Omake: Ifrit's Day Off
"The air is pungent with the stench of sulfur and brimstone, a lone prince of demons rises above all of the unclean masses to take his rightful place on the throne of power! The throne of fire and ruin. All hail the Lord of the Dark Flame, may he rule in the bowels of hell for an eternity."
"Ifrit! Stop monologuing in the bathroom! Others have to use it to monologue too, you know." Called the female voice of Ifrit's current charge. She was the reasons, the cause of his, the great Ifrit's, current state.
Taylor Hebert.
Her voice boomed like thunder through the flimsy wooden door that separated them. But he was Ifrit, master of fire. He would not be cowed by this mere slip of a girl.
"Ifrit! Out! Now!" Taylor called again.
"Sure thing boss!" Ifrit yelped, as he hopped down from his perch on the bathroom sink. His wool stuffed and covered felt body landed on the tiled floor with nary a sound, leaving the living personification of fire to frown in disappointment at the lack of an appropriate boom to announce his presence among the mortals. Grumbling about the good old days, Ifrit the magnificent hopped up on a stool and unlocked the bathroom door.
There waiting for him, her shadowy form backlit by the lights of the hallway, was his current warden, his jailer, and his current charge to protect, Taylor Herbert. No wait. Hebert. One 'R', he had to remember that. He should remember that, he, Ifrit was a king after all. Ifrit, king of all he surveys, eyes the obstacle before him. The human female in her teens is tall for her age nearing six feet in height, with gangly thin arms and legs, and a mouth like a frog's. She has absolutely no real assets as well, flat as a board they say.
"Ifrit!" The girl snarled, her one eye twitching. "You're monologuing out loud!"
"Ifrit, Lord of Fire and Ruin, paused in his ruminations to agree, that yes, he was indeed speaking to himself out loud for the benefit of his audience beyond the fourth wall."
Taylor, the girl with one eye and Keyblade bearer, pinched the bridge of her nose before moving past Ifrit''s magnificence, and into the water closet. When the door shut a scream of frustration escaped her lips, causing the god king of fire Ifrit to curl his cloth lips into the rictus of a smirk. Smoke wafted off of the ruler Ifrit's back, as he pridefully made his way down to where the scullery maid was no doubt preparing a hearty meal for her king. Reaching the door to his dining hall, the great and noble Ifrit, reared back his foot, ready to deliver a mighty blow to the wooden door that barred his way.Poof! Alas, Ifrit's awesome kick was denied! This uncouth body that the great Lord Ifrit had been cursed to by that foul pretender to the throne, Lord Alexander may he rust in pieces, lacked the strength that the mighty Ifrit deserved to have. And needed to open the door.
"Taylor! Ifrit's monologuing his every action, again!" The shrill voice that was offensive to Ifrits ears came from the creator of this prison that holds the mighty Ifrit, with most of Ifrit's divine power sealed away from Ifrit's rightful touch. "And he's speaking in third person!"
"What do you want me to do about it?" Asked the Keyblade trainee, her voice carrying above the sound of the false rain the mortals used to bathe as she lathered her body with soap.
A deep red flame seemed to spread across the toy maker's cheeks as she heard the description, but the mighty Ifrit did not care, for Ifrit was the demon master of hellfire, and he desired pancakes. In an indignant huff, the toy maker departed from the great beast's royal presence. However, Ifrit still wanted his pancakes. Keen eyes surveyed the small hovel that he, Ifrit, found himself forced to squalor in, searching the room he was in for his all-important meal. And yet he could see no pancakes awaiting him. How could this be? He was Ifrit, he was a King! How could they not fulfill his wishes?! He would have his vengeance! He would….
"Bye, Mog. Bye, Boco. Bye, Ifrit." Came the dual voices of Ifrit's charges, the Keyblade cadet and the Toy Maker, as they both rushed past and out the castle gates. "We'll see you guys tonight. Have a good day!"
Here the mighty Ifrit, King under the mountain, sitting upon his highchair, still awaiting his breakfast, stared as the ones he has been sworn to protect as his vassals leave him behind, hungry and trapped in this building with the giant chicken and the teddy bear merchant. With great suddenness of motion, Ifrit leapt from his seat and, roaring a battle cry, charged the living room window.
"No!" Ifrit commands, banging his fists futility at the plushie proof glass. "Don't leave me here, home alone with them!Take me with you! Please?" But it is for naught. The two young women enter their ancient chariot and are gone. A dark cloud seems to descend down upon the beast Ifrit, his broad shoulders slump in sadness, his knees buckle below him, an ominous rumble echoes through the home as Ifrit utters his law given words. "My pancakes."
Manly tears were shed.
In the corner of the kitchen, Mog sips on his tea while watching Ifrit, cursing out the gods of dawn, he turns to his companion Boco and raised an eyebrow. "I think he's lost his fire, kupo."
"Wherk!" was Boco's only reply.
The moogle nodded his head. "That's very true. But we were told to stay here for today, as Taylor's at school and Sabah needs to concentrate at work, kupo."
"Kweh!"
"Again, true. We weren't told we couldn't do that, kupo."
Ifrit, demon beast of fire, stomped to a stop in front of the moogle and the giant yellow bird, from what he had overheard they had an idea to leave this prison behind his royal self…. Whap!
"Kupo! Stop monologuing Ifrit. It's getting repetitive, and the girls aren't here to annoy anymore!"
Ifrit glared at the newspaper wielding Mog, with a look that was more cute than intimidating, before huffing and crossing his arms. "Fine. You really know how to take the fun out of things."
Mog shrugged, tossing the rolled up newspaper over his shoulder where it hit Boco in the face just before he started to munch on the potted plants that were on the table. "I live to see you suffer, kupo."
"No." Ifrit deadpanned while poking at the remains of the fourth microwave Mog had cannibalized that week. "That would be my sister."
From his nest in the corner, Boco started to unmistakably chuckle, in his bird like way, while Mog's pom-pom dropped slightly.
"Fine." Mog huffed. "I guess this means you don't want to know where we can get you your pancakes, kupo."
Ifrit snatched Mog up by his shoulders and began to shake the stuffing out of him. "Tell me where!"
"Kweh kWeH," Boco stated from behind Ifrit.
Ifrit nervously lowered Mog back down to the floor, and sheepishly grinning, brushed invisible dust off of the moogles shoulders before stepping away from him. Boco clucked, satisfied by Ifrit's show of decorum, and moved back to his makeshift nest. Ifrit let out the breath he was holding in and wiped the sweat from his brow, before pausing and looking at his paw. "Since when do stuffed animals sweat?" he asked. "And why did I breath out air…. Bah! Doesn't matter. Mog!" He turned to the moogle, who was now reading a paper. "Where can we get some pancakes?"
Mog looked over the top of his paper to eye Ifrit with a lidded stare. After a minute of watching Ifrit fidget nervously, Mog gave him a small smile before turning the paper around and showing him the advertisement printed there.
"OPEN DAY SPECIAL ON PANCAKES,
AT THE BREAKFAST CLUB.
IN DOWNTOWN BROCKTON BAY."
Ifrit quickly read the ad, before giving Mog a thumbs up and a huge fanged grin. "Awesome. Now how are we getting there?"
Ifrit and Mog pondered this for a moment, before both Espers look up at each other at the same time, then look at the corner of the kitchen where Boco's nest was. Boco tilted his head puzzled by their look. "Kweh?"
It was twenty minutes later, when on a quiet stretch of road, there was the sound of clawed feet striking asphalt, as a red blur raced past motorists in a blur. This was of course the Chocobo, Boco, who for some strange reason had red feathers. Sitting on top of Boco, as he raced towards Downtown Brockton Bay, were two strangely dressed stuffed animal sized Espers. Ifrit, spirit of fire and ruin, was dressed in an animal print vest and wearing a fedora. Next to him sat the moogle merchant, Mog, who was wearing a red Brockton Bay Barnacles, baseball jersey.
"So why are we dressed like this, kupo?" Mog asked Ifrit over the wind of their passage, "And for that matter, why did we spray paint Boco's feathers red?"
Ifrit grinned at Mog over his shoulder. "As a disguise, so we won't be recognized of course."
"Of course." Mog, replied deadpan.
"KWEH!"
"Oh don't be a wuss. It's waterproof paint, so it will wash off when we get back home." grunted Ifrit.
Mog blinked. "Oh, okay then. So where are we, kupo?"
Ifrit looked around, it had appeared that Boco had come to a stop in front of a market area in next to a park. Apparently they had taken a bad turn somewhere and were now a bit lost. Making an executive decision, Ifrit pointed towards a nearby building that several people were walking in and out of, "Let's try getting directions from someone in there."
Having no better idea, the trio made their way up to the doors of the building, which was in actuality the Brockton Bay Arts Museum. As they went to open the doors and enter, a polite cough came from next to them. A middle-aged women in a blue BBPD uniform whose nameplate read J. Bueller, stood nearby looking at the three autonomous stuffed animals, with no small amount of disbelief.
"Yes, is there something you need Officer, kupo?" Mog asked the woman.
Officer Bueller composed herself before pointing towards the doors that they were about to go through, "Yes. I'm afraid I cannot allow you entrance to the premises."
"Why not?" Ifrit challenged, his fur beginning to bristle.
"Because," Officer Bueller, nervously stated, "of a recent bylaw passed by the city council, no over-sized chickens are allowed to enter public buildings. Sorry, but it's the law, your poultry friend there, will have to wait for you out here."
"Wark!"
Mog's face fell in disappointment, "Sorry Boco, kupo. I guess you'll have to wait out here for us."
"Tough luck." Ifrit said as he rolled his eyes. "Just go spend some time in the park over there." Ifrit gestured to the patch of green across the street. "We'll come looking for you when we're done."
Ifrit and Mog hopped off of Boco's back and made their way unimpeded into the building. Boco warbled sadly as he made his way across the road and into the park.
Officer Jeanie Bueller stood there on the steps of the museum, taking several deep breaths. "Come to Brockton Bay, they said." She muttered to herself. "It's perfectly safe they said, get away from your brother for a while they said. You won't run into anything like weird science experiments or living puppets they said… I'm moving back to Chicago."
In the park across the street, the scarlet feathered Boco, was suddenly tackled by two excited young female teens. Boco recognized one of them as the girl he had rescued a few nights ago, Dinah, who he gave a friendly warble to. The other new girl, who looked a tad nervous, was an undercover bodyguard for the precog, who was now sitting on Boco's back. "Come on up, Missy!" Dinah called to the other girl, reaching down a hand to help her up. "We have an 88.07% chance of having fun if we take a ride on Boco here." Missy hesitated for a moment more, before taking Dinah's hand and climbing up behind her onto Boco's back. "This'll be awesome!"
And thus with a cry of jubilation and a sound barrier breaking feat of speed, did Dinah Alcot and Missy Byron, both of whom were now wearing goggles to protect their eyes from the winds and their identities, roosternap Boco out through the other side of the park for a wild romp around the city.
The whitewashed halls of the nearly empty Brockton Bay Arts Museum echoed with soft footsteps and low voiced murmurs, as ifrit and Mog tried to blend into the crowd of tourists, while looking for someone at the front desk, who might be able to give them directions to their food mecha. They were quickly swept along with the tour group, losing sight of the front desk and ending up in one of the galleries that was celebrating the life and times of the composer Beethoven. Though one would wonder about the paintings of saint bernard dogs along one side of the room, Ifrit was not one of them.
Being slightly disoriented, Ifrit turned and pointed in a random direction.
"I'm going to look over this way for the front desk." Ifrit said to Mog. "You check the next room over there; see if we can't find a way out."
"Sure thing, kupo." Mog replied.
The moogle then shuffled his way into the next gallery and mingled with the other people inside, soon he forgot about what he was supposed to be doing, getting lost in the various paintings that hung on the walls. Mog was unaware of the passage of time as he meandered from colorful work of art to more colorful works of art. He finally stopped at one in particular; it featured a family chained to their seats being forced to watch an animatronic creature show inside of a rundown bar. Mog's eyes focused on the youngest child in the painting, a little red haired girl whose eyes seemed to bore into his own, screaming at him to help her. Mog wasn't really aware of his surroundings, as his nose came closer and closer to the painting, his eyes enraptured by the little girls… they seemed so life like. Mog's nose was almost touching the painting, a faint coppery scent hanging in the air, as Mog's eye came closer and closer to the little girls. Then the trance was broken as Mog's body was jerked back by Ifrit's hand yanking him by the shoulder.
"Wha!" Mog squeaked.
"Where have you been?" Ifrit questioned. "Never mind. I got the directions we needed from the front desk. They were eyeing me for some strange reason, but anyway…" Ifrit carried on talking, while leading Mog out of the museum through a side door.
Mog, with one last lingering look at the entrancing painting, took note of the plaque next to it. 'Vacation, by J. Hughes'.
'That,' Mog thought to himself, as he felt the sun on his faux body once again, 'Is a painting I'll have to remember, kupo.'
Dinah and Missy, made it to the other side of the park only to be slowed to a stop by the traffic coming to a standstill, as something up ahead had blocked the road. Up the road, car horns blared and an angry mob was beginning to form in protest of whatever was happening.
"I wonder what's going on up there?" Missy asked her companion.
"Don't know." Dinah said, shrugging, before calling over to a park maintenance worker who was nearby. "Hi! Do you speak English?"
"Uh…" The rat faced man replied, "What country do you think this is?"
"Do you know what's going on over there?"
Mr. Rodent man waved his hand as if to ward off the two girls, and staying well out of reach of the giant chicken, informed them, "You two best stay away. The Empire's motorcycle gang is recruiting, in the middle of the park bridge while blocking traffic, again. It would be best if you and your… transportation turn around and head the other way so you don't get caught by them. Trust me. I'm a professional."
As the worker walked away, Missy couldn't help but mutter into her friends back. "A professional what?" Looking up, Missy met Dinah's and Boco's serious eyes. She nodded to them. "I hate Brockton Bay Nazis."
Dinah grinned. "Floor it."
"Kweh!"
Down the road a short distance away, one of Brockton Bay's most wanted parahumans, Hookwolf of the Empire 88 leaned on the bridge railing, unrecognized and casually smoking a cigarette, while one of his newer lieutenants gave a speech on the evils of anyone who wasn't white. The usual boring stuff that he was content to ignore, as long as the man didn't screw it up, while he kept an eye out for any trouble coming their way. And if no trouble came, then he'd make some Hookwolf thought with a wild grin.
A sudden commotion from the other side of his gang, caught Hookwolf's attention, he tensed his muscles in anticipation of the conflict to come. Turning towards the noise, Hookwolf only had time to see a red blur before his newest lieutenant and the rest of his gang slammed into him taking them all over the edge of the bridge and down into the water below.
Surfacing, Hookwolf sputtered, spitting water out of his lungs. Looking in the direction the red blur had gone, he spotted a giant red chicken being ridden by two young teen girls. They waved at him before the bird took off at a fast down the road. Hookwolf grabbed his now ex-lieutenant. "Get the bikes ready!" Hookwolf snarled. "Me and the boys are going hunting for a road runner."
After exiting the museum, Ifrit and Mog found themselves in a shadowy alleyway that was full of discarded cardboard boxes and rotten garbage. Looking around, Mog turned to his companion. "Well… Which way now, kupo?"
Ifrit searched both ends of the alley, trying to find some clue of which direction to travel. After several tense seconds, Ifrit raised his paw, pointed to the left and spoke questioningly.
"That way?"
Another beat of silence and Ifrit turned in the direction he had pointed to and began to hesitantly make his way towards the morning light.
Coming out of the alleyway, Ifrit and Mog exited through a gate that closed and locked behind them. After glancing back at the locked gate they looked back and found themselves on a backstreet in downtown Brockton Bay and not the thoroughfare they were hoping for.
"Whoops." Ifrit said and then conceded. "Wrong way."
Choosing a random direction, Ifrit and Mog began walking along the side of the road. They paced along in silence for a minute, before Ifrit made a comment about Alexander's priorities. "Pardon my Japanese, but Alexander is so tight that if you stuck a lump of carbon up his discharge pipe, in two minutes you'd have yourself a piece of Magicite."
"Ifrit…" Mog chided. "Despite his attitude, Alexander does care for people in his own way, kupo. He just has to prioritize life everywhere, and not just one world."
Ifrit snorted, sparks flying from his nostrils. "An esper with his priorities so far out of his control doesn't deserve such loyalty from his followers."
"No. No, Kupo!" Mog argued. "Apparently, you just don't understand the enormity of his responsibilities!"
Ifrit and Mog continued to argue back and forth about the lack of action on the part of the esper race, until they reached the entrance of a hole in the wall sports bar.
"Hold up." Ifrit called, ending their debate.
"Why, kupo?"
"Let's check in here for directions back to where we need to be."
As Ifrit and Mog walked into the Seventh Heaven Sports Bar & Grill, down the street, a good dozen motorcycles thundered down the highway, searching for their prey.
An hour after Ifrit and Mog entered the bar, their voices joined the chorus of many others within, cheering for the home team, the Brockton Bay Barnacles, to victory.
"Hey batter, batter! Swing, batter, batter!"
By the time they left, all the usual customers thought Ifrit to be a righteous dude… At least until they sobered up.
Worn out slabs of cracked grey asphalt sped by as Boco's long legs easily ate the distance across the land. The two girls on his back, whooped and hollered in excitement as the wind streaked past them at a breakneck pace. An incline on a hill allowed Boco to leap fifty feet over a surprised motorist in a slower moving car, without touching pavement.
Up ahead of them, an over-hanging light turned red. Boco, being the conscientious chocobo that he was to the safety of the two girls, slowed to a stop at the red light. While waiting for the light to turn, a low growl and a sharp bark caught his and the girls, attention. Striding up into the lane next to them was a truck sized dog with one eye and it's rider, one Rachel Lindz, aka: Bitch, er… Hellhound, the assumed canine master of Brockton Bay.
Dinah and Hellhound eyed one another, looking for an inner weakness in their opponent. Dinah cast her eyes in a quick glance towards the red light, than back at Bitch. Bitch did the same, then nodded towards her with a wolfish grin growing on her face. It took Missy, who was sitting behind Dinah on top of Boco, several seconds to realize just what her friend and charge was about to do with one of Brockton Bay's notorious villains.
"Dinah! No!" Missy urgently whispered to her friend. "Stolen bird. Stolen bird!"
Dinah grinned to herself, ignoring Missy's pleas, as both Boco and Bitch's dog pawed and clawed at the ground in anticipation of the challenge.
The light turned green. With a great cry of triumph, the race was on.
After leaving the sports bar, Ifrit and Mog, now on the right road, get stuck in the middle of the homecoming parade for Arcadia High's football team. After nearly two minutes of waiting for them to all go by, Ifrit gets impatient and dragging Mog, despite his protests, with him jumps on a float that's going by. It just so happens that on this particular float was Victoria Dallon aka. Glory Girl, there to act as a guard for the parade, who had just picked up a mike and was going to sing for the people watching when Ifrit jumped on next to her.
Vicky was startled at first when the esper dolls landed on the float next to her, but quickly getting over that she smirked as an idea came into her head. Grabbing hold of Ifrit with one hand, she turned to the spectators.
"Ladies and gentlemen of Brockton Bay! Aren't we lucky that at this time we have the now infamous demon doll of fire with us here today." Vicky paused as the spectators cheered. "And isn't it great to know that by interrupting my song that he himself has agreed to sing for you."
Vicky's aura spiked as the crowd cheered its approval, Mog silently tittered to himself, while Ifrit vehemently sputtered denials. Vicky crouched down to whisper into Ifrit's ear. "Sing a nice song for the crowd, or I'll rip out your stuffing."
Beads of imaginary sweat trickled down Ifrit's face, as Vicky handed him her microphone with a smirk, before she picked up Mog and hugging him to her chest, sat on the throne that was on the float. Looking at Ifrit, Queen Victoria commanded…
"Sing for me."
And Ifrit sang.
It was nearing lunch time at the shopping mall, most of the patrons were making their way to the upper levels where the food court was, when the glass entrance exploded inwards and a giant red bird with two riders ran into the mall, followed by several police cars.
"This is not a short cut!" Missy screamed into Dinah's ear, as Boco nimbly side stepped all of the now abandoned kiosks even as the vendors and the shoppers dodged them and the police cars while clamoring for the stairwells to the upper levels of the mall.
Dinah ignored her companion's totally, in her mind, unwarranted complaints. "Hey you wanted out of that parking lot." Dinah giggled as police car after police car lost traction on the polished wax floors, causing them to slid into different stores. "They must have the cadets from the police academy driving today."
Missy rolled her eyes. "That was obvious when they started chasing after a giant red bird that is of parahuman make, instead of calling in the PRT like they're supposed to. Freaking greenhorns." She winced when another police car crashed through a toy store.
"Funny how there is lots of space in this mall."
"It's probably in case of a cape fight. You know, room to move and all that. Oh look at that, Uncle Bucks is having a shoe sale!"
Dinah's head turned to towards said store. "We are so coming back… when they finish cleaning up this mess." Boco took a sharp turn, just missing a music store, the police car behind him wasn't so lucky, it ended up on its roof among the drum sets.
Boco ran past several different stores, all of them gaining at least one greenhorn police car added to their shelves. Finally running out of police cars to dodge, with a triumphant cry, Boco went out through a plate glass window and back out into the parking lot, leaving stunned shoppers and the embarrassed police cadets of Brockton Bay in his wake.
"Man that mall has everything." Dinah said wistfully, as they made their way back out onto the streets of Brockton Bay.
By the time Mog and Ifrit escaped the grasp of Glory Girl the parade had finished and many people were heading back to work from their lunch hour. Scurrying from shadow to shadow, Ifrit and Mog did their best to avoid notice as they finally made it to the street with the Breakfast Club restaurant. Mog couldn't help but feel that this street was familiar, but shrugged it off as maybe having traveled down it before with Boco and their original search for Taylor.
"Success!" Ifrit smugly stated, as they approached the front door of the shop.
"Finally, kupo." Mog groaned in relief. "It feels as if we've been traveling for days without rest, kupo."
"Don't know what you're complaining about, I'm the one who's starving here." Ifrit huffed.
"... We don't eat, kupo!" Mog responded indignantly.
"It's the principle of the matter. You see Mog, life moves freaking fast, especially in times like these. If you don't stop and look around or take a deep breath once in a blue moon, you'll never know what signs you could miss." Ifrit reached out to open the door only to find it locked. He jiggled it more fiercely, trying to access the building.
"Eh-hem." Mog coughed.
"What!?"
Grinning smugly himself, Mog pointed above Ifrit's head to a sign that hung clearly in the door window.
Closed due to bug infestation.
Brockton Bay Health Department.
Ifrit felt his jaw drop, his mind going into shock, "My… my… My pancakes…"
"Wherk! Khew! Wark!" complained Boco as he dodged more gunfire from the nazi motorcycle gang, Fenrir's Chosen, that was chasing him and the girls up and down the highways of Brockton Bay.
"I know! I know!" Missy yelled at the screeching bird she was riding on, while concentrating on the road behind her. Pieces of concrete shot up creating temporary barriers that blocked the bullets being fired and stopping the gang from closing the distance. Another burst of thought turned the highway into a launch ramp, that sent two of the bikers into the air only to land heavily on the top of the closed Ringwall Mattresses factory, three streets away. Missy smirked, before ducking another gunfire burst and cursing.
"Boco!" Dinah called out to the giant chicken. "Get us up on the elevated highway! We have an 86.58% chance of escaping from up there!"
"Wark!" Boco called in acknowledgment, running up an on ramp, the motorcycles roaring after them. Dodging became paramount as they were now among civilian vehicles that scrambled to clear a path for the chase that sped past them.
A fireball appeared at the edge of the motorcycle riders as Missy speared one of their gas tanks with a piece of guardrail she had snaked around a civilian car, sending the gang scattering to avoid the wreckage, and giving them a few seconds reprieve. Those few seconds were enough for her to begin warping the now cleared road in front of her hands raised high as the asphalt rose, twisted and turned into a demented obstacle course that she could change to her will. Several of the bikers immediately crashed as they suddenly had no traction on the road. For several long minutes, Missy made physics her bitch, making the nazi's dance to a melody only she could see.
"Wow!" Dinah breathed out, shocked at the raw power pouring out of the young girl behind her. Then she was cursing as the road ahead turned into a giant loop-de-loop.
Boco cried out in excitement as he accelerated into the loop. Behind them, four more gang member lost their nerves, and veered off of the road and into the bay waters below, but several more followed their leader's, Hookwolf's, lead and sped up into the loop. Only three didn't make it.
Coming out of the loop, Missy slumped over tiredly, her powers nearing an exhausted state, as the highway began to warp back to normal. Sensing weakness, the gang began to close in on Boco and his passengers.
Boco dug deep into his reserves and put on another burst of speed, pulling away from the rapidly approaching bikers.
"Look!" Dinah exclaimed, pointing further down the highway, where to figures stood resolute. "Who's that?"
Peering over Boco's head, an exhausted Missy squinted her eyes before they widened in surprised recognition. "It's okay!" she yelled to her charge, "It's Armsmaster and Ms. Militia! Boco, keep going straight in between them!"
Boco stayed the course, threading the needle between Armsmaster and Ms. Militia, before disappearing into distance. Behind them, massive explosions went off as the Protectorate members intercepted Hookwolf and his pack.
"Kweh!"
Mog guided a non-responsive Ifrit, into a nearby tea shop. They took a seat near a back corner, hidden behind some plants of unknown origin but probably poisonous. Once settled, Mog reached over and punched Ifrit hard in the face.
"Where's your brain, kupo?" Mog asked snidely.
"You punched me…." Ifrit said disbelievingly.
"Where's your head, kupo?" Mog asked again.
"Why did you punch me?" Ifrit said, still unable to comprehend.
"Where is that fire of yours, kupo?" Mog mocked.
"What the hell! How dare you punch me! Me, the mighty Ifrit, Lord of fire and ruin!" Ifrit yelled, smoke started to waft off of his back, threatening to light his chair on fire.
Mog sat back satisfied. "Feel better, kupo?"
Ifrit calmed down slowly, grumbling. But he did manage to respond. "Yes… Thank you."
"You're welcome, kupo." Mog replied with a smile.
A noise from the front took Mog's attention, a pair of voices brought his mind to red alert, "Good afternoon, Ms. Peterson. How are you today?" Taylor and Sabah had walked in, the door chiming as they enter and greet the waitress by name.
"Hello girls. I'm doing quite well today, thank you. And how many times must I tell you to call me Sloane?"
"As always, just one more time." Sabah chuckled. "Can we have our usual?"
"Of course." Sloane nodded, before preparing the girls order while they moved to a nearby table. The two espers stayed very still and quiet to avoid attention.
As the girls sipped at their tea, the conversation they were having drifted over to the hidden figures of Ifrit and Mog.
"So Taylor…" Sabah began, smiling gayly. "What do you want for your birthday, besides sixteen candles on the cake?"
Taylor's cheeks colored slightly as she contemplated Sabah's question.
"Um…" Taylor began uncertainly. "I can't really think of anything, Sabah… Except maybe, getting Dad healed and out of the hospital." she finished in a near whisper, before panicking slightly thinking she had insulted Sabah. "Not that I don't like living with you! I love living with you! But he's my dad, and…"
Sabah reached over and squeezed Taylor's hand. "Shhh. I know what you mean. It's okay." They remained silent for a moment, sipping on their tea, before Sabah changed the subject. "Okay, so what was up with Ifrit this morning? He was acting more obnoxious than usual."
A strangled sound came out of Ifrit's mouth, that Mog nearly didn't muffle in time.
"I think he was just asserting a male dominant posturing behavior, trying to intimidate Mog and Boco, while showing off for us poor defenseless females." Taylor said, her voice dripping sarcasm at the end.
"Alas, his poor male ego." Sabah said with a mock swoon and a grin. "So fragile, that you just feel pity for the poor guy, especially in his current condition. Like a kicked puppy."
Whatever else was said was lost as Mog wrestled an infuriated Ifrit back into his seat.
The girls giggled at the antics of their housemates, before Taylor stood up.
"I'll be right back." Taylor said, shooting a smile at Sabah, before heading in the espers direction.
Mog froze in panic.
A now calmer Ifrit quickly dragged Mog underneath the table they were at, just before as Taylor walked by them, heading for the bathroom. Once Taylor was inside and Sabah was once more distracted by the waitress re-filling their drinks. Ifrit and Mog made a break for behind the counter, then into the backroom. Pausing to listen if anyone had spotted them, the two fugitives tip toed towards the alleyway door.
Once, Ifrit and Mog had snuck out the back, they raced as fast as their little feet could, back to the park where they left Boco.
It was an exhausted chocobo that slowed to a stop, almost collapsing, in the same grassy park where he had started early that morning. The red rooster almost groaned in relief as the three girls slid off of his back, he stumbled wearily over to a nearby cops of trees and laid down, quickly falling asleep.
Dinah made her way to the sleeping Boco and gently patted him on his beak. Leaning in, she gave Boco's beak a quick peck. "Today was great! Thanks for keeping us safe Mr. Boco."
Missy came up and scratched Boco's feathered, sleeping head. "Yeah, it was fun, I guess."
"Thanks for the awesome ride." A young black girl exclaimed, patting Boco's beak.
"Where the hell did you come from!" Missy and Dinah screamed.
The girls mouth curled into a cheeky smile. "I was here from the start. See you guys later, ciao." The girl's quick stride quickly took her to the other side of the park and away from the other two bewildered pre-teens. After a minute, Dinah and Missy forgot about the strange girl completely, and made their own way out of the park after a final goodbye to Boco.
Twenty minutes after he had fallen asleep, Boco was rudely awakened by a kick from Ifrit. "Up and at'em birdy. We've got to make it back home before the boss does."
"WARK!" With a mighty kick, Ifrit was sent flying over the skies of Brockton Bay, thankfully in the general direction of Taylor's house.
Mog whistled. "Nice distance, kupo."
"Kweh."
"You're welcome. But we do have to be going, Taylor and Sabah will be home very soon. We'll stop somewhere to wash off that paint and then head to Taylor's house, okay, kupo?"
"Wark."
Ten minutes later….
"It's not washing off! Kupo!" Mog cursed Ifrit, the red waterproof paint resisted his efforts to clean it off with the hose from the car wash. Instead of coming off, leaving Boco's feathers their original yellow, the sharp red color had only faded slightly leaving poor Boco, a distinctly non-chocobo color.
"Wark…" Boco warbled saddly.
Trying to cheer up his friend, Mog comfortingly said, "There, there. At least you look pretty in pink, right?"
"KWEH!"
Ifrit soared through the skies, traveling quite the distance from Boco's unexpected kick. He climbed high enough that he banged off the fuselage of a small flying plane before falling back toward the ground on the outskirts of the city. Ifrit landed on a commuter train as it passed by Brockton Bay on the way to Boston. Ifrit struggled to regain his feet on the fast moving train, but failed as he was blown off by the rushing winds. Luckily he fell into the backseat of an automobile as it passed by heading into the city.
As the vehicle passed close by to the correct neighborhood, Ifrit tumbled out of the car and began running in as fast as his body could towards the house. Knowing he was running out of time, Ifrit cut through the open front door of a nearby house, much to the surprise of its occupants. He ran through the home, tossing insincere apologies behind him, before bursting out into the back yard and over the fence, and into the neighbor's yard.
Running through another back yard, Ifrit came to a halt and back tracked over to two young women, who were sunbathing by a pool. "Hi, I'm Ifrit, esper of fire and ruin, nice to meet you." He said while shaking their hands in greeting.
Out of the corner of his eye, Ifrit spotted Sabah turning her jeep onto the street down the road. "Oops." Ifrit mumbled. "Sorry ladies got to run!"
And Ifrit ran.
Ducking out of another backyard, Ifrit found himself running alongside the jeep that held the people he didn't want to see him. It was a good thing he was so short in this form. As soon as the chance came, Ifrit ducked through another yard and over a wall.
Ifrit made it to the back door of the house a minute at most before Taylor and Sabah, he hoped. Quickly glancing around Ifrit looks for the key to the house he left there under the welcome mat, to get inside. He begins to panic, when he discovers that the house key is gone, he can't get in. As he begins to get frantic, searching the and feeling the ground around himself, a bare blue foot, step's in front of Ifrit's eyes. Tilting his head up slightly in mounting horror, Ifrit's eyes focus on a blue hand holding the house key he was searching for.
A voice that bore the winter's gale, addressed him with cold satisfaction. "Looking for this, big brother?"