B 3 C 22: SPORTSBALL, THAT’S A WORD, RIGHT?

I think my best bet is to, once again, keep an ace in the hole such as my space magic. To do that, I’m going to need Lil to do the heavy lifting in their Lilagnewt form, in partners Naga ball. That’s not its actual name, its actual name is something I can’t pronounce in a word that will translate to my mental log that seems to be in English. I can actually say it with my draconic tongue, but that’s neither here nor there.

Another reason I’m going to need Lil is because of my difficulties communicating. Not many officiants are telepathic, and I have my ridiculous communication difficulties with critterkin and whatnot. Lil will be able to tell me if we perform a foul or something, I’m not even sure if those are things.

Honestly, we have a bit of a ridiculous advantage. Lil and I are both capable of flight, while most teams are not. Even without using my inventory magic, I can leap into a strong glide at this point, as well as recover lost height over time with a few pumps of my wings. The only real rule is basically don’t harm the other players, and if you perform a magic that obstructs a goal, or confines a player, that you can only use that ability to do that action once. So for example, I could freeze one, or both of the opponents, but then not do that again the rest of the match without being disqualified. I could freeze over the goal, but not do that again without being disqualified. I could even freeze their goal, and each of them individually, and the pair of them simultaneously at separate times during the match if I make it look like a separate spell, and that would all be kosher. I can also do my umbral duplicates or inventory shenanigans in separate ways that will look like terrakinesis or petrakinesis, or wood conjuration, or weapon animation, I have a lot of variations on my powers that I’ll be saving until the most important matches. Lil can cook the ball hot enough that only they or I can handle it. Lil also has fantastic physical training from their time with Teuila. Lil can even glitchily teleport a few inches, maybe a foot or two, to one side or the other. That one will never get them in trouble, because they won’t be using it to obstruct anyone or any goal, only to get free of obstructions. We’re allowed to attack and destroy obstructions, and thankfully our fire abilities are both potent enough to destroy most gasses and liquids, and my ice abilities are strong enough to shatter most physical objects when paired with Lil’s strength.

Since I don’t want to spend a lot of time on this, I beg Dehlia to essentially be my manager, to set up a non stop flow of challengers for us to compete against. She relents, curious to see what surprises we might have in store. Plus she’s already heard me thinking about some of my secrets.

One odd thing happened recently, on our way out of the temple, Luna shuffled around in our party interface again, and now the entire Shellcracker family are in a sub party under me. Luna then shuffled herself back to being under Luni, then she shuffled my inner circle into a private sub party under me as well. For all intents and purposes, it looks like I alone lead everyone, including Lil, who leads the chameleon village. If any Nagas join us, it will look like the dragons are in charge of the wellbeing of both the chameleons and the softskins.

Does Luna somehow know what’s going on, and what the stakes are? How the heck does she manipulate party management? I’ve never thought of her as a dumb animal, but she doesn’t seem sapient in the way that the rest of us do, most of the time. On the other hand, she’s at least as intelligent as any of us most of the rest of the time. Maybe I should think of her more like a friend who happens to be mute? I shouldn’t be thinking of her as a smart animal, I should be thinking of her as a smart friend, just one that can’t talk in a way that I was capable of learning yet. Maybe she knows BSL, beak/bear sign language, and I’m just an idiot who hasn’t been picking up on it.

Dehlia does let me know that the reigning champions of the duo class in Naga ball are Lluxop and Rastoc, divine twins, who apparently have quetzalcoatl’s blessing. This apparently means they can fly and utilize lightning magic, possibly also weather magic. When Dehlia describes their powers, it honestly sounds a lot like Linti. I wonder if they realize how much they have in common with some softskins? Would that be an insulting thought to share? I don’t want to blow our chances at peace.

Dehlia sets up a preliminary challenge for us against a middling duo who is eager to take all-comers. It’ll be enough that if we’re fairly entertaining with our match, we’ll have challenges lined up until we’re bored of it. Oddly, some of the men and women actually seem to have a more feral evolution now that I’ve been around the city more. Or rather, while normally a feraform is about half the size of a humaform, there are Nagas that have human torsos and faces, while others have serpent faces, and barely human-esque torsos. I don’t want to appear rude by asking about the distinction, Dehlia has already graced me with far more information than I thought I would receive. I figure if she hasn’t offered it already, then it’s not polite to ask about it.

Our first opponents are Szintoc and Brastley, a duo with wind and toxin powers. We’re playing a simple first team to five scores match, no special rules, but it’s also unofficiated, so there will be no punishments if Szintoc poisons us or if Brastley knocks us around or cuts us with wind. I don’t intend to retaliate in the slightest even if they take advantage of this open dynamic. Lil agrees that we’ll play fair, and not harm our opponents.

Since it will be a short game, I practice my breath skill slightly. The one I recently received from Lil. All I need is to be able to exhale the tiniest gout of flame in case toxic vapors are attempting to work their way into my nostrils. I also don’t need to see, so I layer up blindfolds to protect my ocular mucus membranes. I similarly cover my nose and mouth after taking a deep enough breath that it will last me nearly half an hour. The game shouldn’t take more than five minutes, but I figure the vigorous activity, coupled with possibly getting knocked around a bit, might knock down the air in my lungs more quickly than I’d like.

Since we’re the challengers, we have to return the ball into play to the other team on their serve, placing them on the first offensive. That’s fine by me. I can already tell that Brastley will guide Szintoc’s shots while Szintoc keeps themselves safe with an area of toxic mist. Simple but effective strategy, allowing for control of the field, and easy goals scored. Brastley will also be knocking us out of the air since we don’t have an officiant, so our easiest route to removing their advantage is negated.

We’re going to have to be really careful when burning away the toxin in the air so that we don’t hurt Szintoc. If Brastley accidentally fans the flames when we ignite the toxic clouds, there could be some explosive action that we don’t intend. Actually, Lil, how about no powers, just pure physical strength for this one? How about you mask up and hold a breath too? That way we don’t risk hurting them at all.

Lil nods and I help get fabric situated in ways that act as scarf, mask, and blindfold, though their blindfold is thin enough to see through. Szintoc and Brastley are laughing their heads off as we prepare, and they serve without warning. Since there’s no officiant, we can’t complain, though Dehlia sounds a tsk from the sidelines.

I catch and return the heavy sap-rubber ball, allowing them to begin their offensive. Szintoc intercepts and I can feel from my danger wrap senses that he’s already coated in toxin, and exuding a fine mist of it as well. Just as expected. Lil, go right, fan your wings, furl them, then flap as I leap towards you, I’ll spring off of your wing.

Lil, riding my thought waves, does exactly ask I ask, and I steal the ball just as Szintoc is preparing to make a long ranged shot that would have been guided by Brastley. Brastley hisses in frustration, and hits me directly with wind, aiming a barrage at my torso, trying to batter my own breath out of me. It hurts mildly, since we’re not allowed equipment, but my scaled torso is much more resilient than old cherubic softskin Reggie’s. I suffer a bit of pummeling but I prepare a feint as if I’m ready to score a goal, knowing I have both of their attention now. Lil however knows what I’m thinking, and zips around to my left. I purposely fumble, letting the ball drop from my hands as I raise up for a shot. Brastley aims a blast of wind where the ball would have been, to knock it towards where Szintoc is waiting, but Szintoc receives nothing save a gust of air. Lil scores a goal while they’re looking at one another dumbfounded.

Szintoc and Brastley get the offensive serve again since we scored, and this time I feint as if I’m going to follow the exact same strategy, but instead of heading for the intercepting steal, I instead leap back towards our goal. Brastley barely stops themselves from delivering the ball right into my hands, and Lil leaps through their wind blast, catches the airstream, soars high into the sky and divebombs straight into the goal, scoring again before they even have a chance to retaliate.

Once again, they’re given the offensive serve, but they purposely fault. Even though we don’t have an officiant, they claim it’s only fair that we take the offensive serve. Obviously they’re planning something. I’m not sure what. Also, future me, don’t bother coming back to tell me anything about this. If we can’t win some sports fairly, we weren’t meant to parley this way. I have other skills I can ply if this fails. I perform the offensive serve as I’d seen them do it, but instead of the return serve to allow us on the offensive, they do what I could only compare to an onside kick, in uh, that ball sport with the feet. I think even in my broken memories of fakeworld I hated sports.

Lil and I react a bit slowly, since I’m distracted by my own mental reverie about my memories, and Brastley guides Szintoc’s shot from the far end all the way to the goal. I mentally shrug, but outwardly I applaud them, giving them the solemn nod of approval I’ve seen Naga give one another for a good play. They seem to be enjoying themselves now, and no longer underestimating us, at least until we score two more points in the blink of an eye, while they’re still on their first point. Now they’re a bit mad, and throwing every spell they have at us to keep us from getting our final point. Honestly I’m weathering all their spells and muscling just fine, but I’m curious what their mana limits are like. Ah, now we’ve found them. They’re panting with exertion, and unable to manifest any more magic. Lil and I saunter over to the goal and drop our last point in casually.

I think that’s probably pretty insulting, but I apologize and ask Lil to share that it was an excellent game and I was honored to get a chance to play against them. Their response is something along the lines of beginner’s luck, of course. Not exactly poor sports or sore losers, they aren’t being openly hostile, but they’re definitely exhausted and wearing it on their serpentine faces.

After such a one sided victory in which we used no magic whatsoever, we start to draw a crowd, as Dehlia predicted. The fact that we let one easy goal slip past us gives enough people enough hope that they can show up the newbies, so, strategically in the long run, it was good I got distracted at that point.

We play three more unofficiated matches, giving away no more than two points in any match. I’m a bit physically exhausted, but I’m happy to take a food break with Lil. On our fifth unofficiated match, we’re informed that if we want to continue afterwards, we’ll be doing it officially. They’re starting an impromptu tournament, essentially, well, not exactly in our honor, but because of us stirring the athleticism pot as it were.

Our fifth match goes off once again without a hitch, the only thing we’ve revealed is Lil’s flame breath when an opponent was able to do something similar to my Flash Freeze Storm. I pondered about just adjusting the temperature of the ice around me to melt and walk through it, but Lil decided to let them score a point and break out physically. On the next serve the team used the same ability, but Lil was breathing fire as the frost hit us, and it was instantly nullified.

Now we’re in an odds bracket tournament, where the champs don’t have to face anyone, but they’ll face the one who makes it furthest in our side of the bracket. Basically winner gets to face the reigning champions. That’s absolutely perfect. I share my gratitude and excitement with Dehlia, which actually earns me something the Nagas call the good luck kiss, where they, uh, stick their extremely long serpentine tongue a ways into each of their favored team member’s ear areas. Lil enjoys it tremendously, but I am too flustered and embarrassed to know whether or not I enjoyed it. Still, when the most powerful telepath in quite possibly the entire world wishes you luck, uh, intimately, you should probably feel honored, and I do. These victories are honestly as much Dehlia’s as they are ours, since she set this up for us. She admitted to not even being that great a fan of the sport, yet I see her on the sidelines on the edge of her figurative seat for each play, cheering for each goal, gasping each time we were struck by spells in unofficiated matches.

She’s, well, kinda cute honestly. I never thought I’d be having that thought. She’s this serious, intelligent, driven woman, and here she is, just showing her fun enthusiastic side. She promised to introduce us to her brother as well later, but also said we’ve already met. It was very, hm, if I could offer evidence to the contrary, I’d make some guesses and say that if I didn’t know any better, it was this idea I have in my head. Honestly though, I don’t know any better. The idea in my head is that she is her own brother. I’m not sure if that’s some sort of multi spirit thing, or multi gender, or uh, as some reptiles are, well, I think the term I’m thinking of is offensive. Plus, like I said, critterkin don’t have the bits, the machinery, the parts, for that kind of relationship or to have that sort of terminology. We don’t have physical sexes, mostly. Some of us have, well, slightly rounder or more curved torso areas, or different hip to waist ratios, stuff like that. We have, what is it, morphic qualities? Dimorphic without primary characteristics? Something like that. Cryptozoology again. Gendered-dimorphic anthropomorphic reptiles without primary sexual characteristics.

That was a ridiculous train of thought, and I apologize to anyone who ever reads my mental log, or hears my thoughts. Sorry Lil, sorry Dehlia.

I thought the officiated matches would be slightly harder, but now that no one is risking targeting us with their spells, it’s even easier to make it through the matches with flawless victories without giving away any of our powers beyond our physical prowess. I feel like they’re going easy on us for some reason. It’s almost like they want us to make it to the champions.

Maybe they do? But is that a good thing, or a bad thing? Regardless, we give up no more than four points in the entire tournament to reach the top bracket, where Lluxop and Rastoc await their newest challenger. The officiant exchanges a knowing glance with the pair, and I worry that we’re not going to get a fair match.

Dehlia chimes in telepathically, “I don’t like that thought. Don’t accuse my people of cheating. But also, I saw the glance as well, and didn’t like it. Remember, this is not your only opportunity, it was simply the quickest one. Do not destroy all of your chances, if something untoward happens here.”

I nod to Dehlia. I’m surprised she’s this invested in my succeeding at getting a chance to parley, since she has been able to dig around in my thoughts. She knows it’s to broker peace, and to safely march hundreds of softskin critterkin and humans along the north edge of their territory. She seemed so viscerally adamant that she could never befriend a softskin or anyone who cared about one when we’d first met. Still, she does get to boast that she saved a dragon’s life. Maybe that elevated her station here, or something. Or maybe she just realized she was a few weeks from being transformed into a full Octorochi dominated by the male tri-serpent, and has since decided that altering that fate is cause enough for friendship.

Either way, I’m glad for it. Still, our match with Lluxop and Rastoc is starting. We’re using a new scoring abacus, this one with seven points. They of course get the offensive serve, and first turn on the offensive. Would it be a faux pas to onside kick on the first serve? I don’t want to risk insulting them by either playing unsportspersonlike, or by appearing to not take the challenge seriously.

Their first play goes by ridiculously quickly. Similarly to Linti, they can transform into lightning and zip around at ridiculous speeds. I manage to just barely cause Lluxop to fumble once in the middle of his leap during which he was preparing to take his first shot. Lil dives in and scoops up the fumble, but Rastoc teleports through Lil as lightning, and Lil, stunned, drops the ball. I race downward to pick it up, but Lluxop teleports there before me, and hip checks me hard as I land, sending me crashing into the nearby wall. Lluxop casually plays their first point.

I can tell something is announced to the effect of, “Champions One! First of Seven!”

Ow. Okay, so the officiant doesn’t care if they strike us with injury inducing force. Lil, Lil are you okay? Lil buddy! Come on buddy. Come on pal. Lil sweetheart, breathe my buddy, someone, help! Rastoc sends a tiny bolt of lightning at us that strikes Lil between the eyes. Lil’s eyes flash open as they cough. What the everloving heck!? They can stop our hearts, and that’s not a foul?

Okay, fine, so the officiant is probably a little biased, that’s fine. We can’t risk doing anything that might get us called out for fouling, but I will buy myself a little insurance. I ask Lil to sit out the next serve to recover. When I receive their serve, I instantly claim and unclaim the ball to and from my inventory. While it’s in, I also instantly summon an Umbral Shot copy of it and claim that, faster than the blink of an eye. I’m tele-rammed by Rastoc, and fumble the ball due to the impact, but I use inventory space magic to pretend to cover their goal in terrakinesis. Now that they can’t score for the moment, I bull rush through, appearing like I’m going to spear Rastoc in the abdomen. Rastoc of course goes lightning-intangible, as I predicted. It hurts like heck to pass through them, but I grab the ball on my way through, using JT to move to my goal and score.

The announcer doesn’t even bother to pronounce the challengers, us, having scored our first goal. They do however mark it on the abacus, the first of seven.

The officiant orders me to remove my terrakinesis block on their goal for the next play, so I do, but I ask Lil to keep resting a bit longer. As they begin wildly blasting lightning during their offensive serve, I summon an arena-coating Flash Freeze Storm, turning them into popsicles. I saunter over and very carefully pluck the ball from Lluxop’s hands by warming them lightly with thermokinesis, so as not to harm his hands. I score another goal. The match is delayed as we wait for the arena to thaw out. Thankfully that gives Lil time to recover.

The officiant again doesn’t bother announcing our second goal, but they slap the abacus point politely in my favor, the second of seven as it’s a championship match.

When the champions get their next offensive serve, they focus all of their efforts on blasting me in the chest with lightning repeatedly. At first it simply dissipates around my scales, but as it scorches the same spot over and over, the scales begin to break down. They’re aiming for the kill! What the heck?

Dehlia calls back telepathically, “This is highly unusual. I, I suggest forfeiting. We don’t know each other that well, but, but I don’t wish to see you die. Please forgive me for putting you in this situation.”

I reply to Dehlia, “I’m not sure they’d even let me forfeit right now, plus, I can’t speak, and they consider me the team captain. At best, Lil could retire and let me face them one on two.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Dehlia lets out a soft tch from the sidelines. She looks flustered and upset.

I’m hauled bodily into the air and slammed into the ground by Rastoc, as Lluxop begins to burn holes in Lil’s scales. They completely abandon the ball as they pummel us into the ground. I cover Lil in terrakinesis-looking inventory magic, hoping to protect them from Lluxop’s fury. I then JT blast myself away to snag the ball.

Lluxop aims a lightning bolt directly for my chest. With how many direct hits I’ve taken to my chest, my only option to dodge at the moment is to gain altitude, but Rastoc is teleporting as a lightning bolt, I have no time to react as he aims where I will be as I dodge. Rastoc connects with my face at full speed. I feel myself plummeting as I lose consciousness briefly.

Gorram maiden at the bar and her fair features, lovely hair, soft curves. Curse it all! She got in my head. I can’t afford these distractions. Yet I’m standing here at the trough, gazing in at her wistfully. She’s speaking with another lass, one that looks simultaneously more regal, yet adventurous, a woman of likely at least middling if not high birth, yet one who has taken to the sword and the saddle. Every inch of her is firm, and she wears her hair in such a uniquely curious style, nearly balding til near the top, then long locks near the center of her skull swept to one side. I cannot hear the words exchanged, but a spy and assassin doesn’t make it far without learning to read lips. The weathered warrioress asks of the maiden,”Do you think it’s really them?” Our friendly maiden answers back, “Can never be sure, but I’m almost positive. I guess our hearts are going to break one more time, huh?” The princessora nods somberly, but continues, “Do you think it’s true? That it continues down further yet? How many life” She turns for a moment, gazing around, she may have been in the middle of saying either lives, or lifetimes, “are you willing to spend gambling on the chance? I’m with you now, I’ll back your play.” The bar maiden responds, “Hard to say, but I believe so, yes. As many as it takes. We were a bit foolish the first time around, but I’m committed now. Look at the world they made! I’m sure the next one will be even more dazzling.” Hm, these maidens speak in the trading of lives. Seems like they’re just like everyone else, hungry to have blood on their hands.

Argh, who, what, where am I? Dirt, balls, snakes, face. Oof! Another blast of lightning drives my face further into the ground. Even the crowd lets out an “ooooof” type sound. Rastoc’s tail curls around my torso and begins squeezing. Agh my gorram right lungs again! I feel my right ribs crunch slightly as they fracture and puncture my right lung. I begin coughing up blood. How many times is this going to happen!? Lluxop has broken through my terrakinesis and is pummeling Lil. I order Lil to leave the field telepathically. We’re not dying here, we have a family to keep safe. Lil limps away.

It doesn’t look like I’ll be given the opportunity though. Rastoc scores again.

The officiant, or announcer, whomever, seems to indicate “Champions two.” Albeit less excitedly than the first time.

I can’t even remember what goal we’re on at this point. I think we’re at two to two. I stumble to the serving position, and I’m smashed in the face with the ball when it’s my offensive serve, knocked over. I freeze the air in a solid FFS inside their goal, and wait until they come to take their frustration out on me. I JT past them, steal the ball and score again. That’s my third. I think we’re at three to three? I can barely think at all. Wait, no, I’ve got three, they’ve got two, I think.

The officiant marks my third of seven on the scoring abacus.

The pair begin combining mana to coat the entire surface of the arena in pillars of lightning that reach up like flames to lick at me as I take to the sky. There’s enough lightning now that if I land, my heart will stop. No one’s doing anything, even the crowd’s murmur has hushed. The champions seem annoyed to not be receiving cheers, so they slightly pull back on their devastating lightning storm. Slightly.

Forget this. I cover them in Umbral Shot duplicates of tetrahedrons, completely impenetrable, and it cuts off their spells from the outside. I drop down and pretend to reach my hand through the pyramid holding Rastoc. I claim the ball to my inventory from range, and summon it to my hand. I limp to my goal and play my point.

The officiant marks my fourth of seven goals.

The champions are getting furious. I have a few more tricks that guarantee they can’t score, but it’s going to be harder to get the ball away from them while their goal is blocked.

Immediately as they get the offensive serve, before they can catch the ball to begin their offense, I summon regular stone tetrahedrons around them. They can easily break out, but all I need is an instant to JT across the arena, intercept the ball, and score, like this.

Lluxop and Rastoc break out of the pyramids just as the officiant is marking my fifth of seven goals.

Their eyes flash with lightning-rage. I wonder if I should have maybe chosen the singles tournament. Lil is looking really battered, broken, and bruised. Dehlia is tending to them behind the stands, with plenty of distance between the arena and them. Thank heavens for Dehlia.

The champions are going to receive their serve again. This time I’m not going to mess with them directly. I’m bumrushed before I can even return their serve, but it doesn’t matter, I don’t even need to see or be physically near the ball for what I’m going to do. Lluxop takes their shot from a distance, Rastoc begins tearing into me, slamming me into the ground with lightning enhanced fists. I claim the ball in midair on its way to the champion’s goal, and reverse its directional velocity towards my goal instead, and increase it to sonic speeds as I recall it from my inventory at that exact spot, instantly. The sonic boom calls everyone’s attention. Even the fastest eyes would barely catch the faintest flicker as the ball changed course.

Everyone’s jaws drop as the officiant marks my sixth of seven goals. Even Rastoc stops pummeling me to figure out what just happened.

As I gurgle and cough blood, I woozily approach the serving line once again Lluxop begins charging up an electrical beam that I know will be aimed directly at me, since Rastoc is the receiver for this serve. I feint a serve, and serve an umbral duplicate of the ball with a zero velocity, infinite density at a point in front of Rastoc. He charges, grips the ball, and begins to try to lightning port away with it, and there are loud pops as he dislocates his own shoulders even in lightning form.

Lluxop blasts forth the beam aimed directly at my torso, but I summon an Umbral Shot duplicate of a massive Valkyrie shield to block the blast. Thank you Luni. Use my abilities defensively, right? I love you so much. Still, I had to actually serve the ball to their side, so Lluxop has a chance to realize where the real ball is as I’m using JT to zip myself around to catch up with it. Wait, why even bother? Lluxop sees me about to intercept the ball, and they aim a lightning blast that will cover all my possible paths to dodge in a way that would let me intercept. Instead I dodge away, and simply use JT at a distance to propel the ball with a flake of stone towards my goal.

Everyone seems to have lost their mind as the officiant marks my seventh point, but the only thing I care about right now is checking on Lil. I glare at the officiant, challenging them to stop me from walking out during the victory proceedings. They gulp and don’t interfere. Lluxop and Rastoc do however try to get in my way. I simply siphon enough mana from the air, well, mana from kinetic energy by way of cooling the atoms in the air, to be able to cage them in Umbral Shot tetrahedrons and walk on by. No one said I couldn’t be a little petty if they tried to kill me after the game. It’ll wear off in five minutes.

As I near Lil, a spark of lightning that I didn’t realize was still racing around inside my torso expands and explodes. I vomit a torrent of blood and begin to black out. Dehlia saw the spark of lightning, the flash that escaped the burnt hole in my chest. It was a ranged spell planted earlier with a timer. She’s catching me, but I don’t even know if I have a heart to restart. I’m definitely not breathing, there are no lungs in my torso. Oh, I’m out of body and unconscious. I can’t get to the red potion. What am I supposed to do? Come on. Come on me, reach into your inventory. You do that sometimes when I’m out of body, right? Please?

Dehlia touches my mind, “You’re still in there? But, but you’re dead. You haven’t derezzed, but I suppose that’s because you’re of blood. Yet, no. You are definitely critter kind, scalekind even. We derez, even when we are of blood. How is this possible?”

I think, I think Lil, or My-Anchor, Luni. Lil, are they okay? We’re in a three way bond that might be a matter of life or death. Please make sure they’re okay. Please, they’re all that matters. Don’t let my death kill them, Please, I’m begging you.

Dehlia replies, “I. I’ll do what I can. My brother was right. I’m sorry I was so harsh when we first met.”

I don’t, I mean, I don’t care is harsh. I do care. I just mean, it’s okay. Don’t worry about me or my feelings, please, please take care of Lil. They’re all that matters. They can still broker peace with the mark of importance, right? My family. I, I just want them safe. I’m sorry you had to get involved with this, and see me like this. Thank you so much for your help. Please, please protect Lil.

Dehlia drags my body closer to Lil and sets us against one another, and she resumes attending to Lil’s wounds. Lil suddenly drops down to Spheriform stage, startling Dehlia, but that usually happens when we’re unconscious if we don’t have the mana to support our forms due to injuries.

Dehlia confirms, “I believe your bond is what’s keeping you tethered to this life. Worse, I do believe it is also killing our little dragonling friend. I’ve never seen the like. I’m sorry, I don’t know what to do. Even if I could convince them to cast the core spell again, I believe their core would diminish rapidly until it was extinguished.”

No, no no no no. Lu, Luni, oh no. Dehlia, Dehlia do you have inventory magic? Do you know what it is? Can you reach into our inventories? I still have the red potion. I’m of blood. Or, barring that, get the comm stone, call Teuila, make sure Luni is okay. You met them before, they were integral in saving Lil. Lil is bonded to Luni as well.

Dehlia curses, “I really was far too harsh on all of you. How are you still able to persist? You must be in unbelievable pain. Lil most definitely is. They feel your internals having combusted. I think if this were to ever happen again, the three of you in this bond might perish together, simultaneously.”

I am, wait. If I time travel, that won’t invalidate the victory right? Like, there’s no rules against it, are there?

Dehlia looks bemused, “If you could accomplish such a feat, I’m sure none would even be able to tell.”

“Okay, past me. I’m not going to have you cheat, but at some point in the match, there’s going to be a time bomb implanted into your chest. I don’t know when it is, there’s too many attacks to tell. Give Dehlia the red potion before the match. You’ll win, but you’ll die before you realize when to drink it.” Thank you Dehlia. I’ll see you in a few minutes. Sort of.

I’m about to head to the field to take up serving positions with Lil for our championship match against Rastoc and Lluxop when I receive a message from future me. “Okay, past me. I’m not going to have you cheat, but at some point in the match, there’s going to be a time bomb implanted into your chest. I don’t know when it is, there’s too many attacks to tell. Give Dehlia the red potion before the match. You’ll win, but you’ll die before you realize when to drink it.”

Turning to Dehlia, I say, “Dehlia, it sounds like I’m going to die at the end of this match, but this will save me. Please safeguard it for me? I apparently won’t be able to get to it in time.”

I try not to peek at my logs as I engage our championship match. Examining them after the fact though, they played out identically. As I’m walking past the champions who attempt to block my way as I check on Lil, I entrap them in umbral tetrahedrons, and only a few steps closer to Dehlia, a spark that has been lingering unnoticed in my chest explodes in a torrent of lightning. My innards are vaporized, and I vomit, gushing a cascade of blood. Dehlia sees my predicament and rushes the red potion to my lips. She drags me into her serpentine lap, if one can call it that, holding me to one side, making sure I don’t drown in my own blood as my organs begin excruciatingly regenerating.

Without anesthetic, every cell in my insides screams with agony as it is born anew, and knitted to others. I’m trapped in a torrent of unending pain for hours as my body earns new organs. I can tell that it’s eating into the bond that Lil and I share. If I go through this again, Lil won’t live long enough for me to regenerate, even if I had another potion. If Lil dies, I worry that Luni will too. I might then die from the bond anyway, or if not, from heartbreak.

Dehlia continues to comfort both myself, and Lil in their spheriform state. The officiant awaits patiently, with the two marks of importance that the champions were forced to hand over, as they’ve been escorted away by guards that apparently answer to Dehlia. I don’t think they’ll be in permanent trouble, they’ll probably be able to claim it was an accident, but Dehlia knows it wasn’t.

I have to fight every instant of every moment to not regurgitate the potion as I let it do its work. The ceaseless agony that consumes every fiber of my internal being is a hell beyond measure as my organs race into this world screaming to life.

Dehlia speaks aloud, but I cannot understand her. She knows I can’t. She frets, and motions like pointing to menu boxes, but I also can’t invite others. She scowls in frustration, and tries to shake Lil awake. Come on Dehlia, please don’t do that, let Lil rest. We really appreciate you doing this for us. I’m sorry it’s probably uncomfortable sitting here for hours. Dehlia shakes her fists to the sky in further frustration.

Suddenly Dehlia’s demeanor changes again as she reaches into my mind, “I’m sorry, my brother doesn’t have my gift for outgoing telepathy. He could hear you, through me, just not respond. He’s anxious with worry whether or not you’ll recover in time for your friend Lil to survive the effects of this.”

Oh, that makes sense. I mean, I sort of figured somehow your brother was also you. The way you talked about them having a softer spot for us, and regretting not giving us a chance, because they wanted to, or something like that. If you’re willing, when Lil wakes up, they could invite you, then you and your brother would be able to speak to me without telepathy.

Dehlia hesitates, “I, hm, according to your logs, you’ve said something similar once, any form of relationship with me carries, hm, baggage shall we say. It may not be in the best interest of your tribe for you to invite me and mine, ever. Would you still risk it?”

Oh. I mean, my family is the most important thing in the world to me, but, we’ve saved each other’s lives, you and your brother are family to me.

Dehlia pauses, deciding whether or not to share something truly deep. She relents, “I was once deep in a sect, a faction of softskin hunters, the Black Fangs. Many of our society belong to the Black Fangs. My brother convinced me quite some time ago now to leave.”

She continues, “I’m now part of a much smaller, no, not part. I now lead a much smaller faction of, no, not I. My brother leads a faction of seekers of equality and peace. For a time, I was bitter and could barely turn a blind eye to his works that were counter to mine. We were at odds. The Black Fangs decided to ally with the serpents of the swamps, or, try to at least. I was meant to be a mediator, but also an offering. The effects would be twofold, my brother could no longer work at odds against us, and we would have a powerful softskin hunter in our ranks to wipe them all from the swamps.”

Dehlia pauses to telepathically chuckle, “You know how that worked out for me. When we were freed, and shown that softskins are capable of letting us pass in peace, relying on us to save their lives and the lives of other scalekind, weeping tears for scalekind, my brother’s words finally reached me. Not immediately, mind you. It was quite some number of weeks after I’d returned, when I finally grew sick of the hypocrisy of the Black Fangs.”

Dehlia shakes her head angrily, “They would sacrifice their own to further a cause of violence, when many softskins would rather not sacrifice any of us, or them, instead forging a path of peace. In fact, other than some very angry cats, I’ve met far, far more amicable softskins than not. Even those we slew often offered up little to no resistance. I thought it was because we were powerful, fearsome, in the right. Instead, it was because we were hateful, frightening, and the mark of an unjust world that caused despair in peace-loving folk that we slew without measure.”

Dehlia’s gaze hardens with frustration and anger at her past misdeeds, then soften in regret, turning to anguish before her expression settles on neutral. She asserts, “My brother, no, I, no, we, will champion your cause to the full tribunal. Each of the three triumvirates would be appeased by different arguments. I will gladly help mold your statements for them. If you still wish to take the risk of alienating the Black Fangs by inviting me.” Her final expression is resolute.

I nod. I finally have an esophagus again, so I clear bloody phlegm from my throat. I’m surprised my body didn’t force me to pass out in shock from the intense pain I’d been suffering. Heavens, look at all that blood and viscera on the ground surrounding us. Dehlia I’m so sorry, you’ve been sitting, soaking in a massive puddle of my literal guts. Dehlia waves it off as to say pay it no mind.

Lil finally stirs. I burst into tears of relief, and as strength begins to return to my limbs, I embrace my buddy tightly, and snuggle into Dehlia’s waist. I pass out for a brief while, now that I’m no longer worried for Lil’s life.

When I awaken, an entire subparty of dozens and dozens of Nagas, led by Dehlia, or more accurately, her brother, are allied within the Shellcracker family party. It seems Lil awoke first, and they’re, uh, flirting. I’m not sure if they’re flirting more with Dehlia, or her brother, who also simply goes by Dehlia. No confusion there, right? There’s a slight difference in their iris patterns and pupils when one or the other is in charge, but it’s hard to describe. Dehlia’s voice is also slightly more pitchy when the brother of the two is in charge. Plus Dehlia, the sister, almost only communicates in telepathy, while the brother cannot do so at all.

I share all of my logs, plans, and desires with Dehlia and Dehlia. I honestly don’t even need to be at the triumvirate tribunal, since we only have two marks of importance. I figure Dehlia and Lil could do this. I’m rather tired of trying to do leaderly and political things. Apparently though, we don’t have to use up both marks of importance, and we can bring any counsel that we want. We could quite possibly make a case again someday if we desired another tribunal. That’s an unexpected benefit. But if we hold onto it, and never return to the Nagas city, we’d be ruining a part of their cycle of governance, since no one could ever challenge one of us to the rights to it. Although technically, it has to be willingly given, so a Naga could hold onto theirs their entire life without giving it up, after earning it once, and only then would it re-enter circulation. I guess we won’t be disrupting things too much if we keep it. The other option would be to give it back to one of the twins with the blessing of Quetzlcoatl. I’m not sure I want to see what would happen if they got into a fight over who got to keep the mark. Hm, I just realized, they had tattoos that looked vaguely like that fanged icon Vampguppy had, dripping blood, a black-filled silhouette of a fang. It was under their right armpits.

I ask telepathically, “Dehlia, does that mean the twins were, or are, in the Black Fangs?”

She nods in response. Well, that clarifies why everyone went out of their way to let me get to them, and why they were trying to kill me. I think my name was passed around, and even though I appear draconic, it was probably mentioned long ago that a softskin named Reggie Shellcracker helped free Dehlia. Yeah, I was definitely an assassination target, even if they didn’t know about my plot for peace. If they knew what I was going to ask, from overhearing Lil talking about it, or if there are any other psychics among them, then yeah, I was definitely an assassination target.

Still, apparently due to how rare it is for someone to cash in a mark of importance, one can summon the tribunal almost instantly. It takes little more than a few hours to agree on a time within the next day at most.

Here at the tribunal, I can barely even understand how to hear, let alone pronounce, the names of the individuals in charge. Apparently, like most other creatures, Nagas generally don’t have names. They assume one if they take a station of significant enough importance that they need to be referred to frequently by others. Anyway, these justices or whomever they are, whatever you would call these officials, they hear out Dehlia’s description of our requests.

There’s one of the nine that is definitely a member of the Black Fangs. They oppose everything suggested or offered. Thankfully, even in their triad, they’re outnumbered.

When we finally leave the tribunal session, it’s with a guarantee that the only border patrols will be peaceful scouts that might be interested in trade, during the duration that we’ll be passing. We’ve opened up trade in general, and opened up the option to take any adventurous Naga with us, in order to spread their culture, history, and lore.

As much as I’d dearly desire Dehlia to come with, since they were so instrumental in our success, they have to stay, to continue to fight the good fight as it were. Maybe we’ll see them again someday. For now, I am aching to rejoin my family, and recuperate from a journey that was both quicker, and far more time than I’d ever expected to spend.

We head to rejoin the contingent, followed by several dozen peaceable Nagas from Dehlia’s faction. Hopefully this will go a way towards easing Linti’s mind, letting her know that peace can be achieved. I hope she will realize that one day, she can choose to follow her own desires, even if those desires are still just hunting.