"Right, somehow I get the feeling he isn't just looking to take a piss." S quipped soon after the brief heatwave dissipated. 

"We should probably run." I suggested, already pressing my hands together and stepping towards the bathroom. 

"Sounds wise." Sis agreed.

"And miss this? Right." He said dismissively, before making his way to the edge of the bread aisle, which he stood behind and watched the dude like someone from a third-person cover shooter.

"Uh, s-sir," A very clearly intimidated employee said to the old man, "I-I have to ask you to not be so-"

"SILENCE!" The old man said, his voice just as booming and scratchy as it was earlier. 

And the employee was silent.

"It's over there, right?" Said the old man, just a smidge quieter.

The employee nodded slightly.

"EXCELENT!"

"We really should just leave." I insisted, just loud enough for S to hopefully hear.

"No way. Normal bathroom goers don't enter places with bursts of heat. This guy means business." He said, a smile eeking its way onto his face. 

"That's precisely why." 

"If he starts attackin' people, someone's gotta be here to stop him. Or at least watch whoever does." He's full-on grinning at this point.

Dangit, I hate it when his violent tendencies are logically and morally sound! For the most part, anyway. 

"Can't that be someone else's job? Like the guards, or something?" Sis suggested.

"And let them have all the fun? Besides, do you see any around here?" Conveniently for him, there weren't any guards currently present, so he got to keep acting like a cheesy action hero. 

"Is that our problem?"

S shrugged. "Could be."

This clearly wasn't going anywhere. Evasive maneuvers! 

"Sis, you should hide, at least." I whispered.

"What? No, you hide."

"Y-yeah, but it's 'cus-"

"AHA! I HAVE FOUND YOU!" Boomed out from the old man's old throat.

Couldn't you at least have had the decency to interrupt us just a little earlier and spare us the stupid justification dance? 

The old man cartoonishly booked it past S, ran straight up to Sis, and stared down at her. 

"AT LONG LAST I HAVE FOUND YOU, AND NOW I SHALL HAVE MY VENGENCE!" 

I bet she's not gonna-

"Who're you?" Sis said. Ouch. As cold as it was predictable. 

"Hm. He said you'd react like that." Said the old man, calmly, though he unfortunately wouldn't maintain that. "NO MATTER! MY VENGENCE WILL ARIVE ALL THE SAME!"

I could actively feel the air around us heating up. That can't be a good sign. I went to do or say something, but before I was even done thinking,

"Run." Sis turned and said casually, and

"Right, what the hell are you on about, old man?" S came up and said threateningly, diverting the man's attention.

Y'know, S sure is a lot better at this whole 'big brother'-ly thing than I am. So is Sis, honestly... 

"VENGENCE!" He sure is fond of that word, isn't he?

"Right. I don't think I can let you do that." S said.

"I DON'T CARE!" The old man said with a cackle. "AND YOU, DON'T MOVE!" He added, his head spinning towards Sis at ludicrous speeds as she started walking away.

"No." She said. 

"THEN LET US BEGIN!" He said, and the air grew ever hotter, and red energy began to coalesce in his hand.

"Easy there, guy." S said, confidently. "You don't want this."

"OH, BUT I DO! I CAN TAKE TWO, THREE HUNDRED BRATS LIKE YOU WITH MY EYES CLOSED!"

"Not here you can't. Fire'll catch easy, and this is a public area surrounded by random people." S explained with a smug grin. "You can't fight at your best. We can." 

Now, I couldn't see the old man's face at the time, since he was turned towards S.

But I could see S's face. 

S looked over at me, and it seemed that he was about to scream something, but this time I spoke first. Suck it!

"Already on it." I said, pulling my hands apart. Context clues were quite helpful.

As much as I'd rather not use the holes in public, I also don't want to see a grocery store go up in flames. I suppose that, realistically, things probably would've been fine, there wasn't that much flammable material near us, aside from the produce and the... People, I guess... At any rate, I'd really rather not have bombs go off in public if I can help it.

Anyway, I'm hoping that, in all the chaos, nobody noticed me playing with my hands at the same time a hole in reality opened and swallowed the two of them whole. Though, I quickly closed that hole and made another one elsewhere. 

"Close your eyes." I told Sis.

"Why?" She asked as I grabbed her hand and lead her into the bathroom. I had basically put the hole on the other side of the door, but I didn't want her to see anything just in case. 

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, OLD MAN?!" S was screaming as we stepped through and I closed the hole behind us.

"Hm. WHERE IS THE GIRL? And how are we here? What just happened?" The old man began. I had warped us to S and I's training spot nearish to the woods. The default spot. "Oh, she's over there."

"NEVER MIND THE GIRL, THERE WERE INNOCENT PEOPLE AROUND US!" S wrathfully shouted. "YOUR A*S ALMOST COMMITED AN ACT OF DOMESTIC TERROR!"

"Why are we here?" Sis asked me. "Wasn't the problem already dealt with?" 

"W-well, we couldn't just leave S-"

"YOU, FAMILIAR BOY!" The old shouted at me. "IS THIS YOUR DOING!?"

Dangit, perceptive old man! Why can't you have cataracts or something!?

"Uh... I dunno, C-Coulda been anybody." I shouted back with an uneasy shrug.

"Hm. I suppose that checks out."

What? No it doesn't! What are you on about?! Geez, I have no idea what to make of this guy! Is he just a crazy old comic relief dude, or is he a genuine threat? What are the chances this is just Catface screwing with me?! Gah!

"I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU!" S shouted, running in front of the man, and reaching out his hand towards his face, and...

Socked him clear in the jaw with his off hand.

Hm. Creative. I like it.

"BAH! YOU INSOLENT WRRM!" He said in response. The 'O' sound didn't quite come out right. "FINE! I'LL DEAL WITH YUU FIRST!"

He grinned and put both of his hands together, both glowing red, and-

Not even wanting to entertain this, I warped S waayyy out of the way. I'd already put Sis and I a pretty good distance away, so I'm pretty sure we'll be alr-

*BWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM* 

oh

WOW THAT WAS CLOSE.

Okay, well, the explosion wasn't nearly as impressive in scale or aesthetic as Catface's, but DANG, that was still one heck of a boom. I think some of hairs in my nose got singed off. 

All that remained at the site was the old man himself in the center, in a small crater, surrounded by burnt grass. Good thing he wasn't any closer to the woods, or there wouldn't be any more woods. Dang good thing we got him out of that store.

I warped S back over to us. He probably knows how to deal with this.

"Holy smokes." He said as he stepped through. Was that a pun about fire? "Thanks for that, by the way."

"Y-yeah." 

Sis tugged on my sleeve. "You should run." She suggested, firmly.

"Might take you up on that." I said, backing off rapidly.

"Right, how're we gonna deal with this?" S asked, also backing off, but never looking away from the man.

"Uh, I dunno, c-can't we just throw crap at him? Like your glass thingy?"

"Right, about that-"

"AHA! OVER THERE! YOU CAN'T RUN FROM ME!" The old man shouted, his voice seeming like it was coming from right next to us. He got a running start, and reached both of his hands below him, glowing, and-

*BWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM* Part 2.

IS- IS HE ROCKET JUMPING?! HOLY HELL.

"You really should-"

"Y-yeah."

I warped us back to the city, back in that alleyway. Ain't no way I'm gonna entertain that crap.

"Ah, this isn't good." S said. He sounded distraught, but he was still kinda grinning. 

"Seems pretty good to me." Sis said.

"Nah. 10 coin says he's gonna come blastin' his way to the nearest city lookin' for us. We can't let that into Starsford."

"We're not there, though."

"He's not gonna think that!"

"That's fine."

"No, it's-"

"D-do we have time for this?" I said, opening a hole back to the spot. Unfortunately, S is probably right again. 

"Right." S said, leaping through the hole.

"Fine." Sis said, following him through. 

I followed suit and closed the thing. 

Sure enough, buddy was mid leap, heading over there. Looks like he was still a pretty good distance away, though.

"How are his legs not jelly at this point?" Sis asked. It was a good question, but it was the last thing on my mind at the moment. 

"Open another one. We need to get his attention." S said.

"Uhuh." I opened a hole in front of us and one basically in front of the man's face, following him. "Uh, b-behind-"

"WE'RE BEHIND YOU, A-"

Sis just reached out her hand and shot out one of those bolts of light from earlier. It almost knocked his hat off. 

"Hm. Looks like I gotta work on accuracy." She said. 

Huh. Yikes.

"BAH! AS IF I WOULD BE STRUCK BY SUCH INFERIOR MAGICS!"

She shot him again. Missed.

"I JUST SAID THAT IT WOULDN'T WORK!"

She shot him again. Missed again. 

"BAH! AGAIN YOU ATTEMPT TO DISGRACE THE NAME OF LOU THE TERRIBLE! YOU SHALL REGRET THIS!"

"Is it really wise to piss him off any more than he already is?" I asked, though I did silently note that referring to oneself as 'the terrible' is pretty pretentious. 

"I wasn't trying to piss him off." 

Yeeeeahhh... I guess you don't aim for the head when you're teasing.

I should probably talk to her about that.

"JUST GET OVER HERE, ALREADY!" S shouted to the old man. 

"I WILL, BUT KNOW THAT I WAS PLANNING ON DOING THAT ANYWAY!" The old man shouted back as he began blasting back towards us. 

I closed the hole as he began to approach, before he decided to try shooting through it.

"Right, what're we gonna do?" 

"I'll just strangle him." Sis said, drawing her fishing rod.

"How do you plan to get close?"

"Immortality."

"That's- Man, even now you say that without a shred of doubt?" 

"Fear doesn't exist to me."

"That hasn't been true thus far."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Hmm... Well, while Sis's plan would probably work, all things considered, I'd really rather not have her kill a guy, even if they are a menace to society. 

Fortunately, I do actually have a plan of my own! And it just so happens to be my favorite plan!

"You guys stay alive, I'll be right back." I said, creating a hole in the roof of the grocery store.

"Right, what-"

I closed the hole behind me. 

I feverishly looked around the store as I fell.

He should be here by now... C'mon, where is he... AHA!

I slammed my hands together, and suddenly the out of breath man clad in leather found himself falling into a large open field outside of Starsford. 

Indeed, this was my ultimate plan! Make it s-

OUF-

The floor's hard.

Ahk... In hindsight, I probably didn't need to fall through the ceiling. 

But then I'd have missed out on the cool falling sequence. Totally worth it.  

Anyways, I quickly ran outside, used the door as cover, and warped back. Hopefully nobody was paying enough attention to notice that. Also, hopefully nobody questions why a boy fell from the ceiling and ran outside as someone else randomly fell through the floor again. Just don't question anything, buy your groceries and mind your own business.

"UNHAND ME, YOU OAF!" I heard the old man shout as I stepped through.

"Yeah, yeah. Not sure how I got here, but I can't let you start blowin' everything up, pal. Especially not now." Said the man clad in leather.

Wow, he's fast. I was only away for, like, a few seconds. Geez.

S had a sort of shaky and confused grin on his face as I returned. Sis didn't seem to care.

"Uh... Did... Is that it? Is it over?" S asked, still breathing a bit heavily from the adrenaline.

"Think so." I said.

"Huh... What... What did you do?"

"My favorite thing." I said, opening the holes once again. "I made it someone else's problem."