Chapter 172: Chapter One Hundred Seventy Three

When we got inside, we were able to confirm the rules of the bull  riding competition. You had to put up a single G ranked chit per  attempt, if you managed to stay on the bull for a full three minutes you  got to keep all the chits anyone had paid over the course of the month.  It started over again on the first of each month, and the previous  month's stockpile was divided up amongst the management of the  cavalcade.People HAD passed the trial a time or two, but it was  uncommon. Mostly anyone attempting the task ended up thrown across the  bull pen.

Mostly this had to do with the absolute fucking  monster of a bull they used. A Might focused beast of an animal called a  Stone Footed Titanic Ox. The thing was high G rank, and was  considerably stronger than most Ascendants at that rank, not to mention  much bigger and more able to exert that strength than most (read any)  human beings. Forgetting not being able to stay on, if your stats  weren't high enough you could easily die in the test, and no one  rational failed to take that seriously when making the attempt.

Which,  of course, was why neither of us were remotely surprised to see a green  haired Jerk desperately clinging to the saddle of the titanic ox,  whooping with joy while a full dozen multicolored tough guys with no  shirts and leather pants hollered their mohawk covered heads off. To my  surprise the short but incredibly wide man was managing to stay on,  though he seemed pretty terrified of what was happening as he did.  Still, terror or no, the guy had a death grip on the saddle and wouldn't  let go.

Callie snorted, a small smile on her face as she  rolled her eyes. "Way Crazy Wyatt. If Ronnie epitomizes the bullies in  the Jack-tastic Jerks, Wyatt is the distillation of the other side of  the organization. He's completely insane, but he actually does care  about the others. He's ok for a lunatic. He and Ronnie each have a few  much weaker G rankers under them, and Wyatt's lackeys are generally  considered much easier to deal with. I'm not surprised he's the one  trying this, he's the kind of person who won't send a subordinate to do  something he won't do himself."

I chuckled a bit at the  exasperated fondness, it reminded me a bit of how I talked about Zeke,  though less affectionate obviously. "So I take it you two are friends? I  didn't know you were close with anyone at the Jerks." I didn't mind too  much, it was hard to take the Jerks too seriously, but some of them  seemed like good people. If she thought he was a decent guy I was happy  she had a friend to meet with, and if we could potentially get some info  from her buddy that was all the better for our purposes. It always paid  to have sources of information.

That got me an  embarrassed cough. "We're...friendly. We've fought plenty of times, but  Wyatt is a decent enough guy to match blows against. He's bulky as hell,  so he's slow, but he has a defensive ability to make up for it. That's  probably how he's managing to stay on that bull honestly. That thing  looks damn strong, I doubt I could keep my grip if I were up there.  Wonder how long he's been on it's back? If he makes it through the whole  ride then he gets the prize, and I imagine the Jerks plans get one step  closer to fruition."

Using the term Jerks and plans in  the same sentence was a strange concept, but I got what she meant. "Not  sure, but if it was recent I'm doubting it. His hand is already starting  to slip, he won't make it another minute, let alone two. If he's been  on there a while he might pull it off. If he doesn't do...do we try?" I  actually had an idea of how I might be able to pull it off, and to be  honest I was kind of excited to give it a try. We could use the money  too, though if we won I wasn't sure if we could take it or if that would  run counter to our mission. Maybe we would have to give it back.

Callie  obviously knew I wanted to try and rolled her eyes. "Ugh. I knew you  were going to want to ride the bull. We can see what happens. Who knows  if Wyatt will-" She was cut off by a wail as the blurred form of Wyatt  came flying across the pen to smash into the wall next to us. We both  stepped out of the way without looking, more than able to hear his  screams as he hurtled through the air toward us. He smashed through the  pen and hit the rock wall surrounding it around the outside.

Before  impact I saw his body shift, and his skin rippled into a tapestry of  multicolored and multitextured gems and stones. I wasn't sure exactly  what the stones were, but the wall broke and not Wyatt, so whatever they  were they were pretty damn sturdy. He popped to his feet, scowling past  us at the bull. "You'll get yours meat!" He shook his fist at the bull,  which I swear literally sneered back at him somehow, and then turned  and noticed us with a blink. His eyes focused on Callie and he grinned  happily. "Nightlight!"

He swept forward to scoop her up in  a hug, and Callie scrunched her nose in disgust. "Ew, ew, ew sweat!  Personal space Wyatt!" He put her down, embarrassed, and then turn and  swept me up in the same crushing grip. I'd been a bit bothered by him  grabbing Callie, but the second hug made it clear that it hadn't been  romantic. Way Crazy Wyatt was just a huggy person. I had to suppress a  chuckle as the big friendly puppy of a man put me down, clapping both  Callie and I on a shoulder each.

I turned to look at her  skeptically as he put me down. I could understand her discomfort, the  shorter man had clearly been exhausted trying to ride that bull, even I  was covered with sweat now. Still, that wasn't the salient point.  "Nightlight?" I layered as much amusement and teasing into my voice as  possible, making it clear that I was definitely going to continue  messing with her about this. The name was ridiculous, and I couldn't  wait to tell Benny and Jessie when we got home.

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She  scowled at me, but before she could answer, Wyatt slapped me on the  shoulder with a grin. "Of course! Everyone back hom knows Nightlight!  She's the toughest, she even gave me some trouble in a fight." His body  had shifted back from the gem studded form before he even initiated the  first hug, but at his words he let the rocky change roll over his arms  again up to the elbow, holding his hands up to show us how strong he  was. "I heard about you too of course! That serial killer was a nasty  guy, thanks for taking care of that Sally!"

My eyes  widened in horror behind my mask at the nickname, but I saw Callie's  face bloom into a catlike grin. Before I could speak, she cut me off.  "Of course Wyatt. SALLY here is a true hero. Speaking of, I wasn't  expecting to see you here. I knew the Jerks were in town, but you seem  like you have plenty of free time to be here trying to ride a bull.  Unless you're on business for the boss?" She added that last bit as an  afterthought, casually tossing out the question so no one could tell it  was important.

I wondered if she felt bad about it, but  cultivators were weird sometimes. Just like she didn't seem to care  about the fact that we'd just handed over the other G ranker in the  Jerks before starting this conversation, the concept of trying to  manipulate him for information wasn't a big deal. In the end, this was  how the game was played, and she knew better than me which lines to  cross or not. The weird enemies but not relationship that the Unity had  with villains was tough to navigate for me, and I was lucky to have  Callie's help.

Despite that, Wyatt was a G ranker, and NOT  an idiot, even if he was a bit direct. He just rolled his eyes. "Oh no!  I'm not falling for that again. M-jack got super mad the last time I  told you stuff about our secret plans. No matter what you ask I'm not  going to say a word about why we're trying to take over the circus!" He  waved his fist dramatically in the air, and much like I often did with  the Jerks, I felt the urge to facepalm at his over lunacy as he  effectively confirmed the existence of a plan while loudly declaring he  would never tell us a thing.

Callie's  flat expression told me that she was used to this kind of behavior, and  despite being pretty sure all the Jerk names were nonsense, I kind of  understood why even the other Jerks called this guy 'Way Crazy Wyatt'. I  recognized that blank, mildly traumatized expression from my own  experiences with the Jerks. It wasn't some sort of fear or bad memory  exactly, Callie was resigning herself to dealing with people who had  absolutely no grasp on or use for common sense. Ascendants all lived in a  strange world, but the Jerk's world was stranger than most.

Wyatt,  it seemed, was on his guard now, and despite seeming to still be  friendly he turned to the group of Jerks. He pointed to one of them, an  average looking Jerk with a bright blue mohawk and a series of facial  piercings. "Sticky Jim! You give it a try! No one sticks to stuff like  you do, not dumb bull can throw you off!" His tone was proud and  triumphant, but judging by Sticky Jim's face I was guessing the blue  haired Jerk was much less certain any of that was true than Wyatt was.

Callie,  taking pity on the poor G ranked Jerk, cleared her throat. "Wyatt. We  came here to try the bull riding competition too. If you keep making  your Jerks do the challenge over and over until one of them wins and  don't give anyone a chance, don't you think people will start saying you  were too scared to let anyone else try? You know how much Mr.  Jack-tastic hates when people badmouth the Jerks. Maybe you should  let..." Her lips twitched. "Sally, give it a try first. It's only fair."

That  sounded like an obvious attempt to manipulate him to me, but Wyatt gave  a serious nod. "Of course. M-Jack always tells me to keep my reputation  in mind when doing things. He hates when I embarrass the Jerks." I  resisted the urge for another face palm as I noted that Mr. Jack-tastic  was probably talking about the fact that he was so easy to trick, but I  couldn't complain since I was benefiting. I did feel a bit bad though. Wyatt was a nice guy, he was just SO DUMB.

Callie  gave me an understanding chuckle and a nod, she knew what I was  thinking. Since he'd lasted this long and was this powerful though there  had to be more to him than I was seeing. In either case, since he gave  the ok I knew it was my turn to try the bull riding. I was still sub one  hundred on Might, but I had a few tricks up my sleeve, and I was  excited to give this a try. I'd never ridden a bull before. Besides,  maybe we could keep at least some of the prize money. It wasn't like  they had to have ALL of it.

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