Due to the emotional moments in this story, I'm going to have to split it into parts.
"We turn our backs for a minute and you guys let this happen?" Arkayna asked in disbelief.
The boys volunteered to watch over the Baby Beasts for a while while the Mysticons trained. The girls left, only to come back moments later to give their boyfriends a few reminders. That's when they found the boys, all tied up in the most awkward, yet amusing, positions.
"We didn't even blink." Malvaron, who was tied up and was hanging up-side-down from a mast, swore.
"And when did they learn to make a butterfly knot?" Kasey, who was hog-tied, asked.
"And got these?" Kitty pointed to a tank of flying piranhas below Malvaron.
"Come on guys." Zarya teased as the others pushed the tank away, "Choko could do a better job than that."
Runeford, Howlette, and Gemstone suddenly appeared as they chased each other.
Suddenly, Gemstone tripped, making him cry. Choko comforted him by bottle-feeding him.
"Don't worry you guys." Arkayna untied Malvaron while Em untied Kasey, "Maybe the last beast would be less of a challenge for you."
"I doubt." Malvaron shot back with a smile.
Citrine approached them, "I'm so glad you let us tag along so that we could see the Elven Brothers Circus together."
"After what you guys did for us back there, you deserve it." Em smiled with excitement, "I can't wait to see it either. I heard it's the biggest show in all the Realm."
When the others began to talk about the circus, Piper knew she wasn't going to finish her work with them around and moved inside a secluded part of the ship's cabin.
After hours of planning, she emerged from the cabin, only to realize that it's already night time.
She turned to the wheel where Kasey was showing the Goldenbraid Family how he steers the ship. The twins tried to steer, but it ended up in an argument that led the ship to tip forward a bit. Em had to take over to regain control of the ship.
Seeing the way Em's parents were complimenting her, Piper felt...nostalgic.
If only they were that happy for her even if she trips...
She heard light snoring, coming from the twin princesses, and their stepbrother. The three were in deep sleep that they didn't even feel each other shifting and hugging each other in their sleep. Nor did they feel their parents affectionately draping a blanket over them.
Just like how they used to.
"Nessira, Quazala keeps making me lose!"
"Gandobi is being such a baby!"
Piper watched as Quazala and Gandobi bickered like children over a silly video game. Nessira scolded them for being so childish and for almost waking Proxima, who laid asleep on her lap, up.
Just like how she used to.
The royal siblings were not the only ones snoring.
In one corner, the griffins slept together with the Baby Beasts and Choko all snuggled under their feathers.
Piper watched with a hint of envy as Orion placed a wing on top of Izzy as they slept side-by-side.
Someone used to do that to her before.
Before she left.
Piper looked down at the book she finished, the one she has spent all day working on. She was the only one who doesn't have a Beast, and hers is hidden somewhere in her old home.
Part of her was excited to finally get a phoenix of her own.
The other part...was, unsure.
She hasn't been at home for a long time. Will everyone even remember her? And how worried will they be?
But most importantly; Will things change for the better? Or will it still be the same before she ran away?
She was worried what her friends would think when they found out once they arrive. She had this urge to fly away on Miss Paisley and tackle the problem herself, but she knew her friends would worry if she does. And the last thing she wants was to make them worry.
Just like them.
Piper sadly sighed at the edge of the ship, thinking about the old life she left behind.
Well, it won't be long now, and she's going to have to deal with a lot of emotions.
"How could this have happened?"
One minute they were in the air, the next, the ship suddenly plummeted to the ground.
"It must have been those Alphamancers." Zarya guessed, "One of them must've snuck in last night and messed with the mechanism."
"How soon can you get her up and flying?" Kitty asked her brother as he tinkered with the mechanism.
"Even with magic, we won't make it for half a day." Kasey replied.
"The Alphamancers would have beaten us by then." Nova pointed out.
"Maybe they won't be able to find the egg." Arkayna pointed out, "After all, we managed to found ours fast was because we were linked with the eggs."
The Baby Beasts nodded in confirmation.
"Still; It's best if we got there first before them." Nessira reasoned.
"What we need is a miracle." Em voiced out after tinkering a few parts, "And another ship."
A ship's horn blared from a distance, attracting the group to the source; Up in the sky, just above them was a sky ship in green and gold colors. It's flag has an emblem of a griffin, the symbol of the Royal Family.
"Oh no." Queen Goodfey muttered. It can't be him.
With the use of a rope, someone swung down; An elderly man with short gray hair and a beard.
"La-La!" The man happily embraced Queen Goodfey, much to her discomfort.
"Dad!" The Queen managed a smile, "What are you doing here?"
"'Dad'?" Zarya echoed in surprise before whispering to her sister, "That guy's our grandpa?"
Arkayna replied with a nod.
"You're going to need this." Darius handed Zarya a staff, much to her confusion.
Goodfey's father continued to hug her until his eyes fell on Nova Terron.
"Nova Terron." His once excited demeanor turned cold as he released his daughter.
"Goldius." Nova nervously greeted the previous ruler of Drake City, "I know it was wrong for me to separate you granddaughters, but..."
Goldius held his hand up, "As long as one of them managed to knock some sense into you, I might overlook your lack of conscience."
Nova internally sighed in relief, but if there was thing he knew about Goldius was that he was a royal family man. And no one, messes with his family.
"And now if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment with my, GRANDDAUGHTERS!" Goldius' eyes suddenly lit up with excitement.
Zarya was a little crept out by the fact that this, not-so stranger was looking at her. She couldn't believe this man was her grandfather.
The again, she was separated from her family... Plus her mom and sister haven't told her about him yet. And probably for good reasons.
Why does she feel like a lot of signs were pointed at her?
Zarya felt the air inside of her suddenly squeezed out when she and Arkayna were enveloped in a tight embrace by her grandfather.
"Wow. You're a hugger." Zarya remarked, despite feeling airless.
"Look at you two!" Goldius beamed before pinching Zarya's cheek, "And you! You're just like your father!"
Piper watched as Zarya realized what the staff was for and began to wedge herself out of her grandpa's embrace. Arkayna did the same thing with hers (although initially she was going to hit him in the head since hers was made of wood). Unfortunately, to the twins' surprise, their staffs broke, Zarya's knocking Doug to the ground.
Piper didn't mind the way they would display their affection to her in public. She always loved their hugs. Sometimes, they would hug for hours.
If only they would just hug her whenever she makes a mistake. Other than...the other way.
Having enough of the hugging, Zarya suddenly flipped her grandfather over.
She realized her mistake, but was surprise when he just laughed his heart out.
"Well aren't you a feisty one." Goldius remarked as he picked himself up, "That's why you were chosen by the Dragon Disk."
Both Arkayna and Zarya were caught by surprise.
"Oh come on now. Everyone knows." He beamed when he saw Runeford and Howlette and carried them in his arms, "And these must be my adorable great-grand kids. How long did you make your grandpa cry?"
"I got over that a long time ago. Somehow." Darius sniffed, before tearfully embracing Malachite.
Since the Pink Skulls' ship was still in need of repair, Goldius warmly welcomed everyone on board his ship, provided he could join them on their quest.
As it turned out, after Goldius retired from his duties as king, he realized his royal duties was preventing him from interacting with his subjects and the people of the realm. So he sets off on an epic journey around the realm, helping and making friends with everyone he meets.
As Piper watched and listened to Zarya and Arkayna telling their hyped grandfather the time they purified Necrafa back into Nessira, she couldn't help but feel, envious.
It got worse when Goldius embraced his granddaughters out of liquid pride.
If only they were that proud of her.
Laying her back at the edge of the railing, Piper opened her book and sadly sighed at the contents, wondering if everything will go according to plan.
"I'm sure they didn't mean to scare you away." Nessira suddenly approached Piper.
"Am I that obvious?" Piper asked, not taking her eyes off the book.
"You've been quiet lately." Nessira pointed out, "Plus I couldn't sense your Piper Vibe."
"Piper Vibe closed down on account of serious maintenance." Piper spoke back in a melancholy manner.
After a few moments of silence, Nessira turned to the others, "You know you'll have to tell them eventually."
Piper looked at her friends who were laughing when all 3 Baby Beasts tackled Goldius, "Yeah."
"Gardenavia straight ahead!"
Once Piper saw her hometown from afar, she rummaged through her backpack, looking for a way to disguise herself.
"Piper," Nessira lightly scolded her, "you don't need a disguise."
"You're right." Piper stopped, only to untangle her pigtails and mess up her hair before turning to Nessira with a smile.
The Astromancer sighed before reaching out to style Piper's hair, "Fortunately for you, I actually miss doing this."
Nova was busy reading a scroll when he felt the presence of a shadow looming before him. When he looked down, his eyes widened in shock.
"Necrafa!"
He turned around, hesitating to hurt his friend and wondering what he did wrong to corrupt her once more.
As it turned out, it was just Piper. With her hair styled to look like Necrafa's.
Nova shot Nessira an annoyed look.
"What?" Nessira asked, "I miss that look."
By the time the ship landed, Piper had her hair down in waves with a few strands braided on the front.
When the people saw the royal family, they immediately went to greet them.
"Pipes?"
Piper looked around for the source of the voice. She managed to spot him standing on a branch of a tree before jumping off and landing in front of her, revealing himself to be a red humanoid fox with 4 tails.
"Axis?" Piper exclaimed in surprise upon seeing one of her childhood friends after such a long time.
"Where have you been?" Axis asked with a mix of anger and worry, "Your fol...?!"
Axis was unprepared when Piper suddenly tackled him to the ground.
When Zarya heard a familiar grunt, she found Piper tackling a red humanoid fox on the ground. Piper smiled and waved at Zarya as she held the fox's snout, rendering him unable to talk.
The elf did a few exaggerated hand gestures at the fox. When the fox nodded, she let go and they casually approached her friends like nothing strange happened.
"Axis, girls." Piper introduced Axis to her friends, "Girls, Axis."
"Hey." Axis saluted the girls.
"I take you two know each other." Zarya remarked, raising a suspicious eyebrow at Axis.
A kid suddenly appeared out of nowhere and snatched Zarya's bag. And Howlette.
Axis stopped her before she could chase the thief, "You really should be more careful, Princess."
Zarya was surprise to find the fox holding her bag. He didn't even move an inch. Seriously.
Once she got her bag back, Howlette emerged and gave her mommy a lick before growling at Axis.
To Zarya's surprise, Axis managed to calm her down by gently touching her nose, making the wolf cub happily wag her tail.
"Huh. You got some pretty neat tricks, Fox." Zarya remarked, impressed. Normally, Howlette would greet people with a bark, and/or a bite.
"You might not know this, Princess," Axis puffed up his chest, "but I happen to be the best tamer in the Ring. Well...second to Pipes that is."
Piper "accidentally" stepped on his tail, causing him to cringe in pain.
"First of all; you call my sister Princess." Zarya remarked before turning to Piper, "Second; You were part of the circus?"
"What? No!" Piper grinned sheepishly, "When he meant Ring, he meant the club we were in when we were kids. The gang probably split..."
When she saw that her friends weren't buying it, she sighed in defeat, "Never mind."
"So cool!" Ferrus exclaimed with glee.
"What was it like?" Halite asked with the same expression on his face.
"Whoa there, Kids." Axis turned to Piper, "This flying Foz still owes us an apology. We can't believe you'd just leave without saying good-bye. You know how worried and sick we were? You almost scared Truffle half to death."
"Oh my goblin!" Piper exclaimed, "I killed Truffle?!"
"I survived."
Piper turned to find an orange, spiky haired elf wearing black glasses studying her as if he saw her from somewhere before.
"Pipes?" The elf asked in surprise.
Piper blushed when she recognized the elf and began twirling a lock of her hair, "Truffle... Hey."
Piper's friends were curious on why Piper was suddenly acting, non-Piper weird in front of an elf they never met before. Realization struck them, when she began to blush, causing them to giggle in amusement.
Howlette got Piper's attention by whistling to her. Runeford then blew a heart-shape cloud of smoke before she and her fellow beasts batted their eyes teasingly at the elf.
Piper slightly glared at the Baby Beasts before resuming eye-contact with Truffle.
Halite and Ferrus crossed their arms, narrowing their eyes at the male elf.
"Did you do something with your hair?" Truffle asked.
By the way he was smiling while he asked that question, Piper blushed at the compliment.
"We're still mad at her." Axis reminded, snapping his friend back to reality.
"Pipes, you had us worried." Truffle scolded his friend, "You had your mo...?!"
"I miss you guys too!" Piper cut him off with a hug, before secretly signaling him to keep quiet.
"Oh yeah." Axis crossed his arms, "He gets hugs while I get tackles."
Piper and Truffle wordlessly communicated with each through exaggerated gestures, much to the other', except Axis', confusion.
"Okay stop." Zarya ordered, having enough with the charades, "Just spill will ya?"
Piper responded with a gasp.
"That's not what we...!" Before Em could finish, Kasey slightly turned her head around.
The Alphamancers.
Runeford, Howlette and Gemstone growled at their mommies' enemies. For as long as they could remember, the Alphamancers have been trying to take them away from their mommies so that they could use them to take over the realm.
They will never succeed! Not before, not now, not ever.
The Alphamancers hovered in the air attacking everything and everyone in sight. Piper knew what this means as she and her friends nodded to each other.
It's magic hour.
When the girls transformed into their Mysticon forms, the crowd erupted in cheers.
"Wow." Axis remarked upon seeing Piper as Mysticon Striker, "She looks better than your poster."
Piper looked away, blushing while Truffle elbowed Axis.
The Mysticons jumped out of the way just as the Alphamancers blasted them.
As she jumped, Em failed to notice the Alphamancer heading in her direction, allowing the Alphamancer to grab Gemstone in the process.
Unfortunately for the Alphamancer, Gemstone zapped his eyes with his horn, blinding him and causing him to collapse on the ground.
He managed to stand up and regain his sight. That's when he felt someone tapping him from behind.
"Hi." Citrine waved, before knocking the Alphamancer down with a frying pan. Gemstone jumped in her arms as she turned to the cart owner, "I'll take it."
"Seriously! Get your own dragon!" Arkayna taunted Tazma as they attempted to blast one another, "Or better yet, a gumlump!"
"Very funny!" Tazma remarked sarcastically.
She managed to summon three shadow monsters behind Arkayna; One managed to subdue her in its arms. Another grabbed her staff. The last shadow monster grabbed the bag Runeford was in.
Runeford blew fire at the shadow monster but missed. Luckily for him, Gawayne disintegrated the monster with a flash from his spellpad while Goldius and Darius freed Arkayna from the remaining two.
Two Alphamancers dodged the arrows Zarya was shooting. They both attacked the Ranger at the same time, the same time her mother stood before her armed with a shield, deflecting it back to the Alphamancers.
"I'm surprised there's a stall for these in here." The queen remarked. Choko, who was perched on her shoulder, chirped in agreement.
Another Alphamancer was about to strike them from behind. Zarya sensed his presence and turned around, ready to shoot his arrow at him.
To her surprise, Axis suddenly leaps from out of nowhere and knocked the Alphamancer to the ground.
More Alphamancers hovered before them, ready to trap them in a magical cage.
"You might want to cover your ears, your highnesses." Axis advised.
The two royals and the Foz were confused, but did as he was told.
They soon found out why.
Axis gave out a loud holler. The Alphamancers, and everyone else within the vicinity, had to cover their ears to block the shattering cry.
Finally, the fox stopped. He crosses his arms and smiles mischievously as if something was about to happen.
A dark shadow loomed before the Alphamancers. They look up, only to cry in shock at the swarm of flying monkeys heading straight for them.
Their enemies were too shocked to even look away from the... beat-up.
"I'm impressed." Zarya remarked.
"I'm suspicious!" Darius called out but was ignored. He was just clashing with an Alphamancer when he spotted one of his stepdaughters smiling at Axis.
"Grease, no." Axis scolded one of the flying monkeys who was about to take off with the queen's tiara.
Nova and Nessira were protecting a group of civilians from the Alphamancers. Nessira failed to sense the master of the Alphamancers hovering behind her, allowing him a chance to blast her with his magic.
He failed as Bane protected Nessira by deflecting the attack with his sword.
"When will you realize your actions are destroying the realm?!" Nova exclaimed.
"I am PROTECTING the realm!" Alpha Galaga bellowed, "That phoenix belongs to me. Not that childish excuse of a Striker."
He blasted the two Astromancers again, but they were pushed away by Piper.
"You keep your filthy hands off my phoenix." The Striker spoke rather darkly, much to the shock of her teammates and childhood friends.
"Pipes?" Truffle never saw his friend like this before. And he believes he knows why.
Piper furiously threw two of her hoops at Alpha Galaga. The Alphamancer dodged them with ease.
But he was unprepared for the third hoop that the Striker threw at him with more force than the previous two.
Once Piper regained back her hoops, she flew on top of Miss Paisley and attacked the Alphamancers furiously with her hoops.
The Astromancers counterattacked with their spells, but Piper managed to dodge them with ease, and a few flips.
Just as she was about to throw her hoops at the enemies once more...
"Pyperia Ashryn Elvanestri!"
Piper lost her balance and began to fall several feet to the ground.
Lucky for her, she was caught by Orion who was also carrying Bane and Nessira on his back.
"Retreat!" Alpha Galaga commanded and the Alphamancers disappeared in a flash of light.
Nessira helped Piper get off Orion. Once the elf was on the ground, she was suddenly embraced by a couple; An elf who wore a circus ring-master's attire, and his wife.
"Oh my baby!"
"You had us worried!"
"Why did you go?"
"What were you thinking?!"
Something inside Piper snapped.
"What were you thinking?!"
Everyone was caught by complete shock when Piper pushed the elf couple away. She glared at them for a few seconds before hopping on Miss Paisley and flew to, who-knows-where.
As the elf couple stared in disbelief at the direction Piper went, they are approached by Zarya.
"I'm guessing you're her parents."
