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Manga Creations / MR War Arc: Fro: Part I
« on: November 19, 2019, 11:00:20 PM »
WEE WOO! WEE WOO! Got some more War Arc content coming yall way!
A little behind schedule, but better late than never am I right?
As Coryn mentioned in his intermediate story that he posted some time ago, each author of the War Arc will be dropping their own personal stories that will continue the overall narrative of the War Arc. And as you may have guessed already, this is the start of mine.
I do hope you all enjoy this. I'm bit rusty with my writing, so I'll try to shake off the cobwebs and deliver the best story I possibly can.
A little behind schedule, but better late than never am I right?
As Coryn mentioned in his intermediate story that he posted some time ago, each author of the War Arc will be dropping their own personal stories that will continue the overall narrative of the War Arc. And as you may have guessed already, this is the start of mine.
I do hope you all enjoy this. I'm bit rusty with my writing, so I'll try to shake off the cobwebs and deliver the best story I possibly can.
Chapter I: A little Personal
If you had asked a newbie living in Mangaraiders how they felt about the place, the first thing they probably would’ve said was that MR is such a ghost town, or there’s barely anybody around. For the most part that was indeed true. MR has never been known to have a constant influx of members on a day to day basis, and it has been that way ever since its birth. And yet, despite MR still holding strong after all these years thanks to a few of its most dedicated members, some of those same newbies would ditch MR and go on to say that MR was either dead or would soon be dead in the near future.
Funny enough, if you had asked a ex-raider how they felt about MR after the 4kids invasion, they would probably tell you that MR was indeed “dead.”
And could you blame them?
It was a destruction of a beloved home that no one could see coming. The Lost Chorus had infiltrated MR seamlessly, defeated and captured their most powerful members effortlessly, and had the entire city under their control in what seemed like mere minutes. It was all too fast. Too unreal. And just downright shocking. Many members were either subdued in concentration camps, or forced into hiding, forever haunted by the twisted image of their city bursting into flames. For many that memory burned into their hearts and minds. And for someone like Fro, who felt the wrath of those flames first hand, it burned into the very soul.
“Coach!”
Fro eyes shot open the moment he realized someone had been calling his name. He felt a heavy dullness holding him down, though he quickly found out that it was nothing more than extreme pain. He breathed heavily, feeling the weight of every breath he took. The room he was in was spacious, yet normal. There was a flat screen TV mounted on a wall in front near a door. On the right side of the room was a small sofa near a window. And on the opposite side was a large closet. Above him was a janky looking ceiling fan rotating slowly, so slowly that Fro thought the entire world around was moving in freeze frame. But it wasn’t. His vision had been a blurry mess, and the haziness he felt swirling in his mind wasn’t helping much. However, it all soon cleared, and when it did, a familiar face popped into his line of sight.
“Can you move at all, Coach?”
The sound of an echoing ghost had put Fro at ease. He didn’t have to turn his head to know that it was Fortis speaking to him, though he did so anyway. Fro eyes fell on the skeleton and the small blue flames forever burning in his empty eye sockets. Even though Fortis had no actual facial features to go off of, Fro could feel the skeleton's concern just by staring at him. He closed his own eyes and relaxed his shoulders. He opened them again after a moment, and turned his head in the opposite direction to see who else was around him. It was then he came across more familiar faces.
“Well, can you, ribbit?”
Greentrap eyes bubbled with worry, which Fro was somewhat surprised by. Out of all his pupils, "Frog Face" definitely gave him the hardest time. She was hard-headed, sometimes disobedient and a downright smartass. There were times where Fro legitimately felt she could care less for him. But the anxiety that gripped her tensed body told Fro to know better. Greentrap cared for Fro just as much as the others did. She just had trouble expressing it in a more obvious manner.
“Yeah…” Fro uttered coldly. The drowsiness he felt made speaking a bit difficult for him.
Suddenly a pair of arms rushed the pain-stricken Fro and wrapped themselves snugly over his neck. Fro was somewhat startled, but at ease. The feeling of a sobbing Filia rubbing her face against his chest didn’t bother him in the slightest. If anything, it was comforting. “I’m so glad you’re alive, Mr.Coach!” Filia whimpered. “I thought you would never wake up again!”
Fro mustered up the strength to return Filia’s heartwarming hug. He rubbed her back slowly, letting the silver strands of her hair twist around his fingers. “Good to see you again too, Filia…”
After a few more moments of the loving embrace, Filia broke away, wiping away tears as she did so. She stood alongside her companions, and collectively the three stared at their leader with some sort of nagging anticipation. The staring made Fro feel a bit awkward, only because he knew the conversation that would be coming up next. He pushed past the achiness of moving and sat all the way forward. With a dreadful sigh he said, “Alright, break it down to me. How bad we’re talking here?”
“It’s pretty freaking bad, ribbit.” Greentrap spoke up.
Fro massaged his now stubby afro slightly annoyed. “Care to elaborate, Fortis?”
“Well, while we didn’t stick around to verify the outcome, it’s safe to assume that MR is now under the complete control of 4kids.”
“Never thought I’d hear those words…” Fro muttered to himself. He paused to allow the harsh realization to settle in for a moment before speaking again. “Have you guys seen or heard anything from the other raiders?
“Only Mahlua”, said Greentrap.
“And how she’s doing?”
“Well she mentioned something about going to Ecchiworld and getting help from the twins, but we haven’t heard anything from her since.”
Fro placed a hand over his mouth. A look of contemplation fell over him. She got away at least, Fro thought. That was good enough for him. He broke from his trance looked back up at his pupils. “How long was I out?” he asked no one in particular.
Fortis decided to answer first. “About a week and a half now, Coach.
“That’s a mighty long time”, Fro thought to himself. By that time 4kids had probably weeded out and captured any survivors in the city. Sure the raiders were tough, but considering the circumstances, he doubted many would put up a fight. His mind began to browse through the faces of raiders that popped up in his head. He thought of the mods and admins, the Tans, and the countless raiders that were probably experiencing the worst kind of hell thanks to 4kids. And above all, he thought of Eukocar, who had been captured during the initial attack. If failing to protect his own home hadn’t stung enough, the failure to protect his own students made him felt sick to his stomach.
Tired of seeing Fro sulk in his own grief, Greentrap confidently spoke up. “You should be glad ribbit. If we hadn’t rescued you and Filia from that Fire nun lady or whatever, who knows what would have happened to you guys.”
Fro looked at Greentrap questiongly. “Rescued?”
Greentrap folded her arms and smirked proudly. “Yep! While you were being whisked away against your unconscious will, Fortis and I swooped in snatched you and Filia from that fire troop clutches.” Greentrap pounded her fists into her hips. “We were pretty heroic, weren’t we Fortis?”
Fortis scratched his skull with a look that contraried Greentrap’s. “Admittedly we were lucky. If Filia hadn’t started her squabble with the soldiers and distracted them like she did, I doubt our surprise attack would have worked.”
“Oh C’mon ribbit! You gotta give us more credit than that!”
Fro chuckled a bit. A smile crept out of him, though there was a lot of pain hidden beneath it.
“You guys did better than I did…” he said under his breath.
Everyone looked at Fro with wondering eyes. Concerned by the look on his face Filia stepped forward. “Mister Coach?”
Fro had ignored their looks. His eyes couldn’t help but to trace back to himself. There he was, a beaten and bandaged mess. His afro had been reduced to a stubby shell of it’s former self and he had a deep burn scar running across his face. He was in pain, could barely move, and worst of all he was mentally distraught. And yet…
“Coach, are you okay?”
“If you got something on your mind, then tell us, ribbit!”
The Fighters Division were still right there, caring for him, waiting for their leader to get back on his feet. “Why aren’t they mad at me?” he asked himself in his mind. He couldn’t imagine all the stress and anxiety they had went through due to his own carelessness. They had every right to be angry with him. After all this was all his fault, or so he thought. From forcing his own teammates to abandon him, to Eukocar getting captured, and even the destruction of the city itself. Fro blamed it all on himself. Maybe, he thought, if he had been smarter, more prepared, he could have made a difference.
But as he thought those stupid things he clenched his fist tight. Blaming yourself for things out of your control was a foolish way of going about things. Fro was just pissed off, pissed off about everything that happened, pissed off for assigning himself all the blame, and pissed off for getting pissed off in the first place. At this point, he just needed a release.
He tossed aside the thin blanket that was covering him aside and made his way off the bed. Instinctively, Filia ran up to Fro to help him, but stopped in her tracks when Fro held out a hand as a wall, signaling that he was okay on his own. Fortis and Greentrap were about to rush over themselves, but after seeing Fro stand on his own feet, fighting against the overbearing pain with nothing more than sheer willpower, they couldn’t help but stand in awe as he slowly wobbled his way to the door.
“Hey you stupid human, just where do you think--”
“I'm going outside for a bit.” said Fro, cutting Greentrap off mid sentence. I need some air.”
Greentrap stood in disbelief. Her eyes looked like they were about to explode. “But.. why...?”
Fortis butted in. “Coach, are you sure it’s wise for you to be moving this much? In your current condition, it would be better for you to stay in bed and get some more rest.”
As Fortis was pleading with Fro, the afro haired warrior summoned hair tendrils around himself. They twisted and danced around him before slapping themselves to his entire body like rags covered in glue. Within seconds they morphed into clothes via hair magic, and Fro was now adorned in a basic shirt, jeans and sneakers combo. Not an ideal clothing choice, but it would have to do for now. He turned to address Fortis. “It’s okay Fortis. I’ll be fine…”
That was the last thing Greentrap wanted to hear from Fro. She gritted her and snapped. “That’s the problem you idiot! YOU’RE NOT FINE!”
The rage pouring out of Greentrap’s lungs caught Fro’s attention. He stopped and turned, letting his eyes meet with the frog’s. She continued.
“You just woke up and now you’re already trying to go off on your own again? Why is that?! Because you’re too prideful to sit around in bed all day and rest? How stupid and selfish can you be, human?!”
“Now Greentrap,” Fortis began, trying his best to play the mediator. “I’m sure the Coach has his reasons. There’s no need to be so-”
“Ugh! Why don’t you just shut up already skullface!” Greentrap was practically screaming now. Her violent outrage had Filia on the verge of tears, who could do nothing but watch her friends tear themselves apart. The frog went on. “Stop defending this poor excuse for a leader! No good leader would go off on his own without his comrades. No good leader would bear the burden all by themselves when they have teammates to rely on… and they especially wouldn’t push them away because of their own warped sense of pride.
“Greentrap, I understand your points but--”
“It’s cool Fortis. She’s right. I’m a *censored*ty leader.”
Silence…
The words uttered by the so called “leader” of the Fighters Division took everyone aback.
“Everything she said just now is absolutely true. A lot of what we’re going through right now is because I made a bad call…” Fro’s face contorted into a look of shame as he said those words. He looked down for a moment, seemingly reflecting on the entire ordeal. “I guess back then, I was trying to protect you guys. I didn’t wanna see you guys experience something so horrible, and figured I could handle things on my own. And… you see how well that turned out.”
Fro returned his attention to Greentrap, who was now shaking, fists balled into a fury, ready to unload all of her pent up frustrations on the man she looked to and trusted as her leader. Fro noticed this, and smiled the best he could, despite the nagging shame residing underneath.
“Greentrap, I know I’m being selfish again and I’m sorry for that. But.. I just need a moment to collect my thoughts… alone. There’s a lot of stress I need to release, and sitting in a bed sulking in my own grief is not how I wanna do it.”
With that said, Fro again made his way to the door. Before giving the knob a twist, he turned and gave his students one final glance before leaving. As he opened the door, he said, “I’ll be back in a few hours, guys. Promise.” and then exited into a hall, closing the door behind him shut.
The three raiders stood amongst one another, all carrying a mixed bag of emotions inside of them. Once again, their leader had left them alone, unsure if letting him go freely was a good call. However, what is done is done, and all they could do was sit and wait, and hope for a safe return.
As long as Fro doesn’t do anything reckless, they thought, they would see him again soon.
Leaving his students behind, Fro limped down the hall with his hands in his pockets. As he did so, he surveyed the hall. There were multiple doors on both sides. Probably bedrooms, he figured. He had guessed that his students had decided to take refuge at a hotel or inn of some sorts. As he reached the end of the hall, however, Fro would find that assumption to be close, but not exact.
Having gone down a flight of stairs, Fro found himself to be walking through the middle of someone’s dining room? It certainly wasn’t what he was expecting. With so many rooms upstairs, he assumed a hotel reception area would be the more obvious pick. But nope, it was just a standard, small dining room, with a couple of crusty looking couches encircling a wooden table. To his left, Fro took notice of a kitchen. He would then take notice of a short, older woman storming out of that kitchen, swinging around a frying pan.
From there things got awkward really fast.
“Hey!” shouted the old woman. “What the hell are you doing out of bed?!”
“Um, who ar--”
“Who am I is not important right now! What’s important is that you should be in bed resting! Aren’t you still hurt?”
Having deduced that he was already on this woman’s bad side, Fro figured speaking calmly while throwing as many “Ma’am’s” as possible was the right way to handle the situation.
“I’m sorry Ma’am.” he said with a bow. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I just wanted to stretch my legs for a bit.”
“Stretch your legs?” the old woman scoffed. “I’m surprised you’re even managing to stand.”
“Well, I guess you can say I’m far from the ordinary man. But ma’am, I don’t mean to flip the subject so soon, but can you tell me what is this place?”
The old woman slammed her frying pan against the wall upon hearing the question. The loud smack startled Fro, and it made him wonder if she did that because he somehow pissed her off even more, or because she was just downright mental. Regardless, she gave him what he wanted.
“This here is an AirBnB. And it’s one of the many AirBnb’s I own across the Net.” The old woman smiled proudly. “You’re lucky that your friends booked my services. After all, I offer the best accomodations the Net has to offer at a very reasonable price!”
Best accomodations were debatable in Fro’s mind, but still he was rather intrigued by the idea of staying in an AirBnb, since he’s never used one before. Knowing his students, Fro guessed that none of them had any money, and they picked out the cheapest host they could find. While he wished they would’ve picked somewhere less shady, he had to give them credit. They made an optimal decision in a stressful time of crisis. As a leader, that was definitely something to be proud of.
Still, he didn’t know why a host would stay in their own AirBnb that their guest booked, but that would be a trip to the Googlelith saved for another day. He bowed again. “Well, I appreciate you letting me and my friends stay here Ma’am. I’m guessing the payment side of things hasn’t been handled yet?”
The old woman waived Fro off with her frying pan. “Oh boy hush! I know you youngins ain’t got no money for me.” The old woman sighed, the wrinkles on her forehead seemed to disappear as she took a breath. “Seeing you and your friends nearly gave me a heart attack. Now I don’t know what this 4Kids nonsense is about, but after hearing what happened to you all and seeing how messed up you looked, I figured the least I could do was cut you guys some slack.”
Fro eyes lit up, surprised by the woman’s kindness. “Words don’t express how grateful I am ma’am…”
“Then you should keep that mouth of yours shut!” the woman snapped. “Wouldn’t want ya to start making promises you can’t keep, cause I know you’re gonna end up doing that if you keep talking.”
The old woman turned around and began making her way back to the kitchen. She kept taking as she did so. “I’m gonna finish up making breakfast for you and your friends. I’m gonna save your plate for later since you look like you’re gonna head out. Just do me a favor and come back safe, ya hear? There’s no need to be causing any more pain for yaself.”
Fro nodded. “Yes Ma’am!”
“And be sure to lock that door on ya way out. Wouldn’t want any bugs flying in here.”
And with that, Fro watched the woman vanish into the kitchen. She was certainly an interesting character to say the least, but not one without a good heart. As he walked to the front door to let himself out, he vowed that he would pay her back after this 4Kids ordeal was over with.
Now outside, took in refreshing morning breeze that gently brushed past him. Compared to the interior of the AirBnb, the exterior of the building looked surprisingly decent. As for the neighborhood itself, the main street was filled with numerous small stores, gas stations, and apartment buildings. However, despite the appearance of a busy street, the area seemed to be lowkey to Fro in a weird way. Not too many people were out, and not a lot of cars were flying by.
“They probably wouldn’t think to search for any us here.” Fro mumbled to himself. He wasn’t sure what part of the Net he ended up in, but he doubted the Lost Chorus would go out of their way to scour the net for surviving raiders, especially in places like the one he was currently at. And even if they did, it would take months to make any reasonable progress, but that would be time Fro wasn’t willing to give them. MR would be back in the hands of the raiders, and come hell or high water, Fro was determined to make that happen.
But first, there was something he himself had to take care. Something rather personal.
“I’ve gotten soft…”
There was nagging aggression that bothered Fro, aggression that would turn into malice quickly if he didn’t tend to it in time. A malicious purplish aura began to seethe out of his body as it twitched. He had kept this side of him under wraps for so long, but he could never tame his demons forever. Eventually they would have to come out and play, and there was only one playground Fro knew of.
He walked down the street until he came across an alley, and from there he made his way through it until he felt like the coast was clear. A second later hair tendril coated in an unusual shade of dark purple lashed from out his back. It slashed through the air, leaving a visible tear, and from that tear a portal appeared. Fro slowly limped into this strange portal, vanishing onto the other side.
Funny enough, if you had asked a ex-raider how they felt about MR after the 4kids invasion, they would probably tell you that MR was indeed “dead.”
And could you blame them?
It was a destruction of a beloved home that no one could see coming. The Lost Chorus had infiltrated MR seamlessly, defeated and captured their most powerful members effortlessly, and had the entire city under their control in what seemed like mere minutes. It was all too fast. Too unreal. And just downright shocking. Many members were either subdued in concentration camps, or forced into hiding, forever haunted by the twisted image of their city bursting into flames. For many that memory burned into their hearts and minds. And for someone like Fro, who felt the wrath of those flames first hand, it burned into the very soul.
“Coach!”
Fro eyes shot open the moment he realized someone had been calling his name. He felt a heavy dullness holding him down, though he quickly found out that it was nothing more than extreme pain. He breathed heavily, feeling the weight of every breath he took. The room he was in was spacious, yet normal. There was a flat screen TV mounted on a wall in front near a door. On the right side of the room was a small sofa near a window. And on the opposite side was a large closet. Above him was a janky looking ceiling fan rotating slowly, so slowly that Fro thought the entire world around was moving in freeze frame. But it wasn’t. His vision had been a blurry mess, and the haziness he felt swirling in his mind wasn’t helping much. However, it all soon cleared, and when it did, a familiar face popped into his line of sight.
“Can you move at all, Coach?”
The sound of an echoing ghost had put Fro at ease. He didn’t have to turn his head to know that it was Fortis speaking to him, though he did so anyway. Fro eyes fell on the skeleton and the small blue flames forever burning in his empty eye sockets. Even though Fortis had no actual facial features to go off of, Fro could feel the skeleton's concern just by staring at him. He closed his own eyes and relaxed his shoulders. He opened them again after a moment, and turned his head in the opposite direction to see who else was around him. It was then he came across more familiar faces.
“Well, can you, ribbit?”
Greentrap eyes bubbled with worry, which Fro was somewhat surprised by. Out of all his pupils, "Frog Face" definitely gave him the hardest time. She was hard-headed, sometimes disobedient and a downright smartass. There were times where Fro legitimately felt she could care less for him. But the anxiety that gripped her tensed body told Fro to know better. Greentrap cared for Fro just as much as the others did. She just had trouble expressing it in a more obvious manner.
“Yeah…” Fro uttered coldly. The drowsiness he felt made speaking a bit difficult for him.
Suddenly a pair of arms rushed the pain-stricken Fro and wrapped themselves snugly over his neck. Fro was somewhat startled, but at ease. The feeling of a sobbing Filia rubbing her face against his chest didn’t bother him in the slightest. If anything, it was comforting. “I’m so glad you’re alive, Mr.Coach!” Filia whimpered. “I thought you would never wake up again!”
Fro mustered up the strength to return Filia’s heartwarming hug. He rubbed her back slowly, letting the silver strands of her hair twist around his fingers. “Good to see you again too, Filia…”
After a few more moments of the loving embrace, Filia broke away, wiping away tears as she did so. She stood alongside her companions, and collectively the three stared at their leader with some sort of nagging anticipation. The staring made Fro feel a bit awkward, only because he knew the conversation that would be coming up next. He pushed past the achiness of moving and sat all the way forward. With a dreadful sigh he said, “Alright, break it down to me. How bad we’re talking here?”
“It’s pretty freaking bad, ribbit.” Greentrap spoke up.
Fro massaged his now stubby afro slightly annoyed. “Care to elaborate, Fortis?”
“Well, while we didn’t stick around to verify the outcome, it’s safe to assume that MR is now under the complete control of 4kids.”
“Never thought I’d hear those words…” Fro muttered to himself. He paused to allow the harsh realization to settle in for a moment before speaking again. “Have you guys seen or heard anything from the other raiders?
“Only Mahlua”, said Greentrap.
“And how she’s doing?”
“Well she mentioned something about going to Ecchiworld and getting help from the twins, but we haven’t heard anything from her since.”
Fro placed a hand over his mouth. A look of contemplation fell over him. She got away at least, Fro thought. That was good enough for him. He broke from his trance looked back up at his pupils. “How long was I out?” he asked no one in particular.
Fortis decided to answer first. “About a week and a half now, Coach.
“That’s a mighty long time”, Fro thought to himself. By that time 4kids had probably weeded out and captured any survivors in the city. Sure the raiders were tough, but considering the circumstances, he doubted many would put up a fight. His mind began to browse through the faces of raiders that popped up in his head. He thought of the mods and admins, the Tans, and the countless raiders that were probably experiencing the worst kind of hell thanks to 4kids. And above all, he thought of Eukocar, who had been captured during the initial attack. If failing to protect his own home hadn’t stung enough, the failure to protect his own students made him felt sick to his stomach.
Tired of seeing Fro sulk in his own grief, Greentrap confidently spoke up. “You should be glad ribbit. If we hadn’t rescued you and Filia from that Fire nun lady or whatever, who knows what would have happened to you guys.”
Fro looked at Greentrap questiongly. “Rescued?”
Greentrap folded her arms and smirked proudly. “Yep! While you were being whisked away against your unconscious will, Fortis and I swooped in snatched you and Filia from that fire troop clutches.” Greentrap pounded her fists into her hips. “We were pretty heroic, weren’t we Fortis?”
Fortis scratched his skull with a look that contraried Greentrap’s. “Admittedly we were lucky. If Filia hadn’t started her squabble with the soldiers and distracted them like she did, I doubt our surprise attack would have worked.”
“Oh C’mon ribbit! You gotta give us more credit than that!”
Fro chuckled a bit. A smile crept out of him, though there was a lot of pain hidden beneath it.
“You guys did better than I did…” he said under his breath.
Everyone looked at Fro with wondering eyes. Concerned by the look on his face Filia stepped forward. “Mister Coach?”
Fro had ignored their looks. His eyes couldn’t help but to trace back to himself. There he was, a beaten and bandaged mess. His afro had been reduced to a stubby shell of it’s former self and he had a deep burn scar running across his face. He was in pain, could barely move, and worst of all he was mentally distraught. And yet…
“Coach, are you okay?”
“If you got something on your mind, then tell us, ribbit!”
The Fighters Division were still right there, caring for him, waiting for their leader to get back on his feet. “Why aren’t they mad at me?” he asked himself in his mind. He couldn’t imagine all the stress and anxiety they had went through due to his own carelessness. They had every right to be angry with him. After all this was all his fault, or so he thought. From forcing his own teammates to abandon him, to Eukocar getting captured, and even the destruction of the city itself. Fro blamed it all on himself. Maybe, he thought, if he had been smarter, more prepared, he could have made a difference.
But as he thought those stupid things he clenched his fist tight. Blaming yourself for things out of your control was a foolish way of going about things. Fro was just pissed off, pissed off about everything that happened, pissed off for assigning himself all the blame, and pissed off for getting pissed off in the first place. At this point, he just needed a release.
He tossed aside the thin blanket that was covering him aside and made his way off the bed. Instinctively, Filia ran up to Fro to help him, but stopped in her tracks when Fro held out a hand as a wall, signaling that he was okay on his own. Fortis and Greentrap were about to rush over themselves, but after seeing Fro stand on his own feet, fighting against the overbearing pain with nothing more than sheer willpower, they couldn’t help but stand in awe as he slowly wobbled his way to the door.
“Hey you stupid human, just where do you think--”
“I'm going outside for a bit.” said Fro, cutting Greentrap off mid sentence. I need some air.”
Greentrap stood in disbelief. Her eyes looked like they were about to explode. “But.. why...?”
Fortis butted in. “Coach, are you sure it’s wise for you to be moving this much? In your current condition, it would be better for you to stay in bed and get some more rest.”
As Fortis was pleading with Fro, the afro haired warrior summoned hair tendrils around himself. They twisted and danced around him before slapping themselves to his entire body like rags covered in glue. Within seconds they morphed into clothes via hair magic, and Fro was now adorned in a basic shirt, jeans and sneakers combo. Not an ideal clothing choice, but it would have to do for now. He turned to address Fortis. “It’s okay Fortis. I’ll be fine…”
That was the last thing Greentrap wanted to hear from Fro. She gritted her and snapped. “That’s the problem you idiot! YOU’RE NOT FINE!”
The rage pouring out of Greentrap’s lungs caught Fro’s attention. He stopped and turned, letting his eyes meet with the frog’s. She continued.
“You just woke up and now you’re already trying to go off on your own again? Why is that?! Because you’re too prideful to sit around in bed all day and rest? How stupid and selfish can you be, human?!”
“Now Greentrap,” Fortis began, trying his best to play the mediator. “I’m sure the Coach has his reasons. There’s no need to be so-”
“Ugh! Why don’t you just shut up already skullface!” Greentrap was practically screaming now. Her violent outrage had Filia on the verge of tears, who could do nothing but watch her friends tear themselves apart. The frog went on. “Stop defending this poor excuse for a leader! No good leader would go off on his own without his comrades. No good leader would bear the burden all by themselves when they have teammates to rely on… and they especially wouldn’t push them away because of their own warped sense of pride.
“Greentrap, I understand your points but--”
“It’s cool Fortis. She’s right. I’m a *censored*ty leader.”
Silence…
The words uttered by the so called “leader” of the Fighters Division took everyone aback.
“Everything she said just now is absolutely true. A lot of what we’re going through right now is because I made a bad call…” Fro’s face contorted into a look of shame as he said those words. He looked down for a moment, seemingly reflecting on the entire ordeal. “I guess back then, I was trying to protect you guys. I didn’t wanna see you guys experience something so horrible, and figured I could handle things on my own. And… you see how well that turned out.”
Fro returned his attention to Greentrap, who was now shaking, fists balled into a fury, ready to unload all of her pent up frustrations on the man she looked to and trusted as her leader. Fro noticed this, and smiled the best he could, despite the nagging shame residing underneath.
“Greentrap, I know I’m being selfish again and I’m sorry for that. But.. I just need a moment to collect my thoughts… alone. There’s a lot of stress I need to release, and sitting in a bed sulking in my own grief is not how I wanna do it.”
With that said, Fro again made his way to the door. Before giving the knob a twist, he turned and gave his students one final glance before leaving. As he opened the door, he said, “I’ll be back in a few hours, guys. Promise.” and then exited into a hall, closing the door behind him shut.
The three raiders stood amongst one another, all carrying a mixed bag of emotions inside of them. Once again, their leader had left them alone, unsure if letting him go freely was a good call. However, what is done is done, and all they could do was sit and wait, and hope for a safe return.
As long as Fro doesn’t do anything reckless, they thought, they would see him again soon.
Leaving his students behind, Fro limped down the hall with his hands in his pockets. As he did so, he surveyed the hall. There were multiple doors on both sides. Probably bedrooms, he figured. He had guessed that his students had decided to take refuge at a hotel or inn of some sorts. As he reached the end of the hall, however, Fro would find that assumption to be close, but not exact.
Having gone down a flight of stairs, Fro found himself to be walking through the middle of someone’s dining room? It certainly wasn’t what he was expecting. With so many rooms upstairs, he assumed a hotel reception area would be the more obvious pick. But nope, it was just a standard, small dining room, with a couple of crusty looking couches encircling a wooden table. To his left, Fro took notice of a kitchen. He would then take notice of a short, older woman storming out of that kitchen, swinging around a frying pan.
From there things got awkward really fast.
“Hey!” shouted the old woman. “What the hell are you doing out of bed?!”
“Um, who ar--”
“Who am I is not important right now! What’s important is that you should be in bed resting! Aren’t you still hurt?”
Having deduced that he was already on this woman’s bad side, Fro figured speaking calmly while throwing as many “Ma’am’s” as possible was the right way to handle the situation.
“I’m sorry Ma’am.” he said with a bow. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I just wanted to stretch my legs for a bit.”
“Stretch your legs?” the old woman scoffed. “I’m surprised you’re even managing to stand.”
“Well, I guess you can say I’m far from the ordinary man. But ma’am, I don’t mean to flip the subject so soon, but can you tell me what is this place?”
The old woman slammed her frying pan against the wall upon hearing the question. The loud smack startled Fro, and it made him wonder if she did that because he somehow pissed her off even more, or because she was just downright mental. Regardless, she gave him what he wanted.
“This here is an AirBnB. And it’s one of the many AirBnb’s I own across the Net.” The old woman smiled proudly. “You’re lucky that your friends booked my services. After all, I offer the best accomodations the Net has to offer at a very reasonable price!”
Best accomodations were debatable in Fro’s mind, but still he was rather intrigued by the idea of staying in an AirBnb, since he’s never used one before. Knowing his students, Fro guessed that none of them had any money, and they picked out the cheapest host they could find. While he wished they would’ve picked somewhere less shady, he had to give them credit. They made an optimal decision in a stressful time of crisis. As a leader, that was definitely something to be proud of.
Still, he didn’t know why a host would stay in their own AirBnb that their guest booked, but that would be a trip to the Googlelith saved for another day. He bowed again. “Well, I appreciate you letting me and my friends stay here Ma’am. I’m guessing the payment side of things hasn’t been handled yet?”
The old woman waived Fro off with her frying pan. “Oh boy hush! I know you youngins ain’t got no money for me.” The old woman sighed, the wrinkles on her forehead seemed to disappear as she took a breath. “Seeing you and your friends nearly gave me a heart attack. Now I don’t know what this 4Kids nonsense is about, but after hearing what happened to you all and seeing how messed up you looked, I figured the least I could do was cut you guys some slack.”
Fro eyes lit up, surprised by the woman’s kindness. “Words don’t express how grateful I am ma’am…”
“Then you should keep that mouth of yours shut!” the woman snapped. “Wouldn’t want ya to start making promises you can’t keep, cause I know you’re gonna end up doing that if you keep talking.”
The old woman turned around and began making her way back to the kitchen. She kept taking as she did so. “I’m gonna finish up making breakfast for you and your friends. I’m gonna save your plate for later since you look like you’re gonna head out. Just do me a favor and come back safe, ya hear? There’s no need to be causing any more pain for yaself.”
Fro nodded. “Yes Ma’am!”
“And be sure to lock that door on ya way out. Wouldn’t want any bugs flying in here.”
And with that, Fro watched the woman vanish into the kitchen. She was certainly an interesting character to say the least, but not one without a good heart. As he walked to the front door to let himself out, he vowed that he would pay her back after this 4Kids ordeal was over with.
Now outside, took in refreshing morning breeze that gently brushed past him. Compared to the interior of the AirBnb, the exterior of the building looked surprisingly decent. As for the neighborhood itself, the main street was filled with numerous small stores, gas stations, and apartment buildings. However, despite the appearance of a busy street, the area seemed to be lowkey to Fro in a weird way. Not too many people were out, and not a lot of cars were flying by.
“They probably wouldn’t think to search for any us here.” Fro mumbled to himself. He wasn’t sure what part of the Net he ended up in, but he doubted the Lost Chorus would go out of their way to scour the net for surviving raiders, especially in places like the one he was currently at. And even if they did, it would take months to make any reasonable progress, but that would be time Fro wasn’t willing to give them. MR would be back in the hands of the raiders, and come hell or high water, Fro was determined to make that happen.
But first, there was something he himself had to take care. Something rather personal.
“I’ve gotten soft…”
There was nagging aggression that bothered Fro, aggression that would turn into malice quickly if he didn’t tend to it in time. A malicious purplish aura began to seethe out of his body as it twitched. He had kept this side of him under wraps for so long, but he could never tame his demons forever. Eventually they would have to come out and play, and there was only one playground Fro knew of.
He walked down the street until he came across an alley, and from there he made his way through it until he felt like the coast was clear. A second later hair tendril coated in an unusual shade of dark purple lashed from out his back. It slashed through the air, leaving a visible tear, and from that tear a portal appeared. Fro slowly limped into this strange portal, vanishing onto the other side.
