Chapter 27: The Tournament of Wishes

“Mommy! Mommy! I want these!”

The young girl grabbed her mom by the arm, dragging her deeper into the flower shop. Her brown pigtails bounced and bobbed as she trotted down the aisle, pointing at all the unique shapes and colors. She eventually stopped in front of a vase filled with purple and blue lilies that swayed softly like the wind. Their movements mesmerized the child and even mystified her mother due to the fact that there wasn’t any wind blowing through the shop.

“Those are Swaying Lillies.” A woman’s voice called behind them. “They move back and forth on their own, very relaxing to watch.”

The mother and child turned to see a woman with long flowing black hair wearing a tightly wound green apron. She held a watering can in one hand while giving them a warm smile.

“Are they hard to take care of?” The mother asked as her daughter returned to admiring the flowers.

“Not at all!” The clerk replied. “Just water them once a week and give them plenty of sunlight!”

The mother looked back at the shifting flowers which were keeping her daughter in a calm trance. She picked them up and walked to the register, with her daughter quietly following behind.

“She’s already much more calm, thank you so much…”

The mother looked for the worker’s name tag but didn’t see one on her apron.

“Oh, my name’s Peg. Sorry, I left my tag at home.”

“Thank you so much Peg.” She said as she hurried off to the counter to pay for her new plants.

Once they were gone an elderly woman, wearing a similar apron walked over to Peg and tapped her on the arm.

“Those swaying lilies of yours have been flying off the shelves.” The woman spoke, with a wrinkly smile.

“Boss, if selling 2 a week is ‘flying off the shelves’ then yeah I guess so.” Peg sighed.

Half a year passed since the events at Tezuka Park. Josie and Peg left behind Megashine City for a new destination, The Custerdome. Being at the very top of the stalk and the only concrete lead Peg had on her mother it was a shared goal for the two friends. With some funds provided to them by Dr. Ida Lee they had taken the Vinerail as far as they could up the Stalk but it still was only halfway to the top. The higher someone wanted to travel the more expensive it cost and the two reached a financial impasse. They decided to take root in the town of Thalahassa. Josie was able to find work in a factory while Peg made her money at a flower shop. Saving their Leos until the day came that they could afford to continue their journey.

Money wasn’t coming fast and they worked a lot but they made the best of it. Josie found a bit of familiarity working in a factory again, and her strength made it easy to hit above her quota and earn bonuses. Peg liked the slower pace of the Flower Shop and she received an extra bonus if any of the plants she bred sold. This was a great way for her to learn more about the plants on the stalk and practice her Green Thumb abilities, in secret of course.  Unfortunately by Peg’s calculations if they both continued at their current pace it would still be another year at least until they had enough money saved up. Longer than what she had hoped but after waiting this long to be reunited with her mother, what was another year?

“Patience my dear.” The shop owner replied, patting Peg on the back. “Look, it’s slowing down so why don’t you grab your pay in the back and head out early?”

Peg smiled, not needing to be told twice. She took off her apron, grabbed her pay and headed out into the bustling early evening street. Today was Friday which was a special day for Peg and Josie. They both worked so hard towards their dream so every Friday they would take a little money and go somewhere special to eat. This week it was a local tavern that made a chicken pot pie that Josie would die for. 

Josie’s work day usually ended earlier than Peg’s, even on a day where she left early. So on Friday’s she would get to their destination before Peg and grab a soda while she waited. When Peg reached the restaurant she saw a crowd formed outside with Josie nowhere in sight. She squeezed past the group of people, both beastling and humans and her heart sank when she found the source of the commotion.

“C’mon you big oaf, can’t land a punch?” A young girl’s voice taunted.

As the crowd cheered, Peg knew her worst fears had been realized. Front and center were two people, a large Ox beastling swinging wildly at a smiling child who was none other than Josie. She was bouncing around in the makeshift ring formed by the crowd, infuriating the beastling who continued swiping his fists at her.

“Josie!” Peg yelled, with both hands on her hips.

Josie stopped for a moment, hearing Peg’s voice and knew with that tone she was in big trouble. That pause was all the beastling needed to land a hit on Josie, slamming her into the dirt road. The crowd yelled, with some gasps and ‘ooohs’ in response to the attack but Josie bounced back, literally. Soon as she hit the ground Kinto, her living cloud companion formed below and launched her towards the Ox Man.

The Ox Man threw out his large fist and Josie threw out hers to match. The punches clashed, causing a burst of air to erupt from them and push back the crowd. Their fists struggled against one another until a large ‘CRACK’ was heard. The Ox Man screamed in agony, falling to his knees along with his limp, broken wrist. Josie landed on her feet, mostly unscathed aside from the bruise forming from being knocked to the ground.

The crowd cheered again, even louder as they ran to congratulate Josie but Peg swiftly dodged through, grabbing Josie by the arm and pulling her away from the commotion.

“Didja see that Peg? I snapped his wrist like a twig!”

“Josie! What did I tell you about keeping a low profile!?” Peg asked, grabbing Josie by the shoulders as they hid in a nearby alley.

“I am Peg!” Josie whined. “I didn’t even pull out Kinto or nuffin’!”

“Oh is that why you bounced against the ground like it was a trampoline?”

Josie’s eyes looked away knowing she got caught in a lie.

“Besides,” Peg continued. “How is having a crowd watch you fight count as ‘keeping a low profile’?”

“I didn’t ask them to!” Josie pleaded. “I ordered a soda and went to the bathroom but when I came back he took my seat AND my soda. Said a brat like me should make room for a future champion like him. I couldn’t let him talk to me that way!”

Peg groaned, she had told Josie that they needed to be as inconspicuous as possible. The entire stalk was still buzzing about what happened at Tezuka Park. No one witnessed Wataru Tezuka’s defeat by their hands but people at the gala remember the beastlings carrying a human girl when escaping. Josie luckily hadn’t since been recognized but Peg would rather not give anyone an excuse to look too closely.

Josie was still giving a play by play of the fight when Peg thought back to something she had said.

“Wait, future champion? Future champion of what?”

“You haven’t heard? The Tournament of Wishes starts next week!” Josie replied.

Peg raised an eyebrow, clearly not having the slightest clue what that meant.

“You must really live under a rock Peg, or I guess flowers. Everyone at the factory is talking about it. Larry the shift leader said he’s even gonna’ host a radio listening party for when it starts!”

Josie reached into the pockets of her trusty overalls and pulled out a small flyer, handing it to Peg. The flyer depicted Beastlings fighting with the words ‘Tournament of Wishes Final Qualifier’ printed at the top.

“This is your last chance to earn a spot in this year’s Tournament of Wishes…” Peg read aloud. “The winner of this free-for-all will be given a spot in the top eight of the tournament and a chance to win anything they desire…”

“Yeah! All these super strong fighters from all over the stalk fight and the one on top gets their wish granted!”

“What do you mean ‘gets their wish granted’ Josie?”

“Well from what they told me at work, the winner asks for something and then they get it. Money, a new house, you name it and you can ask for it!”

The gears in Peg’s mind began to turn as she stared at the flyer. 

“Josie, we need to do this?”

“Do what?”

“The tournament!” Peg replied, slapping her hand against the flyer. “The winner gets anything they want right? If we win we can get a free ride up to The Custerdome, no more saving up money!”

Josie sighed, placing her arms behind her head and leaning against the wall. “Yeah, I thought about that too but apparently only Beastlings are allowed to enter.”

Peg felt her heart sink again but before hitting rock bottom another thought came across her mind. She stuffed the flyer into her pocket and turned to leave the alley.

“Head back and warm up some leftovers Josie, I’ll be home late tonight.”

“Leftovers?” Josie groaned. “I thought we were going to get chicken pot pie?”

“Well we were until someone decided to get into a street fight in front of the restaurant.”

Josie sighed, unable to argue as the two went opposite directions. Josie to their little apartment and Peg to the one place that would help her put together a plan, the library.

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It was late into the night and Peg still hadn’t returned. Josie had eaten dinner and was now laying on their couch listening to the radio. She felt herself drifting into sleep until the front door lock clicked and in waltzed Peg carrying a stack of books. 

“Sorry I took so long.” Peg said as she entered and planted the tower of books onto their dining table. “There was just so much to go through and they only let me take so many books home.”

“What’s all this?” Josie asked, walking over to examine the pile.

“This,” Peg replied, slapping the top of the book tower. “Is our ticket to entering and winning that tournament.”

Josie’s eyes scanned the titles and the subject they all seemed to have in common was Beastlings. ‘Beastlings and their Strengths’ ‘The Full Beastling Spectrum’ all types of different titles. While she read their spines, Peg sat at the table and pulled one from the stack and began flipping through it.

“I was meaning to start Beastling research months ago.” Peg spoke as she turned the pages. “After Tezuka Park I have been fascinated about the Beastlings and what they can do. Thankfully the library had shelves stacked high with different books.”

“So then what’s the plan? I’m gonna pretend to be a Beastling?”

“Precisely!” Peg replied not looking up from her page turning. “Aha! Here it is!”

She turned the book to Josie’s direction showing diagrams of different Beastling bodies types and faces. Some looked exactly like their respective animals while others leaned more onto the human side of the spectrum with a mixture of animal features.

“They come in all shapes and sizes, including ones that look more human.” Peg explained. “So we just need to get you disguised as one and you’ll enter no problem!”

Josie crossed her arms and frowned. “I don’t know, I could barely keep my hat on fighting that Ox guy earlier, how would I keep on a costume for a whole tournament.”

Peg closed the book and smiled, shaking her head. “That’s because it won’t just be any normal costume like some clothing.”

Josie raised an eyebrow, still not following Peg’s train of thought.

“Kinto! You’ll make a costume out of Kinto. You see Beastling’s have abilities as well that when trained can even change their appearance, we’ll just explain that it’s your abilities that make you more well, cloudy.”

At this point Josie summoned Kinto and the white fluffy cloud danced and circulated around her body. At full strength she was able to have Kinto attach to her body like cuffs giving her extra strength and maneuverability. Since reaching Thalahassa however she’s had to keep Kinto a secret to not draw attention. This didn’t stop her from practicing with Kinto by sneaking away to the outskirts of town or even in their apartment which Peg did not love.

“So I give myself some ears and a tail made of Kinto and they’ll think I’m a Beastling?”

“That’s the plan!” Peg said. “Everything I read said there’s no medical way to determine the difference between a Beastling and a human outside of their savage glands and I doubt they’ll do surgery to prove you’re a beastling if you look the part.”

Peg stood to her feet, placing her hands on Josie’s shoulders and smiling. “This could be it Josie. There’s no way anyone out there is as tough as you, you’ll walk through the competition and walk us right into The Custerdome.”

Josie looked away for a moment, thinking over everything Peg had explained. Glancing at the books and seeing in her face that Peg really believed that this would all work. Josie gave her classic wide toothy grin.

“Well if you think it’s a good idea then I can’t say no!”

Peg slapped Josie on the shoulder and laughed. “I knew you’d agree! Now then, there’s only one qualifier left to enter and that’s a week from today. So for the next seven days we’ll need to get you ready but first thing’s first we need you to pick an animal.”

“What about a dragon?” Josie asked.

“Those aren’t real.” Peg replied, returning to the table to flip through more books.

“Ok, a unicorn!”

“Also not real bud.”

“A Dinosaur?” Josie asked, now bouncing on the couch with Kinto swirling around her.

“Well those did exist but went extinct a long time ago so that’s probably a no as well. I know we can do a lot with Kinto but it needs to be a believable enough disguise and-”

“A lemur!” Josie blurted out.

Peg looked up from the pages, startled from Josie’s interjection.

“You know they live in trees and got loooong tails! I saw them at the zoo once so I know they’re real!”

Peg flipped through an animal encyclopedia she also nabbed from the library, looking for the animal in question. “Well look at that, seems this one isn’t made up or extinct.”

“And check this out!” Josie said, jumping from the couch.

Kinto swirled around her, much faster this time. The cloud zipped all over her body creating fluffy white wristbands and anklets but also extended from her backside to create a long white tail. She hopped up and the tail curled into a spring causing her to bounce. Peg watched the transformation, nodding approvingly.

“That might work but it’s missing something…” Peg walked over to the wall of plants she had in the apartment and came back with a small bundle of twigs. She twisted them together until they formed pointed ears and fixed them to Josie’s cap.

“Stick ears? I don’t think Lemurs have those Peg.”

“Obviously.” Peg scoffed. “But if you cover them with Kinto they’d look like normal fluffy ears.”

Following her suggestion Josie willed Kinto to form around the makeshift ears and she was able to bend and move them to her will. Peg explained that they came from a plant she had discovered at the flower shop. The twigs were malleable but would snap under pressure.

With Josie’s disguise set Peg sat back, watching her bounce around in excitement. She had to admit that while she showed complete confidence in her plan, a part of her believed that it might be too much of a stretch to make it real. But as she looked at Josie she couldn’t help but think to herself; 

“We might actually pull this off.”

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In a hospital room, a young girl with pale skin and red hair sat upright in her bed reading a book. In her room were more toys and books than a child could ever ask for. Next to her desk was a radio with crackling voices talking about the biggest sporting event on the stalk, the upcoming Tournament of Wishes. Hearing a light knock on her door she looked up to see a nurse standing there.

“Abbie, you have a visitor.”

Stepping around the nurse shuffled in a short balding man with wrinkly white skin and a full gray beard. He wore a deep forest green sweater and brown slacks. Stuffed under his arm was a small box sheathed in wrapping paper.

“Grandpa Polly!” Abbie squealed, bouncing in her bed.

The nurse bowed out as the man walked to the bed, pulling a chair behind him. He leaned in and gave Abbie a tight hug before placing the gift on her lap.

“I thought you were on your way to the tournament! You promised you’d get me Lunagi’s autograph!”

Polly chuckled, leaning back in his chair. “There’s been a change of plans, Sweet Pea. Grandpa had something very important come up but don’t worry I think you’ll still get that autograph.”

He motioned for her to open the present and she quickly obliged. She ripped open the box and inside lay a single VIP ticket to The Tournament of Wishes.”

“I get to go!?” Abbie’s eyes lit up.

“Happy Birthday little Abbie.”

Interrupting their moment a group of doctors entered the room, bringing with them a rolling bed.

“I thought I wouldn’t have another surgery for a while.” Abbie asked, frightened.

Polly placed his hand on Abbie’s, gripping it tightly with a smile.

“It’s been a long time since you’ve left this hospital Abbie, they just want to do some tests to make sure you’re ok. If everything’s good you’ll be getting on a plane to the arena. You’ll stay in my suite and we’ll make sure to have the best doctors with you just in case.”

Abbie looked at her grandfather, the group of doctors and then back down at the VIP Ticket. Her heartbeat settled as she began to relax and she smiled.

“Ok Grandpa, anything for you.”

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To Be Continued

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