"My, my…", said Juno, looking upon Brandy's shocked face. "That certainly had an effect, didn't it?"
Brandy just stood there, one finger softly twitching, barely even able to comprehend the sight in front of her. "J…", she somehow managed to squeak out, then shook her head. "Juno?"
"That is what I said, yes.", Juno said, and flicked her finger towards the circle of Witches. "Hey! You all!"
She jerked a thumb towards Brandy, still in shock, and Dan, still asleep. "These two need their cash prize."
The lead Witch staggered back a bit, unable to speak. One of her sisters nervously stepped forward, and raised an apologetic palm. "Yes, er, about that…"
"What?", asked Juno, Dashing faster than the eye could see right in front of the terrified Witch. The wind blew around her as she flashed through unknown space, blowing back Bonoome's Elixir upon the wind. "What is it?"
"We uh, well…", said the Witch, and closed her eyes. "We never thought Bonoome would actually be defeated. So…"
"So what?", Brandy asked, trying to be confident, as she Dashed up right next to Juno. She was silently freaking out a little bit, as would be expected whenever any Troop was to meet their Primal. "What about it?"
Juno looked at Brandy, who cowered a little bit. But Juno's smile was warm, and Brandy felt herself automatically relax.
"We kind of sort of don't have a cash prize of 10000000 Gold.", finished the Witch. "Sorry about that-"
But her words were cut off, as she suddenly found herself without a body. She screamed in pain, but was soon silenced by another of Juno's blows. Oddly enough, she did not splash into Elixir like normal- rather, she simply vanished, without a single trace.
"Hmph.", Juno huffed, crossing her arms and whispering to herself. "Little spellhoarder. I'd love to get my hands on a score that big…"
Her eyes still glittered at the thought of such treasure. Because despite her status as a legendary, immortal superbeing, Juno was at heart still a Bandit.
Then she brightened up her smile, and turned to Brandy. "So.", she said, flashing a grin. "That was quite a show you two put on against him."
"Really?", Brandy asked, her eyes shining with awe. "You think so?"
"Yes!", said Juno. "You did beat him, by the way. That resurrection of his didn't count. And at those levels, too- only 21 and 35!"
Then she blinked, and looked a little harder. "Seems like they upped the level cap, eh?"
Brandy's eyes nearly bugged out of her skull. "Wait, what? Did you just say-"
Dan finally woke up again, and lifted up his head to hear Brandy screaming. "21 and 35?"
"What?", he groaned, trying to lift himself to his feet. "What the-"
Juno frowned, seeing the damaged state he was in. She flicked her fingers upwards, and Dan instantly rose to his feet. A silver light briefly flashed around him, and his wounds knit closed almost immediately. "What the-", he said, then looked up. "Oh, hey Juno."
Then what he was seeing actually reached his brain, and he jumped up into the air in shock. He instantly dropped to his knees with force that would crush a small building, and closed his eyes in respect. "Juno-sensai!"
Juno saw Dan drop to his knees, and put her hand to her mouth. She laughed a little bit, then waved her fingers. "There's no need for that, student. We're not in any training ground out here."
"Oh.", said Dan, and awkwardly rose to his feet. "Right."
"Dan?", Brandy said in shock. "You know her?"
"Know here?", Dan asked. "Brandy, Juno was one of the ones who taught me Star at that camp!"
Brandy opened her mouth to say something, but didn't know what to say. Then she remembered with a start, and turned again to face Juno.
"Uh, you said something about us being levels 21 and 35.", Brandy said. "What uh.. What did you mean by that? Exactly?"
"Well.", said Juno, and blinked. A certain vision came over her eyes, one that scanned and tracked the strength of everyone she laid eyes upon. "I, being a Primal, can tell one's levels regardless of location. You, Brandy, are level 21, and Dan is level 35."
"But…", Brandy said, and Dan finished it. "We're not."
"We're both only level 10…", they said together, in total confusion.
"Really?", said Juno, with a raise of her mask. "Because I don't think any level 10 Troop could ever pull off what you two were doing back there."
Dan and Brandy looked at each other, then looked to the total wreckage of the entire area. Every tree within hundreds of feet had been turned into a Gem. The entire village still lay in a mostly destroyed state, although the buildings were slowly regenerating. Smoke rose from dozens of small random fires that had broken out on what remained of the torn up ground, and the wreckage of what had once been the makeshift arena now lay outside the Village walls, totally abandoned. Once Bonoome had gone down, his Parade had scattered into the woods, leaving behind nothing but garbage, a souped-up donation cart drawn by a Hog, and the arena. Then the Hog finished chewing through its ropes, snuffled, and ran away into the woods.
"Yeah.", said Dan, watching Sophie and a team of Builders try and put out the fires.
Brandy winced, as another Barracks collapsed just as it had finished regenerating. "I guess we did."
"And they didn't even bother to give you your cash prize.", Juno said, shaking her head. She gave a low whistle of disappointment. "How sad."
Then she slowly turned around, her face darkening, to face Brandy, who took a step back in mild fear. "And you…"
All three of them stood there for a second, before Juno spread her arms and burst forth into a wild grin. "You are on fire, thief! Seriously, that was totally amazing!"
Song: Silver Twist
Brandy's face tightened a little bit from such praise, and she took a step backwards. "Wait, really?"
"Yes!", said Juno. "Did you not see yourself?"
Brandy waved her hand in front of her face, trying to play it off. She wasn't sure why. "No, no…"
"You saw it when you just Dashed a chunk out of his leg, right?", Juno said, with a raised eyebrow. "That- that was cool."
"Not that cool.", Brandy said. "I bet you could have done it too."
"Well, of course I could have.", said Juno. "I am, after all, the Primal Bandit. But hey."
She reached out and flipped down Brandy's hood, rustling her hand through her hair. "You're pretty good yourself, kid."
Brandy looked at the ground, then back up at Juno. "So uh…"
She eyed the charm that Juno had taken. "What was all that about?"
Juno looked at the charm, and grinned. "Oh, this is just a little something I crafted about a few dozen years ago. I was wondering where it had gotten off to…"
Faster than Brandy could blink, she slapped it onto her own face. There was a flash of bizarre light, and Juno's mask became an ivory sheen. The mask on the charm was replaced with one of simple black cloth, seeming to have almost been switched.
"Good thing I came along when I did, eh?", she laughed, looking out over the wreckage. "It looked like you guys weren't really doing so well."
Dan stiffened a little bit. "Hey! We were totally doing well. He just pulled something out of his rear end, is all."
Juno sniffed, and looked behind her. The village was beginning to restore to full, the very last of the flattened walls slowly uncrumbling. Far off at the very edge, she could see Herb and Sophia tending to the wounded. The last of Bonoome's Troops had finally vanished, even the Witches, a single trailing Skeleton fleeing into the woods. "Anyway…"
She turned back to Dan and Brandy. "You don't seem normal, Mega Knight. In fact, there's something rather…"
She leaned in, and grabbed his face. "Peculiar about you."
"Woah, hey-", Brandy said, but managed to restrain herself. Juno was far above her, both in power and in ranking. It would not be wise to go against her, for any reason.
"Hmm, yes.", Juno mumbled, then let go of Dan. She stood up again, and leaned against a sudden tree. "I was suspecting that. Jonathan did something to you."
"Why, yes he did.", Dan said. "He said he unlocked my power."
"Oh, did he?", said Juno. "Well. I guess he's finally getting ready again."
"Ready?", Dan asked. "Ready for what?"
Juno just shrugged. "I don't know. Who knows what goes on in that Knightly brain of his…"
She stared into the air for a moment, watching a leaf fall from a tree a dozen miles away. She could see it in perfect detail, every nook and cranny upon its side.
Then she brought her extreme vision back to the foreground. "But anyway."
She suddenly grabbed Brandy by the back, and spun her around. "Jonathan's teaching your man. How about I teach you a little something?"
Brandy was about to yell from suddenly being grabbed, but that faded away when she heard Juno's proposal. "Wait… really? You mean like actually teach me?"
"Sure.", Juno said. "I mean, I got a few minutes before Fallon arrives. So why not?"
"Fallon?", Brandy asked, then she saw Juno give her The Look. "Oh, I mean, yeah. Let's train."
"Honey, wait.", Dan said, raising an arm with a step forward. "Should you be-"
"Dan?", Brandy asked. "What are you worrying about?"
Dan stopped, and thought. "Nothing, I guess. You're fine."
Yet secretly, he was worried. He didn't know about what, only that a deep seated worry pulsed through his golden heart.
Juno straightened up, and Brandy did so as well. "I saw you were taking advantage of your Dash back there. Shielding yourself, using it to scrape, all that jazz."
"Yes…", Brandy said. "Is there something more I can do with it?"
"Oh, lots more.", said Juno, and slowly drew back her hand. "It's best not to think of it as a way to get from place to place that can also be used for different purposes, but as a force within you that you can use for almost anything. See, watch."
With a flick of her hand that was far too fast for Brandy to follow, Juno struck the air. All the sound disappeared for a second, sucked in to Juno's attack. Once it came back on, it did so as a huge rushing that blasted into the ears of everyone there. There was also a pure white beam of energy that flashed through over the village, and sliced deep into a nearby mountain. It shifted slightly and then settled uneasily, now almost 10 feet shorter.
Brandy's jaw dropped open, and she stared at the sight in shock. "Woah…"
Juno winked, and blew the smoke off of her fist. "Pretty cool, huh right? Wait till you see this."
"Wait, weren't you going to-", Brandy said, but she was stopped by Juno's sheer power. Juno crouched down, and concentrated mightily. "This is even cooler."
A low hum started to build, and the air around Juno hummed. "It took me a long time to figure this one out. But trust me-"
Her voice cracked, and she closed her eyes from the sheer effort. "It was worth it!"
A small silver aura started to flame up around her. Sparks of white light appeared behind her heels, and her eyes began to shine. "This, kid, is the ultimate potential of a Bandit. This...is…"
"Juno!", came a shout from behind, and Juno suddenly stopped. The silver light surrounding her faded away, and she let out a deep gasp of surprise.
Dan looked up from where he had been standing, and gasped as well. There, floating in midair, was a truly magnificent sight. Fallon the Primal Magic Archer, sitting crossed upon nothing, his bow floating behind his head, arms crossed. "Kanojo to wa nani o shite iru no?"
Juno looked up, and awkwardly grinned. She gave a little wave, suddenly seeming much less regal. "Oh. Uh... hey Dad."
Dan's eyes shot open even further, and he dropped to his knees once again. "Fallon-sensai!", he shouted. "It is an honor to see you again!"
"Dan?", Brandy asked. "Did he also train you?"
"Hai.", said Fallon, and slowly dropped down to standing. "Kono shōnen wa Sutā no watashi no seito no hitorideshita."
Brandy looked up to Dan, who just shrugged. "I don't know. I could never understand him either."
Fallon strode over to Juno, who stood up straight, her hands automatically flying to behind her back. "Hey, uh, Dad. I was just running ahead of you, and I found these two, and I thought that-"
Fallon pointed with an arrow. "Senaka no ushiro ni aru no wa Juno-san? Misete!"
Juno startled, and brought her hands up in front of her. They were empty, having snuck the charm into one of her many pockets long ago. "Nothing! See, look. Nothing."
Fallon huffed, and turned to Dan. He pointed with his arrow, and Dan suddenly looked very, very guilty. "Daniel ni oshietekudasai... Naze watashi no chīsana on'nanoko ga kon'nani hayaku koko ni kita nodesu ka?"
"Uuhhh…", Dan said, trying to think of a good answer. He looked to Brandy, who just looked as panicked as he did. He looked up at Fallon's stern gaze, and gulped. "No?"
Fallon knitted his brow, and smacked Dan on the shoulder with his bow. "No? Nanika no? Sā,-goe o kakete kudasai!"
Fallon raised his bow, ready for another smack, when Juno suddenly appeared in between them. She raised her hands to block the blow. "Woah, hey! Dad! He can't understand you!"
Fallon looked down at Dan, with an inscrutable gaze. Juno kept on pushing him back, slowly but surely. "Stop hitting him!"
Fallon looked up again, and turned around. "Ja, hai. Shimasu. Demo, watashi no chīsana on'nanoko, funeninoru kawarini koko de nani o shite ita no ka setsumei shite kurereba."
Juno hit the ground with her open palm, calling up a rock from deep underground with her Dash. She spun around in the air, landing on it with crossed legs. "You might want to sit down."
Fallon looked over his shoulder, and closed his eyes. "Watashi ga kiite iru."
"Well.", Juno said, beginning to gesture madly with her lightning fast fingers. "It all started when…"
As Juno talked to Fallon, despite the seeming language gap, Brandy made her way over to Dan again. He seemed to be sweating, and his breathing looked a bit off.
"Dan?", Brandy asked. "Are… you okay?"
"Yeah.", Dan grunted, rolling over onto his side. "I'm just a little, uh…"
"Dan?", Brandy said again, more urgently. "Dan?"
Then Dan sat up violently, almost throwing Brandy off. "I'm sorry, I'm just a little dizzy. And I'm, well…"
He whispered his next words, so quietly that Brandy could barely even hear them. "I'm afraid."
"Afraid?", Brandy asked. "What are you talking about?"
"Bonoome.", Dan said flatly. "I couldn't beat him."
Brandy sighed, and wound herself around Dan's shoulders. "Dan, we did beat him. It was only because of those Witches interfering that Juno had to save us."
"Exactly.", said Dan. "We beat him. Not me, we."
Brandy tilted her head. "Is… that bad?"
Dan paused a moment, struggling for words. "Well, no. I mean- um. Well-"
He sighed in frustration, Star spreading out from him. "You shouldn't have to do anything. I should be able to protect you from everything, without any help."
Brandy blinked, surprised at how straightforward Dan was being. She felt her eyes start to water, and she blinked again. She let herself fall forward across Dan's chest, rubbing herself into his skin. "Oh, Dan…"
She looked up, and stared into his eyes. "You don't have to, though. It's fine. You're alright."
"But I'm your husband.", Dan said. "Your protector. You shouldn't have to fight."
"Yes. Exactly.", Brandy said. "You're my husband. I'm your wife. We're married, and we're a team. That means we work together, no matter what."
Dan sat for a moment, turning these words over in his exhausted mind. Finally, he gave another deep sigh, and moved his hands upwards onto Brandy's back. "You know, I think you're really cute."
Brandy allowed herself to blush, and she closed her eyes. She let Dan's fingers run up her back, underneath the cloth of her tunic. She rubbed her head against Dan's neck, and purred. "And I think you're super hot."
Dan hugged her tighter, and whispered into her ear. "Don't you go anywhere. Okay? Don't you ever die."
"Don't worry, Dan.", Brandy breathed, barely able to control herself from all the things Dan was doing to her. "I won't."
But, of course, she could promise no such thing.
Song: The Stardust Man Appears
"Oi!", shouted Juno, and got up from her rock. It vanished into the ground with a puff of dirt, rocketing down at extreme speeds. "If you two lovebirds are done, I think we might leave now."
Brandy stiffened, and rolled out of Dan's grip. She jumped to her feet, and gestured wildly with her hands, not really knowing what any of her movements meant.
"Don't leave yet!", she shrieked. "I-"
Juno pointed with her finger, and leaned back. "You still have so many questions you want to ask me?"
"Still have so many questions I want to ask you-", Brandy shouted, then stopped. It took a few seconds for her to realize what had just happened- but once she did, she straightened as she stood. "Er, yes."
Juno looked to Fallon, who gave a solemn nod. Juno sat cross legged on the ground, and smoothed down her hair and skirt. "Well then.", she said, and waved her hand. "Ask me anything."
Brandy, not waiting for Dan to get up, instantly Dashed over to Juno's side. She sat down as well, her mind racing with questions.
"Okay.", she said. "So, Bandits and Magic Archers typically adopt a father-daughterish relationship. Is that because of-"
"Yes.", Juno nodded. "It is indeed because of the way Fallon adopted me."
"I see.", Brandy said, and thought harder. "Okay, so where did the Dash come from? How did you learn to use it?"
Juno looked up, and lit a single fingertip up silver. "I could always just do it, I guess. Probably because I absorbed my sister before we were born."
"Huh.", said Brandy. "That makes sense I guess- what?"
She stared at Juno in shock, who looked back at her with a knowing smile. "You- you absorbed your sister? What does that mean?"
"I was an Archer.", said Juno. "Once. But I was born much more powerful. Even though I was strong, however, I emerged from a chest without a sister. My king took one look, and decided that, well… he did not want me. And off he sent me, with hardly even a care, into the woods to fend for myself or die."
Jimmy stared at the sight before him, frantically signing to Larry to turn on the emergency backup camera he still carried somewhere inside his pocket.
Exclusive candid interview with the Primal Bandit Juno!, said the news headlines inside his mind. Top-tier reporter Jimmy Firecracker live on scene!
"Oh.", Brandy said, seeing a single sparkle appear in Juno's eye. "Then what happened?"
Juno, noticing she had begun to let a single tear start to form, suddenly sat straight up. She forced the tear back inside her eye. Big girls didn't cry, no matter what happened.
"Well, I survived.", she said, with a touch of anger in her voice. "Showed that useless, stupid King what for."
Juno noticed she was beginning to look a bit uncomposed, and so straightened up again. "And soon enough, I met Fallon. He took me in, raised me, and eventually got me my own card in the Arenas."
She folded her arms and stared straight ahead, not wishing to answer any more questions about her difficult past and origins.
"Well, uh…", Brandy said, not quite sure how to continue. "How do you feel about us Bandits as a card right now?"
"Buff.", said Juno flatly. "But not too much of one. Just-"
She stood up, and spread out her hands in anger. "I think it's crap that one of us can get hooked by a Fisherman, mid-dash. Like seriously, that's just ridiculous."
"I know!", Brandy shouted. "What is up with that?"
"I'm not asking for much.", Juno said. "Just a little boost to help us out. Sure, we're one of the best Troops already, but it's just a little consistency change. Nothing wrong with that, right?"
"Yeah.", Brandy said. "It would be great to have a buff. Especially with the quest we're going on."
Juno's brow perked up in curiosity. "Quest? You two are going on a quest?"
She suddenly appeared closer to Brandy, Dan moving up from behind. "Tell me about it."
Brandy stiffened at two large figures closing in on her from either side without warning, but didn't really move. "Well, uh…"
"We're going on a quest to save the entire world.", Dan said rather bluntly. "There's a force of some kind that wants to exterminate all life, and a Dragon that wants to save it."
"Hmm.", Juno said, and thought. "Well. That does sound rather important…"
"Yeah.", said Brandy. "And it would actually be absolutely amazing if you could-"
She was about to say join us, but Juno interrupted her words. "A Dragon, you said? Well. From your description, it sounds like it's one of the Dragonlords."
"Dragonlords?", Brandy asked. The term sounded maddingly familiar, but she couldn't quite tell from where. "You mean, like-"
Juno nodded. "I do. And sorry if I keep interrupting you, I just speak fast. Dad?"
Fallon looked over his shoulder, away from where he had been speaking in rough English to Dan. "Hai?"
"Could you draw something real quick?", Juno asked. "I need to plan something out."
Fallon huffed, and twirled an arrow around in the air. It left markings of light behind it, which cooled into a hovering whiteboard. He gave one last flick, which turned into a marker.
"Thanks, Dad.", said Juno, and flipped backwards. She landed silently on one foot, picked up the marker, and began to draw.
"Okay.", she said. "So basically, there are 7 Dragonlords. One for each continent, or island chain, or whatever. There's Aiunraur for Royale- he's asleep underneath Pekka's Playhouse, and actually the strongest out of all of them. He's asleep though- did I mention that? There's Chuqalita- I think that was it- for the Rushlands. She's awake, and was actually seen crossing the ocean."
"They don't have to stay in their territories?", Brandy asked. "It seems like they would have to."
Juno shrugged. "Nope. They can come and go as they please."
She turned back to the whiteboard, scribbling furiously. "There's Reshpalatai for Brawltopia, Bonaralman for the Boom Beaches, and Talaq for the Hay Day farms. And then the one for here, the Continent of the Clans, is-"
She stopped, and stood there for a bit, marker in hand. "Shoot, I don't remember his name."
She looked over her shoulder to Fallon, who was busy shooting the tops off of trees with Dan. "Dad, what was the name of the Dragonlord for the Continent of the Clans?"
Fallon turned around, and thought for a moment. "Rakastamos.", he said, and then went back to throwing.
However, due to his heavy accent, of both Finnish and Japanese, Juno had heard something else entirely. So she wrote down Ladakamo on the whiteboard, then stood back to reveal her work. "There.", she said, looking up. "That's all the info we have."
Brandy looked at the diagram, which had been drawn with astonishing speed and detail. It showed a Dragon underneath a volcano, a Dragon flying over a large metal building, a long, snakelike Dragon winding his way through a chain of islands, and a massive, intricate dragon floating over a large city. To the far side was a smaller, friendlier looking Dragon wearing a hat tending to his crops, and in the center was a titanic red Dragon that seemed to boil with unnatural fury. "Those are the Dragons."
"I see.", said Brandy. "So uh… who's Rakastamos then?"
"Rakastamos?", asked Juno. Some faint memory of times long ago tickled at the back of her head, but nothing she could really get a grip on. The first time Rakastamos had risen had been very early in her life, when she was still a new Primal, and she could not remember it clearly. So she just shrugged. "Shoot, I don't know."
"Huh.", said Brandy, then turned to Dan. "Hey, Dan! Come over here!"
She cracked her knuckles and stepped over to the whiteboard, as Dan slowly lumbered up behind her. "We're gonna make a plan."
Dan looked at the whiteboard without a word, slowly formulating a plan together in his mind. "So.", he said. "Those are the Dragonlords."
"Yes.", said Juno, with a hint of annoyance. "That's… literally what I just said. Pay attention."
Brandy stared at the whiteboard, deep in thought. "So… what if…"
"Yes?", asked Juno. "What is it?"
"Draw a map.", Brandy said. "What if we went around to all the Dragonlords in order, and told them about Rakastamos, and-"
"No.", said Dan, with a shake of his head. "There's not enough time for that. Such a journey would no doubt take months. Would be pretty fun though."
"Woah, ,why are we worrying about time all of a sudden?", Brandy asked, leaning back. "I never heard anything about a time limit."
"Oh right…", said Dan, and held up his other hand. "Guess you didn't see this then."
Brandy looked into Dan's hand, and saw a small black box. It had a small logo carved into the side, seeming to be of a pair of horns. She almost recoiled at its menacing aura. "What is that?"
Dan looked back over at the crater that Bonoome's death had left, which was now beginning to slowly close. "I found it over at his death site. Must have dropped it just before he died. And it is…"
He flipped a small switch- small for him, anyway. To a regular person it would have been quite large. But once he did, the box screamed open, lifted into the air, and displayed a massive hologram upon the air.
It appeared to be of the ruins of an old castle, or perhaps a dark and ancient cave. Two massive, burning eyes shone from far deep within, almost as terrifying and infernal as the voice that followed, scraping at the world with malevolent intent.
"Bonoome…", the voice began, as lines of almost visible fear began to radiate outwards from the box in all directions. "If you are hearing this, you seem to be stuck on your current mission- whatever that may be."
The voice grew darker and more serious, scraping at everyone's brain with sheer, bubbling evil. "Your task is to locate and destroy all who would interrupt me on my quest for greatness, and immortality. Take prisoners if you must, but kill whenever you wish. Just remember, Bonoome. You are the finest of the first team. And you shall not fail I, your master… Rakastamos."
Then the box beeped, spun, dropped the hologram, and fell back into Dan's hand right where it had been hovering. The group was silent for a bit, but Juno was the first to break the lull.
"Frick.", she said. "That sounds… defining."
"Yup.", said Dan. "Guess we have a lead on Rakastamos, though. Whoever, or whatever he is."
"What, indeed.", said Juno, scratching her cheek. "However…"
She ran the image of the hologram through her advanced mind, searching for anything she might use to identify the culprit. After a few seconds, her eyes shot open as she came to a conclusion.
"Rakastamos is a Dragon.", she said, drawing a small, rather cartoonish drawing of a Dragon on the edge of the paper. "Judging by the bats behind him, I'd say he's somewhere in the Clashcrush mountains."
"Why'd you draw him like that?', Brandy asked, referring to the cartoonish way in which Rakastamos was drawn. "And also how do you know all that just from a vague hologram?"
Juno smirked, and gestured to the box. "Easy. Those horns engraved into the box's side aren't just for decoration- no, they are a patent. I could also see his sheer size in the hologram video- only Dragons can grow to that size. And his voice didn't sound like it could possibly see anything else. And before you ask, I saw a rather large piece of moss that only comes from one spot- and that's the very highest peak in the Clashcrush mountains."
"The Clashcrush Mountains…", Dan said, stroking his slightly bearded chin. "That name sounds familiar. I think I've heard of it before."
"Well, yeah.", said Juno with a roll of her eyes. "Of course you have. Everyone's heard of it."
"I haven't.", said Brandy. "This is my first time hearing about it."
"Oh.", said Juno. "Well then, never mind."
Dan stiffened a little bit at Juno's seeming dislike of him, Brandy also not sure what she thought of her obvious favoritism. "I mean-"
"So he's obviously in the Clashcrush Mountains.", said Juno with a flick of her marker. "So if you guys are so intent on saving the world from whoever Rakastamos is, you need to go there first thing."
"Right.", said Brandy. "However, there are some other things we need to do."
She jumped up to the whiteboard, and drew a Wizard and an Archer. "We also came here to find my parents. And…"
She circled the figure of Rakastamos, still thinking it was some other Dragon. "We need to find him. I think he wants to help save the world."
Juno raised an eyebrow. "Well then, I suppose I should let you two do it. I'll just..."
She took a step backwards, towards where Fallon was peacefully staring off into the woods. "Be off then. Lots of stuff to do, not a lot of time to do it."
Brandy, knowing she had only a few seconds left to ask questions, threw out her arms in momentary panic. "Wait! Hold on! Don't go yet! There's still so much more I want to ask you!"
Juno rolled her eyes inwardly. She had known full well Brandy was going to do this, which is why she had stood up in the first place. "Oh, fine. What are your questions?"
"Well…", Brandy said, her mind swirling. She tried to grab ahold on them, knowing she couldn't ask them all. "You can do cool stuff with Dash, right? Well… what cool stuff can Fallon do?"
Juno was about to answer, but Fallon had heard Brandy's question. So he simply extended one arm, nocked an arrow, and fired.
Brandy stared for a minute, expecting the arrow to appear. But it had flashed through the trees and disappeared without a trace. "Uuuh…"
"Give it a second.", said Juno, whispering with excitement. "It takes a bit. The world's pretty big, after all."
"Wait, the world-", began Brandy, but then the arrow flashed by right next to her head. Fallon caught it with an outstretched hand, grabbed an apple off of its edge, and began to eat.
"Oh.", said Brandy, with quiet respect. "Yes. The world. Um…"
She stopped for a moment to consider her next question. Speaking of the world...
"What was the creation of the world like?"
"The creation of the world?", Juno asked, and took a step back. "Well, I'm not that old. I wasn't there for that- none of us were. But that doesn't mean I don't know what happened…"
She looked over her shoulder, to where Fallon was hovering knowably. "Dad? A little lighting, please?"
Fallon, without even ceasing his meditation, spun around his hand. The light dimmed in a small arc around them, and Juno sat down. "Long ago, when the world was young, there was only ocean."
The air around her lit up in a dazzling spectacle of constellations, and both Brandy and Dan could not help but gasp. An image of a globe swirled into view, surrounded by the familiar images of the gods.
"But the gods got together, and decided to create. They had many failures at first…"
The globe was filled with shifting continents for a few seconds, the smokelike figures of the gods staring at it in disapprovement. One slammed his fist into a continent, breaking it into dark smoke. The others looked around at each other, then started to craft once again.
"Eventually…", said Juno, the light shining into her face, "The gods realized that although they had wonderful ideas, they lacked the patience to build their own world. So they created a servant out of stone- the Primal Golem, Anghammarad."
The smoke in front of the globe warped into a massive Golem, huge in size and shape. Even though he stood immoving, both Dan and Brandy could feel his power.
"He had the strength to sculpt mountains, yet the delicacy to paint the smallest flower.", said Juno, her voice lending excitement to the story. "He was the one who pushed the continents together, into what would one day be the lands you both know."
She spun her hand around in a circle, accelerating the globe's spin.
"However, Anghammarad had one weakness- and that was the inability to create life. So acting on orders from the gods, he pushed a leftover landmass together into the shape of a being. And after an action of life from the gods-"
Upon the image of the globe, Anghammarad rapidly pushed together a huge mass of clay. A finger fell from the heavens, tapping the top, and washing over it with rainbow light. The construct's eyes slowly cracked open, as the Dragon rose towards the sky and roared.
"The Primal Dragon was born.", Juno finished. "His name was… um…"
She turned over her shoulder, temporarily putting the light show on pause. "Hey Dad?", she asked. "What was the name of-"
"Akulamastar.", said Fallon. He had already known exactly what Juno was going to ask. For some reason, that name in particular kept on evading her.
"Right, that.", said Juno, and again shined the light on her face from below. "Akulamaster, the Primal Dragon. He brought life to the land, spreading life and creation across the blank world that Anghammarad had sculpted."
The magical image of Akulamastar raised his hand, and several colored beams of light spread out from them. "Aklamaster had a few children, each of which he assigned to create a different species. I can't remember which ones were in charge of which, though…"
Juno shook her head, intent to finish the story. "And soon, the gods decided to organize this world that they had created. There were enough Dragonlords for each of them to eventually inherit a continent- and we already know who went where. Anghammarad was the primary architect for such projects- building the Arenas and such."
She spun her hand in a Dash-infused circle, causing an equally fast turn of the globe. Brandy watched in awe as she saw the world turn, soon becoming filled with all forms of diverse and wonderful life. But it was so fast, she could hardly keep up with it and all.
"But- wait.", she said, confused. "What happened to them? Anghammarad and the Dragon?"
Juno frowned. "Well, after the construction of the Rushlands, Anghammarad returned to his sleep, deep in the sea. Once the gods need him again, he shall awaken. As for Aklumaster, well…"
She pointed upwards, Dan and Brandy's gaze following. They could see the figure of Akulamastar flying away, stardust borne on his wings. "He grew too large. He had to leave the planet."
"Ah.", said Brandy.
"I see.", said Dan.
"Aaaand that's it for today.", said Juno, and sat up. The lights vanished, Fallon turned around, and Brandy's eyes shot open from their half asleep state in alarm.
"Wait!", she shouted. "I, uh…"
"Make it short, kid.", said Juno with some annoyance. "I gotta go somewhere now."
"Oh.", said Brandy. "Where are you going?"
Juno looked up towards the sky. "To tell the truth, we both have to go. All the Primals, all the gods. To the Meeting."
"Meeting?", Brandy asked. "What meeting?"
"We're meeting with the citizens of several other planets in a realm known as Tencent. This is something that happens every 300 years, just routine."
"Oh.", said Brandy. "How long will it take?"
Fallon looked at his wrist, even though there was nothing there, and gave a quick look towards Juno. She nodded, somehow able to understand. "About a week."
Brandy bit her lip. Something about that seemed absolutely terrifying, but she could not quite figure out what. So she just nodded, and took a step back into Dan's tight grip. "Okay."
Juno took a step backwards, and flicked her fingers off her forehead. She placed one foot on the edge of a portal that Fallon had opened up using Star. "Well, nice talking to you kid. Goodbye!"
The edge of the portal began to close, Juno and Fallon beginning to vanish- and it was then that Brandy finally remembered her question. Leaning forward and flipping back her hood, she shouted into the wind.
"How do I-", she yelled, but Juno already knew her question. And another that she had wanted to ask, but didn't think should.
"You'll know, kid!", she shouted, then flipped back her hood and hair to reveal her hair. "And yes, they are.". She winked. "Very."
And with a rush of magic, Juno and Fallon vanished into the air.
Brandy and Dan stood on the grass, as it slowly began to regrow under their feet. The battle with Bonoome had dealt tremendous amounts of damage to the surrounding area, and it had yet to fully recover.
"So.", said Brandy. "That happened."
"Yes.", said Dan, with a slow nod of his head. "It did."
They both stood there for a few more seconds, letting the knowledge they had gained soak in.
"And you know what needs to happen now?", Dan asked, letting his hand down to the ground.
"What?", Brandy asked, as she instinctively let herself fall into it. Dan put her up onto his shoulder, and looked towards the far horizon. The sun was starting to near the tops of the mountains.
"We should keep going.", Dan said. "That's what we need to do now."
Brandy looked around, and shrugged. "Yeah, you're right. Who knows what Rakastamos is doing right now. We don't have that much time to waste."
"Yeah…", said Dan, then whispered into Brandy's ear. "Also if we stay here for much longer, we might have to clean this place up."
Brandy covered her mouth with her hand, closed her eyes, and giggled. Dan's armor suddenly grew a little bit tighter, as he saw just how cute she looked in the late afternoon light. All happy like that.
"Hey!", came the shout of Sophie behind them, and Brandy jumped. She turned around, expecting to see orders to clean, but instead Sophie was holding a small stone object in her hands.
"We saw that you kids were about to leave.", said Herb, coming up behind her. "So we figured we might as well give you something for the road."
Sophie extended her hands, and Brandy could see what was in them- a small semi-round stone with a purple imprint of a drop of Elixir.
"Here.", said Sophie. "I heard from one of our Builders that you were on the verge of death from lack of Elixir when he found you. Take this, so that it doesn't happen again."
Herb had been standing still for a few seconds, but when he heard Sophie's words, his eyes popped. He grabbed the Rune of Elixir from Sophie's hands and held it as far away from her as he could. "Woah, what? What are you doing, woman?"
Sophie shot around, spreading out her arms. "I thought we were giving them the Rune of Elixir!"
"No!", shouted Herb. "Are you crazy? That thing's expensive! It cost us 1500 Gems!"
He clutched the Rune tightly to his chest, glaring at Sophie with somewhat protective eyes. "You were just going to give this away? In addition to the 1000 Gems you already spent? You're crazy! A beautiful nutcase!"
"Crazy?", Sophie yelled. "A beautiful nutca-"
Then she stopped, realizing what she had just said. She put her hands on her hips, and took a step back. "Excuse me, beautiful? Do you really think compliments could get you out of this?"
"Yes.", said Herb. "Also, what do you mean out of this? You started it!"
"I didn't start it!", Sophie yelled, pointing to herself, her voice growing higher. "I thought we were going to give them the Rune!"
"No!", shouted Herb. "That thing's expensive! It cost us 1500 Gems!"
As they continued to argue, Dan and Brandy decided that the best thing to do in that situation was just to quietly slip away.
Song: A Dream
"So, you think we're actually getting that-", Dan started to say, but stopped when he suddenly ran into something down below. He casually looked down, only to yelp in surprise when he saw that he had just knocked over Spacekrakenx.
"Ah! Sir!", he shouted, and knelt down to help him up. "Are you alright? I'm so, so, sorry-"
But to his surprise, Spacekrakenx just sprung to his feet and struck a ballet pose. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Don't you worry."
He grabbed something from one of his many pockets, unrolling the scroll until it extended almost past his feet. "This is a map.", he said. "It will help you."
Dan grabbed the map by one end, lifting up so he could see. "A map?", he asked, turning it over and around as he attempted to make sense of it. "To where?"
"My clanmates.", said Spacekrakenx with a mixture of confusion and pride. "They'll help you on your journey."
Dan took another last look at the map, then handed it off to Brandy. She squinted at it for a second, then tucked it into a pocket that had conveniently appeared upon Dan's recarved armor.
"Well, thanks for the help.", said Dan, and gently shook Spacekrakenx's comparatively tiny hand. "We are truly grateful you could help us find some place to stay, even if it wasn't for long."
"And I'm grateful you could save my village from that Giant.", said Spacekrakenx, with a nod of his head. "I don't know what we would have done if you two hadn't shown up. You kids really do have something special, you know that?"
"We do?", Brandy asked, looking down at him in surprise.
"Yeah, honey.", said Dan, and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek. She stopped moving for a second, then snuggled in closer to his neck. "We do."
Spacekrakenx coughed, drawing both Dan and Brandy's attentions. "Well.", he said. "If you have nothing better to do, then I think you should be off."
He clasped his hands together, and gave a small bow. "Thank you both for all your help. I will tell Oticat that you are both alright and well."
Dan gave a small bow as well, although with him it was actually rather large. "Thank you for that. We will return to him as soon as we can- after this Rakastamos, whoever he is, has been defeated."
Then they both stood straight up, and Dan began walking towards the edge of the village. But it only took a few seconds for him to realize he had forgotten something.
"Oh no!", he shouted, and slapped his hands on the sides of his face. "Shoot!"
"What?", Brandy asked. "Dan, what is it?"
"The Rune of Elixir!", Dan shouted again, and started to turn around. "We didn't get it-"
But then he saw Brandy give a wry smile, and pull a little something out of her pocket.
"But we did get it.", she said, throwing the Rune of Elixir up and down in her hand. "Remember?"
Dan stood there for a second, then cracked a smile of his own. "Oh.", he said. "Riiight."
Then they both turned towards the wilderness, Brandy taking another quick look at the map.
"So.", she said. "We first kill Rakastamos. Then find my parents."
"Right.", said Dan. "Unless you want to find them first?"
"No.", said Brandy with a shake of her head. "Rakastamos is a time-based threat. And if I've survived without my parents for this long, then I can go without them a little while longer."
Dan nodded, and Brandy sighed, stretched, and laid down across his shoulder. "Alright."
"We're heading into the wilderness, Dan.", she said. "No Villages for a good long while."
"I know.", Dan said. "Invigorating, isn't it?"
"Yeah.", said Brandy, and slunk a little lower onto his shoulder. "Just think of all the cool things we'll see!"
"Right.", said Dan, and held up a fist. He slowly began walking, heading into a small path off the treeline. "And I know it'll be all so much cooler to find…"
He looked up into the world, seeing destiny on the horizon. "With you by my side."
And with that, Dan and Brandy left the civilized world behind, and walked off into the true unknown of the Continent of the Clans.
"Well…", said Sophie, her usually tranquil face red from all the shouting. "I have a crazy idea. What if we just…"
She held up her hand, which she thought still held the Rune of Elixir that Brandy had stolen. "Gave them the Rune of Elixir?"
"Well.", said Herb, taking notice that what Sophie was holding in her hand was actually just a compass. "I'd love to. But…"
"But what?", asked Sophie. "But-"
And then she saw out of the corner of her eye what she now held in her hand. Her eye twitched, realizing her argument of several minutes against Herb had in the end been all for nothing.
"But she already took it.", said Herb. "So I can't give it to her… can I?"
Sophie breathed out, and put her hands on her hips. She let the compass fall into her pocket, neatly tucked in by one of her hand Archers with a "Madam" and a quick salute.
"Well.", she said, looking out over the devastated village. "I suppose we really should begin to clean up."
Far off in the forest, still miles away from where Dan and Brandy were currently walking, a single young figure ran as fast as he could among the trees. He chanced a look behind him as he stumbled and fell, turning his trip into a roll that propelled him even further forward.
"You can't run forever!", he heard something hiss from behind him. He shot his head around to look- there was a Bat flying alongside him at top speed. It jeered at it flittered through the leaves of the forest, almost seeming to laugh. "Sooner or later, boy, you will tire."
The boy snarled, his anger and desperation evident upon his dirt-scarred face. "Shut up!", he yelled, and flicked his wrist with a sharp snap. A clean volley of metal blades shot forth from his fingers, slicing through the Bat almost as easily as they cut through the air.
But even as he cut one tormenter down, soon more appeared. They flipped and fluttered around him, making a mockery of his speed.
"There's nowhere you can escape to.", one crooned, sending a piercing wave of sound through the air, the toxic words unburdened by the rushing wind. "You're going to lose."
"Give it up, child.", screeched the other, ducking in close to the kid's hood. "If you turn yourself in now, we'll make sure your last memories will be at least somewhat enjoyable."
"I said shut up!", yelled the boy again, and jumped over a log. He flipped both of his hands at once, slicing the Bats apart into bits. He ducked underneath a branch and kept on running, not quite sure where he was running to.
"Boy!", shouted a much larger, more formidable voice from somewhere behind him. The boy glanced over his shoulder, to see a tall figure rushing towards him, borne aloft on a flock of Bats.
"She misses you, you know.", the figure crooned, the soft moonlight reflecting off of his bare purple hair. "She wants you back."
The boy almost stopped, but kept on crashing through the brush. However, his motivation was given a slight pause. "Jess?", he asked softly.
"Yes, her.", said the tall man, and slowly reached for his back-mounted weapon, the moonlight reflecting on its razor-sharp blades. "Now if you just come with us, you can make her very, very happy…"
The boy almost stopped when he heard those words- almost. But the last bit of the sentence made him remember why he was running in the first place. So he just grit his teeth, flipped a finger towards the man who was chasing him, and turned back into the woods.
"Come back here, boy!", shouted the man, and drew to his full height. The moonlight shone down, revealing him as a hatless Mortis. "Or I will kill you!"
"That's not a motivation!", shouted the boy, and ran even faster. Mortis attempted a ranged grab with his flock of Bats- but the one he was chasing rolled into a bush and disappeared from sight. Mortis snarled in frustration- he was incapable of seeing what was in a bush.
He raised one hand, and the roving cloud of Bats came to a stop. He silently withdrew a small device from his pocket, and held it up to his face. "Master?"
Although he heard the voice as though it came from the phone, in reality it came from within his own head. Yes, Mortis? What word is there of the boy?
Mortis gulped, his master's lovely yet menacing voice sweet blades upon his ears. "Um… I lost the boy.", he said. "I'm sorry, but his speed is almost unnatural."
Although Mortis could not actually see his master, he could almost hear his mouth curl down into a frown as his fingers slowly tapped together. I don't like that, bat boy, he said. Not… one...bit.
Mortis almost dropped his phone in fear. "Y- yes, master.", he said, very nearly shaking. "I'm sorry, I'll look for him harder."
His mysterious master leaned back in his unreal chair. Good, good. Don't fail me, Mortis. We all know what happens to those who fail me, correct?
Mortis shivered, as he thought of exactly what had happened. The way she had screamed was scarring even for someone like him. "Yes, master."
Good, said the master with a smile. Now get to it. The boy won't find himself… and neither will the girl.
"Too right, your grandliness.", said the Mortis, and gave another signal to his Bats. They rode off instantly, pulling Mortis along at high speed. "Too right you are."
Yet even as they rushed along, the boy had not quite run away. He was hiding behind a tree just up ahead, waiting in anticipation for Mortis to pass by.
"Come on…", he thought, his fingers twitching for the chance to attack. "Come on, just a little while more…"
He waited for a few more seconds- until Mortis at last crossed his path. He stared straight forward in anger, suspecting absolutely nothing. Good.
"Hey, rockface!", shouted the boy, suddenly leaping out into Mortis's path. He drew a strange object from his back, and pointed it directly at him. "Eat it!"
"What?", Mortis shrieked. "What the-"
Then the boy's strange device activated, and the only sound that could be heard were that of high-octane, multi-chamber ballistic explosions.
Song: Virus
The forest shivered, as two dark inhabitants walked its once peaceful paths. One was tall and thin, a stumbling, shambling wreck of a berserk wild animal. Its form shivered with dripping acids and virulent poisons, a low snarl constantly forcing its way out from behind its cracked, bleeding lips. Its eyes were covered with a rotting steel bar, yet it somehow managed to find its way along the dissolving path. It hissed with an unspeakable rage, the torn remnants of its Goblin heritage fighting to be heard amongst all the filth and disease.
The other one walking was in almost total contrast. He was still a dark, evil being, yet in a totally different way. He stood tall and proud, keeping his back straight and his chin level. His bow was slung in an invisible quiver along his back, no arrows to be seen. His jet black hair was smoothed back, flicks of white visible along its length. He wore a dark grey tunic, with small bits of slate blue and blood red to add splashes of flavor. He cast a look at his disheveled partner, and sniffed in utter disgust.
"You there.", he spat, and held up a torn piece of paper. The stumbling pile of rot didn't respond, instead choosing to tear apart a nearby bush into strands of rotting plant matter.
"Ugof, was it…", muttered the elegant man, then cleared his throat and shouted. "Ugof! Pay attention!"
Ugof the Toxic Goblin, upon hearing his name, snapped his head up to look. Drool dripped from his misaligned fangs, eating into the dirt. He slashed his hands against the dirt of the road, and growled once more in curiosity.
Villasteel the Night Archer sighed, and shook his head. He had forgotten just how irritating Ugof could be in their shared slumber of many, many years. But he managed to get ahold of himself, and remind himself just what he was doing, and held up the piece of paper once more.
"These are our targets.", he said, pointing to a few line drawings on the worn slip of paper. They were a slightly inaccurate sketch of Dan and Brandy, although the similarity was enough to go off of. "Do you think you can handle that?"
Ugof stared at the paper for a few seconds, his miniscule brain not strong enough to handle such information. He gently swayed his arms from side to side, another string of drool leaking from his jagged mouth. "Graaahh…"
Villasteel clutched his nose and closed his eyes, shaking his head back and forth.
"Why did I ever let you get paired up with me…", he asked, and looked towards the sky. "Rakastamos, why couldn't I have been with Vulgalia? Or Taklavastoss, or-"
He was suddenly interrupted by the sensation of Ugof tugging at the piece of paper, trying desperately to get it free. The beast almost screamed, seemingly infuriated at the parchment.
"What?", barked Villasteel, tugging back at first, but then letting go. Ugo happily took the paper, barked wetly, and tossed it into his mouth.
"Oh.", said Villasteel. "Oh great, you're eating it. Good, we didn't need that at all-"
But he stopped, when he saw Ugof's nose flare. His ears perked up, and he turned back down towards the trail.
"What?", asked Villasteel in sarcasm and impeccable disgust. "What is it, do you have a scent?"
Ugof looked up at him and jerked his head forward, as if to say duh. Follow me. Then he howled in rage, and took off down the path. Villasteel inwardly shrugged, and externally followed him at top speed.
Ugof kept running, caustic slime dripping off him in droves. He barked a gutteral sound as he screeched to a halt in front of a large bush, and sat on his hind legs. He would wait for Villasteel to arrive- for he had found the target. Or, at the very least, something that would lead them to it.
"What is it, beast?", Villasteel snapped, as he caught up with Ugof. "Have you found something, or are you just going to-"
Then he stopped, seeing what Ugof had arrived at with a sneer. It was nothing but a discarded slip of paper, burned on one side and no doubt muddy and poisoned on the other.
"Fool.", said Villasteel, and snapped his fingers. "We're supposed to be looking for two beings. Living ones. Do you think you can handle that?"
If Ugof understood his words, he gave no indication. Instead, he just growled softly to himself, still sitting on his haunches on the ground, snarling softly.
"Grrraaahhh…", he moaned, rising shakily to his feet. He heaved a bit, out of breath, before he once again began the endless field of green drool. "Aaaahhhhh…"
Villasteel watched Ugof stumble around, in a strange mixture of disappointment and amusement. "What a totally savage creature. I wonder if it's even capable of reasonable thought."
Ugof sniffed at the ground, recoiling in surprise. A scorpion had lunged out of its underground burrow, intent on attacking him. It jabbed with its stinger, trying to push him away- but Ugof was suddenly over his shock. He reached out with one hand, grabbing the scorpion around its sides. It flashed its tail forward, sinking deep into the skin, but no pain was felt, with only superficial damage.
"Grr...ah?", mumbled Ugof, and tried to shake the scorpion off. He didn't bother to grip it, for whatever reason. The scorpion, terrified by having been picked up, started to flail around angrily. But Ugof didn't notice any of that- he just poked the scorpion in the stomach with a single rotting finger.
But once the scorpion stung again, whatever bit of rotting flesh within Ugof's brain recognized it was a threat. He growled and flung the scorpion away, into the woods. The tree that the unfortunate arthropod splattered upon almost instantly grew dozens of large spores, the creaking of the wood lasting for only a few seconds before the entire tree collapsed into putrid dust. Ugof stood there heaving for a few seconds, admiring what he had done.
"Hmph.", Villasteel sniffed, coming up from behind Ugof. "You fool, you're wasting your poison."
He grabbed a stick from off the ground and jabbed it underneath Ugof's arm, lifting it high into the air. Ignoring Ugof's bubbling grunts of protest, Villasteel looked for a small bar on the bottom of Ugof's forearm. Sure enough, it was only half as full as it had been when they had set out that morning.
"If you run out of you, you'll die.", Villasteel huffed, letting the arm fall. "Be sure you don't."
Ugof tucked his arm closer to his chest, apparently offended at Villasteel's inspection. He extended a long, spiked tongue and licked his forearm where the stick had touched, softly whimpering as he did so.
Villasteel watched the Toxic Goblins's activities for a while, then turned away before he got sick. He folded his arms in slight frustration, and looked up into the sky. He was trying to get himself calmed down- but then a silver and gold shape flashed across the sky, a mere speck in his vision.
Villasteel lost his calm almost immediately, tearing his darkbow off his back on instinct. One hand flew to the string and created an arrow, another aiming the bow right at the moving target- but Villasteel sighed. There was no point in trying to shoot. Even if he did manage to hit dead on, it would do nothing to such a powerful being. And then Fallon would know he was awake, and by that know Rakastamos was awake as well.
"Curse you, Fallon…", Villasteel growled, almost shaking with anger. "Curse you all to the below…"
He watched the flying blur of motion that was Juno and Fallon move farther across the valley, and disappear as they shot past a mountain. His eyes narrowed, and his fists tightly clenched.
"I was always the one in the back, wasn't I?", he spat, remembering his unfortunate early life. "And of course, Mother always did like you best. And then Father never had enough time for me- no, it was always him and Bo doing something. Well, who's laughing now? You and Bo may have your silly Primal Status, but I have what you do not. Potential."
He began to laugh, ignoring the small but crucial fact that there was no one around to really see it. "I have the great Dragonlord Rakastamos on my side, brother. And when he rises… it shall be you that falls."
He stopped laughing, and looked around for Ugof. He found him eating half a bear, and sighed.
"Ugof!", he shouted, flipping his hands into the air to get Ugof to rise. "Come on, you idiotic beast!"
Ugof looked up, chuffed, and got on all fours. He started following Villasteel as he walked further into the woods, leaving a trail of slime as the two passed. "We have some Troops to kill."
As Dan and Brandy walked along the forest path, lit by the cool afternoon sun, Brandy thought she could feel something nearby. It seemed off, but in a way she could not quite place.
"Something feels weird.", she said out loud. "I don't know what, but it does."
Dan stopped in his tracks, and looked around. "I don't see anything weird."
"Yeah, exactly.", said Brandy. "I don't see anything weird, but I feel something weird. Unnatural."
Dan stuck his finger up into the wind, and thought for a moment. "Hmm… I still don't feel anything. You know what's really weird though?"
Brandy frowned, and kept on walking. "Huh. Must have just been my imagination then-"
Then she realized what Dan had said, and turned her head to look up at him. "What?"
"How cute you are.", said Dan, and tapped his finger against his waist. "That just seems impossible."
Brandy perked up, and her cheeks turned a little redder. A sly grin crept up the side of her face, as she slowly stopped walking. "Oh? And what's weird about that?"
"It just doesn't make sense.", said Dan, leaning down to her level. "For anything or anyone to be as cute as you are, well…"
Brandy felt her legs go a little weak, and her heart started to beat a little faster at Dan's words. She tucked her hair behind her ear, and took a single step backwards. "Well what?"
"It seems impossible.", said Dan, as he slowly ran a single massive finger down Brandy's back. "Everything about you is just so perfect."
Brandy closed her eyes, and let herself fall backwards against Dan's arm. "Mmmm… not as perfect as you though."
Song: Sudden Battle
Ugof ran frantically through the bushes and trees, his jaw swinging back and forth as he approached the targets. Villasteel leapt after him, jumping over bushes and fallen logs as fast as he could in a mad effort to keep up.
After about a minute or so of running, Ugof finally skid to a halt. The scent was very strong here, very strong indeed. Drool fell from his cracked mouth, as he focused as much of his toxicity as he could deep within his fists. "Ushaaa…"
Villasteel jumped over a bush and ducked underneath a tree simulatenously, landing next to Ugof with a dramatic flourish. "What is it, beast? Have you picked up a-"
Suddenly, Ugof erupted into a berserk rage. He roared a ferocious war cry, and threw a volley of rot-filled punches forwards as fast as he could. "Ubashaaaaaa!"
Villasteel ducked, covering his face with his hands, as Ugof's strike erupted. A massive cone of pure painful death shot outwards from the impact point, turning trees and bushes into mere strings of sickly green, slightly vibrating muck.
"Impressive…", Villasteel muttered, letting down his arms to witness the wreckage. "However."
He looked forwards as far as he could, seeing a distinct lack of anything large that had been hit. "We're not even close to our targets. Save your poison, and let's try again."
Ugof nodded, somehow able to understand. He put his nose to the ground and took off, Villasteel not far behind.
Brandy rubbed her head up against Dan's hand, letting herself be lost in his presence. "I don't think anyone could be as perfect as you."
"Mmm, are you sure?", Dan asked, and gently gripped Brandy's head in his hand. He rubbed Brandy's ears with the delicacy of a painter, and she slightly moaned. "Because you're as perfect as anyone can be-"
Then he stopped. Some bizarre, menacing sound had reached his ears. It sounded evil, and highly destructive. He let go of Brandy's head and turned his head, much to her dismay.
"Dan, what was that?", she asked, opening her eyes again. "I was just starting to-"
Then she heard it too, a grating scream of guttural fury that echoed over the tops of the tree. Another shiver ran down her back, but this one was of worry rather than happiness.
"Oh-", she began, and Dan finished her sentence.
"Shoot.", he said, and looked down. "That sounded bad."
"You know what it is?", Brandy asked. Dan started to respond that he didn't, when he realized it was actually probably a rhetorical question. And he, of course, was correct.
"It's one of those things that have been following us.", Brandy said, and stretched in preparation for combat. "Another weird troop-"
Then she stopped, and slapped her own forehead with both hands, tugging at the edges of her mask. "Oh, shoot!", she said, and groaned. "We didn't ask Juno about what those things were!"
Dan frowned, and breathed in. A shot of golden Star lit up his arms, and he tried to look forward as much as he could. "Darn. Well, next time we see her, I guess. Now let's go."
Brandy grinned, and started running. "Let's."
"Come on, come on…", Villasteel growled, as Ugof ran with reckless abandon through the wild woods. A stick of bamboo broke as he crashed through it, sending splinters all over the place and right into Villasteel's face with a ring of loud cursing.
Villasteel drew his bow, and jumped over a rock. He guessed that they were getting close, but it was still hard to tell. It was a very big forest,and they were only hunting for two individuals.
"Ubashaaaaa!", Ugof again screamed, and let loose another volley of punches. A terrifyingly powerful cloud of sheer poison gas erupted from his fists, spreading out over an entire area of trees. All plant life touched buckled and split into strings, any insects unfortunate enough to be caught in the cloud dissolving at its touch.
Villasteel shook his head, and sighed. "Again, an impressive show. But until you learn to work on your aim, that's all it is… a show."
He grabbed Ugof by the shoulder, using a long steel glove, and gently pulled him away from the destroyed area. "By my estimates, you've only got one more charge of poison left before you need to recharge. WE should just take it easy for now."
Ugof looked up at him, shook his head, and ran off further into the woods.
"See, there it is again.", said Brandy. "That weird sound, almost like something is in pain."
Dan snuck forward, as odd as it might have sounded that a Mega Knight could be doing anything of the sort. "We do have to be careful though. Who knows what's been sent after us this time."
"Heh.", said Brandy, thinking back to their previous encounters. "Well, from the sounds that we're hearing, it might be one of those rotting things."
Dan lifted up a tree branch over his head, straining one ear to listen. "Like the one we faced right after we got onto the dock? I don't think so."
He slowly crept forward, Brandy following him into the woods. "We've only faced one of each type so far. I don't think that's gonna change."
Brandy slipped right underneath Dan's legs, softly Dashing through a pile of pine needles. She huffed the hair out of her face, trying to take a look forward. "Huh. Yeah, maybe you're right."
Dan thought for a moment, still not seeing anything among the trees. "No, you're right. Maybe we will."
Brandy looked up at him in slight confusion. "What are you talking about? You're right."
Dan's eyebrows raised. "No, you're the right one here. You're always right."
Brandy's hands went to her hips, and she looked at Dan in disbelief. "I don't see how I'm the right one here, honey."
"Oh, but you are.", said Dan. "You're always right. How could you not be? You're already perfect…"
Brandy felt her skin tingle, and she relaxed a bit. "Oh really? But I'm not as perfect as you."
Dan took a quick look towards the woods where he had heard the sound- nothing. Then he turned back towards Brandy, who seemed to glow in the late afternoon light. He grinned and bent down- whatever it was could wait, just a little while.
"Ugof, slow down!", shouted Villasteel, sprinting as fast as he could through the woods. He couldn't believe the Toxic Goblin's stamina- it had seemed only moments ago that his poison was running out. But now it dripped behind him in droves, cutting a path on the forest floor, a clear sign that it was anything but.
But Ugof ignored his words, and continued to forge ahead. His nose perked up as he sniffed the air, seeking the scent that he had found. His muscles automatically clenched, as he prepared to lunge at the prey once he had reached it.
"Uuu…", he growled, as Villasteel finally caught up to him. "Ugof, wait-"
Then Ugof exploded into rage, flinging his fists and toxin forward at the speed of a rushing river. "Ubashaaaaaaaaaaa!"
Once again, the entire grove in front of him collapsed into nothing. Trees wailed in silent agony as they fell, every bit of them dissolving into festering muck. The seeping remnants of leaves soaked into the ground and disappeared, the entire area going from forest to toxic swamp in the space of a few deafening seconds.
Ugof stood there breathing heavily for a few seconds, admiring his handiwork as much as he was able. He heard Villasteel's slow, disgusted clap from behind him, and turned around.
"Yes.", said Villasteel, flinging a strand of rotted tree off of his shoulder. "Very… impressive. However…"
He suddenly smacked Ugof in the face with the side of his bow, sending him back onto the ground. "We're supposed to be chasing the targets, you fool! Not rotting down the entire bloody forest! What, do you think this is some sort of game? We have a job to finish- not time to waste turning trees into muck! They'll spot us, you simpleton fool! And then what? The Mega Knight has ranged attacks that outshine even my own!"
Ugof rubbed his face where he had been hit, and looked up at Villasteel, who was red in the face from his shouting. And deep within whatever he had that passed for a heart, there began to stir a single spark of resentment.
Dan suddenly looked up. "Do you hear… yelling?"
Brandy stopped, even as she was rubbing against Dan's arm. "No. Why?"
"Nothing.", said Dan. "I just thought I heard yelling. Oh well…"
He leaned down, and whispered into Brandy's ear. "Now I can get back to telling you how perfect you are."
"No, you're perfect.", said Brandy, as she leaned back against Dan's hand. "I don't think you have much of an argument here, honey."
Dan rubbed his fingers against Brandy's chest, and she let herself fall further into his grasp. "No, no, you're the perfect one here. That's just facts, my little thief."
Brandy smiled. "You know, I love it when you call me that. Your naughty little thief."
"Naughty?", asked Dan. "No, you're not naughty. You're the best girl in the entire world."
Brandy bit her lip, and gently stroked Dan's arm. "Oh… but I like being naughty though. It's fun."
"Heh.", said Dan. "Well then, you can be naughty for me."
"I will.", said Brandy, and suddenly turned around. She jumped up to grab Dan by the shoulders, leaning into his face. "Why don't we start right now?"
Dan grabbed Brandy by the back, bringing her closer in. She couldn't get away- not that she even remotely wanted to. "Yes, my cute little thief. We can start right now."
Brandy closed her eyes. "I love it when you talk like that…"
Then she leaned in even further, and kissed him as hard as she could.
Villasteel stopped yelling for a second, his beeping wristwatch commanding his attention. "What…"
He took a look at it, and shouted in joy. "Yes! It's working! My pheromone shot was a success! They must be rolling all over each other by now. If we act fast, they won't know what hit them."
He gestured to Ugof, who by now knew what to expect. He sighed, and started a fast run into the woods.
"Yes, yes…", said Villasteel under his breath. "We have to hurry. Rakastamos will reward us well."
He kept running, shaking his wrist as he went. The pheromone shot was strong, but the vapors dissipated quickly. If they didn't take their shot soon, their target would already be gone.
Ugof ran quickly through the woods, building up as much poison as possible within his fingertips. He almost steamed with sheer toxicity, the very air seeming to turn green with acid and venom. He snarled in anticipation, ready to finally make his move, return to base, and never talk to Villasteel again. He kind of disliked him now.
Finally, he arrived near the spot he was seeking. He could hear the frenzied sounds of two beings engaged in some high-energy activity just behind a wall of trees. He could smell the scent he had been seeking this whole time, just waiting for him to reach out and take it. And so, as Villasteel slowly came jogging up behind him, he spat on his hands, raised them up into the air, and-
"RUSHAAAAAAA!", he screamed, flinging his attack forward with all the force he could possibly muster. "ARUHIAHUHSFDUHUAHFIHSIUDHFJAKXJZXCJXKAJUDHHKAJHAAAAAAAA!"
A massive cloud of pure, encroaching panic in the form of venom seeped outwards from him, spreading out over the entire clearing. Anything it touched turned to dust almost immediately, which turned to even smaller dust, which seemed to vanish entirely. Even Ugof was forced to blink at the sheer biochemical devastation that his attack had unleashed.
Once the smoke cleared, however, the sight that met both of their eyes was quite different from the one Villasteel had imagined. For one thing, there was no pool of Elixir upon the ground that had once been the Priority Targets. There was instead a pair of mortally embarrassed bears, running away from the scene as fast as they could. And for another, instead of Ugof going forward and distilling the fallen Elixir to turn into Blood Elixir for their master, he instead saw Ugof striding forward and picking something up off the ground.
"Ugof?", asked Villasteel, trying and failing to remain calm. "What, may I ask, is that?"
Ugof held out his hand, to reveal half of a week-old burrito that had been abandoned some time ago. "Brrr.", he said, and popped it into his mouth with a satisfied burp.
Villasteel's eye twitched. Then his other eye. Then his mouth, then a vein on his forehead, then his nose, then his arm, until his entire body was just a twitching, furious mess. Then he exploded into rage, flinging his arms up into the air in pure frustration.
"Ugof, you… idiot!", he roared, his face once again turning red. "You were on the scent of a dead burrito this entire time? I assumed you were following our targets!"
Ugof just stared at him. He had gotten what he wanted from the expedition- why was Villasteel so angry at him? It didn't matter though- he had gotten a burrito. And to him, that was the real prize.
"You know what?", Villasteel said, setting his jaw and trying not to scream. "Just… don't worry about it. Let's try something else. Yeah."
He pointed to Ugof, and bent down. "Ugof, we need to move fast. Let's try operation B."
Ugof's pupils dilated at the thought of it, but he knew he had no other choice. So he bent down, Villasteel hopped on his back, and then they were away.
Brandy rolled off of Dan's shoulders onto the ground, and took a deep breath. Her face had turned red from lack of air, having been locked together with Dan for almost a full minute. She spread out her arms, not moving for a few seconds while she recollected herself.
Dan took a deep breath as well, Star flashing around his body as a side effect. He turned his head to look at Brandy, both of them lying on the dirt. "You're cute, you know."
Brandy took another deep breath, her face beginning to return to normal. She grabbed her tunic where it had come undone around her shoulders, and pulled it back on. "And you're handsome. And amazing."
Dan smiled, and Brandy smiled back. He reached over with one arm and put it on Brandy's, preventing her from putting her skirt back on all the way.
"Woah, woah, what are you doing?", he asked. "We're just getting started."
Brandy blinked, and let her arm fall by her side. A sly smile came over her face, and she slowly crept towards Dan's waist. When she was in a state of mind like this, she was more easily manipulated than she would ever care to admit."You know, you're right."
She placed her hands on Dan's belt, her eyes lighting up with energy. "Maybe we should start by getting this off…"
But just as she was about to, the pheromone shot abruptly wore off. Dan and Brandy's raging hormones suddenly wound down, leaving both of them in states of beginning undress and wondering just what they had been doing.
"We should…", she said awkwardly, and Dan stiffened where he lay. He scrambled to his feet, and plucked Brandy off the ground and onto his shoulder.
"Right.", he said, and cleared his throat. "Save it for tonight. When we're actually somewhere appropriate."
"Yes.", said Brandy, and winked. "Save it for tonight."
She looked around, realizing she had no idea where they were. "Uh, Dan?", she asked. "Where exactly are we?"
Dan blinked, and looked around as well. "Uh… I don't know.", he said. "I think North is that way, though."
He pointed in a random direction, and Brandy slowly nodded. "Right.", she said. "North."
She looked in another direction, her eyes randomly focusing on some far corner of the small clearing. She had expected to see nothing there- but to her surprise, there was a large wooden cart. She sat up straight on Dan's shoulder, grabbed his head, and pointed right at it.
"Dan, look!", she said excitedly, pressing her cheek into Dan's ear. "It's a donation cart!"
"A donation cart?", Dan asked, and turned around to where Brandy was looking. "Oh. So it is."
"Do you realize what this means?", she asked. "We don't have to walk anymore!"
She pumped her arms up and down. "Epic!"
Dan started walking towards the donation cart, keeping a wary eye out for anything nearby that may have been a trap. "Uh, I don't think we can get this working. There's nothing to pull it. No Hogs, no Skeletons, no Ponies, no anything."
"Oh, silly.", Brandy giggled, hopping down from Dan's shoulder and sliding right into the front seat. She got the Rune of Elixir out of her pocket, and pointed to a small symbol on the front of the dash. "See? It's Elixir powered."
"Oh.", said Dan. "So it is."
He knew that there wasn't really any point in talking about it anymore, so he climbed in right next to Brandy. It was a tight fit, but once Brandy sat on his lap, they made it work.
"Alright, let's head out.", said Brandy, and touched a button on the Rune. A stream of Elixir poured out into the tank, and the cart roared to life. She poured some into her own mouth as well, then gave it to Dan. Neither of them had had anything to drink since early that morning, and as such were quite thirsty.
"Alright, Dan, let's go.", she said, and pointed North. "Forward!", she shouted, and the cart jetted forward at the speed of a Hog on Rage.
Song: Throwing
They had barely even traveled a few dozen meters before a rather peculiar sound reached Brandy's ears. It sounded like the frantic yelling of a crazed man, and the squelching of boots through mud- only at very high speed. "Uh, Dan?", she asked. "Do you hear that?"
Dan looked up, and behind them. He scanned the tree line for any threats, before he realized that Brandy had asked about anything he had heard. So he listened for a second- and heard the bizarre noises too. "Yes.", he said, and stroked his chin. "Why, yes I do."
"Let me know if you see anything.", said Brandy, her hands tightening on the steering wheel. "It would be nice to know if-"
There was a blur of motion from the side, and Brandy instinctively jerked the steering wheel backwards. The entire cart pulled back, its front side leaving the ground before there was hardly a second. It was a good thing she did- for at that precise moment, Ugof came tearing out of the path in front of them, Villasteel on his back. As they crossed right in front of each other's paths, time seemed to slow down, both of them staring at each other with rather shocked expressions.
Then time turned back to normal, Ugof tore off into the trees, the cart slammed back down onto the ground, and Brandy shrieked. She yanked the steering wheel as hard as she could and kicked the forward pedal as hard as she could, pushing the cart forwards in a burst of speed.
"Holy frick!", she shouted, the cart shot forwards down the path. "Did you see that?"
Dan grabbed the edges of the cart, Star flowing into him. His eyes narrowed, as he prepared his next move. "I did. I think that's our next badguy."
"Yeah…" , muttered Brandy, trying to keep her eyes on the road. She jerked the wheel to avoid a low hanging branch, which would have smacked Dan in the back of the head. It wouldn't have done anything, but it was best not to get him annoyed. "It looks so."
Dan saw a flash of movement along the treeline, and brought up his fist. "Strafing Overdrive!"
A hailstorm of golden bullets sprayed outwards from his fingers, shredding the front of the treeline like paper mache in a blender. Destroyed plant matter flew outwards, some reaching as far as the cart speeding along. A single burning leaf slapped across Brandy's face, and she hurriedly slapped it away. "Woah, hey!"
"Sorry!", Dan winced, even as he kept a look at where he had hit. He lowered his fist to see a smoking line of total ruin- yet no destroyed Toxic Goblin. He had apparently moved on.
"Did you see where they went?", asked Brandy, almost shutting her eyes against a storm of dust that had suddenly appeared. They crashed through it- and then emerged on the other side covered in biting sand. "That would be a good thing to know!"
"I didn't!", shouted Dan back, and raised his hand over his head. "Maybe we should slow down a bit and check!"
Brandy yanked on the wheel, narrowly avoiding an oddly shaped tree that seemed to have been intentionally planted to make passing drivers crash. This actually was the case- although neither of them knew it. "Too dangerous! They might catch up to us!"
"But if we find them, it doesn't matter that they might sneak up on us!", Dan shouted, gathering Star between his fingers into a storm of round cutters. "Then we can take them out!"
"Are you sure?", Brandy yelled back, ducking to avoid a cloud of bees. "Also, what is up with all the random crap in this forest?"
"Yes!", Dan shouted, as he fired another beam at a shape in the trees. It detonated upon the shape- a mere rock, sending up a pillar of destruction that flattened the are for several meters. "I don't know!"
"Don't know what?", Brandy yelled, squinting again. She spun the wheel around, taking the cart in a crazy turn around what appeared to be a patch of randomly spinning stone. "Don't know if you're sure, or don't know what's up with all the random crap?"
"Both!", Dan roared, as something racing near the edge of his vision caught his eye. He turned to look, and realized that their conversation no longer mattered.
"Never mind!", he shouted, and gathered up some Star in his hands. "I don't think it matters!"
"What?", shouted Brandy, struggling to be heard over the rush of passing wind. "What doesn't matter!"
Dan was about to say something, but decided to just show it instead. He pointed one finger behind them, at Ugof and Villasteel rapidly coming up from behind them along the trail. "Look, Brandy!" he shouted. "They're here!"
Brandy didn't dare to look- the road hazards up in front of her were two great. But she knew Dan was telling the truth- he had never once before lied. "Shoot!", she shouted, and sped up.
She steered around a stone obelisk that was in the middle of the road for some reason, a dead tree, and a large Skeleton that had been laying right in the path.
"Why…", she shouted in red-faced frustration, as a large thin blanket of fog blew onto them. "Are there so many hazards… in this part of the woods?"
"Good question.", said Dan, and carefully took aim. "We can figure that out once these two buggers are dead."
Ugof and Villasteel tore down the trail, the rotting arms of the Toxic Goblin beating a brutal mark onto the dirt. Villasteel carefully drew his bowstring from off of his back, and nocked another specialty arrow.
"If only my pheromone shot hadn't so suddenly worn off…", he mused, as he precisely calculated the direct spot to hit that would cause the most damage. "This could be easy."
He saw Dan charge up an attack of his own, and grimaced. "The man would have been easier to take down, and then the girl would have been quite open to following us home…"
He had just been talking to himself, but Dan had used Star to heighten his senses for the battle. And he could hear exactly what Villasteel had just said.
"The frick you just say about her, you little crap?", Dan bellowed, and roared. He let loose his Star, which barreled right at Ugof like a shot from an Eagle Artillery.
Villasteel's eyes widened, and he swore out loud. He grabbed Ugof's shoulders and yanked him to one side, the blast continuing onwards to blast through a large stone and half a dozen trees.
"What are you doing?", Villasteel shouted, and yanked at Ugof's ear. "Blast them, you-"
Then the faint image of a glowing orb appeared above Villasteel's head, as he realized that he had a projectile weapon as well. His bow was still on his back.
He grinned to himself, and slowly slipped his bow into his hand. "Take this, fools!", he shouted, and thought of the precise arrow type that he wanted to shoot. A black notched arrow appeared in his hand, and he fit it along the string of his bow as he aimed.
"Dodge!", Dan shouted, and raised his arm. A round shield appeared around his forearm as he did so. Brandy heard his yell, and jerked the wheel to the right as hard as she could. Almost as soon as she did, a black arrow flew by faster than she could track and sliced right through a nearby tree. It flickered a few times, before disappearing into a puff of ashy smoke.
"What was that?", Brandy screamed in frustration, as she pulled the cart back into the middle of the trail with a loud crash. The entire frame bent, not being designed for this kind of activity.
"He shot something weird at us!", Dan shouted back, and let down his shield. "I don't know what it was!"
"Hahahaha!", laughed Villasteel, and stood up a little taller on Ugof's back. "You fools! It is your doom! For I, Villasteel the Night Archer shall bring you at last down!"
"What?", Dan spat, all of it clicking into place. "Night Archer? Then that means…"
"Yes!", shouted Villasteel, and raised his hand behind him. A single glowing green arrow neatly slid into place, and he brought it down to his bow. "I am a loyal servent of the great Rakastamos! And by his order, I will-"
He was jolted out of his words by Ugof suddenly jerking to the right, almost tossing him off. Villasteel swore and grabbed Ugof by the shoulders, now hanging on for life.
"What are you doing, you-", he began, then saw another flash of Star shoot by overhead, the amount of which would have easily sliced him in half.
"Oh.", he said, looking down at Ugof as he ran. "You just saved my life."
Ugof rolled his eyes, and ran faster towards the Donation Cart up ahead. "Graah."
"Dan!", shouted Brandy, as she looked forward. Her eyes widened as she saw that around a small turn and through a broken down steel fence, there was the edge of a cliff. "There's a dropoff!"
Dan turned around, making sure to duck- and glad he was for that, as a sizzling green arrow shot directly path. It sliced through the leaves of another tree, as they shriveled and died within mre moments.
Dan thought for a moment, staring at the cliff up ahead- then he had an idea.
"Brandy!", he yelled, flexing one arm. "Don't worry about it! Just drive over the cliff!"
"Wha-", Brandy shouted, almost turning around. "Are you crazy?"
Dan fixed her with a stern stare, making sure to put the full power of his voice into his words. Time seems to stop for a moment, as he uttered a single answer. "No."
Brandy stared at him back, before nodding. She slammed a foot on the gas pedal, and sped up. "Okay."
Villasteel stared at the same spot he knew they were all heading. He gritted his teeth, knowing there was a good chance he could lose them here. If Ugof couldn't make the jump…
"But let's not worry about that, eh?", he muttered, stroking the back of Ugof's head. "Cause you're gonna make it! Aren't you boy?"
Ugof growled, having no idea what Villasteel was talking about. He was, however, already plotting in his mind how he could clear the cliff.
"You're finished!", shouted Villasteel as loud as he could, hoping to catch the two off guard. "Either you go over that cliff and die, or-"
He grabbed a blinking red arrow from the air behind him, and attached it to his bowstring with an evil grin. "You go down by me."
"Dan?", Brandy asked nervously, as they broke out of the treeline with a crash. The edge of the cliff approached rapidly, a rampaging monster behind and a yawning abyss below. "Are you gonna do whatever you're gonna do?"
"In a minute!", shouted Dan, as he carefully and precisely judged the ground below him. If he was off by just a little bit, this wouldn't work, so had to carefully measure and remeasure every tiny detail-
That was, of course, until the explosive arrow that Villasteel had fired came crashing down directly in front of them, knocking the cart off its course and almost causing Brandy to let go of the wheel.
"Dan!", she shouted, as the distance between them and the cliff reached the single meters. "I can't-"
"Ora!", Dan shouted, as he drove his fist into the ground. He wasn't exact, but they would just to hope for the best. "Don't let go of the reins!"
"Reins?", Brandy asked. "Don't you mean steering whe-"
But the rest of her words were cut off, as she flew into the air. So did Dan, and the donation cart, flying through the sky. They saw Ugof and Villasteel left behind on the ground- oh. No, wait, they were jumping too. Ugof sprang up from the ground like a spring loaded missile, Villastee clinging to his back like a cheap trick.
"They're following us, Dan!", Brandy yelled, as she began to feel weight again. The jump across the canyon hadn't lasted long, and they were about to hit the ground. "What do we do?"
"I don't know.", Dan shrugged, as he grabbed the sides of the cart to stabilize it. "Let's just figure it out once we get there."
"What?", Brandy began to shout, but then stopped as they hit the ground. She pressed down on the gas pedal on instinct, and the cart roared away at top speed.
Song: Incursion
Ugof landed with a pained grunt on the ground, and began running almost immediately. He started to build up as much poison as possible in one hand- he had a secret plan.
"Faster, Ugof, faster!", shouted Villasteel. "We've almost caught up to them!"
Ugof rolled his eyes, and spat into his hand. Villasteel drew a white arrow from his pocket dimension, struggling to contain the power within the charge. "Just a little more…"
Brandy spun the wheel around, spinning the cart to dodge around a large stone statue of a meditating Goblin. She growled in confusion, as they ran over an inexplicably placed speedbump. "Why…", she spat to no one listening, "Are all these random things in the woods?"
Dan grabbed a blast of energy from his arm, and aimed it straight at Ugof. He looked fragile enough- just a single blast of Star would bring him down. If only he would stand still…
Villasteel drew back his bowstring, aiming directly at Dan. His specialty White Arrow could pierce through any known substance. It would be a sure kill- if only his target could stop moving around for a second and let him fire…
"Dan!", Brandy shouted. She squinted her eyes against a cloud of dust kicked up by the smoke, and tried to keep the cart still. "There's something up ahead! I can't quite see what it is!"
Dan growled, trying to give attention to Brandy and the threat at the same time. "What?", he shouted in frustration. "What is it, Brandy?"
If Brandy was paying enough attention to pick up on the anger in his voice, she made no show of it. She just pointed ahead, at the large stone structure the road led directly into. "There's a tunnel! A pretty big one, too!"
"A tunnel?", snarled Dan, trying to keep the Star blast contained within his hands. "Oh, great. Here we go now."
"A tunnel?", Villasteel asked, recoiling in shock. "This wasn't part of our plan! This wasn't on any map! Ugof, was this on any map?"
Ugof shook his head, continuing to add more poison to the blast. He had one shot to make this work, his final master plan. "Rakshaaaa.", he said.
"See?", Villasteel said, gesturing to absolutely no one. "You get it!"
Brandy shut her eyes, then opened them again as she realized that it was in no way a good idea to shut her eyes in that situation. So she steeled herself and gripped the wheel harder, as they dived right into the dark and stony tunnel, Ugof and Villasteel hot on their trail.
The light vanished almost instantly as soon as Dan and Brandy entered the tunnel, dozens of Bats fleeing from their approach. Brandy covered her eyes with her hand to avoid the flapping swarms, but she somehow knew the perfect ways to keep the cart from crashing into the walls. She did not see the flashing blue lights behind her head, but she certainly felt their influence.
"Dan!", she shouted, struggling to be heard over the rumbling of the cart against the stone and the intense screeching of the Bats. "Can I get a light!"
"Sure!", Dan shouted back, taking another wild shot at Ugof. Ugof ducked underneath the blast and skidded forwards, as the cannon of Star continued past out the cave entrance, carving a deep furrow in the stone it hit. "As soon as I hit these guys!"
Ugof gathered even more toxic gas in his hands, then rolled it up onto his shoulder. He now needed all four limbs to run at max speed- the treacherous terrain of the bizarre cave was far too dangerous otherwise.
Villasteel recoiled as the festering ball of death was placed down gently right beside him, then drew another arrow. The white one he had not yet fired, still waiting for the perfect opportunity. He had the ability to hold more than one type of arrow in his bowstring- that was, as the one and only Night Archer- one of his special abilities.
"Ugof!", he shouted, suddenly sensing a great heat up ahead. "Get ready! I think there's about to be-"
Brandy pressed down ever harder on the Elixir pedal, and the cart shot forward. A long stalactite broke on Dan's head, as they entered a new chamber of the cave. The heat hit Brandy's face first, and she gasped. "What the-", she said. "Lava?"
The room they had entered was a huge one. Crossing its entire length was a simple, thin, fragile looking stone bridge- and underneath that was a bubbling lake of pure lava. Heat rose from the surface in waves, almost visible upon the cave air. The entire cavern was lit up from the magma bubbling at its bottom, the numerous scars along the walls evidence of something alive.
"Brandy, the bridge!", shouted Dan, and pointed to the worryingly narrow crossing up ahead. "If we blow it up as we cross, they won't be able to-"
"Yes!", Brandy yelled, and plotted a careful course. "Just be careful! We don't want to be on there when it blows!"
"Right!", Dan bellowed, and gathered up some star in between his hands.
Villasteel drew back his bow, the arrows he had grabbed quickly blinking at the tips. "Excellent idea!", he shouted, and aimed. "To blow up the bridge before we get there! Unfortunately for you, however…"
He breathed out, and shot the arrow. It arced high in the air, sailing over and past the Donation Cart, and detonated upon the far bridge with a devastating crash. "It's going to collapse long before that! With you still on it!"
Brandy almost swore. She grabbed the steering wheel tightly, trying to think of a way to get out of the situation. "Dan!", she said experimentally. "Do you think you could try and-"
But as something rose out of the lava in front of them, she forgot what she was going to say.
"Holy frick!", Dan shouted, looking up at the beast. It rose far above the edge of the lava, towering even over the bridge. It dripped with sheer magma- that was, after all, what it was made of. That and pure, absolute annoyance. "It's a Lava Golem!"
"Shoot!", Brandy shouted, almost turning the cart around at the size of the thing. It looked down at the two pairs of runners with distaste, raising a fist to crush both of them at once. "Dan, what do we do?"
"Uhhhh…", Dan thought out loud. Even though he couldn't think of anything, he had to keep breathing. That is what his teacher had taught him during all his training. Breathing was the key, breathing was the answer-
Dan's eyes shot open with the spark of a bright idea. "I know what to do!"
An arrow shot by Brandy's head as she narrowly dodged, sinking into the Lava Golem's hide without even a second thought. "Do it!"
"Alright!", Dan shouted, and breathed in. He would normally have converted the energy into the air he breathed into Star- but this time, he decided to skip the final step. Instead, he just breathed out all the air he had taken in as a high-octane, face rippling breath of wind.
The Lava Golem grunted in annoyance, then shock, then agony as he realized his shoulders had been cooled stiff. They were now only mere rock.
"We don't have a path?", Dan asked in mock surprise, then gritted his teeth. "Well then, I guess we'll just have to make one!"
The Lava Golem groaned in pain, and flexed its shoulder muscles. The part of him that Dan had frozen with his chilled breath was now beginning to thaw- soon, he would be back to his fiery self. But even so, he could see it was too late- the Donation Cart was already upon him. With a howl of triumph from Brandy and a shout of victory from Dan, they drove right over the Lava Golem's cooled spot like it was nothing but a regular road.
Villasteel shouted at Ugof something unintelligible, and Ugof nodded. Quick as a flash, Ugof rolled his eyes inside out, and began to scream.
You fool!, shouted the voice inside the Lava Golem's head. What are you doing? We are your superiors! We both work for the same master!
For the Lava Golem, of course, this was not actually true. He was just someone that lived in a cave. However, the tone of voice in Ugof's and Villasteel's messages was too much for his primitive brain. The Lava Golem frowned and sank back into the magma below, leaving a clear path for Ugof's running to cross.
"There!", Brandy shouted, pointing forward towards a light. It was still very faint, but it was growing stronger with every second. "There's the exit!"
Dan pumped a fist, and leaned forward on the cart. A crack spread through the wood as he redistributed his weight- a simple Donation Cart wasn't meant for this kind of action, even if it was Elixir powered. "Yes! Go for it, Brandy!"
Brandy slammed her foot down as hard as she could on the pedal, and turned the Rune of Elixir to give it a bit more oomph. The engine of the cart screamed from the pressure, but somehow managed to keep on going irregardless.
"You can't escape!", shouted Villasteel, as they jumped over the Lava Golem descending below the level of the broken bridge. "Within seconds, my White Arrow will-"
"Ubashaaaaaaaaa!", screamed Ugof, and let go some of the toxin he had been building up. It rushed forward in a thick rust-orange cloud, settling on the sides of the cavern. It hissed as it settled into the sides, but there was only rock. There was nothing to infect.
"Ugof, you fool!", shouted Villasteel, and smacked him on the side of the head. "Save your poison for when you need it! Now I'll have to fire my arrow bli-"
Then he looked at his quiver, and his eyes widened. His white arrow, the one he had been saving up for almost 2 minutes to launch, was gone. While he had been giving Ugof a smacking, his hands had somehow fired it.
"We're almost there!", shouted Brandy, as the light up ahead grew even stronger. "We just gotta-"
Then she felt a massive sense of sudden urgency coming up from behind her. Blue lights flickered unseen behind her head, as she whipped around to yell at Dan.
"Dan!", she screamed, undisguised panic in her voice. "Get down!"
"Wha-", Dan said, looking away from his shot to address her. It was a good thing he did, for not even a full second after he turned, a white arrow shot directly through his right shoulder. Had it gotten aimed for his head, it might have killed him instantly.
"Gah!", Dan spat, and a spurt of blood erupted from his mouth. He slammed down to the bottom of the loot cart, spitting blood onto the creaking wood, his breathing heavy. "What the-"
"Dan!", Brandy shrieked, even more panic clouding her words. "Dan!"
"Don't worry!", Dan grunted, putting one hand to his shoulder to try and stop the bleeding. "I'm fine! I just gotta use Star to-"
Then he stopped, and his face turned pale. He tried to suck in a breath, but couldn't. He tried to hold it, only to find that his lungs could do little more than a shallow exchange. "Shoot!", he roared. "I can't use Star! That shot weakened my lungs!"
Brandy suddenly stopped. Stopped moving, stopped screaming, stopped paying attention. She just stopped everything. And for a brief, silent second, suspended in the air right before they entered the blinding light at the end of the tunnel, only a single thought word echoed through her mind. And that word was "...frick."
Then they burst through the end of the tunnel and into the light, Ugof and Villasteel mere meters behind them.
"Darn it, Ugof…", growled Villasteel, as he desperately fished for another arrow. He cycled through almost a dozen useless "trick" arrows before finding a good one- an explosive. He clutched in his hand for a second before feeding into his bow. "Now you have to build up your poison again!"
Ugof grumbled, and rubbed his hands together, sending more and more poison into the air around him. His skin sizzled and popped from all the effort he was putting into it- such an attack would no doubt be devastating beyond reason. "Gushaaa…"
"Dan!", shouted Brandy, both trying to look at him and steer her way through the dozens of obstacles in her path at once. It was an exhausting job, and she could feel herself being stretched between both at once. "Are you okay?"
"No!", Dan yelled, and gripped his shoulder tighter. "I can't use Star, I'm bleeding from the shoulder, and we still need to stop these guys!"
"Well then, what do we do?", Brandy screamed, trying to stay focused. But as she accidentally ran over a stone bump, she realized she could not look at Dan and the road at once. So she slammed her foot down on the pedal again, and grit her teeth in anger.
"I don't know!", Dan roared, and snuck a look behind him. He could see Ugof still running as fast as he could, keeping an even pace with the cart. "That bugger seems to have infinite stamina. And with the guy on top of him shooting us like this…"
"What are you saying?", Brandy yelled, trying to hear him over the general roar of the situation.
"I'm saying that I need something to throw!", Dan yelled. "I could still use rotation, but only if I get close to them or throw something that's spinning!"
"Well, what's spinning?", Brandy shouted, not really thinking about what she was asking.
"I don't know!", Dan yelled- then stopped, as he realized with a start that he did.
"Ugof!", Villasteel snapped, as he aimed another shot. "Are you ready?"
Ugof grunted, and rolled his eyes. His full power blast wouldn't be ready for a few more minutes, but he supposed that his imperfect work would have to suffice. So he nodded, and Villasteel's eyes lit up with excitement.
"Fantastic!", he shouted, and grabbed Ugof's shoulders. "Now get ready to fire…"
"Brandy!", shouted Dan, as he leaned over the side of the cart. "Pop a wheelie!"
"What?", Brandy screamed in confusion. "What do you mean, pop a-"
"Do it!", Dan roared, and grabbed the wheel as it spun. Brandy breathed out, nodded, and yanked the steering wheel up and back. The entire cart lifted up on its two back wheels, leaving Dan clutching one of them.
"Shoot.", he said under his breath, and grabbed the front wheel instead. With a small grunt of effort, he yanked it off, the entire framework of the cart shuddering under the impact.
"Hey, idiots!", he shouted, and held the wheel aloft. With a squeeze of his fingers, he imbued it with sparkling blue rotation, and it began to spin in his hand. Villasteel looked up, and saw Dan flash a wide grin. "Catch!"
Villasteel's eyes widened, as he saw the wheel fly towards them. "Ugof, fire!", he shouted, and Ugof prepared his shot. Then Villasteel ducked as the wheel flew right over their heads, arcing high over the treeline and into the sky.
For a second, nobody spoke. Then Villasteel laughed, extending one finger out towards Dan. "Ha! Did you really think that such a-"
Then the wheel came slicing back down towards the ground, catching Ugof at the middle of the spine just as he released his attack, cutting him in half and spraying his body all across the bark of the nearby trees.
Villasteel's triumphant shout died in his throat, as he suddenly realized that he no longer had anything to stand on. Ugof's lower body kept running for a few more seconds, until it too dissolved into Elixir. The massive poison charge had had been building up shot into the air and vanished into the clouds, borne aloft to some unknown place. Villasteel shrieked as he was thrown unceremoniously from his spot in the now empty air, rolling along the dirt path until he fell down a nearby steep hill and into a river, disappearing with, for whatever reason, an explosion. He screamed as he fell, until he could be heard no more once he reached the bottom.
The wheel flew directly back into Dan's waiting hands, and he snapped it back on to its axle. Or he would have, had the wheel not taken that precise time to snap directly in half.
"Uh…", he said, looking up at Brandy. "Should I-"
"Don't worry!", Brandy wheezed, her face red from the effort of holding the wheel up so long. "I got it, I got it!"
A small computerized voice suddenly sounded from the middle of the Donation Cart, telling her that the entire structure had been fatally compromised and would probably explode at any second, and that she did in fact not have this. The exact words chosen were: "Warning. Warning. Donation Cart will now self destruct, due to excessive wear and tear. Thank you for your time."
"What?", Brandy shrieked, as she grabbed the Rune of Elixir. She threw off her seatbelt and jumped out the front, landing on Dan's good shoulder. "Are you serious?"
"Are we jumping, Brandy?", Dan shouted, grabbing her tight.
"Yes!", Brandy yelled back. "In 3…"
"Jump!", they both yelled together, not waiting for 3, as the Donation Cart verbally apologized and exploded violently, showering them in bits and pieces of broken wood as they jumped free of the impact and rolled eventually to a stop underneath a small copse of leafy trees.
Song: Rubicon
Both Dan and Brandy lay there for a second, just breathing hard and making sure they were both alive. Brandy's arms were incredibly sore from the drive, and Dan's shoulder still bled a tiny river onto the ground. But as they slowly looked towards each other, made eye contact, and began to laugh, they knew it was alright.
"Oh, it hurts to laugh.", said Dan, and groaned. "Ha ha- ow."
"Oh, Dan…", said Brandy, slowly climbing onto his chest. She started to move her hands towards his shoulder, and he instinctively flinched.
"I haven't touched it yet.", said Brandy, some form of maternal instinct kicking in. "Stop fussing and let me take a look at it, okay?"
Dan's face stiffened a bit, and his shoulder relaxed. His chest dropped a little bit, and Brandy let herself fall all the way across it. She placed her hands on the neat hole that had been drilled all the way through Dan's shoulder, his flesh utterly destroyed by the white arrow.
"Ooh, this looks bad.", said Brandy. "We might need to set up a shelter."
"What?", Dan coughed. "No, no we don't. I can keep walking. See, look."
"Wait, don't stand up-", Brandy began, but Dan suddenly thrust himself to his feet.
"See, look!", he said, and took an unstable step forward. "I'm fine. I can handle it! I can-"
Then he took one step too many, right on top of a rock he had not seen before. It was a very sharp and pointed rock, one that punched through the bottom of his foot immediately and came out the other side.
The words uttered by Dan in that moment, as he snapped his leg forward, threw his head up to the sky, and raged, had never before been heard by another living soul. And from the sheer, absolute rage erupting from his voice, they would probably never be heard from again either.
But once the storm of fury raging from his mouth calmed down, and he fell to the ground once again, he stopped unleashing his primal wrath in the form of near demonic words.
"Ow….", he finally settled on, and grabbed his shoulder and his foot. "That hurt. And that was extremely dumb."
He pointed to the rock, even as Brandy moved from his shoulder to his feet. "I mean, who just leaves a sharp rock pointing up like that in the middle of the woods? Seriously, what kind of crap is that? Those things are dangerous!"
"Woah, woah, woah.", said Brandy, as she looked at Dan's foot. He now had both a hole in the shoulder and a hole in the foot- not a good combination. Especially when the hole in the shoulder prevented him from using Star. "I'm not sure someone intentionally left a sharp rock this far deep into the woods. Still unfair though yeah."
Dan pushed one arm against the ground, forcing himself into a more comfortable position. He groaned as he sat against a rock, and let out a deep sigh.
"Honestly, I'm exhausted.", he breathed, letting his eyes fall closed. "Two standard battles in a row, then we had to fight Bonoome, then we got a visit from two Primal Troops, then we got attacked by two more enemy troops, and also we have no food."
"Yeah.", said Brandy. "Having to do all these fights has been exhausting- wait, what?"
She sat up, and stared at Dan with worry. "We're out of food?"
"Yeah.", said Dan. "We left all our supplies at that hotel, remember? And we forgot to take some with us when we left Spacekrakenx's Village."
"Oh.", said Brandy after thinking about this for a few seconds. "You're right."
"But…", she said, pulling her communicator from her pocket. "That does not mean we have to give up. I'll just call Spacekrakenx and he can get us some food. No big deal."
She pressed the button for Spacekrakenx's phone- not knowing that it was the one that called his phone which had been left at home. The one he did not, technically speaking, have.
It took Brandy about 8 rings for her to realize this, and bury her communicator back in her pocket in discouragement. "Okay, not that then. Let's try something else."
She looked around, and began to get an idea. She hardly enjoyed the thought of it, but with Dan currently out of commission, there was no other choice. Perhaps she could find something to help him as well.
"Here.", she said, and took something out of her pocket. "Let's set this up."
She slammed the thing down on the ground, and it expanded into a large, thin sheet of plastic.
"Huh?", asked Dan, looking up from the ground. "Honey, what is that?"
"It's an expandable tent!", Brandy said with excitement, and pressed a small button also on her waist. "I picked it up before we left. Now, this model says it can hold up to 30 people, so-"
The tent popped open with a shower of apparently pre-installed rain, revealing itself as a smallish, dilapidated construct of cloth that would lose a fight with a particularly nasty shower.
"Heh.", Brandy said. "Or not. It covers one leg I guess. Sort of."
Dan smiled weakly, then groaned and moved his leg into the tent. "Still though.", he said. "It feels kind of nice."
His stomach rumbled at the same time when a beam of light started to fall through the trees, reminding him of just how hungry he was and how late it was starting to become.
"Uuuh…", he said, looking awkwardly at Brandy. "I know you don't normally do this, but…"'
"Yeah, sure, I can get food.", said Brandy, leaning against Dan's sides. "I'm sure there are plenty of things to eat in these woods."
Dan smiled, and gently stroked her back. "Okay, honey. Go get food."
Brandy rubbed her back against his arm back, got up, and began to walk away. As Dan saw her walk away, he affixed her with a mighty stare.
"Stay safe, alright?", Dan asked. He had to make absolutely sure.
"No matter what happens.", said Brandy with a mischievous grin. "I'm gonna be fine."
"Okay... ", Dan said, and sighed. "But the instasecond you have enough food, bring it back here. I don't want you to be less than a part of me fort any longer than you have to."
Brandy nodded, and gave a single salute. "I understand, Dan. But I really have to go get food."
And with that she turned and walked away, in search of whatever food she could find.
Dan sighed deeply, and lay down straighter across the ground. His leg lay inside the cheap tent like a makeshift stretcher, the flow of blood from both his foot and his shoulder beginning to slow. "Oooohhh…"
He cast a glance in Brandy's direction, now wishing he hadn't let her go. He knew that he needed to- with him in his current state, he would just be dead weight on any sort of trip. Brandy had to go and collect food. But that wasn't the part that bothered him- no, the part that bothered him was that she was doing it on her own. The last time she had gone out on her own like this- well, the second to last time- it had not ended well at all. So he hoped with all his heart Brandy would be okay out there, in the vast uncharted woods of the Continent of the Clans. But seeing as there was basically nothing he could do except hope and worry, Dan closed his eyes, folded his massive arms behind his head, and settled in for a nap.
Brandy had not walked long in the forest, carving out a makeshift path through the thick branches and vines, before she came to a small clearing. It had seemed to be made from a very large explosion, judging from the way the dirt was bunched up in a ring around its edges.
"Interesting…", said Brandy to herself, and bent down to inspect the soil. It seemed burnt somehow, like whatever malice had shaped the explosion was somehow still present.
"That's weird.", she said, as she noticed a symbol in the center of the grass. It had been burned into the dirt almost as clean as a tattoo, nothing even daring to grow where it was. "What is that?"
She Dashed over to the symbol, and placed her hand upon it. Looking closer at it now, she could see what it was- a stylized head of a horned Dragon, the smoldering edges still burning with some mystic flame. It was colored black and red, the horns seeming to impossibly twist even as she looked at them. "What the…"
Then for half of a second, blue lights flickered behind her head. An image of pure evil and hatred flashed through her mind, and she snapped her hand back as if it had been burned. Brandy gasped in phantom pain and cradled her hand in her other arm, staring at the spot where the symbol was burned.
"Oh…", she said, and shook her head to clear her mind. She stepped away from the symbol and back into the trees, slightly fearful of whatever it had truly been.
Song: Danger Draws Near
Brandy looked up, and sniffed the air. She wasn't sure what exactly she was looking for, only that she had to find food as soon as she could. The sooner she found food, the sooner she could come back, and the sooner she could check on Dan. Truth be told, she was a little worried about him. He had looked absolutely exhausted when he sat down, his shoulder and food injured, his muscles shredded, his entire body worn down. She hoped he was alright.
Brandy knew she had to get food for him. He always took care of her- now it was time for her to take care of him. Maybe once she found food, she could carry it back to their little camp, and they could cook it together, and eat it together, and then just lie there together under the stars, lasting in each other's company. Yes, that would be nice.
But, Brandy reminded herself as she set her shoulders and flared her nostrils, that would come later. Now, she had to find something. A mushroom, maybe. She had heard they grew in these woods.
She crept along the path, making sure to look around herself for any sign of potential danger. There was a lot of stuff in these woods- most of it probably none too nice. She had seen many monsters already- she did not need to run in to anymore.
"Come on, come on….", she mumbled under her breath, looking around. "Where's a mushroom, come on, give me a mushroom…"
She suddenly spotted a quick flash of movement out of the corner of her eye, and spun around on her heel. A nearby bush shook from the impact of something diving into it mere seconds earlier, leaves and twigs still falling to the ground. Brandy affixed it with what she hoped was the most threatening air she could possibly give off, posing with one hand over her bat.
But then the bush rustled again, and out flew a bird. It hovered to the top of the bush, gave a low beep, and then flew off again, to parts totally unknown.
"Oh.", Brandy huffed, and kept on walking. "It was just a bir-"
Then she looked down, and jumped back. She had been right about to step on what looked like a brand new patch of mushrooms. Brandy's face lit up, and she leaned down to scoop them all up.
"Hey, wait a minute.", she said to herself, just as she was about to pick them up. "Doesn't a black hourglass on the heads mean they're poisonous?"
She grabbed the stalk of one of the mushrooms and tipped it back, revealing the spot where such a mark was supposed to be. To her delight, there was no such marking there.
"Epic.", she said to herself, and yanked a few of the mushrooms off of their stalks, as much as she could carry in ohe hand. "Those'll be good to have."
She continued to walk for a bit longer, swiveling her head from side to side, watching out for any threats- when she saw something at the far side of the row that attracted her immensely. It was a slow flowing river, the water deep blue with flowing magic. It looked so inviting she almost forgot what had happened the last time she had jumped into water without really knowing anything about it. But that was a bit ago, and it had only happened in deep water, and Brandy was a lot stronger now than she had been. So really, what was the harm?
"Don't you go anywhere.", she said to the mushrooms as she sat them down on a nearby stump. Then she slipped out of her tunic, tossed it on top of them, and walked into the river.
"Meanwhile, I've got some time all to myself.", she aid slyly. "Finally time to take the...perfect bath."
She considered a quick Dash to the waterfall at the other end of the tranquil pond, but realized it would attract too much attention to anything that might be around. So she instead walked slowly and quietly over to the fall of rushing water, pulling her hair to the top of her head.
"Let's see, there's no soap out here.", she muttered to herself, looking around at the rock. "There's probably not a mine for a while, either. Oh well. Hardly worth looking for one anyway. I can just-"
With a quick elbow strike, Brandy broke off a small chunk of rock. It was a bit crumbly in her hand, and black powder came off of it as she rubbed it against her skin. "Yes, I can just do that."
She stepped underneath the waterfall and instinctively tensed, expecting it to be cold- but to her surprise, it was actually quite warm. The water had a very soft feel to it, almost as if it was meant to be bathed in. Brandy relaxed a bit- then realized it felt all a bit too convenient.
A chill ran over her, and she jumped out from the waterfall. She looked around her for anything that might be waiting- but saw nothing. Just a deer calmly grazing at the water's edge, a forest of trees, and an ugly statue at the other edge of the pond, staring straight forward with a nasty jeer and sharp teeth.
Brandy kept her eye on the statue, instantly suspicious. She looked out of the corner of her eye to where she had left her clothes on the stump- they were still there. They hadn't been taken.
But Brandy still wasn't sure the statue wasn't evil somehow. She inched towards it, ready to fight- then saw a small, weathered sign sticking up out of the dirt next to it.
Welcome to the ancient and venerated Bathing Falls!, said the sign, with faded colors. The natural warm water and soapy cliffs of this spring make it an ideal space for bathing in the wild. Enjoy your stay!
Brandy blinked, and relaxed. Now that she thought about it, Bowza had told her something like this had once existed. The legendary Bathing Falls, a place where the water ran warm and soft, and the cliffs were made of a natural, high quality black soap.
"Oh.", said Brandy, and looked at the black "stone" once more. "Well, I guess that's pretty nice."
She leaned back and stretched, popping her back as she did so. However, the popping of her back released a tiny bit of Villasteel's pheromone shot that had lingered for some reason. And as Brandy once again began to bathe, the chemical wafted into her nose.
Brandy ran the black soapstone through her hair, then suddenly felt a little weird. Her heart started to beat faster, yet it was not something she could control. Her arm started to slow down, and she felt her limbs grow hot and sluggish.
"What…", she mumbled, and looked around. Nothing had changed in her immediate vicinity, save that the deer had left. But that probably didn't matter. "What's wrong with me?"
Then the effects of the pheromone took full effect, and she was suddenly filled with heat and energy. She stood straight at attention, and stopped running the soapstone through her hair.
"Se'th, I wish Dan was here…", she mumbled. "Taking a bath with me. But he's back at the camp, all lonely. I should cheer him up."
Almost without noticing, her fingers went to her back. "Fortunately, I know just how to do it-"
Then she heard a bush from behind her crack, and something make some sort of noise. She stopped in her tracks, the sudden panic driving away the pheromones. If she listened very carefully, Brandy thought she could hear someone saying a single word- and that word was "Niiiiiiice."
Song: Instant-Kill Battle
Brandy whipped around in fury, and stopped messing with her clothes. Her anger shot through in her gaze, staring directly into the bush. Whatever, or whoever was in there instantly jumped out the back and began to run, the feeling of instant regret staining the air.
"Don't you run away from me!", she screamed, as she Dashed out of the pool. With one swift motion she grabbed her cloak and flung it on, the rest of her clothes going on with her other arm. "I'll end you, you little frick!"
As she looked carefully, the figure up ahead sped through the trees almost as fast as she could run. In fact, as she pursued him for a few more seconds, it looked as though he was actually running faster. But that was no matter- if she was merely to utilize her Dash, Brandy could outrun anyone, and anybody.
Brandy slid along the ground on her knees, ducking to avoid a branch. Once she jumped up again, she did so with power, boosting the motion with a burst of Dash that sent her high into the air and covering over 20 feet with a single jump.
"Where'd you go?", she screamed, her face red. "You think you can just look at me, bathing like that, and live?"
Her eyes swept the area, looking for any sign of fast movement- and then she saw it. A streak of green, running to beat all through one of the many woodland paths. Not, she realized, unlike her.
Brandy landed back on the ground, and began running even before she had made terrestrial contact. She ran as fast as she possibly could, absolutely refusing to let whoever it was that had seen her get away. "You can't outrun me, scum!"
Then she felt something in front of her, and saw a sharp object in her mind's eye. A single blue light flickered behind her, and she ducked. Not even half a second later, a spinning metal blade came soaring right where her head had been, slicing through the air and cutting deep into a nearby tree.
So he throws blades, huh?, Brandy thought to herself, and pumped her legs to run even faster. Not that it'll matter, once I get close to him. After all, he's only a-
Then she paused in her thinking, while allowing her body to still run. What kind of Troops is he?, she thought. I've never heard of or seen anything that throws metal blades like that.
Then she grinned, and charged up her Dash with a low whine. Of course, I've never seen anyone else like me, either. And yet here I am.
The air whistled as an entire volley of steel cutters came slicing through it, but Brandy didn't even blink. She just spun around on one heel as The Dreamer flashed behind her head, dodging each and every single one. The storm of blades sliced through branches and leaves, ending up embedded deep in trees.
Brandy gripped her bat as she ran, and spun it around in her hand. She flicked it towards where she saw a flash of green and yellow among the trees, and waited- until she heard the sound of metal slicing through wood. She grimaced, and redoubled her speed.
"Where are you going?", she shouted, and Dashed forward through a tree. The distance between her and the one she was chasing was cut by almost 25%, and she grinned maniacally.
"Don't you know you can't outrun a Bandit with her Dash? Huh?"
She saw the figure's shoulders tense, then he disappeared into another bush just up ahead. Brandy crashed through the bush a second later, and saw him a few dozen feet up ahead through the trees. She figured he was about to throw more blades, and she brought up her arm to block- but to her surprise, he pulled something from his pocket.
It looked silver and blue in color, covered with flashing lights. The way he pulled it, it looked like he didn't expect anyone to see it. And the peculiar fire around it, the way it shimmered in the light-
Brandy's chasing grin vanished from her face. Her mind spun as she realized just what she was looking at, even as her heart raced. "What?", she said out loud. "A Stand?"
A low whine built up from the figure's position, and Brandy knew she had to duck. She threw herself to the ground as hard and fast as she could, using a thin shield of Dash to protect her back. She was glad she did- for almost as soon as Brandy hit the dirt, a storm of razor bullets flew overhead. They tore through trees like wet paper, even shattering a large boulder after just a few hits. Brandy lay on her back a bit after it ended though, just to be sure.
As soon as the bullet storm was over, Brandy jumped back to her feet. She jumped into the air- she could still see the figure, running down the darkened path.
His Stand seems to fire bullets, she thought as she jumped over a boulder and continued the chase. Interesting… I didn't know there were Stands that were just weapons like that.
"Hey!", she shouted, now wanting to catch his attention. "Stand User!"
For a brief second, the figure she could now see was a boy turned around in shock. Brandy could see that he was wearing a hood- also like hers. A yellow stripe ran up the middle of it, the long front covering his eyes. "What?", he yelled. "What did you just call me?"
"Stand User!", shouted Brandy, and ran even faster. The boy startled and started his own sprint, trying to make up for lost ground. But it was an impossible cause- Brandy had once more begun to Dash. "I called you a Stand User!"
As the two of them hit a long road, Brandy started to pull up to him. She reached out her hand to grab the back of his shirt, eager to grab him and find out who he was, then beat him up for staring at her- but then the boy suddenly, without a trace, vanished into thin air.
Brandy tried to stop running, but her forward momentum was too strong. Her hand clamped shut on empty air, and she rolled forward in an out of control somersault. Her scraping against the dirt would have been quite painful, had she not activated her Dash shield at the last moment.
When she stopped rolling, Brandy dug her foot into the ground and looked in anger. She wiped her face off with one hand and curled the other into a fist.
"Where did you go…", she growled, looking around for any sign of his moves. "You little-"
Then the sound of a single cracking leaf up ahead caught her attention, and Brandy looked up. There, just at the end of the path, she could see a leaf crack underneath nothing. And right next to that leaf were some footprints upon the dirt path.
Brandy grinned, and leapt forward. "Gotcha!"
The boy shrieked and started running once more, his body becoming visible once again. It appeared he couldn't do it as much as he wanted. However, his attacks were another story altogether.
"Stop chasing me!", he screamed in fear, as he flicked another round of spinning blades. "What did I do?"
Brandy Dashed in between and around the blades, each of them flying past her and ending up in the trees. Her face turned red as she shouted, both from anger and embarrassment. "You looked at me taking a bath! That's what you did!"
The boy almost shouted back, but thought better of it. He instead focused his energies on running as fast as he could, slamming one foot against the ground and jumping over a tree.
He grabbed the top of the trunk and spun around, abruptly changing his direction and heading the other way with a burst of wind that blew back the leaves.
Brandy jumped the way he had been heading with a furious snarl- only for him to come flying right back past her. She turned her head in a millisecond and locked eyes with him, and time seemed to slow down. She could see that a bit of red fabric hung down from his green hoodie, which was pulled down so low it covered his eyes. How he could see where he was going was anyone's guess. His face reflected shock, as he stared into Brandy's eyes, boiling over with raw fury. Just as she reached out to grab him, time resumed at normal speed, and they sped past each other in opposite directions.
"Why, you little-", spat Brandy, and lashed out with her leg. A shockwave of pure Dash energy erupted outwards from it, halting her in her path and blasting her in the other direction.
"I'm gonna rip that stupid little face of yours right off your HEAD!"
The boy looked behind him, to see Brandy approaching at blazing speed. Her heels sparked and flickered with pure silver energy, her entire body blurring as she continuously Dashed. Her eyes were narrowed in rage, a trail of deep purple flying past her in her anger.
Brandy looked past the boy, and saw they were coming to a river. Next to the river was a large cliff, full of rocks that seemed about to crumble at a powerful blow. She grinned- that was perfect. She had him now.
"I hope you enjoyed running, you little frick!", she shouted, and gathered some Dash in her right fist. "Because I'm about to-"
"Die!", shouted the boy, and raised his own hand. His Stand burst forth into being once again with a shining silver spin, as he jumped off a rock, twisted it around in midair, and aimed it right at Brandy's chest. He pulled his mouth back in a snarl, and shouted as he pulled the trigger.
Brandy stopped in mid-movement, and threw up her arm. Dash rolled over it in a shining silver dome, the bullets all exploding upon contact with her handmade shield. But as the last of the volley impacted upon her protected forearm, Brandy whipped her entire body around- spraying the bullet storm right at the fragile cliff.
The boy gasped in shock, and hit the ground in a tight roll. He leapt into a nearby bush and stayed still, hoping that Brandy wouldn't see him.
But his plan was doomed to fail- Brandy's reflection of his attack had already hit the stones on the cliff. With a creak and a groan, the stones fell like an avalanche, heading straight towards the boy's bush. He panicked and threw up a hand in defense- only for Brandy to slam right into his side, knocking the wind out of him and carrying him for dozens of feet through the cliff and all the way into the woods.
Brandy and the boy rolled along the ground, Brandy's hand around his neck, shaking him like a pair of dice. The boy's hood was yanked off his head, his face turning red from lack of oxygen even as he struggled to draw his weapon. He hit his head on a rock just as he was about to summon up his Stand, breaking his concentration and dissipating the gun into cold mist.
Brandy pulled back her fist, surrounding it in silver energy. She snarled as they rolled to a stop, and prepared to smash the boy who had seen her into a purple puddle.
"Alright, you little-", she spat, then stopped. She saw the boy's face, shivering in intense fear. One of his eyes had been blackened, although not from any blow of Brandy's. His eyes quivered, beginning to overflow with tears.
"Pl…", he said, choking out his words. "Please don't… hurt me…"
His arms trembled with the fear of death, as he closed his eyes in terror.
Brandy's enraged gaze softened, and she let down her hand. She slowly moved off the boy's chest, and he took a deep, ragged breath.
He felt the feeling return to his limbs, and coughed up a spatter of blood. He looked up and instinctively flinched- but only saw Brandy standing there, her arm extended to help him up.
"What's your name, kid?", she asked, and yanked him to his feet. She gave him a hearty slap on the back, still a little bit angry, without the bloodcurdling rage she had just a few seconds earlier.
"I'm…", said the boy, and flipped his hood back on. Brandy could now see that a lollipop had somehow been in his mouth the whole time, although it did not affect his speech. He looked straight up into Brandy's face, and told her.
"I'm Leon."
Song: The Stardust Man Appears
"Leon, huh?", Brandy asked, and raised an eyebrow. "That's a pretty cool name."
She looked him over again, seeing his worn green hoodie, his short, curled tail, and what appeared to be two button eyes on either side of his head. "What uh… what troop are you, Leon? If you don't mind me asking."
Leon stared at her, his mouth hanging slightly open as he thought of what to say. "...troop?", he finally murmured after what seemed like an eternity, but was really only a few seconds.
"Yes.", said Brandy in annoyance. "Your Troop. You know, what you are?"
Leon's mind raced, as he tried to think of what Brandy could be talking about. "Umm…", he said, and looked around. He didn't know what a troop was- why would he? He was a Brawler.
"Yo!", said Brandy, and flicked his forehead. She had done it lightly, but the force of it was enough to blast his hoodie right off his head, revealing his blinking eyes and a shock of brown hair. "I'm talking to you! Did I bump your brain loose or something?"
Leon suddenly snapped back to reality, and he shouted. "I'm a Leon!", he yelled. "I already told you, lady!"
"Yes.", said Brandy. "You did tell me your name. But you didn't tell me what you are. And that's what I'm asking."
"I told you.", said Leon. "I'm a Leon. Are you not understanding?"
Brandy stared at him in offense, and her fingers twitched. "No, you're the one who's not understanding. That's not what you are, that's your name."
Leon looked at Brandy in utter confusion, rolling his lollipop around on his tongue. Here was someone he had never seen before, who apparently didn't know that Leons existed, and was calling him out for it. Well, he refused to stand for it.
"Okay, okay.", he said. "I don't think you understand what I'm saying here. I am a Leon. We are all named Leon. Get it?"
Brandy stared at him again, and blinked. Then she spread her arms out open wide, in an overwhelming shrug. "What the frick is a Leon then? Did they add a new Troop in the-"
She stopped and looked up, trying to calculate how long her and Dan had been gone. "Two days I've been gone?"
Leon's cheeks grew red, and he flicked a spinner blade into the ground from each hand. "I'm not a Troop!", he shouted. "Whatever that is! I'm a Brawler!"
"A Brawle-", Brandy began, then stopped. She suddenly remembered what Bowza had taught her about the rest of the world, places she had never been. She remembered strange people she had seen occasionally, who seemed far different from regular Troops.
"Oh.", she said, and relaxed. "A Brawler. Huh. Neat."
"Yeah.", said Leon. "Now uh… what's your name…"
He stared at Brandy for a second, before gulping hard and attempting his next move. "Cutie pie?"
A cold shock of blazing red ran through Brandy's mind. She gasped, and all the muscles in her body tensed at once. She looked up at Leon in shock, and snarled. That is what he had called her. And no one would ever call her that ever again.
"The frick you just call me, you little frick?", she snapped, and Dashed forward. She grabbed Leon by his throat before he even had a chance to react, slamming him against a tree with a harsh snap. "You want me to kill you for real?"
"What-", Leon squeaked, his face alight with confusion and horror. "What did I do?"
"You called me-", Brandy said, then blinked away a tear. "You called me cutie pie. No one calls me that!"
She pushed harder, and Leon felt himself starting to black out. He kicked and squirmed, trying to get free- but to no avail. Brandy's grip was too powerful. "Why… not?"
Brandy pushed harder, her teeth grit tightly, and was about to finish him off. But then once again she saw his face, sweating with fear and agony, and realized just exactly what she was doing.
Brandy loosened her grip, and let Leon fall to the ground. He put one hand on his throat, trying to bring it back to normal size, and the other hand on the ground. He fell flat on his chest, from the total lack of blood in his limbs.
"I'm sorry.", said Brandy. "I just uh… got a little carried away there. I'll try not to do it again."
Leon looked up at her in fear, and scrambled to his feet. He quickly took a seat on a rock and moved his lollipop around in his mouth, trying to think of what to say next.
"I'm Brandy, by the way.", said Brandy. "Brandy the Bandit."
Leon stopped messing with his lollipop for a second, and once again stared at her in confusion. "Uuh… what?"
Brandy rolled her eyes, and sighed. "I'm Brandy.", she said, louder than before. "Brandy the Bandit."
"I know that.", said Leon. "But- like- that doesn't make any sense. Your name is different from what you are?"
"Yes.", said Brandy. "Is that weird for you?"
Leon thought for a moment. "Kind of, yeah. We don't really have a lot of unique names like that, back where I'm from. In Brawltopia."
"Where are you from then-", Brandy said, then realized that Leon had already told her. "Ah."
They sat there awkwardly for a second, neither of them sure what to say, the tension still hanging in the air. Brandy swung her legs back and forth on the stump, and Leon looked at the air. He coughed a bit, then realized how to break the ice.
"Hey.", he said, and took the lollipop out of his mouth. "Look what I can do."
Brandy perked up a bit, and took a quick look at the lollipop. "A sucker.", she asked. "Hmmm… what flavor is it?"
"Strawberry.", said Leon, and popped it back into his mouth. He rolled his tongue on and around it, rapidly rolling it through his mouth like it was on a conveyor belt. "Rerorerorerorerorerorerorerorerorerorero."
Brandy's face instantly became one of deep concern. She stood up from her stump, and looked at the horizon. She noticed with some alarm that the sun was already beginning to set, and she still had not gathered any food.
"Shoot.", she whispered underneath her breath. "Dan's not gonna be happy. What am I gonna tell him?"
Then she looked over at Leon, who was still focused intently on breaking the laws of physics and sanity with his lollipop and tongue. "Hey, kid!", she asked. "How about you come back to camp with me?"
Leon thought for a moment, smoothed down his hoodie pocket, and nodded. "Rerorerorerorerorerorerorero." he said, as he continued the bizarre trick.
Brandy put her hands on her hips. "Okay, that's just weird. And kind of unsettling. Could you stop that?"
Leon looked up at her, shrugged, and continued to rerorerorero even faster.
Brandy's nostrils flared, and she held up one finger. "Leon, I swear that if you do that one more time, I will drag you back to my camp by your ears."
Leon, seeing absolutely nothing bad about this situation, blinked, grinned, and resumed at an even greater intensity. "Ololololololololololololololo-"
Far away, back on the Continent of Royale, a Princess stood on her balcony, watching the stars. She looked out over the cold night as it slowly swept over the world. Soon it would reach all the other continents, and the entire planet would be plunged into the soft grey blanket of night.
"Dad?", she asked, attracting the attention of her father on the other balcony.
"Yes, Laurie?", asked her father, AngryHospitalBed. "What is it?"
"I'm worried.", Laurie said. "I think… that something's coming."
AngryHospitalBed put on his reading glasses, and looked over at her. "Coming? Why, whatever do you mean?"
Laurie sighed, and put her arms on the side of the balcony. "I don't know. I just feel like… something big is about to happen. Something very, very, bad."
She looked behind her- her sister was already asleep. Her father leaned back in his easy chair, apparently deep in thought. However, it was more likely that he was about to go to sleep.
Suddenly she felt a rock tap her balcony, and she looked down in mild curiosity. Her heart leapt when she saw that a very familiar Prince stood at the path below, holding a supply of rocks with which to get her attention. "Come, Laurie!", he said, gesturing to his steed. "Our night awaits!"
Laurie pressed a button she had installed herself on her balcony, and it slid down to the ground. She grabbed her bow and quiver from where they had been put down beside her, and jumped into the Prince's arms. "Yes, my love."
She quickly slid onto the pony's back, and they both took off into the woods.
"Have fun, now!", shouted AngryHospitalBed from his balcony, giving a lazy wave. "Be back by 10!"
"We will, Dad!", Laurie shouted back, then they turned a corner and could no longer be seen.
AngryHospitalBed lay back in his easy chair and tried to fall asleep. But it was a difficult task- for he too had felt things coming. Angry things, evil things, things that shouldn't be.
Laurie and her Prince had not gone far when they suddenly heard something rustle in the bushes in front of her. The pony reared up automatically, and stopped its run.
"Woah, boy.", said the Prince to his pony, and looked up ahead. "What's got you spooked?"
They didn't have to wait to find out- a tall, pale, and very thin Wizard emerged from the bush in front of them. Laurie recognized him immediately- it was her most recent ex.
"Hello, Laurie.", he spat with pure hatred. "I don't think you should have come out here tonight."
He wetly skulked to the middle of the path, and held up a button. "Because you see, once I press this button, all my friends will arrive. And even your little boyfriend will be no match for-"
He was suddenly interrupted in his poisoned words by something else in his mouth. And as he looked down, he could see that thing was the tip of a sharpened metal lance. Then he felt it move past his mouth, all the way through the back of his throat, until it had impaled his face completely.
"Gack.", he said pathetically, and died without a further sound.
The Prince pulled back his lance, and sniffed. "Hmph.", he said. "What a horrid creature."
The pony snorted and stepped on the side of the button, crushing it into bits, making sure it could never be used.
Laurie's lip quivered, and she swung her arms around the Prince's chest. "I love you.", she said.
The Prince gave a gentle smile, and kissed her on the head. "I love you too."
Then they both rode off, into the warming night.
The sun was setting by the time Brandy dragged Leon back into the camp. As she had said, she was dragging him by the ear. Leon had accepted it at first, as he found it kind of fun, but had decided it was a lot less fun after the first 10 minutes.
"Okay.", said Brandy, and gently shoved him forward into the middle of the campsite. "Here we are. I'm not sure why I brought you."
Leon stumbled into the middle of the camp, and spun around on one heel. "Well, obviously it's because… um…"
He remembered what Brandy had called him, and made a grab at that. "You wanted to talk to me about my Stand. My gun."
"Oh, right.", said Brandy, and suddenly appeared next to him. She held out a hand, and raised an eyebrow. "May I see it?"
Leon saluted, and Brandy leaned back a little bit in surprise. "Yes, ma'am.", he said, and spun his Stand into existence. It appeared in his hand with a burst of silver smoke, and he held it out to present to Brandy.
"Don't call me ma'am.", she said, and plucked it out of his hand. "It's weird."
"What do you mean, it's weird?", Leon said. "Didn't you bring me to your camp beca-"
Brandy placed a finger on his mouth, and closely inspected Leon's Stand. "Hush.", she said. "I'm trying to look."
She stared at the smooth metal blaster, turning it on its end. It was soft grey in color, several light blue lines running vertically alongside it. The ends of it both hummed with sheer energy, presumably used for firing rounds. The weapon itself wasn't too heavy- it was, after all, a Stand. Pure metaphysical energy generally didn't weigh very much.
"Huh.", she said, and removed her finger from against Leon's mouth. "Pretty nice Stand you got there, kid. Very useful object type. What is it called?"
Leon snapped his hand back, and the Stand vanished. It reappeared in his hand a second later, then he tucked it into empty air. "Called… oh .Yeah. It's named…"
He leaned back, hands in his pockets, trying to look as cool as he could. "Hunter Killer."
"Hunter Killer.", Brandy said. "Huh. Why'd you name it that?"
Leon shrugged, and flicked a spinner blade from one hand to the other. "I don't know. Just sounded cool, I guess."
Then he looked up, having made a sudden realization. "Hold on. I thought only other Stand users could see Stands."
"That's right.", said Brandy, expecting what would be coming next. "And you're about to ask me how I can see your Stand then."
"How can you see my Stand then-", said Leon, then stopped. He looked up at Brandy, and closed his mouth.
"Well.", Brandy said, pacing back and forth. "It's because I, too, possess a Stand. It's not a flashy one, or particularly strong. However, it is very useful when it wishes to be."
She shivered, remembering the times that it had saved her life, or given her the will to keep going. "My Stand is known as The Dreamer. It allows me to see the future, however vague and meaningless that vision may be."
"Huh.", said Leon. "I guess you've not been training with it, then."
Brandy took a step back, offended. "What? What are you talking about?"
"Well, you've had it your whole life.", said Leon. "And you still can't control it?"
"I've not had it my whole life.", said Brandy. "I only got it like, a month and a half ago."
Leon stared at her. "Really.", he said with a slight curiosity. "Because I've had mine my entire life. I was just born with it."
"Huh.", Brandy said, and folded her arms. "Lucky. I had to get fricking stabbed."
"Woah woah woah.", said Leon, and held up his hands. "You were stabbed to get it? By what?"
"I don't know.", Brandy said, and blew some of the hair out of her face. "Some weird golden thing. It blew up when it touched me though- for some reason."
"Hmmm…", said Leon, and rolled his lollipop around in his mouth again. "I got the good end of the deal again."
"Hmph.", said Brandy, but she was only half listening. Inside of her mid, some things were coming together. She had gained her Stand just after she had been informed she was pregnant. And that was about a month and a half ago. And that was-
But her train of thought was interrupted, when she heard a very low, very long yawn from across the entire clearing. She spun her head around to look- and saw Dan at the far end.
"Dan!", she shouted, and waved. "You're awake!"
"Yup.", Dan grunted, and stepped further into the camp to reveal that he had a massive tree branch under each arm. Stacked on top of the branches were various bunches of fruit, yanked straight from the trees. Although he was standing, he looked still absolutely exhausted. "I'm awake. Kind of wish I wasn't though."
With a heave of pure, rippling strength, Dan tossed the tree trunks into the center of the campsite. They split upon landing, the food rolling to a stop in front of Brandy and Leon. With another flick of his fingers and a mumbled "overdrive", a spark of electricity shot into the pile of wood. It took only a second for them to catch, and soon the chunks had turned into a roaring fire.
"I'm gonna go get dinner, honey.", Dan grunted, and turned back towards his tent. "Stay right there. Don't wander off. Eat something else in the meantime."
"Dan, wait-", Brandy began, but Dan had already walked beyond the edges of the firelight, and into the dark woods.
"Uh, honey?", Leon asked, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer. "Does that mean that-"
"Oh yeah.", Brandy said, and plucked a small bag of hot chocolate mix off the ground. It had inexplicably grown on one of the trees, along with a pail of hot water and a small mug. She quickly prepared the mix in a blur of Dash-infused movements, and handed one to Leon. He gently took it, removing his lollipop from his mouth temporarily. "Dan's my husband. Why?"
Inwardly, Leon cursed. But outwardly, he just shrugged. "I don't know. Just, uh, curious. I guess."
"Mmhmm.", said Brandy, and took a sip. "Yeah, we've known each other… well, pretty much as far back as I can remember."
Leon took a sip, and winced. It was incredibly hot, despite Brandy seemingly not caring. "And uh, how far is that?"
Brandy sipped again, noticing how the sparks flew off the burning wood. The air of the woods was calm and inviting, despite all the dangers that lurked within. "I don't really know, actually. Some years, I suppose. I was actually born of natural parents- I never came from a chest."
She shook her head, and set her mug down. "I'm sorry, is this too much for you? I didn't mean to-"
"No, no.", said Leon with a shake of his own head and tail. "I'm fine."
Brandy raised an eyebrow. "I meant the hot chocolate.", she said, noting that Leon had failed to drink anything since his first scalding bite.
"Oh." said Leon, and looked down. "Well, not that either. I'm just waiting for it to cool down."
"Ah.", said Brandy, and laughed. "I see."
"Neither did I.", Leon blurted out, and Brandy looked at him in confusion. "Come from a chest, or a box, or whatever."
"Huh.", Brandy said, and took another sip. This time, it had marshmallows. "Where did you come from, then?"
Leon looked up to the sky, recalling his earliest days. "Well, it's still all a little fuzzy. But I remember that I was brought to my Brawler house by someone."
"Mmhmm…", said Brandy, and took another sip. She was a little distracted, tired, and cold, so she was really only half listening. "Who?"
Leon scratched his head, and yawned. "I don't really remember her name, but she was kind of like this flying, gold lady."
Something tickled at the back of Brandy's mind, but she couldn't quite tell what it was. However, it was enough to pique her interest. She opened her eyes again, and leaned forward. "Are you sure you can't remember her name?"
"Well…", Leon said, trying to rack his brain. "I think it might have been… um…"
Brandy closed her eyes again, and gently leaned back. But she instantly opened them back up again, when she heard Leon's next words.
"Hailizi?", he pondered, and scratched the top of his head. "Yeah, I think it was something like that."
For a moment, Brandy's heart stopped beating. Her breath caught in her throat, and every muscle in he entire body tensed at once. She felt a strange feeling wash over her, as she realized truly just what this meant. She looked out over all the evidence she had seen so far- his age, the Stand, now this- it couldn't have been a coincidence. This could only mean one thing.
Brandy's voice got very quiet, as she slowly placed a hand on Leon's shoulder. She flipped back his hood with the other, staring right at him in a strange mixture of relief and total shock.
"Oh. My. Se'th.", she said, as she put her finger against the side of Leon's face. He squirmed and looked at her funny, but Brandy's grip was tight.
"Hey, hey, what are you doing-", he began, but one look at Brandy's face told him it would be best to stay quiet in this situation.
"Leon, I…", Brandy began, then looked down at the fire and ground. She gulped in nervousness, then looked back up again with a face as soft as a cloud. "I'm not sure how to explain this."
"Yo, explain what?", he asked, trying to get away from Brandy's grip, but secretly enjoying the attention. "What's going on here?"
Brandy sighed, and slowly closed her eyes. Then she opened them up again with fierce determination, and stared right into Leon's eyes.
"Leon, I…", she said, and for just a second, the entire world seemed to hang still. No noises were made, not even from the ground or air itself. Then she sighed deeply, and let out the truth.
"Leon.", she said. "I'm your mother."
Leon took this image in with varying levels of emotion. First there was the shock, as he heard Brandy's words. Then there was the shock again, as he actually understood them. Then there was the excitement coursing through his very veins, as he realized that he had finally found what he had been searching for the last few days without rest. Then came the total, overwhelming horror, as he realized that the woman he had seen taking a bath and developed a little bit of an infatuation with was, in fact, his very own flesh and blood mother.
On the outside, he just slowly nodded, as if he was able to take this information well, and without complication. But on the inside, he screamed a wail of existential horror, knowing that no matter how many times he scrubbed his brain and eyeballs, they would never truly be the same.
"Um.", he said, and blinked, trying not to collapse. "Well, uh…"
"I know.", said Brandy, and took her hand off of Leon's shoulder. "I'm surprised too. I didn't expect to find you out here."
Trying to ignore his reeling mind, Leon worked up the frame of mind to ask a question. "Wait. So if you're my mother… who's the dad? That's how it works, right?"
Brandy's face grew dark, and she looked down. She hadn't thought she would end up telling Leon this, but she supposed she had no choice. He was her son, after all. She had to tell him the truth.
Brandy looked up, and took a deep breath. "Well-"
Then Leon saw, from behind Brandy's shoulder, Dan slowly get up, and wander in their general direction. He hadn't seen Leon before- he had simply been far too tired. So when Leon actually did address him, it came as kind of a shock. He sluggishly picked up the Rune of Elixir, poured some out into a cup, and took a big sip.
"Hey Dad!", shouted Leon from behind him, and gave a huge wave.
Dan hurked, and spat out his Elixir. It sprayed across the entire campsite in a purple rain, and he spun around on both heels. His eyes were wide open, now instantly awake.
"What?", he coughed, covering his mouth with one hand. "Where the-"
Only then did he see Leon, gently cowering right next to Brandy. He gave a shy little wave, and pulled his hood down closer over his face.
"Dad?", Dan coughed, and made his way over to Leon. "Excuse me, but who the frick are you?"
He loomed high over Leon, his massive form of 21 feet not fully visible in the soft firelight. Leon looked back up at him, obvious fear written across his face.
"Wait!", Brandy said, waving her hands. "He's okay. His name's Leon. I found him in the woods while I was getting food."
"And turns out I'm her son.", said Leon, folding his arms behind his back. "So I guess that makes you my dad."
Dan turned a furious gaze towards Brandy, who shrunk under her cloak. "Excuse us.", he said, grabbed Brandy by the waist, and stomped over to the other side of the camp.
"What?", Dan roared, thereby negating any reason for going to the other side of the camp in the first place. "Your son? How?"
"I can-", Brandy said, trying to explain, but Dan wasn't finished.
"You told me you couldn't get pregnant anymore!", he yelled, throwing the arm that wasn't holding Brandy high into the air. "And I don't exactly remember us fooling around while I was just a Knight!"
"Dan, he's…", Brandy said, and looked down. Her eyes began to water. "Not yours."
"What?", Dan rumbled, the tips of his fingers lighting up gold. "Brandy, do you mean to tell me that-"
"He's Chad's.", said Brandy, and hiccuped. A single tear rolled down her cheek and hit the dirt, her face dark as ash.
Song: Himeru Omai
For a second, nobody moved. Dan stood there in shock, the cool darkness of the night now seeming icy cold, and deadly sharp around them.
"Oh.", he said, searching his memory. "From when you were-"
"Yes.", Brandy choked out, trying not to cry.
"In the forest.", said Dan, and almost stumbled back. "I- I wasn't even really there. I had forgotten."
Brandy looked up at him, and buried her face in his chest. She rubbed her head against his stomach, trying to calm herself. Her mind rolled with flashbacks, though she was trying desperately to fight them off. "I know.", she breathed, so quiet she could barely be heard. "I was there. I carried him the entire time you were gone."
Dan cast a single glance towards Leon, who was still sitting on the stump in mild curiosity. "So… he's your son then."
Brandy sighed deeply, and took a look over towards him as well. "Yes. He is."
A small smile spread over her face, despite how she had been acting just a few moments before. "Dan.", she said. "I'm a mother. We're parents."
Then her eyes shot open, and she looked up. "Oh my S'eth, I'm a mother."
"Hmph.", Dan said. "Yes, you are a mother. But we're not parents."
Brandy's eyes softened in shock. "What?", she asked. "Dan, what do you-"
As if to help answer this question, Leon suddenly appeared next to them with a shimmer of the light. He held up one hand, the other in his pocket. "Hey uh… Dad?", he asked. "What are you talking about?"
Dan turned to look at him, but there was only sternness in his voice. "Don't call me that.", he snarled, and turned all the way around. "You're not my son."
Leon's casual grin vanished off his face, and he took a step backwards. He could see just how huge Dan loomed over them both, all 21 feet and nearly 6000 pounds on display.
"Wait… what?", he asked, and spread his hands. "But she's my mom, and you guys are clearly together, so-"
"I said…", rumbled Dan, and snapped out his hand to the right. A burst of Star appeared around it, and Leon leapt backwards. "You're not my son!"
Leon stared at him in open fear, his Stand slowly beginning to slip out of his sleeve. But he told it not yet, and Hunter Killer ever so quietly pulled itself back in.
Dan slammed his Star into the ground, slicing open a large crack that spread all the way to the other end of the camp. He stood there for a second, still entranced by rage, when he saw Brandy standing on the ground beside him.
"Dan…", she said, and her face trembled. "Why… what are you doing?"
Dan took one look at Brandy, and his anger melted. He almost instantaneously rushed to her side, and put one giant arm around her. "Woah, woah, what's wrong?"
"You… hate him.", she said, and took a deep sniff. "My own son. You hate mine- no, our son."
Her shoulders heaved, and the tears began to fall. Dan instantly reached out a hand to catch them, and leaned more around Brandy.
"No, no.", he said. "Don't cry. PLease. I… can't take it very well."
Brandy looked up at him, and rubbed her eyes. "Oh.", she said with shock. "Well then, we can split the crying equally."
Dan rubbed the small of Brandy's back, and gave a deep low rumble. "It's okay, Brandy.", he said. "It's alright."
Then he looked down at Leon, who was still standing afraid. He leaned in as close as he could, making sure Leon could see every bit of muscle on his face that he could have. "Listen, kid.", he growled, rumbling Leon's bones. "You may be the child she gave birth too. But I am not the other half."
Leon slowly took another step back, and held up his hands. "Uh…", he mumbled, trying not to freak out. "Okay, sir. I understand."
"No.", said Brandy, and stretched herself a little taller in Dan's grip. "Dan, he is my son. You are his dad."
Dan's face suddenly grew furious, a flash of pure hatred blinking across his face as he was reminded of the past. "No.", he said. "I am not his father."
Brandy looked to Leon, his face still uncertain with fear. She looked back to Dan, his face a carving of underlying rage. She sighed, wiped a tear from her eye, and went limp in Dan's arms.
"Okay.", she said quietly. "Let's just… not argue anymore. I don't want to."
Dan said nothing, only gently setting Brandy down on the ground. He looked at the empty pot over the fire, that was supposed to be for soup.
"Hmm.", he said. "Well alright then, let's get some soup going. For two."
"Wait, what-", Leon started, but Dan affixed him with a look of such withering authority that he temporarily forgot how to speak.
"That's what I said.", Dan grunted, and breathed in. "For two."
Then with a powerful "Ora", Dan thrust his hand into the ground. A shot of pure energy blasted deep into the dirt, throwing up small pebbles and clods of dust, until he hit what he was looking for- a salt layer, deep underground. With an upwards jerk of his arm, and a small grunt of effort, Dan launched a solid chunk of salt hundreds of feet back upwards through the hole, all the way to the surface. As soon as it landed in his hand, he squeezed, and crushed it between his fingers.
His other hand opened up to reveal a large pile of potatoes and various greens, which he tossed into the pot. He sprinkled in some salt, and clapped his hands together.
"Uh, Dan?", Brandy asked. "Don't you usually like meat in your soup?"
She was saying this as a test. It was true that he did- however, Brandy hated all forms of meat. And this was going to be a shared soup. Dan usually took every opportunity to think about what Brandy wanted. If he put meat in the soup, that would mean that-
"Oh, you're right.", Dan said, and stuck a finger into the air. He fired off a quick blast of Star, and a flying bird fell straight into the pot, already feathered. "Thanks for reminding me."
Brandy gasped, and her eyes watered. She looked away from the pot, and buried her face in her hands.
"Woah, Mom.", said Leon, and stood up. One hand went towards her, and the other towards a bowl on the ground. "What's wrong-"
"Brandy?", said Dan much louder, and bolted to his feet. "What's going on?"
Brandy sniffed, and looked up at Dan. If this was his reaction, then surely he did still care.
"Nothing.", she said, and dabbed at her eye a bit. "Just uh… a spark flew into my eye."
"Oh, let me take a look at it.", said Dan, and dropped to one knee. He raised one hand in glowing Star, and cupped Brandy's head in the other. "Just hold still and…"
There was a bright flash, and pure healing Star flowed into Brandy's eye. Even though there had been no actual injury, it was still a pleasurable feeling.
"There you go.", said Dan, and gave Brandy a kiss. "All better."
Brandy sniffed, and sat up straighter. "Aw, thanks honey."
He reached for a bowl, noticing with dismay there was only one. There should have been two.
"Here, have a bowl of soup.", he said. "I'll just use the pot, I guess…"
He cast a glance to his right, and snarled. There was the second bowl seemingly hanging in the air, its contents draining as if by magic. "Because it looks like somebody took the other bowl."
Leon took an extra large sip, finishing off his soup, then abruptly became visible again. He looked awkwardly at Dan and Brandy, stood up, and cleared his throat.
"Well uh…", he said, and started walking. "I think I'm going to go to bed now. It doesn't seem that there's that much I can contribute to the conversation."
He looked around, and stopped. "Where am I sleeping-"
"On the ground.", Dan rumbled. "Outside the tent."
"Oh.", Leon said, and looked at the ground. "Well… I guess that's where I've been sleeping anyway. A little more couldn't hurt, right?"
He walked off towards a clear spot between two trees, hands in his pockets, head down, aimlessly kicking a rock. "Right."
Brandy watched him go, maternal pain aching in her heart. "Dan-"
"I know.", Dan said, and dug his spoon into the pot of soup. "I know you care about him. But-"
He stared at the ground for a second, then flared up with Star. His shoulders lit up a blazing gold, almost causing the surrounding trees to burst into flame. "He hurts me, Brandy. Just him existing. Knowing that you have a son, and I don't. That the person- no, the thing that took you made you his, if only for a little while. His… in a way that I can never have."
The Star around him faded, leaving him dull. "I just can't take it."
His shoulders heaved, and he leaned forward. A single tear dripped down his cheek, and landed on the dirt. "I know that you're his mom, and you care about him. But I can't. I just could never."
"Dan…", Brandy said, and leaned forward. She hugged Dan's torso, rubbing her head into his shirt. "I know. I know what he did to me, and that Leon is a direct result of that. But… I still love him. Because he's not His. He's mine, and only mine."
She looked up, and realized what she had said. "Well, no. I guess. He's yours too. Because any son of mine is a son of yours."
Dan sighed, and relaxed his muscles. "Listen, Brandy. I know that you're trying to make the situation better. But… it's really not. I don't like him. Plain and simple."
His face clouded over, remembering what had happened. "Every time I see him… every time he says something… I just remember that I was not able to protect you. Not before he… well, you know. Made him."
Brandy closed her eyes, and hugged Dan even tighter. "Don't think about that, Dan. Don't think about what happened then- think about what's happening now. I mean, look at this. You've got everything."
She lifted one leg into the air, and tried to wrap it around Dan's shoulder. "A loving wife, a purpose in life, an epic quest to save the world… what more could you want?"
Dan kept on staring straight ahead, watching Leon roll over on the cold, stony ground. "A kid.", he said. "Of my own."
"But-", Brandy began, only for Dan to cut her off with a raise of his hand.
"No.", he said. "I don't have one."
For a minute, there was silence in the air. No sounds could be heard but the low, deep noises of the deep forest night. Dan stared ahead in sadness, with Brandy still thinking of how to cheer him up. But they just continued to sit there, until the fire ran out of the last fuel it had to burn.
"We should-", Brandy began.
"Yes. Go to bed.", Dan finished, and stood up. Brandy gripped his waist a little tighter, and leapt up onto his shoulder.
"You know…", Brandy said, trying to salvage the situation. "We haven't-"
"No.", said Dan, with an empty shake of his head. "I don't feel like it. Not tonight."
"Oh.". Brandy said. "Okay. I guess we don't have to every night. It's just that-"
Dan took a massive step, and arrived at the entrance of the tent. He lay down against a nearby tree, Brandy taking her usual spot lying on his chest.
"I love you.", Brandy said, finishing her sentence. "You know that, right?"
"Of course I do.", said Dan, but his words sounded less full than normal. "I always know that."
"Okay.", said Brandy. "Just uh… just making sure."
She laid her head against Dan's muscular chest, and closed her eyes. Neither of them said anything else, and they were soon both in a deep sleep.
At the other end of the campsite, however, Leon could not sleep. He finally stopped rolling around, sat up, and looked at the tent. His ears had picked up everything- every word they had said. And he hated himself for it.
"Oh…", he said, barely able to breathe. In just about an hour, he had gone from not knowing who his parents were, to crushing on his mom, to finding out it was his mom, to finding his dad, to thinking he had been some sort of mistake, only to realize that he had been the product of some sort of abusive relationship. At least, that's what he had been able to piece together from Dan and Brandy's conversation.
Am I… he said, looking down at his hands. A mistake? Am I even supposed to exist?
He sighed, and closed his eyes. There was most likely a huge day ahead of him, and he had to rest well. If we was to strike out onto the road again as early as possible, he had to get ready now.
Hold on., he thought, and sat up. What am I thinking? I don't have to be on the road again. Not by myself, anyway. I found-
Found what?, he heard another voice in his head say. Found your family? No. You found a mother who couldn't raise you and a father who hates you. You have found nobody.
Leon slapped the side of his head, trying to silence some inner demon. Oh, shut up, he thought. I need to go to bed.
He yawned, and blinked. He stretched out, pulled his hoodie as far over his face as it would go, and laid down flat. I really… need to… to…
Then his brain quietly switched, and he fell asleep at last.
Song: Only a Chilling Elegy
Miles away, deep in a haunted part of the forest, a broken figure of a man lay on the dirt path. Bullet holes riddled his devastated body, yet he still somehow managed to cling onto life. A dark power filled his every vein, refusing to let his soul pass. And as the seconds turned to minutes, the destroyed form of the No Hat Mortis was slowly knitted back together.
"Gaaah…", he gasped, and spat out purple blood. The black of his torn muscle was slowly hidden beneath his growing grey skin, as he grabbed his shovel from where it lay.
With a grunt of effort, Mortis pushed himself to his feet. He took a moment to breathe, the cool night air flowing through his still-shredded lungs.
Mortis!, shouted a voice in his head, and Mortis jumped. He spun around, looking for anyone near him, but there was nobody there.
"Who dares sneak up on a creature of the night?", he spat, brandishing his shovel. "For let it be known that I shall-"
Mortis?, came the voice again, and Mortis realized where the voice was coming from. It's me. You know… your master?
"Oh.", said Mortis, and hastily slung his shovel onto his back. "I'm sorry, master, I was just a little bit distracted. I guess I lost my cool when I-"
He gestured to his body, which was no longer destroyed, but still bleeding in some areas. "Almost died. By his hand."
Yes, yes, it does appear that Leon got the jump on you, said the voice, and somehow stroked its non corporal chin. Then he grinned. But that doesn't matter… now does it?
"No, master.", said Mortis. "Not when you can regenerate me from any injury."
Yes, yes, said the voice, and clapped its hands. Now, where are the others? We're going to need them to help.
Mortis perked up, and scratched his head. "You're right!", he said. "Just uh, allow me to get them…"
He raised his shovel, and a chorus of Bats flew out from somewhere behind his head. "Creatures of the night!", he shouted. "Bring me my allies, and spell our enemy's dooms!"
The Bats flew off, and immediately scattered into the woods. Mortis gave a satisfied nod, and slammed his shovel down into the ground.
"There you go, my lord.", he said. "Soon, my friends-"
He felt a sudden rise in the dark presence behind him, and scrambled to correct his words. "Sorry, I mean- allies, yes my allies, will arrive."
He swallowed a bit in nervousness. His master hated all mentions of friendship, but especially anything that could be taken as a mere mention of love. They had lost a member of their group that way- torn straight to bits by pure dark energy. That, and the master's enormous sword.
Good, good, said his master. Now… here's the rest of the plan.
"Yes, sir.", said Mortis, and gave a sharp salute. "I'm listening."
His master leaned in, and Mortis offered up one ear.
Send out two scouts in advance, said he, the dark whispers itching at Mortis's ear. Try and take them by cooperation. If that does not work, take them by force. The child and the girl, I mean. Kill the boy, and deliver the other two straight to me.
"Yes, sir.", said Mortis. "But… what if your scouts don't work?"
I'm getting to that, the dark shadow said, starting to become slightly visible from the power of his will. I'm anticipating they will stop at the nearest village, based off of previous behavior. And once they do, that is when you will strike. The very instant they fall asleep, make sure they stay that way. And then, we will all make our move.
Mortis nodded, as he started to notice the rest of the group had begun to arrive. "Yes, sir.", he said. "I shall explain the plan to the rest of my group."
The evil figure smiled, and faded back into thought. Mortis looked up, and saw his allies arrive.
Out of the trees strode a massive El Primo, although Mortis knew he could become an El Rudo if he so wished. Next to him was a slinking Bibi, as she loudly chewed a bubble. To the right of those two was a Tara, running with her hands behind her in between the trees. A Rico stepped precisely in an 87 degree angle into the clearing, his head swiveling around automatically. A Sleepy Sandy staggered into the clearing, his eyes half closed and a snore starting to escape from his lips. There was a Gene, laughing softly to himself as his lamp flew around his head. And in the very rear was a Tick, small mechanical beeps escaping his ever-smiling face.
Mortis smiled, and spread open wide his arms. "Welcome, everyone.", he said. "I'm sure you're all just dying to hear the next phase of the plan."
Bibi popped her bubble, yawned, then blew another one. She spun her bat around on one fingertip, then slammed it onto the ground. She leaned on it casually, and raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, you bet.", she scoffed. "Me and El Primo have been waiting for hours."
"Si.", El Primo said, with an unnecessary flex of his muscles. "Mi bebé y yo apenas podemos esperar."
Mortis chuckled. "Right… so I suppose I should tell you all then?"
"Yes.", said the Rico, his head still spinning randomly around as he kept a sharp lookout. "Tell. Us."
"Woooo.", said Sandy, pumping the air with his fist, even as he yawned again. "Okay."
Mortis stood as tall as he could, and spun his shovel around on his shoulder. "Alright then.", he said, and grinned an evil smile. "Here's what we're gonna do."
As he explained the evil plan to his group, the master slowly rose into the air. He looked out over the woods, searching for his target- but of course, he could not see them. Their campfire had already been put out almost an hour earlier. But still he scoured his vision, rage building within his vengeful and lustful heart.
Mark my words, he thought, and snarled. I will get you. For once I'm done with you… one of you shall be dead. And the other two shall be all mine to keep.
His eyes narrowed, and dark light flashed from the spot where he hovered in the trees.
Forever.
Then he threw back his head, and began to maniacally laugh, as his underlings finished up the plan below.
Song: Rubicon
The next morning, an unsettling aura covered the sky. The light slowly trickled down from over the forested mountains to the deep woods themselves, the harsh blue hues of dawn illuminating Dan and Brandy's still campsite. The fire had since long burned out, the sticks now mere husks of ash. Leon had rolled all the way across the entire campsite, and was now pressed up against Dan and Brandy's tent.
"Wha…", Brandy mumbled, as she looked up. "Is it morning already?"
She blinked through sleepy eyes, and pushed her hair out of her face. "Oh. It is."
Dan opened his own eyes, although he didn't budge from his spot. He saw Brandy's tired face, trying to blink the bleariness from her face, and couldn't help himself.
"You know, honey, you look really cute.", he mumbled, and stroked the side of Brandy's face with a single massive finger.
"Aw, Dan…", said Brandy, and let herself flop down on his chest again. "You look cute too."
"Oh, really?", said Dan. "Cause I think you look way cuter."
But even as his words were soft, they concealed desperate intentions. He was intentionally trying to be as lovey towards Brandy as possible. Now that Leon had suddenly arrived, he was inspired to pour as much attention and affection on Brandy as he could.
Then his vision refocused to somewhere behind him, and his eyes narrowed.
"Hey!", he barked, startling Leon into a sudden fall. "Stay out of there!"
Leon cried out and slipped on a patch of mud, dropping the food he had grabbed. He landed on his back, his hood falling over the back of his head. His hands instinctively flew to his sleeves, a spinner blade sliding neatly into each one.
"Dan!", Brandy said, and leaned back. "Don't yell at him!"
"Why not?", Dan growled, his peaceful mood suddenly shattered. "Why shouldn't I?"
"Because…", Brandy said, "He has done nothing to deserve it. And he's our son anyway- you shouldn't be yelling at him like this!"
"No.", said Dan, and shook his head. "He may be your son, Brandy, but he is not mine."
"But-", Brandy began, but Dan just raised a hand. He pointed a finger at Leon, who had stood up again and was now standing next to a tree in awkward silence.
"He may have come from you, but I had no part in it.", Dan said quietly. "He came from… him. And every time I look at him, I am reminded of that fact."
Brandy was silent for a bit. She took a long, sorrowful look back at Leon, then looked back down at Dan. She snuggled in right up to his neck, rubbing her head against the spot where he liked the most.
"Yes.", she purred. "I know that. But… we can pretend that he's yours, can't we? Just put the past behind us?"
Dan felt her rub against him for a bit, and he decided that he did feel a bit better.
"Okay.", he said, and slowly stood up. Brandy Dashed up to his shoulder, and settled in. "I guess I could try to be somewhat sort of indifferent towards him some of the time. For you."
"Thanks Dan.", said Brandy, hugging him tightly around the neck with a kiss. "You're the best."
Leon chanced a quick look behind him, to try and see what was going on. He almost jumped out of his feet when he saw Dan no less than 4 feet away from him, Brandy and the entire campsite riding on his shoulder.
"Hey, kid.", said Dan with a forced smile and an even more forced extension of the hand. "We just got packed up. And now we're leaving."
"Wait, how?", asked Leon, and craned his neck to look behind Dan. "The campsite was up just like a minute ago! How did you-"
"I said…", boomed Dan, and Leon did jump. "We just got packed up. And now, we are leaving."
Leon nodded, pursed his lips together, and readjusted his hood on top of his head. He crouched down on the ground, about to try and make the jump. "Okay. Let me just-"
"No.", said Dan, and put his hand over Leon. "You will walk."
"Oh.", said Leon, and his face fell. "Okay then."
Dan started to take a step, only for Brandy to give a sharp tug on his ear. "Now hold on a minute, Dan. Did I not say that he was allowed to ride on your shoulder?"
Dan stopped walking, threw his head back, and groaned so loud it could be heard by the birds overhead. "Fiiine."
He leaned down, grabbed Leon daintily by the waist, and dropped him unceremoniously onto his shoulder. "Here you go, kid. Just… don't make too much noise. And-"
He turned and faced Leon, the underlying, burning rage in his voice almost visible. "If you ever so much as scratch my wife…", he said, and narrowed his eyes. A thin coating of flame surrounded him, pure Star rushing over his body in minute amounts. "I'll kill you."
Leon nodded, and scooted a little further away from Brandy's side of Dan's shoulders. "Alright, sir.", he said, and quickly nodded his head. "I understand."
"Good.", said Dan, and started walking. "And don't you forget it."
As Dan strode down the path, the entire campsite on his back, Brandy turned towards Leon. She could see the tears beginning to run down his face, carving a laborious path through the dirt. One eye was still blackened, and a long, thin scar ran across the bridge of his nose.
"Hey, Leon?", Brandy asked quietly, scooching over to the center of Dan's shoulders.
"Yeah Mom?", Leon asked, sort of morosely.
"If you don't mind me asking….", Brandy asked, preparing what to say next. "Why are you so injured?"
Leon looked up, his hand instantly flying up to his cheek. "I'm not hurt. I'm fine."
Brandy scooted further towards Leon, and gently put her hand on his face. "No.", she said. "No, you're not. You're hurt."
Leon tried to keep his strong look up, before he finally broke down. He sighed deeply, and let his own hand fall. "Okay. Yes. I'm hurt."
"Here.", said Brandy, and reached into her pocket. Her fingers grabbed ahold of a travel size Heal spell, and brought it into the light. "Let me just-"
She popped off the cork, and wet the tip of her finger. Leon grimaced as Brandy rubbed a bit of the magical liquid substance against his cheek, the dirt beginning to vanish.
"Leon, stop squirming.", she said, and grabbed hold of his shoulders. She tried to rub her finger against Leon's eye to clear it up, but the way Dan kept moving wasn't helping. "I'm just trying to Heal you."
"Yeah, I know.", said Leon, and closed his eyes. "I just don't like it when people like, fawn over me like this. I don't know."
Brandy grabbed him by the eye, and rubbed his eye vigorously with her hand. The Heal, although a thin layer on her skin, was enough to remove most of Leon's black eye.
"Okay, we're almost done.", said Brandy, and dipped a little more Heal onto her hand. "Just hold still, and-"
She rubbed her hand across Leon's arm, the Heal soaking through the cloth. Leon gasped, both in surprise and a little pain.
"How did you know I was hurt there?", he asked. "I didn't show you even once."
Brandy just smiled, and tapped the side of her head. "I'm your mom, Leon.", she said slyly. "I can tell."
The single flicker of a soft blue light behind her head helped as well, but she didn't really feel like mentioning that one.
"Huh.", he said. "I guess that makes sense."
"Excuse me.", Dan said, and suddenly stopped walking. "If you two are finished, I believe we are about to run into something."
Brandy looked up, and tucked the Heal back into her pocket. "What?", she asked, looking around. "What is it? What are we getting attacked by?"
"Woah, hey!", said Leon, putting his hands into his pocket. "No one said anything about being attacked."
"Heh, boy.", said Dan, and bent down a little to give himself a stance. "We've been getting attacked ever since we got here. This is nothing new."
He took a deep breath, and flared over with Star. The heat felt too warm on Leon's skin, but Brandy snuggled up against the side of Dan's head like he was a warm oven.
"Keep an eye out for anything, Brandy.", he said. "I'll look too."
Then Leon looked down at the ground, his eyes instinctively searching for tracks. He was just sweeping the grass at first, hardly even noticing what he was doing- then his blood ran cold, as he saw something he recognized.
"Uh, sir?", he asked, tapping on Dan's shoulder. "I think you might want to take a look at this."
"Look at the trees.", Dan said quietly. "There might be something in there."
"Sir?", Leon asked, a little more urgently. "I really think you should take a look at this."
"You know, Brandy, this kind of reminds me of the time when you and I-", Dan said, before he heard Leon's yell.
"Hey! Dad!", Leon shouted, and the hairs on the back of Dan's neck all stood up. "Look at this!"
"What?", Dan snarled, and looked to where Leon was pointing. "What is it, boy-"
Then he saw what Leon had been pointing at, and his face immediately softened. He bent down to take a closer look- at a curious insect that had just entered the clearing.
"Why, it's a Red Spalmer Beetle!", he said, whispering in wonder. "Very rare find these days. Good eye, kid."
Leon watched him stare at the insect for a few seconds, soaking in the positive attention. However, the tiny animal was not the thing that had captured his attention.
"Actually, sir?", Leon asked, and Dan looked up. "I was referring to that."
"What-", Dan began, then looked to the right. He saw that all the grass in one area had been pushed down to the ground- by some sort of long, round shape. "Oh."
He took another look around him, to see that the entire edge of the clearing had been trampled down by the same thing that had left the markings. "Ohhhhh…"
"What do you think it is?", Brandy asked, leaning down to get a closer look. "Cause it looks like, to me, that-"
"I know what it is.", said Leon. "I've seen it before."
Brandy had been about to say "giant slab of stone moving around on its own", but she decided to let Leon take this one. He needed it more than she did.
"I saw it traveling through the woods.", said Leon. "It, and this other big monster. It looked like they were on their way to do something."
"Yes…", said Dan, and clenched his fist. He pounded it into his hand, and snarled. "And we are probably something."
It took a moment for what he had said to register in Leon and Brandy's minds. But once it did, it only took a second for Brandy to snort with laughter. She giggled a few short bursts, then fell backwards onto his shoulder.
Following his mother's example, Leon let out a short laugh. He put his hand on Dan's shoulder, and then started laughing uncontrollably.
"What?", Dan asked, trying to turn his head to look. "What is it? What's going on?"
But both Brandy and Leon kept on laughing, unable to breathe to tell him.
"What?", Dan asked again, but that just sent them both into even more laughter. "What did I say?"
"You said-", Brandy gasped, trying to sit up. "You said that-"
"They were coming to do us.", said Leon, grabbing onto Dan's shoulder in an attempt to compose himself. "And you mean that-"
"Oh.", said Dan, only now remembering all the stuff jokes that Brandy liked to make. "Right."
"Also uh…", said Leon, his ears twitching under his hood. "I hear something. Up ahead."
Brandy took one last gasp of laughter, and looked up. "Wait, what-"
Then there was a great crack up ahead, and the trees parted to reveal a pair of beasts. One was a vast serpent, it's enormous body stretching all the way back into the woods. The other was a heavyset lizard with many heads, each drooling in anticipation of blood.
Song: Burning Colosseum
"It's them!", Leon shouted, and dropped some spinner blades into his hands. "The Serpent and the Hydra!"
Dan jumped backwards, and took a deep breath. He silently gestured to Brandy to get ready, and she nodded. "That's what they're called?"
"Yes.", said Leon. "I was approached by this guy earlier that wanted me to join a team- and they were part of it."
Dan's mind, acting fast in the face of battle, put two and two together, looking at Leon in shock.
"Wait- Rakastamos?", he asked. "Rakastamos wanted you to join him?"
"Uuhh…", said Leon, and gripped Dan's shoulder tighter. "Let's talk about this later."
"Right, sweetie.", said Brandy, blue and silver light trailing off of her as she prepared to fight. "After we kill these guys."
"Yes.", Dan said, and took a defensive stance. He breathed in and out, the golden light around him flaring to immense proportions. "Let's."
The Serpent laughed a deep, throaty chuckle, and reared up. Its immense body towered over the trees, a full 50 feet off of the ground. It opened its mouth and drooled, revealing line upon line of dagger like teeth.
The Hydra twisted around, each one of its heads letting out a mighty hiss. Some were long and thin, others were short and bulky. Some had teeth like needles, others like worn stubs. But the thing that connected them all was their milky white, almost blank eyes.
"I'm guessing the one with all the heads is the Hydra.", Brandy said. "Right?"
"Right.", said Leon. "Also I'm like… 85% sure he's blind. Except for one head."
"Blind except for one head?", Dan asked, and took another look. Sure enough, one small, frail head in the center of the wriggling mass had not eyes of white, but a brilliant, piercing gaze. It swung rhythmically back and forth, most likely to pick up information for all the other heads.
"Got it!", he shouted, and fired a blast. "Shining Spear Overdrive!"
Leon's eyes widened in fear. "Wait no-", he began, but it was too late. Dan's Star energy shot like a lance of lightning, hitting the seeing head straight on and blowing it into pieces.
The eyes of the serpent lit up with glee, and it dived forward in a blur of motion, it's huge head heading straight for Dan. Dan noticed just a bit too late, crossing his arms in defense almost before the Serpent's attack hit.
With a ferocious growl, the Serpent coiled around Dan's body. It laughed deeply as it coiled tighter, even more of its gigantic body entering the clearing. Brandy and Leon leaped from Dan's shoulders and hit the ground, skidding until they came up against the trees.
The Serpent finished winding around Dan's entire body, then reared up its head even more to attack his head. With a powerful roar, it rolled its eyes all the way around its head.
"Dan!", Brandy shouted, and concentrated Dash within her hand. "Don't worry, we're-"
She had been about to say "coming", when she saw Dan crack a small smile.
Brandy stopped in her tracks, and put away her hand. She smiled a little bit, despite the situation. If Dan was smiling, that meant he had a plan.
"Your scales…", Dan said, and the Serpent stopped laughing. A bit of fear came over his face, as he saw Dan begin to glow. Then Dan shouted in fury, and the Serpent gasped. "Are perfect conductors!"
A flash of Star erupted from Dan's arms, not even taking a second to continue onwards to the Serpent. "Encircling Ripple Overdrive!"
The Star rolled up and down all of the Serpent's body, as it shrieked in agony. Sparks and pops of sizzling light flashed and sizzled, the nervous system of the beast briefly becoming visible from the sheer power of the blow. Finally, after a few seconds, Dan let up the attack, and the Serpent let out one final scream as it was blown backwards, its entire body slamming against the trees.
"There.", said Dan, and drew himself to his full height. "Now let's check on the Hydra-"
Then he saw what the Hydra was doing, and regretted his past actions. For where he had blown the seeing head off, there were now 2. Both of them could see, but it also seemed that one of them could spit acid.
"See, sir?", groaned Leon, coming up from behind Dan. "That's what I was trying to warn you about."
"I see.", said Dan, starting to growl. "Then why, boy…"
He looked down at Leon in anger, and a chill ran through Leon's body. "Didn't you tell me sooner?"
"I'm sorry.", Leon said, and winced. "It won't happen again, I promise-"
"Hey!", shouted Brandy, and Dashed right by them. "Let's fight!"
"Brandy, wait!", shouted Dan, holding out a hand to try and stop her, but Brandy had already gone out of range. Extending one leg in a long kick, she aimed right for the Serpent's eye.
"Dorra!", she yelled, as the Serpent rose from the ground, shaking its head from Dan's colossal attack. Its eye was positioned directly where Brandy had predicted it would be, and her boot sunk into it with a satisfying squelch. There was a spray of blood, and the Serpent let out an otherworldly shriek of pain.
Brandy jumped backwards and skidded across the ground, flicking out her bat behind her.
"Hey!", she shouted, looking back at Dan and Leon. "Are you gonna stand there, or help me?"
Leon nodded, and started to move forward. "Sorry, Mom."
Dan nodded, and took a deep breath. "Sorry…", he said, and glared at Leon once again. "Honey."
The Serpent rolled around on the ground, still bellowing its shrill cry, and shot into the trees. The Hydra reared up on its hind legs, each and every head turning to face the group.
"Dan!", shouted Brandy, making several meaningless gestures with her arms and hands. "Cover me! I'm gonna go in deep, try and find out it's weakness!"
She gestured towards Leon, who stood up straight at attention. "Leon!"
Then her voice grew softer, and she smiled. "Come with me."
Brandy didn't even wait for her orders to be carried out before she attacked. With a lightning fast Dash, she slid underneath the Hydra's forest of necks, her hand beginning to sparkle with shining silver light.
"Ushaaaaa!", screamed one of the Hydra's heads, and spat a huge spray of acid. It arced towards Dan, who merely grimaced and threw up his arm. A blast of blazing Star appeared in front of him, turning the spray of caustic liquid into mere harmless gas.
"Leon!", shouted Brandy, as she ducked and rolled to avoid one of the Hydra's stomping legs as it took on Dan. "Get under its stomach and shoot it!"
"Yes, ma'am-", Leon started, before one of the Hydra's feet came stomping straight for his position. He yelped and rolled away, grabbing his Stand out of the air as he did so.
"Good.", said Brandy, and gathered more energy in her hand. "Also, don't call me ma'am. It's weird."
Dan charged forward, taking an even deeper breath in. Flashes of golden light sparkled all around him, as a low roar began to build in his throat. Raising one hand into the air, he gathered a glowing golden orb.
"Raging Spirit…", he yelled, and threw the shot. "Overdrive!"
The Hydra reared back, all but one of its heads trying to dodge the blow. Only one did not react in time, and was caught full force by the enormous blow. There was an explosion of orange light that blew the leaves off of the trees, sending both Brandy and Leon backwards. They rolled away on either side of the Hydra, just as they had been about to attack.
"Dan!", Brandy shouted. "Hey!"
"What?", Dan shouted back. "I'm just trying to kill the Hydra!"
"Yes!", shouted Brandy, her hand once again beginning to spark. "It would just be great if-"
Then she saw it. The smoke clearing from the Raging Spirit Overdrive, where the Hydra had been hit on one of its heads. She blinked in surprise, as she saw the head laying there, as if asleep- yet a river of blood coming from its mouth.
"Is it…", she asked herself. "Dead?"
But it was an impossibility. Troops turned into Elixir when they died- they didn't just hang around for a bit. Brandy stared at the head, jumping to her right to avoid a strike by another- then it came to her, in a flash of realization.
"Guys!", she shouted, and both Leon and Dan turned to look at her. "We can kill the individual heads without causing it to grow more!"
Dan startled a bit, then grinned. He breathed in, gathering another Raging Spirit Overdrive in his right palm. "You're right, honey!", he shouted, and carefully took aim.
Leon fired off a quick spray of spinner blades out of pure instinct, right at a head which had been about to attack him. Unfortunately, they sliced right through the neck, and two more heads had appeared within seconds. "Oops.", he said, and jumped backwards to avoid them. "Sorry, Mom."
"Boy!", shouted Dan, calculating the right jump to land in front of Brandy as quickly as he could. "What did you do that for?"
"Sorry!", Leon yelled, dodging another strike. A Hydra head buried itself into the ground where he had been a mere moment before, sending up a high plume of burned dirt.
"Dan!", Brandy shouted, as she once again prepared her Dash Swipe. "Aim for the big head! And keep an eye out for the Serpent!"
"The Serpent?", Dan asked, raising his hand to fire. "What about it?"
"It went into the trees!", Brandy yelled. "After you knocked it away! We don't know where it is now!"
"Shoot.", Dan said, as he scanned the treeline, seeing no sign of the Serpent. "You're right."
Then he roared, thrust his hand forward, and launched the orange ball of Star. It streaked towards the largest head, a drooling fanged one, and detonated violently upon impact.
Once the smoke cleared, the head lay flopping from its neck, dead. Another one was down- now there were only about 12 or 13 more to go.
"Hey!", Brandy yelled, attracting the attention of about three of them. They turned as one to look at Brandy, as she raised her hand. "You!"
She grunted in effort and a little pain, as she swiped her hand downwards, right through the Hydra's body. There was a bright flash of silver and blue, the downwards momentum of her palm taking the Hydra's skin and muscle with it.
The Hydra roared in pain, stumbling back across the grass. One of the heads rose into the air, emitting a curious sound- and then began to change. Its scales turned from a dark, mottled grey to somewhat white. Its teeth shrunk, becoming more stublike in shape. Finally its eyes shifted from a blank milky white to a shimmering blue and gold.
"Is that good?", Brandy asked, backflipping towards the treeline. "I don't think that's good."
"No.", Dan said, and breathed in. He flexed his leg muscles, and prepared to jump. "It's not."
The Hydra whipped its transformed head around, and to everyone's surprise, bit down directly on the spot where Brandy had taken a chunk out of it. Then their surprise turned to anger, as they saw the injured area completely heal up.
It looks like it can adapt its heads to suit its needs, thought Dan, and leapt into the air. He fired off another quick round of shots as he soared overhead, each blast strafing the top of the Hydra in a round of small explosions. "Great. That's totally what we needed."
He landed next to Brandy with a thunderous crash, throwing up his arm in anticipation of any attacks. "Brandy. See if you can identify any sort of main or leader head. Then attack that."
"Right.", Brandy said and nodded, trying to look at every head at once. But it was a difficult task- the heads turned and swirled around at random, forming an almost hypnotic pattern that was difficult to look away from.
Brandy shook her head, and tried to think of what to do. Using her Dash Swipe took a lot out of her, and it could just be healed up. It wouldn't be a good idea to get close to all of the Hydra's gnashing teeth and dripping acids. She had no ranged attacks, so how was she to fight?
She looked at the Hydra again- then a cold chill ran down her back. "Leon?"
She took a look around the clearing- Leon was nowhere to be found. "Dan? Where did Leon go?"
A random Hydra head lashed out at Dan, and he smashed it directly in the face with his fist. It flew back, and Dan took a defensive stance. "I don't know. Why should I care?"
Brandy gasped, a little hurt. "Dan!"
"What?", Dan growled, and lit up one arm with Star. He slammed it right into a wave of acid thrown by one head, and broke the jaw of another. "I don't!"
The Hydra roared through all its heads as one, and took a colossal step back. Two of the largest heads reared up, and stared at each other, as if discussing something.
"Okay.", Dan said, and took another deep breath. "If I just keep on killing the heads without removing them, we can win. I just gotta-"
His words died in his throat, as the heads of the Hydra bit off the broken heads, leaving empty stumps in their place.
"Oh, come on!", Dan shouted. "That's not fair!"
"Dan!", Brandy shrieked. "Where's Leon?"
"Hey Mom!", came the voice of Leon, from somewhere behind her. "Check this out."
Brandy spun around, to see Leon at the other end of the clearing. She gasped in relief. "Leon!"
"Hey!", Leon shouted, and the Hydra looked up. "Eat this!"
He spun his Stand out of his sleeve, and pointed it directly at the Hydra's heart. "Hunter Killer!"
Then Brandy's relief turned to horror, as she saw the grinning, scarred face of the Serpent loom above him in the trees.
In that moment, the world seemed to slow down. Brandy's vision narrowed, blackness seeping in from all directions, until the only things she could see were the Serpent and Leon.
"No.", she whispered, still not even a second passing. A ferocious maternal rage suddenly coursed through her, and a glorious purple flashed around her as flame.
"Don't…", she whispered, feeling the immense power flow through her. "You dare…"
Then time turned back to normal, and the blackness in her vision turned to a furious purple. A blast of sheer energy shot outwards, cracking the ground and bending the trees. Brandy's hair stood up on her head, born aloft from the force of her strength. Her eyes glowed pure violet, her hood blown back off of her hair. "TOUCH HIM!"
She leapt forward faster than anyone could follow, her entire body an unstoppable engine of destruction. Before the Serpent could even react, Brandy's fist had already impacted its side. With a blow born of both Dash and pure Rage, the Serpent began to come apart. It roared in agony as its scales blew off in all directions, scattering into the surrounding woods. Its flesh tore and ripped, its skeleton briefly becoming visible, before it collapsed into a huge puddle of Elixir that fell all over Leon.
Song: Clash
Brandy Dashed next to Leon in a blur of wind, the purple aura still floating and intertwining around her like flames. The wind blew the Elixir of the fallen Serpent into the woods, before it soaked into the trees and ground, disappearing with hardly a trace.
"Sweetie?", Brandy asked Leon, grabbing his face in her hands and staring into his eyes. "Are you alright?"
"Uhh…", Leon said, trying to stop staring at the sheer brightness emanating from every inch of Brandy's being. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm alright."
"Good.", Brandy said, and turned around. She flicked her hand towards the ground, wiping off a few droplets of pure boiling energy. "Let's finish this."
Dan stared from where he was in total shock, at the sheer power boost Brandy had just undergone. It reminded him of that battle against Ryusei_Nakao69- how she had gone from level 10 to level 21 in a matter of moments. But according to Juno, he thought, she was already level 21 before. So what is she now?
"Dan!", he heard Brandy shout from across the clearing, and he was startled out of thought. "Let's take this bugger out!"
Dan clenched his fist, and drew it back. "Right!"
The Hydra drew back on its hind legs, and assessed the situation. On one side of it was the muscular titan that had been bashing in several of its heads. On the other side was the fighter with the gun, and the other that had suddenly been able to strike down the mighty Serpent with but a single blow. So the Hydra did what all wild animals would do in that situation- it bellowed, turned, and ran.
Brandy flexed her legs, and sprung after like a meteor. She blasted straight through a copse of trees, sending them flying into a batch of Gems. "Don't let it get away!"
"Though you may flee…", Dan said to himself, taking a deep breath and slowly drawing apart his arms. "My light shall always pursue!"
A glowing orb of light appeared between his hands, and he shot with a mighty roar. "Thunderous Tracking Overdrive!"
Leon grumbled, and started running forward as fast as he could. "Come on, come on…"
The Hydra ran as fast as it could through the trees, each head sharply barking to the others any orders that each of them could come up with. But they had no order- for their leader head had been impaled through the eye and brain on one of Dan's attacks.
"Run!", Brandy yelled, as she smashed through another rock in a a slash of purple flame. "Run, you stupid lizard!"
The Hydra's second largest head barked in alarm, and turned to the third. They conversed amongst each other for a few more seconds, the shouts of the pursuit gradually fading to nothing behind them, until at last a solution was revealed. Their conversation continued until a hail of bullets erupted from behind them, and they both jerked their heads to the side before the attacks reached them.
"You can't run forever!", Dan roared, and threw his fist forwards. The Thunderous Tracking Overdrive suddenly became visible, a flash of light from next to the Hydra. Dan flicked his hand upwards, the blast detonating right underneath the neck of one of the heads. Once the Hydra ran away from the billowing smoke, it revealed another head lying dead.
"Yes!", Dan shouted, and pumped his fist. "Another one down!"
The Hydra roared in pain, and crashed through a thick growth of trees that had been blocking its path. It tried to dodge to the right- only for a hail of bullets from Hunter Killer to slice directly into its side. It screamed this time, one of its heads swiveling around to see Leon coming from behind.
The Hydra thought for half a second, and carefully considered all the options here. Fighting was out- his opponents were far too strong now. Running was another thing that could not be done- he was already trying that, and it was not working out. There wasn't anything else he could do, really, he just had to-
Then the gears clicked inside of the Hydra's head, and it lit up in recognition. One of the heads barked that there was a clearing up ahead- prompting the Hydra to stop running and slide to a heavy stop.
The Hydra roared with all its heads, trying to scare its pursuers off. It was a desperate ruse, but the only thing it had left. They had quickly managed to figure out its weakness, and had taken out its partner the Serpent faster than it had expected. It had no other choice.
But, of course, the roar did not work. And as the purple streak that was Brandy flashed out of the trees, foot extended for a colossal impact, the Hydra began to regret its recent decisions.
"Dorra!", Brandy yelled, slamming the side of her sharp boot right into one of the Hydra's many heads. The entire lower jaw of that portion of the beast was thrown aside spinning into the woods, a spray of blood following it. With another vicious kick, Brandy detached the other half of the head, leaving behind only a bloody, flailing stump.
"Wait, shoot.", she said as she dropped to the ground, sending up a huge spray of dust. "I wasn't supposed to do that. Oh well…"
Brandy yelled, concentrating her Rage even more. The flare of purple energy around her rose, the spikes and crackles becoming even more prevalent.
Dan jumped between a tree, and took an astonished look. He could feel the sheer, undiluted power roll of off Brandy in waves, approaching even his level of strength. Although at times, he could swear she was actually surpassing him.
"Brandy…", he said to himself, not even bothering to charge up a breath of Star. "What are you?"
The Hydra groaned, the stump that Brandy had kicked splitting into two more heads. It growled a ferocious snarl, the blood mixing with the drool. One of the heads looked up, and screamed.
"What-", Brandy said, and looked up as well. But there was nothing there, only the sky and faraway birds passing by. She looked down again- to see a truly bizarre sight.
The heads of the Hydra were merging together, into a gigantic, thick stalk in the center. A head that radiated orange light twisted around one with a pale blue tinge, molding together into a strong violet. A long, thin neck wrapped around a thick rocky head, fusing together into a large head full of gnashing teeth. And yet even those were twisting and merging together, into one gigantic, multi-eyed head that loomed over all.
A low, otherworldly rumble emanated from the giant head, as it slowly aimed itself towards the ground. Its eight-ended jaw swung open, revealing a glowing light beginning to build from somewhere deep within. Then the rumble changed to a screech, and the heads began to spin.
"Shoot.", Brandy said, noticing that she had begun to lose feeling in her fingers. If it was anything like last time, the Rage boost only had a few seconds left. "I gotta-"
Then the beam abruptly shot, and Brandy leapt into the air.
The beam carved through the ground and into the trees, leaving behind a path of destruction. Brandy sucked in a breath, noticing how she had leapt without even realizing it. The beam was multicolored, flecks of light orbiting around it, as she hovered midair. It took a minute for Brandy to realize just how fast her reflexes were going- to her, it almost seemed like everything was standing still.
Then as the beam continued onwards, swooping upwards into the sky, time dropped back to normal. Brandy started falling downwards from her upside down position, right towards the Hydra's conjoined head. It hadn't noticed that she had jumped- it was just totally focused on firing the ray.
Brandy locked her elbow in a 90 degree angle, and started to fall downwards faster. She gave a ferocious battle cry as she did so, the edge of her fist starting to heat up a mighty purple. The comet of Rage around her grew as she fell, faster and faster, the approaching punch growing harder and harder, until finally-
Just as she was about to hit the Hydra's forehead, her Rage suddenly ran out. The impact lessened dramatically, going from a killing blow to only hard enough to annoy, causing the Hydra to stop firing and to throw Brandy in a random direction.
Brandy tumbled along the ground, hitting rocks and sticks as she rolled, now unable to move her limbs. The Rage boost had taken everything out of her.
"Gaahhhh…", she groaned as she rolled up against a tree, and spat up a cough of blood. She coughed a few more times, and turned her head to look at the Hydra. It was charging up its beam once again, preparing to fire right at her.
Before it could do that, however, a spray of bullets and spinning metal blades suddenly slashed into the front of its face from directly behind Brandy. The Hydra stopped charging, and looked up to see Leon standing perfectly in them middle of the clearing.
"Hey, come and get me, you big stupid monster!", he shouted, continuing his volley of shots. "And get away from my mom!"
The Hydra growled, and turned its head a little more. It opened up its mouth even wider, ignoring the rain of blades and bullets that were beginning to tear its skin. The light built up within its mouth, brighter and brighter, until-
"Overdrive!", Dan shouted from the left, and suddenly swung into view. He raised one hand and shot a powerful blast, which pierced the Hydra right through the side of the mouth and continued onwards, leaving a gaping hole almost 4 feet across.
The Hydra tried to gasp, but its lungs were rapidly filling with liquid. This liquid was, of course, the monster's own Elixir, which very soon became for than its lungs, and became its entire body, splashing down across the ground in a grand puddle of ancient purple.
Brandy let out a long gasp of relief, and closed her eyes. She groaned in pain, still feeling the burning spread across her limbs.
"Woah, woah, woah.", said Dan, and she felt herself get picked up, even as his voice grew quieter. "Brandy? Are you alright?"
Brandy strained to hear him speaking, but she could no longer hear a sound. She opened her eyes, and saw nothing. Or at least she thought she had opened her eyes- it was hard to tell. She saw nothing either way.
"My body appears to have shut down all non-critical functions.", she said as a wild guess for what was happening. "I cannot hear or see. However, I can feel a certain someone picking me up."
"Don't worry, Brandy.", Dan said. "I'll heal you really quick."
"She can't hear you, Da-", Leon said, then Dan gave him a stern look. "I mean, sir. She can't hear you, sir."
"Yeah, I don't care.", said Dan, and built up some energy in his right palm. "If you think I'm not gonna talk to my wife, you're either stupid, insane, or both."
He hoisted Brandy up in one hand, and pushed the healing energy into her with the other. It didn't take long for the energy to soak in- and when it did, Brandy coughed like she was trying to expel a lung. Then she shakily opened her eyes, and blinked a few dozen times.
"Brandy?", Dan asked, and held her close. "Are you okay?"
Brandy laughed a little bit. "Yes, Dan. I'm okay. I'm fine."
"Okay, good.", said Dan. "I just wanted to make sure."
He stood there for a bit, silent, before finally remembering what it was that he had wanted to say next. "What exactly was that thing you did back there? I mean, it's some sort of boost, I just-"
"It's Rage.", Brandy said, looking at her still tingling hands. "I mean, I think. I know that I just got really angry, and sort of lost control of myself, and then suddenly I could take down the Serpent with a single blow."
"Huh.", Dan said, and slowly lifted her up. "Here, do you think you can still-"
Brandy slid off of Dan's hand and onto his shoulder, grasping his neck to steady herself. "Yeah, I still can."
"Great.", said Dan, and grabbed Leon around the waist. He let out a small meep before being tossed onto Dan's other shoulder with decidedly less care. "You can tell me all about it as we walk."
"Walk?", Brandy asked, looking ahead. "Where are we going?"
"Spacekrakenx's clanmate.", said Dan, and started to walk forwards. "You can look at the map in my pocket, if you want to."
"Sure.", said Brandy, and leaned down. "Now, which pocket was it?"
She looked down, trying to figure out which pocket to search. Leon flailed his limbs, trying to right himself, and Dan just calmly kept on walking. Yet even as they set off towards their next goal, they had no idea that they were, at that very moment, being watched. Watched, in both immense hatred and subtly curiosity.
Song: Ancientry
Far away, at the very top and center of the Clashcrush Mountains, inside the lair of Rakastamos, the great Dragonlord was mourning.
"First Villasteel and Ugof.", he said morosely, staring himself in his mirror. "And now the Serpent and the Hydra. I had just taught them some new tricks too…"
He looked deep within his own eyes, seeing his own reflection shown back at him a million times over. "We are losing too many, too fast.", he said with a crack of his mighty voice. "I have to do something about this… but what?"
He heard the patter of mortal feet from somewhere behind him, and decided that any distraction would be welcome. "Yes?"
He could hear the panting of an eager messenger, and decided it would be worth turning around for. Rakastamos slowly adjusted his entire colossal being, looking down to stare at the small figure before him. "Speak!", he boomed, and the figure stumbled back. "And I shall listen."
"News!", the small one gasped, almost falling to the ground from exhaustion. He had run all the way up the mountain, even though he had never thought it would be a good idea. But he had to bring his master news- that was the entire point of his being as The Messenger. "I bring- gasp- news, my lord."
"Good, good.", said Rakastamos, folding his paws and laying his head in them. "What?"
"We have three confirmed deaths.", The Messenger said morosely, folding his hands and bowing his head. "Ugof, The Serpent, and The Hydra. Villasteel's death is not confirmed- he may in fact still be alive."
Rakastamos's eyes lit up, and his mood brightened a tiny little bit. "Oh, that is good.", he said, then remembered the losses. "A small bit, I mean. I did just lose three of my children."
Before The Messenger could respond, Rakastamos began to rise. He clenched his fist, and stared out of a cave window, at the forest down below. "But no longer. I shall not venture them outwards any longer, as long as my new allies still live."
He gestured to The Messenger with a single gargantuan claw, patronly anger written on his face. "Send in His group. My children shall suffer no longer."
The Messenger bowed, and scurried away. "Yes, sir. Right away sir."
Rakastamos sniffed, and growled. "I hope you serve me well, whatever your name is. We shall see if you are truly as elite as you claim."
As he stared out the window, he suddenly felt a great vibration from somewhere behind him. He turned around, and was reminded of what he had been going to do that afternoon.
"Ah, yes.", he said, and began his walk. "I remember now."
He spread out his wings, and shook his head. The crusted up Elixir of dozens of would be assassins fell off of him, and onto the stony, tortured ground. He smiled, but it was a smile of true happiness rather than sadistic evil. "It's always nice to have a little family visit."
