Chapter 1: The Festival Begins
Yay! My second story. I'm sooooooo happy. ^^ I got the idea for this story on April Fool's Day, but there were like a million other stories of that title, so I decided to change it to Kikai Fête. Slightly more original, yet it still has a certain ring to it. I would like to thank XXxxDemonsRampantxxXX for helping to inspire me. And now, let the Kikai Fête commence!
The waves lashed upon the side of the ship as it cut quickly through the ocean's waters. The sun beamed down upon a brightly colored ship. The sea water splashed lightly upon a figure head of a creature with the lower body of a mermaid, and the upper body of a smiling cat wearing a jester's cap. The winds of the sea flew into the ship's tie-dyed sails, propelling it onwards, and causing the ship's Jolly-Rodger, a smiling skull with black swirls for eyes, blush marks on its cheeks, and a jester's cap topping its head, to blows playfully about like a dancer in the sky.
"Ahhh, I just love these rainy days." said a male who was standing at the bow of the ship staring out into the sunlight waters as he held an umbrella above his head to keep the unseen rain off his head. He wore black boots, tie-dyed pants, a purple shirt, and brandished a light purple admiral's coat with a big silly face on the back with the words "I am a purple polka-dotted cockatoo" underneath it upon his back. He stared out at the expanse of sea before him, thinking of nothing but the beauty of the rain as the sun beamed down upon him.
"Yes, yes, lovely rain, now get off the bow of the ship." said a female in an exasperated voice as she grabbed the back of his coat, and pulled him backwards off the bow, causing him to fall backwards onto the deck. She sighed crossing her arms over the outfit she wore, a jester's outfit with a black and red checkered top, a matching skirt, and matching bottoms sticking out from under the skirt to her ankles. The wind brushed lightly at her back, causing her shining black hair to fly playfully about her face. The bells on her curled toe shoes jingled lightly along with the unique bells on her hat, a jester's hat with red on one side and black on the other. It had a black bell with a bored face on the red side that created a deeper jingle, and a red bell with a hyper face on the black side which bounced playful to its own high pitched tune.
"Ow, Niaaaaaa, that wasn't very nice." said the male as he picked up his red tricorn, which bore the ships jolly-Rodger upon the front, from off the deck, patted it against his red shirt, and placed it back on top of his head.
"We have to stay focused on our mission Okashi, or have you forgotten?" she said bobbing her head down towards the male causing her bells to jingle once more.
"Oh… riiiiiight." he said as he picked himself up off the floor, and brushed off his bright green shirt. He then reached into his large purple coat and drew out a picture. "We have to find the one who hurt our dear, sweet, kind, loving, adorable…Ow!" he said as Nia bonked him on the back of the head with a toy hammer.
"We have to find the one who hurt our." she said as she shook her head at her brother's action.
"Right!" he said enthusiastically. "No one hurts our sister and gets away with it." He then grabbed his sister into a small huddle. "Now this will be tough. We can already tell from the picture that he has enormous strength, but to defeat our sister he must be even more fearsome than he looks. We are dealing with a dangerous person, but if we just try our hardest, I know we can succeed!" he said standing up and smiling.
"Captain Nia, Captain Okashi!" said a man dressed in a female conga dancer's costume as her ran towards the pair then dropped into a kneeling position. "Captains, we have just received confirmation on the location of the target. We should arrive at our destination within the hour."
"Perfect!" said Okashi as he smacked his fist into his palm in front of his bright yellow shirt. "He'll never see us coming. He will be as unsuspecting as an orange banana!"
"Yes, an orange banana, sir." said the man in the dress. Okashi pulled out the picture of the offender once more, and held up the picture for him and his sister to see. "Soon." he said.
"Very soon." said Nia staring up at the photograph her brother held. The picture that bore the semblance of a large, cheerful looking spot-billed duck.
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The sun glared down on the courtyard of the Alabastian palace. The bleached white walls of the palace seemed to shine behind the various potted plants around the courtyard. A buzz reverberated throughout the courtyard as the two combatants faced off in the center. "Are you sure about this princess?" said Chaka as he grasped his sword with his jackal-human hands.
"Hit me with everything you've got." said Princess Vivi as a Kujakki slasher spun rapidly on either hand. Chaka smiled as he slide into combat position.
"As you wish princess." Chaka charged forward towards his blue-haired opponent. He slashed his sword in a vertical arc at the slight figure of the princess. Vivi spun quickly sideways in a graceful dodge then followed by sending one of her slashers up at Chaka's head. Chaka ducked as the lethal jewel sailed overhead. He aimed a leg sweep at his opponent, but Vivi leaped high into the air, executed three flips and landed on Chaka's well muscled shoulders.
"You've improved a great deal princess." he said fiercely smiling as he turned his head to look at Vivi.
"And I haven't finished improving yet." she said smiling back.
Chaka quickly rose to a standing position sending Vivi soaring off his shoulder. Vivi used the momentum to execute a back flip and land in a fighting stance behind Chaka. The two combatants charged towards each other once more with fierce looks of determination on their face, neither willing to lose.
"Hold it right there!" said a voice coming from a nearby bush. Both battlers stopped in their tracks, turning to stare at the plant. The top of the bush lifted up as a man with long white curling hair popped out. "Chaka, how dare you be so rough wi..*cough* *cough* Mah mah mah! With the princess!" he yelled as he removed the rest of himself from the bush.
"Igaram!" screamed Vivi indignantly. Chaka laughed at this display from his commander.
"Relax, the princess has grown a great deal. She's no longer a defenseless child." he said smiling as he slide his sword back into his scabbard, and shifted back into his human form. "Pretty soon she'll be the one you have to scold for being too rough on me."
"Stop exaggerating Chaka. It will be a long time before that happens." she said smiling. She then turned to glare fiercely at Igaram whose face flushed from the reprimanding look.
"N-none the less," he said avoiding the princess's stare. "Vivi-sama has other business to attend to. She has a meeting with the representative of Rainbase and dinner with the officials in charge of overseeing the continued reconstruction of Alabasta." Vivi placed her head into the palm of her hand and sighed at the reminder.
"It seems we'll have to reschedule our training session princess." said Chaka smiling.
"It appears so." she said looking up. She smiled one last time at Chaka before walking off to follow Igaram down the corridors of the palace. As she walked down the halls past the various servants going about their business, she watched abstractly at the normal hustle and bustle of the city through the palace windows. It all seemed so regular, so unchanged from the way it once was. It was hard to believe that only three months ago the city had been under siege from one of the foulest villains in existence. Alabasta had been a country besieged by sandstorms and corruption, all caused by the black-hearted Shichibukai Crocodile.
Crocodile had been a powerful man. He had single-handedly set up an entire criminal organization called Baroque Works which he had used to further his goal of finding the ancient weapon Pluton, taking over the country of Alabasta, and making it into the world's greatest military superpower. His plans had come within an inch of succeeding, and it probably would have if not for a certain group of pirates, and their straw-hat wearing leader.
Vivi smiled at the memory. When she had first learned about Baroque Works, she and Igaram, the captain of the palace royal guard, had infiltrated the organization under the guises of Mr. Eight, who had been teamed up with the enormously strong Miss Monday, and Miss Wednesday, who had been paired with the acrobatic Mr. Nine. They worked their way up to the rank of officer agents, and discovered the identity of the mastermind behind Baroque works, Mr. Zero a.k.a Crocodile.
She met the straw hat pirates recently after her discovery. Vivi and Mr. Nine had been on assignment. The mission: take out the giant whale Laboon, and use its meat to feed the residents of Whiskey Peak, a town of bounty hunters all employed by Baroque Work. It should have been child's play, but a certain hyperactive rubber man prevented it from happening. His name: Monkey D. Luffy. He and his crew had not only stopped them, but broke their log and took them hostage as well. They managed to escape their bonds, but because the log was broken they had to ask the crew to take them back to Whiskey Peak. Once the town was insight, she and Mr. Nine jumped overboard and swam to shore.
The town had had a plan for this type of situation. Whenever a pirate would dock on their shores, they would lure them in with hospitality, get them drunk, and then make sure they never woke up again. The plan worked. All of them had been knocked out. All except the swordsman, Roranora Zoro. He single-handedly defeated all one-hundred bounty hunters of Whiskey Peak. At one point he had Igaram, Mr. Nine, and herself cornered, about to finish them off, but then a much greater threat arrive.
The destructive duo of Mr. Five and Miss Valentine. Apparently Mr. Zero had found out about her, and sent these two to finish Igaram and herself off. She had had to flee for her life, but even then she couldn't escape. The duo quickly cornered her, and the only thing that had saved her was the intervention of the hyperactive captain that had stopped her from killing Laboon and the swordsman who had been about to finish her off. They not only saved her from the terrible twosome, but agreed to risk their lives and escort her to Alabasta.
She had set out with the straw hat crew that very night. Over the time it took to get to Alabasta they encountered a prehistoric Island where Mr. Three and Miss Goldenweek, a pair of artists, attempted to kill them along with two giants, and a frozen island where an evil king had tried to reclaim his throne, and the place where they met up with the new ship's doctor Tony Tony Chopper, the blue nosed reindeer.
When they got to Alabasta the rebellion that she had been trying to prevent was already in progress. She and the straw-hat crew had had to venture all across Alabasta, fighting all the dangers of the desert, to try and stop the rebellion, but eventually, when they realized it would be futile to attempt to stop it at its current stage, they set off instead to rid Alabasta of its real problem, Crocodile. The straw hat crew took down all of Crocodile's agents, the mole woman Miss MerryChristmas, the enormously strong Mr. 4 and his gun dog Lasso, the flamboyant Mr. 2 Bon Clay, the thorn woman Miss Doublefinger, the blade man Mr. 1, and, in the end, it was Luffy who defeated Crocodile himself. The rebellion was stopped, and peace was restored to Alabasta, although it would take time to heal the wounds of war.
The straw hat crew had stayed at the palace for a time as they healed, but, due to the pursuit of the Marines, they had been forced to flee. They had invited her to go with them, but, after thinking long and hard, she had decided to stay behind to help her country rebuild. Not a day went by when she didn't think of the fun-loving crew, but she knew she had made the right decision. She did wonder, however, what it would have been like to have gone with them. She imagined all the wonderful adventures she would have had sailing around the seas with them. She had trained every day since then so that if they ever met up at a time when she thought the kingdom was in a state where it could survive without her for a while, she could join up with them and not be a hindrance. It was a silly dream, she thought, but it made her happy to think about it.
She turned her attention back to the task at hand. While she may sail again with them one day, right now she had more important duties to attend to, mainly the repairing of the damages done to her country. She prepared herself as she saw the Rainbase representative at the end of the hall, smiled brightly, and mentally went over the issues to be discussed.
