Chereads / Make-Believe! / Chapter 6 - Meeting New Rivals

Chapter 6 - Meeting New Rivals

"Agggh! It's been five days and not a customer in sight!" Arlo threw his cigar into the trash. For the past five days, the idiot trio lounged around their office, bored out of their minds. Pee, eat, sleep, and repeat.

"Even worse, we're running out of money!" Arlo rubbed his head in frustration. They had recklessly spent most of their money on extravagant food and wine. Arlo had bought himself a gold watch, but he immediately regretted it when the rent notice came through the mail the next day. The money they had now could barely be a week's worth to spend on supplies.

Arlo walked towards the mini fridge and grabbed himself a beer. Meanwhile, Rocky focused on balancing a pencil on his mouth while Goomy slept on the floor in a puddle of drool. Rocky cried in shock as the pencil fell from his mouth. However, he simply picked it up and tried again.

"Oi, toss me a beer, too" Rocky leaned back on his chair and relaxed his feet on his office desk. He stretched his hands out and yawned.

"Here," Arlo tossed a beer bottle to Rocky.

"We need to find some way to attract customers to us," Arlo pulled the cap off and chugged the beer down.

"Why not just put posters up?"

"That's not gonna do crap for us," Arlo sat back down in his chair. He turned the computer on and check for any news online. Arlo scrolled through a bunch of articles before spotting one that caught his eye. It was a picture of a woman in armor standing over the corpse of a griffon.

"Look at this! Berserker Maiden from Hunter's Society saves hundreds of lives from crazy griffon in New Orleans!" Arlo cried in jealousy. "This is the type of recognition we need!"

"Dang, she's pretty hot, though," Rocky leaned his head closer to the monitor.

"I guess she is... b-but that's not the point!" Arlo sighed. "Maybe we just need cool nicknames like her."

They began pondering for any ideas. Arlo rubbed his chin as he spun around in his office chair, while Rocky sat on the floor and lightly pounded his forehead with his fist in deep thought.

Goomy suddenly woke up from his slumber, "Huh, what's going on, my oh so glorious masters?"

"We're coming up with cool nicknames for ourselves," Arlo responded.

"Nicknames, eh?" Goomy raised an eyebrow and smiled, "Oh, I got it! How about... The Dumb Duo from Willow City!"

Arlo immediately pressed the red button on his controller device and electrocuted Goomy again. Goomy suddenly foamed from his mouth while his head and arms twitched. His eyes rolled back, and he passed out again.

"Stay asleep," Arlo scoffed.

"Ooooh! How bout this: Rocky Brawn?" Rocky excitedly asked. "It got a nice ring to it for someone as strong as me."

"That's the dumbest nickname I have ever heard," Arlo bluntly said.

An invisible arrow pierced through Rocky's heart, and he kneeled on all four. Rocky clutched his heart as he struggled to bear with the painful truth.

"Quit overreacting, you dingus," Arlo rolled his eyes. "Besides, I think I might go with Arlo, The Mighty Grand Wizard."

"That's even worse than mine!"

Suddenly, the door opened, and two huntresses walked inside; one woman appeared to be in her mid-twenties while the other was a teenage girl. The older huntress had warm, chestnut hair with golden strands woven in between. Her eyes were metallic and cold to the brim. However, they glistened in the light like a sharpened, steel blade that was newly forged. Scars riddled her body from years of hard battles. Her hands were covered in bandages, and she wore a sleeveless black gi (Her clothes are like Chichi's when she fought Goku). Martial arts practically radiated from her.

The young huntress behind her had hair like a bright, yellow tulip. However, her dark, crimson eyes were a stark contrast to her blonde hair. More importantly, she wasn't a human at all. She was from the race of beastkin because of her cat ears and tail. Her face was void of any emotions as she stared blankly into space. She wore a simple white skirt and a pink t-shirt. By her waist was a pair of dual wielding swords.

Beastkins were a race of human and animal hybrids. They came in all different types of forms such as cats, dogs, squirrels, and sheep. They lived in a strength-based society in which the most powerful individual rules over them. The beastkins were rumored to have immense physical strength and tremendous speed. When they appeared on Earth, they integrated with human society once they learned of their strength and technology.

"What a shabby place you boys have here..." The older huntress observed Arlo's filthy office. "So are you guys the new hunting business we've been hearing about?"

"Yeah... and who are you?" Arlo asked.

"My name's Rena!" Rena pointed her thumb at her chest. "And this is my disciple, Mia! We're both Hunters from Beauty Hunter's Club!"

Arlo introduced himself, "Oh, I'm Arlo, The Mighty Grand Wizard, and this is Rocky, my lowly henchman."

Rocky smacked Arlo across the head, "What kinda introduction was that!"

"The hell, Rocky?" Arlo rubbed his head in pain. "That was absolutely perfect!"

Veins protruded from Rena's forehead as she watched the two of them bickered non-stop. Mia remained emotionless, not caring about the situation at all.

"Enough talk!" Rena pointed at them. "Let's fight to prove who's better!"

Rocky yelled back her, "Bring it on, ya ugly hag!"

"WHY YOU!" Rena charged at Rocky and threw a flying kick at him.

Rocky narrowly dodged her, and he fell on his butt with beads of sweat dripping from his forehead. Missing her target, Rena flew right into Arlo's desk and split it in half. She nonchalantly stood back up and cracked her neck.

"Woman, are you crazy!" Arlo looked at his broken desk in agony. "That desk was 100 bucks!"

Rena ignored Arlo and charged at Rocky with vivid murderous intent. Her muscles contracted, and a fiery rage burned in her eyes. Rena's jagged teeth were visible through her vicious smile. She threw a ruthless combination of punches and kicks at Rocky. Rocky evaded her strikes with incredible effort and hastily backed away.

"I gotta run!" Rocky panicked and ran for the door. As he ran towards the road, he tripped on his own foot and fell. Rena slowly walked towards him with heavy steps as she gripped her fists. She couldn't wait to beat him into a pulp.

"Wait!" Rocky signaled Rena to stop. "Is this how a true martial artist acts? Through anger?"

Suddenly, memories of grandfather's teaching flashed right before Rena's eyes like a movie on replay. Rena's eyes widened with shock and loosened her fists. "You're right... how could I forget such an important discipline?"

Rocky wiped the sweat from his forehead and continued to bullshit his way out, "Yeah, that's right! What'd happen if your master sees ya beating innocents up for no reason?"

Rena remembered the image of her grandfather scolding her younger self when she had beaten up a kid for ridiculing him and his martial arts teachings. However, he would take her out to buy sweets right after to cheer her up. She remembered her grandfather's laughs and smiles as he told stories from his past. Rena longed for those days to come back, but unfortunately, life only moves forward. Suddenly, tears fell from her eyes.

"Oi, wait a minute..." Rocky felt a pang of sudden guilt. "Oh man, I didn't mean to make you cry."

"Woah, Rocky! I didn't know you had the power to make women cry!" Arlo said in astonishment.

"What, no!" Rocky quickly denied. "I ain't said anything bad to her!"

"You made Rena cry," A quiet voice sent shivers to Rocky and Arlo's spine. Mia walked towards Rocky as a black aura seeped out from her body, and her blonde tail slowly waved side-to-side. She unsheathed her dual swords and pointed one of them near Rocky's face.

"Mia can't let anyone who insults Rena live," Her voice contained anger in them.

"Wait, Mia..." Rena wiped the tears from her eyes. "Don't hurt him."

Rocky breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh, thank god..."

"Hmph, you're lucky," Mia sheathed her dual swords.

Rena helped Rocky to his feet, "I wanna thank you for reminding me of a precious memory from my past. I'm sorry for what I did back there."

Rocky scratched his head, "Haha... that ain't a problem, I guess."

"But, I still wanna fight you guys," Rena grinned. "A true martial artist can never let a new challenge go!"

Arlo felt as if a lightning bolt had struck and paralyzed him. He knew that they wouldn't be able to defeat these two powerful monsters in a fight. Arlo had to quickly think of a way to escape from this situation.

Arlo chimed in, "Wait! Instead of a fight, how about we compete in something else?"

"Like what?"

"A food-eating contest!" Arlo smirked. This is his chance. "Whoever loses has to pay the winner a thousand bucks!"

Rena giggled at his proposal, "Heh, that sounds interesting! A true martial artist never says no to a challenge!"

"We'll meet up in three days at Daisy's Diner, then," Arlo said. He screamed in happiness within his mind now that he managed to avoid a terrible calamity.

Suddenly, Goomy appeared behind Rena and moaned, "What did I miss, guys?"

"Eeek, a goblin!" Rena suddenly kicked Goomy away in fear. Goomy smashed into a wall, and he quickly passed out again.

"Anyways, we'll catch you guys later!" Rena waved them goodbye as she ran off. Mia took a final glance at Rocky before she followed behind Rena.

"Yeah... later," Rocky depressingly said. He didn't want to meet them again.