After repeating the riddle to the guild leaders, Boat started to feel uncomfortable and began to shift slightly. It brought back memories of the fight and he remembered someone throwing a vial filled with a strange black liquid, at him.

Mario took a sip of his drink and tried to both ignore his fear, and hide it. Boat was acting strange and normally wouldn't get this way.

''I don't have any idea about what it could mean, what about you brother?'' Ritchie tilted his head a bit in curiosity, he also noticed how this message seemed to be making the two members that were acting strange feel uncomfortable.

''No I don't brother... It is peculiar, O can say that for certain.'' Brandon shot a small glance towards Mario, so.ething in the air didn't feel quite right but he wasn't able to put his finger on what it was.

It was almost as if there was some hidden tension in the air. Brandon blinked as he realized that he just figures out what was wrong without even meaning to.

''That was all they said, so can I go now?'' Boat had the strong urge leave and felt extremely uncomfortable.

Mario was just staring at his drink, remembering the cold words and death threats Boat had given him. Tapio gently placed his paw on Mario's arm, causing the dragon slayer to flinch before relaxing once he realized it was just Tapio.

''Yes you ca-" Ritchie was cut off by Brandon.

''Actually Brother.'' The leaders stared into eachother's eyes, using their twin telepathy to discuss something without the others knowing.

After a moment, Ritchie's eyes widened before he gave a nod to his brother and they turned back towards everyone. Brandon placed his elbows on the bar and used his knuckles to hold his head up.

''I believe we need to address the tension that's in the room at this moment.'' At hearing this, Mario choked on his drink and started coughing, causing Tapio to gently rub his back.

After his short coughing fit, Mario looked down and kept his mouth shut, yet this did nothing to mask the fear that was radiating off of him.

''Tension between who?'' Boat blinked with a slight head tilt, yet you could obviously see the hidden annoyance in his eyes.

Boat felt like he was being held back, something that he never liked. He suddenly felt a burning rage form inside of him, directed towards the dragon slayer, yet he ignored it and pushed it away.

At Boat's words, both leaders eyes hardened with a glare in their eyes. Neither of them liked the fact that Mario was just radiating fear.

''You know exactly what we're talking about.'' Ritchie's voice lacked empathy.

Dark clouds began to form outside, letting out a loud boom of thunder. This just showed how angry the twins were. Boat looked towards Mario, who was refusing to look their way, and Tapio, who was staring at Boat with a glare. Boat let out a sigh.

''He just doesn't approve of my crush.'' He looked down with a blush of embarrassment on his face, while Mario played along with what Boat had said.

''I just think that it's stupid.'' Brandon, Ritchie, and Tapio all blinked and they processed what Boat and Mario just said, while even the clouds outside froze.

''What?'' Ritchie's eyes no longer held a glare, instead they held extreme confusion.

Brandon stitched his eyebrows together, which was the only sign that he didn't understand. Tapio still didn't trust this, yet decided not to speak up. Boat started blushing heavily and looked down.

''I don't want to talk about it...'' The way that he was reacting made it obvious that Boat's crush was in the room.

''Whatever you say Boat. It's probably not going to happen.'' Mario let out a small laugh and gave an eyeroll, the fear radiating off of him disappearing.

The leaders were still suspicious but started wondering if all of this was about some crush, but Tapio sent them a look that said 'something still isn't right' and caused them to realize that they were using this excuse as cover. They all went silent as most of the clouds began to disappear from the night sky, while a few still remained. Ritchie than school his head before letting out a sigh.

''All of this tension, just because of a crush?'' Boat let out a sad sigh before responding.

''Mario ships the person I like with someone else, and said I'm not likely going to end up in a relationship with my crush.'' Boat looks down sadly before Mario rolled his eyes.

''Look. All I'm saying is he wouldn't like you like that. Not to mention you-know-who would probably kill you.'' Boat let out a laugh at the last part.

Tapio was silent, Ritchie was both dumbfounded and shocked, and Brandon was suspicious. They never expected Mario to ship, well, anyone. Everything was silent until Ritchie suddenly stood up.

''Since you both made us get riled up over some silly crush, you're going to the training ground and we're going to be playing extreme dodge the lightning bolt.''

The aura that Boat gave off became dark and cold, yet he looked at Ritchie with a calm face. This was unfortunate for him as he was still injured from the mission. The feeling Boat was giving off caused Mario to let out a nervous laugh and look down, the fear radiating off of him again. Tapio looked at Mario with worry, feeling the fear that was radiating off of the cavern dragon slayer.

''Are you sure this is a good idea, brother?'' Brandon hoped he would be able to change the mind of his younger brother, who just clapped his hands before rubbing them together in order to get them warmed up.

''Nope!'' Ritchie popped the 'p' to make it stand out and sent a look towards Brandon and Tapio, basically telling him that he had a plan, and they both nodded.

''Than Tapio and I will come watch.'' He stood up and motioned for Tapio and Mario to do the same, Brandon had a plan.

''Alright then. Let's go. C'mon.'' Ritchie made a shoo'ing motion with his hand.

Boat let's out a sigh and and heads out to the training grounds, obviously not wanting to. He started thinking of ways to avoid getting hit. Mario didn't move though, he couldn't handle being anywhere near Boat at the moment.

''I-I don't want to...'' His breathing quickened a bit as he tried to get out of it.

''Look, you don't have a choice in this. Let's get a move on.'' Ritchie followed Boat after making sure it was obvious Mario wasn't getting out of it.

Brandon let out a quiet sigh before making his way towards Mario and Tapio. He never really did this, but the fear radiating off of Mario seemed to hit a soft spot.

''I'll make him go a bit easy on you.'' Brandon sent a quick glance towards the open door before continuing.

''You also don't have to be close to Boat.'' Hearing this caused Mario to shake and tear up causing Tapio to instantly realize what was going to happen before it did, and he suddenly hugged Mario from the front.

''S-somethings wrong with Boat. He smells different. And he- h-he-'' Mario seemed to cave in on himself as he started have a mix between a panic attack and an emotional breakdown, hugging Tapio for some sort of comfort.

Whatever Boat did, it scared him. Brandon's eyes widened a bit as Tapio started to say comforting things to the dragon slayer. Brandon wasn't sure if touching Mario would be a good idea, so he used his words.

''Mario, take a deep breath in... take a deep breath out...'' Brandon's usual monotone voice was surprisingly soft, and helped with calming Mario down.

Boat got to the training ground and began to wait for the others. Ritchie appeared a few moments after and they began to wait for everyone else. After a minute of waiting, no one else appeared, causing Ritchie to speak.

''Since it seems like it's going to take a while for the others to get here, I guess it's just you and me. He sent a grin towards Boat, not noticing the dark aura emitting from the god slayer.

This entire chapter, ignoring this authors note, is exactly 1400 words.

Remember to always try and have a good day/night. Bye wolf pups!!