“Seems like Drake finally found his audience.”

Vee snickered as she saw the raven pose dramatically in front of the three kids. From the distance it appeared as if his shawl fluttered in an unseen wind but it was just his Tinkerer Crab moving it with thin threads that flowed out of her shell. An agreeing chuckle echoed from Hanak and a small smirk tugged at his lips.

“Heh, yeah. You should have seen how hyped he was when those three first joined. He’s been taking his role as their mysterious mentor pretty seriously, even practiced every evening when he had time.”

“Oh man, I would have loved to see that!”

She really regretted now that she hadn’t been able to come by over the last few weeks. Shaking her head, Vee grinned and the both of them turned their attention back to the TC Wrestling match about to unfold.

TC Matches fell under a variety of categories. Wrestling was the basic type, only mobility and simple claw type equipment was allowed. Getting pinned for ten seconds or being thrown out of the arena counted as a loss. After this followed Melee, any short range equipment was allowed, Ranged, only ranged equipment was allowed, and All Out which was just as self-explanatory.

Official matches had often small interplays between the opponent and Drake had certainly chosen to ham them up to make even the professionals blush.

“You will face the shadows…! Show them the truth, Lilith!”

Drake’s declaration was loud and gruff. His cape flared around his right arm as he threw it to the side, in his movement he allowed for his crab to take the stage out of the cascading shadows. Her shell painted black and purple, the yellow glowing eyes of Lilith sparked out of her sleek frame with smug confidence. Flitting surprisingly quickly from side to side she snapped her claws in challenge.

On the other side, the more bulky blue and red shell of her opponent shifted nervously as he looked up at his trainers. The female parrot weasel gave him an encouraging smile. Mina grinned.

“You can do it, Ricky! Show her what you’ve learned.”

“Yeah! We’re cheering for you, Ricky!” Jenny and Geen shouted, the young raccoon looking surprisingly stern and serious as he gave Ricky a firm nod of confidence. The mouse fennec punched the air as she leaped high. “Kick her butt!”

The moment she landed, Jenny stuck out her tongue and childishly blew their opponents a raspberry.

“You’re going down, Lilith! Bleh~!”

Both Drake and Lilith calmly dismissed her provocation by very obviously ignoring her. Fuming, the young girl squawked annoyed and crossed her arms with a pout.

However their cheering had been more than good enough to encourage their new Tinkerer Crab friend. Ricky nodded with bright, sparkling eyes back and then jumped into the arena. Determined he met Lilith challenging stare head on. Her eyes crinkled into a smirk in acknowledgement.

At the edge of the arena behind Lilith, Drake build himself up. Standing wide legged and with crossed arms he gave a much more impressive figure as his cape flared out behind him. With clear voice he called out the rules of the match ahead.

“The rules are simple. A single round. The winner takes all.”

“We will definitely win.”

Mina’s eyes hardened as she met his gaze, giving her promise. This was it, Ricky would finally show the fruits of their training here and now!

Back with Vee and Hanak, the reptilian weasel’s eyes were sparkling in adoration. A giggling coo echoed from her throat as their display broke even through her armoured punk heart with its adorableness.

“Oh, this is just precious. They are taking his act so seriously.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Hanak could only chuckle as he leant against the railing besides her, a wide grin on his lips.

“Yeah, I should have sold tickets for the show. The girl at the front’s the one that trains with Ricky the best, the boy is far more serious about it all though. Made sure that the other two weren’t just coddling him outside training.”

“What’s their names? Or did you only memorise their crab~?”

“That only happened one time!”

Hanak groaned, throwing his arms up as Vee teased him a playful smirk.

“And we will never let you forget.” She nodded sagely. “So, the names?” Her eyes twinkled.

“Mina, Geen and Brat.”

Hanak stated bluntly without hesitation, pointing at them in order.

Vee laughed.

The match between Ricky and Lilith went by quickly. While Lilith was far more agile and experienced, Ricky’s more heavy build gave him an innately larger advantage in the Wrestling Category. The black Tinkerer Crab simply couldn’t move him as easily and while she was able to quickly flit out of his grab range, just one mistake and he would be able to take her down without breaking a sweat.

She was playing completely outside her strengths.

Hanak, Vee, Drake and especially Lilith knew this from the onset of the challenge. The trio of kids and their crab, however, weren’t able to read their advantage. To them this was a massive challenge that Ricky was taking on, and the red and blue shelled crab approached it with the appropriate determination to win nevertheless.

Curiously Vee turned to Hanak as the match began, Ricky taking the initiative by rushing forward.

“What did they bet for, actually?”

“Drake wins, the three and their crab have to serve as Lilith’ personal servants for a month. Ricky takes the win and Drake has to teach them a ‘secret move’. Oh, and he and Lilith have to be Ricky’s servant for a month, too.”

“Ah, the same outcome then.”

“Yup. Really motivates those three, though.”

A wide grin played over the shark’s lips and Vee nodded in understanding, an amused snort escaping her as she turned back to the match. It had turned into a game of cat and mouse where Lilith danced around Ricky’s strikes with graceful ease, eyes crinkling and a clicking sound echoed out of he shell. The crab’s equivalent to a mocking giggle.

“FOOLS! You can not grasp a shadow!” Drake exclaimed exaggeratedly.

The match had heated up considerably after their talk had ended. Until now Lilith had just been dodging Ricky’s attacks, but now she utilised her superior agility to flit around Ricky at high speeds. The younger crab was looking overwhelmed and dizzy under the barrage of different directions the smaller crab attacked him from.

“Come on! You can do it, Ricky!”

Mina and Jenny, or Brat to Vee and Hanak, called out in encouragement. Geen was looking tense, crossing his fingers for Ricky to win. A smirk played over Drake’s lips as he flared his cape and cackled evilly.

“Despair beneath the Shadow Strikes!”

“Yeah, he’s having way too much fun.”

Vee sweatdropped as the the raven continued to act out and comment every attack from both crabs like he was the hammy villain of a Sunday Comic.

“He’s a theatre kid.”

Hanak shrugged lightly, enjoying the show as cringe as it was. As did the rest of the club’s current visitors. The room had grown a bit more crowded in the wake of school ending early and more kids, primarily teenagers, had begun to show up.

Hanak smirked.

“Aaaand… Match.”

Vee nodded in agreement as he predicted the end, she had seen it coming just as much.

What had looked like an overwhelming barrage of attacks to Ricky and the kids had just lead to Lilith exhausting herself so much quicker. Ricky’s heavy armour easily absorbed the damage without too much issue and the random directions had meant he hadn’t even really moved from his spot, though the strikes had still rattled him.

Now, however, Lilith had slowed down dramatically and grown a bit more sluggish while Ricky was basically still at full capacity. It took only one mistake. A grab she would have easily dodged before took hold of one of Lilith’ lithe legs just before she could get out of range.

“Kick her ass outta the ring!” Jenny cried out with an evil grin.

And with a powerful pull Ricky swung Lilith around. Spinning around his own axis, he let her go at full spin. Neither Ricky nor the kids noticed Lilith adding an extra kick to his throw, sending her flying at high speed out of the ring.

Vee had to give it to Drake and Lilith, they certainly knew how to make their loss look more dramatic than it actually was.

“NOOOooooo…!” The raven cried out in exaggerated despair, having positioned himself inconspicuously right into her flight path so she hit him square in the chest. The two of them were thrown to the ground, his cape thankfully cushioning their fall. Lilith flailed exaggeratedly for a few more seconds, eyes wide, before falling comically limp atop Drake, eyes swirling as if finally knocked out by the impact.

Cheers and laughter echoed through the back room and the trio’s eyes sparkled in excited awe at Ricky’s victory, the crab himself looking wide eyed in elated disbelief.

“… WE KNEW YOU COULD DO IT!!!”

Mina, Geen and Jenny cheered with bright smiles and victorious grins, picking the small crab up and holding him up high. Calls of congratulations and teasing sympathies for the loser echoed through the entire TC Gear Club.

And while they celebrated, Vee decided to turn to Hanak after a moment of hesitation.

“Hey, I, ah, got a question for you…”

“Oh?”

His curiosity was certainly peaked at her uncharacteristic nervousness and with a raised eyebrow he turned towards her. And grinned. Ugh, she was already starting to regret her decision to ask.