Tales of Mysterra I
Chapter 39-From Bad To Worse
A flash of green light erupted from nowhere, soon giving way to several silhouettes; Victor, Kokira, Raibaru, and the others reappeared in its place. "We're here."
Everyone looked up; they were a short distance away from the Twilight Castle, just far enough to stay out of considerable eyeshot. "I knew it!" Victor shouted, stepping towards Raibaru threateningly. "This was a set up!"
"Victor!" Sakura called scoldingly, holding him back as Kokira glanced at Raibaru expectantly.
"You're going to be disguised, don't worry," the wolf explained, Edward reaching into his coat and pulling out another, folded up.
"Victor, you're going to need to wear this," he said, handing it off to the dragon. "It'd be a little tricky explaining you being here if you were out in the open."
The dragon snatched the cloak away, quickly putting it on over his body and head, completely hiding his appearance sans the bottom of his feet. "Alright," Raibaru uttered, giving a nod. "Come on."
With the disguise up, the group began approaching the front gates, the guards casting them but a momentary glance before letting them by. They soon found themselves in the courtyard, headed towards the largest castle-like structure in the middle and causing Yoshiro to look about in curiosity. "...hmm. I've never seen structures like this before."
This incited a confident chuckle from Edward, who glanced at Yoshiro and murmured, "Yeah, that's the Twilight Society's defense systems for you...fortunately, we know our way around here perfectly."
The group soon arrived at the front of the main castle, entering inside and passing through several corridors; the many passes with the guards caused Victor to keep glancing about with a slight frown underneath his hood. "Hmph...I still don't trust you..."
Raibaru didn't offer a response, Shadow casting him a slight glance. "I wouldn't worry too much, Victor...soon enough, this will all be resolved."
Said dragon only narrowed his gaze further as the team headed upstairs a bit more, soon arriving at a rather fancy-looking pair of doors. Sonic blinked slightly, murmuring, "Where are we?"
Raibaru didn't answer, instead pushing open the doors and enabling the group to see the fairly large room on the other side. At the end was a desk, sitting at it being a rather familiar red-haired teen in black and red clothing, a ratty dark-haired male standing nearby him with a slight slouch. Victor gave off a blink, uttering, "What the..."
"We've arrived, sir," Shadow remarked, giving a bow and prompting the red-haired boy to nod.
"Good," he uttered, slowly standing up and folding his hands behind him. "You're free to remove the disguise, Victor, I don't mean you any harm."
The dragon looked up with a bolt, clenching his fists and growling, "I knew it! This was a trick!"
Raibaru gave off a slight sigh as Victor began stomping towards the desk, the wolf murmuring, "Should I restrain him, Monarch...?"
"You may," the boy - obviously Gaara - responded, prompting Raibaru to vanish; a moment later, he had dashed past Victor, effortlessly knocking him in the back of the neck and causing the dragon to collapse onto his front, now unconscious.
The others gave a slight blink, looking up as Kokira murmured, "N-not to be rude sir, but...don't you think that was a little extreme?"
Gaara closed his eyes, lowering his head slightly. "Maybe. But we wouldn't want him behaving so barbarically while we discussed your stay."
Everyone paused for a moment, Yoshiro murmuring, "Our...stay?"
"Yes," Gaara responded; before any other questions could be asked, all of the others were abruptly smashed over the backs, collapsing onto their fronts as Raibaru stood behind them, a serious expression on his face. "...an extended stay. Victor, you and your allies are hereby placed under arrest for high treason against the Celestial Alliance."
-Meanwhile-
Patamon very slowly began opening his eyes, giving off a few raspy pants as his eyes began adjusting to the light hanging above. "N-...no...wh-what..."
The small creature closed his eyes back, squinting them for a moment to enable them to get used to the light. A few minutes of this and he very slowly sat up, his vision finally settling itself and enabling him to see the somewhat bland bedroom before him. "Wh-...where am I...?"
"Oh, good, you're awake..." Patamon's gaze went to the side of the bed; a small, rabbit girl with cream-colored fur and a few orange stripes on her head and rather large, drooping ears alongside a white muzzle stood beside him. She wore an orange dress and sneakers, with a small, pudgy, blue creature floating to the side. "I was getting worried..."
Patamon gave off another slight blink, sitting up a bit more and murmuring, "Wh-...who are you?"
"My name's Cream," the rabbit responded, the blue creature by her side leaning forward with a slight squeak. "And this is my friend, Cheese."
"I-I'm Patamon," he murmured, looking down, then back up. "Wh-where am I?"
Cheese proceeded to alight in Cream's lap, the rabbit girl scooping it in her arms and explaining, "A boat on its way to the mainland in Twilight Plains. Me and a friend were-"
The explanation seemed to cause Patamon's eyes to shoot open, the creature leaning up with a horrified expression. "W-wait a minute! Where's Tails?"
Cream's formerly soft expression turned into one of anxiety, she and Cheese turning away with a slight wince. "He, ah..."
Patamon's eyes widened even further, tears already beginning to form in anticipation of the worst. "H-...he isn't..."
"He's still alive." This new voice prompted Patamon and Cream to glance at the door at the side of the room; a new girl stood in the doorway, covered in pink fur with a similarly-colored head of short hair and a red dress with matching boots.
"O-...oh...that's...good..." Patamon mumbled, giving a sigh and hanging his head while the girl approached.
"Amy Rose," the girl suddenly added, extending a hand towards Patamon and smiling. "I'm a friend of Tails'. You're lucky we found you when we did."
Patamon looked back up, gingerly taking the girl's gloved hand with both of his paws and shaking. "P-Patamon. I'm a friend of Tails' too...h-how is he?"
Amy's smile turned into a serious expression, the girl murmuring, "Yeah...he's alive, but..." Patamon's eyes widened further as Amy turned around, headed towards the door. "Well...we're still waiting for a response from a doctor."
"M-may I see him?" Patamon piped up, quickly leaning forward on the bed. "I-I'm worried..."
Amy glanced back at Patamon, pausing for a moment before nodding. "...alright. I was watching over him before coming to check on you anyway."
Patamon nodded rather quickly, hopping down from his bed as Cream handed him his satchel from a nearby desk. The trio quickly made their way through the hallways, returning to a room labelled "medical ward" with a cross emblazoned on it. They pushed open the door and poked their heads through; a standard room with several shelves of medical supplies, a male human doctor going over a clipboard while a table held the bandaged Tails on it. A breathing apparatus was hooked up to his muzzle, a device next to him giving an occasional beep to signify his heartrate. "H-hello?"
"Hm?" the doctor remarked, turning around to the others. "Ah, there you are. Come in, I don't want anyone seeing I'm taking care of a fugitive in here."
"R-right..." Cream murmured, the others quickly entering and closing the door behind them. "H-how is he?"
The doctor proceeded to scoop up a folder from the nearby desk, flipping it open and murmuring, "Right, right, I was just looking over the results..." His eyes scanned over the pages inside for a moment, before widening and followed by him uttering, "Oh my...this isn't good."
"Wh-what?" Patamon gasped, the others eyes widening.
"My stocks dropped while I wasn't looking!" the doctor remarked, picking out one of the pages from the folder and narrowing his gaze. "Damned guy told me it was a safe choice..." After shaking his head about, he placed the page aside and continued, "Now, onto the test results..." The doctor abruptly let out a gasp, leaning back and uttering, "Oh no!"
"Wh-what is it?" Cream gasped, holding Cheese closer to her anxiously.
"I sent a birthday card to my uncle and it hasn't come in yet," the doctor grumbled, planting a hand to his face with a sigh. "I told him it'd get lost in the mail...there was 30 bucks in it...but enough about that, as for your friend..." The doctor flipped through another page before uttering grimy, "Your friend is going to die."
"WH-WHAT?" Patamon shouted, quickly staggering forth in alarm.
"...at least, he will when his Lunar Guild insurance kicks in and they trace him down," the doctor responded, looking up with a passive glance. "I mean, I'm probably going to tell them what I know, I wouldn't just feign ignorance with that much evidence against-"
"WOULD YOU JUST TELL US WHAT TAILS' STATUS IS? Amy practically shrieked, spontaneously flinging out a fairly large, yellow and red-colored hammer seemingly from nowhere and causing the doctor to shrink back with a slight shout.
"G-gah! Alright, alright!" he quickly stammered, Amy lowering her weapon and prompting the doctor to pull out another slip of black paper, sliding it into a device on the wall and switching it on, revealing a diagram of what Patamon could tell was the upper portion of Tails' body; the most noticeable portion of it being a somewhat large scar headed across the top and skinniest portion of the diagram. "Now as you can see, there's a large cut right here at his windpipe. It's preventing him from breathing appropriately, and it doesn't seem to be healing up."
"I-it's not?" Cream murmured nervously, she and Amy glancing at each other.
The doctor shook his head, beginning to go through the shelf at the side and continuing, "All of our remedies are having no effect whatsoever on him. Something is halting the process."
The memory of Kabuto's glowing arms shot through Patamon's mind, the little creature wincing as Amy asked, "Isn't there anything at all that we can do?"
A few moments passed in silence, the doctor rubbing his chin and narrowing his gaze in thought. "...well...I THINK there is one more thing we could try." He proceeded to reach into a nearby shelf, pulling out a book and quickly flipping through it. He finally came to a stop, putting his finger at a specific portion and saying, "There we are. There's an herb here assumed to be a panacea, a cure-all. It's found in the forest near the port we'll be dropped off at. But it's fairly rare...and the possibility of it working is kinda slim."
Patamon looked up, giving a blink and quickly stepping forth a little more. "I-it's our only shot right now. I'll go and find it."
Amy glanced over at Patamon, frowning and setting her hammer down, leaning against the handle. "What? No offense, but how do you expect to find a rare plant in a potentially hostile forest by yourself? I'm going instead."
"I AM going!" Patamon responded surprisingly sharply, turning towards Amy with a frown. "Tails protected my village and saved us, now it's my turn to repay the favor! There's nothing you can say that'll convince me otherwise!"
Cream and Cheese both glanced at Amy in surprise, the female hedgehog pausing for a moment before sighing lowly, closing her eyes and hanging her head. "Alright...I suppose I can't really stop you then."
"We'll be making landfall in about ten minutes or so," the doctor continued, closing the book up and holding it out to Patamon. Before he could take it, however, the doctor retracted it with a thoughtful expression, murmuring, "Eh...then again...I spent a bit of money on this equipment, and I wouldn't feel too comfortable with-" Amy gripped her hammer again with a slight grunt, the doctor shrinking back again and holding out to Patamon again. "Fine, fine, just make sure to give it back when you're done!"
-Meanwhile-
"Nngh...my head..."
Teresa slowly opened up her eyes, the throbbing in her head causing her vision to adjust a bit slower to the fairly dark surroundings. "The hell...?"
"Teresa? You there?" The sound of Renji's voice prompted Teresa to quickly look around, finally noticing the shinigami in a different cage. "Oh, good, you're awake."
The dragoness gave a slight nod, looking around and murmuring, "Where's Don Patch?" She glanced to the other side of the room, finding another cage with the aforementioned orange blob inside; currently wearing an animal muzzle, a pair of cat ears, and paws on his hands and feet. He constantly pawed at the bars of his cage, giving off an occasional purr and causing Teresa to frown slightly. "...moving on. Where are we?"
Renji looked around; the metal walls were dark and reddish-colored, with no windows for the group to look outside, and a single door facing all three cages. Despite this, a metallic hum could be heard from all around, causing Renji to murmur, "I think we may be on an airship..."
Teresa blinked in surprise, gripping at her bars and grunting, "Tch...great...how are we supposed to meet with the others now?"
Before any more words could be said, the door opened up, several tiny, round orange figures with docile expressions toting spears entering. Teresa gave a slight blink, Renji uttering rather bluntly, "These are our captors...? I feel a little ashamed..."
The crowd of orange creatures stepped aside, enabling another figure to approach; they were just as tiny and round as the others, wearing a rather intimidating silver mask with glowing yellow eyes piercing through. A cape billowed behind them, wearing gloves with armored spaulders and greaves over their fairly long feet and practically unseeable legs. "You're awake," the figure uttered in an uncharacteristically deep voice.
"Who are you?" Renji shouted, narrowing his gaze and gripping at the bars. "I hope you know how much trouble you're in for capturing a high-ranking member of the Lunar Guild!"
"That won't matter soon," the figure responded, approaching the cage holding Teresa. "My master is going to be turning you over to the Army of Darkness once we land."
Teresa and Renji's eyes widened, though Don Patch continued to extend his hand from in between the bars and experimentally bat at the masked figure keeping them hostage. "You won't get away with this!" Teresa shouted with a frown.
"On the contrary..." the masked figure uttered, snapping his gloved fingers and causing the doors to their cages to open up. The orange creatures stepped at the entrance and beckoned for the trio to step out, the masked figure uttering, "Come, my master wishes to speak to you."
"Shouldn't have done that!" Don Patch abruptly shouted, dropping his cat facade and lunging at the masked figure, fists clenched and wound up. "Prepare for a thrashi-"
Before the orange blob could land an attack, the masked figure speedily flicked his cape about, abruptly vanishing and causing Don Patch to land harmlessly, blinking. "Wha-"
"Too slow." Before anything else could be said, several flashes of crescent-shaped, yellow light flashed about Don Patch, generating a series of cuts as the short figure whizzed past him, a rather intimidating golden blade in hand with several spikes sticking from the sides. Don Patch froze up for a moment before collapsing, trembling as Teresa gave a gasp. "Now unless you wish to end up like him, then I suggest you move."
Renji gave a slight grunt, looking down; his own sword was gone, no doubt in storage by their captors. With no other choice, Teresa and Renji began following the figure out with Don Patch dragged along, passing through the hallways and glancing about; an occasional window would enable them to see the passing sky around them, proving Renji's earlier assumption correct. After the group had went up a stairwell, however, the formerly metallic and dark hallways were replaced by a rather regal background, with a red carpet extending through the halls and several pictures adorning the walls; each of them depicted a rather large and rotund red-robed bird-like figure. Teresa constantly glanced at the excessive amount of pictures, mumbling, "I'm guessing that overgrown bird is your master..."
"He can be a bit self-centered at points..." the masked figure responded, only to pause for a moment before continuing. "...very often."
Renji and Teresa both rolled their eyes in response as the masked figure led them to a pair of rather large doors. They were pushed open, enabling the group to look inside; it was what looked to be a large dining room, with a long table adorned with fancy silverware and many large chairs set up around it. At the very end of the table was the largest chair, where a certain figure was sitting inside. The exact same penguin from the pictures, dressed in a fuzzy, red robe with a similarly colored cap, light blue skin, and yellow-colored robed underneath holding back a rather round and large body. He leaned forward once the door opened, smirking and murmuring, "Well well, who have we here?"
"King Dedede, the prisoners have awakened," the masked figure responded, tossing Don Patch to the ground while Teresa and Renji were pushed forward.
The penguin, Dedede, gave off a rather gruff and hysterical laugh, his beak opening up fairly wide before he spoke again. "Great job, Meta Knight! Good to know you can actually follow directions!"
The masked figure, Meta Knight, simply gave a slight bow, Dedede repeatedly patting a hand against the table. "C'mere you guys, we're gettin' ready for lunch!"
Teresa and Renji looked up with a surprised blink. "Lunch?" Don Patch echoed, spontaneously sitting up with a surprised expression.
"You heard me, lunch!" King Dedede echoed, beckoning them forward with a smirk. "I'll bet those Army guys aren't gonna give you three square meals a day, so you'd better be thankful I'm doing this for ya!"
This only prompted the dragoness and shinigami to frown, the latter uttering, "You're not going to get away with this, Dedede. We're going to escape, and then you're going to pay for this crime."
Dedede gave off a less audible laugh, smirking widely and leaning forth a bit more, resting his head on his gloved hand and resting his elbow on the table. "I don't think so. Listen kid, you're in the custody of King Dedede...and you're not leavin' until I say so."