Twin moons shone light down to the southern seas. Torches lit with Igni elemental shards, burnt brightly in a circle around Wooj, the mysterious figure, and the squad. Squad captain Ferdinand, fearing for the safety of everyone in the vicinity, tried convincing Wooj to stand down. "Www-Wooj, you got to stop before~"

A smiling glance from the figure was directed at Ferdinand, sending shivers through him. "Y'all should listen to that there, pardner. It seems like we have ourselves here a Koanican standoff. So what's it gonna be?"

Wooj scoffed at the words and activated an ability, Bandit Boon - Attacks may steal from the opponent and generate greed on each successful steal.

Kaha formed around Wooj; he was ready to get stuck in for a fight. "I don't give a damn, you greased-up weirdo. You're getting in the way of official business. You try anything and I'll start chopping things."

Shaking his head and twiddling his fingers, as if ready for something, what was the 'greased-up' manhole jumper going to do next? Ferdinand was about to find out.

"Hey pardner. What's this jerkwad's name? I'll give y'all three seconds to tell me, or I'll be showing you the door too."

"WOOJ, SIR. PLEASE DON'T HURT US. SQUAD E IS JUST HERE TO ASSIST IN THE COLLECTION, SIR," Ferdinand shouted, scared out of his mind. His knees began buckling, and the Swiftsong and Sharpshot had to help him stay standing. "Captain? What the hell is wrong with you?" asked the Sharpshot. A slap came their way for being too loud; he grabbed hold of him and whispered,

"Keep your voices down, you fools. That's IP – Important Point, leader of the Koudilon guild. DON'T REACT, STAY QUIET." Together, the team backed away slowly.

"Cowards, all four of you!" Wooj growled at the squad; IP shook his head gently.

"Pardner. They're the smartest ones here; you get one chance to set things raht."

"You should listen to the boss; he's way stronger than you." said Philly, standing up, dusting himself off and reaching for the flip-flops that fell to the sides.

IP began to channel his Lùth. The oil on his skin began to dry as shifting auras formed around him. Blazing of different elements. Wooj laughed foolishly at the sight; his arrogance knew no bounds. "What a terrible matchup this is for you, an Arts user against an Abilities one."

He blindly swung his axe, smashing it into IP. His grin transformed into a sour face from ear to ear. "WHAT!?" The blade shattered into pieces at his feet. Clanging as they bounced around. Wooj and IP.

IP closed in the distance; his aura shifted to purple as he leapt up into the air, calling out, "I call this one 'Raiton Elbow'," and landing on Wooj's head. Wooj had no chance. A swift knock to the head charged with Raiton Lùth knocked him unconscious and continued by shocking him deeply right down to his bones. He was cooked for a while. "Y'all can take him to the jail cell. I need to get more oil. Go on, geeeet, gyahaha~." IP said to the squad, and they complied, of course, because they would be next if they didn't.

"Philly, they can spend the night there. I gattah make mah way north for that there meeting. Be seeing ya,"

IP jumped down into the manhole, repairing it as he passed through.

***

MC and the other two had managed to reach NSC after travelling in the early hours of the morning. Unbeknownst to them, their companions had spent the night sleeping away in the hotel. If only Horace could grow a pair and own up to his incompetence, never mind, eh?

The stores had closed up for the night as they made their way into the building from the underground levels.

"Is there anything we need while we're here? It would be a shame to not take advantage of the mall bargains."

Horace and Dillee stood thinking for a moment; MC glanced around, hoping a store would jump-start his brain, but he was too tired from being awake.

Dillee, however, had long since been in sync with his best friend and knew exactly what they needed: "MC, sir. You should probably stock up on containers. You have struggled to keep up with your supply. Best not leave it to chance."

This little one. I Swear to the lord of Cranky Jay, is a blessing to us all. MC wanted to jump for joy but he settled with approaching dillee and giving him a massive hug. "You're the best," Horace joined in too, wanting to be part of the effort.

Dillee was so overwhelmed with joy from receiving attention that he sobbed yellow tears onto the floor, and he tore off a piece of himself to blow into. Pollen from his face blew around the area. Lucky for them, nobody was around to see him make such a mess. MC and Horace both had fairly yellow liquids and solids covering their black, red and white armours now, though.

Horace pulled a face to complain, scrunching and trying to turtle his neck inwards, pretending he was grossed out. "WE BETTER TAKE A TRIP to the leaky tap."

"The what?" asked Dillee. "Is there a problem with some pipework here?" I can try to fix it; I'm quite well versed on the subject.

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The pair laughed at him. "Ha! Nah, bud, it's a place you can visit. They clean up your gear and repair it, that sort of thing. You can have a shower or a bath if you like. Though I'm not sure if you should go near any of those hot spots inside. Probably won't do you any good."

Dillee began to sulk instead of cry, "Does this mean I will not get to spend time with you fine sirs whilst you enter the premises? A most saddening day ahead, it seems."

"Never said that bud. But some of the facilities involve high heat; it may not be your thing?"

"Oh poppycock sir. I'm sure it'll be fine; Im with you after all."

"Let's see how it goes then." MC wasn't so sure Dillee was going to enjoy time at the leaky tap .You have to try these things at least once with infants; it helps to really get them used to the world when they're older. They they leave the kids out in the snow as babies in the far north… If it works for them, it can work for Dillee.

Not sure that logic is very sound, MC, but we shall see.

Horace was more familiar with the place, so he did the walking while MC did the talking when they made it to the hotel area. They made their way through the underground areas towards the mall section.

"How ghastly... What dreg decided this interior was suitable for the general public? Ugh, gold rims everywhere...how tacky."

"Whatever you're going to say, say it now, Dil. This would get us dodgy looks if you spoke like that with people around. They'd think you're a snob."

"Outrageous! I'm no snob. I just have taste."

Horace looked at me, shaking his head. I nodded back and mouthed at him, 'Definitely a snob.' "Ok then, buddy," MC said sarcastically, ruffling Dillee's tips.

Dillee continued to stare and pull faces at the interior design of the place while the trio made their way to the lobby.

"Out of your system yet, Dil?" He shrugged, so MC gave him a loving tap to the side of the head. "OUT OF YOUR SYSTEM YET, DIL!?" Dillee began to sulk; he really did not like being told off.

MC reached out his hand, walking with Dillee until they were close to the staircase. "Horace, wait on the stairs; I'm not sure if they will approve of him." He nodded and went inside to wait, continuing to the tired-looking Huum behind the desk. MC spoke up, "Hey, miss. Have you got any double rooms left?"

She looked up at me, grumbling. Before speed tapping away at the keyboard… "Maybe," 'SNORT'

"Maybe...?"

"Yeah." Why is she staring at me like she forgot we speak the same language?

"So, do you have rooms or not?"

"Ugh,"

Tapping away again at the desk seemed to be an effort for her; I wanted to reach over and bounce the keyboard off her head. 'SNORT'

"We only have a family room. SIR."

It's been a while since I've dealt with a teenager attitude. How charming.

"I'll take it. We don't need breakfast." MC tried to stay polite and calm; maybe she was going through something and didn't have anybody."

"Whatever, oldie. Room 4, floor 4."

"WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM!?" I've had enough of this attitude; her face lit up, terrified.

"WHY ARE YOU YELLING AT ME!?" She began crying into her keyboard, and MC started to feel guilt-ridden.

Horace and Dillee rushed out to try to calm things down; Horace's SICTIC's were not helping. "MC YOU GOTTA calm down, man. SHE'S JUST A KID."

"O.M.G., stop yelling at me; I don't get paid enough for this! I'm calling my manager."

"Madam, please, this is all a misunderstanding."

"Mugi? Come down to reception; there are some horrible customers down here! Hurry! They're getting aggressive."

What the fuck!? Is she on something? Bring it on. I'm too tired to be messed around like this.

MC attempted to start shouting again but was stopped by Dillee's fleshy greens covering his mouth and Horace holding him back. The elevator pinged, and Mugi the Hankae slenderly exited the elevator. "Jessica and dear customers, what seems to be the problem?"

Dillee took it upon himself to speak. "Pleasure to meet you, Mugi. My companion was attempting to book a room with your receptionist Jessica. It would seem she was more interested in other matters than booking the room, however. My good friend MC here remained as calm and polite as possible, though your employee here threw the key at him and was done with the situation. Thus, my companion became frustrated at the rudeness of your member of staff here. And the shouting match started."

Mugi, however, was too mesmerised by the talking plant to pay much attention to his words: "I'm sorry, you said something about a key?"

"She refused to just give me a simple yes or no answer, saying 'MAYBE' in a bitchy tone. Huffed and puffed when I tried to get some clarity on the matter. It's late; we walked all the way from Witches Falls, not expecting to be dealing with little Miss Attitude Problem." MC interjected, calming down from earlier.

"You were rude to me first. I was trying to finish my blog; you could have waited." Still, giving attitude and being a loudmouth was not a good look.

"Is she taking the piss, mate?"

Mugi rubbed his hand through his head before speaking to his colleague, "Jessica...you had training for this. You're at work; you know blogging is for downtime only. You can't be behaving like this with customers."

"FINE, I QUIT THEN."

"You can't quit; you're here from the job centre. They'll take your welfare off you. Go sit in the back room."

Jessica ran off crying, and her sobs could be heard through the door. "ARSEHOLE!" she screamed at the top of her lungs; the whole building probably heard that one.

"I'm so sorry for her behaviour. She's new to the job; I'll put her back on training. Please have a good night. I'll add breakfast to your room on the house as an apology." Mugi was bright red in the face, though it was hard to tell if that was from embarrassment or anger or if they had a fever.

MC was happy; taking a stand against a rude individual paid off. Entering the room, Horace headed straight for the sofa and flopped onto it face first. Dillee wandered over to the bed with MC and jumped on. "Wow, sir. "This is so comfortable and luxurious!" He bounced on the spot, enjoying the silky sheets.

"Aye. Enjoy it while you can; it'll be back to camp soon. Time for some sleep now. Don't wake me, or I'll break ye! Zing-zin-zzzz,"

Curling up into a ball and sleeping on MC's feet, Dillee whispered, "Good night, best friend in the whole wide world."

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