The group had finally reached their destination, the thugs not bothering to put the gag back on Carla. She apparently gives a mean kick, having sent a number of the guards in this place to the infirmary. While the humans and the disguised changeling wondered how someone so small could cause that many injuries to people so big, Carla simply observed the area in silence. Jack had tried to strike up a conversation, but she wasn't interested.
"Now is not the time for that. Not when we're about to meet the one responsible for what's been happening in this city, and many others." Carla said with a huff.
"What's been happening?" Jack asked. Carla gives him a shocked look.
"You can't be serious! The robbery spree, the kidnappings and the extortion. Along with many other problems. The man overseeing this town has done a lot of terrible things, and we're not exactly in a safe position, if you haven't noticed." Carla says, knocking on one of the bars of the cage. “We can sit down and have a nice conversation AFTER our situation improves, till then, I suggest you spend your time and energy thinking of potential solutions to our current problem.” She finished in a no nonsense tone.
“Uh…yeah. Sorry.” Jack said, a little upset about being brushed off, but seeing the logic in what she said. Carla just grunts in acknowledgment. The doors open, and they enter the room. The room itself was something you'd see in an old, but still frequently used, study. The walls were windowless and red. The floor was dark brown, with a red mat in the center. And sitting at a mahogany desk, was a unicorn stallion with red skin, and white hair. He’s wearing gray glasses, so his eye color isn’t visible. He was wearing a purple fedora with a red stripe and a grey feather in it. He’s also wearing a purple open jacket with no undershirt, with matching pants. He has a yellow scarf around his neck. He has high heels, a belt with a star in the middle (which is yellow, but paler then the scarf), and black gloves. In two class cases behind him, were two objects. One was a flute, its size was nearly 50 centimeters in length. It has a skull with three eyes on one end, and an oval-like cutout in the skull's brow. On the other end, there are root-like cutouts. In the other was some weird black book, it had a weird green symbol on it too. It was a big circle with some tentacle creature in it. While both gave off bad auras, compared to the book, the flute might as well have been oozing positivity.
"I see you've found my pet." The gaudy pony said to the thugs, as the feather in his fedora turned yellow. "Very good. Now leave us, I have some matters to discuss with them in private." The thugs nod and leave.
"I'm not your pet Gaud!" Carla seethed at the gaudy pony, who's name was apparently Gaud. "And you know why I'm here!"
"The flute and…book I presume." He responded with an unnerved glance at the book, as his feather turned purple.
"If you're unnerved by the book, then it should be obvious why it should be locked…wait…" Carla paused mid rant and looked at the book in both surprise, and fear. "I only came for the flute, I wasn't aware of that book. What kind of book is that? I've never seen or felt anything like it."
"I'm not sure to be honest. I found it while traveling and searching for my best clothes maker." He answered, which caused Carla to grit her teeth as his feather turned orange. "I found you on the streets, having no shelter, food or money. The site honestly broke my heart. And out of the goodness of my heart, I took you in. And all I asked in return, was a little help in my business, was that really too much to ask? For all I did for you? Honestly, you should be thanking me for giving you the skills I taught you in clothes making." He said with a dramatic sigh as his feather turned blue.
"Ok first of all, it's called fashion designing, hence why you kept using them in fashion shows and contests. Second of all, I wasn't without food, money or a shelter. I worked as a waitress at a café down the road. I regularly visited pony joes, who I sometimes worked for if I really needed the money, and he even let me have the unsold leftovers from the days I worked. And I had enough money to eat out without working for a decent while. And I prefer to live outside in a tent, it's actually pretty comfy if you have the proper resources. Gems enchanted to produce heat or produce cold air aren't exactly expensive you know. And I didn't live that far from a public washroom, or the laundromat. Third of all, you kidnapped me.” She counters with a fierce glare.
“Tsk tsk tsk, so feisty, no doubt because you misplaced your soothing bell. Don’t worry, I have a spare one right here!” He says with glee as his feather turned orange again and started to glow, taking out a white collar with a silver bell attached to it, both having strange runes on them. Seeing the bell, Carla backed up in fear, before steeling her nerves.
“I’m not the same scared little Exceed I was before, this won’t be as easy as it was last time!” Carla said in determination. As Gaud approaches the cage, Jack pulls out his gun and shoots Gaud’s horn, making his feather shift between colors at random. He didn’t wanna break his horn, but he couldn’t let this happen. And to everyone’ surprise, it didn’t damage his horn, it just felt like it did.
“Hey, what’s going on in there?” They heard one of the thugs say from behind a door. Without a word, Max rushed to the recovering pony, and took the collar as the feather stopped at red. He then rushed to Carla, grabbed the door to her cage, and ripped it off. Though when he touched it, his hand burst into small green flames. His hand momentarily turned from light green, to pitch black, and back again as he dropped the cage’s door. Carla filed that and his strength away for later questioning, not wanting to lose a potential ally at the moment.
“Thank you.” Carla said with a grateful smile, as she stepped out the cage. “That cage was made of magic canceling materials.” After she said that, she was covered by a white light. After it died down, everyone was shocked by her new appearance. She looked like a 13 year old human girl. She still had the same tail, just big enough to fit her new form, the same with the bow. She now has shoulder length white hair with cat ears on top, even though she had gained human ears as well. The outfit she was wearing had changed sizes to fit her human body. After another moment, her feet flashed, and she was now wearing plain white shoes. Seeing her do all that, Max being able to tell it wasn’t Changeling magic, and Gaud having never seen her do that (his feather shifting between colors again), everyone besides Carla had one thing to say.
“WHAT THE FUCK!?!”
"What an interesting creature. While I doubt that silly little mortal knew how special the Exceed truly was, I do have to acknowledge his eye for quality in other creatures. Shame he'll never be able to capitalize on that strength, he lacks the drive needed for that. Who knows, maybe this fight could be the push he needs, though I won't hold my breath."
It wasn't long before the thugs busted in, having gotten tired of not being answered, only to be blasted by a green magic beam. Carla looks at Max, as smoke came off his horn.
"What, too much?" Max asked in confusion. Carla shook her head.
"No, just not used to everyday ponies having the proper reaction time to attack something with no warning, rather then just stand there and gawk. Let alone being able to hit their intended targets while taking such small time to actually charge that much power and aim perfectly. It's a bit unusual, if I'm being honest." She answered with a raised brow. Seeing that Gaud had almost gotten back up, she ran towards him. She then jumped in the air, did a small spin, then kicked at the angle he was at. The kick had enough force to launch her towards him. Not having a good enough reaction time, her foot hits him square in the face, and makes him see stars for a moment. The back of his head hits his desk with a loud thud, causing his feather to shift between colors again, and probably giving him a concussion on top of that.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing, freak!?” One of the thugs said, charging at Carla. Once the thug gets close enough, Carla leaps, striking the thug upward with her left foot. Then she switches to her right foot and performs a half-spin kick, trailing her right foot across the ground while leaving a blue streak behind.
“Hey, lady in the purple shirt.” Carla asked while keeping her eyes on the thugs. Her call gains Nicole’s attention.
“Yeah?” She asked, a little shook-up about the situation.
“My ‘intuition’ tells me that that book you’re holding could help you hold your own. Give it a quick read. Don’t worry, I’ll hold them back until you’re ready.” Carla says as she rushes a still standing thug. Max joins her as Jack stays behind, though it wasn’t by his choice.
“Where’d you get that gun from?” Nicole asked him after grabbing his shoulder. “It wasn’t on you when we woke up.”
“No clue.” He answered with a shrug. “I wanted to stop him quickly, but didn’t know if I could reach him given his magic. Then suddenly, red light appears around my hand, and the next thing I know, the gun was there.” He then concentrates for a moment, then all of a sudden, a sword replaces the gun. After experimenting for a little bit, he found that he can effortlessly switch between a sword (which he doesn't really know how to use) and a gun (that can apparently shoot none damaging bullets(?)). He decided to stick with the gun for now. He attempted to give the sword to his mother, but every time he gave the sword to her, it just reappeared in his hand. "I don't know what she was talking about, but you can't really do much without a weapon, so you might as well give the book a shot."
With having said that, he rushed to the others, guns a blazing. Watching him run off, she opened the book, hoping she could find anything helpful. She was not expecting what she actually found.
Party:
|Nicole (Reed Katsumi) Smith [Leader]| |Jack (Reed Isamu) Smith|
Nicole: LV 1
Class: Mage
Artificial Therion (Non-Accessible)
HP: 330 BG: 3 SG: 1
Exp: 0
ATK: 38.68
A. ATK: 43.68
DEF: 51.45
A. DEF: 23.11
Focus: 51.45
Jack: LV 1
Class: Fighter
Artificial Therion (Non-Accessible):
HP: 330 BG: 3 SG: 1
Exp: 0
ATK: 38.68
A. ATK: 43.68
DEF: 51.45
A. DEF: 23.11
Focus: 51.45
“As interesting as that is, it doesn’t really help me. A spell I could use would be much more helpful right now.” Nicole says with a frown, only to slightly jump as the book does a little pulse.
The page then changes to show…
“A fire ball spell?” She asked in surprise, then looked at the instructions closely. After a few failed attempts to actually make a fire ball, she eventually managed to make a fairly decent one (for a beginner at least). She looks back at the fight to see Carla spin kicking a thug in the head, her leg being covered in fire. Nicole noticed a thug rushing Carla, without thinking, she fired the fire ball at the thug. It sadly only grazed the thug, but it did let Carla know the thug was there. With one last punch to the stomach, and kick to the face, the last remaining thug went down.
"Quite impressive, for your first few attempts at least. Sure it only grazed your target, but that's certainly better then most with your lack of experience. Now let's take that flute and book, then leave, there's a lot of questions that need answering, on both sides." Carla says with a small smile. Before Nicole could say anything, Gaud suddenly grabbed her by the hair, and puts a knife at her throat.
"MOM!" Jack yelled, panicked, his eyes glowing red.
"NO!" Max yelled, equally as panicked, his eyes gaining a green shine to them. Carla only glared at Gaud in pure, unadulterated, loathing.
"So that's a flute, huh?" Gaud asked, his feather turning black. "Here's what's going to happen. Unless you want me to kill her, you'll stay right where you are. Understand?" He grins as he sees the two boys nod, and chuckles as he sees Carla's fists shaking, his feather turning orange.
"Gaud, I only have one word for you." Carla says through gritted teeth.
"Oh?" Gaud asked in intrigue, his grin getting bigger. "And what word is that, my cute little kitten, hmm?" He asked, as he watches her eyebrow twitch with amusement.
"WULD!" she shouted, as she dashed towards him, much quicker then she was normally capable of. Do to how unnaturally loud it was, it caught him off guard, and he couldn't react in time. She grabbed the knife, then yanked it out of his hand, then punched him to the ground. Having been let go as a result of the punch, Nicole ran to the others, as Carla put that very same knife to his throat.
"And for the record, don't call me a 'cute little kitten'!" She seethed as she pressed the knife harder on his neck, causing the feather to turn purple, and glow bright enough to where Carla had to squint her eyes. "And give me that!" She almost shouts, as she snatched the feather out of his hat. The feather turned white, and stopped glowing. In the corner of her eye, she noticed a card in his coat pocket. Taking it out, she gives a chuckle after examining it. "How thoughtful of him." She says as she brings his wrists together, then places the card on them. The card suddenly glows, and strange writing and lines burst out of it. After a few moments, the light died down, showing everyone what happened. Gaud now had energy bands around his wrists, ankles and horn.
"What just happened?" Max asked.
"That card was enchanted with three spells. One was a restraining spell. Another was a magic cancelling spell. The last one was an advanced disguising spell, to conceal the first two spells, which only people with a specific item can see through." She answered as she took out a weird looking mirror, which she poked a few times, making ripples that a mirror shouldn't be able to do. "There, I just called some co-workers to come and get these people, and anything else they might have. Now, we all have a lot of explaining to do. Not here of course, we can go somewhere else for that."