The Power of Painting in Year 3,000 Part 8

Everybody joined in for a wholesome breakfast and CJ provided shade, by elongating his branches and sprouting more leaves.

“Hey Pops! Nothing like Italia’s home-cooked breakfast under a tree, right? Stick with us and you’ll never run out of anything,” CJ said with sincerity.

I brought up an interesting topic, “So CJ… Do you acquire nutrients in the same way that plants in the past did? And what about you 3.14, what do you eat?

Everyone chomped their breakfast down quickly and a burp flew by. I think I know who it came from, but it definitely wasn’t me…

CJ replied “I sure do absorb them in the same way but because I grow as fast as I do, I require a lot.”

Italia picked up all the plates and swept the grounds within seconds.

CJ continued, “This big, beautiful Sun of ours shines gloriously and gives me all the vitamin D that I need. I also made sure to plant miniature tree’s all over that act as remote chlorophyll tanks. If I’m ever feeling low on energy, then I can communicate to these other parts of myself to send dandelions back to the main frame; me. Those dandelions can contain all of the energy absorbed from the Sun and float right back to me.”

Augusto joined in, “But I’m sure as a painter, you already know. It’s all the little things that matter the most, right?”

Ranger let out a hearty bark.

Haha, it was like he answered that for me.

3.14 strolled on into the conversation, “If you ask me… I think all forms of consumption are overrated.”

Italia bounced a couple of times on her healing tentacles.

The 0’s and 1’s in 3.14’s mouth started moving as if there was a screen scrolling through the numbers.

3.14 crossed her arms and said “There is nothing more peaceful than a blank screen. No picture at all. We’re all just a couple of integers on a substrate made out of the same color. My computation needs no sustenance, it sustains itself. If I was 3-Dimensional, I would have to digest something but since I’m 2-dimensional; I do not not require food. Every now and then, I do need to use WD-40 on my joints.”

Italia brought some cookies over to Augusto and asked, “Would you like some, sweetie pie?”

Augusto voiced a vigorous chuckle and replied, “Oh Grandma. If I ate cookies every time you offered them, I would get fat.”

Italia twirled like a ballerina while flapping her wings and turned to us, “If you ask me, I think all of our lives are much like these cookies! Each organic piece of chocolate is similar to a message from the spirits around us and if we combine all of the messages together then, we truly receive something unique. I’ve always believed that the bigger picture, the grander scheme of things is where we all connect. That’s why cookies taste so good and why I think eating together creates the scenery!”

Augusto looked at his grandma with eyes that were overflowing with admiration, and asked “What about my buttons, Grandma? Do they fall on that pictorial plane as well?”

Italia replied earnestly, “Oh what kind of question is that? Hahaha… I LOVE WHAT YOU DO WITH BUTTONS! Everything that you’ve ever created with buttons, I cherish with all my heart!! I would put your buttons on every painting that I own.”

I glanced over and saw Maxx for once, not looking like a total sour puss. I almost forgot he was here. Can we really trust this guy?

Italia’s reverent words and unwavering love for Augusto was touching all of our hearts. It was as if we were all being gently encompassed in her healing aura.

Italia continued, “Remember this my dear, sweet Augusto; that everything you create is special because you are my special grandson. Nothing in this world or on the astral plane will ever amaze me more than you.”

That tear-jerking moment almost threw all of us out of the conversation until Ako brought it back to life.

Voicing his opinion; Ako stated, “We cannot speak about what a painting looks like without first acknowledging the materials. When it comes to materials, I know best. I know exactly what needs to be sacrificed for the Ancestors.”

CJ started cracking up.

I replied, “Ugh. Nothing new under the Sun, huh? It always comes back to that with you, God-Daddy.”

Ako quickly remarked, “The sacrifice should always come before the painting, Patrick.”

CJ was rolling on the floor with laughter and everybody couldn’t help but join in.

Augusto nudged our odd-ball into the conversation, “What about you Maxx? Do you have anything you’d like to add in this painting?”

Maxx scratched the back of his head and replied, “All of this is just so abstract to me! All this substrate, sacrifice, little moment, bigger picture nonsense brings me nothing but more questions. What I need is a literal constant! Like the Trump diet and I can’t think about painting on an empty stomach. I miss eating McDonalds for breakfast...”

Our party continued to burst into laughter after hearing that.

Augusto kept the conversation going and said, “A strong painting resolutely relies on the composition! As important as triangles are, I would make the composition look circular to directly correlate to buttons!”

CJ was holding his sides now and the onslaught of laughter continued.

Italia looked at my shirt and finally popped the question I was waiting for, “What about you, Pat? You actually are a painter; What do you like to focus on when it comes to painting?”

All the waves of laughter subsided as listening ears waited for my answer.

I replied, “Well… as a painter, I would focus on mark-making and the movement in those marks. All of that is important because all of my friends are important to me. The movement in my marks is a pursuit to move my audience’s heart in the same way that I am moved by those around me.”

Laughter came to a complete halt and a bunch of awe-struck faces surrounded me.

CJ broke the silence and said, “Wow you sure are a colorful guy, aren’t you pops?”

Giggles bubbled up again.

I stated ecstatically, “I’m sure if you guys were around when I was creating paintings, I’d be making some fantastical marks!”

Bundles of laughter broke through again.

As the last chuckle started to draw breath, a horde of trolls commenced an attack on us with their flying devices.

One troll exclaimed, “The last one to flame one of these soppy, meat-bags is a noob!”

Their numbers well outweighed ours, but for some reason I felt no fear. I guess after experiencing a nightmare like the one I had before today, nothing can scare me now. Besides, I think it's about time to test out these brand-new weapons and our teamwork. I inserted the Okuutuu Imola into the slots of my mark-making brooms. The brush ends of the brooms started glowing vibrantly and markings all over the brooms shined mystically with the same light.

I slashed at one and they were stunned for a moment but retaliated in the next.

The troll I attacked cackled and said, “TROLLOLOLOL THAT’S NOT ENOUGH TO STOP ME WEAK-SAUCE!”

EW! The moment that creature opened his mouth it smelled like rotten onions mixed with methane. The troll sprayed a mist of fleas at me with one his gizmo-guns.

I shouted as I was getting bit all over, “OUCH OUCH OUCH!! I thought I got an upgrade!”

Ako took a troll down after saying “The Ancestors will love you to your grave!”

Ako shouted across the battlefield, “Remember my God-Son… The Ikuutuu Imola was designed to take the Cona Vights down! My family lineage has meditated with the stone under direct sunlight for thousands of years. This has saturated the stone with enough love and light to eliminate beings of darkness, but remember the trolls were once human! You must use the power of illustration in your marks, if you want to take these hateful creatures down!”

I slashed at the troll again; stunning it once more and said, “Ahh okay, gotcha.”

“WORK YOUR MARK-MAKING MAGIC POPS,” CJ shouted as he tangled and constricted 8 trolls with his roots.

I stunned the troll once again and this time formed a mark shaped like a heart with my brooms in a perfectly symmetrical fell swoop.

The illuminous marks floated in space, I slashed at the mark and shouted a great battle-cry, “Get ready! I’ve poured all of my love into this mark!!”

When the slash faded, the mark blasted a beam of light towards my enemy and completely obliterated the troll.

3.14 took a paper airplane from her interdimensional box and enlarged it by 12 times its size. The plane formed 2 large sound-rays and 3.14 rode it while it zipped around in space. The rays shot out loud recorded messages saying, “I LOVE YOU!”

The messages burst a large portion of the horde’s eardrums, leaving about 12 trolls immobilized.

It really is astounding to see what love can do to some creatures, I thought.

Ako and I joined forces, destroying the immobile mob with heart-shaped marks and heart-felt gestures.

“Come give us the grandma-special; ma,” CJ said as he moved the constricted trolls and opened a space in between them.

Italia strolled right into the middle of CJ’s troll-trap.

She started to spin in a circle and said emphatically, “I’m going to help heal all of that hatred locked up in your hearts.”

All of the constricted trolls shouted in complete horror, “OH NO!! ITS THAT GRANDMA!! SHE’S GOING TO FRY US!!!”

Grandma Italia extended her tentacles and spun even faster. Each tentacle gently tapped the trolls heads and they spontaneously combusted.

Augusto used his button sorcery and was manipulating a multitude of buttons in the air. Some buttons shot out fire blasts and some shot out beams of electricity. He took down 10 by himself and stated affirmatively, “Burning them alive also works. It takes two to tango, in a flame war.”

Maxx hopped around like a martial artist in an old Korean film and blasted soundwaves to every troll that faced him.

Every soundwave that he created with his trumpet face said, “TRUMP LOVES YOU!!!”

Maxx ended up taking down 16 by himself.

There was a couple of trolls in the distance and one with a really huge head, scrambling around with concern.

One troll squawked at the troll with the big head, “Flame leader Belcheezius!! We’re losing, what do we do?!? We’ve got them outnumbered but they’re overpowering us!!!”

Belcheezius replied bitterly, “What kind of army are you guys?! Gah, that blasted diaper-butt, granny pants is here!! There’s no way we’ll be able to take her down with our current forces! Okay stay right here weak-sauce, I’ve got a plan.”

Belcheezius pulled out a bomb and rope out of his levitating device. With a click-clacking of a couple of buttons, a giant mechanical arm popped out of his machine. He grabbed the other troll and tied the bomb to his “comrade”.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING BELSLEAZIOUS,” the tied-up troll cried out.

Belcheezious replied, “BAH!! I’ll leave it to the forum moderators!”

Back in the fray, Augusto and I were dominating the battlefield. Trolls had no chance to breathe when it came to our teamwork. Augusto sent 2 buttons my way and I hopped on, gliding at full speed towards another evildoer. I blasted more heart-shaped marks and took a mob of troll’s down. The button returned me back to Augusto after I cleared the way.

Augusto exclaimed, “Patrick! I’d like you to try something! I want you to imagine my favorite colors and paint a mark on my shield with your brand-new weapons.”

I made a questionable look at my brooms and replied, “Are you sure?”

“Positive. My intuition is telling me that something special is going to happen,” Augusto assuredly said.

I thought about the colors on Augusto’s buttons, remembered Andrew’s coffee and painted a mark.

All of a sudden the shard of the Okuutuu Imola in his shield started glowing twice as bright and the markings followed suit. Augusto then created a barrier with his button shield and it was 5 times larger than the first time he cast it.

“You see? Intuition always catches the wheel. I had a feeling that your mark-making would not only be able to defeat the enemies ahead of you, but also be the greatest element of support when it comes to our abilities. What brought me to this conclusion was based off what you said earlier. Your mark-making is not only inspired by others but in a way, it inspires and supports others,” Augusto explained.

Wow, I never would have thought of that.

A big-headed Belcheezius in the distance threw a troll-bomb our way and yelled out, “SMELL YOU LATER SUCKERS! I’M NOT GOING TO SIT IN A LOSING BATTLE BUT I SURE AS HECK WON’T LEAVE WITHOUT FIRST DROPPING THE KIDS OFF AT THE POOL!!”

The troll-bomb headed straight for us, but it could not reach. The barrier that Augusto just casted completely deflected the explosion.

“OH CRAP! WHAT KIND OF TIMING IS THIS, YOU DINGLEBERRIES CAN MAKE BARRIERS TOO? I CALL HAX!!! BAH, IT’S TIME FOR ME TO SKEDADDLE,” the ever-so frustrated Belcheezius shouted.

Belcheezius click-clacked away and large jets popped up from his device. He zoomed off while we finished off the rest of his army.

Meanwhile… a plotting dragon floats in the sky and notices a run-away troll flying towards a frozen lake. Vincent, also saw the other 1/5 of Corvak heading towards the same lake.

All of a sudden the flying beast splits into 2 parts. Half of Vincent flew straight to the frozen lake and the other half started flying back home, to the remains of Washington D.C.

The half that rocketed towards the lake hid behind some trees and kept watch.

The other half of Vincent returned to Washington D.C in less than 100 seconds.

Cawl’Rok notices that only Vincent has arrived and shouted, “WHERE IS EVERYBODY ELSE VINCENT?! I TOLD YOU, NO FUNNY BUSINESS. NOW EXPLAIN YOURSELF!”

Vincent grinned maliciously for only a fraction of a millisecond but immediately retracted that and put on a show.

With as much sorrowful emotion and fear as he could display; Vincent replied, “Dear brothers and sisters…! The humans have joined forces with all different types of creatures and have created a weapon of light that can destroy us instantly! I tried my best… but at most all I could do was run away with what little life I have left… I fought along with your other parts but they overpowered all of us, with ease on top of that! My dear eldest…I’m begging you this is not something I can achieve on my own. We need your power to defeat our enemies!”

Corvella replied, “You’re telling me that 1/3 of me has gotten wiped out? What kind of technology have humans gotten their hands on… Well we can’t just leave the mess like this and now we’re down on some forces.

Cawl’Rok took a moment to digest what he just heard, hesitating to move forward and thought of a plan. He then split ¼ of himself.

“Okay Vincent. I believe you, although the darkness in my gut is telling me to not trust everything you say. So how about this, in order to ensure that we still have forces here; I will send ¼ of myself and combine with all of you. This should be more than enough power to dominate these feeble rats. You can all leave my body whenever you like, but I’d advise against it in order to take down this weapon of light. Our combined darkness will bring their forces to ruin,” Cawl-Rok authoritatively explained.

Vincent was surprised to find out that Cawl’Rok also knew how to assimilate. This did put a weird fork in his initial plan but now he had no choice to move forward with Cawl’Rok’s idea.

“Okay brother… You know best. Besides I’m sure with just ¼ of your power, none of these lesser beings will get in our way,” Vincent obediently replied.

¼ of Cawl’Rok, 1/5 of Corvak, 2/3 of Corvella and ½ of Vincent all fused together. A giant roar erupted from the dark homunculus and the space around them shook.

¾ of Cawl’Rok stated,” I will wait 10 minutes and if I don’t see any sign of your combined returns then, I will move the rest of my body to your location. Now go, release the fury of all that is dark and make a demonstration out of those who defy us.”

The homunculus flew into the air and swiftly zipped through the sky.

Ad-interim…

Belcheezius spotted a Cona Vight in front of a frozen lake and hid in a bush large enough to cover his cranium.

The nasty troll thought of a plot and chuckled to himself, “TROLLOLOLOLOL! THERE GOES ONE OF THOSE CONA FARTS, THAT WILL BE THE PERFECT WAY TO LAY A STINK BOMB ON THOSE CRAP-HATS.”

Belcheezius clicked away and shot out miniature homing missiles. The missiles snuck out of the bush and started flying back to where the horde of trolls was.

The missiles made it all the way back to us right as we took down the last troll in the horde.

“WATCH OUT, POPS,” CJ yelled out as he shot a coconut from one of his branches towards a missile that was directed towards me.

*BOOM*

The coconut and missile clashed, setting off an explosion. Two more missiles headed this way, this time Augusto took on defense measures.

Augusto summoned two barriers from his shield and turned them into bubbles around the missiles. Muffled explosions boomed inside of his barrier spheres. Another missile started heading towards our way.

“By the Ancestors, how annoying! Lets find that troll and show him what a real sacrifice looks like,” Ako exclaimed as he slashed towards the sky, shooting forth a raging bull.

The bull clashed with the missile. Yet another missile deflected.

We chased after the easter egg missiles and ran towards the direction of where we thought they came from.

3.15 stopped for a second, “Oh. My calculations are saying that you should start absorbing as much energy as possible from your chlorophyll reserves, CJ.”

CJ replied, “Huh…? Okay, no problem. I’m on it right now Nina.”

3.15 blushed for a moment and then resumed the chase.

Ako stopped me for a moment and stated, “Hello, my beloved. You should put this extra shard in your mother’s heart-shaped locket. It will give you extra protection. The Ancestors told me that you should bring that heirloom here with you for this journey, but they never explained why. I’m guessing it is for the battles ahead, I’m sure that they always knew we were going to split the stone and amplify each other.”

Italia bounced around on her tentacles during this chase of ours and said excitedly, “Oh! I remember this path… I know exactly where we’re headed to. It used to be called the Gruner See but when the spell landed, the water froze up immediately. I renamed it to ‘Snow-cone Pond!’ I believe that there’s a water-nymph that protects this body of water and that maybe the frosting was a part of her desires. Although that is just my opinion.”

CJ joined our conversation in after commencing a dandelion recall, “You know us Ancient’s are very connected to the lands and there has been conversation amongst us about water-nymphs. I wouldn’t knock off your idea too quickly. You might just be onto something, ma.”

We finally made it to the end of the trail with no missile heading our way and saw the frozen pond. Also; no troll in sight but, we managed to come across another Cona Vight?

Huh…? Uh-oh, this feels like a trap.