Slowly (A Brawl Stars Fanfic)

Transition

The next morning, Shelly was awake at 6 o' clock, sitting at her small table with a cup of coffee that she wasn't even drinking. She stared intently down at a couple of note papers she'd made late last night. They had everything about the incident; all she could recall happening, witnesses, and how it felt.

She was so zoned in on her "detective work" that she didn't even notice Colt standing over her. He slowly reached out and poked her shoulder. His mistake. Shelly jumped up and elbowed him in the face. She was wide eyed and a bit rabid looking.

"Hold your fire!" Colt held his hands in front of his face in a "please don't kill me" gesture.

"Oh," Shelly sighed and drooped, "Sorry." She held out a hand to help him up.

"Thanks," He said gratefully, standing up, "Now, what are you working on?"

"The occurrence yesterday." She pointed to the table and Colt walked over. He picked up the papers and read them to himself quickly and quietly.

"Same as you told me last night. So you weren't kidding?"

She punched his shoulder.

"Guess not." He winced.

"Well, who should we ask about it?" Shelly inquired.

"The others, maybe? What happens to one brawler usually happens to all of them."

"Oh, that's true I suppose." So she spun to face Colt. "Did anything weird happen to you?"

"Not that I'm aware of." Colt shrugged.

Shelly sighed. "You know what? Screw it. It'll sort itself out." She reached down to grab the coffee, which was now cold.

"Can I have some?" Colt bat his eyes at her.

She made a pfft sound and handed him the mug.

"Thanks dear." You could hear the smile in his voice.

Shelly rolled her eyes and made her way to the front of the house, stepping outside in the chilly yet rapidly heating air.

To stay alive, you need a heater at night, and an air conditioner in the day. That's the desert for you. She closed her eyes and lifted her head. A lovely breeze blew past, then it was gone.

Shelly turned to look down the road. It was empty at this time in the morning. Everyone slept in since no one had anywhere to be this early. There were no businesses here except Barley's, because the brawlers didn't require money. And even still, he usually gave drinks away for free. (Because he has a endless magical supply.)

You see, after every match, depending on what rank you got, a certain amount of pure gold nuggets appear in your house randomly. After looking through couch cushions or under your bed, one can send them to a bank among the humans beyond the desert. They can send you back a credit card with the amount the nugget cost, and that was how they got their money. So basically, brawlers are millionaires , some more rich than others depending on how many times they win first versus others.

Of course though, sometimes nothing ever got sent back because the humans managing the money got greedy and kept it to themselves instead of returning it. It rarely happened though, but when it did, it was no biggie since the brawlers have a pretty much endless supply.

Besides, the only thing they ever payed for was phone data that they somehow had out in the middle of nowhere. So the money just piled up.

Shelly traced this thought train as it occurred to her, then thought back to the storage closet across from her room down the hallway. There were two large buckets in there, one spilling over with gold nuggets and the other a forth of the way full with hardly used credit cards.

I should use some of that sometime to buy a new coffee table. She tapped her chin, staring off into space.

Meanwhile, Colt slinked up behind her. He spread his arms and gave her a back hug.

Shelly flipped. "What the f-"

"Oh, it's just you again." She relaxed and suppressed a blush with a bored face.

She had PTSD from matches and everything felt like an attack.

"Yeah, just me." He stepped up beside her. "What're you thinking about?"

She sighed. "Anything and everything, mi amor."

"Mi amor? Isn't that "my love" in Spanish?" Colt grinned.

"Yes, yes it is. Don't think much of it, or I'll take it back." Shelly sniffed.

"Whatever you say, bae."

She turned away to look at the the purple and orange sunset on the horizon. It was beautiful, and it made Shelly's heart ache with a familiar longing. The longing to go beyond this small town and see more. Go farther and experience better things.

Sights like these made her wonder, how far does the sky go? How distant are the stars? To where must I go to see greater things? They were fanciful thoughts from a wistful person, but lately, Shelly had been thinking about leaving. It was hard to imagine leaving after living  almost her whole life here, but the longing was getting unbearable.

She gave a sad sigh, causing Colt to inquire, "What's wrong?"

She didn't feel like explaining herself so she just mumbled a few words for him to decipher. "Sunrise. Beauty. Trapped here. Boring. Not." At the last word, she gestured weakly to the sunrise. Sadness really saps one's strength.

"Okay... so you're saying, the sunrise is beautiful, but this place is not..." He said slowly, piecing it together.

Shelly nodded, "Travel."

"...And you want to leave... and see more things like it?"

"Yeah." She said.

"Oh, then why don't we?"

____________________
I'll be hosting a small q&a to clear up any background information or confusion about the way things work in the story. Ask anything you'd like and I'll answer it, unless it's a spoiler.

I also apologize for the late update. I tend to procrastinate :|