It was time to be serious. No one was talking about Tina, and Igor was being creepier than ever. She had to be in the mist world, there was no other answer.
Ken got up at the usual time and made his way down to breakfast, barely noticing what clothes he was wearing. Body still sore from yesterday's training, but less so than usual, he made sure to feed Frank before heading out. Calvin was out 'working' according to the note on the table. Whatever that meant he knew better than to ask, but either way it meant he didn't have to bother with poor attempts at conversation.
Once again it was only Gene and Louise leaving for school. Ken didn't ask about Tina but both of the younger siblings looked genuinely worried this time rather than the previous obliviousness of the past couple of days. Was the spell weakening? Were they perhaps realising the truth? Or was he just overthinking?
…he was probably overthinking. That didn't help in the best of situations, especially when it came to the Geography lesson he wasn't paying attention to because of it.
"Ken!" Ms LaBonz barked at him. "How many more times? What four states border North Carolina?"
"Ugh…" Ken groaned, and rattled off a few states that sounded like they might be correct. "Uh, South Carolina?"
That was the obvious one. North and South Carolina were undoubtedly next to each other. "Georgia… Tennessee… Kentucky?"
A harsh silence blew through the classroom. Ms LaBonz just tutted and looked through her book. "I think the state you're looking for is,"
There was the obvious ruffling of pages,
"…Virginia. Close but no cigar."
Ken groaned. Three out of four was hardly bad, but LaBonz's judgemental tone, coupled with the hushed jeers from his classmates, still made him feel stupider than ever.
It sure would've been nice for someone else to get put on the spot for once, he grumbled internally.
Courtney was filling in for Tina's absence at the usual dinner table, much to Louise's chagrin. Gene seemed to be tolerating her more now that the three of them were a 'team' in the mist world, but something told him Louise had much less patience. He couldn't blame her really, or indeed anyone. Courtney was irritating at the best of times and a downright pain at the worst.
"Hey Gene." She'd kept repeating throughout the day. During lunch, in the middle of lessons, even after school. And every time she did it, Gene bristled just a little bit more.
"Hey Gene."
"Hey Gene."
"Hey, Gene."
She was repeating it after every few steps now, skulking behind Gene and annoying everything within a few metres. Gene just stomped forwards with his hands in his pockets while a heavy-eyed Louise stalked alongside him, and even Ken was getting tired. Surely Courtney had enough self-awareness to realise that she was annoying them? Or was she doing it on purpose? That was arguably even worse.
"Hey G-"
"-WHAT?!" Gene finally snapped, throwing his arms out at her. "What do you want?! You've been bugging me all day!"
Courtney just giggled in response. "…nothing!"
Louise muttered something dark under her breath and sped off ahead of them, while Gene's shoulders just sunk farther. Face twisted with restrained rage, he continued to stump forwards, all while a very self-satisfied looking Courtney giggled again;
"Hey, Gene."
Immediately Gene went rigid. Stopping in his tracks and getting slowly redder he looked like he was ready to blow.
"H-hey!" Ken jumped in there before Gene could say anything he'd regret. Courtney's true talent was clearly annoying people, but someone had to tell her when enough was enough. Standing between the crimson Gene and expectant Courtney, he opened his mouth to chastise her, cut her down to size, make her feel sorry for her ways, or something…
But no sound left his lips. No matter what he tried, he couldn't bring himself to do it. He knew damn well that Courtney needed someone to tell her this, but the words just failed him. Was it compassion shouldering its way in, insisting she wouldn't be able to handle the harsh criticism he'd had planned? That she'd be so psychologically shattered from Ken putting her in her place that she'd lose confidence in herself? Stop coming to school? Just… mentally unravel in front of him?
The pent-up energy left him in the form of a defeated sigh. "…Gene's having a rough day okay. Besides, we're a team now remember? Wanna go blow off some steam and kill monsters?"
"Again?" Gene said. Both of them just frowned at him. "That sounds like a lot of effort, and I dunno about you but it's a Wednesday so, y'know…"
"Y'know what?"
"Ohh y'know, Wednesday! Like who wants that noise?"
It looked like Ken was going to have to play Geneball here. "…Norwegians."
"An excellent answer!" Gene grinned. "They can keep it. Ask me about fighting monsters on Thursday."
Gene simply walked past Ken, seemingly with the intention of chasing after Louise's rapidly disappearing silhouette down the road.
"…I'll make you a deal then," Ken stepped things up a notch. "Let's go back to yours,"
"Yesss!"
"And check on Tina,"
"Huh?"
"And if she doesn't answer us, we go train. Got it?"
"What does Tina have to do with this?" Gene sounded confused and, if Ken didn't know any better, defensive. "I believe it was Elvis who said we should never use the ill as a bargaining chip!"
"Ugh," Ken groaned. "That's the thing though Gene; I don't think she is ill."
"Huh?" Gene's confusion was only rising. "Of course she is. Mom said she had butt rot, remember?"
"Butt rot?" Ken drew his retort out nice and slow. "C'mon, is that even a real thing? Okay Gene, think for me,"
"Uggghhhh, I hate thinking!"
"When was the last time you saw Tina? Like, with your own eyes?"
Courtney just stood there, looking no less confused than Gene while he actually hunkered down and looked like he was making half an effort.
"Hmm…" He chewed his index finger. "…ooh, peanut butter!"
"Gene."
"I am thinking!" He protested. "You asked me to think so I'm thinking. I just can't help it if my fingernails taste like peanut butter!"
Even when the question was directly posed, Gene seemed reluctant to accept the truth. Granted, Ken wasn't even certain of it for himself, but a lot of arrows were pointed in that direction, and he couldn't be ignoring all of them. Could he?
"W-wait a second…" Courtney stammered. "Are… are you saying that his sister's… in the other world?"
"Nooo…!" Gene dismissed her immediately. "She's at home with super contagious butt rot, like I said! Why won't you believe that?!"
"Because she isn't, Gene." Ken held both of his hands. "Look, I'm gonna make a huge assumption, okay? You haven't seen Tina since she went to that Equestra-Con thing. Not a hide nor hair, nor awkward mumble in the hallway, and neither has your mom or dad or Louise. Sound about right?"
"B-but why would Mom say she had butt rot if she didn't?!" Gene was barely coherent now. Ken hadn't seen him this off kilter since he'd unlocked his Persona.
"Because she doesn't know either?" Ken shrugged.
"And you do?!" Gene was suddenly angry. "What makes you the all-knowing wizard?"
"…call it a hunch?" Ken gulped down nerves. This was a risky tactic at best.
"So you don't know!" There was a note of triumph in his voice. "You just want to train some more! Well I'm sorry Ken but not today! Today I will be going home and eating snacks and then having dinner and eating more snacks while watching a B rated movie with my fam-"
A sudden realisation of sorts killed Gene's sentence where it stood. His rage dissolved like cotton candy in water, and suddenly he couldn't even look Ken in the eye any more.
"…how big is your hunch?" He asked slowly.
"So big that old people would trip over it." Ken said.
"Huh. I don't want old people falling over…" Gene bit his lip. "W-what if you're wrong?"
"I'll treat you to something." Ken said. He felt filthy almost immediately, but it seemed like this was the only way he was going to get Gene to do this.
"Huh. So we either heroically save Tina's life, or I get a deep fried pizza!"
Ken unclenched his teeth. "W-well that's a relief. Here I thought I was gonna have to splash out on something huge and stupid."
"And then you'd have to feed him too." Courtney sniggered, and even Ken felt a chuckle escape him there.
"Yup! That's my price!" Gene grinned. "Okay Ken, let's go fight some monsters. Even if it is Wednesday!"
Thus, the afternoon's plans were made. Ken couldn't help but notice the irony that they were heading back to the restaurant anyway, otherwise they wouldn't have the necessary burger to cross over with. Today's Burger of the Day was 'The Fennel Countdown', whatever that was, and Bob seemed more distracted than usual today, barely remembering that he'd asked for it to go.
Steaming hot burger in bag, the three of them made the hike all the way back to where they'd returned yesterday. It was only going to make for a longer day, but at least they'd be able to explore farther before their 'time' ran out.
Ken had to just try and tear the burger into chunks rather than cutting it, because there was no way he'd have access to a suitable means of cutting a burger into three while huddled in a grotty hallway.
"Right, sorry about the uh, sizes," he said. "Lot harder without a knife."
"Beg to differ," A familiar voice spoke from out of nowhere, and Ken almost dropped his burger bit in shock. Then a light flashed from farther down the corridor and – of all people – it was Sergeant Bosco just standing there in the darkened hallway.
"If my perps weren't all carrying knives and guns and machetes and what have you, I wouldn't have to lug about all this crap." Bosco tucked a thumb underneath his bullet proof vest. Why was he even wearing one in this middle of nowhere, Ken wondered. "But that's not important, really. I'm kinda curious as to why my two favourite perps are squattin' in a hallway fightin' over a burger."
"Er…" Ken struggled for words. He had to be honest; who would have an answer for this?
"Supply and demand!" Gene was, as always, right there with one. "There's a nationwide burger shortage and only the coolest kids get them!"
"Burger shortage huh?" Bosco narrowed his eyes at the three of them. "Welp, wouldn't surprise me with what you hear nowadays. What's in that? Smells kinda funny."
"Fennel, whatever that is." Ken sniffed at his piece. It smelled woodland…y?
"Fennel? Can't say I know what that is either," Bosco grimaced at it. "Far as I'm concerned, the only thing a burger needs is another burger."
"Double stack!" Gene cried.
"A… a Tale of Two Patties?" Ken nudged him, to which Gene let out the same forced laugh he generally reserved for his father.
Bosco just made a strange noise, "I'll leave you kids to your burger. I dunno if I should reward you for creativity or pity you for huffing burgers. Either way I'm blowin' this dumpster fire. If burgers are as scarce as you say I might just have to get one. Stay outta trouble, okay kids?"
"We will!" Gene smiled up at the man, not looking away until Bosco had disappeared down the hallway. The three kids waited for just a bit longer, hearing out for the grumble of an engine. Ken looked to Gene, then Courtney, and then back to Gene again, and the three of them made a tacit decision. Burger portions in hand, they disappeared down a different corridor before crossing over.
The fact that they remained in the building and not back at the restaurant or whatever proved that Gene's idea wasn't just a coincidence. If they were going to explore further than a couple of miles, they were going to need to take burgers everywhere they went. It was far from ideal, he had to admit, but the difficult part was out of the way now. Even if Bosco was suspicious of them for whatever reason, there was no way he could track them on this side. They could go wherever they wanted, and the only consequence was the hordes of bloodthirsty shadow monsters.
Gene and Ken took in the grotty ambience while Courtney 'scanned' the area with Lona. The little bird's eyes were wide and staring, and its head revolving slowly, releasing a greenish pulse of energy every few seconds. That must've helped her search or whatever, Ken thought.
Every now and again Lona would twitch, and Courtney would mirror it. Were their minds connected or something? Ken couldn't help but marvel at the spectacle. Normally she only had to stand there and think for a moment to pull up some info on the surroundings, but it had been a few minutes and she was still concentrating, so there either must've been a lot of stuff going on, or for once she was taking this seriously.
With a sharp intake of breath, Courtney was suddenly back in the land of the living. Blinking furiously for a moment she readjusted to her surroundings.
"There's… something big out that way," she pinched her nose with her left hand and pointed outwards with her right. "I-if your sister's anywhere in this world, she'll… she'll be there, okay?"
"So she is here?" Gene's voice caught.
"I-I dunno for sure," Courtney grimaced. "Like I said, if she's here."
"Great work Courtney," Ken pat her on the shoulder. "Do you… need a minute or whatever?"
"No!" Courtney was surprisingly defiant about all of this. "I… I can't keep hiding behind weakness, Ken. Not when there's lives to save."
She massaged her forehead and took a pioneering step forward. "L-let's go save your sister, Gene."
Suddenly full of new confidence, Courtney marched forwards ahead of the boys, who almost had to jog to keep up with her.
Storming down pathways and expertly dodging shadows thanks to her mind map thing, Courtney was a girl possessed, on a path that only she knew. As long as Ken and Gene didn't run into trouble while she charged off ahead, things were fine he supposed. What was with the sudden change in demeanour, he couldn't help but wonder. Did she always pretend she was so sickly and frail? Or maybe, just maybe, was she for once pretending that she wasn't?
That must've been it. For once she wasn't the most vulnerable one in the room, so she was stepping up. Ken wasn't sure if he admired or pitied it, but dammit she was making tracks, and fast. Lona smoothly fluttering along with her as she charged, acting like a feathery sonar, she was controlling the entire map before her. The one time a shadow did manage to lurch out of somewhere and surprise her, she acted without missing a beat, entrapping the creature in a weird glowing energy.
"Okay Ken! Your turn!" She smiled back at him. His turn to… what?
To attack? She seemed to be doing a pretty good job of that herself, keeping the thing immobilised. But if she was asking him to attack, maybe this weird barrier thing she'd somehow learned to project was just a temporary fix. And if that was the case, it meant he was going to have to run half a block and slice this shadow monster before it ran out.
Ken groaned and picked up the pace, spear in hand. It was safe to assume the barrier thing would last a few seconds at least, otherwise she wouldn't have been so confident about it, but that didn't mean he could slack off and walk up to her.
The barrier began to flicker. Just in time for Ken to thrust his spear through it, separating the shadow monster into two. They took the forms of a huge red bipedal thing with a club and what looked like a bearded old man holding a giant leaf, both of which looked pretty weak to ice attacks.
"Good work Courtney," Ken smiled. "Protect us, Jack Frost!"
Like clockwork, the little snowman appeared in a flurry, hitting the old man with a Bufu spell and then the red thing afterwards. The red guy remained standing however, which wasn't ideal. Gene took his turn next, following Ken's example and hitting the leafy man with a Bufu spell and rounding off with a harp assault on the red guy, who still remained mostly unharmed from the attack. Courtney followed up with a pill bomb, which vanquished the leafy guy into mist.
Ken's lips tightened. It looked like they were going to do this one the slow way too.
The red guy found his feet and swung the club above his head a few times before thumping it into the ground, sending shockwaves towards the three of them. Courtney was immediately knocked down by the impact and while Ken and Gene were able to hold their ground, the damage had been done. Because it knocked Courtney over, that meant it got another turn, and it wasted no time swinging its club in Gene's direction, hitting him square in the stomach.
"Ungf…!" Gene doubled over, breathing sharp. "Th-that's not supposed to go there!"
Ken offered him a hand up before switching back to Changeling, who struck the red guy with a Garu. All it did was knock the guy back a few paces, but must've at least dealt damage, while Gene healed himself with Dia and Courtney… was still on the floor. Literal stars were spinning around her head, so Ken supposed she was out of action for a while. The red guy must've sensed weakness or something however, because it went and zeroed straight in on her, raising its club high and leaping.
Ken found himself moving before his brain could even process it. Courtney was in a bad enough state already. There was no way she was handling a hit like that in her condition. Spear raised prone he stood over her, taking the full brunt of a swinging club. He felt the shaft of his spear shudder from the impact, but thankfully his trusty weapon held strong.
Unfortunately, his body didn't. The energy from the impact travelled through his hands, and then the rest of him, and must've found a weak point. Buckling at the left knee and collapsing forward, he'd protected Courtney but at what cost? If it was just going to be him taking the same impact next time round, then what was the point?
Courtney staggered back to her feet – small victories he guessed – just as Gene was able to distract it with a few rainbow hued notes in its back. The thing barely even reacted to them, forget seeming hurt.
"Th-thank you Ken…" her voice was soft. Holding out a hand to help him back up, she summoned Lona once again. The little bird took of from her shoulder and belched a violently purple cloud at the red guy, who toppled backwards from its effect… whatever that was.
All three kids just stared. Since how long had that been a thing?
"So that's what it does?" Courtney seemed appalled by it. "Uhm, apparently it's super vulnerable now?"
"Vulnerable?" Gene and Ken asked her almost in unison. "To what?"
She just shrugged. "W-what about your guys' new moves?"
"New moves?!" Gene cried. "Those are a thing?!"
"Uh huh? Been there a little while now." Courtney said. "Gene, your Nokken has one called… Door-mine-a? A-and Ken, you've got-"
"Door miner?" Gene butted in. "That sounds like it breaks into houses! This is not a house!"
"Well I dunno, just give it a try!" Courtney insisted.
"Er," Gene hesitated. "You heard the lady! Nokia,"
"Nokken!"
"Right, Nooken! Give it a Door Miner, little buddy!"
Gene raised a Chunky Blast-Off into the air, and Nokken appeared in a tempest of moisture. Playing a slow, slender note on its fiddle it conjured up a cloud of bluish gas, which surrounded the red guy and… put it to sleep?
It definitely looked like it. The red guy had fallen to one knee, its club lying slack in one hand and giant, obvious Z's floating away from it. Out like a light.
"Huh," Gene mumbled. "So uh, we run away now?"
"When we can kill it?" Ken threw a hand at the thing. It was utterly helpless now. Probably. Even if it wasn't it would definitely be a lot easier to handle while sleeping.
"Can we though…?" Gene said.
There was one way to find out. Testing weight on his wobbly knee, Ken slowly walked towards the creature with his spear prone. All of its armour did absolutely nothing to stop his spear from sinking into its shoulder, drawing blood and causing its left arm to writhe.
And yet it remained asleep.
Despite everything, a smile touched at Ken's face. Sure, torturing something to death while it was helpless to stop him was not on his list of hobbies, but this was a kill or be killed situation. This guy could take on all three of them at once, so they were going to have to use whatever means necessary, and Gene just happened to stumble across one that worked. So it was slow, and it was gory, but repeatedly stabbing it in the joints would eventually get the job done.
"H-hey Ken, let me try something." Courtney said.
Ken pulled his spear out of the creature, taking a trail of viscera with it. "Sure. He's not going anywhere."
A streak of something Ken couldn't quite identify flashed across Courtney's face. Holding a pill in hand, it started to sizzle for some reason as she calmly placed it beneath the red guy's huddled form.
"…we should move." She said.
"Uh, are you Tom Hanks? I think not!" Gene cried.
"I meant from this spot, Gene!" Courtney just grabbed his arm and dragged. Ken took the hint and followed after them. The three of them cleared about ten metres distance from the red guy.
It was barely enough. The pill Courtney had placed detonated in style, turning the red guy to flying entrails in moments, complete with the cliched splatter of blood across Gene.
"…huh," He barely reacted. "Just like in The Da Vinci Code!"
That one almost evaded him. "How?!" Ken had to ask.
Gene's convoluted explanation aside, the trio snuck their way across the hellscape, darting between cover and striking down shadow monsters where necessary. Agreeing to discuss any new abilities in the future, Courtney continued to lead them safely through the town. Kicking butt, opening treasure chests and taking names, the three of them were still no closer to finding Tina no matter how far they searched.
"She's close…" Gene was sniffing the air for some reason.
"Yeah, you can practically feel the awkwardness." Ken agreed.
Doubt was nagging at him, however. Even if they did find Tina today, there was only so long before they would have to leave the world due to the stupid burger 'rule'. So the best they could hope for was tomorrow, and two days in a row was proving tough enough, forget a third. But would Tina last much longer, alone in here?
…it couldn't be helped. His stomach was already starting to grumble. Downing another Jack Frost with his spear, he braced for impact. One twinge in his stomach later and the three of them were back in the real world. The sharp breeze and drone of traffic was a momentary surprise. They'd crossed back into reality in broad daylight.
Ken groaned. Hopefully they weren't going to come to regret that. "…another day I guess."
"Whoooa," a voice called out. The three of them turned to find that guy with the skates and speedo pointing at them.
"Where'd you kids come from?" He sounded almost excited. But then he pointed somewhere else, "Hey whoa, a pirate!"
As if nothing had happened, skates guy just continued on with his day, leaving three tweens confused and relieved.
"…phew. False alarm." Ken wiped his brow. "Now where'd we get to…?"
Spinning around a few times he'd noticed that the surroundings were vaguely familiar, which on its own was a novelty, but there was something about the drab grey cylinder ahead of them that-
"Isn't that the Wharf Arts Centre?" Courtney pointed it out for him.
And suddenly everything clicked into place.
"She's there. I can feel it." Gene's voice quivered.
Chapter notes:
You almost got the question right. Your Knowledge has increased!
You tried to stand up to Courtney, but didn't have the necessary Courage!
Gene appreciated it nonetheless, though! Your friendship may improve soon!
Hey there everyone. Another quickfire update. A bit of Bosco making a nuisance of himself, Gene getting understandably defensive over his missing sister, and Courtney being annoying in general, plus Ken's first Courage check and subsequent failure.
The battles are slowly getting tougher and the guys are learning moves. As of Chapter 25, their Persona are as follows:
Nokken (Gene)
Element: Ice
Level: 13
Abilities: Bufu, Dia, Lunge, Dormina
Lona (Courtney)
Element: Bless
Level: 12
Abilities: Kouha, Dia, Dodge Curse, Foul Breath
Changeling (Ken)
Element: Wild/Wild Card
Level: 15
Abilities: Garu, Lunge, Amrita Drop
Jack Frost (Ken)
Element: Ice
Level: 11
Abilities: Bufu, Sonic Punch, Ice Break
I'll try to keep guys updated on this every now and again. Given the relatively slow pacing though it might be a while between updates lol.
As always, feel free to leave feedback. Thanks for reading! :)
