The sun had set over the horizon and the world outside of Key's house started to get dark. The winds got a cold evening chill as the leaves continued to fall, dancing on the gusts before landing delicately on the pavements and grass around Cedar Grove.
Inside the house, however, it was still bright. The light in the room where Fluttershy was playing was still beaming down onto the floor, hitting her, Key, and the toys around them. Fluttershy was just quietly drawing something on the ground with the set of crayons she had been given. She still had Angel tight in her free hand as she let her mind wander. She was still finding pleasure in the activities, even if her laughter and smile wasn't as frequent as before. She had, after all, realised that she was a lost girl under the care of someone who wasn't even her mom or dad. The only things that were keeping her from crying more was the presence of Keychain, and the toys around her.
Keychain had still been lamenting Fluttershy's parents plight. Even if he had no clue who they were or what they looked like, he could still feel their pain from so far away. Their little girl was lost in this big, wide world that they all lived in, and only he knew where she was. He had people in high places looking for her as well, like his own parents. But how well they were in finding a little girl's parents was up in the air, especially when they didn't even see what the girl looked like and could only go off of his descriptions. Who else knew about her? There could have been thousands of girls in the world with butter yellow skin and pink hair tied up into two ponytails, making the shape of a heart. Held together by two butterfly hairclips. All he could do until the day came where there was a breakthrough, was keep Fluttershy happy and healthy.
Keychain looked over at the nearby clock. It read 6:45 PM. "It's getting late," he said to himself, then returned his gaze to Fluttershy. She was still busy with the picture, completely unaware of the time. He was half-tempted to put her to bed, but at the same time, Fluttershy was still creating her little masterpiece. Crayons of different colours lifted from the ground, put down when not needed, and scribbled vigorously on the paper. Eventually, she put the finishing touches, put the crayons back in the box, and stood up on her tiny little feet.
"Key. For you," Fluttershy said as she handed Keychain the paper. She put her hands behind her back and waited for his feedback on the paper.
"For me?" Keychain replied as he took one look at the picture. It was incredibly sloppy, given that it was written by a toddler, but he could still make out some semblance of an image. It showed Fluttershy standing on a grassy hill with two larger figures. He could only assume that these two were her parents, but the colours and details weren't clear enough for him to identify any credentials about them. "Well, it looks good, Fluttershy. Who are these two?" He pointed to the two figures standing next to her.
"Mom and dad," she said, tapping them both. "I miss them. I want them back," Fluttershy sighed as she hung her head. "When will they be back?"
"Soon, Fluttershy. Soon." Keychain put the picture down by a lamp and flicked the switch, turning it on. After which, he turned off the main light, thrusting the room into semi-darkness, with a dim orange glow from the lamp illuminating the rest. "But for now, it is getting late and I think you need some rest. It's been a long day, you know." He went over to Fluttershy, wrapped his arms around her, and picked her up into the air. She made some coos as she was wrested from the floor.
Fluttershy was planted underneath the covers. She was tucked in nice and tight, then given Angel Bunny. She cuddled up with the plushie underneath her blanket, happily muttering to herself as she rubbed the fabric of the toy bunny against her. She looked at Keychain, whose face was turned golden thanks to the light by her side. Already, she could feel cosy. As she felt herself sinking into the bed cocoon, she let out a little yawn. Lightly smacking her lips together, her eyes started to droop.
"Key. My special," Fluttershy replied. "You make me so happy. You can find mom and dad, can you?"
"Of course I can." Keychain reached over and tousled Fluttershy's hair. "As sure as the hair on your head is pink, and that angel is your absolute favourite little thing in the world, your mom and dad will find you soon, Fluttershy."
She let out a very muted giggle as the bed started to influence her. "Thank you," she said as another yawn burst out of her lips after that.
"You're welcome. In the meantime, you just close your eyes and dream of happy things," Keychain gave her a light kiss on the forehead and watched as she finally closed her eyes. A few seconds later, she was snoring at such a high, tinny pitch, that it made her sound even younger than she already was. Key, seeing her in that tranquil state, was about to turn off the lamp, but then decided against it. After all, Fluttershy could take a while to get to sleep. And after last night's little scare, he didn't want her to wake up without him being there for her. He went for the blinds and closed them, making sure that there weren't any shadows to creep in from the outside to scare her. "Goodnight, Fluttershy. See you tomorrow." Keychain then tiptoed out of the room and closed the door as slowly as he could, letting Fluttershy truly sink into a state of pure slumber.
Once he had let sleeping kids lie, Keychain reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He opened a text chat and saw that Lemon and all of his other friends had been messaging. They were all saying that tonight was the big night, and he just responded with "See you there." Before turning the screen off and making his way to the front door. Keychain plucked his coat off of the hook, unlocked the front door, went outside into the ever-approaching evening, locked the door, and entered his car.
Keychain fired up the engine of the car, buckled himself in, and turned on the radio. Immediately, his ears were blasted by a rock ballad and he felt his head bopping to the beats of the song for a few seconds before he drove it out of the house and away down the streets. This was a special night for Keychain and his friends. Despite his commitment to finding out where Fluttershy's parents were, he still needed some time to himself.
The sky began to grow darker and darker, prompting the neon signs and streetlights of Cedar Grove to light up, filling in what would otherwise be a completely black neighbourhood. Keychain drove his car to a a large building with a sign that read "Withered Knife Bar." The logo was brightly illuminated and the building itself—for what he could make out of it—had a firm rustic, yet contemporary appearance, with wood and concrete walls blending together. There was a wooden balustrade around the outdoors area, where some people were already chatting to themselves, swigging down drinks, or enjoying the meals that they had bought.
Keychain swung his car into the parking area. There weren't a lot of free spaces, but he managed to squeeze into one nestled between two other cars. He made surgically precise movements to make sure that he had enough room to exit the vehicle without scraping the paint of the other two by his side. With his little parking proceedure complete, Keychain turned off the music, got out of the car, and locked it with the push of a button on his car keys. Two clicking noises could be heard as he stuffed the keys back into his pocket and made his way inside.
The inside of the bar was a far cry from what was outside. There were wooden beams poking out of the ground in places that held the framework up, with a slightly-raised upper level to seat more guests. Many of the tables were filled by people from all walks of life, all of different sizes, shapes, and colours. Each table also had an array of condiments, and menus for drinks and food. The actual bar itself was wide and had three separate sides; where bartenders were busy serving each of the patrons on each side. Drinks were doled out and handed to the men, while some servers came out at times to deliver any food that they had ordered. Behind the uniformed men and women was a treasure trove of alcohol and soft drinks, each to tantalise the taste buds of the thirsty people who walked into the establishment.
"Oh, Withered Knife, it's been too long." Keychain smirked to himself as he wandered around the establishment, trying to find his friends.
"Hey! There he is!" Lemon Zest was the first one to notice Keychain, got up from her seat and wave out her position. "Whassup, Key?" She called, immediately snagging his attention."
"Heeeeeey! There you all are!" Keychain threw his arms out and approached Lemon's table. She, as well as everyone on the table, and the one next to it all turned their attention to see him. They all had different hairstyles, clothing, and some of them even had their drinks already at the table. "How ya doing? Good?" He asked, with a whole barrage of mashed voices talking together. "Alright." He cockily sat down and folded his legs at the table. "One day a month is too long, let me tell you that."
"You're telling me." A girl with black and purple hair, held up into spikes at each side by hairclips replied. She had blue and purple earrings that hung down like icicles. She was wearing a black leather shirt, with some studded boots underneath the table. "All the downtime that we have between these meets is enough to drive me wild," she cracked a grin at him. "So, how've you been, ya little devil?"
"I've been doing fine, Rave." Keychain took one look at Rave. He met her one night during a mosh pit session for one of his favourite bands when he was younger and they became friends since. It felt like years since that first night when he had bumped into her. After that, when they started sharing their passions, what they liked to watch, even the stuff they liked to eat, their friendship had grown into something more than just an accidental encounter. To him, Rave Chill had turned out to be more than just a random face in that crowd.
"Sounds 'bout it." Rave brushed the tip of her finger around the rim of her glass. "Hey, tell ya what, there's a special tonight on wings. How's about it? You up for one of our good ol' fashioned battles?"
"Our wing-offs? God, has it really been that long already?" Keychain asked. His wing-off battles with Rave had always been the stuff of legend in his inner circle. "Guess it is time that I dust off that gut of mine." He slapped his hand against his belly.
"We all know who's a clear winner here." A boy spoke next, with hair jagged straight up to look like a spiked mountain. He had a bright green shirt with a pair of bracelets on his arms and a little lip ring. It was Sharp Eyed. One of the more observational people in Key's inner circle. When it came to finding things, Sharp was always straight on the case and could find the answer in seconds. "Ain't that right, Sandy?" He reached over and patted a girl.
"Key does have the title, but Rave has been training hard for these wing-offs each time," Sandy Beaches, the girl next to the boy replied. She had cool pink hair and a shirt with ripped sleeves, making it resemble a tanktop. "Plus, there's a special tonight, Sharp. Key and Rave are gonna order all the wings they could eat." Sandy had gotten her name from the fact that her family owned a beachhouse rather than a street house. And because of all the days she had at the beach, she had grown to adore it and all of its' commodities.
"Not to mention there's the hot sauce that these two always get for the occasion," A third boy replied. This one had silver hair, wore a fedora, and bore a pair of glasses. It was Smooth Talk, one of Key's more... charismatic friends from school. One of the boys who had always been able to use his words to get out of any bad situation. From avoiding detention, to encounters with bullies, he even managed to talk his way into getting more pocket money when he was young. "Key and Rave always get the hottest sauce they can find. If it wasn't for the fact that there's hotter sauces out there, it's almost torture for them with how spicy the scovilles are.
"At the same time, though, Rave and Key have been so used to the scoville by this point that they're hardly fazed by any of it," Cyber Shock spoke up, leaning over the table. "They've both handled some pretty hot heats. Maybe it's time that we up the ante a little..."
"Up the ante? Ya don't mean..." Bench Press's eyes widened as he threw himself backwards slightly.
"Yep. Methinks it's time that we break out the big guns." Cyberr Shock had a devillish grin on his face as a glint slid across his glasses.
"The big guns?" Keychain lurched when he heard that. "You don't mean the..."
"We're gonna bring out the Inferno?!" A girl erupted from the table next to them. She had pink and black hair in a special cross-weave pattern. Her clothes were a bright pink skirt and pitch-black leggings. This was Sheep Wolf. She was a combination between super-peppy girl and brooding goth girl. Unlike Rave Chill, who seemed to be all into her own little world and had been fleshed out, it was hard to tell which side Sheep was on. The colours were heavily mismatched and her voice still seemed to weigh one way to the other at times. "NOW it's a party!" She pumped her fist downward.
"Hear hear!" Another boy spoke up. With blue hair that curled like a wave of water, with an open shirt depicting camo and a white vest underneath it, coupled with the jeans he was wearing, he was none other than Soak Bone. He had constantly been top of the class when Keychain did swimming as a young boy, but he had managed to train Key into being somewhat decent at the sport when they were both young. Though, given how little they had been together, he could never tell just how good Key had gotten since. "Time we take these two into six-figure territory..."
"Well, when you two are ready, we'll get the wings ordered." Lemon Zest pat the table with her hand. "And with that special going on, you could get more bang for your buck.
"Ya ready to lose, Key?" Rave smirked devillishly at him.
"Only if you can handle it." Key got his own little smirk as he tightened his hand into a fist.
"Oh, it's ON!" Rave, with a smile as wide as her face would allow, made her own fist and collided her arm with Key's.
Keychain and all of his friends were gathered around a single table as they saw the waitress deliver the sets of wings to both Keychain and Rave Chill. Two separate stacks of twenty, tenderly cooked wings. on two different plates. One for Keychain and the other for Rave Chill. Some chanting noises could be heard as the plates were laid down, followed by some rowdy cheers.
"Alright then, boys and girls. You know what this is." Lemon Zest gave a nod as she announced the event. Without a microphone, she could still get her words out to everyone. "This is the monthly wing off between our reigning champion Keychain!" She threw an arm out to Key, which garnished some cheers from the crowd. "And the challenger who wants to take his title away, if she can, our very own Rave Chill!" The other hand was thrown towards Rave, who got a similar wave of cheers from the crowd.
"This is gonna be fun." Bench Press's eyes were focused more on the wings rather than the challenges.
"As you know, the rules for our Wing-off are very simple. Both our contestants have to get through these twenty wings as fast as they can. Whoever does it the quickest is the winner," Lemon started to explain. "But it's not gonna be as easy as you think. The bones have to be completely picked clean for them to count as being finished and on top of all that, we've got a spicy new sauce for the both of them to contend with. If I could have the sauce, Sandy?" Lemon reached over for Sandy Beaches, who, with an innocent smile, handed Lemon the sauce. "This is the Inferno. It weighs in at a whopping 80,000 scovilles. That's super-science talk to say that this thing is HOT. So to balance it out, I also ordered a couple of pitchers of milk." Lemon watched the waitresses arrive with the drinks for Key and Rave. "If any of you feel the burn, have a drink of this then get right back into it, K?"
"If any of you decide that enough's enough, you simply have to raise your hand and push the plate away," Cyber Shock added in for Lemon Zest. "Do it if you're full or you simply cannot handle the heat any longer. Not that the two of you can't handle your food, that is."
"Nah. To me, this is just another day in the life." Rave Chill twisted her neck, causing some creaks to come out of it. She inhaled and exhaled as she watched Lemon slathering the sauce all over the wings, drenching them in the reddish-brown liquid.
"Gotta say, though. The Inferno's a new flavour. It's uncharted territory. So you'd better watch yourself, Rave," remarked Key as his own stack of wings were drowned in the sauce. "If you have to drink and back out, then that's fine. Just means I keep the crown longer."
"Keep on tellin' yourself that, kid. I'm about to rip that crown off of your head." Rave smashed her hands together, then rubbed vigorously as she poised her fingers ready for the first wing of the night.
"Sounds like they're ready to go, so we shouldn't keep them waiting any longer." Lemon grinned as she brought the others together. "Let's count em' down together, shall we?"
"THREE!" The friends all caleld out together as Keychain raised his fingers for the first wing of the night. "TWO!" they added, giving the challengers one last moment to look at their opposition before their eyes were locked on the sauce-ridden wings. "ONE!" Everyone else watched with baited breaths as Key and Rave's fingers itched, ready to go. "GO!"
And with that, Keychain and Rave Chill drove their hands into the first wings of the night, before driving them into their mouths, letting their teeth do all of the rest. The flavours of the chicken were intermixed with the fires of the Inferno hot sauce, creating a tantalising, yet also incredibly spicy combination of meat and sauce that danced on their taste buds. The both of them could already feel the heat beginning to coil around their mouths with each and every bite that they took, but it was still just the first wing. They both managed to pick it bare, albeit Rave slightly faster than Keychain. But she didn't even look as he took the next wing and de-skinned it in the blink of an eye. Now, he was on his third wing while she was halfway through her second.
The friends all watched as Keychain and Rave Chill continued their little Wing-off. All of them had been introduced to Rave in one way or another, but the two of them could really see how much she and Key were putting their passion into this Wing-off. They saw as wing after wing was shredded of its' meat, leaving only the bare bones left. The piles on their plates were beginning to dwindle, as bones were tossed to the middle of the table at a steady pace.
"Looks like they're both pretty equal at the moment," Lemon Zest commentated on the ongoing rush. "But as we're moving into the sixth wings, it looks like Rave's already going for the milk! And Key's still going milkless! Pretty ballsy, but that's what you expect from our champion! To take risks!" As soon as she said that, she watched as Rave slammed the pitcher back down. "But it looks like Rave's cooled herself down a tad. Now, let's see if she can keep up with Key after that sudden drink!"
Keychain made it to the eighth wing when he felt a sudden rush running through his throat. The spicy sauce was starting to take its' toll on him. In a flash, he went for the pitcher and glugged a portion of milk, before wiping his face and going back for the wings.
The battlefield was a blurr of fingers, destroyed chicken meat, and bones being scattered to the wooden boards of the table. Both Keychain and Rave Chill were past the halfway mark, but Keychain was on his fifteenth wing while Rave was still on her fourteenth. Seeing no other option, Rave took two wings; one in each hand, and scarfed them both down together.
"And it looks like Rave's going for the Akimbo approach! It's a unique tactic, for sure, but will her mouth even be able to fit those wings at once?" Lemon asked the crowd, who all kept on chanting the names of both of the challengers as much as they could. Rave was moved by the cheers and stripped one wing clean, then the other one, before tossing the bones away. By now, her belly was beginning to fill, as was Keychain's.
"Think you can double up on me? Hah!" Keychain boasted as he too took up a pair of wings and thrust them both into his mouth. But that was where he reached an awkward situation and his teeth couldn't exactly pick both of the bones at once, so he had to make do with tearing off one side, then the other. His mouth was just loaded with chicken at that point. He kept on chewing, however; not determined to lose his crown.
"And it looks like both challengers are beginning to slow down a bit, but they're both almost done!" Lemon called out as there were only three wings left on Keychain and Rave Chill's plates. She had caught up and the game was exhilarating. The sudden noises from the others accented the tension. "But who's to say that these last three wings are easy?" Lemon added. "These two have been spending the whole night battling full stomachs and the Inferno. Surely, one of them's gotta pack it in sooner or later, right?"
Undeterred by Lemon's words, Keychain and Rave Chill set their sights on the wings. Both of them were so close and they couldn't afford to give it all up now. The next wings went into their mouths and, true to Lemon's words, they had slowed down a bit. Maybe it was the fact that they had eaten seventeen other wings before these ones. Maybe it was the fact that they had been battling with a hot sauce that was 80,000 scovilles hot. Or maybe it was the fact that they didn't want to lose to the other. Either way, they pressed on. They wanted to see this through to the end.
Two wings left, and Rave Chill started to feel dizzy from the immense amount of heat. At this point, she had just stomached a phenomenal 1,440,000 scovilles. Admittedly, the wings were all the same temperature, but at the same time, the power of the sauce was beginning to overpower her. She took another drink before tucking into the next wing on her plate.
Keychain had just finished his eighteenth wing and was also moving onto the nineteenth of twenty. He was the holder of the crown for a reason. But at the same time, he had to make sure that he kept that title. It might have seemed meaningless, but this was to prove that he was worthy of standing proudly in his little inner circle as the king of wings. The sauces were also starting to get to him and he could barely even breathe as he ripped the meat off of the next wing.
"One wing left for both sides! This is gonna be a close one!" Lemon caled out, causing both Keychain and Rave Chill to share one more glance with each other. They both twiddled their hands, almost as if they were in a high noon battle in the old west. The fastest hand would win it.
"DRAW!" Rave cried out as she and Key both went for the wing and lodged it in their mouths. They were both perfectly matched now and it all came down to skill.
Chewing from Rave Chill's side. Chewing from Keychain's side. They were both on the same page and just about to finish the job and become the winner. It all came down to how fast they could swallow the meaty mass. They both chewed the meat down as much as they could, leaving no part of the bone with meat. Key and Rave took their wings out. They seemed to move in sync with the other, but Keychain's wing came out faster by a fraction of a second that nobody else could have seen in real time.
"DONE!" They both called out together, then could only cough and hack as they swigged down the rest of the pitcher while Lemon and the others tallied the results. When the pitchers were drained and the crowd hushed, the two of them could only watch as the group calculated how fast the both of them had finished the wings.
"Okay. I think we can all agree that that was a wild time," Sheep Wolf spoke up to both Key and Rave. "Now, which of you two managed it faster, I wonder?"
"It was obviously me. I mean, did you see the way that he struggled near the end of it?" Rave Chill pointed Key out for his weakness.
"Says the girl who had to drink before me," Keychain shot back. "I think I've got this in the bag, Rave. But you did put up one hell of a fight there."
"Same. Whatever happens, there's always next time." Rave held out her hand, which Key took and shook. Good sportsmanship from a pair of wing-eating lunatics.
"Alright, boys and girls. We have a result." Lemon Zest took ahold of a phone that was being used by Cyber Shock to document the occasion. "This super slo-mo cam from Cyber is gonna determine who finished that wing faster."
Everyone watched the slow motion with bated breath, waiting for the moment when the two of them took the wings out of their mouths. The slow seconds seem to feel like an eternity the more that they watched it. Eventually, the wing bones fell, and Keychain's came out slightly faster than Rave Chill's, if by a hair's breadth.
"And it's our undefeated champion, Keychain!" Lemon announced, which caused the others to cheer and chant his name like a bunch of rowdy animals as they gathered around him.
"Damn! Well, fair play to you, Key." Rave just slipped her hands behind her head and let Keychain have his moment as the crowd of people called his name over and over again. "But next time... next time's gonna be a different story, let me tell you that."
"You weren't so bad yourself, Rave. You should be commended as well for your bravery," Keychain remarked, turning his sight to his defeated opponent. "You've had the guts to rip through all those wings with that fiery sauce. I think that deserves some credit."
Rave just scoffed with a smile. "Yeah. Same time next month?"
"Same time next month." Keychain gave Rave Chill a fist bump.
Tonight was one of those nights for Keychain. The one night of the month where he could be with his friends at a place that they all loved, with food that they all adored, with a tradition that they had been doing for a while now with new people willing to put themselves on the line to take his little title. The ultimate escapism from the harshness of his real life and the commitments that he had to live up to. Little did they all know that, outside of this, Keychain really had to deal with Fluttershy and find her parents fast. He couldn't keep her with him forever and he knew it. At least, here, with this brief respite, he could enjoy the time that he had before he had to go home and face the responsibilities of safeguarding a small little girl.