Rising Shards

I hid behind Oka when we saw the next obstacle in the way of our quest to get Aira to Laenie so they could talk.

Resident school bullies Ema Kari and Snake Riley were attempting to skateboard and bicycle at the same time, to little success. I had had a few run ins with them, from them selling us Feral Flu bites to them stomping on my tail.

”Maybe we can walk past them without them noticing,” I whispered.

”Let’s just be direct,” Lillia said.

”Why?” I asked.

”I think the direct approach is the best, yes,” Amara said. ”Excuse me! We are passing through. We’d like to speak with your leader.”

”Uh,” Ema said, falling off of her skateboard, which she had placed on a bike seat.

Snake jumped off of her bike, which she was attempting to balance on her skateboard.

”That’s not happening,” Snake said. ”This challenge is all about physical combat. You gotta kick our asses to get through, and you’re not gonna kick our asses.”

”Yeah, the only asses getting kicked will be, uh,” Ema frowned, then whispered something in Snake’s ear. Snake whispered back, and Ema nodded. ”Yeah, yours!”

Lillia and Amara stepped forward to fight, both apparently very done with the skater duo’s shenanigans. But they were stopped by Oka.

”Actually, I have this one,” Oka said.

”Wait, what?” I said.

Oka winked at me.

”Be careful...” I said as Oka marched forward.

”Don’t worry,” Oka said. ”It’s already over.”

Just as she said that, two vines descended from the ceiling, wrapping themselves around Ema and Snake’s ankles. The two tried to fight back a bit, but were swinging helplessly around about a foot off the ground soon after.

”The victor...Oka Ohri!” Oka said as she cheered.

”Amazing!” I said, clapping for my girlfriend.

”Now, you two may be wondering why I did that,” Oka said. ”It was to win, yes, but also I wanted revenge for you stomping on Zeta’s tail.”

”Who’s...Zeta...?” Snake said.

”This lovely lady right here!” Oka said, gesturing to me.

”Oh...” Ema said. ”I don’t remember...”

”I’ll keep you up there for a few minutes, then let you down gently,” Oka said. ”That’s more than you deserve, but I also don’t wanna like super hurt you.” She conjured some plants to cushion their fall.

With that challenge cleared, it seemed like we had a clear shot to meet with Laenie.

”Sorry for that,” Oka said. ”Actually, I’m not sorry. They stomped on Zeta’s tail. They had that coming.”

”Don’t be sorry! That was amazing!” I said. I didn’t want to swoon too hard at Oka with our friends around, but I was swooning pretty hard. I made a mental note that Oka was getting a reward for that one later.

”That move was wild, how long have you had that one cooking?” I asked.

”I’ve been practicing it a bit,” Oka said.

”If I haven’t yet, I apologize for my involvement with said tail stomping,” Amara said.

”Thank you.” I said. ”Hopefully that’s the last of this.”

Up ahead was a closed door hastily taped onto one of the cardboard walls. It had ”THE BOSS” crudely written on it in marker. Aira picked at her nails as she approached, the weight of what she was doing hitting her once more.

”Um, I know I asked you to come all this way for me...” Aira said. ”But is it alright if I go see her alone? I can teleport out to come get you if it goes really badly.”

”It’s your call,” I said.

”Maybe we should have a failsafe signal in case you can’t teleport,” Lillia said.

”How about if thirty minutes pass, come get me?” Aira said.

”Deal.” Oka said.

Aira nodded. ”Thanks. And thanks for doing this. It was really silly, but it means a lot.”

”Any time,” I said.

Aira turned back to the door. I thought the whole frame was going to cave in when she opened it, but it somehow held as she entered Laenie’s room.