Gloom's POV.
After what happened at the date, I decided to go back to the House of Hearth, seeing as that was the most likely place for Shimmer to have gone to, but when I got there, I noticed that Father was outside.
"What happened?" She asked worriedly, "Shimmer came running and broke into my room to get her wand and Vision back." She informed me, which made me worried in return.
I scratch the back of my head, wondering if I should relay what happened at the date, but everything considered it was the best option, "Shimmer... Kissed me..." I tell Father, causing her to frown, "Don't get me wrong I liked it." I reassure, "But I think Shimmer thinks she messed up a bit." I add, remembering how flushed she was.
At that new tidbit, Father's face lightened a bit, but she was clearly not that happy, "If you're looking for her, I'd suggest asking Focalors, she is the one who gave Shimmer her Vision after all." She suggested, to which I gave a slight smile, but before heading on, Father added "Also, while I know she won't do it, ask Shimmer to give back the Delusion she took."
Shimmer's POV.
After I managed to get back to the place I've chosen to make my nation, I started using my wand to even out the ground so I could start making some buildings, all to try and forget the idiocy I showed earlier.
Not that it helped since all I could think is "I'm so stupid, I'm so stupid." Which since I'm still thinking about it, I must actually be stupid, and due to it I couldn't focus well on the task, so I sat down to try and ignore it.
"What in the world was I thinking..." I ask myself, facepalming before letting myself fall back to lay down, "I can't believe I actually kissed Gloom... I ruined that whole week at the House..." I mutter, wondering how much Gloom must hate me right now.
"Shimmer, I have to-" Seraphim was speaking, but I interrupted "Oh no! I don't want to hear it right now!" I told the voice in my head, "But I-" Serpahim tried again, "No!" I refused again, "Gloom is right behind you." Seraphim got straight to the point, which made me freeze at the implication.
I didn't even bother turning around at this point, so I just pulled the dirt chunk from the wand and replaced it with the Dendro Delusion I took, "Shimmer I-" Gloom started before I used my wand to have a tree shaped like a fist sprout and slam into Gloom's gut, sending her flying a few meters away.
Gloom's POV.
The moment I felt the tree strike me, I'm sure my organs got rearranged in the worst way possible, whcih I only registered the moment I landed back on the ground, "Why you- *Blarh*" I stopped talking when I felt what I ate at Wanmin coming back up and spew on the ground.
When I managed to compose myself again, I shot Shimmer an angered glare, "Oh now you've done it!" I exclaimed, reaching for my wand, but can't find it, remembering that both it and my Vision are still at the House of Hearth.
"I know I screwed up Gloom, and I'm trying to move on!" Shimmer said, to which I could only wonder how she could move on from something that just happened.
Since I had nothing with me to fight, I decided to do something I haven't done for two years at this point, so I take off my shirt and the skinsuit made to look like real human skin, revealing my actual dark skin filled with magenta colored veins, which surpised Shimmer, giving me the time to flex my insides and causing a collection of tentacles to sprout out of my back.
Knowing that the sight of the tentacles shocked Shimmer, I took the moment to use them to launch myself at her and then making more tentacles sprout from my arm and used them as an additional extending fist, "Darkness Crush!!" I exclaim the attack name which lands right into Shimmer's face, making her fly back a few meters like it happened to me.
The moment Shimmer landed back, "What the fuck!?" She exclaimed in clear confusion, "Alright, two can play that game!" She told me as I noticed that she had her Vision attached to her collar again.
She used her wand and created a circle made of pure Dendro in which she shot a stream of Hydro, causing a rain of Dendro Cores, which while they couldn't deal too heavy damage on their own, this many at this speed made quite concerned.
But then I remembered that I still had my tentacles out so I pierced two of them in the ground and lifted myself up, allowing me to dodge the cores in ways I normally wouldn't have been able to, "Oh I missed this!!" I exclaimed as then I began rushing at Shimmer using my tentacles to rush at Shimmer.
Shimmer's POV.
Seeing how easily Gloom managed to weave through each core, made me think that I needed to up my game, so I decided to make my attack more erratic, hoping it would trip Gloom up, and while it did work at first, I saw how Gloom quickly adapted her movements, using her tentacles to too away the cores and make her passage easier.
This made me falter a bit, making me stop my attack for a moment, which Gloom took as an opportunity to extend one of her tentacles at me, almost hitting, but in a subconscious act, my hair moved, catching the tentacle before it could land on me.
Since I was surpised by the fact that this just happened, I didn't notice that Gloom sent more tentacles at me, restraining my arms and legs before pulling me to her, "We need to talk!!" She exclaimed right in my face.