Chapter Forty-Four: The Outer Knights of the Last Order

"So let me get this straight."
Charlie stood in the back yard, one arm in a sling. "You can
make the recoil on the Lucky Seven Gun look non-existent but you can
barely pick up the Lions Claw Blade?!"

"IT'S HEAVY." Was the sullen
reply.

The logic behind this latest exercise
was that with Charlie out of commission until his shoulder healed, it
would be beneficial for Belle to be able to use the Lions Claw Blade.
Given that the Lions Claw Blade was now stuck firmly in the ground in
the backyard, one could surmise that the exercise was going poorly.

"I'm flabbergasted. How are you
NOT able to swing a simple sword around?" Thomas shook his head.

"Same way you couldn't fire a gun
if your life depended on it." Peter came to his daughters
defence.

"It's a piece of metal, you simply
swing it around and hit people with it!" Thomas cried.

"I think you're seriously
underselling the art of sword-fighting." Peter replied.

"What would YOU know?" Thomas
glared at his best friend.

"Obviously more than you!"
Peter got riled up.

"You saying I'm dumb?"

"No need, it's plainly obvious to
anyone with a brain!"

Enraged, Thomas slapped Peter.
Infuriated, Peter slapped Thomas back…look, for the dignity of both
men, let's not go into the specifics of what happened next, other
than to say Charlie quickly grabbed the Lions Claw Blade and took off
with Belle as to not be seen with the pair.

–

Of course, no matter how bad Belles
training was going, the world wasn't going to stop. Not even a week
after Charlie got shot, Ruby Daryl decided to wreck some havoc. Not
trying to steal anything or help take out a historical monument to
create space for progress, he just wanted to get out and hurt people.

He's not a very nice person.

“There's no point in carrying this on
Ruby, your Ruby Weapons can't hurt me and I'll be lucky to get a shot
in with the Lucky Seven Gun. Why don't we both just go home and call
it a day?” Giggles tried to reason with the bully, both of them
hovering above Pleasantville Central Park.

“Get stuffed. That Backpack of yours
will give out eventually, then you're screwed.” Ruby Daryl smirked.

“Not really, I think I can make your
life miserable from the ground.” Giggles folded her arms.

“Oh really?” Ruby Daryl readied
himself to attack.

“Either way, I can stop you from
hurting people.” Giggles said.

“Even without your little boyfriend?”
Ruby Daryl sneered.

“She's still got us!” Sir Hypers
faint voice could be heard somewhere below them.

“What he said.” Giggles shrugged.
“Now will you please sod off or do I have to bop you?”

Ruby Daryl laughed.

“Come on then, come and get me!” He
readied himself for an attack.

Giggles grinned to herself and flew
towards Ruby Daryl, who started floating upwards.

Or, rather, Giggles started sinking
downwards.

“This is embarrassing.” Giggles
groaned as she landed squarely on her backside again.

“You make this too easy!” Ruby
Daryl howled with laughter. He threw a Ruby Shard at her, making her
flinch unnecessarily as it hit her, not having any affect.

“Whatever Ruby, I can still stop you
from hurting people down here!” Giggles yelled angrily.

“And we can help!” Sir Dark piped
up as Sir Hedgehog helped Giggles to her feet.

“Oh really? Let's see how you can
deal with this!” Ruby Daryl began to form Ruby Shards in both
hands. When he had ten, he started flinging them in all directions.

“Scatter!” Sir Lionheart cried. The
Knights of the Last Order rushed to stop the Ruby Shards as Giggles
tried to hit the Shoulder Fuses on Ruby Daryl. Ruby Daryl was wise to
this strategy however, and formed two Ruby Shields to protect them.
Laughing, he formed more Ruby Shards and kept throwing them, mixing
in some Ruby Blasts for the fun of it.

The Knights tried to block the Ruby
Weapons with whatever they could, but soon their limbs got hit and
they started falling, none of them having the immunity to the Ruby
Power that Giggles had.

“So Giggles, do you still think you
can stop me?” Ruby Daryl grinned as the Knights lay wounded.

“I won't stop trying until I do!”
Giggles snapped. She racked her brains. She had about fifteen minutes
until the numbness from the Ruby Shards wore off and the Knights of
the Last Order could help again. If Ruby Daryl fired off Ruby Shards
in all directions again, then it was almost a certainty that someone
innocent was going to get hurt.

Ruby Daryl readied his next lot of Ruby
Shards as Giggles pulled out the Lucky Seven Gun and fired. Ruby
Daryl was about to laugh that she'd missed, when he heard a loud
“Clang!” behind him.

A small throwing star landed on the
ground. Ruby Daryl realised that if Giggles hadn't shot the star out
from the sky, then he'd be dead. He looked towards where it had come
from, and saw three figures standing on a rooftop.

Two of them were female, with long,
flowing red hair. They wore beautiful one-piece suits that covered
from their feet to their necks, including their dainty fingers, and
they both had beautiful masks covering their faces. One was gold, and
the other was silver. Behind them in a very professional-looking
white suit was a man with a similar mask on his face.

“What did you do that for Giggles?! I
almost had him!” The one in silver yelled angrily. In her hands
were a mess of throwing stars.

“Because I'm in this business to save
lives!” Giggles roared back.

“You're saving the wrong ones, try
saving innocent people in future!” The gold one leapt to the
ground, in her hands a weird yo-yo looking thing in the shape of the
sun, with the rays being golden blades sticking out of the yo-yo. The
other two jumped down behind her, the one in white shouldering his
bow and wearing a quiver of white arrows.

“Get out of here, let the
professionals handle this, little girl.” The white one walked over
to Giggles and shoved her aside.

“Rude!” Giggles scowled.

Ruby Daryl looked at the scene
unfolding. “Man, I don't need this drama. I'm going to go and see
what Mum's got on for me for dinner. See yas!” He turned to fly
away.

“Not so fast.” The one in while
loaded up his bow with an arrow. Just as he fired, Giggles slammed
him to the ground, sending the arrow flying into a nearby bush.

“YOU LITTLE WITCH!” The one in
white roared in fury.

“I. Save. Lives.” Giggles scowled
at him. “Who the hell are you?!”

“Sir Moonlight, if you must know.”
The man stood up and glared at her. “My associates are Lady
Sunlight and Lady Starlight, and I think even YOU can figure out
which is which.”

“No, I couldn't actually.” Giggles
spat sarcastically.

“We,” Lady Starlight walked over to
them. “Are the Outer Knights of the Last Order.”

“YOU ARE NOT!” Sir Lionheart raced
over, livid, his Ruby wound healed. “You will NEVER be a part of
the Last Order if you insist on using the same tatics that our
enemies use!”

“OUTER Knights of the Last Order.”
Lady Sunlight smirked. “We're not quite as pathetic as you are,
even if our mission is the same.”

“We don't have the same mission.”
Lady Courage scowled, standing behind Sir Lionheart.

“The liberation of Pleasantville from
crime?” Lady Sunlight said. “Sounds the same as our mission to
me.”

“Stay out of our way. Or we can't be
held responsible for what happens.” Sir Moonlight warned.

The “Outer Knights of the Last Order”
made their exit.

“Who were they?” Sir Hyper walked
over, holding up Sir Dark.

“Trouble.” Giggles replied. “Lots
and lots of trouble.

–

“Baby talking makes you sound like an
idiot, you know that right?” Izzy smirked at Lizzy, who was
gabbling to Madeliene Masters later that evening.

“She's a gorgeous little girl, aren't
you sweetie?” Lizzy cuddled the baby Masters, who squealed happily.

“You are SUCH a sucker.” Charlie
teased from the couch. “You'll spoil her rotten if you're not
careful.”

“Wittle Maddy Masters could never be
wotten, could you my little munchkin?” Lizzy cooed to Madeliene,
making her siblings laugh.

“Her big sister could use some
cheering up. What's with the frown?” Charlie poked Belle, who was
sitting on the couch next to him.

“Just what happened today.” Belle
sighed as Betty came out with a steaming hot tray of freshly roasted
meat, followed by Bill Masters with the vegetables and Peter with the
gravy train.

“Here mate, let me get that for you.”
Thomas rushed to help Peter with the gravy train.

“It's fine mate, here, let me get
your chair for you.” Peter put the gravy train down and pulled out
a chair for his best friend.

“This is going to make me sick.”
Lizzy gave Madeliene back to Lara and sat down.

“Tell me about it.” Belle rolled
her eyes as Thomas and Peter continued to smother each other with
compliments.

Parents.