Late Night Call
Late into the night, after the party had wrapped up, Snugglemane walked the hallowed halls of his castle. The corners of his lips were turned upwards, his chest was puffed out, with swagger in his step. The king personally considered the party a success, oh how will he top himself this time?
Quinten had already retired to his personal chambers, and Snugglemane was currently on the way to his own. The corridor had three open windows, letting the moon's light illuminate the long hall, towards the interior was a large marble door with adorned with intricate gold swirls. This door lead to the royal archives, Snugglemane hasn't been in there since his mother passed away. He remembered how she would hide storybooks in there for her to read to him when he was a child.
He had initially past it, but then he stopped in his tracks. Did he just see something? Turning back towards the door, his royal cape whipped out with a flourish. Indeed, there was an faint light that slipped through the space beneath he door.
Snugglemane blinked a few times. No, there's nothing in that room. It's just moonlight playing tricks on him as it bounces off the white marble. Walking over to the window across from the door, he reached out and grabbed the double doors, and closed them shut, sealing it shut as he flipped the latch. Looking back, Snugglemane felt a chill, as he saw the light now glowing brighter, the color of an emerald.
Snugglemane's first instinct was to yell for Quinten, but if what was on the other side a threat, then yelling for Quinten would alert it to his presence. But, on the inside of the door, there is a velvet rope hanging from the ceiling right next to the door frame. If he pulls it, he could alert the Sheriff's Department to his predicament.
Ever so slowly, Snugglemane crept over to the door. With an unsteady hand, Snugglemane gripped the handle. Every fur on his body stood on end, every fiber of his being saying he needed to get out of there.
Snugglemane steeled himself, his mother didn't raise him to be a fool who ran away from something as harmless as light. The door creaked on its hinges as he slowly opened it. Taking a step into the room, Snugglemane saw the source of the light. From there, all that could be heard down the hall was a girlish scream, as Snugglemane dove for the rope.
Mao Mao, Badgerclops, Adorabat, Tanya, Violet, and Minori walked up to the front door of Sheriff HQ. Sliding open the door, everyone filed into the house, Mao Mao and his sisters were hunched over, their muscles aching. Not because they partied too hard, but because Snugglemane had dropped surprise news that the heroes were in charge of cleaning up after the party.
"Nothing like a bit of charity work to nail home how much we appreciate all of you, yes?" The king had told them.
Badgerclops and Adorabat lent a hand as well, and Tanya to an extent. The tanuki hadn't done any heavy lifting herself, she had her leaf clones do most of the work, but even then, it still took them til almost two in the morning when the party had ended a little after midnight.
Minori flopped on the couch, Adorabat joined her by setting herself on the back of the couch.
"Alright y'all, imma just head on to bed," Badgerclops went for the door way that lead to his and Mao Mao's room, until...
I'm in danger! I'm really in a jam!
If anyone had been on the verge of falling asleep, they weren't anymore, the sound put everyone on alert, shocking them awake.
"Wh-wha! What is that?" Minori startled back awake.
"The royal alarm!" Mao Mao exclaimed. The king is in trouble!"
"Already? Man, we saw the dude a couple hours ago!" Badgerclops whined, upset that he wouldn't be able to sleep in his comfy bed.
"I'm sure it's nothing serious," Mao Mao added. "You can just go to bed."
Without even a second passing between them, Badgerclops turned on his heel and went back to his bed. "'Kay, thanks dude!"
"I'm coming t-awwwnnn," Adorabat yawned, her eyes half lidded as she slouched.
"No, you stay here, and rest up." Mao Mao picked up the small child and carried her to the bedroom, where he hung her from the bottom of the top bunk. Still not sure how she hangs from her feet when there just little nubs.
Coming back out to the living room, Mao Mao saw Tanya and his sisters were standing by the door.
"What are you doing?"
"Waiting for you," said Minori.
"We're coming with," Violet stated.
"I'm up for a little after party," Tanya added.
Mao Mao rolled his eyes. "Again, I'm sure it's nothing serious. I bet the king just got spooked and pulled the alarm. Wouldn't be the first time he's done it."
"You don't know that!" Minori exclaimed. "Besides, I'm wide awake now, no use just chilling on the couch until you get back."
Considering who he was talking to, there was no way Mao Mao was going to convince them otherwise. Letting out a sigh of defeat, he motioned for the three of them to follow him down to the Badgerclops' workspace/garage.
Since there were four of them, they took Tanya's Aerotruck. It only took them about two minutes to get to the castle's front doors. Minori slinked out of the back of the truck, still partially asleep until she slammed her head on the cobblestone.
Minori shot up, "I'm awake!"
Mao Mao jumped out, Violet in tow. Tanya shut down the truck and joined the three Mao's as they walked up the steps.
"Strange," Mao Mao mumbled. "There's usually a few guards standing front of the door." Normally there would be a couple guards at the front door all hours of the day, but there was no trace to be seen.
"Should we be worried then?" Violet asked.
"No," Mao Mao waved the comment aside. "The castle has better security without them anyway."
"What's that mean?" Tanya asked, her tone betraying her real thoughts. That the castle must be easy pickings.
"It means they get paid too much," Mao Mao answered, remember how he was able to slip past the two so easily after being caught... nakey.
Mao Mao placed his hands on the double doors, slowly applying pressure, the doors began to crack open. Light began to pour into the room while the doors creaked on their hinges. When Mao Mao had his arms almost all the way stretched out to either side, he pulled them back and slowly stepped into the throne room.
The room was dimly lit, the only light source being the light from the open door, a rough and even sound echoed off the walls. Letting his eyes adjust, Mao Mao scanned the empty room... near empty room. Off in the corner was an uneven lump, its mass rose and fell with the on and offs of the sound. Moving closer, Mao Mao saw that it's wasn't a nameless lump, it was one of the nameless guards, sleeping the night away as they snored.
"What'd I tell you?" Dropping down on his knee, Mao Mao grabbed the guards wrist, pulling it up into the air. Letting go, the guard's wrist dropped to the floor.
"Out cold," Violet looked over her brother's shoulder, her sudden volume causing him to jump. "No signs of a scuffle, no bruises meaning he didn't get knocked out with his back turned."
"He's just sleeping," Mao Mao concluded.
"Sleeping? When he's on the clock? Even I'm not that irresponsible." Minori remarked, earning a judgmental look from Violet.
"Regardless, we need to find the king," Mao Mao unsheathed Geraldine; responding to his will, the sword illuminated the interior of the castle.
Tanya whistled in amusement. "Handy".
The four made their way through the halls one after another. After they searched the umpteenth room, Mao Mao realized a slight flaw in the alarm system: it told them the king needed them, but not where he needed them.
"Just how many rooms does a castle need?" Minori's exhaustion caused her to drag her feet, placing her at the back of the pack.
"As long as there's more rooms than they know what to do with," Tanya answered.
Violet whipped her head around. "Did anyone hear that?"
"The sound of your voice?" Minori asked sarcastically. "Yeah."
"No, I heard it too," Mao Mao added. In response, Tanya and Minori went on alert. Now that they were all quiet, the could hear another sound, one similar to scuffling.
A figure slowly emerged from the shadows at the end of the corridor. A bird sweetypie that wore a magenta tunic bearing a pink heart, as well as pink helmet, the same uniform that the guard in the throne room wore.
Minori broke out into a nervous laugh, bending over, bracing herself by placing her hands on her knees. "Okay, that's embarrassing. Violet, going on full alert for a castle guard!"
Violet pulled the hat over her face, hiding the heat rising in her cheeks. Mao Mao on the other hand, walked towards the guard, calling out to them.
"Hey! Do you know where the king is? He pulled the alarm, but we can't find him." Mao Mao looked back to indicate his sisters and Tanya.
The guard didn't answer, they just continued their ambling toward the group. The silence caused Tanya to go back on alert, a chill worked up her spine.
"Mittens, something doesn't feel right!"
Mao Mao looked back at the guard, who changed the positioning of their hand on the spear shifted. The guard swung the spear at Mao Mao.
Jumping back, Mao Mao let out a yelp when the spear grazed him, cutting off some of his fur. Dropping into a defensive stance, he readied Geraldine. Upon a second look, Mao Mao noticed that the guard's eyes were glazed over, giving them a milky white stare.
"What the..." Mao Mao muttered under his breath. The guard hefted the spear, readying themselves for a charge.
Minori pushed past Tanya and Violet, rushing to Mao Mao's side. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, just a little close for comfort," Mao Mao assured his sister. "What's going on? These guys aren't exactly geniuses, but they're not this spaced out."
"First things first," Minori raised her fists. "Let's disarm and restrain them." Minori ran forward, evoking a reaction out of the guard.
The guard thrusted his spear at Minori, who met the spear halfway with a palm strike. Due to her bangles, the spear couldn't break through Minori's skin. The spear point, dealing with pressure from either side, cracked and gave way, shattering into pieces.
With her other hand, Minori grabbed the shaft of the spear, giving it a tug, pulled the guard into one of her side kicks, launching them down the hall. Minori kept her grip on the shaft, leaving it in her hands as the guard slid down the corridor. Bringing her foot back to the floor, Minori tossed the shaft off to the side.
Minori walked down to the guard, coming to a stop, she stood over their limp body. The guard wasn't making any attempts to pull themselves off the ground. Was it even necessary to restrain them in that case?
Violet came up behind Minori, some rope in hand, she got to work tying the guard up. Propping the guard against the wall, the four of them stood there and watched said guard intently.
"...What are we waiting for?" Tanya asked after awhile.
Mao Mao shrugged, stifling a yawn.
"Who knows," Violet answered. "This guard wasn't acting like himself, and the king pulled the alarm. We might've been playing this too nonchalantly."
"You think?" Minori said sarcastically.
Mao Mao's ears flicked, catching the sound of something flapping over head. Looking up, he caught the sight of what could only be called a giant moth. "What the-?!"
The moth's body was a silver-ish gray, it's wings were covered in sparkling dust like scales that shook loose with the tiniest of movements. It's body was roughly ten feet long, with an sixteen foot wingspan.
Seeing Mao Mao's eyes trained on the ceiling, Minori, Violet, and Tanya traced his stare to the creature that hung from the ceiling. Minori and Violet moved into their ready stances.
"What am I looking at?" Tanya asked, taking a step back.
"A bug," Minori answered. Tanya and Violet gave the martial artist an exasperated stare.
The insect shook its wings sending a shower of sparkling scales down onto them. In response, Minori's hackles stood on end, those scales weren't normal.
Taking in her surroundings, Minori weighed her options. 1) there was a monster above with mystery scales falling down on them. 2) there was a lack of staff around the castle, and the only ones they met were asleep and attacked them on sight.
With her instincts filling in the gaps, she made her decision. She lunged forward and gripped Mao Mao's red cape in her hand, hefting it over her shoulder, she flung him out towards the end of the corridor.
Mao Mao didn't even have time to realize what just happened. All he knew was that one moment, he was staring at a monster that hung from the ceiling, the next, his vision was spinning, changing between the floor and ceiling as he spun through the air.
Violet was initially shocked at Minori's sudden movement, out of reflex, moved to draw her sword in order to subdue her sister. Stopping just before her hand delved into her hat, Violet took a second to think, about how Minori wouldn't just do something like that. She must've had a hunch, which have a record of being generally correct. Instead of grabbing something out of her hat, she pulled it off her head, turned around, and pushed it into Tanya's arms.
Tanya, caught off guard by Violet's sudden action, was barely able to keep up with what was happening before her. Violet reeled back her leg, extending it back towards Tanya, she launched her in the opposite direction of where Minori threw Mao Mao.
Tanya slid across the floor, the cracks between the tiles scratching at her back. Bringing her legs up, she rolled backwards onto her knees. With Violet's hat clutched in her hands, Tanya watched as the silvery scales showered over the Mao sisters.
Violet took a deep breath, and looked to Minori. The moment the scales touched down on her skin, Violet's eyes rolled back into her head, and her body, loosing all its strength, flopped the ground. Overcome with an insurmountable feeling of exhaustion, Violet's eyelids felt heavier than lead. Giving in to the exhaustion, Violet's last sight was of Minori, who experienced the same thing as Violet.
Dumbfounded, Tanya's mouth fell agape at the sight of the two Mao sisters getting floored by a handful of dust. She cast her gaze back up toward the moth, the creature was giving its wings a final shake, before dropping from the ceiling. Its wings caught the air as it swooped in towards Tanya.
Twisting on the ball of her foot, Tanya dove to the side, pressing her body against the wall. The wind buffeted her as the monster swooshed by, flying into the depths of the castle. Her heart pounded, her eyes darted from side to side, searching for any scales that may have come loose as it went by. Tanya let out a sigh when there weren't any scales, beyond the few that were pooled around Minori and Violet. I guess it can only let them off when it wants to knock its targets out.
Mao Mao, after snapping out of the shock of being thrown down the hall, hefted himself off the floor. He met Tanya's eyes from down the hall, he strode across the hall, picking up Geraldine which had come loose form his grasp, and meeting Tanya in the middle. They looked at Mao Mao's sisters, unconscious and sprawled out on the floor.
Mao Mao's initial instinct were to walk up to them and see if they were okay by checking their breathing and pulse. But if he did that, the scales that covered their bodies may knock him out as well. Looking to Tanya, Mao Mao hoped to get a glimpse of her thoughts on her face, but his eyes were drawn to his sister's hat instead.
"That's-"
"She gave it to me." Tanya said quickly. Last thing she needed was Mao Mao accusing her when they just lost two heavy hitters. "Right before she pushed me out of the way, she placed it in my arms."
Mao Mao brought his hand to his chin, thinking about what may have gone through Violet's head. She's clever, so she wouldn't do it on a whim like Minori would. Maybe Violet's thoughts were directed more into the long game, in which case, her hat will most definitely be helpful.
"We can't dread on this anymore," Mao Mao decided to bring their focus to what they could do, instead of what they could've done. "We need to find the king, ensure his safety, and plan our next course of attack on that moth... thing."
"Don't think we should call back up?"
Mao Mao looked at his sisters again. That thing brought them down so easily, if they did call for Badgerclops and Adorabat, they would be walking into the castle with no clue just like he had. There's no guarantee that moth wouldn't intercept them before they joined up, or if they would run into any more hypnotized guards.
"No, we'll take care of this ourselves." Mao Mao turned on his heel and began walking down the hall, Tanya close on his heels.