Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Three
The sky was blue, the birds were chirping, and I was being dragged across the streets. That would have been the norm, usually, but this time the problem was that I couldn't attempt to escape. Not that I actually wanted to escape, but perhaps I had to find a solution to the height difference.
As things went, Gorm was chuckling behind me, and I was glaring back at his amusement at my expense.
In the end, the best solution was obvious in hindsight.
With both teammates on my shoulders, I could actually walk properly without being hunched over.
"We're making a scene!" Zhelty hissed, her face red.
"Eh," I would have shrugged, but I reckoned that would have been too much, "When are we not making a scene?"
"I like being carried," Chez giggled from my other shoulder.
"Team Juniper should already be here," Gorm mused. "See anything from your vantage point?"
"Ahoy matey," Chez answered in her best pirate-like impression, "I see a crowd!"
"And where there's a crowd there's a famous person," Zhelty finished. She patted my head. "Now let us down."
I chuckled and did just that, much to Chez' pouting. We proceeded towards the crowd by the city docks, and as a few journalists were actually present on the scene, I recognized Pyrrha standing in front of her teammates, trying her best to keep a polite smile on her face even when the journalists harrowed her with questions.
"How does it feel to be back in Argus after so long?" one journalist asked her, microphones being pushed pretty much into her face.
"It is always bliss to come back home where I studied and started my long journey into becoming a huntress," Pyrrha answered as politely as she could. Nearby, Jaune and Ren were being swamped by the crowd and literally pushed out of the way so that more photographers could take pictures of Pyrrha.
"H-Hey!" Nora's voice echoed as she shoved a couple out of the way, "Renny! Grab my hand!" she yelled, extending her arm as much as possible towards her teammate, who seemed to have become one with the crowd instead, letting it push and move him around like in the currents of a turbulent sea.
Jaune didn't fare any better. He was pretty much a mop of blond hair letting the crowd drag him wherever they wanted him to go, though his arms remained high in the air. "Pyrrhaaaaa-" his cries for help didn't go unheard, but unfortunately it was a bit hard for Pyrrha herself to come to his rescue.
I sighed, waited a few heartbeats, and then glanced at Chez who was looking up at me with a grin.
"Chez," I said amiably.
"That's my name," Chez said with a grin, "But you can call me honey, darling, purrfect and anything cute you can think of now," she winked, "But I guess you want me to help them?"
"If you'd be so kind," I answered with a chuckle.
Chez disappeared from sight, and in a matter of minutes the crowd shifted as an invisible force moved through them. One at the time, the members of team JNPR were pulled with determination away from the ever-shifting crowds and next to us.
"Oh!" Jaune was the first to recover, "How did I get over here?" he asked, blinking in surprise.
"Chez gave you a hand," Gorm answered, before glancing at Pyrrha standing at the very center of the crowd. "She'll be a bit harder to get. Want me to drop you from high above?" he asked next, looking at me.
I rubbed my chin, "Nah, I've got a better idea!"
I placed both of my hands in front of my mouth, and then took the deepest breath I could. A small Schnee Glyph appeared between my cupped hands, and as I blew the cold winds of the Northern Pole materialized through, the Ice Dust withing my gauntlets shimmering and dropping ever so slightly.
"Pyrrha!" I spoke at the end of the breeze, and the voice echoed carried by the wind and the Dust, forcing the crowd to part under the gentle, yet firm gale of the frozen north.
A small path of ice formed on the ground where my wind had gone, and as I amiably extended both of my arms, I began to walk on it towards her. "Pyrrha Nikos!" I exclaimed loudly again, "Fancy meeting you here!" I laughed, "Want a rematch one of these days?"
Pyrrha blinked, even as the crowd around us grew wilder all of a sudden. She smiled, understanding dawning on her. She walked closer to me, and grinned. "Sure!" she said mirthfully, "This time it will end up going differently however!" she said with a fake boisterous voice.
"Oh, I can't wait to see how much you've improved then," I said with a sly grin, before extending my right hand for a shake which she returned. Then, I absentmindedly began to walk towards the edge of the crowd, Pyrrha following me, "I have to say I didn't really expect to meet you here, must have come to visit the family then?"
As she answered with her brows furrowing ever so slightly, realization dawned on her about what I was doing just then, and a giggle threatened to leave her throat the next.
Once at the very edge of the crowd, who had meanwhile gone from an encirclement to a followers' group, I winked at my teammates and mouthed four simple words.
And now we run.
And thus we all ran. The crowd didn't catch up with what we had done until we were already clear of them, and as we found our bearings in a cramped side alley, I couldn't help but chuckle. My chuckle was echoed by pretty much everyone else, even as Pyrrha shook her head in disbelief.
"The Headmaster said that you'd fill us in on what we're supposed to do," Jaune spoke with a slightly nervous whisper, "but he did say it was incredibly important."
"We might end up saving the world, or we might end up destroying it," I answered with a shrug, "It's a fifty-fifty."
Jaune blinked, and chuckled, "But seriously-"
I seriously stared at him. He blinked and looked at Gorm. Gorm returned the serious look. He turned towards Zhelty, she too held the serious gaze. Finally, he settled on Chez. Since her gaze was serious too, it was pretty clear that this was truly about the end of the world, and not just an exaggeration.
He groaned. "You're being serious."
I gave him an awkward smile. "I'll explain once we're somewhere more private. In the meantime, try to enjoy your time in Argus. Couple of days, and then we'll coincidentally meet again by the mission board."
"We're saving the world by staying in Argus a couple of days?" Jaune remarked, puzzled. "Sounds...sounds like an easy thing. I mean, what could possibly go-"
My hand slammed into Jaune's mouth and my fingers pinched his tongue sharply. "Listen here, young man," I hissed, "There are words that must never be spoken, knowledge that must never be shared," I growled. "And things that could make God-Planets burn. And that sentence right there is the number one thing you should never, ever, say. Walk in the parks have become dangerous treks for survival because of that sentence, I have seen easy milk runs turn into devastating slogs, and I remember when the GarbageNam war was said to be a cinch, an easy, run of the mill training that would never ever go wrong and instead, instead we trekked into-"
As my eyes stared ahead, glazed over as the traumatic experiences resurfaced to their full might, Gorm quietly patted my shoulder. "Now, now," Gorm said, trying to sound like a gentle nurse with a Vacuo Happy Juice in hand, though he didn't have such happy juice in hand, unfortunately. "It's all right. It's all right. The GarbageNam can't hurt us anymore. We left it behind us-"
"Some weren't so lucky," I croaked back, "Some carry it with them, forever in their hearts and minds-"
"I think Jaune has learned his lesson," Ren said as gently as he could, "could you let go of his tongue now, please? I think he's forgotten how to breathe with his nose."
I took a small breath, and then let go. Jaune gasped, gagged and then shook his head. "Man," he swallowed, "sorry about that."
I shrugged, "It's all right. So, enjoy your impromptu holiday and see you in two days. Be prepared for a very long trek through the countryside, the desert and then Vale, so if you want to stock up, now's the time."
Jaune nodded at that, and we'd have all gone our separate ways afterwards only to meet later on, if not for Nora piping in.
"Wait. So you're not going to have a rematch?" she asked, her eyes glinting with unforeseen mirth and perhaps troll-like amusement, "I want to get even on my last bet!"
Gorm turned thoughtful at that, "We do have two days of time, and what better way to stir the pot than to make it some kind of official rematch? Everyone's going to know where Pyrrha is if we do that," he added in a hushed murmur, which nonetheless reached my ears.
"And we can bet on Wren, and get easy money," Zhelty mused, "We'll need it to buy a big house."
I looked at Pyrrha with a half-defeated look. Pyrrha giggled, and then her eyes lit with the fires of her competitive spirit. "I've learned a few new tricks," she said with a bright smile, "the Headmaster taught me how to control that power," she added with an offhanded remark. "You might end up eating the dirt."
"Those are fighting words!" Chez hissed back, "Wren's not going to lose, not when he's got the power of love and a cute cat-girl cheerleader on his side!"
Somehow, things snowballed down from there.
Or well, they rolled uphill just to have some running-up space before launching themselves downhill afterwards.
Rematch of the Vytal Tournament at Sanctum Academy! Pyrrha Nikos versus Wren Schnee!
For front row tickets, please see Gorm Roy.
Sadly the furry things look a bit bad due to the rendering
