Rising Shards

“We should’ve brought Amara on this.” Iris said. “She’s got that laser power. Wawawawawawa!”

“Is that your laser sound?” Maia asked. “And I think they said Rain’s whole deal still being Wildfire Hearts technically makes her like not cool for this mission.”

“Ahh, gotcha, gotcha.”

Iris felt a bit nervous as she and Maia stood at the mouth of the cave. The others were getting further ahead, and with her running out of jokes, Iris had more time to contemplate what they'd gotten themselves into.

“Remind me how we even ended up coming with?” Iris asked, debating just waiting there until this was over.

“You volunteered us.” Maia said.

“I did?” Iris frowned. “I can be pretty stupid sometimes. I mean, obviously I want to help and junk.”

“But this is a bit much,” Maia said. “Are you scared of caves or something, dude?”

“What?” Iris snapped back a bit too quickly. She blushed as Maia laughed. “Are you scared of caves?”

“I asked you first!” Maia said. “We have bloodsabers that are like flashlights if you’re scared of the dark.”

“It’s not the dark I’m afraid of!” Iris said. “Remember that horror movie about the alien cave? This is just like that.”

“Well, hopefully we don’t see any of those egg grasshopper guys.” Maia said.

“Don’t remind me!”

“You’re the one who brought up the movie!” Maia said. "Did you say the cave bit earlier cuz of that one part?"

"Yes, exactly!" Iris siad. "That was one of those movies where they gave the Cani characters powers that were too cool so they had tomake them really stupid and die in dumb ways, just like that one did when he brought the cave down on the aliens knowing it would kill him too just to buy the others like zero more seconds before the aliens came for them too."

“Oh, perfect.” Someone said behind them.

Iris processed another sound just after hearing the voice. A kind of bloop sound, like a rock dropping in a pond. She’d heard that sound before, when she and Maia got to the void before another group and they all came in making a bunch of bloop sounds. She turned to see a familiar Kanibari dog girl grinning as she picked up a white disk from the sand.

“Huh? Olivia?” Iris asked. “Wait, how are you here?”

“I got bored at the library, so I snuck out,” Scrungy said. “Then I saw this weird short girl getting carried by the bitchy prefects having a fight, and this disk fell out. It was one of those ones that are like save points, and I remembered you were here, so. Looks like my big brain thinking worked out.”

Scrungy tossed the disk back into the sand. “So I want a rematch.”

“What?” Iris asked. She couldn’t stand to turn towards Maia even a little bit. Not after what she’d put Maia through already with Olivia.

“I’m talking pretty plain here.” Scrungy said. “Fight me.”

“We’re on a big rescue mission here, can you just go back?” Iris asked.

“Nah,” Scrungy said, leaning to the side. “Looks like the teachers don’t even notice you’re falling behind. I hate leaving a fight unfinished like our last one. So. Fight me.”

“You know you’ll beat me.” Iris said, trying to reason with her ex. She gulped as Scrungy took a step closer.

“C’mon, Iris,” Scrungy said. “Have a little confidence in yourself. And don’t you owe it to me to give me a rematch?”

“I don’t owe you anything.” Iris said. She didn’t hear Maia, but she hoped maybe her bestie was running back to get help. She felt completely frozen as Scrungy stepped closer and closer, still grinning.

“I bet I can finish this in one shot this time.” Scrungy beamed.

"We have our shields on..." Iris said, pointing to her wristband.

"Pfft," Scrungy said. "Those things don't do anything against fists. They're just for magic. Trust me, I've been in plenty of fights already here. So how about one more?" Scrungy didn’t hesitate swinging her fist toward Iris’ face, but the blow never landed.

“Huh?” Iris whispered, looking up to see Maia’s hand straining to hold back Scrungy’s fist. Iris’ eyes widened as she heard a low growl coming from Maia. Scrungy pulled her fist back after Maia stuck her claws out.

“Oh, so your sidekick finally does something?” Scrungy said.

“Maia…?” Iris said as Maia stepped forward, looking bigger somehow. It took Iris a second to notice that she was poofed up all over. Her growling intensified.

“I’ll take kicking your ass too,” Scrungy said, cracking her neck. “I’ve wanted to for a long time.”

“Huh?” Iris asked. Scrungy never seemed to notice or care about Iris’ friendship with Maia. Why now?

Scrungy and Maia paced around each other, circling like two predators waiting for the first to strike. Iris wanted to jump in and stop this before anyone got hurt, but she couldn’t move.

“You know how sick I got hearing about you all the time?” Scrungy asked. “Hearing my girl talk constantly about some tall Kanibari bitch?”

“Hey…” Iris said, just as Scrungy passed by. “That’s not—”

Scrungy broke eye contact with Maia to try and swing at Iris again. This blow grazed Iris a bit, but the Kanibari dog was knocked off balance by Maia tackling her mid-motion.

Iris screamed as the two Kanibari attacked each other, looking more like feral animals each second as they growled, scratched, punched, and kicked each other, as if each thought the other was just meat to be shredded. Iris felt powerless to stop as everything seemed to go in slow motion, each scratch, each bruise forming, each bit of blood, all happening as though time was punishing Iris for her inaction to see this unfold before her.

The fight only lasted a few seconds. As Scrungy sat on top of Maia, punching her face, an energy bubble pulled her away, and the familiar sound of Caya’s boots stomping acted as a bell of sorts, sounding the end of the bout.

Iris crawled over to Maia, whose face was already starting to swell.

“MaiMai?” Iris whispered desperately. She knelt beside her best friend, who was dazed or knocked out, she wasn’t in any state to answer. As Caya started shouting in confusion at Scrungy’s sudden appearance, Iris gently stroked Maia’s cheek.

“Why’d you do that?” Iris said, her teardrops falling heavily onto Maia’s unconscious face. Part of her wanted to scream that Maia didn’t have to do any of that to protect Iris, but the words didn’t form. Her heart swelled at Maia saving her as much as it broke seeing Maia so hurt. “Why’d you do that, Maia? You dumb cat…”