Chapter 21: Scene 21 – Tasting Vinegar

The roar of the motorcycle engine came to an abrupt halt as Venus and Gaia pulled into the parking lot. Gaia took her foot off the pedals of her bike, stepping off and keeping her gaze leveled at Venus. She didn't stare for long. Her hands worked themselves into the asphalt, leaving the earth as black gauntlets with embedded stones of jet, and she started work on the walls around the core.

Fences were too porous for Malice. Small animals, disgruntled teens, and litter could all make their way through gaps in the fencing, resulting in the dungeon gaining access to additional resources. Any way they could starve the beast inside, they had to try. Gaia knew what she was doing was important. She just wished that Venus wouldn't go off and try to fight alone.

With a flick of her wrist, Gaia could create massive earthen walls. Her construction lacked aesthetic charm, but she was already drained from today's battery of engagements. Each and every time she destroyed someone else's home that day, there was a dreary notification from the System that she'd killed another Malice.

A congratulatory message for killing creatures that couldn't fight back.

It wore against her in a way she hadn't expected. Gaia felt as if she was simply a pen checking off boxes. Faith would drain from her reserves, another monster would vanish, and she would grow stronger for barely any reason. A hollow victory that tasted of plaster and drywall. Then, there was the plant.

The Malice-plant had certainly caused Mars and Gaia trouble. That was how fights were supposed to be in all the books and movies. Knuckle against clay pot, fighting for your life as the vine wrapped around your limbs. When that overgrown fern had grasped Gaia by the throat, she had thought it would deliver some witty punchline, then crush her windpipe.

Instead, she'd seen the creature underneath the leaves. Nestled deep inside the fern was a small blob of darkness, two wide eyes filled with green tears. It was cute, and in no small amount of pain. She felt a desire to reach in and cradle the root, to hold it close. Then, she was dropped like a sack of potatoes and thrown onto a rooftop.

Venus had barely done anything, but Gaia had trouble holding it against her. She'd been operating a whole hive of Honeybees. Venus wasn't just coordinating with the Starkeepers but also with other magical warrior teams; her coordination was vital for saving lives that day. Venus had to be running low on juice by the time they'd hit the last few Malice, and she had snapped her fingers and turned the whole fight around. Thinking logically, Gaia shouldn't be angry at Venus for sitting back.

But, what about Venus was logical? Everything in the books told her that letting Venus do as she pleased was ridiculous. Magical Warriors weren't supposed to leave others behind. That also means not letting them walk into a nest of dangerous foes, so they never return, does it not?

Gaia bit her lip. "Why is she so… so illogical!" She pushed her rage into this next wall of stone, completing a few meters of the enclosure at once. "I shouldn't let her go in, not on her own. What am I doing?"

"Making a wall, it looks like." A crystalline voice chimed in, claws tracing the edge of a freshly produced wall. "Hey, ho! You're a Nebulossom, right?" From behind the wall, the unfamiliar voice spoke to her.

"Who said that?" Gaia tried to triangulate exactly where the voice was coming from. Her fist curled up, knuckles ready to punch through her wall and sneak-attack the Malice. She wasn't dumb; there were no humans around. Not anymore.

"Amanda! It's a pleasure to meet you!" Amanda replied in a sing-song voice, the echo making her difficult to place. "Are you going to come inside? I was hoping we could talk."

"'Talk,' huh? What makes you think I'll talk to Malice?" Gaia got it. She was right here. Her hands traced the stone as she aimed her strike carefully.

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"I'm a nice Malice. I tried telling Mars that, but she reacted like a pervert…." Amanda shuddered, and Gaia's strike paused.

"Like a pervert? You're talking about Mars, right? Not Venus?" Gaia held her fist for a moment longer.

Amanda gasped and clasped her hands together. "Venus is here?! Oh my Tangled, I have to get her autograph. I'm such a big fan. I'll have to greet her after we're done talking--"

At the mention of greeting Venus, Gaia's fist went sailing through the stone. Her knuckles punched through the wall and protruded out the other side, stone clattering against the fairground grass. Amanda let out a squeak as the fist passed inches from her head, grateful she hadn't taken one step closer.

Leaning in to observe the attack, Amanda's face lit up with joy. "Those gauntlets… Nebulossom Gaia? Wow, you're so new! Nobody knows anything about you yet." Amanda reached out, grasping the gauntlet in front of her face.

"You're powered by these, right?" Amanda tugged on Gaia's wrist, slamming her against the stone wall and dizzying her. "Oh, sorry! Right, these don't come off easily."

Amanda pulled on Gaia's wrist repeatedly, each tug smacking the dazed magical warrior into the stone barrier between them. Gaia's grip loosened after continuous head trauma, and Amanda plucked the gauntlet off to examine it. "This is so pretty! Look at the way the gemstones in the knuckle glisten." Amanda tilted the artifact, looking from different angles.

Gaia shook her head to recover, gasping and grasping through the hole she'd made. "Give it! Let go of that right now!" Her limbs flailed fruitlessly before pulling back, repeatedly slamming her other fist into the wall.

"Oh, is this important? I should be careful with it, then." Amanda gave the gauntlet a once over before letting it settle to her side. "You know, I think I'd look pretty cute in matching gauntlets! I'm just going to run this down to the House of Black Mirror and get that done. See you there?" Amanda's mechanical wings unfurled and began to flutter, her body lifting off the ground.

Gaia crashed through the wall. This wasn't supposed to be happening; Malice weren't supposed to steal artifacts, right? Those gauntlets were the proof she was a Nebulossom! Even missing one of them, the Stargarden would be furious. Logical sections of her brain broke down as fear and unease overwhelmed her.

She was going to have to go after the dungeon core, wasn't she?

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