Summary: We finally learn what Lucci doesn't like
"I think I'm getting the hang of this." Luz commented as she hovered in place. "You doing good Owlbert?"
"Hoot." … She would take that as a yes.
"How did you get Owlbert to hang with you?" King questioned. "Isn't he still mad after you know what?"
"Sugar knows how to be very persuasive." Lucci patted his own Palisman on the head. "Isn't that right, girl?"
"Hhss." The palisman hissed at Owlbert with a look she's seen Boscha give Lucci before.
"Hoot." The little bird seemed to shake in place on his staff.
"Do I want to know what that means?" Luz questioned.
"For the sake of King's intolerance to romance, probably not." Lucci shrugged. "Anyway, are you sure you want to ride King? You get motion sickness at high speeds."
"If it's for my dad, I wanna be a part of it." The little guy nodded. "No matter how many copies of you I'm currently looking at."
"Break time it is." Luz slowly motioned for Owlbert to go down. "Okay, I think we're good …" Then she was flipped, landing on her head. "Ow … I deserve that."
"Hoot."
"Pfft, don't you know that riding on your own Palisman is the only way to guarantee a stable flight?" Boscha laughed as she flew over their heads with everyone else. "Oh, right, I forgot, you don't have your own Palisman, such a shame." Why did she need to be such a bitch so early in the day?
"Almost as shameful as your inability to take a hint." Amity growled as she flew to the ground. "I can't believe I was forced to be friends with you once."
"Oh, like the human is an upgrade?"
"I rather look at her cute face than your eyesore for an eye all day….cute in the general sense I mean, like how it's not a big deal when you call a cat cute, or a chipmunk, or..!" WHY WAS SHE SO OBLIVIOUS TO THIS BEFORE!?
"My day is already close to being ruined." King spoke up. "No sappy romance, any of you!"
"I'm just glad that we'll be flying at fast enough speeds to avoid hearing the flirting." Willow muttered as she landed with Gus. "If my younger self ever knew this would be what happens when I grow up, life would have been so different."
"That's the thing with what if's, they only exist in your head." Gus responded.
"Or, what if we used Oracle magic to look into other people's realities? And different choices and paths we could have taken in life?" Luz questioned.
"... That sounds like a very stupid plot device, even in a fictional universe." Lucci deadpanned. "Why would I want to know what happens in another universe? There's no impact on my life, and trying to copy circumstances in another world to my own just takes away my free agency to make decisions."
"Wow, you really love to crush my fantasy with reality, don't you?" Luz grumbled.
"Hey, you can always build it up with more fantasy." He assured her. "It's an infinite process of seeing what sticks … also we both know Oracle magic is not for me." He added.
"Now that I think about it, I really do need to work on a glyph for that class." She muttered. "After King's race of course. We're gonna get you on the screen world wide, man!"
"After I'm done giving my victory speech of course." Boscha had to butt in where she wasn't wanted again. "I'm sure I can squeeze in two minutes for the little guy to do his thing."
"What makes you certain you're going to win this?" Amity raised an eyebrow.
"Because I actually have decent training ethics." The girl rolled her eyes. "Seriously, who needs a full six hours of sleep when you could be working on ways to get faster and stronger."
"I can't believe this is the first time I agree with Boscha." Luz noted. "As long as you get a minimum three hours of rest and two meals a day, anything goes."
"Now that I think of it, I don't think I know anyone with a healthy sleeping life." Lucci mentioned. "Willow, still doing late night gardening?"
"Only until three in the morning."
"I get seven hours." Gus shrugged.
"How do you keep your grades up?" Amity questioned.
"I just figured out how to combine Illusion magic with dreaming, so technically I'm always getting better in my head."
"Should I start putting sleeping nezzles in everyone's food? I feel like that's the natural course I should take here to prevent long lasting damage." Lucci pondered.
"Lucci, you drink cyanide and powder your cereal with rat poison, you're not one to talk about unhealthy habits." Luz called out.
"By that logic sleeping nezzles wouldn't work on me." He countered.
"And yet how many times does a sleep spell knock you out?" Willow questioned.
"… I seriously need a counter for that." He turned to Boscha. "You have any ideas, my Angel?"
"I think we can discuss one or two ideas during our victory dinner, my crystal." Ugh, she liked it better when Boscha was always trying to kill them.
King apparently agreed, hopping off the staff, and walked over to a tree, banging his skull head against it. "One promise … all I asked."
"There there." Amity patted the guy. "It hurts us all to …" Yep … romance hurts everybody. Slamming into a tree at high speeds now sounded like a pleasant experience away from the pain.
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Bria finished signing up for the fly off. "First a palisman, now a trophy." She grinned. "Life is good." She looked down at the little squirrel. "Isn't that right Scratch?"
"Squick." The little guy chuckled. Always plotting someone's demise, under the guise of just looking cute and precious, the perfect partner in crime.
"You are so much better than Agmar and Gavin, those weaklings have no idea what they're missing." Ever since her little trip to the looking glass ruins, neither of the former trio had hung out together, which suited Bria just fine. If they couldn't handle tough love, then they didn't deserve to be her friends.
Although that did leave a rather noticeable gap in her social circle now. She wouldn't exactly call the Grudgby team her friends, considering the psychotic nature of the top students. Thus, she always made sure to put on a nice girl facade for weaklings to do what they're told. Bri slipped right in, abided her time, and assumed control when no one was looking.
"Squick."
"No, I'm not just doing this to show off, I'm not that shallow." She answered her Palisman. "I gotta show why I deserve to continue reigning from the top of the food chain, and a flying race between Glandus, St. Epiderm, and Hexide is the perfect way to do that."
"Squick?"
"Yeah, nobody really gives a shit about Epiderm, they're a fancy rich school with nothing but snobs." She rolled her eyes. The only thing of note was that they had one coven head that used to go there. "All political power with little diversity in realpower."
" Squick?"
"Brains mean nothing if you don't have the brawn to back it up. The best witches are those that maximize everything . From street smarts, book smarts, strength, speed, charisma, body language reading, and a nice bit of cash for emergencies." When she was older, she was going to have every checkbox marked.
"Squick."
"Only the best can hang with the best. That's why ya gotta be careful with who you hang around with, the wrong crowd can drag you down and weaken you…though there are one or two people that are strong no matter the circumstances." One very particular circumstance to be exact.
"For the last time, we're NOT turning Luz or Willow into living fireballs to hurl at everyone else! Lucci, get it through her head!" Someone was very shouty today.
"Please don't set my friends on fire." A very familiar and attractive voice responded.
"Fine … we'll freeze them and use them as living ice clubs instead." Another familiar, and more ear grating voice made itself known.
She turned herself around, seeing a strange group of misfits, led by someone she hated and someone she adored. "She's hopeless Lucci." A round eared girl deadpanned.
"I thought the same way about you when we first met, yet you're my best friend now." The devil of her dreams responded with a dry tone that Bria couldn't help but laugh at. "Aren't you the one that says don't judge a book by it's cover?"
"Yeah, except I'm pretty sure there's nothing good written inside when it comes to Boscha." Okay, the round eared girl had a good sense of humor. She might actually be decent.
"How about I show you how good I am at breaking arms." Boscha responded, cracking her knuckles.
Bria hadn't forgotten about Lucci, she couldn't forget him. In fact, ever since that day in the ruins, she couldn't go a day without thinking about him. "Alright Scratch, play it cool, I want that curly haired boy to be mine and that three eyes wench dead in a ditch." She whispered in her Palisman's ear. "So play rabid rodent all over her face.
"Squick." The creature nodded, running forward and jumping on the three eyed bitch and attacking.
"Gah! My eyes!" Ah, what a wonderful sound. "Get it off me!"
"I'm trying, I have a very strict code about hurting palisman!" Lucci shouted, trying to gently grab her rascally friend. "Did anyone here lose their staff?!"
"Oh, you found him for me, thank you, you're too kind." She pretended to pass by, and immediately walked up the boy. "How can I ever repay you?"
"You!" Lucci played hard to get and slipped out of her grasp and got his shield out.
"YOU!" Gus pointed his own chameleon palisman right at her.
"Me." She cheekily responded, leaning on the edge of Gus's staff and smiled as brightly as she could. "Glad you remember me, Lucci, I see I left quite the impression on you."
"Yeah, like how a blood stain ruins a white shirt." The boy groaned.
"I much prefer the stripes it gives to a design." She chuckled. "Come on Scratch, return to mama." She cooed for the little guy.
It jumped back, as the girl held her bloody eyes, gazing at her with a glare. "Bria the bitch … I take it you're still making shoddy constructions, social or otherwise."
"Aww, if it isn't the little triclops." Bria sarcastically cooed. "Are you sure you want to race, you're only a semi decent grudgby player, you really shouldn't stop out of your lane."
"Semi-decent?!" Oooh, twice the fire as last time, and it only took one line of ribbing. She was getting better at this. "I'll show you Semi-decent when I SEMI-burry you into the ground after running the other half over with a house!"
"Boshca, Boscha, calm down!" The Pink Devil of her dreams got in the middle of them. "You know her?"
"Oh, we go way back, but that's old news." Bria purred and scooted closer to Lucci. "I think we haven't gotten to know each other enough since last time we met."
"You know this tramp!?" Boscha yelled at the boy, gripping his shoulders. "HOW!?"
"It was a little while ago before we were together. Me and Gus went to the looking glass ruins and she started messing with the galder stones and insulting the dead." Lucci explained their first meeting. "In fact, she's the reason we formed Rubix."
"I never thought I'd meet someone worse than Boscha, but there we were." Gus muttered.
"Aww, you say that like I could actually be lower than trash." She smirked.
"Would trash always be beating you at every single Grudgby game we played?" The bitch glared.
"Meh, win some, lose some." She shrugged. "You can have your matches, while I move onto more favorable targets." She moved closer to the boy of her dreams.
"What the hell am I watching now?" The purple haired girl asked
"Two trainwrecks colliding together in the middle of another trainwreck." The round eared girl muttered. "Do you mind staying away from him, I think Lucci would let me hurt you if I could."
"Hurt me …" She raised an eyebrow. "What even are you?"
"Human, doi." The girl responded with a stick of her tongue.
"Humans are real!?" That was a surprise. "I didn't think a life more worthless than illusionists could come into existence."
" Let me at her!" The purple haired one looked like she was ready to rip her apart, but the buff looking glasses held her back by the arms.
"You know, between the human, the illusionist, and Boscha, I'm starting to think you just don't have good taste." She sighed. "Then again, I guess all people have a flaw here and there. And I'd be happy to fix it." Bria sent the boy a wink.
"Would you stop that!?" Boscha yelled, glancing at her as she grabbed Lucci by the hand. "He's not yours, he's mine!"
"Kind of feeling like a toy here.." He groaned, before shaking his head. "But yes, Boscha is my girlfriend.
"Oh, you're dating?" Bria questioned, glancing at the devil.
"Will that finally get you to back off?" The boy groaned.
"Are you kidding? Not only would I get to make the strongest being on the Boiling Isles mine, I would get the instant gratification of watching Boscha cry out in despair while we kiss in front of her." It was like all her fantasies all rolled into a single package.
"And suddenly I realize you could've done worse, Lucci." The glasses girls muttered under her breath.
"Yeah, what makes you think I'm gonna just abandon the girl I'm with like a pair of old boots?" Lucci raised an eyebrow.
"Only naturally over the course of time when you realize just how much better I am than her. This flying race for instance." Bria laid out. "I'm sure the victory interview will look twice as good if the Manticore menace is right next to me."
"Oh you think you have a shot …" The triclops growled. "My boyfriend is going to be right next to me when I get that interview!"
"Hey, that race is very important to me!" A fuzzy little creature shouted.
"... And you are?" She questioned.
"My brother." Lucci stated with a glare.
"Ahh … don't worry, I'm sure to let him do what he needs when I win." She smirked. "For a price of course. A kiss on the lips shown all over the world ought to be more than enough."
She was getting better at this, the look in the only non scratched eye Boscha had looked like the last dregs of their restraint had snapped. "Lucci, lips, now!l"
"Wai-" The boy was given no time to respond as Boscha grabbed the boy by the face and forcefully kissed Lucci on the lips. About ten seconds passed before the girl let girl, the injured eyes having healed over.
"Lucci is mine . He'll always be mine, and anyone that says otherwise is going to be buried deep below the boiling sea!"
"Oh wow, magic kiss. That's going to taste even more fantastic." Bria chuckled. "Thanks for the time everyone." She waved as she began walking away. "I'm going to practice to the point he forgets you ever existed, Boscha."
"So just so I'm clear on this, we can't hate Boscha while your around, but we're free to loathe Bria's existence with a burning passion, right Lucci?" The human asked.
"Oh yeah, feel free to go nuts." The boy of her dreams waved off. Such a lovely sense of humor.
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Gus stood next to an awkward looking Lucci. "I never thought I would be fought over …" He muttered to himself. "It is a lot more violent than Mom described."
"Yeah, this is why quite a few people hate Harem anime in general." Luz agreed. "Mostly for slowing down the story and grinding interesting character growth to a halt, but also for how unrealistic it is compared to real life."
"You know polygamy is a thing, right?" Gus questioned.
"That's legal here?" The human asked.
"As long as there's consent on all sides, most relationships are legal." Amity added in. "Undead, animals, clones, ghosts, plants, though never with children and adults, that's just wrong."
"We get it. The human sucks at dating people, can we shut up so I can focus on how I'm going to cream that freckled face hussy?" And Boscha derailed the discussion to focus it all on herself.
"You say that like we don't have a chance." Willow rolled her eyes.
"You think I'm ruthless, wait until you see that bitch in action." For once, Boscha didn't instantly lord her superiority over Willow. "Her main strategy in Grudgby is to break the healer."
"Ooh, so that's why she looked slightly familiar." Amity snapped her fingers. "She's the girl that always got you so worked up during Grudgby season."
"No duh, can you blame me, she's the worst!" Boscha grinded her teeth so hard sparks began to fly. "No matter how many times I beat her, she never once acknowledges that I'm better than her!"
Gus turned to Lucci, patting him on the back. "There there man …"
"Right now, I'm just more worried about King. I really wanna make sure he gets on that screen." Lucci admitted, turning to the tiny guy.
"Come on King, you can do this. You didn't eat all day, so you can't throw anything up." The little dude told himself.
"No need to worry, King. With my patented tortoise strategy, we're a sure-fire to win!" Luz exclaimed. "We'll snag victory just as it's out of reach and cross the finish line without a single scratch!"
"And you got all of us as backup." Amity nodded. "I'm not going to let anyone like that take the win."
"Neither am I." Willow nodded. "I have this thing where I'm physically incapable of letting entitled jerks get away with acting how they want."
"It's nice when the hatred for one single witch can unite us all together in harmony." Lucci grinned.
"Flyers, to your stations!"
"I guess we're getting ready now." Gus got himself steady on his staff. "So many kids here…you know, we're always talking about Glandus, but we never bring up saint epidermis."
"Meh, it's just a bunch of rich assholes." Boscha shrugged. "They're so entitled that they only have three to four skilled witches a year."
"On your mark …"
Gus tensed up as everyone got prepared, steady nerves in their eyes. "Lets do this, Emmiline Baily Marcostimo."
"Get set …"
"Ssss." His palisman agreed, ready for anything.
"Take the time to remember that you all signed waivers and can't sue us for any accidents that happen today.."
"Wait, we signed what now?" Luz questioned.
"GO!"
Crack
"GAAAHHH!" Then the scream started. Everyone turned, seeing Amity and a few other students had their legs broken with stone hands.
"Snooze you loose!" Bria cackled as she flew away.
"Oh what, that's totally cheating!" Willow shouted.
"Where does it say no magic?" The girl questioned as she gained distance.
"The girl has a point. In a flying race, anything goes as long as you only travel by witches staff. Part of the whole 'you can't sue us' thing."
"I am not going to let her get the one up on me!" Boscha screamed as she was lit on fire, bursting ahead like a comet.
"This already went poorly." Gus muttered. "I'll stay behind with Amity, the rest of you go ahead!"
"I can heal her no problem, and I got super speed." Lucci corrected them. "Rest of you guys go ahead, I'll catch up in a second."
"Alright then, time for someone good to win!" Luz shouted as she chased after them.
"You know, this is actually pretty exhilarating!" Willow announced as they began to make headway, avoiding the numerous bodies being flung from either losing control or Boscha bulldozing through them. "I wouldn't mind flying around like this more often."
"I know, usually we do it with Eda when we all squeeze together, but the air feels amazing." Gus admitted as he did a spin … going through some branches. "I should practice more."
"Incoming flaming kid!" Luz shouted as they avoided another casualty of Boscha's wrath. "I know you don't like us, but we don't want Bria to win either! At least avoid trying to kill US along the way!"
"She is MINE to murder!" The girl shouted, continuing her straightforward path.
"You say that like you could swat a fly!" Bria called back.
"Wow, we found someone better at antagonizing Boscha than Luz." Gus noted. "So many records are being broken today."
"I'm about to set one right now. The fastest speeded one can be launched through the air by a viney slingshot!" Willow sent forth some vines … which instantly decayed. "What?!"
"Sorry to inform you that soil and rocks hold all the nutrients. Construction beats Plant in the game of crystal scribe saber." The bitch smirked, raising a giant hand of dirt that was hurtling up underneath Willow. "Also I'm not sorry at all, suck it you overgrown weed, and enjoy the free trip to the moon."
"Son of a-" Was all Willow got out before being launched into the sky.
"If you hang around these weak witches, you must be slipping even more than usual, Boscha. Do you need a handicap to feel special these days?" They questioned.
"Better than being some floozy boyfriend stealing tramp!" The three eyed girl yelled back at the two began to violently collide into each other, taking out five more racers as they did from the resulting explosion.
"Don't need to steal him when he'll slip out of you clammy little hands naturally." Bria retorted. "After all, who'd want to be around a crabby little bitch like you?"
"Oh I'll show you Crabby!! Come on Maya! Pinch her head off!"
"Scratch, defense protocol."
"So …" Gus started as they watched the two staves go at it, Boscha being forced to use potions close up against a girl with a stone fist. "Amity and Willow are down, and Lucci is gonna be held up healing them both, and neither of us has enough combat potential to take on either of them … you got a plan?"
"Why?" Luz questioned. "They're taking out each other as it is." The girl leaned back confidently. "This is part one of my tortoise strategy. Hang back and let everyone else run themselves down. Then when everyone is too exhausted, fling myself forward and shoot directly to first place."
He looked back at the fight. "... What if they kill each other?"
"And that's our problem because?"
"Point taken." Gus couldn't see any downsides to that. "Lucci will be pissed though."
"Don't worry, my shipping skills are on point half the time. I can set him up with someone else later down the road."
"...The girl that can't even admit her own feelings is going to help someone with their own?"
"Oh shut up." She blushed, flying down closer to the trees. "You doing alright King?"
"Incredible actually. I haven't even gotten sick once at all…Ugg…uhhh…" The little guy looked green. "I spoke too..Blllwweeeerhgggh!"
The vomit flew in the air, and right into Gus's face. "Aaaaaaaaagh!" He screamed as he fell off his staff and hurdled towards the ground.
"Gus, you alright!?"
"I'm fine, just grossed out, go on without me-AG, IN MY MOUTH!" Yeah, he was staying out of this one, too much drama and too much vomit.
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Lucci flew over Gus, making his way closer. "You hurt!?" He asked. After healing Amity, he ran by Willow, who was also damaged from a stone hit. Boscha was right, Bria was a ruthless girl … and not in the attractive way.
"Just my dignity mostly…..surprised I had some left in all honesty." His relented as his face was covered with some sort of gunk.
"Hey, you're a cool guy, don't let yourself down." He assured the boy as he continued flying forward, once more accelerating forward. He still couldn't control his super speed, but a straight line in short bursts was manageable. It was still a long ways off from fighting the Golden Tool, but he would get there some day.
He made his way forward, seeing Luz slowly make her way through the trees. "Luz!" He shouted. "Why are you so far behind?"
"Currently avoiding the nuclear war of your girlfriend and your stalker dude." She retorted. "They've been going off the track for the last ten minutes that way." She pointed to the left, where what sounded like thunder echoed through the air.
"What!? Why didn't you stop Boscha!?"
"Again, around the pain, plus you know that she'll never listen to me." Luz poked him in the head. "If anything, if I said to go one way, she'd go the other way just to spite me."
"True." Boscha was still fairly set in her 'I hate your friends' mentality."I'm gonna go stop her from dying then."
"Good luck man. I'm gonna keep up the tortoise strategy and hope for the rest. Willow and Amity catching up?" She asked.
"Kind of left Amity on her own when I sprinted ahead and Willow just decided to take a nap…so you're probably our best shot at winning this." He patted her on the head. "See yah at the finish line, Roomie!"
"See ya Roomie." She smirked back.
"To victory … and an even emptier stomach!" King cheered. Please let them be no more trouble brewing on that front.
"Okay Lucci, how am I going to approach this without upsetting and or getting maimed by my girlfriend?" He asked himself as he headed towards the booming echoes."
He pulled one hand next to his head. "'Boscha, I think we should focus on victory instead of the competition'." He put the other one up. "'I won't stop until that bitch of a witch is in the ground.' 'But she's not worth it.' 'That's like saying you're not worth it, and that's stupid.' 'Why can't we have a conversation where-'" Lucci stopped. "Oh my Titan I've gone more insane than Luz."
It wasn't like he could just order Boscha around, could he? Nah, she was a proud woman that did whatever she wanted when she wanted it, espcially when it came to murder. Oooh, he could lie and say Willow was almost at the finish line. Boscha loved upstaging Willow more than murder.
He finally got closer, seeing the two women go at it. Okay, time to get in the middle of this … titan be with him. "Boscha!" He called out. "Willow's almost at the finish line!" Please take the bait.
"That bitch!" His three eyed angel shouted. "As if i'll let her-" Stone bindings instantly wrapped around her.
"Aww, leaving so soon? But we were having such fun with you thinking you had a shot." Bria cackled. "So Whataya say, Lucci, wanna dump the dead weight and head to the finish line with me?"
"Yeah, you got that definition completely backwards." Lucci groaned as he had sugar go into hammer mode and smashed through the rocky restraints.
"Oooh, someone has learned a few new tricks since the last time we met." Bria smirked. "If only you used it on the right targets." She raised her arm as stone boulders rose up from the ground, orbiting around her.
"Oh I'll show you the right target." Boscha growled, pulling out some potions.
"Boscha, just forget about her and focus on winning! That's like, your favorite thing to do!" Lucci called out as he smashed through one boulder.
"I AM focusing on winning! I'm making sure I don't lose her!"
"Aww that's cute." Bria cooed. "You say that like you had a shot at holding onto him despite needing external magic to be somewhat decent."
"You are doing nothing but making my life harder than it needs to be!" He shouted.
"The best things in life we have to struggle for." Bria collided with Boscha again, seeing them further away over the forest, and more over the boiling sea. "I'm simply challenging you into realizing you don't have to settle for such a weakling."
"You dare?! " Boscha pulled out a fireball, slinging Bria closer to the edge of the sea . This was just starting to get on his nerves.
"Oh I dare … oh, now I get it." Bria smirked. "The only reason you went out with her was because she's like a pet you could tame, right? Or did she somehow think it was the other way around?"
"I..am…No one's PET!" Boscha jumped off her Palisman and onto Bria's staff, covered in fire and wailing endlessly on the Glandus girl.
" Boscha !" Lucci swooped in and grabbed Maya before she could fall into the sea. "Watch what you're doing! You almost let your Palisman get hurt!"
His girlfriend ignored him as the fire and the rocks began being flung everywhere as the two Girls spun out of control like a mini gornado. " I'm not the little tramp so eager for power she needs to steal a boy to make herself feel better about her own pathetic strength!"
"Oh Nah, I'm already strong, taking him would just make me queen of the fucking Boiling Isles." She grinned. "Could you imagine it, taking on Emperor Belos! An unstoppable couple!" The bitch only smirked as Boscha slammed the two of the against a cliff side. "You shouldn't be projecting so much, then again, I'm not the lame potionist that always needs their hand held to do something remotely resembling useful."
"Shut the hell up-"
"Enjoy the swim bitch." The girl grinned as she used the rocks from the cliff … shoving Boscha over the boiling seas. "If your body doesn't burn up from the steam alone!"
" Boscha!" Lucci felt his heart stop, his blood frozen like ice. A bright pink glow was covering his body as he gripped Sugar and wasted no time racing to grab his girlfriend.
It was weird. His skin was like a neon light and the world seemed to slow down around him. He went fast before with his floating, but this was a whole other level. The steam seemed to float up in slow motion as he saw Boscha's face in mid terror, halfway between trying to realize what was happening and the sudden shock of being weightless in air.
Not one to question good fortune, he kept going, already knowing what he needed to do. They were still descending too fast … he placed Boscha onto Sugar, before tossing them both into the air. Then hit the water with a splash.
Splash Hisss
"What the, how did you-"
"What the bell just happened, where's- Lucci!"
He could barely make out the words that were being said on the surface as the boiling water filled every hole in his body and began cooking him from the inside out. He would've struggled and shouted in complete agony, but he kept his mouth shut, knowing he'd just cook his insides faster if he opened it.
He kicked his way over to the cliff side, grabbing onto the wall as a form of stability. With a desperate cry of pain and frustration, he shot out his melted flesh of hand upwards, feeling himself glow slightly pink as he jumped out of the water, steaming all over as he looked at the girls. "Are…..we…..done yet?" Bria and Boscha both looked at each other, then at him and nodded simultaneously. "Good."
"You know, not to derail the seriousness or make a joke…..but that was one of the hottest things I've ever seen." Boscha stated plainly.
"Same. Nothing's more attractive than a guy that can shrug off pain like nothing." Bria agreed.
" You don't get to talk." He threatened, stepping forward and cracking the cliffside.
"Lucci…" Boscha tried to talk to him.
" Not now, Boscha, I'm mad at you too." He focused on climbing back up. " Next time I say forget about it, we forget it about it, capeesh?
"Go it …" He hated to be strict and make her pout, but this was two steps too far.
"Hah, whipped." Bria smirked as she got back onto her palisman. "See you both at the finish line."
"Nope." He raised a hand, and bubbled her. "You're going to stay there until I decide not to keep you trapped."
"Oooh, finally playing with me." She grinned. It was like a sadistic Blight … it was like if Ed and Em became their mother.
"Lucci.." Boscha placed a hand on his still glowing pink skin. "Just…thank you for saving me."
"No need to thank me…I'll always do it everytime." He nodded, before letting out a long groan. "I am so fucking done with today. Can I get one nice thing?"
"And we have our winner folks!"
"So, I guess the plant hussy won?" Bria questioned.
"Luz Noceda, the Human!"
The two girls suddenly gained a dark look in their eyes, fury once more boiling. "Whaaaaaaaaat!?"
Lucci had to roll his eyes. The best thing to do here was just let them stew in their disappointment.
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King cheered. "We won! We won!" He cheered as he rubbed his stomach. "How am I alive?"
"Haha, I won because no one else did anything!" She shouted. "Victory has never tasted so sweet!" Apparently the key to wining a race was to let all your enemies kill each other while you wait behind. King would be certain to file away this information for later.
"This rules!" He shouted. "Just wait until Lucci comes by, then we can drop the news on …" King paused. "Where's Eda?"
"I don't know. I haven't seen her ever since we left the house…oh they're she is!" Luz pointed to an area behind the stands, where Eda came limping towards them, looking like she just went through a double painbow attack. "Whoa, what happened to you?"
"I … fell down some stairs."
"Really?" King asked, not buying it for a second.
"Yeah … some crazy broad hexed them to pop up wherever I didn't look … showed them."
"Ah, that's much more believable." Luz completely bought into it. "As a gall that's fallen down her fair share of stairs over the years, I completely share your pain."
"Heheh, I hope not." Eda quietly muttered before rubbing their hands. "Anyways, enough about me, you won! Congrats kiddos, I bet you showed these punks a thing or to riding human style."
"Actually we just did it turtle style and let them all do the fighting." Luz smirked. "With absolutely no consequences."
" HUMAN!"
"One consequence."
"I am going to annilalate you..!" Eda looked prepared to kill a three eyed bitch, before she got stuck in a pink Bubble. "Lucci!"
"I fell into the boiling sea, this is the literal least I can do to you." Lucci, who's skin looked more pink than usual, rolls his eyes. "Unless you want me to put you and Bria in the same bubble."
"No! No, I can wait!" The tri-clops shouted.
"Lucci being strict with Boscha… now I've seen everything." Luz commented at the unbelievable sight.
"Lucci, since when are you this firm with your girlfriend?" Eda just had to ask. "Not that it's a bad thing, far from it, I just thought you were stuck in permanent love sick puppy mode."
"It turns out people fighting over me is a major mood killer." He answered. "How did you deal with it?"
"Telling them I'm better than them." Why was that not surprising? "Don't worry Lucci, you'll get the hang of it some day, unless of course you break up with her and find someone better."
"Mom, it's one disagreement. I'm not going to judge the rest of my relationship based on one bad day." Why couldn't anyone stop talking about romance in front of him? "So King, your speech?"
"Oh yeah!" He almost forgot in the chaos. King jumped in front of the crystal screen. "Hello. I'm King. I have a dad out there somewhere, and I hope he can hear this." He cleared his throat. It felt like he's been waiting forever to get this message. "I don't know where you are, or what happened; but I want to find out. I want us to do everything a dad and their son can together. Go on fishing trips, wrestle, walk in on me when I'm researching inappropriate websites."
"You guys have the Internet on the Boiling Isles?" Luz questioned.
"You use Mom's pentsegram, how do you not connect the dots there?" Lucci answered.
"I don't own a scroll, I don't know what you guys have access to." She responded.
"And I've been raised by this amazing woman, and … I wanna make an announcement about her." He could see Eda tense in excitement. "I am leeeegally getting adopted by her!"
"What!?" Hah, the face she made from the shock was just as amazing as he imagined it being.
"Yeah, I was surprised too." Lucci nodded. "Who knew that the law was involved in who owns children?"
"Everyone did, Lucci." Luz deadpanned. "Keep going King!"
"I want to spend the rest of my life with her, my brother, and my favorite human who's basically my sister by this point, but I still wanna learn about myself … so if you're out there, give me a sign … please."
"You….you want to be…" Eda was still speechless.
"Yeah, I got the papers for you to sign and everything." King waved them in front of the Owl lady. "I even got the ones for Lucci so people can stop saying you kidnapped him."
"Usually I would've just forged the signatures, but this felt too important." Lucci stated. "You would not believe how hard it was to take these papers without being arrested though. Had to knock out the guy at the desk like five times to get him to shut up."
"Then we set the place on fire. Part of me worries I'm developing pyromania." Luz admitted.
"You…you want to…to…to…" Eda began to tear up, before she brought them all into a tight hug that could give both Lucci and Hooty combined a run for their money. "UGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH! MY BABIES ARE THE BEST IN THE WORLD! THANK YOU FOR NOT LEAVING ME BEHIND!" The woman had both tears and snot running down her face
"Wait, you thought I was going to leave you?" Lucci questioned. "Even when I marry Boscha I plan on living with you Mom. Someone's gotta keep living in the Owl House and take care of Hooty."
"Wait what!?" Boscha yelled from her bubble.
"Again, I can place you in Bria's bubble for the rest of the night if you want." Lucci got a grumble in response. Now this was the kind of romance King could get behind. "Trust me mom, you won't get separated from me, ever."
"Yeah …" King flushed. "… Mom."
Eda just cried even harder. "I HAVE THE BEST BABIES IN THE WORLD!"
"Baby … loosing … oxygen …" Luz spoke up. "Blurry … vision … my 5th grade gerbil … thought you died …" Love hurts…..but it was the best kind of hurt one could have.