Slush and more slush

Sometime later, after they got their monsters back from the nurse, they rented a room in a small inn to sleep out of the cold for once.

The first thing Aurora did after removing all her snow gear was to call Sunsun. Following the opening of the ball, a smiling Sunsun showed up and Aurora swiftly took her in her arms.

|| I was so worried about you! Are you okay?||

|| Yes, thank you.||

|| I was so worried! I'm so sorry you got hurt. I didn't help enough.||

|| But did we get her?||

|| We did but I haven't talked to her yet.||

|| You are angry at her.|| Noticed Sunsun.

|| I am.|| Aurora couldn't deny it, she was still angry about it.

|| I am not angry though, I was surprised and a bit disappointed but I wasn't angry. I knew you would help me so I knew I would be fine. You don't have to be angry for me, I can be angry on my own if I want to.||

Her lighthearted response made a lot of good for Aurora. This was the kind of things she needed to hear. She felt a lot better now and her words made a lot of sense. She was still miffed though.

|| I'm not hurt anymore so it's fine. Let everyone out so we can chat please. Also, you have to find her a good name.||

While Aurora spoke with Sunsun and thought about a name for her new monster, Gilly teased Blaze a bit.

"The first month is almost over and you are not closer to fulfilling your promise. You'll have to do something from the list."

"Well, finding all that money isn't as simple as snapping my fingers."

"I know, but you'll have to surrender to the list anyway." She said while rubbing her hands together like some bad guy. "Uh fufufu, I wonder what I should have you do. Maybe I'll get you to tie me up on the bed, Or maybe I'll be the one tying you up."

"That's not that bad."

Blaze had no idea what was on the list, he only knew that the wide web found it very controversial. Just getting tied up to a bed wasn't that excessive.

"But I told you before I would start with the weak stuff. Next month, I'll add something way worse. I could ask you to gather around ten other people and/"

"Okay, let's not do that, let's not talk about it either."

He made a sound between an annoyed sigh and a snort before he let Dawnshield out in the room to train. Gilly laughed out loud and let her own two monsters out. Blaze also changed out of the uniform in favor of the duster so that Gilly could go wash everything. He also felt the duster was more appropriate for the kind of training he had in mind.

Shortly after, Aurora had come up with a name for the demuret. She got her three other balls and released everyone in the room. Starburst was in his usual odd state and Magus seemed as sleepy as ever. He looked left and right, noticed the new girl and stared at her with all the seriousness in the world.

When he met Sunsun, he accepted her immediately because of how jovial she was and how Aurora acted with her but his feeling was different for the demuret.

The new monster started by looking confusedly at her surroundings before groaning in disappointment and glaring at Aurora and Sunsun.

"I can't believe you defeated me, this is unfair! How many shiny trinkets does the girl even have?"

Did she mean the badges?

"Our silent angel doesn't have any badges yet." Answered Magus.

Another groan was heard and the demuret scratched the floor in annoyance.

"I got caught by a weakling! A weakling that loves hugs too! I should have ran."

"Why are you like that? Aurora is a very kind girl, it could have been much worse." Told her Sunsun.

"That's just the thing, she's the kind girl, we're not gonna get any fun! No stealing, no tricks or treachery, no nothing!"

Aurora pouted, that small monster had quite a strange way to see things. She was a demonic being though so it should have been expected. Maybe Aurora had a way to cheer her up a bit.

|| Sunsun, tell her that Blaze is the leader of a crime syndicate.||

Once she heard this, the demuret immediately turned around to take a look at Blaze. He was currently blocking every attack Dawnshield was making at him. Dawnshield was training his speed by trying to break through his defense and Blaze was training by countering every vine coming his way.

"He's way tall! And he's got the eyes that mean business. Why is that guy hanging out with you?"

|| He's Aurora's partner. She hides him from the police in exchange from his protection.||

"Oh..."

She showed a wicked grin.

"The girl might be more interesting than I thought. Fine then, I'll endure this situation. Maybe I'll be able to jump boat later. I'll impress him and then he'll trade me and I'll get to do mischief again."

That probably wouldn't happen but Aurora didn't need to tell her. Hopefully, she would get friendlier after a while. Now that the small demon was kinda on board, she needed a name.

"So, boss, how will you call me from now on?"

|| Slush is the name she gives you.||

"Slush? Is that a joke! That's a terrible name! Come on, give me something else."

Aurora frowned. How was this a bad name! It was great, it took her a long time to think about it too.

"What is it?" Inquired Gilly.

She had been watching the silent exchange since the beginning and was curious about what was going on and why the small demon was so upset.

(She doesn't like her name.) Explained Aurora.

"Really? What did you call her?"

(Slush, it's a pun.)

"Slush? Haha!" Gilly burst in laughter and so Blaze turned back towards them to see what was happening. The demuret was very annoyed that the other girl laughed at her name.

"See? I can't be called that!" She complained, pointing at Gilly with her sharp claws.

"What's so funny?" Asked Blaze.

"She called the demuret Slush because it sounds like slash and its about snow!"

Blaze smiled too, he really loved bad puns.

"So she's gonna slush down her opponents? That's a great one. It's a great punishment too."

"A punishment?" Neither Aurora or Slush understood what he meant.

|| Blaze believe it is payback because of how you cut me even after you had already clearly lost the fight. Aurora was very angry at you after all.||

Aurora hadn't thought about that at all, she just thought it was a great name. Slush however, seemed to accept that explanation better. She passed her tongue over her sharp exposed teeth as the corner of her mouth rose again.

"I see, punishment by humiliation. How despicable. I'll live with it too then, if I must."

That wasn't what she meant to do at all but if she accepted the name, that was fine too.

"Also, why are you always speaking in her stead, what's up with her?"

"She's mute."

"That explains it."

Slush didn't need anymore explanation than that.

Afterward, the group had a good night of rest, except for Magus who insisted to keep an eye on Slush and of course, Blaze who almost never had any good night of rest.

The next morning, they departed towards the south, aiming to reach Hitawar once again were the helicopter was waiting for them. Before they left though, Gilly took a lot of pictures of the snowy region.

"When we get to Florence, we can post those picture online to have everyone believe we are training in the north." She explained.

That was quite clever. Blaze felt it was a really good thing that the guys in this world couldn't just track down from where the picture had been posted, that would have been bad for them.

Going all the way around the mountains took surprisingly longer than it seemed and things didn't turn out as easy and simple as it had been to get there in the first place.

That day, Aurora texted her father to tell him all about her progress.

<Hi dad. I caught a seekrid and a demuret.>

<That is great, I'm proud of you princess. Those are some good monsters. I wish I was there to ask all my question in person, It would be easier than to type them on a P-gear.>

Her father was really bad at texting. He was fine with a keyboard but he always complained about how small the buttons were on a P-gear. She didn't need him to state his question to know what they were though. She knew his way of thinking well.

<We didn't get any badges yet, we've only been travelling to get those two monsters. Blaze hasn't caught anything either. We're going to Florence next because there are many monsters we want there.>

<Call him number 1 or 2, according to the mask.>

<Why?>

<We don't want people discovering who he is just by spying on our conversations. use the mask number when writing about them.>

That made sense and it also scared her a bit, would people really spy on her conversations?

<What about the one just earlier?>

<I'll make sure to erase everything afterwards.>

Was it that easy?

<OK then, he's N2 and she's N1.>

<Understood, thank you. Now, do you need me to find a razor claw for you?>

<A razor claw?>

<Yes, to evolve your demuret into a deviret.>

Ho yeah, she forgot they needed that to grow.

<No, not right now. I'm not sure I can control her well yet.>

<You are right, I'm just being hasty. Caution is better when dealing with monsters, especially the evil ones. I will trust your judgement and wait until you tell me you need it before I do anything. Will you need a stone for your seekrid?>

<No she's a girl so she's going to transform into a Seerknit in the end. Oh dad I forgot to tell you the best part. My seekrid is a telepath! I can talk to her using only my head!>

<I'm very happy for you dear. Remember to be safe, call me if you need something and don't forget to call your mom too. She worries about you.>

<I will.>

She answered that but she didn't know when she would do it. She didn't know what to tell her mom after what she had done. Eventually she would have to call her but not now.

***

While they were still walking through the snowy landscape, Blaze trained Slush a lot. She was basically the only one he could train efficiently here.

At first, Slush tried to impress him with her strength but she got shot down with only a few words.

"You were defeated by an idiot bird and a hug, how am I supposed to see that as strong?"

Slush instantly became super angry and tried to cut his coat in retaliation but he stepped out of the way and smacked the top of her head. (1)

"You're gonna have to be better than that if you want to cut my coat. Look, you'll have to train a lot harder before you can do that but I 'can' make you stronger. You have to listen to me and Aurora though. Train the way I tell you and follow her orders. If you can't do that, I have to time to waste on you. If you do though, I'll make sure you aren't defeated like that again."

Again, Slush showed that insidious smile on her face and after that, she was pretty obedient. Apparently, her and Blaze shared the same language.

That training continued the whole way until they crossed paths with a few people they didn't expect.

Three man dressed with office worker clothes and hard hats were waiting for them on the road.

"It's really her! Our info was correct!"

Blaze didn't need to ask them who they were or what they wanted. it was obvious by the way they were dressed and their first sentence.

"How did you know we would pass through here?"

"Someone saw her in Pinewood town, told us she went south. You know what we want right? Hand her over."

"No way!" Answered Gilly.

"Then we'll just take her by force!"

All three of them placed their hands on their P-balls, ready to throw them and the two girls did the same but Blaze just snorted.

"We don't really have to fight them, I could just shoot them."

"B/ Of course not!" She had almost called him Blaze just then.

Slush thought this was very interesting.

"The guy's right, it's their fault for crossing us. I like his way of thinking."

|| We can't do that. No one has to die!||

Meanwhile the guys on the other side snickered.

"You wouldn't dare."

"I would." Blaze affirmed.

The only reason he hadn't done so yet was because everyone else complained.

|| Sunsun, tell him we'll fight them square for now. Only let him use the gun if he has no other choice.||

Blaze grumbled a bit hearing Sunsun in his head. It was way better to shoot first, that way there were no monsters to get in the way at the last moment. Who knew what they had.

"Fine, then, you're lucky she doesn't want me to kill you. Who goes first?"

"Why not all at once?"

"Not a chance. You're not getting to Aurora without defeating number one and you're not challenging her unless you can beat me."

"Fine then, I'll go first." Said the left-most guy.

Blaze almost couldn't believe they were dumb enough to agree to that. Maybe they were just true to their roles of simple goons?

The match was swiftly set up with the P-gears. The process was simple. The device was always looking for other users nearby and matches could be set up by just a few button presses. Of course, the name of everyone was chosen by the P-gear holders, this explained why so many had weird titles in front of their names.

<Working order José, 1 badge, want to battle.> The device said. Blaze agreed and threw Dawnshield on the field. <Starfuel security No.2. no badges, accepted the challenge.>

"Pff, no badge and only a chesspawn? This shit's gonna be easy."

On the other side, Blaze was smirking, only one badge. The man would lose easily and bring in a lot more money to him than if he had been badge-less. He gave quick instructions to his small shivering knight.

"Alright Dawnshield, I know it's cold out but the faster you take down those three idiots the faster you can go back into your ball. Just do some quick warm-up while we wait for them."

"You think you're going to take on all three of us with only that small rodent?" One of them laughingly said while Dawnshield made some jumps and stretches.

"Of course I am, it's not technically a rodent but yes, I bet whatever you want that Dawnshield here can take you all down in turn."

"Oh yeah? How about the gun then?"

"Sure, if you win you take the gun but what will I get if I win?"

Aurora suddenly panicked and wanted Blaze to take back his words. He couldn't just give them the gun if he lost, that would be insane.

|| He doesn't plan to give them the gun at all. He just plans to kill them if they win.|| Sunsun told her after she read into his mind.

That wasn't better at all!

"If you win that bet, we'll give you all the money we have on us on top of the automatic match reward. We have about a thousand each on us."

"Alright then, throw out your monster so we can start."

That was perfect, instead of getting a few hundred, he would gain a few thousand.

"You're too cocky you'll regret it. Tiktok get out here."

From the ball he threw came out an almost perfectly round owl with brows like clock handles and huge eyes. It was obviously just a Clockowl.

"I clearly have the advantage in this matchup. Tiktok here can/"

"Vine whip then bite."

Before the owl or the man could react, Dawnshield struck it hard and sent it rolling in the snow until it was stopped by a tree. Dawnshield immediately rushed after it and before the owl managed to regain its equilibrium or understand what was happening. The powerful teeth of Dawnshield were ripping its wings apart.

"Get out of there! Confuse it!"

The owl tried to get away but Dawnshield would not let it go and every time it tried to back off, it received another vine strike. The owl still managed to turn towards Dawshield though and used its huge hypnotic eyes to try and break its focus.

The strange gaze dizzied Dawnshield and forced him to withdraw. The owl took the opportunity to awkwardly fly a few feet up in the air, it's wings were in bad shape now.

"Dawshield, just shake it off and bring it back down."

While Dawnshield tried to clear his head. The other monster started making cries that swiftly came to sound from everywhere at once. That small bird was a good illusionist.

The knight looked up and saw the weird eyes again, in no time at all, he felt like there was a dozen owls up in the air and a hundred more hiding in the trees and hooting at him. He blinked twice but was still unable to figure out what was happening. He did his best and just swung his vine across all the owls he could see flying up. He made contact on one of them and every single bird disappeared, clearing his mind.

The owl spun in the air and Dawshield griped it's claws with the vine to yank it back down to the ground. It crashed in the snow hard in front of him, the bird bounced and lunged forward to peck him. It's beak dug under his skin and ripped out a bit of flesh, Dawnshield retaliated with a bite of his own and after an instant of confusing struggle, the owl had clearly lost and the man was forced to recall it before it endured a fatal wound.

Dawnshield stood proudly upright and Blaze praised him.

"Good job Dawnshield, I knew I could count on you."

"It's my pleasure to serve my lord." The knight answered in the language only Aurora could understand.

The small knight was bleeding a bit from his chest but aside from that, and some scratches on his arms, he seemed quite fine.

"That's bullshit, I wasn't ready!"

"You were though, the match had begun and your monster was out. It's your fault you kept losing time speaking random shit. Who's next?"

The working order goon was furious and Slush was laughing like a hyena.

"That guy is awesome!"

<Victory goes to Starfuel security No.2.> Showed the two P-gears.

The next man stepped up and set up the new match.

"I will then, I don't think yours will be any good against it Vince."

<Working order Louis, 1 badge, want to battle.>

<Starfuel security No.2. no badges, accepted the challenge.>

The guy called Louis threw his own ball on the field and a small ringing bell came out, floating above the ground. It had its own ribbon, a golden color and a small red ball inside it that was used as its heart. It seemed like it had small stumpy arms and legs but it might as well have been bumps in the bell. Just looking at it like that, Blaze wasn't sure if it was a bell given life or a creature looking like a palm sized bell.

The man immediately gave it a command at the same time as Blaze did.

"Vine whip!" "Ching, boo and trap!"

The vine should have hit it since Dawnshield had trained a lot in hitting even smaller objects but the bell dodged by dropping lower towards the ground, producing a soothing and ghostly ringing on the way. Dawnshield felt a bit more sluggish.

"Again!" Blaze called but before he could try to slap it again, the bell suddenly moved forward with a loud ringing and startled him.

A heartbeat afterward, his eyelids felt heavy and the cute ribbon hanging from the bell extended to wrap all around him.

Dawshield fell asleep in the middle of the fight leaving the bell all the leeway it needed to tie him up and start constricting him in its grasp.

"Shit, he's got you now." Said Gilly, a bit apprehensive.

Blaze didn't try to waste time yelling at Dawshield to wake up and just went for the most effective solution. He aimed the riffle towards the sky and shot once with it.

Everyone was startled, so much so that Aurora fell backwards in surprise but the loud sound awakened Dawnshield.

The knight woke up to the feeling of being wrapped, he had a hard time to breath. By reflex, his quills hardened and rose all over his head, piercing through the ribbon everywhere.

"Bite it off." Blaze asked of him.

"Don't let it, ring it out."

Dawnshield jerked it's head around trying to reach either the ribbon of the bell while the bell rang loudly in panic, escaping left and right as it tried to deafen its opponent. Finally, It was Dawnshield who won by biting down on the ribbon and ripping it to shreds.

A mournful jingle rang in the air and the bell removed itself from Dawnshield. it was pretty beat up now and the ribbon was barely hanging on to it anymore.

"I concede, Jigy can't win anymore." The man said bitterly.

<Victory goes to Starfuel security No.2.> Stated the machine for the second time.

Dawnshield was getting pretty beat up now though. His limbs felt like they were crawling with ants from the constriction, his head was hurting and thumping and the wound on his chest wasn't helping either. He didn't take the same victorious pose as earlier.

"Good job again, there's one last guy, hold on." Blaze told him.

The knight nodded and prepared for the last round.

"I guess it's all up to me then but even though mine isn't the best match-up. your Chesspawn is too beat up, I'm sure I can win. Come out Mudder."

blaze recognized it instantly, it was a monster everyone loved, one of the favorite water starters of everyone. A blue rubbery creature holding itself on four legs, with a fin on top of its head and a large fin as a tail. It was barely a foot tall and had a worry free smile, two black lidless eyes and large external orange gill stalks on either side of its head. It was a mud-hopper, it was a freezing just as much as Dawnshield.

<Working order Vince, 1 badge, want to battle.>

<Starfuel security No.2. no badges, accepted the challenge.>

"Water Gun!" "Dodge!"

Water gun wasn't the most effective thing there was against a monster like Dawnshield but it was already weakened and being wet in the cold would be disastrous for the rest of the fight.

Dawnshield jumped to the side and retaliated with his vines. He missed as the mud-hopper plunged face first into the snow. With all the water thrown everywhere in the snow, it had became like mud. It was a perfect place to swim in for it.

They were barely able to distinguish it under all the slush as it sped forward using its large tail.

"Use your vines to yank it out of there!" Blaze called.

Dawnshield tried but the water was too cold and thick, he couldn't maneuvre them properly in their depths.

"Mud-slap!" Called the other guy.

The fish-like creature pierced the surface and scooped up a bunch of the snow mixture, throwing it towards Dawnshield. he wasn't able to dodge it and got soaked and blinded immediately by the attack.

"Water gun again!"

"Move out of the way, use synthesis!"

Dawshield stepped on the side and almost dodged all of the water. Just after, he focused himself and absorbed the energy from the sun. His condition visibly improved.

"Why the fuck does your chesspawn know that move? Doesn't matter, tackle it into the water!"

The mud-hopper jumped out of the water directly into Dawnshield. The knight curled upon himself, erecting all of its quills to protect itself. Their two backs collided and the mud-hopper yelped in pain as Dawnshield was pushed into the slush pond.

Both of them trashed about, one rolling in the snow trying to ease the pain the quills inflicted while the other struggled to get himself out of the freezing trap. Still blinded, he was unable to get out of it quickly as he couldn't find the border of the slush pit. (2)

The mud-hopper was the first to recover and used its tail to shovel more snow to throw onto Dawnshield.

Blaze wasn't sure on how to recover from that. Even if Dawnshield wasn't that hurt, there was no way he could get back out of that 'pool' in a timely manner and by then, he would be frozen solid.

He was about to concede and call back Dawnshield when the mud-hopper stopped what it was doing and resumed rolling itself in the snow while groaning.

Both Blaze and the other guy had no idea what was wrong with it.

"What are you doing Mudder! You almost had it! Don't let it get out!"

But the mud-hopper didn't listen and wailed instead. When Dawnshield got out of the pond, the reason became clear. Every place where it was pricked by the quills, small plants were growing out of the flesh of the mud-hopper. Their roots crawling under its skin and their branches extending like a million small filaments towards Dawnshield in order to connect with him.

Dawnshield had learned Leech seed! This meant it would evolve soon but it also meant that the fight was close to won already.

Dawnshield extended a weak paw towards the stretching filaments and connected with them. As the energy was absorbed from the muddy water monster, it all came back to Dawnshield. He moved forward, slowly regaining his strength and prepared to bite down on the fish.

"Alright, we're done, I concede." Said the now pale looking trainer as he recalled his mud-hopper.

<Victory goes to Starfuel security No.2.>

Everyone on their side rejoiced but that last one was pretty close. Blaze wouldn't let it happen again, he had learned a lot of valuable lessons here. He also needed to ask Sunsun to train Dawnshield to resist attack on his mind better. For now, though, there was money he deserved to receive.

Now that the three men were out of monster and had a trio of trainers in front of them, there was nothing much they could do anymore. Even more persuasive, there was a gun pointing at them. They threw a bunch of stacked bills into the snow in front of them and legged it. Not even leaving a word behind.

|| Aurora is asking if it's really okay to let them go.||

"There's nothing else I can do. We aren't cops, we have nothing to capture them and you won't let me kill them so we can only let them go."

"Let's move quickly before they get some more friends to help them." Reminded them Gilly.

The other two agreed and after blaze praised Dawshield and told him he would be rewarded, they moved southward again.

After that, they managed to get back into Hitawar without encountering anything else close to dangerous. The police blockade was still there but they were let through without trouble.

In the end, they had found no Subanio or Niosu but there were a bunch of them living in Florence too so the group wasn't that disappointed.

They rested two days in an hotel while Blaze checked the helicopter and familiarized himself to the controls. The streets in front of the hotel got swarmed by the working order but the police intervened and rounded most of them. They also left a bunch of agents in the hotel to make sure the Stardust heir wouldn't be disturbed while she stayed in Hitawar.

No criminal reached her and two days later, the wanted criminal Blaze Sherwood left the country with the cops waving at them from the airport bellow. Gilly almost choked with how much she was laughing.

The next destination was Florence.

***

(1) PETA!

(2) I love writing fights of low level monsters, I think it's super entertaining.