Author's Note
Whoa there! Before you dive headfirst into the theme song, let's set some ground rules. Any text in bold is spoken by the narrator—unless it's surrounded by quotation marks, then it's dialogue from a character. Anytime the bold text introduces a Magisword, picture a short sequence where the wielder (most often the Warriors for Hire) leaps into the air, and the Magisword grows in their hands before they land, and swipe the sword forwards in a battle stance, while their expression matches the moment. Got it? Good! Now, SOMEBODY START THE MUSIC!
--
~Warriors for Hire are here. (Mighty Magiswords!)~
~It's their name and career. (Mighty Magiswords!)~
~For sleuthing siblings who quest. (Mighty Magiswords!)~
~Which is what they do best. (Mighty Magiswords!)~
~They have special tools, for which they're fools.~
~These guys lose their mind when they collect to find.~
~THE MIIIIIIIGGGHHTTTTTY MMAAAAAAGGIIIIII-swords.~
Mighty Magiswords!
We turn our attention to a huge building covered in a curtain, with crowds of people from across Rhyboflaven, and beyond surrounding it, anxious to see what is about to open...
At a completely different location. Grand opening!
A big, tall man with a comically sized brown mustache, dotted eyes, a brown apron, and black gloves walks on stage and holds up a microphone to make his friendly little announcement:
"Heya there, folks! My name is Joe, and I'm here to tell y'all that my new establishment for warriors and non-warriors alike is about to open up! It's a place where y'all can sharpen your skills, find the next big job, and have the most freshest root beer on this side of Lyvsheria!" Joe winks holding up a beer mug made of wood as he gave a thumbs up to the round of applause he was given.
"And now, here to cut the red ribbon is our kingdom's very own: Princess Zange!" The friendly bartender announced it with a pep in his step and a smile on his face.
Walking on stage was the princess of Rhyboflaven, a lady with orange hair, a purple shirt, and an irremovable tiara on her head. Zange got the microphone from Joe as he happily watched her make the next announcement:
"Like, being here is such a treat. Honestly, I can name at least a few other places that needed my royal touch first, but this place? It's a start to a whole new generation of warrioring, one where the community can all come together and be warriors that aren't just competent, but useful." Princess Zange begins.
"Now, I'm sure you are all excited for me to open this place up, seeing as though the Warrior name is becoming more popular by the minute. Seriously, it's trending right now, like you would not believe." The teenage-acting princess rolls her eyes a bit.
"But as you all know, I wouldn't even be here without these two guys right here: Prohyas and Vambre, the Warriors for Hire, and my go-to warriors for any sort of job." Zange presents two warriors, both of whom are more than happy to be here.
Prohyas is the one with a cute smile, red clothes, orange scarf, black eyes, and periwinkle hair. He waves with a bright and cheerful smile and seems to like the people knowing who he is.
Vambre is the one with a more determined posture, a black and yellow cape, purple hair, red eyes, blue clothes, and no pants sleeves. She waves a bit more calmly and reservedly, doing her best to keep herself from getting excited about this tremendous honor.
"Through thick and thin these guys went through crazy lengths to please me like curing me of a sickness I had, spicing up the royal gala I had once, and even gone through the trouble of fixing my hair after they ruined it during their little "advertising campaign" Which is why I'm giving them my esteemed honor to cut the ribbon since I threw away the giant scissors we had for damaging my doo."
Zangie nods at the two warriors on-stage as Prohyas bounces up and down ready to start this morning off with a bang! Vambre just kept waving looking at her overly excited brother.
"Oh man! I can't believe Princess Zange is letting us open up Joe's Warrior Lounge! This is such an honor!" Prohyas excitedly giggles like a child.
"Don't get too excited now; we have some business to attend to, dear brother. Now if the coin flip from backstage served us correctly, I'm the one who has to cut the ribbon." Vambre claims with a rather smug smile, much to Prohyas' disappointment.
"Aw man, I would've done better at Rock-Paper-Scissors..." Prohyas crossed his arms and pouted while looking away from Vambre in defeat.
"But on the flip side, I'll pay for whatever meal you purchase in there, considering we have gone 8 consecutive missions without turning our earnings in at Ralphio's, which wasn't very easy to do." Vambre adds much to Prohyas' satisfaction.
"Yeah, that's why I like losing sometimes! But that doesn't mean we didn't get any new cool Magiswords! Can I please show mine off while we're on stage?" Prohyas asks anxiously, like a kid wanting to show his mother something.
"In due time, we have a ribbon to cut!" Vambre declared strongly as she reached into her Magisword bag.
"Ahh yeah, and by we, we mean you. Fuss." Prohyas rolls his eyes with a sarcastic smile just as his sister dramatically pulls out:
Parrot Scissors Magisword!
With a squawk from the blade, Vambre makes the green parrot Magisword open its orange beak. As it closes to cut the ribbon, Vambre announces with a bombastic smile, "I hereby welcome you all to Joe's Warrior Lounge!"
With the ribbon cut, the building reveals itself to be a big barrel building with a big red logo that says "Joe's Warrior Lounge" on it. All the crowd rushed in and immediately began admiring the sights and smells inside.
As the crowd rushes in, the scent of old root beer and mutton filled the place as they all gazed upon the scenery with a smile.
It looked old-timey with tons of massive root beer barrels in a row, tons of wooden tables, that look like barrels with a circle of wood on them, and booths for the family, a neat little bar with a nice smooth glass surface, a jukebox that plays all sorts of neat little ditties, and the most important addition of all: glass coasters with cats on them.
Among the other features were proper family bathrooms alongside the male and female bathrooms, a empty bulletin board near the bar, and even a random anvil! Joe walks on up to the counter and bangs a comically sized wooden hammer to get everybody's attention while waving a fine howdy to his customers.
"C'mon in, everybody! Free root beers for the first 100 who want them!" Joe points to the barrel row and watches everyone gather around it to get beer from barrels full of the stuff.
People from all across Rhyboflaven have come to enjoy this wonderful pit stop. From professional solo warriors to the common folk who enjoy a good drink to the ones who prefer to dine on homemade meals such as pie and BBQ. The place was a resounding success from the start, as the joint was quickly filled up with loads of thirsty and hungry customers.
"Gosh, for someone we recently helped by constructing this place with Walk-the-Plank Magisword, our handy work certainly hasn't gone out of style." Vambre smiles while looking around, feeling accomplished at this creation.
"You bet it hasn't! This place rocks! It's like Slugburger, only with loads more passion! Just look at all these other warriors!" Prohyas giddily explores the joint himself rushing about from place to place.
"Yes, I shall admit, it's bringing in tons of people from all across Lyvsheria. From the Vikings, barbarians, common warriors like us, and even a few monsters, how'd this place get so popular so fast?" Vambre chuckles at the business boom.
"Mobile advertising! Okay folks, sorry to say, but that's all the free beer y'all get; y'all gonna pay for it now!" Joe smiled as folks all began handing him sacks of jemms for the kindly gentleman.
"Vambre look! Tables are just old barrels with circles of wood on them, fast-food booths, family bathrooms, a bulletin board, and-what the what- a random anvil? This place has everything!" Prohyas zips from spot to spot, his eyes filled with glee.
"Yes, well. Nice to see our assistance was well rewarded with a place for the warriors, by the warriors." Vambre takes a gander around herself while trying to find a table for her and her brother.
"Right? Everything about this place just screams, "Being a warrior is the best" and it's 100% true!" Needless to say, Prohyas is childishly amazed by pretty much everything in the facility.
"Indeed! There are even some nice legs of mutton here. I've personally never had a leg of mutton before; it's usually just Slugburgers and Magisword food for us." Vambre admires the size of those mutton legs on the menu.
"But while a Magisword can prevent starvation, you can't build a diet solely on them. Speaking of which, you might wanna pull up a chair, cause this Magisword I've found will knock your socks off!" Prohyas claimed with a delightful smile.
"Hah, I highly doubt it would compare to the one I recently got, but do go on." Vambre chuckles while pulling up a barrel seat and sitting down, just as Prohyas pulls out...
Cue Ball Magisword!
A Magisword with a billiards pole for a handle and a white ball at the end of it is shown off just as Prohyas points it at an empty beer mug, and the ball shoots out, hitting a light texture on a wall and ricocheting at the mug knocking it into several others, one of which landing on some random guy's head. He shrugs it off and goes to fill it with beer.
"Not bad." Vambre remarks, trying not to smirk.
"Yep, I won a contest for this baby; I had to skip a night of sleep for it, but I'm pretty sure it was worth it." Prohyas attaches the cue ball back to the Magisword with a small twitch in his eye.
"Yes, well. Allow me to present to you my latest Magisword..." Vambre pulls out...
Contradictory Magisword!
The Magisword looks like a red shield that was put in place of the blade, with a red metallic handle to boot. Vambre smugly shows off the Magisword to make Prohyas excited, and it works.
"Whoa...is that a Magisword that looks like a shield?!" Prohyas raised his voice.
"On the contrary, quite literally, it's a Magisword that is a shield. It's entire purpose as a sword has failed; it's not supposed to be treated as a regular Magisword and that's what's so contradictory about it. You see where I'm getting at?" Vambre asked, being particularly proud of obtaining this sword.
"Where in the big wide world do you get a bizarro Magisword like that?" Prohyas shakes his sister, anxious to know the details.
"Garage sale." Vambre immediately answered with a bright smile.
"Figures." Prohyas sighs as he sits back down with his sister.
"It's plain to see, this Contradictory Magisword will definitely be the one to stop any projectiles that fly in our general direction!" Vambre brags a bit.
"C'mon, you can't tell me that my new Magisword isn't cool either! It ricochets Vambre, ricochets!" Prohyas said being giddy while pulling the stick of his Magisword back slightly to launch the ball upward to land right back on the sword.
"Be that as it may, I can see how if you shot that ball at this shield as I bash it like a bat, it would launch the ball like a small meteorite so instead of a mere bounce, it bursts through enemy forces." Vambre said twirling the Magisword in her hand like a pro.
"And maybe even make a homemade pinball machine, whatever that is!" Prohyas nods, synergizing with his sister.
"Yes sir, with these two Magiswords alone, I can imagine multiple situations that would require these new Magiswords." Vambre expressed her love by getting a rag to polish the Contradictory Magisword.
"Like blocking a dragon's fire or plugging a ball-shaped hole? We've already got quite a ton of Magiswords that can accomplish those with ease, but you know that we can't help but collect more of them!" Prohyas speaks with a sense of pride in his tone.
"You see, Prohyas, this is exactly why we love Magiswords. They're quite the beast in their own right; we love to collect oodles of them because they're so much fun, and even the lesser ones have a very situational value and encourage tons of creativity." Vambre smiles.
"Not to mention, I've recently made it my life's mission to find any Magisword that has a personality; ain't that right, dolphin baby?" Prohyas hugs his Dolphin Magisword as the sword makes happy dolphin noises to express this bond.
But before the two could go on any longer about how much they loved Magiswords, the jukebox suddenly cuts out and plays something that's heavy metal with a rocking guitar. Everyone stopped whatever they were doing to notice at a hand on the swinging doors.
And without a moment of hesitation, the doors swung right open! The patrons, and the warriors, all looked towards the entrance, and they see two different warriors. Far more different than any of them had seen before...
Joe rubbed his eyes a bit before gazing at the two before him. They didn't just look out of place, they looked way better than the place they were in! "Well, I'll be. Everybody, it's the Mystic Fists!" Joe annouces aloud!
The first warrior was suited up in heavy metallic armor with long blue barbarian hair and a few scars on his face. His name was Derek. He looks at the attention he's getting, all the cheering, and whispering, and squealing, and then scoffs at everyone, wishing there weren't that many people here...
The second warrior wore purple witch's clothing with ruby curly hair, a witch's hat with a star on top, and eyes that sparkled like the stars. Her name was Sherbet. She just waved at the people with a cheery little smile, trying to be encouraging towards these fine folks.
They both moved with such fluidity, such power, and such style, not commonly found with many of the inhabitants of Lyvsheria unless the animators felt like it. These guys felt like they came from an entirely different part of the world.
Prohyas and Vambre stared at the two as much as everyone else did. They couldn't find exactly how to describe these two new warriors, but they can at least overhear what everyone else has been saying about them!
"Hey, I heard that Derek got lost and ate a whole lion!" One guy rumored to another.
"Sherbet is so hot, she makes all those other witches look like amateurs." A overconfident elf blonde warrior laughs.
"I heard that Derek once had soup." A viking said to a anthropomorphic dog. "So?" The dog asks. "It was the soup made from the blood of his enemies!" The Viking laughs.
"Sherbet can totally make a zillion rabbits come out of a hat. Trust me, I have a uncle who was a magician." A teen girl brags to her friends.
"Holy grup...who are those two?" Prohyas gulps at this dramatic entrance.
"Haven't the foggiest idea..." Vambre glares envious of their modern flare.
"Ugh...why are we dealing with this? Weren't we supposed to be meeting someone?" Derek asks his associate Sherbet, who was waving at the others and even signing a couple of autographs with a feather pen made from a duck.
"I dunno, I guess the people of Rhyboflaven have a knack for cool-looking folk like us. Just relax, he'll be here sometime this afternoon." Sherbet shrugs as the two soon took their seats at the bar. Derek taps his finger impatiently on the glass surface, looking around like he's expecting someone he knows. Sherbet just sits still and waves at Joe, who kindly kisses her hand out of respect for her.
"Well, how-dee to you two! You have no idea how honored I am to have you visit me on opening day; you both look more serious than everyone else in this crazy place! What can I get ya?" Joe asks, feeling rather honored by these particular warriors.
"Just a root beer for me," Derek said without a trace of positivity in his tone.
"And a milk bottle for me, thanks." Sherbet adds, with a much more friendly tone in her voice.
"Golly, I know the free root beer deal just ended a few minutes ago, but you guys look like you deserve one on-" Joe tries to offer, but Derek stops him by holding his hand out in a stopping motion.
"No. I'm fine. I'll pay." Derek just pays Joe in jemms as he gets his root beer while Sherbet gets her bottle of milk.
Prohyas and Vambre kept side-glancing at each other and the other two warriors this whole time. From the way they look, the way they speak, and the way they dress too, there's no doubt about it: Those two looked way cooler than either of the Warrior Siblings did.
"Whoa...Vambre...?" Prohyas gulps.
"Yes, Prohyas...?" Vambre gulps as well.
"Warrior huddle..." Prohyas can hardly contain his excitement.
"Ya wee hen..." Vambre nods frantically.
The two immediately duck into a huddle as Prohyas lets it out right away: "THOSE TWO GUYS LOOK COMPLETELY AMAZE-BALLS!"
"I know, right!? I had never seen such detail on their designs, ever in my life!" Vambre shivers with excitement.
"I've never even seen them, period! Who are these guys!?" Prohyas asks in amazement.
"We don't know! But this is not the time to be fanboying about these new warriors. We're supposed to be Lyvsheria's best of the best, so we must not let them know how envious we are of their anime-esque style." Vambre points out, trying to hold back her hype.
"Okay, but they are suuuuuuuuper cool, right?" Prohyas asks anyway with a fanboying smile on his face.
"Absolutely. Now let us break this huddle so we can ask them who they are and where they come from-" Vambre starts.
"-and why does the girl feel a lot like Witchy Simone during her prom years?" Prohyas adds with a bashful smile.
"Don't ask that last one. Just the first two at least." Vambre wags her finger at Prohyas.
"Okey to the dokey." Prohyas salutes as the two slowly and began to approach the two new warriors by the bar.
Prohyas took very large steps and began sweating like a nervous dog. Vambre took a slower approach behind her brother as she mutters to herself: "Don't mess this up. Don't mess this up." while reciding the opening lines she would say to these two.
After a long and tenacious stall, Prohyas and Vambre try to start the conversation, but they awkwardly mumble and fumble the words coming out of their mouth as they try to think up a good reason why they just approached two warriors who look way more dazzling than they are.
Derek and Sherbet look at the two warriors with a bit of worry. Derek can't look away from the cartoonish movement the Warriors are making because he knows he's famous and they're treating him like he is. He's just sipping his root beer, kinda not giving too much thought on the two at the moment.
Sherbet, who's tapping the left side of her face with her pointer finger in confusion for someone messing up so many words in a row, it's a really awkward first encounter that heroes of their profession would understand, and yet they have to ask anyway to make sure that's not all they can do...
"Are you two okay?" Sherbet asks in deep concern.
"O-Oh!! Uh...We're totally fine, not at all admiring your more...expressive... eyes and mouth! Yes, that would be silly." Vambre laughs it off despite knowing this was exactly what she was doing.
"Y-Yeah! You two are totally different, and suuuuuuper cool! And I respect every fiber of your being even, though we had only just made eye contact." Prohyas chuckles a bit more nervously.
"There is no need to be so formal. Everyone else in Rhyboflaven had that exact opinion about us, for some reason. My name is Derek Tual." Derek introduced himself with a slight smile to show he means well to fellow warriors.
"And my name is Sherbet Walber. Together, we form the band of warriors also known as the Mystic Fists." Sherbet smiles encouragingly, happy to introduce herself and her partner to these two cartoonish warriors.
"O-Oh! That...is such a coincidence; me and my brother are also part of a Warrior Band called the..." Vambre starts sweating and spacing out after hearing the name of their group sound way more epic than just Warriors for Hire.
"Come on! Don't choke on me now; we've got people to impress!" Vambre's brain shouts in a thought bubble and pulls an ignition cord in her noggin to make Vambre spit out her next line.
"T-The Warriors for Hire! *Deep breath* My name is Vambre Warrior, the calm and collected one of our operations. And this man whose mind is in the blank is Prohyas Warrior, my brother. Hellooooo?" Vambre sees that Prohyas is still struggling to say something, just some incoherent mumbling.
"Is he okay?" Sherbet asks pointing at Prohyas' mumbles and confused slag he's trying to say.
"He seems froze up." Derek sips his root beer, not particularly interested in his mumbles.
"Yes, well." Vambre looks right at her brother, and gives him a wake-up call with a frown on her face:
Oinkus Onikus Magisword!
She holds the long pig with an open mouth up and swings down to make the pig suddenly grow in size and emit a loud "WEEEEEEEEEEEE", sending Prohyas hurdling off-screen making him scream and crash into a wall.
"Gosh..." Sherbet flinched covering her ears in the nick of time, and Derek was unfazed in the slightest slurping on more of his beer, as Prohyas rushed back on-screen in a fumbled panic with his hair messed up and eyes wide open as he immediately tried to recover by yelling;
"P-PROHYAS!! *Ahem* That's my name, by the way. And me and Vambre represent the Warriors fo-" "I literally just got done saying that." Vambre groans with unamusment.
"Ohhh...did you know that you looked like Witchy Simone in her prom years?" Prohyas asks Sherbet, causing Vambre to grab a wooden mug and facepalm herself with it while giving a big awk.
Silence fell on the group for a bit as Sherbet proceeded the comment as Prohyas' cheeks blushed a bright red and Vambre cleared her throat to try to relieve the awkwardness.
"I'm... flattered? I'm much older than that, but I guess I can take a hint." Sherbet gulps, not really sure what to make of this state of awkwardness. Until she noticed the pig-headed Magisword in the palm of Vambre's hand.
It has been quite a while since she saw one of those, and even Derek raised his eyebrow, having a similar sense of familiarity. So Sherbet then points to the Oinkus Oinkus Magisword and asks: "More importantly, is that an Oinkus Oinkus Magisword?"
"Erm, yes...?" Vambre raised an eyebrow as well and gulps, hoping that this recognition was a good thing.
"I'd like to hear more about that Magisword you have. It looks pretty decent for a noisemaker, must be one of a kind." Sherbet smiles a little bit, causing Vambre and Prohyas' pupils to slowly grow in satisfaction. Derek just keeps looking at the Warrior Siblings, only wondering if their knowledge matches his and Sherbet's.
Before the Warriors had even met the Mystic Fists, they had no trouble speaking to anyone. Now here they were, studdering and making botched comments and questions. But at last, the two Warriors for Hire found a topic that they were much more comfortable doing, so Vambre cleared her throat and began with explaining about her Magisword:
"Yes, yes! Onikus Onikus Magisword is one of my go-to Magiswords! It creates a loud alarming oink when you swing it with enough force; other than that, it just oinks, hence the name." Vambre sounded much more confident and professional about such a Magisword.
"Not bad. For something that has almost a single function, that's an ability that could cause a startle when dealing with enemies." Sherbet nods, having seen Vambre's passion shine through and glad she's letting it out.
"Indeed! I once scared a whole group of bandits into thinking a herd of pigs have escaped with this bad boy!" Vambre brags with a brave smirk on her face.
"Heh. And I thought it was stupid before she oinked me hard enough to launch me off the mountain we got it from!" Prohyas nods and chuckles at the thought of those piggy oinks.
"I see...quite the power that one has. It reminds me of the pig it might've been before. Just swine, forged into a single blade without much of a thought as to why..." Derek ponders this Magisword's existence, wanting to ask something in regards to the Magisword.
But the two warriors are too giddy to care at the moment, they're just so excited to be on a topic they enjoy. So Derek holds himself back for now, not wanting to spoil their innocence too soon.
*Not yet. They might be too innocent to tell right away...* Derek thought to himself. Sherbet feels Derek's hesitance, and looks at him with a worried frown, in spite of such a over-excited mood from the Warriors for Hire.
"Y-Yeah! And that's not the only Magisword we have! You see, there's-" Prohyas was about to start listing Magiswords before Derek interrupted him by holding his hand out in front of him.
"Please don't start. We already know most of the common types of Magiswords." Derek sighs, just realizing how childish these two are. He had made the correct assumption about these warriors, just too innocent to master what he had mastered.
"Aww yeah, I knew you two loved Magiswords as much as we do!" Prohyas cheers, much to Derek's unamusment and Sherbet's confusion.
"It is always a pleasure to see someone indulge in our little obsession." Vambre claims while tossing her Magisword in the air and catching it with the other hand.
"Actually, this was the first time we had seen a Magisword like this in a while." Sherbet corrects, looking rather concerned about the Warriors and their 'obsession' with Magiswords.
"Uh, but why did you address Oinkus Oinkus Magisword as if you had known it for a while?" Vambre asked a bit more nervously.
"I heard the announcer say its name, and I just assumed based on that." Sherbet just admitted it, not really sure what else to tell them due to the complex nature about the inner-workings of Magiswords.
"You can hear it too? The voice that plays whenever we pull out a Magisword?" Vambre asks, looking around frantically and ducking around, acting a little paranoid.
"Yes. All of the Magiswords emit that voice whenever they are drawn." Derek deadpans, not even phased by a voice from the Magisword.
"Hold the phone. If you two can hear that strange voice that comes with literally every Magisword, you really are Magisword-wielding warriors like we are!" Prohyas skiddishly wiggles his legs.
"You could say that. But we hardly collect Magiswords. We're alright with the ones we have now." Derek smiles a bit weakly at the dedication the two have toward Magiswords, then immediately curls back to a stoic frown just as fast.
"Not to say we don't like Magisword collecting, we just don't like to hoard so many of them." Sherbet adds, making Prohyas immediately wishing otherwise.
"B-But Magiswords are so coooool!!" Prohyas whines loudly as Vambre rolls her eyes and grabs Prohyas' lips.
"Nope. Not again. We've been over this with Cattus; it's perfectly fine to have a single Magisword as long as it does cool things. Your Magiswords can do cool things, right?" Vambre asks anyway, only imagining the crazy things their Magiswords could do.
"Well, these Magiswords aren't just toys, you know. As much as we'd like to demonstrate our power, we'd rather not show it off all willy-nilly like you two would." Sherbet shakes her head.
"What!? We would never!" Prohyas chuckles nervously, holding multiple Magiswords behind his back, causing him to sweat up a storm.
"I am ashamed that we are even related." Vambre glares at her brother... while also having several Magiswords behind her back as they both put away their Magiswords at once.
"...are you two okay?" Sherbet finally asks.
"Yup!" Prohyas answers immediately.
"Why must you ask? This is practically normal for us." Vambre nods, turning awkwardness into straight up denial.
"Magiswording is a serious business; to hold one, you must think of it as a living being with a life that has been discarded for the sake of a mere tool." Sherbet tensed up.
"Or, in some cases, an expansion of yourself that you hold onto to further your mortal abilities." Derek puts his hand on his heart, recalling the days he had before his Magisword...
"Indeed, in many cases, the experience is what matters most, but in these lands, it's the strength of the blade you wield." Sherbet encouragingly said.
"A Magisword is more just a weapon; it's the foundation of your powers, the culmination of your being, or rather a being all its own. Because without your Magiswords, you will be nothing." Derek sternly said, causing Vambre to tense up from Derek and Sherbet's intense dedication to Magiswords.
"Um, okay, so we're not THAT dedicated, are we? Awk." Vambre questions the nature of their relationship with Magiswords until she sees Prohyas smile joyfully.
"A living being, you say?" Prohyas immediately brings out:
Dolphin Magisword!
The gray dolphin blade chirped with dolphin noises, making Prohyas giggle childishly. Derek slowly lowers his arm away from his heart as he sees Prohyas enjoy the company of his dolphin baby, and smile just a little before sighing realizing Prohyas' naive emotional attachment.
"Aww...what a cute dolphin!" Sherbet smiled and clasped her hands over the appearance of Dolphin Magisword, despite the history she had with Magiswords, she at least could recognize a cute Magisword.
"I know right? This was the first Magisword I've ever gotten from my mom, and by golly was it the best thing she ever gave me!" Prohyas said hugging with bounds of affection with this particular Magisword.
"That's great, good for you, I guess..." Sherbet applauds before frowning realizing she was just about to spoil such a love as her clapping slowed a bit. He looks so happy, yet she couldn't help but feel that Dolphin Magisword was one of the few he considered a living tool.
"Dolphin Magisword is more than great; she's my best bud in the whole wide world! She's talented; she can squirt water; she can make dolphin noises; and she even once used Man-Fish like he was a Magisword!" Prohyas snuggles his dolphin baby with delightful giggles.
"Oh, he has an emotional attachment to a Magisword?" Derek puts his empty beer mug down while silently regretting what he might've said next.
"Yes. It's his favorite Magisword, he never leaves home without it. I'm sorry, her." Vambre sighs, not even surprised that Prohyas would pull that card.
"Yeah! Ever since our mama introduced me to my Dolphin baby, she and I would never dare part, unless it's for very specific reasons!" Prohyas pets his dolphin with a babyish giggle.
"Simultaneously, my first sword was Tomato Magisword, while not as endearing as Dolphin Magisword, this one has gotten me through some rough patches in my life, from illness, to minor inconveniences, even accidental barn burnings." Vambre adds while holding a green stalk with a tomato-colored blade with a actual tomato on top.
"Oh, well that's nice and all, but I'm not sure if you two are even aware of a Magisword's true purpose." Sherbet rubs her arm, trying to think about how to say what she knows about Magiswords.
"Of course we do. We just pull them out; we swing or point it at something, and then something happens when we do it." Prohyas starts summing it up.
"Simplicity at its finest. It's not exactly as precise as a souffle or a wedding cake." Vambre adds to it.
"It's like a cake that you've baked for your mommy, and she lets you have the rest 'cause she's watching her pounds. Wielding a Magisword is like spreading jam onto toast." Prohyas fantasizes about food.
"It's as simple as riding a bike, and yet it feels like a whole motorcycle." Vambre fantasizes about vehicles.
"I have no clue what a motorcycle is!" Prohyas agreed.
"Me neither. The point is Magiswords are what drive us to adventure. To see all the wonderful ways one could use a Magisword, and what other kinds of Magiswords lie beyond our reach!" Vambre fantasizes about all sorts of Magiswords.
"And all the cool things that are usually situational at first become pretty nifty once you start messing around with them! Sometimes a problem requires more than what the solution is, so that's why we used to have dozens of these on us before they inevitably started weighing us down because we loved them so much." Prohyas passionately shouts.
"And they're especially good when you have to deal with raging monsters and organize things around. That's the beauty of Magiswords, the sheer amount of situations that require a specific sword is nearly endless. Even some of our more open-ended missions required us to think outside the box for them." Vambre yells with a fierce passion.
"We love Magiswords so much; we were just talking about how much we loved them before you guys even showed up!" Prohyas adds confidently.
"Cause there's nothing cooler than a Mighty Magisword!" The Warrior Siblings say in unison as fireworks go off while they both hold Dolphin and Oinkus Oinkus Magiswords to the sky!
The two warrior siblings kept that pose for dramatic effect. Sherbet looked at the two of them funny. They hardly know the truth about Magiswords, and yet they're obsessed with what they are. Confusion stirred in her mind, like a soup that sat out for too long.
Derek couldn't help but stare at those two. His hand twitched with a rather concerning unease. Here he was, a hardened warrior that sacrificed everything he had to fuel his own Magisword, but these two wielded their blades with little turmoil.
*How can they be so carefree and nonchalant...!?* Derek thought as he twitched and glared, frustrated at the two's carefree attitude when it came to such an extension of himself. How did these two go for so long without knowing how Magiswords truly functioned...?
"You two have no clue where Magiswords come from, do you?" Derek deadpans, not amused in the slightest.
"Come again?" Prohyas asks immediately as the two siblings broke formation.
"What he means is, do you know exactly how Magiswords are made?" Sherbet clarifies for both the confused Warriors and the twitchy barbarian.
"From Ralphio's House of Swords or a temple or a dungeon or something?" Prohyas takes the easy answer while grinning rather awkwardly.
"NO! Do either of you know exactly what goes into the creation of a Magisword?" Derek snaps at the two, causing the two warriors to flinch and Sherbet to grip Derek's arm, worried about her partner's building rage. He is akin to a barbarian, but still, he should watch his temper in a public place like this.
"Derek..." Sherbet looks at her partner, he looks right back at her frown, knowing that he's losing his temper. The conversation started to turn into something much less fun for the two warriors.
"Well...um...not really...?" Prohyas gulps, suddenly losing his boost of confidence.
"They certainly haven't taught us that during our Adventure Academy days. At least anything we paid attention to..." Vambre scratches her head, now a little conflicted of what do they know that she and her brother don't.
"All we know is that it's not something to overthink and that it's just magic. That's all there is to it." Prohyas just assumes based on what he already knows.
"Well, it's much more complex than just some things that you collect; you see-" Derek was about to explain before the door slammed open, grabbing the patrons attention...
It was a panicking villager, with his skin sweaty from the run, and his clothes all dirty from a couple of implied stumbles, he breathed hard as he annouces to the bar: "Warriors! There's a big scary rock monster raging towards Rhyboflaven!"
This causes the whole joint to gasp, as many of the warriors stood up, while others began finishing their meals quickly so they can get out of here. The peaceful atmosphere has been robbed, and replaced with one of panic and shock.
As for the Warriors for Hire and The Mystic Fists; The warrior siblings were far too familiar with this sort of announcement, given their many years of experience, they begin to smile proudly.
"A rock monster!?" The two shout in unison, as their grins returned, perhaps even wider this time.
The Mystic Fists, on the other hand, don't seem to take it as well as the Warrior Siblings do; With Derek twitching from the sudden arrival, while Sherbet puts her hands over her mouth in shock.
"It can't possibly be..." Sherbet gulped as Derek's eyes widened.
"I heard the news from two rookie adventurers! The monster is going to smash everything in its path unless we do something!" The villager warns the lounge as Joe rushes over to the villager to offer a glass of milk, which the villager drinks immediately.
"Describe it for me!" Joe the bartender shouts, wanting to know how much trouble Rhyboflaven is in.
"It's huge! With a big ruby eye, large rocky hands, and a jaw that can crush a tree!" The villager yells.
"Oooooh, that sounds tricky. Not our usual cup of tea, but it's something we are more than capable of handling!" Vambre rubs her hands together with a confident smile.
"This is just a walk in the park for us, warriors! Just the way we like it!" Prohyas cracks his knuckles, just as confident as his sister.
"No, they've been awoken!?" Derek growls in place while Sherbet pats him on the back, trying to comfort him, not that she's still a little nervous herself.
Joe then leaps on the bar and annouces like a ringleader at a circus: "Okay folks! The first one to destroy the monster gets a free Joey Meal with an autograph signed by the legendary Magismith himself: Musko the Smither!"
And every warrior in the facility yelled ferociously. They all grabbed their weapons and roared as they rushed out of the building, passing by all the regular people who were hiding in terror.
"Wait... Musko? What's he doing here in Rhyboflaven?" Derek asks, reclaiming his lost composure, albeit just a bit after hearing a familiar name.
"These people are going to need our help. Come on!" Sherbet jumps from her seat as she rushed out the door with the rest, with Derek right behind her.
"Musko? Never heard of him before. But a gem for a eye of a rock monster is worth a signature in of itself!" Prohyas scratches his head, not familiar with the guy in the slightest, and then immediately shrugs it off with a confident smile.
"The award might be minimal for our tastes, but duty has called! We must proceed into battle and stop this rioting monstrosity!" Vambre booms dramatically.
"And get a free Joey Meal, I hope I get the baby beetle toy I somehow wanted!" Prohyas giggles.
"Focus! Let us make haste if we want the final blow! Tally ho!" Vambre shouts, rushing out the door.
"Rhymes are fun, but we'll be number one!" Prohyas declares, also rushing out the door.
Soon...
We see a nice short man with a big white mustache, a big pink nose, and blue robe watering his giant pumpkin. His name was Old Man Oldman, and he's a humble little soul who's had an experience and a half with the Warriors for Hire and that other group: Witch Way.
Oldman takes a whiff of the big pumpkin and smiles: "Oh boy, this thing is lookin' ripe. I'll be entering this baby in the fair and gettin' lots of dough-moe!"
But then...the ground started to shake. "Oh dear, did I leave the oven on?" Oldman scratches his bald head before a giant, rocky foot stomps on Oldman's fence!
"Oh no!! My fence! I guess I'll just hire Witch Way to fix it for me. At least it wasn't after my pumpkin." Oldman dials up a number on his Magi-Mobile just as two eyes emerge from the darkness and lick their lips over the big pumpkin.
The ground trembles beneath the behemoth, with it's shadow making everything behind it cold for a moment, as the large rock demon stomps across the woods, breaking trees with it's large muscular and rough and rocky legs, with rocky spikes on its big bouldery back scraping the skies, a tail with a large diamond rock on it like a wrecking ball drags across the earth, and the sole ruby eye stares ahead with it's jagged mouth roaring into the distance.
The call to action is answered by the warriors of the lounge as they stand above a hilltop armed with nothing but various standard weapons like swords and spears, the occasional bunch of Magisword users, and donning armor made from wood, stone, iron, etc.
"Forward...CHAAAAAAARGE!!" One of them screams as they all rush ahead, deploying axes, swords, wands, and all sorts of basic weaponry. They all scaled the beast and began hitting it in every spot they could. The ones that went for the ruby eye were met with an immovable object hardened into this demon's head.
"Taste my blade, foul beast!" The blonde warrior smirks as he whips out...
Bird-Call Magisword!
Using the multi-colored bird for a blade, the blonde swings it to make it emit a bird sound as he calls on a whole swarm of birds that began pecking at the beast. But the rock monster growled just once and scared the birdies away as they all swarmed away.
"...why do these things never give me an albatross?" The blonde warrior blinks and shakes his Magisword frustratingly.
"Who cares! I, Pill the Ledge, will crush him!" Pill the muscular bearded viking laughs and leaps far above to attempt to strike the gem eye. "Haha! Prepare to meet your doom, rock guy!" Pill dramatically yells.
The rock monster nonchalantly slaps the viking away like he was a pest, causing him to yell as he lands right before his fellow warriors.
This triggered all the other warriors as they all began to rush the rampaging beast with everything they've got, with some of them bringing in Magiswords to the fight as they deploy them one by one!
Jackhammer Magisword!
Chainsaw Magisword!
Pencil Magisword! Wait...
Brick Magisword! Hold on a sec-
Cheese Magisword? That's not gonna-
G-Gummy Sticky Hand Magi-
T-T-Toothbrush-
Uh...T-Tree Bran-
Oh, come on! Give me a break!
But alas, even with so many Magiswords, many of which were kinda not "Giant-Monster-Battle-Friendly", the giant hardly felt a thing. And a single roar, with the force of thunder clap, was enough to send the many warriors flying away!
Whew! Thank you, Mr. Rock Monster!
The rock monster roars at the screen as a response.
Whoa!!! I'm going to see how the real pros-I mean, Warriors for Hire are doing!
The two warrior siblings ride in on their Hoverswords and stop when they see the number of warriors either fleeing in terror or just barely holding their own against the beast.
"Oh geesh, this one looks like a toughie, just as the village duder said." Prohyas smiles at the face of the danger, like he's tangoed with all sorts of monsters before.
"That much is obvious. Well, I suppose we might as well start throwing darts and seeing what sticks." Vambre rolls her eyes, not really caring how to defeat this demon yet.
"Perhaps, our rocky friend got rudely awakened by some unfortunate adventurers. Vambre, that's your cue!" Prohyas points to his sister.
"With pleasure." Vambre smirks as she pulls out:
Sleeping Dragon Magisword!
"Time to go, beddy bye, dear rock monster!" Vambre points the light green dragon blade at the monster and shoots a beam at it, only for it to fail because the monster resisted these Magiswords. It roars in response as Vambre gets pushed back by the force.
"Awk! I said beddy bye! What else do you want!? A glass of milk!?" Vambre yells at this beast, shaking her fist after the fail.
Prohyas smiles, ready for the challenge. "Oh, so it ain't sleepy, aye? Maybe what it needs is a cheerful little tune on my-"
Accordion Magisword!
And Prohyas began joyfully playing a polka beat with the red accordion blade.
~Oh, giant rocky monster, we know you're really cranky! But this whole rampage thing you're doing is getting kinda stanky! Giant rocky monster, there's no need to be slappy! Just turn that frownie upside down and start feeling very happy! Though I gotta admit, I must insist, your temper is the issue! It seems like this ain't working-not even a need for a tissue! Giant rocky monster, come on and give a smile-~
The rock monster steps on Prohyas and just walks past him as Vambre jumps out of the way: "Prohyas!" She shouts as Prohyas gets up, with his eyes swirling and his body wiggling.
~Though you really don't feel like it, this could take quite a while.~ Prohyas finishes singing before falling over, springing right back up on his feet shortly after.
"Prohyas, I do not think the monster can be pacified. He's probably one of those generic monsters, having the faintest of reasons why he rampages through the streets." Vambre began thinking of a less pacifying solution as she paced the ground.
"Ouch, yeah, it was totally worth the try, but I guess we have to apply more force before that thing reaches Princess Zange's castle!" Prohyas grunts a bit, shaking the rocky dust off of him as he and Vambre look towards the beast in question.
"We didn't exactly expect to come across a battle of this magnitude today, hence why we left Legendary Swordmecha Magisword at home." Vambre stated, much to her regret.
"Which is why we need to stall for time while our lovable dragon pal Grup fetches it for us." Prohyas smiles and gives a call to Grup using his Magi-Mobile, while the two follow the monster on their Hoverswords.
"Hey Grup!" Prohyas speaks to the small blue bottle-nosed dragon.
"Oh, hey, Prohyas. What's up?" Grup answers on the couch at Warriors for Hire Headquarters.
"If you could bring us the Legendary Swordmecha Magisword, that'd be great, thanks." Prohyas said in an encouraging tone.
"Uh, okay. What do you need it for?" Grup asks curiously.
"It's kind of an emergency; there's a large rocky demon about to head towards the Rhyboflaven castle, and we're gonna try to stall it before it gets there. Can you bring the Legendary Swordmecha Magisword as quickly as your cute little dragon wings can go?" Prohyas asks, a little on edge because of the whole monster situation.
"Oh, okay." Grup hangs up and pulls a lever on the wooden wall to reveal the two wheels filled with nothing but Magiswords.
"We seriously need a better way to categorize these things." Grup just sighs.
We see Derek and Sherbet look above the threat on top of a huge tree, seeing the other warriors try and fail to stop it, while the Warriors for Hire are in hot pursuit.
"Hmm...from the looks of things, this generation of warriors doesn't seem all that prepared to fight a demon." Sherbet scratches her head before noticing her partner's twitches and growls.
"No, they're all useless, why are they all so afraid?" Derek just stares at the miscellaneous warriors fleeing or giving up too soon.
"You alright partner?" Sherbet asks nervously.
"Those Warriors for Hire seem just as obsessive about Magiswords, and yet neither of them can recognize a true threat as we can." Derek twitched.
"Well, this is Lyvsheria after all; it's not like there's a shortage of warriors, but from what I've gathered, Prohyas and Vambre seem to be the only two who are officially sponsored by the Rhyboflaven Kingdom." Sherbet looks up information on them.
"It's almost as if the Warriors for Hire might be the only two competent enough to take this thing on, and that just makes me want to crush this demon even more..." Derek growls.
"We can't remember? We only came here to meet up with-" Sherbet shook her head, but Derek suddenly roared and slammed his fist into one of the branches, causing a bit of pain to circulate through his fist instead of the tree branch breaking, as if he had no physical strength.
"Grr...I KNOW!! This kingdom does not know what they're dealing with, and pretty soon, they're going to need us more than ever." Derek looks onwards towards the battle, knowing exactly what it entails for him and Sherbet if they decide to interfere...
We cut back to the action with all the other remaining warriors being smacked into the forest trees, smashed down onto the muddy road and the local wildlife of deer, birds, squirrels and bunnies all fleeing from this menace. The rock monster keeps knocking those away who dare to even come close to it's gem eye, it felt indestructible, unstoppable, and even unsurmountable by the common warrior!
Luckily, the Warriors for Hire are ready for this boulder creature as they stand in front of the rocky beast, ready to try anything and everything to stop this monster!
"Okay Vamp, until Grup gets here with Legendary Swordmecha Magisword, a Magisword that spontaneously turns into a big mecha when used, we're just gonna have to rock this monster the wrong way until then!" Prohyas shouts, while backing up some to keep the monster from stepping on him again.
"Remember, dear brother, we each only have ten Magiswords on us, and at least a couple out of 20 of them would prove ineffective." Vambre sternly nods.
"Roger that sis! Let's start by toning down the badness of this fella!" Prohyas nods and starts by pulling out:
Don't Touch That Dial Magisword!
Prohyas points the dial with an arm reaching for it at the beast, turns the dial to -1, and shoots it at the rock beast. The beam... doesn't affect it at all.
"Oh...well that didn't work!" Prohyas gulps and chuckles nervously.
"Perhaps what it needs is that gem in it's eye plucked out!" Vambre yells while pulling out:
Parrot Scissors Magisword!
Vambre leaps from branch to brand and uses the beak to grab the gem eye and pull with all her might. But alas, the gem hardly budges before the rock monster flicks Vambre off making her crash to the ground.
"Heya Vamp? Rock beats scissors." Prohyas reminds her as she groans while he pulls out:
Darlin Narwhal Magisword!
Using the pink narwhal blade with cute eyes and a baby tooth grin, it giggles before shooting tons of love hearts at the monster in order to make it pacified. But they bounce off the rocky skin like it's nothing causing them to break in half and disappear.
"Awk! Does this thing have an immunity to basic Magiswords!? Surely you jest!" Vambre yells immediately after bouncing back on her feet.
Prohyas looks back at her sister and reassures her while reaching into his Magisword bag: "Relax sis! If our usual Magiswords can't do the trick, Then how's about we stick it to 'em, using-"
Wad of Gum Magisword!
Prohyas shoots chewed bubble gum at the feet, hoping the gum will stick the monster to the floor. It hardly even makes the foot struggle.
"Aw man, that would've been so satisfying!" Prohyas whines.
"Not to worry, it's time we fought Earth with more Earth!" Vambre says as she pulls out:
Boulder Magisword!
"Heh heh, get it? You're using a rock to fight a rock monster." Prohyas chuckles.
"I am armed, you know. Heeyah!!" Vambre shoots some boulders at the rock monster, only for it to bite down and chew on the rocks like rock candy.
"...no need to rub it in; it was a bad think." Vambre rolls her eyes, expecting this strategy to fail.
Prohyas nods: "Yes, it was. Now let's hit this guy with a taste of my-"
Mega Drill Magisword!
Prohyas began drilling the sides of the monster, only for it to roar loud enough to knock him to the ground as the monster was about to step on Prohyas again.
"Not this time!" Vambre butts in and uses:
Contradictory Magisword!
She holds it up high to block the stomp, but it causes a ton of strain on Vambre's part: "A-A little help here would do me some good!" Vambre grunts.
Prohyas smiles and immediately fishes for another Magisword: "Good idea! I know just the Magisword for the job!"
Cue Ball Magisword!
Prohyas aims the ball at the foot, and when he strikes the ball with the pole, it bounces off and hits a red bear with armor on the head.
"Oops! Sorry, Neddy the Mallet!" Prohyas shouts apologetically.
"Aw, it's okay; it happens all the time. Hey Procrastinate! Mind if I lend a hand for some free food?" Neddy offers, licking his lips.
"You know about the deal at Joe's?" Vambre grunts while struggling to hold up the foot with her shield-based Magisword.
"Who's Joe? I just came here to find some free food from these bushes! And I'm not gonna let no big rock get between me and my food!" Neddy growls and tries to wham the rock monster's foot with his big mallet. It only cracks the foot a little bit.
"Geesh, what's this guy made out of? Stone?" Neddy asks as he promptly gets kicked away by the monster.
"You could say that!" Prohyas shouts as Neddy goes flying while he shouts: "I'll be back! For the free food!!"
The two warrior siblings jump out of the way of the monster as it reaches the village near the castle.
"Uuh...Vambre? Our usual stuff isn't doing much!" Prohyas gulps a little nervously as he tries to keep a smile for his sister.
"Awk!! This rockhead is getting a bit annoying! None of the monsters we've faced before have given us this much issue!" Vambre yells frustrated by this beast.
"C'mon Grup! You can make it! Just go get the Legendary Swordmecha Magisword to turn this around!" Prohyas said to himself as he and Vambre began rushing back towards the rock monster.
Meanwhile...
At Warrior's for Hire Headquarters. Panic!
"Uuuuhh...Sun Face Magisword? Pencil Magisword? Fuzzy Wuzzy Magisword!? Where the heck is that Legendary Swordmecha!? Those two should at least put that in a vault, but that's already being used for the forbidden swords!" Grup is struggling as he scrambles through dozens and dozens of Magiswords.
Suddenly, all the Magiswords from the wheel all fell on Grup after spinning the wheel too fast. "Noooooo!" Grup screams as the Magiswords pilled up on top of him.
"Do these guys ever label these!?" Grup yells out underneath this pile.
Back to the action!
All the villagers in the stone village of Rhyboflaven began to panic and run for their lives as a broccoli booth was stepped on while the guy working there was on break.
Princess Zange was having some elves carry some bags while she was in the middle of a shopping spree. She notices the massive earth shakes happening right away as she looks behind her and her eyes widen at the sight of the massive monster stomping around destroying everything!
The elves flea back to the castle as Princess Zange cringes at the sight of this big lug as the rock monster spies the crown and roars trying to grab Princess Zange before it's suddenly wearing a big pair of underpants as Prohyas and Vambre leap on the back and pulls up on them to try and force a wedgie.
The underpants rip with the force pushing Prohyas and Vambre off the rock monster again, just as it spies the royal crown attop a building. It roars as it marches right for it!
"Princess Zange!" Prohyas yells getting on his feet in a hurry.
"Everything alright?" Vambre asks anxiously getting back up too.
"Warriors! This is a royal emergency! That building that titan is heading towards is my Royal Saloon! It's where I go to get my hair done whenever Auto-Style Magisword needs repairing. We can't let that guy smash it up!" Zange yells with concern and fear over this big problem.
"Okay, no more screwing around! Let's try to take this thing out with one of our Super Teamwork Combos!" Vambre declared with a hint of frustration.
"Yeah! Let's thing this do!" Prohyas booms confidently as they know the Super Teamwork Combo hasn't yet failed on their own terms!
Cue Ball Magisword!
Boulder Magisword!
"Super Teamwork Combo: Roll and Rock!"
The two Warriors for Hire put their swords together, and a giant rocky billiards pole appears, hitting the rocks on the monster to knock them out of it, causing it to lose its formation and fall apart.
"Yes! We've done it!" Vambre cheers as the villagers do the same.
"And not a moment too soon! Any further, and that thing would've damaged royal property." Prohyas sighs with a buttload of relief.
"Yeah, it was like, THIS close to squishing my private hair saloon." Princess Zange points out with an even bigger sigh of relief...
"Now, who's up for a Joey Meal? I am starving!" Prohyas cheered as Vambre noticed the ruby-red eye glowing brightly and slowly reformed the rocks that were knocked out.
"Erm...dear brother?" Vambre tugs on Prohyas' scarf.
"Hey, don't sweat, sis; I'm sure you'll have enough to pay for the both of-SWEET MONKEY CHUNKY!!" Prohyas gasps in horror.
"Bunky!" Zange follows up, just as surprised as everyone else.
The rock monster suddenly reformed from the rubble it was reduced to, all good as new, as it roared and stomped on the royal hair saloon!
"Oy! Not cool!" Princess Zange screams, angry as heck, and shakes her fist at the big guy.
Passing the wreckage by, the village buildings were being stomped all over the place with all the villagers screaming in a panic as they rush away from the beast.
"Oh dear! Quickly Prohyas, we must stop this beast before it reaches the castle!" Vambre determinedly rushes ahead.
"Let's do the thing again! There's no way that rock monster can bounce back twice. I hope!" Prohyas declares a little less confident than before as the two rush ahead to try out another combo!
Mega Drill Magisword!
Contradictory Magisword!
"Super Teamwork Combo: A Pain in the Sole!"
By holding the two Magiswords together, the two warriors create a giant shield with a drill on it, looking a bit like a thumbtack.
"Aw yeah! Once the monster steps on that giant thumbtack, he'll be in for a world of pain!" Prohyas shouts, more confident than ever.
"And with the mindless personality this fiend has, he'll surely not notice the pin in his sole! This plan shall not fail!" Vambre declared dramatically.
"Uh, one problem; it turns out this guy has an IQ of ten." Zange points to the monster.
"How's that any different from zeroooooohhh...!?" Prohyas stares in utter shock as the monster just grabs the big shield with a drill on it and throws it away like a Frisbee.
Meanwhile, Old Man Oldman gave a bag of jemms to a pair of white hands as they walked away from the house.
"Gee, Witch Way sure knows how to fix a fence; now to go tend to my pumpkin-whoa! Hey!!" Oldman gasps and sees a large red creature, known as a Trolblin, eating the massive pumpkin in Old Man Oldman's garden.
"You leave my pumpkin alone!" Oldman shouts, only to be flicked by the Trolblin and knocked back on his back as he immediately dials for the Warriors for Hire. But they aren't answering their Magi-Mobiles!
"This is a disaster! I've spent years on this pumpkin; it's one of my family heirlooms, and I just don't get why the Warriors for Hire won't take my calls!" Oldman yells in personal agony.
Suddenly, a big shield with a drill on it flew right at the trolblin and the pumpkin to squish them both and splatter the pumpkin all over Oldman.
"...welp, time to make some pumpkin pie! I've been meaning to get rid of that thing for years." Oldman nonchalantly walks back inside his house as we cut back to the Warriors.
"Fire three!" Vambre yells fed-up with all of this to try and stop this beast.
"I'm cautiously optimistic..." Prohyas said to himself with a gulp.
Wad-of-Gum Magisword!
Oinkus Oinkus Magisword!
"Super Teamwork Co-"
Both warriors were decked mid-combo animation and crashed right into another building.
"Oh gawd! That beast just stopped your combo! And now it's gunning for my castle!" Princess Zange rushes over and grabs the arms of the siblings and pulls to get them back on their feet.
"Maaan! What's going on here! Nothing we're doing seems to phase this guy!" Prohyas whines spitting out a couple of pebbles.
"I can't take this! How are we losing!? Did we accidentally wish for a higher difficulty?! Is this what being underleveled feels like!?" Vambre kicks the dirt frustratingly.
"Hey, guys. I don't think you know this, but if that thing destroys my castle, I'll be crashing at your place, and I'll warn you now; I don't think I'll like it." Princess Zange warns the two warriors, who progress from frustration and worry to scream and panic in a instant.
"Vambre! We gotta get back home and tidy up the place!" Prohyas shakes Vambre, only for her to shake him back.
"No! We must protect the castle with every Magisword we have left!" Vambre screams as the two rush back at the monster and just start recklessly spamming the rest of their Magiswords at the monster.
Dolphin, Zombie Pumpkin, Carnivorous Plant, Legendary Knowledge Magisword!
Prohyas spams this first set, to no avail. Dolphin Magisword's waters didn't work, and neither did Zombie Pumpkin Magisword's seeds, or even Carnivorous Plant's jaws, making it whimper when it took a bite.
But at the very least, Prohyas was able to read the mind of the rock monster with the Legendary Knowledge Magisword that shot a purple beam at the head and linked it to his: "Um... apparently the rock monster wants to destroy the castle because it reminded him how much he hated royalty, that yikes." Prohyas gulps.
Oinkus Oinkus, Chainsaw, Lookie Here Magisword!
Neither of those worked either, except for Lookie Here Magisword, as it made the monster look at Vambre...for all of two seconds, before the rock monster returned focus on the castle.
"Oi! Get your acts together or else that thing will stomp me out of house and home!" Zange shouts, a bit more terrified that nothing seems to have worked thus far!
"Hey Vambre, why aren't our Magiswords working like they usually do!?" Prohyas knew that now was officially the time to panic!
"I don't know, we've already done everything we could to hold it off!" Vambre screams as well.
"We even did the thing, twice!" Prohyas sobbed in a mad panic.
"This is a whole new level of monsters that we weren't ready for. Now the whole kingdom will suffer the consequences of our failure!" Vambre groans in overdramatic despair.
"Not gonna lie, this is the type of losing I hate the most. I only like it when I win something in return, sorta like Phil does sometimes." Prohyas sniffs.
"And where in the world is Grup? He should be here with our triumph card by now!" Vambre pulls at her hair.
"He can't possibly have THAT much trouble finding just one Magisword, right?" Prohyas shivers from the rock monster's roars.
A quick cut to Grup in the pile of Magiswords digging for the Legendary Swordmecha Magisword and...
"Oh, found it! Just gotta deliver this to Prohyas and Vambre-OH NOOOOOO!!" Grup spies a clock on the wall that is way past the time they called on them.
"The clock is ten minutes faster; no wonder I missed the grand opening of Joe's! Also the warriors need this Magisword right now! But my little dragon wings can't fly that fast! I'll just use Legendary Hyperspace Magisword to get to them! Now where did they put that thing?" Grup digs yet again for the Magisword that takes him through portals...
Back on the battlefield... Derek bites his lip from afar, while Sherbet watches the monster tear through the village near the castle.
"I can't believe this. Those two are supposed to be Lyvsheria's protectors." Derek just watches the two warriors panic and cry, a spiteful sight for the hardened warrior.
"No, they're Warriors for Hire; it's not uncommon to find people like them unprepared to deal with demons. It is one of the reasons why we came here-to help defend against the demons returning from their hibernation." Sherbet tries to defend the situation.
Derek looks at his partner and looks back at the battle, but once the rock monster was way too close to the castle, Derek had already made up his mind.
"I've seen enough. Sherbet, evacuate anyone who's in the demon's way." Derek said stoically and furiously simultaneously. He had been waiting to tear that demon asunder, and Sherbet knows that she just can't say no anymore.
"Well, okay..." Sherbet gulps as she brings out a Magisword of her own.
Witch's Broom Magisword!
Sherbet puts the black broom between her legs and flies off with a trail of magic dust, while Derek leaps right at the rock monster! Sherbet grips the Magisword she's riding on and squeezes it tightly to keep that grip.
"We're all dooooooomed!!" Prohyas whines like a baby.
"Wait a tic, what's Sherbet doing to her Magisword?" Vambre notices, pointing to the witch in the sky.
Sherbet grunts as the Witch's Broom Magisword twitches and shivers from the extra tight grip she's giving it.
"Yeah, she's giving the Magisword way more oomph than necessary!" Prohyas scratches his head, still crying from the failure from attempting to beat the rock monster.
That's when her eyes glowed with an empowering purple as the Witch's Broom Magisword glowed a bright, vibrant purple, and it suddenly started doing a sweeping motion on its own. This immediately caught Prohyas and Vambre's attention as Sherbet flew back and forth, sprinkling everyone with magic dust and causing them all to magically float on top of a large tree to safety.
"I guess here works too, but tell the squirrels that I'm not paying the bills." Zange comments.
"Whoaaaaaa! Since when can a regular Magisword glow so bright on its own!?" Prohyas screams, holding his head in confusion.
"I haven't the foggiest idea!" Vambre yells, just as confused as her brother.
"That's the true power of a Magisword. You can awaken it's inner strength through pure focus alone." Sherbet informs as she floats near the people in the tree as they all oooohed at the Magisword.
"You jest! Surely you have some sort of particular method of getting a Magisword to glow that brightly!" Vambre doubts, thinking Sherbet added something different to her Magisword.
"I put tons of focus into all my Magiswords, and aside from the obvious little glowers, I never see them glow!" Prohyas is childishly excited again, forgetting the crying he was doing a minute ago!
"That's because you haven't obtained a true focus and understanding with your Magiswords, speaking of which you might wanna see Derek in action." Sherbet points to Derek as everyone in the tree gasps at what he's about to do by himself.
Derek leaps onto one of the castle towers, his legs shaking from the impact of the landing. He bites his lip through the pain and roars furiously at the rock monster, finally catching its attention as it roars right back at him.
But he just growled at the beast, unfazed, as he began pulling out quite the beast of a Magisword and holding it out with an intensity stronger than any other warrior who used a Magisword:
Rock'em Sock'em Magisword!
This Magisword has two arms with metal gloves; one is red, and the other is blue. Derek lets the Magisword do its thing by launching those two fists at the rock monster's face at speeds comparable to lighting! As the barrage continued, Derek roared with the thrill of battle as his Magisword's fists glowed red and blue, respectively!
"Oh my goodness..." Vambre is starstruck.
"Look at him go! LOOK AT HIM GO!!!" Prohyas claps for the brawler.
Derek continues to roar as the magic leaks from the fists at first, using its default effect to get stronger with every blow that connects. But that alone only bruises the beast, requiring Derek to waste his vocal cords and roar even louder than a regular mortal can handle with his eyes glowing both red and blue!
Derek's grip on the handle got tighter and fiercer as the sword got stronger and faster, until that magi energy became incredible enough to conjure a giant fist to break the rock monster's entire head with a single blow! Derek then rushes downwards to let his turbo-charged Magisword bash the rock monster's body to pebbles with his massive energy fists!
Prohyas and Vambre just stared in shock and awe; neither of them knew how he did it, BUT HE SURE DID IT ALRIGHT!!
The rest of the denizens were just as amazed and astounded by how fast Derek handled that demon: "Whoa, that's a lot of power..." Princess Zange gasps, seeing how much he can do alone compared to the Warriors for Hire, who just failed to protect her kingdom.
Pretty soon, the only thing left of the beast was the big ruby eye, which shivered in fear once Derek slammed his foot down on the ruby, breaking it and preventing the rock monster from regenerating.
He breathed heavily and savagely, like he had just came out of a war, while the kingdom of Rhyboflaven took a few seconds to process what just happened.
And then the crowd went wild as they rushed down from the tree to congratulate Derek and Sherbet, while the Warriors just stared at the scene in nothing but awe: "What? The what. Is what." Prohyas couldn't believe his eyes as his jaw dropped.
"I-It took us both a lot of effort to just incapacitate the monster, and yet it only took him just one Magisword to do the deed!?" Vambre screams in envy and surprise.
"And the amount of oomph he put into that Magisword, it's far greater than anything me and you have been able to produce! That's so cool!" Prohyas' shock turned into genuine praise.
"But how do they do it, though!? We put effort into our Magiswords all the time, and they never showed as much power as we had just witnessed here." Vambre is becoming more and more curious about their methods.
"We have got to ask them immediately, it's the only way we can learn the things they do!" Prohyas demanded.
"Yes, let us get out of this tree as soon as possible!" Vambre declared as loudly as she could.
"Yeaaaaaah!!!" Prohyas shouts at the top of his lungs, then they both calmly get down from the tree and rush to the crowd in the village square.
Derek just stoically and silently looks at everyone wanting to shake his hand and earn his autograph, while Sherbet just handles the crowd control to keep them from getting too rambunctious by using her:
Twilight Wand Magisword
She uses this special purple wand to push everyone away with large magic glowing hands to keep them from tugging on Derek: "Everyone, please get back; my partner is exhausted." Sherbet insists, as Zange can only clap at their efforts.
"Like wow. Just wow. Nobody here has had this level of publicity in quite a while. Ever since we heard of your arrival from Pairuhdaaksee-gosh that's a mouthful-the many warriors here have been taking all sorts of inspiration from you two. Mind if you two become warriors for my kingdom, y'know, alongside the other two?" Princess Zange offers only to see Derek grunt and pant like he's out of breath.
"Is he okay?" Zange asks cautiously.
"Yeah, he's fine. Using the full power of a Magisword takes a lot out of you. Anyways, we didn't come to protect Rhyboflaven; we came here so we could meet up with our old friend, Musko the Smither." Sherbet explained to Zange.
"Oh, he's probably in Joe's Warrior Lounge right now. I know 'cause I ran into him on my way back to my castle." Princess Zange pointed out with a nervous chuckle.
"Then that's where we go." Derek groaned, nearly out of breath, as he and Sherbet began pushing past the crowd until they accidentally bumped into the overly hyped Warriors for Hire, just staring with ecstasy.
"O-Oh, Warriors. Have you come to help us fend off this relentless crowd?" Sherbet gulps, afraid of what their fanboy hype might do to the emotionally exhausted Derek.
"Mystic Fists, you were awesome! No, more than that, SUPER AWESOME!" Prohyas shouts in ecstasy as Sherbet looks at Derek, who's breathing much harder.
"You must teach us your method! You have so many techniques that blow us away with ease! And we must learn every single one of them!" Vambre demands as Sherbet makes a zipping motion across her mouth, trying to get them to stop overhyping.
"Pleaaaaaaaaaaaase?" Prohyas begs on his knees, but Derek's eyes shoot wide open, and he suddenly grabs Prohyas' throat, forcing him to stand back up. The grip was weak; his arm wobbled and shook, but it was enough to lift Prohyas in the air slightly.
"ARE YOU TWO SERIOUSLY THAT STUPID!?! YOUR BELOVED KINGDOM WAS NEARLY DESTROYED!!! AND ALL YOU CARE ABOUT IS WHAT YOU SAW FROM OUR POWERS OUT OF CONTEXT!?!" Derek roars at Prohyas, causing him to shiver like a child who was yelled at by his father.
Vambre's once enthusiastic and demanding smile quickly warped into one of fear and rage as she instinctively grabbed Prohyas' scarf to try and pull him out of Derek's hand.
"Derek! Ease up!" Sherbet grabs Derek's arm with both her hands, making him look at her, furiously breathing harder than he should be.
Sherbet gives him a stern yet gentle gaze that starts making Derek breathe a little slower, before eventually letting go of Prohyas as Vambre catches him before he can fall back down.
Derek just looked at the two with an even nastier twitch. Sherbet looked at the Warriors with pity in her eyes. Vambre, while initially afraid of that outburst, was a little peeved that the choking was uncalled for. Prohyas just scratched his neck, still in shock from the sudden attack on him.
"Gee, I-I'm so sorry. It's just that we had no other way we could stop it, and what you two were doing was somehow more than enough for the job." Prohyas gulped as he rubbed his neck.
"So...you two seriously didn't think about aiming for the eye?" Derek just asks a plain and simple question.
"W-Well, we tried that a time or two, but we didn't exactly have the Magiswords for the job..." Prohyas sounded embarrassed that he didn't think of that as a true strategy.
"It didn't look as easy as when we had to take on the cactus monster." Vambre tensely said, keeping her eyes on Derek, in case he lost it.
"...and you two just gave up when you ran out of options like that? You two have no idea how these Magiswords can be as powerful as we've demonstrated." Derek glares at the two, sending a chill down their spines.
"W-Well, maybe you can teach us?" Prohyas asks with a hard shiver, but Derek just walks past them with a lack of care in his eyes.
"Forget it. Because of you two not being able to do your job and relying on a failing strategy, the fame is becoming too much of a nuisance for me. I only came here to meet someone; now there's a chance he won't show his face at all. He'll know better than me, Sherbet, and especially you two ever will." Derek just leaves the two, walking back to Joe's on foot.
"You'll have to excuse Derek; he can be quite violent when he has to fight." Sherbet apologizes on behalf of her partner.
"No, it's all our fault we provoked him. It's just that...what you two were doing with your Magiswords was so cool and awesome, that we lost sight of how badly we lost." Prohyas admits sorrowfully.
"You know, for what it's worth, you two are great warriors, but if you two would take these fights as seriously as we do, we wouldn't have had to reveal the strength of our powers. It was also why we were so hesitant to show you our Magiswords earlier; it might've caused you to mess up even more." Sherbet sighs while looking at her partner's march towards Joe's.
"Thanks for the tip..." Prohyas sniffs, thankful for what little he got from all of this.
"Yes...well..." Vambre turns away from Sherbet. Sherbet sighs before she takes to the sky on her Witch's Broom Magisword to continue crowd control for Derek.
"Oh, there they go. Oh that's fine, we can live past this." Prohyas tries not to complain.
"Uh...yeah. So about that monster, it damaged royal property, and it was THIS close to destroying my castle." Princess Zange walks over to the Warriors for Hire, relatively angry at the whole ordeal.
"Your Majesty, we did the best we could... I'm sorry for letting you down like this." Prohyas sighs with tears in his eyes.
"You're not thinking about replacing us with those two, are you?" Vambre just doesn't make eye contact with anyone at the moment, with her arms crossed and looking at the ruined buildings and smoke that the monster had caused.
"Uhh, no. You two are my mains; I can't just get rid of you after everything you two did for me. They rejected the offer anyway." Zange shook her head.
"So... anything else we can help you with?" Prohyas makes a nervous smile, to which is met with Zangie's sigh of disappointment. Not a very good sign at all, might I add.
"Sorry, but I'm not exactly open to any more jobs for you at the moment. And since you two failed to keep that rocky monster in check, the repairs are gonna be coming out of your check for the next three missions I trust you with." Princess Zange put her foot down, making Prohyas gasp at the thought.
"W-What!? Zange, noooo!" Prohyas pleads out of disbelief, grabbing Vambre's attention as she turned towards Zange when she realized the facts. Princess Zange was one of their most important clients, it's one of the reasons why Rhyboflaven was supportive of them. But without her payment...
"Oh, that just can't be! Zange, we're your most trusted warriors! Without any of your Rhyboflaven sponsored quests, our fundings and popularity would plummet! You have to give us another chance!" Vambre begs on her knees with her brother, her tone filled with sorrow and defeat.
"Pleaaaaaase! We'll repair everything that broke!" Prohyas yells like a child begging for a cookie. But Zangie couldn't help but look at the two sourly after what they failed to do.
"Well, clearly, that win streak you two probably had going before, I'd consider it too good to last. Sorry, royal business and stuff like that." Princess Zange gets on a emergency wooden royal chariot and leaves the Warriors for Hire to ponder their mistakes.
"No...wait..." Vambre teared up over their loss of payment from their number one client. Both warriors were shocked, after everything the two had been through with Zange, their reputation will plummet after the mess-up they did!
Prohyas just tries to put a positive spin on this. He's looking at his fingers wiggling and thinking about a ton of plans. Any favors he could do, any quests they can go on, heck even a plan that could get them rich quick. He's got nothing. This could very well be the first major loss the Warriors have suffered in a while...
"Oh man, Vambre, I didn't think we'd lose this badly. We were so caught up with how awesome the Mystic Fists are that we couldn't focus on our progress. I'm so sorry, everybody." Prohyas sobs and hugs himself, like a kid who had been given a spanking-a mental spanking at that.
Vambre finally got done staring at the trail the chariot went and looked to her brother crying to himself. Seeing her dear brother so down and out made Vambre look at her hands in frustration. Why? Why wasn't she good enough to do what needed to be done? She let all that amazement rush to her head, and she turned out to have failed harder than she had before.
Vambre yells to the sky before falling to her knees, and catching herself with her arms as she could probably even hear her brain berate her for such a performance. But because this was Vambre's brain, she had no intention of blaming herself...
"Can you believe this!? Not only did these guys steal our thunder, and even hurt our brother, but they also caused our best client to cut her pay to us for three whole missions! Isn't that something you wanted to learn out of all of this!?" Vambre's brain shouts at her as her tears start drying up.
"No, but for once, you're right. Those two are way better than the two of us; they know more about magiswords, they have clearly demonstrated their superior power, and now they have more fame than we do. How could I have been so blind beforehand...?" Vambre starts clutching her hands into fists as she looks down at the ground with eyes of rage and jealousy.
Prohyas stopped crying for a bit when he heard Vambre talk to herself. Feeling a wave of motherly comfort enter him, Prohyas just shook his head and wiped his tears as he approached Vambre with a small, yet assuring, smile.
"Vambre, this is no time to be so mad. They showed us something amazing, and at least that's what we should work towards, right?" Prohyas looks for the bright side of things as he slowly approached Vambre before she pounds the ground with her fist, making him flinch.
"O-Oh yeah!? We had been using Magiswords ever since we were children! What makes you think we'll just magically learn how to up our game like they did!? We've had our whole life to practice our Magiswords, and now there's some new technique that we hardly know that the Mystic Fists do, and especially knowing how to do better!" Vambre picked herself up and snapped at her brother invoking a very similar feeling to when Derek snapped at him.
Prohyas raised his finger trying to comfort Vambre, but then sighs as he looks to the ground, too torn to admit she was wrong about that. All he could really reply was, "Wanna go to Joe's?"
"Oh sure, not like anyone will see us as competent Magisword users like those two." Vambre scoffs, as she turns around and kept her eyes away from her brother. Her initial fangirling had now morphed into a strong and dangerous envy.
Prohyas, unsure of what else to do to help, brings out his Dolphin Magisword to hug like his security blanket, as the two just got on their Hoverswords and rode back to Joe's Warrior Lounge slowly.
Prohyas just kept his eyes on Vambre, and the way she just stared forward, both of them frowning all the way.
Just then, Grup suddenly came out of a hyperspace portal, holding the Legendary Swordmecha Magisword for the two. Prohyas smiles at Grup's arrival nonetheless. Vambre doesn't even glance in Grup's direction.
"Okay guys, I got the Magisword! Now where's this monster?" Grup looked around skittishly as the portal closed up behind him.
"A bit late for that, aren't we?" Vambre passed by without even looking at Grup. If he had been there sooner with the Magisword, she would've had more respect for the blue dude.
"Vambre? Prohyas, what's gotten into Vambre? Were you two fighting each other again?" Grup, left out of the loop, wonders looking back and forth between both warriors.
"Sigh. Let's just go to Joe. Maybe he might cheer us up with some witty story he knows..." Prohyas smiles a bit weakly and grabs Grup as he rides on toward Joe's Warrior Lounge, fully aware that his and Vambre's reputation as competent warriors had just taken a nosedive...
To be continued...
