Rocky

Rocky has been feeling… restless since the battle with the Harbinger. He had thought he could keep his skill subtle, practicing his affinities and supporting Leo and Honey. Almost all the subterfuge went out the window when the Harbinger killed his fellow scions. Even knowing they’d respawn, he still felt their loss.

And with the Harbinger broadcasting its smug superiority at their defeat… well, he couldn’t take that lying down. He’s honestly surprised he didn’t lay into the monster with his fists, and kept to only leveraging his affinities. For a brief moment, he got a glimpse of what they could be used for, the walls between the affinities falling away to give a glimpse of the potential behind them.

It’s no wonder Coach is careful about letting those secrets out. Rocky is just glad the Harbinger was broadcasting its disbelief up until the moment it finally died. He’d hate to have given something like that a look at the secrets of Coach Thedeim.

After the Harbinger died, it was practically a workout cooldown to deal with the little demon things, especially with the help of the other denizens. The smaller monstrosities were simple enough to round up and squash, thanks to Leo’s tactics getting him into a good position. All Rocky had to do was sweep them through the disoriented forces the Harbinger left behind.

While he can’t quite wrap his head around the aftermath on the scale of the entire field, he’s been working on wrapping his head around how he’s changed. For starters, his sonic affinity feels solidified now, almost as much a part of his skillset as fire, ice, and kinetic. He wants to put on his gloves and work out his body to be able to use it, too, but he needs to wait until he gets back to Coach for that. But that’s not the only affinity he’s feeling closer to.

He can feel lightning calling to him, and his sonic affinity calling back to it. Those two are linked by something deeper than just thunder following lightning. He’d have it backwards if that was the only link between the two. Something about how sonic moves…

But he has another affinity he can feel close to, though he can’t figure out how it links to his others. When the Harbinger tried to attack him, he could feel it and react. He’s certain it was something Honey did, though he’s not sure what. He could feel her defenses taking the blows, and could feel what they were defending, at least vaguely. Then he could feel the haymaker punch incoming, and his boxing instincts kicked in, and he ducked the blow.

He’s been trying to recreate that feeling, but hasn’t had much success yet. Hopefully he can talk with Honey about it before he heads back home. Coach knows he can’t talk about it here, no matter how much the Stag probably wants him to.

The Stag met him at the border when he returned, looking antsy. Looking back on it, Rocky can’t blame him. Coach would probably be nervous if a dungeon was protecting him and lost two out of three scions. The amount of mana he was carrying probably didn’t help the Stag’s nerves, either.

“Is it over? What happened? The expeditions said something big came out of the hole, and then I could feel… whatever that was. It interrupted the report.”

Rocky nodded and grunted.

“Dead? Then we’re safe?”

This time the grunt was accompanied by a shake of Rocky’s rotten head.

“What do you mean?” insisted the Stag, and Rocky got the feeling that, if he had hands, he’d be wringing them. A few more grunts gave a few more details, not that the Stag seemed happy to be hearing them.

“An enemy scion? A dungeon then…” The stag looked off into the distance past Rocky, towards the battle, as if he could see through the trees and the distance. “I see. I’ll… I’ll confer with the returning expeditions and see what my Lord wishes to do.”

That was fine by Rocky. Even though Coach was seeming to be pretty proud of him, he’d like a bit of time to relax. He just sat on a stump, going over everything for a while, hardly noticing when the sun set. He only realized how long he had been sitting there when the first rays of sunlight caused him to squint.

Why hadn’t the Stag come to talk to him? The scion always seemed a bit of a busy body to Rocky, the type to come demanding answers as soon as he had questions. Rocky’s mind might literally be rotten, but there’s no way the Stag doesn’t have more questions about what happened than the Southwoods’ denizens can answer. So why leave him be for so long?

He decided he should probably go see what’s up. He asked a few denizens, and they quickly let him know the Stag would come find him in a few minutes. That seemed strange to Rocky, but what could he do? The Southwood is huge. If he went stomping off to try to find the Stag, it’d take him days, if he could find him at all.

So he sat on his stump, wishing he had his mouthguard to chew on while he waited. At least he wasn’t waiting long. The Stag bounded into the small clearing, looking to Rocky more rushed than graceful. The situation only seemed to get weirder when the Stag gave him a deep bow, his antlers brushing the ground before he straightened.

“My Lord wishes to give his deepest thanks, as well as a heartfelt apology. He knows respawning your two lost scions will likely not be recouped by the mana from your victory." He meets Rocky’s eyes, and the zombie scion could feel the sincerity in his next words. “Please claim my head to help pay my Lord’s debt. This is not a threat he can be victorious against, and you’ve wasted enough of your resources trying to help us.”

Rocky just stared for a few seconds, utterly out of his depth. Sure, it’s probably not cheap to respawn Honey and Leo, but Coach has probably already recouped the loss just from the delvers back home. He tried to get Coach’s attention, but he seemed to be busy. It was all up to Rocky.

He would have no problem doing as the Stag asked, but it sounded like the Southwood was almost trying to say goodbye, not just trying to give Coach more mana. He grunted a question at the Stag, who looked a little confused.

“Why? You’re… you’re pulling out, correct? Even with my Lord’s tithe of seeds and plants, you’ve surely spent more mana than you’ve gained. We… we’d be a burden to you in this fight, a wounded fawn in the herd while the wolves circle. We should give you what we can, and hope that Harbinger and its dungeon are sated with-”

Rocky grunted a negative at that, cutting the Stag off, before grinning and explaining.

“He’s not…? Why not?!” Rocky holds up a hand to keep the Stag from ranting about why the Coach should abandon them. Sure, it might be a smart move, but the Coach isn’t one to do the sacrifice play.

“But… why?” Asked the Stag again, looking baffled and just trying to understand.

Rocky gave a firm grunt. That Harbinger is something Coach doesn’t intend to just let be. Something is wrong with it, and Coach is going to stop it before it can get too strong.

He could see the Stag was still lost, so Rocky gave him a grin and one more grunt. That was only round one. Once he can get this mana back to Coach, he’s going to be back for round two.

The Stag looked lost in thought for minutes, before shaking himself and remembering he was technically in the middle of a conversation. “Then… if you’re certain you don’t need more mana… would you like a few of my Lord’s denizens? Some noticed your Warden was a transfer, and expressed an interest in joining you, should the opportunity arise?”

Rocky could only shrug at that. He’s not the Voice, so he doesn’t know if Coach is in the market for more spawners, and he can’t really ask. Still, it wasn’t difficult to guess the Voice would be coming with the reinforcements to chase down and sniff out that dungeon.

The days after that were a bit awkward. Rocky is pretty sure the Stag is just trying to come to terms with the fact that he’s not the baddest on the block anymore, and that he doesn’t actually have to be. It’s one thing to get punched in the mouth, but it’s another thing to have someone else take that punch and square up to take a few more.

As he watches from the southern border of the Southwood, he can feel the reinforcements coming. They’ll probably get here today. He can’t help but grin as he imagines the Southwood’s reaction to seeing more of Coach’s scions. This roster is deep and strong. That dungeon out there better have a lot more to throw at them than just the Harbinger. Otherwise, Fluffles might finish this fight before Rocky can even get back