The Summoner Guild (On Hold)

Gobber vs. Sister

"What the heck is your problem?!" Kyle asked, thinking that perhaps Gobber really was just a wild monster instead of his familiar as the gremlin scratched at his arm and hissed once more.

"Raa~!" Gobber let out a loud cry in reply. Kyle was currently carrying his new rowdy familiar home with him, though he'd had to stop and apologize to several people that Gobber had attacked on his way. Even with that however, the trip was made even more difficult as Gobber refused to work with him and had attempted to run away several times already.

"What, is this just because I named you Gobber?" Kyle asked.

"Naaagaaasaa~!" Gobber yelled out something in the gremlin's language while clutching it's ears as if in pain.

"I'm sorry, but deal with it!" Kyle yelled back, even though he wasn't. "I never named anything before, so you're stuck with what you got!"

"Bleka." Gobber harrumphed, and for some reason, Kyle could swear that he'd just been called an inappropriate name.

"Listen you, when we get back to my house you'd better behave in front of my parents. They really will kill you if you misbehave." Kyle attempted to reason with it. "I'm serious here. And whatever you do, don't get my mom mad. Trust me, it isn't worth it."

Looking at him, Gobber started gathering flem before Kyle forcibly turned the gremlin's head away so that he could avoid being spit on again.

"Would you stop that?!" Kyle yelled angrily at his rebellious familiar.

"Well well well, look at what we have here." A familiar voice said in a cheerful tone, and both Kyle and Gobber looked forward to see Shelly standing with her arms crossed and a grin on her face as she met them on the street. "And here I thought that I was going to have to go on a gremlin hunt all on my own, but good job in catching it Kyle. Now we can have revenge for what it did to us last night."

"Umm... actually Shelly, there's something I gotta admit." Kyle laughed hesitantly, knowing that he was about to face death for the second time that day if she found out that Gobber was actually his familiar. He'd already guessed that he'd actually summoned Gobber the night before and that it was the actual culprit behind the pranks that night, though he'd been hoping that his family hadn't known.

"You don't need to admit anything, I borrowed a book from the library that allowed me to sense the past, and I know that the gremlin in your hands was the one that both cut my hair and drew on your face." Shelly explained. "So just put it down and I'll take care of it."

"Sorry, not happening." Kyle stated, suddenly getting defensive about his new familiar, rebellious as it may have been. "What happened last night was my fault. I accidentally summoned this guy and didn't realize it. I'm sorry for what happened."

"Oh? So that means that I can burn both of you to a crisp then, right?" Shelly asked with a mad giggle.

"Eh?" Kyle asked before leaping to the side to dodge a fireball that burst against a stone wall behind him and sent chunks of soot covered gravel everywhere from the blast. "H-hey! Wait a minute sis', we can talk this out!"

"We've already talked, now is the time for punishment." Shelly replied evilly, preparing another fireball before throwing it towards Kyle who managed to dodge it this time as well, though he did lose his grip on his familiar as the small creature belly flopped on the stone street with a light grunt.

"Run Gobber!" Kyle yelled out, briefly pausing to help Gobber to it's feet before both of them ran for their lives with multiple fireballs and ice arrows shattering against the street behind them.

"Get back here, you ingrates! Hair murderers!" Shelly yelled from behind them, and Kyle thanked fate for the fact that Shelly was a mage and was just as out of shape as he was because he would never be able to keep pace with her otherwise. Though it appeared that he couldn't outrun her either as both he and Gobber screamed while the street behind them erupted in a tower of flames. And after running a short ways, Kyle looked back to see his furious sister run straight through them with the fire seeming to cover her eyes, making the small fifteen-year-old girl look more like a demon than a mage.

"Heeeelp!" Kyle calleded out, though unfortunately everyone in Krunnel already knew that interfering with fights between the Grandell family only led to misfortune for them and their belongings, which meant that everyone that could have stopped Shelly completely avoided him as he ran down the street. Even the guards...

"Stop running and face me like a man!" Shelly yelled from behind.

"No man wants to face that, even before you got your hair cut!" Kyle yelled out in reply, only realizing the mistake of his word choice after they had already left his mouth. "Wait, Shelly, I didn't mean-!"

"I'm going to burn you both into cinders!" Shelly yelled furiously, and Kyle screamed in terror again before picking up Gobber again and turning into a side alley just in time as a wall of fire covered the main street behind them.

"Are you insane?!" Kyle yelled back at Shelly before looking around for Gobber, who had managed to free itself from his gasp and landed a few feet away. And then, right as Shelly turned into the alley as well, Gobber did the unthinkable as it spit a giant glob of mucus into Shelly's face, making her stop instantly as the gremlin laughed hysterically at her.

"Shelly, if you burn down the town again, mom will kill you!" Kyle attempted to reason with her, though it probably didn't help his case that he'd already picked up Gobber and was running down the alley, hoping that the distance would save both of their lives.

"You little imp, I'll banish you to another dimension, you hear me?!" Shelly screamed in rage, and Kyle had to stop running as a bolt of lightning hit the ground in front of him while clouds blocked the sun overhead. "This ends now, you destroyer of all things good!"

"Shelly Yula Grandell!" An equally furious voice called out, and Kyle looked with wide eyes as another monster entered the fray, in other words his mother. "What did I tell you about using magic inside of town without a good reason, and on your brother no less?!"

"But that gremlin is the one that cut my hair while I was sleeping last night, and Kyle summoned it!" Shelly complained.

"That's your excuse for destroying everyone's property?!" Aguth asked in a baffled tone. "Gain some sense girl, you're almost a grown woman for crying out loud!"

"But mom, I was supposed to meet Daren today! How am I supposed to face him with my hair looking like this?!" Shelly cried.

"It wouldn't have worked out anyway." Kyle stated out loud, having been through enough of these encounters to have no fear at all anymore.

"Shut up!" Both women yelled at him, and Kyle complied. Just because he didn't have fear didn't mean he was an idiot or had a death wish...

"Shelly, listen, if he really is worth your time then he won't really care what you look like." Aguth attempted to calm down. "I know that your angry about your hair, but we just need to do our best with what we have. Come on back to the house and I'll help you fix it, alright?"

"How can we fix it when it's this short." Shelly pouted.

"Just leave it to me!" Aguth said enthusiastically. "I can make anything the absolute definition of beautiful, just look at myself for example. Though I have to admit that it didn't take much work."

"Ha!" Someone yelled, and Aguth shot daggers out of her eyes at both Kyle and Gobber while both pointed the other out as the culprit.

"Let's just go home for now." Aguth sighed after a few minutes. "And Kyle, if you don't keep that new familiar of yours in line, you'll be bringing it back to the Summoner Guild in a block of ice. Do you understand?"

"Yes mam'." Kyle sighed, thinking that the task was easier said than done. But still, he did respect the little creature's courage when facing ferocious monsters such as these. And little did he know it, but a small bridge of friendship had been built in between them while they had been running for their lives. After all, nothing builds friendships like mutual danger.