Ch6. A Serious Malfunction
It was a bit past midnight at the Hamelin palace. Everything was silent and still, just like the darkness that surrounded the area. The machine storage room was in this state as well, along with the dark barrels that stood on the high shelf. Porco Moco was as still as a lifeless lump of steel.
The peaceful stillness was broken by the sound of a window cracking and the sight of a few shards of sharp glass falling to the floor from a very high window. A man of medium build emerged from the opening as he dropped down a coil rope and slid down to the ground. He was dressed in black from his black shoes to his dark mask, only allowing his grey eyes to be seen. Looking left and right, he waved his hand to signal the other two robbers the coast was clear.
The first of the pair was dressed in a similar manner but was much burlier and his shirt looked like it would burst at any moment with the flex of his muscles. He was about to jump down but slipped and grabbed a nearby shelf to stop his fall. The metal creaked under this great weight and after a moment, it gave way to the 200 pound man, sending him with some barrels crashing down on Porco Moco.
"Hey! Be quiet! The guards will hear!" The third robber hissed from his perch. He was short and a bit on the plump side but his tiny black eyes showed one thing; this guy meant business. He descended down the rope like the first one and looked around.
"Hey, boss, this isn't the treasury room!"
"Of course not, you dummy. It's down the hall. Don't you remember the plan?" The grey eyed man in black waved his arms in frustration as the burly one examined the barrels.
"As-tif-iz…what the hell is this stuff?" Giving up on the long label, he opened up the cork to see the contents for himself. The barrel was full of a foul smelling murky liquid. The robber's nose wrinkled in disgust. "Uugh! This stuff reeks!" Carelessly tossing it to his side, he did the same to the other barrels with fancy labels, only to find other bizarre chemical contents and spilling them all over the tank he sat upon.
"Hey, what are you doing, stupid?! Stop foolin' around and change into these disguises!" The short man hissed to the burly robber. Jumping down, he landed on the ground and stretched his arms-accidentally pushing a leaver to his left.
The tank that he was sitting on moments ago now awoke from its slumber, and Porco Moco roared to life. However, as the power was pulsing through its engine, the various liquids that the muscular robber had carelessly poured all over it sunk into the tank's system. The weapon sparked with electricity and clanked with bizarre movements as if it was panicking. Its canon spun in circles and the tires heaved back and forth with erratic flashes of light.
"What the- What did you do now, you dummy?"
"I didn't do anything! Maybe it was you, shorty!"
"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?!"
"Quit it! The guards will hear us if we don't shut this gizmo down!" The leader barked his orders as he fiddled with the controls without a clue-he couldn't even tell if the tank was reacting to them or not.
"Hang on boss, I've got an idea!" The burly crook wrapped his large arms around the control panel. Grunting, he lifted it up, disconnecting it from the pedestal it rested upon. Porco Moco slowly stopped its panicky motions, no longer making a racket.
"Phew. Nice one. Now let's get into these and get to the treasury room before we have company!" The leader pulled out three sets of Hamelin armor and began to put on the heavy clothing.
As they were occupied with the costumes, Porco Moco's 'eyes' suddenly flashed a deep red. The lights pierced in the direction of the intruders, readying its canon. The steady heaving of its engine echoed steadily throughout the room.
"…Huh? Hey boss, do you hear something?"
"Eh? Hey, yeah, I do….it sounds like…an engine runnin' or-"
"…B-boss? Shorty? Y-You may want to see this."
The three crooks looked behind them to be welcomed by a sight that would haunt their dreams for the rest of their lowly lives.
"So you sure you've got everything?" Swaine leaned against the frame of his front door as Esther petted Spooky on the head.
"Yup, harp and everything." She stood up and walked to the door. "You take good care of Spooky now, okay? And make sure you take better care of yourself."
"Okay, okay, I will, relax." The man crossed his arms. "What are you, my mom?"
Esther merely rolled her eyes as she walked through the door. After a few steps, she stopped and turned around. "…It was nice to see you again, Swaine. Thank you for letting me stay the night."
"Oh, sure," Swaine scratched the back of his hair. "It was nothing, no problem."
Esther smiled and waved as she said, "Well, good-bye! Until we meet again, Prince of Swine!"
"Heh, okay, later, Little Miss Familiar Tamer." The mechanic waved back. The blonde turned around and walked away with her heels softy clunking along the pavement. She only took a few steps before something stopped her.
"…Hey, wait! Esther, wait!"
The woman turned around to see her friend jogging up to her-and tripping just before he reached her.
"E-Esther…Um…" The man scratched his hair again, this time in thought.
"What? Did you forget what you wanted to say?" She put her hands on her hips, smiling with amusement.
"N-No! It's just…Well…" He looked down to his shoes, trying to fight the color rising to his cheeks. "…I-I should be the one thanking you. I mean, you cleaned my entire house and cooked that spaghetti…so…thanks." His hand was completely buried in his hair now, "You come back to visit now, alright? I-I mean, Spooky here's gonna miss you and your cookin'."
The Bougie floated up to Swaine's shoulder and rubbed up against it in agreement.
"Of course I'll visit, silly! And you too, Spooky!" The Bougie purred with joy. "…But not just so I can come and clean your house and cook for you; I'm not a house keeper, after all! So don't try to get out of it, okay?" She waved her finger in his face warningly, her blue eyes staring at his brown ones.
"Yeah, I get it. Who do you think I am?"
"You're Swaine, that's who."
Swaine barked with laughter as Esther rolled her eyes before saying, "Well, see you soon then! I've got to get going. My father's probably worried sick and Tengri's waiting!" She jogged off, waving.
"Good-bye, Swaine!"
"See ya' around, Esther!"
After a few steps the blonde disappeared around the corner, out of the man's sight. He was still for a moment and then turned around to his home along with Spooky. The home was much better without its exhibit of dust. Walking over to the couch, he plopped down in the middle and leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling. As Spooky floated into Swaine's chest, the man's mind drifted, not thinking of anything in particular with a goofy grin on his face. He was taking the day off from work at the palace and was content with chilling on the once-dust infested couch.
Brrring! Brrring!
Swaine's eyebrows shot up; he had already called the palace earlier about taking the day off, so who would be calling him? "Don't tell me it's Sam again…"
The man picked up the phone, "Hello? What do ya' want?"
He was answered by the hum of static.
"Huh, that's weird…The phone worked just fine this morning…"
He tried to talk into the receiver again, "Hello? Anybody there?"
"ZZZt…Swa-zzzt-ne…zzzt."
His eyebrows shot up; the voice sounded very familiar.
"Wait…Marcassin, that you?"
"Zzzt-es…com-zzzt-help! We-zzzzzt-oco is-zzzzt."
"Eh? What did ya' say? I can't hear you though all this static!"
"Zzzt-alace, hurry! We ne-zzzzzt-atta-zzzt-"
The call was cut off, leaving only the buzz of the unused phone and the echo of Marcassin's words behind in Swaine's ears. "What the hell is going on? Why was it cut off? And what was with all that static?" The mechanic hung up the phone, concentrating on the bits of words he heard from the phone.
"Well, he said 'help' and 'hurry'…and I think he said 'palace'…but it's not like he'd be anywhere else." His eyebrows knitted together on his forehead. He ran to his bedroom and grabbed a fresh packet of bullets, stuffing them into his coat pocket. He also reloaded his handgun, making sure it was fully loaded.
"I've got a bad feeling about this…I gotta go check on Marcassin at the palace."
Swaine ran through the front door, locked it briskly, and made his way to the palace as fast as his wiry legs would take him. He took every shortcut he knew of and never stopped to catch his breath-or at least tried. He was half way to the palace before his body demanded him to stop to catch a breather. The man leaned heavily on a lamppost as he panted for his breath. "Can't run like I used to…Either I'm out of shape from being a mechanic or I'm getting old…"
Just as Swaine had regained his breath, there was a loud boom. And it came from the north of the kingdom-the palace.
Flapping his enormous wings, Tengri flew back to the ground just outside of Hamelin's entrance, where a certain blonde woman stood. She ran up and hugged the reptile's face as Tengri cuddled next to his master.
"Hiya, Tengri! Sorry to keep you waiting! Ooh, aren't you a good boy?"
"Kyah! Kya-"
BOOM!
"Huh? What was that?" Esther turned around as her blonde hair waved behind her. She could even feel the impact of the sound as it vibrated in the ground bellow her heels. Tengri looked to the city with worry swirling in his green eyes.
"…Kya?"
"Was that…an explosion? Oh no…!" Esther ran back towards the industrial city with her cape and hair trailing behind her.
Raising his Imperial Scepter in the air, the ruler of Hamelin shouted, "Thunderball!" A sphere of electricity swirled at the tip of the long wand and rushed towards the destructive Porco Moco. With a mighty zap, the ball of energy hit the tank head on. But the machine simply shook its 'head' and fired its fat cannon.
Marcassin raised his arms in defense, but was still sent flying back a good couple of yards and his scepter was thrown out of his reach, hitting the tile with a clink-clink.
He got to his feet as the dozens of guards around the mechanical monster tried to damage it with their guns, with little luck. Marcassin reached for his prized wand and whipped back around as the scepter's tip glowed blue. The Great Sage drew a complicated symbol in the air.
"THUNDERRAGE!"
A loud clap of thunder snapped in the room and a bright bolt of lightning pierced its electrified tip into the technological beast. Porco Moco was frozen for a moment, but not seriously affected. Prince Marcassin, his energy used up on that last spell, collapsed to his knees as he gasped for his breath. The nightmarish tank aimed its snout cannon at the poor porcine prince…
Bang!
Porco Moco had a blinding shot to his eye and backed off as it tried to regain its vision.
"Hah! Have a taste of my Blindshot!"
Marcassin looked behind him to the gruff voice he knew so well.
"S-Swaine!"
"Yo. What's up with Porco buddy here?" Swaine loaded another slug into his pistol.
"Last night some robbers came into the palace to steal the treasury, but got in through the machine storage ro-look out!" Porco Moco brought his 'arm', which was a heavy metal gun, down and smashed into the tile. The two men jumped out of the way, narrowly dodging the deadly strike.
"…Anyway, some chemicals were stored in that room as well, and the crooks spilt it all over Porco Moco, and I think that caused it to short circuit and malfunction like th-duck!"
"Duck? Where-Aah!"
The brothers and surrounding soldiers ducked and covered their heads while Moco fired his guns with a mighty rat-tat-tat-tat-tat. Once he had stopped, his red eyes suddenly focused on something in the distance, behind Swaine and Marcassin-the hallway leading to the city.
Vrroom, VRROOM…
Porco Moco's engines roared with determination as its eyes targeted behind a certain pair of men.
"Oh shit…" Swaine's eyes widened as the monster-machine began to charge in his direction. Grabbing Marcassin's arm, he pulled them to the side, out of the furious tank's path. Porco Moco sped past them and down the hall at a blinding speed, leaving black tire tracks in its wake.
"Everyone!" The prince called out to the soldiers behind him, "This way! We must stop that machine before it reaches the cit-"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
"…Too late." Swaine deadpanned out the painful fact as the thud of the palace doors collapsing echoed in the air.
"Oh no…" Marcassin turned around. "Everybody, the tank has entered the city. Evacuate nearby citizens and bring back-up equipment!" He ran down the hall as Swaine followed him, reloading his gun as he raced down the path.
After maneuvering by the sorry remains of the palace doors, they reached the city of Hamelin. Porco Moco was firing like a mad-machine, damaging buildings and infrastructure with his bullets. The red lights in its eyes showed no mercy and aimed at anything it could.
"STORM-ROAR!"
The Sage casted another powerful spell as he shouted at the top of his lungs. Thunder rumbled through the area and several sharp lightning bolts shot towards Porco Moco. This time the machine was ready; it raised its cannon upwards and absorbed the powerful shock. It then turned around and aimed his cannon at the Great Sage. An electrified bullet burst out and zoomed towards Marcassin. Had Swaine not pulled him out of the way, the Prince would have been electrocuted to a crisp.
The mechanic took notice of his younger brother's heavy breathing. "Hey, you okay? You're not lookin' so hot."
"Huff…huff…I used up…most of my magic…back in the palace…used some of…my physical energy…on that last…spell…huff." Marcassin fell to his knees in exhaustion, leaning on his beloved staff.
Swaine searched his pockets, trying to find something-anything-that could restore his brother's magic energy or health. All he found was spare ammo for his gun.
"Dammit! Where's a tonic when you need one?!"
A hand wearing a golden bracelet suddenly appeared in front of his face, holding a bottle of tonic. "Right here!"
The men looked up to see a blonde lady bending down in front of them. Marcassin's eyes stared at the familiar stranger as Swaine's flashed with recognition.
"Esther!"
"E-Esther? Is that really you?"
The tamer nodded as she pulled off the cork of the green bottle and handed it to the tired prince. "Mh-hmm, now drink up." Marcassin raised the bottle to his lips and drank the bitter liquid. Wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve, he stood up, starting to feel the effects of the foul-tasting tonic.
"It's been so lo-GET DOWN!"
The three friends ducked to the ground as Porco Moco unleashed a wave of flames from his flamethrowers. The pig-like tank hissed with steam like an enraged snake as it glared ominously at the trio.
Marcassin raised his scepter again, "Thunder-"
A rough hand was placed on his shoulder, "Whoa there, princey. In case you haven't noticed from your past moves, those kinds of spells won't make a dent on our crazy friend here."
"Huh?" Esther turned to the ex-thief. "But aren't storm attacks usually effective against mechanical monst-" She was cut off as Porco Moco prepared its canon in their direction. The three ran in the opposite direction as the bullets missed them by inches.
"About your question; some weird chemicals got on Moco here and made him go crazy. My money's on whatever they spilt on him made him immune to those kinds of attacks."
"So…what's the plan?"
Marcassin burrowed his brow in thought before turning around. "We hit him with whatever else we've got." He summoned a fireball at the end of his scepter, "If storm spells won't work, we'll have to find his new weakness."
"Okay then. Here, Gogo!" Esther's Electrongo jumped out of her chest. He spun his tiny staff around as a water bomb began to form.
"Fine with me. Time to rumble, Gunther!" Grunting for some action, the blue Hurlabaloo charged out of Swaine's chest, flexing his burly arms.
Porco Moco 'snorted' through his canon, as if saying 'Hmph! You really think you can even make a dent on me? I'd like to see you try.' He, too, prepared for his move, adjusting the barrels of his arm-guns and aimed his cursors over the humans.
"Porco Moco! Prepare to have your destructive deeds stopped for good!"
"Everybody, stay calm, now!"
"Ha! Fancy your chances, do you?"