PARTY OF FIVE

My 'drinks for everyone' announcement did not go underappreciated. Everyone in the crowd erupted in joy, going over to the bar one by one. In the process of drinking, food were served and music was played, aliens and humans dancing like it was the 4ht of July. We partied from dusk till dawn, at least that's what I thought because I didn't know how time worked in the Guild, plus there were no clocks anyway.

And when the party was over, we partied some more. I did not even notice when Ratchina, Fargo and the Yellow Blink joined in. Getting a hangover was definitely, inevitable. After the party we had a long, very long sleep in the Keeper's bar. Many on the floor, sleeping over the next, some on the lounge chairs, most at the diners and a few close to the elevator and rink. It was like the party of the century. The only person awake at the time was Zeno, the Keeper.

Gradually though, one at a time, they started picking themselves up. The hungover gradually subsided. Usually you wake up with a massive headache after these kind of things, but not in the freaking arena! The moment most of them woke up, they felt rejuvenated. One of them screamed out that he was going to unlock all his abilities that day by defeating the boss of the Shilois. Another screamed that he was going to enter the Forest of Entitlement and get the Halem flower for his wife for their third year anniversary, and then he was going to get her pregnant, I didn't see the need to announce that last part. By the way, a Harlem flower has hexagonal yellow petals with a splash of white, and it smells like roses, they're the perfect gift for a lady who loves flower.

Anyway, after those guys left, Ratchina was about to leave, she said something about unfinished business in the center of the arena. But Ezekiel and I stopped her, requesting an audience. This was about the party we were planning to assemble, you know, the other type of party. She was indifferent to the idea at first, and kept saying that she worked alone, and that nothing good would come out of such union. But Ezekiel was quite persuasive, or perhaps it was the history these two had, so in the end she agreed to the idea. But on the condition that she gets thirty percent of the pixels we acquired together and also, that it doesn't become a regular thing.

Her conditions were a bit off the nose, but it was reasonable. Fargo's conditions on the other hand were out of order.

"I get fifty percent of the pixels acquired," he said.

"That's not gonna be possible, we can offer only ten percent," Ezekiel replied.

"Ten! Ten percent is like a spit to my face," he replied. "I feel like you disrespect me, do you disrespect me false guardian?"

"Come on Fargo," I chipped in, leaning on the bar. "Take the offer."

"You, I don't want to hear anything from you bozo," he replied. "Not after you took half my power stones and proceeded to waste half of it on drinks for everyone."

I smiled, folding my hands.

"All we have is ten percent to offer Pokémon," Ezekiel said. "And seeing that we would only be fighting twice a week and defeating only bosses, I believe that's a pretty good offer."

Ezekiel's face knew no joy when he negotiates. Fargo stared at him for a while, probably weighing the pros and cons of the entire offer. Then he finally came to conclusion.

"Deal," he replied, shaking his hand. "I get to be leader though."

"Not a chance," Ezekiel and I replied immediately.

"It was worth a shot."

He got off the stool and left for the elevator. The next and final person we recruited was none other than the Yellow Blink himself, Barbados. He was barely a challenge, he didn't even want the pixels at first, 'just for the fun of it'. We had to insist he take at least five percent of the returns, so he did.

We fixed the day called Saturday on Earth, as the day we meet up in the Arena at the Keeper's bar, and head out to hunt down the boss of each monster or creature and kill them. We would spend two days in the Arena doing that and return to Earth the next day, Sunday. It was a done deal. Now I could return back home and check up on Lemon.

"How do I get back home?" I asked Ezekiel.

"Leaving so soon?" Zeno asked.

"Gotta check up on my partner," I replied.

"Of course, Lemon," Ezekiel said, getting up from the stool. "All you have to do is press the exit icon on your Arena system screen, say the exact place you'd like to be taken back to, and you'll be gone."

Immediately I activated the screen, and searched for the button, but I couldn't find it.

"I don't see the exit icon anywhere."

Come to think of it, I would have noticed such icon immediately I opened the screen the first time.

"It's nothing to get all rattled up about," Zeno smiled.

"You can't come in and out the Guild as you please Ezra," Ezekiel said. "The icon would pop up when you're out of the Xaion."

On that note, we left. Well not after the Keeper had forced that book he previously brought out in my hands and also soothed the deal with a bottle of the good stuff, Saruno, said it was a gift for my partner, Lemon. That was probably a glitch because, you can't give a gift to someone you didn't even know. So I claimed the bottle of Saruno.

We made our way out of the bar and then out of Xaion. It was as he said, the exit icon appeared on the screen. So I clicked on it, summoning the guardian's passage.

It took me straight home. Throwing me on the couch because the door had appeared horizontally over my couch. The moment I crashed into the couch, the door disappeared, leaving the image of Ezekiel winking at me on the other side as the last thing I saw before it vanished.

I sat in the silence, looking around at the scattered table, the turned on TV, the messed up sheets on the sofa and the unwashed bowl of ramen laying on the floor next to my foot. The place was exactly how I left it.

"I gotta hire a maid," I said to myself as I stood on my feet and started cleaning.

When the deed was done, I checked my Bandphone—forty-two messages!

"Forty-two messages?!" I spat out the cereal I was about to eat.

Scrolling through the messages, I saw that most of them were from the chief and Tonji.

Where are you?

Where are you?

Pick up your freaking phone!

Ezra! Pick up your damn phone!

Where are you?!

Most of these calls were from like eighteen hours prior to my returned. I could only imagine the load of trouble I was in. Did they find out about the house arrest device? Did I miss Tonji's wedding? No, that can't be right, Tonji's wedding was in two months. Wait, has it been two months already? Maybe Ezekiel got the time zones wrong and I had spent two months in the Arena!

I immediately checked the calendar on my phone. It was Tuesday, just three days since I left for the Arena, I had not missed anything. So what was all the fuss about? Then I saw it, the most relevant message from both of them;

"She's awake. Lemon's awake."