King's Retaliation

It was rather early in the morning. The sun was just barely starting to peek out from over the horizon, though it needn’t have worried; there weren’t very many people up to see it.

 Mondshein was walking through the quieter streets, trying to calm her mind. Last round was a mess, she decided. It was great that they were able to get all the ingredients in so little time, but it was a stretch on the nerves. There was even a danger there where neither team had been able to complete their task, robots who somehow managed to be boring even with an armful of guns, a child who shouldn’t have even been in a tournament getting hurt, and another team that should’ve lost but didn’t.

“We should’ve just let those two teams fight it out in the ring,” she grumbled. Still, that would’ve been a hard ingredient for her to get herself. And it wasn’t like he had come out unscathed, so that was a plus.

 Even so…now they had to deal with the Mist Claws. She rubbed her face, slowing down a little as the heaviness of the situation was unfurled in a long list. The Fog Eyes…and an invading army, and with dinosaurs, and with the mist claws, and a foreign gang, and a—

 A solid, squishy impact slapped against the side of her face and her shoulder, and suddenly she found herself dripping wet.

 “What the hell?!” She shouted, pulling her clippers from her cloak and whirling around.

 There was nobody there. Nobody even close by. It was early morning; who would even be up this early?

 And yet there was undeniable evidence that she was very soaked.

 And very pissed off.

 Mondshein seethed for a moment in the middle of the street before starting back up the road, back towards the castle to get some dry clothes and to find out who did this.

 Just as she turned her back, another water balloon came sailing through the air.

 This time, Mondshein was able to dodge effortlessly, and it splattered harmlessly down the street. Her cape swirled as she spun on the offender. “There you are!”

 A figure, silhouetted by the morning light, quickly ducked back behind the eaves of the roofs. She could hear their feet thump against the roof tiles as the criminal made their escape.

 “Oh, no you don’t!” Mondshein growled. “You are not getting away with that!” Light as a cat, Mondshein hopped from a porch stair to a barrel and grabbed hold of the rain gutter, swinging up onto the roof with airy ease, and charged after the figure.

 They were fast, whoever the idiot was. They were always one turn ahead, too, so Mondshein couldn’t even see a clue of the person who had tried to prank her. Still, even though Mondshein didn’t have the orange crystal, she was faster than the criminal, and was gaining fast. Soon, right before the figure disappeared around the next corner, Mondshein was able to make out a small-ish form, some brown, and a flash of red hair.

 The Champion felt herself soften a little, and a reluctant smile started to form behind her mask. Once she was certain who it was, she slowed down a little, letting the girl make her escape and disappear over the rooftops, into the streets, and slip into an alley.

 Mondshein watched her go, stopping next to a chimney, not even panting

 Well…her teammate is sick, she thought with a little shrug. After all, hadn’t she done something similar to their team when Lotti was sick? Mondshein knew as well as anyone that it was an acceptable way of dealing with stress. No one was hurt but a little pride, and unlike King, she was understanding enough to swallow it.

 Besides…the girl was just a kid. It didn’t matter what her official forms said about her age; she was very young. And she didn’t need to be punished for being the only fun person on her team. Anyway, it was a prank well done, and for someone who lived with such stuffy, humorless people, it was probably beneficial to let her get away with it.

 Mondshein hopped back down off the roofs as lightly as a bird, wondering only how Wolfboy had managed to figure out water balloons in the first place.

*~*~*

Wolfboy leaned against the wall panting, looking behind her to see if she was still being chased. By the looks of it, Mondshein had given up. Or simply decided to let her go. That was much more likely.

 She played with the glowing blue pendant around her neck, her eyes bright and mischevious. She had managed to pull it off.

 I feel fantastic.

 Somewhere from the shadows of the eaves, a small black bird fell from the shadow and landed on her shoulder. She ruffled her feathers and hopped from foot to foot, obviously distressed.

 “Oh, don’t look at me like that, my dear,” Wolfboy said softly. “She can get away with something like this. I can’t. It cannot be called framing if there are no accusations, hm?”

 The bird fluttered onto her other shoulder, unconvinced.  “Wolfboy” smiled a thin-lipped smile and stroked the blackbird’s back with a finger.

 The blue light in the pendant flickered and faded, leaving an empty metal net that had held the magic. Wolfboy began to stretch upward. Brown clothes turned to green and gray, her bare feet were wrapped in old leather boots, and from the silhouette in the light of the alleyway, it looked as though a long tail had sprouted from the back of her head. Her hair thinned and grew a little longer, and the claws on her hand shrank back into her fingers.

 King frowned and looked at the empty charm in his hand, disappointed. “That ran out faster than I was expecting,” he muttered. He must have been seconds away from getting caught, too. That would’ve been awkward. 

 He knew it wasn’t going to last very long. He knew he had been sucking the magic out of it faster than water from a straw. But still…he was too close to being caught for it to have failed so quickly.

 Now it was empty, and was useless unless he had his own magic to feed it or Azul recharged it with a new spell. He had no magic, and it wouldn’t be practical to spend more money on something rather trivial, anyway.

 Well, it was certainly a useful thing, but it would’ve been illegal to use it in the fights, anyway.  King pocketed it, weighing the possible ways he could use it at home with the possible price at which he could sell it back. As he slipped his hand into his pocket, King felt his fingers brush against the packet of water balloons he had bought the night before. It crinkled satisfyingly, and he smiled.

 Know he understood why Mondshein had bought so many.

 What a delightful little invention, he mused.