A FEW TWEAKS

When a gong was struck, nobody expected the noise it would make. Like the roar of a lion, it traveled all throughout the festival grounds. It caused heads to turn and stare at the Great Jubokko tree, which stood tall above all the yokai. Suddenly with a whoosh of wind from behind, a dragon flew past, a rainbow trail left as an indication it wasn’t some kind of illusion. People stared in awe, they could not believe their eyes. It seemed so impossible but there it was, a creature so long and fierce in the flesh. It was amazing, incredible even, but what raised more attention was what happened afterwards. Some were already raring up for the upcoming events, cracking their necks and knuckles, stretching themselves out, or checking equipment that was pre-prepared. An imp nobody could put their finger on appeared and cleared their throat with a mighty ‘ahem’ before they began to speak.

With words strong and powerful, they announced what was known as the Implix, a grand race that follows the same path old warriors took before the war. Through tough land, raging seas, and turbulent skies, they all ended up in one place: the Great Jubokko tree. The place where a tree grew, and an evil yokai was spawned, though it was soon vanquished. Children cheered with excitement at the story, though some cowarded at the dramatics of it all, who proclaimed it was too scary. All everybody there knew was one thing, though, and it was to prepare themselves for the chaotic race that would ensue afterwards. When the impim padded off, there was commotion again, talk of the race and what could possibly occur during it all. One impim enjoyed the conversations, his ears twitched as he heard in on people who spoke about certain strategies that could be used.

Albert never considered himself one for races, but he was in love with commentating over them. The excitement he could cause audiences was outstanding, sometimes heart stopping. He could get anybody riled up over anything, make people cheer or boo an event if he so wished. He decided he could contribute that way, get those spectators excited and those who decided to participate even more motivated to get to their end goal! He began to hum a tune and pulled a trumpet from seemingly nowhere out, Albert gave a few small toots to make sure it was in working order. The black and gold imp sat down on a bench and gave the instrument a quick checkup. ‘Should have cleaned it beforehand’, he grimaced internally. He played before that day and though he was aware of the race, as Albert had come to the festival many times, he thought he would have more time. It would have to do.

Albert closed his eyes and began to play a small song as he began to immerse himself in the rhythm. He got up from the bench and began a simple dance, his bird-like feet traced on the ground as he spun in a circle. With a snap, something began to rise besides him, dark and shadowy. Soon enough drum beats followed, the creature who made the noise took the vague form of a spike-collared impim with protruding bottom fangs. He snapped again, another figure appeared at his fingers, two-tailed and covered in some kind of fungus. It began to play along on a manifested saxophone, perfectly in sync with Albert and the other figure. Despite the small group Albert couldn’t help but dance, wishing he could scat but he had to keep his rhythm. After a few more moments Albert ceased his mini performance, the figures fell with him and he inhaled the air. Still smelled of fresh meat and well cooked herbs, he relished in the scent, fully aware it could be tarnished by the torn up dirt that may come from racers who were desperate to reach the end before anybody else.

“Whatcha doin’?” He heard a voice ask. Albert immediately spun around to face the figure. It was an impim half his size, a frog hood resting on their head and they had a long tadpole tail, which was then wagging with curiosity. “You’re makin’ so much noise!”

“Why hello there, little fella! I’m simply preparing myself for the Implix! After all, what is a race without commentary and flare?” The fish-tailed impim beamed.

“A bunch of people falling over each other a lot.” Milk giggled. “And that’s funny.”

Albert scratched his chin. “Well, I do believe that to be true! Who knew so many people could look like fools without the cheers of encouragement from those they care about?”

“Me! I just said it!” Milk waved a hand up in the open.

“Heh… in fact you did! Clever little fox you!” Albert leaned down and pinched Milk’s cheek, to which he whined.

“Quit it! You aren’t my dad!” He squirmed away.

“Well well, why are you all the way out here, little guy? Aren’tcha gonna throw your hat into the ring and try to race?” Albert questioned, straightening his back when he finished talking.

“I dunno. I think I’m too young. I don’t think a kid being trampled by adults would be good…” Milk mumbled.

“Oh my! No good at all!” Albert exclaimed in his normal over dramatic tone. “No harm done in support! Why not give it a whirl, kid?”

Milk paused and thought about it, tapping his foot. “Uhm… mhm, sure!” He nodded and glanced up at Albert.

“Sounds like a plan! Let’s see… why don’t we find somebody for you to cheer with?” Albert began and reached a hand out.

“Couldn’t you…?”

“Nosir! I’m afraid I’ll be performing something nobody will ever forget! I’d hate to leave you unattended, that’s irresponsible of me!” Albert stated firmly.

“Could I still listen to your music?” Milk asked, eyes lighting up.

“Of course! You’ll hear it from blocks away!” Albert reassured him. Milk smiled and took the taller imps hand.

The two walked off, Albert on the lookout for somebody he knew. He was aware a small group would be there, excited for the history and lore behind the area, so he thought perhaps they could have Milk. Oh but they’d probably be participating in the race… Albert thought about it more. Momo! Right! She was always there and happily served food to those who wanted it. Maybe Zazz as well, but with Laika and Leda he was probably stressed out of his mind. He settled on Momo for the time being and shook the thoughts out of his head. The streets were full of people, participants and supporters alike. The air was full of chatter, topics widely ranging now that the initial hype had settled down. He then spotted a figure… a very familiar figure.

“Anubis!” He called with a hand cupped near his mouth. A tall dark yokai turned to him, wings outstretched. Milk’s eyes went wide when he realized it was no normal impim, it was an oni. Milk hid behind Albert, giving the figure a suspicious look. “How are you doing on this fine, summer day?”

Anubis’ yellow eyes, which first seemed intimidating, became soft when they saw Albert. “Well just fine! Quite a ruckus, huh?”

“Quite!” Albert parroted.

Anubis soon noticed the smaller figure by Albert, who was still unmoving. “And who’s this little guy?”

“Go on, introduce yourself!” Albert pat Milk’s back. “He’s a friendly fellow!”

“It’s, uh… Milk!” They attempted to sound confident, though seeing the towering figure intimidated the hell out of them. “Hello there!”

“Love to see energy on this day!” Anubis grinned wickedly. “The race is gonna be the coolest!”

“Most definitely! It always is! It never disappoints!” He returned the smile.

“Actually… hm… hey, kid, you good at crafts?” Anubis questioned, crouching down to Milk’s level.

“Y-Yeah?” Milk replied quickly.

“Good! Could you give my friend a hand, then? He’s having a little bit of… difficulty with his contraption.” Anubis chuckled.

“Oh… yeah… yeah! I could!” Milk said with a new found determination.

“Right on! Hey Albert, you’re okay with that, right?”

“Absolutely! I want this little trouble maker to have fun! I need to prepare more anyway, this show isn’t going to run itself!” He gave the bowtie around his neck a firm tug.

“Heh, alright then! See you!” Anubis ushered Milk towards him, to which they followed. Albert waved farewell and gave a turn on his heel. Milk swore he could hear him mumble something about a microphone.

Anubis led Milk through and through the crowds of people, and they all had small groups where various kinds of equipment were laid out. From simple stilts to things that look like they came straight out of a sci-fi film. Milk was amazed, he’d never seen so many people dedicated to one unified goal. He nearly tripped on himself multiple times due to the staring, though he always caught himself, only having a few scrapes on his hands and knees. Anubis soon directed him to a small group of three people, two of which were working on what seemed to be a device for flying. The other was testing out their wings, which opened in beautiful shades of cream and orange. Milk’s eyes were drawn to the two who were working and he ran up with excitement gleaming in his eyes.

“Hey guys, back!” Anubis announced.

“Oh my, hello again!” A pink impim looked up, a bell tied with a ribbon around their neck faintly jingling.

“That took a bit…” The other impim said as they adjusted the goggles on their head. “But that’s alright! We were just… trying to work this out.” They groaned.

“Well, I may have the person for the job!” Anubis said. “He’s right in front of ya!”

The orange impim looked at Milk, who had their hand on a piece of leathery material the two impims were working on. “He appears to be a child.” She stated.

“Technically, yes, but he’s a clever kid, Takibi!” Anubis put a hand on his hip.

“It may be their downfall, you know.” Takibi said, almost like she knew what the outcome would be already at that moment.

“Or it could be really cool.” He huffed, rolling his eyes. “C’mon, trust me with this!”

Takibi glanced at Milk. “Alright. If you fail I won’t let you forget it.”

“I’m well aware!” Anubis beamed.

Takibi just chuckled. “How about we do some flying exercises, hm? Leave the twins and your prodigy alone for a hot minute.”

“Those are fighting words, and I’ll win!” Anubis’ wings flew open, as did Takibi’s.

“Then prove it.” Was the last thing Takibi said before they both took off. Milk watched in amazement, not having seen impims fly around before due to the lack of winged impims from where he lives.

“Them and their silly bets…” The pink impim rolled her eyes. “Always stepping on each other's tails.”

“But it’s entertaining!” The other impim with a snap of his fingers.

“But it’s entertaining.” She echoed with a laugh.

Milk looked back at them. “So… um… why are you building this again?”

“Well, Splat here wanted to attempt flying-” The impim with the bell started. “-but it ended up falling.”

“Jeez, sorry Strawberry, I didn’t know I was using the wrong sealers.” Splat looked away with a mumble.

Instantly inspiration struck Milk. “I-I may know something to help!”

They looked up. “Yeah?” They said at the exact same time and exact same enthusiasm. Milk shuddered ever so slightly. Creepy.

“Uhm… you should have a cockpit and make it kinda… glider-plane-ish.” Milk awkwardly explained. “I-I heard about it before and looked into it a lot… It was cool so I liked it.”

Splat and Strawberry looked at each other and gave silent nods. “Alrighty! If you uh… could… maybe sketch something out on these prints here. We should have time for some adjustments!” Splat said with optimism.

Milk did as told, sketching out what he had envisioned. It took a few minutes and some insecure looks up at the older impims but it was finished and he handed it to Splat. He began to look it over and Milk tapped his index fingers together in anticipation. Splat then showed it to Strawberry.

“Absolutely!” She shouted, louder than necessary. “We can do that lickity split! Nice job, kid!”

Milk felt his heart flutter at the praise, a smile went across his face. “Thank you.” He said quietly.

“Let’s get to it then! No time to waste!” Splat pumped his fist in the air.

Was it minutes or hours that went into the modifications? Milk couldn’t tell and didn’t care, since he was having a blast with the siblings. They were so entertaining to be around! While working there was never silence, it always had their gentle bickering or one of them making a joke, where the other would groan loudly. Soon enough it came to an end, and the contraption was made. Splat pat it proudly, where Strawberry shot him a glare.

“C’mon now, don’t break it before you’ve even used it.” She teased.

“It wasn’t that hard!” Splat exhaled and rolled his eyes. “I’m not smacking it into the ground!”

Strawberry was going to comment again before another gong was sounded, getting the attention of everybody there. “Oh, already? Sheesh… time flies!”

“And so will I!” Splat laughed triumphantly.

“Oh we’ll see about that!” Strawberry punched his arm playfully. “Get a move on!”

When Splat went to pick up the contraption, Milk did it for him. “I got it I got it-”

“You sure? Don’t bite off more than you can chew!” Splat warned.

“It’s the least I can do! You let me hang out here and stuff I have too.” They said with a grin.

Splat gave a nod and walked with both Milk and Strawberry. Milk kept his eyes on the contraption and only noticed a few imps out of the corners of his eyes, but oh my did they stand out. So many different colors and features! He noticed one with cloudlike wings and a rainbow tail, then another that was completely shrouded in shadows with decrepeted, rotted wings. Others were hugging their friends and giving extra words of praise before the big moment.

“There you are!” Anubis shouted, waving wide and wildly. “It’s gonna start soon, come on!” He practically whined out.

“Coming! Don’t get your tail in a twist!” Splat yelled back, beginning to sprint to Anubis.

Strawberry looked back at Milk, who started to struggle with the contraption. “I’ll take it from here, dear.” She took it from Milk, much to his disappointment. “Don’t worry, you were a big help today.” She chirped.

Milk watched her go over to Splat, handing him the contraption. He nodded a thank you and put it on, the wings stretching out with him. Milk felt proud of himself, it swelled in his chest and made him feel warm. He didn’t know people could appreciate his ideas and it felt... good.

“Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?” An announcer yelled, an uproarious cry following soon after.

“I didn’t hear you! Are. You. Ready?!” They shouted once again and the crowd somehow gave more enthusiasm than previously.

“That’s more like it! Now then, get ready!”

Milk looked over at the group, nervous. He didn’t want to have screwed them over with a faulty creation. But when Splat turned to him and gave a warm smile, the troubles seemed to melt away. Even if it did fail, they were proud and believed in him. That’s what made him happiest.

“On your marks…”

“Get set…”

“GO!”