NEW CHAPTER YADA YADA LET'S GO!
Chapter 8: Greenhorne Accolades
=Music: Strange Grove=
The path to get to where the King's face flew off to was monster filled, even before we got to the second forest.
It seemed as though Dark Lord Chara already anticipated us going to save the King, so he made sure the journey there would be as long and as hard as possible. Monsters came at us often, and though we defeated them fairly quickly, we were slowly losing steam, bit by bit.
But even with all the monsters plaguing the area, I was still quiet. Extremely quiet.
'My… My dad…'
If it was just the Mii version of my dad, that would've been startling enough. But I know that 'glitch,' whatever it was, showed me the real version of my dad. Human, not Mii.
Like the Mii was just a placeholder for the real thing. Or something.
…
'Does… that mean other people ALSO got transformed into Mii's…?' I asked myself.
I thought back to my family. Could it be possible the rest of them were also here, trapped in any of the Mii's I've created?
…
I kept thinking about it over and over…
Until I tripped over a tree root.
"Wah!" I shouted, falling over.
My Mii, who had been walking alongside me, stopped and helped me up. "You okay? I tried to warn you about that, but you didn't hear me."
"Oh… really?" I asked, my cheeks growing hotter. I managed to miss him say something from less than an arm's length away? That's… both impressive and embarrassing.
"Are you okay, though?" my Mii asked me. "You've been spaced out for… ever since we left the castle, like, thirty minutes ago."
"Y-yeah, just… I'm thinking." I murmured.
"About…?" my Mii asked further.
"..." I stayed quiet.
"...complicated stuff?" my Mii guessed.
"You can say that again…" I agreed weakly.
"Well… I won't push, but… just, be more careful. Wandering out here with no idea of what's around you… well, a tree root isn't the worst thing you can run into out here." my Mii reminded me.
I weakly nodded. My Mii appeared satisfied, rushed forward to catch up with the others.
I took a moment to collect myself and then returned to the others, just as we reached another clearing.
Everyone was on edge, seeing how many times we had been attacked already. Purple Guy especially looked on edge, as every little sound that didn't come from us made him pause.
The third time it happened, Brave and Susie both stopped and asked him what he was feeling.
"It sense something's here… something we haven't faced before…" Purple Guy murmured gently, his eyes darting back and forth in a watchful manner.
Then we heard a sound… that seemed to come from below us.
My friends drew their weapons as the sound slowly grew louder and louder, like whatever was under the ground was rising.
Then, the noise stopped, near a large, pink flower bud.
I grew even more wary. "And I'd imagine as soon as I finish speaking…"
Just as the words left my mouth, two shapes popped out of the ground. Two more of those Moles. Those irritating things have been showing up all over the place. It was bad enough they threw stones around, but they also appeared capable enough to dodge my friend's attacks.
My friends groaned. "I thought you said it was something new?" my Mii asked.
"I still feel… something." Purple Guy replied, before shaking his head. "Never mind. Let's just get rid of these things…"
=Music: Battle: Greenhorne=
It was a pain to have to fight TWO Moles, but we had experience. The trick was to try to use things other than normal attacks. It might've just been luck, but I felt as though we missed a LOT less when we used skills and whatnot.
However, just as we almost defeated one of the Moles…
The flower that the creatures were standing on either side of suddenly shifted.
And it sprang up, a pair of Mii eyes being revealed to be on the other side of it.
"Okay, THAT'S new." I responded, staring at the creature. Apparently it was called a Mars Mii Trap.
The stem of the plant stretched out incredibly long. It honed in on Brave, who didn't know what to do.
And before she could even react, the bud of the flower opened wide and, no exaggeration, swallowed her whole.
My friends panicked. "Brave! Are you okay?!"
The bud opened up wide for a moment, as Brave struggled to force her way out. "Not particularly! Spit me out!" she managed to yell, before the bud re-closed around her.
I don't think any of us were particularly keen to learn what would happen if she stayed inside that thing for too long, so our focus turned from the Moles to the Mii Trap.
"Give her back!" my Mii shouted, after I directed him to strike with a Flambé. The hit landed, and I sincerely hoped that Brave didn't feel that.
"It's dark in here!" a muffled Brave yelled out, with the faint sounds of struggling also ringing out.
"We're trying to get you out! Does it hurt?" I yelled back.
"No, but it's weird! It's really hot in here and every time this thing moves it throws me around! THIS IS NOT COOL!" Brave called back.
"At least it's just holding her." Susie offered, while healing Purple Guy. "Could be a lot worse, after all."
I shuddered at the thought.
Fortunately, after another strike from my Mii and Purple Guy, the plant started to look like it was getting sick.
With a gross hacking noise, the plant spat Brave out and then collapsed to the ground, bud wide open.
Brave landed right back in her normal spot in our lineup, looking a bit perturbed and sweaty, but otherwise unharmed. "That was weird." she summed up, wiping off a small bit of plant from her arms.
The rest of the fight wasn't too terrible. I suppose the Moles expected the plant to do most of the heavy lifting for them, because they didn't even dodge the rest of the attacks we threw at them.
=Music: Zonked=
After sucking them back into my system, everyone seemed to be getting lower in spirits.
Brave in particular looked a tad less bouncy than before, so I made a point to talk with her while we rested. "You okay?"
"Yeah… thanks for saving me, by the way." the dancer replied, smiling at me.
"I didn't do anything. All I did was direct my Mii." I replied, sighing.
Brave tilted her head. "Are you… upset?"
"What gave it away?" I sarcastically responded.
Brave looked a bit taken back, so I backpedaled. "S-sorry… just, I feel…"
I sighed again. "Like I'm not pulling my weight. I mean, you guys have been doing all the work, fighting the monsters, leading the group, all that stuff… it kinda makes me feel… like I'm not doing enough."
I rested my head on my knees. It was quiet for a moment.
Then Brave gently rested her hand on my shoulder. "Hey, come on Cameron's look-alike. Don't beat yourself up like that! You've done lots for us. I mean, you keep track of our items for us, you help sort everything, you keep us all focused when we get side-tracked… and I'd hate to think of what would happen if we didn't have you to suck the monsters away!"
She stared me directly in the eyes as she proudly stated, "If it makes you feel better, I'm very happy that you're with us. The group wouldn't feel complete without you."
Not gonna lie: I had to hold back a few choice emotions at those words. I felt my shoulders relaxing and I think I might've started to shake a little. "Th… thanks, Brave… I… I guess I needed that…"
"A little positive encouragement never hurt anyone. So I'll say it again: Thank you for helping us, Cameron's look-alike."
=Music: Strange Grove=
She stood back up, looking more energized now. Admittedly, so was I. I felt… ready to get going again.
I stood up shortly after, getting the group back together. "Okay… so let's see. Where are we now?"
I pulled up the map on my 3DS. We were, of course, in a forest, called Wayward Woods.
"Hmm… I'd imagine that the King's face would be somewhere in here…" I mumbled, scratching the back of my head. "We can either search the long way or… there's a little bit west-ward that seems just as likely. What do we want?"
"It's gonna be sundown in a while. Maybe we should buck down for the night." my Mii responded.
"That would be nice, but I don't know if there's an Inn anywhere close to here." I responded back.
"Don't suppose any of us brought any camping supplies?" Susie asked, looking around.
Four pairs of eyes trained at me and my bag. I didn't even realize it at first since I was too busy fiddling with my 3DS, but when I did I gazed back at each of them. "What?"
"You have the bag of this group." Purple Guy responded. "Don't you have anything in there for camping?"
"I doubt it…" I murmured, rummaging around the bag. "Letter of Introduction… food… my clothes… chargers…"
I turned up a big fat negative. "Nope. Nothing."
The others looked downtrodden at that, but little we could do about that. I mean, a campsite doesn't just fall from the sky.
"Oh ho! Feeling a bit sluggish, are we?" the Guardian asked, my amulet suddenly glowing. "Well, I can tell you right now that there's not an Inn for quite a ways around here."
That didn't exactly help group morale. "Any chance you have some help?" I asked.
"Hmmm… well, actually, maybe… hold on." the Guardian replied, thinking quietly.
We stood there for a good long while. The sky was quickly darkening, and we were starting to get very nervous.
"Aha! I knew I had something. *ahem*" the Guardian finally came back with.
It muttered some words under it's breath, and then suddenly my bag felt a tad heavier. I checked it.
A solid block of canvas was now in my bag, which I pulled out. "Ermm… this doesn't really help much."
"Patience. Just pull on the rope." the Guardian responded.
"The rope?" I asked, looking around. Sure enough a large rope was dangling from the bottom.
My Mii grabbed ahold of the rope and yanked. Nothing happened.
I leaned back while holding the cube, each of us pulling harder. Still nothing.
Susie, Brave, and Purple Guy joined my Mii in pulling the rope as I dug my feet into the ground, pulling with all my might…
And then suddenly I fell backwards with a loud *FOOOM* noise.
And then my view went dark. Whatever happened now left me in total darkness.
"H-hello?" I called out, before feeling the canvas of the exterior. I felt around more until I found an opening and then stepped out.
=Music: A Cozy Campfire=
A tent was now pitched up and ready. And it was BIG. Like you could easily fit at LEAST five people in there, which worked out perfectly for us.
"Yay! I've always wanted to go camping!" Susie happily cheered.
"I'll get a fire going!" my Mii called out, also happy.
In five minutes we had a roaring fire going, and I was handing out snacks we were roasting over the fire.
If any monsters were around, they stayed away because of the fire I suppose. We were all talking and laughing as we exchanged general comradery…
But soon enough we grew tired. "I'm about ready to hit the hay…" my Mii yawned, stretching.
"Umm… but, what if… what if a monster tries to come in the middle of the night?" Susie asked, looking around.
We all looked around with her. While we could see or hear anything at the moment, that didn't mean there were no monsters anywhere.
"I guess someone will have to stay up to keep watch." I mumbled.
We all eyed each other, hoping that someone would speak up for the rest.
Finally the silence was too deafening. "You know what? I'll do it. I don't feel that tired right now." I responded.
A yawn almost ruined that statement, but I suppressed it at the last second. The others asked me if I was sure, but I reaffirmed that I was.
=Music Slowly Silences=
So they all filed into the tent, leaving me all alone next to the still roaring fire. For a good twenty minutes, I sat there, keeping watch while occasionally putting another piece of wood on the fire.
I felt my eyelids grow heavy, as the quiet sounds of the forest, intermingling with the still warm and calming fire, put me… in a very relaxed state.
"Cameron's look-alike?" the quiet voice of Susie called out, coming out of the tent.
I snapped back up to attention, looking over at the tent. Susie was standing just outside it, holding her staff. "O-oh, hey. Something wrong?"
"You… you look tired. Maybe you should get some sleep." Susie offered.
I shook my head. "I'm… I'm fine. You guys need sleep far more than I do."
Susie gazed at me, and then… she sat down next to me, quietly. Not saying anything for a moment.
The air was a bit tense for a moment, before I finally worked up the nerve to ask, "Shouldn't you… be resting so you have energy tomorrow?"
"If you insist on keeping watching… then I'm watching with you." Susie responded, smiling at me. "Whether you want me or not."
I was surprised for a good three seconds, before… I smiled at back.
"Thanks… Susie." I thanked, quietly returning to my watch.
Now that I had someone watching with me, I already felt far more awake. Susie and I had a few conversations throughout the night, and… I dunno, it just… I felt like Susie and I connected easily through this. Almost like we knew each other, somewhere.
(*cough* Totally not from another one of my stories. *cough*)
After a long time, the sky finally grew brighter. Dawn was finally… dawning… I guess.
=Music: Camping's End=
Me and Susie were still awake, having just finished a discussion about the kind of stuff I remembered when things DIDN'T get absolutely crazy.
The other three slowly emerged from the tent, each of them looking well-rested and ready for the day. "Oh, hey guys." my Mii greeted.
"Mornin'." I greeted back, tossing him a Slime Jelly. He seemed to really like the stuff.
"Please tell me we can go camping again soon! I loved sleeping out here!" Brave pleaded with me. "The sounds of nature and the distant crackling of a warm fire… so much fun!"
"I'm sure we will." I agreed, tossing her a tall glass of liquid we grabbed from a defeated Banshee. Despite her basically drinking Banshee Tears, she loved the stuff. Said it had the perfect kick of magic to it, or something along those lines.
Purple Guy stretched, yawning. "Eh… I'm not really a morning person. Took me a few hours to fall asleep…"
"Shouldn't you have taken watch then?" I asked.
"I was just about to when you spoke up." he responded, casually taking the Cotton Candy I gave him. The stuff made him appear quite content.
"Now… how do we go about folding this thing back?" I muttered quietly, staring at the massive tent. No way we would be able to fold this thing back together with no idea how it folded in the first place.
Fortunately, it was far simpler than I thought. All I had to do was collapse the tent pole, and the thing just kinda… folded itself up for me. I had no idea how that worked, but I wasn't about to complain.
Soon enough we made sure the last smoldering ashes were safely put out and spread around, and then we headed off on our merry way once more.
=Music: Strange Grove=
Everyone seemed in much higher spirits now. Even me and Susie, despite that we had got no sleep last night, felt refreshed. It honestly felt like I had taken a large shot of caffeine once morning hit.
And yet, we still had no idea where we were supposed to be going. The forest was still huge, and while we were all much happier, we still didn't have the foggiest idea where to begin.
And that's when we noticed something odd.
A old stone pillar, with a large amount of moss covering parts of it.
We all headed for it. "What do we have here…" my Mii asked.
We looked around. The same type of stone was dotted across the area, be it in more pillars or other small structures, almost like collapsed houses.
"Oooh… the ancient Mii tribes…" Purple Guy breathed.
"Ancient what?" I asked.
"Legend has it that the first Mii people to settle on this island built small stone huts like these, and many of them eventually went on to found the towns dotting the island to this day." the Thief responded. "The Greenhorne tribes in particular were famous for being the ones who popularized the idea of the Guardian."
"I do miss those days, somewhat." the Guardian whispered to me.
"Wow… that's incredible." I breathed. "So these tribes… you don't suppose they had treasure, do you?"
My friends stared at me like I was insane. "What?" I asked.
"You can't just steal from the ancient tribes." Susie told me. "That's invoking some SERIOUS karma on your soul."
I snorted. "Try telling that to the countless explorers in my world."
A few eye rolls were given, but Purple Guy still looked serious. "I'm telling ya kid. The ancients may not be here today, but we still can't just take their gold, assuming they even have any. We should just pass through and get going back on the trail."
"Fiiiinnnne." I groaned. "Just a thought."
We continued on the way. The old stone pillars, coupled with the half-collapsed stone buildings, really made me believe this was once a thriving town.
"If so many people used to live here, where did they even go?" I asked, gazing at one particularly ruined house.
"Some moved into the faster growing towns, I suppose." Purple Guy responded, easily vaulting over a pillar that collapsed. "But I don't know. It's hard to imagine how an entire civilization could simply just disappear like this…"
I kept looking around, and that's when I saw it.
A huge, and I mean HUGE, statue. Sitting on a large stone dias.
"Woah, hold up." I quickly interjected. "Look at THAT."
My friends saw what I was looking at and grew even MORE intrigued. "No way! If that's what I think it is-!" Purple Guy breathed, looking uncharacteristically excited.
We rushed towards the statue. It was easily twice our size. But, at least to me, it looked incomplete. It was clearly supposed to be some kind of statue, given that it had arms and legs. But other than a massive body, there was no head anywhere on the statue.
"It really is. A Golem… these things were everywhere once." Purple Guy breathed, gently running his hand along the rocky hand of the creature.
"Golem? Aren't those living stone statues?" I asked.
"Yes… the ancients were somehow able to enfuse stone with life energy and bring these amazing creatures to life." the thief explained. "I wouldn't be surprised if the ancients used these as a way to help build their houses in the first place, or as a defense mechanism. But to see one nowadays, that's quite rare. Most of them had crumbled due to weather or other events. But this one still looks perfectly preserved."
I suddenly grew incredibly nervous. "You… you don't suppose it'll, like… reanimate or something, do you?"
"Doubtful. The most experienced Mii scientists in the world have studied these things. So far they have yet to reactivate a Golem. Nothing short of a miracle could make these things rise again." Purple Guy reassured.
And then, I felt something all too familiar.
=Music: Prebattle: Imminent Clash=
The feeling of dread, like something bad was about to happen.
A chill ran down my spine. "Oh no… there's something here."
My friends quickly drew their weapons, glaring around the area for any sign of movement.
Then I felt something. Like a presence. Not like the Dark Lord's presence, no… more like a stolen face.
A really strong one, at that. Like the faces that were stolen from the Greenhorne people, those had felt far stronger than the regular enemies with only parts of a Mii face.
But this one… it felt even stronger than all the other faces back at Greenhorne COMBINED.
"I… I think we may have found where the King's face ended up." I mumbled, turning back towards my friends.
And that's when I saw it.
The face of the King. Just behind my friends. The face of my Mii dad.
"GUYS! There it is!" I shouted.
My friends all saw it and tried to jump up to grab it. Purple Guy even clambered up the old Golem, trying to grab at it.
But it evaded, probably not on purpose if I had to guess. "Help the royal face!" it shouted.
It started spinning around, looking for something to possess.
And then I put the dots together. "Oh no…"
My friends all backed up to me, seeing my face grow white. "What? Do you see the monster it's going for?" Brave asked me.
I nodded slowly.
And pointed at the Golem.
Purple Guy started to sweat. "N-no way. Even the Dark Lord can't have enough power to reactivate-"
And then the King's face fused to the stone surface of the Golem.
When the glow faded, it appeared like the Golem was asleep. For maybe half a second, I thought Purple Guy had been right.
And then the stone started moving.
Slowly, it rose up, as the eyes of the stolen King's face opened up and saw us staring in disbelief.
The Dad Golem was alive. And it saw us as intruders.
(And yes, it was called a Dad Golem. The Mii had the nickname of Dad after all, so… sue me.)
With speed I wouldn't have expected from a huge stone creature, it jumped off the stone dias and landed in front of us, crushing the stone ground beneath it into pebbles.
My friends, for the first time… looked scared. We were fighting something far more stronger and tougher than anything else we encountered so far. And I don't know about them… but I suddenly felt incredibly small compared to the Golem.
It didn't attack instantly. It stood just in front of us, making a motion similar to cracking knuckles before leaning to the side, one arm supporting it while the other was raised up in the air. I suppose it was waiting to see what we would do.
"M-meep." I managed.
"Time to run!" my Mii shouted, starting to grab my arm.
"No! We have to fight it!" Susie called out. "The King needs his face back!"
"We can't fight THAT!" I yelled back, gesturing at the creature. "That thing has to be at least twice our strength combined!"
"We can't just leave it like it is! Who knows what'll happen if we run!" Brave shouted back, waving her microphone at the Golem.
"Grr…" my Mii growled, looking at me. "What say you?"
I was quiet for a moment. I was scared, and wanted to run away so badly…
But I kept seeing my Dad's face, staring at me like it knew I was going to be the decider here. I… I had to save my Dad. Even if he was a Mii right now… I'm not about to leave him trapped to that Golem.
"We… we need to fight." I quietly stated, turning towards the rest of my friends. "The King needs us."
My Mii didn't appear to like it, but he sighed and readied his frying pan. "If you say so… but if the going gets tough, I'm running."
"Fair enough." I nodded. "Then let's do this!"
And just like that, we charged.
=Music: Boss Battle II=
Susie quickly darted forward, slamming her staff into the Dad Golem as hard as she could. But beyond a slight recoil, the Golem didn't look too bothered.
Purple Guy also tried attacking, but his weapon was made more for cutting and stabbing as opposed to blunt force. It didn't do a ton of damage either.
The Dad Golem then stomped the ground, and quickly stepped forward towards my Mii. He charged up a punch, and slammed it's fist into the chef as hard as possible.
Thankfully my Mii wasn't slacking in the defense department, so the blow wasn't TOO heavily. But it was still a hard blow, forcing my Mii to take a knee for a second. "OW. THAT HURT." he loudly complained, as if we needed to know.
And then the Dad Golem jumped up and landed right in front of Purple Guy, throwing a punch at him once it landed. Purple Guy took the blow, taking a knee as well. He wasn't nearly as defensive as my Mii, so the blow did a lot more damage.
"Urgh… Golems were known for being strong…" Purple Guy groaned, getting back up to his feet.
"Sit tight guys! I got this!" Brave cheered. My 3DS beeped as she jumped forward, mic in hand.
'New Skill! Out of Tune!' the system said. "Out of Tune…?" I murmured.
"Golem, please don't bother us right NOOOOOOOW!" Brave sang, her voice going all over the place on the final word. Not to mention that the mic seemed to be amplifying her voice. I covered my ears in pain, and I saw the rest of my friends do the same. They seemed to be getting damaged by the horrendous singing.
But so did the Golem. It recoiled, disoriented as Brave finally stopped the sound.
"Ow! What was that?!" I yelled, half-deaf.
"I figured singing badly would damage it." Brave replied, shrugging. "I didn't think it'd hurt you guys too."
"WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU." Susie half-shouted, rubbing the sides of her head.
Her staff flared yellow, and the runes appeared around her as she healed Purple Guy while still being unable to hear much. Hell, I had covered my ears much earlier than they had, and mine were STILL ringing.
At least the Golem had taken a good hit from it, much more than the rest of us had. After I healed everyone with my sprinkles and a few more blows were exchanged, my friends all looked more or less recovered.
Purple Guy had laid down a trap before, which worked in our favor as the Dad Golem targeted him once more.
But just as the stone monster was about to attack again…
'First Laid-back Quirk!' my 3DS warned. 'Hide.'
"Hide?" I whispered, before seeing my Mii stretch in his typical Laid-back manner.
And then he dashed over to Purple Guy, peeking out from behind him. "Looks kinda sketchy out there…" he murmured, watching the Dad Golem.
And then the monster came and slammed into Purple Guy once again, with no protection.
"Oh, thanks buddy!" my Mii casually thanked, returning to his normal spot.
"You absolute jerk." I breathed, staring at my Mii in disbelief. Why had he done that?
Purple Guy looked irritated at my Mii too. "Cameron, what the hell?" he swore, and once again, I saw one of those little blue scribbles appear, this time over Purple Guy.
'That can't be good…' I thought, deciding that my Mii should use his turn to heal Purple Guy.
And then my 3DS beeped AGAIN, with another Laid-back quirk. 'Slack-off…'
My Mii stretched again, and then whistled quietly.
He still made food, but… somehow, it didn't look as good as normal. That's when I noticed he hadn't used as much MP as normal.
He handed the food to Purple Guy, but… the effect wasn't NEARLY as strong. Only about half of what the food normally healed.
"Oh, great. So you cause him to get damaged, and then you don't even heal him normally." I groaned, facepalming.
My Mii only offered me a shrug.
Maybe the Dad Golem could sense that my Mii was being lazy, because it tried to attack him twice in a row. The first strike connected, but just before the second, while my Mii was distracted by dusting himself off…
'First Assist! Warning!' my 3DS called out.
The yellow line appeared again, this time between my Mii and Brave. "Cameron, look out!" the dancer yelled hurriedly.
My Mii looked up in surprise just in time to see the Dad Golem pull it's fist back.
As quick as he could, the chef rolled out the way, just missing the punch by a hair. "Thanks for that!" my Mii called out, looking surprised but grateful.
The interpersonal relations between my friends were growing with each friendly action. I just now was starting to notice just how much they were trusting each other. My Mii and Susie were at level four with each other, and Brave was at level three with Purple Guy. Everyone else had a level two relationship with the others.
The effects of this became apparent when they all started Showing Off for one another, doing even more damage to the Dad Golem than they had normally. I started looking hopeful. A large chunk of the Golem had chipped off, and more cracks were showing on the tough body.
Yet even so, the Dad Golem was beating us down too. Many parts of my friends clothes had been torn up a fair bit, and everyone had many cuts and bruises forming very quickly.
Purple Guy was doing his best, but he didn't have the best defense compared to the others. Another untimely strike from the Golem, now attacking as savagely as it could, sent him past his limits.
His body bruised and beaten, all he could mutter was a "Humph…" as he passed out.
I panicked and grabbed my sprinkles again, but before I could…
'New Skill!' my 3DS beeped, and then, 'Resurrection!'
I looked over at my friends, and Susie had her staff held high. The golden runes were collecting around her even more than they typically did, and once they reached their peak she shouted out "Resurrection!"
The runes gathered around the unconscious body of Purple Guy. They flashed on his skin, as many of his bruises faded and cuts sealed.
And just like that, he jumped up, looking at Susie with grateful eyes. "I owe you one." he thanked, dusting off his body.
I followed up by showering HP Sprinkles on him. I noticed that the jar was becoming bigger as we kept going, holding more and more sprinkles. We had at least double the amount we started with at this point, and I felt like we weren't even CLOSE to full capacity.
The Dad Golem was now looking EXTREMELY damaged, and it seemed upset that Susie had a reviving move. It refocused it's attacks towards her, trying to take her out as quickly as possible to hopefully end the rest of us.
By the time it ended both attacks, Susie had only a SLIVER of health remaining. She looked like she was about to pass out.
And then my 3DS beeped, as a new assist ability triggered. 'Concern!'
My Mii glanced over at Susie, genuinely concerned for her. "You okay?" he asked, helping her up.
Susie's eyes grew big and watery. "Cameron…" she breathed.
The duo's friendship appeared to grow even further from that little exchange. She healed herself next turn, but right as I was about to direct my Mii to finish the fight off…
"My look-alike!" my Mii called out.
I glanced up. The Golem was staring right at me, with it's fist pulled back.
=Record Scratch=
I had just enough time to swear ('OH SHI-') in my head before the fist crashed directly into me with the force of a hundred trucks. I didn't even need to hear them crack to know a few ribs were now broken, and who knows what else.
Naturally, I was hit with enough force to put me out cold. I could barely feel my heartbeat through my dulling senses, that's how much the blow hurt me.
I… I was feeling like I was sinking into the depths...
And that's when the golden light saved me.
It brushed me off, fixed my glasses, and restored my body. Cuts and bruises closed and healed. My ribs were being put back together. Everything was healing and fixing itself…
And then I opened my eyes and sat up straight, gasping for air.
Susie and the others were all crowded around me, each of them with identical expressions of concern. Behind them, much further than where we were now, laid the crumbled form of the Dad Golem, eyes closed and all parts of its arms and leg having fallen off.
"Are you okay? You were hit pretty hard…" Susie asked, lowering her staff with an expression of absolute worry.
"Eurgh… y-yeah… I-I'm okay now, at least…" I grunted, tenderly feeling my chest. Everything felt fine, albeit some soreness. "That… was NOT fun."
"I think your entire health was wiped out in one shot." my Mii explained, holding out a plate of food to me.
'I suppose I'd have the same kind of life system as them, huh…' I mused internally.
"But HOLY WOW, Cameron! How'd you DO that?" Brave shouted, looking directly at my Mii.
I looked at each of my friends. "What? What did he do?"
"When you were thrown back, he stared at you for a second, and… I saw that he was… angry." Susie explained, looking at my Mii. "He didn't even hesitate. He ran forward and slammed his weapon into the thing with enough force to completely knock the body from the arms."
My Mii shrugged. "I didn't like that he attacked my buddy, so I acted." my Mii explained calmly.
"You did nearly TWICE, if not THREE TIMES as much damage than normal." Purple Guy responded.
My Mii only shrugged again.
That's when I finally noticed my 3DS beeping harder and harder, trying to get me to remove the defeated monster before us.
Slowly I stood up and started moving for the Dad Golem. "C-c'mon… we'd better get this out of the way.
I aimed and braced myself, feeling the now-familiar tugging sensation the system gave me. My friends helped pull back with me as the Dad Golem slowly, ever so slowly, was pulled towards us…
And then with a loud *POP*, it was back where it belonged.
The face of the King, Dad, was now floating in front of us with a happy expression. "Good show!"
It flew off, headed towards Greenhorne Castle.
=Music: The Spoils of Victory=
"We… we did it." I murmured, seeing the face fly away.
"We did do it, didn't we?" my Mii added, almost sounding like he didn't think we could handle it.
"YAY! ANOTHER WIN FOR THE POLKA-DOT SQUAD!" Brave shouted loudly, starting to sing a little ditty to herself.
"Ugh… that name is so dumb." Purple Guy groaned, nevertheless seeming proud at our victory.
"We should run back and see how the King is doing!" Susie encouraged. The rest of us agreed, and we all turned and ran for the castle...
As soon as we reached the throne room we saw the face coming through an open window.
It circled the King once before, with a quick flash, it fused back to its rightful owner. The King looked overjoyed, but unsure for a moment.
His loyal guardsmen brought out a massive, and I mean MASSIVE, mirror, which the King proceeded to make several faces into just to make sure it was him.
I'm fairly sure me and my friends were making the same face of confusion at the King's display.
"Oh, joyous day… the royal countenance is restored!" King Dad breathed, looking overjoyed.
=Music: A Happy Ending=
And just like that, he broke down into tears, shouting loudly praise to our group. "THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! ACCEPT OUR ROYAL GRATITUUUUUUDE!"
And he presented us with a huge bag of money, which we all were EXTREMELY happy with. Our coin count was DOUBLE what it had been now, and we were extremely grateful.
"*sigh* Now, to replenish ourselves…" King Dad sighed happily, returning to eat more of the meat (probably a drumstick?) in his hand.
After a moment of eating, he returned his attention to us. "You know… that Dark Lord Chara is certainly no joke!"
I rolled my eyes at the comment. He appeared to not have noticed, and continued, "We're all in a lot of trouble with that scoundrel around. Go warn the Princess while we handle this, would you… *om nom nom*"
We looked at the other side of the room and saw another door, probably to the quarters of the princess. My friends started quietly wondering who could be on the other side of that door.
I… had a hunch. As soon as we opened the door, I suddenly could imagine who the Princess would be.
=Music Quiets Slowly=
'If the King is my dad…' I thought quietly to myself, as we all filed in the room together. 'Then the Princess of the realm would have to be-'
And then I saw her.
The Princess.
She was looking out of one of the many windows of the castle, appearing deep in thought.
Until she heard us step closer. "Hm?" she hummed.
Now, I might've just been imagining things, but I swear that I saw her turning around with my view switching between three different angles.
=Music: The Princess's Theme=
And just like that, the face of the Princess was revealed.
Paige. My sister.
She was the Princess of Greenhorne.
'Dear lord…' I sighed in my head.
"And who might you be…?" Princess Paige (*groan*) asked us.
We approached slowly, Susie and Brave both in total awe. Purple Guy looked like he was sizing up the Princess, as though his expectations hadn't met reality.
As for my Mii? He was staring at the Princess with a curious look.
As soon as we were close, I… I saw it again.
The same thing that happened with the King. The Princess… glitched out.
One moment, she was staring at us curiously. The next… she became my real-life sister, dressed almost identically to the Mii version. The look on her face…
She looked like she was stuck in a state of semi-fear. And she was staring directly at me.
Of course, she returned right back to the Mii version as soon as I processed it, and I heavily doubt that my friends saw any of it.
I stepped up to the Princess and carefully explained, "Erm, Princess… er, Paige… the Dark Lord has attacked Greenhorne. He had also stolen your father's face, we just recovered it. He told us to warn you."
The Princess looked worried. "Mercy me… the Dark Lord went to Greenhorne? Is Mark okay?!"
I raised an eyebrow. "Mark…?"
Princess Paige realized what she just said, and backtracked. "Erm, sorry… I'm worried about a friend of mine, who lives in town… could you please check on Mark for me? The locals should know him pretty well."
I internally sighed, preparing for the trip back to Greenhorne. "Right… well, I suppose a trip back would be good. Might need an armor improvement, after all." I reasoned.
The rest of my friends nodded, and we all started filing out.
Just as we passed through the exit gates of the castle, however… my Mii pulled me aside.
"Hey… um, I dunno if it was just me, but… something felt very, very wrong just then. I felt something… off. About the King and the Princess." he explained.
"How so?" I asked him back.
"I dunno… I just feel like… I should know them, or something. Even though I'm pretty sure I've never met them before…" he explained further, his expression worried. "Should I be concerned about that?"
For about ten seconds, I stalled. Trying to determine how dramatic his response would be should I tell him the truth, I asked, "Any idea WHY you think you know them?"
"It's fuzzy…" my Mii responded slowly. "But… before, I used to live on a different island. And… I swear there were residents on that island that looked almost exactly like them."
This was new information, and it sparked memories myself too. "A… different island? What kind of island?"
"It was a great place to live, honestly." my Mii explained, closing his eyes. "There was plenty of food to go around, everyone had a part-time job at any of the stores… everyone was friendly, save for the occasional disagreement. But we all rekindled our friendships in the end."
My eyes were widening. That… that sounded IDENTICAL to how the island in Tomodachi Life was. Was this Mii and the Mii I had on the island one and the same?
"But… like I was saying…" my Mii continued. "I… I vaguely remember two people like that on that island. But it's been a REALLY long time… I can't fully remember."
I was quiet for a few seconds. "So… you think the King and the Princess were once islanders on your home island?"
"Something to that effect, yes." my Mii responded, casually wiping off his frying pan.
I wasn't really sure how to respond to that. On the one hand, I COULD say that the Mii's of the Princess and the King were literally the Mii version of my own dad and my sister, and how consequently those Mii's very well COULD be his own family. I could say that.
But then I started thinking about future consequences. How would his attitude change if he was talking to the Princess if it was his sister? Or maybe, maybe he didn't actually HAVE family, or at least they were back on his home-island or whatever. Then this would be like trying to tell him that would be like telling someone from college that they were actually related to my own parents and we just never told them.
Regardless of whether or not it was the RIGHT thing to do, I shrugged casually. "I mean, I get the sense too, that there's something off about them, but… maybe it's just because we're, y'know, kinda one and the same?"
"Maybe… what makes you think there's something off about them?" he asked me back.
"I don't really know… I just have this strange feeling about it…" I responded.
My Mii shrugged in response. "Well, I'm probably just overthinking it. We should get back to Greenhorne. Who are we looking for again?"
"Mark, the friend of the Princess." I responded, looking at my map.
"Here we go…" my Mii sighed.
"You can say that again…" I agreed.
And soon after, we were on our way.
And there we go! Another chapter done!
The plot is slowly thickening… so it seems as though Cameron's Mii came from somewhere before living in Miitopia.
Mayhap people already know where he lived?
Either way, I hope you guys enjoyed the new chapter. I know it kinda took a while to get out, but things have been getting… well, pretty crazy at college.
I should only have a few more weeks left, before the semester ends and I have a break. So hopefully I make the most of that!
But anyway, I hope to see you all again another day, and until next time guys…
Stay awesome! =D