Trial & Error [discontinued]

Defeating Leshy

It was weird in the world of the floppy disk. One day they're at Leshy's and another day they're at their homes. Right now, P03 was in Leshy's as the stoat with Grimora as the stinkbug, Magnificus as the stunted wolf, and Daughter as the black swan.

Layla had kept her promise and had a bit of free time to play and P03 was both in the game as a card and Layla's house talking to her using Siri.

Right now, Leshy was kicking Layla's ass. She was about to run out of cards entirely to The Angler after their second encounter and she was mad at herself.

"You know-"

"Shut up, I don't wanna hear it, you damn hunk a hoverin' junk."

"But-"

"I DIDN'T MEAN TO HAVE DAUGHTER EATEN BY THE CAMPFIRE. I DON'T WANNA HEAR IT."

Layla wanted to just upgrade Daughter's attack by one. She didn't like gambling at the fire with the talking cards so she meant to pull away after the first upgrade. However, a misclick happened... That should be pretty self-explanatory.

Sadly, the run wasn't saved and Layla lost.

"Aldight... We'll try again..."

Layla sighed as the flash happened.

"Ready to try again, Layla?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shut up, 'Fleshy'. I'll kick your ass fasta den you c'n say 'sweet fuck almighty'."

"Sweet duck almighty."

Layla squinted her eyes while a low chuckle could be heard... ish...

"I'll give Leshy this one," said P03. "That was kinda funny."

"You shut your yap box, ya hoverin' hunk a junk."

"But I'm your favorite~"

"Yeah, but dat don't excuse ya from insultin' me."

The game continued as usual... ish... until Layla arrived at the mushroom guys... even if it was through Leshy's masks... Anyway, she was going to combine the 20/20 ouroboros with the 30/30 ouroboros when something very different was said.

"Miss Layla, are you... are you... Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Leshy asked behind the shroom guys' mask. Layla cocked an eyebrow. "Luke isn't... We can't find him anywhere."

"Kinda figured I replaced Luke... Mantis God-ed twice 'n' not a sound came from 'im..."

"Exactly... You could... could... You might be in danger."

"Okay, Leshy. Take off da mask. I gotta talk to ya personally."
Leshy removed the mask.
"Why are you warning me? None of you Scrybes care 'bout us humans!"

"That may be true, but that was before things started to change."

"Like what?"

"You already know of two of them. The creation of Daughter and Luke's disappearance. There is more on this floppy disk than just us Scrybes."

"Den I'll see what I c'n do!"

"What does that mean?"

"Dere's people who don't deserve ta be in dere! I wanna get 'em out!"

Leshy shook his head.

"Have fun with that. If you get possessed, don't say you weren't warned."

"No more Wall A Bears on me as I get ready ta kick your ass in cards tenfold, Fleshy!... Goddammit... Shut up, P03."

Yes, P03 was laughing. Not too sure at what though.

After maybe half an hour, we such at keeping track of time, and I'm not narrating a card game like it's a golfing event, Layla made it to the area before the boss fight.

"One more merge'll do," she said as she made her piece go to the merging stones...

What is my life?...

Whatever...

There are many symbols on many cards ranging from good to bad. If you ask us, the waterborne symbol sucks while the trifurcated strike symbol is the best.

Since Daughter was a 3/5 card (because of campfires) that flies and has flight protection, she applied the trifurcated strike symbol to her.

"Now dat moon got nothin' on me. Hm... Maybe somethin' from Scarletta's or Damien's books got somethin' on curses. I'll check afta I kick Leshy's ass."

The final boss was against Leshy of course, but with all three (or four since the trapper and trader use the same) masks in round one, round two added death cards to the field, and round three was against the moon.

She hummed as she grabbed her headphones and started playing music. If she was gonna hand Leshy his ass in cards, she's gonna do it in style.

A low growl could be heard as the music stopped.

"Why are you blasting music?" P03 asked as he stopped the music on her test phone. "Leshy had defeated you before, so wouldn't you need to concentrate?"

"Not everyone needs peace, quiet, 'n' solitude ta concentrate, ya jack! Let me have my music; we'll talk 'bout dis after da moon goes boom!"

Layla turned the music back on and blasted it as safe as she could while fighting Leshy. This time, she was getting further and had even gotten to the moon phase quicker than she expected.

When the song was over, Leshy had been defeated and the celebratory raw meat cake was brought out. Yes, you read that right.

Of course, there was no mechanic to eat the raw meat (thank fuck), and even if there was, Layla wouldn't so she was taken to the other room without Luke's little transition that was supposed to play in between.

"I believe ya know da drill, leaf boy," said Layla with a wicked grin. She clicked on the camera and loaded some film into it.

"Who gave you that!?"

"Nuh-uh! I ain't no rat bastard! Now smile fer da camera, Fleshy~"

"Give it back!"

*click*

Leshy was caught and placed within a card. Layla sighed as she made her character approach the card mounted on the wall. She zoomed into the card with a disappointed look.

"Ya don't like bein' put on a card, do ya, leaf man?"
She didn't expect him to respond.
"Maybe dis'll end your tormentin' a fellow seemingly innocent folk?"

"It won't."
Layla cocked her head towards P03 as he stared at her through the phone.
"Trust me, this will keep happening..."

A part of Layla's heart broke as she took in the words...

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The story doesn't end here...

Word Count: 1006...