Shovel knight was out doing his daily rotine of exploring, diging, slaying the occasional monsters and more diging, but it was slightly diferent this day. He heard from a fellow traveler he had enconterded, there was apparently some old ruins close by with some treasure in it but the area was full of monsters, but for Shovel knight that was just a usual adventure to him, he got to the ruined temple and made short work of the monsters. He looked around for treasure, but found mostly antique and old stuff like vases and statues, granted those could be worth a pretty coin, but he would much rather have jewels or coins since they were easy to carry and exchange but he couldn't denie that it was possible that the place was either already explored and it's loot already taken, or that the traveler was referring to treasure in a arquiologic sense
But before he could thought of leaving the place, he saw a big chest that looked untouched by time and people
"This should be good" he said as he approached the chest and open it with his shovel, inside were a few gems and coins but at top of them was a book
"Strange, why would someone put a book together with riches? Perhaps it's contents are what's worthy about it?" He picked it up and open to see what it was about, as soon as he did, a bright light came from the book and engulfed him
Juan had helped prevent El Salvador from obtaining the Sacred Guacamole by acessing El Otromundo, defeating him in combat, thanks to him, a situation that could have lead to the collapse of every timelines and the end of the entire Mexiverse was averted, however he was still in another timeline away from the ones he loves and his only means to return to his family and home was by traveling thourgh El Otromundo,he stared at the infinite sea of doors, each leading to a diferent timeline and universe, before he could think of what to do, a bright golden light began to appear in front, he assumed a fighting pose when in a suddenly flash, he and the light disapered
Madeline was chilling in home making a pie to herself and her 'roomate' of sorts, more like 'soulmate' really
"How much time left until it's done?" Badeline asked
Badeline was a twisted and mirrored version of Madeline herself created by a supernatural mirror she encontreded during her climb thourgh Celeste mountain, they had been at odds during the climb, with Badeline going so far as try and kill Madeline, but after they talked it out and accepted each other as a part of them, they had become as one, Badeline helped Madeline overcome her fears and anxiety as well as helping her climb the Mountain, and together they were able to reach the top of the Mountain and finish their self discover journey
Madeline thought Badeline would disaper after they left the Mountain, due to not be in the magical place anymore, but all it did was make her lose her fisical form, becoming a intangible spirit that only Madeline could see, she was happy for having Badeline with her
"About 10 or 20 minutes" Madeline said as she put the pie in the oven, she suddenly heard a notification in her computer sayinng she had a email, she came to check to see if maybe it was one of her friends that sent a message but it haden't a name or adress attached with it
"This is weird" Madeline said
"Watch out, it could be a scam or virus" Badeline responded, something about this wasn't right, they had a VPN and anti-virus installed so their PC would be fine, but she could atleast be careful
"Right" Madeline moved her mouse to the message with a more serious expression, the moment she clicked at it, a blinding light was created from her computers monitor
"Aaaaahhh!" Madeline screamed while Badeline grid her teeth, as both were consumed by the light, disapering from the room
In the malaise infested island whose name was long forgotten, in the deepest part of the Prison dungeons, the homuculus know as the Beheaded was doing what he always does, brutally massacring any infected ghoul or monster who stand in his way, he was about to head on to whatever sort of path that would lead him out of the dungeon or off this dammend isles. But before he could do so, he went to loot corpes of his latest victims, 'who knows? Maybe this poor forsaken shells of plague might have good money or weapons with them' the Beheaded thought to himself
As he looked thourgh the bodies, that were carrying mostly nothing but junk, he found a book inside the chest of one of the monsters 'did it eat it?' He looked at it with his no existing eye and flaming head, he tossed it backwards 'don't need that' He lifted himself and was about to walk off, when suddenly...
Thud!
The Beheaded was hit in the back by something, he flipped backwards, holding his weapon, ready to kill the son of a bitch who did this, but found no one, he looked around and nothing was there that could attack him, looking at the object that hit him, only to find the same book as before
"what the hell?" He picked it up again and begun analysing it more carefully "is it some sort of boomerang?" He asked himself, suddenly the book open it self and bright light began to suck the Beheaded into it, he tried to escape but failed, the book closed it self after consuming it's victim, disapering in a flash of ligh
"We did it! The summoning was a sucess!" A man covered in black robes said as he and other robed figures saw four humanoide figures covered in golden light began to appear in front of them, each holding a weapon
"O brave heroes please save our world and our people..." a man in black ropes said, as the light began to disapered, he began to have a better look at the summoned individuals.
The one wielding a spear was covered head to toe in a bulky-looking light blue armor with slight gold details, wearing a helmet decorated with large horns and that seemed to make his face unvisible, he was supporting himself with the spear as he put a hand to his face as he was recuvering himself
The one wielding a bow was the smaller of the bunch, she was also the only female of the group, with pale skin, brown eyes, and long thick burnt orange hair with one wayward curl, her outfit consisted of a white shirt with long sleves and pink details, and loose fitting pants, she was sitting on the floor while scratching the back of her head with her left hand
The one wielding a sword shocked the robed man when he saw what was in front of him, he had what appears to be a mysterious shadowy, gas-like substance, with a glowing crystal inside in the place his head should be in, his body was covered with what looked like a cheap and dirty adventurers outfit, with the skin it showed being a blue color, whatever this was it, it was definely not human
'What is this thing! This can't be our Saint of the sword!' He thought, he drifted his eyes to the last of the group
The one wielding a shield was the tallest among them, he also had a very tan skin tone compared to the bow wielder and the robed figure himself, he was not wearing a shirt, which made his well define muscles visible to all to see, in his chest was what looked like a heart covered in rose thorns with green colored feathered wings spourting outwards, with what looked like a crown of fire above it, his arms were covered in bandages, he had a large belt with a golden buckle with something draw in it, it seemed more like a symbol of achievement rather than something used for in a day to day sense, for some reason the robed man diren't understand, he was wearing a blue underwear atop his pants, he had white long boots. He also had a dark blue mask with teal colored details in his face, he stood up, towering among the people in the room, he closed his fists and took a pose of a combat ready fighter, he briefelly dropped his guard when he saw the shield strapped to one of his arms, but he assumed his stance once again soon after
The robed man decide it to try and prevent the situation from escalatin by starting his speech again
"o great heroes of legends, we have summoned you all with a ancient ritual to help save our world from catastrophe!" The roped man continued "Our country is in the middle of a crisis! A rift has opened from another dimension, and monsters have come crawling into our world in great waves"
"Heh?" Madeline said as she began to regain her senses, liftting herself from the ground
"What do you mean by that?" Shovel knight asked, before noticing that he wasn't holding his shovel anymore, instead, there was a spear with a white, gold and black design "What happended to my Shovel?!?!" He screamed as he looked around the room for his preciouss weapon
"I understand that this must be a shock, but time is of the essencial!" The man in ropes said "will all of you help us and our kingdom?"
"I..." Juan was unsure what to say, he had thought this people kidnapped him but that didn't seem to be the case, he was summoned once to save the entire Mexiverse so this wasn't strange to him, but it still made him conflicted, he wasn't someone that would just leave people to die without doing anything, but at the same time, he had a family to return to and he would'ent leave them waiting
"I'm sorry, i would help if i could, but i have to return to my family, i can't abandon them" he said in a strong and melancolic form
"Y-yeah, can you send us back?" Madeline asked as she hugged her bow, she was not sure how to handle this, she was not experience or preaperded enough to do something like this, she wanted to go home, to her family and friends...
'Dont worry, i'm still here' a voice Madeline was all too accustomed to said inside her head, she sighed in relief from knowing she had Badeline with her
"I'm sorry heroes, but it's said that the heroes can only return home after all the waves are defeated" the man in robes responded
Juan left a heavy sigh as he lowered his head, letting go from his combat stance, he would have to be away from his family for longer, the thought of that broke his heart
Madeline and the other heroes saw this, at the sight of this family man heart broken, she had the ideia of asking for a alternative option
"Could you maybe send a mensage to our worlds then? At least so we can explain our absence to our families and friends" she said, Juan looked over to the little lady in the side of him, as a smile appeared on his face
"I...don't know if that's possible bow hero, never before was something like that done or tried" the robed figure explainded "i'm sorry for our incapabilty" he finished sayinng with a respectfull bow
"No it's alright" she looked a bit down as she said that "I am sorry, mister..." Madeline said as she looked over to Juan, who was with a neutral expression on his face, but it became a confident smile as he looked at Madeline
"Juan, and don't be, you atleast tried and thats what matter" Madeline smiled as he said that
"Huh *cough* so heroes, does that mean you help u-" he couldun't finish his sentence, as the Beheaded put his sword to the man's trhoat
"What's in it for us then?" The homuculus asked "your asking a lot of us, especialy me, with no real incentive" he pointed to the other heroes behind him "i don't really care about those guys, but you kidnapped them from their homes which dosen't insite confidence for me personally, and now your asking us to save your sorry butts just out of good will, and trust me, i don't have a lot of that left" he would have continue, but Shovel knight put a hand to the Beheaded shoulder and pushed him back a bit
"Though i can't say you're not completly on the wrong, if you keep this violence up, i will personally remove you from this world" the hero of the shovel(spear) responded
Both stared at eachother, seemly about to start a fight depending on a answer of a none existing question, but before they could do anything the robed figure responded first
"If it's a compensacion you seek, The king of this great country is the one with the power and resources to reward you, not I. Please let me lead you to him, his majesty is most eager to meet you all" He motioned with his hands as he led them out of the room
They went thourgh a flight of stairs going up, when they past a window, all of them stared in the city below
"I never saw a kingdom like this..." shovel knight said, in all his travels it was the first time seeing a kingdom that looked like this, so many houses and shops filling the streets, with lots of people walking around and doing business, not even the capitals he saw back then were this big, this was definely not a small kingdom, this was capital of a mighty nation!
"This is definely not México..." Juan spoke, did that meant he wasn't even on the Mexiverse anymore? His questions only growing more and more
"Or Canadá..." Madeline complimented, it looked like something out of a history book or fantasy movie
"..." The Beheaded just stayed quiet, he walked forward and placed his hand on the window
"You okay?" Madeline asked
"...There's no malaise..." he responded
"What?" Shovel knight was confused by what the Beheaded said, he didn't know what that word meant
"There's no corpeses filling the streets, no plague infected ghoul or monsters to try and kill me, no insane lunatic eating a dead baby or something" he would be crying if he had eyes "i not there anymore! I out of that godfasken island!! I'm free!!! I AM FREEEE!!!!!" He spread his arms outwards as he looked up to the ceiling and begun to laugh loudly
All the three of them and man in robes guiding them stayed in shock from the information they received, the behavior of this creature in front of them finally made sense, he was from some sort of plague infested land, filled with monsters and lunatics, it was probably horribly distrubing to anyone from what he described, which might be the reason for their 'less than desirable' personality
"Huh Heroes, let's continue on, the king is wanting" the man in ropes said
They all looked at him, which made him flinch, but they all followeded him none the less
As the four heroes and their guide approached a set of large doors leading to the largest section of the castle, they all knew what was ahead.
The robed man turned to them. "Beyond this door lies our king, please try to show some respect" Once again that was said as a plea not an order.
As the doors opened and they began to enter, they all looked around the room, they noticed the whispering from the knights in the room, as well as the whispering from a group of people on a high balcony, but they decided to ignored that
The four finally focused at the king, who was sitting in a throne, he was a elder man with long white hair, wearing a crow decorated with a few gems and clothes that looked better made than the ones the nobles were wearing, his face looked serious and his stare had a commandig aspect to it
The heroes walked forward a bit to about 10 meter to were the king was, Shovel knight kneeled down as to show respect, Madeline and Juan followed suit, with just the Beheaded standing up
"Ah so these are to be our heroes..." The king glanced at them for a moment. "I am King Aultcray Melromarc XXXII, the King of our glorious country of Melromarc... now heroes, rise up and name yourselves".
"Well guess i'm first huh?" The Beheaded said as he spun his sword and pointed it to the ground "i don't recall my original name, but you can me Beheaded"
'This thing is the sword hero? why is such disguisting creature the wielder of the holy sword?' The king thought to himself as he looked at creature in front of him, he moved to look at the spear hero, who began his introduction after he lifted himself up
"I am know as Shovel Knight your majesty, a adventurer and treasure hunter" he said while doing slight bow
"Shovel knight? Is that really your name?" The king asked, it was clear that he was a knight by his manner and armor, but why a shovel?
"It was a title given to me by the kingdom of The Valley" he began explaining "Due to my achievements and feats, i was given my title by the Royal court, proving that the king itself saw me worthy of being reconize as a knight, not only bestowing me with great honor, but also changing my name forever, as my title holds more importance than my birth name" he finished sayinng while putting his spear over his shoulders
"But why shovel knight then?" Madeline asked
"Because i fought monsters and digged for treasure with my Shovel blade, and you can't receive a title that already belonged to some one, so they couldun't call me Treasure knight or Digger Knight" he answer it
'A strange tradicion, but it shows that he at least matches the title of hero' the king was pleased that at least one of them would be given him some respect as king, and by the way he talks, he had experience on how to fight
"Very well" the king said as he then looked to Madeline
"I'm Madeline, i am 21" everyone in the room was taken a back by this 'she looks so young!' was all they could think "and i am currently working as a web designer" she finished sayinng, though everyone was still thinking about how young she looked
Juan shook his head, preparing to introduce himself "i am..."
"Good, Madeline, Shovel knight and Beheaded" the king said, seemly ignoring Juan, which was hard to do with his size
"Hey you skipped someone" the Beheaded said as he pointed at Juan
"He speaks the truth your majesty" Madeline responded
The king glared at Juan, for a brief moment his face looked disgusted and irritated, something all four of them noted
"apologies Sir hero, please introduce yourself" the king said,
"I am Juan Aguacate, 36, i was a farmer before becoming a luchador" Juan spoke, with the exception of Madeline, almost everyone in the room diren't know that word though somehow all of them knew what it meant
'So he is a fighter? Perhaps his a gladiador, that would explain that ridiculos belt, must be stupid prize he won from a tournament of barbaric beasts!' The king thought in anger, but he made his best to contain himself
"Well heroes allow me to answer a question i sure you four heroes have in your minds, the why we have summoned you four, as i aware that you were informed, My country of Melromarc is in grave danger of a threat known as the waves." the king began explaining what the waves were. They could happen anywhere at any time, lasting for multiple hours or until the boss is killed. During that time monsters would continue to pour out of the wave and even after it stopped, any monster already here would remain until slain "The waves are said to become stronger over time. They last longer, the wave bosses and all under them will be stronger. There are even written accounts of waves with more than one wave boss...It is best to summon you now, when the waves are weak to give you time to strengthen yourselves to stay ahead of the waves' growing threat".
"Strengthen ourselves? How so?" Madeline asked
"Yeah, I thought this 'legendary' weapons would already be at their peak strength" the Beheaded said, he was familarize with having to use stronger versions of the same weapon but the sword he was holding looked fancy not strong
"Ah, yes" The king responded "You are legendary heroes and those weapons you all carry are the 4 greatest weapons in this world..., but not right now" They all looked at him confused
"Each weapon has its own strengthening method. It gains strength alongside you heroes, as for you yourselves, could you activate your status magic?"
"Status magic? What's that?" The Beheaded asked
'Hey, thats a little thing in the corner of your vision' Badeline pointed out, Madeline looked and found a little cube at the edge of her vision, she focused on it and a menu popped up
[Notice] [Help Menu]
[This screen is called status magic]
[HELP] [GUIDE] [EQUIPMENT] [STATS] [WEAPONS MENU] [CRAFTING] [PARTY
[EXIT MENU]
She attempted to click on the one sayinng 'STATS' thinking that was what the king meant by status, but as if it read her mind, it automatically click it self and the menu she was in changed into another
[Name: Madeline]
[Class: Bow Hero]
[Equipment] [go to the EQUIPMENT menu to see more details]
[Legendary bow (locked)] [other-wordly clothes]
[Level: 1]
[Health: 110]
[Magical Power: 40]
[Skill Power: 45]
[Attack: 20]
[Magic: 15]
[Defense: 7]
[Magical Defense: 9]
[Agility: 15]
[PERKS]
[Dash: lauch yourself a short distance in incredible speed in the air or ground, you can use dash up to two times before it enters cooldown]
[Mountain Climber: you have a easier time climbing large structures]
[Strawberry Fanatic: you can regain a small quantity of health and stamina by consuming stawberries or foods with strawberry in it, doing so will also grant you a random buff or positive effects, every week you will gain a strawberry in your inventory]
'This is just like a video game!' Madeline thought, before warning her fellow heroes about it
"Guys! There a icon at the corner of your view, just focus on it and a menu should appear" she said, with the other three doing as she told them, with their little suprised gasps serving as confirmation
Beheaded P.O.V.
[Name: the Beheaded?]
[Class: Sword Hero]
[Equipment] [go to the EQUIPMENT menu to see more details]
[Legendary sword (locked)] [other-wordly clothes and armor]
[Level: 1]
[Health: 130]
[Magical Power: 20]
[Skill Power: 45]
[Attack: 32]
[Magic: 9]
[Defense: 12]
[Magical Defense: 5]
[Agility: 20]
[PERKS]
[Homuculai biology: due to your unique condition, you can't be killed by tradicional means, you can posses bodies as long as they are humanoide and in working condicions]
[Lack of emphaty: you don't hesitate when killing other people and living beings, you can still form bonds and relationship, doing so will make it harder for you to kill them based on your bond with them]
[Out of the TimeStream: due to your experience with timeloops and time manapulation, you have a small resistance to Time-magic]
Shovel knight P.O.V.
[Name: Shovel Knight]
[Class: Spear Hero]
[Equipment] [go to the EQUIPMENT menu to see more details]
[Legendary spear (locked)] [other-wordly armor]
[Level: 1]
[Health: 120]
[Magical Power: 35]
[Skill Power: 35]
[Attack: 25]
[Magic: 15]
[Defense: 15]
[Magical Defense: 10]
[Agility: 10]
[PERKS]
[Experience Treasure Hunter: you can find treasure and riches more easly]
[Master Digger: you can dig like no other, making giant underground tunels and never ending holes is childs play to you (together with Experience Treasure Hunter: allows you to see buried treasure and precious gems in short radius of you as long as it was buried naturally)]
[Code of Shovelry: shovels will be counted as Spear type weapons when you use them]
Juan P.O.V.
[Name: Juan Aguacate]
[Class: ?¿Shield Hero?¿]
[Equipment] [go to the EQUIPMENT menu to see more details]
[Legendary shield (locked)] [Sacred Mask (locked)] [other-wordly clothes]
[Level: 1]
[Health: 150]
[Magical Power: 40]
[Skill Power: 45]
[Attack: ¿?Error?¿]
[Magic: 15]
[Defense: 20]
[Magical Defense: 20]
[Agility: 10]
[PERKS]
Juans menu was all static and glitching, he diren't know what that was but he knew that wasn't not normal, suddenly a message appeared
[¡ERROR!]
[Unknown item causing interference with the legendary shield]
[Analysing source of interference]
[...]
[Source of interference identified: Sacred Mask]
[Starting removal process of unknown item]
[...]
[¡ERROR!]
[Unable to remove Sacred Mask]
[...]
[Looking for alternative solution]
[...]
Suddenly, a white mask symbol began to glow over the glitching screen, and in a flash of pure white light, the screen began completly blank, but soon after it went back to normal, with a new message appearing
[MESSAGE]
[Legendary Shield and Sacred Mask have successfully synchronize!]
[Name: Juan Aguacate]
[Class: Shield Hero ; Luchador]
[Equipment] [go to the EQUIPMENT menu to see more details]
[Legendary shield (locked)] [Sacred Mask (locked)] [other-wordly luchador outfit]
[Level: 1]
[Health: 200]
[Magical Power: 40]
[Skill Power: 45]
[Attack: 15]
[Magic: 15]
[Defense: 30]
[Magical Defense: 25]
[Agility: 20]
[PERKS]
[Pollo Power: you can become a chinken at will, while in this form you can perform special moves such as: (Pollo Glide: defy gravity for a short period of time, allowing you to sustaining flight) (Pollo-Bomba: allows you to lay up to three eggs that explode at will or after 10 seconds) (Pollo Shot: allows you to ascend or descend diagonally). You can return to normal at any time, but you must wait 20 seconds before being able to turn back into your chinken form]
[Intenso: during combat a Intenso guage will appear, it fills up when using combos or when you successfully block multiple attacks in a row. Once full you can activate it, while in use, you become stronger and can deal double damage, once out of combat the Intenso guage disapers and you will have to refil it again once your back in combat]
[Agave farmer: you have experience planting agaves, your agaves have small healing effect and are good for digestion! every week you will gain a agave in your inventory]
Juan stared in disbelief from what happended, but he recompossed himself, looking at the shield in his arm
'Did the mask do something with this shield? And if so, why?' Juan thought, but decided to not think about it, the sacred mask was full of mystery as of how it worked or act
They all stared at their stats, mostly satisfaded with them
"What it's this your majesty?" Shovel knight asked
"That is what's know as status magic, many in this world have it" the king answered
"Are you guys also level 1?" Madeline asked and all of them nodded in agreedement "so we got to raise our level to as high as we can before this next wave comes"
"Soo we just need to get this Level thing to a really high number to become stronger right" the Beheaded said as he looked to the king "This will be a lot of work and we've confirmed no rewards still..." The Beheaded commented
"Of course, you will be rewarded handsomely and not just at the end, but after every wave we will reward you heroes. Every step of the way." A short man by the side of the throne said, probably the king's advisor
"Well There's four of us, so we just need to form a party.-" Madeline was about say before being cut off
"Excuse me, but that won't do at all." the advisor said before explaining "Due to the unique qualities of the holy weapons, none of you can gain experience while near one another."
[Notice] [Help Menu]
[The four holy weapons dampen one another's growth while within close quarters. Distance advised whenever possible]
" then how-"
"You must form parties separately. Gather strength then fight the waves together" The king responded
"Would that not mean that we won't receive any experience during waves?" Juan asked
"Unfortunately, yes... the waves will have numerous enemies that you can't receive experience for slaying, but you can harvest your prey to still gain power" the king once again answer
"could you elaborate your majesty." Shovel knight asked respectfully
"You should see this within your status magic, but it is said that the holy weapons can feed upon the fallen to gain new powers and forms"
A sudden notification appeared to them
[Notice] [Help Menu]
[The cardinal weapons can absorb objects to unlock new forms, new forms provide stat increases, as well as abilities. Fully mastering a weapon form provides its bonuses permanently and allows most skills to be used with another weapon form in use]
'Not just prey, but 'objects' as a whole? I'll just try shoving everything into it.' The Beheaded thought to himself
"Heroes you can ask us questions all day; however, your status magic should be a great aid. Please refer to it tonight." The king motioned to several servants.
"For now, please rest and adjust to these trying circumstances. Tomorrow I will introduce you to adventures who have agreed to aid you in your difficult quest. Between your status magic and seasoned adventures by your side, most questions you have will be answered soon enough".
The servants motioned to the heroes to follow.
The servants motioned to the heroes to follow. They were first taken to a dining hall, were they eat some of the local cousine
'Man, i forgot how good food could tasted!' The Beheaded thought as he put more bread in his face to a unexisting mouth
'This fish taste like chinken, but it looks a bit like it too...' Shovel knight thought as he began to question if he had eaten a fish that tasted like chinken or if it was a chinken that looked like fish
'This cake is amazing!' Madeline thought as she put another slice in her plate
'Watch out, keep eating like that and you will get fat' Badeline teased as she piched Madeline waist under the table, before both realize that they could fisically feel that 'did i just touched you...for real?!' Madeline almost choked on that revealation
'This is good, but it could use some more spice' Juan thought as he bit thourgh his meal 'wonder if they have guacamole?'
After dinner, they were escorted to a private room where they would pass the night, after they entered and the maid accompanying them had gone out, leaving the four heroes to themselves
The room was quiet, all the heroes were looking at each other but no one was saying anything, the Beheaded was spinning his sword playfully between his fingers, Juan was sitting with arms crossed in one of the chairs, and Madeline was checking her menu while in bed and shovel knight was examining his spear, comparing it with his shovel in his mind
"Maybe we should talk it out? get to know each other a little bit" Madeline said, breaking the ice in the room
"A fair point lady Madeline" shovel knight said in response "what should we talk about? Our selves? Or something else?"
"We already talked about ourselves in that throne room, I am more interested in the place you guys live in, you guys don't know what malaise is, so I want to know how the rest of the world is doing in that regard" the Beheaded said, he was curious about places without the malaise in it
"About that...I think we are from different worlds" Madeline said, Juan already knew that multiple timelines and thus different worlds existed so he keep quiet, as the Beheaded and Shovel knight looked at each other before eyeing back at Madeline
"Could you elaborate lady Madeline? I don't think I follow" Shovel knight asked respectfully but he didn't know what she meant, sure he had never seen or heard of any creature resembling this so-called Beheaded, and he never saw anything like the clothes Madeline and Juan wore but they were most likely from different countries than anything
"Well, from where I'm from there are no more knights and kingdoms because that was all hundreds of years in the past" Madeline explained with Shovel knight taken aback by this
"There's also no sort of plague or disease called malaise, much less any kind of...uh...creature like you Beheaded" Madeline continued
"Must be nice..." The Beheaded said, a hint of jealousy in his voice
"But to be sure" she said as she looked at Juan "mister Juan, you look like a typical Mexican luchador from my world, are there any major things that happened in the world or place you live in that might prove your world is different than mine?" Madeline asked, If Juan was from a similar or maybe the same world as her, she could maybe have someone else besides Badeline to relate to and talk to
"..." Juan thought for a bit, what should he choose from his adventures to say to her and the other, he decided to start from the beginning "a man turned demon by the name of Carlos Calada invaded my home and country with an army of skeletons from the world of the dead, kidnapped my wife to use in a ritual to fuse both realms so he could enslave everyone, I join the fight against him by dawning this mask becoming a luchador, me together with many others fought back against him, and we won" everyone in the room was quiet from this especially Madeline "...the chickens can talk as well" Juan added
"So we all are from different worlds then..." Madeline sighed, though she was a bit disappointed, she recomposed herself "well, now that's all out of the way...anything else you guys want to talk about"
"Yes" Juan raised his arm and asked "did something strange happen with your status magic?"
"No" Shovel knight responded
"Nope!" The Beheaded said while laying back on one of the chairs
"I don't know, strange how?" Madeline asked, not sure what Juan was referring to
'So it was probably only me then' He thought to himself as he now needed to respond to Madeline's question, though he would keep the mask power and interference a secret
"I am referring to these [PERKS, do any of you also have them?" Juan asked, it was a lie since that was not what the original question was about, but he was interested to know if they had them as well or if that was again the masks interference
"Oh! Yes I have, three to be exact" Madeline responded
"I as well" Shovel knight said while stoic posing
"Same" the Beheaded said in an un-interested way
"Okay, I assume that they are all different from each other, since mine seems related to my personal experiences" Juan spoke, with the others nodding in response, at least they had that in common
The room went back to an awkward silence, with now all of them not knowing what to talk, it was then that the Beheaded got up and went to the bookshelf and absorbed one of the books changing the form of his sword to one resembling a book
"Do you guys have any good stuff to absorb?" He turned to the others
"I have a bag of strawberries I was keeping as a snack" Madeline said as she put out a small white pink bag with a strawberry pattern, she took one out and feed it to her bow
[Strawberry Bow]
2 Health
[Ability: you will gain 1 additional strawberry per week by Strawberry Fanatic effect]
She equipped it and checked how it felt in her hand, briefly catching a sniff of the sweet aroma that was now coming from it "smells just like strawberries..." she smiled as she began to think about eating some Strawberry pie
"Well...if we can just absorber anything into this, maybe this will do" Shovel knight said as a portal appeared above him and dropped a giant bag and shooked the room
Thud!
"W-what's inside?" Madeline asked, she was taken aback by the sound and the giant object now in front of her, but the thought that it might be a dead monster corpse twisted her stomach
'What's the matter? We see tons of gore and stuff in those horror movies we watch' Badeline said, disappointed that Madeline had already covered her mouth in case she vomited 'that's different! In those they are fake!' Madeline protested in her head
"Just the many spoils from my adventures" Shovel knight said as he opened the bag, a golden glimmer coming from it
The Beheaded, Madeline, and Juan approached to see what it was and their jaws dropped(except the Beheaded for the lack of it), the bag was filled with nothing but gold coins and jewels
"So...much..." Madeline stared in awe, never in her life had she thought so much gold would be in front of her
"Aí caramba..." Juan whispered 'what type of adventures has this man taken to amount so much wealth?' Was all going through his head
"GIVE ME! GIVE ME! GIVE ME! GIVE ME!" The Beheaded screamed as he jumped to grab it but was stopped by Juan who snapped out of it by the Beheaded screaming, putting him in an arm hold
"This is his gold, shovel knight is the one to decide how much he will give us" the man said while holding the Beheaded down
"Come on! it's not like he needs all of it!" The Beheaded screamed as he tried to escape the wrestler's grasp
"Here" Shovel knight passed all of them five gold coins and three jewels each, they all absorbed one coin and three jewels, gaining some forms from it among them were
[Gold Spear]
5 atk 3 def 1 mag
[Ability: Golden Rush: you have a 5% chance of landing a critical hit on an opponent with a skill, if they die by it, they will drop 1 gold coin in defeat]
[Gold Bow]
7 atk 4 def
[Ability: Golden Shot: you have a 5% chance of landing a critical hit on an opponent with a skill, if they die by it, they will drop 1 gold coin in defeat]
[Gold sword]
11 atk
[Ability: Golden chance: you have a 5% chance of landing a critical hit on an opponent with a skill, if they die by it, they will drop 1 gold coin in defeat]
[Gold Shield]
6 def 5 mdef
[Ability: Golden block: you have a 5% chance of landing a critical hit on an opponent with a skill or counter, if they die by it, they will drop 1 gold coin in defeat]
They all equipped the gold weapons forms as they were the stronger forms at the moment, Madeline also shared some of her strawberries and Juan gave them pieces of the agave that was in his inventory
(They all gained the same thing from it)
[Agave series]
4 Health
[Ability: digestion bonus(small)]
"Well that's all good, you guys have anything else useful," the Beheaded asked before looking to Madeline "hey girl since you look like the smart type, can you tell me something good about these weapons or whatever this status thing has?" The Beheaded asked, not because he wanted to learn anything, but he was hoping that she would distract 'bucket head' and 'muscle man' with her boring talk so he could grab a few more gold from the bag
"That's an actual good idea coming from you" Shovel knight said as he send the bag back to the alternative dimension known as his inventory, with the Beheaded letting a small sad squeal as he did that "could you do that lady Madeline?" He continued
"Uh sure" Madeline said, she would have to get used to being referred to as lady "well our weapons have apparently an ability to copy any weapons that's the same as they, so if Juan holds any other shield, his shield will copy that form so he can use it, it's called [weapon copy] it's in the help guide" the three looked and found what Madeline was referring to
"That's pretty handy!" Shovel knight complimented her
"Well would look at that" the Beheaded said, at least he had gained something from this, though he would prefer the gold instead
"Next there is this thing called [Drop menu, I assume none of you played a video game, so this might sound confusing to you, but basically, when we kill something or someone there's a chance they will drop items that will appear in the [Drop menu, " Madeline explained, she was trying her best to explain video game mechanics in an easy to understand way for them since she doubted they had heard of the concept,
"I see it, but what's different from this and looting their bodies?" Shovel knight asked
"Well, you can get a sword for killing a rabbit by the [Drop menu] as an example" Madeline said
"These weapons are truly magical" Shovel knight said as he examined the spear again, the moment he unlocked a shovel form, then he could really make use of this, and if he could make it stronger...a question came to his mind
"Can we make individual weapon forms stronger?" He asked, if there was a way to strengthen them, he could perhaps make a shovel to surpass all shovels
"Yes, there's a menu called [Power-up Methods] that's how we make them stronger" Madeline said, they all checked their menus, with different results
"So we just level up and this things will also grow with us, well that make things easier" the beheaded said
"Uh? What do you mean by that? Mine says that It's all about the rarity of the weapons" madeline responds confused by the beheaded's response
"My is telling me it involve using them a lot" shovel knight adds to the discussion
"Could it be that just like our [PERKS, our strengthening methods are different from one another?" madeline questions about to the others
"No" juan says in a serious tone, all of the others looked at him
"According to my help guide, our weapons have their unique power-up methods, but they can use each other's methods as long as we know they exist and how they work" he explains
"So all we need to do is share the methods in detail to each other and we will be able to get super strong!" madeline responds cheerful
"Wow that's great, so who of you wanna start?" the homunculus asks excited
"You" shovel knight said with a tone just as serious as juan's
"Why me?" the beheaded asked a bit angry
"Why not? don't want to share with the class?" madeline taught's the creature
"What? No, i just wanted to..." he trys to make a excuse but all of the other heroes looked at him with unsurprised faces
"Fine, but this better be worth it" the beheaded said annoyed
They all shared their specific methods, those being:
Beheaded
Level Link(core): As the Hero levels up, all weapon forms will grow stronger alongside them.
Mastery: Using the same weapon would improve its stats up until it is fully mastered.
Energy Transfer: When you have gained mastery in using a weapon, you could reset its mastery level and release the amount of energy you had invested in it. Finally, any items that you had absorbed into the weapon could also be turned into energy.
Rarity Up: By imbuing a weapon with energy gained from resetting mastery levels, you can increase its rarity level and the weapon's abilities. A weapon's rarity can be repeatedly increased starting at common (C), then uncommon (UC), and so on
Shovel knight
Weapon Mastery(core): By growing more and more accustomed to one weapon form, you will find its strength starting to increase.
Smelting: The user can power up a piece of equipment using ores. While there is no limit to this method, there is a chance of failure which increases as it is used.
Spirit Enchantment: Pieces of monsters' souls that have been absorbed into a weapon can be used to imbue the weapon with special powers. This has no chance of failure-maybe.
Status Enchantment: Stats can also be increased by absorbing items dropped from monsters.
Madeline
Weapon Rarity (core): The rarer a weapon is, the stronger it is. A weapon made from rarer materials will be stronger than a weapon of equal quality but more common materials, for example.
Ore Equip: The power of a weapon can be raised by equipping it with certain ores. This never fails.
Item Enchantment: Items that have been absorbed into a weapon can be turned into energy, and that can be used to raise the percentage of various stats. Success is based on probability, decreasing with each successive enchantment. Upon failure, the item enchantment level is reset to 0.
Job Level: You can increase specific stats by using the energy contained in absorbed monsters or items. Upon filling the level gauge for the desired stat, the stat is increased and the level gauge is reset with a cooldown timer.
Juan
Sharing(core): Share the power-up methods from other legendary weapons and vassal weapons. While this works without knowing the power-up method, knowing that this is the Shield's power-up method greatly magnifies the effect of shared power-up methods.
Trust: Trusting and being trusted leads to increased abilities.
Energy Boost: The heroes have energy called "EP" that they draw out automatically as power from the weapons, and this is always active. Assigning this energy to skills, magic, and crafting will allow more powerful effects to be used.
"With all of these methods, we will no doubt be able to overcome any obstacles in our pursue of peace!" shovel knight exclaimed
"Yeah we *yawn*" Madeline yawned out of sleep
"Huh, I guess it already pretty late already" the beheaded comments although he didn't require such thing
"We should rest" Juan suggests
"Agreed" shovel knight says as he began to get on bed
"You guys can go rest, I going to explore the castle a little bit" the beheaded said as reached out to the door, only to be stopped by Juan, who grabbed the beheaded wrist with incredible strength
"You know we can let you out" shovel knight said as Juan lifted the beheaded
"What the hell are you thin-" the beheaded said before getting hit in the smokey mass that's supposedly his face, somehow knocking him out
"We just don't want you to go rob or cause trouble in the castle, that's all" Madeline said as she began to tie the unconscious beheaded using the bedsheets
"Good night everyone" Juan said as he went to sleep, Madeline and Shovel knight shortly followed
[Authors notes]
To some questions i know you all might have:
- I wanted to keep Badeline with Madeline so they could provided more interessting scenarios to the story, i will try to not use her to much, but she will appear now and then when Madeline is thinking to herself or when she's in a pinch
- i don't know if i did a good job on the characters personality and interactions, if not, please say what i did wrong
- the whole deal with Shovel knight name is a little headcanon i thought for this story, they never give us his real name in any of the games, so i decided to at least try and explain that
- i looked it on the wiki and diren't find what Madeline profession was, so i put what i felt fit her as a job
- some might not like that Juan's mask just overwrote the shields atk debuff, but this mask can swap between the world of the living and the death instanly, resurect someone and it also granted Juan power to defeat Carlos Calada and El Salvador, two foes who are some of the most powerfull people in the verse, so it very powerfull and mysterious itself
- how do you guys feel about the [PERKS]? it was a way to include the characters powers, Madeline and Juan third ones are kind of jokes, i would like to know what you guys think about them, are they op?
- How do you all feel about the character selection? The original idea to this fanfic was to be all about King Knight as the shield(i might still do that in the future) but then it moved to the knights of the Order of No Quarter as the cardinal heroes, then the idea of Shovel knight as the spear hero came to my mind since the spear hero is described as loyal to his friends, and shovel knight matches that description pretty well, but i thought it could be lame due to his personality and Motoyasu role in the story, and the alterations to the story would be minor. But then i was remider of his inclusion in Dead Cells by the castlevania dlc, and when i saw that Juan was also there, i knew that i could put the Beheaded, Juan and Shovel as the cardinal heroes of the sword, shield and spear respectlly, i just need it a Bow Hero, and thanks to a pizza tower and celeste fanart i saw on Twitter, Madeline was choosen and she canonically does archiery as a hobbie so it fits! over all i am happy with this roster of characters
Sorry if you guys wanted me to do them getting their parties and the whole first day of adventuring, but this chapter is to make the four heroes have a little bond of friendship happen before anything, and they sharing their methods and giving each other stuff to absorb is to help with that
next Chapter might take a bit to come out