The god enjoyed himself on his mountain of clouds.
“I didn’t pick him for nothing though, 'Ralphos'. After all, he did ‘that’. He has ‘that’ with him too. Also ‘that’ power I gave him. And Ralphos has ‘that’ past. At the very least, entertain me for awhile, and struggle…”
The god was perched in the heavens laughing, staring down upon a verdant forest. The number of mysteries surrounding both Ralphos, the main character transformed into him, the weapon Ralphos held, and Ralphos's dragon powers didn't seem like they would get solved anytime soon.
The forest, a green similar to the emerald eyes of the catgirl the goblin followed showed the two forms making their way.
Ralphos the goblin prince with the mind of the main character inside followed the white haired catgirl, watching her tail turn. It didn't stay still. Ralphos had an interest in it's constant slow movement, a calm settling in his heart watching it.
“Um, sorry, I'm having a few brainfarts right now, what’s your name again?” He said as his eyes caught her turning white tail. It was a catgirl. His mind became still as water. He wasn’t that useless, he had ‘that’, his ancient 'magic'. All of his training in 'that' 'magic' from his world had led up to this point. It's acting. Ralphos's mind sorted the situation and his desires like a stack of papers in a busy office. Life's not so boring now, is it? Ralphos joked to himself. Maybe this was a little too exciting, though. He twirled the bulletblade he was enjoying, it swung around and jived and wiggled. How amazing.
The catgirl in the maid outfit turned her head to him. Ralphos behind having too much fun with a dangerous weapon disturbed her, but it's a normal sight.
“Be careful with that bulletblade, I keep telling you. Are you still up to this?" she sighed. "Let’s go camp then,” she murmured and started to lay out bedrolls and cooking wares near a stream, her white shoulder length hair bobbing with those emerald green eyes. Her ears perked and she felt distress at Ralphos's behavior. She'd ignore it. She would ignore it.
Trees thronged in the distance, forming an arena for the coming battle.
“No seriously, I forgot. You know, I feel bad, a girl like you, and I don’t know your name…”
She went red in a line across her face, crossing her shaped nose. Ralphos's sharp eye spotted it. She likes this goblin guy?
“Prince, please don’t kid around. It really did look like you died back there,” her emerald eyes glazed over as she stopped laying out the blankets, looking into the river.
He sheathed his spinning bulletblade. He leaned over to her, his goblin face and short stature a bad match as he put his arm on her shoulder. The rest would be later.
“I’m here. I’m sorry, it sounded scary when you told me about me exploding into chunks, but, I’m okay, see? Let’s get some sleep,” Ralphos comforted her.
He pulled away as the catgirl silent started to move again like a wind up doll. Ralphos saw it too, on her face. No wonder. She's like him, playing a role.
“It’s Juno. Don’t forget again, okay. You dumb prince,” she snapped, but she was wearing a white grin.
Liar. Fooling me, huh? Nice try, catgirl. Juno, a catgirl maid, his catgirl maid. Ralphos assumed it was okay for him to sit back and let her finish as he is her goblin prince. She then got in her bedroll, and Ralphos followed her into that one ignoring his own. He panicked to himself at his own behavior, but his now or never attitude won out in the end.
“My prince. What are you doing?” Juno stared at him suspiciously. He was too close.
“Pretty girls shouldn’t be left alone, right?” He smiled. She quailed, her face crimson and looking away! Direct hit! Or so a normal person would say. His mischief wouldn't end here. Ralphos shouldn't be forgiven at this point for exploiting the situation. It's lucky that the coming interupting battle would end things on a better note between the two of them. A Shadow Demon approached in the distance, crawling through the trees, and Juno is occupied with Ralphos's behavior at the moment.
“My prince, please, you’re acting strange. It's bothering me. Go over to your bedroll. It’s sunset anyways, aren't you tired?” Juno said.
“You’re calling me prince, and that sounds like I’m the one in charge here.”
“You forgot that!” She said. Juno shot up her tail in the air, her white cat ears pulled back in a snarl.
Ralphos remained unhindered. 'That’ was his strongest skill. A skill from another world, ancient, indecipherable ‘magic’ that could win any battle in an instant flawlessly and with the least effort possible.
“I was charmed by your marble skin. I forget these things, when I’m enjoying life,” he wooed her.
She blushed again, but her tail and ears were still angry. Her emerald eyes closed to a half moon.
“Prince... are you really okay?” Juno grumbled.
He pulled out the bulletblade and jived it around merrily.
“I’m fine! Would I be able to do this?” He attempted to surprise her with his inexistent skill. The bulletblade wasn’t any old weapon, thanks to his ‘magic’(acting) he could operate such a majestic device. By faking and hoping it didn't chop his head off. Sweat puddled his soul.
It whirred and zipped, sprang and slathered the air. She was looking on, her guard lowered a little seeing it fly and whip around.
“Well, you always play with it like that. Please stop. You’re scaring me! Put it away!” She complained, her face in a pout.
The bulletblade was sheathed away with a whirl. Good thing, if it was for another instant, he would have cut his head off. His ‘magic’ had such limits. Such a dangerous tool.
“I’ll remember that. This time. Now, come to bed, I want to show you my ‘that’-”
Trees exploded to the north and a newly made wood chip mist flew out into the wind with a stentorian roar. A being comprised of pooled blackness with a humpback and a humanoid shape there stood framed against the sunset light. It's dark hand hanging onto a crumpled tree. Horns far longer than it’s body raked into the sky. White pools formed it's eyes, and it stared at the catgirl and goblin with appraisal.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Prince, you distracted me again!” She turned her tail as she went for her backpack and pulled out a huge battle drill she wielded with both hands. The drill ruby red, the heft of the weapon and tool pressed against her slim hip and maid outfit. Juno pressed a red spinner trigger and gave the drillbit a whirl as it ringed out a droning noise.
“You can handle this, right?” Yawned Ralphos as he laid down. That was the character he was playing. He inwardly felt a tinge of regret, the sensitive, loving, caring soul that our main character is, sometimes. He wasn't combat ready at all! Leave this to a pro. The covers went over his head.
“Ralphos! Please! It’s a Shadow Demon, you love killing Shadow Demons!”
"It's a bad day for me," Ralphos said.
The shadow demon was observing them, his white pool eyes unblinking. Juno stared at him. Both of them expectant.
“Oh god, damn it. Fine,” he grumbled as he lifted his body up weary. He didn't feel up to this at all. The Shadow Demon started charging with his long horns flailing in the wind pressing up into the sunset sky.
A battle? This is too much pressure, you're killing my stage time here!
“Stay back, okay, um, honey?”, he said as a tacit apology for earlier. He inwardly felt a tinge of regret, the angry, mischevious, lout that our main character is, sometimes. He’s not the type to stick to one thing so easily, it’s always that way with types like him.
Actors. His ancient 'magic', acting. As a person he's not too much but a ball of desires and insecurities, a lack of identity is common to actors. They seek a role in the word, they play as if they were others. And now, his role is-
“Stand back? Oh, you must not feel like you can handle ‘that’ properly then,” Juno said as she gave him furtive looks as she retreated.
He stepped forward grumbling trying to balance his new body with the memories he had walking here through the forest, giving the Shadow Beast a lazy eye. It was charging right upon him and then he whipped it out.
Bulletblade, the pinnacle of all bullets and blades. Half bullet, half blade. Made by a mad cat magician. A retractable small strong cable tied to a blade that shot out like a bullet, and that wasn’t all. Ralphos didn’t know about the Drives yet. How sad.
“I should be able to at least hit it once…”, he growled as the Demon loomed over him, his shrouded hand at his waist.
“Hit him! Hit him now!”, Juno yelled, holding her drill and clicking the spinner trigger with a nervous tick.
“I got it, I got it. You look like a cockroach!” He whipped out the bulletblade and spun the trigger around with the grip. Ralphos figured out that much, pointy blade end goes out, into the head!
The Shadow Demon wasn’t dead. It slapped with a whip-like arm and Ralphos spun into the river, his bulletblade retracting all speed with his flying body.
“What are you doing!” Juno shouted as she ran, stopping at the water. She shivered, hair standing up all over her body, a moment passed as she jumped in hearing the roar of the Shadow Demon behind her. She swam but was surprised to see Ralphos swimming himself.
“What the-!” Juno grabbed him and pulled to the other bank, the river grumbling over the rocks had carried them some distance away. Juno learned to swim for a unfortunate reason, a long time ago, but it saved them both then. River carried them a distance, Juno flopped the dazed Ralphos onto the shore and pulled herself there too. Away from them, the Shadow Demon waved it's massive long horns into the sky and sniffed, then galloped after them on it's hind legs.
Ralphos sputtered out what he had taken in a panic while flying through the water. Juno shivered. She didn't like water.
“What was that? How do I kill it?” He said making sure his bulletblade was near and retracted.
Juno sighed wet and miserable and shaking too. She wasn’t in a state where she believed she could fight. Juno dropped her drill and grabbed his head on the cheeks with both hands and stared him down with shining emerald eyes.
“Cut it up! Use the bulletblade like you always do!” Juno cried. Tears pooled at the corner of her eyes.
He looked away from her eyes to her drill. Time to improvise.
“Too boring,” he said to her.
That drill and his bulletblade in each hand he ran to meet the Shadow Demon, crossing the river in a bound leaving Juno behind.
“Nice speed, couldn’t beat this at track. What I’m missing in looks and in height…” he slid under the hind legs the Shadow Demon following his small body with its gaze. He stopped under the legs, and braced his legs under himself, ready to pounce up.
“I’ll make up with ingenuity!”
He faced the bulletblade and the drill pointed out at legs each their own and pushed with all his might, uncoiling his legs in a single burst and clicking both triggers. His arm strength was great enough to hold the drill against the repelling mass of black as the Shadow Demon roared. The bulletblade clicked back into place again and again, he had no idea how to use it any better so he clicked the trigger again and again. The blade made a constant cycle back and forth between the hilt and the Shadow Demon's leg. Large chunks burst off as the bulletblade severed the leg. It fell fast so Ralphos put all his weight and strength into the drill leaning into the other leg.
“Burst through," he prayed holding fast still the air and losing to gravity. Falling back from the almost severed leg the shadow flesh repelling him as he switched to his bulletblade and fired.
The leg cut. The shadow demon above him was screeching and falling, as Ralphos hit the ground he dashed out from under the falling beast and doubled back.
In a moment of indecision, he stared at his options and went for the best one. He pulled the drill close and sheathed the bulletblade. Grabbed the drill with his other hand, readying it for action.
“Boring! Boring!” He cackled as he hit the spinner trigger pumping gas and lunged forward into the Shadow Demon prone on his back.
Little pieces of shadow spun off with the drills whine as Ralphos marched forward through the beast drilling it. The demon's body was shaking and sputtering with the force of the impacts and wiggles of the drill. The roaring dying down more and more as he stepped forwards. He marched until the drill that was the only sound that could be heard, the demon's body in two.
“This good enough?!” He yelled to check with Juno. Couldn’t be too careful, Shadow Demons, you know how that is.
She gave him a pitiful look, holding herself and shivering on the other shore.
“Yeah. Yeah it’s dead.” She said shaking, still cold. She changed her look to sharp. What happened? She was having dark thoughts, her eyes getting as wet as her. Did that really, was 'that' real? What happened earlier? Is this Ralphos still Ralphos?
Ralphos casually tossed the drill aside suddenly realizing as it was in the air that it was probably treasured. He cringed as it crashed, and picked up a bedroll and bounded to the other shore. The other bedroll dipped in Shadow Demon corpse, he had only one option. What a shame. She looked cold.
“Hey, sorry about the drill. I forgot myself for a second,” Ralphos spoke to her.
“More than for just a second…” Juno muttered her tail turning around her body. Her ears were flat, her eyes defiant.
“What was that? Here, get under this with me you look cold.”
Panicking as he tossed the bedroll on the ground and grabbing her body shoving her under the covers before sliding in himself.
Looking at Ralphos the catgirl is wide eyed and freezing, Ralphos hugging her close went to sleep with her in his arms.
She looked up at him, feeling the heat of his slightly smaller body and surprised at what was poking her.
She groaned a little, looking at his face. Then she put on a placid smile, and hugged him back. The act was over. No need to pretend if he's not Ralphos, is there?
“Who cares, that was fun. Ralphos, what happened to you?”
Her eyes darkened. 'Just for tonight, okay?' She wanted to say that as she fell asleep.