At the top of Thunder Tower, the blimp was still refueling.
"I have a meeting." The Masked Man said coldly. "You are not to leave this tower, got it?"
"Yes, Claus," Rosella answered.
The Masked Man kept glaring at her. "If you try anything funny, I won't hesitate to use excessive force...AND STOP CALLING ME CLAUS!"
He left her there alone.
"So cruel..." Rosella frowned, before deciding to snoop around. Her sights set upon a strange room that looked like it belonged to a child. "What's this room?" She asked, looking at all the toys scattered around.
"This room belongs to King P." A robotic voice answered.
Rosella jolted, looking behind her only to find a robotic maid standing there.
"I'm Lil' Miss Marshmallow. What's your name?" She greeted.
"Oh! Um..." Rosella said nervously. "I'm Rosella! But my friends call me Rose! Nice to meet you!"
Lil' Miss Marshmallow observed her more. "You're very pretty," the robot admitted.
Rosella smiled and blushed at the compliment. "Ah, thank you!"
Lil' Miss Marshmallow tried to imitate giggling.
Rosella smiled at the cute little contraption.
She then noticed a yo-yo in a glass case and decided to investigate it. "Hey, why is there a yo-yo in a glass case? Is it important or—"
"Don't touch it." Lil' Miss Marshmallow said angrily, her robotic voice turning sour.
Rosella jolted as Lil' Miss Marshmallow went from 0 to 100 real quick. "Eep! I'm sorry! I was just curious about it!"
"IF YOU TAKE MASTER KING P'S VERY PRECIOUS FRIEND'S YO-YO, I WILL BE MAD. MAD! MAD! VERY MAD MAD MAD MAD!" Lil' Miss Marshmallow screamed, lunging to attack her.
Rosella dodged the first attack but found herself cornered after falling and scraping her knee. She let out a terrified scream.
Lucas, Kumatora, Duster, and Boney made it just as she screamed.
"ROSE!" Lucas, Kumatora, and Duster all yelled in unison.
Boney whimpered as he rushed to where her scent was located. Lucas, Kumatora, and Duster followed Boney as quickly as they could.
Meanwhile, The Masked Man and his men were in a meeting with Porky and Fassad.
"So you have the girl?" Porky asked.
"Yes, my king." The Masked Man answered. "We had to stop at Thunder Tower to refuel the blimp because someone forgot to do so!" He glared at his subordinate.
"I-I'm so sorry you guys!" The Pig Mask said in fear. "It won't happen again, I swear!"
"Don't sweat it," Porky smirked. "As long as I have the girl in my possession I'll overlook this little mistake of yours."
"Th-Thank you o merciful King P!" The Pig Mask cried happily. "The blimp should be refueled soon, and the girl will be yours in no time!"
"And where did you say the girl was?" Fassad asked.
They all suddenly heard the scream.
The Masked Man's eyes widened in fear.
Porky's expression turned angry. "I believe I said I wanted her alive!"
The Masked Man bolted in a matter of seconds.
"Any last words?!" Lil' Miss Marshmallow asked, grinning psychotically. She approached Rosella with her robotic drill and scissors.
Rosella didn't know what to do. She wasn't a fighter and she had nowhere to run! So she instinctively called out a name.
"Claus..."
And lo and behold the Masked Man made it just in time to save her!
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" He yelled as he rushed into the room.
The Masked Man then got in front of her and pointed his gun arm right at Lil' Miss Marshmallow, his expression turning dark. He shot her three times with the gun arm. And that's when Lil' Miss Marshmallow started malfunctioning.
"YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW SO SEW SO-SO GREETINGS CHEESE POPSICLE THE NUMBER YOU HAVE DIALED IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PORK CHOPS FROM EAST TO WEST IT GOES BROKEN BROKEN OH SO...Sow...sew...broken."
With that, Lil' Miss Marshmallow shut down.
Rosella looked up and saw The Masked Man towering over her.
But before she could respond, he slammed his gun arm against the wall behind her.
"You idiot!" He snapped. "What's wrong with you?! You could have gotten yourself hurt and—" He stopped when he saw tears stream down Rosella's face. Another memory came back to him as he started short-circuiting.
"You idiot!" Claus snapped at a crying Rosella, who had a scraped knee from falling off his skateboard. "What's wrong with you?! You could have gotten yourself hurt and—"
Rosella kept crying.
"Come on, let's get you patched up, dummy!" Claus picked her up and gave her a piggyback ride.
The Masked Man noticed her scraped knee and picked her up princess-style.
"Come on," He blurted out, "Let's get you patched up, dummy."
Rosella's face turned a bit red.
His men rushed in soon after.
"Take Lil' Miss Marshmallow to get fixed." The Masked Man commanded, "I'll take care of the girl."
"Yes, sir!" They said, grabbing the remains of her and rushing off.
Rosella noticed that The Masked Man was still carrying her like a princess. Usually, Claus would give her a piggyback ride when they were kids. So this was a bit of a surprise to her, but not an unwelcome one.
The Masked Man eventually set her down and noticed her blush. "Oh, don't tell me you have a fever too!" He groaned.
"Huh?!" Rosella gasped. "N-No! It's not a fever! I'm fine!" She tried to use PK Lifeup Alpha on her knee but realized she was out of PSI from playing healer for Lucas, Kumatora, Duster, and Boney during their fight against the Pig Masks.
"I'll be back with a bandaid." The Masked Man said, getting up and leaving. "Stay here."
"Wait!" Rosella called out to him.
"What?" The Masked Man turned back to her, his cold expression from before coming back to his face.
"Can I please have a juice box?" She asked.
His cheeks started turning red under his mask. "Yeah, sure. Whatever."
Meanwhile, Lucas, Kumatora, Duster, and Boney were still rushing to find Rosella and were fighting off Pig Masks left and right.
This caused the alarm system to go off.
The Masked Man crushed the juice box he had for Rosella in anger. "Why now?!" He rushed back to Rosella and picked her up.
"What?!" Rosella shrieked. "Claus, what are you doing?!"
"We have to get out of here now!" He answered hastily. "And for the last time, stop calling me that!"
"But why?!" Rosella asked. "What's going on?!"
The Masked Man said nothing after that and got back on the blimp with her.
The Pig Masks were there waiting for the gas tank to fill up.
"It's still not full yet?!" The Masked Man asked angrily.
"No, sir! It's still being filled up!" One Pig Mask answered.
The Masked Man sighed. "Never mind that! Activate Mr. Generator to stall for time!"
"Yes sir!" The Pig Masks answered.
Back with Lucas, Kumatora, Duster, and Boney, they had just made it to the generator room.
"Ugh!" Kumatora groaned. "Just where could she be?!"
Duster looked around. "I don't know, but I can't see where we're going! It's too dark!"
They suddenly heard another security system go off, followed by a robotic voice.
"SUSPICIOUS INDIVIDUALS DETECTED INSIDE GENERATOR ROOM!" It said, "ACTIVATING DEFENSE SYSTEM! REPEAT! ACTIVATING DEFENSE SYSTEM! ALL PERSONNEL, IT WOULD BE NICE IF YOU'D EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!"
Mr. Generator aimed a Volt Chop at Lucas.
"Agh!" Lucas was paralyzed by the attack.
Kumatora got her PSI ready. "PK Freeze!" She yelled, launching a PK Freeze Beta at Mr. Generator.
This went on for a bit until Mr. Generator finally shut down.
Back on the blimp, The Pig Masks were panicking.
"Mr. Generator shut down!" One said nervously.
"We've lost power!" Another added.
"Now how are we gonna refuel the blimp?!" A third one asked.
"Let's just go!" The Masked Man commanded. "We should have more than enough fuel to get back to New Pork City.
But as the blimp started to fly, Duster used his rope snake to latch onto the ladder they left out.
"Hold on everyone!" He said.
He held Kumatora and Lucas in his arms while Lucas held onto Boney.
Rosella rushed out when she heard Duster. "You guys came to rescue me?!" She beamed at them.
"Rose!" They all said happily.
But their happiness was cut short when The Masked Man cut the ladder and held onto Rosella for dear life.
This caused everyone to fall out of the sky.
"No!" Rosella gasped, trying to reach for them. She turned to The Masked Man and started crying. "How could you...?"
