The Turf War Twisted

There's No More Fun and Games

Grian stumbled.

Grian had never stumbled. Not while flying at least, but there was too much going on for him to have a clear head. The whole flight was just him thinking. Thinking about how Scar thought of him, as an enemy. Thinking about how Scar had hugged him, even with that mentality.

Those were things he thought about the most, but once he'd reached the entrance to HQ, he panicked. Suddenly, all his thoughts were about how he'd given Xisuma a perfect opening to follow him to the Mycelium Resistance headquarters. Grian was in such a panic before that he'd accidentally mentioned that he was going to HQ.

He lightly smacked himself on the forehead. He looked all around him, even above to make sure that he hadn't been followed. If his freak-out about Scar had caused the base location to get out, he'd never be able to forgive himself.

Grian didn't hear or see anyone around, so he quickly dove into the base. He glided down onto the table, landing light as a feather. He trudged over to his chair, collapsing into it with a groan. He felt like he hadn't slept in days, and maybe he hadn't. He just couldn't will himself to go to sleep.

He put his head down on the table, his face sinking into it. Grian needed someone to talk to, something to keep him from going crazy. The problem was, he didn't really want to bother anyone. Dumping his problems onto his fellow Hermits was something he never wanted to do. So, Grian went to the next best thing from a Hermit...

Grumbot.

As quickly as he'd gone into the Mycelium Resistance HQ, he flew back out. His flying was more steady now, and he soared through the air towards the almost ominous white box. It was difficult remembering Grumbot. It was difficult remembering what had happened.

He was still trapped in his little fantasy world, a world where Mumbo was the mayor of the Shopping District. A world where Grumbot's plans had worked. Grian envied his robot son. He wasn't sure if Mumbo being mayor would really be the best thing, but at least Grumbot didn't have a care in the world. The fact that a machine like him would have cares to begin with was already a miracle though.

Grian looked up at Grumbot, staring into his glowing eyes. Lines of code that Grian could never understand ran down the rest of Grumbot's face. He could still hear a faint hum from Grumbot; he always liked to believe that was his way of breathing. Seeing the movement and hearing the sound, Grian just hoped he was still fully operational.

The keyboard that stuck outside of Grumbot's body was still sitting there, collecting dust. Grian stroked it gently before typing in his message, rereading it on the screen before hitting the 'enter' button. Originally, Grumbot's design took paper messages, but during the mayoral campaign, they realised Mumbo's handwriting was too messy for Grumbot to understand and changed it to a keyboard.

When he clicked 'enter', Grumbot beeped three times and Grian stared hopefully into the screen. Nothing. Just a black screen that reflected Grian's frowning face. Not even Grumbot could help him, and at that point, he was convinced no one could. There wasn't anyone else he could think of that would understand all the pressures of leading the Resistance, so all anyone else could do was sympathise.

Grian lifted his hand, slamming it down and barely stopping before the keyboard. He had to hold himself back. He couldn't bring himself to smash his communication with Grumbot, even if he wasn't operational. Grian just turned away from Grumbot, flying out of the box. He looked back at it, wishing he could live in a happy world like Grumbot. He couldn't though, not with everything that was going on.

---

Scar was beating himself up.

Not literally, more mentally. He'd realised once he made it to his office in the Town Hall, that he'd dropped the Tag on his way there. Now, it could be anywhere, even in the ocean. Maybe it was somewhere in the Shopping District, and he could find it. He wasn't sure.

"Stupid!" Scar mumbled to himself, sitting down in his office chair and slamming his fist on the desk. "I can't believe I just did that." The second reason Scar was angry with himself? Because he'd hugged Grian. Normally he would've just seen it as a regular thing, but they were enemies, two sides of a war.

"It was so nice though..." Scar continued to speak to himself, staring at the rug in front of his desk so intensely that it blurred in his vision. He promptly slapped himself in the face. "Ah! You're not supposed to like showing affection to your enemies. You should hate him. Yeah." He paused, but even a small pause didn't help him think. "I hate Grian. I hate his guts. He's the reason I'm so stressed out! G-" His breathing was heavy and without even realising, Scar had gotten up and walked to the diamond throne as he spoke. "Grian's the cause of all my problems!"

He didn't feel too out of place just shouting to his heart's content. It was late and he was the only one around the Town Hall. Truthfully, Scar had never needed a good scream so bad in his life. "He campaigned for Mumbo and put an extra obstacle in my way. He started the Resistance and put a damper on all my plans to better the Shopping District. He's the reason I got stuck in that tunnel with him. He's the reason I was so unfocused on my flight over here and lost the Tag." Scar's list just kept going. The more he talked, the more tears started burning his eyes. He wasn't just sad, he was angry. He was angry at Grian for everything he'd done. "It's all his fault." Scar's voice was breaking, his sobs stuck in his throat.

Scar wiped the tears off his face with his sleeve, sniffling. "I loathe Grian," he said, his voice dark and seething with rage. Blinded by his emotions, he quickly messaged Cub.

☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷

Scar

Sorry for the late message, but I have something important for my enforcer to do

Cub

Oh?

Scar

I need you to send out an announcement that we're calling off the Tag truce

All shops owned by Mycelium Resistance members will be closed off

I'll be working on plans with Bdubs

so please let everyone know

Tag 2: Electric Boogaloo is off

Cub

Are you sure this is a good idea?

Scar

I'm positive

Cub

Well, you're the boss

I'll do it

Scar

Thanks

I knew I could count on you

☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷

I'm taking matters into my own hands. Scar thought, looking over the Shopping District with laser-like vision. There's no more room for error. There's no more fun and games.

(word count: 1119 words)