"It's
still itchy," Mabel griped as she rubbed the armor over her arm.
They
were on the staircase just past the plastic curtains. George was
relieved to be out of the room with the gas but, like Mabel, his skin
still itched. And he was sweating beneath all the armor.
Was that
the excitement and adventure he had been dreaming of? Sweltering
discomfort with skin irritation?
"A
good shower will wash all of it off," Iona recommended as she
followed behind Tricia.
"As
if I'll find a shower conveniently placed here!" Mabel snapped.
The
stairs curved around the tower as they ascended. At a landing before
another set of stairs, they came across a door built into the wall on
the inner side. Mabel carefully inspected the door for traps before
sliding it open.
"It's
a shower..." Mabel said as she stared through the doorway.
George
took a peek. There was a small brightly-lit room behind the doorway.
There was a bathtub and a shower, along with a sink. The walls were
all mirrors and the tiles on the floor had the pattern of clusters of
purple-colored fruit. George would have identified the fruit as
grapes if he had ever seen one.
"Now
you have a shower here," Iona pointed out needlessly.
Mabel
shut the door and continued up the stairs. "It's too dangerous
to remove armor here. It's probably trapped anyway." So said the
fox about the grapes.
The next
floor was "the Trial of Combat", as proclaimed by a sign
that was right in front of a black power armor of enormous size. The
power armor was even bigger than Tricia's. There were spikes too. On
the sign. And there was small writing at the bottom of the sign
that added, "(one-on-one)".
The
level itself was a roughly circular space devoid of decoration.
The exit was a small curved staircase on the other side of the
giant.
If
George had more experience with showmanship, he would have realized
that Madboy Keith was really skimping on the surroundings. The place
would look better with a few pennants, perhaps mounted on beautifully
carved columns. And maybe a banner or two and a statue at the base of
the exit staircase. Unfortunately, Keith had ceased to bother with
decorations after the sixteenth time the place was torn apart by
fighting.
"So,
someone's supposed to take this on thing?" Mabel asked.
"Looks
like it," Tricia replied.
"Maybe
we can take it home!" Iona said happily as she skipped towards
the armor.
"I
don't think I can allow that!" a voice boomed from the external
speaker of the black armor. It rose to its full height to look down
on Iona. "So, are you to be my opponent?" It flexed its
arms, which had wickedly enormous chainsaws attached to them.
"Wait,
shouldn't it be me?" Tricia asked with concern.
Iona
waved a paw at Tricia. "No, no, I've got this," she said.
She turned back to the towering armor. "You're going find out
what it feels like to be beaten by a little girl!"
"Let
her handle it," Mabel whispered to the rest of the party, "Watch
for my signal."
George
did not know what to think. Certainly Iona was strong. But she was up
against a larger opponent, with superior armor. Maybe the girl had
some tricks that he did not know of.
"You
beat me!?" The warrior in the armor laughed. "Why don't you
run along before you get hurt?"
"Awww,
you scared of a little girl?" Iona taunted.
"Me?
Scared?" The warrior flexed his arms. "While I'm in this?
Why would I be?"
Iona
pointed a finger at the power armor. "Because you'll be beaten
by a little girl!"
There
was another harsh laugh from the man in the armor. "The only
thing I'm scared of is squishing you like a bug. I don't want people
saying I bully little girls!"
"Why
don't you try it?" Iona invited as she danced to his side, just
within his reach.
"Didn't
you hear?" the warrior bellowed back as he twisted to keep her
in sight, "I don't want to be called a bully!"
"Says
the man in the big scary armor."
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