"To Duel A Charlie"
...be prepared for casual conversation.
Chapter 2 of 3 update
Words: 2,406(2.5K)
Charlie awoke with a grumpy snort, sitting up in his golden dorm bed. The chatting of two voices had awoken him from a pleasant dream of mooshrooms, and he was almost certain that Minty was involved, seeing as she wasn't in her bed, and the walls of the dorms were soundproof for the most part. He rubbed one of this eyes, finding that the balcony door was open, and moonlight was filtering in. He grumbled something about night being for sleeping, not playing, and stumbled his way to the balcony door. As he did, he grumbled, "Minty, quit making such a racket! The walls may be sound proof, but you left the balcony door open...again."
He paused in the doorway, cocking his head slightly at the sight of a dark figure with menacing tentacles facing away. The figure looked over their shoulder nonchalantly, not thinking much of Charlie.
"Minty...?" Charlie asked, sleep deprivation sill grasping his mind.
"Charlie, nya~! Help, nya~!" Minty's terrified voice came from below, but Charlie couldn't find her...then, he noticed a single pale hand holding onto the edge of the balcony.
"You're not Minty...who are you?!" Charlie asked, reaching for his sword. When he found none, he looked down, realizing his sword wasn't at his side, and he wasn't in his armor...
The figure clicked their tongue, "Tsk, tsk, silly boy." Two of the figure's tentacles launched towards Charlie, the first going for his head. Charlie lifted his arms to defend his skull, when the second one hit him full force in the stomach. As a result, Charlie was launched back into the dorm, the carpet barely breaking his fall. He coughed roughly, rolling over onto all fours, and lifting his head. The figure was now facing towards Charlie, their hood lifted just enough to show a creepy smile.
"Toodles, knight." the figure darted to the left, vaulting the rail and climbing the wall with their tentacles.
Charlie was about to say something, but stopped, hacking again. Slowly, he dragged himself to his feet, grimacing. He stumbled forward, forcing himself to stay upwards, and finally got to the balcony.
"M-Minty?" He called out.
"Nya~! Down here, nya~!" Minty's voice called, and the pale hand on the edge twitched. Charlie made his way to the hand, and leaned over the rail to see Minty staring up at him.
"...Oh." Charlie got on one knee and extended his hand, his other wrapped around his bruised stomach. Minty grabbed his hand with her free one, and after much effort on Charlie's part, she was hauled onto the balcony.
"Chaarrrlieee, nya~! What took you so FRIGGEN LONG?! ...nya~." Minty complained, investigating Charlie's bruised stomach.
"You're heavy and- AGH!" Minty smacked Charlie upside the head, turning away and crossing her arms.
"NYA~! NEVER INSULT A LADY, CHARLIE! N-YA~!"
Up on the roof, the figure contemplated their next move. They had no enderpearls, nor a way to get down the building without being seen. The only way to escape was to get into the air...
Yes, the air...the air! The gears in the figure's head began to turn as they made a plan. A few minutes passed as the figure tested the different potion effects they had, trying to remember which ones they already had, and which ones they had yet to ingest via potion. The figure had one last effect to test, when the roof doors slammed open, and Charlie burst through, holding a golden sword, the blade glowing purple.
"Come back for more? Didn't you learn your lesson the first time?" The figure said, amused.
"Pssh, nothing can stop me! ...Even if it hurts. Ouch." Charlie responded, taking up a fighting stance.
"Hmph. Suit yourself, knight." The figure sighed, and turned to face Charlie.
Immediately, the figure's tentacles shot forward, flying at Charlie. However, without sleep deprivation clawing at his mind, Charlie was able to block the attacks, and he was quick about it, too. On the collision of sword and tentacles, a flurry of sparks came, the fire aspect enchantment on Charlie's sword trying to take affect on the figure's slimy tentacles. Then finally, one of the tentacles slipped through Charlie's defense, and lashed his right arm. However, Charlie only grit his teeth and kept fighting. The figure was slightly surprised by this, but realized that the wound was closing, and that barely visible swirls of red were emanating off of Charlie's skin.
Clever, thought the figure, but a potion used to heal your stomach wouldn't have lasted this long.
After a few more tense moments of fighting, things clicked in the figure's mind, and they said, "Oh, I get it! The fox is invisible. They're feeding you potions, aren't they? That'd explain your speed."
Charlie chuckled, ducking under the barrage of tentacles that didn't seem to end. "You're right...almost. Minty is in fact invisible, and she has been splashing me with potions. However, she never gave me a speed potion."
Charlie closed the distance between him and the figure with a well-timed roll, standing up. "I'm just better than you."
With a sword at their neck, the figure stood shock still. Behind them, they heard the slurp of milk being drunken, and realized that Minty now stood behind them.
The figure shook their head playfully, "How clever. You managed to out-think me, and trap me. What ever shall I do?"
"Oh, hush, you, squid-hybrid-thingy. Now that you're caught, TELL US YOUR SECRETS!" Charlie yelled, pointing his other hand at the figure.
"Yeah, nya~! TELL US YOUR SECRETS, NYA~!" Minty repeated, doing the same.
The figure chuckled darkly, "You'll have to do more than that to catch me."
Moments later, Charlie and the figure were dueling again, while Minty lay on the side, unconscious.
"You won't get away with this!" Charlie declared, jabbing on the figure's right. The figure dodged, and followed with a slash to the left.
"Oh, really? That's what your friend said. Funny, they're unconscious now..." the figure replied, easily fending on Charlie's attacks. Sword play wasn't their thing, but Charlie had backed off, seeing as that he didn't have backup now.
"At least Minty doesn't rely on cheap tricks to fight!" Charlie responded, still attacking.
"Cheap tricks? Excuse me, what do you call those potion effects?"
"A strategy. Duh."
"Some strategy. What were you saying just a moment ago? That 'you were better than me'?"
"It's true. Plus, I'm probably better looking than you."
"What makes you say that? You don't even have a mouth!"
"Who wants a mouth when you could instead not have a mouth?"
"...Your logic confuses me, knight."
"You squids seem to not have logic at all."
"Thank you."
The battle continued, with neither side gaining the upper hand. The figure had long exhausted their abilities, and Charlie had to be careful if he didn't want to end up headless. But, the skirmish would soon come to and end, as even though Charlie had slowed down, and was clearly tiring out, the figure was struggling. They had underestimated Charlie, and now had to pay close attention to his movements. Their reflexes weren't enough; they had to read Charlie's movements, and be ready for his next slash. At this point, one mistake could end everything, even if Charlie hadn't meant to harm the figure.
Jab, jab, dodge, slash, parry, dodge, jab, slash, slash, slash, dodge, dodge, parry, parry, slash... The endless commands went off in the figure's head, the order completely random. This wasn't working.
The figure paused their attacks, fending off the other blade. Charlie noticed this and paused, as well. While he stood there, panting softly, the figure kept quiet, trying to not let it be known that they were at their limit. Squid hybrids weren't supposed to have limits. No, Squid hybrids didn't have limits. She did not have limits.
"I...admire...your skill, knight," the figure began, breathing hard, "But it isn't enough. You can't beat me. Give up." Please, just give up already. These memories will kill me before you do.
And it was true. The darkness of the night reminded the figure of being in a cave, and their alter ego had been in this position before. A vague memory was being called upon...
In the memory, the figure stood in the darkness of a dimly lit cave. In front of them stood a boy with the same physical features as Charlie, except different clothes. Just like the Charlie in front of the figure, this Charlie was panting heavily, and the figure could tell the owner of this memory was confused as to why they had no mouth. Above his head, Ckbrothers floated.
"Who are you?" The memory's owner asked.
"Charlie. But you can call me Ck if you want." Memory-Charlie replied.
Back in reality, the figure watched Charlie carefully, afraid what his next move might be. Memory-Charlie looked so kind, I wonder if he-? No, no, shut up, me. The figure growled under their breath, and mentally waved away the memory.
"Thank you!" Charlie managed to say cheerfully, even though he was still breathing heavily, "But I won't give up."
Hm...I must've tired him out more than I originally thought. Seems I'm not the only one who's using a facade.
"Talk big if you wish, I have no use for battling weak opponents." The figure claimed slyly, sheathing their navy blue sword.
"Weak opponent? You're breathing hard, bud."
The figure was about to deny Charlie's claim, but stopped, glancing down at their chest as they realized their heart was hammering away inside their rib cage. They also noticed that parts of their cloak were torn cleanly, as if cut with a type of blade...
Charlie had come a hair's width close to slicing the figure.
"Oh, shit..." the figure gasped quietly, glancing up quickly as if Charlie might spring on them. He didn't, he was just watching the figure in amusement. "Ugh, what're you smiling at, punk?!"
Charlie chuckled, "Just you."
The figure blinked, "...Excuse me?!"
"You're acting kinda like someone I used to know." Charlie explained, sheathing his own sword, "Of course, they ended up getting infected with the squid virus, and I haven't seen them in months, buuut hey, what do you expect from fighting in Sky Army?"
"...Definitely not that."
"Really? What army have you been in?"
"...Are you serious?"
"Yes. As serious as a knight without armor on whose friend is unconscious and they're probably delusional from lack of sleep can be."
"When you say it, it sounds stupid."
"It is. It's stupid AWESOME!"
"Calm yourself, child."
"I REFUSE, MOM."
"What's going on, nya~?"
Both Charlie and the figure looked over at Minty, who had just woken up. She yawned, stretching her back after lying on diorite for so long. Blinking tiredly, Minty gestured to the figure, "Who's that, nya~?" Apparently, the figure hit Minty in the head hard enough to give her momentary amnesia.
Charlie looked between Minty and the figure, contemplating what to do. Finally, he said, "No one. You're hallucinating, Minty. Come on, let's get back to bed."
Charlie walked over to Minty, picking up her discarded sword, and handed it to her. Then, he picked Minty up, and carried her toward the roof door, opening it with much struggle. A moment later, the door swooshed shut, and a small click! was heard. The two were gone.
For a moment, the figure didn't know what to do. After a minute of staring at the door, the figure shrugged off Charlie's actions, and walked to the edge of the roof, vaulting over it and using their tentacles to carry them down.
Upon reaching the ground, the figure cast one final glance at Charlie and Minty's dorm balcony, watching as the door was slid shut. "How...kind...of you." the figure whispered, before turning and letting invisibility wash over them.
Fun fact: This chapter is probably my favorite in this update. What do you all think?