Chapter/Tale 7: Laments of Blizzard Star: Act 1
Author's Note Intro:
Happy 2020 Everybody! How did you enjoy the year? Mine was pretty fun on my trip! Hope you enjoyed yours, if not, then I hope it gets better for you. Anyway, I would love to blab a lot about my trip, but I'm gonna hold off from that. To our main event, this arc concept was an idea suggested by Akin2018, so shoutout to him for that; I'm just hoping I can execute the idea well enough because I really didn't have a general center crisis for this chapter with any other factors set, so this will be a challenge in some way, but I'll give it my best shot! So enjoy the chapter!
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Chapter 7: Winter Wonder Neverland- Humanity's Lost World?
Kailaine's POV: Chills and Chilling
"Wakey, wakey, wakey!" Kazela was rocking me back and forth like a cradle. I refused to get up after a while until she decided to fondle my chest, causing me to suddenly jolt upwards. "Huh, seems like I was wrong after all. You really don't have a flat chest."
"Kazela, how many times have I told you the past few days we've finally been together to stop touching my boobs or in this case anybody's chest?" I groaned. "You know how some are really sensitive about that."
"Aw," She sighed. "Why are you against that? Karly lets me touch her boobs and she doesn't complain, I bet if Kirby was a girl he wouldn't mind that either! And I know how much you wanna touch his chest too if he was a girl!"
"What are you saying?" I sweatdropped. "That's not possible."
That's when Kazela pulled out a crescent moon shaped rod out of nowhere and bore a wicked smile. "Who said it wasn't? This time, I will turn him into a girl just for you, big sister! Yet I won't do it now at the moment, but if you're feeling up to it, feel free to let me know."
"Thanks, Kazela," I smiled, rubbing her head. And it's not for the reason you think either! Don't get me wrong! "So where is everybody right now?"
"Most of the party went for breakfast and the girls are bathing at the moment while the boys are playing Smash Bros in the lobby," Kazela explained. "Oh, Espera asked Kirby and Karly to be her test monkeys for something she was also developing. You should come see that!" She grabbed my hand and pulled me up from the bed, leading me through the hallways by force. I shrugged and went along for the ride.
Crash Course Testing Room
We had arrived in a massive testing room downed with many awe-inspiring aspects to compliment it. So when we had arrived there, by surprise Zeta was also watching the test taking place and she was glued to it.
"Ah, good morning, Kailaine," Zeta greeted. "How did you sleep?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," I yawned. "What's going on over there?" I witnessed Kirby in his battle clothes and Karly on standby in front of a solid huge block of metal before Kirby as he was also wielding a boxing glove in both hands, standing in a fighter position and ready to launch.
"Alright, ready when you are, Kirby!" Espera called out over the mic and he nods as he started swinging his left arm in a circle rapidly, turning white then orange-red while energy was being directed to the swinging glove.
"Dynamite Punch!" Kirby shouted, at last firing not his fist but the glove itself straight at the wall of metal with full force like a bullet- that bounces on the ground. Yep, the reality was that instead of that, it bounced like a rubber ball straight across the pathway pathetically. Kirby sweatdropped while keeping his fired arm out casually.
Karly shouted, "Boo! You suck, Kirby!"
"Shut up, Karly," He shot back.
Well, at least the glove did that all the way until it actually came into contact with the metal, and guess what happened?
The glove punctured a massive hole just by touching it and flying through made hole, causing the entire block of metal itself to shatter into shards and pieces and specks and then dust! Everyone had their jaws dropped upon seeing this while Kirby called back the glove to reattach itself onto his hand again.
"THAT WAS FREAKING AWESOME!" Kirby squealed. "Yeah! Dynamite! Dynamite! Dynamite!"
"Kirby, I wanna try!" Karly complained, chasing after her brother like a little kid in circles.
"Don't worry, Karly," Espera giggles, catching Karly's attention. "I've got something for you too."
"Really?!"
"Here it is- the Piya Hammer!" Pretty soon, Karly was wielding a large mallet in her hands. It looked way heavy than it looks. Kirby was in awe and surprise upon seeing the weapon as it teetered to the sides. Karly glared at Kirby and wickedly smiles, charging at him the moment the hammer leaned forward.
"AGH!" Kirby screamed, jumping to avoid the vertical swing as Karly swung at the ground, shaping a huge crater in that one hit! Holy nova…!
"Another success!" Espera cheered. What runs through that professor's head anyway? No offense to her by the way.
"Gah…" Kirby gasped. "A little delay and I would've been a pancake. Speaking of which, at this time with this whole Winglenovia thing going on, food would be the last thing I'd think about, but now I'm feeling strangely hungrier than usual."
"Y-yeah, me too," Karly added.
"Okay, that'll be enough for the time being," Espera dismissed. "Just leave them here; we'll pick them up before we head out to the last planet before Crystal Star."
"Yes professor," They both replied, leaving the crash field and returning to the outside of where we were. "Oh, morning princess. Wasn't expecting you here the entire time."
"I just woke up a while ago," I answered. "Kazela was dragging me the way there, so there's that. By the way, wasn't Susie supposed to be here or something? I mean, I can't imagine her to quickly recover from yesterday, so…"
"I'm fine," Susie jumped in on cue. "We have much bigger issues to resolve at the time being, this is no time to be pitying one another when others will soon fall victim to Zero."
"Really? I was expecting you to still be pissed off about yesterday and Meta's speech about true gender equality," Kazela teased the girl.
Susie was not amused. "Regardless of that, I've discovered something strange in the rift of reality at the very moment as if it's being slowly altered somehow. Apparently, this really isn't my field of expertise exactly, so I was thinking of calling Magolor again, but he hasn't answered every time I did."
"And while we're on the topic of him, I also haven't heard from Marx, Taranza or even Gooey. What could they be doing at a time like this?" Karly questioned. "If it was just Gooey we haven't heard from, that would make more sense in the regard, considering his relationship to Dark Matter."
"Gooey?" I asked.
Kirby seemed concerned at first before answering. "Oh, right. I didn't realize about how you were gonna react, but just hear us out first. Now Gooey is, well, made of the same stuff as Dark Matter-"
"What? Did I heard that right?"
"-but he doesn't have an evil spirit. By anything, bluntly put, he's what even Zero would consider a defect of Dark Matter, so anything about him is entirely pure mock matter, okay?" Kirby finished.
"Oh, I see. Then that could be a relief at the moment, I hope he hasn't involved himself in anything dangerous."
"Nah, that's Marx's thing for mischief if by anything," Karly shrugged. "Taranza's kinda been down in the dumps lately after a few years earlier and Magolor's just… meh. I can't imagine them getting into any kind of trouble at a time like this."
At that time, Niva came running towards us. "There you all are! Meet us downstairs, there's something you all need to see! It's extremely important!"
"Settle down, girl," Zea called. "We'll be there shortly, just a moment here."
We all followed Niva downstairs to the main lobby area where everybody was gathered, the boys were playing Smash Bros for some reason and were totally glued while Niva whined like a baby or a kitten considering her cat like personality.
"Kirby, I thought Season Ultimate doesn't come out in a little while," Karly asked Kirby.
"Oh, this one's a special perk that the original 12 fighters of Season 64 gets before the actual tournament. Master Hand lets us 12 beta test it for a while before the game is released elsewhere," Kirby explained. "It's quite complicated, that's why you're better off not knowing about how it works."
"Kirby!" Niva meowed. "The boys won't let me play at all!"
"And why's that?" I asked.
"Because they said that Smash Bros is for good boys and girls, and they think I'm not a good girl when I have been! That tournament has M rated characters in it! Is there anything wrong about me?" Niva demanded. Well, if there's anything I'd personally say, it's that she's too sexy for her own good.
"Nothing really, but is that all you called us for?" Espera sweatdropped. "I'm having my doubts."
"Yeah, look what I found earlier in the room when I woke up this morning," Niva pull from her cleavage a note and handed it to us. I took a glance at the note and my eyes pried open to realization at that brief moment.
"This is… no, it's Eclipse's handwriting! He sent this! That means something must've happened; it says here to turn on the news at 12:00," I responded. It was 11:59 ironically, and Zea had already forced the boys off smash and back onto the daily shows, which sets it back to the default startup channel- the news.
"In other news, back to the continued topic of the abduction of Princess Kailaine to the heroic efforts of the Star Allies across the Cosmic Galaxy, in a related event, the planet Blizzard Star has recently undergone a widespread manhunt as the nation of Tempestoria suffers the loss of their most valuable possession, the Void Jewel as it was apprehended and stolen by a group of four individuals, strangely rumored with different unique aspects about them with one being classified a traitor to the Queen of the Zenoxia Royal Family in which they were said to be having a relationship at that time. The Royal Guard has been ordered an immediate retrieval of the jewel due to its insane value and now nation after nation are seeking the heads of these four criminals with a hefty bounty set on their heads for the return of the jewel."
"Huh? That's the first I've ever heard of this," Susie countered. "That planet is always somewhat isolated, but I guess I was wrong about that. Anyway, the only people I can imagine stealing that would be Daroach and his gang of misfits mice. But the Void Jewel, was it? That's an artifact of the Ancients themselves. I'm surprised it hasn't went berserk at all for this long."
"What's so special about that jewel anyway?" Kazela questioned. "It sounds like it isn't stable or something from whatever kind of power it holds."
"It contains the ability to be compatible with unstable Dark Matter at raw capacity," Espera answered. "Highly sensitive to that, the Void Jewel is packed with some serious power balancing issues and if provoked to high amounts of aura, it's capable of destroying life as we know it depending how much it's exposed to. Only a form or a controlled aura of literal Dark Matter of any kind is able to calm it down."
I gulped. "Strange, I think I've heard of it before too from Eris; she was quite a jewel fanatic before she became a maid at the castle. Could she had been the one who discovered this jewel before anyone did? Nonetheless, she'd probably go ballistic if she found out it was stolen- wait, who stole the jewel anyway?"
"And to that regard, the culprits has been roughly identified in bizarre way like a motherfreaking Jojo reference: A crazy, genocidal jester, an alien guy that did absolutely nothing, a blob of a kid with a long tongue and googly-like eyes and of course the traitor that resembles nothing more than a venomous spider who was confirmed to be the one in a relationship with the queen. Strangely enough, they resemble the current members of Popstar's warriors, the Star Allies. Is this just a coincidence by chance or have our worst fears become reality that if true these four truly became criminals? In any event, the Royal Guard will now commence the widespread search for these criminals unless the Star Allies can put a stop to this as the penalty for capture is instant execution by the tamed Godbeast Shiverflake if found guilty. We advise to stay indoors until the perpetrators are officially brought to justice and taken back to the nation for judgment. Coming up next, the danger of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Are Jojo references harmful for kids these days? Could your kid be next?"
No one said a word for a few moments. Then…
"HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYY SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!" Kirby screamed with a face of Jojo- the rest follows with the cast of the current Star Allies present, except for Susie.
"OH MY GOD!"
"OH NO!"
"SON OF A B***H!"
"THEY F**KED UP!"
"K-Kirby!? What are you talking about?!" Susie exclaimed.
"Don't you get it, president?! Those four accused of stealing the jewel are Magolor, Marx, Gooey and Taranza- our own allies f**ked up and are now wanted criminals!" Kirby hollered.
"… Aw crap! I knew something was up, but to think Magolor's become a wanted criminal?! I can't believe it!" Susie gasped. "Those idiots! What were they thinking?! I'm gonna call them right now-!"
"Not now, Susie," Meta intervened. "The situation's probably tensing up on those four at the moment. We have no idea the full story; that's just how it appears for the moment."
"Are you saying that they could've been framed for something they didn't do?" Dedede suggestively questioned.
"I haven't referred to such a thing. I'm just saying the possibility exists. Either way, our top priority is finding the last two gem spirits on that planet without any mistake. Trying to call Magolor could perhaps only endanger them if the Royal Guard is tailing them 24/7; that possibility also exists. Point is, we shouldn't try to go after them without exposing them to the threats of this planet's nations the moment we get there or without knowing it's safe to do so. However, Susie does have the right initiative- we do need to keep an eye on them as well."
"Wait, I doubt anybody knows what the Tempestoria nation is really like because this is the first I've heard of a Royal Family on that planet before," Bandana Dee commented. "What to do if that's the case?"
Dinah disagreed. "Pff, stop being such an overly cautious hero. Besides, there's one last person we have yet to see, and that's Vanjamirae Echolatte, the Dragon Princess of Snow. We can just go to where she is and work things out from there. Plus, I can also imagine that's where those four may coincidentally wind up by chance or intent to hide out there; she owns a massive and famous cruise called the Shivera Starshine. That cruise has been used mostly by the Zenoxia Royal Family the most for planned vacations and whatsoever. She can definitely help us out here."
"Vanja? Ah, I see! It has been a while since I've last seen her," I stated. "We should go see her before anything else."
"Hang on a minute, this may seem almost out of topic here, but wasn't there some kind of factory somewhere on that planet? I've heard rumors that it was involved with a terrible accident a decent amount of years ago," said Callie.
Adeline gasped in realization, whom I don't think anybody heard from in while. "Factory Inspection… you wouldn't be talking about… oh, so that's it, huh…"
"A-Adeline?" Aqua stuttered upon the artist's sudden facial canvas of depression. "Is something the matter?"
"No, it's nothing," Adeline smiles as if that line was true. "I just mean that when Callie mentioned a factory, it reminds me of the one we went to on Shiver Star for Crystal Shards. Surely that couldn't be the same one as before, right?"
"Was it that terrifying to you guys? Like what did they have in there anyway?" Sirica asked.
"I can say for sure, but I can't be sure either… just a feeling, I guess. No doubt we'll somehow wind up there intently whether we want to or not."
"Doesn't matter now, shouldn't we be going at the moment? They won't last that long if we don't help them," Falala suggested. She does have a point there- time is wasting this very moment. We need to get ready soon; also, Zea, Knuckle Joe, Espera and Susie will be joining us as well. Isn't this getting a bit too crowded with party members? Then again, it never hurts to have too many party members to fill in those extra slots for your stuff. That's their real worth in all RPGs.
"Yeah, I suppose it would be best to do so in a little bit," Espera concurred. "In any case, we leave as soon as possible, so take care of yourselves first before we go."
"Es, don't you have to watch over the company?" Merina questioned reasonably.
"What? You thought I wouldn't join you guys after hearing that my powers came from the Ancients themselves, or a creation of the Ancients like Niva? No way am I passing up on this opportunity," Espera replied, sweatdropping when she witnessed Niva licking her left leg up to her heels due to her genetic catlike manner, giving a derpy look upon realizing she was being stared at. Ironically, Callie was doing the same thing as well.
"Er… well, with that, if the rumors are true, then we may find out something major about the reasons behind those 8 years and maybe a way to restore the Star Ring again."
"That's true… well, I suppose we'll take that as a yes," Aqua shrugged. "Oh well, maybe we should wrap things up and head out to that barren planet. It's gonna be cold, so I hope you happen to have coats or anything like that."
"Actually, the snow is somewhat much warmer than usual today, so I suppose that wouldn't be an issue, but just in case, y'know," Yae added.
"Thanks for that. Now then, if y'all excuse me," announced Aege, trudging himself through the crowd. "Imma take a shower."
Adena gagged. "Gross! You didn't shower after you woke up?! That's the first thing you should do before eating!"
Even though we had just gain a few more allies and even if we three were only around for the second half of the ride, to me it always feels lively and warm, always making me smile despite what we had all endured personally. Alas that feeling's only temporary until the madness ceases, but we're so close to doing this- we can't give up at this point now!
I let out an innocent laugh. "Well, you guys do that. I'm gonna fill my stomach and get myself ready then. Anyone who hasn't done that should do so right away. Besides, this is our last mission before we end it at home. You all should be glad this planet is the last one."
"Damn right."
While everyone is out to do their business and things, I did what I was supposed to do and went out to take a shower. Sure enough, Kazela wanted to shower with me and who am I to object to that. Just offering up time like this for Kazela were small but they certainly filled in the gaps of our lost bond after all those years. She was using this chance to cop a feel on my boobs and it ended up being a brawl, but… we were laughing at the end.
Soon after that mischief, we got ourselves dressed to this point. My hair was let down, so Kazela offered to tie it up into a ponytail as she did hers by herself. Well, she strongly insisted and did it for me anyway, I couldn't object or had any reason too although I'm not fond of ponytails. A little while later, she managed to make my ponytail with ease. I pat her head then. Followed by this, she climbed on top of my back for a piggyback ride, so I carried her downstairs.
On the way, she asked me, "Kaila, how was it for you before we finally found each other?"
"… That's a good question, Kazela," I responded. "No way could I sugarcoats things when everything's been a complete wreck after we lost you guys to Zero. Those 8 years went by like nothing happened, but the scar is so deep that not a single day have I went without thinking about you all. In fact, I literally became a shut-in for a month with deep depression. But I never stopped thinking about you, it doesn't make any sense how you just disappeared like that when you were 4. That's why I went looking for you in the one chance that you may have been alive and I never did stop caring. The real reason why I went to Popstar was by the mere thought of you being there somehow."
"At least it was a good thing you did go to them for their help," Kazela said. "In a way, that wish did become true… but not like this though. Who cares? The important thing is that we're back together again, and… I really missed you, sis."
I blushed and gently smiled afterwards. "Aww, you're so sweet, Kazela. Thank you for that. I promise to never let you go again; I love you so much."
She was snickering. "My, I didn't know you swing the anime way! I suppose you'll go for Kirby if he's a girl; FYI, I stole a smooch from him more than once. Only on the cheek though. Also Merina, Callie, Adena, Merina's mom, etc."
"H-how dare you! You know exactly what I meant when I said I love you! Is it really a crime to love your own family, especially your little sister who went missing for 6-8 years?!" I refuted in embarrassment. "And besides, I kissed him way before any of ya suckers did- ah! Er, n-n-no! T-T-That's not h-how I m-meant it!"
"Sure you didn't," Kazela teased me, pulling my cheeks.
"Stop that…" I moaned.
"Don't worry, I love you too," She smiles. "Learn to take a joke, sheesh."
Later…
"Okay, is everyone ready?" Espera asked us all. It's gonna be cold, but Espera didn't seemed too concerned about changing her attire as she kept her lab appearance. She probably has spares. A thought also struck me when thinking about how Susie compares to her. I dunno, a little competition here and there.
"Ready as I'll ever be personally," Kirby spoke. "Who would've ever thought the gimmick this time would end up being to save a bunch of our friends who winded up being criminals and on the run? But now that I think about it, don't you think it'll be too much of a risk to even go to where they're hiding out?"
"It'll be fine. The Echolatte family has been deeply associated with the Zenoxia family for many years or at least that's what I've heard. If true, they won't think of suspecting her of holding the world's most wanted. If such a thing should happen, then we'll just go get rid of it. Simple enough, isn't it?" Espera explained.
"Er, I suppose so," Replied Yae.
"Don't give us false guarantees, will ya?" Karly sweatdropped.
"Good. Now let's get going," Espera also had a Chaos Gate conveniently right there in her lab for us that her assistants set up for us all. One of them also handed out the same weapons used earlier before in the crash course. "Thanks you guys. I'm leaving things in your care- I'll be back soon!"
"Take care, professor. You guys too as well!" They bid their farewells as we stepped into the Chaos Gate and were whisked away into the last planet before the finale.
Meanwhile…
"Ugh, that Marx. Typical, just when I thought anything else but that whole void hour madness could be worse… Looks like I'll have to get his sorry butt out of the bullet's range this time."
"You sure about that? Those imperial soldiers are no joke when it gets down to this kind of crime. You know how Queen Spectralinae is- she plays dirty and beauty at the same time. Those poor saps won't stand a chance if they took her head on directly. I'm wondering where people like her get such fear-inducing power from…"
"If I had to guess, it would have to be that massive factory that's still up and running even after the Everlasting Hail event. There's something strange about it that rubs me off in the wrong direction. Maybe first, we should check it out. Whaddya say, Grill?"
"Well, if it helps the others, then why not? Actually, now that I think about it, maybe the Zenoxia family is involved in a huge conspiracy project that upstarted the planet's current condition, and to think it forced the population to migrate elsewhere. Sure, Marxanae."
Also Elsewhere…
"Ah, Your Highness! We regret to inform you that the criminals have managed to get away. Forgive us for our failure."
"You shouldn't worry about that, just as expected of the members of the Star Allies. Honestly, people like them always worm their way out of even the toughest of tough spots. It's like trying to scrub off that one stain that's always surviving the wipe no matter how much effort you put into it. No worries, with the entire world alerted, it'll be a matter of time until they're finally captured. I will have that jewel back from that strange friend of his and I'll certainly have Taranza back to my side soon," I replied.
"Very well. What are your orders?" Captain Rushgarde asked.
"The usual, keep an eye out for anything that happens and for those four as well. They'll be rightfully judged; send the word that they must be kept alive before we punish them."
"As you wish, your highness," The captain took his leave.
"Taranza… you will be mine soon. I wish you had just told me how you felt before this happened. Don't worry, I'll make it right again. And just when I was gonna give you my first…" I thought. "Yet I felt like I've met him somewhere before… I have to find him, and maybe this uneasy feeling in my chest will go away."
"My Queen," Teyren the Chancellor stepped in the throne room. "The Re: Genesis Project is complete and is being shipped to the Factory Inspection. My apologies, we haven't exactly informed you what it's about, haven't we? It's for the mere speculation that if word got out to the public because of the thievery before, no doubt it bring havoc and panic to the citizens if interpreted the wrong way."
"Interesting, continue."
"Ahem, in regards to the Everlasting Hail incident, this project aims to restore the planet back to its original condition from the curse of those years ago as well as to discover the cause of the incident. However, it'd be a fib to say it's complete in a way. To truly complete the project, we need an artifact of the Ancients in the form of a jewel. If only it hadn't been swiped and swallowed by that spider's friend ironically without his knowledge…"
"I see, the Void Jewel… seems like we've got more than we bargained for. So not any jewel will do?"
"Only Jewels of the Ancients, I'm afraid," Teyren replied. "And the Void Jewel was one of them, the rarest of them all. Only those who hail from Crystal Star or has history with the Ancients knows about this; not everyone, to be precise. The one whom I've heard of that discovered this jewel goes by the name of Eris, a maid at the Crystal Castle. But with the princess being kidnapped, I can assume only that she and the denizens of that planet must be trapped, so there is no way to ask her of that anyway."
I sighed. "A bummer that is. That means we must recover that jewel as soon as possible. I'd like to see this little experiment go into action. Proceed with that then. Do entertain me once the jewel has been recovered safely. Remember- those four must be brought back alive at all costs and not dead by any circumstance whatsoever."
"As you wish, your majesty," Teyren complied with my orders. "That's right, Princess Vanjamirae has some matters to attend to first before she arrives here. It may take some time, so please be patient, my queen." I gestured my hand for him to approach me closer.
"You have nothing to worry about, Teyren. I'll be a good girl and wait things out here while those men will fail to capture the others like a cliché. Don't worry though. I'll be counting on you all," I smiled, gently rubbing Teyren's hair. It was like a personal habit of mine to give headpats to everyone after Taranza introduced me to Demon Slayer and I personally adore Nezuko.
"Yes ma'am," Teyren blushed, thus taking his leave.
I shook my head in a paused state. "This is gonna be one heck of a time here. I'll get you soon enough, my dear."
World 7- Blizzard/Shiver Star, Planet of an Unusual Winter?
Shivera Starshine Cruise
"Welp, here we are," I declared, gazing at the shiver silver and massive cruise ship that I've ever seen. Tons of windows can obviously be spotted from the port and lots and lots of lifeboats as well as the top floor of the ship. The helm was golden and silver on the bottom, and the rest was just too amazing to describe. "Shivera Starshine."
"I've never been on a cruise ship before," Gooey said. "How do they get the ship into water anyway?"
"A mystery," shrugged Marx. "Now let's quit wasting time and find that dragon girl princess… right after we get past security here. Magolor, you sure we can't just beat them up?"
"Of course not, you want the mafia on our asses at this moment? That's the last thing anybody on the run ever wants to happen," I replied. "Now we just need a way to get to the jet bridge without drawing attention."
"Or we could just simply take the Friend Web Express," Taranza suggested, already had crafted a heart-shaped spider web known as the Friend Bounce dubbed by Kirby himself as a trampoline. "There's an opening on the 10th floor, we should be able to get in from there."
"Huh, I guess that works too," Marx shrugged. All at once, we hopped on the web and were slung to the very top of the cruise ship with ease and without being spotted. Glancing around the area before us, the coast was made clear and so we stealthily navigated throughout the entire cruise for lower cover. After a while of awestruck sightseeing and getting Gooey to avoid taking the free food from the cafeteria, we arrived in a room that seemed like the captain's quarters.
"Whew, we should be safe now," Gooey sighed. "I'm pooped, let's just sit down for a while. But why is it so dark in here?"
"Heck if I know the real reason, but anyone can guess no one hasn't come to this room yet. Now where are the lights-" I was about to say when they suddenly illuminated on cue.
Crap, that can't be good.
The room lit up at that moment, just like a horror movie to reveal the array of dead bodies casted about as trophies, and the sudden appearance of a figure that stood before us, making us jump back.
"Holy-!"
"Oh, sorry. Did I startle you all? My bad," It was a girl standing before us. She had light blue and white long hair and light blue eyes. Her lips were soft with a shade of light red and she wore a sexy tight black and cyan strapless dress and a bust so… busty; maybe her cup size is probably an H. Her teeth were sharp and she wore light blue and white high heels. I noticed she also had horns poking out from her head and as well as a huge tail from her backside. She was nearing me mainly than the other guys as she sniffed me like a dog before licking my cheek.
"W-woah! What was that for?!" I gasped, startled and blushing.
"You taste nice, a bit sour with evil at one point, but sweet on the inside… I see, you're one of the criminals on the wanted, and not only that, but you're acquainted with the Star Allies. I've been expecting you all to show up here eventually after what has happened. That must've been tough on you, huh?"
"Y-yeah…" I sighed. "It was complete hell. What could we have done differently to avoid any of this? Huh?" The next thing I knew, those racks were the first thing to cuddle my face along with the warmth of her hands wrapped around me. Marx was letting out a foxy whistle while Gooey only looked to a state of confusion and with Taranza sighing once again.
"W-what are you doing?"
"I've read it in a book that if a man cries on a woman's chest, they'll feel better. It's mostly common for Dragonkin to comfort others this way. Don't you feel better now, Magolor?"
"How did you-?" I was about to ask. She lifts me up from her cleavage and smiles.
"You were seeking my help this entire time, and I'd be glad to aid you. My name's Vanjamirae Echolatte, but call me Vanja, and I'm of dragonkin, although this form is a curse from 8 years ago. And may I say this was indeed a strange way to even meet each other," Vanja introduced herself.
Oh, looks like we have our work cut out for us after all. Princess secured. Might as well see where it goes from here.
"I see, so you're the chick that's friends with the kidnapped princess of Crystal Star, huh?" Marx questioned. "Well, hey, hey, hey! What do you know? I think she likes you, Maggie!"
"Stop that."
Vanja gave her attention to Marx with a smirk. "As if you're not in love with someone yourself, jester."
"That's none of your business…" He fumed.
"So how are you gonna help us out of this mess?" Gooey asked the dragon girl. "They want us for our blood, and that's cannibalism!"
"Gross, Gooey," Taranza gagged. "No, they want the jewel you swallowed, even if they have to dissect you for it at any cost!"
"Wha-?! WAH!" Gooey clung onto Taranza childishly. "I don't wanna be dissected! My insides are special to me! I can't help it if it reeks of Dark Matter! In fact, for someone like me it's edible!"
Vanja giggled. "So that's why you're on the run. You thought it was edible, so you ate it since it emits Dark Matter. And to be honest, that reckless course of action was definitely for the better. Had you not done that, it would've resulted in a genocide."
"Whatcha talking about, princess?" Marx asked. "I mean, the Jewel is generally unstable, sure, but is it really that much of an actual threat? What could've triggered that scenario anyway?"
"Dark Matter, that's what," Vanja bluntly answered.
"D-Dark Matter? Are you saying this jewel has some link to that animosity?" Taranza gasped.
"Yes. In fact, allow me to show you something special before that," Vanja said. "After all, if you're acquainted with the Star Allies, then no doubt you'd be after this." She pulled out a bag from her cleavage filled with pieces of a relic in it.
"Those are-!"
"Shards of the Winter Orb, a required relic needed to enter the Shiver Chambers of the Gem Soul Spirit Icesis. I have yet to actually discover the location of the chamber, so for now that's unachievable. Once your friends along with mine arrive here, we'll work something out."
"Oh no, I haven't called back Susie when she did! Man, we're all dead when they find out about this!" I groaned.
"Don't worry, if they do ever think of coming here, I'll sort out the entire situation for you guys, I promise. And besides that, if you're wondering about the other thing before this, here's another surprise in regards to the Void Jewel," Vanja continued. This time, weirdly enough, a few jewels of ruby, sapphire, emerald, and gold popped up from between her cleavage on its own without any explanation. "Impressed, right? There's more than one of these kind of jewels, and they're all part of the Ancient's creations."
"Actually, I'm more curious as to how you made them jewels pop up like that between your racks," Marx questioned, struggling to not get a nosebleed.
"It's a secret," Vanja teased us, digging into her breasts and clumped them all in one hand for us to choose. "In fact, the three of you should take one just in case. They have different attributes as they are a family of the rare jewels that we call Elejewels, but the Void Jewel is the strongest and yet valuable kind of all, which was actually discovered by a famous jewel hunter known as Erisene Istrenella. As of now, she's working as a maid for Kailaine on Crystal Star these days."
"Wait, really? I've heard of her before, but I'd never imagine someone like her to be a maid for Princess Kailaine at all," Taranza commented. "Surely Kaila must've know something about it way earlier. Do you know where she is?"
"Most likely Crystal Star, that seems to be reasonable. Another reason would be that she's also stuck there for the time being until the others get there with all 14 spirits. Anyway, the point is that woman discovered the Void Jewel and all the other Elejewels as well. If only she were here, she might've known of a way to fix this, but since that's not gonna happen, we're on our own on this one. In that extent, I can certainly help you all out… but it's gonna cost ya!" Vanja smirked.
"Cost us what, exactly?" Gooey asked.
Vanja glanced at me with lustful eyes and a seducing smile. "Conditions? Well, first of all, I would like you all to be my servants for this whole trip; details will be spoken of later. And the second thing is that after all of this is over, I'd like Magolor to accompany me on a date."
"WHAT?!" I gasped. "THAT'S- I JUST- WHA?!"
"Didn't you hear me? Let me make it easier for you," Vanja restated. "GO. OUT. WITH. ME. AND. I'LL. SHOW. YOU. A. GOOD. TIME. UNDERSTAND?"
"Are you serious right now?"
"Aw, come on, Maggie! Whatever happened to bros before hoes, man? Seriously?!" Marx joked and groaned. "Kirby's understandable, but now you? Unbelievable! You've just met her and now you've scored yourself a girl!"
"I agree, that's a little suspicious to me," Taranza added.
"Sure, but I have my own reasons," Vanja simply replied, having her hands stroke my cheeks. She also looked at Taranza as well. "If I recall correctly, you were in a relationship with Spectra, right? She's been talking nonstop about her new boyfriend and that stuff for a while. To think it ended on a sour note like that all thanks to Gooey over here… sorry about that."
"Seriously? Pointing the blame at me?" Gooey sweatdropped.
"Well, it is your fault, Gooey," Taranza glared at him.
"Well, Taranza's not in the mood to talk about it, so that's gonna have to be tried at a later date, unfortunately princess," Marx excluded the spider. "If that ain't enough, that Godbeast will try to hunt us down at the moment along with the Zenoxia Guard, which the price for our heads amounts to a ridiculous reward of 200,000,000 Point Stars, once for each head! The way you speak, it sounds like you know that queen. A friend of yours, perhaps? If so, then is there any way we can settle this without any unnecessary conflict for the sake of my boy Taranza? I doubt speaking to them will settle things."
"Yeah, and what makes the Void Jewel so special than the other Elejewels?" Gooey asked. "No offense, but it sure sounds like the Zenoxia Family is involved in something sketchy and shady that'd make them want this jewel back so badly."
"Huh… well, last I've heard from anyone there, I've heard something about an experiment called the Re: Genesis Project. I didn't find anything further than that, but I was able to tell they'd most likely hold the work at the Factory Inspection, an area in the Tempestoria nation that was rumored to have been involved in this planet's curse of eternal winter, thus this planet was originally dubbed Shiver Star for that reason. If by anything, that factory's your best bet to find any lore behind this planet's backstory the best."
"But even if we wanted to head there, that's a long distance off from here anyway. You don't suppose that this cruise will set sail for that specific destination, I guess?" Taranza asked.
Vanja clapped her hand. "That's correct. We're sailing all the way to Tempestoria for several reasons that I'll go over later on. If you want to get into the factory, we'll figure out something on the way there. Should we encounter any of the Royal Guard on the way here, best that you're put hidden somewhere for the sake of it. Trust me, they're nothing to laugh about, especially Captain Rushgarde. He's the one enemy you don't want to ever encounter on the way there. If by chance he does appear, just run and hide for the moment."
"Let me guess, this guy is able to defy the impossible or his strength is out of this world or something?" Marx speculated. "Sounds like the kind of guy to betray the nation more than "we did" earlier. I'm getting the vibe that he's the more suspicious individual. After all, it does seem like he was the one leading the manhunt yesterday, but I get what you mean; even when I tried to slow him down, I knew he'd tanked the barrage like it was nothing. I'm betting he was infused with something from the factory as well. In short, that guy's bad news."
"I see… avoid him at all costs, got it. In regards to that, what do you intend us to do on the way there?" I asked.
"Like I said before, how about you four become my temporary employees on the cruise line?" Vanja requested. "Of course, you'll have to assume a completely different persona for false identities first before anything else. As long as you don't do anything stupid, no one but possibly your friends will recognize you as the most wanted on this planet. What do you think? If you do refuse, I was thinking of locking you all down in the lower quarter and-"
"I've watched a lot of "anime" to know where this is going," Marx cut her off. "I'd rather take my chances being an employee than to do that. Besides, no one would ever think of searching the cruise for wanted criminals if they have a connection to the Royal Family. At least for a while."
Taranza also agree to this and so did Gooey. "That sounds way better than wandering aimlessly. Why not?"
I sighed and gave up. "Screw it. When do we start?"
Vanja smiled. "Effective immediately. But we don't set sail until the others arrive here. In the meantime, allow me to show you guys to the dressing rooms and your new uniforms. I may have to manually measure you all to see if the ones I do have fits, though."
"Erm, that won't be necessary, Vanja," I stuttered, waving my hands to match my words. Suddenly, she grabbed a hold of my hands and stared at me in the eyes lovingly, which made my heart skip a beat.
"It'll be fine, there's nothing to worry about," Vanja purrs, her face moving awfully closer to mine. "Still worried? How about a kiss from yours truly? That's what you need, right?" I think there's something wrong with her way of thinking, because she puckered her lips and starts moving in for the kill, her tail was wagging like a dog.
"I need an adult," I called out.
"I am an adult," Vanja teased me.
"Vanja, no. Bad Vanja," An unknown voice yanks Vanja off of me, making the dragonkin princess whine. A green haired girl with dog ears and a tail was behind her, with a kuudere expression to mask her face as it seems like she's glaring at Vanja's big knockers out of jealously. "You haven't changed a bit after all these years."
"Oh, it's you, amnesia Merina," joked Vanja, aiming for her knockers and with a smirk. "And you've also grown as well in that area. Nonetheless, I'm glad you're okay after hearing about how you almost got kidnapped like Kaila did."
Merina smiled to this. "Aw, thanks for that."
"Ah, I see," Gooey pointed. "She must be the Gale Princess. She's beautiful."
"Geez, thanks," Merina blushed. "Hey, aren't you four part of the Star Allies?"
"Unfortunately, yes. Then that would mean…"
"Kirby and the others are here with me. We've heard about the whole situation here, so I hope it isn't what it seems on the outside. You should've seen the look on Kirby's face earlier when he found out you were wanted criminals! It's too- I can't even- HAHAHAHAHA!"
Taranza groaned. "Figures. What other choice do we have? The sooner we explain this to them, the better. Let's go see the others."
"Yeah, sounds like a good idea. But wait, there's gonna be tons of people boarding the cruise," Marx pointed out that fact. "There may be a chance some guards might stick around for the trip, so we'd be better off disguising ourselves first before we even step foot out there. And knowing that pink glutton, the cafeteria is always his go-to place. Might as well make a first impression."
"Yeah, let's do that," Taranza agreed.
"Okay, Merina. Let the others know I'm coming with them, this may take a while," Vanja told the dog princess. "I'll explain everything there, I promise."
"A'right, don't keep them waiting, especially Demon Dinah," Merina said, leaving the room.
"With that, I'm afraid this foreplay will have to be delayed until further notice. We'll continue this while we get you all fitted and ready for duty. Right this way, you guys," Vanja has us escorted to where the fitting rooms are and gave herself a bit of fun and a fuss for us all. Let me tell you, that wasn't a pleasant experience than it sounds like.
Later…
"Vanja! How are you doing?!"
A couple of girls called out to her: a cat, a mermaid, an angel/demon, a fox, a cyborg and a dog, including the dragon. What a weird combination. If that weren't enough, there were a couple other people that I did recognize off the bat. But one girl stood out from the rest, and I knew who it was.
"Glad to see you all again, and I'm doing fine. But before that, I'd like to introduce you all to four special employees," Vanja giggled and waved for us to step into the area, and so we reluctantly did so. "And here they are! Bring lots of tissues, because you'll get a nosebleed once you see them!"
After those words were spoken, we had to step in front of a table with a ridiculous amount of people as a party. If this was a real RPG, no doubt it'd be impossible to keep track of all your party members like it was Pokémon. So, without any further delay, we stepped in front of the crowd, wearing black and white suits, having our hair done a bit in an orderly fashion by Vanja herself.
It was my first time wearing something like this other than the time I supposedly did run a store elsewhere, but I can't tell you- that's classified. As we stood before the passengers, an embarrassed look masked with a smile bore on my face to present to them.
"Erm, pleased to meet you all. How are y'all doing?" We all greeted.
"Ooh, sexy!"
Someone shouted and I'd recognize that voice anywhere. It was Karly, now conscious with a nosebleed. There were quite a couple of new faces that I haven't seen before. A blue haired girl was getting all cuddly with Bandana Dee as she personally fed him a spoonful, for instance. I find that strange. There's a pair of two brother from the desert, two friends from the sky, a kid from the shadows, a professor from a digital city, and the rest follows as there's just too many of them.
"Um… hey, hey, hey?" Marx sounded off with… less confidence.
"Please no," Taranza glared at Marx.
"Hi guys," Gooey calmly and normally greeted as if nothing major had occurred. "So… it's kinda awkward that we meet up like this, and I'm pretty sure you've all heard, but trust me, it's actually not what it sounds like literally and ironically. Kirby's probably at the lunch line by now."
"You know it, and we're still mad about that crime you've committed, but it does seem like something that Dark Matter would plot anytime," Dedede answered. "Might as well make it interesting."
Vanja nods her head. "Ah yes. First of all, after all of this is over, Maggie and I are going on a date."
"WHAT?!" The main cast spat out their drinks to the mere hearing of that statement.
"No, Vanja! You're not telling them that!" I growled.
"Hey guys! Got some grub!" Kirby in the living flesh- no one should ever mistake that cheerful demeanor for anybody else, especially when it comes to the person's unusual habit of eating.
"So, what did I miss?"
Marx sighed. "Oh boy, we're gonna be here for a while."
"You can say that again," I agreed.
So, in the end, the whole situation was explained to everyone from top to bottom in an orderly fashion. It all sourced back from when the four of us decided to go sightseeing for a while after we pretty much took care of the whole tear in Another Dimension. We noticed that Taranza was suddenly down and asked him about it- the answer was clear. By that time, we had just left another galaxy known as the Everlastonia Galaxy and went into the Cosmic Galaxy, the first planet being Blizzard Star and so.
We ran into Darky (Dark Meta Knight) on the way there and somehow knew about Taranza's depression about Sectonia. That's when he hooked our boy with the Queen of Tempestoria somehow, and surprisingly it actually worked for Taranza. In fact, we stayed a couple of weeks over on that planet at that time being. For things to wind up like they are right now… we all blame Darky for that.
This may sound like just a summary, and that's because it is. Sorry about that. I don't think Taranza's in the mood to relive that unpleasant experience again at the moment, so the full version will have to wait some other time. As of now though, we spent the entire day serving the other guests at the maximum amount. By that time, we were exhausted with no rest as the cruise embarked on its journey into the warm snow sea. It doesn't go during the Blizzard Season- you wanna know why? A little incident known as the Titanic.
And later that night, I didn't catch a break from Vanja and her desire to sleep the night together. I was against the idea even though she promised not to do anything weird. The night was to be an exceptionally weird one. Besides that, our first stop was to an area known as Winterhaven in search for clues about the Jewel Chamber. Once we reach Tempestoria, we're either aiming for the capital or aiming for the factory at once. Who knows what awaits us the next day?
Now that we have the Elejewels in our possession, it makes me wonder why they couldn't use any of these in the first place instead. It sounds like the Void Jewel is more valuable than any of the others, evidently enough. And if that's the case, then I think maybe Gooey swallowed it either because he's an idiot or it turns out he knew it was gonna go off at the moment it was present and took chances. If so, then we definitely owe him one. I suppose it was for the better that it stays in Gooey's stomach for now.
But if that jewel is what the rumors claims it to be to make the entire world go after it, would that suggest that each nation was involved in something shady and that this jewel is the key for their plans? Worst of all, if Dark Matter were to end up getting their hands on that jewel, it would be way worse than the entire planet on a manhunt. But I did hear that jewel has another forbidden use, yet I don't have enough evidence to prove it. Hopefully Zero doesn't discover it.
With that, for our current situation, getting into that factory and clearing our names is our main priority. And it was a good thing we spent an ideal amount of time there as well, because I don't think it's something that anyone in the party should ever find out, especially Adeline. Speaking of which, maybe she doesn't remember much about her life before here. Actually, I'm more curious about what happened to this planet before it was renowned as Blizzard Star and what caused this in the first place.
That factory… I know it's hiding something more than Kirby and the others have discovered. The terror and the horror as to what they've witnessed inside… I can't even begin to imagine what cost the factory came about and the poor souls that happened to wind up in there…
I must be overthinking things. Whoever gets in there before us must have a good reason to do so…
Meanwhile…
"Yo, Marxanae… what's with that vibe I'm feeling here? It feels too mechanically terrifying," shuddered Grill. The sound of clicking high heels echoed throughout the area.
"Wish I could tell ya, but I'm not so sure myself," replied Marxanae, with a sudden chill tickling her spine. This was the vibe that this factory emitted, you just won't feel anything from it and that's what makes a place so nerve-racking at the moment.
"Whatever, this place really gives me the creeps. Did they murder people to make this stupid factory or what?"
"My response is the same as- wait, get back," Marxanae yanked Grill to her side as to avoid the security guards coming their way. Once the coast was clear, she let Grill go from her.
"That was close- a little too close," Grill exhaled. "If your boobs were any bigger, I would've been fried first for sure. Another one on my list of regrets."
"Sorry, I can't help it if my boobs are bigger than yours. Ever thought of drinking milk or something?" Marxanae clutched her girls while Grill only jabbed at them before comparing those to hers, which isn't completely flat but had nothing on hers.
"Screw this, let's just keep going- huh? Hey, look over there," Grill pointed over to the nearby ledge and ordered the witch-jester to follow silently to an area that appears to be a good spot for spying and a good view to not be detected. It wasn't really spacious though, and since Grill was… flat, she took the first spot on the bottom on her belly and Marxanae was forced to take the top bunk on her with her breasts on Grill's head.
"Okay, forget this. How about we just shrink ourselves instead?"
With a snap of her fingers, discreet smoke exploded, transforming themselves into chibi sized dolls. Eventually, they had to move closer to where the commotion was centered at, and so they moved themselves closer at a safe distance for anyone to not notice them. Once in position behind a control panel machine nearby from across the centerpiece, the two witches witnessed a curious sight.
Over there were a few of the workers that were engineering a certain blunt something or rather recalibrating some settings on that thing and were at the point of finishing.
One of them spoke, "Alright, should be done by now. Man, and it went so smoothly as well."
"Seriously?"
"What? It's not the first time anyone has ever engineered a human before, not like this one infused with the cells of a Demon Beast. It's not like I enjoy doing this, it's screwed up in every way possible."
"Oh, sorry. I totally get what you mean. But even so, I feel like we should've just accepted death rather than to do this instead. I feel so empty, it's like having a hole in your chest, ironically speaking because this subject also has a hole in their chest. Regardless, if it weren't for these stupid bracelets, everybody would've known about this. There's no way that Tempestoria can keep this secret forever."
"Right, after all, a couple of years ago, there were a group of 5 people that landed in this factory looking for shards or something. And they were all something no one's ever seen, but the one that definitely stood out was the girl with the red beret. Come to think of it, she seems like one of the survivors in the files earlier of that incident. Could she be…?"
"Who can say? Not much was really known about this damned eternal winter anyways. Seems like the only ones who do know of this may as well be the Royal Family or those who've been in this factory before we did. I doubt they'd even tell the truth if anybody pressed on them about it. Those fools don't realize they're playing with fire- black fire. But at this rate, the Re: Genesis Project will only be abused for power in the end, and there's no way anyone can stand up to the fool that abuses it."
"I couldn't agree more. Either way, I'm just waiting for somebody brave enough to put a wreck to all of this soon enough. By the way, we better head back before the Zenoxia Guard chews us out."
The workers put a finish to this assignment and retired, but one of them said something really conveniently interesting, seemingly intentionally. "By the way, the boy that snagged the Void Jewel, the project will turn out for the better or the worse depending on the person who activates it, or so they say. If someone evil uses the project with it being provoked to Dark Matter aura while wielding the Void Jewel, the consequences will be even worse than this eternal winter."
"Damn, that's impressive. Where did you learn that?"
"I once met the Jewel Hunter Eris a while back a couple of years ago. I hear she's a maid for the Starlina Royal Family on Crystal Star now. She's perfect for the job, and I bet before the princess got kidnapped she really gave them a good time then. I just hope she's okay after what happened. Also, she left some files behind of the Elejewels where the Boss's Office is further from this direction on the central floor in the archives. It may take a while to find them though as it's mixed up with the files on the Ancients."
"You know, it sounds way too random that you're saying this all of a sudden. But then again, I'm not gonna question it either. Well, I never knew that either."
"Shall we be going now?" One of the workers said. Before that, he turned to the subject in question and prayed, "Forgive us, but we don't have a choice in the matter. Hopefully somebody comes for you soon."
And that's when the workers left the area. Ironically, they didn't realized that their prayers have been already answered before they even prayed about it, and it was answered in the form of two chibi mages that reverted back to their original size once the coast was clear.
"Huh, seems to me that they're working in oppression of some sort. They weren't specific on who was ordering them though, but I'd figured we'd find out later on. So, the rumors were true. That woman Eris was the one who discovered the Elejewels. Sounds like she's stuck on Crystal Star for the time being until the pink goofball does something about it," Grill summarized.
"Besides that, what's in that capsule anyway? It's like they were experimenting on a- on a- oh my god. Grill, you have to see this," Marxanae gasped in shock, yanking Grill to her side for her to lay eyes upon what she was beholding on.
What's in that capsule? Exactly what the workers described- a human experiment. The mages got a shocking looking yet a bone-melting feel at the same time. Probably because the first noticeable about the body is that it was naked to begin with, the hair was snow white and its eyes were shut in a deep sleep, they couldn't tell what gender it was, and the most discovered aspect of the body was that it had a hole in its chest.
"W-what is t-this…?" Grill stuttered.
"So this is one of the things the factory's hiding from the general public, huh? Human experiments; it even makes their own workers hesitate about even doing the job, although I was expecting the latter of them to be the kind that enjoys this. Can that really be so if they're in oppression as of now?"
"T-terrible…" Grill shuddered. "We should do something for him… or her…"
"You know, they have a name."
"Really? What is it then?"
Marxanae simply glanced at the label slapped on the capsule and answered Grill with this-
"Knaiva. That's the name."
"…"
Ending Theme 7: (Styx Helix- Re: Zero)
Now Saving… Save Complete!
To be continued…
End of Chapter 7 Act 1!
Author's Note Summary:
So… first of all, 2020. Doesn't feel like it anyway. Second, it's freaking cold! Third, I strongly dislike January. Fourth… another Fire Emblem character! I mean, Byleth looks pretty cool, so I'm still gonna play him regardless, but I just wish he got into earlier to avoid the harshest salt out of all the characters so far. How do you personally feel about Byleth? After seeing Byleth once he came out today, I'm already won over. Let me know how you felt about him in your reviews although I can tell you probably may be salty about him or not, I don't know.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter 7 arc, the start of it, I mean. This chapter idea was once again suggested by Akin2018, so keep that in kind. Basically the generality of this arc is the Star Allies trying to cover for the three used-to-be villains and one Gooey as they have become smooth criminals with a ridiculous bounty for their heads of 200,000,000 Point Stars for each head brought in. As if that wasn't troublesome enough, the news of this crime has reached our current heroes and threw Kirby frog wild after being the test monkeys to Espera's new weapons.
In the meantime, after another lovely moment between Kaila and Kazela rebuilding their bond again, the four criminals make their way to the Shivera Starshine cruise to find the owner, Vanja, the dragon princess with a connection to the Zenoxia Family. She also crushed on Magolor and wanted to show him a good time before he gets a bad time. Regardless, in the POV of the Queen Spectralinae, it shows that the Void Jewel is something worth the manhunt for the Re: Genesis Project. Either way, the three formerly villains and one Gooey takes up the job as cruise attendees for the cruise trip while also meeting with the rest of the party to avoid suspicion.
And finally, we see things back with Marxanae and a new character known as Grill from Kirby no Kirakira Kizzu or Kirby Star Stacker in English as they both go factory inspecting for their own reasons, and they managed to get some good information out of it as well, not to mention they discover a human experiment that has been injected with cells from a Demon Beast known as Knaiva, who has a strange literal hole in their chest. That was from an anime known as Kaiba (2008). Don't let the nature fool you- it's darker than you think if you plan on checking it out. For me, the hole in Kaiba's chest really made my bones like jelly everytime, I don't know why though.
But yeah, that's pretty much all I can say for the moment. Oh yeah, did you know why I put a cruise in this chapter arc instead of chapter 3? It's because for the rest of this week I'm going on another cruise and that first experience gave me ideas. I had the concept of having them defend the cruise from invaders and so while doing it in fashion. This would also be used later in the castle of Zenoxia for several reasons. So those were one of the ideas I had for a while, or at least the general concept of it. But yeah, I'm hoping it turns out for the better soon!
That wraps up everything in general. Of course, any questions you have feel free to fire away the usual way through PM or reviews and any suggestions you have on improvement and so, fire away as well. Also, I have a poll that describes for alternative titles to this story and ones that I have come up with for some time before. Which ones are you favorites?
Anyway, if y'all excuse me, I'm gonna play Byleth and have him teach me thy ways while I take a cruise ship throughout this entire week. Hopefully it's warmer where we're going. So take care and I'll see you next time! Bye!