waywardstraysau
waywardstraysau
Wayward-Strays-AU
131 posts
By AeonChangeling
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waywardstraysau · 6 months ago
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I got my copy of the Book of Bill... and now I'm stuck babysitting him. Axolotl owes me big for this. Evil little dorito.
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waywardstraysau · 6 months ago
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Gettin my copy tomorrow!
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HE HAS RETURNED!!!
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waywardstraysau · 6 months ago
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HE HAS RETURNED!!!
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waywardstraysau · 7 months ago
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“...what are we waiting for exactly?” Hunter asked with his arms crossed. It was now Thursday, classes had just wrapped up and their first week at the school was coming to an end. At Teodora’s insistence, the Boiling Isles trio were waiting outside the front door of the school, she had said there was something she needed them for and to wait for her.
“I dunno, she made it sound like it was important though,” Luz said, shrugging her shoulders.
With the implication that they were going somewhere, Hunter had chosen against his Golden Guard uniform and was wearing his more casual clothes; the cloak and bits of armor would have made him stick out like a sore thumb. King, for his part, was hidden in Luz’s messenger bag, partially to be somewhere inconspicuous, partially to avoid walking everywhere on such short little legs.
They didn’t have to wait too long before a car, a Dondai Supremo, pulled up and parked in front of them. The passenger window rolled down, revealing Teodora, she had donned a pair of dark sunglasses. She lowered while grinning widely at them and quoted,
“Get in losers, we’re going shopping!” **PLEASE READ THE FULL CHAPTER ON A03, TUMBLR'S CHARACTER LIMIT MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE TO POST THE FULL THING HERE!** Here
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waywardstraysau · 7 months ago
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Roll to the left. No, nothing. Roll to the right. No, still nothing. With an aggravated huff, Luz reached over and grabbed her phone, checking the time. 12:35 AM. She groaned and let her arm fall over her eyes. It was official, she couldn’t sleep. She had found herself insatiably restless following their first therapy session and now wanted nothing more than to do… something! Between meeting so many new friends, learning about magic from the human realm, and her first therapy session, it left her buzzing with energy. She could hear King snoring down by her feet and she smiled a bit, sleep came so easily to him, she was almost jealous. A quick glance to the left and she could make out the sound of Tulip sleeping soundly. She reached under her pillow and pulled out the sleeping potion she had made earlier in class. It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to drink it so late, it would help her sleep but she’d most likely be groggy in the morning. She sighed and hid the vial back under her pillow before sitting up and swinging her legs out from under the covers. She was feeling restless and the need to move refused to be ignored. Plus she hadn’t heard a single word about there being a rule that students couldn’t be out of bed during the night, so it should probably be fine. **PLEASE READ THE FULL CHAPTER ON A03, TUMBLR'S CHARACTER LIMIT MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE TO POST THE FULL THING HERE!**
Here
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waywardstraysau · 8 months ago
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Hunter and Diamond
DT! Hunter assists “Evil” Morty in a trip through the Event Horizon
……….
Morty had a tail he couldn’t shake as of late. A personal investigation into C-137’s ex from outside the Curve, Stanford Pines, had opened a door for him he’d not considered before-a freedom to pursue his own interests under the protection of another, FAR away from any and all versions of Rick Sanchez. Hell, the school had its own Anti-Rick protocols, a haven Morty hadn’t even dared considered the possibility of.
The subsequent move to the dormitories was one of the easiest decisions Morty had ever made. Sadly, just because the decision was easy, didn’t mean it came without consequence.
The consequence in question being some sort of sentient shadow creature Ford Pines assigned to give him a tour. One that now REFUSED to leave him alone for more than a few hours-and even managed to follow him through his portals.
So now, he had some chatterbox of a shadow cryptid following him through most of his trips to the Event Horizon.
Said cryptid was currently several dozen yards away admiring a glowing flower while Morty was setting up a trap for the creature he needed to harvest. Upgrades for his Portal Gun required a lot of compounds that could only be harvested from an environment constantly exposed to interference from multiple universes.
Thus, the Event Horizon was a perfect wild interdimensional farm, all he had to do was come harvest materials when they matured properly. Sometimes it meant killing shit much larger than himself, so he resigned himself to his fate of conversing with the shadow creature, and turned to address it.
“If you don’t want to die, I suggest fucking off back home” Morty informed his company flatly while opening a portal back to the school, knowing Ford would probably get pissed if he let one of his “peers” die while on an excursion with him. “There’s your door-be gone by the time I return”
“Where’s the fun in that?“ the creature hummed, moving to follow as Morty headed off into the brush, pulling up the sensor in his eyepatch. “Observing you at work is the most interesting thing I can be doing with my time-it’s like watching a younger me lure heretics to their demise with double the IQ”
“I’m not surprised cultists are responsible for your existence” Morty grumbled, adjusting the settings on his eyepatch to zero in on the genetic signature of his target. “Just a disclaimer, you die out here and I’m using that artificial heart of yours as a power source for a gundam or some shit”
“Ooh, now you’ve got me curious about something-how old do you think I am, Mortimer?” The creature asked, morphing into an elegant cat to settle on his shoulders and rest its chin and paws on his head. “How old is the “Shadow Cryptid” in that fascinating mind of yours?”
“I dunno, a couple decades to a few centuries? Your lack of concern towards any perilous situation gives the impression” Morty replied, knowing ignoring the creatures questioning led to a hours of irritation. “I’m assuming you just slipped out of Ford’s primitive Portal at some point and never left”
“Ooh, that’s an interesting answer-and I don’t think it can be further from the truth!” The creature cackled, pushing itself up so it could look Morty in the eyes from over the back of his head. “THAT reveal got your cogs turning, didn’t it?”
“Nope” Morty lied, filing the creatures answer away for later pondering. “Get out of my face, I still need to navigate”
“Mmm” the creature relented, pulling its head back out of his line of sight to get comfy. The rest of the trek to the target was blissfully silent, interrupted only by the creatures occasional sounds of intrigue towards seemingly random plants or rocks.
Once they were finally in the creatures potential line of sight, Morty quickly crouched low, not caring to account for the annoying being on his head, and peeked around the rock formation at the large, nameless creature. It appeared reptilian at this distance, but previous scans had shown it was actually warm blooded in origin, its “scales” mineral deposits growing out of the skin. Their composition depended on their environment, and since the Event Horizon was an ecosystem of pure chaos over the entire multiverse, it had been developing a perfect crystal through its head Morty could use as a refractor for his Neo Portal Gun-alongside many other projects.
“Ooh, you wanna race to the trap after you piss the big guy off?” The cat shaped being asked excitedly, jumping off Morty’s head and onto the side of the boulder to meet his gaze, disinterested in following any rules of physics. “We can make things interesting with a forfeit for the loser~”
“I’m not stupid enough to wager with something like you” Morty retorted, loading his gun and setting it to “Stun”, as the creature required a lot more firepower to take out than a handheld laser pistol. He took a deep breath and took aim at the creatures ballsack. “Just stay out of my way”
*BLAM!*
The instant his target took notice of him, Morty turned tail and booked it back towards the pre-set trap, not caring if his “companion” bothered to keep pace or was already back at the clearing via the unspecified nature of his abilities. The chase itself was rather mundane, as the creature was just slow enough to evade with minimal effort-though one trip up would definitely be a death sentence, considering the previous days observations.
After about three minutes, the clearing was upon them, and just before Morty himself ran face-first into the invisible laser grid trap, he dove for the ground and rolled through the opening underneath, popping back up just in time to witness-
“Oh-FUCK!”
Morty barely evaded the heavy six clawed foot swiping down towards him as the fact he’d indeed set the trap but forgot to ACTIVATE the fucking thing registered, having instead opted to trade dialogue with his unwanted company.
Morty took another dive and tried to get some distance between himself and the predator, as it would give him time to come up with an escape, but a paw slammed into his side to knock him off course into the nearest rock spire, both taking his breath away and cracking several ribs in the process.
There was a bit of a stumble, Morty making a valiant attempt to at least regain his footing, but instead he fell to his knees, looking towards the creature just to see the entities entire mouth nanoseconds away from decapitating him with one bite.
His life passed by in a hasty flash, full of ultimately wasted sacrifice, before something knocked the creature off course.
“Not today, you cheap-knockoff Basarios” Morty’s company growled loudly, backflipping off his attackers side as it stumbled back a few feet, crouching low with his lips pulled back while the rock creature turned its attention to him. “If you can understand me, fuck off. This is your only warning”
The four legged golem just screeched in response, lunging at the much smaller figure with an open mouth-
Only to be violently ripped apart midair from what seemed to be a single magic circle quickly drawn in its direction, with only the target crystal remaining intact as the remains crashed to the ground around Morty’s surprise savior. The creature itself didn’t even look phased, simply lowering their hand and relaxing their posture, the cold, calculative expression they’d briefly taken melting away into something less frightening.
Morty moved into a more comfortable sitting position while he regained his breath and processed what just happened. The shadow being took that time to scoop up the undamaged crystal and give it a cursory inspection, before tucking it under its arm and trotting over to Morty, sitting down on its knees and placing the object between them. Morty looked warily between the crystal and the creature, before shooting a portal underneath the mineral so it fell into a tub of cleaning solution back in his lab.
Once the object was gone, an awkward silence followed, Morty waiting for the creature to say something-either a claim for a life debt or demand for some sort of compensation.
“I’m sorry” the creature apologized instead, averting their eyes as Morty just stared at them, unsure how to respond. “I can’t heal or anything, and you wouldn’t have gotten hurt in the first place if I wasn’t distracting you”
“What in-“ Morty started, before cutting himself off and taking a deep breath to reorient his thoughts. “Apology not accepted, first off. Second, what the actual FUCK was that and how did you do do it?”
“Magic” the creature replied flatly, as if that was the obvious answer. “And stop referring to me as an “It”. It’s both insulting and misgendering”
“When exactly have I referred to you as “it” at any point in this “adventure”?” Morty asked sarcastically, making the creature snort in amusement.
“The whole fucking time, Mortimer. My name is Hunter, use it” Faux Hunter replied, as Morty knew he’d been copying another student at school, one he’d seen for himself during that initial tour. However, the shapeshifter seemed to get more agitated out of nowhere. “I’m not an imitation dipshit-I AM Hunter, or “A Hunter” in terms you can understand. Ricks and Mortys aren’t the only people in the universe who have alternate variations of themselves”
“Are-have you been reading my mind this whole time!?” Morty retorted, feeling a little violated as Hunter gave him a flat look and a slow clap.
“Congratulations-you finally caught on. YES, I’ve been reading your mind” Hunter replied, looking both amused and disappointed all at once. “It’s not like I’ve been hiding it-I literally suggested a race back to the trap despite you not explaining your plans less than five minutes ago”
“… I thought you were just observant” Morty replied hesitantly, feeling a little dumb for the first time in months.
“Dude, I have no concept of how any of your sci-fi bullshit works, and I’d absolutely be failing in that subject if Jack wasn’t my friend” Hunter admitted, looking a little amused with himself. “I got really lucky-the other Hunter didn’t get adopted by my dad. He still believes that an emotionally abusive old fuck of an uncle is the pinnacle of familial love”
“THAT’S why you wouldn’t leave me the fuck alone!” Morty shouted, the pieces FINALLY fitting together regarding the bizarre teen. “You saw my memories of Rick-“
“-And found they GREATLY paralleled my own experiences, yeah. Though your abusive old fuck certainly hit you a lot less” the older boy mused, settling into a more comfortable sitting position. “I’ll tell ya, I didn’t think I’d find someone with a higher kill count than me at Fords little institution-especially someone who killed their abuser MULTIPLE TIMES. Tell me, did the thrill ever die hunting those grandson-cloning sociopathic bastards?”
“Absolutely” Morty admitted, knowing lying wouldn’t get him anywhere at the moment. “I took to just offing them over breakfast once I got bored from the chase-and it eliminated the problem of killing a Rick with no Morty to swipe for masking purposes”
“Clever boy-oh holy shit, I just saw what you did next. Almost expired from the same oversight you took advantage of, huh?” The other boy chuckled, before miming a gun firing in the exact same spot Morty had been shot. “You’re lucky those Rick’s didn’t learn the same lesson-otherwise your plan would’ve gone to hell”
“Yeah, well that’s the fatal flaw with Ricks-their arrogance” Morty hummed, pulling a stick out of the ground to inspect. “They all abuse their Morty’s in some way or another yet never considered the possibility that one of us might just-“
He snapped the stick in two.
“Oh, if only Belos were so fatally arrogant. Sadly he’s just as paranoid as he is manipulative” Hunter bemused, tail tip twitching in thought. “I could learn a thing or two from you, if you’d be willing to teach”
“Not like I can get you to fuck off anyway” Morty sighed, feeling oddly warm in contrast to the statement. He fished the Portal Gun out of his belt holster and opened the warp back to his lab, giving the other boy a flat stare as they both stood up. “This didn’t make us friends, don’t expect me to join you and the Christmas duo at lunch any time soon”
“I’ll wear you down eventually” Hunter retorted with a grin, and the two of them vanished into the portal.
Three days later, Morty showed up on time for lunch and without a word, joined Hunter, Edric, and Jack at their usual table.
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waywardstraysau · 8 months ago
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Guard Dog
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waywardstraysau · 8 months ago
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waywardstraysau · 9 months ago
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Hey guys, sorry for the radio silence, I've been busy and dealing with a lot IRL lately but I have a new PC and I can start producing a lot more content than before! And to start, I've officially opened a ko-fi! If you feel like supporting me and my art, please consider leaving me a tip!
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waywardstraysau · 10 months ago
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What do you mean this wasn't in the original JTTW?
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waywardstraysau · 1 year ago
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Obviously without going into spoilers, are there any smaller details you want to add in but can't justify it? Like bits of world building, headcanons, all that, that haven't had a good time to be brought up in story but you still want to share?
I know when I have those, it's kinda frustrating having to scrap ideas because it lowers the writing quality.
Well there's a few I've toyed with but couldn't figure out how to include them in the story, and since you asked so nicely, so here's a few of them! I apologize if any of these are confusing or if you don't know who they reference! Luz and Hunter have opposite tastes in video games! Luz usually likes things on the darker side, Hollow Knight, Resident Evil and Hades, Hunter meanwhile likes Mario, Kirby and Animal Crossing! They both like Stardew Valley and Undertale though. Nomura's still alive, though she doesn't work at the school. Following Gunmar's defeat, she went off to do her own thing, there are currently no plans to introduce her to the story. Ford dated Rick Sanchez for an undetermined amount of time and they had an extremely ugly breakup. Things got so bad between them than now he won't hesitate to put the school on lock down and start shooting if Rick gets too close. Gravity Falls continues to somehow stay under the government's radar despite all the weird things going on, especially now that the school's drawing in even more weirdness than ever before. Jazz Fenton was briefly considered to be the school's therapist but I did NOT want to have to resort to that since she's just a minor herself and has no actual experience working with patients. I just didn't have any other options at the time so I held off on introducing who it was. Thankfully, Amphibia solved the problem for me! And in regards to scrapping something to save the story's quality, I almost included a character as the scientist teach simply because I thought it was FUNNY! I struggled for months to decide if I should or not, and despite how funny I find it to this day, the tonal whiplash would have killed my readers. And that's all I have for the moment, hope these were fun!
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waywardstraysau · 1 year ago
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Dinner was over quickly in Luz’s opinion, she had spent the whole meal alternating between going over her notes from their earlier magic lesson, trying to cast spells and shoveling potatoes into her mouth. It wasn't as good as her mom’s cooking but it was miles better than what her old school served, as for Hexside… Well, she had to be careful with what she chose from their lunch options. “Girl, you okay?” Randy asked, pointing at her from across the table. “Hm? Oh, yeah, sorry, just trying to get all this stuff down,” she said between bites, “I mean… it’s different from the magic I learned back in the Demon Realm and all, but… there’s magic here! In the human realm! This is huge! I wanna learn all I can!” Her new friends kind of smirked a little, like they were amused by her enthusiasm but not in a mean or condescending way. **PLEASE READ THE FULL CHAPTER ON A03, TUMBLR'S CHARACTER LIMIT MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE TO POST THE FULL THING HERE!** Here
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waywardstraysau · 1 year ago
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IT'S SO SWEET AND JUST YES! And I won't spoil anything about the next chapter B3
Chapter 10 “Screenshot Redraws”
Part 1!
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I really loved this part before MK joined in the chapter, seeing Hunter fall in love a little with the beauty and freedom of the human realm made my heart soar
This boy needs so much love and therapy. And friends, but something tells me Chapter 11 is gonna help remedy that last bit
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waywardstraysau · 1 year ago
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Chapter 10 “Screenshot Redraws”
Part 1!
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I really loved this part before MK joined in the chapter, seeing Hunter fall in love a little with the beauty and freedom of the human realm made my heart soar
This boy needs so much love and therapy. And friends, but something tells me Chapter 11 is gonna help remedy that last bit
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waywardstraysau · 1 year ago
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Hunter flew over the forest until he could just barely see the school anymore. He wasn’t happy with being in this situation, but he knew that this was his best, if not only, chance of getting home. He wasn’t going to leave, but he was going to get as far away from it as he could. He touched down on the forest floor and dismounted from Flapjack, who immediately transformed back into a bird. He chirped brightly and fluttered around the young witch’s head. “Hehe, yeah, that last class was pretty unbelievable,” Hunter smiled, “I still can’t believe that there’s magic here…” **PLEASE READ THE FULL CHAPTER ON A03, TUMBLR'S 4,096 CHARACTER LIMIT MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE TO POST THE FULL THING HERE!** https://archiveofourown.org/works/36839632/chapters/125830795
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waywardstraysau · 2 years ago
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It took a total of five minutes for Stan and King to arrive, the sound of mutual laughter somehow drowning out the sound of the golfcart’s engine. The old man seemed to have a talent for making the little demon laugh, who launched himself into Luz’s arms as soon as he saw her. She happily told him about the obstacle course and introduced him to Lake, who was happy to give him chin scratches. Seeing they were done with the course already, Stan offered to drive the group back up to the school, and the Boiling Isles trio were happy to take the offer. Steven, Tulip, Lake, and the boy who she never got the name of, wanted to stay behind, saying they’d either rather walk or they were waiting for someone. Luz felt a little bad leaving them behind, but her excitement over what an art class in this place might be like kept her from feeling that way for long! Her mind swam with the possibilities!
Once they reached the building, the Pines twin offered to guide them to their next class since they were new and they took him up on the offer. As they walked and talked, he told them about his own experience with art… It was counterfeiting. He made it sound like it was past tense but between that and his lecture on hotwiring cars, she was getting a very interesting picture of the man. Eda would have liked him. When they reached the art room, they were surprised to find Dr. Lake there, minus her white coat and working at an easel. Luz hadn’t taken her for the artistic type, but from the look of it, she had quite the imagination! The painting depicted a strange creature with green skin, horns and a flat nose. It was very thin and willowy, with large bat-like wings and seemed to be reading a book. She had no idea what it was supposed to be about but it was a fascinating piece of art! “Lookin’ good there Barb!” A younger woman was standing at her side, hands on her hips and a smear of bright green paint on her left cheek. She was Taiwanese and in her early twenties at the very most, with long black hair that reached past her shoulders that was decorated with a single green hair clip and at least three piercings in each ear. She was wearing a denim jacket over a t-shirt with a cartoon character on it she couldn’t recognize, dull green jeans, and faded orange sneakers. She placed her hand on Dr. Lake’s shoulder and with a smile said, “Your blending has gotten so much better! You should be proud of it!” “Heh, thank you.” “Ladies!” Stan interrupted, “Sorry to bother ya but I got a delivery here for Marcy!” “Oh, hello Stanley,” Dr. Lake said, noticing them standing there for the first time. “Heya Stan my man!” the other woman, presumably Marcy, declared with a friendly wave, “Oh, are those our new kids?” “Yup, this is them!” He gave them a shove against their backs, making them stumble a little as they entered the room. “Hey,” the teacher said, “I’m Marcy Wu, but just call me Marcy, please, I’m way too young to be called Miss anything yet, just feels weird.” She chuckled and looked the three of them up and down before pointing, “Now lemme guess… Luz, King and Hunter, right?” “Y-Yeah!” the girl squeaked, “I guess Dr. Lake told you about us.” “Psh, nah, not really, she just told me your names, who had what name was easy to guess,” she said with a laugh, “Anyway, you guys are early, class won’t be for a little while yet. Why don’t you get comfy? You can do whatever you want until then while I finish up with Barb here. Oh, but if you’re gonna listen to music or watch a video or whatever, please use headphones, earbuds or something like that, okay?” That surprised Luz, she hadn’t expected that she was going to be allowed to play on her phone. Gravesfield had been pretty strict about that and Hexside had so much to learn about and study, that she had much more interesting things to keep her occupied during her freetime. Being allowed to actively use her phone felt… weirdly respectful? It made her smile. She looked around the room, it was well lit, with a series of large tables and chairs around them. Against the fall wall was a series of bookshelves that were being used to store an impressive amount of art supplies, ranging from pencils and pens to pastels and paints. Paper taken from sketch pads of varying sizes were stored near the supplies they were best used for, Luz recognized them from the craft stores she would browse with her mom before she made her way to the Boiling Isles. Hunter approached the shelves and seemed to be analyzing the options available, he seemed less than impressed. To the right was a series of comfortable seats, a few loveseats, one large couch and plenty of bean bag chairs�� and lying on the floor, looking like a little kid, was MK, with a small box of crayons nearby. He had a large stack of loose leaf papers in front of him, and several of them were scattered about, all with brightly colored drawings on them. He seemed perfectly content with his set up, and she watched as he finished with whatever drawing he had been currently working on, set it aside, grabbed a new piece of paper and got to work again. From this angle, she couldn’t really make out what all the drawings were about, but the most recent one had someone with caramel brown hair and seemed to be dressed in red and yellow. To the left, there was a smartboard, there was also a large desk with an impressive computer setup, with two monitors and… was that a Wacom Cintiqu? Her eyes got huge, she’d never seen one in real life before! She made a mental note to beg Marcy to let her get a closer look later. “Luz, Boiling Isles to Luz,” King squeaked, snapping her back to reality, “What are you staring at girl?” “Oh, uh, sorry buddy. I got lost in thought for a minute there.” “Clearly,” he gave her a flat look, “Can we go draw now?” “Sure thing,” she smiled. She collected a few supplies from the shelves, and was surprised to find most of them were professional grade, the only thing she didn’t see were Copic Markers. Choosing not to focus on that, she grabbed a few pieces of paper, some supplies and sat at one of the tables. The two spent the next several minutes, doodling and making small comments about the other’s work. After a while, they noticed Hunter had taken to sitting at the table farthest from the rest, and looking oddly uncomfortable. They didn’t have long to ruminate on it, as Marcy finished helping Dr. Lake with her painting, and as they cleaned up, a few of the other students finally arrived. The art teacher greeted them all brightly and laughed when a few pointed out the paint on her face. Luz spotted the boy from the obstacle course again, he was talking to the doctor but she couldn’t hear what it was about. If she had to guess, it probably had to do with Hunter getting hurt. The other students all sat down and chatted as they got comfortable, and she felt a spike of excitement as Jake, Danny and Randy sat at the same table as her and King. “Alright guys!” Marcy’s voice got everyone’s attention, “This week, we’re gonna be doing some more fun assignments! I want you all to make something that you have a positive association with in regards to your unique situation! Anything goes with this one, it can be places, people, specific moments, sentimental items, whatever you want them to be! And you can use whatever medium you want!” A few of the students muttered to each other, seeming to like the sound of it. “By Friday, I want you to write a paragraph about a few of the things you drew, to tell me a little bit about your subjects. You don’t need a whole lot, just enough to give us an idea about it. Remember, for assignments like this, there are no right or wrong answers, it’s all about gaining a better understanding of yourselves.” The others nodded and got up to get their supplies, while Luz stayed in her seat, she already had what she needed… just what to draw? She pulled out her phone and began to scroll through the pictures she had of the Boiling Isles, maybe she could draw her friends, or Eda, or… She paused when she saw a picture of the Owl House. She just stared and her eyes widened. Yeah… yeah that’ll do. She shuffled through the pencils, picked an H6, and began to sketch. At the secluded table, Hunter was staring blankly at the paper before him. He had grabbed the first one he could find, a large piece of black construction paper… and he had no idea what to do with it. He had never done an art project like this before, he’d done basic schematics and drawn out plans of attack but nothing like… this. He had no idea what to do and felt like he was in some sort of strange trap. “You okay there kiddo?”
He nearly jumped when the teacher approached him, a warm smile on her face.
“I uh… ahem, y-yes ma’am. I’m fine.”
“You sure, ‘cause you look like you’re bothered by something.”
“I said I’m fine.”
“...hey, if you’re stuck, I can help if you want,” she crouched beside him, resting her arms on the table, “Art ain’t the easiest thing in the world, especially if you’re exploring something as complicated as your own emotions and thoughts.”
“I don’t need help with something as mundane as… drawing.”
“Maybe not, but organizing your thoughts is pretty darn hard. Trust me, I speak from experience.”
“...it’s not that hard.”
“Mhm… tell ya what, how about you start by describing something you like to me!”
“Describe?”
“Yeah, paint me a word picture, it might help you figure out what you’d wanna draw. Like I said, there’s no wrong answers, it just has to be something positive.”
He looked down at the black paper.
“Well… there’s Emperor Belos.”
“Who’s that?”
“The emperor of the Boiling Isles… and its savior. He brought order to magic, and brought us all together under the will of the Titan.”
She stared… blinked… she seemed to be making some sort of connection in her mind.
“So… he’s a political leader and a major religious figure?” she asked.
“Yes, of course!”
“Hm… well, why don’t you try drawing him?”
Hunter paused. He blinked.
He felt so incredibly stupid for not thinking of that sooner.
He grabbed the colored pencils she had provided and began to rapidly scribble.
“Easy there trigger, remember, there’s no rush to this,” Marcy said with a chuckle but he didn’t answer. He planned to get through this assignment as quickly as possible and then go over the materials Douxie had given him and the human earlier. Seeing he wasn’t going to respond to her, she left and went to help the other students.
Hunter worked on his drawing for about ten minutes, decided it was good enough, and then moved onto the next part of the assignment. He wrote a single, short paragraph, praising Emperor Belos and his glory. Once he finished, he started studying the reading material.
By the time class had ended, the trio had turned in a careful pencil sketch of the Owl House, a hastily done colored pencil drawing of Emperor Belos, and a child’s drawing of the Owl Lady and Hooty.
Their next class was Magical History, and Luz almost ran to the class in sheer excitement! Hunter, while more composed, did walk with a noticeably faster than normal pace.
Blinky taught the class in an almost dramatic fashion, if Strickler was a storyteller, the troll was a thespian entertaining a rapt audience. Granted, she would have been sucked in regardless, the human realm had a real, honest to Titan, history of magic, how could she not? She took as many detailed notes as she could, listening to the troll as he explained a major historical event.
“Now, the First Battle of Klilahead Bridge marked the end of the struggle between Gunmar’s army of Gumm-Gumms and the rest of trollkind, as well as some knights from the nearby human kingdom,” he explained, “For those of you who are not familiar with trolls, Gumm-Gumms were an incredibly dangerous and vicious group of warriors. At the time, most magical creatures had taken extensive steps to separate ourselves from humanity, and humans, in turn, did their part. Doing so would ensure peace and safety for both sides, humans would leave us alone, and we would stop eating them.”
…somehow she wasn’t surprised that that used to be a thing. She looked at the various pictures of the trolls in question that he had on the smartboard, making sure she matched the names to the faces.
“Gunmar and his followers however, did not like this arrangement, and attempted to overtake the surface world. Those who did not follow him were trapped in the middle, they were in danger from the humans and from the Gumm-Gumms alike. Like all major conflicts, some wanted to fight, others wanted to hide and not get involved, and I should know, I was there to witness it!”
There were a few mumbles at this, intrigue ignited.
“Now, as the situation was escalating, a wizard decided to do something about it. He created a magical amulet, one able to choose its own champion, the Amulet of Daylight.”
He gestured to a picture of an amulet, it had a metal base, with a light blue gem, two arms that made it very watch-like, as well as a series of metal rings that probably had some sort of purpose.
“This amulet granted its champion great power, magical armor, a sword made of daylight given physical form, as well as a sacred obligation. They became known as our Trollhunter, and the first was Deya the Deliverer, who did glorious battle against Gunmar and won, sealing him and his army away in the Darklands. The Killahead Bridge was then disassembled and the pieces hidden around the world!”
This felt more like a myth than actual history and she was loving it!
“...until his minions collected them and reassembled the bridge just last year.”
And there it was.
“Gunmar and his army would have taken over the surface world, if it were not for our current-”
Blinky’s lecture was cut off by a phone alarm going off, though the alarm was rather amusing. The recorded voice of Douxie repeated “Blinky, you need to stop, class is over. Send them to me,” over and over again.
Luz bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing, a few others let their snickering loose…
King just broke down into cackling.
The troll harrumphed, turned off the alarm, quickly assigned their homework and dismissed the class. Before the Boiling Isles trio left, he handed Luz and Hunter some packets of paper that summarized major historical events that they absolutely needed to know. He was visibly delighted at how excited and in awe they respectively looked, especially when they tried to read as they left.
“Careful!”
They both nearly walked into the door while they were reading.
Luz had been grabbed on one shoulder by a very pretty latina, and the first thing she noticed was a large patch of her hair was pure white. It took up most of her bangs, while the rest was a very dark brown, almost black and was tied back into a small ponytail. She also had brown eyes, darker than her own but still very friendly and kind. She was wearing a pink shirt with a turtleneck, on it was a stylized skull with the word “Hamlet” under it, both in a darker shade of pink. She also had a classy purple jacket with sleeves that reached just past her elbows, a single indigo skirt, dark gray leggings and small black boots.
Hunter had been stopped by the boy from earlier, the one whose name they still hadn’t gotten. For some reason the witch seemed annoyed.
“Whoa, wow, uh, thanks for the save,” Luz stammered out, her brain taking a second to process what almost just happened.
“No problem,” the girl said, “I’m kind of surprised you guys started reading right away. Not everyone jumps right in after one of Blinky’s lectures.”
“How could I not?! I mean… there’s magic here! In the Human Realm! This is like some sort of weird dream come true!”
“I thought the Boiling Isles was your dream come true!” King piped up, “They better not be stealing you away from us!”
“Titan, please, let that happen,” Hunter prayed out loud.
Both of the newcomers visibly flinched at the word “Titan” and took a step back.
“...you guys okay?” Luz asked.
“...you… uh… when you say “titan” what do you mean exactly?” the boy asked, his stance noticeably tense. Behind him, she could see Blinky looked just as on guard as they did.
She was suddenly nervous, she could feel King hold onto her, and Hunter, noticing their change in demeanor, tensed up.
“Uh… I… I went to another world, th-the Demon Realm… and I ended up at a place called the Boiling Isles… which is a landmass… that’s the decaying carcass of a Titan…”
Their eyes noticeably widened, and their poses relaxed.
“...it’s… dead?” the boy asked.
“Mhm… has been for centuries…”
All three of them sighed in relief, the tension evaporating as they did.
“Do you guys… not like Titans?” she probed carefully.
“...we… had a bad experience with some last year.”
“YOU'VE SEEN LIVING TITANS?!”
Luz and King had both shouted something, but Hunter’s voice drowned them both out.
“...uh… yeah,” the boy said, clearly taken off guard by the yelling, “Three of them.”
“Do… do you… h-have pictures?” he managed to choke out, his eyes big and his whole body was shaking ever so slightly.
The two strangers look at each other before pulling out their phones and showing…
Uh…
“...you call those Titans in this realm?”
The trio was not impressed by the three elemental… golems was the most accurate word for them. A volcanic one, an ice one, and a plant/earth one, and while the sight of them did excite her, when compared to the sheer size of the Titan that made up her beloved island, they were nothing.
“They almost caused the end of the world,” the girl said, “They were summoned to reset Earth, wipe out all humanity and start again.”
“Ooooooo, diabolical!” King declared, tapping his claws together like a supervillain.
“Okay, they’re nothing like our Titan,” Luz said as she pulled out her phone to show them, “Our’s is a lot bigger….”
When she showed them the pictures she had taken, both teenagers went noticeably pale.
“Either way, I think we have very different kinds of Titans,” she smiled awkwardly, “Our’s is also worshiped as a god, so I think we’re kinda comparing apples to oranges here. Oh, by the way, I’m Luz Noceda, this is King and that’s Hunter, you can probably guess but they’re both from the Demon Realm.”
“I can introduce myself, human,” the blonde rumbled.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you,” the girl said, the awkwardness melting away, “I’m Claire Nunez.”
“And I’m Jim Lake Jr,” the boy smiled.
“Lake? Like Dr. Lake? Oh, are you her son? I saw your pictures when we were in her office yesterday!”
“Heh, yeah, I am… wait, why did you see my mom yesterday?”
“Goblin scratch,” she admitted as she lifted her leg to show her bandages, “One hell of a way to be introduced to this place.”
“Wait, that was you? Jake and the others told us about that.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, they were texting us while they were helping us hunt them down.”
She did vaguely recall them mentioning how many goblins they had taken out compared to someone else.
“Oh, well, they kinda ran into us when Coraline was giving us the tour around here… and one thing led to another.”
“Well that shouldn’t happen again,” Claire said as she put her hands on her hips, “We’re hoping to find their nest soon.”
“Honestly, I faced a lot worse back on the Boiling Isles,” she admitted as she rubbed the back of her head, “But uh, ya know, if you need any help with them… I could… maybe… help? …oh Titan that came out so weird, I’m so sorry.”
“Eh, we’ve done worse,” Jim said with a shrug, “This one time, we ended up hunting down some goblins who stole a car. The police ended up finding us and thought we took it.”
“Whoa, really?”
“Yeah, the same thing happened when we went after some goblins hiding in the museum after hours. There was also the time I had to explain away why I was wearing armor and I ended up getting the role of Romeo in the school play.”
“Wait, you mean Romeo & Juliet?” Luz stepped forward excitedly, “I auditioned for that! Well as Juliet I mean, but still!”
“Really?” that got Claire’s attention, “I got that part.”
“You did? Lucky! I didn’t even get cast!”
“Well, that happens someti-”
“And I got sent to the principal’s office because I stuffed the costume with sausage links and set up my costume to tear for the “happy dagger” scene!”
That made the slender girl’s eyes get big.
“...you did that… just for the auditions?”
“...yes?”
Luz was suddenly scared she had said too much.
“That’s… pretty amazing dedication… and you didn’t get cast or anything?”
“No… everyone… kinda ran away screaming…”
“Granted, what you did was a bit extreme but at the same time, pretty impressive.”
“...you think so?”
“Yeah, plus it’s always nice to meet a fellow thespian.”
“Well I wouldn’t call myself that. It was my first and only audition.”
“You still went for it though, you should be proud of that.”
She felt a strange sort of… humbling pride was the best way she could put it. It made her happy though so it had to be good!
“Anyway, Douxie’s class is the last one of the day,” Jim informed as they left the room, “He probably won’t call on you guys too much since it’s your first day and all.”
“About that… what does his class actually go over?” Luz piped up, “While I was in the Demon Realm, I went to a school called Hexside and it had classes on all sorts of topics, and this place only having one class on magic… just what are we getting into?”
“Well, Douxie has experience with all sorts of magic from around the world, so he tries to cover as many subjects as he can. If someone has experience in a particular kind of magic, he’ll ask them to help in class that day.”
“They get extra credit for how helpful they are,” Claire said with a laugh, “He once asked Jake to help demonstrate basic dragon biology, it went well until he had to sneeze. Turns out dragons can sneeze fireballs, nearly burned Douxie’s hair off.”
Luz had to place a hand over her mouth to try not to giggle.
When they got to the classroom, the trio sat at the front, she looked very excited, Hunter looked curious and King curled up in the former’s lap for a nap. Class began when Douxie played a power chord on his guitar to get everyone’s attention before he floated some chalk up to the board. Noone knew why he used a traditional chalkboard and plain white chalk to teach but it certainly fit the vibe of the room better than a smartboard would have.
For the first lesson, he explained how to make a simple sleep potion, one to temporarily cure insomnia, and with a flick of his wrist, manifested what they needed on their desks. He demonstrated, step by step, what to do to make the potion perfect, then had them add a fistful of lavender at the end, to “make it palatable.” It gave the potion a warm, cozy smell that was incredibly relaxing and soothing.
While the potions simmered, Douxie drew a general map of the forest around the school and marked a number of locations on it. He went on to explain that they were the best locations to find certain ingredients, in what quantities and how hard they were to get.
“Because I know you kids are gonna go and make stuff without telling us teachers first, I can at least make sure you don’t get yourselves killed out there first.”
Luz did a brief glance around the room, and caught far too many indications of the others’ guilt. Flinching, averting eyes, nervously playing with their own hair, apparently doing things you weren’t supposed to was common around here.
The final lesson was about the local magical creatures and what they would be willing to trade in exchange for things you wouldn’t just be able to find in the wild. Fur trimmings, tears, claw and hoof clippings, and to be careful if you were looking for fairy dust, because it was illegal in Oregon. He ended the lesson by saying if you need anything from a unicorn, be sure to outnumber them because the easiest way to get what you needed from them was an actual fight.
By the time class ended, the potions had finished simmering and they all carefully poured them into small vials to take with them.
“You really think that thing’s gonna work?” King asked as he peered at the purple substance, “Eda never made a potion like this before.”
“Well the Boiling Isles probably had potions similar to it, but just made with different ingredients,” Luz mused, and wondered if the color had come from the lavender they added at the end, “Hunter, you’re smart, is there something like this back there?”
The witch had been staring at the potion as well, clearly deep in thought, and stole an annoyed glance at being interrupted.
“Yes. There are. Granted, I’ve never even heard of some of these ingredients but from what little I can make sense of from this and the reading material we were given earlier, it seems sound enough.”
She smiled at him as they stepped out into the hall, feeling vindicated.
“Thank you Hunter. So… you wanna go over the stuff we learned in class?!”
He paused, summoned Flapjack in staff form to his hand, stepped backwards towards a window and pushed it open.
“Imma say… no. Bye~!”
In a flash of golden magic, he disappeared out into the blue sky, and could be seen flying away, towards the forest. She sighed in acceptance, maybe next time, for now thought, she looked at the potion with renewed enthusiasm.
“This is the start of something great…”
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waywardstraysau · 2 years ago
Text
Monks meet Misfits
By: Mod Nightmare!
Or, Hunter is a fucking feral menace and Edric tries to explain the difference between what is good and what is right to Omi, with no success
…………
“How on earth do you manage to carve that so smoothly while riding Vex?” Edric asked as the two boys were soaring through the air, a successful grocery run having lifted their spirits. Edric was clinging to his glassy, turquoise-tinted staff with trepidation, Cedric staying perfectly still on the end. Hunter, meanwhile, idly sat sideways on his own mahogany one, his palisman, Vex, flapping her wings at the front to keep them steady. The short violette shrugged, seemingly more preoccupied with detailing his latest palisman project, a Crimson Valstrax, rather than paying attention to steering.
“Vex knows how to fly on her own, and how to get back to base, so why wouldn’t I take the opportunity to work on my project?” he hummed absently, switching to his thumb claw to dig something out in the head area, “If you trusted Cedric a little more you’d know you can’t physically fall off your palisman, only knocked off by external forces.”
“Uhhh, like a giant sky lizard coming right for us!?” Edric screeched, frantically diving out of the sky just as Hunter looked back up, only to be met by a large reptilian face, stopped mere inches from his nose.
"Huh, I didn’t know dragons were a hazard in these skies," Hunter mused to himself, blinking as his new companion in the sky did the same, mirroring his confusion, “Hi?”
“Hello.”
The two resumed their awkward staring contest a few moments more, what could be said in such a bizarre situation? Neither had experience greeting unknown living entities on personal flights before.
“Uh, Dojo, why'd we stop?” a voice called from behind the face, and a teen's head popped up over the dragon’s frill, breaking the little trance of awkwardness that both fliers were in. Hunter tilted his head at the newcomer, before having to physically stop himself from scowling as more heads popped up from behind the dragons crest.
“Greetings!” Hunter replied, feigning friendliness as he forced his body to relax. If the ten gallon hat didn’t tip him off, the giant bald head definitely did, and he would be damned if he gave those monks any indication he knew of them, “What’s a ragtag group of kids like you doing up in these skies this fine afternoon?”
“We should ask you the same question, given you don’t look much older than me,” the girl, who Hunter assumed to be Kimiko, shot back, aggression laced heavily in her tone, “What idiot goes around riding on a stick in the middle of the sky!?”
“Idiots, friend, there were two of us riding staffs up here a moment ago,” Hunter hummed, peering over the side of his staff as he tucked his current project in his satchel, scanning the vicinity for any hint of icy green. Spotting his companion had oriented himself a few hundred yards below, Hunter turned back to address his new company, “Okay, good, he caught himself. And if you must know, we were on a grocery run. Not all of us have the immediate option of flying home on dragon back, friend”
“I take offense to that statement,” Vex muttered as Kimiko seemed to relax, accepting the violette's answer. The Brazilian, Raimundo if Hunter had to guess, didn’t look to comforted.
“Yeah, but… how? Why?” the leader asked, eyeing where Vex was positioned on the end of Hunter’s staff.
“Because I’m a witch. It’s what we do,” Hunter cackled, enjoying messing with the monk squad as Edric finally managed to get back up to the group, “What about you fou-five? If that isn’t a wheel of cheese there”
“I am no cheese!” Omi shot back, jumping up and sliding down the end of Dojo’s snout, meeting Hunter eye to eye as he stood up straighter, hand on his chest, “I am Omi! We are the monks of the Xiaolin Temple, here to retrieve the Cat’s Eye Necklace, a Shen Gong Wu that has revealed itself in the area, for the side of good!”
“OMI!” his human compatriots yelled down at the boy as Edric picked up on the situation in the corner of Hunter’s eye, tilting his head in faux confusion at the smaller boys proclamation.
“Shien gon- pardon me?” the greenette questioned, catching the monks off guard as they all turned to stare at him, as if he were insane, “What?”
“You- you aren’t here for the Wu? You really have no idea?” Kimiko questioned in disbelief, switching her gaze between both boys, Hunter taking on his own clueless expression.
“Uh, no? We were on the way home, not looking for whatever mouthful thing cheese-boy is talking about,” Hunter replied, subtly backing up a few feet to put some distance between himself and the smallest monk, knowing the destruction he was capable of, “Did you guys lose this… Cat’s Eye Necklace thing?”
“Kinda did, kinda didn’t,” the resident Texan replied, scratching his head under the tip of his hat, “Its a long story, probably nothin’ y’all’d be interested in”
“Probably not,” Edric agreed, tapping his forefinger on the side of his staff, three times, a signal between the two witches akin to “play along”, “But if you guys lost something, we could help you find it! Hunter here really lives up to his namesake.”
“Yup, once spotted a white rabbit we were looking for in a herd of sheep from thirty meters up,” the violette agreed, kicking his legs out a bit, “You need something found? I’m your guy”
“Ooh, that sounds most impressive!” Omi agreed with a little clap, while his companions shared a look between themselves behind his back, “Like finding hay in the needle stack! Your skill could be most useful for this mission”
“If you’re willing to accept our help, that is,” Edric chuckled, while Hunter discreetly side-eyed the other monks, who seemed to have made an unspoken decision, “And its “Needle in a haystack””
“Eh, Potato, Tomato,” Omi replied with a smile as he sat down on the dragons snout, his three other friends finally looking back at the two witches.
“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, we wouldn’t particularly mind if you two helped us out,” Raimundo finally spoke, while Kimiko and Clay (by process of elimination) shot each other some strange looks.
“You kidding? I’m basically a housewife to this joker, It would be an honor.”
…………….
Deceiving the rest of the monk squad turned out to be a lot easier than Hunter anticipated. Dojo was easily swayed from his suspicions with snacks, Kimiko and Clay dropped their walls with a few palisman facts, and Raimundo seemed to be comforted by how well Edric got along with Omi, even if the former was trying to breach the subject of the difference between perceived inner heroism and actual good, and failing.
“Like the fish in the barrel,” Vex purred in Hunter’s ear as the group worked their way through the ruins within the forest, checking behind every corner and in every crevice, “The noodle dragon is trying to subtly breach our magic consciousness, but all he’s getting is facts about the Malzeno in MHR from me, and frozen fish recipes from Cedric.”
"Good. We need them to have their guards down before the inevitable Showdown, I need them to WANT to wager something in anger when I pull the rug." Hunter mused, gently scratching at the back of his palisman’s frills. Clay and Kimiko didn’t want the violette too far away for whatever reason, so he had to make do with only exchanging messages between Vex and himself. Who-
“Hey, Scene Boy,” Kimiko called, distracting Hunter from his thoughts as he turned to face the smaller teen, eyebrow raised, “If one were to, hypothetically, want a palisman for herself, where could she find one?”
“Well, you don’t find a palisman, first of all,” Hunter clarified, subtly scanning the area around them as he addressed his temporary companion, “And second, a palisman isn’t some wild animal, nor is it a pet, or commodity. You can’t just buy one, you can’t own one, there are a LOT of requirements to be met beforehand-“
“I understand nothing about what you’re saying,” the girl cut Hunter off, earning herself a deadpan look from the witch as Clay chimed in.
“He means ya can’t have one, Kimiko, ya ain’t qualified,” the Texan clarified, earning himself an appreciative nod from the other boy in their group.
“That exactly,” Hunter agreed, stroking the side of Vex’s neck as she lifted her head to glare at Kimiko, “Palisman are sentient, and if they don’t… lets say vibe, on your wavelength, they will not tolerate you for any reason. Most temporarily petrify themselves in self-defense if someone other than their witch tries to cast a spell with them”
As if to prove a point, Hunter silently commanded Vex to resume her staff form, then drew a circle in the air with her, producing a pair of flower crowns that dropped down on the monks heads, which actually startled Clay quite badly.
“If you tried that, Vex would probably end up biting you instead of just petrifying herself, so we aren’t gonna do a physical demonstration of that part,” the violette chuckled as Kimiko readjusted her new crown, eyes sparkling in awe. Vex hissed at her from where she was perched, as if to warn the smaller teen to back off, but neither monk paid her mind.
“Why would she bite? Ain’t she domesticated?” Clay questioned as the trio continued further into the crumbling city, making Hunter cackle a bit.
“Nah, Vex is her own woman. She’s modeled after a vampire dragon from my favorite game, so biting is probably her first instinct when someone tries to handle her aside from myself,” the violette clarified, watching as Vex traded glares with the Xiaolin Dragon of Fire.
“Maybe she just don’t like other girls?” Clay mused, to which Hunter seemed to think on for a bit.
“I never thought of that, she’s actually been pretty aggressive with any teenage girl who isn’t my sister, Luz,” he hummed, subtly tapping the base of Vex’s staff against the ground to cast a spell under the radar, “I almost got shanked when she bit Edric’s sister, but she’s also Luz’ girlfriend, so I guess the threat was warranted”
“Wait, yer companion wasn’t the one threatening ya for that?” Clay asked, confusion all over his face when Hunter absently looked back at him, subtly leading the entire group in a new direction from his leading position, “I mean, Vex did go an’ bite his kin”
“Amity would throw me into the Boiling Sea if I DARED try the protective older brother routine!” Edric called from his position with Omi and Raimundo, the latter two having their own little interaction at the moment. Omi then asked Edric something, and the greenette went right back in to his conversation with the other boy as Hunter gestured in his direction. “What? No! Thats not a euphemism-“
“That why. The Blights don’t exactly… tolerate each other, not anymore,” Hunter replied, ear twitching a bit when he got a hit. Clay looked like he was about to continue the conversation, but Hunter raised his hand, cutting off whatever the Texan was about to say as he got into a defensive position.
The forest had gone silent around them, the sounds of nature having fled, leaving only the four-way argument that developed when Omi had said something unnecessarily misogynistic a bit before.
Clay seemed to get the hint, and scooted closer to the violette, summoning his wudai weapon as he scanned the undergrowth with suspicion.
*shuff*
“Sǐ biǎo zi!” Hunter shouted, teleporting to intercept the claws that had been moments away from slicing Kimiko’s face into ribbons. With his sudden shout, Edric and the rest of the Xiaolin Dragons quickly switched to battle stances, as Hunter threw back the attacker who’d attempted an ambush, the girl landing readily on her feet.
“Heh, guess I should’ve listened when Mistress Wuya said you’d be a purr-oblem,” Ashley, in full Katnappé attire, giggled as a group of large jungle cats slunk from the forest behind her, fur bristling in rage. The Xiaolin monks mostly groaned in annoyance, aside from Raimundo, who was shooting a suspicious glance in Hunter’s direction. “Was destroying part of our glorious Heylin fortress not enough for you kitties?”
“I believe your dipshit master was asking for it when he’d locked us up in his weird sex dungeon,” Edric growled as Hunter noticed the golden necklace fastened around the other teens neck, its gem glinting menacingly in the limited light. Using Edric’s barbs as a distraction, Hunter quietly scooted back so he was next to Raimundo, who looked ready to stab someone if things weren’t explained.
“She has the Wu you’re looking for. Give me something to wager, and I can get in close enough to initiate a challenge before someone can get hurt” the violette whispered, earning himself an offended look from the Brazilian.
“So you were-“ he begun to hiss, but Hunter slapped his hand over his mouth with a glare.
“I was NOT initially. I only know how this shit works because Edric and I were locked up by some megalomaniac a week back and his bitch wouldn’t shut the fuck up about the Shen Gong Wu,” Hunter half lied with a hushed growl, eying how Ashley’s now very real tail lashed behind her, a fight mere moments from breaking out, “I wager we have about fifteen seconds before the furry orders her new playmates to start mauling, so either hand over one of the Wu, or I’m stealing your weapon and putting that up for grabs, because I am not letting Edric get hurt on my watch today”
“… fine,” Raimundo consented, and quickly passed Hunter a familiar coin he’d been storing in his pocket, just in case.
Needing no further command, the violette darted in-between the two parties just as Ashley signaled for an attack, only for the order to be cut off by Hunter grabbing onto her little accessory, which lit up with a familiar golden glow.
“Ashley, I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown,” Hunter hissed victoriously, yanking the girl down to his level, “Your little Cat’s Eye Necklace for the Mantis Flip Coin, in Trial By Combat”
“Pfft, and why would I wager my glorious little charm for that old coin? It’s everything I could ever wish for in a Wu,” the catified girl scoffed, earning herself a feral grin from the small witch as he yanked on the chain around her neck, causing her to cry out in pain.
“Because I will NOT hesitate to remove your head with the chain of your precious accessory if you don’t”
“Can he do that?” Omi asked Dojo in the background as Hunter yanked the chain again, Ashley yelping as she realized the witch wasn’t idly threatening her.
“Yeah, can he!? He’s threatening my life here!” the blonde cried as Dojo flipped through his rule book, Hunter’s glare never wavering as the consensus was given.
“According to the rules, if one refuses a Xiaolin Showdown, they forfeit any protections the rules of magic engagement provide to prevent unnecessary fatalities” Dojo declared, making Hunter grin even wider as Ashley looked back at him in horror. “So, yes, this is completely legal, and Hunter can indeed choose to kill you if you officially reject his challenge”
“Then I accept! I ACCEPT!” Ashley cried out, and her Wu vanished in a burst of golden light, alongside the Mantis Flip Coin as reality warped around the three parties, pillars of stone rising from the murky gloom. Ashley jumped away from Hunter as the land fell away into a circular arena, with a little pillar for the monks, and a separate one for Edric to spectate at a safe distance, which Vex flew off to join him on. “You’re fucking insane! What’s your damage!?”
“His damage is you were an asshole to our friend, and we hate you!” Edric called from his “seat”, before turning to look at the monks on the nearby adjacent pillar with a little grin. “And sorry to say, we don’t really like you guys either, our little truce was mostly an act”
“What!? Why? Who could we have-!?” Kimiko spluttered in shock and anger, Omi and Clay looking quite saddened as Hunter nodded up at the peanut gallery to affirm his agreement with his companion. “We don’t like Ashley either! Why-“
“I KNEW IT!” a new voice suddenly cut through the gloom, and everyone turned to find Jack himself flying over to Edric’s pillar, landing as he jabbed a finger into the greenettes chest, “You left base to confront the Xiaolin Losers while I was sleeping, didn’t you!?”
“Jack!?/Spicer!?” chorused from Ashley and the rest of the peanut gallery, sans Hunter, who was looking smug, and Edric, who was holding his hands up with an awkward smile.
“That wasn’t initially the plan, to be fair-“ Edric tried to explain, but Ashley’s shouting cut the greenette off.
“You have to be KITTEN me! That loser is that friend I was an ass to?” the blonde turned on Hunter, gesturing to Jack like he was some unpleasant pest, which made the violettes expression morph into something less than friendly, “He’s the biggest jerk in all of China! You were seriously going to decapitate me over him!?”
“Decapitate!?” Jack yelped, earning a surprised look from the monks on the other pillar. “Hunter, what the fuck!?”
“Um, excuse me, but there are more important things going on than my promise of murder” the small violette gestured to the world around them, reminding everyone of the current situation, turning back to Ashley, “This is a Xiaolin Showdown, not a circus!” He proclaimed, before pointing at the monks, then Ashley again as he spoke. “I’ll be exacting vengeance upon you five later, but she’s first on my immediate list for the little stunt she pulled trying to get us all mauled by jungle cats”
“What the actual hell did I MISS today?” Jack asked in exasperation as Edric patted him on the back.
“This is why night is usually the time for sleeping,” Edric hummed as Hunter charged for Ashley, who screamed as the violette clawed at her face, “You should have seen Hunter in action, he played those losers like damn fiddles”
“As much as it pains me to admit, your friend is absolutely right, Spicer,” Raimundo huffed, the three other monks (and Dojo) preoccupied by the spectacle that was Hunter chasing Ashley around the arena, shooting fireballs at her fleeing back, “You’ve befriended quite an accomplished actor on your break. Speaking of, where the hell did you go?”
“The country of Nunja,” Jack replied, standing up a little straighter as Edric stifled a giggle.
“’Nunja?” Raimondo questioned as Hunter closed in on Ashely below, grabbing at her faux tail with a murderous grin.
“Nunja business, fucker!” Jack cackled as Edric high fived him, as the dimensions warped once again, Hunter having pinned Ashley under a heeled boot below and claimed a swift victory. Vex darted down to join Hunter, transforming into a staff for him to mount as Edric and Jack rose into the air, Hunter joining them with the Cat’s Eye Necklace clutched in his free hand. “Now then, with that business taken care of, we must be off!”
“Wha-HEY! You can’t just-“ Omi shouted, only to be shut up as the Mantis Flip Coin nailed him right between the eyes, knocking him out cold as Jack and Edric cackled.
“Don’t fret, little monks, we are sure to meet again! We’re gonna need more Wu than this one, after all!” Hunter chuckled, winking as the trio of rouges rose into the air, ready to race back to base. “BYEEEEEE!”
With a flash of purple light, the Xiaolin Dragons were then left stranded in the ancient ruins, alone, somewhat scared of what was to come for the first time in a while.
……
I WAS NEVER DONE WITH THIS SERIES, JUST ON HIATUS!!!!
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