vs. Zorro [2]

 I half-think, half-dream about Zorro. Yes, she’s an interesting partner, but I don’t know if I think of her as a romantic one too.

If you think of someone as a romantic prospect, and they think of you as a friend, you’re sure to drift apart. And if you fall in love with someone less than a day after meeting them, that tends to say less about the subject and more about you. Crushing on anyone available is an immature mistake.

But there’s still something about her, though… something about both her combativeness and how she can be unexpectedly sweet.

I sink fully into sleep.

***

I wake, but have yet to open my eyes. There’s a softness wrapped around my arm, as if an animal had found its way into our tent.

If I make a sudden movement, it might strike, rending my arm with its claws. I squint, and vision slowly comes to me.

“Oh, it’s just Zorro.”

“Who’s there?” She jerks away and claws at me. “Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah!”

Five minutes later, we’re outside, and she’s twisting a bandage around my arm. “Sorry… I usually sleep alone… and when I wake up I’m kind of jumpy cause I am a fugitive y’know…”

“It’s understandable that you’d attack,” I say. “Especially if you wake up next to a stranger.”

“I don’t really care if we sleep together! Don’t be so insecure.”

Me, insecure? I don’t know where Zorro’s been for the past day but I’ve long since worked past all those issues.

I guess I do know where she was - asleep on a train and then away on the other desert path - but that’s besides the point.

“Hm. I see. Yes, you think I’m insecure. You think that I have a confidence problem. I understand.”

Zorro, ignoring me, throws down her bag and wrestles with the tent. If she wanted to destroy it she could do so in one swift cut; yet she’s hopeless when it comes to packing it up to preserve it for another day.

“I’ll prove my confidence to you - I have something bold to ask.” I say.

I intervene, dismantling the tent, tearing away the canvas, and prying up the stakes and the poles. I roll them together and stuff it all into Zorro’s bag, cloths-rustling as I do. She glowers.

“Idiot. I want to ask you something first…” Zorro says. “On a count to three?”

“One. Two-” We step closer to one another, til I’m looking down at her pixie-nose.

“I’d like for you to join my party-” we both say, then glare and turn away.

“You’re just a cute little itty bitty tiny-weeny level 1 hero weenie,” says Zorro. “If a goblin sneezed on you, I think you might die. So, why don’t you follow me and let big sister Zorro protect you?”

“Zorro, it’s obvious that you have zero common sense.” I tsk her. “How can you call yourself my big sister, anyway? You’re smaller, younger, and we’re totally unrelated!”

“Cause I’ve got more experience than you!” She puffs her chest.

She’s right. For her to reach level 100, she surely collected lots of exp. But…

“When it comes to basic survival skills you’re the one who’s hopeless, Zorro…” I argue. “So why don’t you travel with me until I teach you how to camp, cook, clean, and think?”

I aggressively brush sand from her shoulder.

“I might die to a random encounter.” I say. “But with your poor lifestyle, in ten years your death is guaranteed. What are you going to do for breakfast…? Tell me now!”

“I can take care of myself!” She says. An ant struggles through the sand, ignoring our argument and focusing on its own journey home. Zorro scoops it up and eats it, maintaining eye contact with me the whole time.

Smack, suck, smack. A leg slips her mouth and she slurps it up.

I shrug. “If all you eat are insects, you’ll get protein poisoning. Did you know that?”

She stubbornly continues to smack.

“In one to two days you’ll be nauseous… in three to five days, you’ll get gastrointestinal distress… in about a week, your hair will fall out and you’ll die.” I finish.

“Ptoo!” She spits and gags. The mangled ant miraculously stirs to life; it waves a crooked antenna and we watch it join a long line of it peers. 

Then Zorro’s eyes narrow, and her smile becomes wide. She scoops up the largest insect and presents it to me. “Eat it.”

King Harvester | Level 10 Insect

Shld: 100/100 | Attack: 3 | Defense: 0 | Agi: 0 | AP: 0/0

“I’ll pass, thank you.”

“Then touch it. Touch the ant.” Zorro smirks.

“Why?”

Zorro waves it at me like a schoolyard bully. “You can’t, right? If you touch this little speck, you’ll take a bajillion damage and die. I’ll protect you, so won’t you travel with me as my supporter?” She points her sword at me and lifts my chin with its tip.

“I decline. I plan on traveling to a certain place, to slay a certain someone - and I'll become the unrivaled hero of this place. You’re free to join my party, but I won’t join yours.” I spit back.

“Well… that’s funny… because I also had plans…” Zorro says. “A place I have to go, no matter what…”

“I guess our adventure together ends here. What a shame.”

I’d like to have traveled with Zorro more. Just to make sure she keeps herself well-rested and well-fed, you understand; though she might think herself as fierce as a German Shepherd, she’s much more like a hapless puppy.

“I suppose we'll part ways.” She mumbles something about ‘kidnapping for the greater good’ that I can’t quite catch.

"It won't be forever. I bet I'll be seeing you along the way.” I point at the sky. There’s Kameleon Town - and beyond that a thin shaded line, the lofty building where the Bandit Lord lies.

“Maybe. You sure better hope our paths cross...” Zorro says, gesturing.

…we point at the same place. The Final Tower.

“STUPID!!!!” 

***

“I’ve got this all planned out,” says Zorro calmly, holding a map in her hands.

“First we’ll travel through the Dragon Confederation. We’ll go through Kameleon Town, then travel on foot to the Confederacy’s capital, Kracheur. Then we can charter a boat down the river and bypass the Rosa Imperia’s capital, Azucena, and finally make our way to the Tower at long last. And we’ll travel together.” Zorro repeats CALMLY, as she pinches my ear.

“Yes, we’ll be partners.” I say. “I’ll slay the Bandit Lord, and you can take over his role."

“Mhm. Whoever is the Bandit Lord has unquestioned command of all the members of the Diamond Syndicate. So if I have that title, I can tell all the bandits to stop thieving and plundering, and to just go home…”

“...and if I kill the Bandit Lord, I’ll be Esterraria’s undisputed hero.” I say.

When I had talked with Giselle earlier, I had thought it best to level-up before facing the Bandit Lord, even if it took me years to do so.

But after the fight with the slimes, I get the feeling I can muddle through. I’ll level up and get equipment as we travel, to Kameleon, Kracheur, Azucena, and the Final Tower.

“I’m happy you decided to join my party-” I say, before Zorro interrupts.

“No, I'm happy you joined my party-”

“But, the party’s mine-”

“Mine!”

“It’s mine!”

“Mine…!”

We arrive at our first destination, Kameleon.

However, there’s something strange about this dusty collection of shops, inns, and houses. They’re completely deserted. Zorro and I face a ghost town’s empty streets.