"Come on Sterc," Krys said as she dragged him through town by the shirt collar. Stercus was clearly making a fuss and attracting the attention of a few too many villagers, but Krys didn't care.

"Bud I wanna kill lall deh blobbie fins!" Stercus yelled this as he waved his arms wildly and cried so much a trail of tears traced their path from the forest.

"One, they're called Jabberwocky. And two, we need to buy equipment so that you don't die."

"Bud deh kwesd!"

"It never said you couldn't prepare! Seriously, why can't you be more like Diamond? He's smart, dependable, and would never go into such a crying fit like this when he is told to prepare. In fact, I bet he'd smile and be grateful for how much you cared for him. So why don't you- Um Pan, where's Stercus?"

"You went off talking about that Diamond guy again," Pan replied, clearly not paying attention. "You should know where he'd go by now."

After getting Stercus from the forest, Krys dragged him away in order to get better equipment from the shop. After all, all of Stercus's previous sets of armor have been destroyed, leaving him with a leather jacket. While it looked cool (which apparently meant it boosted charisma), it wasn't much protection against something that you eat you alive. Stercus's sword had also been snapped completely in half, so he was going to need another one of those as well.

Unfortunately, Stercus wasn't willing to just leave without a fight. He kept crying and fussing the entire way there. This would occasionally prompt Krys to compare him to Diamond if by occasionally you meant once every 5 minutes. Around the tenth time this happened Stercus realized that, due to how distracted she was, Krys gushing over Diamond was the perfect moment to escape. In fact, now the crying wasn't even genuine; he would fake cry just to escape from Krys again and go fight the Jabberwocky.

Unfortunately, he never realized how they could always catch up to him so fast.

"Propero!" Krys chanted the spell and placed her hands out in front of her. This was a spell made by Ventus the God of Wind. It surrounded the user's feet in a special wind, making them hover off of the ground slightly and move at incredible speeds. The boost only lasted for a minute though, but it was all the time she needed to get to Stercus and drag him away. It was also one of the rare spells that didn't need any magical endurance for repeated use, so she could just chant it again if she fails to catch Stercus for whatever reason.

Not like it happened, for Stercus was caught instantly every time.

"Alright Sterc," Krys said as she dragged the boy by the collar again. "We've gotta get some gear."

"Bud wudda bao duh blob munstas?" Stercus cried so much it was hard to believe it was fake.

"Oh come on now," Krys said in a slightly annoyed tone. "It's as if you're too smart yet too dumb in all the wrong ways. You should really be more like Diamond, who would certainly smile through this entire situation. Instead of crying so hard, he shoves tears down his throat he will laugh so much you forget why you were angry. Honestly, you need to smile just like him. If you smiled like that for once then I actually migh- Pan, where's Stercus?"

"Same as before, same as always," Pan said as he clearly wasn't paying attention.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

And it was back to square one.

***

Around 50 minutes later the group was finally able to make it to the equipment shop. Stercus had wailed and cried the entire trip there, so Krys was forced to buy some magically bound chains to keep him from running away. That didn't stop the boy from thrashing about and begging for freedom. In fact, he seemed so determined that nothing would probably stop him.

"Wait, what's that?" Stercus said as he turned to face a vial of some purple concoction.

Okay, one thing could stop him.

"Oh, that?" This was said by the shopkeeper; a grown, slightly tanned man with a well-trimmed goatee and no hair on the top of his head. He was extremely well built and always had a smile on his face. "That purple fluid is a strength potion. Your attack stat will increase for a short while after you drink it."

"Do you have any for Magical Endurance Markam?" asked the young boy eagerly.

"They're the orange ones in the back," he replied. "And by the way, it's MISTER Markam. Be respectful kid!"

"Pan!" Stercus yelled towards his currently distracted ally. "Get me one of those potions back there!"

"Of course not!" Krys intercepted before anything could happen. "In order to make those potions work they use alcohol!"

"...So?"

"Not only is that debilitating in the midst of battle, but we also can't have a little kid like you drinking alcohol!"

"Calm down ma'am," Markam brought a few bottles of the potion over to her. "It takes around twenty bottles of this for you to start feeling tipsy, he can have a few."

"No, he can't. A normal Stercus is trouble enough, a drunk Stercus is far too much."

"What's a drunk?" Stercus asked.

"You see kid," Markam said. "If someone is being fucking stupid, is really fucking weak, and passes out for no reason a bit after, they're probably a drunk."

"Okay!"

"Markam!" Krys was clearly upset. "Don't teach this kid bad words!"

"Bad words?" Stercus asked. "You mean like that 'bitch' word Pan always says?"

Krys immediately shot an evil glare at Pan, as if to tell him how wrong his actions were.

Pan just spun an empty bottle in his hand and didn't care.

"Anyways, what's that?" Stercus pointed at a sheet of orange, boomerang-shaped stickers.

"Our signature item young lad," Markam said. "Call them RevorsioStickers. Any item you attach the sticker to will come back to whoever threw it."

Stercus's eyes beamed as he heard of this. He never learned of boomerangs when he was young, so the thought of something that can instantly return at any throw excited him.

"Pan!" Krys called out. "Are you done getting what you want?"

"Yes," Pan replied, carrying a basket of potions, wooden swords, and fruit. "Are you ready?"

"Of course I am. I have everything I need."

Krys then turned to the chained up Stercus. "Alright Sterc, since you didn't make a fuss in the store I'll let you get one thing. What do you want?"

"Get me one of those." Stercus pointed at the ReversioStickers.

Krys went to pick them up but stopped midway. She had a strong hunch that these stickers could be the cause of something dangerous occurring, and sadly her hunches haven't been wrong yet.

"Um Sterc," she said. "Can you choose something else?"

Stercus looked around the store until he found one thing that caught his eye. Indeed it was love at first sight. It was made of metal so smooth and shiny you could see your face in it. The handle was covered in a rough but soft leather that accented its design. The smooth, sleek edges of the weapon made it look dangerous but beautiful. At that moment Stercus knew he should ask for that specifically, for it seemed to be made for him.

"Actually," Krys said after seeing Stercus's reaction. "You can have a pack of ReversioStickers anytime!"

She wasn't going to let the boy have a gun.