Chapter 54
“The entire arena is shaking due to the sheer power of their blows! These two are out of this world!” Flavio exclaimed in so much excitement it practically flowed out of the radio.
The three in the train car all stood there, full attention locked on the words coming out of the radio. They’d all gotten so into the fight that they’d all just jumped up and been reacting to each announcement with enthusiasm.
“Shane’s body is glowing an intense blue color, but it appears to also be smoking! As if he is burning from the inside out! Can he keep this up?!” Flavio seemed to be on the edge of his seat, just like his audience. “Ensam has momentarily blinded Shane with a gust of wind to the face! He’s broken through Shane’s defenses and seems to be going for- NO! Shane caught the blade with his hand and has been sent flying!”
The sound of Scamp grinding her teeth could clearly be heard as she clenched her mechanical fist.
“The two are now posing up and approaching each other again! What will they do next?!” a moment of silence passed. “Folks, you’re not going to believe it, but they’re face to face and seem to be talking! Let’s listen in!”
There was a squawk of static as the mic seemed to be lowering quickly.
“-acknowledge one another fully,” a new male voice said as the mic neared them.
There was a short pause before the same man spoke again, “now, let’s finish this.”
The sounds of footsteps moving away from the mic could be heard, then a new voice spoke up suddenly.
“My real name is Shayla by the way,” a raspy female voice said, causing everyone in the train car to go crazy.
“I knew it was Shayla!” Scamp yelled, looking completely overjoyed now that it was confirmed. She and her wife embraced immediately, squeezing each other tightly in relief that their daughter was still okay.
The radio squawked again as the mic was pulled back up to Flavio, “exciting stuff! The two contestants are powering up, looking to want to end this fight right here!”
“Shayla has gotten a lot more powerful than the last time I saw her,” Spark commented, getting a proud smile from the two women.
“That’s our daughter! She’s always working her ass off to overcome her problems!” Scamp proclaimed proudly as she slammed a hoof into her chest.
“If anything she’s thriving in an environment like this!” Mallogory exclaimed as she looked just as proud as her partner.
“Here we go, folkaronies! They’re dashing towards each other now!... and they’ve clashed! But it was so fast not even I am quite sure what I just witnessed! They’re standing with their backs to each other and… Ensam is hurt!”
“YES!” Scamp roared, pumping her fist triumphantly.
“What’s this?! Shane didn’t escape unhurt! He’s being pelted with the after images of attacks! They seem to be endless!” There was a silent pause as everyone leaned towards the radio. “And that’s it! Shane is down! Ensam is approaching! A sword to Shane’s throat!... Shane has yielded! Ensam is our winner!”
“Fuck!” Scamp bellowed, her mood swapping into rage as she punched a few holes in the wall next to her.
“Okay, calm down, Scamp,” Mallogory warned as she pulled her wife away from the wall as she tried to punch it a few more times.
“Damn it,” Scamp growled, shaking her head. She’d never seen her daughter lose in a tournament setting, so she wasn’t used to the feeling. And it felt shitty. She felt bad for her daughter, knowing this must be a devastating moment for her, and she wasn’t there to comfort her.
Of course she knew her daughter wouldn’t win all of her fights, but up to this point she had, and Scamp had wanted to be there when she lost her first one. To guide her through the process. As a person used to winning is affected the most by a simple loss. She knew this all too well.
“She’s going to be okay,” Mallogory assured her as she pulled her into a hug, trying to sooth her raging wife as she stroked her mane.
Spark just stood there, shocked that she’d lost as well. This Ensam guy must’ve been worse than Flavio made him sound, because that’s the only way he could see Shayla losing to someone after having that much power at her disposal.
“This train needs to hurry up,” Scamp growled, letting her wife hold her so she wouldn’t destroy any more of the train.
“We’ll be there by tomorrow morning, so just hang in there, my love,” Mallogory assured her.
Scamp just grumbled to herself, hating the thought that her daughter was dealing with this loss alone.
ooo000<^>000ooo
“You know if you used a real sword you’d wipe the floor with anyone you fought, right?” Floria said as we all stood around waiting in a hallway.
“Yep, I am aware,” I muttered, rubbing my face.
“Then do it.”
I just shook my head, “I’m not out here to kill people, so I’m good.”
“Killing people isn’t that bad,” she chuckled as she pointed at herself and Domitor. “I mean look at us, we kill people, ain’t nothing wrong with us.”
“I remember the face of everyone I’ve killed,” Domitor said in a monotone voice as he looked at his hooves with an emotionless expression on his face. “They haunt me.”
“Okay, but look at me! I’m not bothered by it, and I’ve been doing it for years!” She said, ignoring Domitor as he stared at his hooves. “So let’s go pop that cherry and kill some bad guys!”
I just stared at her with a ‘what the fuck’ style expression. “No.”
She blinked a few times then just shrugged, “suit yourself. What about you, Vanchilla? Kill anyone yet?”
Vanilla just stood there and gave a single head shake, “violence is unbecoming of a Cakehursts such as myself. I am no Maiden.”
“Am I the only one here who’s okay with killing?!” she asked, looking between all of us, getting two blank stares, and one static smile, in return. “Well shit, maybe I need to reevaluate myself…” she muttered, fidgeting with her broken faceplate.
“Alrighty, Shane! We are ready for you!” Flavio called out as he leaned out of a doorway at the end of the hallway.
Pushing myself off the wall I waved for my friends to follow me.
Upon stepping through the door we found ourselves in an overly fancy room, with statues of Galben everywhere, in various poses.
“Ew,” I muttered as we walked towards a massive throne where Galben himself sat with a glass of wine in his large hands.
“We must admit we enjoyed your performances,” he said to me as we came to a stop in front of him. “Too bad you were not strong enough to win.”
“What the big guy means is,” Flavio said as he slinked up beside the large serpent-like body of Galben, “we’re both very impressed with you. The light you give off is beyond any we’ve seen. The same for your partner in crime there,” he gestured to Domitor, causing both of us to frown.
“Hmm,” Galben hummed as he held up a hand, causing a strange tube to come out of it and enter the glass of wine, slowly draining it.
My frown deepened at this, but I chose to not say anything about what I was witnessing. Luckily the rest of my friends decided to keep their mouths shut as well.
“So... uh… what did you two want to talk to me about?” I asked, unable to take my eyes off of the strange way he was drinking his wine.
“Where did you achieve this power of yours?” Galben asked, or more demanded by the tone of his voice. “It is not a Thorn.”
“And you two give off some wackadoo vibes to boot!” Flavio added excitedly.
I glanced at Domitor, who just shrugged at me when he noticed me looking at him. “Eh… that’s a bit hard to explain.”
“Try,” Galben said sternly.
“Erm, so like…. We’re not actually from this dimension,” at their blank stares, I add, “as in, we don't come from this world at all.”
“And that power is called Ego,” Domitor interjected. “It uses the Soul to create powers for each person. So in that regard, it’s similar to Thorn’s. The only difference is anyone can unlock their Ego, while from what I know these Thorn’s are very rare, since they kill something like ninty five percent of those who attempt to get one.”
I just stared at him dumbfounded as he turned to me and smiled.
“I’ve been doing a lot of questioning since we’ve been here.”
“Good shit,” I said, giving him a little praise before turning back to Flavio and Galben. “So yeah, that’s basically it.”
Galben shook his head at me, “such power is wasted on one such as yourself. We do not sense much in the way of intelligence coming from you.”
I scowled at him, but Domitor and Floria snickered, “yeah, I never claimed to be a smart mare. Is that why I’m here? To be insulted?”
“Of course not, broham!” Flavio assured me, but Galben laughed loudly.
“You are here because we demanded it, to sate our intrigue,” he said with a smug look on his face, causing my eye to twitch. There’s only so much shit I can take, even from someone like this, before I say some out of left field shit. “If we desire to insult your lowly self, we shall.”
“Mighty sorry about Galby here, he has a bit of trouble connecting with people without hurting them,” Flavio apologized, forcing a laugh. “If you wouldn't mind, could you tell us what you wanted to use your favor for?”
“Well,” Domitor began, knowing I couldn’t talk about it, “those two are under a Thorn Contract with a guy named Rig Fanden, and he made them come up here so they could win it for him.”
“Our favor was for the winner, not a third party,” Galben stated firmly, looking pretty annoyed. “Trying to game the system would not be wise.”
“But that’s now what I wanted,” I interjected, getting their attention. “I wanted to use the favor to get back home.”
“I think that would have been out of our range of things we can do, friendo,” Flavio admitted, getting a growl from Galben. “But!” he added before Galben could speak, “we might know of how to help you.”
“But I didn’t win the favor, so why would you help me?” I asked, a bit confused.
“What’s the catch?” Floria asked from behind me.
“Oh there’s no catch, we just like you,” Flavio laughed. “You got that mojo that is rare to see nowadays. Plus you made the last round exciting! So we won’t give you any kind of favor, but we can point you in the right direction!”
I looked between the two, trying to see the angle here, but it was hard to gather anything with Flavio standing there looking absolutely excited while Galben just glaring at us.
“Okay then, go for it,” I said, crossing my arms.
Flavio jumped down and landed in front of us, his body collapsing into itself like a slinky toy before shooting right back up to normal, which caught me way off guard. I did not think his body could do shit like that.
“Over the years folkaronies have gone missing while searching for a way to leave Eris, and for the longest time I thought they were just dying. But then later those same people would show back up with tales of other worlds,” he said, his clothing changing into that of a professor as he adjusted a fake pair of glasses on his face.
I just blinked at him in confusion, as watching his body morph around into new clothing was… disturbing.
“Galby over here has been interested in this topic for years, so I’ve done a little digging, ya dig?” he said as he struck a little pose for effect. “So far I’ve got nothing. BUT! I have a hunch, a mundo bingo level hunch!”
He didn’t elaborate, just smiled at me like he was waiting for something.
“Eh… what’s your hunch?” I asked after a moment, realizing he wanted me to ask him that question.
“I’m glad you asked, babllama!” he exclaimed as he struck a different pose, hand straight up in the air. “The top of the tree at Frokinko! There’s a few labs run by the government up there that hold some very tembyoupa stuff! And from what I can tell they’ve added a few new items to that little collection. Namely something that allowed a massively wanted criminal to escape from them! It is my mocha blontay hunch that that item is a way off of Eris!”
“Huh…” I rubbed my chin, thinking. My mom mentioned she’d found a hermit that had an item that allowed her to leave Eris. Maybe this is a similar item… “How do I get up there?”
He chuckles, pointing at Vanilla, “you have the solution to all your problems right in your group! A Cakehurst is the key to everything in this situation.”
I glanced back at Vanilla, who’s smile was wavering a bit, a look of discomfort seeming to threaten to take over. But she snapped out of it and went right back to that stupid ass smile.
“Lucky us then,” I muttered as I turned back to them. “Anything else you can tell me?”
Flavio wasn’t looking at me, but right at Vanilla, a frown on his face, “well that’s not groovy at all.”
“What?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at his sudden shift in moods.
“Your friend there, she’s had some… terrible things happen to her that’s affecting her right now,” he said, seeming to also be a bit uncomfortable. “Whoa, that is a weak Sucro aura.”
We all looked back at her as she shook a bit, trying to keep up her happy façade, “I am fine.”
“She is not, not at all,” Flavio countered. “I do not know what has caused her to vibe like this, but you three need to watch out for her.”
“I am fine,” she repeated, but this time her voice cracked a bit, causing her to clear her throat a few times.
“See, Cakehursts normally have this deflated puff pastry vibe to them, however your friend is looking a lot closer to a melted soggy mess,” Flavio said as we all looked at Vanilla, who clearly did not like all this attention.
At least she was somewhat showing emotion now.
“That is enough,” Galben said sternly from behind us. “We are not here to help them with their pitiful problems. Our interest has waned in this matter.” He started to lift himself up, but then he glared right at me and Floria, who stood right behind me. “Rig Fanden, what a greedy name,” he raised his hand, causing a light to shine over us.
I had to look away as the bright light was cast over us, seeming to wash away all the shadows around us, and even the ones within us, as I felt… cleaner now.
“There, that is for the entertainment you’ve provided us, now leave this place,” he all but growled as he slithered for a large door in the room.
“What did he just do?” I asked, looking at Flavio.
“Aw, big guy does care,” he said as little hearts exploded out where his eyes were. “He just severed the connection between you two and that dubious Contract Thorn.”
It took a few moments for what he said to register with me, and when it did, a massive feeling of relief washed over me.
Quest complete! 25 skill points awarded!
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Passive Skill awaiting selection!
Access to Gear Shop unlocked!
You have 34 unspent skill points!
“Wait wait wait,” Floria exclaimed behind me, rushing past me and grabbing onto the shoulders of the taller Flavio, “are you saying he just got us out of our contracts?!”
“Yupperdoodles!” he laughed, causing her to let him go and fall on her ass.
She placed both hands on her head as she began to rock back and forth silently.
“Erm…” I looked around awkwardly, not really knowing what to do. Do we just let her have her moment? Or do we say something here?
Domitor seemed to be in the same boat as we watched her rock, even Flavio took a few steps back, smiling but looking unsure of how to react.
Then she began to cry, and not normal cries either, but full on wailing.
We all stood there, not sure of what to do for her.
Then Vanilla walked past us and stepped up next to Floria as she sat hunched over crying into her hands. She bent over and placed a hand on Floria’s shoulder.
“It is okay,” she said simply, but still in that customer service voice, with the smile still plastered on her face.
Floria, still crying, looked up at Vanilla, her face a mess from tears and snot. “Thanks, Vanny…” she then choked back a few sops as she looked back to her messy hands. “... I just… I’m free…”
She latched onto Vanilla’s legs and held onto her as she resumed crying. Vanilla just stood up straight and put her hands behind her back, standing like a smiling statue as she let the shorter woman cry into her legs.
I looked at Flavio and gave a small smile, “so… I guess tell Galben thanks for us.”
“You got it, dudette,” he said, reverting back to his normal mood as he gave me a thumbs up. “We’ll probably keep an eye out for you four, just in case.”
I gave a nod as we all looked back at the two women.
A small smile danced onto my face as I knelt down next to Domitor so I could lean against him.
I’m just happy I don’t have to worry about Rig anymore.