Sentenza tried to stand up again, but just grunted in pain as he slid back down.

"Dang it," he murmured. "Just get him to point that thing this way. I'll take care of it."

"Wha? Out there?" asked Pockets as she shoved the sword back down her shorts, where it somehow disappeared.

"And make sure he's close enough that I can see him. Don't want to miss and tip him off." Sentenza said, ignoring Pockets' concern.

Alright bro. You can count on me. Death said before he dashed out. Hey! You looking for me you big idiot!

The hollow king put his hand up to his neck and seemed to be inspecting the cut. He paid no attention to Death, even as the skeleton raised his one arm over his head and waved it around as he called out to him.

"He can't hear you!" Sentenza yelled out.

The hollow king's ears perked up and he turned towards them but stopped when he saw Death. He reached down to where his sword had been and scowled as he glanced down to see there was nothing there. His emaciated form turned back towards the skeleton and let out a low growl as he hobbled closer.

Sentenza glanced down at Pockets and motioned for her to get out there as well. She looked up at him and shook her head. He motioned again, and she shook her head even more vigorously. Sentenza rolled his eyes and pulled back the hammer on his gun. He stuck it against her bright red clown nose, and it made a quiet squeak. He raised an eyebrow at her, and she smiled nervously as she waddled out from under the tent flap.

She bumped into death and spun around. She looked down at his split shirt and quickly grasped it in her hands. "Oh no, your shirt."

Two things. One, not really the time. Death said as he tried to pull away from her large, gloved hands, but she held him firmly in place with his shirt. And two, you do this to my shirt all the time!

"What!" she said, insulted. "I would never!" In a flash, she had pulled out a knife and stabbed it through the moon on Death's shirt, and between two of his ribs.

What the heck!

"See? It's totally different. That cut is practically perfect. It's missing all the beautiful imperfections, like the small tears, jagged edges, and mistakes a good knife gives you." she explained as she continued to ignore the hollow king as he hobbled closer and closer to them.

Hey. Hey! HEY! Death kept raising his voice as Pockets started to giggle while stabbing his shirt all over. Finally, he managed to pull away by ripping his shirt. He looked down in frustration as he held his one arm up.

"Hey," she complained. "Why'd you go and do that?"

You were stabbing me!

"Oh I was, wasn't I? Haha, oopsie doopsie," she winked while she stuck out her tongue, and lightly hit herself on the top of her head.

Honk!

Pockets let out a honk as the hollow king grabbed her by the throat with his left hand. He lifted her up in the air and tilted his head slightly as he looked at her face.

Pockets held out a hand to him, and in a gravelly voice squeaked out. "Hiya. I'm Pockets the clown. I don't think we've met yet."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

The ethereal face on his left side looked expressionless as he started to tighten his grip around her throat. But Death ran up behind him with his torn shirt off of his skeletal frame. He wrapped the fabric around the front of the hollow king's face and pulled it tight from behind him. He only had one hand, but he grabbed the other side with his mouth and pulled back as hard as he could.

Hurry up Sentenza. We don't have all day here!

Sentenza scowled as he waited for the hollow king to show the eye on his palm. He had kept it covered so far, and now, with his face covered, he was reaching back with his right arm to try and grab Death.

Ugh! That's so creepy. Up close I can tell it's all slimy too. Man, that's gross. Death said as he tried to dodge the arm while keeping his shirt around the monster's head.

Pockets pulled her hand back and reached up to a flower on her suspenders. She pointed it towards the hollow king's face and a stream of liquid sprayed out from it. As the liquid touched his skin, it began to hiss and steam. But, instead of releasing Pockets, he tightened his grip so much that her eyes sprang out from her head. They almost looked like boxing gloves as they slammed into his face, and the force of the impact caused him to stumble.

As the hollow king spun around, Sentenza finally had a shot. It wasn't absolutely clear with Death there, but he could see glimpses of it as it reached for Death. Sentenza fired his gun, and the bullet slammed into the top of Death's skull. It ricocheted off and directly into the eye on the hollow king's palm. With a roar of pain, the monster threw Pockets away from him as he pulled his right arm back in front of him. His face also came uncovered, as the force of the bullet knocked Death's head off of his body and sent the rest of him tumbling to the ground.

Bro! Don't shoot me, shoot Mileaer!

Sentenza didn't answer, and instead fired five more shots at the other eyes on the hollow king, or Mileaer's arm. They were much easier targets, and now only a few eyes remained open. The monster stumbled back as he seemed to try and regain his bearings. Then, his eyes locked on Pockets. As Sentenza reloaded, the hollow king held out his left hand with the palm up as he slowly shambled closer to the clown.

"Hot! Hot! Hot!" squealed Pockets as steam started to pour out of her pants.

Sentenza fired six more shots, and now there were no more eyes open on the hollow king's right arm. But, as Pockets pulled out a pocket fan to fan her pants, the hollow king thrust his hand into her shorts.

"Take a lady on a date first at least!" chuckled Pockets.

The hollow king seemed to pay her no mind but grimaced as a loud snap rang out. He didn't pull his hand back though and kept it in there as Sentenza was able to fire twelve more shots at him. They all bounced off of his hard skin though. Finally, the hollow king pulled his hand out, as it held the hilt of his sword. There was also a crab with its pincher slammed shut on his hand.

"Sorry, forgot to warn you about the crabs," Pockets said.

The hollow king ignored her and simply ripped the crab off of his hand and tossed it aside, where it quickly scurried off. He held his sword up for a moment, before the weight made him stumble backwards, and made it crash down into the ground.

He got his sword back! Declared Death as he picked up his arm that was still holding his scythe. His skull wasn't back on his neck yet, and he was kicking it around with his feet, like a hacky sack. Sentenza, can you walk bro? We should probably give him some room to swing that bad boy without our bodies getting in the way.

Sentenza didn't say a word as he looked down at his own body. He shook his head. This time, he didn't even try to stand up on his own. He just reloaded his pistol, despite how useless it seemed to be.

"Uh oh!" gasped Pockets. "Seems he's stuck worse than an elephant jumping through a tiger's hoop! What'll we do?"

The hollow king turned its face towards Pockets and Sentenza shook his head with clear disappointment. With a low hiss, the gaunt man shifted his entire body towards Pockets, and the sword groaned as it lifted into the air. As it arced over him, gravity took over and it came slamming down right for Pockets.

"Guess that's my cue to split!" giggled Pockets as large springs shot out from the bottom of her shoes that sent her flying backwards, and far away from the fight.

There was a large crashing sound in the distance, and the hollow king tilted his head towards the noise. He started to lift the sword again, but this time he seemed to extend his arm to throw it towards where the crash was. However, he never let go, and the sword flew through the air with him hanging on behind it.

Sentenza shook his head. Then, Death's skull landed in his lap with a headless skeleton running up behind him.

How you holding up bro?

Sentenza gave him a thumbs down.

That bad, huh? It's okay man. I get it. My shirt got totally ruined, again! Death complained as he tossed down the last small bits of his wolf shirt. Seriously, if this keeps up I'll run out of cool shirts in my room.

"Yeah, that'd be absolutely tragic."

The two of them turned to see Pockets waving happily at them from the other side of the tent. Sentenza put a finger to his lips as he looked at her.

"Huh? But he's already being really loud." She complained as she pointed at Death.

Sentenza put his head in his hand as he let out a sigh of frustration. Then, his ears perked up. "Oh, come on." He complained. "Someone hurry and grab me. He's coming back."

Death hurried over, and put his skull on first, and then put his arms under Sentenza. Hhhrrrrnnnngghh! Man you need to lay off all the beer or something. You're super heavy.

"Maybe you should practice lifting instead of playing around with that board with wheels." Sentenza retorted.

Hey! That's a totally cool and useful skill to have. I'm gonna be famous from it some day.

As they argued, Pockets walked up, and casually lifted both of them up. Death plopped down back onto the ground, and she shifted to cradle Sentenza in her arms like a baby. She pulled a unicycle out of her shirt pocket and hopped on while still cradling Sentenza. As she started to pedal away, the hollow king came crashing down from the sky. But it didn't look like she was going to get away in time.

You think you're all that and a bag of chips? But you're not! As the sword came down, Death jumped up towards him with his scythe. The two blades clashed, and a wave of necrotic energy poured off of the striking metal before it exploded out and sent them both flying away.

Pockets had Sentenza and was able to scoot away in time to avoid the blast. Sentenza seemed quite upset at how he was being carried, but didn't say anything as Pockets continued to ride away on her unicycle.