Tale of Two Pizza- Mirabel's Might

Photo by Nik Owens on Unsplash
Photo by Pablo Pacheco on Unsplash

Links to the original post and the story so far (in order) can be found in the Tale of Two Pizza's Collection Post

It's been a while since I've had written a piece for Tale of Two Pizzas. Too long in fact! I have been struggling to find the time to just sit down and write with my attention being pulled in many directions simultaneously. That isn't a very good excuse though. The difficulty in keeping up with this project has got me thinking about its format. It's an important project to me which in many ways is what set me off on the path to founding the Scholar and Scribe community and its tokens so it isn't something I wish to leave unfinished.

With that in mind and being honest with myself about the time I have available each week I've decided to shake up the format a little bit. I know many of the previous participants in this contest are very busy as well and perhaps a change will help them out too!

I will continue to deliver prizes to written pieces that get included in the main storyline as I always have.

I will remove the weekly time limit. By this I mean that posts don't need to be submitted on a deadline but do need to follow on from the last official post.

The rest of the requirements to add to the storyline remain the same as before and can be found at the end of the post!

If anyone has questions or concerns about the change to the format (or better ideas about how to make it more flexible), let me know in the comments or in the discord!

Winners delivery pics

@wrestlingdesires continued on and brought Amber and our new friend Terrence to meet Danny and Delilah. It is beginning to appear as if some sort of final battle is brewing, with Amber showing her excitement at the prospect!

"War?!?! How can we win against Mrs. Preda and the others?" Terrence was aghast at the idea. Just when he thought he might be safe and away from Slickville and the host of evil creatures that now wandered amongst its citizens undetected he would be dragged into a war with them. He wished he had insisted that foolish stablehand bring out Princess instead of listening to Amber. Not that he had known it was a talking a horse telepathically communicating with him at the time.

He had reservations about Danny Rupert and his daughter as well. They seemed entirely too comfortable with this talking animal situation... and demons for heavens sake... They hadn't batted an eye at anything he had told them about the Preda's or the number of evil beings he had sensed in Slickville.

Of course we will fight them Terrence. An unfamiliar voice projected inside his mind and momentarily halted his frantic train of thought. Would you leave everyone in Slickville to their fate?

"Well... no but... what can we do? There are so many of those things! And the Preda's! Forget how powerful Mrs. Preda is now. They still have most of the people behind them, or at least too scared to betray them. It was almost as bad at Grove!"

"Terrence, I am the Pizza Baron." Danny said simply. "The stories told about me are mostly true, I have been ruthless, I have put down rebellions and killed many... too many to count... but there is something that those stories neglect to mention. It is not common knowledge. Everything I have done has been against the evil and disorder spread by these creatures. They are insidious, they manipulate and divide people. We may talk now about war, well... we have been at war since before Delilah was born, far longer than that! Since before I was born! The battles that were fought in the shadows are simply coming to the light. We have allies," he gestured at the three strange animals, "and we are strong!"

Delilah's eyes shone as she listened to him speak. She was proud of him somehow, she saw in him as he spoke the same fiery determination and drive to do what was right that she felt rise up in herself when faced with injustice. It warmed her to see where she got that drive and confirmed to her that he was indeed her father.

"I do know the stories about you Mr. Rupert. I have often wondered if they were the truth. The evil these creatures project is terrible. I am glad to be on your side but I do not know if I believe we can win." Terrence stared at his feet and could not meet anyone's eyes, ashamed of the fear squirming in his belly and embarrassed at his outburst. In the silence that followed Mirabel approached him and sat at his feet, staring up at his face and forcing him to meet her eyes.

Child, you have strength in you, do not let the fear that Mrs. Preda planted grow. That is their strength, the strength to manipulate and mold mortals into their worst selves. You are of course right, they are evil, and they are strong in many ways... but... WE are far stronger. With that last projection Mirabel's feline form underwent a transition. There was a strange sense of unfolding, a rippling in the air around her small body that seemed to grow and expand outward in shining mist. The clarion call of a bugle and a faint rustling of feathered wingbeats clamored to be heard just on the edge of perception. The cat was no longer present on the floor in front of Terrence. Instead everyone in the room was engulfed in a rush of warmth, a feeling of unwavering righteousness permeated the air, and Mirabel's projection echoed in their minds once more. The voice was different now, even painful, Delilah and Danny flinched as they heard Mirabel's words even as they were aimed at Terrence.

I am so much more than a talking cat, Terrence. Without the limits of a physical form there is little that we cannot do... Even to a demon As she spoke the warmth began to recede and her voice grew less painful to the humans. But we would be no better than they. We must choose how we use our strength, how we guide you, it must be your choices and your actions, you mortals were given provenance over the world, you must have the will to defend it. We are your allies, advisors, companions, and yes, we will fight, but we will not Fall as they have.

Stunned silence hung in the air for a moment as the humans considered with awe the display they had just witnessed. Bucephalus, Amber, and Mirabel waited patiently until Danny spoke once more.

"I suppose you are much more than a talking cat, Mirabel. We are glad to have allies such as you and one day I intend to get a full explanation out of one of you!" He had already recovered his composure. "Terrence, we can win, even without the power our friends can apparently unleash. They are not invulnerable, though they are terrifying. One of our own managed to dispatch three of them at Grove recently. With your ability to sense their presence we may just be able to win this war before the true battle starts! We will meet tomorrow to plan our strategy!"

The rules for this round vary slightly from previous weeks. We will no longer have a weekly deadline for entries or set schedule for continuing the series! Authors may continue on from the last official post.

I'd like to continue building on the story of the Pizza Baron and his post apocalyptic world. I'll pick a winner that becomes the next piece of the story and wins 20 $PIZZA and a 2 SBI sponsorship from me. I may award additional prizes if I feel multiple entries expand the story well.

Periodically I'll write a post announcing the winner and then I will write another chunk of the story and open it up again for the next competition. I'll compile the winning entry for each week. If we reach a conclusion of the epic tale of the Pizza Baron I'll divide another TBD amount of PIZZA among all the winning entries throughout the whole story and publish the finished story here on Hive with all the contributors as beneficiaries. If this goes well we might have the first open source blockchain novella on our hands! 😂

The first weeks contest established a secondary storyline that may be tied back into the main plot if you so wish!

Bear in mind this is an experiment as well as a competition so we will see how many entries I get and how well it goes!

Rules:

Entries must be more than 200 words.

Entries must use the hivepizza and scholarandscribe tags.

Entries must comment on this post with the link to their entry.

Entries must fit in the world/scenario that has developed from the previous contest(s). You are free to develop characters, introduce new ones, invite aliens to the feast, I don't care as long it makes some kind of sense in the context! The Pizza Baron should remain relevant to the plot!
(I've named it a Tale of TWO Pizza's for a reason HINT HINT)