, it’s just that we just didn’t see eye to eye on a few particular things about my life. Clause scarred my beautiful face, so I could care less about him being my sire. At least Arizona and Paprika don’t care about appearances. Sure the scar is nearly impossible to see these days, but it’s the principle of the matter and I still like to put some time into making my appearance as appealing as possible. Paprika appreciates my effort, while Arizona… she would punch my face with a hoof, then bluntly say I’m trying too hard and look just fine the way I am. “Huh, oh, yes, I do, I forgot to brew it though! Give me a minute.” Watching as Sushi bowed to me and then run off. I continued to slowly savor the sushi until she came back with a pot of tea, she poured me a cup and sat down. “Thank you.” I said politely before I blew on the tea, I cooled it down drastically and then took a sip of it. Let’s see, I think I had the flavor of the tea down correctly. “Is this green tea, hint of honey and a bit of lemon?” “You are right, would you like some too?” Sushi asked, she then poured some for the nodding referee. “So tell me, what would have happened if the durian and the wall had to fight each other?” It was a bit curious after the things I’ve seen in the competition, like us eating sushi right now. “I ask because the ruling would have taken a while to get around to if you were waiting for an actual fight to happen.” “It would always been in favor of the wall due to longevity, we would have just expedited the process and stopped the match after a minute of staring at a wall and a durian.” The referee seemed fair enough with that ruling. “The wall can stand the test of time where the fruit can’t.” “Yes, I can see that." I stated as I looked between Sushi and the referee. "So what should the ruling of this match be?” “The referee will announce you the winner.” Sushi said with a bow towards me. “I appreciate your manners, candor and time Velvet. I will not try to fight you, I saw what your wife did to that Ornithian and believe you are far above anything I could try to do if you are just as strong.” The referee looked about ready to declare it, but I stopped him. “Lets us finish our snack first, then Sushi can pack it up.” We did just that at my behest. Eventually the referee made the call. “Winner by friendship, Velvet.” The referee pointed to me. “Thank you for the meal and the many wonderful flavors your sushi imparts.” I bowed to Sushi. “Thank you for not ripping me apart with your bare hooves or squeezing me to near death like your wives.” She bowed right back to me. “I believe we will be friends in the future, for now we’re good acquaintances.” I stood up. Sushi packed up her sushi making supplies. “I would like that Velvet.” With that said by Sushi, I went back up the stairs thinking that things went quite amicably between the two of us.