Evan always did this.

It was actually a little funny if you thought about it.

Every single time the weather took a turn for the worse, everyone in his kingdom was urged to stay inside to avoid getting sick or hurt or… whatever… Of course this meant measures were taken so people wouldn't have to go outside during these times. It didn't always work but most of the time, the solution was to have an extra room somewhere so everyone could still get to work, but in a safer environment.

It was also a nice way of filling out the castle.

Though, for Bracken, it was a little bit more awkward since she alternated between where she worked on a pretty much daily basis. When the conversation arose about where Bracken's safe working environment would be, she had insisted that she should just use her room in the castle and have a separate project for when the bad weather came.

Considering pretty much everyone else's safe rooms were pretty much their own room anyway, it made sense to a degree.

So now, during an admittedly, pretty nasty looking storm, Bracken had been holed up in her room to tweak and finish her latest invention…

Rocket boots.

Designed especially for those on the field to provide a number of things. The first, being a jump boost that could range depending on your preference. The second, was a short hover ability that could allow you to combo short aerial attacks. The third…

Rocket boots.

If she couldn't put jets in her leg, she'd put rockets in her boots!

"And… done!" She announced to herself as she sat back to admire her handiwork. Whipping her forehead, she took a drink of water from the cup on her desk.

The boots were finished. All that was left was to test them and tweak them since they had to be perfect or the jump boost would be too strong and the hover would just send you flying.

'Knock, knock!'

"Who is it?" Bracken called as she gave the boots another once over.

"Hey! I just wanted to let you know dinners ready!" Recognising Evan's voice through the door, she stretched as she replied.

"Thanks! I'll be right there!" Standing, she made to join the group downstairs. If there's one thing she never missed about Broadleaf, it was the food. Floyd was by far, the greatest cook she'd ever met.

"Oh, come on Leander! Tell us!" She spied Tani pestering Leander as she entered the grand dining hall. Leander shook his head with a sigh as he pushed his glasses up his nose.

"As far as I am aware, nothing like that has been arranged as of yet." He glanced at Bracken as she took her seat next to him.

"Hey, Leander, Tani. What's going on?" She smiled at them as she tilted her head curiously.

"Leander won't tell us when his wedding's going to be!" The young sky pirate pouted with puffed cheeks. The engineer chuckled with a teasing glint in her eyes as he gave her a look that asked for some support here.

"Aw, don't be a spoil sport, Leander… We all wanna know." Evan tried to hide his laugh from across the table as Batu grinned with a bellowing laugh.

"As of yet, there's nothing to know. We are still discussing the details after all." The future king of Hydropolis explained for what could easily be the umpteenth time. "How is your latest project progressing, Bracken?" He changed the subject seemingly inconspicuously.

"Nice subject change." She smirked at him as Tani snorted on his other side. "But I actually just finished the prototype for it. I just gotta test it and see what needs to be adjusted before it'll be ready for production." She smiled enthusiastically, even as Evan gave her a worried, yet curious look.

"Well, what is it?" He tilted his head slightly. Why would he be worried though? It'll be such a huge asset if she can get it functioning.

"Rocket boots." Bracken paused for dramatic effect. "When I'm finished with its development, they'll be able to help us in battle a great deal. They'll be able to give jump boosts so we can reach high flying monsters when we can't use guns, they'll be able to help us link our attacks when we're not on the ground, plus…" She paused again. "Rocket boots already makes us sound amazing."

A long pause followed her words as no one really seemed to know how to top that.

"And… These prototypes are definitely safe, yes?" Leander tweaked his glasses.

"Well I haven't tested them yet but theoretically? They should be safe." She answered with a shrug as Floyd appeared with a little trolley full of food. Once everyone's meals had been handed out and Floyd was given their opinions on his once again, amazing dishes, Tani spoke up.

"So, when are you going to test them?" The redhead asked curiously. "Maybe Evan could let you test them in here whilst the weather's bad?" Tani gave Evan a pointed look that caused the young kings eyes to grow wide.

"In here?! W-why?!" He seemed to panic slightly causing Bracken to chuckle slightly at him.

"This place has high ceilings so it would actually be a good place for a test run." The engineer clarified with a smile.

"I don't think that's such a good idea." Roland spoke up with a slightly concerned expression.

"Why not? I for one, wanna see this." The young sky pirate took an all too meaningful bite of her meal.

"Flip mun! This place isn't exactly fireproof!" Lofty retorted in some form of shock. Batu just laughed as obnoxiously loud as always.

"Then we'll just 'ave to stay 'er and make sure she don't set the place ablaze!" At his enthusiasm, Leander shook his head.

"I would advise against this, your majesty. This isn't a very suitable area for experiments of any kind." The future king calmly urged the current king.

"Hmmm…" Evan seemed to mull over this for a little while. "I suppose it would help your work… and since this storm may not let out for a while, I wouldn't want to hinder you from progress…" He drawled. One glance at Roland said that he thoroughly believed this wasn't going to end well. But why wouldn't it? Bracken was an engineer who knew what she was doing!

"So…?" Tani prompted as the young king paused for a while.

"Maybe… just this once. But if anything goes wrong at any point, you stop." Evan nodded to himself, seemingly happy with his decision. Bracken nodded with him in understanding.

"Of course. And if you're really worried about a fire then I promise not to start unless Leander is nearby with his water spells." At this Evan nodded his approval and Roland probably only stayed quiet out of either respect or exasperation, she really couldn't tell which.

The rest of the dinner went by with the usual small talk and amazing food, that Bracken always showered praise onto, regardless of what it was since she always found Broadleaf food to not be all that great. By the end of it, the engineer was actually fidgeting with anticipation for her new invention.

After a quick trip to her room to grab the boots and a quick change of footwear, the group cautiously stood on the opposite end of the room to her as she prepared her experiment. With a glance, you could tell Leander was on edge already, looking ready to burst into flames if she didn't beat him to it.

With papers on the table and the prototype head set on, she took a few more steps away from the others.

"Ready?" She questioned before being reassured with a simple 'good luck!' from them. Taking a deep breath, Bracken started up the machine with a button on the side of her head set.

A quiet whirring noise broke the silence as a blue line began to faintly glow on the backs of her heels. The wireless head set works. The power up procedures work.

"Jump boost first." She announced as she gave the technology a moment to ensure it wouldn't just cut out on her.

She would jump in three…

Two…

One…

Now!

With her mental prompt, she leapt straight into the air, the thrusters acting with her to increase her momentum as it carried her much higher than her usual jump could take her. The thrusters deactivated a little late for her taste but the extra airtime allowed her to – unintentionally – flip backwards, to land heavily on the table. It shook violently under the sudden force but held strong all the same.

"Hmm… Boost lasts a little too long for me, but otherwise, I'd call that a success." Bracken smiled as she stepped off the table. A round of applause erupted from Tani and Evan over in the opposite corner of the room.

"It works!" Evan cheered in his congratulatory voice. Leander and Roland seemed to have calmed a little bit and Batu just continued to watch in anticipation.

"Next up, hover mode." This was the difficult part. If the strength of the thrusters didn't even out the buoyancy with the pull of gravity, it wouldn't work. Getting the exact numbers and calculations was beyond a struggle but she wouldn't mind re-calculating to fix any instability issues.

Time to begin in three…

Two…

One…

Bracken once again, jumped into the air, the thrusters activated as soon as gravity began to pull her back down to the ground. It was gonna work..!

Her centre of gravity suddenly went haywire as the thrusters' power suddenly sparked. Bracken was instantaneously launched across the room, straight into the wall before sliding up it into the ceiling and back down towards the floor.

"Ah!" She yelped in shock as she panicked a little as her momentum kicked up.

"I gotcha!" The rocket boots sent her flying into Batu, knocking him completely off balance and altering her course of direction to who knows where. Despite Batu's efforts, Bracken began to spin in a corkscrew dive towards where ever the heck she was going.

The world was on its head and she scrambled to find the deactivation button on her head piece. Her hands instinctively clung on to her head set in a very vain attempt at finding some semblance of balance.

A loud smashing sound broke through the muffled noises of her friends and above her muddled thoughts of, 'What the heck is happening?!'

All too late, the boots deactivated as her body collided against a wall, a thunderous crack rattling through her mind as her head slammed back against the stone from the sheer force of the impact.

She could vaguely hear the sound of footsteps running towards her but before she could make out much more, her head burned and her mind fell into a black out…