Week 2: An Encounter

Welp.

Not gonna lie; Of all the people he expected to find down here, Red was the last person to come to mind. Then again, Roman Torchwick hadn't expected to find anyone in the first place—that was part of the reason he was here, after all—so the fact that he stumbled on both Red and her equally-red, hopefully-less-annoying friend did little to help the criminal's mood.

"Hi Roman!"

And unfortunately, it seemed that Red did not share his particular mood, as the Beacon brat immediately perked up the moment she registered his presence. Then again, she might've just cheered up from realizing that he wasn't an annoying monster or something.

"Wait... Why did you throw a fireball me?!" The hooded brat immediately pointed an accusing finger at him, her cheeks puffing on that childish mock-annoyance that she seemed to enjoy as she slowly crossed her arms together. Then, like the theatrical display of nonsense that she was, Red's face shifted from the pout to a confused stare as her silver eyes fell on him. "... How did you throw a fireball at me?"

"Actually Red, the honour of performing such a noble deed goes to none other than my brilliant little assistant here." Roman made his own theatrics, practically bowing as his hand gestured to the short, green-haired kid to his side. Of course, the display was done for his own amusement, as the thief quickly noticed the look of surprise that formed on the face of Red's little friend. "As you can see, my associate here-"

"You!"

And as usual, Red was Red, immediately ruining his fun as she pointed another accusing finger. What was weird was that, rather than directing it at him, she was more concerned with Caillou's presence for some silly reason, as the look of alarm that quickly formed onto the hooded girl's face was far more genuine than the half-pout she threw at him. Did these two have history with one another?

"W-what? You?!" Apparently so, as the magical brat immediately mirrored Red's actions, the green-haired kid pointing a finger of his own towards the hooded huntress-wanna-be. "You're that idiot from the other day!"

"Hey! I'm no idiot! You're the idiot!"

And just like that, the two descended into bickering. Or shouting. Honestly, Roman wasn't sure, nor did he care. The classy criminal's initial mood quickly changed to one of resignation as he released a tired sigh, shooting a single glance at the two tiny short brats as they began exchanging insults. Well, okay, Caillou was exchanging insults; Red was just stringing various words together in an attempt to sound like she was slinging insults.

Meanie-brain does not an insult make. Seriously, who taught these brats? Didn't they have an abusive parent-figure to teach them how it was done or something?

With a shrug, Roman settled his eyes to the other redhead instead, his thoughts immediately changing pace as he saw the green-eyed Mistrali glare at him. Part of him wasn't exactly sure why, since he hadn't really done anything to warrant immediate scrutiny. However, that was a small part; the rest of him was simply relieved that the girl was reacting the way you'd expect if you suddenly saw a wanted criminal.

"Something I can help you with?" Still, that didn't mean he was going to ignore her. Instead, he gave the girl a bemused smirk, trying to ignore the little argument between red brat and green brat as he crossed his arms. "Though, I must say, I'm quite surprised to see you here. Don't you have some terrible product to promote or something?"

Eh, probably not the best jab he could make, but considering everything he'd been through, Roman was willing to give himself some leeway. Just gotta make sure he was prepared next time.

Did this world have cardboard? He honestly wasn't sure.

"I should be asking you that!" Regardless of his thoughts, Little Miss Champion wasn't quite as pleased to see him, her face fixed into a permanent glare as she stared at him. "What do you think you're doing down here?"

"What's it look like, Cereal Box? Getting an autograph, of course!" Roman grinned, quickly putting on one of his signature smirks as he reached into his pocket, pulling out some old piece of paper he had stored inside his coat, as well as a pen that he stole from Terme Finance. With those tools in hand, the crook gradually made his way over to the girl, his steps slow and exaggerated for effect, much to the Mistrali's chagrin. "Not for me, of course. Could you make it out to-"

And then, through no fault of his own, the pen flew out of his hand in a single motion, pinning the old paper thing to one of the magic trees.

"Eeesh. Okay, okay, don't like publicity. Got it." Roman raised his hands as he slowly backed away, his mocking sneer never fading as he did so.

"What... Do you want, Torchwick?" Huh. When did she pull out her weapons? The thief raised a brow as he stared at her, the metallic glint of her shield and spear dissuading some of his initial bravado as he stepped back. Of course, despite his show of sorta-good faith, the crazy gladiator kept her weapons in hand, proving once again that Huntsmen and huntresses were utterly crazy. "What are you doing here? Are you following us?"

Paranoid and crazy. Not the best combination, really.

"Would you believe me if I said no?" It was an honest question, but the thief could clearly see that the spear-wielding maniac wasn't amused. Ordinarily, that wouldn't be his problem, but the crook was somewhat certain that, while Red had some reservations with inflicting violence on his person, this particular redhead wasn't nearly as concerned about his well-being. So, he tried again, straightening his back as he did so, holding back some of his usual banter. "Seriously. I had no idea that you or Red were even in this place. Wasn't she trying to find one of her friends or something?"

"And how do you know about that?" Her eyes narrowed.

Great job, Roman. You forgot the most important rule about dealing with crazy people: they were allergic to logic, and smart statements set them off. "Gee, I don't know. Maybe it's because we're not in Remnant anymore, and she's a short little brat who probably misses her annoying team?"

"W-what?! I'm not short!"
"Who are you calling a short little brat?"

Two voices rose up, and just like that, the thief noticed that the little argument that had once been an ambient attraction had ceased to be. Roman's eye twitched as he slowly turned his gaze towards the two brats, only to find them sorta-glaring back at him. Neither had a full glare, since Red defaulted back to her stupid pout, and Caillou seemed to have been struggling with himself throughout the entire thing. Regardless, the issue still stood.

"Seriously? That's all it took to shut you two up?" Torchwick's gaze slowly shifting from one of the brats to the other, pausing for just a moment before he finally turned skyward, releasing a single, resigned sigh. "Sure, why not. We've found the secret for world peace: just make everyone vertically challenged."

Then, on pure reflex, Roman jerked his body to the side, deftly avoiding the attack that always followed after calling out crazy females on their short stature. Still, the crook couldn't help but pause for just a moment when he realized that, rather than an annoyingly pointy parasol, he had dodged a poorly aimed clump of walnut bread. He turned his eyes to the source, his expression completely deadpan as he stared at the girl. "... Really, Red? Really?"

"Hmmph!" Did she just snub him? She doesn't get to do that after throwing discount bakery goods at him! Of course, her arms were crossed yet again as she stood straight, deliberately not looking at him as she... stood on the tip of her toes.

You know what? Nevermind.

The criminal released another tired sigh, willing the growing migraine in his skull to go away as he turned his attention back to the Mistrali; At least her hostility and perchance for violence was the bearable kind of crazy, right? Yet, as his eyes settled back on the girl, he found that she too had lost her initial edge, as the CCTV hero was now wearing a look of utter confusion on her face.

"What... what was that?"

"What's it look like? Red being annoying, of course." He wasn't quite sure if she was asking him or Red, so he gave her a noncommittal shrug, slowly turning his attention away from both of them as his eyes settled back to the distance. Damnit, he had already forgotten that he had been here for a reason. He needed to get back on track befor-
"Not that! I mean- Why is she- and you-... Huh?"

Note to self: Cereal box is inarticulate. Roman rolled his eyes at the redhead, ignoring the confusion on her face as he took out one of his reference books, as well as another pen that he also stole from Terme Finance. "Look, Pumpkin Pete, I'll make you a deal. I'll just take my little librarian and walk on over that way, and you and Red can have the time of your life doing whatever it was you were doing over that way, alright?"

"Wait, what are you doing here, Roman?"

Rather than the silly bronze girl, it was Red who answered, already done with her mock-silent-treatment as she poofed beside him. Like, literally poofed, only with her usual silly petals instead of cartoonish smoke or stupid glass. With a sigh, he reluctantly turned to face the girl, knowing that he wasn't about to get away now. "You know what? Why don't you tell me? What's it look like I'm doing, Red?"

"... Reading a book?" The worst part was, her tone was absolutely straightforward as she said that, as though she was giving him a genuine answer.

"Sure. Why not. I'm taking a walk in a magical, stupid dungeon, while reading a book. Because that makes sense."

"Really? Wait, does that mean you're trying to help me find Blake?" Roman immediately backed away from her as Red drew closer, her eyes wide with wonder as she stared up at him. Honestly, with all the stupid misunderstandings she's been having, it was safer to just be quiet around her. "Thank you thank you!"

"Ruby... I really don't think that someone like Torchwick is here to help." The voice of the crazy gladiator quickly rose up, and Roman couldn't help but be thankful for the brat's sudden intervention. And more importantly, Roman couldn't help but hear the suspicion in her voice, restoring some of the faith he had in people. "I'm sure there's some other reason he's here."

"I guess you're right..." Red looked a bit downcast at that statement, staring at the dirt road for a few moments before turning back up to face him. "Wait, that means you're on your break, right? Does that mean you can help me look for Blake?"

The criminal was about to say something, anything to ward off the girl's spontaneous optimism, but once again, Red's red friend spoke up first. "...Wait, break? What do you mean break?"

"Yeah, break! You know, like when you don't need to work for a little bit?"

Roman had no words. Not for the sudden turn that the conversation had taken, nor for the tone that Red seemed to address him with, now. About the only thing he could appreciate from the scene before him was the look of confusion that was slowly spreading on TV-girl's face.

"No, I mean- How... Why do you know that? That he has... break?"

"Because I work with him, of course! For him? You know, I'm not exactly too sure."

Okay, you know what? The criminal would formally like to take back everything he had just said. The moment he saw the gladiator's reactions to Red's answer, the perfect word came to mind.

Hilarious.

"I'm sorry, Ruby, but... I need to ask again. Why exactly are you working for Roman Torchwick? Or with?" For the third time, the other redhead's voice rose up. While it had been funny to hear it the first time, and somewhat entertaining the second, her confusion had gotten stale by now, and the criminal in question couldn't help but suppress a sigh as he continued to walk forward. "Y-you understand that he's a criminal, right?"

"For the last time, Mr. Torchwick is no criminal!" Oh yeah. The repeated, vehement refusals by his magic-inclined aide had kind of gotten tiresome as well. And unfortunately, unlike Pumpkin Pete's confusion, they had never been entertaining in the first place; he had enough of screaming brats in his usual day-to-day activities. "I have no doubt that he is a respected member of the magical community, and he is here to conduct a formal investigation! Maybe you're the criminal!"

Huh. That last line had been new, at least.

"E-Excuse me?" It seemed that the little warrior girl didn't appreciate that particular accusation, as she finally turned her attention away from Red to face his little assistant instead. "I'll have you know that Roman Torchwick is infamous, and his crimes have disturbed many innocent lives in the city of Vale!"

"And I'll have you know that I've never heard of such a city as Vale." Caillou, as usual, rebuffed her statement with simple disregard or something, turning away from the girl as he made a very exaggerated motion of ignoring her. "If they truly have a problem with him and his works, then maybe it's just a stupid city!"

"Hey! Vale's not a stupid city!"
"I wasn't talking to you, you idiot!"
"You're an idiot!"

The criminal slowly buried his face into his hands. This... This was genuinely worse than working with the White Fang. Or Junior's group of idiots. Or even Cinder's brats. At least the aforementioned morons had the decency to keep quiet! Yet, his present company seemed to not understand the concept of appropriate noise levels, and their screeching was driving him mad. He had to force himself to look at the bright side, but as their argument became more and more pronounced, he struggled to find one.

... At least their constant yelling was keeping the monsters away?

Of course, life being what it was, the exact moment Roman came to this thought, a monster appeared. And of course, it wasn't any old monster—oh no, that would be convenient and merciful. The monster that had decided to make itself known was none other than a giant blue slime monster, easily the size of a freaking Bullhead as landed before them in a single, ground-shaking impact.

As the man's eyes slowly took in the monster's form, Roman couldn't help but release a wry chuckle. A dry laugh. A whatever-you-want-to-call-it. The reason for that was he had finally received irrefutable proof that this monster's presence was all an elaborate prank, set up by fate or destiny or whatever, all to torment him.

Why? Because the freaking slime had a freaking tiny crown on it.

No. This was stupid. Idiotic. Imbecilic. And any other words that could adequately describe how utterly done Roman was with this nonsense.

Without wasting another word, and completely ignoring whatever reaction the three idiotic kids behind him had, the Criminal immediately drew his cane. The slime, however, noticed this little action, apparently smarter than the three brats tormenting him as it shifted towards him. Or, you know, bubbled a bit in his general direction.

That bubbling was apparently a warning, as the Slime immediately leapt upwards a moment later, easily rising ten or so meters into the air, suspended above the group in a powerful display of defiance towards conventional physics, before it came crashing back downwards as a blur of giant blue death. While he didn't doubt the abilities of the two huntress-wanna-bes, the criminal was quite certain that Caillou was far less trained in the ridiculous profession of senselessly dying to monsters.

So, as Roman bolted out of the way, he hooked the crook of his cane around his assistant's robe, giving the child a rough tug as he pulled the kid out of the way.

"G-gah!"

"Damnit kid, get out of here!"

Roman gritted his teeth as he practically flung the child aside, turning his attention back to the slime monster as he did so; The last thing Roman wanted was for his only source of reliable information to die. Plus, it'd probably look bad on his adventurer resume if he let one of the Guild workers die here, so if he wanted to take advantage of the organization, he'd have to... ugh. He'd have to play nice with adventurers like this brat, that seedy swordsman, or Red.

... He was frustrated now. Understandably so.

Well, if there was one good thing to come out of this entire incident, it was that a giant stress ball had just presented itself to the thief. Roman sped forward, getting serious for the second time in this stupid world, his eyes widening slightly at his... unexpectedly high speed. Those power gem things were really something, huh?

Regardless, he quickly closed the distance between himself and the Slime, and with a single snap of his arm, the criminal's cane came down in a blindingly powerful strike. The sound of metal impacting slime filled the air, and the resultant strike tore away a good chunk of the monster, as a viscous blue liquid spewed out from his target.

Oh, but he wasn't done there. Without waiting for the monster to react, Roman kicked back from his position, springing from the side as he leapt upwards, his motions fueled by aura and irritation as he mirrored the monster's previous motion. And just like the Slime King, his particular insult to physics had culminated in a meteoric strike, both hands clutching his weapon as he descended upon his victim with a display of power.

A loud crunch echoed out as he struck the slime monster.

The monster bellowed. He wasn't quite sure how, but the slime released a pained cry, sounding more like an animal than a blob of jelly as it quivered in pain and anger. Some more chunks of slime splattered outwards, a disgusting mist that stained the dirt road blue as parts of the monster began crumbling.

But it was not dead, nor did Roman expect it to be.

A large piece of the monster dripped off from its form, but unlike the splatters that he had forced out of the monster, Roman couldn't help but notice how uniform this particular split seemed to be. The shape of this particular piece of slime was far more deliberate than battle injury, and the man's doubts were realized when that second piece began to move.

Well, that was a disturbing sight.

More bits of the Slime King fell off, spawning forth miniature slime monsters with each action, the blue jello monsters quickly splitting off to collect the fallen splatters of the original body. As the slimes drooped over the traced of blue mist and gel remains, they grew in size and cohesion.

It didn't take long for Roman to realize what they were planning. With an annoyed look on his face, he turned back behind him, shooting a glare at two of the three brats that had trailed him.

"Last I checked, the whole reason kids liked you chose to be huntsmen in the first place was to fight things like this." His voice was unerringly calm, perhaps a stark contrast to the scene before him. That, or he was just good at delivery, as the two Beacon brats remained quiet as they stared at him. He paused, partially for dramatic effect, and partially to scan their surroundings for more of the Slime things, before settling his gaze back to the two huntress-wanna-bes. "... So why don't you idiots do something already?!"

Both wore a surprised look on their face, but thankfully, their idiocy only lasted for a few moments. Red quickly did her thing, disappearing in a blur of flower petals as she dashed towards the nearest slime. Cereal Box followed, her own motions taking her in the opposite direction as she charged down a group of larger slimes, ones that had already reabsorbed a fair portion of the Slime King's original volume.

He wasn't quite sure what her particular plan was, as these idiots were apparently incapable of communication. Still, it didn't matter, and the man began taking his own path as the Mistrali gladiator shot him a single suspicious look, staring at him as she ran past.

"W-wait! Where do you think you're going, Torchwick?!"

"Wait, huh?"

Oh, what do you know? They can talk. They just choose not to, for some reason. Not that it mattered to him, since he would've ignored their words either way; He simply didn't have time to entertain the brats. As they sped off to waste their time on the monsters, intent on somehow slashing or stabbing sentient fluids to death, Roman had his own plan in mind.

Which was why he sped off in the opposite direction.

Once more, his aura, the magical gem things that he had absorbed during his time here, and his own professional athleticism had brought the thief to his destination in mere moments. As he approached his target, however, the criminal's face was devoid of his usual glib, turning to a more serious tone as he stared down at his librarian assistant. "Alright, ready for your first test, kid?"

"W-what? I-I mean... Yes. What do you w-want me to do, sir?"

Roman blinked at the brat's response. For some reason, the kid was stuttering, no longer the composed arrogant wizard brat he had been prior. Which made absolutely no freaking sense. Wasn't this kid an adventurer? Then again, the kid was probably winded from being thrown a few meters so... Eh. He'll give the kid a pass. The thief shrugged his idle thoughts away, forcing his actual expression to remain serious as he turned a gaze towards the two huntresses.

"It's simple. While they run around in circles and distract the slime, you burn with your fire so the stupid thing can't recover itself."

The kid slowly nodded, conviction forming in his eyes as he gripped his magical staff. Roman still wasn't sure how that thing worked, nor did he understand how it interacted with the Magic in this place at all... and as much as he would've liked to sit at the sidelines brat cast his magic, he wasn't able to. His vision turned to the spot behind the kid, eyes narrowing as he continued. "Meanwhile, I'll distract those other two, alright?"

And then, for some weird reason, the kid froze. He wasn't sure why, considering how painstakingly simple the plan was, but the moment he mentioned the last part, he noticed Caillou tense up from the corner of his eyes. Roman shifted his gaze down to the kid, confusion clear on his face as he stared at his assistant. "What? Something I said?"

The child swallowed, before staring back up at him. "U-uhm... Maybe it's not my place to say, but... W-wouldn't it be better if you used your magic?"

"I thought you came along because you wanted to learn something. Unless you think you're too good to deal with something as simple as a slime like that."

"T-that's not it! It's just..." Caillou immediately shook his head, worry in his eyes as slowly turned around, his eyes falling to the two slimes in the distance. For some reason, the kid's worries intensified as he did so, the child gripping his staff far tighter as he slowly turned his eyes back to Roman. "... Crowned Slimes don't normally fight in a group."

The thief gave the kid a single, confused look, not quite sure what the brat was implying. "So what? We ran into a group that was smarter than normal, whoop-de-do."

"N-no! I mean, the Crowned Slimes of Jade Way can't fight in groups! They simply don't develop that way. They're not smart enough to coordinate, nor are they advanced enough to learn." Roman blinked at that statement. "Though... the Crowned Slimes in the Amber Garden are..."

Huh. Amber Garden. If he remembered correctly, that particular dungeon was the one with the silly inconsistent environments. More than that, however, was the fact that the Amber Garden was sealed off, and restricted to the more experienced adventurers. If these slimes were the same as the ones from there then this might be a tad more difficult.

"B-but even they only fight in pairs, and they're... " Once more, the kid's voice trailed off, his tone solemn as he spoke, his eyes fixed on the distant Slimes as they gradually began circling around the forest's edge. "They're still too simple to ambush. I've only read of one instance where Crowned Slimes were developed enough to work together like that."

From the kid's tone, Roman was... somewhat certain that he wouldn't like the kid's response. The thief's eyes narrowed as he settled his attention entirely on the green-haired magician, completely silent as he allowed him to continue.

"The Crowned Slimes of the Lapis Ruins."

The thief had no appropriate response that time.

Unlike the Amber Garden, he hadn't heard of that particular dungeon at all; At least, not on the information board of the Adventurer's Guild. But, now that he thought about it... Roman couldn't recall any books on that particular dungeon either. There was confusion in his voice as he settled his eyes on Caillou. "Hold up, what's the Lapis Ruins? I don't remember reading anything about that place."

"I'm not surprised." The child's voice was lower now. "I-It's a recent discovery on this side of the kingdom. Up until a month ago, we weren't even sure if that place actually existed. There were hints of it, sure, in the scrawled murals of the Obsidian Tower, along with information of the monsters contained inside, but... never anything definite until we found it."

Concern began to set in, both towards the newly discovered information, and towards the kid's particular choice of reference. After all, ominous words in dungeon walls were hardly the most reliable source of information. But, at the same time, if they were accurate... Well, blindly disregarding information like that probably wasn't the best course of action, at least in a world that had obscure, sorta-magical logic like this. He held his words this time, his gaze fixed on the child as Caillou continued.

"And even after finding it... Despite the efforts of the strongest adventurers and brightest mages, we've never been able to access the dungeon. To the best of our knowledge, the Lapis Ruins have remained sealed all this time, its contents completely hidden away from the world."

"So..." That certainly sounds ominous. He gave the kid a look, before settling his eyes on the distant Slimes. "... Why are there monsters from a magically sealed mystery dungeon, lost and wandering in the middle of somewhere like Jade Way?"

Roman frowned as the child remained silent, unable to answer him with anything more than a worried shake of his head.

When your resident wizard is at a complete lost for words... Well, Roman couldn't help but be concerned.