Episode 53: Working Vacation?

“Welcome to another episode of BHC news, I am your host, Lane, and today we are going to address the rumors about our newest fighter, Cro of Pocket Apartment 1.”

Arson watched the feed and packed a bag at the same time. Luckily for him, Jasmine had a new musou black leather jacket and jeans for him the same day he got back. Arson enjoyed the spacial dimension pockets in the clothing, but ended up never using them due to his watch.

“We asked many viewers how they felt about her and were surprised by the answers we received,” continued Lane.

Sparks… where did I put my shoes? Arson closed his eyes and let a pulse of the Closed Eye Dominion show him his entire room and sighed when the shape of his shoes was on his desk.

“That chick gives no sparks at all, she just came in and was like you guys are some chumps and boom, bow, bang, everybody is eating punches,” came yelled from the broadcast when Arson walked away from the wall that projected the BHC broadcast.

He put on his shoes, and tied them. He knew laced tennis-shoes were old fashioned but loved the high top sneakers he wore regardless. Due to the recyclers, he could restore his shoes no matter how damaged they were, and Xani was still working to perfect the restorative runes for stitching new functions into the linings of the clothes Jasmine and her teams made.

“I’m personally a diehard for the Queen of Troy of course, but sparks man the BHC has some real characters, makes me wonder what other kind of fighters they are hiding in the background, half of these fights don’t seem semi professional but the real deal instead,” rambled another excited young woman who attended the fight.

“Now my boss is well aware that many of you would like to see an interview with Cro. I’m sorry, but he doesn’t care and would like all of you to know that she will present herself to the world if and whenever she pleases, but hold on I can see the boo-hoos in the comments and would like you all to know that I will personally enter the depths of the pocket apartment myself if necessary to obtain a one-on-one,” said Lane. Arson was impressed with how much she’d grown in a short time, but was sad to say that his own growth had begun to get in the way of progress.

Other than his plans for Auto, Arson hadn’t been able to push forward as fast as he wanted to with his other goals for multiple reasons.

The most important being, his friends. They didn’t know him anymore. Micro and the pocket apartment group were closer to him than anyone he knew, and that was because of the countless battles they’d been forced into together over the recent season cycles within Endless.

So instead of allowing for the awkwardness to continue. He put everything on an immediate pause to rebalance the tight knit bond he felt he’d always shared with Khalif and the others.

“Like I said people, I made a promise and I don’t break those. I know you all are used to everyday live streams, but for the next three days, I will be abroad on a working vacation with the other higher-ups of the BHC, so expect that interview in four days, I know, it’s an eternity, but to make it up to you, I’ve got my hands on secret training videos of the pocket apartment members for you, and secret training sessions for the queen of Troy to hold you over until I get back, and you know how we get down, no re-runs!”

The feed ended with a companion video that displayed Micro and her team performing a scouting mission in a foreign realm, which made the footage being seen, not only very illegal, but priceless material for collectors who studied other realms.

The thought of other realms made Arson’s eyes drift toward the timer in his Overlay that showed how long he had to return to Endless and continue his tasks there. Which made him think of the only other place outside his own realm that he wanted to return to. The kingdom he’d help rebuild as a child, had blue sand beaches that glimmered across the local shorelines .

The pink waters were somehow Cristal clear and tainted all at the same time. Yet no matter what he’d seen after, he’d never been mesmerized by anything above the reddish hue sustained atop the deep ocean blue sands below the waters of the kingdom’s perimeter.

The ocean appearing to turn red the further out his gaze had traveled when he flew through the skies above the kingdom, still took his breath away to think about.

“I wish I could take Troy there, I bet she’d love it,” thought Arson to himself.

“Hey, are you ready yet? Everyone is waiting for you outside, dude,” Troy walked into Arson’s room in a sun dress that made Arson’s mouth open slightly. Troy blushed at Arson’s lingering stare, and coughed after the silence extended to a nearly uncomfortable level.

“You’re staring, so speak, it can’t be that bad, I really like this dress,” said Troy with a twirl. Arson sputtered and Troy rolled her eyes at him before she closed the distance and gave him a quick hug.

Of everyone, Troy and surprisingly Xani handled the changes to Arson with the most ease. Xani only struggled with his height change and normally started to speak toward his belly out of habit from looking down to speak to Arson, but Troy seemed unaffected by the changes. Which made Arson feel at home, and that they had always been as close as he’d hoped they would one day become.

“You are doing this on purpose, aren’t you,” asked Arson. Troy nodded and pulled him out of the room without another word.

…

Jade felt at ease. Even though she had to extend her kitchen to fit a hundred pupils all at one time. Even though she hadn’t had a moment to herself beyond crying alone in dark rooms in wait for her son’s return. And even though her life was constantly changing, which she’d never liked or been accustomed to prior.

“Now students- ” Jade started to speak, but then Arson popped his head into the room at the perfect time to pull her away from her current thought. She knew her son was trying to catch her off balance, and was even further stunned when his question actually achieved the feat.

“Hey Mom, can we have a portal to Raid Corp? I think it would make a perfect vacation spot for me and the others, and didn’t know if—“

“What did you say? I don’t believe I heard you correctly, young man. Did you say, Raid Corp?”

Arson nodded, while he slowly looked away his lips pressed together as if he didn’t know exactly how to ask.

“That is quite an expensive request, son. Are you sure you are ready for—”

“Of course Mom, I already bought the entrance tickets, just need the portal, don’t exactly trust mundane travel, and don’t really want to be caught flying throughout Maelstrom for any reason right now,” said Arson with a deepened voice that his mother still hadn’t gotten used to. It was her turn to nod, and to her own surprise, she found herself flipping a coin toward Arson. Who deftly grasped the token out of the air, and looked at the coin in confusion.

“What is this?” The coin was made of a black metal and sported a white gold swirl on the face of both sides. One swirl clockwise, and the other counterclockwise.

“Xani worked on these, they work with temporal mana. Once a teleporter has been to a location, remnants of that location’s mana stays with them perpetually. This is how long distance teleporters are able to return to places they’ve been before, the more powerful the teleporter, the more locations they can store or access within their own mana, and the further the distances they can travel,” explained Jade as a preface.

“That coin stores mana linked to locations, infused with the mental impressions used by the teleporter, and can open a single portal to, and a single return portal back to where it was originally used from,” finished Jade and Arson’s eyes widened before he pocketed the coin.

“Starting to think that you all improved as much as I did, and I was granted a lot more time,” said Arson with a sigh. Jade couldn’t help but smile at her son’s contemplative features.

“Your friends are as marvelous as you are, my son, which is why you chose them to be by your side. Don’t be surprised if their lives come with as much inspiration as your own,” said Jade. When her son smiled and waved his goodbyes, Jade was happy to know that she could comfort him, but worried that maybe she shouldn’t have let him go where he wanted.

He survived Endless, this should be nothing for him Elizabeth, don’t be ridiculous, he’s fine…

“Love you mom, call me if you need us!”

…

Arson walked hand in hand with Troy through the Dump. Though they had only reunited recently, they were both amazed by how comfortable they seemed to be together.

Arson wasn’t one for physical contact normally, but often felt the want to bridge any physical space between himself and Troy whenever she was in the room.

He caught her often looking at him when he wasn’t paying attention, and found himself stealing the same glances of her. The two were captivated by one another, and Arson didn’t know if the rush of emotions he felt constantly for Troy was healthy or dangerous.

“Awe, I wish someone would look at me like that,” said Jasmine while Troy and Arson approached the rest of their group. Arson snickered to himself when Jasmine flinched at Troy’s raised pointer finger.

“Hey now, keep bullying me and I’ll make all your clothing one size too small,” said Jasmine with a quick movement to step behind Khalif.

“Hey, keep me out of this!” Khalif looked toward Arson for help, but received a vague shrug as response.

“So what’s the move here, boss?” asked Rob. The Chef wore a backpack that Arson could sense spacial runes on from a distance. Arson wondered if Rob had learned any new potions over the last day or so, but set aside his questions to explain what they’d all be doing for the next three days.

“Raid Corp, ever heard of it?” Arson pulled free the coin his mother had given him and pressed down on the clockwise gateway inscription. His mother hadn’t explained how to use the device, so Arson dropped it on the ground behind himself.

“Of course, I researched them a lot before you left, you’d mentioned that you wanted BHC to become a raiding group eventually, so I looked up the best companies hired for, or involved with corporate espionage, Raid Corp is the 11th most contracted company in the entire realm,” said Khalif. The portal behind Arson poured out of the coin on the ground like gravity had reversed to pull a liquid energy from inside and form the portal. This portal unlike Jade’s other portals, showed their destination before they even stepped through, a feature of Xani’s rune craft and the inner workings of the coin she’d constructed.

“Well, I learned that they have a test, a hidden kind of thing, most people think it’s a rumor, but…” The image of the construction on the other side of the portal came into view as the portal completed. A sight that made Arson’s friends gasp, and stare drop-jawed.

“But what? Why am I coming again? This seems dangerous,” said Jasmine. While Lane was only able to nod in agreement.

A skyscraper, formed from many smaller buildings filled the landscape behind Arson. The peak of the structure could not be seen from where they were positioned, and Arson even felt a slight hesitation at the sight when he glanced over his shoulder to look.

Countless cultivators could be seen in the distance in a rush toward the building. Some flew over the violence that could be seen between them and the building, while others seemed to revel in the chaos.

The objective was to scale the Skyscraper. Some tried as individuals, or small groups, while others tried as entire combat units, or even armies.

At the top of the structure, was the corporation’s entire wealth supposedly. So thieves, gangs, other corporations, as well as truly prominent cultivators, and Sekts, all tried to storm the skyscraper constantly; for a fee of course.

“It is dangerous, filled with traps from the basement, all the way up to the second floor of the place,” said Khalif with a chuckle.

“From what you described, little buddy, didn’t you just leave a sparked up situation like this a few days ago,” asked Xani, seemingly excited. Arson could see it in the way she’d lifted off the ground slightly to hover, and the smile that she wore when building new devices being replicated across her face as her eyes flickered between the runic systems being used offensively and defensively on the other side of the portal.

Arson glanced at Troy to see her also excited; as well as unaffected by Xani’s words. It seemed that Troy only minded when terms of endearment were used to flirt in his direction. So his rival’s use of, little buddy, was seen as sisterly, rather than anything provocative.

You’re thinking too much Arson, just focus on the task at hand.

“Don’t worry. From what I know there aren’t any large transportation or teleportation hurdles within the buildings, but that doesn’t matter anyway, we aren’t really going to be interacting with what you all see here anyway,” said Arson before he extended an elbow toward Troy. Once she grabbed him, the group followed Arson and her through the portal.

Once through, Arson wondered if he’d have to collect the coin for the return portal, or if it just stayed open for as long as they were away.

He turned around to see the portal’s display shift like a camera toward the ground. The view changed from a path home, to the coin that he’d dropped.

“Well that’s pretty cool,” thought Arson, only to be amazed further when the same liquid energy that had formed the portal originally warped itself again even before he could reach out.

A hand was formed from the face of the portal, that reached out and plucked the object from the floor and pulled it through. A mirrored version of the hand then reached out to place the coin in Arson’s own hand as he’d naturally extended it palm up once he realized what was happening.

The moment the coin touched his palm, all of the temporal energy used, was sucked back into the coin. The hand, portal, and even his way home, gone in an instant, leaving a coin lit only on its counterclockwise face.

“Sparks… I know a lot of runes, but have no idea how the sparks she pulled that one off,” mumbled Arson to himself before he pocketed the coin and made a call on his watch.

“Hello, how may I help you,” asked a kind voice from his wrist.

“Hi, my name is Carter Gestalt, I have a reservation and would like to use my optional pickup service,” said Arson. He merely waved away the odd looks his friends gave him with the use of the alias he’d created.

He tried not to laugh out loud when Lane looked at Troy, and mouthed, “optional pickup service”. Troy shrugged, but still looked in Arson’s direction slightly confused as to what was happening.

“Yes sir, we have a vehicle in route already, you should see it shortly. Please don’t bother to approach the perimeter walls or the entry lines, it is far easier to grab you and your group away from the masses and areal traffic,” responded the voice.

“Thank you. Are you my attendant or will I figure all that out later?” asked Arson with an accompanied point in the distance toward an aircraft. His friends looked in the distance and he finished up with the woman who introduced herself as Sprinter.

“Hey you, what did you do?” Arson felt his cheek get poked and looked down at Troy who wore her stern face. Glare, pressed lips, slightly flared nostrils, all signs that Arson needed to be careful with his answer.

“I’m not going to let your facial features manipulate me into ruining an obvious surprise, Troy, now fix your face before I make you do it with a kiss…” Arson then watched Troy try to keep the frown on her face, but snickered as her blush and smirk emerged.

“You’ll give me wrinkles if I need to frown for you to want to kiss me,” said Troy under her breath. Arson rolled his eyes and moved toward the room sized hovercraft. The vehicle landed, and its tear shaped body opened to reveal a business professional with a metallic nameplate that read, Sprinter in a fanciful font.

Arson could see Xani’s eyes dissect the vehicle and didn’t doubt that their own transportation services would improve drastically based on what she learned here.

It wasn’t until they’d all entered the room, introduced themselves to Sprinter, and sat down in the lavish accommodations, that Arson remembered the twins that used to follow Jasmine around.

They’d even followed me for a time, I wonder what they got up too while I was gone?

“Hey Jazz, where the sparks are the twins?”

“They’re doing a tour of all the green zones in the dump with some other body guard trainees,” said Jasmine.

“Oh wow, I don’t even think Troy and I ever tried that,” said Arson.

“Nope, but I planned on doing it once we returned to nighttime training sessions,” said Troy.

“Night time training, you still planned on doing that with me, I thought with how much success you gained from all those Pro-am fights that you’d start looking for a professional trainer?”

“Ha, you’re funny, but who’s a better trainer than your mom, or who is better to train with than the person that a mother nature candidate is trying to make as powerful as possible, no wait I got a better one—“ Arson cut her off.

“I get it, I get it, but there is a reason why my mother is only a candidate, there are many powerful individuals that can bring you up to a new level, so don’t close yourself off to any potential options, tunnel vision is only a boon when we don’t let it shut out new experiences.” Silence filled the area, and when Arson looked around, everyone in the aircraft was looking at him.

“What? Did I say something strange? You guys are looking at me like I’m an alien,” said Arson.

“Come on man, you think we are going to get used to you going from a hyperactive child, to a seemingly disciplined young cultivator overnight,” asked Rob. Khalif nodded in agreement.

“You’ve always been smart boss, but I’d kinda gotten used to the unrefined version of you. Don’t get me wrong, you’ve moved me with words many times, but since you’ve been back, you talk more like a Keeper than a kid, or even someone our age,” said Khalif. Arson’s glance toward Sprinter prompted the woman to speak up, and Arson wondered if his apprehension to continue the conversation had flickered across his face.

“Your words here are private, sir, and though I agree that your words seem wise well beyond how old you appear, my opinions will not leave the bubble of your own social circle,” said Sprinter with a waved hand around at the group.

Don’t let your training lax just because you’re comfortable, you must remain in control of the mask of your soul, Arson told himself mentally.

He’d sat with kings, played with princes, and kept a stern gaze even when faced with death. He may want to relax and enjoy himself, but the time for that would come later. Instead he needed to fix the comfortability that had been disrupted between the ones he loved the most.

Now that we have finally made it, you can do exactly what you have always wanted to…

“Doesn’t matter, you’ll get used to it, and now that we are here, you need to prepare yourselves for competition and… spa treatments!” Arson rose to his feet and pointed out the window toward the resort as it came into view. The resort that Raid Corp used its excess funds to make excess funds.

“May I welcome you all to Coliseum,” said Sprinter.

“Here we offer luxury based on skill, each competitor must win to gain more comforts beyond the entry offered by your tickets,” The group took in the landscape, filled with thrill rides, water parks, and luxury.

The aircraft approached, but before it could fly in to the area filled with attractions, they stopped mid air and descended toward a landing pad. A landing pad that instead proved to be an elevator…

The group was lowered. The elevator moved down floor by floor, and the amazement and shock on the group faces changed into dread and despair.

The scene around them transitioned from the lavished world they all wanted to be a part of, to an impoverished area that reminded them all of the city around the orphanage they’d grown up in.

“Sprinter put a hand out to stop Arson before he could walk out of the aircraft. The woman aware of the disappointment his friends momentarily displayed. Arson hadn’t missed it, but felt good when the woman checked in with him anyway.

“Are you sure you would like to start out this low sir, not many people who start down here are able to make it off this floor,” warned Sprinter. Arson looked around at his friends and then back at the Raid Corp employee with a huge smile.

“This floor has never had to stop, the Black Hole Corporation…” Nods came from each of his people, and Sprinter smiled back.

“Well then good luck, and may your path be, Endless…”