Family
Chapter 517 Film Fiasco
By: Major144
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is just a story for fun.
In Waterfall, Cedric, Prism Knight, Six, and Staff had gone to the main base and shipyard of the Shellfish Corp to go speak with Roland to see if they could get his help in dealing with the X-Nauts and their ship. Cedric had recently gotten a message from the anonymous source that had tipped the Legion of Light about the X-Naut activity going on in Waterfall. Said information told Cedric what the enemy was up and this gave Cedric exactly what he needed to get Roland's aid.
"Alright the rest of you wait outside. I'm going in to speak with Roland and hopefully he agrees to help us." Said Cedric to the others at they stood outside the shipyard.
"Ok. Be safe." Said Prism Knight.
Cedric made his way into the shipyard and got some of the workers attention, who lead the knight to the main office. The rest of the small team waited outside. Six wondered around a bit with Staff and was looking through a nearby pile of junk, when she suddenly lost her footing and fell down some ways dropping Staff before she fell into a large crab cage that slammed shut on her. This sudden cage trap sent a shiver of fear through Six as a memory of her past began to resurface in her mind. Six banged on the cage to try to get out, but the old cage was sturdy and wouldn't budge. There came a loud banging sound that sound like a gun shot that caused Six to cringe and panic as she looked around frantically. Six heard something approaching and turned to see what appeared to be large humanoid monster. The girl felt a spike of fear as she recognized the creature and she managed to whisper a couple of words.
"The Hunter!"
The Hunter was a large, humanoid monster with a somewhat stocky physique and a massive head covered by a burlap sack tied around his neck with twine, with a single eye hole where his right eye would be, topped with a brown Gatsby cap. He wore a green overcoat, brown trousers, brown gloves, and black leather work boots. The Hunter carried a rifle and a lantern.
Six backed away from the approaching Hunter and cowered in the back of the cage. She closed her eyes and tucked her head to her chest as the Hunter opened the cage.
"Are you ok?" Asked a female voice.
Six opened her eyes in confusion and saw that the Hunter was no longer in front of her and had been replaced by Prism Knight, who was holding Staff. Prism Knight offered Six her hand, but the little girl didn't take it and crawled out of the cage on her own and took Staff away from Prism Knight.
"You're a weird kid having some freak outs." Said Staff.
"Do you want to tell us what's wrong?" Asked Prism Knight.
Six just shook her head.
"Come on kid say something. I know you're capable of talking, we heard you utter some words during your freak out in the cage." Said Staff.
Six remained silent. Then there was another loud bang that made her and Prism Knight look over and see some crabs smashing some metal with hammers. Six seemed to calm down when she saw the source of the banging.
"You know you can talk to us, Six. We are comrades and talking can help you deal with whatever is bothering you." Said Prism Knight.
Six just remained silent.
"Fine keep to yourself then. If you need to talk just say when." Said Prism Knight before she headed back to the shipyard gates to wait for Cedric.
Six followed after Prism Knight holding Staff.
Cedric was led into the main office of Shellfish Corp, where he met Roland and his righthand man and top enforcer a squid monster named Inkerton.
Roland was a tall overweight giant isopod monster with grayish purple scales. He wore a suit a red suit jacket, a pair of white trousers, black boots, and a top hat. Roland had six arms and he had little feelers around his mouth that resembled a mustache.
Inkerton was a black squid with sharp features and red lines along his body. He had piercing red eyes and wore a metal collar along the midsection of his body that had three metal spikes with gemstones on it that allowed the squid monster to breath on land and hover in the air. Inkerton carried a gun and a very large crab cracker.
Roland faced Cedric who pulled out the money Luminous had given him to give to the CEO. Roland took the bag weighed it in his hand for a moment then pocketed it.
"Thank you for agreeing to see me. I have a business opportunity that I think you would be interested in." Said Cedric.
"Tell me what the Legion of Light is up to and if its profitable and worth my while then you will have my services." Said Roland.
"Yes. Recently the Legion of Light has been very successful against Spirit's forces and her allies. We've killed one of Spirit's sisters as well as defeated her main ally in Waterfall Dr. Cranken and his forces." Said Cedric.
"Yes I've heard about. I really must thank you people for doing that. My employees have been striping down that lab and selling off all that scrap metal and equipment. We're making a nice fortune off that." Said Roland.
"Glad to hear. Recently we got a tip that a force of X-Nauts are in the area and are planning to raid the Vault of Valefar." Said Cedric.
Roland and Inkerton exchanged looks and burst out laughing.
"Those fools think they can raid the Vault of Valefar? There as good as dead!" Said Inkerton.
"People have been trying to break into that place for ages and most of those who do end up dead! Valefar doesn't like anyone trying to steal his treasure." Said Roland.
"We according to my source Valefar is no longer in the vault, which leaves it venerable making it into a easier target for those who would dare wish to steal from it." Said Cedric.
This got Roland's attention.
"So you're saying Valefar is gone, though there are probably some form of defenses left behind." Said Roland.
"Most likely. My plan is to let the X-Nauts head into the vault to deal with any defenses and wait for them to return to their ship. Once they're back on the ship, we come in on your boats and with our combined forces we eliminate them all. The Legion of Light gets the satisfaction of destroying some of their enemies and you and your man can have the treasure. It's a win for both of us." Said Cedric.
Roland thought for a few moments and then spoke.
"Alright were in. Will help you deal with these X-Nauts as long as we get the treasure."
Cedric and Roland shook hands completing the deal.
Elsewhere Coral Siren was underwater leading Mabel and Rain to the coral mine to give them a tour and to investigate the stolen explosives. Rain helped Mabel adjust to her mermaid tail and taught her how to use it to swim. They were in no real big hurry, so Firth and Locke managed to catch with them and join their little group. Coral Siren and her guests soon reached the coral mine. It was a large structure built near a assortment of coral reefs and a few caves. Various underwater monsters worked about cutting off pieces of coral and loading them up in carts to be sent into the main building. Coral Siren got out of her mech and began to give the group a tour.
"Here at the coral mine we gather various types of corals that have unique chemical and magical property we sell sail to the community down here as well as on the surface. There are many types of coral that have numerous properties and uses. We have coral that can be used to strengthen armor and weapons as well as create all kinds of medicine." Said Coral Siren.
She lead the group into the main building where workers with glasses and magnifying glasses examined the coral and sorted it. Coral Siren showed the group's the various departments for shorting and then lead them to where the explosives were kept in a large square building with locks.
"I noticed the explosives that we kept in one corner were missing yesterday." Said Coral Siren indicating the spot with the missing explosives.
"You have any camera in this area?" Asked Locke.
"We did, but during the time of the theft the system was updating." Said Coral Siren.
"So this could have been a inside job?" Asked Rain.
"Possibly though it's hard to imagine any of my workers doing this. My workers are very loyal and I pay them well." Said Coral Siren.
"Guess will just have to search for clues then." Said Mabel.
They all began to search the area. Mabel applied all the knowledge and experience she had gotten from helping solve mysteries with her brother in Gravity Falls and Locke used the scientific experience he got from Gata. They along with Rain and Firth searched the room for any clues about the culprit. After some searching they found a yellow ribbon among some crates with a little pin that resembled a bomb with a mustache and pointy rabbit ears.
"Well we found something that looks like a clue." Said Mabel.
"Yeah, but we don't know what it means." Said Rain.
"Maybe Undyne will know what it is." Said Locke.
"Let's show it to Coral Siren first and see if she knows anything." Said Firth.
They presented the ribbon and pin to Coral Siren.
"Sorry I don't have a clue who that might belong to." Said Coral Siren.
"Guess we better show it to Undyne then." Said Locke.
"Looks like we're heading to a film set." Said Mabel.
The little group grabbed the evidence and were about to head out, when Coral Siren gave them a warning.
"Be careful swimming out there. It heard reports of a giant carnivorous crab monster called Pagurus the Ravenous lurking about."
"Don't worry. Will be sure to keep an eye out for him." Said Rain before he and the others headed out.
Up on land Undyne, Stan, Wendy, Gideon, and Huntress Wizard found themselves on a film set near the water's edge. The film set resembled a tiny model city with tiny cars and vehicles scattered about. The group was impressed with the set and then they met Director Morty.
Morty was a thin blue ghost monster that wore a dark blue turtleneck sweater and a director's beret. He saw Undyne and her group and a big smile appeared on his face as he flew over to them.
"Thank you so much for coming Undyne. My set is in desperate need for protection from the Squeaks and their actions have really left me with little funding for my film. If they're not stopped I could lose my job and my position with GRAPE." Said Morty.
"What's GRAPE?" Asked Stan.
"GRAPE is a acronym that stands for Grand Renaissance of Art, Preforming, and Entertainment. They are a powerful influential group in the Underground." Explained Morty.
"So tell us what we're dealing with." Said Undyne.
"Well whenever we've done most of our shoots the Squeaks would always show up to ruin it and steal our food, money, and whatever valuables or equipment they can find. It's only been the three members Spinni, Storo, and Doc. Never their leader Daroach." Said Morty.
"I see. Don't you worry will take care of it. You shooting a scene soon?" Said Undyne.
"Yes we are. It's a rampage scene featuring Ghostzilla. Though come to think of it we could use another monster or two to go with this scene. Would any of your friends like to join in?" Said Morty eyeing the rest of the group.
"I would love to!" Said Gideon stepping forward.
Morty studied Gideon and shook his head.
"Sorry kid, you're not what I'm looking for."
Morty turned his attention to Stan and Wendy and he studied them closely with interest.
"You two on the other hand are exactly what I'm look for. A brooding and imposing gargoyle monster and a attractive and fierce wolf monster would make nice additions to the scene."
"Seriously?" Asked Stan.
Morty nodded his head.
"Do we need to learn any lines?" Asked Wendy.
"No. All you have to do is march around, roar, and destroy the fake city in any matter you choose." Said Morty.
"Cool." Said Wendy.
"We can do that. This film will get seen by a ton of people and make us famous?" Said Stan.
"My movies and the Ghostzilla movies are very popular in the Underground. I guarantee you'll be seen by tons of monsters and become famous." Said Morty.
"I like the sound of that." Said Stan casting a grin at Gideon who was fuming.
"Alright people take your places and get ready to shoot this thing. Will either be able to shoot the scene or will get interrupted by the Squeaks and our special guests will deal with them." Said Morty.
Some workers from the makeup department went over to Stan and Wendy to apply some makeup to them. Stan's rocky skin was given a nice shine and Wendy's hair and fur were straightened up and made pretty. Another ghost monster arrived on the set decked out in a costume that covered everything, but his tail, apparently this was the Ghostzilla costume. The costume consisted of green scaly skin and horns that curve forward. Morty directed Ghostzilla, Stan, and Wendy to three different sections of the set.
"Now the three of you are giant rampaging monsters. All you have to do is wreck all the buildings." Explained Morty before getting off the set and taking a seat.
The camera got pointed at the three monsters and Morty gave the command.
"Action!"
Ghostzilla let out a roar as he smashed a fake building to bits with his claws. Stan yelled and pounded his chest and crushed a building and stomped on a few fake cars. Wendy let out a loud wolf howl as she tore through some buildings with her claws and then she ripped out a few sections of one building with her fangs giving a mischievous and devilish grin as she did so. The crew loved the fake destruction and it looked like they were going to get the whole shoot done without any interruptions, when a laser blast suddenly flew down towards the middle of the set destroying a lot of the fake buildings in the process.
"What was that?!" Yelled a freaked out Gideon.
Everyone looked up to see what appeared to be a small red flying saucer. The craft appeared to be manned by a small mouse monster with two other mice monster standing by his side.
"It's the Squeaks!" One of the crew screamed.
"Spinni, Storo, and Doc." Said Undyne recognizing the criminals.
Spinni was a yellow mouse-like monster, with orange feet, a long snout and slight frame with red nose, white belly, a small mouth, and large ears. He wore a long red cape and large, shiny red shades.
Storo was a blue, bulky, bipedal mouse-like monster. He wore a red bandana, a black eyepatch over his left eye, and a red sleeveless shirt. Storo had a mouse-like face, with a circular, black snout, a single tooth extending out of his mouth, and large ears. He had a large navel, two arms and hands, two stubby feet with three toes each, and no tail.
Doc was a small bluish-white mouse monster wearing a large pair of swirling red glasses. He had large round ears and a large green mustache which takes up the majority of his face. Doc was the one piloting the saucer.
"This is a raid. Don't resist and no one will get hurt." Said Spinni.
"I'm afraid that's not going to happen this time around. You're under arrest." Said Undyne stepping forward with a spear ready to fight.
"Well this is certainly a surprise. Captain Undyne of the Royal Guard!" Said Spinni.
"And you're Spinni, Storo, and Doc of the band of criminals known as the Squeaks." Said Undyne.
"Well I'm honored that you know who we are." Said Spinni.
"Surrender and make this easier for yourselves." Said Undyne.
"No. We're just going to destroy and the rest of the Underground will fear the name of the Squeaks." Said Spinni before throwing some shurikens at Undyne.
Undyne deflected the weapons with her spear and then threw it at the saucer. Doc quickly moved the saucer out of the way to avoid getting hit as Spinni and Storo jumped down to the ground to confront Undyne. A slot on the top of the saucer opened up and a laser cannon poked out and prepared to shoot Undyne, but a arrow from Huntress Wizard struck the saucer making it rock back.
"I'll deal with the flyer." Said Huntress Wizard as she fired more arrows at the saucer forcing Doc to retreat.
Spinni pulled out a claw weapon and charged at Undyne swinging. Undyne blocked the attack and shoved Spinni back. Storo pulled out a large wooden hammer and tried to strike Undyne from behind, but she dodged the big mouse monster and leapt away from him. Spinni and Storo regrouped to face Undyne.
"Director Morty what should we do?" Asked a crewman.
"Let them fight." Said Morty in a dramatic matter.
"What?" Asked the crewman.
"Just keep filming. Not everyday you witness someone like Undyne in action and have a chance to film it. Keep a camera focused on the archer and the other people that were traveling with Undyne. We might witness something cool from them as well." Said Morty.
The crew focused their cameras on the fighters. Spinni and Storo were about to charge forward and attack, when Wendy and Stan appeared by Undyne's side.
"Leave the big guy to us, Undyne." Said Wendy.
"You're sure you can handle him?" Asked Undyne.
"Yeah there's two of us and one of him. We're tough we can handle him." Said Wendy.
"Alright I'll leave him to you. I'll take Spinni down and help you out as fast as I can." Said Undyne.
Storo rushed at Wendy and Stan swinging his hammer forcing them to dodge to avoid being hit. Spinni threw some shurikens at Undyne who spun her spear and deflected them before she rushed at the mouse monster and they began to exchange blows with their weapons. Storo stomped towards Wendy and swung his hammer down at her, only to have her jump away. Stan rushed at Storo and punched him hard in the gut making him gasp in pain. The gargoyle smirked enjoying his new strength and hard rock body. Storo quickly recovered then Stan had though he would and struck him in the side of the head with his hammer!
Crack!
Stan reeled back from the blow. His stone body might have held up better then his old body, but the blow still hurt him a bit and rattled his brains. Storo rushed at Stan before he could recover, picked him up, and then tossed him through some of the fake buildings on the set before he crashed to the ground.
"Ha! Serves you right Stan!" Chuckled Gideon amused by Stan's pain.
Storo was about to chase after Stan, when Wendy leaped onto his back and began to claw and bite at him! The mouse monster monster stumbled around trying to get Wendy off his back crashing through more fake buildings and dropping his hammer in the process. Wendy held on as Storo tried to get him off as she felt a slight tinkle of feral pleasure go through her body at the excitement of the fight and struggle. Storo then slammed his back through one of the fake buildings and managed to make Wendy loosen her grip before he grabbed her and slammed her onto the ground. Wendy snarled and glared up at Storo who was prepared to pound her with his big fists. Before Storo could do that Ghostzilla suddenly flew in armed with Storo's hammer and struck the big monster in the head with it! Storo toppled forward and Wendy quickly rolled out of the way to avoid being crushed beneath the mouse monster.
"Thanks for the help." Said Wendy as she got up and faced Ghostzilla.
"No problem. I wanted to get some payback on the Squeaks anyway." Said Ghostzilla.
"Glad that's over." Said Stan pulling himself out of the ruble of fake buildings.
Undyne and Spinni were still exchanging blows with each other. Spinni seemed to have a bit of a speed advantage over Undyne due to not wearing armor like Undyne, but Undyne's armor gave her better protection and she had experience fighting fast opponents, while wearing armor. It was just a matter of patience and timing for Undyne to change the course of the battle. Spinni leaped around a thrust from Undyne thinking he would attack her from behind, but Undyne's shot out and she grabbed Spinni by the cape. The mouse monster let out a shout of surprise as Undyne began to spin him around at incredible speed.
Undyne looked up at Doc's saucer as it flew around and fired away at Huntress Wizard who jumped and dodged around. The Captain of the Royal Guard took careful aim and released Spinni sending him flying up and crashing into the saucer causing Doc to freak out and the saucer lurched crazily. Huntress Wizard took this opportunity to strike the saucer with a arrow that sprouted vines entangling both Doc and Spinni in them. Undyne threw a spear at the saucer that struck the craft causing a explosion and the saucer crashed onto the set.
"Cut! That's a wrap! Nicely done! You were all great!" Said Morty with a big grin on his face.
"Well we captured most of the Squeaks and we prevented them from stealing anything. I say this mission was a success." Said Undyne before she and Huntress went about collecting Spinni, Storo, and Doc and tied them up.
"So what do we do with these three?" Asked Huntress Wizard indicating the Squeaks.
"There's a jail we can drop them off out, I hope maybe we can use these three as bait to lure out their leader Daroach out of hiding and capture him as well." Said Undyne.
"You can do that later. Just got off from a call to a representative of GRAPE, after I sent them a sample of what we filmed. They loved it and the future of me and my crew is secure. Let's celebrate! We got plenty of food and drinks. Take it as a token of thanks." Said Morty.
"I suppose we can stay for a bit. You got a cage or something we can throw the Squeaks in?" Said Undyne.
"As a matter of fact we do." Said Morty.
The crew brought out a large cage prop with some real locks and chains and the Squeaks were loaded up in it. After that was done the crew and heroes began to have a little party.
As all that was going down there was a situation going on at the Flooded Fortress a few miles away. The castle was quite a sight. It was a fairly large castle-like structure that's lower levels were flooded, but despite that the local frog and toad monsters had taken a shine to it and each group of monsters wanted it for themselves, so they fought over it. Currently the frog monsters had managed to take the fortress for themselves and their leader was sitting in the throne room feeling proud of himself as he wrote a list of titles and accomplishments he wanted his announcers to read off to any enemies or guests.
The frog monster leader was named Wart. He was a regal frog, with a crown on his head and a purple robe that can scarcely conceal his big belly.
One of Wart's servants quickly entered the throne room and told him that the toad monsters were gathered outside the fort and looked like they were fixing to cause trouble. Wart saw this as an opportunity to have his titles and accomplishments read off and handed the list to one of his announcers as he picked up a mace and they headed to the fortress walls to look down at the enemy. The frog monster king stood to the side as his announcer read the list.
"Behold King Wart. The Guardian of the Flooded Fortress Lord of His Domain, Ruler of All He Surveys. Champion of The People, Keeper of The Five Oaths. First of His Name, Second of His Other Name, He Who is Without Middle Initial or Mercy. Destroyer of All Those Who Would Question His Rightful Rule or Look At Him Askance. Eater of The Vanquished, Devourer of The Indolent, Guzzler of The Non-Committal, and Bestower of Wrathful Opprobrium and Fount of Most Wondrous Beneficence. All Glory to Him and His Mace! Holy Basher of Toads Not Frogs, But Really What Are Toads Anyway? Like Worse Frogs Right? Uglier Too. Smartest Creature In All The Land, Really Clever Like That Einstein Guy But More Handsome and-"
"Enough!" Yelled one of the toad monsters.
"Thank you." Mumbled the announcer getting tired of reading.
"We have come for the fortress Wart! Surrender it to us and you shall be spared!" Said a toad monster.
"Never! None shall take this fort from me!" Declared Wart.
"Then you shall suffer complete annihilation!" Yelled another toad monster.
Wart and his troops watched as the toad monsters parted to reveal the enormous form of the Toad Leader decked out in a suit of advanced looking armor. Everyone watched as the Toad Leader rose into the air with rockets on his armored boots.
"Behold the might of Armored Toad!" Said the newly dubbed Armored Toad before he began to firing missiles from the palms of his armored hands at the fortress.
Wart screamed in terror as he ran away from the wall dropping his mace in the process. The missiles struck the wall and exploded sending frog monsters and bricks flying. The toad monsters cheered as the Armored Toad flew up to the wall to rain down more destruction.
Over at the film set the heroes and film crew saw the explosions going off at the Flooded Fortress. Undyne narrowed her eye as she stood up and conjured a spear.
"Y'all hold things down here. I'm going to go investigate and deal with that." Said Undyne before she dived into the water and swam off.
Things were certainly heating up in Waterfall.
To be continued.
Glossary
Another Crab's Treasure: Inkerton and Pagurus
Mario: Wart
Rayman: Armored Toad