This chapter takes place in the town of a beloved PBS Kids cartoon… and takes a new perspective on it. :)
Atlesian Sky Base above Elwood City
Weiss' cuffed arms were wrapped around a wide pillar. She pressed her feet against it and pushed as a desperate move to rip the cuffs off. A fruitless effort. "Ow!" She inevitably fell and hurt her toes against the floor. She straightened herself out of the uncomfortable, forward-leaning position she wound up in. Weiss would also straighten her gaze when the door opened: her elder sister marched in.
"Weiss…" Her icy eyes were warm with concern as she looked over Weiss' tattered and shoeless frame. "I'm sorry for this."
"The hell you are! You're helping Father occupy and oppress Mobius! You KNOW his excuses are bullshit! So, untie me and help me stop him!"
"Weiss, if you go against Father, you go against King Mickey and the army. That's the problem here. As much as we despise it, those two depend on Father. And the KND is already in enough trouble. Weiss… I just want to keep you safe."
"They can peg us as bad guys as much as they want. I'll rip Mickey's ears out for letting this happen."
Winter bit her lip, stunned by her sister's bold claim. "You really must watch your mouth, young lady." Both turned in shock as Jacques stepped into the room.
"Father?!" Winter gasped.
"I've been readily informed of your capture." The Ace Ops and Ironwood were behind him. "Weiss… after your recent transgressions, you leave me no choice. You are out of my will. You will no longer inherit the Schnee Dust Company… and I am hereby disowning you as my daughter."
Weiss merely glared at him. She logically expected such an outcome. "Winter, I have summoned a transport to bring her to Zordoom Prison. I have notified all officers that there is no longer a relation between us."
"Father, you can't send her to Zordoom! It's full of criminals the KND put in there. The Emperors' commanders, the rogue Gourmet Hunters! Weiss will be killed!"
"Winter." Ironwood began strictly. "You are being reassigned as well. Grand Admiral's orders. He believes that… emotional problems may hinder your duties. And with two admirals here, your skills will be more useful elsewhere. I'm sorry."
"…" Winter spared her sister one final, regretful glance. "Understood…"
"Right then. Everyone out." Jacques gestured the officers out of the room and promptly sealed it. "Clover, Vine, stand guard here until the transport arrives."
"Pardon me, sir, but the Ace Operatives are under my jurisdiction." Ironwood said. "Vine, check on Marrow's recovery. Clover, take your ship and patrol the area. Shoot down any unauthorized ships."
Jacques scoffed. "Just make sure no funny business happens until Winter and Weiss have left the base. I will return to the office." The president proceeded to the QuickWarp room. "I must update Whitley's will now as well." He entered the portal, which was promptly turned off.
Ironwood, Winter, and Clover crossed the hangar bay of the floating fortress. A gloomy twilight fell over Elwood City. Winter gazed over the town with a heavy heart. She'd heard that Elwood was one of the nicest places on Mobius, full of easygoing and ordinary people who only faced everyday problems. They would say that, "Every day you're walking down the street, everybody that you meet, has an original point of view." But Elwood was one of the targets for the Kremlings' machine. The city fell into ruin and chaos… and now it was a containment zone.
Winter's steps only grew slower as she approached her ship. "Don't worry, Winter." Ironwood said. "I'll make sure that Weiss is-"
Alarms began to blare. "ALERT! Unauthorized vessel is on a collision course with the containment zone!" Ironwood and Winter whipped around and saw the smoking, descending ship. …Except it wasn't "smoking," but leaking confetti.
"KYAAAAAAH!" Kokichi screamed. "Crud! I put the piñatas where the fuselage was supposed to go! This is why I leave all the party stuff to Lanky! NOOOOOOO! We're going to CRAAAAAAAASH!"
"What's wrong with that thing?!" Winter gasped. "It's going to hit the city!"
"All ground and patrol units, direct all fire on that ship!" Ironwood ordered. "We have to minimize the damage as much as possible!"
Aircrafts and city cannons bombarded the vessel… but their shots poked holes in the balloons that were tied around the sides of it. Helium blew out, causing the ship to fall faster. The soldiers choked in horror the second the ship touched the surface… and, from its intense force, the entire city flipped up into the air like an enormous plate on the edge of a table. Ironwood, Winter, and Clover's jaws stretched and twisted from the ridiculous, unbelievable cataclysm.
But they fell into distress again when the city came falling back down, doomed to crush the base. "AAAAAAAHHH!"
However, the base remained afloat as the city wound up propped and balancing directly on top of it, upside-down. The stolen ship was still lodged into the ground… and Mr. Ratburn was halfway squished underneath it. Kokichi kicked open a hatch and jumped out onto a hanging streetlight. "Oh boy! I finally get to explore the town of Arthur! The author used to watch this all the time, why did we take THIS long to include it?! No matter! I can't wait to see how the characters are represented! This is gonna be a wonderful kind of day!"
Act 4: Ewlood City
There were several dog-walkers hanging on the street, and their dogs, who all looked like Pal, were hanging by the necks on their leashes. They were convenient for Kokichi to swing up the street, until he could rest atop a giant model plane. "Wait… a model plane? In Elwood City? Uh-oh."
"HEY!" A certain monstrous 4-year-old known as D.W. Read emerged from a sewer lid. "A MODEL PLANE?! I WANT IT!" The aardvark began to gigantify.
"GYAAAAH! Don't worry, Planey, I'll save you!" Kokichi tied the large plane to his back and used it to "glide." The giant D.W. clambered along the upside-down city in pursuit, grabbing and throwing Mary Moo Cows. Kokichi dodged them, but was desperate to find a way to stop this brat. Then he saw it: a giant snowball. "Haha! Say good-bye, Dora Winifred!" Kokichi closed in on the snowball, stretched his mouth massively wide, and swallowed it!
"NOOOOOOooooooo!" D.W. shrank to her whiney kindergarten size and fell from the city.
Kokichi parked Planey on the underside of a highway. He continued his journey to the base along it. But then he noticed Arthur himself being interrogated by three soldiers. "Return to your house at once!"
"I will, I will!" Arthur reasoned. "I'm just waiting for my friend. He went to go borrow Francine's fudge."
"Arthur!" His best friend, Buster hurried up with something in his hands. "I got the fudge! For some reason, it was in her cat's litterbox."
"BUSTER! YOU DUMBASS!" Arthur took out a golfclub and began bashing Baxter brutally. The soldiers shared glances of confusion.
"YOU JERKS!" Kokichi charged the troops, his gun drawn. "Leave those kids alone!" He shot Dark Bullets, but the soldiers withstood them using the Light Crystals embedded in their armor. They fired rapid Light Bullets, Kokichi dodging as quick as he could. "Maybe these can counter their light!" Kokichi grabbed his Denture Gun and shot clattering teeth.
The dentures were brushed to extreme whiteness, so much that the light bullets reflected off them with intense brightness. "AAAHHHH! MY EEEEEYES!" The blinded soldiers ran about in panic and fell off the highway.
"You're safe now, kids!" Kokichi grinned.
"Thanks, Mister!" With that, Arthur continued beating the crud out of Buster.
Kokichi reached a broken part of the highway, where Baby Kate was sitting and crying. "Awe, poor thing. You need a binky. I'll go find one." Kokichi could platform across some dangling highway signs, the last one of which had a binky… with Binky Barnes' head in place of the sucker.
"Hey, can you help me?" Binky asked. "I got a date with Arthur's mom at 8."
"Sure, pal." Kokichi picked him up and brought him to Kate. He stuck him into Kate's mouth, and the infant's suckling grew faster in seconds. "Right then! Time to go for a ride!" Kokichi shrunk himself and grabbed on the binky. When the suckling speed reached its peak, Kate BLEW them faster than the speed of sound! Everything became a blur around them: they were going so fast that a bunch of Bionic Bunnies flew alongside them. "Oh, hey! Are you all trying to turn the planet's time backwards?"
"Yes, we are! We're from multiple planetary rotations."
"In my rotation, everyone voted for Chancellor Winchester instead of O'Ryan. So, I'm going back in time to set them straight, I tell you what!"
"Well, I got a rotation to straighten out myself. Hold still for a second." Kokichi jumped off Binky and began to bop across the superhero bunnies, each yelping a little "Owie!" or "Sweet prune juice!" or "What in the name of Animal Krypton was that?!"
The last bunny bounced Kokichi out of the Zoom Space, landing him in the town's Sugar Bowl restaurant. "Sugar Booger…Sugar Booger…Sugar Booger…" Hugh Neutron and Carl Wheezer were the only customers. They were wiping their noses around the inside of bowls of strawberry ice cream.
A baffled Kokichi would find the shop's owner, Carl Manino, cowering behind his desk. "P-Please help me! Those things won't leave!"
"Sugar Booger…Sugar Booger…" Kokichi couldn't possibly understand what was so scary about those mindless humans. "Alright, I'll see what I can do." Kokichi crawled and checked under other seats. He found a doll of Judy Neutron. The moment he picked it up, Hugh and Carl looked up from their sugar-snuffing, their expressions droll and ravenous. "B-B-B—Sugar Booger! Sugar Booger!" They dropped down on all fours and began galloping after Kokichi. The boy hurried out of the shop and platformed across some hanging cars. Hugh and Carl still kept after him; no wonder the shopkeeper was so terrified of them.
Kokichi eventually saw a hanging toilet. "Aha!" He chucked the Judy doll down it. "SUGAR BOOOOOG!" Hugh leapt over Kokichi and dove nose-first down the toilet. Carl tried to dive in, too… but his tubby frame got stuck. His bum became a bouncy platform for Kokichi to spring up to an upside-down house.
The inside of the house was a lunch room. "Ahh. Hello, dear." Mrs. MacGrady greeted. "What would you like for lunch?" She opened each of her plate covers. "A fly? A spider? A bird? A cat? A dog? A goat? If you want the full course, be sure to eat them in order."
"Hang on, do goats even eat dogs? And do horses eat goats?"
"Hmm…I have no idea."
In the next room, a goat and a dog were lying in bed. The goat looked over with an implicative glance. "Believe me, honey… I do."
Kokichi signed in melancholy. "I ate a bird one time. I still think about Kevin to this day."
It was a cold and rainy night. Kevin woke up to find Kokichi was gone. There was a note beside him. Kevin… I'm sorry I couldn't tell you this to your face. But I have to go find myself. I can't make you a happy bird. Don't worry. You'll find someone better.
Kevin looked out into the rainy expanse in sadness. He cried out in a Kevin Michael Richardson voice, "MY BOOOOOOOOOYYYYYY!"
"And last I heard of him… he was seeing Binky."
"WHAT?!" Arthur's mom burst in, holding Binky furiously.
"No no no! It's not what you think!"
"I knew you smelled like chewed worms, Binky!" Mom stomped into the bathroom. "Consider yourself DUMPED!" She splashed him in the toilet and flushed.
"NOOOOOOO!"
However, the toilet rumbled violently: Binky spurted out of it riding the Judy doll. "SUGAR BOOOOOOOG!" Hugh Neutron shot out flying soon after.
"THERE'S OUR RIDE!" Kokichi tied all of MacGrady's animals together into a rope and latched Hugh's legs. They soared loops around the city before closing in directly on the sky base.
"AAAAAAHHH!" Ironwood and Winter braced their selves for the inevitable impact. Binky wound up in Ironwood's mouth and Hugh's nose in Winter's. They smashed through the entrance of the base. "Ugh!" Recovering with a headache, the two generals ripped the nuisances out of their mouths.
"You guys should be ashamed of yourselves!" Kokichi yelled passionately. "What have you done to this wholesome little town?!"
"WE DIDN'T DO THIS!!" they both screamed.
"Hold on…" Ironwood brought up a wanted poster on his Scroll. "Kokichi Oma. You were a member of the Sky God Pirates. And according to Cooking Fest images, you are now part of the KND."
"Well, the KND always had lots of criminal connections. But then again, you guys are no different." A shade fell over his eyes.
Ironwood drew a white and black pistol. "Stand down or we won't hold back."
"Okay." Kokichi flipped upside-down. The generals responded with quizzical looks. "So, do what you said and… hold BACK!"
The toilet Carl Wheezer was trapped in spewed him out. Carl hit the pavement of the upturned city… causing it to bob and slide off the back half of the base. "AAAAHHH!" This caused the base to tilt backward and for the three of them to plummet inside.
"Gueck!" Kokichi's neckerchief got snagged on a card scanner. "Oh, I always hated these things! They never frigging work! They always want chips instead!" Kokichi took out some potato chips and fed it to the scanner. It lit green as the door opened. Kokichi climbed inside. "Hey-heeeeey! Look who I found!"
"Kokichi!" Weiss beamed. "When'd you get here? Did you tilt this base over?"
"Don't hold me accountable for other peoples' bases."
"Okay, just help me out of here. The top of this pole isn't connected to the ceiling; you can help pull me up it."
"Weiss, have you ever thought this position you're in is a reflection of your inner turmoil? Like, you keep saying you want to stop your father, but you keep holding yourself back?"
"Kokichi… I am going to hold your back until your spine crunches if you don't get me outta here."
"I was just trying to be inspiring…" His face fell. "Alright. Lucky for you, I know my way around po—" A fishing reel flew in and snagged him by the collar, "OOOOOOOLES!"
"KOKICHI!"
Clover Ebi pulled Kokichi up to a higher prison room. "I wasn't sure if I could make that shot." He slammed Kokichi into the wall before releasing his reel. "This is quite the mess you've caused… but I don't sense any despair or suffering. I'm sure this effect is temporary."
"Mweeheeheehee!" Kokichi pushed himself up. "Well, since you're so bright with confidence, how about a little gamble?" Clover readied himself as Kokichi grabbed a pistol, dropping Antikill bullets into it. He then materialized his two die. "We'll call it Gambler's Hangman. Whenever these die turn up 6 or less, I'll shoot one of my body parts senseless 'til I can't go on. That goes from the legs to the arms, the head, and so on. But if they turn up 7 or more, I'll shoot yours."
"Shouldn't we have a neutral party hold the gun?"
"My Dice-Dice Fruit keeps me obliged to the rules of the gamble. I'll be forced to obey."
"Heh heh. Alright, humor me then. Let's play." (NOTE: I used a virtual dice roller for this part.)
The die flared with aura from his response. "The game is on." Kokichi rattled the die and dropped. "Hah! Nine!" He shot Clover's left leg.
"Hm?" But he could still move it just fine. "I think you'll need a few more shots to do it."
Kokichi's expression fell. "Ahh. Right. Willpower. That's a thing. Okay, next roll…" The die turned up, "ELEVEN! HAHAHA!" Another shot to the left leg. But he could still move it. The next roll was, "EIGHT!" and this third shot finally numbed Clover's left leg. "Hah, boy I'm feeling lucky!" He rolled again and landed on… "Four." Kokichi shot his own left leg. "AAAAAHHH! OH ARCEUS, IT HUUUUUUURTS!"
"Heh heh." It seemed Kokichi's skinny leg had less will to offer.
"What're you smiling at? Next roll!" Nine. "HAH!" He started on Clover's right leg. The next roll landed on 8 again; the second shot! But then it was a 5. "AGH!" Kokichi lost his right leg and fell onto his tummy.
"Clover!" Vine's gooey hands grasped the doorway and pulled himself inside. Seeing Kokichi with the gun, he tried to swipe it from him—a barrier blocked him completely.
"Hey, buddy, no interrupting the game!"
"Vine, go assist the generals. This shouldn't take long."
Vine looked with confusion and hesitation. He decided to trust Clover and jumped and climbed up. The following roll was 10, so Clover was brought to the same level as Kokichi. A solid 12 allowed Kokichi to start on Clover's right arm. Then it was 7; Clover was closer to Heaven. But when it came 2, Kokichi's right arm was his to lose. Then another 7: Clover's arm was fully in Heaven. To start with Clover's left arm, a 9! But when the die hit 6, Kokichi shot his own gun-holding arm.
"Well… looks like you can't keep the game going."
"Can't I?" Kokichi grinned and licked the die in his mouth. He swished them around before spitting them out. Nine! Kokichi bit his gun and used his tongue to shoot Clover's arm. But then… 6. Kokichi lay his head in front of the cock, stretched his tongue to trigger it, and shot his head senseless.
"Hmm. Looks like the game is… up?" But to Clover's shock, Kokichi could still haul his torso around! "What is this freak?" He aggressively pressed his body against the die and shuffled them around against the floor. And… they still stopped on 5. "HAH! And you can't even shoot… now?"
But Kokichi's hip area still possessed feeling. He dreaded having to resort to this. He managed to pull the trigger, the bullet bouncing around the room before hitting his torso. But his hip managed to bounce up, sit on the die, and roll them. …Seven. He pulled the trigger as the bullet ricocheted into Clover's arm, numbing it. But he kept the game going fairly: another unsanitary dice roll landed on 9. Starting on Clover's head. "UGH!" The unlucky Ace wasn't enjoying this, anymore. A ten roll. The second shot on his head. And then… a three. Kokichi finally had no more nerves left to offer. "Well… I guess I… win…" And yet, Clover would never get this 'victory' out of his mind.
"Nngh…ugh…" Weiss was pressing her heels against the pole in attempt to shove her way up it. She gasped; Vine, Winter, and Ironwood climbed into the room using the former's power.
"It's time to go, Ms. Schnee." Ironwood said.
In light of her chi-blocks, Vine wouldn't be able to carry her, so Winter conjured a spiral stairway of ice, complete with handles. Ironwood would hold her by the cuffs as they carefully traveled up the vertical hallway. They reached the exit and could stand stable on the wall around the entrance. The transport ship awaited them. "I still don't think we should send her to Zordoom."
"Don't worry." Ironwood replied. "I'll arrange a private cell. None of the prisoners will ever know—!"
Weiss quickly bent her legs and kicked out of Ironwood's grasp! She sprinted toward the edge of the building. Vine launched at her with his Aura Hands, but Weiss swiftly leapt with a twirl kick to his jaw. She continued her sprint and leapt off the building.
"WEISS!" Winter skied and leapt off. Her sister plummeted between the diagonal city buildings, and Winter assumed a diving stance to catch up with her. But when she did, Weiss spun to grab the chest of her sister's uniform in her hands: the chi-blocking cuffs negated Winter's bending.
"Only one way out of this, Winter!"
"UGH!" Winter grabbed her key and hurriedly unlocked the cuffs. As they flew away from their grasp, Winter transitioned their descent into an Ice Road and slid them onto a slanted building. They straightened their selves as Weiss turned to her. "Weiss, are you crazy?!"
"No… more like desperate."
"Weiss, I'm sorry it turned out this way, but…but you-"
"Shouldn't have picked a fight with Father? I should've kept letting him have his way? The reason you left and joined the army, Winter, was because you were sick of him the same as I was. And now look: you got assigned to help his Mobian oppression."
"I've been trying to make sure these people were treated well-"
"And do you really believe in Mickey? Do you believe him more than me?"
"Weiss, all I wanted was for you to be safe from all this! I never wanted the KND to be painted as enemies, and even if that IS a big corporate lie, I don't want you to go down with-"
"Yeah, I don't care! I'll go all the way with them! And if you lock me in Zordoom, my friends will come rescue me, and we'll come back to Mobius, and have this fight all over again! I'll keep fighting this war until I die, or until Bowser and Mickey die! Whatever needs to happen! Point being, you won't be able to keep me safe, Winter! And if I'm not Jacques' daughter… you aren't my sister."
"…" Her words were strong. Her heart was strong. Stronger than hers. (Play "Hero" from RWBY.)
"Winter!" Ironwood fell and seemed to soften his landing using his black pistol. "Why are her cuffs missing?!"
Weiss kept her glare fixed on her sister. Winter merely bowed her head.
"Sigh, I'll take her myself." Ironwood stepped forward- "Hm?!" His boots were frozen to the building, the ice linking back to Winter. "What are you doing?"
"I'm sorry, sir…" Winter turned to him with resolve in her eyes. "But I'm done letting Father tear our family apart."
"Winter," he ripped out of the ice with Haki, "I assure you everything will be fine. Don't make such a rash decision."
"My sister is going back to her friends. And I…I don't think I can do this, anymore."
"Winter, think about what you're saying. If you desert us in the middle of this war, you will be-"
"Then so be it." A whirlwind of snow circled the general. With it, she created a snowy clone of Sebastian Michaelis.
Weiss chuckled at the inspiration. She decided to use one of her own: Weiss created a snowy clone of Adam Taurus. Ironwood glared and hardened his fists with solid black Haki.
Boss fight: James Ironwood
The Sebastian clone acted first; Winter remembered the butler's nimble movements and had it throw kicks. Ironwood blocked each kick and punched at the clone's head, but Sebastian dodge-flipped and kicked Ironwood's arm off course. The Adam clone dashed and thrusted a stab into Ironwood's right hip… however, the general felt no pain and grabbed his sword, yanking and throwing it away. "Weiss, his right section is cybernetic!"
"Ah! I did not know this!" Ironwood jumped and tried to hammer Winter, to which she extended thick icicles from her twin swords to block him. As his weight pressed onto Winter, Weiss willed her Adam clone to ram his horns into his left section. The strain was enough for him to release Winter, but Ironwood would redirect his fist into smashing Adam. The Sebastian clone tried to kick him off his feet, but James hardened his legs to withstand it. He drew his white pistol and destroyed the clone with an explosive bullet. The girls made distance from him and recreated the clones. Sebastian was swift to dodge his bullet-bombs, and would unexpectedly throw an ice card to knock the weapon out of hand.
Sebastian jumped Ironwood and slipped onto his back. He wrapped legs around, cupped hands over his eyes, and slightly spun the general before James clapped hands behind and smashed the butler's head. During this time, Adam charged at him and dealt his signature skill, Moonslice: he slashed the ground in a crescent shape. While Weiss couldn't make it as powerful as the real Adam did, Ironwood still felt great pain in his left shoulder. James threw a punch, but Weiss pulled Adam back, while Winter recreated Sebastian. The butler dashed while ducking to ambush James from underneath and thrust a kick up at his nose. However, James had already fully hardened his body, so the damage was minimal.
James held out his cyborg arm hand and willed his white gun to return with a magnetic pull. He fired his black gun and jumped as low gravity uplifted him, and from his aerial position, he fired the white gun's bullets in circles around the Schnees, surrounding them with explosion and dust. Weiss and Winter divided: as they expected, Ironwood attempted to crash-land onto them, the shockwave blowing away the dust and knocking them down. He was quick to leap to Weiss with a stomp attack, but Weiss quickly rolled aside and back on her feet. Keeping up the same motion, her Adam clone performed a 360-degree slash, only faintly carving Ironwood's iron face.
Winter commanded Sebastian to jump-tackle Ironwood from the building's decline. Realizing this, Weiss froze a strip of ground from Ironwood: the momentum of Sebastian's tackle sent him sliding down the building. He wound up tumbling down the building, but once he stopped himself, he shot both of his guns down behind him. (Together, the guns were named Due Process.) The black's low gravity combined with the white's explosion propelled him up. The Adam clone charged to meet him in a headbutt: he was shattered by the impact, but Weiss and Winter would erect a cluster of diagonal icicles from behind the clone, slowing Ironwood in place. They fortified their combined ice to bind Ironwood to the building as tightly as they could.
With the general struggling to free himself, Weiss created a more gigantic ice clone: Sasha Blouse. Raising her large sword, the clone flipped left and right in repetition, cutting through part of the building at a time. Winter kept the ice around Ironwood firm, but when the building began to sink and fall, both sisters escaped along an Ice Road and reached another building.
"HEEEEY! Weiss!"
With a beaming smile, Weiss turned to a familiar, albeit dented-up limousine. "Guys! What happened to our ride?!"
"Some flying thug tried to total it!" Raleigh said. "We patched up what we could, but we couldn't even fix the windshield!"
"Pacifica and some others broke into that prison!" Carol yelled.
"That's good! Kokichi's still in there!"
"AAAAAGH!" Ironwood was returning using Due Process' propulsion.
"Weiss! Go!"
"But, Winter-"
The elder sister grabbed her, twirled, and threw Weiss precisely through the empty windshield. "Go! And fight your war!" Winter dove off the building, her twin swords aimed forward with icicles protruded. Ironwood met their pointed impact head-on, yet his iron resolve wasn't deterred.
"Sorry, Weiss!" Raleigh turned them skyward. "But we gotta go! We need some proper rest!"
"Winter…" Weiss could only hope for her safety.
Blake Belladonna engaged Vine on the sky base. Using shadowbending, she Veiled in evasion of his Aura Hands and closed the distance. Vine sprung into the air when she emerged to slash her black sword, Gambol Shroud. He threw his Thorn to impale Blake's head, but the Shadow Clone poofed into black mist. The real Blake converted her sword into a chain sickle and threw it to wrap Vine's leg. Not only did the scythe cut him, but Blake slammed him into the floor-wall. The cat Faunus pounced Vine, but he inflated his Aura Shield to keep her at bay. Blake smirked and merely Veiled into the floor beside him, getting underneath to jab his back. Vine flipped up in retreat, shielding once more as Blake converted Gambol to a pistol and shot him. Blake's shadow stretched beneath his shield as she dealt a combo of Shade Fists. The Faunus tackled and rammed the dazed Ace off the building.
Pacifica and Manic had dropped inside the vertical prison wing. Manic used his keen hacking skills to open each cell, along with his lockpicking to uncuff each of the Mobian prisoners. "Your bail is here! Don't waste it!" Pacifica used her chains to help haul them up and out of the exit. Manic also used his drums to vibrate the base and take down soldiers trying to magnetically climb up.
"Kokichi!" Pacifica swung into an open cell, finally finding her unconscious teammate along with a half-conscious Clover. "What… happened in here?"
"Please don't ask." Clover grunted.
"STAY!" Pacifica was suddenly frozen in place. Marrow had just climbed into the cell.
"Heh. Am I lucky to see you, Marrow." Clover smiled.
"Anytime, man. Now, stand still while I knock you back out." Marrow raised his Fetch.
"GROWWWWL!" To Pacifica's fortune, a lion Mobian pounced into the room and bit Marrow's shoulder. Marrow tore himself free, but the lion knocked him out with a swipe of his paw. The lion had puffy blonde hair, sunglasses, and a pink suit.
"Wow…thank you!" Pacifica smiled. He was one of the prisoners they had just saved.
"It's the least I can do to repay you for freeing me! By the way, know anyone who's getting married in the future?" The lion handed her a business card. "Pekoms Lionheart, professional wedding planner!"
"I'll, uh…keep it on hand! Can you help carry my friend here?"
"Certainly!" Pekoms picked Kokichi up and climbed up the passage.
"…Pekoms…" The name sounded familiar to Pacifica. "…!" Then it hit her.
"Sweet! Over 30 escaped convicts collected!" Pacifica said proudly. "Who's next on the list, Carol?"
"Big Mom Pirates' Pekoms Lionheart was also released from GUN," Carol read from their private files, "and that he returned to his homeworld, Mobius."
"Then our next stop is Mobius! Let's go!"
"Are you crazy?" Weiss asked. "You don't seriously want to go all the way to Mobius just to catch this guy. We don't even know where on Mobius he lives; I mean, he could've been arrested there, too!"
"…Ha…ha ha…hahahahahahahahahaha!" The sheer irony was too good.
"What's so funny?" Clover asked.
"Ha ha ha! Just that I feel really lucky today." Pacifica whipped him with her chain and knocked him out.
She and Manic returned to the surface with the horde of escapees. "Great going, guys." Carol said as the Limo$uper flew to their level. "Except how are we expected to carry all these guys?! We barely had room for these Faunus!"
"Wait! I still have this!" Pacifica whipped out her size-changing flashlight. She shone a purple light on each of the Mobians and shrank them.
"Ah! Good call." Raleigh smiled. "Alright, everyone onboard! And watch where you step!"
"If you're ready to go, then let's hit the road!" Sonia yelled, outmaneuvering two patrol ships while Halinor manned the turret. "If it weren't for the town in this condition, we'd have a lot more bogeys on our hands!"
"Yeah… let's go." Weiss looked toward the city with concern and hope.
Winter's Sebastian clone nimbly dodged around Ironwood, kicking the back of his left knee to bend him, jabbing his eyes, and grabbing his arm to flip him on his back. Winter mustered an array of icicles to impale him in this position. The Haki master hauled himself upright despite their pressure, ramming the icicles against Winter herself. He wiped them off with a swipe of his arm and lunged to punch her across the jaw. Winter pushed up, gasping for breath and backing away as Ironwood approached her with a furious glare. "James… you disagree with Father just as much as I do. Why can't we stop this?"
"Because my duty is with my nation… and if my nation considers the KND an enemy, then they are my enemy. I was going to do what I could for Weiss because she was your sister… but I cannot forgive this treachery." Ironwood flew at her with Due Process' momentum. Winter skied to the side, but Ironwood grabbed onto a flagpole standing on the building, spun around it, and launched in her direction. Stamping her with both boots, Ironwood defeated the eldest Schnee. (End song.)
Animal Crossing
The operatives regrouped at the peaceful village known for its chibi Mobians. "Oh, and Weiss, we found your shoes on the beach." Ciel presented them. "I cleaned them as well as I could."
"Thanks, Ciel! …Eh, I'll leave them off for now. It's almost bedtime, might as well embrace nature."
"Weeeiiiiiiss!" Isabelle, the little yellow-furred dog and the mayor's secretary, jumped into Weiss' arms and nuzzled her chest. "I'm so glad to see you again!" She was wearing a buttoned shirt, red with leaf designs.
"Haha! Hi, Isabelle! How's everything been? Everything looks great, considering… the conditions."
"Yeah." Isabelle jumped down, her expression sad. "We've been hit with a few platoons." The child mayor approached her from behind. "But, luckily!" she perked back up, "the mayor had a great idea! He spent funds to build these sonic cannons!" Some poles with large megaphones rose from the ground. "They're designed to interfere with the soldiers' communications and do THIS!"
A group of five tanks were closing in on the village. The sonic cannons fired at them. "HEY!" Mr. Resetti's voice yelled inside each of their comms. "You better not be thinking of tearing down our village!" The soldiers yelled out in agony and tried to shut their devices off. "Do you know how much money farming we've suffered to build it this much?! We've let our consoles on for days and nights! Which isn't good for the electric bill, you know what I'm saying?! And by the time your village is as perfect as can be, there's a new game out! And it starts all over again. Now that old village of yours is forgotten in the dust. You think those characters would say something unique after all these years? I know I would. I would say, 'How dare you for neglecting us?! Imagine the famine we've suffered because you went and moved on to something else! I tell ya, if I could…'"
"That's… wonderful! I knew you were strong, but I was still worried."
"Well, if anything, we were inspired by you and your heroic friends!"
"Heh. Talk about a positive impression." Weiss turned to Blake. The look in her amber eyes was cool and reserved, but she smiled at Weiss in acknowledgement. "I heard about what you did for this town, but… I wasn't sure what to think."
"What do you mean?"
"I dunno… Were you saving it because it was the right thing to do, were you trying to make your family look good… or was it because you were trying to redeem your family?"
"…Well, I do want to redeem my family. And that entails helping the people my father has hurt."
"Oh, be a little more honest than that, Weiss."
"Kokichi?" Weiss turned in the direction she heard his voice. …But he was slithering on the ground. Only his head and torso regained feeling. "Uh…"
"You were also here because you wanted to get back at Adam Taurus. He used your family's infamy to make himself look like a victim. You wanted justice for that. Riiiiiight?" Weiss fixed a glare on him. "Even now… you only save the Mobians because you want to make yourself look better than your father. And every time the Mobians thank you, you feel like you're one step closer to that goal."
"…" She was really sick of this guy trying to play detective. "It's fine." Blake said. "I don't really believe in pure selflessness."
"H-Hey, don't listen to him!" Weiss snapped.
"Look, I'm not trying to fault you or anything. You know what they say… actions speak louder than words. So, instead of worrying about why you're doing this, I'm just gonna be thankful that you are. I'm Blake, by the way." She extended a hand.
"…Weiss." She smiled and shook it. "…Have I… met you somewhere before, Blake?"
"I dunno. Have you?"
"Maybe I'm thinking of someone else."
"Vell now!" clapped Antoine, preparing his cooking utensils. "I bet everyone's hungry! I'd best get to vork!"
The fox prepared a warm dinner for everyone to eat while enjoying a concert from the town's local musician, K.K. Slider the white Jack Russell Terrier. Slider had a peculiar squeaky voice, but it provided its own charm to his songs. "I can't believe your dad would do that." Pacifica said. "I'm… really sorry, Weiss."
"I can't say I didn't expect it."
"…What do you think your brother would think of this?"
Weiss looked down. She thought back to hers and Whitley's conversation while she was in Sheila's body. "…I think I need to have a talk with him. But, tomorrow… we need to take the fight to Father."
"We're right there with you!" Sonia took the seat beside her, she and her brother munching chilidogs.
"Hey, you want one?" Manic handed her a spare. "This grub's kind of a sacred treasure to us hedgehogs."
"Heh heh heh!" There was a time when Weiss wouldn't be caught chowing on such a slobbery snack. So, she took it and filled her mouth.
"Hey, Mason just called me." Carol said. "They met with Sector SOL. He said they're staying at Cinder's castle."
"Well, we'll be camping outside and they're living in luxury." Sonia remarked.
"Yeah, but… something happened. Cinder's dad…"
Their expressions fell grim from the news.
Sol Palace
Silver's drenched body was placed in a coffin. Cinder's friends comforted her as she cried. Sheila, Mason, and Maddy gave them space far back. "The one they described… was definitely Aurelia." Maddy knew. "I can't believe…"
"Schnee went too far this time." Sheila fist-palmed. "Oi'll make his head roll."
"Taking Blaze and the Sol Emeralds…" Mason recounted. "I wonder what else he has planned…"
Schnee Dust
Jacques kept himself filled on several cups of coffee, he and his fellow Corporate President focused on the project all through morning. His Dust was bonding with the emeralds' chi nicely. Not just the Sol… but the Chaos Emeralds. "It's amazing how easy these are to find." Gruntilda said, delighted at the promising results. "They're roughly within miles of each other, all the time!"
"Hrm, yes, humph…" Jacques mumbled. "Gah, why hasn't Ironwood reported in, yet?!"
"Perhaps he was sleepy. He works hard, it's true. Certainly not as mad or depraved as you."
"Do you have to rhyme every single sentence?!"
"Watch it, buster!" Grunty drew her Haglock. "Or it's the duster!"
"President Schnee." Ironwood stepped in.
"And just WHERE have you been?!"
"I'm afraid… Winter has committed treason."
"What?!"
"I needed to have her placed into custody. Unfortunately… Weiss has escaped with her-"
Jacques converted his arm into Fire Dust and smacked Ironwood across the face. "Your soldiers really aren't worth a DAMN! After all the funding and equipment I give your soldiers!"
Ironwood returned his gaze calmly.
"However… you must act at the appropriate time." Thrawn clarified. "Schnee's projects may yet be vital in ensuring the KND's downfall. Only when he no longer has anything to offer… that will be the appropriate time."
Ironwood glanced at the machine containing the emeralds. Their energy transferred into capsules of Dust. "There hasn't been any trouble here, has there?"
"Aside from your incompetence, no. With the power I'll harness from these gems, the Mobian rebels will perish. But I'm hoping the admirals will take care of those two monsters. And once Admiral Kong finishes his assignment… victory is all but assured."
Angel Island
The sun peered over the cloud sea that surrounded the island. It was another beautiful sight to often look forward to at this altitude. Knuckles and Shade would carry Tikal down to shore to splash in the milky water.
"…Hey." But Knuckles held his wife back. Against the sun, a rocket flew toward the island. A barrel rocket. And aboard it, a massive gorilla measuring 15 feet. They could feel the island vibrating as it thundered its way across the jungle, toward the emerald's altar. "Shade, take Tikal and hide."
"Do you think it's with the army? But why just one?"
"I'll find out."
Shade picked her daughter up and fled. The child could only stare confusedly, but felt a tinge of fear.
Admiral Kong arrived before the bridge to the altar with a thundering impact. His desires were firm and clear: his index finger whipped straight at the Master Emerald. "Oh. You want this, huh?" Knuckles thumbed at the gem.
Kong opened the barrels around his belt. Hundreds of fruit, from coconuts, pineapples, grapes, melons, and of course bananas, arose like a fleet of warships. But only when the fruits morphed black with Haki were Knuckles' fears met. "…Then go get them."
Knuckles threw his fist into the Master Emerald and shattered it. As part of the emerald's self-protection magic, the pieces scattered across the world. Kong seethed in anger as the fragments whisked away. But… Kong knew that Knuckles could track the fragments. He cast his pineapples at the echidna. Knuckles used earthbending to erect a strong barrier, but as the hardened pineapples embedded into it, their spikes extended and grew through it, impaling Knuckles.
Sol Palace
The operatives awoke to a pleasant morning. A mountain of clouds loomed in the horizon, but the sky was otherwise clear. "Carol's thinkin' of invading Schnee Dust today." Mason said. "Do we even know where his base is?"
"His factory was set up on Green Hill." Cinder said coldly. "He ruined Sonic the Hedgehog's very homeland as an insult to us."
"Well, he'll be lookin' green around the gills when we're done."
"Oh, Mason…" Maddy cracked a light smile and a roll of her eyes. "…Hey!" Her passive gaze toward the horizon caught sight of a tidal wave.
"What the-?!" Charlie Bee exclaimed. "The waves never get that bad on this coast!"
"Well, maybe a spot o' surfing will cheer us up!" Sheila cheered.
"I think the whole town's about to go surfing!" Mason yelled.
Princess Cinder saw the residents scrambling to retreat inside the town tunnels. Half of Castle Town was submerged. "What the frick…" Maddy wasn't expecting to wake up to this.
"Angel Island…" Cinder whispered. "Angel Island has fallen!"
"SHADE!"
"Then back to Angel Island we go!" Sheila jumped off the balcony and landed on the Sunny Zoomer. "You comin', cobbers?!"
"Yeah!" Maddy and Mason jumped on after. They knew exactly who was involved in this catastrophe… and they would have revenge.
…
The Horned Lion endured the treacherous waters approaching the newly fallen island. "Don't think I'll let you go at this alone, Kong." Aurelia smirked. "You and I share the same assignment."