Relic-Verse: Champions of Hope

Chapter 15

-- Part 1 --

Firefly and Scarlet Ribbon walked happily through the streets, with the duo having bumped into each other at a coffee shop and deciding to team up on a whim. The warm afternoon wind gently blew Scarlet's crimson scarves behind her, showing off her black and red body armor beneath the clothes. Meanwhile behind her Firefly was in her brown and yellow exoskeleton, buzzing around on her yellow transparent wings as she waved and greeted random pedestrians.

"If I'm not mistaken, I'd say this is your favorite part of the job." Scarlet smirked before lifting up her scarves to cover her expression before the girl could catch it.

"Yep! Well, aside from the occasional outing with Faron or Deut, but other than that, this is the best way to spend the day!" Firefly's wings buzzed, gently lifting her off the ground before she performed several twirls in the air, catching the attention of several passersby who took a few pictures.

"Speaking of those two, how've they been? Haven't seen any of them since that meeting."

"Oh they've been fine!" She promptly landed and grinned, "Faron has been caught up training his students the last couple weeks, and between his five, and Anchor and Nightstalk pawning off their analysis, he's been super busy." She let out a dramatic sigh and threw her hands in the air, "Almost a shame, but Deut has been helping him, so I don't need to worry!"

"I'd worry anyways, Deut doesn't exactly have a good track record of noticing things."

"Oh he's fine! He noticed when Pivot stole all the crackers! But I guess to be fair those are like the only things he ever eats..."

"Right, Pivot..." Scarlet looked down at her feet, thinking things over before speaking, "How is he? I mean, Grey's told me a bit about what he experienced interacting with the little dude, but I didn't get much info out of him."

"Well, Pivot is... Something. He doesn't talk too much, more often than not he just does stuff. Faron has been trying to get him to tell us anything about where he comes from, but the little guy just won't budge!"

"Have you tried bribing him?" She tilted her head curiously as Firefly sighed.

"Yeah, we've also tried sweet talking, and promises, and intense questioning, but nothing! It's starting to get on my nerves, but he is just so cute!"

Scarlet shrugged and looked ahead, "Sometimes it's just like that."

"I guess so... Hey wait, you have a little guy too! Tell me about Lillith!"

"Lillith? Well. She's definitely something. Recently she's seemed determined to be as spooky as possible in a hero course, and on top of that she has completely disregarded names for everyone. On the bright side, it makes talking to her about people a fun guessing game!"

"Oh wow. What does she call you?"

"Apparently I am the 'Crimson Mage', which honestly sounds like a cool secondary hero name."

"I dunno, if my niece came to me with the 'Crimson Mage' as a name, I would adopt it on the spot."

The two of them shared a laugh before a loud metal crash startled them from their conversation. A Warden covered in dents smashed its way out of an alley, seemingly chasing a stray cat that promptly scurried down the street. And as the dust settled, it's red eyes shined and locked onto the two heroines, and the crowd of people walking by erupted into screams and ran off as fast as they could.

Scarlet frowned and tugged at her scarves, slightly unraveling them and getting into a fighting stance as Firefly took off into the air and began assisting in evacuations.