The Duelists of Solstice

Chapter 3: Fiery Confrontations and Mysterious Motives

"AUGH!" Ocha yelled as they dropped to the ground, getting slightly less singed than they would have gotten. They looked up to see a figure standing in a dark grey cloak, a hood covering her eyes.

"Where is it?" She asked, her familiar voice calm, but clearly hiding anger.

"Where is what?! Wait, is that you, Blaze?" Ocha stood up, recognizing that voice and began to walk towards their attacker.

Taking the hood down, she raised a hand as embers danced around her. "Don't come any closer. Where is the Phantom Heart?"

"If you read my note, you should know that the Restoration is protecting it!" Ocha replied, annoyed.

"I did read your note. How thoughtful and reasonable-sounding it was made me even angrier. But where is it specifically?"

"I don't actually know that. You do realize how low-ranking I am, right?"

Blaze sighed and crossed her arms. "Hmph. And after everything we went through together, after I actually let you in..."

"We still have that. I care about you personally a lot, I just also had to do what I believed to be the right thing, and also fulfilled the obligations of my internship."

"I'll get my hands on it eventually," Blaze looked away.

"Why? Why do you even want it so badly? Don't we both just want to keep it away from villains?"

"I wouldn't share that information with you, even if you hadn't been the one to steal it."

"Awww, does this mean I'm finally your rival?" Ocha smugly put one hand on their hip, poked their cheek and winked.

"You tricked me—an opportunity you wouldn't have had if I hadn't.... begun to trust you..." Blaze looked down, conflicted.

The smugness disappeared from Ocha's face as they approached Blaze.

"Blaze, I never wanted to betray your trust. I know that this won't make it up to you (not that I'm really sorry for being good at my job), but could I treat you to lunch after the opening ceremony, maybe?"

Blaze sighed. "Well, it might be nice to take a break and be treated to some celebratory tea after my first duel of the tournament..."

"Oh, so you are participating? That's great, I'll be sure to cheer you on from the sidelines! I accompanied Amy Rose here, you see."

"Thank you, I suppose. And yes, I saw you two arrive in town. Why else do you think I was looking for the opportunity to confront you?"

"Ah, yes..." Ocha looked at the ground.

"Oh, and Ocha..."

"Yes, Blaze?" Ocha looked up hopefully.

Blaze placed her hand on the tree next to her. Red, fiery veins seemed to crawl along it as it began to wither and die from her fire magic. "Don't get in my way again."

As she withdrew her hand, the tree seemed to recover a little bit. "No promises," Ocha smiled weakly.

Blaze sighed and placed her hand on Ocha's head.

Ocha squeaked, suddenly full of fear after seeing what that hand had done to the tree. But it was just a friendly head pat.

"You never learn, do you?" Blaze's eyes looked just a little bit gentler, though it could have just been Ocha's imagination.

"Hm? What's this?" Ocha noticed the silver clasp on Blaze's cloak. It resembled an eye with outstretched wings.

Blaze immediately removed her hand from Ocha's head and put in on the clasp, any warmth that might have been in her eyes going cold again. "None of your business."

Upon seeing the way that Ocha puffed their cheeks up in annoyance, she smirked a little bit. "I'm sure you'll learn eventually. But for now, goodnight. Avoid giving me any more reasons to set you on fire, troublemaker."

"Just doing my job with efficiency, phantom thief!" Ocha turned and stormed back into the inn.

"Oh, Ocha! What took you so long? I was about to come down and check on you," Amy looked up from the book she was reading as she sat on her bed. Boba made sounds that Ocha could sense were agreement.

They didn't even hesitate before explaining everything to Amy and Boba.

"Hmm, A clasp that resembles an eye with feathery wings... That feels kind of familiar... Well, it doesn't look like anything is coming up on the internet," Amy put her phone back down, "but I'm sure that I'll remember eventually. I'm sorry that your reunion with her maybe didn't go as planned. I feel like she's probably a little bit more outwardly harsh when she's 'phantom thief Blaze' than when she's 'Princess Blaze.' She'll come around. I really do wonder why she's so intent on getting back the Phantom Heart, since she was originally going to do the same thing with it that we have..."

"I don't know. But what I do know is this: you need to get some sleep! The entrance ceremony is bright and early tomorrow, and your first match isn't very long after!"

Amy laughed. "It's funny to hear you giving me responsible advice. But you're right. Let's go to sleep now."

Ocha laughed. "Yes! There's a new adventure waiting for us tomorrow!"