"Man...how did we let ourselves become errand boys again?" Rocksteady asked as he finished reinforcing the walls of a house
"I don't know" Bebop responded as he came from the inside of the house after working on the flooring of the building
"Thank you mister rocksteady, we couldn't have done this without you" a mole man said as they finished adding the door to the newly rebuilt house as Rifana the weasel girl and some other kids bought them drinks
"Yeah you have the strength of ten men combined!" the dog boy Keel said as he admired the rhino's strength, when he grows up to be a man of the sea with big adult muscles, he was sure to try and arm wrestle with rocksteady to see how strong he was "bet you can knock a dragon with your punches!" he happily exclaimed as he thought about him, rocksteady, and Sardina fighting a giant sea monster, he couldn't wait to be a man!
"Yeah, nothing beats these guns! Boom!" rocksteady said as he flexed his arms laughing, been constantly admired by the kids of this village was something he was getting quite used to, even if he found them somewhat annoying with all their whipping and crying
"Sir bebop your ability to cut trees is amazing, that weapon of yours is better than even our strongest axe" a man complimented, such an incredible weapon was a thing only Faubley would have and it was sure making them save time in wood cutting
"Lumberjacking is easy with the right tools" Bebop said as he grabbed a mug of beer
It had been a day or so since their arrival at Lurolona village and the two mutants had become quite beloved by the people, with their strength rebuilding the village was easier than it would have been and the villagers knew that despite the short temper and violent behavior, it was just a matter of complimenting them or praising them for the two mutants to help in the reconstruction effort, they had gotten bored of waiting for a house to be fixed so they could sleep and so they helped rebuild it, and with a little convincing and pleading from the children, they helped build two houses and the foundation of three others
"It's nothing really" Bebop said smugly before taking a sip of the beer, these people were so gentle to them like they were their fans, when he did the most simple of tasks he was praised by them unlike when he worked under Krang and shredder, both would get mad at the slightest of mistakes, was this how it felt to have a bunch of boot licking servants? He honestly was liking being a boss of sorts
"your strength is to be praised, after all, you two saved our lives" the weasel girl says
"Whatever, if we're done here then I and Bebop are gonna go for a walk" he said as both chugged their drinks and gave the empty mugs back
"Sure, all that is left to do is build the beds and cabinets, we can do that for ourselves" a man said as he was cutting the wood into planks
Both walked through the village with the people greeting them while working on their respective jobs, some were hard at work on to restore some stores like a bakery, others were making the city haul into a makeshift hospital while the old one was being restored and some were turning a broken house into an armory with a couple of men outside training with the armor and weapons of the slavers that were killed
As both made their way to the field rocksteady asked "Hey bebop"
"yeah rocksteady?" the pig man responded
"Why is the girl following us?" the rhino said with both looking behind them to see the raccoon girl from before, smiling as she looked at them
"Not this again..." bebop grunted, the little raccoon girl had been glued to them like gum, out of all kids they freed she was the only one who keep following them wherever they go even when they tell her to buzz off she just comes back like she didn't have anything better to do
"hey kid!" rocksteady and Bebop shouted as they stopped their walk and stared at the girl
"yes!" she responded quickly with her ears and tail standing up ready for action
"Why do you keep following us? Shouldn't you be with your parents or something?" Rocksteady asked the girl as he wanted to know why she had so much free time to annoy them
"i...I don't have them anymore...they died in the first wave..." she said as she looked away remembering that horrible event
"well sorry to hear that but can't you stay with someone else?" Bebop asked as he didn't want to take care of her, with how much time she spends with them, people will think they are her parents or something
"I am staying with Keel and his parents..." she replied sheepishly at the two hulking men in front of her
"Great, go stay there then" Rocksteady said as he waved away at the girl
"but I want to be with you two! I want to be strong like you!" the little girl screamed out her reason, but it went to deaf ears
"kid you see this" Rocksteady flexed his arm "This type of strength is one of a kind" he said as he kissed the muscles given to him by the ooze
"yeah, why should we keep you around? Is not like you can fight for us" Bebop said, having a kid around was more trouble than it was worth
"I can do other things!" She replied desperate, raphtalia wanted to hang around with the two men that saved her village
"Like what?" Bebop asked as he stared her down, not wanting to have this girl as an annoying burden
"well... I can uh..." Raphtalia tried to think of something she could help them with, she knew that in terms of physical help, she had nothing to offer to the two men that defeated a small army and could lift a tree by themselves, of course, she could teach them about stuff but if she said something like that maybe they would think she was calling them dumb
"the only thing we could probably need help with is knowing what the hell was those flying numbers from before" Rocksteady out
"flying num... Oh! Your talking about status magic!" a sparkle appears in her eyes at her newfound usefulness
"what magic?" they said in unison, confused by the name
"I can help you with status magic, everyone learns about it when they are young" Raphatalia responded, she was confused about why they wouldn't know something so fundamental, but she wasn't going to give up this chance given to her
"Sure..." Bebop said, unsure about the whole thing
"Ok so the first thing is opening the status magic, do you two see a small box in the corner of your eye?" she asked then as they looked around with their eyes for said box
"Uh...oh yeah there is one!" Rocksteady screamed out as he saw the little cube
"Just focus on it and it will open up a screen" she explained to them as they were now at least paying some attention
"Alright let's see and Oh!" both were caught off guard by what they saw
Rocksteady's P.O.V.
[Name: Rocksteady]
[Class: mutant rhino]
[Level: 5]
[Health: 250]
[Magical Power: 25]
[Attack: 40]
[Magic: 15]
[Defense: 40]
[Magical Defense: 10]
[Agility: 5]
Bebop's P.O.V.
[Name: Bebop]
[Class: mutant hog]
[Level: 5]
[Health: 195]
[Magical Power: 25]
[Attack: 30]
[Magic: 35]
[Defense: 25]
[Magical Defense: 30]
[Agility: 35]
"The hell? this is just like video games" Rocksteady said as he looked at the transparent screen in front of him
"Stats, levels, all that jazz...like those RPGs we played" Bebop added, whenever they had free time(which wasn't often) they would do things like go on the monster truck shows or partake in illegal gambling and races, but since they had to be discreet as to not attract the cops or those turtles, they usually had to stay indoors, so most times they just played games or watched a movie
"I don't remember playing those" Rocksteady spoke out as he tried to remember if he had played something like this, he only played shooters and arcade games, not this number stuff
"Oh right, you were snoozing instead because you thought they had too much dialogue" Bebop said, as only he liked those types of games since they made him feel smart
"Is this real? No way magic works like that...right?" Rocksteady questioned, as he expected magic to be more fantastical than sci-fi
"I mean, do we even know how magic is supposed to work?" Bebop put out a different question, as they weren't magical experts so they had no way of telling if this was true or not
"Good point" Rocksteady agreed
"See mister bebop, I can be useful!" Raphtalia happy proclaimed
"I...I guess you can" Bebop said in defeat as he didn't have any counter-argument
"So I can join you two?" she asked while looking and alternating between the two
"Sure...just don't blame us if you die, you're the one who asked for trouble" Bebop said, at least they could say that they warned her so they could use that as an excuse, that counts for something
"Yay! Let's make it official then!" she clapped together her hands and then did some movement with her eyes
"What do you mean-"
[Raphtalia wants to join your party]
[Yes] [No]
"Uh, okay..." Bebop clicked [yes] and a smaller bar with the girl's name and level appeared under his
[Raphtalia has joined your party!]
"Huh" Bebop looked a bit into this party system and even if he did know how it works he decided to try something "Hey Rocky!" he called out to his buddy
"Huh?" rocksteady looked as he was called out
"Join my party!" Bebop screamed out loud seeing if that's how the thing worked
"What the heck you-"
[Bebop wants you to join his party]
[accept] [refuse]
"Alright but this is still weird" Rocksteady agreed none less
[Rocksteady has joined your party]
"Okay so we can see each other's name and health bar, is that it?" Bebop asked as he just observed the translucent screen
"Well, everyone in a party gains exp when someone in that party kills something" Raphtalia explained to the two
"Makes sense, most RPGs had that as well" Bebop affirmed, playing games really did serve a purpose besides having fun
"And we need to gain exp because?" Rocksteady asked as this was a whole new territory for him
"It raises our levels, which increases our stats, and the bigger our stats are the stronger we are as well" Bebop explained with his gamer knowledge, as it finally comes to use in a real-life scenario
"Ah! 'big means better' gotcha" he responded with a snap, another incentive for killing that wasn't money was nice to have
"Not only that but if one of you kills a monster the other members of the party gain the same amount too" Raphtalia cheerfully said
"then what are we waiting for? Let's kill something!" Bebop said in excitement as they were finally going to do something that didn't involve fixing a wrecked town, with Rocksteady picking a bag to stuff the bodies in
"There is a couple of usapils by the south" she pointed with Rocksteady picking a bag to stuff the bodies in, she lead them to the forest where they find two of the creatures she mentioned
"look like big rabbits to me" Bebop comments, things looked like they swallow a whole soccer ball or something
"yeah some pretty fat rabbits" Rocksteady says before getting closer to the creature and hitting its head with extreme force using his hammer, the other one tries to run away in the opposite direction but it is kicked by Bebop
"Where do you think you're going?" he says as the rabbit is killed by a swing of his chainsaw
9 exp
"Heh, let's just keep on going I want to get to level 20 by the end of the day!" Rocksteady said as they went around and killed a bunch more of the usapils of the area as well as some other weird things like living orange balls, but at the end of the day, both were level 6 while Raphtalia was now level 8
"Thought we would get more out of this..." Rocksteady expressed his disappointment as he looked over the countless dead creatures they had killed
"It's probably because these monster things are flimsy at best, we should kill something big and strong if we want to get high levels" Bebop said as he picked up a usapil body before throwing it away, if they kill something like a dragon, a dinosaur or whatever other big monster there was here, they would probably be able to get a bunch of levels
"Guess you are right, hey kid collect their..." Rocksteady stopped his talk while he looked at the paralyzed girl, who was shaking a bit as she stared at the bloody corpses
"What's wrong with her?" Rocksteady asked as the girl seemed to be seeing ghosts or something
"I heard of this before, some people have fear of blood for some reason" Bebop said as he tried to recall what it was called but gave up as it was one of those fancy science names that only nerds cared about
"So she is scared of a little drop of blood?" Rocksteady said as he just sighed in disappointment, the kid wants to be strong but it was scarred of blood, he found that pathetic, when he was 5 years old he had already shot down his first deer with his father during their hunting trip and he wasn't scared of the blood he was more afraid of a bear appearing out of nowhere, so he found her fear illogical
"I mean yeah, but I wouldn't count that as little" Bebop responds as he points to the area they were in, the ground completely painted red from all the blood that was spilled
"Great, so the kid is useless anyways" Rocksteady crossed his arms, the kid was more trouble than she was worth
"Let me try something first" Bebop said as he approached the trembling child, pulling out a rectangular object that after he does some spins and hands tricks, revealed itself to be a butterfly knife
"Hey kid hold this" he said while throwing the knife to her, which she thankfully grabbed without cutting herself
"W-what is...this is a k-knife?" she anxiously asked while looking at it with a bit of fear, while Bebop approached a hole in a tree and pulled out one of the usapil's out
"Yeah it is, now" Bebop said as he put one of the fat rabbits in front of her "I want you to stab it"
"W-what?!" the girl screamed of surprise and hysteria at that command
"Stab it, you know? Pierce its heart and make it drop dead, simple right?" Bebop said it as if it was a casual thing like making dinner or dressing up
"N-no, I couldn't! if I do it w-will bleed..." she panic exclaimed, ever since that day, Raphtalia couldn't even think of blood because it would remind her of the dozens of demonic dogs chewing on the citizens of the village, as well as her parents sacrificing themselves for her safety against a three-headed dog
"And? You really think that a wild monster or those slavers would care or not if you bleed" he said as the round bunny was struggling and screaming trying to escape, when he put it close to Raphtalia's face it began to try and bite her nose off, which only scared her more
"B-but-"
"No, but you idiot! This is the real world, you either kill the ones trying to kill you or you die! What do you want?" he said as aggressively as ever, but he understood how she felt, when he was just a child in the streets, he was afraid of stealing because he didn't want to get caught, but once he did and got away with it scot-free, it was as easy as pie, same as his first kill, so all he had to do was make the kid jump the shark
"What?" the girl was caught off guard by the question
"You want to live or die? Choose already! You want to die like your parents or are you gonna put up a fight at the very least?" he tried his best to motivate her, if she didn't do this they just ditch her and let her be alone with her traumas, if she somehow did kill it then they could have their own little sidekick
"I...I...I..." Raphtalia just stood there trembling while contemplating the two choices given to her, she couldn't do it, this whole situation was terrifying, she just wanted to drop the knife and run but for some reason, her body would not allow that, it was as if it wanted her to do something besides run away in fear, everything around her seemed to become dark and twisted, with only the round rabbit and knife being clear for her to see, but the rabbit and scenery began to change, as she saw a menacing giant three-headed dog standing in front of her with a blood red sky and destroyed houses in its surroundings, it was then that something snapped inside of her
"Give up bops, she is not gonna-" Rocksteady couldn't finish as Raphtalia thrust her arms forwards, piercing the rabbit's chest as blood began to pour out
"Gyuahh..." the fat rabbit squealed it's last breath as it died by bleeding out
"*huff* I want to *huff* live, I want to live..." Raphtalia said as she took in a deep breath from the experience, her breathing slowed down after she began to collect herself about what she had just done
"See? That wasn't so bad was it?" bebop said as he pats the girl's back to no reaction
"..." Raphtalia did not respond as she stood still while looking at the dead creature she had taken away the life of
"Now here, stuff them in the bag" Rocksteady said as he threw her the bag, which falls to the ground as she didn't even attempt to catch it, after a brief second she picks up
"..." Raphtalia just stayed quiet as she put the dead animals in a bag before putting it close to the duo's feet
"Well let's get back to town kid made me lose my vibe" Rocksteady said as looking at the girl was making him uneasy, something about that empty look as she watched over the knife was giving him goosebumps
"Yeah, at least we gonna eat meat today" Bebop said as he lifted the bag and started walking, after a couple of steps the trio were out of the forest
"Mister bebop..." Rapthalia finally spoke up as she looked down at the bloody knife in her hands
"Uh? What do you want?" bebop asked as he was more than fed up with the kid for the rest of the day
"...Does it get easier?" she asked, the girl wanted to know if doing something as bad and horrific as killing something, taking the life of someone away ever became easier, she wanted to know if this feeling of guilt and shame she felt would go away the more things she killed, she wanted to know if one day she would become just as bad as those slavers... Or even the wave dog...
"What do you...oh...well, sometimes it does, sometimes it ain't, that's all on you I guess" Bebop said not sure what exactly to say to the kid, to him all came naturally like if Shredder wanted someone dead he went there and killed the guy easy if he didn't like a hot dog vendor because he dropped mustard on his sleek clothes he would just beat the guy to a pulp, but he couldn't just say that to a kid or she would become a serial killer
"Look kid...killing isn't wrong, it's something natural that we are born with to defend ourselves against predators, is just the reason you're doing it that is... So if you have a good reason to do it like protecting your friends then it is ok to do it, get it?" bebop tried his best to sound knowledgeable when in reality he was just making stuff, he didn't believe in any of that but at the very least he answered the question
"...thank you..." the girl said with a soft smile on her face, seemingly happy about the answer given
"No problem?" Bebop thanked, a bit scarred from this whole interaction
"Did we just make a serial killer?" Rocksteady asked whispering as he was worried that the girl was gonna become a cold death killer like Karai or even Shredder
"Heck will I know" Bebop responded, as there was no way the little brat could be of any danger...but maybe he should be careful around her if she starts to act weird
The three made their way back to the village and noticed some sort of commotion that seemed to have a lot of people excited, with Raphtalia going to find out what was happening
"What's going on?" Raphtalia asked a girl with white bushy hair and sheep ears that was closed by(and the only one that would pay attention due to both having the same size)
"Raphtalia! It's Sardina! She has returned with the supply for the reconstruction!" the sheep girl said with the utmost excitement, doing little jumps while biting her lip
"That's great!" ralphtalia said tapping her hands together while her tail began to wave around like a dog's when it gets excited about something
"Huh, who is this Sardina you two talking about?" Bebop asked with a certain dog boy catching this question up and deciding to shine some light on the matter
"She is just the best and strongest person around! She is a fisherwoman that always brings back the bodies of giant sea beasts! She was the one who defeated the wave boss together with Lord Seaetto! You two got to see her!" Keel joins in and starts talking about the orca's great feats of strength before being called over by his parents to help together with the other citizens with the supplies that were brought
"Hehe great..." Bebop sarcastically said as he tried to hide his worrying
"You think she can be a problem, bobster?" Rocksteady whispered, if that was true then maybe the villagers might want to kick them out and if that was the case, they might have to wipe out the place
"I don't know" Bebop replied as they could just wait and see if this would blow up in their faces
"Here you go, be careful though, it's quite heavy~" a feminine voice said as it gently placed a wooden plate full of bricks made of stones on the ground, the person talking was a tall figure resembling a humanoid killer whale on land in a loincloth with a harpoon on her back
"Huh, an orca woman? Well, she does seem strong and it makes sense for her to be a fisher-"
"My my who are you two supposed to be?~" Sardina says interrupting Bebop while passing her finger on his chest, both mutants jumped backward and put their hands out like they were about to fight, the orca woman just chuckle at the display and the duo went back to their normal stance once they realized how dumb they looked in those poses
"Sardina! These are Mister Rocksteady and Mister Bebop! They saved us all from being slaved!" Raphtalia sang them cheers as she introduced the two to Sardina
"Huh, hello?" rocksteady said while raising one of his hands to his chest and waving, still acting a bit goofy after their display
"Slavers? To think you all would be given such terrible fate while I was gone..." she said while looking to the sides for a little bit, although her face didn't seem to show much emotion, her voice was clearly showing how she dreaded the thought of her fellow villagers becoming slaves
"Thank you two, if you two ever want to have a drink, I'm more than willing to share some of my beverages with the two of you~" she seductively said, the two mutants thought that either she was drunk and that she was a flirtatious type while under the influence or that she was a loose person who likes to play around
"Uhm, well nice to meet you, but we got to set this right! We are the bosses of this place" Rocksteady confidently said, both of them had to stabilize who was the alpha of this place
"Yeah, so just remember that we are in charge of this-"
"Mister bebop! We need more wood for the houses!" a villager called out from a distance
"Shut up! I'm going to get it after this! Jeez, how much lumber does it take to fix this wreck?" Bebop screamed but begrudgingly pulled out his chainsaw and sighed
"We are done lady" Bebop said before going out grunting in annoyance
"Yeah," Rocksteady says as he leaves as well
"Those two are crooks aren't they?" Sardina said, from the way the two talked and acted it was obvious that they were both criminals of sorts, probably henchmen for someone as the duo didn't seem like the brightest individuals
"They...kind of are, but they have been working to help rebuild the village, we just got to ask them nicely, please their egos, offer drinks and food, or use our 'childlike charm' as Rifana calls it and they will do almost anything" Raphtalia said, Sardina could see were she was coming from, those two seemed easily manipulated by their emotions so they didn't pose a threat, at least for the moment
"How strong are they?" Sardina asked as taking down slavers would require some level of skill or a high stat total which would mean high levels, she was currently in her level limit of 40, and she hadn't come around to doing the class-up ceremony as she didn't see the need for it before the wave hit, she considered getting it done while she was out of the country, but getting the supplies for the village was more important, she was sure that if those two were Lv 20 to 40 she could wash the floor with them, Lv 50 to 60 might pose an issue, and Lv 70 to 100 would be nearly impossible if not by some godly luck
"They defeated a group of slavers at level one from what I understood, but they also seem to take more exp to level up than normal though" Raphatalia commented, she found it weird that they defeated those slavers at just level 1 or 5, even more, when she went from level 1 to 8 while the two went up one level, she assumed that both had either a cursed cast upon them or that they had higher base stats than normal people even for beastmen and that was the way the world found to balance it out
"How do you know that raphtalia-chan?~" Sardina asked in her usual voice and expression but somehow it had a more menacing aspect to it, raphtalia briefly remember how her parents would do something similar when they caught her doing something she shouldn't have, like stealing from the cookie jar
"I...uh...joined their party..." Raphtalia said as she tapped her fingers while looking away the way a kid does when confronted with their parents
"Why would you do that? Did they force you?" Sardina asked, as it didn't make sense for them to want to have a little girl around unless they were some perverted sickos who-
"No, I'm following them because...I want to be strong" Raphtalia responded in a bit more determined voice and expression, which confused Sardina
"Strong? You don't need to worry about that, leave it to me or the other adult's to-"
"No!... I want to be strong because I want to protect everyone" Raphtalia said while pulling her hands up to her chest while trying to look more confident
"Little Raphtalia, you don't have to do that you do not need to be-"
"I want to be powerful so I won't have to worry about the safety of those I love, because I will be protecting them!" Raphtalia said, after all that happened, the wave, the death of her parents, and the slaver attack, she knew that things couldn't keep going like this, she need to lose her fears and become strong so she could protect her friends and village from whatever comes to hurt them
"That's a fine motivation...but why those two?" Sardina questioned the girl's reasoning, if she wanted to be strong, then she could have gone to her for help, not two idiotic thugs that might be trouble
"Because I think they can give me a type of strength you don't gain by leveling up..." Raphtalia said with a more serious tone and expression as she looked over at a distance
"What do you mean by that?" Sardina asked, unsure what she could mean by that
"...I killed a usapil today, I was afraid of stabbing it, afraid that it would bleed, that it would die..." raaphtalia responded with no emotions in her voice as she began to have vivid memories of the moment but continued anyways "but mister bebop made me do it, he didn't force me, he just gave me a knife and said for me to kill it, telling me that if I wanted to be stronger, I would have to learn how to kill...and I did" Raphtalia said as she looked at the distance, that was probably the second worst moment of her life so far but it seemed oddly empowering, like a lesson that she did not want to learn but had to, somehow knowing that she could defend herself and go the extra mile to finish off an opponent like that was both scary and inspiring
"Miss Sardina, I know you kill monsters every day and I also heard that you had killed a person while you were traveling before...does it gets easier?" Raphtalia asked the whale lady, even if she found the response given to her by Bebop satisfactory, she knew that the opinions of someone else in this matter would be needed before she could formulate an opinion on killing
"..." Sardina stood quiet for a moment looking unsure what to say before deciding to talk "...killing monsters does get easier, but killing people...that depends on you" she added, she wished that it never came the day she would have to explain this to a child, but it seems she wasn't lucky today
"..." The two just stood there quiet, not wanting to talk about the matter anymore
"Everybody hiding!" Bebop screamed out in the distance, with the people taking the warning and looking for a place to hide
"More slavers! Hide your sorry asses before they come!" he continued as he approached the fisherwoman and child
"Hey, you two! There's a bunch of people coming this way and they look armed to the teeth!" Bebop said as he caught his breath "You hide yourself kid! You too whale lady" he said as he pointed to the two of them
"I am going too, whether you like it or not~" Sardina replied, she was the strongest person in the village so it was her duty to protect it in these times of need, plus she was curious to see with her own eyes how well the two beastmen would fair in a battle
"Yeah! Me too!" Raphtalia said while lifting her fists in the air
"No" Bebop and Sardina both say in unison as they looked at Raphatalia
"I can help! I have the knife you gave me!" she said as she rosed the knife upwards in conviction
"Kid a butter knife is not gonna help you in a sword fight" Bebop responds, it is good to pull out as a surprise attack during a gunfight or when people are distracted with getting shot or getting hit in the face, he could beat someone using a knife but that was from learning it from the streets, but the best the kid could do was stab the knee of someone
"And it's truly dangerous for you" Sardina said as she gently put her hand on the girl's head
"Hey bebs! You coming?!" Rocksteady screamed out in the distance
"Yeah yeah, I am!" Bebop says as he and Sardina arrived on the outskirts of the village, where Rocksteady was staring at the people in the distance
"What is she doing here?" Rocksteady asked as he raised his eyebrow at the sight of her
"I'm here to protect my village grey man~" she responded while looking at the rhino, she briefly looked past his shoulder to see the incoming battalion, she was a bit concerned about their ability to take them down if all of them were level 40 or higher, they might have a problem
"No, I mean why is the child here?" Rocksteady says as he points down in between the pair
"Huh?" Sardina and Bebop looked and sure enough, Raphtalia was there holding the knife like a sword while trembling a little bit but having a courageous stare
"Raphtalia! Get out of here it's not safe!" Sardina spoke her concern while holding the girl's shoulders, as she was not prepared or high level enough for the blood bath that would happen soon
"N-no, I'm going to protect my home as well!" Raphtalia bravely responded she was very scared of the prospect of a fight to the death, but she promised to be strong and brave for the sake of herself and her friends
"Kid is suicidal" Bebop faced palmed at seeing the kid so willing to die at such a young age, she definitely had a screw loose
"If you're going to, use this" Rocksteady says as he picks a grenade from his belt and hands it over to Raphtalia, who just stared at the otherworldly gift
"What's this?" she asked as she was observing the weird round object given to her
"Is a bomb, you take that metal pin out then you throw the green part at the guys you wanna kill" Rocksteady explained, as he didn't want the kid to blow up herself and waste one of the few remaining grenades he had if they were stuck on a medieval planet, it would be a long time before he would be able to get his hands back on explosives, perhaps he could try and make his bombs but where would he even find gunpowder if this place doesn't have firearms?
"Why are wearing a belt full of explosives then? What if they use fire magic on you? You're gonna blow up~" Sardina said as she grabbed his belt and closed and opened her hand as if trying to make an explosion
"That only happened fiv- once, only happened once" Rocksteady corrected his answer while looking away as Sardina was quietly chuckling at his response
"Shh! They are approaching" Bebop silenced them as the group of knights approached
"Maybe they aren't slavers?" raphtalia whispered as she tried to be optimistic about the situation, perhaps they came to help rebuild the village
"I doubt that little Raphtalia" Sardina shot the girl's hopes down, if that was true, why would they come packed full of weapons and not wood, clay, food, and every other thing need to rebuild a town or village
They watched as the battalion of men stopped in a sort of 'U' formation, with a blonde-haired fat man in a fancy suit carrying a whip on his waist coming front in another one of those velociraptors-looking lizards
"I am Idol Rapier! Lord of the rapier territory and one of the great nobles of Melromarc! Surrender beasts and get out of my way!" the man arrogantly introduced himself to flex his status upon the demi-humans in his front, although only Sardina and Raphtalia seemed to care about the man's standing as a higher class member, Bebop and Rocksteady were thinking of other things
"Is the guy's name literally 'I do rape'? And then people say we have weird names" Rocksteady whispered as he wondered why someone would proudly proclaim himself with a name like that
"His parents probably hated him" Bebop quietly implies, he probably an unwanted child if his parents would give him such a horrible name
"What do you want here in lurolona village?" Sardina asked, although she knew the answer, she didn't know why a noble of such status like Rapier would come here instead of just sending his goons to do the job, but from the way he looked at them with such a sadistic smile, he probably wanted to watch them being subjugated with his own eyes
"I'm here to claim the territory and rid it of you stinking animals" Rapier declared as he stared at the group, none of those adult beastmen were appealing to him, but that raccoon lass would be fun to torture, he licked his lips at the thought of making her suffer
"You can't! This is the territory of the Seaettos!" Raphtalia screamed out, even if lord Seaetto was dead, his daughter lady Eclair would still inherit the lands and this village, as well as the territory was protected by the Queen, so he couldn't do anything to-
"Not anymore" the man says as unravels a piece of paper to show the group "This is a royal decree signed by the king himself, giving me ownership of this lands!" that reveal caused Raphtalia and Sardina to flinch in disbelief
'The king allowed this? Then there is no hope for us to resolve this peacefully...' Sardina briefly pondered before gripping her harpoon with strength and preparing for the sure to ensue battle
"Now surrender your tribe of animals! Do as such and perhaps I will take it easy on you" Rapier said with a crooked smile on his face, Sardina knew that he was planning to slave the inhabitants of the village and that he wasn't going to 'take it easy' on them
"Hahahahahaha!" bebop and Rocksteady began to uncontrollably laugh like crazy, finding fun in the man's statement
"what you two meatheads laughing at?!" the fat man angrily asked, infuriated at the two beasts laughing at him
"You really think we gonna be intimated by a piece of paper?" rocksteady said as he whipped a tear out of his eye
"There's a reason why restraining orders don't work" Bebop joked as he readjusted his glasses 'people are dumb when they think a piece of paper is more important and effective than brute force' he thought, their display of dumb courage made Raphtalia get more confident in them and Sardina just smirked as she was agreeing with them, no way would she allow someone to destroy her home just because a document says so
"Then I will slaughter you two to make an example to the other dumb animals of this place" Rapier declared as he put out the whip from his waist
"Ha! I would like to see you-" Rocksteady stops as a whip hit his face, wia th bebop surprised at the reach of the thing
"Och! That hurt you piece of shit!" rocksteady grunts as he looks at Idol, wanting to grind him into a paste
"Men Attack! Destroy this place!" Idol commanded his forces, as he was sure of his victory against the group of four, if the best they got were three adults possibly in therianthrope form, and a child, they would be crushed under his force with ease
"Alright I get the ones on the right and yo-" Bebop was unable to finish, as Sardina finished the chant she was preparing from the moment Rapier pulled out his whip
"[Drifa Chain Lightning]!" Several blindingly bright bolts of lightning shoot out from Sardina towards her targets, this lightning magic then jumps from target to target, making ten or so knights fall to the ground from having their brains and blood fried
"Woah" both bebop and Rocksteady stared in awe at Sardina's magic display, wondering if they could do cool shit like that if they learned magic
"Hehe, close those mouths boys, or else bugs might go in~" Sardina responds as she gives them a wink, snapping them back to the situation at hand
"That's a fine trick but how well do you crack bones?" rocksteady said as he pulled out his sledgehammer, he wouldn't just let one-up up him and his buddy with some magic mumbo-jumbo
"Oh, you want to compete with me? I would much rather have a drinking contest but fine but don't cry to Mommy when you lose~" Sardina playfully taunts Rocksteady as she looked at him
"You two can flirt later, right now let's just butcher these guys!" Bebop said as he ran to battlefieldield while holding his chainsaw in front
"I am not flirting with this-"
"You sure? I thought you looked very much interested in me~" Sardina teased as she passed her finger in his chest in a heart motion
"Just shut up you whore!" Rocksteady insulted her as he followed after Bebop, both flattered and offended by the killer-whale actions, on one hand, he might have an honest to god chance of scoring a girl, on the other hand, she was driving him nuts! Her constant teasing and flirting were annoying more than seductive
'personality aside, he does have a fine body, but all that matters is how much can he drink~' Sardina briefly thought before joining the two mutants to battle
Bebop and Rocksteady rushed to the battalion of knights while Sardina went to fight off Idol the best she could, three knights grabbed their swords and went to attack the two mutants
"Incoming!" rocksteady said before spinning around and throwing the sledgehammer with great force at one of the knights, he dodges the flying hammer but is hit right in the face by Rocksteady's fist, the sound of teeth breaking echoed in the man's head before being sent in the air and then falling to the ground
"That was easy!" he exclaimed before turning around and punching another knight in the gut, grabbing him and smashing his horn against the head of the knight
"Tell me about it!" Bebop agreed as he was chopping a men's head open with his chainsaw as the man fell to the ground, his brain splattered after hitting the ground
"This is just like a bar fight but the guys are wearing knight armor" Rocksteady said as he bashed the heads of two knights together, meanwhile a much more close fight was being made as Idol and Sardina clashed
"You foul-smelling beast! You dare to fight me!?" Idol shouted as he tried to hit Sardina with his whip, she dodges the attacks with little effort
"If you thought I would just let you take over my home and slave my people then I'm sorry to say that your wrong" the orca replies as she goes for a stab with her trident, idol dodges and continues his barrage of attacks now speeding up the pace 'his attacks have a pattern, is much easier to dodge than a Kraken' Sardina thought as she kept dodging
"I am a war veteran you dumb animal, I have reached level 68! Something you could only dream of reaching!" The man said with pride as he prepared to launch a spell but is interrupted by Sardina once more, she knew that Idol was stronger and that her best option was to end the fight before he could use any magic to gain the advantage
"You may be stronger than me but that doesn't mean I will not go down without a fight!" Sardina said as she weaved and dodged Rapier's attacks while trying to keep herself close but not too much to him, she tries to hit him with her trident but despite his overweight appearance, the man is able to dodge her attacks although barely, he jumped over Sardina which before she could react, Idol's whip was wrapped around her neck with rapier holding both points of the weapon as he tried to choke the whale woman
"Ugh!" Sardina squealed as the whip gripped her neck, she tried to break free from it but Rapier held the whip with strength and pulled making it much harder for Sardina to breathe as she falls to her knees
"This is what you all deserve! To either obey us or die!" Idol says maniacally as he took joy in seeing the woman slowly lose her breath, but while his guard was down, Raphtalia came in running to help out Sardina, proceeding with stabbing the only part of Rapier's body that she could reach
"argh!" Idol let out a small cry of pain as his knee was stabbed by Raphtalia's knife, she continue to stab the man's knee repeatedly making Idol lose the grip on his whip allowing Sardina to breathe and take it off her neck
"You will pay for that you filthy monster!" he says with up most anger, slapping Raphtalia away with a powerful swing of his right hand sending the girl flying
"[Paralyzing Thunder]!" the orca screamed as her spell was sent off her trident hitting Rapier and creating a larger explosion of dust, she rushes to raphtalia grabbing her and jumping back to get distance
"Are you alright?" Sardina said as she picked the little girl to check if she was alive after being hit
"Y-yeah..." the raccoon girl says with a smile but her blood-broken nose would say the contrary
"I think the ladies need some help" Bebop said as he and Rocksteady had basically finished their part of the battalion
"Do we have to? I thought the orca was supposed to be strong" Rocksteady said as he couldn't understand how hard it would be to take care of a walking pile of fat like that who just had a whip
"You two alright?" Bebop asked as he checked on the two, he briefly got nostalgic over seeing Raphtalia with a broken noise as he had done to many in the pass, but this time around it did not seem as cool on her childish face
"I'm fine" Rapthalia said while cleaning a bit of the blood failing from her nose, she still felt a bit uncomfortable seeing blood but she wasn't freezing at the sight of it like before
"That nose of yours begs to differ" Rocksteady said as he knew how annoying it was when you break it like that, constantly smelling your own blood while ever sniff caused pain
"So what happened?" Bebop aske as he looked at the smoking crater made by the orca lady
"I was fighting the leader of the knights, it was hard but with the help of Raphtalia I was able to finish him" Sardina said as she was still feeling a little out of breathe, Idol was a cruel and strong fighter that came close to almost killing her but thanks to the courage of the little rapthalia they were able to defe-"
"You think that I the Great Idol rapie would be defeated by such a weak attack?" Idol said as the smoke faded and he snapped his finger making more of his knight start forming around him, despite the blast Idol stood with only dirt in him and a small cut on his cheek
"You beasts have humiliated me enough! I will make sure that your suffering will be long and painful" he confidently said as he would make every single one of the villagers suffer for what he had endured today, the thought of the amount of pain he would bring to the children made him smile
"Dammit!" Sardina said as she gripped her weapon, they all started to prepare for another confront
Rapthalia seeing this starts to shiver in fear but she then remembers the explosive that Rocksteady had given to her "Ugh!" rapthalia grunted as she removed the pin and threw the grenade with all her strength at idol, who easily catches
"Ha! Do you think a rock will stop me? You animals are as dumb as you look, that's why we humans are pleased by the god unlike you stupid creatures" Idol mocked the futile attempt made by the stupid demi-human, not knowing that he had committed an even dumber action by catching it and holding it
"We better cover our ears" Bebop said as he and Rocksteady covered their ear holes, raphtalia and Sardina did the same as well since they knew what was about to happen
"What do you t-" Before the man could finish the bomb he was holding explodes, killing the knights around rapier and creating a crater where a tower of smoke was coming from
"The guy was dumb to catch that" Rocksteady said as he lifted his hammer and laid it on his shoulder
"Yeah I learned that the hard way" Bebop said as he remembered doing the same thing during one of their earlier fights with the turtles, although that explosive was weaker in comparison to the ones they use now
"... You should be more careful with that belt of yours" Sardina said as she watched in disbelief at such a little thing being able to cause such an explosion
Rapthalia was shocked by this but also saw many high numbers appear in her vision meaning that she had gained a lot of experience probably from all the knights that Bebop and Rocksteady had killed along with the ones she killed with the explosion, she quietly opened her status magic to see that she was now level 19 along with seeing that compared to bebop and rocksteady who were both level 14 meant she was the highest level individual in the entire party, she let out a smiled
"Whatever, we-"
"AAArrrggghh" a loud scream is heard by the group, they look to see Idol crawling out of the smoke with half of his face disfigured by the blast and the arm he had held the grenade completely bloody with barely any skin or muscle covering his now skeletal left hand
"He is still alive?" bebop asked, from what he had seen before only mutants were able to survive a grenade like that to the face, heck he and Rocksteady survived a whole building falling in their heads with just a minor headache later but to a human to be able to survive that even in such a bad state was mildly surprising
"That guy is persistent" Rocksteady said as he prepared to start fighting all over again
"He is weakened! This is our chance to finish him off, stay here raphtalia" Sardina ordered as she gripped her harpoon and rushed to Idol with the two mutants following soon, she was confident that after all that damage they would be able to defeat Idol even if he was levels above them
"I will kill every single one of yoouu!!" Rapier screamed as he got up and used his only remaining arm to swing the whip at the trio charging at him, although his attack was much more sluggish than before, it had also more strength to it with Sardina now having more difficulty dodging them as rapier was no longer winging in pattern
"I will kill you all! I'm Idol Rapier! I'm a War hero! You dumb animals shall die just like the god says! Die!!!" Idol screamed out as if he was a mad creature, any sense and intelligence replaced by pure hate and pride, he was so crazed that he didn't even cared about the lost of his arm and disfigurement, all he cared for was to kill every demi-human he saw
"I'm getting sick of this guy already" Rocksteady said as he tried to throw his hammer right at Rapier's face but despite his condition, the man can dodge it barely.
"Hey you old fart just die alre-" Bebop didn't finish as Idol's whip hit him square middle of the face, he was set back a little bit but didn't suffer any damages
Crack...
The tiny sound was that of Bebop's glasses breaking in half, the world seemed to slow down as he realized what has happened, he watches as his glasses take an eternity to fall until they finally hit the ground, he stands there with his hands shanking
"My glasses..." he whispered while falling to his knees and picking up the broke object
"Huh?" both Sardina and Raphtalia looked over the saddened swine in confusion, was he seriously having a emotional breakdown because of a accessory? In a critical fight against a powerful opponent no less
"My stylish specks..." Bebop whispered as a furious grin began to form on his face
"Oh no, you shouldn't have done that..." Rocksteady said as he already have experienced what was about to happen a few times before
"THEY WERE CUSTOM-MADE!!!" Bebop screamed out from the top of his lungs, eyes red from anger, he dropped his chainsaw and ran out to rapier
"Wait he's dangerous! Don't just run at-"
"There's no use lady" Rocksteady said as he knew what a futile effort it would be to even try and warn him when he got in that state of blind fury, he knew that his friend would very much kill anyone who disrespected his fashion, even more if they break or ruined it
"They were one of a kind! Limited edition!" the mutant boar shouts, Idol tries to hit Bebop but the hog moves fast and dodges most of the man's attacks, even the ones that do hit Bebop are powered through by him as he was beyond pissed at the moment only wanting to kill Idol for destroying his glasses
"A-away you beast!" Idol said as he now focused on the pig charging at him in all four who was getting too close for Rapier "[Fire Blast]!" Rapier shouts and a large ball of fire is shot from his arm with it hitting Bebop and an explosion happening, for a moment the man smiles before he sees Bebop coming out of the smoke and continues his charge even with part of his fur still on fire
Idol tries to punch the hog but Bebop dodges, grabs the arm, and breaks it with his knee "Aaargh!" Idol said in pain before being gut punched and then kick into the ground
"You gonna pay for that you walking ball of lard!" bebop said as he started to punch Idol's face multiple times and then he begins to sink his thumbs into Rapier's eyes until they start to bleed before Bebop grabbed the eyes and pulled them out of rapiers head, during all of this Idol screamed in agonizing pain
"Hey, why are you covering my eyes?" Raphtalia said as she tried to remove Sardina's hands from her face
"Trust me little Raphtalia, you don't want to see this" Sardina said, even if Raphtalia had experienced the act of killing, but she certainly was not prepared for the brutal display that was happening in the moment
"You stinking fat fuck of a-"
"Hey man I think he done" Rocksteady said as he approach his buddy and placed a hand on his shoulder
"..." Bebop looks at Rapier, he looked like shit that had been run over multiple times, after collecting himself for a bit, he got up and walked away, before turning back and spitting on the mutilated body "...bastard" he says as he begins to walk away
"Let's go grab a beer" Bebop said as he felt like he need to just drink away for the moment
"Yeah, also you're left sideburn is on fire" Rocksteady points out and Bebop began to frantically slap his cheek to pull out the fire, Raphtalia followed them as she was happily humming from having helped defend her home and winning against a real opponent
Sardina kept observing Idol's body as she approached the remains of the noble with a serious look, when she got close enough, she put her harpoon above her head as if she was going to drop it on the pathetic shell of a man
"Seems like you still breathing and kicking after all of that" Sardina said as she saw Idol struggling to breathe, as he was left with only one hp remaining "I could end you're suffering...but something tells me you deserve to suffer through this until the very end" She morbidly proclaimed as Idol seemed to try and get up to attack her but couldn't
"I hope that you regret all of your crimes, but with how stubborn you seem to be, I doubt that" Sardina said as she placed her weapon in her back and walked away as Idol suffered in agonizing pain before succumbing to his injuries
The villagers all celebrated once the four returned, Keel praised Sardina for how awesome she was since everyone recognized her lighting magic even in a distance while the villagers gave compliments and cheers for the two mutants, only rifana had noticed how bad Rapthalia looked as her nose had dry blood and seemed to be broken, she got it fixed after taking one of the healing potions that Sardina had brought from her travel
"Haha, pass me another" Rocksteady happily asked as he had empty another mug of booze
"..." Bebop just stayed silent while quietly drinking away his drink, unbeknownst to them, Sardina sat at her table opposite to their's, watching the pair while she drinks, the citizen of the village already knew what she was doing, Sardina stated multiple times that she would only marry a man that could drink more than her, she had already tested the drinking capacity of everyone in the village and got no luck with her goal, so it was obvious that she was quite interested in the fresh new hunks of meat that came into town
"Hey man you're not still mad at that are you?" Rocksteady asked, as he knew how important to his friend those glasses and any other sunglasses were to him, Bebop almost never took his glasses off, not even when showering, so he knew who taken aback by this he was
"It's not the same thing without my sunglasses!" Bebop said as he slammed his cup on the table, even alcohol didn't taste the same when he was drinking without some sort of shades on his face, he felt as if he lost his swagger and that was unbearable
"Sunglasses?" one of the mole people asked, as that name was familiar to him, as well that the glasses worn by the boar man were similar to the ones they had back before the wave, but they had a different name
"You guys probably don't even know what-"
"Do you mean glasses with dark lenses that make everything less bright?" he said wanting to know if got it right, as a Lemo, a species with a sensibility to light in general, it was common for them to posse and use glasses like those so they could walk around in daylight for long periods of time
"Yeah! Do you have a pair? Maybe in a retro style?!" Bebop asked as he shook the mole man, thank God this place had some aspect of modernity, and if they had sunglasses, maybe they would have microwave pizza too
"N-no, t-they only sell those in the capital" the mole explained, when the slavers attacked, they destroyed all the glasses that Lemo inhabitants wore just for pleasure, as the youngest and the elderly couldn't quite handle the light of the sun, some of those slavers even forced open the eyes of some of them just to see them scream as their sensible eyes were exposed to daylight
"We're going there" Bebop said as he let go of the mole man, the citizens present did not react as overly desperate this time on that declaration, since Sardina had returned and with the gear they got from Idol's battalion, they were a more secured at protecting themselves without the pair of mutants, but they did know how much of a help they had been during that battle as well with the reconstruction efforts, so this was still a bit of sad news for them
"You two can't it's-"
"Kid you're not going to stop me this time, I feel naked without my glasses on" Bebop said as he pointed to Raphtalia, he felt like he wasn't as intimidating or cool without them, the hip-punk style was something to live for, and he couldn't without glasses to complete the look
"But-"
"They can handle themselves raphtalia~" Sardina tapped over the shoulder of the small girl while holding a bottle of wine in the other hand
"But do be careful, if you two get caught, is gonna be slavery for the rest of your lives or execution depending on what you two do" Sardina explained, as that was the fate of any demi-human that walked free could encounter when living in this country, especially in the city capital
"Story of my life" Rocksteady said as he was picking his ear, with Bebop nodding in affirmation, the prospect of being arrested had lost almost every meaning to them from how many times they had been put in a cell and escaped, the execution was a scary prospect but it didn't matter if they escaped before they could be killed, and considering how the shredder and Krang treated them, they already had an idea of how slavery would be like
Next morning
"This is everything? Some bread and jerky?" Bebop said as he looked over the contents of the backpacks they were given by the villagers for the trip
"Unless you two want to carry a bunch of fish that will certainly smell after a few hours~" Sardina teased as she was there to watch their departure
"Then we are good" Bebop said as both weren't fond of the idea, especially Bebop since he had a sense of smelling better than a dog and pretty much everything else in the animal kingdom
"Where is that little raccoon rascal anyways? The kid is usually stuck to us like gum" Rocksteady said as he couldn't see the little rascal anywhere
"Oh, she is just having some trouble with her wardrobe~" Sardina said with a chuckle since it was a bit funnier than the pair could think
Inside the newly rebuilt house of Keel and his parents, on the upper floor where Keel slept, stood two figures close to a pile of clothes and dresses, one was the small weasel girl with white fur known as Rifana and the other was a lean build young adult woman with an hourglass-shaped body using a bed sheet to cover her nude figure, she had raccoon ears and tail with long brown hair and reddish eyes
This figure was actually the 10-year-old Raphtalia now grown up, as a demi-human, when she leveled up, her body would start a process of accelerated aging, it was one of the reasons that some people hated and feared demi-humans since they aged physically and mentally through this method until they reach the peak of their life and they would stay in that peak unaffected by time until they reached the physical age they were supposed to be naturally, it was pretty common for people to spread fear and paranoia by saying that demi-human countries like Siltvelt and Shieldfreen were building armies using this ability, but those where just lies from demi-human haters
"C'mon Rifana! I'm going to lose the departure of mister bebop and mister rocksteady!" Raphtalia said as she wanted to say goodbye to the two men that thought her how to be strong, but she couldn't walk around the village wearing nothing, especially without something to cover her private parts, but all the clothes they gathered were mostly children's clothes or adult ones that didn't were the right size for her new body
"Hey, then maybe you shouldn't have gone up so many sizes, you literally exploded out of your old clothes" Rifana said as she pointed to the busted remains of Raphtalia's dress and underwear, Rifana couldn't understand how someone doesn't realize that they bust out of their clothes in their sleep
"You know I couldn't control it!" Raphtalia screamed out in embarrassment, as this whole thing was new to her
"As well as you're appetite? You were eating like a group of filolials this morning" Rifana said, it was a known fact that a side effect of the accelerated growth by levels was an increase in appetite during the growing process, it's theorized that this was a way of the body compensating for all the magic to cause this growth. However, that usually happens during a couple of days or weeks, but Raphtalia went from a child to a fully grown adult in one night, meaning that instead of being hungry, she was ravenous, Sardina fished for her two whole sea serpents, which are enough for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a family of four and she ate them all herself, thankfully for Raphtalia, only Keel, his parents, Sardina, and Rifana saw her in such a state
"Stop with the teasing!" Raphtalia demanded embarrassingly as she was a bit insecure about her appearance and how that would affect her relationship with her friends, villagers, and with her 'party members'
"I can't say that I will" Rifana admitted as it was fun to tease her best friend at this moment
"Is there really nothing I can wear for now?" Raphtalia asked, she could wear one of Sardina's clothing but they were a bit...too showing for her liking
"Unless you want people to see your panties..." Rifana stated, as she gave Raphtalia a pair of panties and a bra from the pile of clothing for het to wear
"Ugh fine! Stupid demi-human biology! It just had to make me too big!" Raphtalia said spitefully at her new size while dressing the undergarments given to her
"Well actually is you're chest size that is the problem" Rifana declared as Rapthalia's bosom was what made most dresses to not be able to cover her lower half
"S-SHUT UP!" Raphtalia screamed out in full anger and embarrassment from her friend sassy remarks
"She can't decide a dress to wear?" Rocksteady said as he tilted his head, he thought those types of things were just tv stereotypes and stuff
"More or less~" Sardina said while giving a wink, but the pair judt found her strange from the way she was acting about the whole thing, was there something that they should know about?
"Well, guess this a farewell for now" Rocksteady said as he put the backpack on, it didn't weight much but he took a minute to try and put his hammer on it but eventually he settled for carrying it around in his hand like usual
"We will return more stylishly than ever!" Bebop says as he pointed to the sky as they started walking, a long road until the duo would reach the capital city
'I don't know if I should worry about their safety or the safety of anyone they meet...' Sardina thought as she waved at the pair as they walked off in the direction of the capital city