Chapter 3: Teaching Some Manners
AN: Chapter 3, here we go! Seems you guys are still enjoying it, so I'm gonna keep it up!
Another good point that was brought up by KamiGleen was about if Tlopfest had 'super strength' and the like. The answer to that is...yes and no. I'll explain it more towards the end of the chapter.
Continuing to wander the academy grounds, Tlopfest eventually reaches one of the plazas, only this time with a whole bunch of tables and chairs being setup. Curious, Tlopfest gets the attention of one of the staff members, noticing that all the females were dressed as maids.
"Excuse me, can you tell me what's going on over here?"
"Eh? Ah, we are setting up an outdoor area to-Founder above!" Turning to see Tlopfest, the maid he got the attention of was startled and dropped the cloth she was carrying. Standing at about 1.6m in height, the maid had short black hair and sky-blue eyes, eyes that were currently wavering in fear upon looking at Tlopfest.
"Ah, sorry, didn't mean to startle you there, uh…"
"Siesta. M-my name is Siesta."
"Siesta. I'm not gonna hurt ya, alright, so calm down. I'm Tlopfest."
After a moment, Siesta gets a hold of herself and takes another look at Tlopfest. "T-tlopfest? Aren't you the familiar that Louise had summoned?"
"Word gets around here fast huh? Yeah, I am, for better or worse" Tlopfest bemoaned. "So, what were you saying before you got startled?"
"Ah, right. We are setting up an outdoor area to accommodate the students and their familiars. Today is the day that those who summoned said familiars get to know them better."
"I see. You guys need some help finishing getting things setup?"
"I-I suppose so. Any help would be appreciated."
With that said, Tlopfest grabs the sheet Siesta had dropped and proceeded to drape it over one of the nearby tables. "Alright then, let's get this show on the road!"
For the next hour or so, Tlopfest helped out the staff in getting everything setup for the students and their familiars. Even though he continued to startle the staff with his appearance, they quickly warmed up to him. Soon after they were done, the students and their familiars began to filter in and take their seats at the tables. One of the staff members wheeled out some food as well for the students to have, from which each of them took to the students. Continuing to help, Tlopfest noticed that some of the students, when they looked at him, either flinched or had faces of disgust.
"Jeez, I'm not that bad looking, am I" Tlopfest asked Siesta as he continued to help out, hunger only somewhat forgotten to him.
"Well, it's not everyday that someone basically sees a living corpse wander about, especially one that can coherently speak" Siesta replied, putting a plate down in front of a particular blonde.
"Can't argue that. Probably doesn't help that I'm practically the only one of my kind to even get this far intelligence-wise."
After having helped Siesta give out the food (and sneaking one off for himself to eat), Tlopfest bid farewell to her for the time being in search of Louise, seeing as she was not at any of the tables he helped set up for whatever reason. On his way back to the main building however, Tlopfest noticed a young girl with a brown cape looking around.
"Are you looking for something?"
"Ah! Oh, uh, yeah. Have you seen a student named Guiche? I was supposed to meet him out here.."
Looking closer at the girl, Tlopfest remembered her talking with a blonde kid last night. "Blonde hair, male, kinda snooty?"
"W-well, I wouldn't go that far, but yes, that's him."
"He's over at the table there" Tlopfest pointed towards the table where he last saw the blonde kid.
"T-thank you for the help" the girl stammered off before rushing over to the kid, who Tlopfest just now noticed was talking to another blonde, though this time with longer and curlier hair. Not really caring though about what was going on, Tlopfest continued on his way. Yet he only took a couple more steps before heard a commotion coming from the seating area. Turning around, Tlopfest caught a glimpse of the two girls slapping Guiche and the other students laughing at him. Curious, Tlopfest walked back to get more information.
"So...what just happened?"
"It seems that Guiche was two-timing those girls! Isn't that hilarious?'' a random student replied to Tlopfest.
"I..I see. Yeesh. Then again, that's what you get for being unfaithful I suppose."
Guiche angrily looked around at his classmates, before settling his eyes on Tlopfest. "You! Familiar! Do you realize what you have done!?"
"I suppose I just revealed to those two, and by consequence your entire class, that you were two-timing." Tlopfest shrugged his shoulders. "I don't see the reason why you should be yelling at me – it was your fault to begin with."
Guiche continued to glare at Tlopfest. "It appears that you need a lesson in the mannerisms you should be showing to nobles. I hereby challenge you to a duel!"
"Seriously? Are you that pained by your pride to challenge me to a duel?" The other students chuckled a little at this, but Tlop could see that Guiche was serious about this. "Sigh Very well, not like I've got much else to do anyways. Where and when?"
"Vestry Field. Within the hour. I shall await you there." With that, Guiche flicked his cape around and stalked off in the direction the duel would take place.
"Good grief, is everyone here gonna be this nutty?" Tlopfest muttered under his breath. "Oi, where is this Vestry Field anyways?"
"It's over there," one of the students pointed out. Tlopfest noticed a distinct lack of windows, so little to no observation would be possible from the tower itself.
"Thanks." Tlopfest started to head over, eating one of the pieces of cake along the way to at least satisfy his hunger for the time being.
"Oh, this is bad," Siesta mumbled. "I better find Miss Valiere and get her help."
Walking over, Tlopfest was somewhat unsure about accepting this duel. "I mean, they have magic on their side. I don't really have anything except…" Checking his inventory again through his goggle's UI, Tlopfest took note of his loadout. "Well, at least I have my pan and pick still. Kinda hope it won't come to me having to clobber him. He may be asking for it, but still, he's just a kid for Nether's sake! Did I happen to have anything-oh! My cloudstepper ring! I forgot I had that on. Well, at the very least, maybe some double-jumping can come in handy for this mess."
Reaching the field, Tlopfest could also see a number of students having made their way or making their way towards it as well. "I suppose we're gonna have an audience for this as well huh?" Stepping to the center of the circle, Tlopfest was greeted haughtily by Guiche.
"I see that you did not cower away! Good, at least now I can publicly humiliate you without having to hunt you down later."
"You really wanted to have this duel huh?" Right as Tlopfest said that though, a certain pinkette barreled through the crowd calling his name.
"Tlopfest! What in Founder's name are you doing?!"
"Oh, hey Louise. Just answering the summons for a duel with your classmate."
"Why did you have to anger him! Guiche! Call off this duel, now! You know it's against the rules-"
"Only between nobles Zero. And your so-called familiar is no noble, that is for certain. But, I will call off this duel, only if your Familiar kneels down and licks my boots clean."
Throwing up a bit in his mouth, Tlopfest quickly answered. "Uh, no, I'd rather fight than do that, thank you very much."
"Tlopfest, don't do this! Guiche will kill you!"
"Sorry Louise, but I'd really rather not have to lick those boots of his. Shivers Besides, I'm not gonna go down without a fight."
"You heard your familiar Zero! Now leave the battlefield so the duel can commence!"
Seeing Tlopfest not back down, Louise backed off, keeping her calm, at least on the outside. Inside, she was worried sick. "Oh Founder, please let this turn out alright.."
Guiche took out his rose and flicked it in front of him, causing a petal to float down to the ground. "My name is the Bronze Guiche. Therefore, a bronze Valkyrie will be your opponent." As he said that, a light flashed from the ground, and from that spot rose a Valkyrie made of bronze, just as Guiche announced.
"...Oh, good, you're just sending out a minion. I was really worried we would be exchanging blows there for a moment."
Irked at that statement, Guiche quickly commanded the Valkyrie to attack Tlopfest. Using its' spear, the Valkyrie attempted to skewer Tlopfest, only for him to step out of harm's way. A downward strike resulted in the same thing. Each attempt at stabbing, bashing, or just swiping at Tlopfest just caused him to sidestep and maneuver around each attack. Yet evasion was not the only thing Tlopfest was doing – his goggles were acquiring the basic stats of the opponent in front of Tlopfest.
"Ok, 25 health, iron level armor, and a spear that looks like it can do some decent damage. Yet it's only slightly faster than that of a normal zombie. This should be a piece of cake." After analyzing the data, Tlopfest reached behind him and quickly pulled out his favorite pan, smacking the Valkyrie on the side with a bang and causing it to take 15 damage and stumble some. "Not bad, not bad at all."
"Did he just use a frying pan on that?" "You're kidding me right? He's gonna try to take down a Valkyrie with a pan?" The students had a mix of curiosity and amusement at the predicament Tlopfest had found himself in. Louise herself was among them, having turned to look at the fight and seeing what Tlopfest was doing.
"Oi, don't diss the pan" he said to the crowd. Though as he was defending his beloved weapon of choice, the Valkyrie was able to get a good hit on Tlopfest, throwing him to the side and causing 4 hearts of damage. "Yow! Ok, yup, I was right, that's a pretty powerful spear." Wincing, Tlopfest quickly stepped out of reach of another attack before it could get him any lower. As he did though, Tlopfest brought down his pan onto the head of the Valkyrie, dropping it to zero health and causing it to dissipate. "And with that, I suppose that I win."
Aghast that his Valkyrie lost to a familiar, even worse to one that is equipped with nothing but a frying pan of all things, Guiche quickly flicked his rose again, summoning five more Valkyries to deal with Tlopfest. "It's not over yet you stupid familiar!"
Turning to see the other Valkyries coming towards him, Tlopfest quickly jumped, then double-jumped over them, getting between the Valkyries and Guiche. "Seriously dude? You're that prideful? Good grief…"
"Seriously though, how am I gonna deal with these? Sure one was a cake walk, but five? And all grouped together?" His thoughts were interrupted however when one of the Valkyries came at him with their spear. "Gotta buy some time to come up with a strategy." By buying time, Tlop meant that he would just start jumping all over the place and making him an even harder target to hit. "Guess Nic was right when he said 'You can't beat what you can't hit.' Then again, he just always ran and hardly hit during our battles…" Continuing to jump around, Tlopfest noticed that a couple of Valkyries managed to stab one another through the chest, causing both to dissipate. "Interesting. Seems that there is a weak spot that can one-shot them." Switching to his pickaxe, Tlopfest quickly struck the other three Valkyries in the chest, causing each to dissipate. Though in the process Tlopfest got nicked again for 2 more hearts. "Man, I have got to be careful with these things before I get KO'd again."
As he was musing having beaten the other Valkyries, Guiche was just standing there stupidly. "W-what? How could you have defeated them?! You're just a familiar, and a really weak one at that!"
"Who said I was weak?" Tlopfest put away both pan and pick back to his inventory, putting his goggles back onto his forehead in the process. He started walking over to Guiche, who stumbled back onto his rear in a panic.
"I-I yield! You win, familiar!"
"Sigh Good. Glad to see that there's no point in continuing this mess. Do yourself a favor, and think before you act next time. Looks can be deceiving." With that said, Tlopfest reached down and offered his hand to Guiche to take. "So, we good now?"
Surprised by his acting, Guiche slowly took Tlopfest's hand and stood up. "Y-yes, I believe we are."
Smiling, Tlopfest nodded his head. "In that case, GG man. Perhaps we can try another duel later and see what happens."
Guiche just looked confused at what Tlopfest said. "G...G? What in Founders name is that supposed to mean?"
"It means 'Good Game.' It's a sign of good sportsmanship between combatants where I'm from."
The entire crowd just stood in awe as to what transpired between the two combatants. Never before had they seen a familiar, especially one like Tlopfest, take down one of their own. On top of that, he was able to make up with said noble and….offered another duel?! Louise herself was rather surprised at the result. "That's...my familiar? I'm gonna need to talk to him about this later."
AN: Well, there ya go guys, the fight with Guiche!
Now then, about the question:
Tlopfest, similar to any other player in Minecraft, has access to his inventory, and he does have the ability to punch trees and the like without injury. He prefers using a tool, but, again, he does have that ability. However, those same physics don't exactly apply to other universes. So while he can punch wood and collect it just fine in Minecraftia, other universes don't allow him to do that. Same kind of thing with his inventory - while there, only Minecraftian items can be put in/taken out. Anything else from a different universe has to be carried either in his hands or some other form of storage.
If you notice any errors, whether they be story inconsistencies, characters not acting how they should, or just general feedback, please leave a review or PM me about it! Can't really get better if I don't know the mistakes, right?