The Jaegers were now traveling through a passage filled with streams of light.
"Woah, this place is amazing. " Seryu said as she watched streams of light pass near their boat..
"It is true that it is worthy of my beauty," Stylish asserted, nodding his head.
Mocking that kind of detail, Esdeath looked at the star-shaped dial Peach had given her. Composed of eight pieces, it included the center of the star, as well as its seven branches: the exact number of pieces that she needed.
"All of you! Come here."
"Huh?" Run said, approaching with the others.
"When Seryu was kidnapped and when we parted ways in Bowser's castle, I admit we had no way of finding each other."
Separating the star's branches, she showed the pieces to the rest of her team.
"These pieces of stars will let you know where to go to find me! So if you are lost, just head in the direction they point."
"Wow! Too awesome!" Wave asserted, taking the first branch. "I take number 1."
"Number 2." Seryu said.
"The 3." Run said.
"The 4 is a perfect number for me." Stylish assured.
"If you don't mind, I'll take the 5." Bols said.
Remaining silent, Kurome stepped forward and grabbed branch number 6. Finding herself with only one branch of the star in her hand, Esdeath turned to the only person left.
"What about you, Tatsumi?"
"What ?"
"Just to inform you, if you decide to take this piece of star, we will officially consider you like a Jaeger."
"Wasn't beating Bowser enough?"
In response, he felt Wave slap him on the back.
"Come on, man! You're already one of us! If the general offers you this star piece, it's because we've all accepted you already."
"You are very powerful." Run agreed.
"Not to mention that you will surely become Esdeath's husband." Finished Bols.
"Oye!"
Then, finally, heaving a weary sigh, he finally grabbed the piece of star.
"I'm taking it just to avoid getting lost! Right now, I wouldn't consider myself a Jaeger."
"Oh, Tatsumi, don't disappoint me."
Then, losing her smile, Esdeath began to look at the real Jaegers team, before recapping what had happened during their "stay" in the Mussroom kingdom.
"Seryu ... you have been kidnapped! Stylish ... you have been defeated by Bowser! Run ... you have been unable to effectively protect Peach, as well as your own companions! Kurome ... you have been defeated by Wario . "
Hearing their names, the four couldn't help but feel a chill, while Wave was inwardly glad that he hadn't had the misfortune to disappoint Esdeath.
"You have disappointed me enormously! Nevertheless, in view of the situation, I am ready to be conciliatory! However, this is the last time."
Immediately, the Jaegers took a step back, seeing frost build up on the ground.
"The next one who will have the misfortune to dishonor the name of the Jaegers, I swear he will never dare piss off me again."
"Mom!" Wave said, not even wanting to think about the punishment Esdeath was planning to give.
"Do you understand why I don't want to be part of the Jaegers?" Tatsumi asked him.
"Oye, check this out." Bols said suddenly, pointing straight ahead.
There was an image of a planet that grew larger as the Jaegers' ship approached.
"It seems that one of the mysterious hearts is on this planet." Run said.
"Great! A new adventure." Wave screamed as they scanned the image of the planet as the light blinded the Jaegers.
As the light faded, the Jaegers opened their eyes to see a large plain in front of them, and they could also see a castle larger than Peach's Castle. They also saw a small town just across the road. They sort of saw from above when they thought they were on a mountain or something.
"Woah, this castle is as wide as this town." Tatsumi said, standing on the ship's rail.
"Yeah, it's so cool from here." Seryu said happily.
"This place is so beautiful, yet I find it hard to breathe here." Bols said, as he breathed more than usual.
"Does your mask bother you?" "Run questioned.
"I have trouble breathing too." Stylish confessed, a hand on his throat.
"Maybe we are on a big mountain." Wave said before walking over to the edge of the ship and looking down. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"What's wrong, Wave?" Seryu asked.
"WW-We-We-We-We-are-are-are…" Wave stammered as his body shook completely in fear. "DAMN IT!"
" What are you talking about ? "Esdeath pissed off, looking under the boat.
"FFFF-FLOATING IN THE AIR! WE ARE FLOATING IN THE AIR!" Wave cried, realizing they weren't on the mountain, but in the air.
Hearing this, the rest of the Jaegers leaned down to realize that they were truly in the sky.
"ARE WE IN THE SKY?" Tatsumi wondered.
"Too awesome." Seryu asserted, as Koro clung to her leg, unhappy to find himself in this strange situation.
"It doesn't make any sense, how the hell do we float in the air ? " Stylish asked.
Then, starting to smile, he declared.
"A new mystery that I will explain with the help of science."
However, as the boat seemed to float for several seconds, it suddenly fell towards the ground. Feeling his feet leave the floor of the boat, Tatsumi eventually found himself floating in the air, as he cried out in fear.
"HELP ME!"
Falling for a few more seconds, the boat eventually crashed into the surface of a river. Hitting the water with force, the boat shook entirely and the shock knocked the Jaegers off balance. Not having had time to hang on to a good grip, Seryu fell forward and dove into the water. At the same time, Tatsumi too fell into the water.
"Tatsumi! Seryu!" Wave yelled, trying to get to his feet.
Nevertheless, feeling the boat start to move, the boy had to cling to the railing. Finding in the center of a river with a strong current, the boat found itself unable to be controlled.
"Stop this boat." Stylish cried.
Crawling on the floor, Bols moved closer to the rudder bar, and tried to move it. However, even using all his strength, he couldn't get it to move a millimeter.
"Im ... Impossible! The current is too strong."
"What ? "
Eventually standing up, Esdeath groaned, as she felt drops of water soak her.
"I hate having wet clothes."
Suddently, creating what looked like an ice cube, she tossed it into the river. Then, a second later, all of the water surrounding the boat was frozen. Immediately the boat stopped. Its abrupt stop knocked the Jaegers off balance again. This time, going overboard, Wave felt his back hit the ice surrounding the boat.
Grimacing in pain, he finally straightened up. Then, opening his eyes, he saw Tatsumi and Seryu continue to be carried away by the current, and disappear in the distance.
"GUYS !"
"I'll take care of it." Run assured, spreading his wings.
Leaving the boat, the blond began to fly at full speed towards his two companions, who made disorganized gestures, while the strong current prevented them from swimming to leave the river.
" I am coming. "
Nonetheless, Run stopped, the moment he saw the river split into two branches. Being far from each other, Tatsumi ended up with the left fork, while Seryu found herself in the middle of the second.
"What?" Run wondered, seeing them take two totally different directions.
Hesitant for a few moments, the boy began to roar. Then, finally, knowing that Koro was with Seryu, the blonde ends up following Tatsumi.
Using his teigu to thaw the water around the boat, Bols asserted.
"We'll be free in a few minutes."
Being wringing out his scientist's blouse, Stylish ends up putting it back over his shoulder, before declaring.
"Apparently this world looks like the one we just left! It's full of surprises."
"Forget it for now, we just lost Seryu and Tatsumi. " Wave shouted.
"So what?" Esdeath questioned, sounding perfectly calm. "Both of them are perfectly capable of protecting themselves! Plus, don't forget Peach's gift."
Showing the center of the star dial, which she still had in her hand, she said.
"As long as I have this, Tatsumi and Seryu will have no trouble coming back to me! Besides, Run has gone looking for them! Instead of worrying uselessly, let's try to find the mysterious heart instead, in order to get out of here, as soon as they come back. "
Nodding, Bols eventually returned to the ship, as numerous cracks appeared on the surface of the ice, which continued to melt. Then, while the masked man took hold of the rudder, Wave got ready to examine the condition of the sails, after the fall the boat had just made.
However, hearing shuddering noises, he turned to see Kurome shaking. Being completely soaked, the girl seemed to suffer from the cold caused by her body and her wet clothes. Nonetheless, looking at her for a few seconds, Wave knew that was not it. Kurome's condition was deteriorating, as she was unable to give her body what it wanted: her drugs.
Seeing her like that, Wave reached into his pockets, and pulled out the purple plant that Wario had given him. He didn't know if this herb had an effect on people addicted to drugs, but he doubted he could find another way to help his friend.
"Kurome ..."
During this time...
As Koro clung to her head, as he looked scared of being soaked, Seryu vainly attempted to swim to shore. However, unable to do anything but disorganized movements with her arms, she felt her body quickly disappear into the water.
"Esdeath-sama… Wave… " She cried desperately, before feeling her head disappear under the water.
"Servine, VINE WHIP !"
Immediately, what looked like two long creepers plunged into the water and wrapped themselves around Seryu's body. Finding herself pulled out of the water, the young girl stepped out of the river, while her teigu clung to her hair. Then, completely soaked, the duo ended up on the bank. Coughing several times, Seryu managed to spit out water and caught her breath.
"TOUSS! TOUSS! I thought I was going to die."
"Are you okay ? "
Crouching down in front of Seryu, a dark-skinned young woman stared at her worriedly. Catching her breath for a few more seconds, Seryu finally nodded.
"Thank you ! Thank you very much. "
"What were you doing in that river? It's dangerous to try to cross it! The current is way too strong."
"I didn't really want to go swimming in it," Seryu retorted, managing to get to her feet.
Still on her head, Koro let himself fall forward, and was caught by Seryu's arms. Seeing the strange dog, the girl in front of Seryu was amazed.
"A pokemon?"
"Poke… what?" Seryu wondered, who was the only Jaeger who hadn't been made aware of the progress of Esdeath's expedition to find Merlon. "No, it's Koro! My teigu."
"Your what ? "
Starting to smile, Seryu gave a military salute before declaring.
"I am Seryu Ubiquitous, member of the Jaegers and soldier of justice! And he is Koro, my teigu."
"Jaeger? Teigu?" The other girl repeated.
"It's normal that you don't know." Seryu assured, trying to put on a confident smile. "I ... I come from another planet."
"Oh? You too?" The other girl wondered.
"What ? "
Starting to smile at her, the other girl introduced herself.
"I am Megma, a member of the Raptors group."
"Raptors?"
"Servine!"
Lowering her gaze, Seryu saw a green creature with some traits of similarity to a snake.
"What is that ? "
"It's Servine! My pokemon!"
"Pokemon?"
Continuing to smile at her, while she understood that Seryu had not been informed of the Raptors' attack on the rest of the Jaegers, Megma finally asserted.
"Let's get to know ... Seryu-chan."
Continuing to fidget in the water, Tatsumi was also in a bad position. Nonetheless, playing the role of guardian angel, Run grabbed the back of his collar and managed to lift him out of the water.
"I'm here." The blond assured, before heading to the shore, to put Tatsumi there.
Exactly like Seryu, Tatsumi began to cough, spit water and took a long breath.
"I thought I was going to drown."
"You can count yourself lucky that I can fly."
Then, rummaging through his clothes, he stared at the star arm, which would serve as his compass. Already orienting a direction, the small end of the dial showed him where he had to go to find Esdeath.
"If we ever get the chance to see her again, let's make sure to thank Peach for her gift."
As he got up, Tatsumi noticed that they were in front of a forest.
"I wonder if this world is as weird as Mario's."
At that moment, a mysterious figure on horseback approached them. The figure got off the horse and stared at the duo.
"Okay, let's drop anchor there." Esdeath decided, pointing to the earth near a large cave. "Wave! Bols! The sails!"
"Aye! General!"
Quickly, the anchor fell into the water, while the sails of the ship were folded.
"Now we are going to visit this place." Esdeath informed. "But, someone has to stay here."
"No way I'm staying here," Stylish asserted, already packing a backpack. "If this world is like Mussroom Kingdom, I'm going to put together all the weird things I could see, so I can look into them."
"In that case, I can stay." Bols assured.
"No." Kurome retorted.
Trying to calm her chills, she asserted.
"I… I don't really feel like walking! I'm going to stay here."
"Kurome ..." Wave said.
Then, finally, tempting the purple plant towards his friend, he declared.
"Take this. "
"Um? What is it?"
"It's a plant that can help you! If you eat it, it can make all the drugs go away from your body."
"All the drugs? I've never taken drugs."
"That's wrong, and you know it! Your cookies were full of them! That's why you couldn't spend more than ten minutes without eating one! And you know perfectly well that eating them allowed you to become stronger. "
Holding out the purple plant, he asserted.
"Kurome… Wario told me that this drug will kill you ! You have to take this medicine."
"Tsss! Because you trust that motherfucker?"
"No! I trust what I saw! And I saw how your cookies have degraded your condition! Do you think you are getting stronger? Don't talk nonsense! In the end, your drug makes you feel better! But soon you will be weaker and that's why ... "
Using her sword, Kurome suddenly sliced the purple plant in half, while the boy jumped in fear.
"Don't call me weak. " Kurome ordered.
Then, staring at Wave angrily, she retorted.
"Thanks to my cookies, I could defeat Sist '."
Immediately, fixing her eyes, Wave couldn't help but pull back. Much like Seryu's, when she wanted to kill someone, Kurome's eyes were filled with madness. If Wave contradicted her words, she was definitely going to attack him to kill him. Constant that, Esdeath stating.
"Alright! Kurome, I trust you! However ..."
Tapping the hilt of her saber, she declares.
"Remember what I said! If anyone ever damages our ship, because of a moment of weakness on your part, I promise you will regret it."
Turning to fix the general's gaze, Kurome finally shrugs.
"So where are we going?" Bols asked.
"There is some sort of house there, maybe ask us to ask the owner for directions. "Esdeath said pointing to a small house that was on the water.
"Okay!"
Then, as Esdeath, Bols, and Stylish left the boat, Wave turned to look at Kurome.
"Kurome, I ..."
"I AM NOT A BABY!" Kurome roared.
