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As the title suggests, this chapter isn't for the faint of heart. While it's still decidedly T-rated, there are some frightening moments in it. Just a little warning.
All right. With that out of the way, let's get this show on the road!
JENNA IZOLA
Many people will be surprised to learn that I had my reasons for trusting Bradley Clarion. This probably runs counter to what one may have believed before, which is that it was silly for me to trust someone I'd only met yesterday.
However, with many things in life, I felt that I simply had to trust my gut with this one. It just seemed like the right thing to do, and I hoped that I'd made the correct decision.
I saw Bradley's eyes light up as soon as I'd told him that I would join him on the journey.
"Wait, really?" he exclaimed, looking both excited and ecstatic, not to mention relieved. "That's really nice of you!"
I winked at him. "Yeah, it makes sense. I didn't believe you at first, but now I definitely do".
The Braixen boy's face turned from happy to confused. He looked at me with a funny expression and asked, "Why do you believe me now when you didn't before? I'm confused".
Should I tell him now? Would it make him panic more than he probably already is?
After all, the reasons I had for believing him were rather disturbing. With everything the guy had been through, this probably wasn't going to do anything good for his mental state.
Of course, sometimes the first thing you need to hear is the last thing you want to hear. That's why it was such a hard decision for me; I had to weigh the pros and cons carefully.
"I'm trying to decide if I should tell you or not," I told Bradley, deciding to tell him at least part of the truth. If I had to lie later, at least I had been honest in the beginning.
"What do you mean?" Bradley looked even more confused now, and I felt guilty for being so outwardly indecisive.
"It's pretty scary stuff," I said. "You might not want to hear it, especially with all that you've been through".
The Braixen boy laughed. "Trust me, Jenna, I can handle anything. I'm not scared of a thing, except maybe heights".
"You sure about that? I mean that it's really messed up".
Bradley nodded. "I'm okay with it. Just tell me".
As we began walking back towards my house, not wanting to stick around the scene of the fight any longer than we needed to, I told Bradley about my dream.
Normally, my dreams weren't very vivid. Usually, I would wake up and barely remember what I had dreamed about overnight, if at all.
As a consequence, whenever my dreams were memorable, I knew that something was up. Typically it was just whenever my temperature was over 100, as that can happen sometimes, but on a couple of occasions in my life when I did not have a fever, my dreams seemed to be prophetic, in a way.
As an example: When I was thirteen years old and Nick was ten (having recently evolved from a Zorua into a Zoroark), we'd gone swimming together in the ocean. The night before I had dreamed that I was drowning, a highly unpleasant and terrifying sensation that chilled me right to the bone.
I'd woken up in the middle of the night, relieved not to be inhaling water, but also gasping for air. I eventually went back to sleep, but the dream would stick in my mind for quite some time afterwards.
The following day was a warm one, a rarity in Ilion, and the water was calm at first. However, when the wind had begun to pick up, the same went for the waves. Before long they were two feet tall, and then three feet.
I found that Nick had been pushed out to sea, a good twenty yards away. He was thrashing his arms about, clearly struggling to stay afloat.
He was panicking, and as I saw him panicking, I knew two things. One, that I had to rescue him; I was my brother's keeper, to use an old saying. And two, my dream had predicted the future.
Long story short, I used my swimming skills and sisterly instincts to dive into the water and start ripping through the water in order to grab my brother and pull him back to shore.
Fortunately, he was still conscious, and what little water he had taken on came out in a great big series of coughs. Even so, I could tell that he was very traumatized from the experience, and the dream I'd had the previous night once again came rushing back to me.
The realization that my vivid nightmare had meant something had saved my brother's life. I'd never been trained as a lifeguard, so I didn't know the signs that a swimmer might be in distress.
If not for that dream, I wouldn't have been able to save him.
Fast forward four years to last night. After staying downstairs a great deal longer than Bradley had, since he'd gone to bed almost immediately after dinner, I had finally gotten ready to go to sleep myself.
Once I was in bed, however, sleep eluded me for what felt like a long time. I kept tossing and turning, trying to find a comfortable position. This wasn't typical for me, as my bed was normally pretty cozy, even if it was rather creaky at the same time.
It was pretty crazy, what had happened today. So many events had transpired that my head swam trying to keep track of it all.
I'd found a Braixen, a species that was unheard of in Skylock, in the bottom of the clock tower. I'd shown him to my house and around the city, where he'd moved the fountain in Central Square and seen the underground dark market.
All in all, it had been a wild day, and I was having a hard time putting it all behind me. Eventually, however, I was able to fall asleep.
What seemed like almost immediately, however, I found myself falling into nothingness.
Well, it wouldn't be accurate to call it nothingness, exactly. I was falling into a psychedelic void, with blues and greens and oranges all around, all while upbeat instrumental carnival music played.
It was the type of music usually preferred by younger children, so it shouldn't have been creepy. However, when it was paired with the most maniacal laughter I had ever heard, you had better believe that it freaked me out.
I could not help it; I let out a wordless, yet very loud shriek as I plummeted into the void. And suddenly, I felt my limbs begin moving involuntarily, and I grimaced in pain.
You see, having your limbs moved around as though you're a puppet on a series of strings is one of the worst sensations one can experience. If I could have seen what I looked like from above, it probably would have been a highly grotesque image.
Eventually, the carnival music stopped playing, and I felt myself collapse onto a stone floor. It hurt quite a lot, landing this awkwardly, but I tried not to groan in pain. If there was somehow someone watching me, I didn't want to give it any satisfaction.
"Ah, yes, Jenna Izola. Welcome to my domain".
I came face-to-face with the most terrifying creature I had ever seen. What was more, I recalled Bradley's description of the dragon, and it matched this creature perfectly.
Scales in yellow, red, and purple? Check. Wide mouth revealing extremely sharp teeth? Check. Terrifying black voids for eyes? Check.
The eyes were by far the physical aspect that scared me the most; after all, it's said that the eyes are the windows into one's soul. If that is the case, then this dragon had no soul.
There was no longer any doubt in my mind, not that there had been much before: This was Matamoros, the Conqueror Dragon. And, were I not in a dream, I would have been in great danger.
I couldn't help it; even though the eyes were absolutely horrifying, I began staring straight into them. They glinted with an evil spark, but other than that, there was no sign of life within the voids.
"Ha ha ha. Yes, Jenna Izola, I am Matamoros, the Conqueror Dragon. You could also call me the great equalizer".
The dragon's voice was booming, terrifying. It was the type of tone that made you instantly want to run away, but I found that I couldn't.
I was pinned to the ground by an invisible pair of arms, or else tied by some invisible rope. In other words, I couldn't move off the stone floor at all; I was totally paralyzed, both physically and due to the fear I was experiencing.
"Look around me," Matamoros announced. "Do you see where you are?"
I looked around and saw that we were in an enormous chamber that was lit only with blue torches every fifty feet or so along the walls. It was so large that I could barely see where it ended, and dark enough that I wouldn't be able to read a book if I'd had one in my hands.
The flames smelled nasty, much like the sulfuric stench of geysers. I saw that there were chains around the dragon's ankles, but these weren't typical metallic chains that you might see around a mortal criminal.
These chains were light blue in color, and I mean a very light blue, the shade associated with ice. As Matamoros moved the limited amount that he could, the chains did not make the traditional clanking sounds that the metallic chains make.
No, these chains were silent, and I realized that these were magical chains, most likely created by Arceus himself.
If Arceus created the universe, how could these chains be deteriorating?
"This is the prison the gods built for me. If I had my way, I would never have to see the inside of this place again. The good news is, soon I will not need to".
Matamoros laughed maniacally, like an evil mad scientist about to try an experiment that might result in someone getting killed. He then took a deep breath, inhaling…
...and then he exhaled blue fire that came within about two feet of hitting me. It was close enough that I could feel the heat against my body, but I wasn't burned by it.
The smell was a different story. If I tried to describe it to you, I'd be totally unable to do it justice. It was so putrid that I had to close my eyes to avoid feeling as though they were burning. I remembered Bradley telling me all about the stench of the flames, and he hadn't been exaggerating. If anything, he hadn't prepared me for it enough.
"Yes, yes, that is only a small taste of what is to come for you and your little boyfriend, Bradley Clarion! Believe me when I say that before too long, you'll be singing "Hell Is A Place on Earth", and you will feel absolute fear!"
Even more absolute than the fear the dragon promised was the anger I now felt towards Matamoros for suggesting that Bradley was of romantic interest to me.
"He's not my boyfriend!" I yelled, which probably put me at risk of getting vaporized, but I didn't think of that; I was just that mad.
I wanted to go flying at him in a fit of rage, but I knew that would get me nowhere; he'd just pluck me out of the air with his mouth and chew me up with those razor-sharp, massive teeth.
Plus, there was another problem with that: I couldn't fly. More on that next time.
Matamoros gnashed his teeth together, making the most horrible sound I'd ever heard. Imagine hundreds of sets of fingernails scraping against a chalkboard, then multiply that by a thousand, and you'll have a tiny inkling as to what this sounded like.
And then he breathed fire again, this time even closer to me. I realized that he was purposely trying to induce as much terror as possible within me without actually hurting me. Even so, I had to brace myself to prepare for the onslaught, and the odor was absolutely rancid.
"Does it really matter if he is your boyfriend? I shouldn't think so, and, what is more, you puny mortals are no match for me. You have a strong spirit, Jenna Izola, but I will bring it right back to earth".
With that, the chains vanished, and so did the prison. Matamoros was also no longer visible, but I could still hear his cackles of laughter. I could still feel the hatred that just radiated off of him, even if he wasn't there anymore.
I had expected to fall from a great height, but I found myself floating in midair. I wasn't the biggest fan of heights, so this was a scary position in and of itself, but I mustered the courage to look around. I saw a river of lava in a chasm, a good five hundred feet below me.
Suddenly, I fell forward, to the point where my belly was facing the ground, and I heard the dragon's laughter once more. "Three, two, one, fly!" he yelled in a gleeful tone. Clearly, he derived a great deal of pleasure from causing others pain.
My body involuntarily pitched forward, and I fell hundreds of feet towards the lava river at a pace that made my stomach drop. I couldn't help it; I let out a scream as I hurtled downward, closer and closer to the liquid fire.
I was two hundred feet away, then merely one hundred, and I was about to hit the lava...and then I pulled out of the dive and floated upwards.
I vaguely remembered hearing about an amusement ride that was similar to the dive Matamoros had just caused me to take, but it had never appealed to me. Certainly not if I didn't consent to it.
"Ha ha ha, it's always so fun to scare people like that! This is what I mean by absolute fear, and that is what I will plunge the world into".
Just then, with another sound akin to the snapping of fingers, the lava river disappeared, as did Matamoros. In fact, I was no longer in his prison.
Instead, I found myself on top of a mountain underneath a brilliant night sky full of stars. If I hadn't just been through a literal nightmare, I would have stopped thinking about anything else for a while and just revelled in the scenery.
As it was, I dropped to the ground, trembling. I couldn't believe what I had just seen.
If I didn't believe Bradley before, I certainly do now.
Bradley Clarion, the mysterious Braixen boy whom I had encountered in the clock tower, wasn't the first person or Pokemon one would expect me to trust. I tended to pride myself as a logical person, one who wouldn't believe extraordinary claims without extraordinary evidence.
But, to me, there was no longer any doubt about it: This was extraordinary evidence; this dream felt a lot more vivid and lucid, much like the dream I'd had four years ago the night before I saved my younger brother from drowning.
Matamoros was real. I knew it the same way I knew the sun would rise the next day. Which I suppose isn't a particularly apt analogy, since Matamoros...didn't Bradley say he wanted to swallow the sun or something?
I sat on top of the mountain in my mind for what felt like several minutes. Eventually, I gathered up the courage to stand up and look around for anything worth noticing.
Wait a minute...is that the Hall of Origin?
There was a very impressive structure nearby, a hundred feet tall and several times that in terms of length and width. The peak of Spear Pillar was more like a plateau; it was wide enough to accommodate the building, which I now was virtually 100% sure was the Hall of Origin.
It was exactly as Bradley had described it, looking much like an ancient Greek hall with the specific style of columns. I walked towards it and entered.
On the inside, it was even more amazing. I won't go into all the details, since Bradley already told you about them, but I was in awe; it almost served to drive thoughts of Matamoros out of my mind.
Almost.
"Jenna Izola, welcome to Spear Pillar and the Hall of Origin" a booming voice announced from the end of the hallway.
I climbed a flight of marble stairs and found myself face-to-face with Arceus himself, the majestic Creator himself. He was eating from a tray that had been given to him by a Lucario whom I assumed to be a servant.
My eyes opened widely as I saw the color of Lucario's fur. It was white as snow.
"Thank you, Lucas, this beef stew is truly divine, no pun intended".
The Lucario, who had now been identified as Lucas, took a bow. "You are very much welcome, my Lord. I will now retire to my bedchambers".
"Good night, Lucas," Arceus replied, and the Lucario servant left through the door to my right of the throne. "Anyway, Jenna, what was I going to tell you…".
"You only just welcomed me to your domain, my Lord" I replied. "Beats me".
Arceus slurped an enormous spoonful of beef stew before turning back to face me. "Ah, I remember now. I know that you just had a dream of the Conqueror".
"...you do? How do you know that?" I was awestruck and yet frightened at the same time; was everything I'd been told about the Creator true?
The deity nodded. "Yes, I have my sources. They inform me on what I need to know in order to protect the world".
I waited for more information. When it wasn't forthcoming, Arceus continued. "As you know, the Conqueror, the dragon known as Matamoros, poses an existential threat to everything we hold dear. Due to this, he must be dealt with".
"How do we stop him?" I asked. I was about to suggest that Arceus do it himself, but I figured that would be disrespectful. After all, it's said that God works in mysterious ways, and I most certainly didn't want to anger a being with the power to smite me right then and there.
"I will get to that" Arceus replied. "But first, there is something I need to show you. It's vitally important that you see what happens if you fail".
I'd rather not see that, thanks.
As though reading my mind (which he honestly probably was, being a deity after all), Arceus continued with, "I hope that if you have a better sense of the stakes, you will be even more motivated to succeed in the task that is before you".
Arceus, with a sound as though he were snapping his fingers, caused a screen to be lowered from the ceiling. I was certain that it hadn't been there previously; it was quite something to see his magic in action.
A remote suddenly materialized in the deity's "hand", and the screen turned on with a bunch of horrifying sounds.
In the form of a news report, an announcer discussed the strange weather events that had been taking place all over my world. As it would turn out, however, these events weren't merely "strange" - they were terrifying.
I saw the forests and jungles of the Dakal Continent, located in the tropical regions of my world, going up into flames. Even though the clock by the news report stated that it was midday, from the ground it looked like night as the flames completely blocked out the sun. Firefighters were spraying the flames with their massive hoses, but it wasn't working. Not fast enough. The fires continued growing, and they seemed to consume one of the men fighting them.
Please don't show me any more, please.
But the scene continued all the same, and I saw a massive storm hitting the swampy region known as the Drowned Forest. All sorts of dangerous creatures sprang out of the swamp, growing like poisonous mushrooms all over the swamp. With every roar of thunder, I heard a roar of laughter from Matamoros.
Arceus showed me a few more scenes, ranging from massive sandstorms and random quicksand pits in the middle of the desert, to blizzards on a snow-capped mountain peak that made day seem like night, much like the wildfires on the Dakal Continent.
And there were reports of all sorts of diseases, such as more virulent strains of the flu, dangerous foodborne bacteria, mosquito-borne illnesses, meningitis, and more, all popping up around the world. With every report of a death from pneumonia, or meningitis, or some random pathogen that I hadn't even heard of, I heard the Conqueror's cackling, like this was all some kind of sick joke to him.
Which I suppose it is. I felt sick to my stomach, and unspeakably angry, as soon as I came to that realization.
Throughout it all, the newscasters continued to talk about it in their usual manner, which, while not exactly casual, seemed decidedly unconcerned, as though these were things that happened all the time.
And if Matamoros gets his way, these things WILL happen all the time.
After the reporter listed the number of deaths that day from Lyme disease, Arceus (whom I had almost forgotten was still in the Hall of Origin with me) clicked a button on his remote, turning off the screen.
"That is what I wanted to show you," he told me. "And that is what Matamoros wants".
"He wants to destroy this world. He wants to make it an uninhabitable hellscape".
Arceus frowned, looking down at me in a manner that, while not angry, seemed to suggest he considered me ignorant. I felt that this was rather unfair, given that he was the creator of the universe.
"Not exactly. He wants the world to live in a state of chaos, in absolute fear. He won't simply destroy the world, because what fun would that be?"
Absolute fear. That was the same phrase Matamoros had used with me.
Ignoring the thought of how disturbing it was that Arceus had used the same term as Matamoros, I replied with the only thing I could think to say.
"What am I supposed to do about it? I've now seen what happens if we fail; I really want to succeed!"
Arceus nodded. "In that case, you should leave Skylock with Bradley Clarion. He's not perfect, but he is the key to success in your quest".
Quest. That word meant different things to different people, but to me it had a rather unnerving connotation.
While Skylock wasn't a perfect place, it was still home to me. The thought of leaving it to take on a dangerous quest and stop a maniacal dragon from escaping his prison was daunting, to say the very least.
Before I could ask Arceus why it was so important that I left with Bradley, he continued speaking.
"I do not have much time left to talk. Because I'm immortal, I never have to sleep, which is a double-edged sword. I have more time to work on what is truly important, but at the same time, I need to work on the important things. I can never rest".
"You don't consider this conversation important?" I replied. Almost immediately, I realized that it had come out more harshly than I'd meant it to.
The deity shook his head. "It is important, Jenna Izola. But there are other matters I need to attend to tonight. Just know that you have to seek out the Manor in Sele City. That's where you'll find what you need".
"What do I need? Is this just some kind of Mac-".
Arceus slammed his "fist" on the tray he was holding. "I do not know what you speak of, but I will say this: It's vitally important to your quest. Now, you must wake, and when you do, you will need to tell Bradley Clarion all about this interaction".
That was the last thing I heard or saw of the Hall of Origin before waking up in the early morning.
I tried to get back to sleep, but it just wasn't working. Sometimes, when you have a nightmare as vivid as what I had just endured, you can't doze off again no matter how hard you might try.
The rest is history, really.
I finished telling Bradley about my dream. While I'd been describing the various diseases and natural disasters that Matamoros intended to plague the world with, his facial expressions had morphed into varying degrees of worry.
"That's really quite scary" he told me when I was done. "Really frightening to hear all about this".
I nodded. "Good" I replied. "You should be scared. If it sounds bad when I'm telling you about it, imagine what it must be like to see it, let alone actually live it".
The Braixen boy sighed. "I suppose you're right," he replied. "I'd rather be scared and knowledgeable than happy and ignorant".
In response to this, I laughed dryly. "Trust me, you wouldn't be happy for long in that case. What the Conqueror has planned is truly horrifying".
For the rest of the walk back to my house, neither of us spoke very much. Occasionally I would point us down a street that was less crowded than another option, but other than that, we were pretty much silent.
By the time we reached the house again, I noticed that Bradley seemed very tired; he was limping slightly, and I wondered if that had anything to do with the fight we had just been in.
When I asked him about this, he nodded. "He hit me in the hip with his knees. It still hurts, so I'm sorry if I'm walking a little more slowly than usual".
"Dude, no shame. He's quite a bit worse off right now than we are".
Bradley laughed, then stopped laughing. Looking at me with a far more serious expression, he said, "I don't like the idea that I'm some ruthless fighter, you know? I don't like harming others, and yet I had a certain level of satisfaction from it".
"He was being rude, and you had to defend yourself," I replied. "Any honorable person would do the same in that situation".
"Yeah, but could I have defended myself without hurting him like that? That'll haunt me for quite a while".
I grabbed Bradley by the shoulders and turned him towards me. He appeared stunned by this; he clearly hadn't expected me to grab him like that.
"Bradley, when your life is potentially under threat, you don't think clearly. I really don't think you should feel guilty about it when he would have done far worse to you".
The Braixen boy did not reply, and so we entered the house. I saw that my mother was up, as was Nick. Both of them were in the kitchen as my mother was cooking something that smelled very good.
Is that...French toast that I smell?
French toast is my favorite breakfast food, and there can be no contest. The eggs that soak into the bread, the powdered sugar and sliced fruit my mother puts on it, the maple syrup...it might sound like a simple dish (and it is), but the way my mother makes it is heavenly.
"I see you two are back" my mother said, turning to face us. "Breakfast is almost ready".
"Uh...we already ate," Bradley said. "Just had some cereal".
I nodded. "I'll have a slice, but I don't know if Bradley will".
"That's quite all right," my mother replied. Turning to me, she said, "Jenna, your father is still in bed. I wouldn't disturb him if I were you; it is the weekend, and he can sleep in if he wants to".
I understood. My father's job could be pretty demanding at times, and I respected his right to rest and relaxation on the weekends.
"More for me, then!" Nick said excitedly. He loved French toast just as much as I did.
My mother, as she was carrying the plates of that heavenly deliciousness over to the table, frowned as she looked at something that was still on the table. With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I remembered what this was.
It's the newspaper. She'll find out all about the fountain if she didn't know already. Fuck!
Squinting at the headline (in more of an angry manner than one that suggested she had a hard time seeing it), my mother said, "Jenna, what is the meaning of this?"
"What do you mean?" I asked her, trying to play dumb. Which was dumb in and of itself, because it was pretty clear the headline was about Bradley.
"It says here that a mysterious Braixen moved a statue in the middle of Central Square. Now, I don't know everything there is to know in this world, but I'm pretty sure that there's only one Braixen in all of Ilion".
Looking squarely at Bradley, she said, "You are a dangerous Pokemon to be around. All sorts of strange things seem to happen around you".
Bradley's facial expression turned into one of immense worry, and I knew that he had reason to be worried. This conversation didn't seem to be going well at all for him.
He can't leave before he's ready. That much was clear to me, and most certainly to the Braixen boy as well.
"Ideally, I'd like for you to leave as soon as possible" my mother told Bradley. "But Jenna seems to really care about you, so I'll give you one more day".
One more day. She'd given him a week just yesterday, but the supernatural incident at the fountain had been a game-changer, and not in a good way.
Clearly, my mother agreed that Bradley was trouble, but I then realized that I had a difficult task before me.
I now knew, with absolute certainty, that I had to go on this adventure with the Braixen boy. It simply wouldn't work without both of us, and I had to make my mother see that.
My parents, while they weren't overly protective, would have a hard time being convinced that I could handle such a journey. I was decently good at self-defense, as I'd demonstrated earlier that morning, but that might not matter to them.
When the awkward silence was broken, that brought me back to earth.
"Fine" Bradley told my mother. "I'll leave tomorrow. But Jenna has something she needs to tell you as well".
Oh no. Bradley, you just put me in such an impossible position.
I'd hoped that I would have some time, even if it was only a few minutes, to think about what I would say to my parents. Now, Bradley (even if he wasn't fully aware of what he was doing) had stolen those minutes away from me.
But I had no choice, so I spoke. "Yeah, about that...I have to go with Bradley".
I could have broken the news to her slowly rather than all at once, but I decided to go for broke. At least this way I projected confidence.
My mother and Nick both looked shocked. "Sis...you're leaving?"
"Not if I have anything to say about that" my mother told us sternly. "Jenna, I really don't think it's a good idea to go with him. You've never left Ilion before".
"And you think I don't know that?" I shot back. "I know that I'm not as well-traveled as a lot of people here, but I'm sure that I can handle it".
I saw tears in my mother's eyes. "But what if you can't handle it? What if you die out there, and I never know?" Out of the corner of my right eye, I saw Bradley wince at the last sentence.
"I'll be fine" I insisted, though I was less than convinced of that myself. If the dreams I'd had last night had been any indication, I should be very scared indeed.
My mother shook her head. "I'll think about it, but at least for now, the answer is no. I don't want you putting yourself at risk".
You might tell me, Jenna, you shouldn't have been so rude, snapping at your own mother like that. Show some more respect to your parents.
Believe me, I didn't like talking to my own parents in that manner. However, when the fate of the universe is at stake, it's not as though you have any other option if they won't comply with your demands.
Should I tell her about Matamoros? Maybe that would make her see why I have to go with him.
It was a hard decision to make, but I eventually made up my mind that I would wait until later to tell her about it. I needed to take some more time to think about the best way to say, Hey, there's a huge supernatural dragon who wants to conquer the world and plunge everything into hell.
There was a long silence after that as my mother and my brother finished eating their French toast. While we were doing the dishes afterwards, Bradley spoke up.
"I should probably go out and pick up some supplies if I'm going to leave this place," he told us. "Jenna, would you be willing to go with me into town and help me figure out what I should get?"
I smiled. "It would be my pleasure. Are you okay with that, Mom?"
It was an easy decision for me; even if I couldn't go with Bradley, it was still very important for me to support him somehow.
It didn't seem nearly as easy for my mother. She seemed to ponder it for a good ten seconds before replying with, "That sounds okay. But we'll discuss later whether or not you can actually go".
Well, "maybe" is an infinitely better answer than "no". I'll take it, for now.
"All right, let's go" I said, looking over at Nick, who had just put his plate in the dishwasher.
"Can I come?" Nick asked the room at large; it didn't seem to be specifically directed at either me or my mother.
I was going to say yes at first, but something told me that this would be a bad idea. However, my mother spoke before I did.
"No. You will stay here while those two shop. You're not involved with this".
That's pretty harsh, but okay.
Nick, while he didn't look particularly happy, didn't seem to have any desire to fight my mother on this. He said something about going upstairs to play video games, leaving me alone with my mother and Bradley.
I gave my mother a quick good-bye hug, and then I opened the door for Bradley. "Ladies first" he told me.
I couldn't help but blush slightly. "Thanks".
After that, I walked out of my house with the Braixen boy in my wake.
And with that, Chapter 14 of Temple of the Fox is in the books! Please tell me what you thought of it; constructive praise as well as constructive criticism really help with my writing. Plus it feels good that someone cared enough to tell me what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong.
Also, I've only gotten three votes on the poll. I've decided that, at least for now, I will not create a Temple of the Fox Discord server. That being said, if anyone wants to join me and my friends on the PercentVerse Discord (which is linked in r37uy's story "The Planet's Curse"), that'd be awesome. We're happy to have newcomers!
I'll see you guys next time!