Chapter Four (A Quest?)
"Come and get me if you can, guys!." said Jason, when outrunning the so-called elite knights of Duloc with a big grin on his face.
The four Knights were chasing Jason as fast as their heavy armor could allow them. Luckily, Jason turned around and stopped running and allowed the knights to both catch-up and make the next move. Even though the Knights had no clue that this was all a setup. The four Knights surrounded Jason and one of them approached the teen with a sword in hand, giving Jason enough time to look behind him to see the long wooden table and back at the Knight.
"I got you now, Moor." spoke the Knight, approaching closer to Jason.
"Well, actually it's the complete opposite," said Jason, with a sly grin.
After saying that, Jason pulled the Knight by the arm and lifted him on his shoulders, and then fall right back onto the table with the Knight crashing threw. Thus, both snapped the table in half and left the Knight unconscious.
"That is called a 'Samoan Drop!'." said, Jason, before quickly reacting when another Knight tried to sneak up and grab him and immediately jumped up and RKO the Knight. "And that was out of nowhere!!!!."
The two other Knights decided to just charge at him, which Jason just charged right at them and clothesline the two with ease!. Next, he ran in joining his Dad and Donkey inside the so-called ring, and just had a field day with the remaining knights. The audiences were both cheering and appalling Jason, Shrek, and Donkey without being forced to do so. The people of Duloc have never been so free and entertained in years must less have happiness. They just could not resist cheering for the three who are fighting against Farquaad's elite knights and against his dictatorship authority.
As for the ones who are visiting Duloc as their field ship it was going to be a fun treat from the day they arrived at the place. Especially for a certain Irish teenage girl who had all eyes on Jason. Speaking of Jason, he was currently putting a knight in a sharpshooter submission hold while his Dad was doing another submission hold by the ankles. Donkey had a few hits in with headbutting one of the knights that Shrek brought over to him to knockout. Farquaad was not liking on what he is seeing let alone hear the crowd encourage the three unwanted intruders. He watched his top knights be reduced to child's play as the trio was doing great work at doing so.
"Are you guys entertained?." asked Jason, after F-5ing a none helmet knight in the middle of the ring.
The crowd went nuts in loving every last bit of it and made both Jason and Shrek enjoy every second of it. Shrek took the moment to savor the hyped cheers as this was the first time ever that people did something that did not include both running away from him and screaming their heads off. No, Shrek was receiving something way different than he was already used to his whole life and wished that it would never end.
"Heads up!." said Shrek, jumping off from the top rope and slamming down on a standing knight who just recovered from a Donkey's signature leg kicking.
"Oh, you can't see me!." said Jason, bending down and waving his right hand back and forth in front of a laid down knight and performed on what he calls the five-knuckle-shuffle.
Shrek outdid his son by performing a soon-to-be-famous tombstone pile driver move right after slamming a chair on one of the knight's backs, all thanks to one of the audience liked requests and started banging the chair against the downed knight until it broke apart. From one thing that lead to another, both Shrek and Jason were laying down the smackdown inside the ring until there weren't any Knights left standing or conscious. It all resulted in the three getting out of the ring and savoring the sweet cheers and applause from everyone. Of course, Shrek, Jason, and Donkey did a few heroic poses to feed their overconfidence, especially for Jason who was flexing his muscles toward the Irish girl while looking dead at her with a cocky grin.
Rachel could not help but stand up like the rest and clapped her hands and grin wide at seeing Jason flex just for her and only her. She holds on to Jason's bookbag tightly and can not help to feel her heart beating like the wild none stop drums of her home country, and just wanted to do more than just staring at Jason's ripped muscles. Jason could easily see the female Irish teen lick her lips and smile at him with great none stop interest. Shrek spotted the gaze between his son and the unknown girl and got both concerned and suspicious. Before he could say anything he and everyone else heard loaded crossbows that were now being pointed at him, Jason and Donkey.
This caused everyone to gasp in fear as to what Farquaad is going to do the three. Farquaad looked down at the three with an unsatisfied facial expression. He wanted to put an end to Shrek, Jason, and Donkey right there and then without having any second thoughts none whatsoever. But little did he know that someone has a second opinion on that subject. Rachel looked on in fear for Jason, his father, and his pet donkey while Artie could do anything himself. However, Rachel had thought up a perfect way to save the boy that catch her heart and smirked in a none wicked kind of way.
Without anyone noticing anything odd or not out of the ordinary, Rachel wiggled her cute nose and magically influenced Farquaad's mind. Farquaad had his eyes open a little bit wide with an unexplained sudden idea that had come to him. An idea that was going to save him the loss of losing any of his elite knights in the process of his official decision.
"You want me to give out the orders my lord?." asked the head knight who was beside Farquaad.
Farquaad raised a hand to stop him. "No need." He sly smiled when looking at the trio once more. "I have a better idea."
"People and visitors of Duloc!." Farquaad called out to get everyone's attention with his arms out. "I present to you our new champions of Duloc!."
Everyone clapped and cheered right after hearing this while being relieved that those three won't die today. However, Shrek, Jason, and Donkey were confused as to what just happened. First, they were almost about to be killed by multiple arrows and now they were announced as Duloc's champions.
"Say, what?." Shrek raised his brow in confusion.
"Man, what were the chances of this happening to us?." asked Donkey, while looking around.
"From zero to negative one," answered Jason.
"Congratulations to the three of you on winning this tournament. As of now you three have the worthy honor and privilege to go on this legendary quest that will put you in the history books if succeeded, without any question none whatever," informed Farquaad, with a patient look on his face and a fake humble smile.
"A quest?." Shrek frowned on the idea of another quest. That was not the whole point of the first quest to get here to Duloc, just so they can do another quest given to them by someone who wanted them dead. Much less throw his own son into a life of enslavement. "We were already on a quest to get here to come to see you and demand to get our swamp back?."
Farquaad raised his brow after hearing this and wanted to make sure that he was not having trouble hearing. "Our swamp?."
"Hey, my Dad did not stutter." came a mad Jason, while trying his best to ignore the multiple whispers around them.
Farquaad was now leaning his head on the left side with confusion on his face. Yeah, he heard the teen moor say Dad, but he did not expect it to be an ogre of all things. "Your Dad?. You're adopted by an ogre?. How did that even happen in the first place?."
"Hey, that does not concern you!." spoke Shrek with a little bit of anger. "What does concern you is to give back that belongs to us, which is the swamp. The same swamp that you carelessly dumped those fairytale creatures in."
Rachel eyed Farquaad and saw he had a look of having second thoughts on his encouraged decided plan. But once again, she wiggled her nose and magically encourage Farquaad to have an idea deal that will benefit both parties.
"Indeed," Farquaad said to himself in agreement and smiled at the well-thought idea before looking back at the three. "Very, Ogre, I can manage to strike a reasonable deal with you, your adopted son, and pet. If you gladly accept and somehow successfully succeed in accomplishing this difficult quest, I'll gladly return your precious swamp to you. Heck, I even throw in an official signed deed for you to show proof that the property solely belongs to you."
"No catch or tricks?." questioned Jason with an eyebrow raised.
Farquaad shook his head. "No catch or tricks."
"Exactly the way it was?." questioned Shrek.
"Down to the last slime-covered toadstool," responded Farquaad.
Donkey tilted his head to the side with an eyebrow raised. "And what about the squatters?."
"As good as gone. You three have my word." finished Farquaad, as he waited patiently for the answer he is looking for from the three.
Shrek and Jason took the time to look around at the guards that have their crossbows still pointed at them, while all of the knights were looking at each other with wonder about what is going to be the answer as well. Of course, Shrek did not want to do another quest, to begin with, but he wanted his swamp to be fairytale creature free and whatnot. Now, as for Jason, he was interested in this particular quest as it sounded like he was going to get the opportunity to actually see the dragon's keep, and get to meet and get to know the unknown name and full backstory of the princess. Oh, there were so many questions that Jason was just dying to know.
"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, Dad," spoke Jason, eager for his dad to accept the quest.
With no other choice, Shrek gave in and doesn't see any way around this when looked back at Farquaad with a brow raise. "Do you have a map to reach the desired quest location?."
After this was settled, agreed, and done with, both Rachel and Artie along with their classmates were heading back to the school's ship after a good four-hour horse ride carriage back to the harbor. A lot of things were on the two's minds concerning their new friend and the dared quest that no one ever lives to tell the tale, let alone wondering if they were ever going to Jason again. Especially for Rachel who can not stop thinking about Jason. Artie noticed that in a heartbeat and wish that his school crush Gwen was having that same wild lovey-dovey feelings just like his second only best friend.
"That was really thoughtful and clever thinking of using your magic powers on Farquaad, Rachel." Artie looked at his best friend who was looking out the window of the school ship.
Rachel turned her attention to her best friend and said, "What can I do?. He or his father and pet donkey did not deserve the harsh treatment that Farquaad was about to give them. That and I felt a strong click between myself and Jason. My heart was speaking for me today, Artie. And I feel that we will see Jason again soon. I can feel it in my bones and whatnot."
"Aye. I got you." Artie nodded before leaning back in his seat. "Man, I wish Gwen was my girlfriend."
This caused Rachel to look at Artie and rolled her eyes. "You should really consider letting her go, Artie. She is not worth going after much less she will never going to return the same love for you. For her, you need to buy that bigot's love."
Artie smiled. "And I will most certainly do my best to make Gwen mine with that approach, Rachel."
Rachel crossed her legs before messing with her hair. "Good luck with that one, Artie. Because I think the only thing that will convince that popular jerk to be your woman, is if you were the new king of Far-Far-Away. But what are the odds of that happening?."
"Real slim, I'm afraid." Artie took the moment to enjoy the flow of the ocean water moving the ship before a thought came to his mind. "For your sake, Rachel, you better hope that no girl would try to put their hands on Jason and make him her's."
Rachel frowned on what Artie just said and was not wrong about that either. The thought of another girl putting her meathooks on the boy she just both met and instantly fallen in love with, just put the possible thoughts in her mind but managed to respond back to this.
"If it did happen Artie then that girl just made a death wish upon herself. Literally. You see Artie, Jason is my main true personal value. He is my gold. His the one thing that I can not live without. Sure, I just literally met him and now I'm claiming him as mine and threatening or executing any girl, who dares try to take him away from me. But this trait of mine is not my fault. This gene trait came from my father." explained Rachel, trying not to scare Artie in any way.
Artie slowly nodded in response to hearing this. Yeah, Rachel is the nicest person to ever met and loves to help anyone who asked, but when it all comes down to personal things or items such as himself being bullied by everyone in the whole school, Rachel will show another side of her that is scary. Scary enough to give you endless nightmares and such.
Rachel relaxed and smiled at her best friend and patted him on the shoulder. "Before we end this whole subject about having lovers and such, I want to tell you what my father has always told me when I was a little girl when every time he counts our gold. 'Ah! Try as they will, and try as they might, those who steal your gold or personal belongings won't live through the night.' And he wanted me to take it to heart. And speaking of gold."
Rachel magically summoned a small bag with a twirl of her right index finger with no one watching and started opening the bag to see her gold. Artie watched his best friend grin greedily in a good way surprisingly and watched her count her gold coins. She picked up one of them and examine it real well before looking back at Artie.
"Another saying from my Dad. 'No one steals a Leprechaun's gold. Much less steal gold from a half-human and half-leprechaun hybrid.'" said, Rachel, before cackling beautifully.
Meanwhile, Shrek and Donkey were sitting outside of the small travel shop where Jason is currently inside buying much-needed supplies for the trip since it is going to be something. Once done shopping and finished paying the man for the goods, Jason exited out of the store with his bookbag full of junk and then took a seat at the picnic table and joined his Dad and pet donkey.
"Well, after studying the map that shorty Farquaad has kindly given us, we have two options of traveling to reach Drogen's Keep," said Jason, pulling out the map to show the two.
Shrek looked at the map and said, "Which are?."
"Well, for the first direction of reaching the castle we have to travel through blistering cold including snow and scorching desert which will take us about two whole months, depending on where you at. For example, if you live in Far-Far-Away and you're going to reach the Dragon's Keep then it will take you two whole months. But really, people only travel through all that ridiculous obstacles just so they have a story to tell and gain both respect and recognition.", said Jason.
Shrek just shook his head in disappointment and pity the fool who would be stupid enough to even go that route just to gain a wonderful story to tell. As for Donkey, he understood what Jason mean by that and he too did not want to travel in the cold snow and hot desert. He won't survive a single second if they dared to walk that route.
"And um, what is the second option?." asked Donkey.
"Well, Donkey the second option is what I call a smart option. The second option is a shortcut to the Dragon's Keep that will just take literally two whole days to reach. And I vote for this option." said Jason, while putting the map up and placing it back into his bookbag.
"Agree. I am most certainly not traveling for an entire two whole months to reach a guarded castle and save a snobby princess," said Shrek, letting his son guide them to where they needed to travel which was through a massive farm filled with a variety of crops.
"Well, we do not know if she is snobby or not, Dad. Heck, we did not know that this princess has a name. That book that you always read to me has never mentioned her name or personal backstory must less tell us what type of monarchy mother and father she has. And for the record, I'm starting to think that this Princess Fiona may look entirely different from what the author had illustrated in the book." said Jason, before pulling an ear of corn off a stem and began eating it.
"Oh, so you are now finally accepting the reality that all those stories of the fairytale creatures were nothing but a load of horse crap," said Shrek, who was helping himself to gather some food to eat.
"At least a pile of horse crap is honest, unlike those dishonest authors who just write lies to make a profit. For shame," said Jason, with his mouthful of corn.
"And speaking of crap, um guys can we stop for a minute?. Because I really got to go," said Donkey, holding his front legs tight.
Jason pulled out a newspaper from his bookbag and lay it down flat for Donkey to use as a bathroom. "Now, we don't want the owners of this farm to work harder in removing animal leavings in their fields."
Right after Jason had sat the newspaper down on the ground, Donkey immediately rolled the newspaper back up and said, "Thanks for the newspaper, Jason. I need something to read when I go use the farmer's nearby outhouse. I'll be back!."
Donkey picked up the newspaper in his mouth and ran towards an outhouse that is standing underneath a tree. Jason and Shrek looked at each other and can not believe that Donkey knows what and how to use an actual bathroom. And here Shrek had thought that Donkey was more of an annoying and irritating none stop talking machine with zero intelligence. But today he was wrong.
"Well, at least we know he is a housebroken donkey," commented Jason, when crossing his arm.
Shrek nodded in defeat and said, "Yep, he sure is. Surprisingly."
(A/N): Another successful update. I enjoined writing this chapter for this story, especially throwing some hints about Rachel Lucky and her father. Until next time you guys. Excelsior!.
