Welcome dear readers! Welcome to another chapter! Now, questions will be answered!
Will Cameron be freed from the grasp of the Dark Lord?
WILL the party be strong enough to defeat him here and now?
WILL WE FINALLY REACH THE END OF THE DEMO?
WILL WE LEARN WHAT CHARACTERS WILL PLAY THE ROYAL COURT OF GREENHORNE CASTLE?!
It's all happening… right now!
(Sorry 'bout the long intro, I felt like doing something different.)
Chapter 7: Polka-Dot Squad Unite!
=Music: Dark Lord's Theme=
I was completely frozen in place, and for no small reason. Chara's massive hand was holding me tightly, easily lifting me as though I was a small toy.
Chara seemed to laugh at my fear, then turned to look back at the others. "Well well well… don't you five just seem to always turn up where I go."
My Mii and the others looked afraid (some less than others, in the case of Purple Guy at least), but nevertheless they all held up their array of weapons and stepped forward. "You! G-give back my look-alike!"
I struggled, but Chara simply had too firm of a hold on me for me to do anymore than wiggle slightly.
Chara glanced down at me. "What, this little man?" he mocked, roughly petting his other hand on my head like I was a cat or something. "I suppose that could be arranged…"
"AFTER THIS!" he shouted, suddenly turning me around so that I could only look at his face. His eyes were yellow, and a dark symbol was appearing over his chest.
I slammed my eyes shut in fear, as my friends called out to me…
=Music Halts for a moment…=
A second passed, then two.
Then the Dark Lord released me, and I felt a good ten/twenty feet onto the hard, cold ground.
My Mii rushed to my aid. "M-my look-alike! Are you alright?"
I slowly shook my head to orientate myself, then looked back.
My friends looked rather concerned but… oddly enough, I felt okay.
More than okay, actually. I felt… lighter.
A bit more… upbeat.
"W-what… happened?" I asked, slowly standing back up, a little shaky.
The Dark Lord grumbled something behind me.
In his hand was… something.
I say that because it was a shapeless blob of some kind, like pure energy, dark black in color and constantly changing shape.
"What is this?" the Dark Lord murmured. "This isn't your face!"
He threw the strange energy down at the ground below him, where it simply… sat there. Shifting.
=Music: Dark Lord's Theme continues=
Nevertheless, he looked back down at our group, seemingly unimpressed. "Well, no matter. Although you bugs would be easy to crush, it's not worth my time."
He waved his hands, and summoned another faceless monster. This one had light blue skin, much like the Banshee's we fought not that long ago, with a pompadour hairstyle just like the Dark Lord's. Matter of fact, the more I looked at it, the more and more it started looking like a mini Dark Lord. The robe it wore was dark blue, and it held a trident as a weapon.
A face floated down from the sky, which I quickly recognized as Meloetta's face, the last one we needed to find from Greenhorne.
The Dark Lord looked quite interested in the castle in the distance. "That lump of brick and mortar is Greenhorne castle, if I'm not wrong? And that useless lump of a king… let's just say there's something special in store for his future! Muahahahaha!"
With that, he flew off, cackling to himself.
Leaving us with a small creature with a trident facing us, Meloetta's face quickly floating around the creature, beginning to fuse together.
"Let's do this!" my Mii shouted, hefting up his pan. The others followed suit with their own weapons.
=Music: Boss Battle=
The newly created Imp Meloetta hefted up the trident and glared at us, seemingly daring us to make a move. Four Apple Jellies also crawled in on top of that, making the problem grow much bigger.
The Apple Jellies quickly darted forward and slammed into each of my friends once, thankfully only dealing minor damage to each. Purple Guy and Susie both retaliated, each taking on some of the slimes and defeating two of them.
I directed my Mii around to have him slam into the Imp, doing fair damage, though I could already see that the boss monster wasn't anywhere close to falling yet.
The Imp then hefted up it's trident, and then dashed forward an a rather fast speed, slamming into Purple Guy hard.
As if that wasn't enough, it suddenly started swirling it's weapon towards the ground, creating a large, swirling dark circle there.
"What's it…?" I started to ask, just before it slammed the thing into the ground in the middle of the dark circle.
A lava orange version of the trident suddenly sprung from the ground, right beneath my Mii's feet, damaging him quite a bit.
"O-ow." he murmured, standing back up. "That hurt."
Thankfully, in the next few turns the remaining Jellies were defeated before they could do anymore damage, and my Mii was healed back up, but then the Imp had another turn.
It, again, stabbed it's trident through the ground, but then, when I thought it was about to attack again, it instead… smiled.
That smile… unnerved me, to say the least.
Then, it started waving it's trident in the air. Dark runes started appearing, surrounding a large circle, and just when the shape was complete, it slashed it's trident through it, pointing it directly at Susie.
For a second, she looked fine.
Then, a darkened aura started forming around her. She leaned over in a crouched position, her mouth becoming twisted into an evil sort of grin, and her eyes… they turned dark as midnight, except for her irises, which were now a bloody crimson.
"S-Susie!" I shouted, stunned. "W-what happened to you?!"
All that Susie gave in response was a small, plotting cackle.
"Well, that definitely seems like something we should send you to the Safe Spot for…" I murmured, just about to press the button to send Susie to the back for a minute.
But then, suddenly, something grabbed me by the shirt and pulled me backwards, knocking the wind out of me and nearly making me drop my system on the ground.
I looked up, stunned, to see Susie there, giggling at my stunned face.
"What the HELL?!" I yelled, standing back up. "What was that for?!"
This was not the Susie we knew, at was for sure. She returned to her normal spot, still cackling, and didn't even move when her turn rolled around.
Purple Guy was able to attack on his turn, a relief, but when my Mii tried to make food so that Brave could heal up a little, Susie quickly swiped her staff upwards underneath his pan, basically sending all the under-cooked food off the edge of the castle.
"HEY! That was perfectly good food!" My Mii yelled, looking miffed at Susie.
"Okay, that's it!" I yelled, quickly tapping the button and getting Susie in the Safe Spot before she could cause anymore damage. "You're staying back here until you calm down."
After that was done, I returned to the fight, making sure to heal everyone as best I could with my HP Sprinkles, as one of our healers was currently out of commission.
After a few blows back and forth were exchanged, I glanced back, and just in time. The darkened aura around Susie seemed to be disappearing, and her eyes were reverting to the normal color.
She looked… upset. At herself, I'd imagine.
I quickly ran over to her, asking, "You feeling better now?"
"I… y-yes…" she stammered, slowly standing back up and holding her staff up.
"Good. Let's get back out there." I goaded, getting her back into the fray.
The Imp, now heavily damaged but not beaten yet, once again attacked and then summoned another evil rune, this time aimed directly at my Mii.
I braced for it, as I expected him to be taken over by the evil attack, but…
My 3DS beeped, and I looked down to see, 'First Laid-Back Quirk!' and then 'Nah…'
He lazily closed his eyes, and then shook his head in a bored fashion.
"Did… did you really just 'dismiss' the status effect?" I asked, half-confused and half-impressed.
"Yeah. I didn't really feel like turning evil right now, so… I didn't." my Mii explained, shrugging gently.
I could only give him a slow clap. "Bravo. Just… just amazing."
The fight soon ended, with a combo from Brave and Purple Guy, followed up by my Mii giving off one last Flambé, and then it fell to the ground, defeated.
=Music Fades Away=
I braced myself as I aimed my system at the fallen Imp, and almost fell flat on my face at the sudden force of the whirling data lines. My friends quickly jumped behind me and pulled with all their might, and we slowly brought the Imp closer, and closer, and closer, until-
POP!
"Thank you, dear!" the face cheered at us, before flying away.
And we all fell over on our rumps.
=Music: The Spoils of War=
"Whew… that… was… certainly a fight…" my Mii panted.
"No kidding…" Purple Guy agreed. "Even I had some worries growing there."
We all sat for a moment, letting ourselves catch our breath from the fight.
I glanced over behind me, at the spot where Chara had been only minutes before. "Welp… guess he's not gonna be an easy catch, what with all that teleporting he does…"
=Music Fades Out=
I turned back around to see… all of my friends looking at me. Concerned.
"...what?" I asked. "Is something on my face?"
"No… but that's what we're worried about." Brave hesitantly explained.
"How… how did you not get your face swiped, kid?" Purple Guy asked me, for one looking rather worried.
I stared at the ground, scratching the ground. "I… I don't know. Maybe… maybe cause I'm not a Mii…? But…"
Then, I realized something, and turned back around.
Nothing. I saw nothing. Just an empty castle wall and a gentle breeze
That was the problem.
"When… when he did try… didn't he… I dunno, take some sort of… dark thing… off of me?" I asked, standing back up.
The others gave it a moment of thought, before Susie spoke up. "Um… yeah, I… I think so. Some kind of… black, shapeless energy blob?"
"Yeah, that. What happened to that?" I asked, again looking around.
There was no sign of the strange energy that Chara had pulled off of me. It… was simply gone.
Somehow, that unnerved me. "What… what even WAS that?"
"Do you… I dunno, feel any different?" my Mii asked.
I thought about that for a moment. "Actually… I kinda do feel… a bit lighter. As though… something that was worrying me was lifted off me. Though I don't imagine what… but even so, I… I feel a tad more energetic than normal." I explained gently.
I hadn't noticed it in the chaos of the fight, but now that the air was calm again, I… I felt as though I was suddenly lifted of some unknown burden. That… dark energy, whatever it was, must've been some kind physical representation of that. I dunno.
"But… you don't feel, like, wrong, or anything?" Brave asked.
I shook my head. "No. I feel fine."
The others seemed to be put at a bit more ease at that, though I think they were also thinking about the sudden disappearance of the black energy.
Regardless, the others stood up with me, and after I made sure to grab our new snacks (more Slime Jelly and a rather tempting slice of chocolate cake, with chocolate filling and chocolate icing and chocolate batter and- you get the idea) and gold, we headed back on our way.
=Music: Stage: Subterranean=
Though… I noticed it just as we entered the cave. The other three were much further ahead, talking and singing and enjoying the trip.
But Susie… she was lagging pretty far behind. Her eyes were looking downwards at the ground, and she seemed… very upset.
I slowed down to match her pace, and told her, "The others are getting pretty far away. Shouldn't you keep up?"
Susie looked up at my face, held eye contact for but a second, and almost started looking like she was about to cry.
She charged forward much faster than I anticipated, almost barreling through the other three, her sleeve covering her eyes as she ran.
=Music Fades Away=
I jogged over the others just in time for my Mii to ask, "What happened?"
"I… I don't know. I just asked her if she noticed you guys were going faster than she was. She took one look at me and just about burst into tears."
"We'd better follow after! She won't last long in this cave by herself!" Brave intoned.
She had a point. Susie wasn't very strong physically. One strong hit and she could be in very serious trouble.
The four of us jogged after her, listening to the sound of her quiet sobs.
We found her curled up in a small corner, making small sobbing sounds. I held my hand up to the others, in a 'wait' motion, and slowly approached the Cleric.
"Susie…?" I asked gently placing a hand on her shoulder.
She looked over at me, slowly. "O-oh… C-Cameron's look-alike… you came for me…"
"O-of course I would! You ran off, about to cry, in this dangerous place all by yourself. 'Course I'd be worried." I softly explained to her, gently rubbing her shoulder.
=Music: Zonked…=
Susie sniffed gently. "I… I thought… that you hated me…"
THAT one took me off guard. "Hated yo- since when have I EVER made any sort of motion that would make you think-"
"I… the… evil…" Susie slowly murmured. "The… the time when I was evil… remember…?"
I recalled. "Oh… when you… kinda stopped me from being able to make you heal…"
"A-and… when I tripped up Cameron, I… I felt so proud, HAPPY about it, even. But… now, I can't help but remember the looks you both gave me, the annoyance, the shock, the… hate…"
Susie slowly broke down again, head resting on her knees while making gentle sobbing sounds.
My heart literally melted at the sight, and I just about started crying myself. She… she really believed that we hated her now because of all that?
"Susie… that wasn't you." I, rather forcefully, explained, pulling her up gently by the shoulders so she would look at me. "You were… possessed by something. That wasn't the Kind Susie we know and care about. Okay? I promise, I don't hate you. And I'm willing to bet all our gold and snacks that my Mii doesn't either."
Susie sniffled for a second, then looked back up at me, her eyes… shiny. "You… you promise?"
"I promise." I agreed, giving her a soft smile.
Susie took a deep breath, then…
Suddenly, she clamped around me, in the tightest hug I've ever felt her give me up to that point. "Th-thank you… I… thank you…"
=Music: Forgiven, then Subterranean=
"N-no problem…" I choked out. "N-now… maybe consider letting me breathe a little..?"
Susie quickly let go, but she looked LOADS better now.
She quietly stood back up and headed back towards our friends, who had taken to simply leaning against a wall and talking quietly amongst themselves.
"Um… sorry… about that." Susie quietly apologized, getting the attention of the others.
"You alright?" Brave asked, gazing at Susie, concerned.
"Y-yeah… I'm fine." Susie replied, offering a small smile.
Although some of group didn't seem too convinced, they all nevertheless accepted the answer and headed onward.
My Mii and Susie ended up walking together, leading the path while Brave and Purple Guy talked a bit further back.
"Um… Cameron…?" Susie quietly spoke up.
My Mii looked over.
"I… I'm sorry. About… being mean." Susie apologized.
Cameron gave a small smile. "Wasn't your fault. Nothing you need to apologize for."
"I still feel… bad though…" Susie murmured.
My Mii gave the green-haired girl a pat on the head. "Don't be. You weren't yourself. If it makes you feel better… I forgive you."
I was somewhat amazed at both how sincere and nonchalant that response sounded. Susie must've been thankful either way, because she smiled a heck of a lot wider than before.
The trip back to Greenhorne was uneventful, save for a few monster attacks, but by that point we were getting pretty good at this whole fighting thing.
=Music: A Troubled Town=
As soon as we stopped in Greenhorne, our first stop was the armor shop again, seeing as we had a fair cache of gold now ready for spending.
Everyone but my Mii got an upgraded weapon (made sense, seeing as he had already got a new weapon not long ago). Susie got a staff shaped and colored more like a lollipop than a typical staff. Brave got a mic that resembled an ice-cream cone ("what's with the food weapons?" I asked.), and Purple Guy got a rather fancy looking dagger made out of ceramic material. I didn't know at the time how well it'd hold up hitting enemies, but I wasn't going to judge.
I stepped out for a moment. I told the others I was going to give the remaining people their faces back, and told them to get some better armor.
=Music: Put a Smile on Your Face=
Meloetta looked simply overjoyed now that her face was back on. "Oh, heavens! That feels SO much better!"
She smiled at me. "Thank you ever so much deary! I need to smile more, make up for lost time! Here, you have these. I made them to enjoy earlier, but you deserve them far more than me."
She slid my way three bowls of stew in… rather spiky bowls, black with silver spikes poking out the sides. "Erm… how does one… touch the bowl…?"
"It's better not to, honestly." Meloetta responded. "You might want this…"
She handed me a glove, to which I carefully used to place each bowl in my bag. I was just hoping and praying that I wouldn't look in there later to see each bowl had spilled out everywhere.
Gastly also had his face restored as I approached, and he looked somewhat impressed. "Whoa, my face! I got mixed up with a bad-un… you helped me… huh, guess you're not a bad sort."
He seemed to mull over something for a second, before reaching into his pocket. "...fine, I guess you deserve something. Here."
He… he tossed me ten gold.
TEN.
GOLD.
"Gee." I muttered darkly. "Thanks."
I shoved the gold into my pocket and brushed past him, taking a deep breath to calm myself.
That's when I looked up.
=Music: Greenhorne=
The clouds that had been hanging over Greenhorne this whole time were disappearing, giving way to a clear, sunny sky. The Dark Lord no longer had influence here as all the faces were returned, I suppose.
"Wow, look at the sky!" a voice belonging to Brave spoke up behind me.
"Oh, hey guys. Get some new armor?" I asked, turning around. "Just returned the last fa-"
I stopped as I looked at each of them. They all looked at me back. "What?" my Mii asked.
I stared at the four of them. "Look at you four. You're matching."
The four of them looked at each other, confused.
Each of them was now wearing a polka-dotted outfit, like Brave was. My Mii's was a salmon-ish pink color, Susie's was the same green as Brave's and Purple Guy's was light purple.
The moment the four of them realized it, each of them gave a different reaction. My Mii sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, Susie blushed a little and smiled broadly, Brave started doing a happy dance, and Purple Guy… he facepalmed and gave a big sigh.
"You're like the Polka-Dot Squad now." I snickered.
"Do NOT call us that." Purple Guy warned.
"POLKA-DOT SQUAD, AWAY!" Brave cheered loudly, skipping ahead towards the exit.
Purple Guy facepalmed again.
As we approached the exit, me continuing to snicker at my friend's clothes, Mayor Ash waylaid us in surprise. "Wait, when did everything go back to normal?"
"Just now. We got all the faces back." I responded.
"Y-you did?! W-well, thank you! But… oh dear, what if the Dark Lord plans to attack again? W-we aren't prepared for something like that to happen again…" Ash explained worriedly.
He bowed his head for a moment, then looked up, an idea having struck him. "Oh! Adventurers! Please, I hate to ask more of you, but I need you to speak to our King. He needs to be made aware of the terror of the Dark Lord, and we need guards here just in case he comes back."
"We would…" my Mii started to say.
"But there's a guard in the way." Susie finished.
Ash thought about that for only a second. "Then here. Give me just one second…"
He dashed inside what I assumed to be his house, and spent a minute in there before coming back, a scroll in his hand. "If the guard give you trouble, just show him this. It's an introduction letter, and it will let you have free pass to and from the castle."
I took the letter, clutching it in loosely in my fist. "Thanks."
"Please, I beg you to hurry. Who knows what the Dark Lord has planned next…" Mayor Ash begged.
The five of us agreed, and we quickly headed off towards the castle.
=Music: Stage: Castle View=
Just like both my map and my Mii had explained, a large gate surrounded by tall green bricks separated the Easin Hills from Greenhorne Castle. A guard stood at attention, who my 3DS quickly identified as Serious Soldier Obama.
(Notice: Any person in the story that bears similarities to other persons, real or fictional, is purely coincidental. Please don't sue me.)
'Dear lord… this is starting to get ridiculous, these Mii's…' I quietly thought, as we approached him.
He stopped us just as we reached him. "You stand before the entrance gates to Greenhorne Castle. What business do you have here?"
"We need to speak with the King. It's urgent." I explained, my friends nodding behind me.
"I'm sorry, but traveller's aren't allowed in without permission." Obama denied.
I presented the scroll to the guard. "We do. From Mayor Ash."
Obama took the scroll and read it. Extremely slowly. It was a good twenty minutes before he spoke again, in which my friends and I weren't even sure he was even aware we were there anymore.
"Looks right to me." the soldier finally spoke up, rousing us from a game of Miijack (fancier name for Blackjack) Purple Guy set up fifteen minutes ago. "You five are free to go. Cause no trouble."
We quickly went past him as he opened the gates. The area now was very similar to the previous time we saw the castle: green brick path, with some land in a valley below us. We quickly walked along the path, sighing once out of earshot. "Well, that was something…"
"Man, I was about to win again…" Purple Guy lightly complained. "Oh well. Least we have free access now…"
"I just hope we don't run into any monsters here." Susie murmured quietly, looking back and forth as we walked across the brick pathway.
"We're literally on the castle doorstep." My Mii pointed out. "How would monsters even get up here?"
"Maybe like those?" Brave asked.
I looked ahead. A small horde of Cumulus were floating down onto the castle wall, looking like they were trying to stack themselves on top of each other.
"Well… I mean, they can fly, so I guess they have an excuse…" I mumbled.
Purple Guy huffed. "Let's just take care of them. Not much of an alternative."
The others all nodded, and we all charged forward and engaged in a battle.
The next twenty minutes were spent with us making our way along the path, occasionally fighting the few enemies that managed to get up here. At one point Banshee even floated up the castle wall next us, with five Apple Jellies happily clinging to the creature, with Banshee looking almost annoyed by the Jellies.
Even so, the castle continued to grow closer and closer the further along we go. "Wow… I've never seen Greenhorne Castle this close…!" my Mii breathed, looking amazed.
"You're telling me. I've NEVER seen any castle this close before!" I told him, looking up in awe at the bleached white castle walls, with the Greenhorne flag flying high above on the towers.
"You think… there's a princess inside?" Susie asked, almost wistfully.
"Nah, I doubt it." I snickered. "Princesses are always in another castle."
Even Purple Guy gave a good chuckle at that joke, and my Mii gave me a high-five. "Good one."
We all continued along the way, and before long we hit the entrance of the castle.
The massive wooden doors opened up when we approached. My eyes widened as I got my first look at the interior of the grand castle.
=Music: Greenhorne Castle=
The walls were all a rather lovely creamish-orange color, or maybe that was just the effects of the humongous golden chandeliers that hung high above on the ceiling, with a nearly uncountable amount of lit candles on each one. Smaller candelabras, also golden, lined each side of the path, following a grand red carpet with ornate detailing on the edges. The walls were decorated with grand pillars with golden designs, and banners with the Greenhorne symbol hung between each one.
As the five of use walked along the path, we couldn't help but look around at all the rather amazing palace. As we continued further along, we spotted two guards, one being Serious Soldier Obama, and the other being someone called Lax Soldier DanTDM.
They both stood in front of a door, and I could see the other four next to me grow more nervous. The royalty of Greenhorne must be right behind the door.
For some reason, though… I felt no nervousness. Like, at all. The castle, once I got over the grandeur of it all, felt… no different as though I was walking into my house. I couldn't explain why. Maybe it was just because I never had met a group of people so powerful, my mind didn't know how to react?
Regardless, my other friends were bundles of nerves. My Mii kept compulsively straightening his apron and hat, Susie was anxiously smoothing out her sleeves, Brave was walking even more exaggeratedly with bows, dips, and even a courtesy now and again, and even Purple Guy must've been feeling nerves, as he was continually doing things with his hands, like juggling his dagger through his fingers, shuffling the cards he kept in one of his pockets, stuff like that.
We were just about to open the door when Brave suddenly spoke up. "Erm… a-actually, before we go in there, and meet the king… can I go use the little dancer's room?"
The others all piped up with similar notions. I rolled my eyes, and turned towards the Lax Soldier. "'Scuse me, but where's the bathrooms in the castle?"
DanTDM casually pointed down the path towards another hallway, saying, "Down the second hall there, first door on the right."
My friends all made a beeline that way, leaving me to myself. "I'll just wait here then…!" I called out to them as they quickly disappeared behind a corner.
"Your friends seem awfully nervous." DanTDM spoke up, leaning against the wall.
"Well… not everyday they meet royalty, you know?" I responded.
DanTDM let out a snort. "Our king doesn't really have to do much of anything, really… guess that just shows how peaceful Greenhorne really is though, huh?"
I shifted my head to the side in a 'you're right' motion, and leaned against the opposite wall.
That's when I noticed my 3DS giving me a notification. Apparently more faces needed assigning.
I pulled my headphones on fully and looked at the screen. Four roles needed to be assigned apparently. Seeing as I had little better to do, I figured I might as well do it now before my friends return.
The first role to pop up was the King of Greenhorne himself, which surprised me. 'This game really makes it all about the Mii's you create, huh?' I asked myself.
The second role was the Princess, to which I snorted as I remembered my group's previous conversation.
The third was someone new, someone called the Besmirched Noble's Son. It didn't take me long to realize that 'besmirched' wasn't a good thing, but who knows.
And the final role was also new, as the Prince of a Nearby Land. 'Wordy title.' I thought to myself.
It showed me all four characters, but something interesting was being shown as well. Between the King and the Princess, there was an arrow labeled 'Family' between them, and two more arrows, one pointing and the Noble's son and the other at the Prince, with both leading to the Princess again, both were labeled as 'Love.'
"Huh… that's new. And… ooh, a love triangle?" I asked myself. "Well, that certainly seems like something worthy of note."
I started to work, first tapping on the King. The system started thinking for a second, but just as I thought it was gonna show me the character screen…
"Oops! It seems as though this role is already filled." text on the screen read. "Seems like you have to choose someone else."
I squinted. "'The role is already filled?' What does THAT mean?" I asked. I thought that I could customize the King of all people. Who could POSSIBLY already be taking his role?
A similar experience was found when trying to edit the Princess. I started growing concerned. "Am I not allowed to fill any of these roles?"
However, both the Noble's son and the Prince easily allowed me to fill in their roles, for some odd reason.
"Odd… oh well. Guess I can't fight it." I sighed, quickly returning to the Prince's file.
His description read as, 'A prince of Neskdor and the princess's fiancé. Arrogant, but loves his mama.'
The line, 'Loves his mama' was more than enough for me to fill the role with someone. I cast him as Jacksepticeye, or just Jack, popular Youtuber and all around cool dude. "Besides, everyone is a little arrogant in their life. Why not him?" I asked myself, moving on.
The Noble's Son was a bit harder to place. His description was, 'Grew up with the princess, but now rarely gets to see her.'
The role was honestly a bit harder to place down, but eventually I settled with another Youtuber, as to keep with the previous selection of Jack. I settled on Markiplier, or just Mark to keep it simple, simply because A, I needed someone and he was the only one that felt at least somewhat okay, and B, the description kinda reminded me of how I was. I used to watch Markiplier all the time, but now not as much. Don't get me wrong, I still watch him. Just not as much as I used to.
ANNNNYway, once that was done the system accepted the two Mii's (which I just kinda created on the fly, but was actually kinda proud of), and the Royal Court was set.
And just in time too, cause my friends were finally rounding the corner back towards me, looking a tad more relaxed. "Okay, that's done… are we good now?" I asked them.
The four of them nodded, so with me and my Mii taking point, we entered the throne room.
Once inside, a voice immediately greeted us, welcoming us with, "Greetings, travellers."
Then we all tripped and fell flat on our faces, as the king suddenly slammed into the ground.
=Music: The King's Thing
All I could make out of him before I hit the ground was that… he was fat.
Like, I'm not even trying to be rude, he was FAT. Like, gentle giant fat. He even had, from what I could process, a massive leg of turkey or chicken. One of the two.
But I couldn't get a look at his face in time because my face was planted firmly into the ground.
"Oww…" I murmured, rubbing a spot on my head.
"What business have you here?" the king asked me, his voice…
=Music Stops=
Why…
Why was that voice…
So familiar?
I slowly managed to get back onto my feet, and when I looked at his face, I instantly understood.
I… I was staring directly at my own father.
=Music: Got My Eye on You...=
Err, well, the MII version, I should say. That would be even weirder, to see the my real dad's face, wouldn't it?
But in all seriousness, it was the Mii based on my dad, spot on and everything. The large nose, the graying facial hair, the slightly spiky hair… everything.
Suddenly, as I stared at him, he… glitched. Like… an ACTUAL glitch, where… one second, it was the King, staring at us wondering what we were doing in his throne room. The next…
It was my REAL dad. Like, real flesh and everything. He seemed… mildly concerned about what was happening, and was staring directly at me.
Then it returned to the Mii version.
It… it was my Dad.
I fell completely silent, wide eyed at the 'king'.
=Music: The King's Theme=
My Mii, having not seen my expression, took over, quickly saying, "Err, the Dark Lord attacked Greenhorne…?"
He started explaining, and as King… Dad, I guess I should say, listened, he seemed to grow quickly skeptical.
"...and this miscreant stole the people's faces, you say?" he asked, sounding like the story was ridiculous. He took a large bite out of his roast, taking only a few chews to respond to our story.
"Phff! I don't believe it. Such tall tales are the work of jesters and fools, not adventurer's like yourselves. Now please, kindly let us return to-" the King started to respond, but suddenly out of nowhere…
=Music Cuts Out Suddenly=
His face flew right off of his head, leaving me and my four friends watching in surprise.
"H-h-heeeeellllllp!" the face cried out, quickly flying up and away, through the walls and to who knows where.
=Music: Losing Face=
The now faceless king starting waving his arms in panic, looking very distressed even without the face.
"T-the King! We need to save him!" Susie cried out.
My other friends quickly agreed, and we all rushed out.
But… I was far too distracted.
"D… Dad…?" the question I had been meaning to ask, but never had a chance to, finally slipping out in a whisper.
But the words were quickly lost to the sounds of our pounding footsteps as we charged toward the gates, and headed off towards the opposite path away from the castle…
Towards where my Dad's stolen face resided…
…
Huh. Strange how an idea can sound rather silly in my head, but when I put on paper, it actually works out even better than I anticipated.
Anyway, how's that for a chapter. Finally, we are out of the demo of the game an into the real meat of the story! Grab yourself a Royal Roast and a tall pitcher of Tornado Lemonade, we're going in!
(Those are food items in the game, if you didn't get that.)
In the next chapter, we shall see where this interesting development with Cameron's father shall lead!
Will he and his party be able to save the King's face?
WILL the group embrace the power of the Polka-Dot Squad?
WILL THE GROUP BE STRONG ENOUGH TO FACE THE MONSTERS IN THE NEW AREA?
WILL I REALIZE I WRITTEN TOO MANY RHETORICAL QUESTIONS FOR MY OWN GOOD?!
(This was meant to be a joke, but I'm actually finding doing this to be quite funny, personally.)
We shall find out… in the next chapter. Until next time guys…
Stay awesome! =D