Chapter 16: Aurelia
There are a lot of monsters we haven't talked about yet and few are described properly here. For convenience I placed their names and originals at the very end of this chapter. You can go see the reasoning behind the name changes in the google spreadsheet if you want.
***
Aurelia felt sick about what she had done. She felt betrayed. She felt angry, really angry. Her guilt had quickly turned into pure hatred. Her stomach had nothing to reject anymore and her mind had cleared. She wished to rip him apart, grind him into powder on the road of death.
No one had the right to hurt her precious daughter! No one! She was the only thing she had ever done right in her life. She was the only thing she held dear. Someone had kidnapped her daughter, someone had beat and strangled her precious daughter, someone had made her daughter cry. That someone was Hergis, that someone deserved to die!
She went back to her vast room and yanked open one of the drawer so hard it's content were strewn across the room. Bending herself, she picked up what she had come to get. A p-ball belt, height balls on it, a battle monster master belt.
Very few actually knew she was a BMM, she had never used that title for anything and no one had challenged her in forever. In fact, it was her husband that had given her the title by using a lot of money for it. She wasn't as strong as most other BMM but she was still a force to be reckoned with. He had wanted to please her by giving her this title but she had never seen the use of it. It only inconvenienced her every time someone wanted to take the title for himself and challenged her for it.
Now though, she felt thankful for it. Now, she had a use for it. In an official league match against a BMM, you were limited to six monsters but this would not be an official league match. This was a simple vengeance, a cleanup job.
battle monster masters where duty bound to help with the security and well-being of the citizens in the region they mastered, to kill that bastard could be considered her job. It was a job she had never cared for until now but it was never too late to change for the better.
She strapped the belt on her waist and immediately picked up the seventh ball. From it was released a noble nine tailed fox. Kita was proud, tall and ancient. The fox's fur was pure gold, it was tall enough to let its head rest easily on her shoulders and it's nine enormous tails could hide an entire person behind them.
It was usually lazy, knowing it was one of her two trump cards, he only got out for the grand finale or not at all. Today was different, there was no enemy where it had been summoned but it's mistress felt extremely angry. Kita had never felt such anger from its mistress and stood at attention, waiting on an explanation or at least a command, feverish.
"I must smell like a man do I not? I know this is bellow you but find him using his smell and bring me to him. Let me ride you to get there faster."
The monster made a sharp nod and let her on its luxurious back before it ran off in the long labyrinthine corridors of the palace-like mansion. It's powerful paws breaking the floor tiles without a care as it's claws dug into the hard ground bellow. Aurelia had her arms around its neck to hold on, grinding her teeth in seething anger.
Finally, they came across her target in the entrance hall. At first, she thought he was running away but no, instead, he was just sitting there like nothing happened, wasting his time. This made her even more furious. She got down from the back of her trusted fox and fixed the man with her eyes. Of course, it was very hard to miss her arrival so Hergis immediately greeted her, not minding the giant nine tailed fox.
"Oh, you're already back? Perhaps are you here to cool some steam off with me?"
Shivers crawled down her spine hearing him. She had an entirely different cooling method than what he thought. She raised her finger towards him and gave the order.
"Don't mind the house, blast him to oblivion."
"What?"
Kita didn't wait for him to make a move and instantly used Fireblast. It took only an instant to gather the power in its throat before it spat it out at Hergis. Once in the open air, the blast expended to an impressive four meters tall fireball that shot through the room, withering the plants in the nearby pots.
Hergis reacted quickly and summoned a sligon in front of him to block the sudden assault. The creature of goo punched straight into the incoming inferno, releasing its might. The powerful collision broke down the blast but sent out shock-waves in every direction. Shattering the vases and the windows, cracking the walls and floor and pushing the goo monster back. Hergis was visibly confused.
"What is happening? Did you free yourself from the hypnosis?"
Hypnosis? Had she been but under hypnosis? She could have spewed blood out of sheer anger at this moment. This living trash had not only hurt her daughter but hypnotized her too? She unhooked the sixth ball from her waist and summoned her Seerknit. Hers was an ice cold beauty, raining doom with a simple look of disdain. The cold green and white feminine form floated in front of her trainer with dignity. She cast a glance at the destroyed hall, Hergis and then her mistress.
"Mela, am I under hypnosis?"
The monster nodded and put its palm on her forehead to remove the influence. A numbing pain spread through her mind before it all became clear. The dashing looks of Hergis where replaced by his useless self. His proud demeanor replaced by an ordinary man. She almost shattered her own teeth in anger. Disgusting pig with a lecherous grin. He had always been like so.
"I WILL KILL YOU!"
"Wait, if you weren't there about this then why were you after me?"
She didn't even feel like answering him. she once again reached for her belt an took out the eight ball. From it, a second nine tailed fox appeared. Taki was as big and old as Kita but he was ice blue instead of golden, he was from the rare tropical breed. A perfect mirror of her first fox. A perfect partner, and also, a perfect counter to the jelly dragon in front of them.
"Is it about your daughter? Don't tell me you're angry about her, everybody knows you don't really care about her. You can't even talk to her properly!"
Aurelia was now burning from anger. Was he doing his best to anger her? It was absolutely working. As her left hand clenched so hard blood seeped out under her nails, her right ripped off all the remaining balls from her belt. There was no need to restrain herself, that pile of mortal mold needed to disappear this instant!
"NO ONE HURTS MY DAUGHTER!"
The balls opened up to reveal her full team. Her heavy hitters where all already out but the rest of her team could provide powerful support. A flying squirrel named Nanta, a lillydance named Marilee, a raffillon named Harley, a lopin named Bonica and a chinable named Chinchi.
"KILL HIM! BURN HIM! SMASH HIM TO FUCKING BITS!"
Those weren't coherent orders and the whole group of loyal creatures weren't used to work all at the same time but they could easily feel the importance of the orders they had just received. They would give it their all to crush the one responsible for their mistress anger.
"What the hell! Why do you have eight of them? Don't tell me you of all people are a master! That's impossible."
Before he could react, a blizzard came out of nowhere, smashing through the already broken windows to hammer him and his dragon-slime. The dragons hated the cold but the creature still moved to protect its master with its body. He had only just moved when a lightning fast pink lopin came flying in with a powerful kick from the other side. Hergis barely moved quickly enough to get out of the way of the kick and scrambled to get all his monsters fast enough to save himself. The kick landed half a meter in front of him and sent blocks of smashed tiles and concretes in the air around him.
The follow up kick was intercepted by the belly of a slohpex he barely summoned in time. Then an unseen mental attack was blocked by his hyphob, his artieuvre started to smash up incoming elemental attacks from everywhere, his preying-starling chased after the raffillon and the oneleger charged forward to counter attack. The fight had just started but he was already at a clear disadvantage. It was a terrible match up for him, he was at a numerical disadvantage and his monsters weren't raised to fight in life and death scenarios.
Aurelia quickly gave more orders to fix the chaotic state of the battle.
"Kita and Taki, you both get rid of that pile of goo, Mela stall that damn hyphob for time, Bonica, go around it, it's not gonna move from there, Marilee block that yellow monkey, Harley get rid of the octopus, Nanta protect her from the bird and Chinchi harass and support."
Hergis used this precious short time to try and make sense of what was happening. He was not a fighter, he had a hard time reading the flow of the battle. There was too much happening all at once, he didn't know from where to start. He quickly came to the conclusion he had no chance of winning at all. Is only chance would be if she made an outrageous mistake. Maybe if he angered her enough, she would slip up and he would be able to slip away.
"Rip, move your fat ass from the ground and protect me now or I won't give you girls to play with anymore!"
The slohpex grumbled and moved in front of his master but the much more agile lopin just ran around him and sent another flying kick his way. Hergis dodged by jumping backwards unto his freezing sligon. He laughed crazily.
"Don't you want to know what I was supposed to do with her? They changed the plan and asked me to send her over there but that wasn't what was planned at first."
"Shut up!"
The slohpex slapped lopin away while paralytic powder fell everywhere around him from the raffillon. Meanwhile, the two giant foxes started a mad dash towards the sligon switching their positions over and over in a blur of gold and platinum blue. Both of them where shooting fireballs and razor sharp icicles at it while they ran. Sligon had not been able to lunch even a single attack since the start. he was too busy protecting itself from those two foes and keeping track of its master.
"I'm not a monster trainer, what I train are humans! I pick them up and mold them however I want."
His artieuvre shot a couple of hydro pump towards the foxes but got quickly interrupted by the bug that started draining it of his energy. The preying-starling came to its rescue but almost got shot down from the sky by a lightning shot from its right.
"I break their minds and then rebuild them into subservient slaves! All my monsters are chosen for this one purpose!"
"Shuuuuut up!"
The hyphob and the seerknit where still stuck in a staring contest. The lillydance tried to root the oneleger in place but got punched square in the face instead and sent flying backwards. The chinable blinded it with a dazling light before it could make a follow up attack and a storm of petals forced it to step back.
"I use hyphob to slowly rework their minds while artieuvre is used to keep them in place. sligon does most of the work, drowning them in goo and hugging them into submission.
"What is wrong with you!"
A vicious frost attack almost hit him but sligon blocked with its arm, freezing it solid. From out of nowhere, a bleeding Bonica came and kicked at it so hard that it broke off from the rest of its body and missed Hergis's head by an inch. He Threw himself on the left and arrived beside his poor artieuvre that had already fainted. He looked for another shield and saw his slohpex.
"You didn't even hear the best part yet, oneleger is there for a shock therapy sure but when I get a real rebellious one, I give them to Rip to toy with. He loves teenage girls the most. that is why I called him Rip, that's the sound they usually do before he is done with them!"
How could someone be so disgusting? Aurelia's head was just filled with fury.
"Just die already!"
The hyphob was so focused on in mental fight that he never saw the raffillon slowly landing on his head. Aurelia's raffillon was magnificent, the most breathtaking of all butterflies. Harley had no red in its pattern, focusing on an intricate design of gold and ice blue instead. Its delicate features hovering in the air thanks to its graceful wings spanning a good meter. Once it did land on him, it started to shake it's wings dizzyingly fast producing a powerful buzzing sound that made the hyphob bleed from its ears and shattered his concentration. Mela the seerknit wasted no time and fried its mind with all the psychic powers she could gather.
"I'm sure I would've needed to use him on Aurora." Hergis madly continued. "That bitch bites hard you know. She really needs a good lesson."
"Argh! Just forget about his trashy monsters, focus on him first."
All her companions redirected their attention on him immediately. In particular, the flying-squirrel stopped harassing his bird and dive-bombed him. Hergis took his chances there.
"Rip, squash that thing!"
Slohpex was definitely slower than a flying-squirrel but the small creature had been careless and got hit really badly. The powerful blow sent it crashing against the nearby wall and it fell to the ground, knocked out. There was nothing left to stop Hergis's preying-starling from taking off.
"Catcher! Grab me and we escape!"
"I won't let you! Kitataki! Flamethrower and ice-beam on him!" Aurelia had the habit of calling them both with one name to gain that precious fraction of a second.
"Rip, sligon!"
The wall of goo and the giant ape intercepted the two beams but Aurelia had a lot more monsters to get him.
"Mela, teleport Marilee then psychic! Marilee root him down!"
Mela used teleport to move with the plant but once it had moved, the oneleger was freed from its binding and charged at Aurelia, intending to shock her enough to stop her from handing out commands. Once again, Chinchi came to the rescue and let out a powerful scream that stopped it dead in its track for a small moment.
In that moment, Mela's psychic strike slowed the bird enough to let Marilee catch him with a bunch of vines. It's powerful claws quickly ripped them apart but it missed the incoming Lopin.
The slophex had its hands full with the ice beam and wasn't there to block it anymore, the roots lasted long enough for it to land an high jump kick. The kick had such power behind it that it twisted the neck of the bird instantly and made it spin in the air releasing Hergis who fell face first on the ground.
The oneleger moved again and dashed to the chinable but rammed into a force wall instantly erected by Mela who had teleported back.
The raffillon appeared behind the slohpex and started to rain stun spores right on its head.
Just at its side, the sligon was in a really bad shape now, bleeding profusely from its missing arm and getting continuously blasted by ice and fire. It let out a roar of rage and charged forward, uncaring for its master anymore. It went straight for the foxes that annoyed him so much. Struggling at the end of its life, it let out beams of energy and powerful blows at the foxes agilely dancing around him. Maybe if he had started with this, he could have made more damage but now, he had lost too much strength and he only managed to bruise Kita on its side before it collapsed dead.
Rip wanted to go and help it but failed to move a single muscle, it finally fell down and decided to take a nap to recover some strength.
The last monster standing on Hergis's side was the oneleger who unleashed all its stored energy to brute force its way through the barrier. It managed to not only go through but also shock the chinable into unconsciousness despite its protective fur. Panting, the oneleger made a step forward, or at least tried, looking down, roots had firmly ensnared it and some even started to dig their way under its skin. In panic, it struggled and cast lightning everywhere but a final mental attack from Mela put him to rest.
Hergis got back up from the ground with difficulty and pain to see the disaster around him. His mind started spinning, desperately searching for a way out. Not seeing any, he knew it was all over. Instead of trying to apologize and beg for mercy, he spat out more profanities in anger.
"She was too small to eat yet but at least I got a pretty good taste of you!"
He turned around to at least try to flee and came face to face with Bonica. He got punched in the junk, bent down in pain and got kicked in the head by the powerful leg of the rabbit. He fell back down on his back and almost instantly, two looming shadows were cast above him, the two foxes. Biting cold on his right and singeing heat on his left. Maybe he should have controlled his words a bit?
"Still in the end we will win! We have the girl already it's too late! I can give you a lot of information though if you want. I may look like this but I'm fairly high placed."
She couldn't care less about his halfhearted begging.
"End him!"
It's in screams of agonizing pain that Hergis died half burnt half frozen.
Aurelia's husband showed up a short time after. He barely gazed at the devastation before he ran up to his wife to ask her what had happened.
"Aurelia, are you alright? What happened?"
Concern was lacing his voice as he neared her and seeing him like this she couldn't help but burst in tears.
After a while of comforting and holding his wife, he managed to understand what had happened. She had murdered Hergis in a fit of rage. It was annoying because he had wanted to interrogate him but in the end, he would probably have died anyway so it wasn't that dramatic and he wasn't angry at her.
He promised his wife she wouldn't get in trouble for this and started making plans in his head on how to repair the hall and rework the security of the mansion.
He was seriously displeased by them. Yes, he had asked them to use as many people as necessary to find out about the camera hidden in the dining room but there should still have been some guards near the main door of his home. Either they deserted or they were doing an awful job, they needed to be replaced. No one should have been able to abduct his daughter right under his nose and his wife should have been stopped before she killed Hergis.
Maybe he really needed some sort of special fighting unit like the son of Craze wanted to pass himself as. It would not be that hard to do as the pair asked from him, and the public would not be surprised to see the new guards once he would tell them about the threats and his destroyed hall.
For now, he focused on the rest of his messy day. He accompanied his wife to the battle monster center, got rid of Hergis's corpse and all his monsters, made some calls to create a team of designers charged with producing a special uniform and a mask in the shortest of delay, planed the rebuilding of the floors his wife had broke and the entire hall, fired the guards and organized a new press conference to be held as soon as he would have his hands on the uniforms.
That evening, he was sat back in his office, trying to relax when his phone rang again. Looking at the number, it was someone he hadn't spoken to in a long time. Wondering what he wanted, he picked up the phone.
"Stardust, it's been a long time." Said the voice.
He talked like an old friend but Richard was fed up with his day and knew that this call couldn't be anything good.
"What do you want?"
"Not even a greeting, really? Did you have that long of a day?"
"Yes, I did, I'm really tired now, I don't need you to add up on it."
"It won't take too long old friend. I had a great idea and I wanted to offer you something. It's going to be worth your time, I promise."
Richard had a loud sigh but still gave him the permission to talk.
"Fine, talk already, what do you want from me?"
"It's about our little competition. Let's be honest, you have no chance of winning, Craze knows it, I know it and you know it."
What a gentle way to put it. Thought Mr. Stardust.
"With that as a basis, you still put down quite the effort on making and raising your daughter. Aside from her handicap, she seems to be quite something. I think that what hindered you the most was how much time you wasted on selecting who would be the mother. I wasn't much better in that regard. I admit that our stupidity gave Craze quite the head start but this may be a good thing as well. Since you and your daughter won't win on your own, how about we share the victory instead? My boy is just a bit older than her after all, let's have them get along, my boy wins and your daughter gets a good husband that will sit on the throne of victory."
On the surface, this seemed like a good deal for him. Everything Richard had done in the last twenty years had been to help his kid win. How much time and money had he spent just to find someone of Aurelia's bloodline? After Aurora's birth though, he had quickly changed his mind. He found that the competition didn't really matter to him, only his daughter herself mattered. He had big plans for her and did give her all he could but he had given up any hopes of winning long ago.
With that deal, he would officially be out of the competition, his daughter would be safer since she wouldn't be a true target anymore and if that guy won, the future of his daughter would be assured. There were a couple of flaws in his reasoning though. It was him after all who started all this. He wasn't willing to share back then, why would he have changed his mind now? More importantly,
"You weren't fast enough. Craze moved first and had her kidnapped."
"What? This is troubling, is that why you're acting so cold with me? I thought the rules prevented that kind of thing?"
"Apparently, for Craze, kidnapping her doesn't seem to be the same as not going directly against her."
There was a silence between them and Richard took the opportunity to have a sip of whiskey.
"What are you planning to do now?" Said his phone.
"Keep my daughter safe at all cost. If your son really wants my angel, he is going to have to get her on his own. Aside from that, I would really appreciate if you and Craze left us out of this."
"I guess we'll see if that happens or not." The voice said before hanging up.
"Scheming bastard." Mumbled Richard.
For all his obvious flaws, at least Craze was straightforward. He was easier to understand and to deal with than his other 'friend'. Always scheming and sneaking in the background. Slow but vicious, that was how he would describe him. There was no reason to tell him how the issue had somehow been resolved already.
***
Monster names
Ninet*les - Nine tailed fox: Aurelia has two, Kita and Taki
G**dra - Sligon
G*rdevoir - Seerknit: Aurelia's is named Mela
Em*lga - Flying-squirel: Aurelia's is named Nanta
Lill*gant - Lillydance: Aurelia's is named Marilee
Beaut*fly - Raffillon: Aurelia's is named Harley
Lop*nny - Lopin: Aurelia's is named Bonica
Cincc*no - Chinable: Aurelia's is named Chinchi
Sl*king - Slohpex: The one belonging to Hergis is named Rip
H*pno - Hyphob
Octill*ry - Artieuvre
Star*ptor - Preying-starling: The one belonging to Hergis is named Catcher
Electab*zz - Oneleger
As for what Hergis meant by all his nonsense, I will let you decide if it was just random crap to anger Aurelia or if he really intended to torture the girl.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
RedSambrood
RedSambrood It's a short one I know, I could have added more descriptions but I wanted to keep the pace of the fight clean. Then, there was nothing to really talk about on that side. That fight might have been a bit too hectic. Fourteen monsters fighting at once in the middle of two people screaming is a bit hard to describe. Next fight will be simpler.
Next time, we are back with Blaze for the adventure of Aurora to the convenience store.
Chapter 17: Scare of the night
After their call with Aurora's father ended, they were hopeful about getting some disguise but they still needed some supplies in town.
"Now we're in town but because of what we did earlier, everyone is going to be on high alert. We can't just run in and out with supplies can we? What should we do?" Asked Gilly.
They had all sat back down in a triangle after the call and the girls were petting their battle monsters while talking. Blaze would have done it too because Dawnshield's fur seemed really pleasant to touch but he wanted him to remain serious and focused. Rewards would happen only if he deserved them.
Still only lit by the lamp, he didn't seem as scary as earlier to Aurora as he talked.
"We can't even run out of town yet because we need to stay to be able to receive our things from Mr. Stardust."
(Should we just stay here and wait for father then?) Signed Aurora.
"We can't because it could take him a long while to send us some masks, we'll starve way before that."
"Then what should we do? Aren't we screwed?"
"No, we aren't because we got a new friend here to help." He said, shooting a meaningful look at Aurora.
"And how exactly is she supposed to help? You aren't planning on sending her in town alone to do our shopping for us are you?"
Aurora really hoped this wasn't the case.
"This is exactly what I was thinking. She is the only one here who won't get jumped by the police the moment she gets outside."
(But what if I encounter some more bad guys?) She worried.
"I don't think you'll see any. They must have been hit pretty badly by the police raid earlier, if there are still some left, they must be hiding like us. I can promise nothing will happen to you. Just in case though, I'll send Dawnshield with you."
If he was confident in his promise he wouldn't send his battle monster with her!
"It will be my honor to escort the second lady on her quest." The small knight expressed in a chittering fit.
"Blaze, you should let her rest, She had some traumatic experiences today."
"Look I swear I understand but we really need her to do it. I'm not asking for the moon, we just need her to walk to a mart and buy a bunch of food and straws."
Both girls felt a bit displeased about sending the small one alone but they knew they didn't have a choice.
(Alright then, I'll go.) Aurora said before standing back up.
"I trust you, you can do it." Blaze told her.
"Stay safe, look both ways before crossing the street." Worried Gilly.
"She'll be fine."
Aurora advanced all the way to the door with Magus and Dawnshield and turned around to look at the other two again.
"Bye, see you later." Called Blaze with a friendly smile and a wave of is hand.
"Quick before it gets dark!" Gilly urged her.
Aurora waved them goodbye too and gathered her courage with a deep breath before pushing the old door open. Peeking outside, there was no one in sight. She slipped through the doorway with her two small guardians and closed back the door behind her.
To find a mall, she only had to go towards the city center didn't she? She looked around a bit and found in which direction the city seemed to grow.
While she walked towards that way, she often shot nervous looks around, her afraid something or someone would jump at her. The further from the other two she went, the more stressed and scared she felt. She didn't want to be alone again. It felt so much safer in between those two. Now that she knew all of Blaze's abilities, he didn't seem that strong but she still felt much better with them than without.
"Do not worry second lady, I will watch out for any ambush. This brave knight will not let you down!" Reassured Dawnshield with its small voice.
"I won't let anything harm you again." Said Magus "Let us work together knight."
"Of course, with us two around, nothing will be able to leave a scratch on her."
Their talk felt soothing for her. It reminded her that she wasn't really alone. These two would protect her just fine for a bit and she would be back shortly. She thanked them both with a pat and a scratch behind the ears and continued her mission after stifling her anxiety with another deep breath.
Walking under the stretching shadows of the old dilapidated buildings, Aurora had some time to think about what had happened to herself. Now that she wasn't in immediate danger and that she had calmed down a bit, she was able to look back at what she had done more clearly.
She had been betrayed, attacked, kidnapped and in her panic had ended up linking her life to a guy she had never met before. Why did she do that? Did she really feel that lonely? She should have waited to know those two better before she waved the invitation before them. Now she was stuck with them, what if they turned out to be boring or worse, mean?
If her tastes weren't close to theirs, they would constantly be annoyed at each other. She missed the friends she had in her other life. Who knew if she would get along with Blaze and Gilly as well as she did with her best friend Cassia. Would she ever see her again?
If she was to be moved from world to world every ten years until she died, logic said she wouldn't. Tears gathered at the corner of her eyes again. What was the point of freezing the world she was from while she was gone if she was never coming back? Was the voice lying or hiding something from them? There must be a way to go back.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she reached a mart with its classic giant ball sign above the door. She had barely left the outskirts of the town and she already found one, these things really were everywhere.
She passed the sliding doors and once she was inside looking at the shelves, she suddenly realised that they didn't tell her what to buy. She was so preoccupied that she didn't even think about asking them. What kind of food did they want exactly? She couldn't exactly go back now to ask them, it would be such a waste of time. The guy at the counter started looking at her with a frown because of how long she stood in the doorway so she stepped further inside and moved her feet towards the food and snacks.
Walking down the alley, she looked at all the things presented, wondering what the others would like. Maybe chips, everyone liked chips. She picked up a bunch of snacks she liked, a bunch of fruit and chocolate bars. If she was to buy a bunch of food, might as well pick things she liked. She was about to go to the counter with those things before remembering she would need to eat it all through a straw.
She put everything back onto the shelves in disappointment except from the fruits. After walking up and down the rows a couple of time, she finally found herself in front of the counter and the guy working behind the cash register. She pushed all the food, straws and painkillers onto the counter, complaining in her head that it was way too high. She wasn't small! It was the counter that was way too tall for normal human beings, that's it.
"Hello flower girl, what happened to you?"
She wasn't little! Also, why did he call her flower girl? Was it because of the two grass type at her side, because of her hair or something else? Anyway, she pointed at her face and tried to mimic him that she couldn't talk.
"Wow that's terrible." The guy said as if he somehow understood what had happened to her through those few gestures.
His aura seemed to indicate he was a bit sad for her but the way he talked was so weird. he didn't mind the weird look she shot him as he scanned everything she was buying.
"Is it really okay for you to come here alone this late?"
She pointed at her two protectors, she wasn't alone.
"I see... you're not a talkative one are you?"
She paid up for everything and shoved it all into her backpack before leaving for the door.
"Be careful from now on little girl."
Wasn't that guy annoyingly nosy? And she wasn't little! She didn't turn around to wave him goodbye and just left stomping her feet. Outside it was dusk, a dark one where the sun is already beyond the horizon and the moon hasn't risen yet.
It was chilling, not in a cold way but more in a scary sense. She let the two grass types lead the way and hid herself behind them on her way back. The street lamps were lit everywhere at first but soon, reaching the abandoned part of the town, they faded and left her in the dark. She hurried back, she really didn't want to stay out any longer.
Meanwhile, back in their temporary hideout, Blaze was talking with Gilly.
"In the end, we really are getting saved by a rich person." Blaze casually told Gilly.
"What are we talking about here?"
"You said you weren't cursed and to prove it you said something like 'There's no way we're going to be rescued by an extremely rich person'"
"Oh shit, I forgot about that. Do you think I really am cursed?"
"No, I still don't think curses are a thing."
"But, that thing gave you two real curses before sending you in our world didn't it?"
Blaze had not thought about it that way.
"It's not really a curse is it? I'm pretty sure it's got nothing to do with magic."
"Aren't you just hiding behind words now? There's even one called 'damned' you said. How can you say they aren't curses?"
"Think whatever you want of those, we can't change them anyway. I don't think you are cursed either. It's just a coincidence. I don't think that you saying that could ever cause us to bump into Aurora who just happened to be another participant. Also, I doubt you could use a curse to your advantage so conveniently."
"Yeah, maybe, that wouldn't be very curse-like. But it's a really strange coincidence isn't it? What do you intend to do with her?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I don't mind bringing her around with us or even more, but isn't she too small? It'll be like raising a kid even though I couldn't have mine yet, that's disappointing. Even more precisely, what happen when we get married and I want some alone time with my other half? She's always going to be there."
Blaze didn't particularly want to know what she meant by 'or even more' but he did understand her overall point.
"Yeah, I get it but she won't be right between us all the time. She will probably understand if we want a bit of time alone together. I'm sure we can find a way to distract her for a while. As for raising her, we aren't, we're only training her and protecting her, it's different."
"Is it?"
She didn't seem convinced at all.
"You have to remember that she lived another life before this one, she might look small and young but in reality, she may have lived longer than you. From what I understand of the show she and I are stuck in, we will probably have to fight together for tens of years. I fully intend to make her into someone I can count on."
"But right now, she is just as big of a weakness as I am myself. You better train her good or you'll just have a dead weight stuck to you forever."
"I will, don't worry, I'll do my best. What about you though? Do you want me to train you as well?"
"Nah, I don't have all your fancy powers, I'll just stick to training monsters, that at least I can understand." She said with a pout.
"Are you mad at me?"
"No, why?"
"You seem mad, tell me the truth."
"I'm just annoyed that I finally got you for myself but then I didn't. I'm not mad. I'm not angry at her either, I think it's great that she is here, it's a good thing for us, I just wanted more time alone with you."
"We will have plenty of time, believe me. We are getting some right now."
"Yeah, you're right..." She said in a long sigh. "It's not really related but, having found a second one like you suddenly made all this talk about other worlds much more real."
"Gilly... I-"
"I know, you said you would definitely find a way to bring me but I'm still scarred."
Blaze had no idea on how to reassure her. He took her in his arms and stayed silent for a while. There were too many things he didn't know, anything could happen and the simple truth was that, if the void entity decided he couldn't bring her with him, there was nothing he could do, he was powerless against it. Still, he needed to tell her something no matter what.
"Look, honestly, I don't know yet but it would only be logical to have a way to bring someone else."
"How is anything about this logical? We are talking about being thrown into other worlds here, with almighty beings of light, weird powers and curses."
"I get that the situation itself is far from logical but its actions aren't that chaotic. It's just a thing that was bored and created a show to entertain itself. I believe it even said it was broadcasting it somewhere meaning he isn't the only one watching. My point is that no one likes a show where an important character disappears for no reason. In that case, there must be a way."
"I guess it does make sense." She said unwillingly.
"Right? Just believe me on this like you so readily believe I will somehow get us out of the mess my father made."
"Ho, but I have no doubt that you will." She said with a half smile.
At this point, the mood was much better, she was just trying to act sad to get spoiled some more. Blaze indulged her for a bit and afterward, they talked about trivial things while waiting for Aurora to come back.
When Aurora opened the door with her bit of supplies, the other two were setting up their things for the night inside the abandoned building. She ran inside the dark building to flee the outside that was just as dark. Her heart was beating fast but her stress instantly vanished when she got closer to the light and her two new partners.
She felt extremely proud of herself because she went to a store by herself for the first time, in the dark no less, and came back just fine. She was thrilled about what she had accomplished and the proof was in the strong pain she felt in her jaws because of the smile she couldn't suppress.
The other thing she felt was relief, she was so glad nothing happened and so relieved that everything went like it was supposed to and everyone was here and fine.
"Aurora, you're back! Good job." Gilly told her with a hug.
The hug felt really warm compared to the cold outside and very reassuring. It was a hug telling her everything would be fine. She had no reason to worry about if she would get along with them or not. Of course they would never replace Cassie but who said she could only have one best friend? (1)
While she was receiving her congratulatory hug, Dawnshield was praised by his master for his good work. Unlike Gilly, Blaze waited to see what she had brought back before he told her she did a good job. He didn't want to reward her for a failed job.
"Great, well done. That should be enough while we wait for your father."
(Thanks)
Aurora had a mental smile. She hadn't done it to be praised, praises coming from him weren't that rewarding, she just wanted him to do his best to train and help her. For that, she needed to do her best as well. Her father had said it the other day, you do all you can for your friends because you know they will do the same. If she made no efforts at all, he probably wouldn't feel inclined to help her. It wasn't that she disliked him, or at least she didn't think so. It was more because it felt like being praised by a total stranger, it was very close to be the actual truth too.
After that, they went back to setting up their camp. It didn't take them that long since it was impossible to pitch their tent on concrete. They had to settle for floor mats and sheets which didn't take as long to set up.
Once everything was in place, they threw Blaze out of the building so that the girls could change into their pajamas. If only Gilly had been there, he would have just turned around, even though she would have probably said it was fine to not look away. But, Aurora was here too so he was forced to leave. While outside, Blaze made sure that nothing seemed out of the ordinary and that no one was walking around nearby until he was called back.
Once back inside, he first saw that they both wore a pajama of the pear brand and he found it really funny. Just the name alone was hilarious, it was a pear pajama but everyone just called them P-jamas. Aside from that, they were really ordinary clothes. He went to his own sleeping bag without laughing and made sure his equipment was close by in case something happened. They had separated their sleeping bags with the two girls on one side and Blaze on the other, with the lamp in the center of the three meter wide space in between them.
"Are you sure that's all right? I'd rather sleep on your side." Gilly said, mischievous and disappointed in equal part.
"It's better that way." He answered with a goodnight kiss.
Of course it was better that way! Thought Aurora. She didn't want to sleep alone in this dark and creepy place and she wasn't about to sleep with a boy so close, especially Blaze.
They all said goodnight to each other and after she took some of the painkillers, she laid down in her sleeping bag like the other two. Houndy came to sleep against Gilly while the other two monster took their jobs much more seriously and prepared to keep a semblance of watch on the sleeping group.
She signalled Magus to come closer and petted his head to reward his diligence before hiding herself within her bag. Her green friend seemed to really appreciate it and made one of its large lazy smiles. With Gilly just at her side and Magus watching over her, she fell asleep almost immediately.
***
Through the haze of her sleeping mind and the darkness of her closed eyes, Aurora started hearing noises. Unsure if she was still sleeping or not, she could barely register the rustles, the grunts and the whispering voice. She tried to make out what those things were and after a long time of foggy confusion, she guessed that the voice was probably Gilly. That was right, she was currently camping with the two known terrorist. Her heart skipped a beat and then calmed down again remembering all that had happened already, she was safe. But what was going on?
"Blaze, stop." Gilly was saying.
Aurora felt that her voice didn't come from where it was supposed to so she opened one of her eyes and discovered that Gilly wasn't asleep at her side anymore.
"It's just a nightmare, calm down, everything's fine."
Searching through the weakly lit area around the lamp, she found her kneeling close to Blaze. She was gently holding his head on her lap and whispering more calming words to him. Even in the dark she could tell, he wasn't looking good. He seemed to be in a lot of pain, he tossed and turned and was slick with sweat. What was going on with him? What sort of nightmare did he have?
Aurora too had some nightmares from time to time but she could hardly believe she looked like that when she made those bad dreams. The three monsters were also looking confusedly at the scene, Dawnshield seemed especially nervous for his lord.
Gilly shook him a bit in an attempt to wake him up.
"Come on, you're gonna wake up Aurora. Blaze!" She was saying in her ushered voice.
Suddenly, he turned on himself and hit Gilly in the knee with a half closed fist. Aurora would have gasped of surprise but the bandage around her head stopped her.
"Ow! Every time!" She hissed quietly. "Wake up Blaze!" Her voice was annoyed but her aura was just a worried shaking mess.
Aurora sat up to have a better look and ask what was going on. She didn't even have to because Gilly saw she had woken up and tried to sort this all out while Houndy was barking.
"He hit mistress! He hit mistress! Unforgivable!"
"Blaze is just having a nightmare, everything will be fine once he wakes up."
(Is it really fine?) Aurora asked, he didn't seem fine to her at all. In fact, neither of their aura seemed to be fine.
"Yes, don't worry, it happens all the time, nothing to be scared about, hold on a second."
Since aurora was already awake, Gilly didn't hold her voice back and truly woke up Blaze by calling his name loudly. He yelled in surprise, jumped and almost hit Gilly again before slumping back down in a huge relieved sigh.
"You had a nightmare again."
"Yeah, I know..."
"You woke up Aurora."
He had not really reacted when told he had a nightmare but at the mention of Aurora, he moved his head a bit and saw her looking his way, sat in her sleeping bag.
"Sorry, it wasn't on purpose..." He apologized. " What time is it?"
Why would it be on purpose! Who made nightmares on purpose!
"It's just 3 AM." Answered Gilly.
"Damn it, I had hoped it wasn't this early." Blaze grumbled, he really didn't want to go back to sleep.
"It's okay, I'll help you fall back asleep. You should go back to sleep too Aurora."
(Are you sure?)
"Yeah, it's just a stupid nightmare, I'll talk to you in the morning. I'll go back too once Blaze has calmed down."
"I'm fine, you don't need to."
"But I want to."
Since their auras had greatly improved, she listened to her and hid herself back in her sleeping bag. It took her a while to fall back asleep, she couldn't help but wonder what this was all about. The way they reacted, it seemed to happen often. It took her so long to sleep again that she was still awake when Gilly came back to bed.
In the morning, they started the day by kicking Blaze outside again to change and it was only then that Aurora really saw the bruises on Gilly. None of them seemed as bad as her own wound but there were a lot of them.
(How did you get all those bruises?) She asked after putting on her clothes.
"All of them are because of Blaze, but he's not a bad guy!" She added in a hurry to her statement. "He just has a lot of nightmares. Speaking of Blaze, Dawnshield, could you go get him?"
The knight complied while Aurora asked for further details.
(But why does he get so many nightmares?)
"I don't know, he's been having them for a long long time. We haven't found out what it was yet, a curse, a ghost, or-"
"Or guilt."
The door had opened and Blaze joined up with them, adding on to the list of possibility.
(Guilt about what?)
"I don't know, it's like in that song. If you can't sleep, it must mean you've done something bad, the question is, what that bad thing was in the first place."
"What, you think one of our dumb pranks could have cursed you?"
"Probably not, I just really love that song. It's-" Interrupting him, his P-gear started ringing. "Hold on, I wonder who it could be so early in the morning." (2)
He picked up the device and looked at the number on the screen.
"Well, who is it?"
(Is it my dad already?)
"I don't know, I don't recognize the number. Hello?" He asked after accepting the call.
The voice that answered was very unexpected. It was a rough but seemingly jovial voice. He instantly became angry when he heard and recognized that voice.
"Blaze... What do you think you are doing?"
Aurora witnessed his aura darken and surge upward as if it was burning. She took a step back from fright.
"Dad!" He yelled. "How the fuck did you get my number?!"
Gilly had told her that he was angry at his father but she had not expected his aura to be so ugly when talking to him. Would her own be so scary if she came across Hergis?
"You're my son, isn't it normal for me to have your number?"
"Normal my ass! You never called me before."
"Well, I had nothing to tell you. Also, I'm a busy guy."
"Busy blowing up bombs! What the fuck is wrong with you?"
"Technically, I did no such thing. I wasn't the one who pressed the button and I wasn't the one who wrote the codes either."
This was just infuriating to Blaze. How could he say he was innocent so calmly when he was clearly behind it all.
"Bullshit! We all know the idea came from you!"
"If people could be arrested over ideas, the world would be an empty place, everyone would end up in jail."
He gnashed his teeth in anger while the girls tried to calm him down.
(Stop arguing with him, we need information. What does he want? Ask him why he tried to kidnap me.)
"Aurora is right, calm down. It's the perfect moment to get some answers out of him. Focus. Screaming now is pointless."
"In any case." His father continued. "Why are you so annoying suddenly? I was the one calling to scold you and I'm the one who's getting yelled at instead."
"Why would I be the one who's annoying? You are clearly in the wrong here." Blaze insisted. "What were you even intending to scold me on?"
His father had messed up his entire life and he hadn't had the chance to do anything yet since then, what did he even want with him? He was still angry but he did his best to regain his calm, the grils were right. While he talked, he thought about turning up the volume of his father to let the other two hear the conversation correctly.
"Many things, you already screwed many times and the plan was just set in motion."
"What are you talking about?" He asked vexed. He had done nothing wrong, and he had nothing to do with whatever his plan was.
"First of all, it would have been easier on everyone if you hadn't signed your computer trick."
He would have told him that he just had to erase it if he found it so bothersome but then again, if he had been able to do that, he wouldn't have needed him in the first place.
He kept his complaints about how this clearly brought him more trouble than his father to himself and let Craze continue.
"Then, you didn't listen to me and you brought the girl with you."
"Why do you care? It's got nothing to do with you."
"It does, it's messing with my plan, she shouldn't be there, she is a nuisance. Same for the other one, why did you steal her from me? You aren't supposed to see her yet."
He wondered how going around with Gilly was messing up his plan but ignored his own questions in favor of the much more important questions there. Disregarding how he already found out about his interference, he had a chance of finding out what he intended to do.
"Steal her from you? You were kidnapping a small girl, of course I'm going to rescue her. Why did you even do that, what are you trying to accomplish?"
"I believe telling you is against the rules. Well, I'm still quite angry about it because you are jumping steps but fine, I can live with it. You can keep her around, just don't lose her, she's gonna come in handy latter."
"What the fuck are you saying?"
He really wanted to know what he wanted to do with her but of course, his father ignored him.
"Listen, I have things to ask of you and you better do what I say." His tone wasn't amicable but he was more speaking like a dad that caught his kid doing something wrong than a bad guy threatening someone.
"First of all, whatever you do, don't lose the Stardust girl, don't give her back to him and don't let her out of your sight, we need her. Next, just stop hurting our own guys, you'll regret it later when the time comes. Last thing, I'm sure I don't have to tell you but train like hell and don't get caught."
"What do you mean our guys, they are yours, I don't care about them at all."
"They aren't though, I gave you the commanding badge. What did you think I did that for? I'm not one of the other two, I don't go for complicated things, I went straight to the point."
Blaze had a hard time processing what he meant.
"What?"
"Isn't it clear! By the creator, you have the commanding badge you are the leader, isn't that easy to understand? As long as no one takes it from you, you are the boss, I'm just the second in command."
Everyone in the room had a confused and shocked face.
"But... What?"
Blaze took a while to process what he had heard before he started yelling at his father again.
"I never asked to be the leader of a bunch of anarchist morons! Why would you ever think it was a good idea to give me that! Take that damn thing back!"
"No, I can't, I need you to have it."
"Then stop every stupid plan you are following, call it all off!"
"I can't either, that's the whole point!"
"Why are you so frustrating! What the point of having that thing if I can't make you stop this insanity."
"The point is to win of course, and before you ask, I won't tell you were the other bases are because obviously I don't want you to screw everything up."
Blaze snorted and blasted air from his nose in frustration.
"What the fuck do you think I'm gonna do to escape the cops!"
"Don't worry too much about that. Soon, they will have more pressing matters to attend to than just go running after you. You aren't the center of the world yet you know."
What was going on in his head? What did that even mean?
"What are you planning on doing now? What did you want Aurora for?"
"Why are you so nosy, you sound like your mother. Just be patient, think of those answers as a surprise, although I'm not sure you will like either of them... You sure have some weird tastes, you really picked up the girl of the maniac next door?"
"How is that weird? What do you even have against Gilly?"
"Well, just watch your back, you have no idea how many people her mother killed, it's making even me shiver."
"What!" Gilly exclaimed, really disturbed.
"You expect me to just believe that?" Blaze told him frankly.
With the amount of nonsense his father was spewing, there was no way he would just believe that the mother of his girlfriend was a serial killer.
"You may not believe me but she's a psycho, I kept that rifle to protect myself against her more than anything else. Even just the look in her eyes creeps me out."
"Alright, stop it, you don't have any proof at all."
"None I can show you but I'm sure you have noticed it as well, the only one who doesn't see it is her husband."
Indeed, Blaze always thought she was kinda creepy but it isn't a reason to accuse her of serial murder.
"Anyway, all I'm saying is that the girl is a lot like her mother and you have weird tastes. I don't mind you keeping her as a side dish but I'd rather you picked someone more normal for main girl."
"Dad I will punch you." Blaze said in a very serious, cold, anger.
"Okay, alright, try it, get good and fight me, bye then." And he hung up.
The beep of the lost signal was the only sound heard for a while in the building.
***
(1) Something just hit me while I was writing this. It's got nothing to do with the story so you can skip if you want, you are not losing anything. My best friend died a couple of years ago. Since then, I've grown more and more distant with my other friends. What I just understood is that maybe I felt like I was replacing him by someone else every time I met with the others. I do have a lot of fun with them but even now, the first thing that crosses my mind when anything happens is: I need to tell him. Even though he is not there, he has been dead for years now, I feel the need to share things with him and since I can't, I turn myself towards my other friends. It's not the same though, of course it's not the same, they are different people, it feels like I am betraying him. My heart feels warm when I do things with my friends but at the same time, I guess I was really scared of overwriting what I had before with new things. It is incredibly dumb! I just felt it, creating newer stronger bonds doesn't have anything to do with replacing him or not. Of course nothing will ever replace him but the memories I have of him shouldn't stop me from creating new ones with other people. It has nothing to do with him at all. Wanting to share something with him doesn't mean I shouldn't feel like I want to share with other people as well. It took me the longest time to realise this. I just clicked now writing this small random bit that's not even that important to the story. I feel so dumb, why am I so caught up on this? I just broke myself, I'm crying now. I don't even know why I'm sharing this here, let us all forget it ever happened all right? Do I save this ramble? I guess I should, at least for myself. You go back to the story now, I need a break, I'll write what follows latter. (I did keep this bit apparently. I should at least remove the bit where I say I'm crying, someone reminds me of this before I hit publish.)
(2) There are two songs I know of speaking about this exact subject. One is literally, no rest for the wicked. (I hate that one.) The other one I really like but I was never able to memorize the name, I just catch it sometimes on the radio when they go through rock from the 80e. It goes something like: there is no rest for the wicked ones so please god tell us what we must have done. It may be far from it though since I never saw the lyrics and last time I heard it was two years ago inside a car.
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