Amored Mao
A few days have passed since Brunhilde made her way to Pure Heart Valley. After initially making such a flashy entrance, Brunhilde and the extended Sheriff's Department stood in the center of the plaza, unsure of what to say or do next.
The silence was broken by none other than the wild Adorabat, as she launched into the air flapping around the massive Mao sister, screaming about how awesome she looked.
Brunhilde thanked Adorabat for her kind words, asking if there was a place they could crash for the night in this town. Adorabat answered saying that she could come back and stay at HQ with the rest of them.
Mao Mao gave Badgerclops a nudge in his side. "Yeah, yeah, I know," Badgerclops said, already knowing that Mao Mao wanted him to get to work on a guest bedroom for the future.
Speaking of which, there was no more room in the HQ: Mao Mao, Badgerclops, and Adorabat had the main and only bedroom, Minori had the living room couch, Tanya could make her own bed with her tanuki abilities, Violet had the couch in the Badgerclops' workspace/garage, and finally, Ashaki had the attic. Where else could Brunhilde sleep?
Brunhilde assured them that she could sleep just about anywhere, and that was exactly what she did. She ended up taking up residence in the training room. Whenever anyone got up for a glass of water, passing the open room, they'd spot Brunhilde in a sitting position, eyes closed, with her spear clutched between her folded arms and pressed to her chest.
Since then, Brunhilde has made short work of any monsters that made their way with her spear. Minori complained that it was boring if Brunhilde just one-shot every monster that waltzed through the gate.
Tanya eyed the giant armored cat, wondering what went through her mind. She donned a steely glare, similar to the one Violet has, completely blank. It felt disturbing to Tanya.
Brunhilde hasn't been very expressive since arriving in Pure Heart. If there was an expression that would describe how Brunhilde looked, it would have to be disdainful.
Brunhilde stepped over the latest victim of her legendary spear. A giant chameleon type monster, who unfortunately, didn't get the chance to show off its hyper realistic camouflage before Brunhilde blew a hole through it with a single thrust.
Tanya stood there, letting Brunhilde pass by her unopposed. Something about this new Mao rubbed her the wrong way. Maybe it was her attitude, or the fact Brunhilde has made little attempt at even talking to Mao Mao like the others have. If anything, Tanya would have to guess that Brunhilde was avoiding her brother on purpose. Maybe one of the other sisters could shed light on this.
Ashaki was pretty easy to find, she was usually spending all of her time in the royal archives. Last she heard, she was practically tearing the castle apart looking for a book that belonged to one of the past monarchs.
"So this is where Auntie Ashaki has been?" Adorabat asked ecstaticly.
Tanya took a moment to process what she just heard. Ever since Minori asked Adorabat to refer to her as her Aunt, the blue bat had been calling all the Mao sisters Aunt or Auntie. "Supposedly, she's searching for a book in this vast palace."
"What do you think she could be looking for?" Adorabat inquired.
"Who knows," Tanya replied. "I just want to ask her a couple questions."
"Then why did you bring me along?" Adorabat wondered aloud.
Tanya was silent for a moment. "For some self assurance."
After getting directions from the guards, they eventually came to one of a dozen studies in the castle. Most of the shelves were missing at least half of their books, presumably those very books were what the multiple pillars of tomes were made of that stood about the study. Ashaki levitated towards the top of one of the shelves flipping through the pages at rapid speed. Getting to the end of the book, she placed it off to the side, making the closest pillar next to her one book taller.
"We're not interrupting are we?" Tanya called up to the mystical cat. Ashaki looked down at them from her vantage point.
"Auntie Ashaki!" Adorabat launched herself from Tanya's shoulder, before flapping up to Ashaki's location, landing on one of the pillars of books. The moment her feet touched the leather of the topmost book, the tower swayed with the addition of her weight.
Ashaki held her hands out, ready to catch Adorabat should the tower fall. "What are you looking for?"
Ashaki opened her mouth, but she closed it immediately after. Thinking about her encounter with the Ruby Pure Heart, maybe it would be best to omit some of the details. "One of the journals to a previous ruler of Pure Heart is missing, I'm hoping it was in one of the studies."
"Is it important?" Adorabat asked, cocking her head to the side.
"Very," Ashaki replied.
"I'll help then!" Adorabat jumped off the tower, sending the numerous books tumbling to the floor. The little bat flew off to another shelf, in search of a book, despite the fact she had no idea what the journal looked like. Ashaki just shook her head with a faint smile, floating down to Tanya, stopping just a few inches above the floor.
"Sorry for the disturbance," Tanya apologized.
"Not at all," Ashaki looked at Tanya, then back at Adorabat. "Was there something you'd like to ask me?" Tanya tensed up, for all Ashaki knew, they could have been here for the king, how'd she know they were here for her?
"Y-yes actually," Tanya stuttered a little. "It's about Brunhilde."
"What about Brunhilde?" Ashaki asked in return. "If you want to know some facts about her, like what she's allergic to, you could have easily gone to either Minori or Violet."
"It's just, she seems like she doesn't want to be here." Tanya explained. "And even more it's like she's purposefully avoiding Mao Mao. I would like to know why."
Ashaki raised her hand to her chin, holding it in thought for a moment, then two, then three. Ashaki was lost in thought for what felt like longer than she should have been before answering Tanya's query with a single word, "no".
"No?" Tanya repeated, caught off guard. "What do you mean 'no'?"
"I meant what I said," Ashaki said before floating back to her shelves. "Brunhilde's reasoning for how she acts is her own, and it isn't my place to be shouting that information for the world to hear. Much less so when the person asking has no reason to know."
Tanya stepped forward, she would have taken another had Adorabat not screamed out.
"Is this the one?" Adorabat flapped down between them, holding up a book with her little wings.
Ashaki took the book, looking at the cover. "This is a cookbook, Adorabat."
"Oh, I'll grab another one then!" Adorabat raised her wings, ready to go grab another book.
"It's alright," Ashaki assured her. "It'll be easier if I look for it myself."
"Are you sure?" Adorabat asked, her eyes widened a little, unsure if she did something wrong.
"Yes, I'm sure," Ashaki assured her. In truth, she just didn't want Adorabat grabbing books she had already looked at messing up the system she already had in place. "I'll come find you for your next Mystic Arts lesson."
"Okay," Adorabat was a little dejected about not being able to help Ashaki, but at the same time she was excited about the prospect for her next lesson. Adorabat hopped back onto Tanya's shoulder and the two left.
The two walked through the halls for a few minutes before Adorabat broke the silence. "Oh, were you able to ask Aunt Ashaki your questions?"
"I was," Tanya answered. "But I wasn't able to get the answers I wanted." Tanya was just glad Adorabat stepped in when she did. She really shouldn't be making a habit of fighting the Mao sisters.
Adorabat smiled. "Hey, no worries. We can figure this out together."
Tanya smiled back. "I sure hope so."
Back at the HQ, Mao Mao came in from doing his rounds to find Badgerclops lying on the couch playing video games. "Have you even moved since I left this morning?"
"Of course I have," Badgerclops replied, wiggling his thumbs. "These digits aren't going to move themselves."
Mao Mao groaned, raising his hand to his forehead. "Not what I meant and you know it." Mao Mao looked over to the training room. Tanya had borrowed Adorabat for something, so training was called off for the day. "Have you seen Brunhilde?"
"Uh, yeah," Badgerclops said, half paying attent to the game and half to Mao Mao. "She and Minori are sparring in the backyard. Speaking of which," with a quick click of a button, Badgerclops put the game on pause. "Don't get me wrong, having your sisters with us has been a blast, but do you know how long they plan to stay?"
"Unfortunately, no," Mao Mao grunted. "They're here for a reason, I just don't know what."
"Well I hope that reason gets resolved soon, our fridge is having trouble keeping up with all these mouths," Badgerclops whined. "It's been months since Brunhilde started living with us."
Mao Mao's ears perked. "Badgerclops, it's been three days."
"It has?" Badgerclops replied, confused. "It feels like it's been longer."
Minori and Brunhilde circled each other. Each of their golden weapons glistened in the afternoon light. Brunhilde had just gotten back from slaying this morning's monster, and Minori asked her for a quick sparring session.
Brunhilde didn't want to, but knowing Minori, her sister wouldn't stop until she said yes. At the very least this would be a good benchmark, to see how her training held out.
Minori was bouncing on the balls of her feet, switch her stances from left leg forward to right leg forward. A trick she picked up in their youth from watching boxing matches. Brunhilde didn't very much care, Minori power lied in her technique, raw power wasn't her wheelhouse. Or that was what Brunhilde had believed.
Minori charged forth with explosive speed that Brunhilde had yet to experience, and with two mighty blows, Brunhilde was on her back, spear still in hand.
What the hell just happened? Those blows rattled her armor, she practically felt them herself. When did Minori develop this kind of strength? Pulling herself back onto her feet, Brunhilde saw Minori shaking her hands.
"Ow, ow, ow," Minori rubbed the back of her knuckles like she was nursing a wound. "That still needs getting used to."
"What was that?" Brunhilde patted her own torso, feeling for any bruises or broken bones.
Minori just flashes a smirk in response. "Impressed? According to Ashaki, since I'm indestructible, I can push my body past its limit with little to repercussions. In fact watch this," Minori picked a stone, that was roughly half the size of a baseball and cupped it between her hands.
Brunhilde stared on for a few moments, when a cracking sound came from between Minori's hands. Opening her palms to Brunhilde, she revealed nothing but the dust that the rock became.
"That's quite a trick," Brunhilde commented. "But you still feel pain, yes?"
"Yeah," Minori rubbed the back of her head. "I may be able to punch a hole through a tree now, but I'm still punching with enough force to put a whole through a tree. It hurts like a son of a bitch."
"So what is your goal? To learn how to block out the pain? Know how to endure it?"
"Something along those lines," Minori laughed. "The pain is good for its own reasons, you know? Lets you know when something is wrong and all that. I'm essentially looking to grow used to the pain."
"So to endure then," Brunhilde said to herself. She racked her brain for any lessons the Unbeatable Master had on endurance. "Constant exposure is probably the way you want to go then."
"Constant exposure?"
"Yes," Brunhilde affirmed. "Just punch some boulders or something durable until you grow used to the pain."
"That seems rather simplistic doesn't it?" Minori asked.
"Do you have any better ideas?" countered Brunhilde.
Minori opened her mouth then closed it, lacking any better ideas of her own. The silence was cut short as the monster alarm blared up again. "Yes! Another monster, just what I needed!"
Minori bolted for the HQ, looking to get a ride on one of the aero vehicles. Brunhilde just rolled her eyes and followed at a mellower pace. Minori wasted no time grabbing Mao Mao, asking him to take her down the village.
Brunhilde had made several notes of interest since she arrived. One of which being that Minori had been hanging around Mao Mao quite a bit. Ashaki was off burying her nose in books, nothing new there. Violet would help Mao Mao with training of the small bat child. Speaking of which, she was apparently an aunt now? Here she was, nearing her fourties, and her younger brother already had a child.
"You coming, Brunhilde?" Minori called to her as she and Mao Mao started heading to the garage.
Mao Mao just looked Brunhilde up and down, she was by far the largest individual in the house at this point, even dwarfing Badgerclops by two feet. It was highly doubtful she could fit on the Aerocycle with the two of them as well.
"You go on ahead," Brunhilde waved. "I'll catch up."
Minori shrugged. "Your loss, don't complain when we beat it before you arrive." Descending down into the garage, Minori hopped onto the back of the Aerocycle. "Come on, let's go!"
"Yeah, yeah," Mao Mao engaged his helmet, straddling his bike. Revving the engine, they took off, getting splashed by the cold waterfall as they emerged into the sky.
"What kind of monster do you think we'll get to fight this time?" Minori jostled around, unable to keep her excitement contained. "I hope something with camouflage, Brunhilde took out that last monster too quickly."
"Hopefully it won't take too long," Mao Mao replied. As they came into view of the plaza, the monster came into view as well. "No way."
"What?" Minori saw what Mao Mao was talking about. "There's no way."
The monster stood tall, with cloven hooves, and curved horns like a bull, and its body was covered in scars. They had fought this monster once before.
"Is that Bessie?" Minori shouted with excitement.
Author's Note
Sorry for lack of communication about the updates. Truth is I didn't know how to go about these next few chapters, aside from the main storylines, I did not put too much thought into what happens after Brunhilde showed up. There's also one particular scene that has had me debating whether or not to upgrade this story from PG-13 to M. Still not sure, I may either scrap it, or tone it down.
I also haven't kept it a secret that I've been burned out from the story, so I've made an executive decision.
I'm gonna shotgun the story, what that means is instead of story chapters with bits of filler here and there, I'm just going to go all in on the story. So the third act may be shorter than the previous two. Also, just a heads up, we have either two or three chapters until the end of Act 2, and I am excited to write Act 3. Guess I just gotta power through. XD
Again, sorry for the late update.