Sibling Rivalry

Scene: Inside the top chamber of the Tower of Fish. Teutsui is licking herself by the fireplace when she hears a knock on the chamber doors.

"Enter, my brothers!"

Dandan and Shugaru enter, and walk towards Teutsui; she gives Shugaru a quick butt sniff and begins talking behind him; her eyes on Dandan.

"So glad you two could make it, for it has been too long...", she continues as she circles the both of them, "...you know, I may have some fish still tucked away in the hall if you guys would like to have some."

"Fish!" yells Dandan as he runs into the hallway before Shugaru can respond. He sighs.

"None for me right now, Teutsui. In fact, why don't you and I catch up while Dandan eats? It has been a while."

Teutsui grins and then gestures, "Yes, brother, how about I show you the balcony? I just had it installed not too long ago, you know."

"Yes, I'd like to see, sister." Shugaru says as he walks out the balcony doors. Teutsui covertly grabs a suspiciously glowing hatchet from the shelf as Shugaru walks in front of her. She keeps it behind her back and out-of-view as she follows him outside.

As they both walk out, the shot from above reveals the massive size and height of the balcony.

"Do you see the view, brother? The Realm of Fish... once a great realm full of fish. Now look."

"Mm, it is a grand view, sister. If I didn't know better, I'd say I could see the portal to the Ice Kingdom from here...", Shugaru pauses to sniff the air, "...the smells are strong from here as well."

Teutsui gets a serious look across her face.

"It smells of death, brother. Tell me: why do I have to be trapped here, while you and Dandan roll around the Greater Universe, eating all the fish you want?"

"This is your doing, Teutsui, and you are not trapped. You know this, but choose to ignore it. Lord Duff tasked you with running this realm and making it prosper, but all you did was consume all living beings in sight and slept the centuries away. You did not focus on building this realm and completely ignored the needs of the mortals living here. Even now they starve while you sit here dwelling on your woes and hoarding whatever rotting carcasses you find to yourself. Lord Duff has told you this much on many occasions, Teutsui."

"Bah, you are supposed to be on my side! Why do you always oppose me so?"

"I don't seek to oppose you, Teutsui, but you have a responsibility; you owe fealty to Lord Duff. We all do. We were just three kittens living off of washed up bones on the beach when we were found by the Water Goddess, and Lord Duff was kind enough to take us under his wing and make us demi-gods. And while Dandan and I have been serving him proudly, you stew here in your own self pity. What have you done with these 300 years?"

Teutsui is visibly annoyed.

"Kind enough? There you go on again about loyalty this and fealty that. What about your loyalty to me, brother? And how am I supposed to build this Realm now, with no access to resources, when that miserable Ice Dragon is too weak to do anything for us? There are resources right next door!"

"We are not at war with the Squirrel Realm or any of the realms aligned with the Universal Pool of Earth Mana. However, we ARE at war with the Fire realms... Buddy included."

Shugaru pauses for dramatic effect, "You are too greedy, Teutsui, this has always been your problem."

"No, dear brother, maybe you just aren't greedy enough. Do you ever wonder just how strong you could be if you weren't wasting your time serving that useless god?"

"Grr, how DARE you speak of our lord like that! ...What have you become, Teutsui? You wear the same collar as Dandan and I!"

Just then, a blobby figure bursts out onto the balcony.

"Heeeyy guys! Are you out here?!?", yells Dandan as Shugaru subtly tightens his grip on the icy hilt of his longsword by his side.

"We are out here, Dandan. Come over to me.", yells Shugaru. Dandan obeys and blobs his way over.

"That fish was great, brother! I can't believe you and Duff thought Teutsui was up to something bad!"

Shugaru looks concerned (one of those "sweat drop" things appear on his head), and he looks at Teutsui who is shooting him a knowing grin.

"Up to something? Not at all! Dandan, come here, I've got some more fish for you!"

Shugaru does not respond, but keeps his alert stance as he watches Dandan blubber his way over to Teutsui.

"Fish! Where?"

Shugaru readies himself, but still does not move.

"Oh, I've some right..."

Teutsui tightly grips the hatchet behind her back and continues, "here!!"

As she yells a burst of ice explodes outward from her in a radius; both Dandan and Shugaru find their feet frozen to the ground. Before Shugaru or Dandan can respond, Teutsui brings down her hatchet to Dandan's collar causing a massive explosion of mana that knocks Shugaru and Teutsui to opposite ends of the balcony, with Dandan on his back in the center.

Shugaru takes a moment and then struggles his head up to yell, "Gah, I'm free from the ice. Dandan! Can you warp? Warp NOW, Dandan! Don't worry about me!", Shugaru shouts while on his back.

"Brother Shugaru! Something's wrong.. I-I can't spin, I can't...", yells Dandan, as we wiggles about.

Teutsui starts to get up; she gazes at Dandan's neck. "Ahahaha! I did it! I broke his collar! You're not going anywhere now, Dandan!"

Teutsui thinks to herself as she reaches into her pack and swaps the hatchet in her paw for Buddy's fire collar: "Now all I need to do is slip this on him..."

Shugaru then reaches into his pack for the orb that Duff had given him and stands up.

"Gah!! This is all the proof I need!", he shouts as he tosses the orb clean across the balcony, past Teutsui on the other side.

"What the-", Teutsui says as she looks for the object that just passed her by. Suddenly, an explosion of light erupts as a giant portal appears behind her and she quickly bites the fire collar with her snout, and starts frantically skittering on all four of her paws towards the door to the inside. However the icy floor is preventing her feet from gaining traction.

"I.. I'm sorry about this, sister."

Shugaru unsheathes his icy longsword and drives it straight into the ground in front of him, "I call upon the Great Water Pool, lend me your mana as I summon: Ice Wall!!"

Teutsui's eyes bug out with fear as she sees a gigantic wall of ice explode forth in front of Shugaru and Dandan; her feet still failing her attempt to escape.

"Forward!!!", bellows Shugaru with great might.

The massive wall of ice plows ahead and forces Teutsui backwards off the ledge, steering her directly into the portal. After a few mere moments, the portal closes and Dandan manages to wobble himself up as he shoots a concerned line of sight toward his brother.

"Brother Shugaru... wh-what happened? Where's Teutsui? Why.."

"Dandan, we must leave immediately. With your collar gone we cannot warp, so we must run on foot. The natural portal to the Ice Kingdom is over a day's journey from here, so we need to get moving. Let's get down from this tower and then I'll try to contact Lord Duff to tell him what happened. He lent me this seer stone that we can use to access Sage-net, the Federation of Air Realms' communication network."

"I- what? Brother, what happened to Teutsui?"

Shugaru's silence is broken by a bright and fiery light from above followed by a crackling boom. Shugaru and Dandan look up to see a flaming portal appear in the sky and several flying figures emerge.

"Dandan... listen to me."

"Yes?"

"Forget what I just said. I've suddenly got a feeling we won't make it to the Ice Kingdom portal in time, but there is a natural portal to the Squirrel Realm only an hour from here; we can regroup there and try and find a way back to Lord Duff. Our mission right now is to report what has happened to Lord Duff, although the fact that your collar broke will alert him immediately that something is wrong."

Shugaru realizes he may be talking too much at the moment.

"Get on my back and hold on, we need to run-", before Shugaru can finish Dandan is latched on his back, nibbling on Shugaru's neck somewhat erotically. Shugaru sighs, rolls his eyes, and dashes inside the tower as the view from outside pans above to a small group of phoenixes and a single owl.

"Oh wow, I'm picking up traces of a recent portal here"

"Yes.. well my seer stone is telling me Buddy's collar is in the Spirit Realm..."

"Hey! You idiots!", yells the phoenix leading the rest, "Did you not see the two that just ran into that tower? ONE OF 'EM'S DANDAN! Place a flame spire around the entire tower. Don't kill Dandan, but don't let him escape, got it?"

"You got it, Sose!", said the other two phoenixes in tandem.

Flames immediately plume around Fish Tower, surrounding the entire building with a flaming cylindrical wall. The view moves to Sose.

"Spirit Realm, huh? Well, if I can secure Dandan at least, then maybe Buddy will forgive me for losing his collar. I mean, it was his idea to trust that cat, but of course try telling HIM that. Ugh.. damn you, Teutsui.."