Author's Note: Soooooo, here's another chapter! Only like... 3 days after! xD I'm on a streak here! Also, if there are songs and characters used in my stories that I don't own, I'm not saying I own any rights to those! I put a disclaimer on my profile page already though.
Fireking492 - Thanks for saying that! I try to make it funny! :)
Katelynn opened the door to find... A mii. A very strange looking one. It seemed to be some sort of turtle, with the way his (she assumed it was a male mii, since its shirt was shorter) mouth was curved. He was extremely pale. But it was especially creepy how he had tinted red sunglasses for eyes.
"Clickity clackity, your enemies' bones shall go crackity!" Those were the strange mii's first words to Katelynn. And the worst part was, his voice was rather grating on the ears.
"Um..." To say Katelynn was weirded out would be a severe understatement. This guy...turtle thing seemed like he was on their side at least though.
"Crickity Crackity, you're a case that seems very basket-y." The turtle creature mii continued, seeming like they were trying to be condescending towards Katelynn. Katelynn frowned and her eyebrows were pinched like she was confused, but she decided to attempt to be friendly. That's what the guardian spirit suggested after all.
"Erm...I'm Katelynn. What's your name?" She inquired nervously and the oddball was happy to reply to that.
"I'm Dry Bones. With me on your team, we shall hear your foe's moans." He put his hands together, one hand punching the other, which Katelynn took as a threatening gesture.
"Seems like you're getting a bit ahead of yourself, but I'll take it." She smiled. She noticed that Dry Bones appeared to be just a regular mii with no current job... As if in response to her thoughts, the guardian spoke up.
"Are you ready to choose a job, Dry Bones?" They inquired, and a familiar holographic screen appeared in front of Dry Bones. Dry Bones had not even an ounce of hesitation before choosing the warrior job, which was also the first one on the screen.
"I merely wish to fight, to test my might, and for what is right!" Dry Bones exclaimed and with a somewhat anticlimactic poof of smoke, was turned into a warrior, wearing basic looking armor that resembled a knight and wielding a wooden sword.
"Why's his sword so boring?" Katelynn asked suddenly.
"You can purchase a better one, if need be. Be sure to play nice and make Dry Bones feel welcome." The guardian replied, and that was the end of that discussion.
"Hmm... I thought I called one more companion. I wonder what happened."
Katelynn wondered if it was harder for the guardian spirit to contact that mii-person without them having the amulet.
"That is indeed the case, Katelynn. Well, I'm sure you'll get everyone together eventually anyway. For now, you're a party of three! Ho ho!~" Then, without so much as a goodbye, the guardian left the scene.
Nurse Joy rushed up to Katelynn and Dry Bones and began to question Katelynn immediately, not even caring that she was leaving out Dry Bones.
"What was that just about? You didn't even say anything, Katelynn. Can the guardian read your thoughts?" Nurse Joy asked.
"Um...yeah. But I don't really mind, honestly!" Katelynn replied to her cheerfully, and fully trusting. After all, the guardian had only ever helped her. And her thoughts were usually pretty dumb anyway.
Nurse Joy shook her head. "Katelynn, I think you should take off that amulet." Katelynn was about to protest, when Nurse Joy spoke up again, "Hear me out. We can still keep it nearby for any help we may need on our quest, but the guardian won't be able to stalk you as closely anymore, if you know what I mean."
"O-okay..." Katelynn stuttered, but decided that Nurse Joy was right. She really was entitled to her privacy, after all. She took off the amulet, which she had practically never taken off, except maybe when she went to sleep or was eating, and put it in her adventurer's bag. She hadn't really noticed before, but there really was a sense of comfort about it that she might miss now.
Maybe it's because when she was asleep, it was still on her nightstand. All the same, it would still be close now. Just with all her stuff, in her bag.
Dry Bones suddenly spoke up, speaking to Nurse Joy. He signalled at his throat with a cutting motion. "Cut me off once more, and it shall mean war."
Nurse Joy glared at him and responded, "I answer to no one. Except maybe a doctor."
With the tension burning between the two, Katelynn knew she had to break it up.
"Hey! Guys! Stop fighting! Lets go eat breakfast!" Katelynn yelled with as kind and glowy of a smile as she could muster.
The two stopped glaring, but both of them looked away from each other, folding their arms in contempt. Katelynn went between them and hesitantly pulled them by the arms to the dining room of the inn.
They ate breakfast in relative silence, except for some slurping and food smacking noises. (Lucky for them, Katelynn soon found that Dry Bones immensely enjoyed Goblin Ham, which neither her nor Nurse Joy really cared for after trying it the last night.) Then, they set off once more, on their quest.
They walked in a near silence at first. But then Katelynn began to sing once more, trying to cheer them all up.
When you're rife with devastation
There's a simple explanation:
You're a toymaker's creation,
Trapped inside a crystal ball.
And whichever way he tilts it,
Know that we must be resilient,
We won't let them break our spirits!
As we sing our silly song...~
It didn't really work at first, but by the end of it, Nurse Joy spoke up. "Katelynn, that was a pretty sad song, wasn't it?"
Katelynn thought about it for a moment, "Well yeah, but I guess us miis...Really are just a toymaker's creation if you think about it. What I mean is, miis like us all know they're either copies of some other being who they act as, or just oddball creations with different characteristics. All the same, we're all equal. We're a pretty simple folk, and despite our origins, we get along, right? We play into the roles we were made for?"
Nurse Joy shook her head. "I never really believed that. We should all be free to be individuals. Not just someone's creation who plays by their rules. Even if we are created with the knowledge that we're supposed to."
"Is that why you're not exactly a...a gentle nurse?" Katelynn tentatively asked her friend, with an edge of humor.
"Kinda. But well, I think it also has something to do with the fact that even the Nurse Joy I'm based off of had a lot of cousins and relatives who looked like her, and strived to be unique." Nurse Joy replied.
"Dry Bones also had a lot of co-workers. They were all just dark-lurkers." Dry Bones spoke up, sounding solemn.
"See? You two have something in common! You both don't like your origins!" Katelynn exclaimed. But just as they were both beginning to perhaps realize something, two goblins jumped out at them.
"More goblin meat, what a treat!" Dry Bones yelled, and rushed into battle, starting a fight.
Turn 1: Katelynn decided to try something new and attempted to use electricity magic, which she seemed to have the hang of after feeling the defribilator's nasty and shocking bite last time, not that she knew that. She ended up frying both goblins to half of their health with her lightning.
Dry Bones didn't feel like waiting for Nurse Joy and rushed even closer to the goblins, bonking one of them on the head a few times. The other one slashed at him, abruptly stopping his attack and injuring his skinny mii arm. He rushed back to the rest of the party, who seemed a bit annoyed with him.
Nurse Joy held out her new staff. She wouldn't admit it, but she felt just a bit of pity for Dry Bones getting hurt. Cautious quirk: "Be more careful next time," she said as she healed him fully with a prayer, despite not feeling that bad.
The one goblin that had half health left the other one behind for a moment and attempted to attack them, or more specifically, Dry Bones. Annoyed that he had to be healed, Dry Bones slashed at the goblin, but since he didn't have a metal sword, merely bonked it on the head again. The goblin retreated back to its friend.
Turn 2: Katelynn decided not to waste MP since her electricity attack had taken a lot of it. She instead waited for the others to attack, having better physical weapons. The airheaded, but kind mage rested for a turn, recovering MP.
Nurse Joy and Dry Bones finished the fight together by hitting each goblin with their respective weapons, a staff and a wooden sword, pretty similar in strength at the moment, seeing how Nurse Joy's staff was shiny wood as well.
"Nice job," Nurse Joy said to Dry Bones, with a smirk. It was halfway sarcastic though, since she knew she had done most of the work by healing him after his careless first attack.
"You may be a cleric, but you are rather barbaric." Dry Bones replied, seemingly picking up on her sarcasm and replying with his own double-edged sword of a comment. Being barbaric could be good in a fight, but personality-wise...that was rather insulting.
The two seemed like they were acting rather hostile towards each other, when suddenly Katelynn came between them again, having picked up all the best stuff they'd recieved from the fight.
"Let's continue forward, you two!" Katelynn grinned, unaware they had been in as hostile of a situation as they were. "You both did a great job at the end there!"
Dry Bones and Nurse Joy simply "hmmphed" at each other and the trio continued walking forward. Katelynn continued singing until they reached another inn. However... the day was still rather young, so they decided to continue forth.
The trio didn't encounter anything eventful, that is, until they reached an empty kind of area, with some rocks on the sides. It felt like something was wrong to Katelynn right away, and she was looking around apprehensively, when her suspicions were confirmed. From behind the rocks, the Dark Lord appeared in front of them.
"Waaaaa? Well, look who it is! You just keep sticking around, like a grass stain on soccer socks!" The Dark Lord, Waluigi sneered.
"Waluigi! You jerk!" Katelynn yelled, visibly angry. It wasn't the comment that annoyed her, but the wicked deeds this mii had committed. How could he hurt so many people like this by stealing their faces? She had to do something, no matter how strong he was, she couldn't let him escape and get away with more crimes against Miitopia and its people again.
"Get rekt, Waluigi!" Katelynn pulled out her wand, ready to fire a blast of magic.
"WAAAAHAAAAHAAAA! That was a great one! Where'd you get that? Some shooter game that only little kids actually play?"
While it was true that "get rekt" was a bit childish, Waluigi seemed to find it genuinely funny that she'd tried to defy him in any way. That caused her anger to flourish further as her cheeks turned red. Before she had a chance to prepare herself, Waluigi was speaking again however.
"Well, if you insist on ending your life, I could be of assistance. Let's dance!" Waluigi stated coldly, as he began to ready a dark ball of shadow-like magic. It grew bigger and bigger until it was bigger than Katelynn and suddenly, all thoughts of attacking seemed absolutely futile.
"Eep!" Katelynn squeaked, as she began to cower in fear at sight, closing her eyes and bracing herself for an impact that would never come. She couldn't even bear to look at her party members at this point.
"Hold it right there!" A voice emerged out of nowhere, and a green glow seemed to take over the Dark Lord's orb of shadow, along with green bolts of lightning-like magic. It fizzled and cracked, before finally, it all disappeared completely in a flash.
"Who dares...? The Dark Lord began, baffled, and Katelynn turned to look at the source of the magic and voice.
A young man with somewhat messy black hair, tannish skin and striking golden eyes was standing there. What was most peculiar about him though, were his clothes. They seemed similar to Katelynn's in that they were mage clothing, but he wore a white robe with green trim. He also had a silver staff with an emerald at the top. He must've been a powerful mage, but he still looked rather young, despite that. He seemed perfectly relaxed, but what he said next would say otherwise.
"Hmm...So you're the Dark Lord, huh? I've heard a lot about you, but looks like it was just talk. You won't be getting your way for much longer! Not if I have anything to say about it!"
A powerful green kind of aura of magic began to surround him. He now ran in front of Katelynn, shielding her from any further attacks.
"Don't you know that nobody likes a party pooper? Wah! You're just like those people from Super Smash Bros; not letting me in!" Waluigi seemed to lament for a moment, before showing his intent. He was clearly at least a little intimidated by this mage. And that was saying something to Katelynn, seeing as he was the greatest terror in this land right now.
"Waaaah... I'll let you go for now! Be seeing you!" And with that, the Dark Lord teleported away into his cape.
"Ohmigosh." Katelynn said to herself with wide eyes. That encounter had been scary and she had feared for her life or at least her face, to say the least. She snapped out of it and wondered if the strange mage had heard her as he turned to face her.
"How do you do?" The mage asked coolly. 'Cool wouldn't even begin to describe him though,' Katelynn thought to herself and stayed silent, simply opting to stare at him.
"They call me Emile. I'm a travelling mage." He continued, with a smirk that said he knew she was staring and 'oh gosh-I should stop,' Katelynn told herself again. She backed away a bit, looking down at the ground in front of her.
"I-I- um... I'm Katelynn," she said shyly. What was wrong with her? She was never usually this shy. Did she-have a...crush? She felt her cheeks getting hot too. Ah! Everything was going wrong! But, she supposed she should tell him why she was fighting the Dark Lord...
"I wasn't doing anything reckless, I swear!" Katelynn suddenly exclaimed, clearly embarrassed and worried Emile wouldn't give her a chance to explain properly. Unbeknownst to her, the mage merely remarked her with amusement and thought she was just embarrassed by her loss against the Dark Lord, not thinking much more of it.
"Oh? Is that so? Well, tell me, why were you fighting the Dark Lord then?" Emile smirked, amusement evident in his tone. Katelynn found it-amazing... how he could change from so serious to so friendly in a matter of moments. Did that mean... He didn't hate her for almost getting herself hurt?
"Me and my friends are-are going to defeat him someday! I may be weak now, but I'm trying my best to get stronger!" Katelynn exclaimed again, trying to assure them both of these facts.
Luckily the mage, Emile, didn't seem too bothered by her statement. "So you're on a quest to defeat the Dark Lord?"
"Y-yeah, but..." Katelynn began, less confident now. She almost got destroyed back there. If it hadn't been for Emile, she would be badly hurt. Could she really get stronger?
"But you feel you're not quite strong enough?" Emile asked. Katelynn finally looked up and as her boring, gray eyes met his...golden ones, it was hard for her to look away. This mage had a wise and knowing air about him, one that was intense to her.
"..." She couldn't even say anything at this point.
"I sense potential within you, though. You might not think it's much at the moment, but continue your journey and you'll grow and grow."
Katelynn nodded, snapping out of her stupor and feeling more sure of herself. He was right. She had already learned two types of magic perfectly! Something she couldn't even do less than a week ago! Surely she had some potential as a mage... And her friends had grown stronger too.
"So just hang in there, Katelynn," Emile said, with a genuine smile at her and Katelynn forced herself to just accept the sentiment.
"I can do that," she replied cheerfully.
"If fortune is on our side, we'll meet again, Katelynn. Until then."
'I hope so...' Katelynn thought to herself, too enamoured to actually say anything. She simply watched as Emile departed, content to do so. That is, until her party members reminded her of their existence.
