Chapter 45
“Another question, if I may,” Vanilla said as she sat across from Domitor, her lips set in a hard line.
“Yes?” Domitor asked, a bit tired after having told her the entire story, as far as he knew of it at least, and had spent the last hour answering all of her questions. Mostly she was curious about things like how Ego worked exactly and how his home life had been. But she hadn’t made many comments about anything he had said, just wanting to know more and more.
And he was willing to answer it all, but the questions seemed never ending.
“If your father will only accept you if you turn over Shane, then what are you going to do when you see him again?” she asked, her eyebrow raised up from behind her goggles.
He frowned at this, as that was far too complicated for him to answer. His eyes drifted over to Shayla, who was laying in her chair snoring so loudly that everyone had moved away from her. “I don’t know yet. I’ve thought about just sticking with her till we found him, then hand Shane over. But now, I don’t know. Things are complicated now.”
“Complicated how?” she questioned, leaning forward.
“I…” a guilty look feel over his face, “I almost let something horrible happen to her, and now I feel like shit every time I think about handing her over to my father. So I guess I’m just winging it right now.”
“Him,” Vanilla suddenly corrected, catching him off guard. “Shane wants to be referred to as a male, so we must stick to that even when not near him.”
Domitor couldn’t help but chuckle at this, as Vanilla was a really strange, but nice young woman. “Right, sorry. I’ve just known him my whole life, so it just slips sometimes.”
She gives a sharp nod as she straightens up. “Next question; does he have a mate?”
At this Domitor began to laugh very loudly, followed by Floria who had been laying on the floor the entire time, mostly ignoring them.
“Why? You interested, Skankhurst?” Floria asked as she roughly climbed up to her feet, using their table as support.
“It is a simple question,” she asked with a huff, turning her head from them.
“Oh shit, the preppy rich girl has a crush on our vulgar and stupid friend over there,” Floria laughed, falling backwards and flailing around on the ground, unable to stop laughing.
“I do not, I asked a simple question!” the Halwen snapped, her face a bit green. “It is you two who are suddenly acting like children!”
“She’s flustered now!” Floria roared as she began to roll around the table, giggling and laughing so hard she couldn’t breath.
“I’m sorry,” Domitor apologized, still snickering a bit. “Really, I’m so sorry. I just did not expect that.”
Vanilla just frowned at him as she crossed her arms, “this was a very rude and unpleasant interaction. I hope you are aware.”
“I’m really sorry,” he replied, trying to become serious again. “To answer the question, no, he does not.”
“Thank you,” she replied in a stern tone. “You have now spoiled this great talk we were having. I hope you are happy.”
“Not our fault you’re bad at hiding your feelings, or owning up to them!” Floria mocked as she finally stopped rolling around, just sitting there on the floor and staring at them with a wide smirk.
“What are we laughing at you assfucks?” Shayla suddenly asked as she appeared next to their table, still looking half asleep as she raised her mask to scratch at her face.
“Oh do I have something to tell you!” Floria exclaimed as she crawled over to the other woman and grabbed her leg. “Guess what?!”
Domitor looked between Vanilla and Floria, the former looking upset while the latter looked to be very proud of herself.
“What?” Shalya asked as she put her mask back down, staring down at Floria’s grinning face.
“She’s wanting to tell you about what I did,” Domitor suddenly said, getting everyone's attention. “I… pissed myself.”
“What?!” both Floria and Shayla asked at once, looking a mix of dumbfounded and confused. Vanilla looked just as shocked, but also a bit relieved.
He smiled awkwardly as he shrugged, “yeah… I pissed myself earlier while you were sleeping. Really embarrassing stuff.”
“Damn it, you really are a fucking baby sometimes,” Shayla muttered, shoving Floria off of her leg and walking for the other side of the room. “If you need me I’m going to be walking around to stretch. See ya, pisspants.”
Once she was gone, the other two looked back at him. Floria looked the most confused out of the two, “what was that?”
Sighing, he shook his head, “I couldn’t let you do that to Vanilla. It would have been too mean and cruel, even for you.”
“What?” she asked with a frown, “nah nah, I was helping her! Right, Cakehurst?”
“I don’t see how it would be helping me,” Vanilla said with a large frown. “All you would have been doing was spreading misinformation and causing confusion among the group.”
Floria threw both hands at Vanilla while staring wide eyed at Domitor, “see?! She’s in denial! We gotta-”
“Floria, no,” Domitor said sternly, causing her to cross her arms. “We will laugh at her, and with her, but we will not hurt her. Okay?”
“Okay, mom,” she muttered, huffing as she looked away from them.
“Thank you, Domitor,” Vanilla said as she gave a little bow. “You are a really good person. But did you have to make up such a… outlandish and disgusting excuse?”
“It was the first thing that came to mind,” he said with a sheepish grin. “It worked though, right?”
ooo000<^>000ooo
“And that’s the final match of round one! And what a kelptactical round it was! We will take a short break while we prepare for round two!” Flavio’s voice boomed over the speakers as I leaned against the wall, trying to stay awake.
That nap only made me tired, it didn’t help me at all!
“You ready?” Domitor asked as he stepped over to me, leaning up against the same wall as me. “You’ll be first up again.”
“Of course I’m ready, pee pee boy,” I replied with a snicker. I still can’t believe this dumbass pissed himself. He’s the same age as me! What a loser.
“Eheh, yeah,” he said as he looked around the room. “I checked into your opponent for you. Their Thorn lets them create a ring around themselves that allows them to perceive everything within it. It seems to just be about three meters in all directions, but from what I’ve heard, he killed his opponent in his match in one strike.”
I rolled my eyes at him, “thanks, Domiturd. I’ll keep that all in mind.”
“I’m serious,” he said, giving me a hard glare. “This guy isn’t playing around. He will go for the kill the moment you step into range. You need to be careful and-”
“Don’t tell me how to fight, faggot,” I growled, reaching over and shoving him hard to the side.
“Damn it, Shayla!” he snapped, squaring up with me. “I’m trying to help you!”
“It’s Shane!” I yelled back, reaching out and grabbing his throat as I pulled him towards myself. “Do you wanna just say fuck it and fight right here?! Because I could use a warm up round!”
“I’m seriously trying to save your life, asshole!” he spat back, using his hoof to break my grip on his neck. “You need to buck up and stop acting like we’re still children!”
“When you stop acting like one, then I will, Mr. can’t control his bladder!” I spat on the ground between us and took a step back, deciding to not exert any energy fighting his dumbass.
He let out a frustrated groan as he punched the wall a few times, “I don’t even know why I try!”
“Then fucking stop, I don’t need ya trying to make up for Lenrick all the fucking time!” I screamed, my mask’s voice crackling a bit.
He punched the wall a few more times then came down on all fours, huffing and puffing as he tried to calm himself.
“Shane, you are your own worst enemy, you know that?” Rosemary said in my head, but I ignored her.
“There’s nothing I can do to make up for what happened,” he said in a shaky voice. “And I’m not trying to make up for it. I’m just being… me.”
I glared at him, trying to read him, but he just looked tired. “Well you being you is what pisses me off the most.”
“I know,” he sighed, shaking his head. “We’re never going to be able to be friends, are we?”
This brought a frown to my face, along with a few conflicted feelings again. “Probably not.”
“Yeah, probably not,” he muttered, looking over to Floria and Vanilla, who were watching us from a distance. “I do actually have a question.”
“What is it?”
He looked at me, a conflicted look on his face. “Why do we even hate each other? Outside of the feud with our parents and all that.”
“Because you’re a fucking little asshole,” I replied instantly, then sighed as I deflated a bit. “I don’t know to be honest. All I know is when I look at you, I get angry and want to beat your face in.”
“Yeah, same here,” he admitted, actually chuckling a bit. “Just seeing you makes me want to just keep hitting you till you shut the fuck up.”
This caused me to start laughing, shaking my head, “fucker, you can only dream of beating my ass.”
“I did beat you the last time we fought,” he said, looking a bit too smug.
“Because you cheated, you little prick!” I snapped, suddenly no longer wanting to play nice with him.
“Hang on, I did not cheat, I beat you fair and-”
I cut him off by punching him straight in the face and sending him to the floor. I stepped up to him, standing above him as I began to breathe heavily, “you did not beat me fair and square! I’d never lose to you in a real fight!”
“Oh yeah?!” he snarled up at me as he climbed to his hooves and squared up with me. “Want to test that?!”
But before we could go at it for real, a massive wall of stone appeared between us.
“Stop fighting you two, it is completely unnecessary,” Vanilla declared as she and Floria walked over to us.
“For once I agree with the Cakehurst, you two need to cool it before you get us kicked out!” Floria snapped, eyes ablaze with fury as she'd seemed to have had enough of us fighting.
I could hear Domitor grunt on the other side of the wall, “she started it.”
“And I have ended it,” Vanilla said firmly as she looked between the two of us. “Honestly, I have not know you three that long and I am starting to wonder how you are all friends.”
“Who said we’re friends?” I asked, crossing my arms as I glared at them.
“Shane Beltosh and Yorkstyle, make your way to the arena please!” Flavio suddenly called out over the loudspeakers, his smooth voice seeming to calm the tense between all of us.
“We’ll finish this when I get back,” I growled as I walked for the exit to the arena.
“Yes, we shall,” Vanilla confirmed as I walked away.
Rosemary appeared next to me as we walked, shaking her head, “do I even have to say anything?”
“Nope, not a word.”
“But you two were making progress,” she pressed, causing me to slice my tail through the air where she would be if she were solid.
“What’s my challenge for this round?” I asked, wanting to change subjects.
“I want you to study his ability and try to recreate it,” she answered, fading away with a frown on her face.
“Easy fucking peasy.”
ooo000<^>000ooo
My Kejtdra opponent, simply named Yorkstyle, stood before me, just staring at me with a blank look on his face. The match had started a minute ago, and neither of us had moved.
I had wanted to let him use his Thorn so I could figure it out, but he hasn’t done a single thing yet.
“So… we fight or just stare at each other?” I asked, crossing my arms.
“Fighting, once you decide to attack me,” he replied in a tone that implied he could wait all day.
“Oh I fucking hate people who only counter attack,” I exclaimed, groaning as I drew my wooden sword. I fought guys like this in tournaments back in Equestria. They’re always the most boring as well, just reacting to whatever you do.
So fucking dull. This ability better be worth the trouble, otherwise I’d just kamehameha his ass back to the stone age.
Screw it.
I began to walk straight towards him, keeping my eyes on his body and movements. As I neared him, a ring suddenly formed around himself, exactly like Domitor said. Huh, guess the little bitch wasn’t lying to me.
“So what? I step on this little glowing ring and you just attack me?” I asked, hoping he’d just tell me what I want to know.
“Precisely,” he said, actually answering me, “the moment you step foot in my Perception Field, I will attack you with such force you won’t be able to retaliate.”
“So, how’s this thing work?” I asked, just a few inches away from his field.
“Anything that crosses that line there is donezo. I just have to choose how to attack and I will,” he said smugly, seeming proud of himself. “I’ve spent years developing this Thorn to get it to where it is now. So go ahead, cross that line.”
“Okay,” I said as I stepped over the line, watching as he almost instantly zoomed right at me, his sword going for a piercing stab right for my face.
However I had my own little abilities as everything seemed to slow down as I brought up my sword and deflected his blade, followed by me slamming my head into his.
He let out a wail of pain as he fell onto his ass, staring up at me with a shocked expression. However, instead of finishing him off I just jumped back a few yards. Stupid challenges, I really could have finished that right there.
“Okay, I’ll admit, I did not expect you to be able to move so fast,” he said as he stood up and resumed his casual stance, his ring expanding around his body again. “Try it again though.”
“One minute,” I said as I planted my feet and began to try and concentrate my own Soul to mimic his ability.
“What are you doing?” he asked as he watched me in confusion.
“Shhh, shut it,” I growled, trying to think about how to do this.
It took me a few moments, but eventually I came up with an idea. I even added my own little twist to it.
“Sweet, watch this shit,” I laughed as my own cyan colored ring formed around my body. It wasn’t as large as his, being just a single yard in all directions around me. But it was enough, with the little surprise I baked into it.
“Are you copying me?!” he snapped, dropping his own field.
“Yep!” I laughed, “But this one is better than yours, by like a lot!”
“It’s way too small to be useful,” he grumbled, shaking his head.
“It’s not the size that matters, it's how you use it,” I said with a little wink, taking a hold of my sword as I stared at him.
If this fucking works… oh I’ll fucking cream in my pants!
“Gross, Shane,” Rosemary muttered in my head.
Yorkstyle growled as he reached into his Vacuole and pulled out a gun. Perfect! I was going to ask him to throw something at me, but this’ll work even better!
“Unfortunately for you, this ability has a major weakness, ranged weapons!” he laughed as he raised his gun and fired a pink blob of energy at me.
I didn’t move as it flew towards me at a moderately fast pace.
“Move you fucking idiot!” I heard Domitor yell in the distance, but I of course ignored his stupid advice.
My eyes followed the speeding bullet, watching as it neared me and my little ring of Ego. Then it happened; the bullet crossed over the ring and everything slowed to almost a stand still as I saw its projected path. I simply moved out of its way as time seemed to resume, the bullet flying right past my head harmlessly.
His eyes went wide, because to him I just suddenly zipped to the side almost instantly.
“Pretty rad, huh?” I asked, smirking at him. “If I can learn to teleport or some shit, then this ability could become super fucking broken!”
As far as I know, it wasn’t actually slowing down time, just increasing my senses so high that I felt like time was slowing down. It also had the added benefit of increasing my speed and reflexes, which is how I’m able to move so quickly while under its effects. Fuck me, Soul Manipulation is so cool!
He didn’t seem to know how to react as I squared up with him.
“Alright, challenge completed. Let’s end this, Yorkie,” I said with a little chuckle as I began to stroll towards him.
Yorkstyle recovered as he took up a serious fighting stance, his sword at the ready. The ring appeared around him again as he scowled at me.
Just as before I stepped over his line, causing him to explode towards me. However this time I activated my own little Ego Field, right on top of his. He didn’t seem to notice it as his sword tip passed right over it.
Everything came to a stop as I sprang forward, ripping his sword from his almost frozen form as I began to beat the ever living shit out of him with my wooden sword. Time resumed as I continued my beat down of the poor Kejtdra.
He yelped and coughed as he tried to defend himself, but that was almost impossible as I kept hitting his hands every time he tried to bring something out of his Vacuole.
Finally I caught him right in the forehead, sending his body crumbling to the floor.
“Yorkstyle is down for the count!” Flavio bellowed, the fake crowd going insane. “Folks of Eris, that was amazing! Shane Beltosh not only mimic’d his opponents abilities! He improved them! What disrespect! He is truly a goshtarpit! Go on back to the standby area and take a break, you’ve earned it!”
I threw a few finger guns up at him, causing him to throw them right back at me, laughing loudly.
“Shane, you’re a natural!” Rosemary exclaimed as I walked back towards the door to the standby area, seeing the others above it waving excitedly to me.
“I know,” I said with a proud smirk. “I get it from my mom’s.”
“I’m just upset you haven’t been doing this from the start!” she laughed, causing me to shrug.
“Didn’t need it, I’m good enough on my own,” I replied as I stepped through the doors.
ooo000<^>000ooo
“At this point, I don’t have words for what I just saw,” Domitor said, still looking a bit salty about our earlier contact.
“So this ‘Ego’ of yours, what does it do exactly? Because I’ve seen two very different ways you’ve used it,” Vanilla asked, seeming very interested in me as she stepped up, putting her face only a foot away from mine.
“It’s… hard to explain,” I muttered, taking a step to the side to avoid her. “I’m also not smart enough to actually understand it.”
“She’s not lying about that,” Domitor added with a chuckle, almost setting me off again. But I decided to ignore him, this time.
“Honestly,” Floria said as she smiled up at me, “you’re just getting cooler and cooler the more I see of you. Too bad you’re spoken for.”
“The fuck that supposed to mean?!” I snapped, not liking how she said that. I must be missing a joke or something.
“Oh you know,” she laughed, spinning around and walking away. “Stuffs.”
“She’s just trying to mess with you,” Domitor said, looking between me and Vanilla. “I’d just ignore her, otherwise she wins.”
“She ain’t winning this one,” I said confidently as I flipped the short Kejtdra woman off as she walked away. “Now,” I said, turning to Vanilla. “I could do with some more food.”
“But… you just ate a few hours ago,” she said as she cocked her head.
“Shayla is like her parents,” Domitor chuckled, rolling his eyes. “A bottomless pit for food to disappear in.”
“Damn right, bitch,” I said as I pounded on my chest a bit. “So food?”
“I’ll see what I can prepare for you,” she said with a smile as she turned around and walked towards our table.
My eyes drifted over to Domitor as we stared each other down.
“You gonna play nice? Or are we going to actually fight?” I asked, cracking my knuckles.
“Neither, I’m going up top to see the next match so I can better prepare you for your next fight,” he said as he walked past me, heading for the door that led to the stands. “By the way,” he said as he stopped in the door, “that was really cool. What you did out there I mean.”
“Yeah, I know it was pretty cool,” I grumbled back, crossing my arms. “I don’t need you telling me that.”
He just grunted in response and walked through the door.
“Ass fucker,” I mumbled, turning to see Vanilla preparing some ingredients. Oh shit… is that meat I see?! Fuck yes!