The trial of Selena Salamandra

"This is a little cruel, don't you think?" Selena smiled as she gazed up at us.

"Not at all. It's your punishment for what you did," Irina glared as she smacked her hand with one of Lyn's inflatable noisemaker sticks.

"All I did was win."

"We'll be judge and jury then."

Following the race, everyone was naturally upset about how deceitfully Selena had won the race, myself included. Thus, we decided to bury her up to her neck on the beach and hold a trial on how to punish her.

"Lyn, did the audience get to see the entire shape of Selena's pod?" Irina asked as she pointed her noisemaker at Lyn.

"No, now can I have my noisemaker back?"

"Sure. After hearing your testimony, I decree Selena guilty and subject to a good smack on the head!" Irina maliciously grinned as she prepared to swing the noisemaker down on Selena with all her might.

POP!

We all stared in shock as the noisemaker popped as it made contact with Selena's head. Selena meanwhile just kept smiling as she always did, while Lyn began trembling.

"M- My-"

"Uh, anyone got a razor? Her hair must've popped it."

"I got a portable hair styler!" Suzie smiled as she held up what appeared to be a dinner tray.

"Good, plop it on her and have it shave her clean."

"Aye! Aye!"

The dome was place over Selena and once removed, she was bald.

"Hey, you forgot her eyebrows and eyelashes!" Meredith fumed.

I half-expected things to end here, but Suzie simply shrugged and plopped the dome back over Selena to humor Meredith and make poor Selena truly hairless.

Selena didn't seem phased in the slightest though, still smiling and even remarking how cool the weather felt due to her lack of hair.

"Now that we know that thing works, plop it an Hana's head. She caused you all to crash out," Meredith smirked.

"YOU BITCH! And why would YOU of all people advocate I be punished for that!? It was because I cleared the way that you had an easy time churning on by. And wait! Selena was the one who caused me and Irina to crash out!"

"She's completely right. Crashing out is the name of the game in the race, but I do believe Selena did achieve victory in quite the underhanded way. Thus, I say she be forced to cheer," Jade scoffed.

"We'll save that for last then since then we'd have to take her out of the sand. So any new punishment ideas?" Irina asked as she swiped Lyn's remaining noisemaker.

Hmm, how to punish Selena. Back when I was a kid, there were games we'd play where you'd get penalized by having your face drawn on. Ah!

"Let's draw on her face!"

The suggestion seemed to be a hit as everyone began nodding in agreement.

"Good thinking, Hana. Now that she's bald, she's got more surface area to draw on. But before we start painting, let's give that bald head of hers a good smacking!" Irina cackled as she raised the noisemaker high above her and swung it down.

POP!

Irina nervously stared down at the popped noisemaker in her hand, then slowly up towards an angrily trembling Lyn. "Uh, guess these things aren't very durable. Aha, ahahaha."

...

Irina pouted as we finished burying her up to her neck next to Selena.

"That's for breaking my noisemakers," Lyn huffed as she clutched a brand new pair of inflatable noisemakers, fresh out of her cloning machine.

We had just decided to bury Irina so her hair was spared and she wasn't due for a cheer session and art session. Selena on the other hand became a reflection of my poor artistic talent. "Tanuki-rat-cat-squiggly-stache-bullseye eye was literally how you'd describe what I drew on Selena's head and face.

"My, quite the artist," Selena smiled as we flashed a mirror before her.

I'll admit, her continuing to smile through all this is starting to unnerve me. Does she EVER get flustered?

I guess this is all in good fun as Selena didn't willingly need to subject herself to this. Welp, guess we'll pull her out so she can do the cheer.

...

"YAY! YAY! ME-RI-DETH! She won the race, FAIR-N-SQUARE!"

I swear, that woman really is a vixen. I knew she was a bit of schemer, but to this extent!? It's madness. It makes me wonder if she was messing with me all those times I dragged her along with me on adventures.

"Anyway... Anyone gonna pull me out?"

... Silence. Seems I'm doomed to a sandy tomb while the others party.

Once Selena's cheer was done, she grabbed Suzie's hair styler and put it over her head, and bloom like spring flowers her curly pink locks did. And more surprising was the fact that she decided to come over and sit next to me.

"So how much longer you going to keep me here?"

"Not much, just long enough to talk. So you've come to appreciate the world?"

"Yeah... Thanks to Hana."

"So she really is your special someone... All the more reason you shouldn't keep her from returning to her home."

"You read her bio too! I'm not gonna force her home. She wants to stay traveling, its her choice."

"That's running from the issue. And if you now appreciate the world, why not let her return?"

"Because now my reason for keeping her away isn't a selfish one. I don't want her to be hurt and depressed. And why are you so insistent anyway-"

"We serve our clients, and a client entrusted stuff that can only be handed out once she returns home. Once that is done, then we can truly retire as EVERYTHING that was asked to be preserved will have been unsealed."

"Damn vixen. Just want to complete your protocol. I should have slammed a metal bat down on your head."

Selena simply smiled, leaning down and stroking my head. "If you truly care about Hana, you can't hide this from her. She needs to do this."

Deep down, I knew she was right. Even though Hana herself wouldn't state it, I could tell she had a longing homesickness. But I'm afraid. Afraid showing her that stuff Selena's talking about will negatively effect her to the point she'll shut herself away crying. I just found a reason worth living for, I don't want to lose it!

...

I briefly glanced over to notice Selena and Irina arguing over something. I didn't hear the full conversation, but heard my name pop up a few times, along with my home...

I know I said I wanted to return home, but I'm scared. Scared if I do, I'll never be able to leave. But... it's been 500 years. If Irina can overcome her problems, I should be able to as well.

With a deep breath, I approached the two, my hand trembling as I clenched it into a fist.

"Irina, it's alright. I'm prepared to return home."