Near Pirman

"Hey, Leader, I think we're here!" Mordecai at the reins called out to Blake after seeing Pirman in the distance.

"Seriously!" Blake popped his head out from inside the cart and sat next to Mordecai. "That's it, huh? It looks like that kid's guild did a good job with those Lizardfolk." He scanned the area of any battle damage, but everything seemed fine, heck some kids were playing outside the town's wall as the cart rolled on by

"Well, that's expected; from what I hear most guilds owned by the Ovis are pretty good which means us too," Mordecai added, smirking as the cart came to a stop at the town gate where a pair of guards stood.

"What business do you have here?" One of the guards asked, coming up to Blake and Mordecai while the other circled the cart to inspect it.

"We're here to meet up with a guild that came here a few days ago. They handled your lizard problem, right? Are they still here?" Blake answered, looking around for any signs of them. "Shit, I should have asked that goat what they looked like."

"Oh? They're still here at the biggest inn in a town, I think?" The guard pointed over at a tall building off in the distance. "The town chief's been treating them real nice since they decided to stay a while. I'm guessing that's something to do with you lot, what might that be?"

"Just a friendly exchange between guilds nothing too extreme sir!" Mordecai answered, throwing a wave and a smile at the guard that seemed all too forced.

"Yeah...sure? Caused no trouble." The guard kept a brow raised as they let the cart pass.

"Will do!" Mordecai assured, giving Nash's reins a crack to move a bit faster. "Well, we know they're here. Guess, it's time to put on our game faces on."

"Hah!" At that Rena appeared from atop the cart. "We've always got our game faces on! Right, Lu!?" She whipped her head around at Lu currently napping on a giant dandelion seed. "HEY! I'm trying to make us look good here! Wake up! Rena Ki-Ugh!" The moment she came flying in, Lu shot up and caught her.

"Then this is good right?" Lu asked as he held Rena upside down, forcing her to keep her skirt up. "And I wasn't sleeping I was trying to listen."

"For what?" Blake looked up at Lu a bit curiously. "What would he have to be listening for out here?"

"Saffire, she hasn't come back from flying yet. I was kind of worried of...you know? Of a Dragon suddenly swooping down from on high after a tribe of Lizardfolk got beaten. That usually means you did the wrong thing." Lu explained, looking up at the sky for any signs of the Dragon.

"Don't worry about it! If it comes to that I can explain things," Blake waved a hand at the topic, but it did nothing to stop Lu from keeping his eyes and more importantly his ears skyward as they continued.

Town Inn

"And with my mighty axe in hand, I slew the beast like so!" Currently standing on top of a table was Rouge, swinging a wooden mug around while another was getting downed with his helmet still on. "Hahaha! Another round for the people!"

"YYYEEAAHHH!" A roar of cheers escaped the crowd surrounding Rouge as he went on with his stories.

"Thanks for the coin! Sir Knight! Haha!" From a table in the back of the inn, a group of men made off with big winnings, leaving only Azul sprawled out in defeat.

"Ugh, why I didn't use my lucky coin?" The blue knight asked himself, rolling his copper coin across the table.

"How would that help? Weren't you playing with dice when I left you to your foolish games?" Asked Weiss, holding a tray of drinks in hand.

"Yeah, yeah, it's what I get for trying to play fair." Azul shrugged as he got up about ready to make his way off to his room. "Huh?" Only for Weiss to set the tray on his head. "I know I have a flat head, but why?" He asked, bobbing his head from side to side without spilling a drop.

"That's for them." Weiss pointed at a window, finding Greenbit peering inside right at Azul and Geel sitting quietly while blocking out half of the outside. "And since you didn't win big like usual...I guess there's a need for another loan?" He offered, bringing out a coin pouch.

"Why thank you, captain!" Azul gladly snatched the pouch, making it disappear in his robes. "But you know, Weiss? If you keep this up, you'll never get out of that girl's hold."

"Heh, if I did that, then who would help you fools with your debts?" Weiss asked the blue knight taking the sit he once had. "Oh? And while you're out there be on the lookout for our coming opponents, they should be here by now."

"Sure thing! If they come by, I'll find you!" Azul bowed his head to Weiss, still keeping the drinks from falling as he weaved through the crowd of people to the front door. "I've got refre-!" The moment he got outside, Greenbit jumped over him to grab a mug. "-shments..."

"Took you long enough!" Greenbit snapped at Azul then started lapping up the ale like he was a dog.

"If you weren't so damn creepy, I'm sure they would've let you in," Azul said under his breath leaving Greenbit to see about Geel. "One honey mend for one giant yellow teddy bear."

Like the sound of grinding stone, Geel's armored head turned to Azul and reached out from the mug. "I...am...not...a...ted-"

"You're a big scary lion got it!" Azul cut Geel short then sat down in the giant's crossed legs. "Any sign of that guild on its way to kick our asses yet? Captain asked me to check, buuuut you've been outside the whole time so got anything?"

"Your ass maybe, Kukuku!" Greenbit chuckled while taking bites out of his mug. "I haven't heard a thing form the people yet, not like I'm creepy or anything, right? Azzzzzzul!" He added, coming up to Azul and let his pair of snake tongues taste the air around Azul's ears.

"Geel...do you have anything?" Azul asked, trying his best to ignore the oddity that was Greenbit and choose to look up at the yellow giant, drinking their mend held between their pointer finger and thumb along with a pinky held out. "I'm surrounded by weirdos." He said in a whisper.

"I...am...not...werid..." Geel stated hearing what the blue knight said. "And...I...am...not...sure...if...it...is...them...bu-"

"You picked up on some people entering the town?" Azul finished for Geel, getting a nod from the giant. "Ugh! That's just great, and the whole team's not here at the moment...for someone so excited about this fight why'd Du have to go off monster hunting again." He nagged at how every day since they got news about this, the black knight was off 'training' as she called it. "*sigh* How can one guy get that beast of a woman so worked up? Must be an ex or something..." Azul decided to take a lay down on Geel's legs to think/nap on that. "Hmm?"

But didn't get much time to do either as a large cart bearing a sign that read: Blake's Blazing Smithy, rolled up to the inn. "!" Causing each of the 3 knights to rise to their feet the moment they read the sign.

"Hey, is this the biggest inn in town?" Blake asked the knights, thinking that they were a group of town guard having a break.

"Ugh, yeah?" Azul reluctantly answered of the 3, not too sure if Blake was trying to trick them or something. "Are you the owner of that cart by chance?"

"Yep, that's me! Blake, The Smith!" Blake jabbed a thumb to his chest and put a cocky smirk on his face. "My friends and I are looking for a guild that came here and a few days ago. Happens to know where they are?"

"Wait...? Don't tell me the young Lady forgot to tell them who we are?" Azul wondered, watching Blake look around for the guild right in front of him. "Well, that might be a good thing, that way they don't know a thing about us...but this is the guy Du talks about, huh?" He thought, looking Blake up and down but other then the smith's muscular physique he didn't seem like much. "Hmm? Neither did Du, and she almost cost me an arm..." Thinking back to the first time, he met the black knight on a quest. "Well, looks like you're in luck friend cause I happen to know where they are right now."

"That so?" Blake muttered, getting off the cart to greet the 3 knights, having some questionable looks for Greenbit and Geel. "You guys don't really look like town guard now that I get a better look at you."

"That's cause we aren't, friend! We are the Ra-"

"The righteous Rainbow Knights!" Crashing through a window with a mug in one hand and his fire axe in the other was Rouge. "Ahaha!" He nearly rammed into Nash if the horse didn't go up on his hind legs. "For glory!" He cheered while rolling on the ground until he came to a stop by going face first into a stack of hay bales which then went up in flames thanks to his axe. "And I am! Rouge, The Just!" He did a dynamic pose as an explosion went off behind him.

"Wha?" Blake, Mordecai and even Azul looked at the display before them, trying to guess if they should be amazed or worried.

"That's awesome! Woooo!" Rena cheered with stars in her eyes and broke the awaked silence that had befallen the sight as Rouge's leftover flames blazed on behind him. "He did this! And that! And this!" She mimicked the pose Rouge did with a storm of flower petals behind her.

"Haha! That's the spirit young one! Your pose is on point!" Rouge held a flaming thumbs up at Rena, finding a like-minded friend. "Azul, Greenbit, Geel! Why didn't you join me in our glorious coordinative posing!?" He pointed a mighty finger at the three other knights.

"Cause your the only who does that..." Azul answered, turning back to Blake while pointing at Rouge. "What he said; We are the Rainbow Knights, currently in servi-"

"Owned..." Greenbit, Geel, and Rouge all corrected Azul with each of them holding up an Ovis badge.

"Right...owned by her ladyship Angelica Ovis, I am Azul, The Gambit." Azul introduced himself then held a hand to Geel. "The giant of iron here is Geel, The Loud. I do most of the talking for them cause they're s-."

Geel placed their large hand on Azul's head, forcing him down to a knee. "That is..."

"Not true but I do it anyway cause I like teasing you right?" Azul cut in jabbing at Geel's legs. "The green one's Greenbit, The..."

"Adorable, kuku!" Greenbit chuckled as he was sizing up Nash of all things making the horse back away slowly. "Your horse ain't worth eating! He's all musssscleeeee!" A pair of tongues this time those of a dog came out twisting and dripping spit near Nash.

"!" Safe to say Nash did everything in his power to get away from Greenbit dragging the cart along with him.

"What is with your drivi-ahhh!?" Nathan threw the side door open only to get tossed out when Nash made a quick turn. "Are we under attack?!"

"Sir Nathan, are you alright?" Risabeel poked her head out, looking down at Nathan after watching him fall.

"Don't worry about him, he's fine." Baba came up behind her as they got off, letting Nash hide behind a building nearby. "!" He peeked a little only to get stared at by Greenbit.

"No, but it looks like we found that guild we were after," Blake answered Nathan while pulling the mage to feet and stared at the four knights before them. "So, is that all of you? Cause you said rainbow, but I only count four colors."

"Oh, don't get me started on that..." Azul rolled his eyes at the question. "...one of them is off hunting monster, and our captain is..."

"Right here." Weiss appeared in the middle of Blake's group spear at the ready.

"Wha!?" All of them snapped their heads at the white knight. "!?" But the moment they did, he was at the head of his knights.

"Greetings, I am Weiss, The Flash, captain of her ladyship Angelica's Rainbow Knights." Weiss grabbed his cape, and with a flurry, he threw it over his four knights with only Rouge taking a fighting stance. "Thank you, Rouge I always admire your ethics."

"Ahaha! Anytime, sir! Anytime!" Rouge rubbed at where his nose would be if he weren't wearing a helmet. "I'm willing to do whatever it takes to earn your respect, captain!"

"Good, then I shall be taking that as an agreement to cut your earnings for the damages caused today," Weiss informed the red knight while pointing at the broken window partly on fire.

"Sir! Yes! Sir! Shall I bash my face in as added punishment!" Rouge offered as if it was his duty to do so, already holding onto Geel's arm to ram his head into it. "Ah? I should take my helmet off as well!"

Thankfully Weiss stopped him before he got anywhere. "That would be the best course of action, but we have a battle coming up, so depending on its outcome we shall have lady Angelica give out acceptable rewards and punishments..." He paused to look at the rest of his knights. "...that goes for the rest of you as well."

"Ugh!.../What?" Azul held a hand to his face, followed by Geel, and Greenbit was looking at a butterfly the whole time.

"Well, they sure are...colorful, right?" Mordecai jokingly asked as Blake's group looked at their soon to be opponents.

"I would not take a foe so likely," Nathan warned the thief with his hands resting on his spellbooks. "Hmm?" While doing that he noticed Blake with a serious look to him. "I know you were more focus than normal with this undertaking, but you've gotten a bit too focus, smith, it is unsettling..."

"Yeah, it's creepy, I feel like I should listen to you more," Rena muttered, floating around Blake giving him and questioning look. "Hmm?" Following his eyes, she saw a murder of crows in the sky. "Are they getting closer?" Looking more at them, the crows were all flocking over something that was making its way towards the inn.

"The black knight returns..." Azul smirked, turning to see Du marching slowly towards them. "...and she has been busy."

The headless body of a large green scaled Lizardfolk twice the size of an average person and dressed as a chieftain was stabbed through Du's sword, leaving a trail of blood behind her as she kept walking.

"DU! You've finally returned! And with excellent timing! That guild wanting to fight us has arrived!" Rouge ran right up to Du stopping ahead of her to wave at his fellow knight. "Would you like me to help with that load? My pride as a righteous knight cannot..." He kept going even as Du walked right past him. "...allow a woman even one such as yourself to undertake such a task."

"Good, then hold this..." Du took the offer, sliding the body off her sword then reached behind her cape and pulled out the head of the Lizardfolk chieftain from her belt and dropped it to the ground. "And this too." Then she took off and handed her helmet to Rouge, revealing a head of shagging platinum blonde hair in a pixie cut with a pair of sky blue eyes belonging to a woman around the age of 20. Some smalls cuts and nicks marked her face, the largest of which was a gash on her neck that went down to her chest with the rest unseen by her armor.

"And now there's a black one. Aren't they missing a few colors?" Baba playfully hummed, watching all knights at once with Du still marching towards them as Blake started walking up to her. "Hmm? Hubby?" Like the rest of Blake's party she looked on curiously as Blake, and the black knight met between the to guilds.

"Great to see you, Gwyndolin!" Blake wholeheartedly greeted the knight with a right hook to the side of her face, all with a cheery smile stuck on his face. "Heh, your head got harder!" He rubbed his knuckles, feeling like he hit a stone wall.

"Right back at you, Blake!" Gwyndolin stabbed her sword into the ground and shot back with a gut punch that picked Blake off his feet. "And you're a lot tougher!" She smirked, watching Blake holding his ground after coming back down.

"Well, since you left, I've been training! Orge-Girl!" Blake went for an uppercut that made the black knight take a step back.

"So have I! Pepper-Boy!" Gwyndolin brought her head back down on Blake's, resulting in a gonging sound between the two. "Huh!?" But the Smith pushed back against her, keeping them locked like two goats butting heads. "Look at the little brat that used to follow me around!" She grabbed at Blake's shoulders to push him down.

"You're the one that followed me! Jackass!" Blake did the same, and now the two were trying to get the other in some kind of hold.

"Do any of you know what's going on over there?" Weiss asked, appearing near Blake's party with an honest look of total confusion on his face. "She's usually this rough, but this is too fast." He added as Blake and Gwyndolin were now on the ground trying pin the other down.

"I do not know at all, Knight Weiss..." Risabeel answered for them. "...it would usually take Sir Blake a few moments before deciding to attack another person that annoys him greatly, but I must agree this is..."

"Tap out! Tap out! Or I'll break it!" Blake screamed in Gwyndolin's face putting her in a choke hold while their legs were locked together.

"Gugh! I'll break you first!" Gwyndolin rolled over to her back putting Blake under her and started ramming her elbow into his ribs, forcing him to let her go. "Get your ass back here!" When Blake tried to get up, she pulled him back down by grabbing his right hand with her own and made the two stare at each other while flat on their stomachs. "Tomato head! Spot us!" She yelled at Rouge as the muscles in her's and Blake's arms bugled out.

Rouge ran and slid down to meet them, placing his hand over theirs. "One round! No do-overs! And you are allowed to grip the earth!" He declared to the whole crowd which had grown beyond the two guilds with some of the inn-goers coming out to see what was going on.

"10 silver! 5 copper! 3 gold!" Many of who were placing bets with Azul and Mordecai on collection duty.

"When I lift my hand, the battle beings!" Rouge yelled at the two competitors, both nobbing back to him. "Ready! Set! G-!"

"RRRAAAAHHH!" The moment Rouge raised his hand slightly off Blake's and Gwyndolin's hands, the two roared. And like the snapping of a finger, it was over with a small crater left behind by Blake's hand being caved into the ground thankfully this part of town wasn't paved in stone.

"Dammit!" Blake screamed into the heavens both in pain and at himself for losing but mostly pain after pulling his hand free with the whole thing going numb.

"ARGGGH!" The half of the crowd on Blake's side groaned as they threw their hands into the air and strangely Azul was on that side slowly banging his head on Geel's shield.

"YEAH!" Over on the black knight's side, Mordecai was locked in arms with a pair of men after winning big.

"Hah! That's 11 wins, 10 losses, and 47 draws! Hehehe" Gwyndolin shot up from the ground, punching and giggling like a child that won a game of tag. "So? How've you been, short stack!?" She slapped Blake on the back and placed a friendly arm shoulder the smith's shoulder.

"Gwyn! Come on! You're only a few inches taller now!" Blake pushed himself up to meet Gwyndolin's height walking over to his group while butting heads along the way but did put an arm over her shoulder and looked like the best of friends. "This isn't all of them, but this is the guild I'm in charge of!" He showed the others to Gwyndolin then held a hand to the knight. "Guys, this is Gwyndolin, she's from Fairmaw like me and..."

"I am this fool's best friend! Thanks for watching him for me! And you can call me Gwyn, the dolin's too fancy for me, heh!" Gwyn let out a little giggle as she looked over Blake's group. "Yours are just as weird as mine, I think." She admitted, seeing a girl with horns, a floating girl, an Elfin girl, a Fairy girl, some thief with a bag of money and..."Useless mage?"

"Idiotic knight..." Nathan answered, crossing his arms as he looked at Gwyn who along with Blake, stared back at him wide-eyed asking; 'what was going on here?' "...I had the unfortunate fate of being trapped in a dungeon for a week with this fool sometime last year before I met you, smith."

"Hey! You're the one that set off the trap!" Gwyn leered at Nathan, jabbing a finger at him that made him flinch. "Heh! Still just a chicken!"

"That was only because 'you' thought it was such a brilliant idea to throw me down a tunnel!" Nathan shot back pulling at Gwyn's chest armor, bringing her down to his height. "Why did you even follow me!? I was fine on my own and until you came in!"

"Hands off!" Gwyn slapped Nathan away, stepping back a little. "I just came down there after hearing about some loot! Besides! Once you got your little toy, you teleported out and left me!"

"Mage..." Blake slowly turned to Nathan with Risabeel doing the same, reminding him of what he did.

"I admit that I get excited about magical items, but you were able to find your way out didn't you all?" Nathan tried to defend himself as best he could, slowly becoming smaller under the gaze of Blake, Risabeel, Gwyn, and Nash?

"~!~" Actually Nash was looking at Gwyn licking the side of her face and gave her a cowlick or in this case a horselick.

"Nash! Look at you! You're so big!" Gwyn wrapped her arms around Nash's head, rubbing hers against his. "Heh!" When she broke off, Nash licked her again, and her hair was back to normal but sticker "But you're still the same you ass!" She patted him one more time, getting hot air blown at her for her comment. "Sorry, Mr. Highbreed." She looked over the cart with Blake giving her a quick tour of everything.

"Look at them? They just got done with some weird friendship greeting, and now they're like that." Rena was weirded out by how well Blake and Gwyn were getting along now.

"Well, all friends act differently, Rena, even we're odd, right?" Lu asked, but only got a blank stare from her. "What? Aren't we friends?"

"Hmph!" Rena flew off to Risabeel's side going into her hood.

"Now, now, the two of you should not be fighting at all." Risabeel lightly petted Rean with a finger. "..." Then went back to watching Blake and Gwyn acting bubby-bubby with eachother as if they were never apart and left the Demon tugging at her chest.

"~Oh~ even you feel it too?" Baba cooed, lazily floating next to Risabeel.

"Baba? What are you going on about?" Risabeel got a bit of a shock when the Ala came up to her.

"~It's nothing~ your womanly instincts are just acting up," Baba answered vaguely before turning to Blake and Gwyn. "And Mama doesn't like that..."

Chapter End