Masters

Chapter 9

"Anything new today?" "Nope, killed a couple more karni klowns last week, same old same old. How about you?" "They added a new game where you try to roll a ball in your goal on a field full of pillars and walls while you control one tipping axis and your opponent controls the other." "Any tough contenders?" "Almost lost the first couple of times, after that I never had any problems."

The months had passed by quickly. Nick had managed to hunt and kill two dozen karni klowns throughout the park. Yohan had become a bit of a local legend as the reigning champion of all the game shows. Currently, they were eating cream cookie funnel cakes, an experiment the fried bread vendor was hoping to add to the menu, for lunch. It was a sunny day on the main terrace. Each of the tables had shapes and colors like a circus's big top. In the center was a fresco of a giant clown's face, likely another one of Mr. Workle's homages to his famous ancestor. Mr. Workle had given them free room and board at one of the dimension's many hotels and after a few weeks was so impressed with how they did that he gave them unlimited free access to all the rides.

"About my PK training, I just can't seem to find a good use for Leprechaun's Cornucopia. I played with the pellets for hours and the most complicated thing I could make them do was build a scale model of the O'Mann mansion. My uncle had dozens of Powers he used every day. Can't I start to learn something else?" "I have a hunch that your Power has more to it than meets the eye. It's always best to at least get a complete understanding of one's first Power. It's the point where beginning PK Masters derive from to learn all manner of applications for PK. A Master spends their whole life refining and adding new facets to their Powers. Attempting to develop Powers that don't come naturally is like driving in reverse, it's better to have a solid foundation in the normal way of doing things before attempting." "Wow, with wisdom like that, you could open up a PK Temple somewhere if this Master thing doesn't work out." "Thanks, I got it all from my Dad. So, what do you want to do today? We're leaving for Helgram in a couple of days." "Want to ride a rollercoaster? I have to work on my fears, so I might as well start on one of the more irrational ones." "Sweet, I can't' wait to see the view!"

***

They approached the back of the line. The entry building was mostly wood planks covered by a quilt-patterned tarp. It was the only roller coaster without a theme or gimmick, so therefore to Yohan, it was the least visually intimidating. As they were taking their place in line, a man yelled out, "Hey, it's Man O'Mann!" People started looking around interested while Yohan attempted to look inconspicuous by putting his head down. A park worker, easily identified by his purple jeans and suspenders, red shoes, and a yellow t-shirt with a clown's face on the front, came up to them and said, "It's you! What are you doin' waitin' in line for? C'mon, heroes get cutsies." The park worker motioned them to follow him directly to the front as the people cheered him, much to Yohan's dismay.

Sitting at the front of the coaster, Nick asked a knee-shaking Yohan, "Man O'Mann?" "Yes... It's what they call me... On stage." "Wow, they must treat people who win as much as you like celebrities!" "Well, I did pledge to donate all the gold I'm being paid to a visiting group of orphan kids." "What?" "It'snotmyfault! I know you wanted to use that money for HCs, but when I'm under the spotlight everything falls out of perspective. I just felt so heroic and I wanted to make those sad kids happy and..." "That sounds awesome!" "Huh?" "When you get caught up in the drama of the stage you turn brave! If we could just figure out how to apply that, you could be on the fast track to being a Master. And kudos on that donating thing, the bigger the reputation, the better!"

Yohan was confused, he had expected Nick to lash out at him like when his uncle found him feeding scraps to wild animals. He was so confused that he forgot to remember to be scared when the ride started.