A Champion in a Twisted World

Chapter 10 - Sheer Trouble

Ace spins around to stare at Grim with wide eyes and a slight snarl on his face.

You know shit's about to go down. Oh dear Arceus, you know.

Grim has a satisfied smirk plastered on his face, his paws on his hips.

"Nobody makes fun of Grim, master of fire!" He yells out, attracting the attention of several students walking past, "I'm gonna make that explodey-head of yours explode all over again!"

When did his head even explode though..?

Ace glowers at the cat. "Explodey-head? You wanna throw down with me, shorty!? You got some guts. You wanna talk hair with me, huh? I'm gonna shave you like a toy poodle!" He pulls out a pen- similar to the one's you seen yesterday- with a red bejeweled tip. It reminds you of Riddle's pen, the one you saw the other day when he collared Grim.

"MYAAAH!" Grim fires another fireball at Ace. You and Poni stare blankly as you die internally.

Ace waves his pen and a strong gust of wind sends the fireball aside. Ace has a satisfied grin etched on his face. "Oh-ho! How do you like that?"

You give Poni a blank look. "You restrain Grim, I'll restrain Ace, we'll stop this chaos before it gets too much worse..."

You squeeze through the newly formed crowd that's clustering in a circle around the fighting fellas, setting Poni down before darting over to Ace.

"What's going on over there? A fight?"

"Oh sweet! Get 'em!"

"NO FIGHTING!" You screech as you hop behind Ace and start pulling him back swiftly, arms going under his armpits to yank him back.

Poni wraps her vines around Grim and scoops the cat up. However, she does it just as Grim fires one last fireball and Ace uses a gust of wind to send it flying.

BOOM

You flinch back as the fireball slams into the statue of the Queen of Hearts. You grimace as the smoke fades, showing the statue is now charred and burnt from the fireball.

You look blankly at the horrified Ace and Grim. Both look too shocked for words, which gives you a gut feeling this will be one of the few times either is ever quiet.

"...this is both of your fault. Ace, if I get in trouble, I'm kicking you in the dick."

Ace gives you a startled look that your friendly demeanor is just gone. "Wh- why?"

Your blank expression somehow deadpans further. "Because you started this."

"Myah! The hench-human is right!" Grim yells out, squirming in Poni's vines as he's held mid-air. "This is your fault, explodey-head! You shouldn't have diverted the fireball, and shoulda just let it burn you to a crisp!"

"Who in their right mind would ever do that!?" Ace yells back, glaring at Grim.

...you want to kinda die, except you have Pokémon to take care of so you won't ask Grim to light you on fire and let you join the ghosts in Ramshackle. They seem nice. Much happier than you right now.

"What's going on here!? Cease this at once!" A loud and familiar voice causes all of you to jump, Poni to set down Grim, and the surrounding students to scatter. You glance over and see Crowley marching towards you four, looking very displeased.

Ace pales and squirms out of your loosened grip. "Oh no! The Headmage!"

Crowley places his hands on his hips as he stares at you four, Poni nervously edging to your side and hiding behind your legs as she drags Grim with her, and shakes his head as he stops in front of you. Oh... he's angry. You're screwed.