Capítulo 23: Chapter 23
'Where am I?' That was the first question on my mind as I woke up to the familiar sight of the motel room ceiling where Jessica was staying.
"Oh good, you're awake. How do you feel?" Hearing someone speak, I turned to see Jessica sitting in a nearby chair, her phone in hand as she casually surfed the internet.
"Fine. You know we heal completely after a good sleep. But what I really want to know is what happened last night?" I asked, wasting no time getting out of bed. However, I froze halfway through, as removing the cover revealed my suit—a bloody mess, riddled with holes and tears.
"You think it looks bad now? That's the blood I couldn't clean off. Luckily, everything else came out pretty well," Jessica said casually as she walked over and showed me a picture that made my skin crawl.
'How am I alive?' That was all I could think as I stared at the image. It showed me lying in a pool of my own blood, my arms and legs twisted at odd angles, my body covered in various wounds and tears, with my eyes rolled back in unconsciousness.
"Luckily, that gem threw you pretty far, so only she and I know how bad your wounds were," Jessica added. Her words brought me some relief, but a surge of anger rose in my chest at the thought of nearly dying during what was supposed to be a friendly match. I pushed the anger down and quickly headed to the bathroom to wash off the blood, unaware that a group of gems was currently discussing me.
- - - - - - - -
"AMETHYST, YOU KNOW HOW RECKLESS IT WAS TO USE YOUR GEM POWERS ON HUMANS!" Pearl screamed, her voice livid as she glared at her shorter ally having been told of last nights events by steven. Amethyst rolled her eyes, though a flicker of regret flashed in them—a regret she tried her best to hide as she spoke.
"Chill, Pearl, no one died... I think," she muttered, whispering the last part. Clearly unhappy with Pearl's reprimand, Amethyst seemed ready to enter a shouting match. But before she could, Garnet's voice cut through the tension, a mix of restrained rage and disappointment, as she moved from her spot on the couch to stand before the much shorter Amethyst.
"I'm extremely disappointed in you, Amethyst," was all the leader of the Crystal Gems said before turning away, dragging Pearl with her. Together, they used the warp pad to go somewhere else, possibly on a mission.
GROWL...sigh Amethyst growled in her simmering rage before releasing a dejected sigh, her mind replaying the events of the previous night when she lost control of her emotions and used her full strength to hurt that poor human.
"I'm sorry," she whispered quietly to herself in the now deserted temple, standing there for an unknown amount of time as memories flashed across her mind.
The crunch of the human's bones, the wheeze of his breath as he struggled to breathe, the splatter of blood that covered her hands...
'I just want to sleep...' Snapping out of her thoughts, Amethyst walked to the entrance of her room. After a quick glow from her gem, the door opened to reveal her room—a chaotic mess of junk she had collected over the years of her time on earth.
- - - - - - - -
"Oh boy, I needed that," I muttered as I stepped out of the bathroom, feeling refreshed after shedding the ruined suit. As I went to sit down on the bed, I immediately noticed Jessica was no longer in the room.
'She must have gone out,' I thought, picking up my phone. As expected, I found a message from her saying she was out doing her usual information gathering.
'Guess I'm on my own. I'm feeling a bit hungry,' I mused, noticing the sun was nearing midday. Without a specific craving, I decided to wander around until I found something that caught my eye.
"Huh, what is that?" After about 30 minutes of wandering, I found myself near Beach Citywalk Fries. What caught my attention wasn't the older man, cheerfully wearing a hat that left his fry-colored hair sticking out, but rather the boy jumping around in a costume that looked similar to a white cup of fries though it sported a disturbingly cheerful grin.
"Come on, Frybo! You have to move a bit more—how are you going to attract customers?" The older man shouted, smiling proudly as the boy in the fry costume began to move more energetically.
"There you go, Frybo!" the man cheered before disappearing back into his store, leaving the boy to sulk. I barely caught the whisper that left his lips.
"My name's Peedee," he muttered, his voice tinged with disappointment, as if his spirit had been crushed in that moment.
"Um, hello? Are you okay?" Forgetting my hunger, I approached the boy in the mascot costume, concerned about what was bothering him.
"Hey, are you okay, kid?" I asked again, coming to the side of the downcast boy. He jumped at the sound of my voice, turning to face me rapidly. But once he saw it was just me, his surprise faded back into sulking as he spoke, his lack of motivation clear.
"Hello, sir. My name is Frybo. Would you like to hear about the Cajun fry combo we've got going on? Just $6.99, and it comes with a drink," he droned, his dejected voice echoing. I didn't say anything at first, kneeling down to get to his level so he could see me better.
"What's up? My name's Duke. Why do you sound like you're being tortured by boredom?" My voice seemed to revitalize him as he let out a grievance-filled groan before speaking.
"This sucks! I asked my dad to let me be more involved in the fry family business, but he clearly doesn't trust me. He stuck me in this ancient relic! You probably saw it—he called me Frybo! Frybo! My name's Peedee!" peedee sounded seriously upset, but after a bit of thinking, I spoke confidently doing my best to soothe him.
"Your dad was just overzealous. He was probably excited to have both his sons finally working with him that he didn't care what work he gave you. And I don't think he forgot your name—it's just that he was trying to help you get into character, you know what I mean? also your dad seems to love this costume the fact he has you wearing it says alot" My words seemed to calm the boy down a bit as he glanced at the door his father had gone through, seemingly deep in thought, before turning back to me.
"Yeah, maybe you're right. But I wish he would give me something else to do—this job sucks." I nodded, understanding his frustration. I once worked as a sign spinner, and standing on my feet all day under the blazing sun was no picnic.
"Just ask him to change it and also when you focus too hard on the hardships—that's when you let them weigh you down. Instead, think about the good." Peedee looked at me, his expression asking, 'Like what?' Seeing his confusion, I smiled and looked around before pointing to a group of kids nearby.
"Go make them laugh," I suggested. My order caught the boy off guard, but after a bit of prodding from me, he walked over to the small group of four toddlers who looked up at him, curious.
"Um, hello, I'm Peed—uh, I mean Frybo. Nice to meet you," he said awkwardly seeming to expect the kids to run away, but instead, they surrounded him and began asking questions.
"Can I eat you?"
"Why is Peedee in your mouth? Did you eat him?"
"Do you poop?"
The questions flustered Peedee at first, but soon he began answering them, growing more joyful as he spoke, even laughing at his own answers. He started playing and having fun with the kids, forgetting about me entirely. I didn't mind and walked over to the serving window of Beach Citywalk Fries, where I saw the familiar face of Ronaldo, who looked surprised but glad to see me.
"What's up, man? It's good to see you! Did you catch the fight between Wraith and the Purple Puma? Wraith got sent through a solid concrete wall—I hope he's okay for the next matches. He was so cool!" Hearing Ronaldo's praise, I was confused as to why he didn't recognize me, but I chalked it up to some more of that "less is more" mask nonsense.
"Not much. I saw the fight, and I hear Wraith will be out of commission for several weeks. But moving on, I'm really hungry and wandered over to get some fries. What do you have?" I asked. Ronaldo quickly gave me a rundown of their available options, and after some deliberation, I got a deal on a bottle of soda and a decent-sized basket of cheesy fries. I started eating as I found a nearby picnic table with a full view of the sea, watching Peedee continue to entertain people as Frybo.
'Huh, is that Steven?' I noticed Steven approaching from the direction of the temple, humming an upbeat tune as he made his way to the equally upbeat Peedee, who had just gotten a couple on a date to buy food from his family's shop.
'What are they talking about? Wait, hold up—what is that?' Unfortunately, due to the distance, I couldn't hear the short conversation between the two, but I could see Steven pulling out a small light blue stone from his pocket and showing it to Peedee, who looked skeptical as he removed the costume.
'What are they doi—OH SWEET LORD.' My confusion turned to horror as I watched Steven place the blue stone into the costume's mouth. The costume began to writhe strangely, and soon it stood up, its legs appearing to be made of a mushy fry substance that moved and flopped along with its arms, as if performing some bizarre dance.
'Where are you going? Don't leave!' I thought in alarm as Steven and Peedee, who had caused this sudden emergence of life, ran off after giving it one last order. The creature stood eerily still for a moment before it seemed to turn its head toward a passing couple, who were too busy feeding each other fries to notice the change in the mascot's occupant.
'Can these things be a bit more spaced out?' I sighed, standing up and taking out my axe as I prepared to deal with the creature in the worst case scenario.
- - - - - - -
The start had me abit put off but the part after ameythst scene had me abit excited though I must say I felt like I could of slotted a song somewhere in there but I guess that's for later.
Estado de energía semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Piedra de
Poder