The Equestrian Odyssey - A Tale of Two Worlds

by Kamahido

Chapter 7 - Unexpected Visitors

Arc finishes Shelly’s massage. She turns over to look at him.

“Thank you. That feels much better.”

He takes her hand. “Let me know if you need a ride to the doctor later.”

“Thank you, Arc. But Lily will probably want to take me herself.”

“You two are such nice friends.”

“She’s very good to me.”

“Speaking of friends, has Frank been checking in or you two lately?”

Shelly nods. “Yes. Once a week he comes by for breakfast.”

Arc narrows his eyes. “Does he pay?”

“Oh yes. In full.”

Shelly appears to be thinking.

“Something wrong?”

“It just occurred to me. We haven’t seen him in a couple weeks now.”

“Maybe he’s just busy.”

Shelly shrugs. “I’m not sure. But… do you think you could call him for me? I don’t have his number handy.”

“Sure.”

Arc reaches for the phone next to her bed. Shelly smiles as he dials the number and hands her the receiver.

“I just want to make sure he isn’t sick or anything.”

“I’m sure he’s fine.”

Shelly nods as she waits for the line to connect. “Probably.”

A moment later a voice is heard on the other end of the line.

“Hi… um… I’m looking for Frank. It’s… um… Shelly. What? But…? Hello?”

She looks confused as she hands Arc the receiver.

“What happened?”

Shelly shakes her head. “That… that can’t be!”

“What is it?”

“Some woman answered the phone and said that Frank isn’t in charge anymore.”

Arc frowns. “That IS strange. I thought we was pretty much unremovable.”

“I thought so too. I wonder who toppled him.”

“One of his lieutenants, probably. Stingray perhaps.”

Shelly looks worried. “She accompanied him here every time he visited. Stingray struck me as a very… strong willed individual, yes. But she also seemed very dedicated to him.”

“Want me to look into this?”

“Yes, but… don’t take any unnecessary risks!”

“I’ll be careful.”

A short time later the others return. Lily walks into the bedroom with a bottle of medicine.

“Here you go, Shelly. How do you feel?”

“Okay right now.”

Arc nods. “It gave us a chance to talk. She was having some spasms as well.”

Lily pours the medicine for her friend. “Oh dear. It’s a good thing you were here, Arc.”

Shelly nods as Lily hands her the cup. “Yes. If it goes on too long it’s that much harder to get under control.”

Lily sighs and picks up the phone. “I should get a doctor’s appointment set up for you.”

She dials a number and speaks with a receptionist before hanging up and turning back to the others.

“I got you in this afternoon, Shelly.”

“Thank you.”

Arc looks toward the open bedroom door. “Are my friends here too?”

Lily nods. “Yes. They’re in the Living Room waiting for us.”

Shelly looks to Lily. “I think I’d like to head over there now and thank them for escorting us home.

Arc and Lily help her up. Shelly slowly makes her way to the Living Room with the others. Max stands respectfully.

“Feeling alright now, miss?”

Ember looks Shelly up and down. “Yeah, you don’t look so good.”

Viktor nods. “Are you certain you’re okay, miss?”

“I’ll be fine.”

Lily helps Shelly to a chair. “I’m just glad Arc got back into town when he did!”

Arc looks away. “Y-yeah.”

Shelly notices his change in demeanor. “So where have you been this time, Arc?”

“I… um…”

There is a knock at the apartment door. Ember looks confused.

“Who could that be?”

Lily shrugs and walks toward the stairs. “I have no idea.”

A few moments later they hear a blood-curdling scream. Arc, Max, Viktor and Ember run toward the stairs. Looking down them they see three familiar faces as Lily runs back up the stairs toward Arc. Snake waves sheepishly.

“Um… hi?”

Arc frowns. “You again?!”

Snake sighs. “Yes, me again!”

Jackal peeks around the corner and waves.

“Hi there!”

Wolf turns to Snake. “This is humiliating.”

Ember glares at them. “What do you losers want?!”

Arc nods. “This place is closed!”

Viktor frowns at the trio. “Yeah! Get out of here!”

Jackal shakes his head. “Door unlocked!”

Lily gasps. “I forgot!”

Wolf sneers at Arc. “I… we, need some help.”

Ember rolls her eyes. “That is the understatement of the year.”

Lily turns fearfully to Arc. “Should we call the Marshal?!”

“Probably. But… I’ll hear them out.”

He turns to the gang.

“Wait for me at one of the tables. I’ll be down in a minute.”

Jackal nods. “Okays!”

Wolf rolls his eyes. “Whatever…”

Snake turns and walks away. “Hurry up! This is important!”

Arc turns to the others.

“I’ll go see what they want. The rest of you stay here.”

Ember shakes her head. “Oh no you don’t! I’m coming with you!”

Max faces Arc soberly. “As am I.”

Arc shakes his head. “Stay with Lily and Shelly, Max. If this is some kind of trick, you and Viktor need to keep them safe.”

Max and Viktor nods as Arc, Ember and Sereb walk downstairs to the restaurant. They quickly spot the trio sitting at the counter and walk over.

“So what’s this all about?”

Snake shakes his head. “This kills me inside, but… we need your help.”

Ember rolls her eyes. “Why don’t you just get that from your little base?”

Snake gives her a withering look. “Believe me, this was not my first thought.”

Jackal smiles as he reaches down to pet Sereb. “Right! It was mine!”

Wolf looks over to Arc as he points a thumb toward Jackal. “See how desperate we are?”

Arc nods. “Touché.”

Ember folds her arms over her chest. “So, start talking!”

Wolf looks at Arc. “Keep your dog muzzled, will you?!”

Ember looks over to Sereb. “Why? He isn’t doing anything.”

Arc sighs. “He wasn’t talking about Sereb.”

“WHAT?!”

Arc turns his gaze back to Wolf. “You should be careful of what you say, fella. My friend here isn’t too patient.”

“Why? She’s just a girl!”

Ember steps forward. “Yeah! A girl who’s going to knock your teeth out!”

Wolf stands up and taunts her. “Come on, babe! Let’s see what you got!”

She turns to Arc. “May I?”

Arc nods. “Go for it.”

Wolf swings at her. Ember catches his fist in her hand and starts crushing it. Arc watches the scene before him passively.

“Try not to break it, Ember.”

Ember appears furious as Wolf falls to his knees in pain. “No promises!”

“Okay, okay! I give! I GIVE!!!”

Ember lets go of him. “Smart.”

Arc sighs. “Now THAT’S out of the way, start talking.”

Snake frowns. “Fine. We need your help finding the boss.”

Ember looks confused. “Finding?”

Jackal nods. “Mr. Fontaine not around no more! Nobody’s seen or heard from him in long time!”

“No one? Who’s running the Shards?”

Wolf rubs his sore hand. “The boss’ lieutenants.”

Snake grimaces. “Yeah. Stingray, Hammer and Mio.”

Arc chuckles. “What happened to the animal names thing?”

Jackal shrugs. “They not like it! So they come up with something else!”

Wolf nods. “The boss doesn’t really care WHAT you choose. As long as you pick an alias.”

Snake frowns. “Yeah. In any case, the boss went M.I.A. and nobody seems to know anything.”

Ember waves her hand dismissively. “His lieutenants probably know where he is.”

Jackal looks up from playing fetch with a spoon. “Well, if they dos, they ain’t saying nothin’!”

“Ember’s right. They probably do.”

Wolf looks confused. “Why?”

Ember groans at the question. “Because they have the most to gain!”

Arc nods. “Right. Now they’re in charge. This might not end well.”

Snake appears suddenly worried. “What do you mean?”

Arc turns to Snake. “While he’s still a bad guy, Frank at least had brains. The lieutenants might not be as merciful.”

Wolf chuckles. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

Ember frowns at Wolf. “Oh I don’t know. They might march into town and start breaking things for starters.”

“Right. Frank isn’t around to tell them no. Best case scenario, they fight amongst themselves for dominance.”

Snake shakes his head. “I don’t see that happening. The other two pretty much do whatever Stingray tells them to.”

Wolf nods. “Right! So what are we supposed to do about this?!”

Jackal looks to Arc. “You have idea?”

“The best we can do is find Frank. Do you have ANY idea where he went?”

Wolf shrugs. “Not a clue. That’s why we came here.”

Snake sighs. “Yeah. We knew the boss and you were friends.”

Jackal nods. “We was hoping pretty ladies here could take us to yous! You live here too?!”

“No, I was just visiting.”

Ember turns to him. “So… what ARE we going to do, Arc?”

Arc turns back to the three gang members as he writes his phone number on a napkin. “Go back to your base and give me a call if something happens or you hear about Frank.”

Snake appears livid. “That’s it?!”

Ember shrugs. “Unless you have a better idea, yes!”

Wolf growls at the turn of events.. “I don’t like this!”

Arc folds his arms over his chest. “Well, I thought the Shards were supposed to be all about family.”

Jackal nods. “Ya! We a family!”

Ember frowns. “Families look out for one another, and help each other when things go wrong.”

“Right. Frank needs you to help him. I can help, but only when we have some kind of lead.”

Jackal thinks for a moment. “I ask others if they want help too!”

“Fine. Just don’t tell them you’ve been talking to me.”

Snake turns to Jackal. “Right. They’re not much for outside help. Especially the lieutenants.”

Wolf stands up. “Great. More trouble!”

Ember frowns. “You came to US, remember?!”

Snake looks at his watch before turning to Arc. “We’ve got to get back to base. Th-thanks for the talk.”

“Sorry I can’t do much right now. You get me some info and I’ll do my best to follow up on it.”

Jackal pets Sereb and stands up. “Thank yous! Snake wrong about yous! Yous okay!”

“Shut it, Jackal!”

Arc rolls his eyes as they walk toward the door. “I kinda figured that.”

They lock the front door behind the gang and head back upstairs. Lily and Shelly are sitting on the couch with Max across from them. He stands up as Arc enters the room.

“How did it go, sir?”

“They’re gone.”

Shelly appears shaken. “What did they want?!”

“Ironically… help.”

Lily looks confused. “Help?!”

“Yeah. Let me tell you what happened.”

Arc sits down between them and explains the situation.

“So they don’t have ANY idea where Frank is?”

Ember shakes her head. “It didn’t sound like it.”

Shelly sighs. “I don’t like the idea of helping the Shards, but Frank is our friend!”

Arc nods. “I gave them my phone number. If something comes up, they’ll call me.”

Max frowns. “Do you think they will?”

“I guarantee it.”

Comments

[Booster Spice]

Start checking shop refigerators?

Maybe someone put Frank, on ice?

[Kamahido]

10199993
I haven't heard that expression since the 90's.

[Kamahido]

10201203
I always liked the name of that town.

[Kamahido]

10202650
Everyone in the story has at least one secret. This is Auriel's.

[BestinDworld]

10201224
now im wondering if arcs dad is Tommy......or Jason......it would explain a few things however

[Kamahido]

11113159
Arc speaks briefly about his grandfather at one point. However that's the only thing we know about his family for quite a few volumes. There's a whole chapter about it later though.