Manny slowly blinked awake, his eyes struggling to adjust to the bright, white room.
Frida ran around a crate corner and stopped dead in her tracks.
In a broken open shed, Manny was lying on the ground unconscious, occasionally twitching. Slayer also on the ground, slowly struggling to get up. His vison blurry and dazed.
Frida growled and booked it towards the man.
Slayer heard an angry yell behind him and turned just in time to see Frida punch him in the face. It was the last thing he saw before falling unconscious. She did promised she'd hit him at some point.
Frida slid and sat down next to Manny, picking him up in her arms. He wasn't breathing.
She screamed for help.
Manny felt so sore, and his head hurt so much. He realized he had an oxygen mask on his face. He pulled it off his face and rubbed his eyes. He was in a hospital room, and hooked up to some sort of IV.
"What happened? Oh...right." He groaned as he remembered what happened. He had stuck his hand into a generator and basically fried himself like a corndog. "Ow."
He heard the door open and looked over to see Frida in the doorway, she was holding a juice box. The second she noticed him she dropped the juice box and ran over to him, carefully wrapping him in a big hug. Happy tears running down her face. He was still rather groggy and became quite overwhelmed. He became even more overwhelmed when she grabbed his face and kissed him. And like the first time she did that, he didn't know how to respond. She reared back and looked at him smiling, still crying.
"Why'd you do that to me?! No more almost dying! Or dying!" She laughed in a bittersweet kind of way.
She kissed his cheek "And if you ever do, I'm necromancy you just to yell at you!" She pulled him into another kiss.
"Noted~" He giggled in drunken kind of way, swooning.
"So...can I hug him too, or should I just leave the room?" Marcus asked from the doorway with a chuckle.
She snapped her attention towards him with a glare that could bend steel.
"If you don't hug him, I'll castrate you." She said with a cold, dead serious tone.
There was a moment of silence as Manny and Marcus both stared at her wide eyed with fear.
"…ok." Marcus squeaked and quickly ran over to hug Manny, never breaking eye contact with her. "Damn woman..." he muttered fearfully as he and Manny hugged each other, Manny still staring at her with fear.
She got up and picked up her juice box.
"Your kids are gonna be the safest children in the entirety of Miracle City…" Mark muttered to Manny, still staring at Frida.
Manny just silently nodded, he was still very overwhelmed.
Then Chen walked into the room, which Marcus thanked his lucky stars for.
"My hero! Pretty lady, save me from the blue haired goblin!" Marcus pointed at Frida.
"Goblin!" Frida snapped indignantly.
Chen chuckled and shook her head, she turned her attention to Manny.
"Good to see you're up, you gave everybody quite the scare. Somehow or other you and Slayer got badly electrocuted.
"Oh, that's cause I stuck my hand in a generator." Manny responded mater of factly.
Panda Rebel blinked. "Oh…"
"Don't just say that like it's a normal thing!" Marcus snapped at him.
"and yet, it's still not the most dangerous thing I've ever done." Manny chuckled.
Frida; "I don't know, It's pretty high up there on the list.".
Manny; "Is it? Surprising."
Marcus scowled at the two. "I hate you two so much…"
Chen chuckled and turned her attention to Manny once more. "Anyways, like I was saying; Your heart stopped for a while, but the medics got it started again. Amazingly, you show no signs of brain damage." Chen continued.
"It already was as broken as it could get." Marcus coughed with a smirk.
Frida snickered.
Manny snapped his attention to Marcus; "HEY!" He scowled at his laughing friends before looking back at Chen. "So, is Slayer…"
"He's alive, and jailed. Along with Iron Claw and most of Slayers minions." She continued.
"I like that you call them minions." Marcus laughed.
She smirked and raised a brow at him "Am I wrong?"
"No." he smirked and shook his head.
Chen focused on Manny once more. "Once the doctor gives you the AOK, you can go back home." She smiled
"Yes! It'll be nice to fight good ol Miracle City villains again!"
The room got very quiet all of the sudden. Everybody had suddenly got very uneasy, avoiding looking at him.
He frowned and raised a brow in worry. "…what's wrong?"
Frida rubbed her arm awkwardly and walked over to him.
"Your belt…uh...it sort of…" she pulled out a bandana from her pocket and unwrapped it, handing it over to him. "Shattered…" She grimaced as he looked inside the cloth.
Inside it were a dozen silver slivers, he could see how the bits would make up the T of the buckle.
"When we found you it was broken, but you were still in El Tigre form. You didn't transform back until the medics got you stable, and it flashed green when you changed back to normal. I think it was keeping you safe with what little energy it had left…" Frida explained, looking at the ground sadly.
He leaned back into the bed and stared up at the ceiling, trying to process this new, horrible information.
"Maybe Puma Loco can fix it! Like he did with your dad's boots!" Frida suggested, trying to stay positive.
"…he had an instruction manual on the boots. He doesn't have one for the belt…" He monotoned, looking blankly at the ceiling.
"Perhaps you do." They all turned to see Jade enter the room, a small book in hand. "Manny, where did you find this book?" She asked him, as seriously as she usually does.
"Some magical cave temple in the jungle…as ya do." He explained.
"The mark on this book is the mark of Merlin." She opened the inside and pointed at a sort of M looking shape. "This same symbol is on the inside of my mask, and I assume the underside of your belt buckle."
"Merlin, as in the wizard? He made my belt?!"
"The story has been passed down my family for generations, it tells of a powerful shaman who created magical artifacts for humanity, to keep them safe from their own evils. It is said that he used animal spirits to give the objects great power."
"So does the book say how to fix my belt?!"
She shook her head. "I cannot read it, it is in a language not known to man."
There was a moment of silence, everybody was thinking. Manny looked back down at the pieces and then up again.
"So, If I find somebody who can read this, then I'll be one step closer to finding out how to fix it, right?"
"In theory, yes." Jade confirmed.
"Ok, and I know just how where to start!" He smiled wildly.
Jade raised a brow in confusion. "I don't-"
"Don't worry about it, I got it from here." He smirked
Frida and Marcus exchanged a confused look.
The three heroes had packed up their things and were about to board the plane home. They had already said their goodbyes to everyone at Kota Singa, and were ready to go. Eric, Jade, and Chen were there to see them off.
"It has been a pleasure having you here, you three are fine heroes." Jade smiled and shook their hands.
"Don't tell my grandpa." Manny joked.
Jade raised a brow in confusion as Manny and Frida giggled.
"And it's been a blast getting to know you guys, I'll miss you!" Eric smiled and hugged them.
They were gonna miss the cute little guy.
Chen gave a slight smirk. "Marcus, I do believe I owe you something."
"Humm?" he raised a brow.
She grabbed his jacket and pulled him into a kiss. She let him go and smirked, meanwhile he stumbled back and swooned. You could practically see the little hearts flying around his head.
Frida and Manny rolled their eyes with a smile.
"Ok lover boy, let's get you on the plane." Frida grabbed his arm and led him up the ramp and into the plane.
Manny grabbed their backpacks and went up the ramp, stopping at the top to wave goodbye. He threw the bags into the plane and turned around, giving the area one last look. Smiling at the jungle on the horizon, and his new friends in the foreground. He gave them one last wave and disappeared into the plane, the hatch closing behind him.
Frida, Manny and Marcus waved from the windows as the plane started to take off, Jade, Chen, and Eric waving from the field. Marcus made that 'call me' gesture at Chen, who saluted in response.
The plane took off into the air and the three settled into their seats.
"So, who are you gonna get to help with the book?" Frida raised a brow.
"The only magical friend I got." Manny looked serious.
He pulled out his phone and went straight to text messenger.
Manny Rivera; "I heard you're taking odd jobs."
Manny Rivera; "I got one for ya."
Manny Rivera; "...?"
Django Muerto; "What's the job?"
