2nd day of warm ups, have some classic subspace adventure.
Castle Siege
It hadn't been the first time Ike found himself in situations where he was aware he was missing vital information to understand what was going on. And it was because of that reason he knew he had to fill the gaps as soon as possible, but that would have to wait after defeating whatever strange creatures kept coming.
He had travelled through the wasteland for the majority of the day, but only when he recognized the old Altea coat of arms that he quickened his pace, soon arriving to what he already knew very well, remains of a battlefield.
But there weren't bodies, no fallen soldiers nor graves around, just broken weapons, spears scattered with dented arrows and burnt torches, the flags either tattered or burnt, moving thanks to the eerie wind of the now desert.
Ike would have kept going when he heard the familiar sound of swords clashing. He held Ragnell tight and made his way across the ghost battlefield, clouds of sand lifting around his feet until he found the source of the commotion. Which brought him to his current predicament.
Ike saw Marth, prince of Altea, fighting alongside what he could only assume was a knight from the sword and the mask; both trying to reach a creature he had seen time ago set some sort of bomb that left a black hole on the edge of the wasteland. Needless to say, he dashed towards the scene, using the skill he had mastered fight after fight, the sound of Ragnell slicing a clean cut through the metallic ball surprising the fellow swordsmen.
"Lord Ike," was how Marth greeted him after the commotion had passed "I am thankful for your help but I have to ask what brought you here?"
"Actually, I gave up the title months ago" Ike said, scanning their surroundings before facing the prince "turns out politics aren't a branch I was too keen on participating."
Marth hummed, whether in agreement or understanding Ike couldn't tell, but he decided to press on more important matters.
"I was travelling back home when I must have taken a detour and found myself in this wasteland" he looked at the deserted plain and back to Marth "any idea of what happened here Prince?"
"I wish I could give you a proper answer but no" Marth said, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword, but it was more as an anticipation for a new battle to break soon, since they were still in what could be now considered enemy territory "one moment I was having a peaceful day, the next I'm fighting against monsters in a castle I could have called a home if I didn't know any better."
Ike looked at the castle ruins, a twinge of familiarity in his head with the sight of the broken towers, the debris and the tattered flags, one of them bearing the Crimean symbol. But it couldn't be possible, he thought, to have both flags in the same castle when neither kingdom was close to the other.
"Meta Knight must know something, he seemed pretty determined to follow the Ancient Minister."
"That's the name of the floating guy?"
Marth just nodded and nudged his head to the left so Ike could follow towards where Meta Knight was, scanning the edge of a cliff that led to even more wasteland, but as they approached, Ike could tell some remains of a building, a temple, were on the horizon.
"The sky seems to have cleared" was how the knight greeted them "if we take this route we shall reach the end of the wasteland into the temple, perhaps finding others that may help us fix this situation."
"We still don't know who or what we are supposed to be facing here" Marth said "if you have any information that could help us understand."
"That would be great," Ike added "or to know if there is a common enemy that is causing strange things to happen."
"Perhaps if we capture one of the people causing this, we could find some answers," Meta Knight said, when a rumble below caught their attention.
A strange vehicle was making its way across the desert, leaving behind big clouds of sand that twirled and scattered.
"Something like that then?" Ike pointed at the vehicle "we could try."
"I suppose, if we can catch up with him through the trail but we may not be fast enough for-"Marth's words caught up in his mouth when Ike took a step forward, towards the edge of the cliff and jumped down.
"Ike!" Marth tried to reach for him, but it was already a second too late. He turned towards Meta Knight but he had already controlled his first reaction to reach out as well.
"Remember, in this world we don't have the same wounds as in our homes," Meta Knight said and followed Ike's lead, his cape turning to wings to assist a glide down.
'That doesn't make it less dangerous,' Marth thought but resigned to follow the swordsmen the same way, if they wanted to catch up with the vehicle it was the quickest way after all.
The moment he landed, without any broken bones to say the least, the three made their way across the wasteland, the distance short when they realized the vehicle had stopped right in front of them.
A whirring sound of cogs and springs startled them, the machine transforming right in front of them into some kind of mechanical monster.
"I don't think we will be able to talk with it after all," Marth muttered to the other two, all of them with their swords ready to engage in yet another fight.