The sea breeze washed thick waves against the boat, the sky faint cloudy, a strong, zephyrous wind blowing through the sails as Eri drew on her scroll of parchment, humming to herself as Hadiya was currently down below, helping to move stuff about and lug things around. The cargo kept falling over for some reason and she'd offered to help as Eri, in turn, sat above board and drew Mr. Abel Roger's picture. The crew was steering the ship across the waves as the wind wafted through all their hair, Mr. Solomon hard at work as he worked to stitch up Mr. Roger's bandanna.

"My, my, that was quite the nasty storm we had last night." He confessed. "You're lucky this was all that was torn." He confessed as Eri, in turn, finished her drawing of the captain and showed it off to him as he, in turn, put down the violin he had, a few other crew mates practicing their instruments as well, especially a lovely flute player who was letting soft notes linger in the air.

"What do you think?" She asked as Abel took hold of the picture, gazing over it, eyes widening slowly. "I have to admit, I'm not into men, but you do have the eyes of an angel."

"How would you know? The Bible doesn't have any pictures." Abel Rogers remarked as Eri blinked stupidly at him before he laughed. "Kidding, kidding. I do have one with pictures, actually, one of the Catholic priests made it. He gave up his family officially to be a part of the church but unofficially, he still cared for them and his many children helped him with the drawings. He said he wanted the book to be understood even by a child, and while the text can be hard to comprehend, they can sure see pictures and know beauty and truth from that."

"That's not a bad idea." Eri remarked. "You can see much in a drawing. A picture is worth a thousand words, that's what I've always said." She confessed as a spray from a wave struck the boat. SPLOOSH! It gushed a bit of water over her face. "Oops!" She moaned, rubbing over her face as Abel hesitated.

"May I ask you something personal?" He wanted to know.

"Sure. Go ahead. I assure you, I've heard all of them before."

"What is it like? Being…being in love with a woman?" Abel wanted to know, hesitantly looking from Eri and then down to the cargo hold where Hadiya was.

"Have you ever been in love with anyone?" Eri asked of Abel as he nodded, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Yes. I had my heart set and stolen by a beautiful red-haired lass who reminded me of a mermaid. She too had soft skin like I, and we'd spend hours just lying on the beach, letting the wind waft over our faces. We would simply…talk." He remarked. "And she had this…this smile. This smile that nobody else could match."

"For people like me…our love's like that. It isn't any more different, Mr. Rogers. I assure you." She told him gently. "I remember when we first touched in that special way. Our fingertips barely touching, like a sensuous whispered vow of love. Two souls intertwined, growing as one, like the garland folded over their linked wrists…and a scent like lilac and baby's breath. That was our first kiss."

"Really?"

"…well, actually, our second. Our first kiss was more like baby's phlegm because both of us had eaten some bad seafood that day and we got sick all over ourselves." Eri confessed as she covered her face. "Oh, it was SO embarrassing. We just got covered in the stuff, but we were laughing hysterically over how ruined our first, big, romantic kiss was and that made us puke up even MORE. We also decided then and there to never eat monkfish again."

"Well, that's fair." Solomon said as he nodded. "I have a rule to never eat anything that looks disgusting when it lived, because it's probably going to taste disgusting dead. I've found it usually works well."

Meanwhile, down in the cargo hold, Hadiya was gaping in shock. She'd noticed something odd about one of the big boxes of cargo that the men had brought onto the ship and now she knew what was odd about it. Uttu! The purplish-skinned spider-woman nervously smiled as Hadiya gaped at her, looking into the large crate. "You stowed away?!" She hissed out.

"Please don't tell anyone." Uttu begged. "I just accidentally knocked some stuff over when I was stretching my legs last night. And I got a lot of legs to stretch because, y'know. Spider." She remarked, gesturing at herself.

"Oh ha, ha. Real funny." Hadiya sighed. "Look. I won't tell anyone, but you have got to stay more quiet and more careful." She said firmly as she poked Uttu squarely in her bare naked chest. "I personally don't want to believe you did those murders at the Hagia Sophia. I want to give you the benefit of the doubt. I don't think the crew or Eri would. So can you stay quiet down here?"

"As a mouse." Uttu said, nodding eagerly.

"Good. Good." Hadiya wiped her brow. "It is honestly good to see you're okay." She confessed. "I was really worried about you, truth be told. I don't trust people in charge of that city to show you real justice. That sort of thing is for someone far greater to dispense."

"You believe in their God?"

"I don't really, no, but Hagia Sophia was very special to me, Uttu. What they did in their defiled it. Being in there was like…" She hesitated. "It reminded me of home. It was a very special place, and…and seeing what they brought into it disgusted me. Don't break my trust about this." She insisted. "Don't give me reason to doubt you." The Nigerian woman insisted as she put down the small crates she'd been carrying and headed back up to the top, as everyone began to play some tunes, Abel happily singing along with Eri and Solomon.

Where it's wave over wave, sea over bow,

I'm as happy a man as the sea will allow!

There's no other life for a sailor like me…

Than to sail the soft sea boys, sail the seeeaaaa!

"There's no other life but to sail the sooooft seeeaaa!" Abel finished the chorus in a softer, gentler tone as the flute's music softly wafted through the air, Eri standing alongside Hadiya as she tilted her head.

"You can't sing, Eri. I mean, you're a great artist, but you CANNOT hit those high notes. Too squeaky."

"I am NOT!" Eri pouted, her face a bit flush as the other sailors giggled a bit as Solomon chuckled.

"Well if you think that you can do better, you're welcome to try hitting those high notes yourself, Ms. Hadiya." He insisted. "Go on, you may wow us."

Meanwhile, Cu Chulainn twirled his sword in one hand before his men, as a dark quilt of clouds covered the sky above. An electricity tingled in the air as Cu Chulainn examined his men. He'd done exactly what his future self had bid him to do, the front line was reinforced with shieldmen, and he had insisted that young Elisud move to the back lines. He turned from his men to the plains outstretched before him, as Prince Asgore paced back and forth before his large platoons.

"Last time we did not fare well against the forces of Cu Chulainn. This time, however, shall be different. We've new warriors who were happy to bring their skill to our cause, and so we welcome you Dog Soldiers!" Prince Asgore said, placing a hand upon the heavily-armored frame of the leader of the current Dog Platoon, Muttler Senior. He had a thick waft of hair that was faintly sticking out under the large helm he wore, he and his platoon wearing strong black armor and carrying wicked-looking axes. Some had two smaller ones, others one big HUGE one, Muttler Senior, however, had something else.

He nodded firmly and Prince Asgore stood back as Muttler held up his paw and clenched it tight, a faint glow coming over his frame as a big, enormous magical axe manifested before his hand…then another, and another, a small storm of axes encircling over his head.

"I wondered why there were so few archers today." Cu Chulainn mused aloud. "Shieldmen, here it comes!" He roared out. "Let's show these animals how humans fight! And if we have to…HOW WE DIE!"

A roar from his men as they surged forward along with the flying axes from Muttler as his platoon let out a wolf-like howl. The axes sailed forth, slamming into the shields, embedding hard, but luckily, his line held. His talk with his future self had saved the lives of many men today as Cu Chulainn barreled forth at Asgore once again. "This time Prince Asgore, we're going to settle things once and for all!" He insisted as he leapt up through the air, bringing his mighty sword down onto Asgore, who raised up his hand and KA-KLANG! His shield caught it, Cu Chulainn cringing, trying to tear through the shield with his raw strength. The crashing of sword and shields around him filled the air, the cries of the wounded and the dying beginning to fill Cu Chulainn's ears.

"This land is OUR land!" Prince Asgore proclaimed to the red-haired warrior. "We've a proper right to it and you shan't keep us off it anymore!" He demanded. "We deserve a home of our own, you humans already have so much!"

"You're welcome to your fancy desires, I just love a good fight." Cu Chulainn explained. "You want to call that petty and small and childish, that's fine. I can't help myself any more than you can and hey, if you…ERGH!" Asgore managed to knock him back with a strong push, and then followed it up by charging forward. Though several soldiers raced forth to block his assault, Asgore barreled through them like a buffalo, sending them flying left and right before Cu Chulainn's sword barely managed to halt his advance. KA-CLAAANG. "If you win here, it'll be proof, I imagine, that your ideals were stronger than mine."

"No. It will be proof…our steel was stronger…not our cause."

"That's not an unfair read." Cu Chulainn told him. "You might be right. We'll see, won't we?"

Garamond the skeleton was currently racing forth alongside Muttler as his amazingly enormous sword slammed through the air, barreling hard into the shield carrier before him, one of Cu Chulainn's archers trying to hit him in the head. The shield not only shattered, the carrier himself was sent flying backwards, slamming into the archer and knocking him to the ground, the force of the impact crushing his very spine as Garamond swung his sword again at another charging soldier. The man was cleaved in two, Garamond turning to Muttler, who's surge of axes were manifesting above his head again, barreling down at the beleagued shield-bearers who were barely holding them back. If they wanted to win, they'd have to take care of Muttler's axe storm.

"You're doing splendidly, Muttler, my deepest and hearty congratulations!" Garamond's rather impressively loud voice proclaimed. "With skills like yours, we will take our land back!"

"What do you want to do when you finally have a proper home of your own? Maybe a new few acres?" Muttler asked of him as he ducked to avoid an arrow shot in his direction and he swung his arm at the attacker. SHA-THUNK. A magical axe embedded squarely in the archer's skull as he flopped down dead on the spot.

"Truth be told I've wanted a place where I can focus on my painting." Garamond confessed as he ducked in time to avoid a swipe from a swordsman, raising up his own enormous blade, cutting the man squarely in half, right up through the middle. He dusted himself off as blood sprayed all about, Garamond cringing. "UGH. For one, when I paint, I am never, ever going to use the color red. Seen enough of that damnable color to last me a lifetime, I promise you that. I'll paint beautiful scenes of blue skies and puffy white clouds, maybe a few Mediterranean scenes here and there…"

Muttler raised a thick eyebrow up before he caught one swordsman's blade in one hand "Have you ever been to the Mediterranean?" He wanted to know, punching the man squarely in his surprised face. Once, twice, thrice, finally knocking him down before he forcibly brought his thick foot down on the guy's head to finish it.

"Actually yes, I've been there a few times on trading ships with the Portugese, they're a very lovely people when you get to know them. The only problem is them trying to become Catholic."

"Ugh. Catholics." Muttler cringed. "Heretical pieces of shit." He remarked. "SO uncivilized." He added, another warrior barreling at him with an axe of his own only for Muttler to leisurely step to the side, trip him, and then he slammed his own axe right into the nape of the man's neck. "I mean really, they are so uncouth."

"Hey, you only think that way because they banned marriages involving your own relatives or in-laws." A voice rang out as Muttler barely avoided having Asgore be thrown onto him and Garamond, Cu Chulainn putting away his sword and shield, tossing them down to the ground as he cracked his gauntleted knuckles.

"I resent that remark!" Muttler proclaimed.

"Because you resemble that remark." Cu Chulainn laughed.

"He's got you there, Muttler." Garamond confessed. "Even I know you and your family have been marrying your cousins for years. It is a little…disturbing to my kind."

"Well half of YOUR kind comes from dead humans." Muttler snapped back, looking clearly very hurt by this. "You're "revenants", remember?" He then flinched as he saw the hurt in Garamond's face. "H-Hey, I-I didn't mean that, I…I just…"

"Look, I'd be more than happy to let you two continue talking, but I kind of want to punch you very, very hard right now." The celtic hero proclaimed, propelling himself forward with blue magic, slamming his fist into Muttler, beginning to just outright WAIL upon him as Prince Asgore rose up, helped by Garamond.

Meanwhile, at the back line, Elisud was hard at work, holding his hands high, green healing energy providing a large shield around him as he raced over to the injured, expanding the shield to encompass them as the laid down on his knees. With one hand still holding the shield up, sweat slightly dribbling down his brow, he rubbed over the man's bloodied, open chest and the wounds began to slowly stitch themselves up, healing before his eyes, turning themselves to normal, unbroken flesh and bone. Within a matter of seconds, the man was perfectly healed and Elisud smiled warmly at him. "Go. Help your friends."

"You're a an angel, sir." The man said, his eyes wide with awe. "Surely God himself has touched you." He remarked, picking up his sword and shield, racing back into the fray as Elisud raced over to another injured man. He'd been going from person to person, trying to heal as many as he could, but unfortunately, Prince Asgore had taken notice of him.

"…Garamond, launch me at him." He remarked aloud.

"What?"

"You heard me. I have a plan."

"Okay. I'll blue you, then." Garamond said, clenching his fists tightly as the tall skeleton monster enveloped Asgore in a blue light, and sent him in an arc straight at Elisud, who looked up a bit too late. THWOMPH. Now a big, giant puca was lying all over his green shield, Prince Asgore staring at him.

"…wait a minute, you may have a beard but…what are you, fourteen?!" He inquired, looking astounded as Elisud slightly blushed.

"I'm sixteen sir!" He insisted. "And would you kindly get off my shield?" He demanded.

"I'm afraid not." Asgore lifted up his fists and began to pound down upon it. THWAM-THWAM-THWAM! Elisud shook and shuddered, cringing as he held both hands up, panting a bit as more sweat beads broke out on his forehead. He was beginning to lose focus, he couldn't keep the shield up much longer! The good news, however, was that even then Cu Chulainn's forces were still winning. They might not have had as many people as Asgore did, but for every one human that was downed, three monsters, sometimes even four or five, were being slain. It was simply a matter of who could hold the line the longest before, at last, they broke.

The edge was definitely belonging to the humans. Bowen, Iolo, Gawain, Arthus and Dylann were in a heated fight at the front lines and their steel was swinging true. Dylann had speared a dog soldier through the chest and barreled forth with a roar, driving him AND the spear into another soldier with a loud war cry. Arthus was letting his arrows fly, sharp steel tips slamming into the necks of various bunny soldiers all about, a couple of Merman's arrows narrowly missing him as well, so he repaid them in kind…and he DIDN'T miss.

As one such merman fell past Ol' Bowen the Bowman had tugged out several arrows from dead compatriots, glowering angrily as he launched all three of them from his bow in the direction of their slayer, and the powerful-looking bulky knight monster squealed almost like a little kid, clutching at his neck, three arrows now embedded in it before he burst into dust. Gawain and Iolo's swords swung about through the air, slicing into the necks of various monsters, their own plate armor caked in dust.

"Look out!" Iolo called out to Gawain, who barely avoided getting his head taken off by one of the dog platoon soldiers. Iolo in turn threw his sword through the air and it slammed right into the helm of the attacker, who collapsed onto his knees and then shattered into dust, Iolo racing over to it as Gawain swung his sword through the air, cutting into the stomach of a merman who'd raced forward to axe Iolo as he dove for his blade. "Thanks." Iolo offered.

"Not a problem at all." Gawain said simply. "These people don't know when to cut their losses. And they are most definitely losing."

But unbeknownst to them, there was something most unpleasant about to happen at the camp. For Grillby had noticed Cu Chulainn's son was looking over the prisoners, put on watch along with several others. The rather messy, soft-haired lad, Connla, looked into Grillby's eyes.

"Excuse me lad. Could you please tighten these cold iron chains?" Grillby asked. He'd tried this trick on all the other guards, but these were new…and more importantly, Connla had never seen this trick done, and perhaps, just perhaps…was gullible enough to fall for it.

"What?" Connla looked very confused. "Did you say "tighten"?" He asked.

"Yes, you see, these darn chains are too loose. Whenever I even move a little the cuffs jangle about and bump my wrists again and again, it quite hurts. It would mean a lot to me if you could show pity and tighten them so they don't shake so much." He requested.

"…alright, fine, just this once." Connla sighed. "Dad said you were about as old as I was, so us kids gotta stick together."

Grillby felt something sharp sting inside his chest as he stood stock still, Connla approaching the cold iron chains that gripped Grillby's hands. As he prepared to adjust them and laid his hands on them along with the necessary key to tighten them…that was when he realized, too late, his mistake. For though the cold iron dulled his power…it didn't, after all, utterly get rid of it, and so-

"YEEEOOOWWW!" Connla howled, reeling back…and dropping the key. Grillby grinned, quickly racing down, slamming the key into the lock, popping his chains off as the other guards held up their bows and arrows.

Too late.

And so it was that the battle at the plains came to a sudden, horrible halt as everyone stared, seeing a big, huge, enormous explosion of fire that barreled into the sky not far away, Cu Chulainn's eyes now wide with fear and terror, mouth agape. "NO!" He screamed out, his voice pained and agonized. "RETREAT! RETREAT, DAMN IT, BACK TO THE CAMP! NOW, DAMN IT, NOW!" He screamed, his pupils shifting, changing color, turning into seven pupils, his skin becoming red, his hands now pointed nails and body bulging and quaking, more muscular, more powerful, his eyes…brimming with tears.

The humans had no choice but to race, breaking formation, and those at the back were now in the best position. They were easily able to race away from the monsters, and Elisud realized with a sense of horror that his friends at the front line were in grave danger. He broke his own shield, leaping over Asgore who flopped to the grass below, and the young mage barreled forward at the front line, pushing past humans, ducking and diving away from monster blades, struggling to get to his friends.

Alas, they were surrounded on all sides. Try as they might, Bowen, Iolo, Gawain, Arthus and Dylann now had to contend with more monsters than they could handle. They were running out of arrows, Bowen trying to knock back dog soldiers with his bow as Arthus had to use the axe of a dead merman, swinging it desperately about. Dylann had been struck hard in the side and was visibly limping, Gawain and Iolo holding their weapons up tall and proudly, gritting their teeth. It did not look good at all.

It looked even worse at the forest. Grillby was now using his fire powers to wrap burning chains of his own around those left behind at the camp…with only Connla and his mother spared as they quivered, clutching each other tight as he gave them a dark glare.

"I want you to tell Cu Chulainn about this." He told them coldly. "Tell him this is the price he pays for what he's done. There's consequences for your actions. This is yours. Tell him that." He said as he made his way out of the forest with his new prisoners in tow.

Elisud, meanwhile, had reached his friends, barreling into the center, holding up his arms. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" He summoned forth his magic, casting his protective green shield around them all, cringing a bit as Asgore and the others approached, Asgore holding up his gigantic trident at Elisud. It looked very, very bad. Every single human that had not fled had been killed, the stench of the dead and dying filled the air, salty iron stinging Elisud's nostrils.

"It is over, you have lost." Prince Asgore insisted firmly.

"I'm n-not giving up s-so easily!" Elisud insisted. "I can keep this shield up long as needed!"

"…you're throwing your life away. Stand down." Prince Asgore insisted again, cringing a bit, looking somewhat unnerved.

"Elisud, I think maybe you should have abandoned us." Gawain told him gently. "You can't save all of us. I don't think you've got the power to keep this going. You're not in a good state right now."

"It will have to be good enough!" Elisud said proudly as Asgore sighed and shook his head.

"Muttler…continue to attack this boy's shield and end this with the rest of your men. Garamond, come with me, we'll take the rest of our forces and chase after Cu Chulainn, we may be able to catch up with him at the forest." Prince Asgore told him as the skeleton monster saluted his prince, and the remaining monster warriors made a beeline off in the direction that Cu Chulainn and his troops went, Muttler and the Dog Platoon striking at the shield again and again and again. Elisud, in turn, cringed, sweat dribbling down his brow in thick beads, struggling to stay upright.

Again and again their blows came down on the shield, Elisud struggling to stand up, his body quaking. It felt like his insides were being lit on fire, like he was a gigantic wick, burning out from the inside. He couldn't take much more of it!

"AAAARRRGGGGGGHHHHH!"

Something had to give.

…something…

…

…

…

… "Thank you for adjusting the taxes." Toriel warmly told Tobias as they sat under the tree, the wind ruffling through both their hair as Tobias wrapped his arms around his legs, slightly burying his face in them. "Tobias? Tobias, what's the matter?"

"…I hate it, Toriel. Everyone keeps looking at me for what to do. I've been at this for weeks now and I don't feel any wiser or smarter or more capable. I'm…I'm being overwhelmed." He confessed. "But I just keep going on because they need me. And I KNOW it's selfish to want to just say "To hell with it", and to just walk away and leave but…but I can't help it. I've got basically no free time left. Everyone is almost always watching me. The only reason I'm even able to speak with you right now is because I've had to hire you on as a "liason" with monsters in town to act as a paid servant of sorts. They all think I'm giving you orders on how to tell the monsters to stop whining or something."

"They still believe a monster deliberately set fire to the castle, and I do not blame them, there are some genuinely bad actors amongst us. We are not so innocent." Toriel sighed in agreement as she patted his shoulder. "Despite what you've said here, Tobias, I want you to know, I would never think lesser of you if you did want to just give up. You've had to endure more than a child should, and you're right. It isn't fair at all. But simply acknowledging it isn't right or just is a good first step."

"Right. The next is…just roll up my sleeves and try harder, right?"

"No, the next step…is to DELEGATE." Toriel offered as Tobias's head shot up and he stared at her in surprise. "You have servants now. Pick people you can trust to take on some of the work so you will have time for yourself. You needn't shoulder every burden on your own."

"You're sure I can find people who can be trusted?"

"If you're seriously concerned and worried someone isn't…I can get some help from the monsters in town to secretly keep an eye on them. If it would please you."

GLOMPH!

Toriel stared down in surprise as Tobias hugged her tight. "I LOVE YOU!" He proclaimed with a big, stupid grin. "Oh thank you, Tori, thank you, thank you, thank you! How could I ever repay you?"

"Sweetie, it's nothing." Toriel insisted. "You've been a wonderful friend to me. I'm happy to help."

Meanwhile, in town, Gaster was at his house with his mother, in the small backyard they had. He was drawing in the ground, making large circles and, within those circles, symbols placed at specific spots as he scribbled writing that connected the symbols together, one after the other.

"And…here…we…go." He said, clasping his hands together, then slamming his hands down onto the circle.

It sparked and shimmered, a glowing, faintly blue light emanating from it before lines of light shot from it…to the small pile of rocks before it. A faint crackling noise rang through the air as they shook and bounced about on the ground and then PING! PING-PING-PING-PING! That heavenly ringing sound filled the air as every single one of the tiny rocks turned into gold.

"It works!" Gaster grinned eagerly as he looked down at his skeletal hands. He'd made his own symbols in a big circle he'd drawn on his hands, and it had reacted with the circle of alchemy he'd drawn on the ground. All things combined together, he was able to turn ordinary pebbles into gold!

Alchemy was a very dangerous branch of "scientific magic", there were strict principles to adhere to, the biggest one of all being "Equivalent Exchange". To gain something of value, something of equal value must be lost or given up. Luckily he had enough rocks there to make a proper amount of gold. If he'd had to little, he could barely make any.

Of course, alchemy was very, very forbidden by human governments for clear, obvious reasons. Making gold from nothing if you weren't a member of the government and cleared to do so meant that economies would go absolutely all over the map or inflation would hit or they could simply crash and burn. Even more important was the taboo of making people. It was essentially seen as outright sacrilegious to most religions in Europe. The Jews did have their legend of 'golems', he'd heard whispers of that type, but even they were not truly "people", just objects in humanoid form brought to life with a special seal who didn't even really have sentience. Trying to bring somebody back to life, or to create a brand new human being was…sickening. Horrifying. A power best left to God.

Besides, trying to do that also could mean trying to craft a private army. This was one of the reasons why making Golems or Elementals was forbidden too.

He had to be careful and ensure he didn't get caught. He gathered up the gold and hid it in his shirt pocket, quickly going to wash his hands off after scribbling out the alchemic seal in the ground. Had to get rid of the evidence, fast.

Soon he was rubbing his hands free as he glanced around the town square, taking notice of the fact that he was almost utterly alone. Well, almost. Gerald and that human mage, the white-haired one who'd talked to him a while back… Leopold, yes, that was his name. They were practicing more blue magic and currently using it at a small bench, both sitting down as Leopold was focusing intensely, looking at a fork that he was hovering out of Gerald's hand.

"You CAN feel this?" He asked, Gerald putting a single finger digit on the fork.

"Yes." Leopold said, hands glowing a lovely shade of blue as more forks slid out of Gerald's bag he had. Gerald touched others, several at once. "That too."

"My, my. The level of sensitivity is astounding, you're doing exceptionally well." Gerald confessed. "I have to say I'm very jealous of your skills."

"Thanks….I suppose." Leopold remarked.

"You've utterly mastered blue magic. I think it's time that we move on to the natural magic of your greatest attribute." Gerald told him. "Have you learned what that is?"

"I think I have, sir. Bravery."

"Ah! Well then, my little "lion", let's get to it!" Gerald proclaimed. "They're similar in a way to the light blue of Patience. If an opponent is moving, the attack is devastating, so if you use it as a kind of aura around you, launching yourself at an opponent striking at you, it'll do quite a lot of damage. They'll be hurt every time they try to strike at you! With your blue magic to keep others back, and orange magic to for if they come close, I don't think you could be beaten at all! But such skill is very tiring. Immensely so. So we'll have to build up your stamina."

"This means laps, doesn't it?"

"Laps carrying me. And you're going to go give me twenty!"

"Twenty laps around the town square?"

"No. Twenty gold pieces, I'm quite strapped for money right now, and I haven't had a good meal in ages. But that other idea's good too." Gerald confessed as Leopold hung his head and moaned a bit, picking Gerald up, hand a-glowing blue as he hut-hut-hutted his way around the town square, Gaster rolling his eyes at the ridiculous sight on display of Gerald a-hovering around Leopold like he was a butterfly trying to find a nice spot to land.

"Ugh. Mages." He mused aloud.