"Michael dear? Who is she?"
Holding Vivi in his hands, Michael introduced the troublesome Fairy to everyone.
"She's Vivi, one of the Fairies that were originally from this forest."
Now, the usually strong and unabashed Fairy turned meek as soon as everybody was looking at her. It was as if she was a completely different person, one that Michael didn't recognize.
"Have you played Uno before?" Sheina asked.
The 'shy' Fairy shook her head no.
"It's fairly easy. These are the rules…"
Sheina gave Vivi an abridged version of the rules, just enough for her to play with them without a problem.
"One of the rules is that you have to give up your plus four to me whenever you have it," said Jaku, holding in his chuckle.
"Don't believe this lazy bum," Sheina said. "Sit beside me. I can guide you through it."
Vivi floated down next to Sheina and Lylia, who welcomed the newcomer with warm smiles.
"Let's start over then," Fudge said as he used his shadows to take back everyone's cards.
"Hey! I was winning!" Zion complained. "You only wanted to do that because you were losing!"
"I just wanted to include Cici…Bibi…?"
"You don't even know her name!"
And so, with ten players all in a circle, the game continued. The usual arguments and banter would occasionally stop the game.
Zion would go on and tease Sheina, which would earn him her ire. Lylia continued to pester Yuna with weird and cute facts about Michael during his childhood as a way to endear him to her.
Jaku slept while it wasn't his turn. Fudge played the worst, with him not knowing the rules half of the time, and having his cards completely turned over and letting others see through his deck. Umisu emerged as the quiet front runner, but she failed to win because her turn would be skipped too often and she would be too shy to speak up.
Vivi remained quiet, just observing everyone and everything around her.
Meanwhile, something weird happened.
Even though she wasn't consuming their emotions, she felt as if she was feeling something warm in her heart.
"Vivi, isn't my son so amazing? He must have charmed you all with his looks and talents, that's why even Fairies like you followed him, right?"
Having Lylia brag to her about his son made Vivi feel something.
"Vivi, tell my sister that she's being a meanie. She doesn't want to admit defeat and let me skip my training!" Zion said, trying to plead to Vivi.
Having Sheina and Zion try to settle their arguments through her made Vivi feel like she belonged.
It was at that moment that Vivi looked down at her chest and touched her heart.
Is this what emotions feel like? she asked herself.
As Vivi was having this realization, the door to their room slammed wide open as the two Orc Chieftains, Narito and Sasuki came inside and kneeled to them all.
"BU TO TO! I apologize for this intrusion, but we must inform you that our Mid Shadow Orcs have detected movement from the Bastard Bandits."
"RAH TA TA! The first wave has been deployed and they are all headed towards our fort. They are targeting the Golden Road in the hopes of destroying all our progress."
Michael stood up, knowing that the fight was about to begin.
"Will you be able to take care of it?" he asked them.
"Yes boss," Narito said. "Our Mid Shadows are perfectly capable of disposing of these bandits."
"But boss, I must warn you that they will soon find out about our preparations here," Sasuki said.
Right now, the Bandits still thought that the Golden Road was protected by a bunch of construction workers with no way to protect themselves. But after this first wave, Blazelle would soon be aware that the entire force of Reborn was here to protect their progress at all costs.
"It's fine. We expected this anyways," he said to them.
The two Orc Chieftains bowed before turning to leave.
Sheina gracefully stood up and tidied her outfit. "The game's over," she said. "Zion, you must get ready for the fight."
The youngest Dragonborn protested immediately. "But we have plenty of time for another game!"
"No," Sheina stressed. "There's no time to play around. Our Rebornian brothers are fighting the good fight. We can't just stay here and play games all day."
"But—but…."
"No buts," Sheina said.
Zion looked down, pursing his lips. It looked like he was about to accept Sheina's order. But suddenly, an idea formed in his head.
"Wait a minute! How about this? What if we had a competition?"
Sheina frowned and crossed her arms. She wasn't going to entertain another one of his shenanigans.
"Hear me out. We'll see who can bring the most bandits out of the two of us!
If you win, then I'll do as you say and be completely obedient to what you say for one month. I'll go to training and I'll stop playing around.
If you lose, then you won't bug me about any training whatsoever for a month. And you'll let me play games whenever I want, even late at night! Deal?"
An eyebrow raised in Sheina's head. "A month, you say?"
Zion smiled, taking his hand out for his sister to take. He could see her start to raise her hand, about to take the deal.
"A word of advice, don't take it," Lylia said suddenly. "Oh, you don't know the regret I felt when I made a similar deal with Michael. He says it'll only be a while, and two years later, and he's still out there going off on his own adventures."
After hearing Lylia's somber recollection, Sheina had a sudden change of mind and quickly took back her hand.
"No deal," she said.
Zion despaired. He almost had it! But then, he suddenly felt a warm hand on his shoulder.
He looked up and saw that it was Michael.
"Wait a minute," Michael said. "What if we make this into a better deal—something that will involve all of us?"
Everyone turned to him.
"Boys versus girls," he said. "The team that defeats the most Bandits will win the game. The loser will have to do whatever the winner dictates for an entire month."
His words seemed to have sent a spark of fire within everyone else.
"Anything I want, my son will do?..." Lylia said, a smile forming on her face.
"More board game nights…No curfew…" Zion muttered.
"No tasks…sleeping for a whole month…." Jaku dreamed.
"Ice cream? Finally?" Yuna chuckled.
"....will everyone finally listen to me?..." Umisu muttered.
One by one, they all nodded their heads, agreeing to Michael's proposition. It was now a team game, five versus five.
Yuna, Sheina, Umisu, Lylia, and Vivi
Versus
Michael, Jaku, Zion, Fudge, and Grieve
The game had transformed into a hunt for the most bandits subdued. Both teams were motivated by their own desires to win.
"Huddle up!" Michael shouted to the guys, gathering them all in a tight circle. "We have to win this. It'll be embarrassing if we don't."
Michael was motivated by the fact that he wanted his mother back to the Nation of Reborn. This was the only way he could do it. Or else, she would have to stay here and embarrass him all of the time.
"YOSH!"
"Let's do it, bro Mike!"
"Yawn…yeah, but maybe a nap first?"
The Boys team screamed out with vigor. The only odd one out was Grieve, who was forcefully recruited to even out the numbers.
"Hohoho…I must have forgotten that I agreed to this, but…huzzah!"