Legends of the Halcyon Era

Episode 42 - Flashback: Travels & Tribulations, Part 3

After facing debilitating injury to his mechanical arm in a ruin, Fenix was taken to a hospital, where he received a new cybernetic arm, complete with a hand! Nytetrayn left him for the night to go back to their hotel room, and returned to the hospital the following day, their acquisitions in tow.

As Nyte approached Fenix's room, he could hear yelling, and decided to see what the commotion was.

"Sir, I really think you should reconsider this!" the nurse shouted. "Your wounds aren't completely healed yet! You shouldn't be out of bed! I'm not going to give you the hundreds of painkillers you're going to need just to function because of some macho bull!!!"

Fenix slid his helmet into place, and fixed the nurse with a demonic glare. "Bite me."

"Don't tempt me," the nurse growled.

"...problem?" Nyte asked from the doorway.

"Oh! Hey, Nyte! Ready to go?"

"Um... sure. You?"

"Sir," the nurse said to Nytetrayn, "maybe you can talk some sense into him. As soon as his medication wears off, his arm is going to hurt like a bastard child until it heals! he can't leave the hospital yet!"

"Fenix," Nyte said. "You heard that. You should stay here."

The masked Digger snorted. "Nurse Stabby McNeedleton doesn't know what she's talking about."

"...I thought she was a trained medical professional."

"I've been working at this job for twenty-two years, you ass!"

Fenix patted both of them on the shoulder. "Listen, has either of you actually had your arm ripped off?" With widened eyes, the nurse slowly shook her head. "Nope," Nyte said.

"Good. Then I think we've established that this is an area where I have a little more experience than you do. Let's go."

"Um, okay," said Nyte, as he followed Fenix out. He looked back at the nurse, who just stared after them, flabbergasted, then continued on after his partner.

"So! Off to sell our treasure, then?"

"Sure, let's go," Nyte said, and they headed for the museum.

A few hours and some wheeling and dealing later, Nytetrayn and Fenix were back in their hotel room, counting their Zenny.

"Hehehehe... This is great! We're almost back up to what we got from that fat pervert for the magazines!"

"Yeah, no kidding," said Nyte. "So, where do we go from here?"

"Well, that depends. I'd prefer to keep moving, myself. If you want, you can tag along... or, you could stay here for a while. The digging seems reasonably good."

"Eh, I'll follow. Not much else to do."

"Cool by me. Where to next, then?"

Nyte grabbed his travel guide, and Fenix peered over his shoulder to look at the map. "This has promise... 'Monroe Island'. A town, ruins, good amount of land space..."

"Ahhh," Fenix said. "Interesting.... sounds like a geek's name. You'd probably fit right in." Nyte gave Fenix a confused look, and the older Digger chuckled. "Never mind."

"So, should we set off for that one?"

"Yes.... yes, I like the sound of this 'Monroe' place. It sounds like the kind of place he'd go..."

"...'he'?"

"Uh, nothing. Just someone I used to know. I valued his advice, you see."

"Ah, okay."

"So, shall we hit the skyways?"

"Sounds good to me, lemme just pack."

"Sure thing," Fenix said, as he did the same.

Once they were ready, they moved out. As they went, Nytetrayn sang, "♪ Loaded like a freight train... flying like an air-o-plane... feelin' like a space brain, one more time tonight... I'm on the..." There was a pause. "...that's all I know. Oh, well."

Fenix stopped and stared at Nytetrayn in disbelief, his eyes wider than usual.

"...what? I was flipping through the channels last night." With that, he shrugged, and kept walking. Fenix followed, shaking his head.

Eventually, the pair arrived at the airport. By this point, Fenix had caught the bug, too. "♪ I'm leavin', on a jetplane... ♪"

Nyte approached the ticket counter. "Yes, I'd like two tickets for Monroe Island. Are we too late for the 1:30 autogyro?" He received the tickets, while Fenix hit on another clerk, and got smacked in the head for his troubles. Nyte pointed and let out a high-pitched, "ha-ha!" Fenix, in turn, flipped him off.

"Question," said the younger Digger. "Did your eyes get like that by way of being smacked in the head like that once too often?"

"...yes."

Nyte just stared at him for a moment and blinked, then made a note that hitting on women is probably not a good idea. Fenix chuckled quietly, and Nyte decided to look over the travel guide a bit more as they waited for their flight to be called.

Once the flight was called, Fenix came up late, having been hassled by security. "There you are," Nyte said. "C'mon, let's go! We don't want to miss our flight, old chum."

"Why, that would be terrible, old buddy old pal!"

"Damn straight."

Soon, they boarded the airship. While Nyte made it on okay, Fenix just barely made it, after he leaped across a widening gap between it and the boarding ramp.

"Nice leap," Nyte said, before he went to take his seat and started to work on some stuff he picked up on the island. Fenix took his own seat, panting heavily and clutching at his cybernetic arm. "You okay?" Nyte asked.

"Yah, just jarred it a bit in the landing. It's just oh criminy the stewardess hit me in the elbow with the dessert cart fine."

With eyes like dinner plates, Nyte said, "Um, maybe we shouldn't have left the hospital so soon."

"No... no... I'm good."

"Okay, if you say so..."

"Trust me, compared to getting it ripped out of its socket? This is pure bliss."

Nytetrayn went back to working on various stuff, using his adjoining seat and the two tray tables as a makeshift workshop, much to the chagrin of the old lady seated next to him. Fenix flexed his new hand, as he was apparently still getting used to it. His eyes twitched in amusing ways as he did so.

"Enjoying yourself?" asked Nyte. "Bet the second hand will come in hand-y."

"Yes," Fenix replied. "Now I will be able to do many things I could not before."

"Like what?"

"...I have no idea."

Nyte gawped at him a moment as Fenix cackled maniacally, before going back to work. Meanwhile, Fenix cried on the inside.

Soon, the small airship landed outside of the town of Monroe, situated on Monroe Island, with Nyte and Fenix departing shortly thereafter.

"I guess we should find a place to stay," said Nyte.

"Sounds good to m– Nyte, why is that little boy staring at me?"

"Huh?" Nyte turned and looked. "Maybe he likes you? Anyway, seems there are a good few places to go digging on the island here. Maybe we should find something a little more long-term for--"

The kid ran up, smacked Fenix's mechanical arm, then ran off, with his mother chasing after him and yelling. "...the hell?" was all Nyte could say to that.

"Nyte... if I assumed the fetal position and cried now, would you lose any respect for me?"

"Um, maybe? Lemme just figure up how much respect I have for you first."

"...never mind."

Nyte shrugged. "Like I was saying, perhaps we should look at some long-term arrangements here?"

"Why long-term?"

"Seems there are plenty of ruins to dig in, not too many have been touched or those that have, not very deeply. Rumor has it there may be even more, still waiting to be found. Also seems that digging isn't a big local pastime."

"Hmmm, sounds interesting. You wanna stick around long enough to explore them all?"

Nyte shrugged. "It's that, or keep blowing it all on tickets to the next island. Maybe we can build some finances up first, and book in the long-term if we need to. Get a better rate, and keep more money for ourselves. And if the ruins here aren't touched yet, then that's more for us to find."

"Sounds like a plan," Fenix said, actually sounding a little impressed. "You've really thought this through."

"Yeah, I had time on the way here. It's all pretty elementary, though, my dear dummy. Now, let's head into town and see what they've got."

"Sure thing..."

"Maybe we can buy a nice, big house to store all of our hauls from the ruins, various artifacts, and the weapons we make. Then we can sell it for a nice price before we move on."

After much searching, Nytetrayn and Fenix looked at the duplex apartment before them – the only real long-term solution the town has to offer right now.

"Or there's this," Nytetrayn sighed. "Looks like they have places for rent."

"Probably because everyone else knew better." Fenix sighed. "Let's check it out."

"Sure," Nyte said, as he headed for the office building set up behind the apartments.

"...but I warn you, if the owner is some grungy old man who gives us odd looks, I'd rather camp out." Having said that, Fenix rang the bell.

"Who is it!?! Whaddya want?! I have a gun!"

An old man came charging out of the office with a shotgun, and shot Fenix right in the face. Nyte, looking suitably freaked-out, said, "Dude. Not cool." Fenix gingerly touched his mask, which didn't seem to have taken much, if any, damage from the shot. "Fenix, are you alright?!"

"You're threatening me with a BB gun?!" Fenix shouted. "Are you stupid?!"

As Fenix said that, the old man had begun whacking Nyte over the head with his cane, though it didn't really hurt. "Ya damn punks! Get offa my land!"

Between whacks of the cane, Nyte said, "Um, we came to see you about... please, stop that... about the place for rent. We have money."

Suddenly, the old man became the nicest landlord this side of Hell's creation. "Well, then! Thank you! I'll give you the best apartment I have! 4-B, it is! Come on over... McAllister's the name!"

"...I'm going to kill him," Fenix said.

"I dunno," Nyte replied. "Don't you think he might be headed that way on his own?"

"Alright, but if he shoots me again, I kill him."

Nyte shrugged. "I guess that's fair."

They followed the landlord, as he showed them one of the apartments. "You'll like this one... biggest place I have, and really well-furnished! You'll love it! Have a look!" With that, McAllister opened a door to a tiny, shabby place with roaches.

After taking in the skin-crawling sight, Nyte asked, "Anything... better?"

"Oooh," said McAllister, "I see you want the high class. Let me show you the Jack Benny suite..." He led them to the apartment next door, and Nyte and Fenix both winced as he opened it up. Inside was a slightly-bigger place with marginally less-depressing furnishings and, surprisingly, no roaches.

Nyte stepped inside and looked at Fenix. "This isn't bad..." He looked around, and saw a sofa, a TV in the living room, a bedroom on either side with basic furnishings, a kitchen with a table built into the wall, a fridge, and a bathroom.

"It isn't exactly the Marriott," Fenix said dryly.

"It's not Cockroach Central, either," Nyte pointed out.

"I guess it'll do."

"Works for me. It's functional, and with just the two of us, it shouldn't be a problem. Not like there's a whole group of us or anything."

"Yeah. Thank God there isn't, like, four of us. Or any girls. That would really be awkward."

"Excellent!" said McAllister. "I'll just need two month's rent, and a security deposit."

Nyte and Fenix each paid up their half of the rent and deposits, and McAllister left the pair alone in their new home.

"That took most of our money," said Nytetrayn, "but I'm sure with all the ruins this place has to offer, we'll make it back and then some in no time. Now, dibs on the left room."

"Why that one?"

Nyte shrugged. "Why not? I just like the positioning, I guess."

"Fine with me."

"...though yours would be closer to the kitchen..."

"Works for me."

The two Diggers each took to their respective bedrooms. Fenix hit his bed with a groan and a whimper, and just laid there until he started to snore. Nyte let his stuff fall to the floor of his room, and decided to finally get some rest himself, as he'd not really slept since he and Fenix went to that last ruin.