"...And that's how I ended up being captured by bridge bandits!" the cupcake, Gluten, finished. The wagon shook a little as it rode over a rough patch of land, and Yosef kept on steering with a grunt. In the back sat Gluten, Horatio, Pipistrella, Sofia, and a chest full of gold and gems.
"Wait, so you trusted these bandits who threatened you at first to come to the bridge?" Horatio asked, scratching the back of his head as he pieced it all together.
"Yep. Turns out they didn't want to be friends," Gluten said, looking down in disappointment. The light returned to his eyes as he added, "But you guys saved me! You're actually good friends."
"Boring," the voice from the sky commented.
"Shut up," Horatio growled, closing his eyes in annoyance.
"No, you."
"Stop, man with one eye, stop the wagon!" Sofia suddenly shouted, looking out to the world.
"I have a name you know," Yosef replied slowly, stopping the cart.
"Yes, I know, Mr. Yosef, but I see something we must attend to immediately!"
"What is it?"
"Do you see that floating man out there?"
"That pixie? Sure, seems harmless, why?"
"A pixie?"
Again, a common sight after the bear, pixies were flying creatures made of, well, pixie dust. Loud and explosive was their main motto, and they resembled relatively small people with slender legs, and flyed (more like hovered, they didn't have the strength to take on full flight) with two wings, often in majestic. The pixie that Sofia pointed out was in a small field, surrounded by 2 humans and a mascot. The mascot was a… actually, no one really knew what it was. It bore often some sort of instrument on it's back to use, constantly playing an inspiring tune, and all around it was a costume that resembled something, such as a bear or a rabbit. This mascot in particular wore a grey bear-like costume with a grin on its face, and used a drum. It seemed that the pixie was being cornered by the crowd, perhaps they could help.
"Let us go help the pixie person!" Sofia commanded, hopping out of the cart and running to the commotion, leaving Yosef to drive the wagon there as Horatio, Pipistrella, and Gluten followed after. It didn't take long to reach the site of effect, it was only several dozen yards away. There, the pixie, who wore a brown fedora and beautiful blue wings, was yelling at the crowd confronting.
"Look, I don't got your money, Velvet! I lost it!" The pixie shouted in fear. The mascot made a tsk noise before replying.
"Sure you do, just like you did last time, Neo. I lent you my stash one too many times, with no payments, and now you're paying the final price!" the mascot, whose name appeared to be Velvet, claimed. Although the remark was menacing, his voice was less than it, sounding of that similar to a duck. Despite this, the humans next to him, who both wore shades, brandished their seemingly normal weapons, which were both longswords.
"Mr. Pixie, you look to be in distress," Sofia called, arriving next to Neo. The pixie looked over and hissed, turning away.
"Beat it, I don't need you! I don't need what you call friendship!"
The mascot made two quick taps on his drum, and the humans next to him shook their blades, which immediately sparked and hummed with blue electricity; bane to pixies. A line of sweat went down Neo's face, and he turned back to Sofia.
"If you help me then what'll I have to do for you? I can't pay debts, I can't even pay Velvet, and I only borrowed 3 pieces of gold!"
"No, we wish for you simply to join our cause, Señor Neo."
"Uhh… sure, just help me out here, and I'll help you. I scratch your back, you make sure they don't tear out mine!"
Velvet then started to play music on his drum, inspiring the humans next to run forward and take a slash at Sofia and Horatio. Although Sofia managed to dodge the blade, Horatio was slow to come, getting a deep cut by one of the blades.
"Gah!" Horatio gasped sharply as a current of energy swept through him, waves of pain setting in. He couldn't move, his muscles wouldn't respond.
"Try not to get hit, static charge can mess you up!" Neo shouted as he pushed his hands forward and shouted incoherent babble, blasting an inferno of flame at the nearest human. Oh, did I forget to mention they use fire? My bad.
"Don't worry friend, I can help you!" Gluten called excitedly as he pulled on his string, launching a piece of frosting on Horatio. Slowly, his sword wound closed back up, the pain fading. As he recovered, Pipistrella smashed her scepter into one of the hostile's skulls, making a loud crunch. However, the man kept standing, defying the fact that he should have died. Sofia took a stab at one of the humans, while Yosef came into the fight then, wielding his trusted axes.
"Ha ha, your little weapons do nothing against music and steel!" Velvet proclaimed with cruel glee. He banged harder on his drums, and the humans moved places, one taking a stab as Yosef, and another at Neo.
"Bah, can't catch me!" Neo taunted as he barely managed to escape the sword's reach. Yosef had tried to grab the hilt of the blade as it went, but ended up catching the mid-section of the sharp sword as it zapped him. He pulled his arm away, bloody.
"I haven't felt pain like this in forever," Yosef remarked, wincing at his newest wound. "Gluten, mind giving me some help?"
"Way ahead of you, friend!" Gluten responded happily, pulling the string and healing Yosef.
"Feel the fire, ha ha ha!" Neo yelled in fury as he shot flames, catching one of the men and Velvet aflame. The man ran around, trying to extinguish himself before it rendered him a charred corpse, while Velvet was doing something similar. "Somebody kill him, quick!"
Yosef let out a wordless battle cry as he ran forward with his axes, throwing each into Velvet. The mascot began to shake violently, getting louder and louder with his drum tapping.
"Take cover!" Yosef yelled, ducking behind Horatio, who held up his shield for protection, while Sofia, Pipistrella, and Neo went to a safe distance. Unfortunately, the last standing goon of Velvet didn't run fast enough, and was caught in the blast of the mascot. In one final move, Velvet exploded, destroying everything within a certain radius, including his goon. Nothing was left of him except his shattered sword and cracked glasses. Thankfully, Horato had ducked behind his shield with Yosef and blocked almost all the damage, save for one piece of shrapnel that hit him.
"We did it!" Horatio exclaimed, cheering.
"So we are," Sofia remarked with a smile.
"And I didn't die, ha ha!" Neo shouted with joy, swirling around. "Ahh… anyways, a deal's a deal. If I'm gonna be wandering with strangers, I should at least know their names. I'm Neo by the way."
"Horatio," Horatio said, pointing to himself.
"Yosef and Pipistrella," Yosef spoke up, pointing to him and Pip next to him.
"Crusador Sofia," Sofia said, saluting with her sword.
"Gluten!" the cupcake Gluten squeaked, waving excitedly.
"This sounds like the beginning of a bad bar joke," Neo yelled, adjusting his fedora.
"Hey, if you'll be travelling with us, do you mind keeping your voice down sometimes?" Horatio requested, rubbing his ear.
"Oh, okay. *ahem* how about this?" Neo asked, speaking in a slightly louder than moderate voice, but still acceptable to not be blasting loud.
"That'll work," Horatio accepted with a smile. "Well, I think we should head home now, Gluten doesn't look good, I got a piece of shrapnel stuck in my toe, and we should all get some rest."
"Wait, what's wrong with me?" Gluten asked, patting himself all over to check for wounds.
"You're uh… missing some frosting, squirt," Yosef replied awkwardly, referring to the fact that about ¼ of his frosting atop his head was now missing.
"Oh, that. Don't worry, it'll come back. Just give it a good night's rest and some strong alcohol and we'll be fine."
Awkward silence was left, and everyone slowly walked back to the wagon and returned home for the night, hardly talking along the way.
Once again, no deaths. I'm starting to get bored here, I think I might just kill him now.
Why would you do that?
Because nothing is happening, and I'm getting bored, and when I'm bored I get hostile. Do you want me to be hostile right now?
No, but can't you manage your anger in other ways?
I'm not a 8 year old, kid, I'm a godlike figure. I don't need your pathetic anger management
Ok… how about we play a game instead? Papa always liked to play games when we were finished working.
No, and besides, I don't have chess boards to use.
We can improvise.
What do you propose then?
We can play… I spy with my little eye!
Ironic, I have rather large eyes.
Me first, me first!
Okay, what do you see?
I spy with my little eye… something dark
Space.
Hey, that's right! Okay, me again, I want another try! I spy with my little eye… something dark.
Space.
Right again! I spy with my little eye… something… void AND dark
Space.
That's rig- wait, are you cheating?
Just making lucky guesses, kid.