Once upon a time, deep in the country of Phoenix, a young man had both his parents and thought that life was perfect. For Teddy, nothing could change anything on how he ran his world, and nothing could impact what he thought of it, because surely the whole world was safe and his family was safe, and what could possibly happen?
And then Giygas rose to power and destroyed his world.
The Magic users that were being collected throughout the Nowhere Islands, just disappearing, scared Teddy. His own mother was Magic, and one day when she left to go to the store to gather up some groceries, she had never returned. It was reason enough for his father to go out and find her, but he never returned as well, and Teddy was left there to guard the home and wonder when his beloved parents would return. But they never did, that had been four years ago, and now Teddy stood before his home, cigar in hand, contemplating life, the universe, and Magic.
Teddy had gone bad, you see.
He terrorized Ellay and wandered the streets with the B.B. Gang (The B's were short for Bla-Bla), and he made his point made. He stole, he cheated, his drank himself into a stupor nearly every night, and he'd charge an arm and a leg for his gang's services. The police despised him, saying that he was a menace to society as he was, and they weren't necessarily wrong, mind you. Teddy was just bad. He had a short stick when it came to life, his mother being Magic and his father playing hero, and his was pretty certain that he was now an orphan, with the way that things had been playing out.
It wasn't too long before Teddy himself was told to leave, so he decided to pack up his things, take his gang, and terrorize a different part of the Nowhere Islands. He considered himself a proud Phoenixian, but if the police told him to leave Ellay, then where else in his prized country could he go? He heard of a crime-riddled city in the bowels of Eagleland, and so he traveled there by train, making it as far as he could before he and his gang walked the rest of the way.
Fourside was a big city, mind you, and there wasn't much that he and his gang couldn't do. They were only there for a couple of months before they were controlling the streets again, and then the oddest thing happened. An old foe rose its ugly head.
"Hey, boss," said one of the B.B. Gang members one morning. "Did you hear that Giygas has a base somewhere in this city?"
Teddy's eyes narrowed. "... No, I hadn't. What do you mean?"
The B.B. Gang member hesitated. It was a necessity for the gang members to understand Teddy's history when it came to Giygas. Having both your parents basically disappear on you because of that one creature was tragic. "... The Monotoli Building. People are saying that Giygas controls the upper ten levels of that building to operate as a base. I was wondering to myself... 'Hey, what if he's got some of those Magic Users in there, doing weird science-y things to them for the sake of science?' It was just a thought, you know."
The other members watched as Teddy sighed and covered his face with his palm. "You're killing me, man, you're... you're killing me. We're criminals, you got it? We terrorize the streets cause we're a bunch of street punks! We don't... we don't rush in and save a bunch of Magic Users because..."
"But, I was thinking, Teddy..." And here, everyone stared at him because no one in their right mind cuts off Teddy. The glare was enough for the man to reconsider. "Sorry, sir. I was just... I was just thinking, though, Teddy... What if you're mom's in there? What if some poor other little kid's mom is in there, and that kid is all alone now?"
Teddy leaned back in his chair, thinking about what his subordinate was saying. It was true, if he could avoid it, Teddy didn't wish his hardships through life onto some snot-nosed little brat elsewhere in the world, but this guy was talking about raging through the Monotoli building, and that itself was warrant enough for the police to come crashing into the world of the B.B. Gang and ransack them, arresting each of his men and dismissing them all for a price. It would mean that they could spend days to years in the Fourside police station, but Teddy found himself smirking at the idea anyway.
"Sir?" asked another member.
"Well, if anything," Teddy began, looking upon his subordinates. "It means that we'd have a challenge. Men, let's see if we can break into the Monotoli Building, and see this rumor with our very own eyes!"
"YEAH!"
Teddy admittedly did not know anything about Eagleland and its laws. Of course, he'd just assumed that he'd find out eventually due to multiple arrests, and even then, he just wondered if the police were just arresting him for something to do, because he was pretty sure smoking at the park was not illegal if there weren't any signs saying there was no smoking allowed there. He had a point, he told the officer then. The officer had let him off with a warning.
The point was, this was a foreign country. He wasn't even sure what the purpose of the Monotoli Building even was. It seemed that, whatever it was, the building had an odd purpose involving computers and a whole lot of numbers. And money. Whatever this building was for, they were allowed to just waltz in for the first floor and explore the first few rooms. The receptionist at the desk at made it perfectly clear that they were expected to abide to a few rules - such as only staying in the general area and not wandering to far. Teddy gave a grin that basically spoke that he enjoyed destroying general expectations that were laid on him.
The woman had no idea who she was dealing with.
"'Oy, Boss?" asked B.B. #2. Teddy gave him barely a glance. "What do you want me to do with this guy?"
Teddy turned to see just what the gang member was talking about. He had by the collar of the shirt, a man who appeared to be working at the corporate building, and not for Giygas. In fact, it looked like the man was just about a finger pinch away from needing brown pants rather than blue, so Teddy gave the member a dismissive glance and turned back to the elevator that B.B. #5 was pressing "up" button for. They had been lucky so far in terms of the workers basically avoiding them, most hiding under their desks with their hands on their heads as soon as they declared it.
B.B. #2 tossed the businessman aside, if the resulting "thud" of his command was any indication.
"The elevator's here, boss," declared B.B. #4, turning to him. "We're closer to finding out the truth about the top ten floors of the Monotoli Building."
Teddy gave a nod as he and the ten members of his gang that had joined him stepped into the elevator. One of them hit a floor number and the doors of the elevator closed. "Good, then let's see what kind of dirt we can cook up."
"If we should find any Magic users, boss...?" started B.B. #3 as they began to feel the telltale feeling of the elevator moving upward. "... I mean... If there are any Magic users here... Are we just saving your mother if she's here?"
The question caused most of the B.B. gang members to take a moment - a general, pregnant pause falling into the elevator. Teddy gave a slight scowl. "... Whoever we find, we are busting out. We all saw the news yesterday."
It had happened in Summers.
A young Magic user, barely thirteen, had disappeared about a month before, but his body had been discovered, on the beach, by, tragically, a couple of his classmates and his little brother. It had reached the news all over Eagleland, Teddy was sure. There was talk on the streets of King Will and Queen Holly calling a state of emergency for the entire Kingdom and already police forces all over were patrolling the streets of Fourside and Summers, and, if were rumours were true, Onett and Twoson. The death of the boy had been tragic. Teddy's sister, in Podunk, had called him the night before saying that his niece, Pippi, had been too frightened to even go outside and play that day.
Frankly, he didn't blame the girl.
Astrid had gone on to explain that their neighbour, a young boy, had vanished from his home, too. She went on to further say that King Henry was but a hair's breath away of declaring war on Giygas. "It's a foolish thing," she had said to Teddy. "He's going to get us all killed."
Teddy had agreed.
He and his boys wandered around the hallway that the elevator had opened up to. He had been so caught up in the memories of his chat with his sister the night before that he had even noticed. The hallways were designed differently, a sure sign that they were in Giygas' territory now. There was something odd about it, but he wasn't about to complain, as there was no security wandering around the halls.
"Guess they evacuated when they heard we was busting doors down and blasting our way through pencil-pushers," claimed B.B. #6.
The group continued onward. Eventually, they stumbled upon what appeared to be a medical lab. There, fiddling with the controls that appeared to be rather important, sat a bumbling older man with shocked-grey hair and a set of glasses. He was dressed in a lab coat, and Teddy couldn't help but think that he was pretty sure he'd seen the man before. But where? It was going to bug him if he didn't figure it out.
"Oh, no, no, no..." the man was mumbling to himself. "Another dead end, sadly. Ooh, the Master won't be pleased with this."
There, strapped inside of a medical bed was a small child. Teddy felt rather sick at the sight of the young girl just laying there, her eyes staring straight forward at the wall, a number of panicked tears falling down her face. She couldn't even scream if she wanted to - her mouth was gagged with the elastic medical tool that some doctors used to stop blood flow in the arm, and her brown hair was held back.
"It seems you're not it, my dear Paige," the man said. "I suppose you're off the hook."
Teddy had about heard enough. He stormed his way into the room and pressed his hand against the man's neck, practically slamming him into the wall and off the ground in order to choke him. The man attempted to fight back - had both his hands going at Teddy's large one in a desperate attempt to get him to let him go - but it was all futile. Teddy was a big man. Most of it was muscle. He wasn't about to let go, in fact, his hold was tightening at just the thought of what the man was going to do to the poor little girl.
Speaking of her, a few of his B.B. Boys had caught on to what was going on and were working at unstrapping her from the medical bed. She was dressed in a medical gown - an ugly, duck-decorated one - and one of the boys was telling her about how they would help her find her stuff. She was sobbing, completely devastated yet relieved, and hugging the B.B. member for pure support.
Teddy gave the grey-haired man a look over. A name-tag on his lab coat told him that the man's name was apparently Andonuts, and Teddy couldn't help but think that it absolutely sounded stupid. Last names were more of a Phoenix thing - they'd been doing it since before the time of King George, even - but the other countries had started to catch on to it in the last generation, finding it a nifty idea. It was feeling a little odd, being surrounded with people with last names like Lindgren, Garrikson, and even those Magicant folks down the street from Astrid, and then you get someone with the last name Andonuts, and you just know those fools are from Eagleland.
Andonuts was blue-faced, so Teddy let him go to conk out in the corner, completely blacked out. The B.B. member with Paige had run off to get her things and get her home, so it was just him and the other nine from here on out.
One Magic user down, who knows how many others to go.
From the odd medical room that they had found, Teddy and the rest of the boys wandered further down the hall.
"Man, I wonder what that guy was going to do that girl," pondered B.B. #2.
"I don't know," answered B.B. #6. "I'm glad we got her out, though."
"I think we just saved her life!" commented B.B. #3. "What do you think, boss?"
Teddy gave a grunt in reply, but didn't doubt the words. That boy from Summers wasn't able to be returned to his family. It was a real shame, but at least they were able to get Paige back to her mother no problem. She'll most likely be upset and scared for a while, but at least she would be home and safe.
For a while, there was nothing but silly attempts at security with basic guards. The boys and Teddy handled them like they handled the police officers at Ellay and the Fourside streets - through pure brute force and the gifts of their fists. With a sea of guards on the ground behind them, they were an unstoppable force, all ten of them. They were the fiercest in the streets, the cancer of the community, and most importantly, they were here to kick ass and confirm rumours that they had heard others speak of.
But nothing could prepare them for what they were about to see next.
Teddy had heard about all four of the royal families of the main island of the Nowhere Islands.
Dalaam had a few daughters, but they had only one Prince, and his name was Puu. He had been missing for three years, with Giygas as the main suspect. Puu was widely acclaimed as being a smart boy, strong in the martial arts and powerful in mind. The family of Osohe had one daughter to claim as their future royalty, and she was the spunky Kumatora, who was known for being brash and very harsh with her words when she spoke out in public, and, if Teddy recalled, she had broken out of the castle on more than one occasion. The royal family of Phoenix, as all knew, were technically stewards awaiting the true heir, but Ana was the pride and joy, being the poster child of the perfect daughter, sweet and kind, and interested in her kingdom, always being joyful when seen and public.
The kingdom of Eagleland had never seen Paula. King Will kept her locked up in the castle, saying that on her seventeenth birthday, he would reveal her to the world, mostly because he wished to protect her from the outside world.
Admittedly, Teddy had only been leaving in Fourside for about a year. He hadn't read much on the ways of the Eaglelanders, aside from their rather silly attempts at last names, and didn't really care much for the royal family. He believed King Henry's word over King Will's. He was a Phoenixian to the end, loud and proud. But something told him, just something...
That girl in that cell. Something just told him that she was Princess Paula.
She looked up at him with these bright, innocent blue eyes, the colour of the sea that Teddy could remember on the docks of Ellay. Her hair was blonde, as blonde as Princess Ana's, and Ana had this electrifying blonde hair that defied all of blondeness. The dress she was wearing was a little worn down, but it was clearly a princess dress in Teddy's mind, and somewhere in the back of his head, a voice screamed at him to let her free. To destroy Giygas' plans and avenge his parents, to free his niece of the terrors that awaited outside her front door.
"Excuse me..." came the voice of the supposed Princess of Eagleland. "But... you are not the regular guards."
"Are you complaining?" came another voice, and Teddy turned to look at the source, to see another child, this one a boy.
If his choice of wear - a strange, brown shawl over his regular clothing - was any indication, the boy was far from home, for personal experience told Teddy that those from Osohe tended to wear odd brown cloaks or shawls over their clothing to keep warm in bad weather. His hair was a strange off-orange and his eyes were a slight mix between green and blue, and he wore a strangely smug expression on his face as the supposed princess turned to glance at him. Clearly the boy didn't know the meaning of fear.
"Well, no. They are horribly rude people," the supposed princess admitted.
"Yeah, they've got some issues."
"Boss? What do we do?" asked B.B. #3. "Do we let these two out?"
"Boss!" shouted B.B. #7. "I checked the area and there's nobody else on this floor! I think they all ran out!"
"If you're wondering about the guys in the base, they were already moving stuff around before you got here," said the boy. "They were changing locations or something like that."
"You mean they were relocating," corrected the supposed princess. She turned to Teddy, a soft smile on her face. "They were planning on moving out of here and somewhere in Tanetane Island, but they weren't taking us or that other one... Paige, I think it was."
"We got Paige already," Teddy explained to her. "Saved her from Andonuts. Guess we're going to get you out, too." He made a move to the door of the cell that the princess was being held in, before B.B. #8 stopped him.
"Wait, sir! Check this out!"
Teddy paused and glanced over, as everyone else did as well. B.B. #8 was looking up at a strange display on the wall. A few numbers were scratched across a chalkboard in white chalk, a few pictures taped to it as well, pictures of each of the royal family members as well as a few seemingly random faces of children from around the Islands. There were names etched right below each of the pictures - "Nancy", "Marie", "Jane"... "Brian", "Tyler", "Isaac"... Teddy found himself wondering just who all these children were, until he looked at one particular image near the bottom and recognized the face.
The name written below the picture was "Roger". The face was the boy from Summers that had been found dead.
"Those are all the kids they've taken," the supposed princess explained. "Most of them were relocated to other places for, and I quote, 'further testing'. I'm not sure what for, but I hope they are all okay..."
Teddy turned back to the door of the supposed princess' cell and took hold of the padlock. The boys watched in amazement as he disregarded even thinking of cracking through it and just unceremoniously broke it with his bare hands. A loud call of "Cool!" from the Osohe Boy made him grin as he opened the door to the let the supposed princess out. He repeated the process with the Osohe boy, and soon he and his entourage were getting out through the fire escape. He wasn't crazy enough to attempt to head out the same way that he had come in. Something told him that receptionist had called the Fourside Police.
If anyone to ask him, and really, no one did, but if anyone did, he was certain the Monotoli people were in a lot of trouble in the first place due to dealing with Giygas.
Paige and B.B. #9 were long gone from the B.B. Gang headquarters by the time Teddy made it in with #2, #5, the Osohe boy, and the supposed princess. Everyone else had retreated to distract the police from their wandering through the streets. There was a note left from #9 explaining that he was taking Paige home, for apparently she lived in town with her mother and her little brother.
With a smile to himself, he took out a beer from the fridge and snapped the lid off with the bottle opener sitting on the counter. Taking a swig from the bottle, he looked over at the couch where the supposed princess was sitting quietly, and the Osohe boy was swinging his legs and glancing around. They both looked pretty decent health-wise, but he couldn't be so sure.
"You two doing okay?" he asked after a couple more sips of his much-needed beer. "I think we got some leftover pizza from last night."
"I much prefer omelets..." the Osohe boy admitted, but he gave a grin. "But if it's got cheese and meat, I'm all for it."
The supposed princess just gave a nod. "I... I've never really had pizza, but I'm willing to try it."
Teddy gave a nod at #5, who immediately headed off to the fridge to check if the pizza inside was a truth or a lie. Once it had been determined as a truth, #5 began to prepare some plates for everyone as Teddy sauntered over to the chair sitting in front of the couch to speak with the kids further. He had to know where they were from after all, in order to even come up with ways to somehow get them home. The world didn't need anymore Rogers.
"Name's Teddy Lindgren," he started, and they looked at him curiously. "Hey, I just figured I'd introduce myself." He gestured to #2. "That's Able." Now a gesture to #5. "That's Baker." He put both his hands around the neck of his beer bottle, looking at them seriously. "We're the B.B. Gang, see."
"What were you doing blasting your way through the Giygas base, then?" asked the Osohe boy. "The guards were talking about you. Said how you do some illegal stuff like smoke in non-smoking areas and torment the streets."
"Word on the street was the Monotoli building had the top ten floors rented out to Giygas," Teddy explained. "See, my parents are long-gone because of that guy, and I figured, hey, it was a kind of revenge that I could get on him for my parents being gone. Figured I'd break out any Magic users we found on the way. That meant Paige, and you guys."
"Well, thank you, Teddy, for your generosity," claimed the supposed princess. "You might not recognize me, but I am Princess Paula. You're using a last name tells me that you're from Phoenix."
"Yeah, I got kicked out of Ellay for bad behaviour and my sister wasn't willing to rent a room," Teddy joked. "Figured I'd come to Fourside and check out the sites. The boys all came with me." He gestured to the Osohe boy with his head. "And you?"
"I'm from a small village in Osohe that borders on the castle," explained the carrot top. He gave Teddy a big smile. "My name's Claus."
Paula and Claus were to stay the night while Teddy figured out what to do with them. The Princess was a little edgy about returning home so soon, worried that it would mean another attack on her home just to reclaim her, and Claus himself was worried about leaving her alone, so the street gang leader called up Astrid to get some ideas. Astrid had offered the idea of moving from place to place to keep the trail moving so Giygas wouldn't be able to find them again, and had even explained that there was talk of a resistance.
"My friend was telling me about a group of people who had been chatting it up at a McBurger in Snowman," she explained. "They were talking about Giygas and the foundations of Magic Inheritance apparently. She didn't get much out of it because she was rushing, but from what she got, they were planning on fighting back against him because of the kidnapping going on."
"So they're talking about a rebellion..." Teddy figured. "Do they have a hotline?"
"She doesn't know," Astrid admitted. "But they were clearly rebelling, and she's all for that. She was close to joining in on the fun until she realized that they were Magic-based. She's planning to start up a Non-Magic Union to support their cause."
Teddy considered it for a moment. If they were still in Snowman, that place had a reputation for its extremely cold temperatures at seemingly odd times in the year, with this month only being the one time you could sit outside without fear of freezing. But, it was also quite a ways away, and sure, Teddy had an RV, but he wasn't sure he could make that drive the whole way up there.
"If it helps, they're probably on the move towards you," Astrid offered.
"I'll try and meet them halfway. Think I could stop at your place?" Teddy asked.
"Sure, you can bring some of my herbs and vegetables with you on your way up," she laughed. "Sell them and get some money in your pocket the legitimate way for once. Wouldn't have to worry about getting arrested that way."
The next morning called for Able and Baker to check out the RV as Teddy and the kids (in clever, au Eagleland disguises) went shopping for plenty of supplies to stock up on for the ride up to Phoenix. Astrid had suggested they stop by her place in Podunk on their way up in an attempt to meet the Rebellion halfway, and Teddy had wholeheartedly agreed. It had been a while since he had last seen his sister and her daughter. It would be a nice chance to visit and it would be a break from the drive.
It had taken them a few days to get through to Podunk. The streets were full of vehicles filled with townspeople fleeing the country. Most likely, most of them were freaking out due to the boy that had been killed for the purpose of who knew exactly what. The fact that the boy had lost his life in the first place was enough reason for a few of Teddy's neighbours to just pack up and leave, the man of the family explaining they were running away to Dalaam.
"Since the prince had disappeared so long ago there, I hear that the country has been left relatively alone," explained the neighbour. "It's the best place to hide my son and daughter, and I can't risk anything bad happening to them even if they aren't Magic."
Astrid had been relatively confused by their late appearance, but she had let the three of them in proudly and gave Teddy a number of coolers and packages full of vegetables and herbs for him to sell to keep his funds high. She also gave him a number of small crafts for the kids to make and sell in case the vegetables and herbs sold out.
"Seriously, I don't know how you managed to make a living in Ellay," she chided him as he looked at everything curiously. "You should have never left the farm, Ted."
"It's my life to live," he told her. "And the parents went with me. And look where that got them..."
"It was bound to happen, what with Mom being Magic," Astrid sighed. "Did you hear though? The stats came out and there's more children being snatched lately. I almost get the feeling that they're looking for something in particular."
"A something?" asked Claus. It figured that the little brat had been listening in on the conversation, and Astrid had cheerfully rolled her eyes at his invasion while Teddy scoffed. "Like what?"
"A certain kind of Magic. Maybe even a certain someone."
The woods on Tanetane were covered in trees and moss, but every now and then among the path there would be a number of mushroom patches. There were signs posted by each one, signed by a mysterious being who only preferred to be referred to as the Benevolent Old Man, that declared to not eat the mushrooms at all, lest you deeply regret it. A number of mysterious beings and buildings were situated on Tanetane, but none so as mysterious as the odd sort of field and Magical barrier that rested on the far lower southwest of the island, that all members of Giygas' army tended to avoid and for good reason.
Sitting right before the barrier sat a man dressed in robes. One member of the army approached, new and confused, and not yet warned of the dangers of Tanetane Island. This particular young man was a quiet boy, having joined more for selfish reasons as opposed to the usual "I want to help some guy destroy Magic altogether!" sort of reasons given by mostly everyone else. This particular boy had his friend disappear because of the army, and he had wished to find him. This had been the only way he could think of that would yield results.
"What are you doing sitting before that gate like that?" asked the army boy.
"Perhaps I am pondering the feeling of loyalty to my people," answered the robed being. "I am the Mysterious Mimicker. Who are you referred to as?"
The army boy hesitated. "... My friends call me Tony."
"Tony?" asked the Mimicker. "Tony is such an odd thing to be referred to. Why are you here, Tony?" The Mimicker stayed where he was, directly in front of the gates to the castle, and only looked up at Tony, his small, beady eyes peeking out from below the brim of his hat. "You do not seem as odd as the others that came with you. You must be here for a reason, any kind of reason, anything at all..."
Tony gulped. "Well, you see, I'm here for a friend. He was taken, but he wasn't supposed to be! He's not Magical at all."
The Mimicker's eyes widened. "Well, you silly, silly thing, what are you doing here on Tanetane, then? This isn't where your friend would be."
"It's where I was stationed."
The Mimicker's eyes narrowed and he lowered his head. "You're not going to find your friend here. He's as good as gone already."
Teddy and his two little followers had gained a follower the day that he had left Podunk and headed up to Youngtown. Pippi had purposely hidden herself in the RV just as they were leaving and had only dramatically revealed herself when she had to go the bathroom. By then it was far too late to double back to Astrid's to return Pippi to her mother, so Teddy had relented and just called up his sister to inform her of her daughter's foolishness. Before too long, it was like Pippi had always been there, getting to know Princess Paula and Claus, and then they were at their current destination - Youngtown.
The four of them wandered around the streets, keeping an eye out for any odd faces in the crowd that weren't their own. For the most part, Teddy sold a few of the herbs given to him from his sister to get their funds up, and Claus kept an eye out for any good deals on food or other kinds of supplies. It was a typical time in the marketplace, it seemed. Nothing out of the ordinary. Teddy still didn't feel like he could let his guard down, though - there was an oddity here somewhere and he knew it.
He might not have been Magic, but he always had a good sense of when people needed to be suspected of anything. There was a small group of barely legal children wandering the stands - a tall Dalaamese boy stepping around with a small boy with snow white hair stumbling after him, and they were accompanied by a blonde girl, two black haired boys (one with a big dog following him), two other blonds (these ones male), and then finally an adult, this one limping some distance away. Eventually one of the blond males had stepped back from the group of children, and wandered back to the limping male, taking his hand. Teddy watched with interest shining in his eyes behind his triangle-shaped glasses, and he frowned slightly.
Claus, Pippi and Princess Paula had yet to notice these people. He wanted to keep it that way until he knew that they meant no harm. They seemed harmless enough, but they had people from every single country on the Nowhere Islands. Maybe they were the Resistance or whatever it had been that Astrid had told him about? It seemed reasonable enough, but Teddy still wanted to be sure before he approached them.
Ah. But they were approaching him first, it seemed. He glanced back at the three children he was, exploring a knick knack stand, before turning back to the group approaching him.
"Can I help you?" he asked, his voice gruff. He took the stance he usually did when he wanted to pick a fight, his hand lingering above the pocket where his knife was situated.
"Perhaps you can," stated the Dalaamese boy. Teddy blinked. "You see, we're trying to locate an herb that we require."
"An herb? I don't know much about those," Teddy admitted, his tone still harsh. "That's my sister's department."
"It's kind of important that we try and find a way to recreate the salve, you see," said the blond standing next to the Dalaamese boy, as he fixed his glasses. Teddy heard a Winters accent and was slightly confused. "Our friend has a bad leg."
One of the black haired boys grinned and put his hands behind his head. "He's been overdoing it."
"Well, I'm sorry, but I can't help you," Teddy commented, getting ready to turn around back toward the three children behind him.
"Waaaaaiiit!" called Pippi, turning around harshly and nearly into his side. Teddy groaned to himself - clearly she had been paying attention to the conversation going on behind her. "I hear you're looking for an herb, hmm?"
"That's right," stated the only female in the group. "You see, we need something for our friend here."
The adult in the group raised a hand, making his presence known.
"We'd need to know what he was taking originally," Pippi pointed out, as Princess Paula and Claus turned in curiousity. "Where was the salve being made? Do you know?"
The blond male that hovered by the side of the adult in the group sheepishly stepped forward, showing the case. Teddy took it and he and Pippi took a look inside, a scent wafting from the case. Teddy may not have known much about herbs, but he could tell instantly this was one of those really good homemade remedies for pain, though if he recalled right, the glasses-wearing blond had commented that it was meant for a bad leg. Osohe, possibly.
"I'm thinking Osohe," he voiced to his niece. "You?"
"There's a distinct smell from an herb that my mom bought once there, so I'm agreeing with you," she said with a nod. "Osohe herbs are usually pretty hard to come by this far in Phoenix, though."
"Guess that's why they need someone to try and recreate it," Claus commented, and Princess Paula nodded. "That stuff looks familiar though. I swear I've seen it before."
"... C-Claus?"
There was a moment of silence. Teddy turned to Claus to see him jolting in shock and excitement.
The boy from Osohe peered around Teddy, who turned to watch as he stepped up to the timid blond, and Teddy could instantly notice that they looked distinctly a lot like each other - mirror images. The only differences were their hair and eye colours - and the colours of their clothes. Claus wasted no time, he immediately wrapped his arms around the other boy, who was close to tears. Wait, no that was wrong - they were both sobbing, falling to their knees locked in each other's embrace.
The adult in the group approached and took his time to kneel down next to them, wincing slightly. "There, there you two, calm down."
"Who'd have thought!" chirped Pippi. "The chances of running into anyone that he knew was slim. Isn't he from Osohe?"
"That's right," Princess Paula commented. "He told me he had a twin brother, though. But to think he's all the way out here..." She put a hand to her chin in thought, as Teddy began to note that the others were turning to her in shock. "Why, I can't fathom a reason for Claus' brother being all the way out here."
"Pa..." began the other female blonde. "Paula!?"
"This is starting to get a little weird," Pippi sighed.
Princess Paula blinked and eyed the group carefully. "Wait a moment... Puu? Ana? What are... How? I mean..." She approached the tall Dalaamese boy and the other blonde carefully. "But... how?"
"Princess," began one of the shorter black haired boys. "Princess, it's me, Ness. You see, I met Lucas, and together we gathered this group here in order to stand up against Giegue. There's still Princess Kumatora."
Princess Paula took a moment to really look at Ness, clearly amazed at seeing him. Teddy wondered idly to himself who all the others in the group were. That weird white-haired kid with the pale skin was starting to kind of unnerve him. "It's a joy to see you in person, Ness. I can't say how much of a relief it is to know that I am with friends. Teddy has been a great help indeed in helping me so far."
"Yes, Paula, please introduce us," said the Dalaamese prince. "I am wondering who these two are."
"Name's Pippi Lindgren!" chirped Teddy's niece. "This is my uncle, Teddy."
"Hey," was what Teddy had to say for himself. "So I take it you're the rebellion my sister has heard about?"
"We have started to sort of be a pain in Giegue's side, yes," stated the prince. "I am Prince Puu, but please refer to me as just Puu while we are together."
"Noted."
"I'm Princess Ana," began the second blonde female. "The same goes for me, as well - please just call me Ana. It is certainly a pleasure in getting to meet you, Teddy. Pippi."
The male blond with the glasses stepped up then, and Teddy watched as the white haired boy basically stepped as well, as he had one of his hands clutching the taller boy's jacket. "I am Jeff Andonuts, it is a pleasure." Teddy's face paled at the boy's last name. "The small boy attached to my jacket is Lloyd. Please forgive him - his eyesight is worse than mine."
"The sun's also too bright," commented Lloyd. Teddy watched as the boy then moved his hand to block out the rays from his eyes.
Paula's friend Ness pointed at himself with his thumb, giving Teddy nearly the biggest grin he had ever seen on a child since Pippi. "My name's Ness! I'm an Eaglelander. It's nice to meet you, Teddy."
The adult of the group gestured a hello before placing his hands on the twins' backs. "Name's Duster. The twins are Lucas and Claus."
The one boy that was left gave a sneer. "Me and Pippi have already met. I figured you were her uncle. You look a bit like her mother."
"Ninten!" Pippi chirped. "'Sup? You scared your mom, you know."
Ninten gave a shrug. "I was kinda needed here. Will you guys be heading back to Podunk after this?"
Pippi looked up at Teddy. "Are we?"
Teddy wasn't sure what to say. "Well, I came up because of the rebellion. Back when Giegue was first starting his whole collecting of the Magic Users, he took my mother and my father went after her. Neither came back. Now he's taking kids and killing them, and none of that is okay with a Lindgren."
"In that case..." began Puu. "Perhaps you can help us."
It was decided on teams. Teddy could deal with that.
Puu had placed everyone into strategic teams of some sort. Teddy was in a group with Lucas, Claus, and Duster. Pippi was going off with Ninten, Lloyd, and Ana. Puu himself had paired himself with Ness, Paula and Jeff. Teddy felt a little insulted that Pippi wasn't with him, but he knew from the ongoing chats that she usually gave about Ninten Magicant that he could trust the farmboy to keep his niece in check.
Besides, he had sneaking suspicion that Puu paired Teddy with who he did because he had access to an RV and Duster had a limp.
They were to leave in the morning, so everyone got situated at the Youngtown hotel. Puu paid for all the expenses, and everyone got comfortable in one of the six rooms that Puu had purchased for the night. Teddy peered out the window of the room he was taking with Pippi and wondered to himself just what he was getting himself into with this. There wasn't much choice now was there? He had basically volunteered himself for this, after all, and now Pippi was involved, too. If anything, his parents would get avenged. Maybe even discovered to have been alive this entire time.
Teddy closed the curtains, and collapsed on his bed.