Chapter Forty-Seven: Clause Confirmed
“I'm glad your shoulder is okay again.” Belle poked the now healed shoulder of Charlie, who grinned.
“It means I can use both Arm Scythes again. Also means you don't have to worry about using the Lions Claw ever again.” Charlie teased.
“Meanie pants.” Belle teased back. The pair sat in their tree, watching the sunset. Below them, Lizzy was in the new sandpit with Madeliene and Oscar, building sandcastles.
“Have you noticed Lizzy's been a little off recently?” Charlie asked off-handedly.
“A little. Except when she's with Madels or sucking up to Sammy.” Belle replied, pulling a leaf off the tree and shredding it. It was hard to believe that she'd seen this tree fall down.
“Sucking up to Sammy?” Charlie asked incredulously.
“Yup, she's had a crush on him since before you went to Awesomica.” Belle told him. “Surely you've noticed?!”
“Nope.” Charlie admitted.
“Worst. Older sibling. Ever.” Belle frowned.
“Then why is my sister playing with YOUR younger siblings instead of you?” Charlie smirked.
Thankfully, he didn't injure his shoulder again in the ensuing fall.
–
That night, Ruby Daryl decided that a bonfire was in order. Unfortunately, the site of aforementioned bonfire was already occupied by a small book store.
I think you can see where this is going.
Anyway, Ruby Daryl had just started pouring the petrol when Lady Courage showed up. Now, while Lady Courage was fully aware of who was in the Ruby Suit, Daryl had no idea that his sister was one of the Noble Knights of the Last Order.
“How in the world did you know I was here?!” Ruby Daryl yelped. “Do you have a tracker on this Suit or something?!”
“I wouldn't know, I didn't build it.” Lady Courage lifted up her arm and pushed in the face of her watch. Pretty soon, the whole Order would be there, and then there'd be a battle!
“All I want to do is have some fun, I'm not hurting anyone!” Ruby Daryl complained.
“You're ABOUT to destroy someones livelihood.” Lady Courage pointed out.
“They'll have insurance!”
“There's only one insurance company that'll insure around here, and they're in your fathers pocket.”
“So?!”
“Do you REALLY think they'll get an insurance payout?”
“Not my problem!”
“You really are a selfish arse.”
“Lady Courage!” Sir Hedgehog arrived with Sir Dark, Lady Luck and Sir Lionheart. “Is he serious?”
“I'm ALWAYS serious!” Ruby Daryl sounded offended.
“You're a serious moron you mean.” Sir Lionheart snapped. “Chuckles and Giggles should be here soon, why don't you run off before you get your backside handed to you again like last time?”
“That was more the Outer Knights than Chuckles and Giggles!” Ruby Daryl sneered.
“Because Chuckles and Giggles have NEVER taken out the Ruby Suit.” Lady Luck rolled her eyes.
“You know, that's a good point.”Ruby Daryl sneered. “Don't you agree gentlemen?”
The four Knights looked horrified. Four Death Valley Mobsters appeared, each wearing a green copy of the Ruby Suit!
“What do you think of the Emerald Suits?” Ruby Daryl laughed. “I will admit, they're no where near as good as the Ruby Suit, whomever created it was a genius, but they're still pretty good!”
Lady Luck looked at Sir Dark in horror. The Emerald Suits might be inferior in power, but they'd be much harder to take out – there were NO shoulder boxes!
One of the Mobsters threw an Emerald Shard towards the four Knights. Dodging, they saw the first limitation of the Emerald Suits – the Emerald Weapons didn't last long before evaporating.
“Definitely not the Ruby Suit.” Lady Courage smirked at her brother beneath her mask, earning her a scowl back from under his mask.
Sir Dark, Sir Hedgehog and Sir Lionheart had already begun to fight off the new Emerald Mobsters. Lady Courage meanwhile made a beeline towards Ruby Daryl, while Lady Luck hung back waiting to treat any wounds. It wasn't too long before Sir Hyper and Lady Silent showed up, and the numbers began to favour the Knights of the Last Order.
“You really think it's going to be that easy?” Ruby Daryl took a swing at Lady Courage with his Ruby Sword. “You don't know HALF of our new tricks!”
“I'm sure you're going to show us.” Lady Courage groaned, breaking the Ruby Sword in two with her baseball bat.
Ruby Daryl snarled and opened his hand, four Ruby Whips appeared. Each Whip connected to one of the Emerald Mobsters.
Suddenly, the Knights of the Last Order were now dealing with FOUR Ruby-powered Emerald Mobsters, which were now just as dangerous as the original Ruby Suit.
“Not good!” Sir Lionheart squeaked as an Emerald Shard came flying towards him. He rolled out of the way, but was struck with an Emerald Whip on his hip bone, paralysing him.
“We have to separate them!” Lady Luck rolled out of the way of an Emerald attack, clutching her first-aid kit tightly.
“How?!” Rasped Lady Silent, trying to block a barrage of Emerald Shards.
Meanwhile, Chuckles and Giggles were rushing to the scene as fast as they could.
“If you hadn't been so caught up in doing your hair we'd be there by now!” Chuckles groaned as he ran below the flying Giggles.
“Hey, YOU were the one who wanted a toilet stop before we left the tip!” Giggles shot back, annoyed.
The pair shot down a small one-way street, hoping to save time. Alas, the Outer Knights of the Last Order had the same idea.
“Not you lot again.” Chuckles rolled his eyes.
“I thought you'd already be at the scene causing havoc and mayhem?” Giggles asked.
“Sir Moonlight wanted a toilet break before we left.” Lady Sunlight shrugged.
“Hey, you two were the ones who had to have their hair right!” Sir Moonlight defended himself.
“Nevermind that, we need to get to that book store and figure out what's going on!” Lady Starlight looked harassed.
“Chill out already!” Lady Sunlight looked concerned at her sister. “We'll get there and save the day, no problem.”
“Because it's all about the glory.” Giggles rolled her eyes.
“What's your issue?!” Sir Moonlight snapped.
“Look, let's get going already!” Lady Starlight tore off, agitated.
“Hey, come back here!” Giggles flew after her. Chuckles was about to follow, when an arrow from Sir Moonlight stopped him.
Lady Starlight approached the battlefield. The Noble Knights of the Last Order were in complete disarray. Lady Courage, Sir Dark and Sir Hyper were the only ones left standing, while Lady Luck tried desperately to tend to the others. Her task was made more difficult by the Emerald Mobsters. Ruby Daryl meanwhile had returned to pouring petrol around the book store, while being careful to maintain his connection to his lackeys.
Lady Starlight was about to rush in and attack, when a strong hand pulled her back.
“You can't just rush out there by yourself, we need to wait for Chuckles and the others!” Giggles told the younger woman off.
Lady Starlight shook her off. “I could sort them out easily.” Was her arrogant retort.
“I might be able to severe the connections between Ruby and the guys in green, but there's still four of them to one of you and we don't know where the conversion points on these other suits are so FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND RIGHTEOUS IN THIS WORLD WHY DOES NO ONE LISTEN TO ME!?” Giggles roared in fury as Lady Starlight made her way out to fight.
She'd seen her target. The Emerald Suits might not have had shoulder boxes, but the conversion between thought and matter had to be made somewhere. Logically, that would be made somewhere in the upper region of the body. That's when Lady Starlight had noticed the small green lights on the chest-plates of the Emerald Suits. Giggles could easily severe the connections, making any attack easier.
All that was needed was a little luck.
Lady Starlight ran into the line of sight of the four Emerald Mobsters.
“Why don't you come after a REAL fight?!” She taunted, which drew the Emerald Mobsters after her. Meanwhile, Giggles executed a perfect aileron roll through the Ruby Whips, destroying the connection between Ruby Daryl and his crew.
“What the…oh, it's YOU. Where's your little boyfriend? Scared of me?” Ruby Daryl sneered at Giggles.
“Just doesn't think you're worth the effort, sorry sweetheart.” Giggles shot back, pulling out the Lucky Seven Gun and aiming for the shoulder boxes.
With the Ruby Whips destroyed, Lady Starlight found it easy to take out the Emerald Suits. The first one was by far the easiest, as Sir Hyper had the Emerald Mobster in a reverse sleeper hold, exposing the chest-plate to a direct hit from one of Lady Starlights throwing stars. The second was a bit harder, as Lady Courage wouldn't stay still, making the Emerald Mobster have to duck and weave to keep from having his head removed from her trusted baseball bat (why wouldn't you stick with the classics?). Eventually she got stabbed in the shoulder with one of the Emerald Shards, and Lady Starlight scored a direct hit when he stood over his fallen prey. The third one was mainly the work of Sir Dark, who saw what Lady Starlight was doing and tried to emulate her. He managed to hit the chest-plate on a fluke when the Emerald Mobster tried to dodge a throwing star.
Lady Starlight grinned, certain that the fourth and final Emerald Mobster would be a breeze. Alas, upon seeing the carnage she had wrecked upon his co-workers, the last Emerald Mobster decided to go on the offensive. Just as Lady Starlight turned around ready to throw the last star, she was stabbed in the middle of her back with an Emerald Shard.
She staggered, the effects of the Emerald Shard not nearly as punishing as a Ruby Shard, but still enough to give the Emerald Mobster the upper-hand. Forming an Emerald Dagger, he prepared to finish off the Outer Knight.
Thankfully her big brother Chuckles stepped in, or who knows what might have happened. With one punch, the light on the Emerald Mobsters chest-plate was cracked by one of the Arm Scythes. All four Emerald Mobsters were defeated, and Ruby Daryl decided to scarper.
“I'll get you back for this, just see if I don't!” Ruby Daryl flew away in a rage. Giggles prepared to give chase, but as per usual her Backpack cut out and she was left on her backside. Why she doesn't have lower back trouble is anyones guess.
“You're lucky I got here when I did.” Chuckles scolded Lady Starlight. Giggles head snapped up. Luck? LUCK?!
Lady Starlights blood ran cold. That hadn't been luck at all. There was no way she could deny it now, not after what had just happened.
“Let's get out of here. C'mon Starlight.” Sir Moonlight grabbed Lady Starlight by the arm.
“You shouldn't have run off on us, you could have been killed.” Lady Sunlight said crossly as they made their way back to their hideout.
“I'm sorry.” Lady Starlight mumbled.
“SORRY?” Lady Sunlight fumed. “All you can say is sorry? We're supposed to be a team you know, we're supposed to do this together. How are we supposed to…”
The rest of Lady Sunlights speech was lost on Lady Starlight, who was deeply shaken.
She had just activated the Improbability Clause.
Again.