(Chapter Five: Next Objective)
A calm sunny day, it was nice. Julia sat outside soaking in as much of sun as she could while she studied her motorbike once more. The Mafia didn't seem to come this far in the neighborhood despite them always walking around- she found that odd. Julia will have to confront the boss today though, might as well make it a surprise!
"So, you drive this thing?" Mu asked, watching Julia kneeled and held a hand over the large scratch that was on the side of the vehicle, "what happened to it?"
Julia had so many things to think about now, with returning to Mafia Town, Rescuing Moon, worrying about when Zephyr will pop up again. She sighed, looking up at her and nodding "Yeah, worked my butt off trying to get a license for this thing; let alone actually pay for it in general." She then stood up and looked out towards the open sea, the view was nice from here "as for what happened, let's just say we.. had a rough landing.."
"Hmm, okay.. well.." Mustache girl taped her chin "whatcha gonna do now?"
"The main objective;" Julia stood up and held one finger "rescue my dad." She held up another finger "sub objective; find transportation to get to Subcon."
"Whoa, wait!" Mu looked at her with stars in her eyes "you came back for a rescue mission!? Aaand you're dad is here?!"
"Well, he's more of an adopted dad-" But Julia nodded "I came back to see my friends and family again, yes." Then the taller girl was lost in thought, there was one major problem to this entire mission. "However, to save my dad, I'll more than likely have to fight something that won't be easily defeated.." even with her current magic, Julia has doubts about fighting Vanessa of all things.
"Well, what are we waiting for! Let's go kick some people!" The hot-headed child yelled, But Julia quickly stopped her by grabbing Mu's hood "hey, what's the big idea?!"
"I appreciate the enthusiasm, but it's a lot harder then you might think.." Julia looked at her, a serious face she wore, but deep down in her eyes somewhere.. there was fear. Replaying the night she lost Moon still haunts her from time to time. "This person I have to fight is a witch of ice, the ex-queen of what used to be of Subcon."
"Who says you have to fight alone, hmm?" Mu held her hands to her hips "I just so happen to be skilled in bombs! Surely that'll come in handy, right?!"
Julia sighed, adjusted her hat, and looked at her with both eyes as she slowly moved her eye patch just so the taller girl could get a better look at her. The red hooded girl gasped quietly "look, sometimes running headfirst into situations you don't know, may not be the best thing;" normally Julia herself never thinks things through to the most part, but this time... "Melody and I were there when I lost my dad, we know what it was like in there with that.. thing."
Mustache girl looked to the ground, all the while Gabriele sat inside next to the door and listened to Julia talk. "That lady, she'll trap you in ice and never let you go; I never pointed it out to Melody, didn't think I needed to.. but throughout her house... there were... people and other things."
"People..? Trapped in ice..?" Mu quietly asked. She almost looked scared, but her brash nature kept it hidden.
Julia nodded, "I don't know if they were still alive, or they all died.. but I know the calamity she brought destroyed her kingdom.."
"What about that bird guy? With the tall hat?" Mustache girl questioned, folding her arms; she was questioning about Gabriele "will he help you?"
Julia went quiet, unsure about what to say; that's something she'll have to ask later... but for now... "I'm gonna go see if I can get some sort of transportation-" Julia pointed up, fixing her eye patch back into place "I'm still a little dizzy after our arrival, so I'm going to leave my bike here for now."
"No way I can travel all the way through the ocean with my walls.." Julia mumbled to herself as she looked back at a disappointed child. She sighed "Look, if you really want to come along and help, you'll need to listen to me, okay?" The older girl folded her arms but was immediately met with a happy smile from Mu.
She wants to be the right hero this time.
"And.. once this is all done and over with.." Julia turned around to plan her course "you can have first dibs at a passenger ride with me."
"Are you serious!?" That made her even more excited, but she tried to calm herself "this is gonna be so awesome!"
"Stay here, and make sure no one touches my bike, okay?" Julia waved as she remembered her way around like it was yesterday.
Mustache girl saluted, keeping a close eye on the scratched up bike. While also watering some flowers Cc had told her to do earlier-
There those two idiots were, standing and shuffling from foot to foot from the music inside, holding signs saying go away and keep out. Over the music they heard the cannon get shot off, someone was on their way. Getting ready to turn away those who don't have a reservation for today, they notice that the person who landed seems oddly familiar-
The two goons looked at each other, one shook his head and the other shrugged. As the person walked up, she stopped when one of the two mafia men held up their hands. "Stop, no entry for today; Mafia boss says mafia need reservation."
"Even if I know the boss man himself?" It was a girl, that voice...
"All mafia know mafia boss, boss is boss." The other said, trying to get a look at the girl's eyes- However the rim of her fedora blocked them.
The girl just smiled, "seriously though, come on guys!" She looked up, green eye gleaming "you're really gonna stop me from getting in and saying hello?"
An angry jar sat on a throne way to big for its size. Its eyes floated about in mush, and a mustache plus nose was glued to the glass. Its large chef hat wobbled as it turned to look at an incoming subordinate.
"Boss, boss!" The Mafia man exclaimed, "Will not believe who is headed this way! She says she's Mafia girl!"
"What!?" The jar yelled, "that is impossible! Who is this impostor, calling themselves this title?!" He turned to the side, looking at a display case with a certain green umbrella that was left behind long ago, "There is only one Mafia Girl, and she is-!"
"Aw, how sweet! I'd hug you if you still had a body!" Julia spoke up, she was spotted at the end of the long red carpet that led her to the large golden chair. "So that's what happened to my old weapon!"
"J-Julia..?" If the jar still had a beating heart, it'd skip a beat from surprise, and a little bit of fear. Was she a ghost? Is this umbrella that was on display haunted?
"The one, and only!" She held her arms out, walking towards him. "In case you were wondering, no- I didn't die, had to clear that up with a few people already. Just take my word for it okay?"
"Is that.. is it really you?" He asked looking at her, she looks totally different than before! "What exactly happened to you?"
"Well, got older, grew my hair out;" she counted off her fingers "got an eye patch, learned how to drive-"
"That is not what I mean!" He shouted, "what happened to you, where did you go!?"
Ah, that temper, she missed that; she smiled at him "I was sent back home, stayed for four years trying to find my way back."
"Four years.. it has really been that long..?" Being in a jar doesn't actually mean you can age any longer, you'd lose track of time or stop counting in total. "This entire time, you were looking for.. a way back?" There was a pause for a moment, then he started to chuckle, the guy looked happy "we must celebrate for this wondrous occasion then!"
Julia held up a hand to stop him, "going to have to call a rain check on that, Jar man. You see..-" the girl folded her arms and looked at him, she was meaning business "I'm on a mission right now, need to get to Subcon; can you lend me a boat and a mafia who can drive?"
Without question, the Mafia Boss surprisingly agreed, probably because of what he'd seen her and the child of time could do; In short, the man respected her "Of course, but we do not have a clear shot to that dreaded forest," The jar said, looking at her "you'd have to ride that blasted bird train to get to it, or you would have to travel a desert on foot."
"Ah, okay-" Julia nodded, she'll get to see the Conductor as well! Maybe she'll go see Grooves when she's done... "Thanks for that info by the way, so any chance I can go now?"
That was it, to meet at the marina on one side of the island, Julia had gathered her friends, Gabriele and surprisingly Mu; she needs to ask what her actual name is later. When she had come back to gather them, the tall girl had immediately walked to the guest room she was staying in and grabbed one of the items she had packed with her.
Securing the bike inside Cooking cat's house after she agreed to make sure nothing will happen to it, the three left with a bag of food, goodbyes, and wishes of safe returns. The item that Julia had come back for was a rather old looking aluminum bat.
The very same bat she had used to win the little league back when she was a small child; twirling the bat around, she nodded. May, or may not have packed the trophy as well- what could she say? That achievement was special to her because Julia had to hide the fact that she was a girl. Where she was from, girls weren't allowed to play, back then.
She and her grandfather had them all fooled. Who would have thought to call herself Julian would be so easy? She chuckled and shook her head as the three approached the marina. The Mafia goons that huddled around this place was as busy as ever. However, one stood out near a boat, they held a sign that said 'Mafia Girl' on it, indicating that this was their guy.
"Lovely.." Mu looked on with a face that told Julia, 'really?', but nobody decided to start a fight. They all hopped aboard the rather small to a medium-sized boat.
"To desert coastline, yes? Mafia will take you.." the guy said, getting behind the wheel, but then stopped "Mafia girl have map? Mafia does not remember way..."
"You got to be kidding.." Mustache girl mumbled as Gabriele shook his head.
Julia took a deep inhale, unsure of this situation; "you don't know how to navigate..?" She let her breath out.
"Mafia has never gone far from Mafia Town in long time." Was his reply
Suddenly, Julia's locket slowly lifted, Gabriele studied this; it pointed in a direction as if it was listening to the girl's thoughts.
"Yes, I see.." Gabriele folded his hands behind his back, "Remember when we were talking about Charms and magic?" Julia looked at him as he talked "Seems like that locket of your is finally charged with the magical energy you generate."
"Well- w..what is it doing?" Julia kept turning around, but it always pointed in the same direction.
"A helpful little thing it is, you now have 'Guidance' when you're lost but you know where you want to go," he pointed out "'Guidance' will help you." He then turned around to look at where it was pointed, and added: "but remembered, you can only use one magic ability at a time.."
Julia understands this, back when she and he were in the rift she needed to free fall for a bit to catch up to Gabriele when he was falling. Then she used her strings to grab him. The tall girl thinks she's got the info down.
"What happens when a charm takes magic in to fast?" Julia was suddenly curious and asked as the Mafia goon started the boat, she needed to stay with him because she was literally a compass now.
"Well, either nothing happens, or magical energy explodes around you, render you in a panicked unstable state.." Gabriele answered, in which that scared her "however, I've never seen that happen before.. so surely it's a rare occasion."
"I have no idea what you guys are talking about," Mu spoke up "but basically you need to be careful, right?"
"In a sense," Gabriele looked down at her "magic is no toy after all."
Mustache girl hunched her shoulders, trying to hide her head.
It was funny, a long while back- Just a few months before Nyakuza Metro was even announced, I planned on giving Julia a basketball bat. So her actual weapon of choice was by complete coincidence!
Who would have thought?