Brent Cosmos: A Hero's Quest

Chapter 13: Making Conversation

    “Thanks for the help guys,” I said to my friends. “But what are you all doing here?”
    “Well, I had a little feeling that you guys needed some help,” said Ruby.
    “Oh, that makes sense,” said Mighty. Ruby’s psychic powers are unrivaled in the entire galaxy. The other Psychosians thought she was good for nothing, but look where they ended up: all the way on the other side of the universe…long story. Ruby can always sense when I’ve gotten myself in trouble. She always rounds up the team and brings them to help me out. Well, true friends are there when you need them and even when you don’t.
    “So what’s the situation this time Brent?” said Fightbot.
    “Well you see-,” I began.
    “Misty got kidnapped by the Dark Legion,” Ruby interrupted.
    “Right,” I said “And-,”
    “We need to go find their new fortress here in the Dark Lands so we can rescue her,” Ruby said.
    “Right…” I said. “Also-,”
    “Misty’s been turned into a golden statue by Ballista’s magic spell so you need Diablo’s alchemy to help change her back to normal because your reality powers don’t work on gold,” Ruby said.
    “Right,” I said annoyed. “And-,”
    “And you want me to stop reading your mind and interrupting you or else you’re going to shave…my…head,” Ruby looked at my angry face and laughed nervously. “Sorry.”
    “Anyway, that’s the story,” I said.
    “So you let Misty get captured huh?” said Adojo.
    “I didn’t let her get captured, they just caught me off guard,” I said.
    “Hmph,” Adojo replied.
    “Well we’re not gonna get far just standing around here in the middle of enemy territory,” said Fang.
    “Right,” said Fightbot. “Let’s get moving.”
    “Look, I appreciate the help with the monsters,” I said. “But I can handle the Dark Legion myself.”
    “We know,” said Fightbot. “But if you get into a fight without Misty, who’s gonna keep you calm and reign you in?”
    “Good point,” I admitted. I do tend to go a little overboard sometimes when I fight, but Misty usually calms me down. That’s pretty much her job. You see we all have a special roles on the team; a dynamic if you will. I’m the powerful yet reckless jack-of-all-trades leader with a variety of different powers and skills. Misty is my beautiful, mature sidekick; a master swordswoman who watches my back and keeps me centered. Ruby is the brains, the oracle, and the science whiz. Fightbot is the muscle, the enforcer, and the straight man. The Mystic Brothers are the magicians and magic experts. Fang is the savage wild card, and lastly, Adojo is the sensible yet sassy one who looks after everyone. We really are the perfect team, in our own special way.
    “Alright, let’s go,” said Ruby.
    “First, shouldn’t we do something about those?” Mighty said as he pointed towards the field of monster corpses.
    “I got it,” Mighty said. “Vortex!” Mighty then slammed his staff on the ground. A huge, swirling purple vortex then opened up and sucked in all the defeated monsters. When they had all been sucked in, the hole sealed closed. “Done and done,” Mighty said with a grin as he clapped his hands together.
    “That reminds me,” said Fang. “How are we supposed to get to the Dark Legion’s fortress if we have to worry about monsters jumping us?”
    “I’ve got it,” said Diablo. He then pulled out a bronze chalice. He started filling it with all kinds of weird looking magical ingredients. The chalice then started expelling some sparkly, funky smelling orange gas. The gas engulfed the seven of us in a huge cloud. We all started coughing from the awful smell (except Fightbot because he’s a robot and can’t smell).
    “Ugh…what was that stuff?” Fang said as the as magical cloud started disappearing.
    “Monster repellent,” said Diablo. “As long as we reek of this stuff, no monster will even come near us.”
    “And you couldn’t have thought to do that sooner?” said Adojo. Diablo laughed nervously.
    “Cool,” I said. “Mighty, how far are we from the fortress?”
    “Not far,” said Mighty. “Just a little while in that direction.”
    “Alright,” I said. “We’d better walk it just to be safe. We don’t want them seeing us coming. Super Fighters, Let’s Move!” With that, we all began to make our way through the Dark Lands. We walked for a while without a single encounter with any monsters. Seemed like Diablo’s repellent was working. As we walked, we did what we usually do during low points in our adventures: talk.
    “So Brent,” said Fightbot. “How’d you find out that Misty got captured? Did you sense the evil?”
    “No, I was there when it happened,” I said. “I was on Amazonia with Misty when the Dark Legion showed up. Wrecker wanted me to surrender to him but I wouldn’t so he had his flunkies attack the island. We handled them pretty well. But when Ballista tried to turn me to gold, Misty pushed me out of the way and took the hit.”
    “Yeah that sounds like something Misty would do,” said Fang.
    “What were doing on Amazonia?” Fightbot asked.
    “Getting ready to let Misty move in with him,” Mighty answered.
    “Mighty!” I said annoyed.
    “What? They were gonna find out anyway,” Mighty said.
    “Misty’s moving into Cosmos Castle?” said Ruby. “That’s great!”
    “Yeah, so she won the fight huh?” said Adojo.
    “No, I won,” I said.
    “Really?” said Ruby. “I thought Misty had a pretty good chance of wining.”
    “Yeah,” said Adojo. “I thought she could at least wear you down enough to beat you.”
    “Well she put up a pretty good fight,” I said. “But she held back because she didn’t want to hurt me. Still, we talked about it and I decided that it would be fine if she…wait a minute. How did you two know about my fight with Misty?” Ruby and Adojo looked at each other silently for a moment. Then they let out a sigh.
    “Okay look,” said Adojo. “Misty told us about wanting to move in with you, so we thought that challenging you to a fight would be the best way.”
    “You thought?” I said. “You mean the whole fight thing was your idea!? You two were scheming with Misty behind my back!?”
    “I wouldn’t say it was a scheme so much,” said Ruby. I turned to Fightbot and Fang.
    “Did you two know about this!?” I said angrily.
    “Hey don’t look at us dude,” said Fang.
    “Yeah we prefer to stay out of stuff like this,” Fightbot added.
    “I cant believe you guys did this!” I said to Ruby and Adojo. “I should’ve known you two harpies were behind this!”
    “So what?” said Adojo. “Are you gonna kick Misty out now just because you’re mad?”
    “Maybe,” I said angrily.
    “C’mon not cool Brent,” said Diablo.
    “I do not like being deceived!” I shouted.
    “Cool it Super Freak,” said Adojo. “It was for your own good.”
    “My own good?” I said.
    “Yeah, living in that castle all by yourself isn’t good for you,” Adojo continued. “All that seclusion and solitude is making you go nuts. I mean, you were already nuts but you know.”
    “Yeah, you need a roommate,” Ruby added. “And who better then Misty? She’s your best friend. She knows everything about you.”
    “Plus we know you like her,” said Adojo. I groaned.
    “I don’t know,” said Fightbot. “Misty’s mature and all, but she can also be a little frisky.” I blushed.
    “Yeah, if she moves in with Brent things might get a little…risqué,” said Mighty. I grumbled.
    “And when it comes to handling women, Brent’s not exactly ‘super,’” said Fang. I growled.
    “True, but maybe living with Misty will help him man up a little,” said Adojo. I hissed.
    “If I lived with a girl like that, I’d be all the man she wanted me to be,” Diablo said. My friends all shared a laugh. But I was quick to interrupt the fun.
    “WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP!” I yelled with as my eyes turned red and my body was engulfed in a terrifying red aura. My friends instantly stopped their jaunty conversation.
    “Calm down Brent,” said Adojo.
    “We were just kidding around,” said Ruby.
    “We know you and Misty will be fine living together,” said Fightbot.
    “Yeah you’ll make it work,” said Fang. “After all, you can do anything.”
    “You got this B,” said Mighty.
    “Word,” said Diablo. I was silent for a second, then my scary aura began to disappear and my eyes went back to normal.
    “Yeah, well,” I said calming down. Let’s save Misty first and worry about the moving in thing later, okay?” My friends all agreed. We then continued to make our way through the Dark Lands. Eventually we came up to a very sinister looking castle. The new fortress of the Dark Legion.