//------------------------------// // Day 3 // Story: Pinkamena: Redemption(?) // by Timegal25 //------------------------------// Day 3 The early morning sun was looking as nice and warm as it had always been. Applejack smiled to herself as she watched it for a bit, slowly coming up over the horizon. Farm work was always going to be exhausting and back breaking, but being able to see the sunrise always made for a great start. Along with a good, strong drink of course. She slowly made her way to the barn, ready to get the animals out and grazing. Once she got that over with, she would be able to dip into town for a bit, and hopefully spend time with the others for a while. “Rise and shine, ladies and gents! Food’s looking especially good today, so I don’t want any of ya missin’ out on this!” she called out as she opened the barn door, ready for the usual stream of animals to make their way past her. But… there was nothing. “Huh? Something wrong? Someone sick or something?” Applejack asked, looking in. Her eyes widened at the sight before her. “W-what in tarnation?!” “oink.” --- Grey was a bit surprised when she saw Pinkamena eagerly working in the kitchen, a plate of food already laid out on the table. “Oh, morning Diane.” Pinkamena quickly glanced back, before sprinting over to the stove. “Morning. Thought me making breakfast would help patch up any remaining worry you might have about me,” she said, pulling bacon from a frying pan and putting it on a plate and moving it to the table. “Worked with what I had, so it’s your basic pancakes and bacon stuff. If you want other stuff, I can go grocery shopping at some point,” she continued on, eyeing Grey as she slowly took a seat and looked at her meal. “Wow, thanks. You didn’t have to do all this, you know, Diane,” she said, picking up a piece of bacon and biting into it. Her eyes widened at the first taste. “W-wow! This is… you didn’t have to go all in like that!” Pinkamena simply shrugged it off as she started moving pans and trays to the sink to wash off. The truth was that while she did do this as a sign of desperately needed good will, she mainly did this because she loved to cook. It was one of the few things that had kept her from completely shutting down while locking in her personal purgatory, and was probably the only part of her old life that she still wanted to keep around. “Just eat,” she said, before taking her own plate of pancakes and biting into it. Yep, she was still good at this. As the two ate, they could hear a slight commotion outside. It was like a mini-stampede was going on. Walking over to a window and looking outside, both were shocked at the sight. Pigs. Lots of them. Pigs of various sizes and colors were running around, all of them going in every which way. The thing was, they didn’t look like normal pigs. They had strange looking patterns covering their bodies, and instead of ears and legs, they had strange looking materials, akin to jagged metal. “... Pig Noise?” Grey asked aloud, before her phone went off. She quickly picked it up, putting it on speaker phone. “Mel, you see what’s going on outside?” “Right on the money! What’s with all these things? They’re almost everywhere…” Melody lamented, the sounds of squeaks and oinks coming from her end. “No idea. You think these things are gonna destroy the shop?” “With how much they’re just running around, they’re at least likely to make a mess. Can you meet me there as soon as possible?” Grey nodded. “Yeah, see you there in a bit,” she said, before hanging up and looking over to Pinkamena. “Thanks for breakfast, Diane. I can pick up diner for tonight,” she said, running to get her work apron. Pinkamena simply watched the pigs run past for a bit, before walking over to the kitchen’s radio and turning it on. “-here at the Junk Garage are issuing a special challenge for anyone in town to play! All you need to do is get a player pin down at the station and take down as many of these piggies as you can. Or, if you’re lucky, get the one gold pig, and win it all in one go. Though, that fast little porker isn’t gonna let just anyone defeat him.” Minerva’s voice was doing a good job of making her sound especially punchable for the morning. Right on cue, Pinkamena’s phone buzzed as she looked at it. “Defeat the single boar made of solid gold ore. Upheaval rule is now in effect. Teams lower in rank can earn double or even triple the winnings for taking it down.” “...Since when was this a team thing with points?” Pinkamena asked as Grey walked past her, in full work outfit. “This whole things is our next mission. There’s a gold pig that we have to find.” Grey sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. “Damn it, this is a group thing huh… well, I can’t skip out on work… if the hunt’s still on by my break, me and Mel’ll join you. See ya later Diane,” she said, before quickly running out the door and almost tripping on a pig on her way to the store. Pinkamena sighed as she went to get her pins. She just hoped this would be able to go quickly. --- How was finding a bright yellow pig, as well as fighting a much of pigs in general, this hard?! Pinkamena cursed to herself as she felt her knife slash against one of the pigs, and watch as it simply did nothing. She saw a lightning shape flash on the pigs body as it quickly scurried off, leaving her all by her lonesome again. “I hate this,” she said aloud, looking at her knife pin. It seemed the thing was finally becoming dull to her, in terms of skill. No elemental effect to it was really doing her in, it seemed. She had been able to take down five or so early on, but now she was scoring nothing. And with no sign of the golden pig, this felt like a challenge she was going to lose. She sighed, trying her best to calm herself down, thinking of what could be done to help remedy this thing. “Oh man, you’re doing horrible at this.” Pinkamena turned her head, looking to see Shoka watching her. She was recording with her phone. “And here I thought Minerva had actually been able to pick up a decent player.” “Didn’t see you yesterday,” Pinkamena responded, catching her breath. “Like I told you before, this isn’t my normal city. I just thought that I’d stop by to see how the game’s going over here since it’s pretty boring in my city,” Shoka explained. She had a smug look on her face. “Seems you haven’t grabbed any new pins or anything since I first gave you that starter. You do know that you’re supposed to change it up when you can, right?” she asked. “I only learned these things can change yesterday, and my mission yesterday was focused on getting myself new clothes. I’m not exactly fully aware of how this whole thing works,” Pinkamena retorted, snorting. “I’ve fought five of those pigs earlier, and this thing hasn’t changed yet.” “Those things don’t get you anything good. Just some small cash. If you want to really help get stronger, you have to fight actual noise,” Shoka explained. “Since I’m feeling nice at the moment, I guess I can help a loser like you learn the ropes,” she said, snapping as a large puffer fish like Noise appeared in front of the two. The giant fish started to attack almost immediately, launching a flurrying of sharp looking quills at the two as they quickly dodged out of the way. “Let’s go in for the kill!” Shoka commaned, Pinkamena annoyingly nodding as they charged at the thing. She watched Shoka’s fighting style as they took the now defenseless enemy down. Despite looking to be only a teenager, the kitty girl was giving off a lot of powerful energy as she blasted the thing with shots of energy. Was there an aura around her? After a while the thing turning to static and disappeared, a purple pin dropping to the ground. “And there we go. A new pin for you to use to your own enjoyment,” Shoka explained, tossing it to her. It looked similar to the pin she currently had on, but had bolts of electricity surrounding the knife. “Different pins have different attributes to them. It’ll help your team in the long run to switch it up when you can.” Pinkamena pocketed her old pin and attached the new one on. She watched as the knife she was holding onto began to crackle. “Anything else I should know?” “Larger, harder noise drop better pins, usually. I guess you can always try to fight them if you’re feeling lucky. Or if you have a death wish, I don’t really care either way,” Shoka said, beginning to go through her phone. Pinkamena thought on something before turning to her. “If the game in your town is so boring, why don’t you consider joining this one then? You’re easier to deal with than Minerva, and you’re actually explaining this stuff to me. Hell, you could even join me if you wanted. I don’t think I’m gonna be able to this stuff all by myself.” Shoka didn’t glance up from her phone as it chimed. She began to quickly text. “Tempting offer, but I don’t work with low promise losers like you. Ask again some other time and maybe I’ll consider it.” She looked up at her. “A few new players have joined the game, all by themselves. Maybe you’ll bump into them during this,” she said, walking past Pinkamena. “One last thing, loser. Think about a team name for your group. Makes it easier to look at your accomplishments when you’re done for the day,” she said. “Later, loser.” Pinkamena watched her walk off, before sighing again. “Alright, let’s find some pigs,” she said, heading off in her own direction. Were there more pigs or was she just seeing things? --- “Come on people, if you want a soda, you know that you have to pay for it!” Grey shouted, watching people awkwardly crowd around the store’s fridge, grabbing for drinks. This pig hunt thing had gotten a lot of people in town out and about, with it becoming a mess outside. Tower Records was one of the places people had been flooding, to rest or work out a strategy thanks to how big the place was. “If you really want take home the win, maybe you need the right music!” Melody called out, pushing a stand of discounted CDs near the customers. “We got a bunch of sales going on, with both old and new releases. Make yourself your own hunting mix tape and see if that gives you the boost you need.” She paused, thinking, before quickly adding. “Get half off your drinks when you buy two CDs!” she shouted, the two girls watching as the crowd began to spread out throughout the store to find any music to buy. Melody winked at Grey as she joined her behind the register. “You’re good at this stuff,” Grey said, smiling. “Oh please, it’s just taking the chance when an opportunity arrives, you know?” Melody replied, as the door to the shop opened and someone walked in. “Hopefully, Pinkamena’s been able to find that gold pig and we don’t have to worry about it over our break,” she continued, looking at the time. Grey nodded, watching everyone throughout the store. “I’ll just be happy when this stupid hunt ends period. This is a nice crowd, but barely are gonna buy anything. We’re probably losing money on drink sales something from this,” she said as the figure approached them at the register. “Welcome to Tower Records, you looking for something in specific?” Grey asked as they looked. “Yeah,” the figure said, grabbing Grey by the collar. “You two,” they said, throwing her out the front door and onto the ground. --- Somehow, Pinkamena had ended up on the edge of town near the swimming pond. She just needed this as a reason to get away from all the chaos that was going on. There had been more pigs popping up, and more and more people were joining in on the hunt. It was total insanity, even for someone like her. She slowly took a seat and let out a slow deep breath, feeling like it would best to just cut her loses and let someone else catch the stupid pig, if it was even really out there. “oink.” Her ears perked up as she heard the sound of a singular pig. Looking up, she could see the golden pig, watching her from nearby. “…Well then, guess this is it,” she said, slowly getting to her feet and summoning a knife into her hands. Immediately at the sight of the knife, the pig’s eyes widened as it bolted off in an opposite direction… only for it to fall into the nearby sand. “What the…” Pinkamena said, slowly walking to where she had seen the pig fall in. She suddenly could feel another presence nearby as she looked around. She watched as a woman stared at her from a distance, crouching near the edge of where the pig had gone. “Hey, did you do that?” Pinkamena called out to her. The woman slowly stood tall, slinging a shovel over her shoulder. She smiled as Pinkamena got a good look in at her. She had short, black hair and pale skin, with it only being offset with what looked like peach colored eye shadow. Everything she wore was camo colored, including the gloves she was wearing. The only real clothes that she had on seemed to be a bra and bottom. Everything else seemed to be just pockets… and a rather large amount of grenades. In place of her left leg was bone white prosthetic one. Pinkamena’s grip on her knife tightened as she watched the woman. “Tell me…” the woman called out to her, her voice having hints of an accent. “Do you like fighting?” Pinkamena thought on it. “…I suppose I do.” “Do you like killing?” She could feel the hairs on her arm stand up at this. “… It’s the only way I could truly live, for a while.” “Do you like fear?” “... I can’t say.” “Do you… accept death?” Pinkamena paused, before looking straight at her. “It’s the only true way my story can end. And I’m going to assume, that the same can be said of you, as well.” The woman’s smile grew. “It is the only true outcome for those such as ourselves. Our growth is stained with the blood of others,” she said, looking down at the pig. “Taking this pig down, is how one wins for the day, right?” she asked, pointing her shovel down at the thing. “It is. You must be one of the new players, right?” Pinkamena asked, moving towards her. “It seems that the only way for this to end, is for you to show me what all those grenades you have are for, huh?” “There is no other,” the woman explained, grabbing a handful, tossing them at her. Pinkamena could feel the heat as she dodged out of the way, a pillar of flames filling up the air. She felt her knife crackle with energy. This was going to be a long day. --- Grey was panting as her and Melody kept their distance from their attacker. She was a deadly looking blonde, with every bit of clothes that she wore being red and white. Even her arms had red lines painted on them. She had an energy to her that just wouldn’t quit. “You can keep your distance as much as you want,” she called out, stretching her arms out, “you know that I can close the distance easily.” Grey simply growled, using her pin to shoot ice pillars up from the ground. The woman was able to dodge out of their way, dashing at them and ready to strike. The two dodged out of the way, Melody firing music notes at her and actually hitting her a few times. “You know, the target for today is a pig! Hell, we’re not even going after the damn thing!” she shouted at the woman, watching her turn and quickly high kick at her. The speed and reflexes this woman had were almost unreal! “I was only told to take you two down, and that’s what I’m going to do. I don’t care about any of these stupid pigs,” she explained, continuing to kick at Melody as she dodged and dodged. “Shame that you two aren’t any kind of expert,” she lamented, as she grabbed Melody, ready to throw her. Grey shot an ice pillar up between the two, the woman letting go before it hit. She then quickly fired another ice pillar up from under her feet, knocking the woman back. “Yeah, well, I never asked to be in this stupid game either, so I want nothing to do with you! I’m already dealing with a parole officer up my ass, so if you can just stop with this stupid task!” The woman simply got up, quickly dodging behind Grey as she punched her twice and knocked her down the ground with a harsh kick. The way she held herself, the way she could move… what was this woman? Melody watched from afar, cursing as her pin recharged. “Damn it, she’s too fast on her feet…” she muttered, before her eyes widened as saw her pin begin to glow. “A mutation…” she said, watching as the image on her pin was now that of a boom box. “Yeah… yeah, that’ll do it. Hey, jackass!” she shouted out, the woman looking at her. “Listen to these funk fresh beats, courtesy of one Melody Black!” she shouted, before putting her hands out. A large circle opened up in the ground under the woman and Grey, as loud music music started to play out from it. Their sound and impact was so heavy that it sent the woman flying up into the air, helpless to get out. “Grey, give it all you got!” Grey, getting back up on her feet, nodded as she felt her pin glow as she charged it up as much as she could. “Hope this helps you get the hint!” she shouted, sending a gigantic pillar up from the ground as Melody stopped the music, dropping the woman to the ground… having her be only a few mere inches away from the pillar. The woman slowly looked up as the two stood over her. “Listen… you can attack us again if you wish, but neither of us really want to impale a random stranger today… maybe if you take down the golden pig, you can get the same result as if you killed us. Is that alright with you?” Grey asked, the two watching her response. The woman slowly sat up on her behind, wiping the sweat from her brow. “… Alright, I suppose that can work, I guess. No point in wasting time on people who don’t even know how to properly fight anyways,” she lamented, before getting up to her feet and checking to see if her boots had been damaged. After seeing so signs of dirt, or blood, she looked at the two. “So. Where’s the third one?” --- Pinkamena’s body felt tired and sore at the moment, and yet she didn’t want to stop. This woman in front of her, this woman knew what she was doing. She had never been the type to view her work as something greater, and wasn’t the type to being into things like a ‘hunt’ or those types of mentality… but this was making her truly feel alive. Her knife struck down against the woman’s shovel, sparks flying as she tried her best to back the woman up, knowing there just had to be more than one hole in the area. “This skill, it has been too long since I have faced one with it,” the woman said, wining the clash and knocking Pinkamena back with a hearty swing. She then pulled tossed a grenade to her feet, watching as Pinkamena moved back even more… to fall right into one of the holes she had dug. Pinkamena’s eyes widened as she saw a number of grenades drop into the hole with her. Thankfully, adrenaline was doing a damn good job of keeping her going, helping her climb out just as they all went off. Looking at the woman, she could see that they were both tiring out from going at it like this. And neither would have weapon access forever. She charged at her again, dodging grenade after grenade as she closed it. “Sorry, but I’m taking that stupid pig this time!” she shouted, swinging again at the shovel as her opponent guarded. She used this guard to kick the shovel against her chest, knocking the wind out. Pinkamena let a few more slashes out, feeling her knife disappear as the woman fell to her side. Pinkaemena was left standing, she had one. ”Alright, that was… something,” Pinkamena said, slowly looking over to the hole where the pig had fallen in to. “I’ll ask after I’m done with this.” The woman slowly sat up, slowly grabbing a grenade. “Truly, a shame. Another loss, immediately… I suppose there is no point in delaying the next part.” Pinkamena watched her, confused. “What are you-” The woman put the grenade into her mouth and pulled the pin, a smile on her lips. In a split second, Pinkamena felt heavy fear, anxiety and dread wash over her at the realization. Before she could fully comprehend what was going on, she used all the force she had left in her body to swat the grenade out from her mouth. It went flying into the pig hole. “Oi-” A pillar of flames erupted up from the hole, a small amount of what looked like golden dust and smoke wafting up from the hole. Pinkamena was heaving, with sweat rolling down her forehead. “What the hell was that?!” “I lost. Loss is fatal,” the woman explained. “You did not need to step in like that, interfering with my fate.” “...I wasn’t in the mood to see or be covered in your exploded brain bits,” Pinkamena responded, slowly calming herself down. She didn’t even know this woman, why did she just step in like that?! “Hey, are you guys alright? What the hell was with all those explosions?” Pinkamena sat up, seeing Grey and Melody running towards them. There was a blonde woman with them, but she didn’t seem as interested in what just happened. “Long story,” Pinkamena responded. “But, the good news is I took care of the stupid pig. I think. Who’s the new girl with you?” “Jeane,” the blonde said, stepping forwards. “seems like I would’ve had more fun with you.” “And this is…” Pinkamena looked to the woman as she slowly pushed her off. “I am Holly Summers,” she explained, getting to her feet. “She did put up a fight that I was not ready for,” she said to Jeane. She slowly made her way over to the blonde. “I will assume those two did not provide the fight you were looking for.” “Bingo. Were you the one that killed the pig?” “It was my grenade that did the creature in.” “Hey, sorry to cut in, but were both of you sent to hunt the pig, or take us down? Cause you said you were looking for us!” Grey shouted, pointing at the two as the got angry. “We were given the chance to do either. We went for both,” Jeane responded, looking around the area. “That woman pulled us into this. Where is she?” Pinkamena already knew who did this, able to tell both women suffered the same annoyances that she had… so at least she wouldn’t have to go it alone, right? “…If you two are talking about who I think you are, she’ll be here soon. We got the stupid pig, so that’s gotta mean her game is…” she trailed off as she could see others approaching. “Damn it.” “Hey, what the hell happened?” a young man shouted, seeing the bits of golden dust that still lingered in the air. “I-is the hunt over? Who won?!” Grey and Melody watched him, before sighing. “I think it’s over Max. The golden pig’s done. Is that why you weren’t in for work, cause of this stupid thing?” Grey asked. “That prize the trash heap lady was offering sounded huge! I don’t wanna work at a shitty record store for the rest of my life!” he responded, growing more visibly angry and humiliated. Things were starting to feel off. “I know many of you must be upset that you didn’t win, and I do agree that the golden pig was maybe a bit cheap,” Twilight explained, trying to calm everybody down as she moved to the front of the growing crowd. “but, who knows, maybe there’ll be another just like this one soon! We should all just take a deep breath and wait for the results and-” “Where’s the Goddamn pig?!” Max shouted, rushing towards the princess as a glowing energy blade emerged from his hand. Before he could get his first slash in, he was quickly grabbed and tossed to the ground. Jeane stood above him, cracking her knuckles. “We took the pig. We got the points. Do you understand that yet?” she asked, watching as he slowly got to this feet and scurried away from her. “W-well, if you have the pig… we just gotta take you down, right? Come on boys,” he cried out, three other guys forming around him. “Let’s take these ladies down!” “Ladies and gentlemen, those listening in and watching!” Pinkamena scowled as she could hear the joy in Minerva’s voice. “Today has taken an unexpected change! We’ve shifted from a pig hunt, to our first Equestian Slam! Who could’ve seen such results happening?!” From the tone of her voice, she did. “Damn it Max, what the hell is wrong with you?!” Grey shouted, her and Melody getting into fighting position. Pinkamena looked over to Holly. “You gonna help me in this?” Holly seemed to dig in one of her pockets, pulling out a pin of her very own. “I suppose I can see where this goes. And I would be a horrible partner if I were to let Jeane take them all on by herself.” “On your mark!” “We’re gonna take the prize, no one stands in the way of these boys!” Max shouted, him and his crew’s pins glinting. “Get set!” Pinkamena could see Twilight and the others grouping up as well, another group of angry pig hunters ganging up on them. “SLAAAAM!” --- Get Ready! Are you Ready? “Still just a bud…” The group watched as Max tried to rush in again, Jeane uppercutting him and slamming him back down to the ground with a powerful kick. Another member of his group stood his distance, smirking as he pointed at the blonde. A large looking beam of red energy fired at her, knocking her back. A man next to him held his hands up, a giant bus appearing over his head. “Oh what the hell kind of game is this?!” Grey shouted, fruststated as she had a giant pillar of ice appear under the two, knocking them aside as the bus went flying and vanished into nothing. The fourth man started running, firing off blasts of what looked like ice, as he began to panic. “Ah ah ah, not letting more cheap shots in during this thing!” Melody said, putting her hands out as another sound circle opened up on the ground, sending him flying into the air. She looked back to Holly and Pinkamena. “One of you two, go for it!” “I have an idea,” Holly said, pushing her shovel head against the ground. “Get on.” Pinkamena stepped on, unsure of what would happen next. She wasn’t expecting Holly to use the thing to basically catapult her to the floating target. But, she wouldn’t let the moment go to waste! She launched into a fury of slashes, sending her victim flying back and hitting an unseen barrier. He was then hit again and again by number of rockets, sending him the ground. Holly smiled as she looked at her pin. “This, this shall do for now,” she happily said, before looking over to Jeane. Her partner and Max were still going at it, the two trading blows and slashes. Holly kept her sights on him, numerous targets appearing on him as she used the last of her pin’s energy at the moment to fire another barrage at him. Jeane was more than happy to knock the stunned fool back after the assault on him finished. “What a joke.” “An unfunny one at that,” Holly added. Pinkamena felt the last of her remaining adrenaline slowly running out as she charged at the guy blasting energy. Extremely hot, but not a total defeat if she got hit by it. She would just have to tank right through it near the end. “Damn it, we’re not gonna loose!” he shouted, firing right at her… only for an ice pillar to trip him up, and right into an attack from Pinkamena. “People like you really need to learn how to shut up more.” Grey rolled her eyes and scoffed, before quickly bolting out of the way as a phone booth nearly dropped on her. The guy was laughing, summoning a large car as slid across the ground, getting closer. “I’m not gonna let you do something really stupid!” Melody said, blasting him up into the air. A missile barrage was able to help make sure he didn’t try again. “This battle is near it’s end,” Holly added, everyone looking to see as Max was getting back up. The rage in his face grew as a summoned a larger energy blade into his hand. “Hey, losers!” The group turned to see Shoka watching from the sidelines. “You’ve worked together enough to do a mashup and take em down! Or are you gonna drag this out longer than it should?” The group nodded in agreement, a plan already firm in their head. Max tried to rush them, but Melody easily lifted him into the air. An ice pillar grazed his side, sending him spinning wildly. Leaping into the air, Pinkamena and Jeane were able to give him a take down in a beating of aerial punches and cuts, the two moving away as another missile barrage helped make sure he didn’t get back up. Threat Muted! --- Clapping filled the air as Minerva approached the group. “Oh, that was truly fantastic! Didn’t think it’d get to this level of excitement and passion so quickly! You probably brought in some big numbers! And only on day three, this is such good stuff!” She only chuckled as she felt death glares that were being shot at her. “I’m also happy to see that you’ve met up with the two new players. I mainly hoped that them being here would mean that Pinkamena over here wouldn’t have to do things by her lonesome for the rest of the week.” “I’m not going to stop working at my job over some dumb game!” Grey said, before looking over at Max. “Though… I think someone might be able to cover for me and Mel for the rest of the week.” “What’s the prize? We took down the pig, so we won, right?” Jeane asked. “Well, you see, it’s different for actual players in the Reaper’s game, you know,” Minerva explained. “You’re still the top team on the board, and this victory adds up in the end. It’s gonna be harder for another team to sweep the top, but there’s still four days left, I suppose. Who knows what could happen next!” she laughed, before looking over to Shoka. “I must say, are you considering that offer I gave you?” Shoka simply shrugged, going on her phone. “Shibuya gets so boring with this current set of players. Thought I’d come over here to see how it was going, and to see if you were going to keep messing up.” She smirked. “Well, it’s best you get back there soon, hm? Hate for either of us to get in major trouble this early on, you know?” she said, before turning to leave. “I must go and congratulate the other team that won today! They’re on the other side of town, and I’d hate to keep a magic user waiting, you know?” She began to walk off, before stopping and turning her head. “So, you pick out a team name yet, Diane?” Pinkamena looked at all her teammates, and thought on it. She smiled as the perfect name came to her head. “Yeah, I got one.” --- Dinner was mostly uneventful. Grey’s kitchen was desperately in need of a restock, so it was decided that the welcome meal for the new members of the team would come tomorrow. The prize from the pig hunt wasn’t a total bust, as Jeane and Holly were given complimentary rooms at a nearby inn to stay at for the rest of the game, though that probably would’ve been given out even if they didn’t win. It was another quiet night, with Melody staying the night once again. Breakfast leftovers made for a decent dinner. Pinkamena looked at herself in the mirror as steam slowly began to fill up the bathroom. None of Holly’s attacks had left any kinds of serious marks. That was a relief. Her body was feeling weird. Like she could feel life slowly making its way back to her, but also like there were still parts missing. She sighed, shaking her head as she stepped into the showers. Cleaning her body scars usually helped clean up her mind in times like this. Meanwhile, Grey and Melody snuggled in bed. Today had sucked all of the energy out of them, and it was probably best to turn in early in case things got even worse tomorrow. After being attacked by a co-worker and his weird friends, it was nice to know that you at least had your girlfriend. Meanwhile, Holly and Jeane got set up for the night in their room. Both didn’t say much to the other as they got comfy in their beds, turning on the tv to drown out the silence. There was a lot the two needed to talk about, but neither felt in the mood to do so at the time being… but there was something nice about not being alone this first night back. --- Shoka looked up at the giant castle of friendship as she pulled out her phone. If this was the town’s equivalent to the 104, it desperately needed a redesign. She heard it ring a few times before the other side picked up. “Yeah, it’s me. I’m fine. Today went well actually. I know, right?” She listened to the other side for a bit, before responding. “Seems like it’s only just Minerva running things for now. No signs of Leilani or anyone else at all. I think she just started this herself and hopes no one notices. Though if she broadcast the last part of today, I doubt it’ll be for much longer.” Shoka paused, listening. “The two new players she added aren’t from here either. They’re both foreign, but I can’t place from where. They’re part of Pinkamena’s team. They even got themselves a team name now.” Shoka smirked as she glanced over to the lights at the tree house going out for the night. “I think they’re showing potential. Def should focus on them. Their name? Oh right, it’s…” Day 3 - Killer Remixes - END