The psssssst of steam filled the streets outside as well as the footsteps along the worn, yellowed brick road. This time, Esther's footsteps graced the roads of Hamelin with the pat, pat, pat of her slipper shoes. Carrying two bags full of sandwiches, coffees, a few phoenix feathers, and a handful of sleep-be-gones, she briskly walked down the streets lined with black lampposts. She passed generators and gears sticking out beside steampunk style buildings of metal.
As she went down stairs of worn down metal, her thoughts returned to Oliver's condition and of Swaine's selfishness earlier. "How can that idiot even think about his gun at a time like this? Oliver, our friend, is sick and stuck in bed, and all he can do is tinker with that stupid pistol of his!" She finally reached the main street of the industrial kingdom, walking over the railroad-like grooves of the ground designed to move buildings out of the way for Royal Processions. They had dull shines to them but still refused to break down from all their use over the years.
The ceiling of the large fortress of a kingdom was foggy with smoke, steam, and smog; and the air matched it. It was thick and had the scent of burning and industry. "How do people breathe this air every single day? I'm not sure this is good for Oliver's health, in his current condition-" Her train of thought was brought to a halt when she bumped into something tall with the smell of old clothes as she dropped her bags. "Oof! Oh, I'm so sorr-oh," she then realized who she had run into.
The last person she wanted to see.
"Gee, watch where you're going, Esther." Swaine brushed some imaginary dust off his jacket sleeve. "If you're not careful, you're gonna get run over or somethin'."
"So what are YOU doing here?" The blonde put her hands on her hips, staring at him with blue orbs of frustration. "Who's looking after Oliver?"
"The fairy and that lunatic genie are. I just came out to stretch my legs." He stretched his arms over his head as he continued, "I've been at it with my gun for the past half hour. Cleaning all that sea junk out is such a pain and-"
"Is more important than the health of a friend?" Her eyes were glazed in an emotion that Swaine did not desire. "Ever since we got the final stone, all you've been doing is fussing over that gun while Oliver was sneezing and coughing and you didn't do anything about it!"
"Well, he kept insisting he was fine, so I just assumed it was nothing. Besides, my pistol-"
"Is a bigger concern than Oliver, a human being, versus a lump of metal?"
"No, it's that without my gun-"
"You're a useless coward, that's what!"
This sentence made the man twitch irritably. "I am NOT useless nor a coward, gun or not." He stared down at the shorter girl, towering over her by a head and a half at least.
"Oh, really?" Esther's eyes had a blue fire to them as she stared back to his older brown eyes; his eyes held a similar fire as well.
"Yeah. Have you forgotten my familiars? Or did you simply forget about them, Little Miss Familiar Tamer?"
Snap!
That. That was it. Esther's fire flamed up and out of control. "Gogo!" She called out to her familiar and out from her chest the loyal Electrongo popped out. With a gibbered chirp, the plump bird raised its staff and casted Dropsicle. A large deadly icicle appeared out of the air and came crashing down.
Swaine would have been hit by the lump of deadly frozen water had he not jumped back in time. "Hmph. So that's how you're gonna play, eh?" He stood up, brushing off debris from his jacket. "C'mon out, boy!" With that simple command, Swaine's own familiar, Gunther, dove out with his large arms flexing threateningly.
The groceries now long forgotten, Esther said, "How about it? I challenge you to a familiar battle! Let's see how useful you are without your gun!" as she pointed her finger at Swaine.
"Hmph, Fine. But on the condition that you don't use your harp; this will be a pure familiar showdown."
"…Challenge accepted. Go, Gogo!" The familiar began to charge towards Gunther, preparing for the move of Thunderbolt. "Gunther! Show them what I'm made of!" The Hurlabaloo growled as it prepared for his move; Rockfall.
And so the battle began. A crowd began to form around them, curious about this commotion; they had never seen anything like this on the streets of Hamelin! Some began to even cheer for one side or the other. The cries of the battle could be heard all the way down the industrial streets…even from the local clinic.
"Got any eights?"
The genie shook his head, "Go fish, my fairy friend."
Drippy pulled out another card from the deck. "Knickers…"
"Do you have any-" Al-Khemi was suddenly interrupted by the sound of…thunder?
"Is there a storm outside?"
"It sure sounds like it, mun," Drippy raised his lantern up to glance at the window, revealing a view of the smog-caked ceiling of the structure the kingdom resided in. "But there's a roof over the city, so we don't have to worry about a flipping thing. That's tidy-"
There was then a…boom?
Drippy jumped in alarm at this new noise."Crikey, what's goin' on? That didn't sound like a flipping storm at all!" The red genie floated to the window for a better look, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary for the industrial city…but something sounded out of the ordinary.
"Come to think of it…how long ago has the master's blonde friend, Esther, been gone?"
Drippy cocked his head to the side and crossed his tiny arms, "Hmmm…I'd say a while, mun, but it shouldn't take this long for one to hop from the store and back here" His lantern swayed to the other side before continuing, "And the ol' pickpocket's been gone a bit too long too…This doesn't feel tidy at all, mun."
Al-Khemi crossed his burly arms just as there was another sound, but this one was hard to put his magical finger on. It was like…a landslide, or of rocks raining down maybe.
But then another sound reached his ears; the groggy voice of Oliver.
"…Uuhg… …?...Mr. Al…?" Oliver cracked open his eyelids with a cough. Drippy and Al-Khemi came next to Oliver.
"Oi, Ollie-boy! You're awake!"
"How are you feeling, master? Any better?"
Oliver's answer was a sneeze. "A little…but where's Esther and Swaine?"
"Oh they left a while ago to go out and about." Oliver attempted to get out of bed, but was stopped by Drippy's bouncing. "Oh no you don't, Ollie-boy, you need your rest."
"The fairy is right. And don't worry, for we sent your long haired prince friend to go get some ingredients for your med-" There was another boom, but this time followed by the sound of shouting.
"What's that noise…? Is it Shadar…?" "Nah, Ollie-boy, I dun think it's that…but whatever the flipping heck it is, it's got me worried about Esther and Swaine."
Al-Khemi stared at the window for a long moment after responding, "That's it! Drippy, you stay here with the master and keep your eye on him. I'm going to investigate this matter."
The genie began to "hop" his pot to the door. "Oi, Al, you think that's a tidy idea?" Drippy bounced over, following the genie outside the door.
"As a genie, if it's some sort of fight going on, I have a much better chance of settling it."
The fairy's mouth was wide open in shock for a moment before saying, "What the flip, mun! I'm Lord High Lord of the Fairies, en't I? I bet I-"
"Besides, Drippy…" The genie of the now hopping pot continued, "I think, being a closer personal friend to master, you'd have a better chance at convincing him to stay in beaaAHH!"
The red genie had not been watching where he was hopping, and had fallen down the stairs to the clinic's lobby. "Owowowow…"Al-Khemi rubbed his aching head that was hit by his pot in the fall before continuing to hop to the door. "Sigh…what I'd give to have legs!"
"But you do!"
"Eh?"
The genie turned around to see the lantern fairy calling out to him from the top of the stairs. "Yeah! You've got three legs on that cauldron of yours! Ahahahaha!" The fairy chuckled with pride of his little joke as Al-Khemi merely rolled his eyes.
"…Very funny. Now go keep an eye on the master!" And with that, out the door he hopped.
With a flex of his burly little arms, Gunther executed Sling Stone, hitting Esther's Sweetpea Sprite. The crowd continued to stare at this battle between a young girl and a thin man with their familiars.
"Ha! Take that, Babana Girl!" Swaine taunted to his opponent.
"Hmph. Is that all you've got, Prince of Swine?" Esther capped right on back.
"Why you little-Purrince, give her what for!" Gunther was then switched out by the man's Puss in Boats. His sword shone mercilessly in his tiny paws. He dashed towards the enemy's familiar, but not fast enough; the sprite disappeared into Esther's heart, only to be replaced by Gogo, preparing his staff to strike an electric blow. The cat warrior was helplessly electrocuted with his fur standing at his ends. When the Electrongo was done with his work, the Puss in Boats looked more like a cat with a bad hair day in a pirate suit.
This was followed by a hiss and the deadly move of Slice 'n' Dice. Now the Elecrongo looked like a fat, purple lump of split-end feathers.
The cat chuckled in a hissing manner at this ridiculous sight. He was then aware of the ginormous pulsing vein on the bird's head with an evil shine in its eyes, matched only by its master's eyes.
"Gogo, give it you're all!" Obeying its master's command, it began to charge up a massive electric ball of energy and destruction before charging straight towards its target.
"Gunther, don't hold back now boy!" Swaine switched out the pussy cat fighter with the burly blue familiar that immediately began to charge up an attack of its own; a roaring sphere of fire, glowing red like the Hurlabaloo's rage. It began to sprint towards the Electrongo with a similar intensity.
They dashed towards each other at a blinding speed. Who would win this? Electricity or fire? The plump bird or the hurly creature? The blonde girl or the lanky man?
These questions flashed though everybody's mind in those split seconds before a puff of lavender smoke and a flaming sword came in between the two familiars at the last second.
With a firey slice, the dueling creatures were sent flying back, almost unconscious; and sending their masters down with them. Swaine fell face first on the cold brick road as Esther landed on her side. Esther, now sore all over her body, raised her head to see the source of the unexpected third party attack. Swaine did the same but with a muttered curse under his breath.
In the middle of the area they battled in stood-or floated-a familiar red genie with a purple turban and golden bracelets holding a shield and a flaming sword. "Al-Khemi?!" Both of the fighters shouted at the same time.
"Hmph," Al stuffed his weapons back into his cauldron and then pulled out two tonics, tossing one to each of them. "I don't know what you were doing, but it looks like you could use these."
As Esther pulled the cork of the bottle and began to drink the bitter liquid, Swaine pointed at the bottle, confused. "Wait, you had these things in your pot this whole time?"
"Yes, but only some rare items for emergencies. I usually save them for tributes for masters."
He then glanced to the side to see two plain brown bags with some sandwiches and sleep-be-gones spilt out but surprisingly not damaged. As Swaine drank his tonic with a grimace Esther jogged over and picked up the bags. "How's Oliver? Is he okay?"
"He should be fine. I left the fairy to look after the master, so I hope they're okay. But," he glared at the two of them, now finished with the bitter tonics, "what in the world were the two of you up to, fighting out here in the street?" His voice wasn't so much scolding as it was curious.
The blonde girl began, "Well…we had an argument…and I challenged Swaine to a familiar fight for him to prove if he was useful without his gun or not-"
"Which I did!" Swaine interjected, "See? I'm not some useless coward, eh?"
"You big liar! You nearly collapsed!"
"W-well, yeah, but so did you!"
"Enough!" Al-Khemi bellowed at the bickering couple. "I think it's safe to say…" he scratched his long black beard in thought, "That the winner is…Yours truly!"
"…Huh?!"
"Well, I did beat you and I believe I'm not what you'd call a 'useless coward', so it's fair to say I'm the winner." All Swaine and Esther could do was stare disbelievingly at their genie friend before he continued.
"So…as the winner of this 'familiar showdown'-"
"Wait! You didn't fight with a familiar!"
"Yeah, doesn't that disqualify you or something?"
"Well, then consider it punishment for worrying me and the fairy!" Al-Khemi thought for a moment on this while glancing at the two before a mischievous glint was seen in his eyes. "Aha! I've got just the thing for the two of you!" With a scheming grin on his face, he began to dig through his cauldron, pulling out random things in the process; a box of tissues, some tennis balls, and couple of comic books, just to name a few.
As the crowd that had gathered during the fight fidgeted anxiously, Esther and Swaine exchanged worried stares; just what was their red genie friend planning?