Chapter 15

The following day, we all woke up early, having gone to bed early the night before. We were bursting with energy as excitement filled the group, and we couldn't stop talking about yesterday's events until we finally got bored.

"I'm going to head into town, and I'll probably hang out with my dad. You guys are free to do whatever you want since missions don't renew until tomorrow," I said, quickly exiting the house. I started walking around Beach City, taking in the fact that I was now in a place I had once only dreamed of visiting. At some point, I began to sing a little song as I walked.

There once was a ship that put to sea

The name of the ship was the Billy O' Tea!

The winds blew up, her bow dipped down

Oh blow, my bully boys, blow (huh)

Soon may the Wellerman come

To bring us sugar and tea and rum

One day, when the tonguing is done

We'll take our leave and go...

I got so deep into the song that I didn't realize I had wandered to the opposite side of the cliff where the temple was located. Feeling a bit lost, I looked around and noticed the only thing nearby, aside from the residential housing, was an old car wash with a van parked next to it.

'This must be Steven's dad's car wash,' I thought, deciding to come back later to get the old man's truck cleaned and, hopefully, talk to the dad of one of my favorite characters from any animated show.

With that idea in mind, I walked in another direction, quickly resuming my singing as I made my way to the docks. There, I stood admiring the boats, but when I turned to leave, I looked down and found a surprising sight.

"Hello there, what's your name?" I asked, looking down at a short, six-year-old boy with big cheeks and a small tuft of blond hair that angled up slightly, making it look a bit like lemon frosting.

'What could Onion want?' Yep, it was Onion, and he seemed to want me to lift him up. He spread his arms, signaling for me to pick him up, which I did—though I looked around first, not wanting to be mistaken for anything suspicious.

Once Onion was at face level, he signaled for me to turn him around to face away from me, which I did. He then pointed in a direction, and I followed. Where I ended up was the last place I expected.

"Oh hey, son, you're early," my dad greeted me as I stood in front of the arcade, Onion still in hand.

"Yeah, Dad, this kid brought me here," I said, indicating Onion. My dad's expression grew humorous as he greeted the boy, who then had me put him down before dragging me into the arcade. He soon led me to the game Lily and I had played yesterday.

"You want to play with me?" I asked. Onion nodded, taking out two tokens and handing me one before quickly sitting in one of the arcade seats.

'Well, I've got nothing better to do,' I thought as I plopped down in my seat, slotted my token in, and prepared to play against Onion, whose expression hadn't changed from its neutral setting since I met him.

"YOU LOSE."

That's all I saw for the next half hour as I played against the small boy, who kept offering me one token after another to continue playing. Though I was extremely frustrated at losing to a six-year-old, I found myself getting better and better at the game. At one point, I even brought him down to nearly one hit, but it was never meant to be—he always thrashed me in the end.

"You're too good, but sadly, I can't keep playing," I said, kneeling down to shake Onion's hand. The boy accepted, seeming content with the absolute show of dominance he had displayed in the game. He quickly left the arcade, disappearing around a corner, just as my dad approached me with a boisterous laugh.

"Don't feel too bad, son. Onion is actually a regional champion, and he was quite excited to hear there were other good players in town. He spent all day yesterday looking for you or your friends," my dad said. Hearing his words, I sighed before saying goodbye, not before getting a promise from my dad to come over to his house to sit down and eat with us.

"Now what to do?" I wondered aloud. Deciding to visit Fish Stew Pizza and try a slice, I soon regretted it, as I finally met Mayor Dewey, who was causing a ruckus, holding a slice of pizza in one hand and a microphone in the other.

"I just want you to go and fix it—is that so hard?" Dewey demanded, waving the slice of pizza near the face of the employee working the register at Fish Stew Pizza.

"Oh heck nah, you're the one who grabbed the pizza, WHICH DIDN'T HAVE YOUR NAME ON IT!" Emphasizing the last part, the employee—a dark-skinned girl with a puffy bob hairstyle—crossed her arms, clearly upset with the mayor, who continued to speak loudly into his microphone.

"But... but..." Dewey stammered. The employee, whom I recognized as Jenny—not from the show, but thanks to the name tag on her chest—left him stumped. Before he could continue arguing, he was shoved out by a small old lady who came from the back. She marched right up to Mayor Dewey and began to push him out the door.

"Oh, a customer! Welcome!" Jenny perked up upon seeing me, curious to see someone outside of Beach City's limited population.

"Hello, can I see the menu?" I greeted her, taking a seat as she handed me the menu. I browsed it slowly, debating whether to order a cheese pizza or seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to try braised fish on a pizza. My body said no, but my mind said yes. By the time Jenny came to take my order, my mouth had already made the decision.

"Let me get the braised fish pizza and an orange soda, please," I said, watching as she jotted down my order before leaving to pass it to the cook.

"Here's your pizza." It didn't take long for Jenny to bring it out, and soon I was faced with a piping hot 12-inch pizza topped with beautifully cleaned fish. Alongside the pizza, she placed a fork and knife.

'No time like the present,' I thought, digging in. Everything was amazing—the fish and the pizza tasted amazing though not so much when eaten together, but I still found myself eating half the pizza and finishing the entire fish.

"It was good. I hope I can come back," I said, carrying the box with the remaining slices as I headed out. Much to my surprise, I ran into Noah, who was talking to a teen with long, blond, almost fry-like hair that resembled curly fries.

"So you're telling me they fought a giant, acid-spewing centipede, and you didn't record it? Ah, man!" I overheard the young man exclaim, and I could guess the contents of their conversation as I walked over.

"Oh hey, Duke! What's up?" Noah greeted me as soon as he saw me, causing the teen I immediately identified as Ronaldo to lift his head from his palm, seeming to have been distracted by his disappointment.

"Huh, who are you?" Ronaldo asked. Wasting no time, I introduced myself.

"My name's Duke. I'm Harold's son, and I'm friends with Noah over there." I pointed toward Noah. Ronaldo, hearing my introduction, seemed a bit more interested.

"Harold? He always talked about having a son, but I didn't expect to see you today. I'm Ronaldo Fryman. You might have seen our place near the Wharf—it's the one with the big fries sign." Shaking his hand, I felt a surge of joy at meeting one of my top ten favorite side characters. Not wanting to seem weird, I steered the conversation back to what he and Noah were discussing.

"So, were you guys talking about that fight we saw yesterday?" I asked, causing Ronaldo to remember why he was so upset in the first place.

"Relax, Ronaldo. I bet this is a regular thing. Maybe you could set up some hidden cameras to catch the fight next time," Noah said, comforting him. With a sad sigh, Ronaldo waved us goodbye before heading off in a random direction.

"Hope he feels better," I said, watching Ronaldo disappear into the distance, and Noah nodded lightly in agreement.

"Yeah. Anyway, I was on my way to check out a trail. Miguel called me and asked if I wanted to go on this trail he heard about from a local. Do you want to come?" Noah's invitation was intriguing, but I decided to spend the rest of the day exploring the town, meeting and talking to most of the characters I knew from the show. Eventually, night fell, and I decided to head home.

"Give it back!" I had to duck as I entered the house to avoid an arrow shot from Olivia's bow. She was in hot pursuit of Noah, who clutched a letter tightly while dodging and weaving to avoid the barrage of arrows.

'Who thought it was a good idea to give her blunt arrows?' I wondered, watching as she carelessly launched several more blunt-headed arrows at Noah. To my surprise, he dodged most, if not all of them, with impressive dexterity as he ran through the house, laughing.

"What's up with them?" I asked Miguel and Lily, who were ducked behind the couch. I quickly joined them, lying across the couch as they hopped up to sit beside me. Miguel turned on the TV while Lily explained.

"Well, Olivia has been hinting at marriage for a while, and Noah finally proposed with a ring he got from an armor token. But now Noah found Olivia's vows, and he's making fun of her by reading them aloud." I was confused about when all of this had happened, but Lily told me it happened a couple of hours ago while I was out, so luckily I didn't miss much. I settled in to watch the two of them have their fun.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Eventually, I heard knocking at the door, and soon after, my dad burst in, a wide smile on his face, hands spread as he performed jazz hands.

"I'M HEREEEEEE! Now, what are we eating?" he asked, looking around before locking onto the three of us in the living room. Ignoring his dramatic entrance, I shook my head and headed into the kitchen to start cooking. Thankfully, the food wasn't difficult to prepare since I had prepped it the day before. All that was needed was for it to cook for the next hour.

With the food cooking, everyone, including Olivia and Noah—who had finally stopped their game—spent the next hour hanging out with my dad, who regaled us with stories from his life. Eventually, the food finished cooking, and we sat down to eat. I'd say the night went pretty well; after dinner, my dad left, and we all headed to bed.

- - - - - - 

Sorry for the weak finish I had written most of the chapter already and when I came back to finish it I lost my vibe so it came out a bit shit. 

I will not be rewriting this as this is my 3 third rewrite to make it a smother read and Im tired

Ive settled on the classes for now

Monk

Some form of Warhammer user

Artificer

And something I'm still deciding between two things