{0.01 Hp gained!}

I was starting to reach my limit with the whole The Murders thing. I tried to make it to the fog of war in the hopes that I could maybe lose them in it but, they managed to kill me every time before I could make it. However, none of that mattered right now as I had made it back home and Paul was already there.

"Okay, let's start again," I spoke.

"Before that, can I take you somewhere?" Paul responded.

"Uh, sure I guess?" I replied.

Without another word, Paul walked outside and I followed behind. We walked in silence passing through the rundown neighborhood I lived in and a park with benches and large trees. Some of the Minions were throwing a ball, while other smaller minions played Tag, Although I felt bad for the small green minion who was it as they seemed to all be moving at the same speed, he must have been It for a long time now.

"Is this where we're going?" I asked.

"No, but sometimes me and Charlottle take Richie here to play." He spoke before we continued.

After walking through the park we came across a Large crowd of people;. They were walking down a paved road and on either side was a large building with a giant billboard showing a Hero on it. I only recognized Beowolf who was holding a soda can with the word MOKE on it. Under the image of him, it said 'Be like Beowolf, Drink MOKE.'.

"Where is this," I asked Paul.

"Minion Square, it's one of the larger gathering hubs for minions to buy stuff, work, or party," Paul spoke.

"How come, I've never seen this before, when I leave a post-match lobby shouldn't these tall buildings stick out like a sore thumb," I asked.

"I'm not entirely sure either, but I remember someone once telling me that it had something to do with Server Capacity and Sector lockdowns. Like every area isn't connected and you don't realize it but when walking through two areas, your data is moved to that area, but the system prevents us from realizing it's happening so it just looks like we're walking from area to area, or something like that. Someone a long time ago explained it to me but, I don't seem to remember entirely."

"I see... Also, wait before did you say that Minions work?" I asked.

"Yeah, you can retire from matches and work a nine-to-five, however, if you do that you'll definitely have to give up on becoming a Hero." He spoke.

"How come, you don't do that then?" I asked, however, he ignored my question and pushed through the crowd.

I tried to continue talking to him, but the crowd's chatter made it hard to hear, so I eventually gave up and followed behind.

After a few minutes, the crowd started dissipating until we left the main road and entered a back alley. From there we walked through alley after alley, it felt almost like some sort of labrynth. Finally, we came across a staircase, or rather ramp, leading underground. Above the staircase was a flashing gold neon sign that read 'The One Stop, Food Shop.'

"What's this?" I asked.

"It's a restaurant," he spoke.

"A restaurant? I thought that Minions didn't eat. Actually, how would we? We don't even have mouths." I responded.

"It's not necessary to eat, but it can be fun. Before I became Apollo when I was having a rough day, I would come here and relax. Although I'm sure that nobody that I used to know comes here anymore, after all, it's been seventy years almost since I was here. As for your other question, well you'll find out soon enough."

We went down the ramp and entered through a red cloth that covered the entrance. Inside was a large room with gold walls and leather booths with a wooden table on every part of the wall. In the center was a brown Minion with a chef hat on and was cutting up some onions.

At the front next to us was a yellow minion,

"Ah, welcome just the two of you today?" The yellow minion spoke.

"Yes," Paul spoke.

The minion turned around and ushered us to a booth and gave us a menu. The leather felt nice on my feet, or whatever is down there, or at least I think it did, I was still getting use to this whole minion thing.

However, my attention was soon turned elsewhere as the minion placed two cards on the table while speaking

"Here are your temporary licenses, just ring the bell on the table when you're ready to order."

After they walked away I asked Paul what the license was.

"Oh, it's how we're able to eat. You pick up and accept the license and a mouth will be added to your body, although only for the next two hours." Paul spoke.

"And how do I accept?" I asked.

"Just pick it up, you'll be able to figure it out from there," Paul spoke.

Listening to what he said I picked up the license and a voice rang out in my head

[Use Temporary License: Oral Functions?]

'Yes,' I spoke in my head. At that moment I suddenly felt a tongue, including teeth.

I tried to talk to Paul about it but, for some strange reason, I couldn't talk anymore.

{What did you do? I sleep for one second and all of a sudden you're putting things into your body!}

Samantha's voice made me jump. I had forgotten that she was still here for a moment. Could Samantha even sleep?

Paul noticing my struggle spoke

"Ah, getting used to talking with a mouth must be weird huh? I'm used to it from when I used to come here, plus having one as a Hero. This'll be good practice, I'm not sure how to explain this but push air out of your mouth and move your tongue I guess?"

I was shocked, not at his words but at the fact that Paul's lips were moving on his mask. Behind it, I could even see teeth and a tongue, if I had to describe it in one word. Uncanny.

"Wyke swiss?" I tried to speak.

Paul let out a large chuckle at my laugh, which was very freaky to be honest. His eyes and the rest of his body stayed motionless, but his mouth was so, so alive. It was definitely going to take some getting used to.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"Anyways, I'll order some food for the both of us and then we'll start the flashback all right?" Paul spoke.

"uukeay" I again attempted to speak.

"You're already getting better," Paul spoke.

Soon after Paul ordered us some food and drinks, He got us both a MOKE soda, the same one from the billboard from earlier. It was fizzy and tasted like a mix of blueberry and raspberry. He ordered soup for me because he said that it would be easier to eat, while he got himself a steak. We ate and soon after Paul continued his backstory.

------------------------------------------------------------------(FLASHBACK)----------------------------------------------------

"Freya is your daughter!" I couldn't help yelling.

"Well, not by blood. Heroes can't reproduce. But when she first arrived in Hero society I helped her out and taught her the ways for her first decade or two. I've treated her like a daughter ever since and although I'm sad that it isn't her I'm facing directly today, her husband is the second best." He spoke.\

"How come she's never talked about this?" I asked.

"Well, some things happened and-"

Before he could continue speaking the man from before came in and spoke

"It is time for the head-to-head debate" he spoke.

I couldn't help but growl. Just when it was getting interesting, I would have to ask Freya about that later. I tried to say something to Kronos but, he had already stood up and started walking away.

I took a second to look at the fish below, they seemed to be circling around where Kronos was previously sitting. I wondered if he had ever fed them before. Whilst I was distracted the man called out again and I snapped back to reality following behind. After less than a minute of walking, I was met with around five or six people with paper bags on their heads. They were talking amongst themselves and seemed to have clipboards and sound systems that they messed with.

"You'll enter in five" A paper bag woman spoke to me.

I sat and waited while they mic'd me up and put on makeup for me. We were digital creatures so none of this was necessary as they could just snap their fingers and apply the makeup but, I'm sure they did it to make it feel more professional and give us Heroes a few more minutes to prepare what to say and to steel our nerves. A few minutes after my makeup was done the paper bag lady from before nodded and wrote something on her clipboard before speaking "You're up Apollo."

A door appeared out of nowhere and I entered. The moment I did multiple lights were flashed in my direction, I had to squint for a moment from the lights but I tried my best to Ignore them instead of focusing on the loud roar of cheers. The crowd was chanting Apollo, along with plenty of whistling and cheering. Although I could hear a few people booing in the crowd however, they were heavily outnumbered. No matter how many times I heard the crowd I couldn't help but feel amazing.

Finally, I turned my attention to where I was. The stadium was in a circle with a large screen on the side. On the screen was a close-up of me. In front of me was a walkway that went through the crowd and up staircases. I took a deep breath and walked forward and up the stairs. At the top, there was a desk with a large comfortable chair on the side that I came up. On the other side of the platform was another desk and chair that was the exact same as mine, however sitting in the chair already was Kronos. He was leaning back in his chair with his hands up and resting behind his head white his feet crossed legged ontop of the table, and at the same time a cheeky grin on his face.

I still couldn't believe that this was the same person from before, just based on his demeanor alone he looked almost as if he was ten years younger. He stared at me as I sat down in my chair. Once I did I noticed a small microphone and a holographic tablet, however, it wasn't turned on. I sat patiently and waited for the crowd to stop cheering and for the announcer to start which didn't take very long for it to start. A trap door that was in the middle of the stadium opened up and smoke emerged. The crowd cheered as we all looked towards the smoke waiting to see what was inside. After a few moments, the smoke cleared revealing a man in a white and gold suit. He had black hair and wore a white mask that covered his face. On the mask was an insignia of a red flower.

He started by introducing us however, I didn't pay attention my mind was still focused on trying to figure out who to draft. Some of my priority picks were Beowulf, as he was a strong frontline and if I managed to also get Iaso then she could focus on keeping him and the rest of the frontline alive. The other important pick was having a secondary ranger who had enough damage to wipe the enemy team in case I couldn't. My initial thoughts were either Cinderella or Ullr as Cinderella could burn the entire enemy team especially late and Ullr although didn't have as much AOE as Cinderella his damage could shred through any high-priority target if he could get into a good position. The only thing was Freya, she's a strong engaged and disruptor but struggled heavily into Kronos as he could stop all of her momentum. She is also a better solo laner however, as the headliner I'm the one who has to solo lane. I had to think about this later as the announcer had stopped his introductions and was now moving to ask us questions about the match.

"Apollo, how does it feel with you being this close to possibly becoming the rank-one hero?" The Announcer spoke.

"Honestly, it gets me nervous whenever I think about that, I'm just trying to focus on giving the people a good match," I responded, a cheer roaring from the crowd.

"Well, I'm sure that this match will be one for the ages! And Kronos how do you feel about potentially losing your long-held spot of rank one?"

"Not a {BLEEP} Chance, especially to this loser. He'll be lucky if this match even makes it to thirty minutes, {BLEEP} he'll be lucky if he even manages to get one kill." Kronos responded, the crowd again roaring, although there was a noticeable amount of the crowd that booed and jeered.

The announcer continued to ask us questions back and forth, the crowd taking sides more and more as the questioning went on. I answered without much care, however making sure that my answer sounded truthful and passionate about pleasing the fans, while Kronos seemed to be as crude and crash as he possibly could. After a few rounds of going back and forth, the announcer finally got to the end.

"Thank you both for the wonderful responses! I have just one last question to ask both of you but, before I can there is something that the audience needs to know about our two heroes. You see there is one important hero in both of their lives-"

"Is this necessary for the match?" Kronos spoke, his tone the most serious it had been since my private meeting with him.

"I agree, can't we move to the draft already? I'm antsy to begin." I spoke, realizing what the announcer was trying to talk about.

"Let's ask the crowd then, do you want us to move to the draft or are you curious about what I have to say? Let's start with this, cheer if you want us to move on!" The announcer spoke before giving a second for the crowd to cheer, which for the most part they didn't except for a few stragglers her and there.

"Alright and now who's at least a little curious?" He spoke and the room exploded in applause.

Kronos clicked his tongue in response and I felt a pit in my stomach as the announcer continued.

"Alrighty then! Let me tell you all about it. You see, Kronos has a Hero that he considers to be a daughter to him and as for Apollo, sorry fans but he's a married man. The craziest part is that wouldn't you believe it, that very important Hero to these two rivals is the exact same person! Which I guess would make Kronos, Apollo's Father in Law. Any guesses from the crowd who this could be?" He spoke, making sure to draw out this moment for as long as possible.

Guesses started flying from the crowd, anything from Cinderella to Beowulf. However, they wouldn't have to guess for very long as the Announcer continued talking again.

"And the correct answer is, drumroll please...... the very, very special hero is..... Freya!" He spoke whilst snapping his fingers. Once he did the camera moved to where she was sitting in the crowd. She sat there stone-faced, refusing to give the crowd a reaction. The crowd went wild, Kronos was glaring at the announcer as if he was going to snap his neck, although I couldn't help but feel the same. This was for the most part private information as viewers tended to get a bit too personal about stuff like this so we had kept this under wraps for years, however in a single moment all that hard work was gone all for the entertainment of the audience.

"Now let me ask you my final question: who's going to pick her in drafts? The Husband, or the Father?" He spoke.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The flashback was interrupted by the waiter coming back with a piece of white paper.

"What's this?" I asked while picking it up.

"Oh, it's the bill. How much you have to pay." The waiter spoke.

On the bill was everything we ate, plus the drinks and the mouth licenses, all together it came to a total of.....

10 gold!

My jaw dropped at how expensive that was. This was definitely not a place that I could afford, that was when Paul spoke.

"Haha! Don't worry about it. I'll pay. I guess having to fork over one piece of gold for all of this is expensive right? I'll cover it."

"One gold?" I responded.

"When I last came here around fifty years ago, that's how much all of this would have cost. Impressive that I can still remember right?" Paul spoke.

"Ah, sir since then our prices have increased a little." The waiter spoke.

"Oh, that's fine. What Is it now two gold?" Paul spoke.

I meekly slid the bill over to Paul. As soon as he picked it up the smile on his face disappeared instantly into what I could only describe as a look of despair.

{I've seen this before! That's The scream painted by Edvard Munch} Samantha spoke.

After another moment of silence, Paul managed to mutter to himself-

"Charlotte's going to kill me."