Chapter Text
“Okay This Isn't Working Bring In The Next Guy.”
Berdy's bright blue coaster shoots out from behind Queen heading straight towards-
BAM!
Noelle goes flying across the map. A distant high-pitched scream can be heard fading away. You watch in terror from your raised cage as she plummets to the ground. “Noelle!” You shout out upon deaf ears. You know you scream can’t accomplish much, and you doubt she hears you, but you were desperate. What if she got hurt?
“Queen! Queen help her!” Surprisingly, Queen does seem to hear you. Maybe she has some sonic super hearing on account of being a robot? You decide it’s not worth dwelling on the why’s. She tilts her head up at you, her visor flashing the words, “SHE’S OKAY!” And then “SOFT LANDING BELOW.” It’s a bit difficult to make them out at first, but once you do, a wave of relief washes through you.
Queen seems to have some sort of an affinity towards Noelle, so you allow yourself to momentarily trust her. She looks away, not sparing another glance towards you. A new sound pricks your ears. You set your sights on the scene below.
“Fear not, my beloved Noelle!! This valiant warrior of brave intelligence! Will be your knight in glow in the dark armor!!”
God that idiot. He’s acting like he didn't just send her flying away. Your stomach bubbles with annoyance. He’s just so, what's the word, ignorant? Unaware? It doesn’t even seem to stem from any evil reason, selfish maybe, but he genuinely thinks he’s helping. You almost feel bad. Almost.
“Berdly!? You asked BERDLY to be on your team!?” Susie exclaims, sharp teeth bared and eyes wide with shock. An expression you’ve recently found yourself relating to frequently.
“(I Did Not Ask Him I Did Not Ask Him I Did Not Ask Him I Did Not Ask Him)”
Queen repeats in a perfect loop. Same tone, same concern, and same comically subtle call for help. Berdly is completely ignorant of Queens' dismay towards him. He carries on with his prideful attitude.
“That’s LORD Berdly to you simpletons! And soon...SUPER Lord Berdly!” He sneers. Even from your cage you can hear the smug smirk plastered to his words.
“...The hell does that mean?” Susie questions.
“You see, thanks to our WONDROUS queen."
Oh god here he goes AGAIN.
WE...will soon RULE the WORLD! And turn this Land of Fools... into a Smartopia. A true scientocracy, where the geniuses of the world can bathe freely in pools of fresh fruit and ambrosia. No longer held back by protozoans like YOU!” You roll your eyes. He’s so dramatic. It's kind of cute. Wait no, that sounds wrong. Definitely, not in a weird romantic way. He's just endearing in a weird pesky kind of way that makes you want to tease him. This is a totally normal NOT crush driven symptom you are experiencing due to your kind of (maybe) friendship. A completely, absolutely, perfectly, normal-
“And the key to that? Is US. Noelle and I.”
Your eye twitches. Great. You hate him again. Like always, he butts you out of his plans. Why talk to you or pretend to even somewhat enjoy your company when every chance he gets, he just tries to or actually does exclude you.
“A...and Y/N, of course.” Berdly stutters out. He finishes the addition with a small awkward cough.
Oh, he didn’t forget you. He seems flustered, almost unsure, maybe even a little guilt ridden. It's difficult to make out the expression from your position. Either way what matters is he actually remembered. Your previous complaint hadn’t fallen upon deaf ears. Which means...
Okay, you don't really know what it means. It just feels important. You hope it's important. It's got to be important, right?
Maybe he doesn’t hate you for your constant teasing. Maybe he’s only been excluding you because he’s just shy around you... for some reason. Why would he be shy, though? Awkward is a better word, but awkwardness is more negative. Ugh! He’s so annoying. Nothing he does makes sense. He’s like a radar of mixed signals. One day he approaches you, the next he avoids you, the next day you're invited to casual plans, the next you're excluded from study groups and sessions, and today he begrudgingly adds you into his grand smartopia blueprint plan. You get the feeling you're just a second thought to him. It makes your stomach churn with nerves.
Whatever, you shouldn’t care about him so much. I mean, look at the dude. He’s a gaming study nerd. And sure, you’re also a gaming nerd, but your description didn't have “study” in it, so you're automatically ranked above him. The scene below you continues unfolding.
“Our power... The ‘Light Nerd’s power...” Berdly boasts.
“You mean... ‘Lightner's?” The... uhm. Who is that?
“Uhm, NO. Queen said ‘Light Nerds."
You roll your eyes, suppressing a snort. It was so obvious Queen had been joking, but that's Berdly for you. The most infuriatingly endearing doofus.
“I Actually Did.” Queen’s voice rings out.
“Berdly...” The fluffy goat boy begins, “Queen’s just manipulating you!!”
“Heh... that's what she SAID you’d say to me!”
Oh. My. GOD. You giggle in your cage.
“I Actually Did”
She actually did.
“Now, Kris! I must admit, I feel pity for you. Unlike Susie, I always saw some potential in you. Join our side, and I might let you scrub our royal toilet!
There's a pause from kris’s end. Possible for dramatic suspense, before they shake their head with a “Nah.” Berdly looks a little conflicted, maybe even disappointed, before snapping out of it.
“Ah, kris, I suppose I knew you would never amount to much. Well, if your dead-set on proving your inferiority... “
Another dramatic movie-like pause.
“Allow me to assist you!!” He raises his wing into the air spawning a green, and slightly yellow “Halberd” (as he liked to call it). Let's be real. It's just a fancier name for what is essentially an axe. He flaunts it off, getting into battle position with a fancy swift flick of the wrist. You can’t even lie he does look pretty cool right now. Queen spins away and the coasters back up, allowing for a more spaced-out battlefield.
(Berdly Rides In!)
Next thing you know, Queen is floating next to you.
“Hello!!” She sings to you as her spinning comes to a halt. “How Are You Enjoying The Scenery!”
“Uh, it's interesting I suppose. Would be nicer if Noelle was still with us” You grunt, hoping to make your passive aggressiveness very clear.
“Oh, No Need For That Attitude” Queen laughs, finding your displeasure amusing, “She Is Fine Dearie. I Told Her To Wait For Me Down Below.”
“But, what's down below?”
She doesn’t respond. In a matter of seconds, she's gone from talking to you to putting Air Buds in and shutting you out. Muffled music can be heard from her ears. You huff, give up, and reluctantly take a seat. The view from here isn't really that bad.
Susie, Kris, and Goat kid’s coasters take turn bumping into Berdy's cart. Knocking his balance off, and leaving his once bright and shiny blue ride, a scratchy torn mess. Berdly mutters some nonsense about Kris secretly being jealous of him. Please, as if. It must be a nice fantasy to delude yourself with though. You’ve caught yourself enjoying similar thoughts. Not about Kris, just in general. The idea of being so prestigious, so loved, so perfect, is comforting, but you can separate fantasy from reality. Bird boy here seems to struggle with this.
The group finishes their rampage allowing Berdly to make his move and... What the hell. You're not quite sure what you're seeing. Kris’s soul. Their literal human soul leaves their body and enters some sort of box??? Nobody is questioning the logistics of it in the slightest. Is anyone else seeing this??? Berdly responds by sending out tornado themed attacks. The heart shaped soul dodges with impressive precision. It leaves the attack with little too few hits. Could you do that too? The attacking and the soul thing?
Your hand reaches back, tracing your lone arrows with no bow to shoot them from. You think back to Berdly. How he managed to spawn his own weapon using...magic? Willpower? Maybe determination? Queen did use that word a lot when describing something else relating to us “Lightnerds.” Man, it would be cool. Fun even, but it also means betraying your own morals. You would be fighting on the bad side. Not to mention you don’t really understand how these battles work. If only you could wrap your head around the rules, but they seem so nonsensical, almost like a…
Like a dream.
Duh! Of course! This isn’t real! It couldn’t be. That’s impossible. Magic, weapons, and battles? This is all fantasy. Sure it looks and feels crazy real, but that’s how all dreams feel when your experiencing them first hand, right?
The only issue now is figuring out how much control you have. You’ve had lucid dreams before, but you always struggled with maintaining them. You tend to forget their fake or end up unable to choose what happens next. Even in your dreams you can’t pick and choose, you’re always somewhat stuck to whatever your subconscious decides. So that could be a problem. You note to yourself to not try flying, again. Since last time it caused the immersion to break and you woke up.
“QUEEN!! I REQUIRE ASSISTANCE!!”
You’re stripped away from these thought when the bird boys’ voice distracts you. He’s yelling for Queen assistance from below, but she doesn’t bat him an eye. She’s busy scrolling on her phone. Since when did she have that? Just more dream evidence. You can’t stop winning.
Berdly is clearly struggling in this battle. He could use a plus two. And if this is a dream it means you can let go of real world restraints. You can indulge in the fun. Be the bad guy for a little bit or any role you desired. Your eyes shimmer at the possibilities. “Queen!” You shout, assuming she wouldn't be able to hear you. You're immediately proven wrong. She meets your eyes, unplugging her earbuds. “Yes Dearie?”
“Uh Berdly is-”
“OH, Would You Look At That A Notification! Can’t Talk Right Now I’m Very Busy!” She rushes through her words with a small lilt. Her earbuds are being raised back into her ear.
“Wait! Send ME!”
“Hm?”
“I Wanna Battle” You mutter. It feels like you're admitting defeat to her in some way. Which is stupid. It's a dream. If anything, this is you finally taking the reins. Becoming aware and gaining control.
“Oh? You’ve Finally Come To Your Senses I see! Well, If You Insist!” She snaps her fingers and in the matter of seconds the cages bottom opens leaving you free falling.
“NOT LIKE THIS NOT LIKE THIS!” You scream.
Holy shit, holy shit, holt shit, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit.
“HELP ME!” Your cries are meaningless. Everything happens so fast, it's too blurry to fully comprehend what you're seeing, but you think you can make out Berdly below you.
It’s just a dream, it’s just a dream, it’s just a dream
From above you hear Queens chuckles. She finds your fear funny. She thinks this is humorous. What a-
“Y/N???” Berdly squawks.
Your thoughts are cut off as you make eye contact.
“Berdly! HELP!”
His weapon disappears as he raises his wings to try and catch you.
You throw your arms out ready to cling on to him for life. If anything, both of you guys will go down together. You close your eyes, bracing yourself for the impact. You hit something fluffy. Definitely, Berdly. Your arms cling onto his fluff, and his fluff clings onto your back. In a surprising twist, you don’t crush him or fall off the coaster. Instead, you’re sent swirling in his embrace, before being swiftly placed on the side of the now cramped coaster. His wing grips your waist, and in return you hold onto his wing. You're horrible dizzy after the fall and spin, a little nauseous too, but nothing you can't stomach.
You turn to look at Berdly, your actual Knight in glow in the dark armor. Though you’d never admit it with those specific words. His eyes are hazy, and he pants ever so slightly. Clearly that move took a lot out of him, but he refuses to show it. “How did you?” You begin before he cuts you off. “I’m a Knight Y/N It's my duty to save any damsels in distress!” He points his free wing up to indicate his point. His other wing squeezes your waist, making you yelp. Oh god that's so embarrassing.
“Ah, S...sorry you okay!?” He loosens the grip, but he doesn't let go. Maybe he’s worried you’ll fall. Honestly your worried yourself, there wasn’t much room here before there were two people.
“Yeah, I'm good...” Berdly doesn’t take his eyes off you, it's a little unnerving, makes your stomach do back flips. A feeling you do NOT enjoy, not even the slightest. Absolutely not. You take this time to analyze the scene no longer below you, but in front of you. You don't get much time though because the other party makes its move.
“HEY EYES OVER HERE LOVE BIRDS!?” Susie Jeers. Berdly snaps out of his weird, worried trance, to clap back at Susie. “We're not-”
“Watch out!” You interrupt. Warning him of the unfolding events. “I was already watching.” He scoffs, readying his weapon.
“THEN BRACE YOURSELF DUMMY!”
Susie comes in from the front, Berdly, caught off guard, tumbles backward. You catch him, pulling him back. Kris rides in next from the right, slamming into the cart. Now you tumble forward into Berdly who's forced to balance himself away from the edge. You guys clasp onto each other preparing for the next attack, but it doesn’t come.
(Ralsei cast Healing Prayer!)
“Magic” You whisper to yourself in awe,
“What?” Berdly whispers back confused.
“Nothing just let me focus” you try to push him off, “Go do your attack.” but he doesn’t let go. With a shaky hand, he pulls you closer. You plan to retort the action, but before you can, he says something else distracting you from that thought “Well, I planned to monologue first, before you appeared. Now the whole thing has been jeopardized.” He furrows his brow no longer looking in your direction. His beak is up in scowl. Like a mixture of frustration, conflict, and weariness. Is he trying to imply that this predicament is your fault?
“What? How’s that my fault?”
“I didn’t mean-” he drops the scowl, but it’s too late you’ve already misinterpreted the statement.
“I didn’t jeopardize anything! You needed help, Queen was busy, so she sent me to help! If anything, you-” you push your finger against his chest “-would have jeopardized yourself without me.” Then place your hand on yours to emphasize the point. “I mean look how easily distracted you had been just a couple second ago.”
His scowl is back, now with an added defensive tone.
“That was a simple mishap! A miscalculation! And it only occurred because of you!” He mimics your earlier action, pointing his finger at your chest with much more gusto. Like the force would equal a better point. When he doesn’t move the finger away, you slap it with a scoff. He’s not wrong. He was pretty locked in a couple of seconds ago, but you already doubled down. Now you got to triple the rage bait.
“Oh yes, right I forgot I’m so distracting. You just couldn’t take your eyes off my beautiful, fruited figure.” You mock his earlier dramatic speech.
“Yes, but also because you fell from the SKY!”
Wait did he just agree-
“I mean NO! ONLY because you fell from the sky. Disregard my previous statement that was another mishap.”
Right, that makes sense. He’d never actually be so enamored by you. Those thoughts are ridiculous. I mean you're just you. There isn't really much to gawk at.
“Aww, I'm flattered Berdly, truly!” You tease him, wrapping your hands around his arm. His face burns bright, and he goes momentarily rigid. Your stomach races with an indescribable sense of joy. You’ve found it tends to do this when you're able to successfully fluster him. Something about making him nervous gives you a nice rise. He’s just so fun to tease!
“Just... SHUSH! I need to think of another monologue.” Again, he doesn’t make any attempt to shove you away.
“OHMIGOD GET ON WITH IT ALREADY!! NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR STUPID RANTING!!”
“What Susie means to say is you should probably make a move soon! For your own sake.” The fluffy dude corrects, with a strained customer service smile.
“Don't listen to them, your monologuing is very interesting.” And more importantly it would give you time to think. You need time to figure out this magic stuff for yourself. Plus, you weren’t lying his rants could be interesting. Especially when he’d go deep in the mechanics or lore of the various videos games he’s found himself enamored by, but as of right now it had been a bit boring, even a tad nonsensical. Maybe if you could push his ranting to a more fun character driven style. It’s your dream after all
“I appreciate your kind words Y/N, but unfortunately I can’t quite recall what I had been attempting to say earlier.”
“Just say something about how like, now that it's the two of us, we’ll be unstoppable!” you throw your arm up clenching your (nonexistent) muscles for show.
Berdly scoffs, pushing the idea down, “ugh, that’s so cliche. Plus, those lines are usually reserved for Villain archetypes which I think you’ll find we clearly are not.”
Now you're confused. Berdly was obviously taking on the villain role in your dream, there's no way he’s oblivious to this matter. Although, it does seem like a Berdly thing. He would play into the villain with good intentions who views themselves as the hero trope. It's so perfectly in character you find yourself sniffling a snort.
“Are you sure? We seem pretty villainous to me.” you retort with a sly grin. With that, his beak springs back open to prove you wrong. He is aghast, disappointed even by your analysis, “how!? Did you even listen to a lick of my speech! I’m trying to improve this land of simpletons.”
“Forcefully colonize a land and make yourself king to improve everything. Classic villain with good intentions shtick.”
“That's very oversimplified.” He deadpans, doing a very poor job of hiding his scowl. He’s all riled up again and you're already feeling giddy. An onslaught of butterflies comes pouring your way.
“Did you read anything on the Peon agreement form?” you ask, pushing the bit on for your own selfish reasons.
“Obviously.” He looks away nervously. It's apparent, at least to you, that he skimmed that shit. Probably didn't even skim it to the end. And I mean. So did you, but at least you understood what most of it was implying. In a moment of confidence, you teasingly lean your head into his shoulder, “This is why I surpass you in English.” you grin, an evil mischievous grin, that causes Berdly to actually inch away from you for a second and turn his head away nervously.
Finally, he releases his death grip on you, although he lets his wing linger above your hips for a second in case things go south, “I said I did! You really ought to tune in your listening skills.” He does his best to cover up his mishap, with a shaky sly smirk. He leans into you, trying to turn the tables. In a blasted minute of being caught off guard you lean back as he goes in. You mentally slap yourself for showing vulnerability. You match his actions going in for the kill by pointing out the stupidity behind his statement and the way he just outed his self.
“I was listening.” Your eyes crinkle up with glee, “saying you did read the form makes your case worse.”
Berdly, falls back as you fall in, he opens his beak before closing it in a dull rage. You guys are completely off track, and nowhere near attacking your opponent, but you got to see his mad face and its adorable, no, no, no, its funny. You mean its funny. He makes a mixture of incoherent and weak gestures before giving up.
“Just- focus on the battle” he stammers out. “I’ll-“ a flash of purple embraces your field of vision.
SLASH!
He freezes in place, before almost falling, as he’s hit by an unidentifiable object. You heard the sound, you saw the effect, but you didn't see the weapon?
In a second, all your joy from bantering was cut off and replaced by the fear striking your heart. Your hands fly to your mouth, muffling a gasp.
“Berdly!? Are you okay!?” You reach your hand to his fluffy shoulder, helping to prop him up. He quickly shrugs you off bolstering himself.
“I'm fine. Peachy, even.” he grunts “Simply, I was not expecting such a ruthless attack, and while I was distracted, nonetheless. These barbarians will resort to anything but their intellect.” He brushes himself back up, spawning his Halberd (axe) back from the sky and into his arms once more. You could take this time to argue how your enemies had made a strategic move there by catching him off guard, but this was not the time. Seeing Berdly hurt, made your heart pang with a not so giddy feeling. You know it's a dream, but even so, you wanted revenge. And you were going to get just that by winning.
“What the hell guys” you shout at your opponents. “We hadn't made our move!”
“Sucks to suck!” Susie growls back, clutching her axe. Her axe is purple. In fact, her entire aesthetic is purple. Was it her who did this?
“Uh, what Susie means to say is that your time ran out! You have a limited amount of time to make your attack or else we can make our next move!” The goat boy corrects her.
What! That's so stupid. “WHAT! That's stupid!” You speak your inner thoughts out loud.
“You look stupid!” Susie taunts back, getting a rise out of this.
“You’re stupid”
“You’re stupid!”
Both you and Berdly find yourself coincidently synching up. Neither of you linger on it for long though, you have an attack to make up for.
Bad guy or not, you didn't want to lose your first battle. You need to get acquainted with the rules, and you need to get into character. For both you and Berdly.
“Berdly tell them about your grand gaming room blueprint.” You're not playing around anymore. You got a part to play and a battle to win. “Brilliant idea!” Berdly praises, igniting a fire inside of you. You can investigate that later. “I knew you’d make uh... a fine assistant!” He finishes, ruining the bubbling feeling. Whatever, just play into it. As long as you come out victorious. Berdly starts loudly boasting about his game plans. From the corner of your eye, you catch how Kris rolls their eyes. Imagine having to hear this more than once. Yeah, Kris can handle one session of Berdly’s yapping.
You tune him out and shut your eyes, focusing on your desires, focusing on the present moment, what you need, what you want to accomplish, and how you can do just that. You need a weapon to succeed. You are going to get your weapon. With no doubt left to trace your mind, you're filled with absolute resolve. You stretch your arms out past you, feeling nothing but the air until-
You are filled with DETERMINATION!
Your hands are no longer empty. Filling them is a sleek wooden bow. You open your eyes to its beauty. Spirals, hearts, and pretty stars are all carved into it's limbs. It's smooth to the touch, but also firm and sturdy, so you aren’t at risk of splinters or breakage. Its ends are laced with silk ribbons, not long enough to mess up any of your shots. The string is an emerald green, that stands out against the cyan of Cybercity. In awe, you trace your hand against its carving. Everything seems to be covered with some sort of plastic-like substance that shields you from getting cut. It isn’t plastic, though. Maybe resin? It's clear, shiny, and really satisfying. Whatever it is, you can’t dwell on it for long.
Berdly’s speech comes to an end, so you peel your eyes away from the fascinating sight to a new one. You watch as Berdly initiates the attack with a swarm of A+ sharp edged papers. With the amount he’s sending it's got to be overwhelming for the other team, but what's the worst it can do in terms of damage? Maybe some measly paper cuts. Although paper cuts can be pretty bad, so maybe you're underestimating the attack.
Whatever the case, with your bow it's sure to give him a nice upgrade. Good thing, you're skilled in archery. You swipe a bow from your back, briskly placing it in the bow’s arrow rest and mocking point. You stretch the arrow back, letting the strings follow, before releasing it into the battlefield. It lands square in Susie’s chest before evaporating. Somehow your arrows don’t seem to do much damage. Dream logic, you suppose. She clutches her chest in surprise, and you catch her eye widening, before she glares back at you with a playful smile.
“That all you got?” Without you even so much as lifting a muscle she stiffens up again, and not just her this time, the fluffy one follows suite.
One of Berdy’s papers had landed a successful hit, and he managed to damage not one, but two opponents!? How!? A paper did more damage than your bow!? That's ridiculous. You look over at Berdly’s whose switched from paper to wind, his face looks stoic, he’s extremely focused, and holds a similar expression to when you two battle in Super Smash. Watching his attack patterns, you notice something peculiar. He’s not aiming directly at Susie, Kris, or even the unknown. He’s aiming for the soul.
The heart.
That's when it clicks. This heart is serving a stand in for the entire team's health. One hit on that can cause double the damage for them. It's like Dragon Blazers!
You take your next shot. The soul moves around in erratic burst. It's much harder to take aim, since you can’t perfectly predict its next move, but you do your best. And your best means swarming it with arrows. You just keep on sending arrow after arrow at it, hoping to overwhelm it. It's a similar strategy to Berdly’s. Only its amplified now by the increased number of attacks from both of you. You guys have effectively given them a bullet hell, but somehow they're still dodging!? Most of your attacks fail, and it not even that you guys suck or anything, Kris is just really good at dodging. It's insanely impressive. Even so, you still manage to get a few decent hits in and do what you can only hope is a good amount of damage.
Your turn ends and you're stuck back in your coaster waiting for the opponent to move. You huddle up to Berdly, trying to quickly think of a way to defend yourselves.
You whisper to him, “If Susie does that purple ray attack again, try to counter it, okay? Hit it with your Hal-” out of spite you stop yourself from using its tecniqually correct term, “-weapon. Use your weapon.” He nods, understanding the message. You guys make a surprisingly good team.
The other team makes their move.
(Ralsei cast healing prayer!)
You take note of the healing spell. Hopefully you can master or at least use it later on. Distracted, Kris slashes you and Susie sends another purple ray towards Berdly
This time Berdly counters it, sending it back. This catches Susie off guard and for a second, I think we may have landed a hit, but as quickly as you got that hope it's lost. She gains her bearings and hits it back. Berdly prepares to strike back. While he’s busy with that, you load up your bow and arrow. These turn rules were illogical anyway. This is your dream. You can do what you want. Berdly lands an effective hit, and the ray is sent back to Susie. You let go of your arrow, aiming at Kris. It lands in their plated armor immediately dissolving. As Kris takes damage, not making a single attempt to dodge (weird), Susie counters again. This time she gets the upper hand. Berdly, overtaken by his overconfidence strikes too early, and is hit square in the chest. He clenches his beak and lets out a winch. Ouch.
Nobody seems to take notice of your cheating, except maybe the fluffy one who looks at you funny, but if he did, he doesn't say anything. Before you can begin discussing a game plan with Berdly or trash talk the other team, a dark cloud of gray haze overtakes your senses. You squint your eyes, feeling small tears well up. You’ve never been great at handling smoke. Looking behind your shoulder, you spot the busted-up engine. Shit.
“Berdly” you direct his attention to you, “Look, they’re destroying our cart.”
His overconfident smile drops, turning into a worried exclamation “What!? The cart is breaking!?” He shouts a little too loudly. The other team probably heard. Great. Now they know we're onto their plan. He seems to realize this too because he quickly shifts his sights back to our opponent and places a false grin of confidence, before following up his words with some nonsensical junk, “Fools! This is Smart Smoke! It means the cart is getting stronger! Ha! Go ahead, ‘bump’ me you barbarians! I’ll show you bumper cars is a game of INTELLECT not skill!”
You can’t tell if he genuinely believes his words or is attempting to hide that we've caught on. You quickly and disappointingly learn it is not the ladder. Berdly jumps beak first back into combat, disregarding the issue at hand. You would groan out of frustration, but the smoke causes you to cough instead, cutting it off.
No matter. You’ll discuss it next turn. That is if there is one. The cart might be donzo by its next hit. You grab another arrow and place it in your bow. You struggle with the placement for a bit on account of the “smart” smoke. Once you’ve finish that step you realize how much more annoying aiming is going to be. Your vision is blurred with charred hot gray, and it's not a fun sight to try and withstand. Still, in the distance you're able to just make out the glow of Kris's heart. You begin your attack. Sending as many arrows as you can and praying for the best outcome. You can’t tell if your getting any hits or not, so when Berdly switches to phase two of the attack you decide you should let it go. You switch your focus to another potential battle winning tactic.
Magic.
You believe you used it to summon the bow so maybe by mustering up similar willpower you could cast a healing prayer. Or even better some sort of defensive magic to shield the coaster. Just something because you really aren't doing so hot right now.
You disperse your weapon and to your surprise it disappears right on cue. With your hands no long tied, you mimic the healing prayers formation. You bring your hands together, clasping them shut and closing your eyes. You try brut forcing it like you did before, but its to no avail. So, you try another tactic. You think of Berdly. You think of how you want to help him. How you want to heal him. You think of you want to be a service and aid others. You think of kind, gentle thoughts, and slowly, but surely you feel a warm spark inside your hand. Opening your eyes and revealing your palm, you see a tiny electric ball of green. It spurs around erratically in your hands. Is it matching your emotions? You center yourself, trying to calm yourself down. Eventually the ball starts to grow. You take a deep breath, and it matches your energy. With each steady inhale, it grows a little more. Stabilizing yourself, you mold it into a smooth, calm, sphere. One you could easily gift too Berdly.
With the first part of the spell complete, you move onto the next. You throw your hands up, set your sights and mind on him, and send the spell off.
(Y/N cast heal prayer!)
You did it! You actually did it! Ohmigod! You watch Berdly physically react to the new feeling, he turns to look at you a bit confused. You scramble to craft another spell.
You mold a new ball and toss it his way. He doesn’t try to catch it, cause he's busy dealing with the soul, but it still lands on him. He realizes what you've learned and smiles cockily, turning back to the other team. He wasn’t the only one feeling cocky. Through the smoke you peer at the goat boy. The one who showed you his method without even trying. Matching Berdly you smile smugly at him. You craft another magic ball pretending to shoot it through a hoop at Berdly. The dude just stares at you with raised brows. He doesn’t seem mad or disappointed just surprised you guess? The expression is hard to pinpoint
No matter! You're sure he’s utterly heartbroken, his method has been patched and exposed for other players to take advantage of. Ha! Get a load of that opponents! Now your team will surely gain the upper hand and you can rub your sweet victory in their sour loser faces! Oh god you sound like a weird rip off of Berdly. You have less unnecessary eloquent words thrown into your phrasing, but still.
You know what, who cares!? You're having fun. “Ha! Not so magical and powerful now huh!?” You taunt the dude.
“I'm still magical... Now we’re just both magical,” he responds, maintaining his confused, unsure face.
“But we’re not both powerful!!” You boast. You then raise your hands back out and spawn your bow. You swipe an arrow and before the goat can response, you gleefully shoot one towards him. You pay no mind to whether the hit was successful or not. What matters is you totally crushed him and asserted your dominance.
Your turn eventually ends. Leaving you and Berdly back at square one with a few upgrades (just one small upgrade).
You two felt on top of the world. Even though you guys were totally losing, your attitude didn't present that image. The smoke had even begun getting manageable. Who knows maybe by engaging with your delusion enough the dream would think it’s true.
“Aw... how sad. Look at them, Berdly. Don't you just pity their poor uneducated minds.” you mock with faux sympathy. You are fully committed to the part now. Berdly plays along spectacularly. Probably because for him this is not a bit.
“Truly, I do. Their world view is too biased and deluded to see the brilliance of this Smartopia.” Berdly throws his halberd out, letting it dissolve in the air. “They're too limited by their own stupidity to recognize our perceptive intelligence.”
You laugh at his statement bringing your hand to your mouth for flair, “you know, it would almost be humorous if I wasn’t soooooooooooooooooooo empathic” you place a hand against your chest, cooing your words.
“Ha! Indeed, it would!” he strikes his wing into the air, letting his index finger point up, “to bad they won't be able to beat us two!” he laughs. You decide to really play into what he perceives your role to be. Just for the funsies. Maybe it'll even get some sort of new rise out of him.
“Yes, they could never best us, especially not you” you coo bringing your hand to his silver-plated chest. What! You're not flirting. You're just having fun. It's all a dream anyway! “You're just so brave, you're my-” you can’t believe you're saying this. You’ve gotten far to into character. Abort! Abort! “-Knight in glow in dark armor!”
You don't even cringe or have a moment of realization. You're too far gone. Through his armor and its small, short-lived movement you can feel how he stiffens up under your touch. You look into his eyes, which are nervously looking anywhere but you, and take notice of the dark blush covering his cheeks. He’s flustered!? He’s flustered and you really, really, really like the sight of it. That same giddy feeling from earlier comes back in full throttle. You’re ready to keep pocking and prodding at him until he literally melts under your gaze. “You're just so... what's the word... smart?” He lets you stay close to him, and you watch as all his confidence and more slowly seeps back into his once rigid body. It's obvious he’s still nervous, but he's not faking his confidence either. He’s nervous for another reason.
Berdly adds his own addition to your comments, "Why thank you! I mean the moment they stepped into battle with moi, they were already doomed, but now with our combined intelligence we're unstoppable!” Berdly lets out another sturdier laugh that you follow with a cackle.
So much for not playing into the trope bird boy.
Out of the corner of your eye, you spot Susie saying something to Kris. Maybe she's encouraging them to attack or make their move? For whatever reason they seem to be at a bit of a standstill for the moment. This is good. This gives you time to figure something out. Breaking character, you turn to Berdly.
“Berdly” you whisper, huddling closer, “I think the coasters about to go down.”
“What!? Psh. Don’t say such silly things” he shrugs you off with a wave of the wing and a snort. He is not at all aware of the danger of the smoke presents. In fact, he’s still gaining momentum from your affectionate comments. Yeah, sorry Berdly, but you got to burst his bubble.
“Smoke means something is wrong with the coaster. By bumping us, they're slowly destroying our cart. If we don't stop them... then... I don't know! We lose! And by the looks of that engine in the back, we are very close to losing.” This catches Berdly’s attention. He drops the facade and looks worried now. “I mean... I... I knew the smoke wasn’t really benefiting us... I just wasn't aware of how close to destruction we truly were.” He’s listening to you and being genuine. Something you deeply appreciate.
“Right so any ideas?” You ask.
“Uh...”
The sound of oncoming tracks can be heard from ahead. Ah crap.
“Never mind! Brace yourself!” giving into fate you clutch onto his fluffy feathers and silver armour, praying for the best. He's just as fast, if not faster, to grab onto you.
In an act of the fastest quick thinking, you’ve ever managed to manage, you bring out your free hand, close your eyes, and muster a new spell. Come on, come on, come on, come on. Defense. You need something defensive. You feel something take shape. A familiar hot, green, ball of energy. You swiftly meld it into something, anything, hopefully a wall, and project it out.
Opening your eyes you're meet with Kris ramming towards you and then-
BAM
Nothing.
The coaster didn’t take the impact, but you did. The damage inflicted on the wall hits you like a rock and although your health doesn’t physically decrease, you do feel dizzier than before.
Opening your eyes, you see the coaster is safe and in front of it stands a magnificently small, but somewhat sturdy, magical green wall.
“Wow...” Berdly breathlessly murmurs.
“Yeah, wow” you stare, somehow less impressed by your own actions than him.
Before you can think it over, another coaster comes riding in. Susie slides forward in a purple flash, she rams into the wall, shaking it and you up. Then she hacks her axe into it. An unwanted crack in the wall takes shape. As she rides back to her original spot, it doesn't take long for said crack to grow into something bigger. You take a breath hoping the turns over, but then you realize. The goat kid hadn’t cast a spell this time around.
Out of nowhere a dark, harsher flash of green comes speeding towards you. This time your wall burst on impact and the cart pounds into you coaster. You hear a crack adjacent to the sound of bones snapping. It's not pretty. A new gust of smoke sputters out enveloping you and Berdly.
The two of you are still holding on to the other when he turns to you in horror, “Is that what I think it is?” He whispers.
Slowly, you face him, nod your head, and whisper back, “yeah. Let's at least go out with style, okay?” you ask, eyes coincidentally matching the scene by welling up with tears from the smoke.
He nods back, holding his head high “Gamer style.”
Okay you didn't say allat but whatever.
“Okay pose.” You nudge him. You both bravely face your opponents through the smoke, remaining stoic and sure despite your inevitable loss. His wings find their way around your waist, and your arms wrap around his shoulders. You lean your head against his feathers posing for the invisible camera. He stiffens ever so slightly.
“Well,” he begins, “it appears you have bested us. I suppose bumper cars may be the exception to the usual and superior brains over brawns tactic.” He finishes solemnly.
Not enough flair, not enough pizzaz. We need a bigger ending.
“But don't forget!” you both huddle up to each other striking a pose. “You may have won the battle-” Berdly joins in on your final words,
“-but you didn't win the war!”
“But you didn't win the war!”
The cart suddenly blasts with one tremendous shake, sending the two of you off the side, still tangled together. “BYE SUCKERS!” You blow a raspberry even though they probably wouldn't see it. It didn't matter to you. And with that you’re sent tumbling into the depths of this city.
You hope the landing Queen promised is at least a soft one.