Petal: And here we are with chapter ten! Yay!
Copper: Don't Swannaaaaaaa...
Petal: ... Ignore him, please. We don't own Pokemon, Pinkari, Genevieve, 700, Leon, Kara, Mithril, Natalie, Greg, Kaz, Dr. Poke, Adelaide, Kaz, Eleanor, Nicholas, or the escape lesson. That was taken from chapter thirteen of Oresama Teacher, written and illustrated by Izumi Tsubaki.
They all turned to each other.
"OH MY ARCEUS AND ALL DEITIES ABOVE! YOU'RE PINK!" They hollered at each other.
Adamant took the opportunity to finish the last doughnut.
Suddenly, Grisseo dashed in, tears streaming down his face. "GUYS! I WAS EATING SOME PINKAN BERRY DOUGHNUTS AND TURNED PINK! HELP MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" he wailed.
"AAAAAAAAAH! I'M PINK! I'M PINK! I'M PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINK!" Orange was crying.
"NO! PLEASE! ANYTHING BUT PINK! I DON'T WANNA BE A DECORATION IN AMY'S ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!" Lapis sobbed. Who's Amy, you ask? She's Lapis's younger sister who's basically the ultimate girly girl. Moving on!
"NO! MY TREASURED BLONDE HORN IS PINK! GIVE IT BACK, GIVE IT BACK, GIVE IT BAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!" Lustrous shrieked.
"I finished the doughnuts," Adamant pointed out.
Nobody cared as they sank further into their hysterics.
Pinkari walked in. "What seems to be the matter?" he asked.
Adamant turned to face him. "We turned pink, and now they're freaking out," he explained.
Pinkari tilted his head. "Did you eat the doughnuts? I inscribed very clear warnings in icing about the risks of eating them."
Note to all would-be Pinkan Berry doughnut makers: Icing is often licked off immediately. Do NOT inscribe warnings in it!
Suddenly, the four waterworks noticed Pinkari. "YOU! TURN US BACK!" they screamed as one.
Pinkari put his hands up. "I can't. You either wait for it to wear off which, considering how much you've eaten, could take months, or go find the Staff of Shadows to restore yourselves."
"STAFF OF SHADOWS?! WHAT'S THE STAFF OF SHADOWS?!" Lustrous demanded as she knocked Grisseo out-he had been poking fun at her horn.
"The Staff of Shadows," Pikari began, "is a pitch-black staff created by Darkrai from the shadows of a thousand moonless nights. It was created in the year -500 million, or so records by ancient Pokemon say. It has fallen into a long sleep and only awakens on moonless nights. The new moon just happens to be in a week."
"So where is it? And will it really turn us back?" Orange asked.
Pinkari nodded sagely. "Yes, it will negate the pink light reflecting off of you. As for the location... nobody knows."
Lustrous groaned in frustration. "So we have a week to find something that's in an unknown location. Great."
Lapis joined in. "And it's made by Darkrai, so it's prolly in a chasm o' darkness or somethin'."
"Yeah... Made by Darkrai," Orange echoed.
Suddenly, all four conscious members of Orange's party turned to face Grisseo, who was knocked out.
They exchanged slightly disbelieving glances.
Then Lustrous, ever the spitfire, grabbed him by his red scarf thingy and started shaking him violently. "WAKE UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!" she screamed despite being the one to knock him out in the first place. "WE NEED YOU, MISTER DARKRAI FREAK!"
Suddenly, his eyes flew open. "DARKRAI?!" he demanded, flying forward until he was nose to nose with her, his eyes sparkling with joy. "DID YOU JUST SAY DARKRAI?!"
She jabbed the taller figure with her hair horn. "PERSONAL SPACE!" she hollered at him.
Before the situation could evolve into a full-fledged fight, complete with a shouted insult contest, Orange interrupted, "Grisseo! Can we ask you something?!"
Grisseo blinked. "Does it have anything to do with Darkrai?"
"Uh, yeah," Lapis replied. "Do ya know anythin' 'bout a 'Staff of Shadows'?"
Grisseo nodded. "Why, of course! It is, after all, one of the most famous Darkrai relics in the world! As a matter of fact, I have the genuine article!" He stuck a hand in his scarf, rustled around it for a bit, and then pulled out a staff caked with dirt and dust. The entire group stared at it.
Chu tentatively poked at it. His paw went all the way in. The Pichu made a face of disgust as he recoiled, cradling his soiled paw. "Chu chu pi!" he shrieked, scrabbling back over Orange's shoulder.
Orange sweatdropped. "I could be wrong, but I think that means 'get that thing away from me'..."
Lustrous gaped at the hole Chu's paw had made in the grime. "If it does, I don't blame him..."
"So what did you want this for?" Grisseo asked, ignoring the fact that they were insulting his Darkrai-made staff.
"It kin turn us back from bein' pink!" Lapis burst out.
Grisseo gasped, stared at Lapis, looked down at the staff, looked back up at Lapis, looked back down at the staff... Then he raised it high in the air and screamed, "STAFF OF DARKRAI, TURN US BACK!"
Nothing happened. A draft passed through the room, taking a dried up leaf with it.
Pinkari shook his head. "This won't do. The staff only awakens on moonless nights, as I said before. Also, it's far, far too dirty to work."
Orange and Lapis immediately wrenched the staff out of Grisseo's hands and dunked it in a conveniently placed bucket of soapy water and started scrubbing.
"No amount of cleaning will cleanse that," Lustrous sighed when it came out as dirty as it was when it was put in-not to mention the fact that what little had been scraped off had muddied the water. They all wondered how it was even possible for something to be so filthy.
Pinkari shook his head again. "You might be able to cleanse it if you travel to the pond at the top of Mount Silver. It contains mystic water that might be up to the impossible task."
Grisseo stared. "What do you mean it's dirty? I take better care of it than I do my hair!"
The companions' heads all swiveled to Grisseo's hat. What horrors could possibly exist underneath it?
The boy blinked uncomprehendingly. "...Why are you all staring at me?"
They immediately turned their heads away, reluctant to answer.
"Anyway," Pinkari coughed, "you'd best rest up and get going. You youngsters have a long journey ahead of you." A proverbial lightbulb lit up above his head. "Ah! I know! It isn't much, but I could sharpen your weapons for you. There are many bandits living on Mount Silver."
Their eyes all lit up. "Really?! Thanks!" they cheered simultaneously.
Orange handed him Rusty. "Ol' Rusty hasn't been sharp in all the time I've had him," he explained. "Thanks for doing this."
Pinkari stared at the rusty old sword. "I'm afraid this is the only weapon I can't sharpen for you," he said regretfully. "There's only one thing that can restore Firestar."
"And what's that?" Orange asked in confusion.
"Firestar is the weapon of fire, crafted by Ho-oh from the flames of a thousand suns," Adamant recited suddenly. "Like the Staff of Shadows, Firestar is one of the legendary weapons that the legendary pokemon have blessed and is alternatively known as the Sword of Flames."
Pinkari nodded. "Precisely. And the only thing that can restore the weapon as well as the gem is the magma of the volcano Mount Chimney."
"Someone's going to have to explain all these legendary weapons to me one of these days," Orange sighed heavily.
Lustrous raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "But aren't you a bard? The legends are sung of in ballads."
Orange shrugged. "I don't know any songs involving them. I mostly sing heroic epics of recent battles or songs of my own composition..."
"That explains why you're so unpopular," Lustrous sighed.
"No, it doesn't! My songs are great!" Orange defended. "Here, I'll sing one for y- JO'S MISSING!" He immediately looked around panickedly for his beloved instrument. His eyes soon fell on Lapis, who was clutching it tightly and holding a dagger to its strings.
"No way, man," the brunette growled. "I've heard yer 'music,' an' I'm tellin' ya right now-if ya dare play anythin', yer precious banjo's life is forfeit."
Orange fell to the ground. "No... Jo..." he murmured, his eyes filled with pain. "JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! SHALT THOU NEVER SINGETH THY BEAUTIFUL NOTES EVER AGAINETH?!"
"I don't think so!" Grisseo declared, lunging at Lapis to save Jo. "Don't you remember that Darkrai approved of his music?!"
"I WASN'T HERE FER DAT!" Lapis yelled, tossing it over the Darkrai boy's head to Lustrous. "PASS!"
Lustrous made an impressive jump to receive the instrument. "I GOT IT!"
Unfortunately, Orange was immediately upon her. "GIVE JOSEPHINIUS BACK!" he screeched, rage and adrenaline fueling him with extra strength. Lustrous released a little yelp and, taking advantage of their height differences, ducked underneath his legs and charged out the door.
"YOU'LL NEVER TAKE MY POOR EARS ALIVE!" she screamed.
He sped after her. "GET BACK HEEEEEEEEEEEEERE!"
Lapis and Grisseo also bolted out of the house, racing to catch up with their respective sides and shooting glares at each other the whole time. Grisseo had somehow managed to retrieve his staff and was jabbing it at Lapis who skillfully dodged the strikes like the epic ninja he was.
Adamant, being the only sensible one, walked over to Pinkari, got directions for both Mount Silver and Mount Chimney (as well as some Pinkan berry pies-they were already pink; what harm could more Pinkan berry delicacies do?), gathered up their travel packs, recollected Rusty, and set off after his comrades. How he managed to carry everything remains a mystery...
Pinkari smiled as he watched the group disappear in the distance. "Ah, youth," he said with a contented smile. "Maybe I should take on an apprentice one of these days, if only to have an enthusiastic young'un to brighten the place up a bit..."
"So you're passing the torch, old man?" a voice sneered coldly. "Good. Who knows when you'll croak."
Pinkari looked up, the amiable expression on his face unwavering. "Hello, Genevieve," he greeted.
The young woman sitting on a Rapidash in front of him snorted. "Hi."
He then turned to her companion, a man dressed in the dull brown clothes of an ordinary peasant traveler, blending into the monotony of the area, unlike Genevieve, who always insisted on wearing her conspicuous red and black outfit. "Hello, 700."
"Hello," 700 said flatly, as unemotional as always. "But Genevieve is correct. If you die, we will lose our best weaponsmith."
Pinkari nodded. "True, true. Please, would you like to come in and sit down? I have a kettle of Pinkan berry tea prepared."
Genevieve snorted again, and 700 shook his head. "No," he declined. "We are simply here to have Crystal Destruction reinforced."
"Oh? What brought this on?" Pinkari asked curiously.
700 opened his mouth to speak, but Genevieve quickly cut in, "That is none of your business, old man. Just do it, we pay you, and we'll be on our way."
Pinkari shrugged. "If you insist. You young folk are always in such a hurry, just like that last bunch..."
"'Last bunch'?" 700 inquired. The Boss would definitely like to know who was visiting The Organization's unofficial weaponsmith.
Pinkari nodded. "Yes, indeed, a group of youngsters a few years younger than you."
By this time, 700 had a notepad and a piece of charcoal out. "What were they doing here? Where did they go?"
"Well, I'm not sure exactly why they were here, but they seemed to be looking for me," Pinkari explained. "I believe, however, that they wished to know how to restore their leader's sword. They were headed off in that direction," he pointed the way, "but their destination is Mount Silver. Why do you ask?"
"I am merely adding to The Database," 700 informed him, jotting down what he had just been told. "Why are they going to Mount Silver?"
"For the Staff of Shadows."
Genevieve and 700 stared at him. Then they glanced at each other. Then they stared down at him. Then they turned their Rapidashes around and gallopped back the way they had come.
The Boss would surely be pleased to hear about this.
Pinkari blinked in confusion. "...Well. I never even reinforced her scythe."
Leon blinked his eyes open.
He looked around.
He frowned.
He remembered what had just happened.
He sighed.
Around him were his comrades, all of them tied up. Kara had her hands and feet tied together behind her back. Mithril basically looked like a rope caterpillar and was hanging upside down from a tree branch-it was a wonder her head hadn't yet exploded from all the blood rushing into it. Natalie was bound from her shoulders to her waist, her hands purple from lack of circulation and therefore relatively useless. Leon himself had his hands and feet bound, and there was another rope tying his arms to his sides. All their weapons and pokeballs were in a little pile farther away from them, and their steeds were fast asleep. Glancing around again, he realized that Natalie was in heated glaring contest with a musclebound, bearded man with an eyepatch who didn't look as if he completely understood personal hygiene. She was also suspended right side up from a pole stuck in the ground. Allowing his eyes to travel up the pole, Leon saw a red flag with a crudely stitched thumb embroidered on it.
"WE'VE BEEN CAPTURED BY THE TERRIFYING THUMBS-UP BANDITS!" Mithril gasped out helpfully. "ALSO, LIONS!"
Leon frowned. "Don't push yourself to speak until you get down from there," he called up to her. Her face was a very lovely shade of fuschia, and there was sweat dripping down it... or was it up, since she was hanging upside-down? In any case, he highly doubted speaking in such a condition was very good for her health.
He then recalled what had transpired to get them into this situation.
Team Mithril hadn't been riding for very long when a bunch of bandits (many of them with their nostrils plugged with wax) leaped out of the bushes. "You th' guy who messed up m'bros' faces?!" demanded the one in the lead, a hairy hulk of a man with flies and a stench accompanying him.
Team Mithril then proceeded to cover their noses with sanitized handkerchiefs that Kara distributed.
"YA GOT M'BROS! DIE!" roared the lead bandit, charging them with his forces without even waiting for Leon (the only guy) to respond.
"Another one?!" Kara demanded in frustration, referring to the group of townsmen from the night before.
"How many brothers are in this family?!" Natalie complained.
"Does it matter?!" Mithril squealed gleefully. "I finally get to use Sir Sharp the Third and Lady Deadly the Seventy-sixth!"
Unfortunately, none of them were even given the chance to draw their weapons, for a wild Gloom walked by spreading Sleep Powder in such a thick cloud that it penetrated the handkerchiefs.
Leon muttered a curse. The wax in the nostrils of the bandits must have kept them from inhaling the powder, and their freakishly large lung capacity gave them an extra advantage of holding their breaths. Thus, he and his comrades had been captured.
"It's about time you woke up," Kara muttered to him. "Plan S or Plan T?"
"PLAN T! PLAN T!" Mithril mouthed from up in the tree. Unfortunately, no one could see her mouth move from their vantage point.
"Plan S," Leon whispered back. They'd best get to the bottom of this.
Kara sighed. "Very well. But this position is very uncomfortable and if I don't get my hands separated from my feet soon, you get no mercy when it's time for your flu shots, understand?"
Leon nodded and turned back to the bandit boss, who was still having a glaring contest with Natalie.
He frowned as he watched. Why did neither of them make a move? Natalie hadn't even spit in the man's face. He glanced at Kara, the silent question in his eyes.
She rolled her eyes. "It appears he has a little crush on her and wants her to be his bride. As you can see, she is very much opposed to this idea."
Leon turned back and squinted. Come to think of it, there was a light dusting of pink on the bandit man's face, and his menacing glare looked more like a lovestruck gaze...
Nothing had changed in his view of Natalie, though. She was still glaring defiantly, all her muscles tensed.
Leon coughed to get the bandit's attention.
The man reluctantly tore his gaze away from Natalie and turned to face Leon. "Wut?!" he demanded gruffly. Yes, wut. Not what. Wut.
"Why are you doing this?" Leon asked.
"You messed up m'li'l bros' faces!" the bandit roared. "M'precious li'l bros! They're all I have left in th'cruel, cruel world! 'Side from m'crew, o'course." He gestured to the bandits milling around a makeshift camp.
Well, at least they'd only have the bandits to contend with if they killed the last brother.
"And y'killed summa m'crew!" the bandit continued.
Leon frowned. They must have been the mini-army in the bar. "Why were they there?" Leon asked. "They looked like regular townsfolk."
The bandit puffed his chest out proudly. "I had 'em infiltrate th'town a few months back t'see if it was ripe for th'picking! If they'da had their real weapons, they'da never lost!"
Aaaaaaaand that explained why Matron Sapphire hadn't seemed particularly affected by the deaths despite the fact that the men lived in her town. It probably didn't help that the bandit job description required a nasty personality.
"THAT'S THE DUMBEST IDEA I'VE EVER HEARD!" Natalie hollered from where she was swinging in the breeze, still completely tense.
"WHATEVER YOU SAY, MY DEAREST DARLING NATA-BOO-BOO-POOKIE-PIE!" the bandit hollered back.
Leon could tell it was taking all his friend's willpower to keep from splattering the contents of her stomach on the ground right then and there.
"YOU'LL NEVER TAKE NAT! NEVER! SHE'S A PART OF MY EVIL EMPIRE, NOT YOURS!" Mithril screamed, or at least she would have if she could get anything above a bare whisper out of her mouth.
As for Kara, she was staring at the bandit in disgust. This was even worse than Queen Crystal's son's behavior towards the daughter of Captain Silver...
Leon sighed. "You made two mistakes," he said, addressing the bandit boss. "The first was attacking us."
The bandit boss took his gaze from Nata-boo-boo-pookie-pie for a few seconds to glare at Leon. "Well, we caught you and tied you up. What are you gonna do about it?"
Leon smirked. "The second... was assuming that I'm bound."
"...Huh?" came the bandit's intelligent reply.
Leon kicked him in the face.
Time for Kara's rope escape lesson special!
"Hello, boys and girls. Should you ever be captured, you must at all costs avoid being efficiently tied up. If your hands are being tied together, act as if you are struggling and keep your wrists away from each other using your fists. This creates a gap. If the enemy is using a vertical tie, hold the rope with your thumbs to keep it from winding too tightly across the horizontal tie. If they catch on, make it look normal by ceasing your struggle and keeping the base of your thumbs together and your pinkies separate. For the vertical tie, keep the base of your palms together. After a bit of rubbing and shifting, you should be able to create a large enough gap to escape. If they are tying up the rest of your body, hold your breath and keep your muscles tensed. When you relax, you should be able to slip right out. What's more, sweat can act as a lubricant. Of course, if you are knocked out or the enemy knows all the tricks, then this is pointless."
End of the lesson! Thanks for watching!
"B-But how?!" the bandit boss spluttered once Leon withdrew his shoe. "Y'were unconcious!"
"Oh, that would be my doing," Kara said calmly, already unbound and standing. "You see, Leon has trained his body to take measures against being tied up even when he is unconcious. By studying the way his brain and body acted to trigger this, I was able to create a drug for the rest of us that has the same effect."
Mithril shot down from her cocoon of rope, literally going head-to-head with the bandit boss. Leon swiftly dragged her out of the way before diving into the fray with his martial arts. Kara just snatched a scimitar from one of the bandits and used it to create a path to her own weapon.
After gulping down some much needed air and getting the blood pumping properly again, Mithril charged into the fray with a tree branch. "YOU'LL NEVER GET ANY OF MY MINIONS! EVER!" she screamed, flailing it around wildly.
BOOM.
Natalie smirked as she stood epically a safe distance away from the small explosion behind her, her braid flying from the force of the explosion. Her body was relaxed, but it quickly tensed up again. "No one calls me 'dearest darling Nata-boo-boo-pookie-pie' and gets away with it," she hissed. Then she whistled sharply.
Greg immediately perked up, his ears twitching alertly.
"SIC 'IM, GREG!" she yelled.
The Ponyta obeyed the order gleefully, charging at the bandit boss.
Unfortuantely, he got the wrong 'him'.
"NATALIE, CONTROL YOUR PONYTA!" Leon called, somersaulting over the rampant pokemon.
"SORRY!" she yelled back. "GREG! THE BEARDED ONE!"
Greg snorted and charged again at full gallop.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" the bandit boss wailed as he was sent flying into the distance. "MY DEAREST DARLING NATA-BOO-BOO-POOKIE-PIE! I WILL NEVER FORGET YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"
Natalie made a face. "And I'll never forget you, but not for so pleasant a reason," she muttered, spitting on the ground.
"You're bothered by the nickname," Kara observed.
"N-No I'm not!" the younger woman protested.
Leon sighed. Couldn't they fight later? They had to take down the bandits...
"BOSS!" The bandits started crowding around Natalie. "You took down the old boss, so now you're the boss! Three cheers for the boss! YAY! YAY! YAY!"
"Low intelligence lifeforms," Kara deadpanned.
Mithril waved around her swords, which she had just retrieved. "OH, COME ON! WHEN DO I GET ANY ACTION?!"
The quartet returned to a collision course with the castle.
"So do we have a deal?" Silver asked, holding out an official-looking paper with the royal seal on it.
"Yes, I believe this will be beneficial for everybody," Dr. Poke agreed, stamping his footprint on the paper.
"Now, we just have to find Orange..."
Silver laughed creepily. Dr. Poke just shook his head at the human's behavior.
Adeline just continued reading her book about how to perform a brain surgery using a five-year-old's playset.
"Kaz? Why are we here?" Eleanor asked as she and Nicholas followed the senior ninja into an inn.
"To get information, of course," Kaz explained. "Isn't it obvious? Bars are the best place for info."
"Oh!" Eleanor exclaimed. "That makes sense!"
"Welcome," greeted the innkeeper, a woman who very much resembled another one of the intermediate ninja, Lapis-Lazuli.
"Hello," Kaz said politely. "I'm so terribly sorry to bother you, but would you happen to know where I can find a man who's twenty-two with black hair, green eyes, and perhaps an awesome-looking brown trench coat..."
The innkeeper blinked. "...No, but dere's a group o' folks lookin' for a psychotic woman lookin' fer a guy matching that description."
"Well then, it can't be Kaz!" Eleanor declared. "She isn't psychotic! She's a really nice person! Right, Nicholas?!"
Unfortunately, Nicholas had fallen asleep in the middle of a bar brawl over in the corner and thus couldn't back her up.
Kaz patted her on the head like she would a loyal puppy. "Thank you for the vote of confidence, Eleanor. You're so loyal and innocent and naive."
"No problem!" the younger chirped brightly.
"Now..." Kaz leaned over the counter. "Tell me, do you have any idea where I might find these people?"
Sapphire frowned suspiciously. "Why? Ya gonna do somethin' to 'em?"
"Heavens, no!" Kaz said, placing a hand over heart with a hurt look. "I merely wish to speak with them!"
Sapphire continued to frowned but in the end shrugged. "A'right. 'S none o' my business anyway. I sent 'em off ta da castle."
Kaz's lips quivered as she kept her smile from turning into a smirk. "Thank you for the information, ma'am." She turned on her heel. "Eleanor, Nicholas-let's go."
"Okay!" Eleanor exclaimed, tossing a knife through her friend's baggy sweater and pulling on the rope she had attached to it, dragging him out of the fray. Oddly enough, he was unharmed.
Before they left, though, she made sure to purchase three meat shields.
Kaz warned her not to let them get smelly.
Over in The Boss's secret base, Lyra had finally put away her PokePad and earphones (ninja technology was quite impressive; unfortunately, they all thought the messenger Pidoves were too cute and quaint to get rid of, so they for whatever reason decided not to use the technology literally at their fingertips) and scraped the cement-er, porridge, off of the door. She had seen all of The Minions leave, and The Boss was out as well, so she might as well find some salt to hoard and an extra change of more sensible clothing so she could rip up the wedding dress and use it as a rope... Not to mention it gave her the chance to have some screen time.
Unfortunately, when she arrived at the kitchen, there was no salt to be found. She turned the place upside down and sideways, but not a single grain of sodium chloride fell to the ground.
"Great," she muttered. "Absolutely fabulous. Now how am I going to get rid of those wretched sl-"
"Wretched whats, my dear?" a voice whispered in her ear.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" she screamed to psyche herself up as she swung her high-heeled foot at whatever was behind her.
The Boss ducked under her foot and started laughing. Snickering? Cackling? Whatever. "You should have seen your face! Here, I brought a mirror."
"...Why?" she asked suspiciously, squelching the urge to attack him again (she wasn't sure she could take him, and she was not suicidal) as well as ask when he had returned. Seriously, how had she not heard the door opening?
"I didn't come through the door, you see. Look up," he said, as if reading her mind.
Still slightly confuzzled, she glanced up.
There was a giant hole.
"...Oh." Darn. She'd forgotten to reinforce the ceiling after that incident involving Natalie, some of Kara's newly developed explosives, and a faulty parachute... But that still didn't explain how she hadn't heard it.
"The ceiling is made of soundproof materials," The Boss explained, seeming to read her mind again.
'That's not how soundproofing works!' she wanted to scream.
"I know, but this is The Hideout!"
"...Just come out and say it already," Lyra grumped. "Can you read my mind or what? And you still haven't answered my first question."
"Oh no, it's just that it's written all over your face!" The Boss said merrily.
Lyra returned that with a deadpan, thinking 'Answer my first question already!'
"Ah, right! Really, kids today are just so hasty!"
"AHA!" Lyra screamed. "I had a blank look! One that is impossible even for the most skilled ninja to read!"
The Boss's expression turned sinister. "But I am no mere ninja..."
Then, a bell rang.
"Oh! Some of my minions are here!" he said, face returning to normal. "Gotta go greet them. Toodles!"
With that, he left.
Lyra was torn between trembling in fear as was expected and going back to looking for salt.
"The king dies today!" an assassin cried as he threw a dagger at Gold's neck. The crown's white gemstone pulsed light through the room, and all the weapons on the assassin's person dropped to the floor, too rusted now to ever be used again. The queen immediately kicked him into unconciousness and tied him up.
"Throne service? Bring me some pickles!" Gold said on the phone, completely oblivious to the attempt on his life.
Petal: Welp. That's the end of that.
Copper: Guh... Don't Swanna do these...
Petal: One, that was a really lame pun worthy of Natalie, and two, we're going to do these end notes for every chapter whether you like it or not. Please leave a review!