Aggleaaaaaah finally time to elaborate more on one of my favorite dynamics Luna has with another character :DD -Luna Ch 22 "Coming up on the Lava Wastes. Prepare for landing." Luna resisted punching the little screen in her annoyance at the GPS voice. "I KNOW we are. I'm not an idiot." She looked at Glitch, expecting a sarcastic comment, but her ally was still fast asleep. Thank goodness. Although, of course, it would not last long, as Luna had to fulfill her promise. "Hey, kid. Wake up." Glitch's eyelids fluttered open, and she yawned. "Aren't you technically younger than me?" Luna waited for her memory to catch up to her wit. "Oh, right. God and all." "That's right," Luna ruffled her hair. "We're almost at the Lava Wastes. Get ready." Glitch nodded, pulling her hoodie back on. As the sleeves slid onto her arms, Luna thought she caught a glimpse of something on her left shoulder- a black mark of some sort?- but it vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Strange. 'Don't be ridiculous,' she scolded herself, 'There's nothing there. There wasn't before. 'Why would anything be there now?' Luna landed the jet a few yards away from the edge of the canyon, not wanting to alarm its inhabitants. She helped Glitch out of the cockpit and explained, "As I said, I don't know much about the Lava-Tides. But based on how CERTAIN fire-wielding individuals behave, I think we can easily guess." "Oh, come on," Glitch teased, "Kai isn't THAT bad." "If you lived my life, you would think otherwise." Leaving her friend to think over that, Luna peaked into the Lava-Tide village and cursed. "Speaking of..." The outburst brought Glitch over, and she smirked. "No way. Your luck is TERRIBLE." "That's me," Luna responded dryly. She sighed. "Alright, here's the plan. I don't want to have to negotiate with the Lava-Tides if they're buddy-buddy with my nemesis, so we're borrowing it without asking." "Stealing." She waved the correction away. "We're saving the world here; it doesn't count as stealing. That's your job, by the way." Glitch's face fell. "Whaaaaat? But-" "No." Luna took a deep breath. "You may have a better relationship with Kai, but considering that the Core's in a deep pit and my fear of heights, I'm better suited to distracting him and everyone else." "I-" Glitch attempted to argue, then thought through the logic. "Ugh, fine. But you can't interfere with my reunion with Cole next stop." Her sharp, clever eyes softened at her mentioning of the Earth Ninja. "Deal. Don't get caught. See ya." Luna looked down the slope. Not a bad drop, thankfully. She detached her swords from one another and began her descent. By the time she reached the bottom, the Lava-Tides had pulled out a long (and by long I mean LONG) scroll that Wyldfyre was scratching her head at and Kai was royally irritated. "Now, what's going on over here?" Everyone whirled around to look at Luna. The Lava-Tide leader narrowed their eyes at her. "And who are YOU? Another tricking Core thief?" The lie came easily. "No. I just happen to be in the area and want to know what's happening. Is that so wrong?" "Yes," Kai growled. "Hush. No one asked you, Red." She picked up a section of the scroll. "Task scrub the paint off of Lava-Tasha's bridge and return them to their original desert stone color." A glance at the walkway to one of the huts told her all she needed to know. The- ahem- CREATIVELY sculpted bridge had been painted bright pastel blue and yellow, really catching the eye in this bleak sandstone sinkhole. "I see. Personally, I think the colors and paint job are lovely," she winked at Wyldfyre, "but I suppose if we all want to get out of here, we must do as the Lava-Tides wish." With that, she spun into a Spinjitzu cyclone, the inky black and shocking magenta energy swirling around her, and grabbed a conveniently placed bucket of water before making her way over to the bridge. Tipping the bucket slightly, she sent the water out in jets, which cleared the paint away quickly and thoroughly. Within moments, she was done. Her audience's expressions were a full rainbow of reactions- the Lava-Tides, approval; Wyldfyre, awe; and Kai, of course, was even more irritated, his monster eye flaring acid green as Luna took a bow. "Look, LUNA," His voice dripped with venom, "we appreciate the help, but it's Wyldfyre's responsibility to clean this mess up." She tilted her head, ensuring the condescending manner she did it in was obvious. "Hm. How about this? We make it a competition." Wyldfyre's face lit up with a grin like a billboard. "I'm listening." Kai shot her a glare. "We split the chores evenly, you and Wyldfyre versus me. First to finish their chores wins." "What about Glitch?" Luna's ear flicked at Kai's question, full of suspense, but that was the only giveaway of the plan. "She's exploring the terrain." Not a complete lie; just enough truth to keep Luna's spines smooth. "But no worries, I'm sure you two are enough to take me on." (continued)
(aaahhh not again) Kai's annoyance was so clear now one could almost see the typical red manga vein glowing against his skin. "Challenge accepted. And the reward?" "If you win, you take the Core and I'll stop antagonizing you," Luna replied, "If I win, we get the Core and you don't try and stop me." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Glitch disappear into the pit. 'We'll get the Core, either way.' "ThreetwooneGO!" Wyldfyre sped off towards the Lava-Todd statue to begin redisciplining it, her mentor close behind. Luna shrugged. 'Well, at least I got a distraction going.' Then her competitive nature synced up with her logic and she whipped back into spinjitzu. In reality, the chores went by in a blur, but from inside the spinning whirls of energy, the world seemed to slow down, allowing Luna to do the chores meticulously without losing time at all. Her opponents kept up surprisingly well- only a chore or two behind on average. She supposed it was because Wyldfyre rushed through them, but Kai made sure it was completed, using the same tactic as Luna. Regardless, she won, and gloated about it relentlessly when Kai collapsed beside her, drenched in sweat. "Shut your trap," he gasped as she twirled her weapon in her hand, still full of adrenaline. "Well," the Lava-Tide leader mused, "It appears the stranger has won. Congratulations!" Luna dipped into another, even deeper bow. "My pleasure." She glanced into the Pit of No Return, a slight wave of vertigo washing over her. Although it wasn't as bad as it used to be. Maybe the time flying a jet was helping with her fear. She whispered, "Glitch?" into the hole and it echoed, bouncing downwards and surely reaching her friend. And the ominous buzz that followed showed that it, unfortunately, had reached and stirred something else as well. "HOLY CRAP!" Luna squealed, losing her dignity, as she scrambled away from the hole and the swarm of angry wasps rising from it. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Glitch, directly behind the wasps, sobbed maniacally, "I DON'T KNOWWWWWW THEY CAME OUTTA A BUNCH OF FRUIT!" "YOU RELEASED THE DEATH WASPS?!" the Lava-Tide Leader and Wyldfyre shrieked together (along similar lines), hiding together in a silent truce. "Wh- Glitch?" Kai, focusing on the wrong thing as always, glared at Luna accusingly. "You lied! You're stealing the Core!" Glitch looked at said object awkwardly, cradled in her hoodie like a marsupial baby. "We... can explain?" "How about I help you get rid of the problem at hand and we can discuss this later?" Luna snapped her fingers, creating a spark of deadly power. "Red, burn those wasps out of the sky. I'll take the rest." She motioned at a group surrounding a mound of Wyldmelons, then turned her attention to her designated targets. These ones were going to be harder to aim at, since they were trying to attack people and tiny blasts wouldn't likely hit. So instead, she channeled her mental energy outwards, focusing on each wasp as an individual and locking onto them. Then she snapped again, and in several simultaneous ear-splitting CRACKS, the insects exploded. She turned to watch Kai barbecuing the remainder of his bugs, and nodded approvingly. He raised an eyebrow, but she refused to tell him that he had won her respect. Instead, she asked Glitch, "Are you okay? Did you get stung?" She shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Just a little bruised." Almost shyly, she walked over to the Lava-Tide Leader and said, "I'm sorry for taking your Core without permission, but we need it. Desperately. The world may very well be destroyed without it." 'Ah. So she DID learn something from her Doom Mucus encounter. I'm so proud,' Luna smiled. The Leader shrugged. "That's fine. Just so long as you keep it away from HER." They glared daggers at Wyldfyre, who waved cheerfully from her perch. "Alright, yeah, you won," Kai admitted grudgingly, earning a fang-baring grin from Luna. "Just get out of here. Show's over." "That we can agree on," she agreed. "See you around, Red." She and Glitch climbed back up to the jet, both in their own little world. In Luna's, there was a deep, shaking feeling. 'I have to get rid of him. He's too big of a threat to me and my plans to stay. He has to go. 'But how?' || End of Chapter 22 || ================== Pings are open! ================== Next: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1298624789 Previous: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1284143642 ================== Characters in order of appearance: Luna Glitch Lava-Tide Leader Kai Wyldfyre ================== Chapter 22 written by @Owlfangirl Chapter 22 cover drawn by @Owlfangirl ================== Wow that was long. ANYWAYS- ================== Song: Primadonna Girl by Marina and the Diamonds
