Chapter 22 — A Display of Tech and Fire

Editors: PROCRASTINATOR & GREETER

 

A bit earlier…

 

[???’s POV]

 

“There is to be a display of magic today. Watch it, like always.” (Father)

 

“Yes, Father.” (???)

 

Today he stands with his wings outstretched. They are red, like always. It is a color I have grown to like. The magic show is today. Perhaps I shall learn something new? (P/N Hmmmm)

 

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

Back to the present…

 

[Ei’s POV]

 

“Sky Dwarf Tech Exhibit? That sounds interesting.” (Ei)

 

“Then let’s go there. The sky dwarves are real interestin! Although, I don’t know that much about ‘em, too recent of an appearance.” (Kurui)

 

“Huh…”

 

We walked forward and up the steps. At the top of the stairs were several tents, each with their own colorful patterns. The stairs also continued further up, but we can go there later.

 

“Which tent do you want to go to?” (Ei)

 

“The one with a big skull!” “That orange one!” (Kurui & Luna)

 

“Orange one it is.” (Ei)

 

“Hey!” (Kurui)

 

“You took my plushie. You don’t get to choose.” (Ei)

 

“...Are ya really still mad about that?” (Kurui)

 

“Maybe.” (Ei)

 

“Hurry up you two! We’re going to the orange tent!” (Luna)

 

Inside the tent was a big, fat, red robot. It was holding a microphone for some reason. A stout man walks onto the stage.

 

“Welcome dear guests, the show is about to begin. The new test of my ultimate singing battle robot, Gato!” (Dwarf)

 

(A/N: Gato’s singing goes to the tune of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEm8pypxBdE) 

 

「 🎶 They call me Gato 🎶 I have metal joints 🎶 Beat me up 🎶 And earn 15 points! 🎶」(Gato)

 

… I’ve seen this guy before. (P/N Reference overload inbound)

 

“What do these points do?” (Audience Member 1)

 

“Good question, why don’t we let Gato answer that one?” (Dwarf)

 

「 🎶 If you can get 🎶 90 points from tents 🎶 You’ll find yourself 🎶 With a nice new pet! 🎶」(Gato)

 

He then pulls out another plushie, but this time it’s of a dragon.

 

““I want that!”” (Ei & Luna)

 

“Alright- “We’re getting 80 points then!” -dragon” (Ei/Luna)

 

I look at Luna. Seems we share the same though. This robot is better of as scrap anyways, right?

 

“We’ll fight him.” (Ei)

 

“Alrighty then. Step on up. Give them a hand, everyone.” (Dwarf)

 

“I’m sittin’ this one out. I already stole one of Ei’s plushies.” (Kurui)

 

“I’ll get you back for it one day!!” (Ei)

 

“Don’t worry. You’ll get 15 points each.” (Dwarf)

 

How considerate. We stand before Gato. Kurui is just watching. Well, I guess we’ll try to not destroy the robot too much…

 

“Come at me, the only music you’ll be making is the sound of you being beat up!” (Ei)

 

“Eager, are we? Ready? Go!” (Dwarf)

 

「 🎶 You’re so eager to fight 🎶 I’ll blind you with light 🎶 Prepare to see 🎶 The endless night 🎶」(Gato)

 

Light flashes and tries to blind us. Unfortunately, we’re seasoned adventurers. We could stare at the sun for hours and not go blind. I jump up above the robot, push off of the beams holding up the tent, and do a spin attack. 

 

*clang*

 

I send Gato’s head spinning, though still on his shoulders. I used the flat of my glaive, just to be nice. Luna follows up with an attack to his legs with the flats of her swords.

 

「 🎶 It seems I’m hurt 🎶 But worry not 🎶 It’s time for you 🎶 to become a drop 🎶」(Gato)

 

What does that even mean? You mean like a drop of blood? Oh well. This robot is done.

 

“[Earth Cage]”

 

The earth bursts up from the ground and grabs Gato. I think we’ve won.

 

「 🎶 I have lost 🎶 And you have won 🎶 Here’s your 15 points 🎶 Now wasn’t that fun? 🎶」(Gato) 

 

“Geh! How?!” (Dwarf)

 

“We’re B rank adventurers… this guy isn’t much of a threat. It was fun though.”

 

“GEH!?!” (Dwarf)

 

The robot, who is surprisingly composed for having just taken a beating. He handed us 15 ticket things each. Are these the points? Guess so.

 

“That was fun. Next tent.” (Ei)

 

“Yep!” (Luna)

 

“The skull one, right??” (Kurui)

 

“No, we’re going to that one last because of you.”

 

“...” (Kurui)

 

We walked out of the tent. Hmmm which tent next… the blue, red, green, or gray one?

 

“MY ROBOT!!! NOOOOOOO!!!” (Dwarf)

 

Huh, I guess someone really trashed the robot. A voice calls out from behind us.

 

“Ei!” (???)

 

Hm? Who’s that?

 

“Can I join? I went to the festival but I had nobody to go with.” (???)

 

Oh, it’s Nadia.

 

“Luna? Kurui?” (Ei)

 

“Sure, why not.” (Kurui)

 

“The more the merrier!” (Luna)

 

“Also, did you destroy the robot by any chance?” (Ei)

 

“...Maybe… on accident.” (Nadia)

 

““*sigh*”” “HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA!!” (Luna/Ei & Kurui)

 

Alright I guess we should get as far away as we can from this tent. To the green one it is!

 

We enter the ten and there’s eight purple cubes floating in a cube shaped pattern around a purple sphere of electricity. Huh… are we going to have to play rock-paper-scissors? 

 

“Come one, come all, to the only came of Rock-Paper-Statis! It’s rock rock-paper-scissors, but if you lose, you get slammed into the ground. Any volunteers?” (Dwarf)

 

A dwarf with white hair in a really high pitched voice. She has a beard too… I think it’s a beard at least? The hair from the beard became some sort of weird hat… I like it though. (A/N: All dwarves have beards here… just wait until we have the dwarf where you can only see their eyes…)

 

“I’ll play.” (Ei)

 

Well, at least it’s only one of the three that I’ll be hit with.

 

“Alrighty then…” (Dwarf)

 

The cubes duplicate and become a clenched fist.

 

““Rock…”” (Dwarf + Ei)

 

The cubes slam the ground.

 

““Paper, scissors, shoot!”” (Dwarf + Ei)

 

I shoot scissors. Let’s hope that does it…

 

A fist forms and tries to punch me. I quickly changed my scissors into a palm…

 

*SLAM*

 

I got pushed back a few feet, but I caught the punch. Take that, you massive fist. It’s cheating? Who cares?

 

“Ha… I win. Paper beats rock.” (Ei)

 

“Most impressive. Here’s 15 points. Anyone else?” (Dwarf)

 

“I’ll do it.” (Kurui)

 

“Alrighty. Ready? Rock, paper, scissors… shoot!” (Dwarf)

 

Kurui grows two more arms and makes rock, paper, scissors, and a gun…

 

“Heh. I win.” (Kurui)

 

“That’s not how the game works?” (Dwarf)

 

They shrug. 

 

“Should have been more specific with the rules. Thanks for the points.” (Kurui)

 

“I didn’t give them- EH?” (Dwarf)

 

“Did you think just because you didn’t give me the points you wouldn’t give me the points?” (Kurui)

 

“““““““““???””””””””” ““*sigh*”” (Audience/Dwarf/Nadia & Ei/Luna)

 

“Anyways, thanks! ¡Adiós!” (Kurui)

 

Kurui then returns… How the hell do they know Spanish? (P/N Don’t question it) (A/N: They read it in a book ENTITY gave them.)

 

“Nadia? Luna? Wanna try?” (Kurui)

 

“I… think I’ve seen enough of this…” (Luna)

 

“Heh? What? Eh?” (Nadia)

 

“Guys, I think we broke Nadia. It’s like Luna all over again.” (Ei)

 

“HEY!!!” (Luna)

 

“Hahahaha!!” (Kurui)

 

After recovering Nadia we went to the next tent… the blue one. It was boring. I don’t care about your copying machine. I’ve seen plenty of those already. The red one was also boring. They had telegrams. An ancient artifact. And they thought it would be “impressive” because it used no magic. It’s not. Well, maybe for this world.

 

Well, I got my dragon plushie at least.

 

“What? Did you think I couldn’t steal your plushie just because you got it yourself?” (Kurui)

 

“Give it back! HRGHGRHGRHR!!” (Ei)

 

“Later. This is revenge for trying to skip the skull tent.” (Kurui)

 

“Fine, we’ll go! But give me my plushie first!!” (Ei)

 

““Haahaha…”” (Nadia + Luna)

 

We enter the skull tent to be greeted by a stage and a floating face.

 

“Oh-ho-ho-ho! Welcome to Northern Beckoner’s Lab! The spin tingling show is about to start!” (Northern)

 

This place is full of surprises. Well, I guess we’re going to play “find this person out of three identical people after they swap”.

 

“We have three knights here, Berry, Jerry, and Herry. They’ll walk around then you dear visitors must find the one I ask for. Ready? Anyone want to play?” (Northern)

 

… Kurui is going to cheat again, aren’t they?

 

“I’ll play!” (Kurui)

 

“Very well then. Introduce yourselves.” (Northern)

 

“I’m Berry.” (Berry)

 

“I’m Jerry.” (Jerry)

 

“I’m Herry.” (Herry)

 

Each one stepped forward once saying their names, then they moved around. The ran, crawled, cartwheeled, and spun around each other.

 

“Tell me, which one is Berry?” (Norther)

 

“That one.” (Kurui)

 

Kurui points at the one in the middle.

 

“Oh-ho-ho-ho! That would be, incorr-” (Northern)

 

“No, it’s right. I’m Berry.” (Berry)

 

“Oh-ho-ho-ho! Impressive. Well then, congratulations. Here are your 20 points.” (Northern)

 

“Aw… I didn’t get to say my line.” (Kurui)

 

“Oh-ho-ho-ho! Say the line, the show must go on.” (Northern)

 

“Yay! What? Did you think the one I picked wasn’t Berry just because it wasn’t Berry?” (Kurui)

 

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

 

After messing around some more in the skull tent, we finally went up the stairs. At the top of them were two weird looking platforms, glowing with a blue light from the bottom. 

 

“What’s this?” (Audience Member)

 

Two dwarves walk out, one looks like your average dwarf while the other has pink hair. The normal looking dwarf speaks.

 

“It’s another amazing creation by my daughter, Luka. It allows teleportation without magic.” (Dwarf)

 

… Let’s hope nothing goes wrong.

 

“Anyone wanna test? It’s safe, probably!” (Luka)

 

Probably?! That’s not reassuring at all… Well, I’m not testing it. I’d rather not risk getting sent flying through time itself.

 

“I’ll do it.” (Kurui)

 

Of course they choose to. Well, I guess they can teleport… I wonder if it is any different? I’ll ask later. 

 

Luka and the other dwarf begin to smack the machine with a hammer… or something. 

 

*crack*

 

Lightning flies out of the machine…

 

“Increase output!” (Luka)

 

“Roger!” (Dwarf)

 

Kurui turns to stardust and disappears, then materializes on the other platform. 

 

“OOoo that was fun! Can I do it again?” (Kurui)

 

“Eh? If nobody else wants to…” (Luka)

 

Nobody does… oh boy. How long are we going to be here?

 

We were there for 5 hours. Kurui got teleported at least 200 times before I stopped counting. The sun is setting already.

 

“What was the point of that…?” (Nadia)

 

“No idea. But I heard there will be some fireworks soon! Let’s see those!”

 

“Oooh that sounds fun!” (Luna)

 

We walked through the city a bit to find a nice spot. The fireworks will be released from the castle, but there’s no good spots!! Wait, I have an idea.

 

“Everyone, hold on.” (Ei) 

 

Nadia latches onto me. Kurui and Luna practically tackle me though… WHY?!

 

“Okay…?” (Nadia)

 

“Okay? Ready? Threetwone [Gale Burst]”

 

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” (Nadia)

 

Hahaha… Another victim falls to [Gale Burst]. We landed on the top of a clock tower. We should have a great view from here. 

 

“How long until the fireworks start?” (Ei)

 

“I think right about… now.” (Kurui) (P/N What? Did you think just because they weren’t gonna start they weren’t gonna start?) (A/N: bruh)

 

A firework shoots into the sky.

 

*fwyoooooooo*

 

It explodes with a *pop* in some nice red sparkles before subsiding. 

 

*fwyoooooooo*

 

*fwyoooooooo* *fwyoooooooo*

 

More fireworks are flying into the sky now.

 

*pop* *fwyoooooooo* *fwyoooooooo* *fwyoooooooo* *fwyoooooooo*

 

Huh. This one’s green.

 

*pop* *fwyoooooooo* *pop* *fwyoooooooo* *fwyoooooooo*

 

The next one is blue… a bit hard to see against the sky.

 

*pop* *fwyoooooooo* *fwyoooooooo* *pop *pop* *fwyoooooooo* *pop*

 

Bursts of colors fill the sky, some making some rather interesting designs. This round creates a phoenix and a dragon.

 

*fwyoooooooo* *pop* *pop* *fwyoooooooo* *fwyoooooooo* *fwyoooooooo* *fwyoooooooo* *pop*

 

Red, white, and blue fill the sky. Wait, isn’t this turning into the Fourth of July?!

 

*pop* *fwyoooooooo* *fwyoooooooo* *fwyoooooooo* *pop* *pop* *fwyoooooooo* *fwyoooooooo* *pop* *fwyoooooooo* *pop*

 

A few fireworks make up an orange canvas. A dragon then appears, a striking red color with golden lines. It’s eastern-style so it has a bunch of golden claws to go with it.

 

The fireworks continued on for around half an hour. We saw dragons, birds, and some other random mythical creatures. Luna somehow fell asleep again!!! How does one fall asleep with constant explosions?!?

 

“That was fun!” (Nadia)

 

“Not so loud Nadia, Luna is asleep.” (Ei)

 

“How?!” (Nadia)

 

“Dunno. She has a knack for it.”

 

“Eh… Anyways, want to meet up again tomorrow?” (Nadia)

 

“Sure. Kurui?” (Ei)

 

“Wha? Sure.” (Kurui)

 

“... Did you zone out again?” (Ei)

 

“Just thinkin how to make fireworks. Could be fun!” (Kurui) (G/N: Gunpowder and paper.;

 

“*sigh*” (Ei)

 

After having made plans to meet up with Nadia tomorrow, we went back to the inn. Well, I guess I’ll just wander some more.