“Hyaaah.” I loudly shouted as I swung the baton at the empty air in front while it quivered in abject fear at my attack.

“Good, your stance is better this time.” Gunders said with a smile on his face as he watched my most recent practice swing. “Remember to keep your feet wide and angled. Also remember to keep your knees loose and only slightly bent.”

“Yeah, I got it. I'll do it like you said.” I replied as I pulled my right arm back for another swing with the baton. “Hyaaah!”

“Nice, I think you’re getting the hang of the basics. You’ll probably get some kind of baton mastery skill soon if you don’t already have one.” Gunders said. “Also, worth pointing out, the ‘Hyaaahs’ you’re doing are optional. Just making sure you’re aware.”

“Y-yeah, I know.” I lied convincingly. “Should I keep doing more practice swings until I get the skill, or should we head over to the curio shop now?”

“Eh, I guess we should get a move on.” Gunderson said while standing back up onto his feet from leaning against his car while he watched me practice. “Before we go inside though, I should give you some other ammunition types for that pistol.”

“I already have two magazines in the holster, plus another that’s loaded into the gun you gave me.” I reminded him, curious why he needed to give me even more ammo, especially since I didn’t have anywhere to put it on the holster.

“Well, the mundane ammo I gave you should be fine for now, but having a couple magazines of the heavy stuff could help you out in a pinch.” He walked back over to his trunk before popping it open and sticking his right arm deep inside again. “I guess I can give you a couple magazines of the stun rounds as well, but I probably won’t have much need for them while you have that baton with you.”

“Alright, whatever you think is best, but where am I going to keep all those ammo magazines you’re giving me?” I asked him.

“Hmm, well, you can keep them in one of your pant's pockets for now.” He said while not really looking at me.

“I’m a girl Gunderson. I wear women’s pants.” I pointed out.

“Uh-huh…?” He said, not following along with what I was trying to tell him.

“Look, man.” I told him while trying to show off the lack of space in the front pocket of my jeans. “I’m just lucky that there’s enough space in my back pocket to fit my phone.”

“Oh, huh…” He replied intelligently while scratching his chin with his left hand while holding onto what looked like half a dozen magazines of ammo in his right.

“How am I supposed to fit all those magazines inside these teeny tiny useless little pockets, huh?” I asked him incredulously.

“Uh, you brought your backpack with you, right? It’s still in the car, so you can just stick them in there for now then.” He concluded while holding out his overly loaded right hand for me to grab the ammo.

“Fine, I’ll just need to remember to take them back out and hide them somewhere at home.” I grumbled. “I do not want to get into trouble at school for carrying those around.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” He said happily, ignoring my plight. “It'll be worth it to have those blessed alchemical rounds, if you're ever in an emergency.”

“Blessed? You said they were blessed by someone named Father Alvarado.” I said while gathering up the small pile of ammo magazines in my hands and taking them over to where my backpack was in the car. “Who is he exactly?”

“Father Raul Enrique Alvardo is his full name and title.” Gunderson said grandly. “He is currently the strongest and oldest supernatural living in the state of California.”

“Oh, wow. I’m guessing he must be someone kind of important then.” I said, stating the obvious.

“For us, who live and work in the state, very.” He told me while pointing at the magazines I was now stuffing into my increasingly crowded bookbag. “He’s been essential in supplying blessings to our equipment and personnel for literal centuries now.”

“Wait, hold up, centuries.” I said, stopping what I was doing and looking at him. “How old is he exactly? Is that a normal thing for supernaturals?”

“He is, as far as I know, over two and half centuries old at the moment.” Gunderson told me casually as if it wasn’t some grand impossible thing for a guy to have been around before America was even an actual country.

“As for if it’s a normal thing or not,” Gunderson continued. “It depends a lot on your particular classes, skills, and how good you are at getting stronger and leveling those two things up.”

“Holy…wow…” I was kinda at a loss from hearing this from him. It seemed like it was a genuine possibility now that I could live for centuries if I got strong enough. Would I actually be immortal at that point?

“Come on, we’ve put off pestering Gribkik for long enough already.” Gunderson said to me while waving me over to follow him. “I’ll tell you more about Father Alvarado if you want after we’re done here.”

“Ah, alright then.” I said back, sounding a bit sad at being denied more precious info. Quickly, I hustled back over to him. At the same time, he began heading towards the nondescript building across the street from where we were currently parked.

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“You should definitely try and meet him though, if you get the chance. The blessings he can put on you are outstanding and long-lasting buffs that will, for sure, help keep you alive.” Gunderson said to me while looking both ways and dashing across the street. “But, like I told you, focus on the mission for now. We’ll talk more about him later.”

“Got it.” I told him, trying to get my mind focused on whatever was going to happen when we met this Gribkik guy.

Gunderson walked past the obvious door and started knocking in what seemed to be random intervals on different spots on a blank stretch of wall. After he had concluded performing this bizarre action, he said in a loud and clear voice. “Open up. I have money aplenty.”

At his words, the walls seemed to respond and rearrange itself into a nicely furnished wooden door with a wrought iron handle on it. Pulling on the handle and opening the newly revealed door, Gunderson turned to me and said. “After you.”

“Uh, thanks…” I replied as I very cautiously made my way inside and past the mysterious magic door.

Inside was almost exactly how I imagined a magical curio shop to look like.

There were countless objects of every shape, size, and description strewn about in a seemingly chaotic and arbitrary manner. Shelves and shelves were lined with books, and even more, filled with jars filled with I objects and substances that I couldn’t even hope to begin identifying.

Gunderson started to lead us through what seemed like a miniature maze as we wound our way through the various tables and piles of disparate objects that cluttered the room.

After narrowly avoiding a sharp axe blade that was sticking out where I could walk into it, I tried to keep closer to where Gunderson was walking to prevent accidentally impaling or decapitating myself.

As we passed a large pile of assorted objects, a tower of curios started to rumble and sway slightly as we came close to it. I reacted quickly and started to back away from it, afraid that the large tower of items would fall on top of me.

Backing up so suddenly I bumped right into Gunderson’s large frame.

“Ooph, woah there, you alright?” Gunderson asked.

“Uh yeah, I’m fine, just trying to avoid being crushed by an avalanche of knick-knacks and curios.” I responded nervously, my eyes still darting around at the many objects and piles we were passing by.

“No worries, Gribkik doesn’t keep the real dangerous stuff out here where people can casually bump into them. Just avoid knocking over anything fragile, he will hound you mercilessly into paying for anything you break.” Gunderson warned.

“Uh, got it.” I replied apprehensively, my vigilant eyes increasing there rapid back back and forth scan of the room.

Still, even while I did my utmost to keep an eye out for pitfalls and other dangers, I couldn't help but marvel at the sheer number of unknown and likely magical objects that populated this mysterious shop.

“Woah.” I said out loud without even realizing it.

“Ah-hah.” A loud voice said from not too far ahead of us. “An excited and eager new customer has arrived to do business. How exciting!”

As we came to a small open clearing amidst the chaos and the clutter, a large wooden counter stood before us, and standing behind was a man with large, wide floppy ears, green mottled skin, and oversized bright red eyes.

“Welcome, welcome to…my…humble…” Said the strange person named Gribkik, whose exact species was a complete unknown to me. He had started his greeting full of boisterous energy and enthusiasm. Once he saw Gunderson though, his eyes seemed to grow even bigger and his words quickly started to peter out. “Gunderson…W-welcome once again to my fine establishment. What can I do for you today, my good friend.”

“Hah, save the pleasantries, Gribkik. We both know what I want, so save us both a lot of time and heartache, and maybe just tell me the truth from the start this time.'' Gunderson said with a completely pleasant seeming smile on his face. Gribkik’s reaction, though, was the opposite of what Gunderson’s expression should normally convey. “You and I already know you’re going to give me the information I want eventually, so just come on buddy, help me help you.”

As Gunderson had been saying this to Gribkik, he had calmly walked right up to the front of the counter. He was now leaning his arms on top of it while staring directly into Gribkik’s large red eyes.

“Haha, always the jokester, aren't you, Agent Gunderson.” Gribkik laughed nervously while leaning backward, putting some space between him and Gunderson. “You always think the worst of me and assume that I, a poor humble merchant and worker, know so much more than you, a veteran IDPA agent with countless closed cases and investigations under your belt. Haha, how could I possibly be of any help to you today? Why not just peruse my vast collection of wares, and perhaps you’ll find something you’d like to buy instead.”

“Oh, Gribkik, Gribkik, Gribkik, I really hate when you pick the ‘let's be difficult’ option. It is really a huge waste of both of our times.” Gunderson said calmly while taking his arms off the counter, much to Gribkik’s relief.

“So, this is the part where I tell you what I want to know, and then you’ll adamantly refuse to have any and all knowledge of it.” Gunderson said while maintaining his steady and persistent stare in Gribkik’s direction. “I want to know what you know about the new drug commonly called ‘spike’. Now, before you say you’ve never heard of it, don’t bother. What I need you to tell me is where it’s being made, stored, distributed, sold, or even used. Any and all of those little pieces of information will make me go away, and you can go back to running your ‘humble little shop’.

I was just standing back, quietly watching the intense scene unfold in front of me.

This was very obviously not Gunderson’s first rodeo, and Gribkik seemed almost afraid of Gunderson or what he might do. If what Gribkik had mentioned was true, Gunderson had quite the career of completing cases and doing investigations. He must be used to getting information out of sources like this Gribkik here. It was a strange juxtaposition seeing this Gunderson and comparing it to the one I’ve been talking to so far.

“I don’t know…” Gribkik started to say before being interrupted.

“Ah-ah, I believe I already mentioned the part where you deny everything, so let’s just skip ahead.” Gunderson said while leaning back towards the nervous inhuman merchant. “Before, I have to start adding on to my tab at your humble little shop.”

“P-please don’t. The last thing that you broke was unique and irreplaceable.” Gribkik muttered in a panic. “I-I, okay, fine. I don’t know much though, so please restrain your destructive impulses, for fuck’s sake.”

“Ah, see, I knew we could reach a quick agreement together.” Gunderson said with another large and friendly smile on his face. Except, unlike normally, his once warm smile had an almost uncanny and terrifying feel to it now.

“Like I said, I don’t know much about that stuff. Bad for business, dealing with, and even knowing about IDPA prohibited drugs and alchemical potions.” Gribkik insisted.

“Please, Gribkik, you and I both know you’d sell the worst, most vile drug to your own mother if she told you she could afford it.” Gunderson coldly retorted to the still, anxious-looking merchant. “So spill it already. What do you know?”