So Prince's Dead, Now What? (Well, first of all, he left a HFIL of a lot of cleanup to do.)
One word: Flashdrives. Those suckers are SO easy to lose, and lost mine twice. In one month. And I almost lost mine another time…I think my flashdrive hates me…
Anyway, of course, when I finally gave up on ever seeing it again and losing a ton of fanfic files I had stored on there, I found it the next morning, just as I was about to take the empty flashdrive that I was going to start working on and put it in my bag. It was in my bag.
Go figure.
Also, I might be a little late with the next one. I'm about to lose easy computer access. Again. So brave with me, loyal readers, and enjoy!
Demon654: If you don't like my portrayal of the characters, or my plot, or my writing style, that's okay. But please tell me what you don't like about it, so I can improve. I hope you see this and PM or review with what you were trying to say.
Their eyes stared at me, boring into me. I could feel them drilling into my brain, looking at secrets that were better off hidden…
I shook my head a little and snapped out of it. They can't read my mind. Or at least that's what I repeated like a mantra as I started to explain the parts of the story I was allowed to divulge. They can't read my mind. They can't read my mind. They can't read my mind…
"It was Prince's choice. He had personal reasons to make it. We all owe him our gratitude for it. However, he has decided to disappear into the real world, once again, for personal reasons. He told me he doesn't plan on telling the world his identity for a long time, probably not ever. He asks that you choose a new Lord of Central Continent and enjoy what we all fought to protect."
With that, I nodded and stepped off the stage, leaving behind me stunned silence.
Walking over to XiMen Feng, I asked him gently- he had been a sort of companion for Prince, as Prince had liked there was someone in Second Life in the same situation as him- "Do you think An Rui will answer your call to take us home?"
With a guarded look on the pretty girl's face, he said, "He'll probably come, girly, but I might have ta' cut a deal with him to get us to Central Continent. But I think we should stay here a night, ta' give everyone a chance to…settle, Lolidragon."
Looking around, I saw he was right. Everyone- even the ones who hadn't known Prince, or lived on a different continent- was sitting in groups, crying, and conversing in whispers and mumbles. Everyone was aware a legend had ended, and was also worried about what was going to happen now to Central Continent, and Second Life in general. The Dictator had been killed, but now we would have to deal with the war's aftermath, which might be even deadlier than the actual war. The wails of fangirls were practically a symphony. We had to give them some time to recover.
"Tell me, did that bastard really say all that to you?"
I turned back to XiMen. Guess he's talking about Prince. I wondered if any of the people in the crowd thought I was making up what I'd said about what Prince wanted. Oh s**t. If any of them think I'm lying, or trying to claim the throne or something, who knows what kind of trouble they could stir up? I don't want to be leader of the CC- job's WAY too boring, too much work, and I would be following in PRINCE'S footsteps (shudder), but it could look that way.
"Yeah, he did. For…circumstantial reasons, I was the only one privy to the information necessary to carry out his instructions."
"Girly, you and the other high ups in CC better be careful, though. Second you get back, I'll bet Fan and all the others are gonna 'tak Infinite City as revenge on Prince- THEY don't know he's gone. They might already have."
I hadn't thought of that, either. God, what was I going to do without Prince? He was an idiot with an IQ lower than a slice of pie in almost everything, but being around her always made you feel smarter, more enthusiastic, and like you could do better. Not to mention that I could act more myself around him than anyone else- probably because of the secrets we share.
But I couldn't focus on that right now. He was right- they were going to attack. And our army was diminished and ravaged from fighting NPCs to get to the position we had right now- so close to the Temple of the Dictator of Life. We couldn't stand another attack. What would Prince do?
He'd encourage everyone to fight their hardest. With his golden words singing in our ears, adrenaline pumped through our veins- we were invincible in battle. But I couldn't do that. So I had to find some other way. But I was so alone without Prince. What could I do?
Odd Squad walked up to me. Wordlessly, Doll took me with her small hand and led me back to a fire, which we all sat around for the rest of the evening. Tomorrow, I'd deal with the people. Tomorrow, I'd journey back to the Central Continent somehow. Tomorrow, I'd take care of Prince's last instructions. But for tonight, Odd Squad would save me, as they had saved me so many times before.
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"The way is mine to clear and the tree is mine to cut; for you to pass through here… With. The. Hottie. You. Must. Part."
…
"Listen, Prince. I want you to dump your current wife, Lolidragon, and become my husband. I'll feed you, house you, equip you, clothe you, and I'll even give you an allowance. I can give you fifty thousand gold first." (AN: I hardly changed these lines from the story; I only cut out a sentence that's unnecessary. Why mess with the funniest thing anyone's ever read?)
What. The. F**k.
Prince, who was standing next to me, wobbled and turned pale.
Meanwhile, everyone around us started hysterically laughing at the thought of this small thief trying to make a warrior…a trophy husband. I could barely contain myself, even with all my acting skills and poker face practice.
"Sorry, Fairsky, but I'm very happy with Lolidragon. Please look for a wife elsewhere," Prince lied. He wasn't "with me", and I'm pretty sure he'd have run away a long time ago if I wasn't A) A hidden GM with a lot of info on Second Life that he couldn't survive without B) though he's fast, I was three times as fast and finally C) A very evil manipulative person with a huge secret he needed to make sure I didn't spill. Oh, and D) Girls would maul her if I didn't masquerade as his wife, since she doesn't have much practice keeping fangirls away yet.
Wait, the technique isn't working? I've seriously underestimated either my beauty or the general female's lust for him as their hubby/boyfriend.
…Let's just say it's their lust.
So I guess he won't let me pretend to be his wife anymore. Shame, I had a lot of fun crushing those girls' self esteem by staring them down with my uber-beauty so the wolves- I mean girls wouldn't chase after my good friend Steak.
While this ran through my head, Fairsky's face was heating up; it was as red as a tomato with rage. "Fine!" she spat with fury. "You won't leave her! Boys! Kill that woman!"
They looked at each other, and I could tell they were wondering if killing such a super-ultra-hottie was a sin.
It is, by the way. Just in case anyone's wondering.
"I'll give fifty thousand gold to whoever does it!"
Of course, they all rushed to kill me then. Sigh, people will do anything, even sin, for money, won't they?
Prince shielded me with his body. Good, he was the warrior. And this was all his fault. Why, you might ask? HE was the one who chose to be so handsome. I just egged him on. (AN: We've got a case of extreme denial, here, folks…)
One huge warrior decided to be the first to feel my wrath, and ran forward, intent on getting the handsome reward for my head. Actually, I intend on becoming a infamous thief, so I'd better get used to this, sigh…
Prince grabbed Meatbun and hurled it at seven of Fairsky's goons while using a special ability- Poisonous Meatbun. He got it by me coating him with poison and feeding him to a monster. In my defense, it was pure strategy, and not my jealousy at him having a pet…thingy…snack and me not. Anyway, Meatbun poisoned them, and Prince used the confusion to sprint at full speed to one of the goons and used an ability he'd been working on- Nine-Headed Dragon Strike. He copied it straight out of "Rurouni Kenshin" manga by fusing another of his skills "Ten Strike" and the use of "Continuous Attack" with slashing and hacking. He can attack with it ten times in a row, and combined with his growing type dao and fire damage from "Inferno Slash", it was guaranteed to wipe away any boss in the newbie zone and many players- such as this unfortunate goon. He'll probably need that move, too, to defend herself if any lawyers from the manga come a'callin for him using a copyrighted name. Wonder if they even have those in game…
The unfortunate goon died a painful death and flew away in a pillar of light. Poor guy…Just kidding. For attempting to kill a super-ultra-hottie, they must all go to HFIL! MWA HA HA HA HA!
Once more, I digress. So, Prince grabs a mana potion and drinks it in one gulp to fill his mana up again while all the others look on in amazement. An ELF with a DAO just took out a BEASTMAN with an AXE in one go. He then threatened, "If anyone wants to have a try against my "Nine-Headed Dragon Strike, I invite you to try!" They'd just finished healing themselves from Meatbun's lethal poison, but no one stepped forward. After seeing Prince drink the potion, they knew the first guy to try his luck against Prince would be a meat-shield. Mmm…meat. I'm hungry…Fighting is boring…
"To HFIL with this. Let's charge him all at once; he can't kill all of us!"
The brawl that followed was brutal. The goons were pretty tough, but we were much faster than them. Prince got a couple of hits on them, but had been dealt several small hits, too. I hadn't gotten hit, but there was nothing I could with my low attack to them. It was a stalemate, and they had the numbers advantage. And sure enough, one of them got a lucky hit on Prince, and he used another "Nine-Headed Dragon Strike" in his anger. It killed the guy, but Prince took a few more hits meanwhile. He was going to die…
B****rds! I'm the only one who can kill Prince, what with my plan to push him under an angry, high level boss twice. Fine, I'll save you this time, kid, but better make that three times under the boss…
I dived over, executing Chun Li's ultimate move- "Helicopter Kick". Chun Li was a fighter from a street fighting game Prince had stolen some moves from for Second Life; he got the idea to do so after using kicks to kill the wolves necessary for him to get a vocation. She was one of the first female fighters, and the only thing good about her was her kicks. Before, we couldn't use it because you needed to go to parallel to the ground to do so- something physically impossible. But I'd modified it, and now I did a handstand while spinning with my hands on the ground. That alone wouldn't have done much, but I had hidden blades in the tips of my boots. Coated with poison. "Seven Steps Soul Scatter". Which has a HP degeneration rate of 50 HP per second, so a player would be dead in under a minute if they didn't heal themselves…Stop staring! It's a normal, none demented thing to do!
While the lucky ones who'd gotten poisoned started searching for an antidote, I dragged Prince out of combat while he guzzled a potion. That'll teach you to try to kill someone on my hit-list! Before he could drink another one, though, they charged again.
I can't believe this. I, Lolidragon. Daughter of the President of Second Life. Hidden GM. Future infamous thief throughout all of Second Life. Partners with the only tranny in Second Life. About to be killed by a group of common thugs over a fangirl who wants Prince for a trophy husband.
That's it, when I'm rich and infamous, I'm going to seek out each and every one of those goons and Fairsky and Corpse Camp them all!"
As Prince and I readied our fists to begin the final battle that would inevitably end with our defeat, a voice rang out. A thunderous …, bestial roar cried, "STOP!"
On the edge of the circle the crowd had made around our fight, there stood an enormous beastman with gray fur. His huge fists looked like they could send a man to the next continent over with one blow, and his arms were as thick as my waist.
Silence filled the air. Who would want to attack the gigantic creature?
The wolf stared down at the goons with a furious, flaming glare. "SCRAM, UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE SHREDDED TO PIECES!"
At this point, I think the only thing that was keeping the thugs there was paralysis via extreme terror, but Prince apparently decided that wasn't enough, and shifted into the stance for his now infamous (in this little fight, at least) "Nine-Headed Dragon Strike" with an icy look in his eyes. This broke the spell, and they ran away faster than I could run!
But Fairsky wasn't willing to let this go… "Do you really love Lolidragon so much, to the point that no other woman could replace her?"
"I'm really sorry, Fairsky…" Prince said.
Wait! What the heck are you apologizing for! Didn't she just almost get both of us killed! That's it, four raging bosses for our little idiotic bishie warrior.
As we walked away, Prince collapsed in a side alley. It's probably from exhaustion from the fight. We have to go buy some more health potions! My money is flying away…sob…
And then the enormous wolfman healed Prince with a mid-level priest's healing spell.
"You're a…PRIEST!" I sputtered.
"I am a beastman priest, yes," said the enormous wolf with a tinge of embarrassment.
We were all quiet for a second. Then Prince burst out laughing hysterically. "Did we seriously just use thief, an injured warrior, and a priest to scare off SIX WARRIORS! God…" he said through his guffaws.
I couldn't help it, and neither could the brave priest. We started chuckling, as much at Prince's laughter as at the situation.
But more important than that, was what this wolfman had done. No one in the audience bothered to try to save us (they will pay for that when I track them down), but a priest, with no offensive abilities, did. That's freakin' cool.
"So, what's your name?" Prince asked with a grin on his face.
"It's…Ugly Wolf. It suits me," he said with a good-natured smile. It kinda did...But I was good at reading people in general, honestly, and I could tell in a second that the name was an open, humiliating wound for him. I felt sorry for him- or I would, at least, if he hadn't given himself that name. Couldn't you have just given yourself a normal name, or a name from a manga like…um…Krillen? Sasuke? Usopp? Yukio? Negi? Robin? Natsu? Okay, not best examples, but still… (AN: If you can't get at least a few of these, PM me. You need help, and I can point you in the right direction. PLEASE, do yourself a favor.) But still…
"So, would you mind helping me back to our hotel…Wolf?" asked Prince.
"Of course!"
And as we walked, she said, "We're looking for a priest, Wolf. Are you part of a team?"
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Of course, that had been followed by Wolf forever giving up much of the regard for him the two of us had by admitting he had intended to have been a mage, but decided against it because the line was too long…*sweatdrop* But even counting his occasional wackiness and depressing- even more so than Prince- inability to recognize love, he was the rock of our team; solid and dependable. He was our strategist, and he always kept a level head. Maybe he'd be a good lord…? NO! It's practically mutiny to even consider a new lord so soon after Prince left us, and he'd never be able to inspire everyone the way Prince did. Man, Prince' a tough act to follow…How is it humanly possible- elfly possible, I suppose- for such a scatterbrained, blood-loving, oblivious goofball to be such a good lord?
There were so many problems with Second Life, and CC, as the leader of the war, was going to have to shoulder most of the burden of solving those. I was high up, and a lot of the work was going to fall to me. I would do my best. I wouldn't disappoint Prince.
Soooo…finito. Thank god. I AM sorry this took so long, but some of that was outside of my control. Additionally, this was a very difficult chapter to write- I'm just not good at writing fight scenes, even if I did use basically the entire second half of the chapter as a script base.
If Lolidragon follows Prince's line of thought, I have two excuses:
The longer you're with Prince, the more his way of thinking rubs off. THAT'S NOT A GOOD THING, PEOPLE! What's going on is that our dear Loli will lose IQ points at a rate of one a day until she reaches the IQ of Prince. By the way, just a reminder: Prince IQ Pie IQ. Good luck, Lolidragon.
In case no one noticed, Lolidragon's line of thinking is much more vindictive. When I write this, I swear my dark side comes out.