A Real Shocker!

Chapter 14: Hearth's Warming Surprise

(Thoughts)
"Attack Names"

*Vrrrt Vrrrrrt* "A Monster is Coming!" (I know, I've already prepared!) I think as I check the time, 6:43. Twilight and her friends should be doing that whole "Play on the true meaning of Hearth's Warming" thing. I look down at the snow pooling around the base of my feet and I shuffle them a bit to get to the grass underneath. (There. Should be stable enough for a foothold... I hope Twilight won't be mad at me for missing the play, she was excited about it. Hell, she even saved me a seat.) A grin slowly appears on my face as I lift a sword into my mouth.

I shakily take a deep breath and steel myself as the portal opens. A man gently steps out with a practiced grace, his white shoes are the first thing I see. As more of the man appears, a sweat overtakes my brow as I recognize who he is. His pure white suit is reminiscent of the one I had gotten just a year earlier. His white top-hat and mask are slowly pulled off of his face as he speaks in a slow tone, "Make this interesting for me." His long, curly black hair drapes just below his shoulders and a small lock falls in front of his bright citrine eyes. His hawk-like gaze appraises me with slight disgust and boredom.

"Rob Lucci, I presume?" I ask, even though I know who he is.

"You've heard me?" I nod. "Then you cannot be allowed to live," He says as he slowly starts walking toward me with his hands in his pockets. I sheath all 3 of my swords and I throw them to the side. He looks at me with interest and asks, "Why are you getting rid of your only defense, are you giving up?"

"Not at all. I'm challenging myself," I twist my back and pop my neck. "For the whole fight, I won't use my Devil Fruit ability. I hope you'll stay to this parameter as well." I pop my knuckles and start stretching as a warm-up.

Lucci looks over my figure as he stands there. "I wouldn't need to use it anyway." He continues casually strolling toward me.

I stand back up and I stick my hands in my pockets as I start walking toward him. I keep my eyes on him as his gaze gets harder and harder. Soon, we're standing face to face, waiting for the other to begin the fight. I reach up to my hood and I throw it up onto my head. "Shigan," Lucci says as his finger flies toward my torso.

I quickly use "Tekkai" and block the attack as I'm thrown backward by the force. As I skid I see Lucci disappear, I activate my Haki and see him coming at me from the left. I use "Kamisori" to get into the air and I pull my leg back, "Rankyaku!"

I quickly swing my leg in his direction, causing the blade to almost hit him. He uses "Soru" at the last moment, quickly dodging the attack. As he stands a few feet away from me, I land and he starts talking. "You know Rokushiki? Then perhaps this might actually be a challenge." He smirks a bit, probably due to bloodlust. He disappears and I follow suit. We clash a few time before he jumps away from me, "Rankyaku! He shouts.

A large blade of air rushes toward me and I slide on the ground out of the way. I point my fist at him with my pointer held underneath my thumb. I flick my finger forward 5 times and shout, "Tobu Shigan: Bachi!" I shoot 5 bullet-sized air pellets at him, 2 of them hit but he dodges the rest.

I quickly stand up and see that he's disappeared again. I begin searching around for him, "Too slow." I hear from below me. I look down in time to see his finger dig into my chest. "Shigan," I quickly step back before his finger can pierce my heart. As I step back, he kicks toward me, "Rankyaku: Sen." A line of air shoots toward me and pierces my abdomen just below my ribs.

I cough up some blood and I use "Soru" to get into his face. I grab his shoulders and cover my forehead with Armament Haki just as I slam my forehead into his. He recovers quickly and he knees me in my wounded stomach. I ignore the pain and I let go of him as I fall backward. I lift both of my legs up quickly and shout, "Rankyaku: Hyakurai." Two large blades of air fly toward him, he barely dodges one while the other catches him in the chest, launching him backward.

I quickly sprint up to him and throw a Superman Punch that is blocked by an Armament Haki covered face. I quickly pull my stinging fist backward as I see another Haki-Infused punch fly into my face. I fly backward on the floor and skid for a bit before I use the momentum to flip myself onto my feet. "Soru!" Once more he disappears. I quickly activate my Haki and see that he is behind me with both of his fists pointed toward me. "Rokuogan!" the pain that comes after almost kills me as I feel all of my inner organs pop like cherries. "Rankyaku: Sen!"

I quickly jump into the air and bypass the large burst of air that flies past my head as I backflip. I use the momentum of my flip to throw a kick into his chest, "Rankyaku!" I manage to slice into his chest and he's propelled away from me into the nearby forest. I activate my Haki and see him standing up and aiming a closed fist in my direction. I use "Soru" and I quickly enter the forest behind him. I stand there silently waiting for him to move but at the moment he's just standing there looking for me. (Does. Does he not have Observation Haki!?)

"Where the hell is he?" I hear him whisper. (He doesn't!) He slowly stands up from his crouching position and he walks back into the clearing. "Come out you bastard!" He shouts.

(I'm not about to let this chance slip!) I silently use "Soru" to appear behind him and I place both of my fists against his back. "Rokuogan!" I blast his insides with the attack and he flies forward. As he skids against the ground, I quickly use "Kamisori" to appear above him and I press both of my fists against his prone figure.

I'm about to use another "Rokuogan" when he kicks his legs up, knocking my hands away. He quickly jumps to his feet and shouts, "Shigan: Madara!" barraging my body with a flurry of blows from both of his hands. I'm about to fall on my face when he grabs me by my throat, lifting me into the air. "Shigan." The blow pierces one of my lungs.

He lets me go and I fall to the ground. As I lay there bleeding out, I slowly force myself to stand back up. I slowly make it back to my feet and I take a fighting stance. He looks at me with a vicious grin, "Still alive?" I nod. "Soru." Once more he disappears from my sight. I hastily activate my Haki and see he's coming from my left.

I use "Kamisori" to get above him. As his head turns to look up at me, I bring an Armament Haki covered fist down on his head. He's slammed into the ground with enough force to form a crater beneath him. As he pushes himself up, I use "Geppo" to keep myself in the air as I shout, "Rankyaku: Gaicho!" I use both of my arms to launch a large bird-shaped blade of air the size of a house toward him.

Before he can react, the blade slices through him and bisects him. I fall to the ground and start sliding down the sides of the crater. As I hit the bottom, I look over to the body of Lucci and see that he's still alive. I slowly pull myself over to him and he's trying to speak. I don't let him say anything as I press a finger to his head and use "Shigan" to put him out of his misery.

I slowly force myself to my feet and I start making my way out of the crater. As I stand at the top, I walk over to my swords and put them in their places on my hip. "Sorry Twi, I won't be able to make it to your play," I say in a low tone. I slowly shuffled my way through the forest, putting pressure on the most grievous of my injuries. I slowly yet surely find my way out of the forest and into the field nearest to the Ponyville Hospital.

As I approach the front door, I'm grabbed by a two people as they take my arms and wrap them around their own shoulders. "What happened here!?" One of the doctors asks. They lead me over to a nearby gurney as the doctors start working on keeping me alive.

"What's your name?" The man on my right asks as he checks my pulse. "A little slow for someone so heavily injured. What did this to you?"

"Arthur Mayhew. I was in a fight," I plainly say.

"You were in a fight?! With what!?" He asks.

"An Assassin," I say with a grin. I can feel myself start to pass out as I feel the EMT shake me. I pass out and fall back against the gurney with a thud.

(Time-Skip)

"Sir? Sir, are you awake?" I hear a woman ask. I wake up and cover my eyes as the blinding light pours in through the blinds of the window. "Ah! You're awake!" I hear some papers shuffle before I hear her disapprovingly say, "Hmm, you're awake before schedule too. You should try to get some rest, I'll let the person waiting outside know you're awake." She leaves the room before I can get a glance at her.

I sit there for a little before I look down at the bandages wrapped around my torso. I pull the blanket off of me as I stand up. No pain either, so that's good, they may have me hopped up on drugs though. I walk over to the nearby bathroom and I take a piss, which is filled with blood. (Okay, that's definitely bad. I guess he pierced my kidney when he used "Rankyaku: San.") I hear someone enter the room and gasp, "He's not here!" I hear someone shout.

"In the bathroom!" I shout back. I hear people walk around the room for a bit until I hear someone knock on the door. "Occupodo!" I scream at the person behind the door.

"Arthur are you alright!?" I hear a familiar voice shout.

"Yeah, I'm alright! Pissing blood but other than that I'm fine! How're you Discord?" I shout to the man behind the door. Once I finish, I walk out and see Discord standing there with hastily donned clothing that seems to be falling off a bit. "Pull up your pants."

He looks down at his pants and pulls them up before fixing his belt. "I heard about you being in the hospital and I rushed over here after taking care of Fluttershy's animals. What happened to you?" He says as he looks at the bandages on my chest and limbs.

"Got in a fight. Killed the guy. You know how it is with people like me. So, Fluttershy's animals?" I ask.

"Oh! I've been taking care of her friends while she and her friends are in Canterlot throwing that play of theirs. She- Hey, don't change the subject!" He shouts as he walks over to me. "What the hell did this to you?"

I sigh as I walk over to my bed and lie down on it. "Rob Lucci. I got into a fight with him and got some preconceived notion that I had to fight him using his own skills. I almost fucking died because of it," I say as I reach up and rub my eyes. "Next time something like this happens I'm just gonna nuke the area until the thing is dead."

"Well... As long as you're alive I guess. What are you going to tell Twilight? She's going to be back next week," He reminds.

"She's not going to hear about this incident. I should be back up in a few days so once I'm healed, we will never talk about this again. Understand?" I forcefully inquire.

"But, what about-?" He says before I cut him off.

"Understand!?" I ask as I glare at him. He just sighs and nods. "Good." I lean back against the bed and get settled on the stiff sheets. "So, you and Fluttershy, huh?"

He blushes before scratching his cheek. "W-We've been thinking about it... Maybe once she gets used to me a little more I'll ask her out. How's living with Twilight been treating you?" The conversation goes on and on for the next few hours before he decides to leave. "Well, it's about time for the animals to be fed. It's good to see you, even if you're in a hospital.

"It's good seeing you too. We should get together sometime," I say with a grin.

"We should." As he leaves, he looks back at me before snapping. "Just something to remember me by." He snaps once more and nothing happens. "I just sent a letter to Twilight and her friends about how your dumb ass managed to put yourself in the hospital by getting into a fight. Good luck!" He says as he charges out of the door.

"Oh, you Mother Fucker!" I shout as I stand back up. I try charging to the door but pain flares up in my wounds and I fall to the ground. A few nearby nurses lift me back to my feet and place me back on my bed. "Next time I see that asshole I'm gonna put my foot so far up his ass that he's gonna taste my toes on his tongue," I whisper to myself as I lie on my bed. I reach over for the nearby remote and I start flipping through the channels. "Might as well get comfortable."

(Time-Skip)

"You two-bit son of a bitch! When I got the letter that you were in the hospital I rushed down here and found you doing push-ups even though your body is torn to shreds!? Are you insane?! Get back in that bed and lie down or Celestia help me, I will tear your testicles off and replace them with your eyes!" Twilight shouts as she pulls me to my feet. I quickly lie back down on the bed and sit there like she just shot my puppy. "If you even think of doing that again I will hurt you so badly that you'll be in here even longer!"

"Sorry..." I weakly say as I look down at my feet. "I just got tired of sitting around, you know? It's like when you get bored and you reshelve the library for fun. I'm only trying to keep myself occupied until I'm healed, you understand right?"

She sighs for a bit while rubbing her eyes. "You're like a child sometimes I swear." I slowly but begrudgingly nod as I realize that I am a bit childish. "Be glad I love you, otherwise we wouldn't even be talking right now." She walks over to a nearby chair and pulls it over to my bed. "How long are you in here for?"

"I have about one more day before they'll let me out. After that it'll be self-healing, you know like healthy food, rest, and replacing my own bandages. One of my lungs got pierced during the fight so they'll need to keep an eye on that while it heals but besides that, the only other terrible injury I have is a bruised kidney," I say as I lean against the bed.

My phone vibrates in my pocket and I look down at the message that appears. "Congratulations! You are one of the many survivors of this year's challenge! Out of 150 people, 100 of you survived due to the forced lower difficulty! I couldn't keep the same difficulty as last year's challenge due to the low survival rate so I'm lowering the challenge until I build up a sufficient number of contestants! See you next year, Jack." I just stare at the message for a bit until my phone goes off again. "P.S. You can receive your package by texting this number. Just state what you want and you will receive your gift. Merry Christmas, Jack."

"Fucking asshole," I say as I put my phone in my pocket.

"What's that thing?" Twilight says with an inquisitive look.

"Oh, I never told you about my phone!" I pull it back out of my pocket and start showing her the features. "It's like a wall phone but better. It can take pictures and record video as well as make calls... I think? I don't really know if it can call phones here but it used to be able to make calls." I look over at the phone on the wall next to me. "What's the number for that wall phone?"

Twilight stands up and reads off the number for me. "05-555-0012." I dial the number and place the phone against my ear. It starts ringing and after a few seconds, the phone on the wall rings. Twilight picks the phone up and asks, "Hello?"

The sound of her voice echoes through my phone and I grin. "Hey, boss!" I say in a Pink-Guy impression. I see Twilight jump a bit at the sound of my voice.

She hangs up the phone and quickly walks over to me, taking my phone from my hand. "What else can this thing do?!" She shouts as she starts trying to unlock the screen.

"This is gonna be a long day..."

(Time-Skip)

"I really hate hospitals," I say as Twilight and I leave the hospital for hopefully the last time.

"We know. Next time you get in a fight like that just beat the guy, okay?" Twilight says as she loops her arm around mine. I'm really glad I'm out of the hospital, now I can give Twilight the gift I've been working on since Nightmare Night.

"I have something for you by the way. I left it back at the Library so we should probably go get it," I say as I start leading us back home. (I hope she didn't find it, I want it to be a surprise.)

"Oh, you mean the Spell Compendium you bought me?" I look at her in surprise. "You hid it on one of my shelves still in its wrapping, did you really think I wouldn't find it?"

"Nah, I knew you would find it. I just didn't expect for you to find it this week. I've been moving it from section to section for the past four months. The fact that you didn't find it sooner shows that you haven't been checking your books lately. I guess I'm just that good," I say as I wrap my arm around her.

She smiles and shoves me lightly before nestling into my hug. "You're an idiot sometimes."

"At least I'm your idiot," I say with a wide smile on my face.