A/N: Alright, so here's another roleplay converted into a story! I hope you enjoy it! and I must warn you.. it's Tragedy for a reason... also, you'll have to sign in to review now. I disabled the ability for anon reviews due to a troll. It's just until they go away.
So, yeah, enjoy!

OK KO: Let's See The World Burn
Chapter One: Innocence Lost

Mr. Gar had given Kaio a stakeout objective to see who keeps infiltrating the glorb tree; the only clue they had was smoke and ashes, like there was a fire each night. Of course, as to not send him alone, Pawn went with him. At this rate she might be considered a Bodega intern.

"Stakeout! never been on one of these before!" she rubbed her hands together as she stared at the location.

Kaio smiled at her, brightly, "Yeah, it's kinda fun. But we shouldn't veer from the task at hand." He was whispering, staring at the pipe.

Soon enough, what Mr. Gar described was felt - a strong scent of a fire.

Pawn narrowed her eye. "...I know that smell anywhere. Here we go."

Kaio began to get worried, biting his lip as he looked at Pawn, "You sure? that's fire.. I don't want you to get hurt.."

"I'll be okay," she grinned, giving him a thumbs up. The boy still wasn't sure, but he nodded, and headed towards the pipe. He had no idea why he was so close to tears. Everything would be fine. Right?

"Come on, let's… ice this guy!" the Boardian grinned, dashing in front of Kaio down the pipe. The scent left as they felt a cloud of smoke rush through them. It would seem they were waiting for a reaction.

"...the hel-heck was that?"

"Pawnie, don't rush ahead of-" the boy shuddered at the smoke billowing around them. "Wh..what..?"

It didn't linger; instead, it went across the sewer, and snuck through the closed door to the glorb temple.

"After it!" the wooden lady rushed onwards, barging against the door with her shoulder, hopefully making it through. Kaio shot after her, worried beyond worried. Why did she like putting herself at risk? the door was blown off its hinges (again). And they could see the cloud, floating above the tree.

"So I was right. Even being really cautious, heroes would come snooping around." The cloud started condensing, taking a solid humanoid form, starting from the feet and moving upwards. "It does not matter. I accepted this hustle prepared. I hope, for your sake, that you're as prepared to fight as I am." The smoke cleared, as their perpetrator stood there - a goat, possibly a mutant, wearing a military-themed villain costume, sleeves tucked into his gloves and boots. "Although, taking a glance, Gar seems to be underestimating me. I'll just burn this evidence, and report back to my employer."

"Alright, buddy," Pawn drew her gun, "we could do this the easy way or the I-shoot-you way," and then pointed it towards the villain. "Come quietly."

"Did you seriously bring a gun," he stretched out his palm, summoning a red hot chain, "to a super fight?"

"Are you really out here believing anyone carries regular guns anymore?" she opened the chamber, and a short burst of wispy, white magic swooped from her eye and into it, which started clearly glowing with condensed magic.

"Fascinating. I hope, for your sake, that's not your only trick." He wrapped the chain around his fist, taunting Pawn to draw closer. Pawn didn't draw closer, only drew, as she let loose a shot that sounded like thunder. Next he looked, a large sharp bolt of magic was heading towards him, and quick.

Dodging wasn't his forte, so it hit him square in the chest, making him drop from the tree. "Want another one of those? keep resisting. I got a few more tricks up my sleeve." Pawn grinned, loading the chamber full with lesser bullets this time.

Kaio hopped up and down, cheering Pawn for that. He grinned, "Nice one, Pawnee!" and then he was thinking again. Who was this person? why was he here?

The goat merely chuckled, as he got up, and walked back into their field of vision as if nothing happened. "Props to you, that hurt. However, this only proves that the dog's bark seldom bites."

"Did you seriously just use the word seldom in everyday conversation?"

"I don't see anything wrong with that." As the fella got en garde again, Kaio could catch a glimpse of the shot wound - it was closing by itself. The kid gasped quietly. Pawn simply grinned, and, still holding her gun in her left hand, loosed something new from her belt. It looked like… just a wooden stick, maybe a handle if you tried hard enough.

"Go ahead. I want to see just what you have to offer."

Pawn clicked a button on the handle, causing a long, durable rope of whitish crystal similar to quartz to extend from it, ending in a sort of tassel that was also made of crystal. It was a whip. She spun the whip around herself and sent it forward, the tassel ready and willing to lash out and slash the villain's flesh. It passed right through, but not because of its sharpness; his body separated as it tried to contact him, leaving the whip hitting smoke instead.

"Oh come on!" with a flick of her wrist the whip sprang back to her, cracking in the air as the rope twirled around her body. "That ain't fair!"

"If I had come here for a duel, I would've called first. If you don't mind, I'll take my turn now," he uncoiled the chain, swinging it at Pawn. Pawn leapt back several times, but she wasn't sure if that would save her. Then, suddenly, the chain curved on its own midswing, and scratched Pawn's shoulder. And being that it was red hot, it was obvious that she caught on fire.

Pawn immediately dropped what she had, panting and sweating intensely. "Sh-shoot, shoot, holy shoot!"

Kaio was shaken out of trying to find an opening, and gasped, eyes wide. "PAWNEE!" Oh no, this was exactly what he feared. And he had just stood there, just.. Watching. He clutched at his head, kicking himself, before he headed over to Pawn and picked her up, heading down into the water and setting her down in it, hoping it would douse the flames. The Boardian tilted her head away from her shoulder and didn't touch it, to minimize the areas that caught; the water only shrank the flames, but they still crawled along her body at the same rate.

"Ahh, I didn't see that coming. Seems that I could've killed you the moment you entered. Eh, it doesn't matter now." The chain poofed into smoke.

The boy growled at the villain's harsh words, and whipped around, shooting a vicious power fist at the guy, who merely split his body in half to avoid the attack, and separated, the two parts floating around the tree gathering glorbs.

"C-Cobdarn it, kid, don't focus on that cr-fuuuhhhh that creep!" she grit her teeth, the burn growing to her torso, her right arm already ashes.

Kaio looked back at her, and gasped, tears springing to his eyes. "Wh..what? The water should be working! why isn't it working?!" the boy was hopping again, this time in distress.

"I-I'm done for, kiddo…" she coughed, ash spreading from her mouth as she did. "Better get my last words out now while I still have a face to speak with…"

"N..no.. you can't die on me, Pawnee.. Please.." the tears were falling at this point, and he knelt beside her, splashing the water over her frantically.

"K-Kid, stop splashin' that stuff and listen to me," she used her remaining arm to pat his head softly. Despite what he wanted, he stopped and stared at her, though the tears were blurring his vision slightly. "You're…" she paused to cough again. "You've got a bright future, kid." She smiled blankly. "You're gonna be a great hero one day. I know it, I know it." She coughed once again, the flames turning her left arm to ash now. "You… you gave my life purpose. I can't thank you enough for that." Her smile grew more toothy, smoke rising from the gaps between her wooden teeth.

Kaio sniffled, "B..but you were supposed to be with me.. we were going to be friends, best friends.. forever.." He then tearfully hugged her at this point, ignoring the fire. "I.. I love you like a friend…"

"Come on, kid…" she coughed again, nearing the last of her strength. "Cheer up, hm? this is just… how things go." She gave him one last smile, before turning her head to the ceiling. "I'm gonna be a star, kiddo. And I'll burn brighter than all the rest." And with that, her head was caught up to by the flames. She remained a lifeless pile of black sand, crumbling between Kaio's fingers.

But Kaio did not cheer up. How could he? he whimpered, clutching at the ashes. He sobbed rather loudly, planting his face in it, not caring that he was getting dusty or that his clothes were becoming stained. "No no no… Pawnee… please.."

No matter how many times he opened his eyes, the sight still remained. She was still gone. It wasn't a nightmare like the remote. It was real.

"All of this could've been avoided if you didn't poke around in someone else's business." Shou had reformed, hoisting a bag of glorbs over his shoulder, and heading for the door. "That's the problem with heroes, no discipline. In battle, they are prepared to kill.. but they do not understand, they should be prepared to die as well."

And all of a sudden, something snapped within him. He stopped crying, jolting away from her ashes, and let loose a horrific shout, "YOU SHUT UP!" Kaio hopped up, and zoomed through midair towards Shou, anger and hatred in his eyes. But it wasn't TKO.

The goat flung the bag outside of the temple, ready to catch the boy's fists. At the last minute, he switched and kicked the guy instead, right in the groin. There wasn't anything right with this. That savage look on his usually bright face shouldn't be there. The thoughts currently racing in his head shouldn't either. The kick hit in spot-on, leaving Shou without air. This came as a surprise for him. No physical attacks could touch him! unless...

He tried to collect his thoughts, but all he could really do was recoil in pain. Now was Kaio's chance. He took this opportunity to punch him repeatedly with glowing fists at a rapid pace, said glow taking on sharp, tangible edges. And Shou couldn't stop him either.

And then a thought came to the kid. If Shou could become smoke and arm his chains with a fire element… he smirked, glancing down at the water before taking the helpless being, spinning him so his head was aimed at the floor, and began divebombing towards the water. "An eye for an eye!"

The mutant goat yelled in desperation, and upon impact his head turned into a black mush. But it was mostly because of the water. Kaio hopped off Shou, breathing heavily. His eyes were wild as he watched the guy. His body twitched a bit, but it was post-mortem spasms. There was no way he'd survived that.

And then the boy sighed, rage melting away into a sort of depression. He stalked back over to Pawn's ashes and knelt, clenching and unclenching his fists. The words Shou said replayed themselves, over and over.

That's the problem with heroes, no discipline. In battle, they are prepared to kill… but they do not understand, they should be prepared to die as well…

And he'd killed someone too. If this is what it took to be a hero, he didn't want any part of it. Not anymore. And so, he grabbed his headband and untied it, still staring at the ashes of his friend. As Kaio stared at the ashes, he realized one particular pile shone oddly, like a bunch of odd, small, glimmering particles were mixed in with the black carbon powder.

The long-haired boy blinked, a little confused. But he procured two clear bottles, uncapped them and proceeded to scoop the ashes into them, being sure to separate the glimmer from the black. As he separated them, he noticed what they were. A very minute, but still beautiful amount of diamonds. The boy's eyes barely sparkled, but he started crying again, silently this time, hugging the jars to his chest. Was this.. was this what she meant when she said she'd be a star burning brighter than the rest?

With that thought, he capped them both and tied his headband around the jar that shimmered. He looked up at the tree. Dendy would know what to do, wouldn't she? so he sighed and got up, shoving the jars into his vest pockets gently, and then he slowly exited the sanctuary, finding the large bag of glorbs. It hardly crossed his mind, as he picked it up and carried it back to the room. He was working on autopilot. Next moment later, he was back at the original meeting place, and there stood a box of snacks, boardian snacks. Probably intended to be used for celebration.

Kaio stared at the box. He grabbed it too, death in his eyes, and he began the long walk to Dendy's lab.

A/N: Alright, so time to credit! Pawn and the Boardian society belong to Mobbu, and Shou belongs to Big Nacho Umbra, both on Discord. :3
I was Kaio, and they were their respective characters. And yeah, I cried hard when we first roleplayed this, and I was tearing up even as I was converting this. Pawn and Kaio had gone through many adventures together, and to have it end like this was horrid.

So I hope you enjoyed, and please review. I miss reviews. I'm literally starving for them. This will also be updated weekly or when I can. Ta ta for now, and I'll hopefully see you in my emails and also tomorrow for Arcana of Tricks~