To Pipo Rabbit: 'Eggs benedict' is my take on Plague Knight and Mona's first meeting, thus it happens before anything in-game happened. The only hints I wrote in were Plague Knight still using poison and pestilence potions instead of explosives (his name and official bio HAS to come from somewhere, wouldn't it?) and his reaction when Mona first appears. Talk about love at first smell!
To Spiked Dragon: You just reminded me of something I had thought of before I actually put this up here! Specter Knight didn't even taste a drop of that mystery Liquid Samurai beer thing BUT I did have the foresight to include him pouring a glass to force his personal assistant to drink… I have some cruel things to do. Yes, expect an H is for hangover part.
I'm very sorry if I update infrequently. I do have to transcribe most of what I write from paper into digital text (I'm also sorry for the chickenscratch that is my handwriting and I don't understand most of it anymore). I've got a heavy workload plus the other fanfic I'm trying to make. But I do promise this will not die until I complete it up to Z! You have my knight's word.
.
F is for French.
"Propeller Knight." Polar Knight spoke. "What is the French word for water?"
"Why'd you ask? You never were an icebreaker before." Propeller Knight inquired back.
"My daughter had always asked me that when she was still little." Polar Knight smiled briefly at the thought of his little girl eagerly asking him the question with wide eyes. "She is all grown-up now and I don't think I have ever answered her."
"Ahh, so adorable of you, Father Knight!" He grinned. "Tell her it's 'eau'."
The Nordic warrior's brow furrowed. "What?"
"Eau."
"Eugh?"
"Eau."
"Ooh?"
"I said eau." Propeller Knight internally cursed his own mother tongue. Polar Knight better get this, he thought.
The Stalwart had never given up in the face of doom, but the French language was already toppling his great boulder-like will. He stopped munching on his food and gaped at the Frenchman, brows already knitted together.
"Eau."
"Spell it, Propeller Knight."
"E-A-U."
Polar Knight glowered. "Argh."
.
F is for follower.
"Ahaha!" King Knight happily clapped at the sight of the 'enthusiastic' crowd cheering his name below the balcony. "I have the best followers in the world!"
Propeller Knight scoffed. "Non!I have the best! Now, mon ami,let me show you that Iam superior!" He flew out of the balcony, much to the crowd's awe.
"Well, let me see you!" King Knight challenged.
Propeller Knight only chuckled. He raised his rapier and shouted at the top of his lungs. "Venez à moi!"
"Oui Seigneur!" The crew of the Flying Machine chorused as the entire airship arrived at the castle.
Propeller Knight laughed his annoying laugh, unaware of his friend. King Knight curled his fist and quietly snarled at the flying fencer.
.
F is for flowers of antimony.
Plague Knight leaned his weight on his cane as he tried to stand up from the bed. Since his 'accident' with his own poison, three movements accompanied him as he tried to do the normally easy action of standing up after waking up; a step, a wobble, and either a fall to the floor or another step.
He wobbled, his weak legs almost collapsing and head spinning. He closed his eyes and braced himself for another painful and embarrassing fall to the floor, his tiny hands grasping the cane tightly. But nothing came.
He opened his eyes, and looked downwards. His feet were planted on the floor firmly, and the floor was nowhere near his face. After a stunned moment, he tried shifting his weight from his cane to his feet, wobbling a little bit at times. He held his right hand outwards, balancing himself as he experimented. Plague Knight let out a small chuckle when his legs finally stopped shaking.
"Hey! Mona!" He called out happily. "I have good news!"
Mona appeared by the door a moment later, holding his greenish mask. She squinted a little when he saw Plague Knight standing up on his own, and laughed when he put on a grin and waved his cane around.
"Alright, Plague Knight, don't take risks yet." She sternly said, wagging a finger. "Good job on not falling down. Now sit down."
Plague Knight did as he was told. Mona smiled at him, approached, and carefully put his mask back on his face. Under the safety of the bird mask, his face turned into a deep shade of magenta. She tied the string on the back of his head into a tight knot. He inhaled deeply, and paused. The fragrant smell of flowers, along with something he couldn't describe, assaulted his senses. It was aromatic, a smell he could only describe as close to flower but not quite a flower. He sniffed the air again and tilted his head.
"H-hey, Mona, I smell something… different today." He said, turning his head up to look at Mona. "I actually feel a lot better."
"I found some antimony." She answered.
"Antimony?" He gasped. "Where did you find… antimony?"
"I bribed a weird guy earlier today. Someone who likes sleeping in treasure chests."
Plague Knight's mouth went agape. "Where'd he find this much antimony?"
"I don't know, but at least we have enough to last you a lifetime."
"How did he find medicine-grade antimony?" His words came out of his mouth faster than a shot arrow.
"I think he likes stealing stuff from healers. Best be thankful of the supply we have!" She smiled wide. "You'll live a while longer."
Plague Knight couldn't help but sigh. "Thanks a lot, Mona."
.
F is for fish.
A small fish, orange-gold in color, shimmering in the submarine's light, swam past the sitting pillager on the mountain of gold pieces.
Treasure Knight put his non-anchor hand up and followed the small glimmering fish. It was just as big as half of his pinky finger. He stared silently at it as it seemed to swim around in circles above his hand. He stood up as slowly as he can and looked at the tiny fish through his blurry glass. It was a pretty fish; small, shiny, and seemingly lost.
The longer he looked at the fish, the more it saw it was swimming slightly on its side. It was wobbling, like a fish close to death. He looked around a little before capturing the fish in his hands and going down the gold mountain.
A school of identical fish, all of them larger than his fish, swam by the foot of the gold mountain. There were seven other fish in the area. Treasure Knight gently opened an exit for his little fish to swim through.
The shiny orange fish went through, and swam towards the group of other fish. Treasure Knight watched as it moved, noticing it not swimming with the tightly packed group of seven. The cluster of fish went away while the little one tried to approach. At least one other fish faced the tiny one, but later left with the group. Treasure Knight's shoulders dropped a little.
"You and I," Treasure Knight mumbled, "are the same, right?"
.
F is for find.
Mole Knight, a couple of anthropologists, and a handful of linguists stared silently at the suspicious artwork on a newly-unearthed wall.
A large demonic creature, with green skin, horns, and a flowing black dress overlooked the rest of the scenery. Its large clawed hands were releasing large purple circles towards a mountain. Its sharp teeth were bared, and its jaw was unnaturally opened wide. Dark red painted the monster's lips and chin. Small figures, circles atop triangles with four sticks poking out, were running down the dangerous slopes of the mountain. Much of them were already left behind, lying haphazardly on random places. Most of the figures still up and moving appeared to hold rectangular objects, smaller figures, and well-drawn animals. The others were at the foot of the creature, holding long sticks, fighting larger stick men who defended the monster. The drawing was still dirtied by earth, but the image was clear.
"It looks like… her."A linguist fidgeted. "I don't have to be a linguist to tell..."
"I don't know what to make of this." Mole Knight's shoulders drooped.
"Sire, we're in deep trouble." One of the anthropologists muttered.
"I know. Why are we still looking if I don't know?" He turned around and briskly walked away. "I have to fix this before that," he pointed at the ancient mural, "happens again."
.
F is for forecast.
Lightning suddenly flashed. Thunder roared shortly afterwards. The sound of wood and metal crashing on the floor all at once came next. A bloodcurdling shriek of anger from a certain impatient engineer filled the entire Clockwork Tower, causing Cogslotters to flinch, especially the one nearest to the workshop.
"Always, always, always, thunder and lightning!" Tinker Knight growled as he paced out of his workshop. "When will I ever have better working conditions?"
The Cogslotter near the engineer shrugged. "The Enchantress is to blame, right?"
.
F is for foreshadowing.
The yellow waves were willed too high by the umbrella-holding person. The small man, still determined as ever, started swimming away coolly. The water reached the one with the umbrella before he could react, washing him away in the seawater. He let out a blub and stuck his clawed hand up.
The largest men in the beach squinted at the waves, suddenly surprised that the speck of red in the sky and the yellow tint of the water were no longer there.
.
F is for frog.
"I'm so hungry..." Polar Knight murmured, clutching his aching belly.
Plague Knight quietly slipped a drink in the Stalwart's hands, only to receive it back with a snarl from the Norse warrior.
"I think we're going to die here... of starvation..." King Knight moaned. "Except for him," he pointed at Specter Knight, whose sadistic grin was widening as the clock ticked, "and maybe Plague Knight."
"We all die together, oui?" Propeller Knight lied on his back on the dirty grass, stretching his arms out, his handsome face smeared with earth and sporting all but a smile. He closed his hazel eyes and sighed deeply.
"Why are you doing that? It's... unfashionable!" King Knight shrieked.
"Mon ami,I'm about to die and the chances of getting lai-"
His words were cut short by something wet and squishy suddenly hopping on his chest. He opened his eyes and stared at the thing sitting on him. King Knight screamed louder and jumped backwards, falling on poor Plague Knight, who let out a squawk.
Propeller Knight glared at the thing for a short moment, licking his lips. His mouth gradually stretched into a wide grin, clean and pristine teeth glinting in the light.
"Ribbit." The frog croaked loudly.
The Frenchman started humming a little melody and singing a French song, his hands carefully grabbing the frog. He sat up, frog in hand, and grinned at it.
"Ribbit." The frog said, looking up quite fearlessly and ignorantly at the face of death. "Ribbit."
"MES AMIS IT'S TIME FOR LUNCH!"
.
F is for fraudster.
If there was a time King Knight wasn't dressed as the monarch of Pridemoor, it was a cold night sometime around the start of winter. He was dressed in dark navy garb, a hood and mask covering his face. His scepter was haphazardly wrapped in thick cloth stolen from someone's stash. He crept up to a guard, the last sentry standing between him and his destination. He latched himself to the wall, arms and legs outstretched, as he quietly went up to the unwitting knight. He suddenly dashed towards the now-surprised man, scepter up, and bashed his weapon at the head of his victim.
The sentry yelped quite loudly before the cloth-covered metal connected with the skull. King Knight smartly caught the ragdoll of a knight and silently pulled him into a nearby empty room. The decadent dandy emerged from it, desperately catching his breath as he proudly sauntered to the room he wanted to break into.
King Knight pushed the large door open as gently and as softly as he can. The room was full of boxes and small papers. An impressive pile of paper was in and overflowing from the box labeled 'Specter votes'. King Knight pushed Specter Knight's box away as carefully as he could, revealing a folded out-of-place yellow paper with the Order's names scribbled on it. He picked it up and read the notes on it. It was titled 'Dig the Vote', written in some kind of chickenscratch.
Specter Knight's name was clearly with the most number of votes as indicated by the ridiculous amount of marks beside his name and his intimidatingly towering ballot pile. King Knight actually gasped in shock at the fact that Specter Knight was the dark horse of his team. He glowered at the Apparition's mountainous pile, opting to leave it alone as any tampering with it would either cause the counters to freak out and-or cause the apparition to dismember him, revive him, and be mutilated again while being a mindless skeleton. He sauntered as far as he could from the spook's vote pile, his heart racing at probably-present undead evil eyes watching his every twitch.
The second in place was clearly Propeller Knight, followed by Polar or Plague Knight at third. He glanced over his own name and found that he was in the lower half of the race, with less than halfof the Frenchman's votes. He tore the paper apart, turned around, and moved his French rival's pile to a corner without flammables. He threw the torn ledger and many of Propeller Knight's votes to the corner and then fished out a box of matches from his pocket. He lit a match and carefully set them all on fire.
Up next: G is for German numbers.
Translations and explanations:
Venez à moi! – come to me!
Oui Seigneur! – yes, our Lord!
F is for flowers of antimony: Plague doctors had the bird masks filled with fragrant herbs to ward away miasma or diseased air. Antimony was considered a medicinal element by medieval alchemists and doctors. Yacht Club also did a lot of research for Shovel Knight, and Word of Jake Kaufman states that there's a lot of symbolism in the game. I wouldn't be surprised if I uncover more secrets.
F is for foreshadowing: who is the guy with the umbrella and who is the swimmer? Go back a little…