Chapter Text
Witch and Bo Peep grunt as Sylvester is hardly able to keep them at bay.
“Alright. You should finally be tired enough for this.” Sylvie holds up his yoyo. “Nightmare Fu-”
“Smoke Bomb!” Witch slams a potion on the ground, creating a haze. “We’re outta here!” They exclaim, and the duo vanishes into the woods.
“No!” Sylvie growls. “Dammit…if only I wasn’t so low on stamina…” he falls to one knee.
“Hey, at least they’re gone!” Zora says. “That’s good, right?”
“I guess so…” Sylvie manages to stand up.
“So, big guy.” Zora turns to see Gorou, peeking his head out from behind the dumpster. “We’re lookin’ for a tall girl, stars in her hair? Has a scowl reminiscent of an angry bear?”
“I don’t recall someone like that…” Gorou says softly.
“Dangit, she’s not here.” Zora says.
“I’m glad you two are here, though!” Gorou says brightly. “I’ve been waiting on these people for some time now, but I just can’t seem to find any customers! You all don’t happen to need a ride somewhere, do you?”
“Not right now, but if you had something to eat…” Sylvie requests.
“Oh, sure I do!” Gorou pulls out a box of donuts. They glisten with unhealthy glazing.
“Well…better than nothing.” Sylvie eats one, restoring a small amount of stamina. “Thank you, Gorou. Now…” Sylvie puts out his arm dramatically. “Come, Zora! We need to track down those two, and they’ll lead us directly to their leader! Once there, we’ll work together to take Molly down, and reclaim the Arsene Amulet!”
“Well, looks like we got a little hero here.” a voice says from above, and everyone looks up to see a man in a suit atop the train station, grinning with a golden tooth and a golden eye with a scar running through it. “Hi.” he says with an innocent smile.
---
“Ramsey!” Zora exclaims in fear.
“Ramsey Murdoch.” Sylvie scowls.
“Aw, you recognize me?” he smirks. “What was the hint, the face?”
“Any self-respecting agent of the SJPD would recognize you .” Sylvie declares. “One of the four leading officers of the Mundie Terrorist Group, Bliss Ocean .”
“I’m flattered, though I prefer the term ‘businessman’ to ‘terrorist’.” Ramsey says matter-of-factly. “I work to tie up loose ends, after all.”
“Have you ever tied up an end looser than you?” Sylvie asks.
“...what?” Ramsey asks.
“It sounded better in my head.” Sylvie admits.
Ramsey rolls his good eye. “Whatever. The point is, kid, there’s only one loose end left that I need to tie up. Her .” he says, pointing at Zora, who squeaks in fear. Ramsey laughs. “Zora! I gave you an hour to hide behind any object you could find…and you picked some baby-faced cop ?”
“I’m not a cop…and why is Bliss Ocean’s cleaner pursuing you ?” Sylvie turns to Zora suspiciously. “You’re just a little girl!”
“Er, clearly he is crazy ! I ain’t done nothing wrong, ever .” Zora insists. “Doc, arrest that man.”
“Come on, Babyface!” Ramsey smirks. “You said you know who I am. You’re not seriously gonna stand in my way knowing what I can do, right?”
“A true officer stands by his principles.” Sylvie says, readying his yoyo. “No matter the circumstances!”
Ramsey whistles, almost impressed. “ Damn you’re dumb!” he laughs. “I like it. Alright, sure, if that’s the way you wanna play it!”
“Soo…” Zora leans in to talk to Sylvie. “Can you actually beat him?”
“Probably not.” Sylvie admits. “But with the stamina I’ve regained, and your assistance, and we believe in ourselves, we can do anything !”
“Can we, though?” Zora asks.
“Of course we can!” Sylvie sputters. “We’ll apprehend him, and then move on to our missing epithet thief.”
“Epithet Thief?” Ramsey arches an eyebrow. “Wait, do you mean Little Miss Hush? I already took care of her.” he says confidently. “...wait. Don’t tell me you’re after this ?” he holds up the Arsene Amulet between two fingers as though it were a playing card.
“The Amulet!” Sylvie exclaims.
Ramsey lets out a deep, bellowing laugh. “Oh, that is perfect ! I may be a gambling man, but even this is a ridiculous amount of luck! You want the Amulet, and I want Zora!” he grins maliciously. “How about we make a little ante? Winner. Take. All. I mean hey, you can both even fight me at once! Might even make it more even. I’ll even match whatever weapon you use.” He shrugs. “Keep it kosher, so to speak.”
“This is an awful idea…” Zora mutters.
“Oh! Excuse me, sir, but it’s rather dangerous to stand up there!” Gorou says. “You may wanna get down!”
“Hm, I am rather high up…but if you say so!” he leaps down, and those watching gasp as he is about to land on Gorou…but the impact is softened as Gorou gasps, and Ramsey slides to the ground. Behind him, Gorou had been turned to gold upon impact, and the golden and obese skin was shifted by his feet to form a slide that allowed him to the ground.
Gorou was now petrified, and shifted to be half-man half-slide.
“Goldbricker…” Sylvie mutters.
“Wow, you really have heard of me.” Ramsey smirks.
“Of course I have.” Sylvie scowls. “Your epithet allows you to turn anything you touch to gold and back again, as well as the ability to morph it like clay.”
“Yeah, that’s right.” Ramsey smirks. “Since you’ve done your homework, I assume you know that I’ve learned to imbue my epithet into objects I turn to gold, like a virus. Like this crayon.” he says, showing off a crayon he’s turned to gold and sharpened into a dart. He throws it with perfect precision at a tree, and as it impacts, the gold begins to spread from the crayon, soon turning the entire tree to gold. “With my Epithet, gold is endless!”
His face turns serious. “And that’s just no fun, is it?” He sighs. “That’s why I joined Bliss Ocean, you know? The truth is…I hate epithets.” Ramsey scowls. “I guess I always liked the idea of business, you know? Building your way up from rags to riches! Stocks, deals, only the best of the best are in charge! But nowadays, all you gotta do is be born with money someone else earned or an epithet that’ll get you hired somewhere nice, and you’re set!” he sighs.
“Izzat why you’re dressed up like a mobster in the middle of the woods?” Zora taunts, and a gold dart hits her in the arm, not imbued with his epithet, and she shouts out in pain.
“I may be a gambler…” Ramsey says. “But I prefer skill and intellect rather than luck . Card counting’s a viable strategy, you know.” he smirks. “No matter what them casinos tell ya. So…” he turns to Sylvie with a grin. “Still think you can stand in my way?”
“Not like this…” Sylvie sighs. “It’s clear that epithet to epithet, I’m no match for you. But..perhaps if…I cAN OUTPACE YOU COUNTING SHEEP- ” he launches a sheep at Ramsey.
“Gold.” Ramsey turns the sheep into gold, and it falls harmlessly to the ground.
“...ah.” Sylvie says.
“Welp!” Zora chuckles. “You two seem busy, I’m just gonna…” she begins to frantically sprint away, leaping into the trees to swing between the branches.
“Welp, she’s dead.” Ramsey grins. “Later!”
“Wait, what’s happening?!” Sylvie exclaims as Ramsey dashes into the forest. “No!” he begins to chase after them. “Get back here!”
As he runs off, a silhouette approaches the station, a snarl following the figure…
---
Zora pants as she swings through the trees. “Okay! I think…I think I’m safe…for now.”
“Zoooraaa…” Ramsey calls. “Where aaare yoooou?” Ramsey announces, and Zora whimpers.
“Ah, fiddlesticks! Did he see me…?” she wonders aloud, nervously. “Of course he saw me, I’m a pipsqueak-sized hobo! Gotta find some sap, gotta smell like the woods…” She then hears some rustling nearby. “Gah! Back off!” She pulls out her revolver. “I have a gun!”
“Zora!” Sylvie emerges. “There you are!”
“Doc!” Zora exclaims.
“Are you alright?!” Sylvie asks, concerned.
“Oh, er, yeah!” she hops down to be next to Sylvie. “C’mon, let’s get outta here!” she tries to pull Sylvie along, but with the strength of a child, she is unable to pull him any further than a centimeter.
“Wait, Zora, I have a plan.” Sylvie smiles.
“Y’wanna share?” Zora asks, suspicious as she follows. “No? Just gonna walk right out into the open? Like a coupl’a sittin’ ducks? Sure, sure, why not?!”
“Ramsey! Show yourself!” Sylvie declares. “We can’t possibly beat you. Your epithet is too strong!”
“Yeah, great, I love bein’ turned into a statue!” Zora complains sarcastically.
“But!” Sylvie continues. “If we come together, mundane ne’er-do-well and inscribed hero alike…”
“You did not just call yourself a ‘hero’.” Zora frowns.
“And face you in a contest of skill,” Sylvie keeps talking, “then we can beat you at your own game!”
“Look Doc, thanks for yer help, but you ain’t involved in this anymore! This is a me problem!” Zora says, already trying to look around for how much of her epithet she can safely use without drawing too much attention.
“No…it is a we problem!” Sylvie says and locks the magnetic eraser cuffs to himself and Zora.
“What in the SAM HILL ?!” Zora exclaims, horrified.
“Any powers we may have are completely forgotten!” Sylvie declares.
Zora tries to rack her brain for what her epithet is, but can find nothing. It has to do with her being a little girl right now, right? She’s not actually a little girl…is she? Everything involving her Epithet is being lost, it’s hard to remember!
“You just screwed us. We’re gettin’ executed.” Zora says, falling to her tiny knees.
A laughter comes from the darkness of the woods, and Ramsey emerges. “Are you serious?!”
“Yes, I am.” Sylvie declares. “You said we’d match whatever weapons we used, right? You said you wanted to gamble? Then I propose a challenge! An epithet-free battle! Winner gets the Arsene Amulet and Zora!”
“Did you just bet me?!” Zora exclaims. “That’s gotta be illegal somewhere !”
Ramsey smirks. “Sure…why not? I like your gumption, kid. Put ‘er there!” Ramsey extends his hand, and Sylvie takes it.
“Do I not get a say in this?!” Zora exclaims.
“You have a gun, why are you so upset?” Sylvie asks.
“I. GUESS. NOTHING.” Zora says through gritted teeth.
“Alright, here’s the rules.” Ramsey says. “No epithets of any kind. Mundie weapons are fair game!” he says, pulling out a pair of brass knuckles, sliding them over his hands. “First one to break a rule or cry ‘uncle’ loses. Deal?”
“Deal.” Sylvie responds.
“NO!” Zora protests.
“Great!” Ramsey smirks. “I’ll give ya a head start…” he says and leaps into the shadows.
Sylvie and Zora begin to run together. “What weapons do you have on hand?” Sylvie asks.
“Mah gun!” Zora retorts.
“Perfect! Your enchanted weaponry should prove effective!” Sylvie says. “Let’s go!”
Zora whimpers as they run forward, and she hears something jingling on Sylvie’s waist. A small, clinking sound is heard from within one of his coat’s pockets!
“The key!” Zora exclaims. “Gimme!” She orders, and she goes for it, managing to pull Sylvie down as Ramsey dashes through, trying to punch, but misses.
“Thanks for the save!” Sylvie says, while Zora scrambles to get the keys like a feral raccoon.
Ramsey groans. His fist impacted a tree, and he’s shaking his hand to stop the stinging.
“Now’s our chance!” Sylvie says and grabs Zora, starting to swing her around like a discus!
“What are you doing?!” Zora exclaims, and as Sylvie is about to release, a snarling roar of a yell is heard.
Bursting through the forest is the familiar form of Molly Blyndeff, and she punches Ramsey back, and he impacts a tree, taking heavy damage from her Breaker Claw!
“Bear Girl?!” Ramsey exclaims.
“Sugar Cube?!” Zora exclaims.
“Molly?!” Sylvie exclaims.
“Give. Me. My. Amulet !” Molly orders, lunging for the rat-faced businessman, and he struggles to dodge!
“How the hell did you escape? I froze you in gold!” Ramsey protests.
“That potion I threw at you dulls Epithets. Doesn’t dull the epithet of someone it’s splashed on, but…” Molly grins.
“But it dulls Epithets it touches!” Ramsey exclaims and smirks. “You wanted me to break it! Clever.” He leaps back. “But I’m afraid I’ve got a bit of a competition here, so I can’t play today. No epithet battle, you see.”
“What?” Molly questions.
“Oy! Girlie!” Zora shouts. “Help us out, and we’ll let ya keep the amulet!”
“What?! No we won’t!” Sylvie protests.
“I ain’t riskin’ dying without some actual backup!” Zora shouts at him.
Ramsey rushes to punch Zora, and Sylvie kicks up to hold him back!
“Dammit, Babyface, would you let me get a hit in?!” Ramsey exclaims.
There’s an audible cutting sound, and the three leap away wildly as a tree almost lands on them. Molly stands on the stump of the tree she just cut down with a single swing of her claws! As the three leaped back, three items fly away- Sylvie’s yoyo, the cuff’s keys, and the Arsene Amulet!
Zora and Sylvie each try to go for something different, while Molly and Ramsey both lurch for the amulet! Sylvie takes Zora’s gun and starts shooting at Ramsey! He’s hit a few times, allowing Molly to get the amulet and leap into the trees, and Ramsey chases her!
“Zora, reload this!” Sylvie says, and Zora takes it.
“Don’t touch my gun!” she declares, and starts reloading. “Yer missin’ an obvious solution here!”
“Well, while he’s distracted with Molly, we can grab my yoyo-” Sylvie says.
“Forget the stupid yoyo, let’s go!” Zora says, barely managing to pull him away.
Ramsey and Molly continue to fight, bear claws versus brass knuckles, and as Molly is thrown into some bushes, Ramsey chases her, and as she begins to flee, she drops something. Ramsey smiles as he sees the Arsene Amulet fall to the ground, and he smirks as he picks it up.
“Stupid girl.” he laughs and returns to the battle. “Now, where are those-” he hears a gun cock, and he sees Zora aiming it right at his head.
“Hai.” Zora smirks.
“Oh, please.” Ramsey scoffs. “You really think you can hit me when you look like that?”
“Maybe not…but I can hit yer hat.” She shoots his hat off his head, and a hole is now left in it.
“Hey! Don’t fuckin’ mess with my clothes! Just got this dry cleaned!” he scolds.
“Oh? So it’s only fun when you get to ruin other folks’ stuff?” Zora asks, and shoots again, this time scuffing one of his shoes in an irreparable way. “Nah, still fun!”
“I’m gonna give you one last chance to stop what you’re doin’.” Ramsey threatens.
“Ah, shut up.” Zora rolls her eyes as she shoots again, shooting a hole in his coat, and Ramsey growls and leaps over to her, lifting her up by the scruff of her neck, and she kicks him.
“AGH, my face!” Ramsey exclaims.
Sylvie loops around Ramsey so that the cuff’s magnetic chain begins to pull on the back of Ramsey’s neck and chokes him! “The only amulet you’ll be wearing is the amulet of justice !”
“You suck at quips.” Zora tells him.
“GRAH!” Ramsey throws them both off. “Fine! FINE! You wanna mess with other people’s stuff? I can mess with other people’s stuff.” Ramsey picks up Sylvie’s yoyo, and it begins to glow with gold as it turns to gold.
“Hey…that’s an epithet glow!” Zora exclaims. “You're cheatin'! He's cheatin'! We win!”
“Not if you’re DEAD !” Ramsey proclaims, swinging the yoyo outward. The golden yoyo sprouts blades and spins like a sawblade, cutting through a tree and turning it to melting gold!
“Oh no.” Sylvie says.
“THAT WILL KILL US!” Zora exclaims.
“Yup!” Ramsey grins, and the chase begins!
“Urgh, what was my stupid Epithet?!” Zora mutters to herself. “It had to be useful…wait. I wrote that paper! Where is it, where is it?”
“Looking for this?” a voice asks, and Molly holds up a piece of paper, a green sphere surrounding them. “He won’t find us in here.” she says.
“Molly!” Sylvie says. “Molly, this is serious, you’re not tricking me again!”
“No tricks.” Molly says earnestly. “At this point, I hate the guy as much as you do. So how about this? One last alliance.” she leans in close. “You know what I want.”
“I can’t give that to you.” Sylvie says. “I won’t!”
“Maybe you won’t…but he might.” Molly grins.
“Wha…” Sylvie’s eyes widen as the effects of the eraser cuffs are dumbed down, and they fall off the hands of the two of them. “No. No, I can’t…”
“You have to.” Molly says.
“URGH!” Zora groans. “Listen, girlie, we don’t got time for this!” She pulls out her gun. “Girlie, if you wanna help, I’ll give you whatever you damn well want when this is all over!” she says and runs out of the silence bubble. Molly smirks and walks out while Sylvie growls…
Zora leaps through the trees, luring Ramsey away! “Come on, Ramsey, can’t you just fix your outfits with gold or somethin’?”
“No, I can’t!” Ramsey growls. “It’s hard enough to morph gold as it is, but I have to concentrate the whole time! Beyond that, as soon as I turn the gold back to normal, it goes back to the state it was in before I morphed it!”
Ramsey manages to catch up to Zora, swinging the yoyo and aiming for the neck! It wraps around the arm she puts in front of herself, and it slowly begins to turn her arm to gold!
“Not what I was aimin’ for, but…” Ramsey grins. “Nice knowin’ you, Zora.”
As the arms begins to turn to gold and melt, it suddenly begins to retract and crack, as Zora creates a paradoxical event of putting herself forward in time to her normal self and back in time to before she was hit, creating a sonic wave that echoes from her, throwing Ramsey back!
“No! It turned her into an adult…wait, what?” Sylvie asks, confused.
“You’re up, Doc.” Molly says as she goes to punch Ramsey away.
“Alright, here we go…Dream BIG!” Sylvie shouts…and then falls unconscious.
“WHAT?!” Zora exclaims. “That was your big plan?!”
“Not quite.” Molly smiles, and with a roar, Sylvie rises into the sky, gets into a fetal position, and the massive form of Doctor Beefton rises! “Ramsey, Zora. Say hello to Doctor Beefton, Sylvester’s biggest dream.” Molly says with a smirk. Beefton roars and charges for Ramsey!
“Aw, shi-” Ramsey is hit into a tree and punched through several more as his stamina depletes.
“Is…he gonna be okay?” Zora asks, pointing at Sylvie.
“He’ll be fine once he wakes up.” Molly says.
“Did it work?” Beefton asks, looking back towards everything.
“You…idiots.” Ramsey growls as he stands up. “You think this was me using my epithet? You haven’t seen a tenth of what I can do!” Ramsey declares, the landscape itself taking on a golden hue, particles of gold dust appearing in the air…before it all retracts. “But I lost.” he sighs. “I broke the rules. The ones I set myself…so, how about this? We’ll call it a draw. And I’ll even forget about your little problematic nature , little girl.” Ramsey says to Molly. “You keep Zora, I keep the Necklace. Capiche?” he grins, vanishing in a golden flash before anyone can protest.
---
“With so many Banzai Blasters wrangled up, it’s hard not to call this a victory.” Sylvie sighs, on the edge of the woods, where he stands with Zora and Molly, her two minions behind her, their staying in the forest. “But we can’t catch you tonight, can we?”
“You cannot.” Molly answers. “Now, our deal?”
“We didn’t win.” Sylvie says. “We don’t even have the…Arsene…” he begins, but Molly smirks as she reveals the familiar amulet around her neck.
“We had a fake made!” Bo Peep says enthusiastically.
“For when we double-crossed the blasters.” Witch affirms.
---
“Wait…this ain’t the right shade of green. And the age, it’s only…” Ramsey scowls. “Oh, SON OF A-”
---
“We had a deal, Ashling.” Molly says, holding out her hand.
Sylvie looks at her, and sighs. “...I’ll get it back?”
“Once I’m done with it.” she grins, and it grows wider as he takes her hand. The orange aura of his epithet surrounds him travels up the arm, and enters the Arsene Amulet. Only a fraction of the epithet remains in Sylvie.
“There you go. Left you just enough for a few sheep, a little bit of dust, and beefton. Maybe Nightmare Fuel if you’re lucky.” Molly announces, the amulet shining an orange glow. “Adults have more energy to work with.”
“Er…yer not gonna take mine, right?” Zora asks nervously.
“Nah. Yours isn’t useful to me…for now.” Molly says, and in a flash of orange and green dust, she and her minions vanish.
“Well… that was certainly somethin’ eh doc? Glad she’s on our side. You know, fer the most part.” Zora says.
“Yeah…that reminds me.” Sylvie handcuffs Zora.
“Eh?” Zora blanks.
“Zora Salazar, you’re under arrest.” Sylvie says.
“Oh, I…think yer confused! Sure, I lied about a few things, but I helped you win, even helped you make sure the amulet was in safe hands! For the most part…” Zora tries to reason.
“Today, you were good. But you’re also the woman who has swindled a half-dozen museums and collectors out of their savings…to the tune of about twenty-five million dollars?” Sylvie explains.
“I, eh…thought you didn’t recognize me.” Zora says meekly.
“I didn’t, until I saw you use your Epithet.” Sylvie explains. “I remember you from some research I did on epithets a few years back. A man came in to report that his antiques had recently reverted to normal kitchenware.” he explains.
“So that’s it?!” Zora exclaims. “I save yer life, and you put me away for life? Oh, you no good, hornswagglin-”
“Now, now.” Sylvie interrupts. “Don’t think I don't appreciate your help today. Your crimes are... quite serious. But!” he smiles. “None of this would've been possible without your help. And... if you'd be willing to put your skills to use on our side of the law, I'm sure we could negotiate a very comfortable cell for you.”
“...yeah, alright.” Zora smiles a bit. “That don’t sound too bad.” She turns to Sylvie. “By the day, what the hell did that gal want with yet Epithet?”
“Ah…” Sylvie’s expression darkens. “That’s…a long story.”
---
Molly Blyndeff’s epithet allows her to cancel and dispel just about any epithet that exists. It is by far a dangerous epithet, and nearly impossible to counter.
A knight crests a hill, wearing a valiant helm. She draws her sword, aiming it towards a massive creature in the distance.
The only thing she’s ever found that makes an issue is an epithet that summons things that are too big. However…
As the deceased creature lays at the knight’s feat, a sarcastic slow clap emerges from behind her.
The target of Molly’s ire made her life a living hell when she was younger.
The masked assailant puts her hand forward, dark shadows emerge from behind her, as her demonic creations push the heroine back!
She can make the concepts of her mind into reality. Simply put, she can bring her own dreams into reality in bubbles.
The knight beats the demons back, but the assailant attacks with claws of infernal fury!
We discovered years ago that my Epithet can be used to alter these bubbles for our own safety. But in the wrong hands…
The assailant holds the knight by the neck. “Nightmare Fuel.” the woman utters with a sadistic grin.
Molly could ruin her life. We need to hurry back before it’s too late…
---
Ramsey enters an office, closing the door behind him. He looks up at the board room, and as the screen flickers, a crackling emerges as the woman behind the screen smiles a cheshire grin.
“So…” the voice says, ethereal and echoing. “How did ya do?”
---
“Is she dead?” one boy asks, looking down at the woman, clearly injured with poofy hair, face-down in the park.
“Poke ‘er with a stick!” another boy says, and Giovanni complies.
The woman suddenly gasps, and the young boys scream, the woman screaming as well!
TO BE CONTINUED…