Arcane Meeting (Part 4)

--- The Child Hero ---

When the others had told her she got to go to the Arcane Meeting she knew it was a big deal, and a sign that they were finally starting to see her as a member of the team rather than just a mascot.

Needless to say she’d been super excited to be allowed to go. An excitement that slowly faded as she realized the meeting was just more of the same standing around she had to put up with at the guild’s (stupid) PR shows.

Sure, the guy from Sanctuary had brought up the fact that there was a bunch of monster that they were going to have to fight, but given how everyone was just talking rather than actually planning out what to do made her feel like this was going to be one of those things where everyone pretended she could help before leaving her on the sidelines.

Just when she was getting ready to ask Terra if they could start heading back, the little fairy flew up to her.

She’d never actually seen one before, despite thinking about summoning one when Terra and Journey decided she was ready for her second partner, and the fact that she got to see one in person made the whole boring meeting worth it.

And then she’d met the fairy’s partner, a nice older boy who for some reason she felt odd around. Almost like the way Journey made her feel where as long as she was near them everything would be okay.

It was at that moment that she decided the boy must be a hero.

Of course since he wasn’t wearing his mask that meant he’d come to the meeting in his secret identity. Which, while she thought a little odd, she could understand if he was trying to go undercover with all the gang members attending the meeting.

(And a secret identity is important, so I shouldn’t tell anyone I figured it out!) That was an important rule Journey and the other guild members had made sure she understood back when she first joined.

Seeing as how he was clearly a magic hero and how she’d seen his own partner she decided to show off her lovable Snowball to the boy.

Despite what most of the people at the PR meetings thought, she knew Flufflepuffs weren’t the most impressive summons based on the way the older kids and Arcane treated Snowball. Like he was a cute trick for a kid but not much else.

This didn’t mean she thought any less of him though! No! He was her partner and she’d have his back forever and ever!

It did mean that she was excited when the boy summoned his own Flufflepuff partner, who while smaller than Snowball she could just tell had a lot more tough girl grit to her by the way she had the heart like skull over her eye.

And of course she went from excited to super excited when the boy summoned a whole horde of Flufflepuffs to tackle her! (They’re so fluffy!)

A trick that she just knew she and Snowball could do to, based on the way she felt her magic twist when her partner joined his in summoning the rest.

What was even cooler was that based on the look on Terra’s face this was a trick the older girl had no idea Flufflepuffs could do!

Meaning once she figured out how to repeat that twist of magic she’d have a spell that even her leader didn’t know!

She’d been so happy that she’d come to this meeting, when suddenly everything went wrong as that teen fighting Tru Grit summoned a monster.

Normally she wouldn’t call someone’s partner such a thing, but the way the monster made the very air itself scary left her with little else to call the thing in front of her.

For a moment she’d been ready to turn around and run from the monster, at least until the heroic boy had shifted in front of her and suddenly she remembered that everything would be okay as long as he was there.

What’s more she remembered that she was supposed to be a hero (and heroes don’t run away from monsters!)

Which is why she stepped in front of the more defenseless Flufflepuffs to protect them should the big baddie try to hurt them. An idea that proved super smart when the leader of the Mad Dogs threw the creature straight at them.

For a moment, when the creature’s eyes met hers she felt a shiver run down her spine as became hard to breathe.

But like a true hero the boy grabbed the baddie and told him not to try anything!

This was when she was reminded that as much as she loved her leader, Terra still thought of her as a little girl to be protected.

The leader of the junior heroes had grabbed her by her arm and dragged her behind the older girl. During which she noticed with a bit of confusion the mild shaking to the earth as Terra stepped in front of her.

Of course she knew Terra was capable of significantly more than the water shows that she usually put on for her fans. The thing that confused her though wasn’t the fact that Terra was bringing out more power to protect her, but rather that the earth’s shaking seemed to grow worse when the boy glanced back to make sure she was okay.

(Why does she think he’d hurt me?) She may not know him all that well, but her every instinct was telling her that that was an impossibility.

--- The Mad Dog ---

He honestly hadn’t meant for things to go so far south, that Mexico looked like Canada.

When that girl had challenged him to a fight he couldn’t help but accept, because fighting was his thing.

Of course, since she was a kid and this was his first time fighting her, he held back as much as he could without her realizing it. (Though given how he ran and fought in all of the city’s fight pits she really should’ve.)

And he’d admit the kid impressed him with her grit, and her magic bat. (That girl’s got a mean swing, and I love it!)

After a few minutes of fighting like this he realized she’d been holding back as she used some of that weird summoning magic he never could figure out to summon a large monster that looked like it belonged in a horror movie.

That was when he’d started feeling the excitement building, and felt it was safe to let loose just a little bit. After all, he’d fought enough summons in his pits to know that when they’d taken enough damage they’d be automatically dismissed before they could get seriously hurt.

And if not Perry and Beth are on standby for healing anything from broken bones to shattered spines. (That’s why I pay them the big bucks!)

He’d been having fun fighting something he was admittedly a little scared of, and probably would’ve kept having fun whaling on it if only he hadn’t screwed up when the creature managed to wrap onto his arm with those weird tendrils.

This wasn’t the first time he’d been in such a position, and he did what he always did when he got caught in said position. He dug down deep, he grabbed his opponent, and he yelled his kickass stage name while yeeting it as far away as he could.

That was where he fucked up.

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He’d spent so much time fighting in his fight pits -fight pits that he’d paid to have slapped with a dozen barrier spells to protect the spectators- that he hadn’t thought twice as he threw the summon.

Of course, seeing as he wasn’t inside of one of his pits and that despite getting their okays neither Sanctuary nor the Heroes’ Guild had set up any kind of protection for the other people at this year’s meeting. (Fucking hypocritical ametuers! How much ya’ wanna bet they okayed this without making sure there’s a healer on standby?!)

Because he’d been expecting the people spectating this fight to take the most basic of precautions when hosting a Deviant fight, he accidentally threw the monster at some of the spectators with nothing to protect them in case the summon went rogue. What’s more, one of those spectators was a little kid!

(Ma is going to be so disappointed in me!)

Once he’d realized his mistake, he moved to rush the beast and drag it away from the spectators kicking and screaming if he had to.

The way one of the spectators moved he realized he didn’t need to bother, as a teen grabbed the monster and held it place not with power but with something far more respectable to the pit fighter skill.

One look at the teen, and he knew that this kid was no kid.

No, he was like Tru, he was a fighter.

And as the young man shoved the summons away and slowly walked towards it, he was willing to admit that -as much as he didn’t like it- this was no longer his fight. That when he’d thrown the monster towards a fellow fighter he’d as good as tagged them in, and agreed to step onto the sidelines for the rest of the fight.

While a fair part of him was disappointed that he wouldn’t get to keep fighting, an even bigger part of him was growing excited for what was to come. Because as much as he enjoyed fighting, he so rarely got to see new fighters instead of the common riff-raff who thought that a few martial arts or powers gave them that (grit) that made real fighting so exciting.

He’d seen the start of it in the girl, though it’d probably be a bit before it became (true grit), but the young man? Now he had it in spades.

This was proven all the more true when instead of simply firing off some fancy spell, or summoning a monster of his own he pulled out a knife.

The kid, the man, the (fighter) was going to fight a Demon with a knife.

He couldn’t help but grin as he realized the sheer depth of grit this guy had going for him.

And as he watched the fighter and the Demon duke it out, one with massive earth rending swings that would make even him wince on impact and the other with a sheer force of will conviction that you’d have to be an idiot not to see his grit, the leader of the Mad Dogs had only one thought on his mind.

(I can’t wait to challenge this kid to a fight.)

--- The Scarecrow’s Keeper ---

The Scarecrow was a Demon with a capital D.

Most other demons were just Creeps from other places that happened to be scary carnivores with a taste for human flesh.

A true Demon though, that was something that fed on magic and emotion, fed on the very souls of those around it to gain power over whatever domain the entity held.

The Scarecrow’s was Fear.

Not just fear in the sense of ‘I’m scared’ but Fear in the sense of the primal ‘I am going to die’ terror.

Her contract with the Demon was the only thing keeping it in check as it dwelled in the depths of her shadow and soul. And she knew if she let it, it would devour them all.

She wasn’t scared of it.

She wasn’t sure if it was something wrong with her head, or if it was a perk of their contract, but she did not fear the Demon she knew could drop a three digit body count in under an hour.

What that meant was that she didn’t fear letting the Scarecrow loose on the world, because she knew if push came to shove she could tighten its leash and force it under her heel.

It wasn’t arrogance.

(I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again.)

But just because she knew this, didn’t mean everyone else knew it.

Which is why she didn’t quite blame people for freaking out when the Scarecrow got so close to that kid from the Heroes’ Guild. (She could taste their fEaR.) After all, they had no way of knowing that she’d barely loosened her leash and was actually puppeting the Scarecrow with a fair amount of dexterity.

(Though the pendejos probably could’ve if any of them were paying attention.)

(Humans, so arrogant… Thinking they have… all the answers…)

(Shut up.)

What she did blame someone for however was the guy who somehow dragged the Scarecrow down to eye level and forced it to take a step back with ease. Completely shattering the spell of fear and awe she’d put everyone under as she made sure they respected her and the girls.

(How’d he do that anyway?)

(He’s not afraid.) The Scarecrow hissed hatefully.

(Like me?) She frowned from within.

(No… it’s different…) The Demon refused to elaborate beyond that.

(Fine, we’ll just have to make this work.)

Truthfully, she knew she should go back to fighting Tru since he was the one she’d challenged and everything, but at the same time this was the guy who’d killed her rhythm and she felt that beating him was the only way she’d get it back.

(Hell, I’ll even make him look like an idiot when I tell him we weren’t going to hurt the kid after we kick his ass.)

(Have to catch the blighter first.)

That was a big part of their problem, despite having size, flexibility, strength, and a number of other factors on the kid, they just. Could. Not. Hit. Him!

Once more she felt the knife in her side as the boy quickly stabbed the Scarecrow before pulling back and ducking around her claw, something that would’ve been far more effective if the Scarecrow didn’t feel pain the way others did.

(Still annoying.)

(I didn’t say it wasn’t.)

Given how long and hard this fight and the one with Tru lasted she was glad that the Scarecrow could sustain itself off of fear instead of needing to drain her milagro dry.

(There’s no fear to feed on.) The Scarecrow warned her.

(¡¿Qué?!)

(He broke the spell.) The demon reminded her. (There’s not enough fear… to stay this active.)

(¡Chinga!)

That was a problem, that was a very big problem.

In a move of desperation, she bent backwards and sent out as many bone tendrils as she could from the Scarecrow’s ribcage. (How the fuck is he dodging all of these?!)

(Have an idea.)

Following the Scarecrow’s instincts she inhaled as deeply as she could before hunching over as the Demon twisted magic around their ribcage before telling her to (Release!)

She threw her arms back and a murder of crows flew out at the boy, actually managing to hit him with an attack that he couldn’t dodge for once.

(How is he still not AfRAiD?!) The Scarecrow screamed within her head.

She didn’t know, but she did know her milagro was starting to run low, meaning if they couldn’t get some level of fear going they were going to run out, which would be a clear sign of weakness for all who saw them.

The boy sliced through half of the crows before snatching one of them out of the air and biting its head off.

(What the fuck?!)

She had the brief revelation that she was not going to win this fight.

She immediately switched mental tracks from fighting to salvaging her reputation, before said loss could drag her reputation through the dirt.

The idea she got was proof that she had been spending far too much time with both that psycho elf Artemis and drug dealing Audrey, given how manipulative and cheap it was.

(We just need one solid hit.)

(We haven’t had one solid hit!)

Knowing that she decided to use most of her remaining magic as she slammed the Scarecrow’s hands into the ground, sending his tendrils through the earth so that she could grab onto the boy and pin him in place even if for just a moment.

(I’m going to need a shower after this.)

Twisting through the Scarecrow she launched herself out of the meat suit that made up its current form, before using the momentum to dropkick the boy in his chest, sending him tumbling several feet back as the Scarecrow’s tendrils faded as he milagro ran dry.

Dusting herself off and pretending she was in complete control of the situation, she glared at the boy with whatever passive magics the Scarecrow’s contract infused her with.

Surprisingly the boy actually flinched back from her, despite taking the Scarecrow head on just seconds before.

(So help me if this motherfucker is scared of women!)

Ignoring that, she narrowed her eyes and growled as harshly as she could, and told him, “I wasn’t going to hurt the kid you pinche pendejo!” before turning around and marching back to the girls, while shamefully hoping no one would call her bluff.

(I feel so dirty…)