Rising Shards

Rain felt completely content as she shared another tea party with her dear friends KJ and Amara. The trials the trio had been through recently had fortunately only brought them closer together. Not only had the group managed to reunite after Rain’s stay at Wildfire Hearts, but KJ and Amara had also been less at odds with each other, having found solace in each other during Rain’s absence.

“Have you two been sleeping better?” Rain asked. She’d asked this many times already, and knew the answer, but it still made her smile to hear it.

“Definitely, I did miss, well I missed you most of all Rain, but I also missed…” KJ said.

“It’s hard to say it out loud…” Amara said. “But I really do sleep better cuddling up with KJ.”

“Yeah…”

“And even better now that I’ve returned, right?” Rain asked.

It made for a cramped bed in their dorm room, but Rain was also getting the best sleep of her life nuzzled up against her favorite people.

She chuckled at the nervous wordless responses from Amara and KJ.

“Excuse me, Rain,” Amara said. “But are you aware those two have joined us today?”

Rain looked to the far end of the table, where two guests sat.

“Oh, Chomper?” Rain asked.

“It’s Chumbler, Miss Sweetheart Blue.” Chumbler said.

“And her friend…” Rain said.

“Z.O.K.” Her companion said.

Rain had befriended the two during her exile to Wildfire Hearts. In particular after her decision to not go to the rival school as much as she could, deciding that hiding in a Rising Shards basement helping Chumbler and her friend try to start a casino would be better than attending Endoran classes. That ended up backfiring quite a bit, as Rain ended up entangled in void journey drama more than once. The second time was very fuzzy to her, as she only ended up in the void due to Chumbler pulling her there via mysterious means, where she was hypnotized pretty much the entire time. Seeing the two felt like the clear sky of her mood had been blotted out by a thunderstorm.

“Do you know why she’s here?” Amara asked.

“You could ask us that,” Z.O.K. said.

“Why is she here?” Rain pondered. “I hadn’t even noticed she’d stop by.”

“This isn’t working,” Z.O.K. said. “First off, we’re too far away. No easy way into the conversation. We might as well not even have done this.”

“You wanted to sit on the far end,” Chumbler said. “I wanted to reconnect with my pal Sweetheart Blue.”

“That Typo fellow isn’t with you, is he?” Rain asked.

“No, I dunno where that guy went,” Chumbler said.

“Then I suppose just the two of you will do.” Rain said. She took a sip of tea. “You’ve betrayed me, Chomper.”

“I’ve what now?” Chumbler asked.

“By the rules of Novu, we are now rivals.” Rain said.

“What are you talking about, Blue?” Chumbler asked. “That’s not like you to be so cold.” 

“Ehh…” Z.O.K. said. 

“And now your friend insults Rain too? You both are my rivals as well!” Amara said. “Well, you already were when Rain said so, but now doubly so!”

“Why would we be your rivals? We’ve shown you nothing but love and affection!” Chumbler said.

“I think it might be the Chumblerosa thing with Quececeilitrix, which, fair.” Z.O.K. said.

“We are now rivals because you ensnared me in the void without permission and had me in a hypnotic trance.” Rain said. “And it led to me getting slapped which really really hurt.”

“See?” Z.O.K. said. “I told you there would be long lasting consequences for you being such a big jerk with the Chumblerosa incident. That’s what I’m calling what went down at least, the Chumblerosa incident. It sounds kinda cool.”

“I was only mildly a jerk, come on,” Chumbler said. “What does being your rival entail, Blue? I assume no invites to these little tea parties, which would be a downer, but I’d manage.”

“It won’t be pleasant,” Rain said. “Amara, KJ, and I will ensure that your time at this school will match the pain you’ve put me through. Your social standing will plummet, your grades will fail, and you will wish you never crossed me.”

“Yeah!” KJ said. “You’re screwed.”

“You better start running now,” Amara said, cracking her knuckles, her eyes wide as she slowly tilted her head to the side. “But you’ll soon find there’s nowhere to run to escape Rain’s wrath.”

“I would have said this a lot sooner, but you haven’t been showing your face around here.” Rain said.

“Well, we were walking on train tracks, you see.” Chumbler said.

“Because we felt bad?” Z.O.K. said with a shrug, looking to Chumbler who nodded with a desperate sort of energy. “Because we felt bad! About the things! That you were involved in. Wait, hold on, why am I bothering to stick up for you?”

“I really need you on my side for this, Zorbs Orbs Korbs.” Chumbler said, busting out some tactical finger guns to keep her best friend on board.

“Worst nickname.” Z.O.K. said. “Am I your rival too, Blue?”

“I see no reason why you wouldn’t be.” Rain said.

“I can think of a few!” Z.O.K. said. “Because the Chumblerosa thing massively screwed me over, your dumb hypnotic powers wouldn’t even work on me so I had to scheme and work with normie losers to try and get things fixed!”

“My…dumb hypnotic powers?” Rain asked.

“I mean dumb in a…complimentary way…?” Z.O.K. said.

“It’s no use,” Amara said. “Rain’s made her decision.”

“I’m not sure why you haven’t started running yet.” KJ said.

“Because we can fix this somehow,” Chumbler said. “Do you want money? Money makes me happy.”

“Money won’t fix this,” Rain said. “Only retribution.”

“Well then…” Chumbler stood and sighed. “Expect retribution right back at you! I’ll make you regret that you, er, want to make me…regret. Hold on…is there a gambling thing I can throw in here, that’s kinda my schtick…”

“Maybe we should just go,” Z.O.K. said. “You can come up with a better speech later.”

“Sure, yeah,” Chumbler said. “Alright, great talking with you three! I look forward to…” She trailed off and ran away. Z.O.K. followed, albeit at a much slower rate.

“It’s been a while since you’ve enacted revenge on anyone like this, Rain,” KJ said.

“It’s rather exciting! Feels like junior high all over again,” Amara said. “I assume this is a rivalry by the official Novu traditions then?”

“Indeed,” Rain said, already formulating the next steps for her revenge, recalling her family’s royal traditions for dealing with enemies.