Just wanted to let you guys know before you start this chapter that school is back in session for me... Yay...! Anyways, I know my updates are already few and far between but since it's now my senior year, things are looking to be rather busier than before. That being said I at least try to write up two or so chapters before posting a new one on here just in case I go MIA for too too long. But now that I've said my piece, I hope you enjoy this new chapter... and the new character that comes along with it!


Chapter 28: Round One

"Ha! Take that punk!" Tammy exclaimed at the screen.

"Oh no you don't," Tammy's new video victim retaliated as he mashed a combination of buttons on his controller causing his character to pull out its special attack.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, NO!" Tammy attempted to move her avatar out of the way but to no avail and before she knew it, the words 'PLAYER 2 WINS' covered the majority of the screen and a victorious grin was plastered on Max's face.

"Dang It!" Tammy shouted in defeat.

"Wow, I think that's the first time that I've seen Tammy lose at anything virtual," Luminia, who had only woken up from her nap a couple of minutes.

"I know," Aqua added who was sipping on her second cup of tea. "It's almost like we're watching a significant moment in history unfold right before our eyes."
"Can the peanut gallery please, shut it?" Tammy grumbled and then gave Max a menacing look. "One. More. Round."

"That's what you said before this match?" Max raised an eyebrow.

The sound of the door opening halted Tammy's response as Harmony entered the people filled room.

"Huh, I thought I hear an excess of nerd-age outside the door," the pale-skinned. "Seems I was right."

"Hey, take this," Tammy ordered as she tossed Harmony's cellphone at her.

"Oh yeah, I knew there was something that I was forgetting," Harmony said airily, when in all reality her plan had worked out just as she'd planned it. Or at least she could only assume as much since Max was still here about two and a half hours after she had initially told him to come over. "Thanks for the delivery Maxy."

"Do I look like a delivery boy to you?" Max asked dryly.

"Do you want me to be honest?" Harmony scoffed. "Anyway, shouldn't you get going soon? You won't be able to get dinner before the mess hall closes if you stay much longer."

"That's no problem. Chef knows that I tend to stay up late in the hanger, so he always leaves me a plate. Besides, I don't think Tammy here realizes superiority when she see it, so I'm gonna have to school her in it, again."

"Up yours, shaggy," Tammy stuck out her tongue at him.

"You wound me with such words madam," Max feigned a troubled face.

"Ha, I wouldn't say that if I were you Max. She might just pull out some words that might actually make your brain hurt," Lulu advised. "Mother of the Moon knows that it's happened to me."

Aqua just sipped her tea through the whole conversation, though she was silently supporting Luminia's statement through gentle nods and a thoughtful expression.

"Well, I like a challenge," Max smiled genuinely, looking straight at Tammy.

Tammy couldn't help but blush at the comment, "Wh-whatever."

"Aw, Tammy your face matches Melody's hair, how cute!" Luminia gushed.

"Didn't I tell you to keep your comments to yourself?" Tammy growled as she then proceeded to chase Lulu around the room.

'Yeah, I'd say this plan is working out perfectly,' Harmony thought to herself as she left the chaos of the main room.


A few days later, Harmony had decided to go scouting with Zeke for some potential members. Having Max as their team strategist helped significantly, but his plans would only work if they could find others who could fulfill the roles of those plans.

"What about him?" Harmony pointed as she and her 'partner' watched some students in the practice fields after class.

"You mean the guy with the dual-ended sword? Talked to him one time at the beginning of the year, didn't make much of an impression, neither socially nor with his combat skills." Zeke explained, albeit with a judgmental eye.

"Are saying that as a stuck-up prince or do actually have anything to back it up?" Harmony scoffed.

"Let's just say it's my intuition talking."

"And that's supposed to convince me?" Harmony's eyebrow raised.

"Well I asked you to be on the team, so it must work," Zeke said with a clever grin as he caught a blush gracing the musical fairy's cheeks from his comment.

"Oh, shut it," was the best comeback Harmony could come up with since she was caught so off guard.

"Besides, how else are you going to know about who's who at this school? It's not like you're here often enough to form your own opinions."

"Fine then," Harmony let out a sigh. "Who would you suggest?"

"What about Demir?" Zeke offered up.

"Who?" Harmony asked.

"The guy you fought at the beginning of the year," Zeke responded.

"That meathead?!" Harmony's face scrunched up in disgust.

"The guy maybe a jerk but he's got some serious strength and can definitely take a hit."

"I think my fight with him actually proved otherwise," Harmony pointed out rather smugly. "Besides we won't necessarily need a heavy-hitter as long as we have someone with good strategy, and Max has already been set up to do just that, so long as the rest of us can learn to work cohesively then we'll have a pretty solid team."

"Well, your dork of a friend-" Zeke started.

Harmony glared intensely at the boy.

"-I'm mean, Max, is going to have to put in more time than usual to make sure that he-

"Hold on," Harmony raised her hand to silence the prince before pointing to the arena below them. "Who's that guy down there?"

Zeke rolled his eyes at being cut off again and followed the direction that Harmony was motioning to and saw that it lead to a guy who was currently in the middle of a sparring match with another student. The one that had caught Harmony's attention had messy brown hair and a grin that stretched wide across his face as he faced his opponent. His stance was relaxed, almost taunting so, as he casually held a gigantic death scythe weapon across one of his shoulders.

"You mean Desmond?"

"Desmond, huh?" Harmony hummed as she saw him take the first step to attack. Despite the size of his scythe, which was about half a foot taller than him, Desmond moved with ease as he charged towards the other fighter.

"Now that is what I call a weapon," Harmony practically drooled; Zeke scoffed at her reaction.

The two of them continued watching Desmond as he brought down his scythe on his challenger, who attempted to block it with his staff. While the Desmond's movements weren't extremely graceful, Harmony couldn't help but note that he never missed a beat with his parries, counters, and attacks. It was something of a controlled chaos that Desmond seemed to master with his scythe. And sure enough with his wild, yet precise, strikes Desmond won the bought in less than a few minutes.

"Impressive," Zeke complimented rather than mentioning any such flaws that he might have seen, much to Harmony's surprise.

"I think we might have just found our next member," Harmony agreed, instead of pointing out the prince's sudden change in attitude.

"You think so?" Zeke hummed.

"Well, I want to see if Max knows anything about him first, but I'd say he's a definite contender."

Harmony looked back down in the arena to see the person in question helping up his defeated foe. His posture was now more pleasant and his overall disposition demonstrated playfulness and comradery.

'We could use someone happy-go-lucky on this mismatch band of fighters.'


"Hey, you're Desmond, right?" Harmony approached the second-year student with her two new teammates walking on either side of her.

"Hey, you're that chick who kicked Dmir's ass on the first day of classes. Harmony, right?" Desmond questioned right back.

Harmony nodded.

"Respect, man," the chestnut-haired boy put out his fist and Harmony reciprocated the action.

"Thanks," Harmony accepted the compliment, being glad to hear that someone at this school didn't deem her win as just dumb luck. "So, Desmond, my friends and I wanted to ask you something."

"As long as it doesn't involve anything too ethically questionable or kinky, I'm all ears," Desmond said.

"Dually noted," Harmony snorted, almost hearing Melody's voice in the back of her yelling how unladylike such a gesture is.

"We were wondering if you'd ever considered joining one of the competition teams before." Zeke questioned. "We've seen you fight before, you'd be one hell of an addition."

"Meh, I've never been a real 'rah rah' do it for your school kinda guy," Desmond shrugged. "Organized fights for other people's enjoyment have never been big with me."
"Wait, are you a pacifist?" Max questioned.

Desmond scoffed, as if he was almost offended, "Hell no! You said you've seen me fight before. And I'm pretty sure that it's oxymoronic to claim to be a pacifist and carry around a scythe as a weapon."

"Oxymoronic, good word," Max said in an impressed tone.

"Thanks," Desmond said with a half-smile.

"There any particular reason that you're not too fond of organized fights?" Zeke inquired.

"If I'm not fighting for a specific purpose, like to protect someone, then I don't really want to waste my time or energy. It all seem counterintuitive to put on a show for people with our skills when they were meant to do more."

"That's surprisingly deep," Harmony nodded in approval.

"Aw, thanks," Desmond waved his hand in playful bashfulness. "I like to keep people on their toes."

"So is there some certain side to that we have to appeal to get you to consider our proposition," Zeke interrupted. "Everybody wants something."

"Such a realistic point of view," Desmond smirked.

"So what is it that you want?" Zeke provided.

Desmond leaned to the side slightly with a pensive expression as he sized up the group in front of him. After a moment, his eyes looked back at Zeke.

"You're Prince Ezekiel," Desmond stated rather than asked.

"I prefer 'Zeke'," the young prince tried to explain calmly. Harmony could only bite her lip to keep herself from laughing at Zeke's vexed face.

"Zeke," Desmond tried out the name on his lips, "Not quite as regal."

"That's kinda the point," Zeke deadpanned.

"To each his own," Desmond shrugged which only served to make Zeke even more annoyed. "But I have to wonder just how many…connection someone in your position must have."

"Depends on what kind of connections you're talking about." Zeke folded his arms. "Although as the son of a baron I can imagine you'd be clever enough to find a way that could help you and your family out no matter what kind of favor you ask."

Harmony and Max looked at the scene occurring in front of them and then looked back at each other in confusion.

Desmond scoffed again.

"If that's what you think about me, then I'll be happy to shock the smugness right off your face."

"Try me."

"Fine. If you want me to be on you little team, then what I need from you is to find someone to set me up with so…"

"So you can build your family's power and build some sort of legacy?" Zeke inserted expectantly

"No. So I can get out of my current arranged marriage to the daughter of some earl."

Zeke paused for a second after hearing this, "Wait, what?"

"I said…" Desmond started to repeat himself.

"I heard you perfectly fine!" Zeke griped. "But…"

"But shouldn't someone like me be trying to climb my way up the ranks so that my family can have better status, power, and more wealth than we honestly need?" the cheeky specialist offered. "Yeah, you know something? Being an only child in noble family kind of sucks. After all the lessons on manners, history, inter-realm relations, and in general how to look down on people who aren't up to your standards and kissing up to those who have more power, you tend to resent it all and want nothing to do with it."

Zeke still looked rather shocked about Desmond's attitude towards his noble roots.

"So, if you want me on your team," Desmond said, bring the focus back to what started this whole conversation. "I need your help to find a 'girlfriend' who will help my parents get off my back about this whole engagement thing."

"Wait, you want this guy," Harmony jabbed her thumb at Zeke who gave her an indignant look, "to play matchmaker for you? Have you even met him?"

"Excuse me?" Zeke flared.

"Look," Desmond got the two student's attention again. "I'm not looking for someone to date for real, just someone who will go along with the whole charade in order to convince my parents to call off the engagement."

"And what's to stop them from setting you back up with some other girl once you're not with this fake girlfriend anymore?" Max inquired, finally deciding to speak up.

"If everything goes according to my plans, then setting me up with another girl will be the least of their issues."

"I'm sorry, but when you say something like that, it sounds like you're about to blow up a city," Harmony commented skeptically. "Please tell me that's not according to your plan. I'd rather not be considered an accessory to crime, if at all possible."

"Heh, my plans aren't that crazy. Usually." Desmond assured with a goofy grin. It was the same one Harmony saw him give to his opponent a couple of days ago in the arena. "So whad'ya say?"

Harmony and Max looked towards Zeke expectantly. It was his help and connections that Desmond was asking for anyway.

"Do we have ourselves a deal?" Desmond held his hand out in front of the prince, a grin still on his face.


Here he is ladies and gentlemen, it's Desmond! I'll let you guys know ahead of time that I'm going to have sooooo much fun writing his character the way that I have it planned out. You'll see what I mean when I post the next chapter :D. Until then, my lovelies!