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In total, three cardboard boxes and one suitcase makes the sum total of Pri’s belongings, shoved together from clothes and blading equipment she brought to Phantom’s Gate and the trinkets and things left in this apartment in a town outside of London.
This is not the first time she’s moved, her old house in the woods with the pastel yellow siding and white cream pillars is something perfect in her mind. In truth, she misses it. It was quieter there, far more than this apartment or the Phantom’s Gate.
It was also quite a bit lonely, with only Pax and their beys for company. Pri didn’t even have Pandora, back then. Just a silent spinning top called Storm Spryzen that she was never even able to bond with.
The apartment is empty now. Pax already took whatever he owned and, honestly, some stuff he maybe didn’t. She barely got any notice to clear out what was left, the landlord calling her two days ago when she was in Japan. She grips the handle of the pink and yellow suitcase, decorated with cartoon cats, from a whole pack of stickers that Hanna found in a random store one day.
The apartment is empty now, aside from four small gemstones, jewels really, that were left behind. One red, one yellow, one green, one blue. They glow when Pandora hovers near.
On a whim, Pri throws them into her suitcase, closing it with such a large amount of force that she knows she can reign in but really can’t.
“What do you think they do?” Ranzon asked, sitting with crossed legs on the hardwood floor of Phantom’s Gate. Pri shrugged, as she honestly wasn’t sure.
The jewels had been set up in a diamond pattern, because it just felt right. Because, like, what else are you supposed to do with semi-magical gemstones? Pri, despite her abnormal upbringing due to various psychotic brothers she still wasn’t sure how to feel about, had watched Saturday morning cartoons like every other girl in London
Another great feature of magical gemstones - staring at them and hmmming like Bel is doing now.
Maybe they’re a sign? Belfyre suggested in its silent way from where it sits directly in front of the green gem. Pri had been pretty sure it’s an emerald but Hanna had her face smack dab in the middle of a Geology 101 book they all collectively checked out from the library this morning when she returned home, so she’s holding off judgement til the expert says something.
“I’ve got it!” Bel declared suddenly, jumping up into the air. “The Dark Prince knows exactly what we must do here!”
“And what, oh mighty ‘Dark Prince’ is that?” Ranzo asked in what Pri can only describe as an “unamused” voice.
To the surprise of absolutely no-one, the sarcasm goes over Bel’s head. If it was possible, Pri’s pretty sure he would be floating up towards the heavens from how big his head is. “You see puny mortals,” Bel continues, very much ignoring the fact that he was incredibly mortal and none of the beys were, “It is a well known fact that the Aether Stadium was created using the power of science. Thus, we too will use experiments to determine the true purpose of these odd jewels!”
Experiment #1 - Battling Near the Jewels (Bel’s idea)
“And that makes a burst finish for Pandora,” Hanna declared, holding her arm to the right. Pri smirked, perhaps a bit wider than need be, as Ranzo groaned, hair seeming to deflate in front of her eyes.
They all turned to the gemstones, which still sat in their diamond formation off to the side of the stadium. They were not glowing in any way. Which, personally, Pri felt was a bit of a rip-off. They glowed back in England. And, like, what was Pax even doing with those things if not random blading experiments?
With a dull expression, she held out her hand, her bey leaping up from the stadium into her grasp. “Well that was a bust,” she mumbled, Pandora seeming to agree.
“Don’t worry!” Hanna called, waving her Geology 101 book around in the air. Or maybe it was a different rock-themed book. The cover on this one had the image of a cave instead of a bunch of jewelry. “I’ve got a plan!”
Experiment #2 - Exposing the Jewels to Heat (Hanna’s idea)
It was, in all honesty, incredibly useful that Phantom’s Gate was an old crusty castle. It had multiple different fireplaces, all usable! Unlike the boarded up hole in the wall in her and Pax’s old apartment. Which was, precisely, five different degrees of uselessness.
She was the one who started and controlled the fire, and Hanna was the one who put the gemstones into it. Bel was the one who procured the cast-iron pan for the gems to go in, as no one liked the idea of just throwing them in the fire. Ranzo was the one who hid behind Rocktavor for the whole time.
Apparently he was afraid of fire. Who knew?
“So, at what temperature is anything going to happen?” Bel asked, sitting on his throne (read: plush armchair) approximately ten feet away from the roaring fireplace. Pri was a bit annoyed that he was lazing around with a magazine and she was nearly singing her eyebrows off.
With pride, Hanna puffed out her chest, “At approximately 1400 degrees Celsius, emeralds melt!” She said happily.
There was a long, long pause as everyone considered how long it would take to heat the fire up that much. There was a much longer pause as everyone considered if the time and effort was worth it. They did want to eat Jiji’s dinner at some point today.
Perhaps something else? Rocktavor began tentatively, the sole voice of reason in the room.
Experiment #3 - Giving Ranzo a nick-name (Rocktavor’s idea)
After some amount of trepidation, Pandora silently crossed out the name The Boss on the whiteboard it was holding, one of many scattered around the room. Pri had really believed Boss would work, and Ranzo seemed all for it, but Bel vetoed it on account of some other guy in Japanese (Pri really thought in Japan made more grammatical sense, but Bel was insistent) already using Boss.
So…back to the drawing board. She still wasn’t sure how this was going to help discover the purpose of the gemstones, but it was kind of fun. And, really, Ranzo needed a nickname. Rocktavor had gone on a whole tirade about how all his cousins have one, and, really, it was a crying shame he didn’t already.
“What about Pinecone Man?” Bel said after another five minutes of absolute silence. The gems did not react, but Ranzo certainly did. He was saying something about hair, but, like, Pri had already tuned him out. She didn’t need to listen to the ravings of some idiot named Pinecone Man, after all!
Experiment #4 - Breaking the Fourth Wall (Pandora’s Idea)
Okay, well, Pandora hadn’t exactly suggested it aloud, but Pri got the general sense of what her partner wanted. She turned and marched over to the front of the room, without, like, making it so she could see the door? It was weird.
“Um, hello!” She said as loudly as possible, gesturing to the red, green, yellow, and blue jewels still sitting in their diamond pattern on the floor. “What exactly do these gemstones do ?”
Uh, I dunno, honestly, the fourth wall seemed to type. I’m just here to write funny Mayblade things. I’ve got, like, fifteen things to do tomorrow and should probably be in bed or doing math. Don’t follow my example, kids. Stay on top of your sleep schedule.
Well , Pri thought, That was entirely unhelpful.
Experiment #5 - Moving the Gems from their Diamond Pattern (Ranzo, sorry, Pinecone Man’s idea)
Unfortunately, Pri was unable to be the one to move the jewels from a regular geometric shape into something a bit more random. Pandora seemed to think it a bad idea, hovering tightly around her the way she used to during the Lodestar Tournament and all those days she spent following Pax around.
This was what led Bel, with a protective apron and novelty toy goggles on, to approach the gemstones tentatively. Slowly, with the light from the sun drifting down above his head, Bel nudged the yellow stone out of formation.
What followed next involved a very loud noise, a large bit of bright light, an incredible amount of soot and dust everywhere, Pri’s ears ringing, and one very annoyed Grandfather.
Not an Experiment #1 - Cleaning Things Up (Jiji’s idea)
“Now then,” Jiji asked after the sun had properly set and Pri never wanted to see a broom again in her life, “Have we learned a lesson?”
There was a pause, about the same length as a pause needed to determine the energy cost of heating up gemstones to 1400 degrees Celsius or if someone should be named Pinecone Man, for four kids and three immortal gods to ponder the consequences of their actions.
“Absolutely not!” Pinecone Man declared, head held high.