Not only is this chapter action-heavy, but we have some fun levels, too!
Schnee Dust H.Q.
Jacques and Ironwood marched out to the factory's pavilion. Admirals Aurelia and Kong presented the chained and injured body of Queen Blaze. The seven Sol Emeralds were sealed in containers, transported on a floating cart. "Excellent work." Jacques said. "I expected no less from… you two." He was disgruntled that one of them was an animal.
"It was an honor to duel the Blazing Queen."
"And her husband?"
Kong cast him a glare that said, Sent to the depths…
"Perhaps that is best. Can't afford to have too many beasts at my doorstep. I'll have her placed in the farm posthaste."
Ironwood's Scroll rang (a phone with a holographic screen). He answered, "Yes? …What?! How long have they been here?! Why are you just now telling me?!"
"What's going on?" Jacques asked.
"Sir, it's your daughter. Your daughter's KND sector were reported fighting the fleet sent to Angel Island. Nearly every ship was wiped out!"
"Outrageous!"
"But it seems they had special help…" Ironwood showed him images sent by the fleet, depicting Sheila and Maddy.
"THE PIRATE KING?!" Jacques flinched backward from PTSD. "And the Mad Conqueror?! Are here?! On Mobius?!"
"Ahh…" Aurelia smirked. "Just as the Grand Admiral predicted."
"In consideration of President Schnee's request," Thrawn began, "I am assigning the two of you to Mobius. If his fears prove true and the KND turn their sights to Mobius next… I believe they will send Sheila Frantic and Maddy Murphy. Ms. Frantic possesses personal connections to Mobius and will feel obligated to return. As for Ms. Murphy… she may seek to regain her honor after her failure against King K. Rool. You two will be the strongest assets against them."
"Then I expect you to defeat them at all costs!" Jacques yelled. "Those two are an Emperor-level threat! And I need to begin my project posthaste!"
Jacques brought the Sol Emeralds into a production room. "Ms. Winkybunion… the gems have arrived."
"What lovely stones!" Gruntilda sang. "How they shine! They put shame to all the rest in the mine!"
"With your magical know-how, we will draw out the most potential from these gems. We can transmit their chi to my Fire Dust and increase its power!"
"There's nothing I like quite more than power. Well, perhaps money, mayhem, and a dead flower."
"Erm, yes… Since you are here, I must ask: how did you manage to recreate your flesh?"
"It's a trade secret, I'll tell you that." Grunty patted her flabby tummy. "Oh, never have I missed being so fat!"
"Well, keep it as you will. We haven't time to lose. Our greatest threats will soon be upon us. Fortunately, those enhanced Night Howlers you've provided may gain us some new allies…"
The factory's "farm" possessed a garden of dark-purple flowers, basking under fluorescent blue light. Queen Blaze was strapped to a chair as workers hooked a gas mask to her. It pumped gas from the flowers down her lungs. She began to shake and growl like a savage beast.
Ironwood gazed through the window with pity. He pondered if the admirals knew what they had just done. Well… it didn't matter. Ironwood had his assignment.
"You want me to…" Ironwood responded short of breath.
"Please understand, James." Thrawn said. "King Mickey finds some of President Schnee's methods… controversial. It contradicts his ideal vision. So… if Mr. Schnee ever takes his ambitions too far… you are ordered to act."
Ironwood stroked the white gun at his belt.
Skies near Menagerie
Using the military ship Kokichi had won, Sectors $ and SOUTH had an easier time bypassing patrolling ships. However, the other sectormates enjoyed the comfort of the Limo$uper, carrying Halinor's plane on top. "You've already been to Menagerie, huh, Weiss?" Pacifica remembered.
"I have! It was lovely! Sheila even made some fans there… and…" Weiss hoped Ilia was okay.
"Did you design this ship yourself, Raleigh?" Halinor asked, admiring the air condition vents.
"Well, the design was Carol's idea. The hard work was mine though!"
"Hmhm, I never considered a flying limousine!"
"I know, right? Are you an engineer, too?"
"Well, yes, but… nowhere near as good as Dad." Halinor fiddled her fingers sheepishly. "I'm really only good at flying machines."
"She's a bad pilot, too." Manic winked.
Halinor winced. "Sniff, sniff…" She began to tear up. "Waaaaaaaahhhhh!"
"No, no, I meant good!" Manic quickly tried to console her. "It's slang for good, you musta heard me say it once or twice!" Sonia rolled her eyes at him.
"Well, you know what else is good?" Carol asked, strolling up to stroke the sides of Halinor's hair flowers. "These roses! They really compliment your hair!"
"C-Careful." She shuddered, stifling her sobs. "Those are sensitive."
"Wait, are they… part of your body?"
"Well… yes."
"Whoa! What kind of Mobian are you?"
"She's half-Seedrian." Sonia said. "Do ya have to look so slack jawed?"
"Sorry that I hadn't mentioned that." Halinor blushed. "I just thought… everyone knew."
"Haha, we didn't even know Ciel was a demon for a good while." Raleigh laughed.
"WAIT, HE IS?!" the Mobians gawked.
"A DEMON?!" Kokichi screamed. "Don't worry, I replaced the fuel with holy water!" Kokichi flew his Atlesian ship above them and dumped the water over the limo. "THE POWER OF ARCEUS COMPELS YOU!"
"Good Lord…" Ciel sighed.
The island of Menagerie rose into view. It disheartened the operatives to see the fleet of warships around its waters. "Doesn't the army even question what they're doing?" Pacifica wondered.
"Good soldiers follow orders." Ciel stated. "They're pawns of the government and corporations. That's part of why the KND exists in the first place."
"And it's people like that that are the most fun to prank!" Kokichi laughed. "Sadly, I only gambled for one hour's worth of a lease on this ship… so, I'm gonna send it out with a bang!"
"You do that!" Sonia said. "Manic and I are makin' landfall!"
"So are we!" Carol took off her dress-shoes and socks. "But I don't wanna get sand in these."
"Ready?" Pacifica asked, standing with Weiss at the door. The Schnee heiress nodded. "Then let's crush some army ant-…" She choked. Her one-liner made her think of her nightmare.
"Pacifica?" Weiss spoke.
"Never mind, let's just beat 'em up."
Weiss shrugged. One by one, the operatives jumped out of the limo. Raleigh remained behind to pilot it while Halinor boarded her plane. (Play "Modern Seaside Hill" from Sonic Generations!)
Act 2: Menagerie
The island's coast was segmented between white and black high-tech walls. The operatives set foot on the beach, dividing into groups as soldiers swarmed them. …Oddly, the soldiers were mostly wearing swimsuits except for their helmets and equipment packs. Was this supposed to be their vacation spot, too?
It should've been easy for Weiss to cast freezing waves at them in that case, but the soldiers' packs extracted tanning rays to quickly nullify her frost. "Fine, you like heat? Then you GET heat!" Weiss shot Fire Dust at them instead, "tanning" them a golden-brown. Pacifica faced a group of soldiers protected by energy barriers; but she noticed they didn't cover the ground. She shot her chains beneath the sand and had them jut out inside the barriers. The chains wrapped the soldiers' legs and dragged them up to their heads beneath the sand. Afterwards, the girls could run up and kick them like stationary soccer balls!
"Hey! 'scuse me! Ladiiiiieeees!" A blonde teen was waving at them from a barriered cage. He wore an open white jacket and blue jeans, but his most eye-catching feature was his monkey's tail. "Mind helping a guy out?" he asked in a spritely manner. "I'll buy you smoothies!"
"Is he one of the local beach flirts?" Pacifica remarked.
"Well, free smoothies! How do we open this cage?"
"The switch is under one of those sandcastles." They only just noticed the sandcastles around the cage. "I forget which one."
"Shouldn't be too hard." Weiss kicked down the first castle. "AAAH!" There was a tiny double turret pillar underneath, and she wound up riddled with small holes. She froze the turrets, but as they kicked the other castles down, they were quick to counter the other waiting turrets. Thankfully, they located the lever as promised, so they flipped it and deactivated the monkey's barrier. Incidentally, it also opened the way to the next part of the beach.
"Thanks!" The boy whipped out a pair of red nun-chucks. "Name's Sun, by the way! Catch ya later!" He seemed to conjure clones of Light Chi and ran off to become a nuisance to the soldiers.
"A lightbender?" Pacifica cocked a brow. She and Weiss proceeded to the next area, which consisted of several sand plateaus. Soldiers were lined up with beachballs in hand: they hit the balls down to the girls as they exploded. "Great! Beach Bombs!" Weiss shot icicles to pop the bombs. There was a stairway of floating, inflatable lounge chairs, and their bounciness served in bringing the girls to the upper layers. After Pacifica dragged the troops beneath the sand, she grabbed some of their remaining Beach Bombs and threw them at the next line of soldiers.
Weiss and Pacifica reached the highest plateau, but were faced with a fortified sand wall with five muscular soldiers on top. "You won't be getting past here! We're the top beach ballers of the army!"
"Ooooo. How terrifying." Pacifica remarked.
"Would you like me to take care of them?" Ciel asked, having jumped the plateaus to reach their level.
"Ciel? Since when are you good at beach ball?"
"Don't you remember how far I sent the Sandbag? I think I can manage." Ciel took the front line as one of the soldiers hit a Beach Bomb toward their ground. Ciel hit it back with ease, but the soldiers would serve it back at slightly faster force. As the volleying stretched on, the ball kept growing faster. Ciel was quick on his feet to send it back, even when the soldiers tried to serve it as far from Ciel as they could.
"Dammit!" a soldier yelled. "How's a kid in dress-shoes move that fast?!"
"Wait, I remember him from the intel! He's actually a—SHIT!" One tripped just as the ball was heading his way.
Ultimately, Ciel won the game as the Beach Bomb collapsed the entire sand fort. It dissolved into a slide that the soldiers descended, and the operatives had fun sliding down as well. The slide came to an end before a broken cage; it was probably originally inside the fort. "Holy moly!" A girl with light-red, pigtailed hair climbed out of the cage. She had a pink cat tail, a skirt of a different hue, a light-blue tank-top, white kneepads, and red roller-blades. "That's whatcha get for buildin' your base outta sand! Did you guys take it down? Talk about a super crazy awesome save!"
"It was… our pleasure!" Weiss grinned.
"A cat girl?" Ciel noticed the tail. "Oh, if only Sebastian were here."
"That's Neon Katt to you! Hate to cut the chat, but I got teammates to find! Laters!" She whipped out a pair of gray nun-chucks and rolled onto a boardwalk area of the prison yard. Moving with high speed on her rollers, she left a streak of neon light as she attacked soldiers swiftly.
Weiss and Pacifica began to cross the boardwalk their selves. It seemed to be splayed out like a maze, and if the girls tried to cheat by ice-sliding over the ocean, robo-sharks would jump up to gnash them. AK-200's also ambushed them from the sea, shooting them with high-powered squirt guns. Weiss froze the streams shooting out of the guns, then used her bending to make those ice streams spin and whack the robots. Pacifica seized their dizzy heads in her chains and tore them off. She tossed them in the sea for the robo-sharks to eat!
The girls reached a long stretch of boardwalk with numerous zigzagging angles, with a giant round watermelon. There was another Faunus cage at the end of the boardwalk, which had a fan covering the top. "Uh, do we… have to put this watermelon in that fan?" Pacifica asked. "To open the cage?"
"Either that or we're drowning her in juice." But they decided to play along and roll the melon across the pier. Robo-sharks jumped over parts of it, so they had to time pushing it between them.
The Faunus trapped in the cage had distinct, blur-furred serval cat legs. She had wild and wavy dark-blue hair, blue eyes behind glasses, wore a brown leather jacket, and onyx-blue shirt and shorts. "Hey!" Weiss called. "Sorry if this doesn't work!" She and Pacifica kicked the watermelon atop the cage's fan. As expected, it was grinded into juice, flooding the cage, but the fan short-circuited before bursting off.
The Faunus, Arrastra Skye, climbed out, frantically shaking the juice off. "Well, at least you were considerate." She withdrew a large, mechanical pickax and slouched it over her shoulder. "Hang on. You're Weiss Schnee."
"Yep. But instead of talking about who I am, I'd rather focus on saving people. Are you part of the KND sector for this island?"
"From Coruscant, actually."
"Really?"
"You think Faunus only come from Mobius?" she asked with a wry smirk. "Well, Sun was from here, at least. After we saw you on the news, we and our human friends decided to come here and fight the oppression. But the army overwhelmed us and we wound up segregated to this island. The humans might've been brought to Station Square or something…"
"I'm sorry…"
"Then don't slow down now. Oh, and I'm Arrastra." She turned toward the wall blocking the next area. "Here, let me help you out." Squatting down, Arrastra sprung over the wall with a terrific leap of her feline legs, hitting a switch that would open the barrier gate. As Weiss and Pacifica advanced, Arrastra held her pickax like a crossbow and began to shoot at incoming soldiers. "And by the way, watch out for the Ace Ops. I'm sure they're still around…"
"The Ace Ops?" Weiss replied in familiarity.
This area of the coast was like a bay. While Arrastra and the other Faunus fought through the soldiers along the beach, Weiss and Pacifica noticed the soldiers surfboarding around the ocean. Weiss took a few frozen steps over the sea to make sure it was safe. "Well, no sharks in this zone, I guess." Weiss formed an ice-made surfboard. "Let's join the fun!"
Pacifica joined her onboard as they surfed to engage the troops. As it happened, they were waterbenders: the first one cast a wide water tunnel at the girls, but they got into the center and rode the current! They spiraled their way to the end before Pacifica bashed the soldier with her chains. The second soldier splashed three, escalating waves: Weiss applied strong force in her bending so her board could make it over each wave. Once they flew up the highest wave, she spun and thwacked the soldier with the side of her board. The third soldier surfed a far distance from them, conjuring several massive maelstroms in his wake. Weiss maintained stability between the maelstroms and turned around them precisely.
Still, it didn't seem they would catch up to that soldier anytime soon… until Manic surfed behind him on his hoverboard and KO'ed him. "Don't ya know? Sky surfin's the way to go." The humans smiled in gratitude. They followed Manic as he surfed above a cluster of reefs, with Weiss transitioning them to an Ice Road to go above them as well. They were getting close to the town of Kuo Kuana. "That doesn't look good!" Pacifica called attention to the large sand tornado that seemed to be sweeping up hordes of troops.
"Relax, dudes." Manic said. "It's just Sonia."
The base of the tornado was bright pink. It slowed to a halt to reveal Sonia gracefully twirling on her toes. With a complete stop, the soldiers plummeted into the sand. "Ya like it?" she asked proudly. "I ain't fast like Dad was, but I know how ta twirl and whirl!"
"It's dazzling!" Weiss said.
"SONIA! MANIC! Thank the stars!" They saw a yellow-furred rabbit Mobian rushing toward them.
"Yo! It's Bunnie!" Manic exclaimed. "She's got Antoine, too!"
Bunnie had purple eyelids and green eyes, a pink top, as well as robotic legs and a left arm. She was carrying a fox with dark-orange fur, red boots, a sword, and blonde hair with sharp tips. "We were worried about you two!" Sonia said. "What happened up there?"
"Ve vere trying to rescue ze chieftain's family!" Antoine said in a French accent. "Ve vere almost zere, but ze Ace Operatives… zey captured all of our reserves!"
"We barely got out with our tails between our legs." Bunnie followed in a country accent. "But Ah think they're still on us!"
"WATCH OUT!" Sonia saw a fishing line flying toward them. She kicked Bunnie and Antoine out of the way as the rod snagged her hair. Pacifica chained the hedgehog before she was pulled away, causing several of Sonia's strands to tear off. "Ow…" (End song.)
The line returned to a gray fishing rod wielded by a handsome man with short brown hair and a white Atlas uniform. "Well… today must be our lucky day." he said. There were two soldiers in similar attire beside him.
Weiss gasped. "Those are Ironwood's Ace Operatives! They're some of the most talented people in Atlas!"
"Yeah?" Manic twirled his drumsticks. "Well, we're the most talented in all of Mobius!"
"But there's supposed to be five of them."
"There were when they ambushed us." Bunnie said.
"Weiss Schnee…" The leader, Clover Ebi smiled approachably. "Your sister is very worried about you. She… asked us to bring you to her, if we could."
"Why doesn't she come down here herself? To see what you all are doing?"
"General Winter is tending to other matters." replied Vine Zeki, a bald, lean man with pale skin and dotted tattoos along the middle of his face. "She only wishes to protect her family."
"Yeah, so, can we do this the easy way?" asked Marrow Amin, a tan-skinned man with unkempt dark-green hair and blue eyes.
"Sorry, bucko," Sonia snapped, "but that ain't how we roll!" She performed her Sonia Spin and stirred up another sand tornado.
"Stay!" Marrow pointed at the group.
"What?!" Sonia halted in place. "H-Hey! I can't move!"
"What gives?!" Manic panicked.
"He's got some metahuman power!" Bunnie said, struggling to move.
"That's the thing…" Weiss struggled. "I heard the members… huffed Bang Gas."
"All but me." Clover replied. "I'm just… a lucky guy. Now then…" He readied his Kingfisher.
Pacifica stepped backward in fear. "Huh?" But why could she move? …It was because she was actually obstructed by the others. Thinking fast, Pacifica shot her chains beneath the sand and had them jut up beneath Marrow, knocking him down. With her teammates regaining motion, they divided in the hopes of minimizing Marrow's effect. (Play "War" from RWBY!)
Boss fight: Ace Operatives
Weiss skied around Ace and shot icicles. Clover opted to chase her, so Weiss skied backward from him—she bumped into a small rock in the sand and tripped. Clover had the chance to hook her heel with Kingfisher and slam Weiss into the sand. "Sorry about this." he said. Scoffing at his gesture, Weiss discarded her high-heels and recovered, freezing the sand in the hopes of trapping him. Clover leapt above the wave of ice and lashed Kingfisher like a whip, negating her effect. He continued to lash the rod as Weiss swiftly countered with Myrtenaster. She shot an icicle in-between swings and hit Clover's knee, forcing him into a brief kneel. She tried to cast a storm of icicles—"AAAAH!" but the beach began rumbling under Manic's drums, throwing off her aim. "MANIC!"
"Whoops. Did I mess something up? AAH!" Manic was struck by Vine's throwing star. Clover seized the chance to whip Weiss off her feet.
Pacifica wrapped Vine in her chains, but the pale-skinned op inflated a bubble of gooish, yellow light and spread the chains apart. He threw his star, Thorn, at Pacifica's leg, but though she evaded it, Vine was able to slip out of his bubble between a gap in her chains. With the same substance, he shot a fist and punched Pacifica several meters back. He extended two Aura Hands, spun, and scooped up a mound of sand to throw over the Northwest. He was struck by lasers shot from Manic's drum set, the hedgehog having set them up at a safe distance. Vine propped his Aura Hands against the ground to propel himself at Manic with great force. Manic tried to withdraw his drums and dodge, but as Vine flew toward him legs-first, the gooish aura extended from his legs and successfully stamped the hedgehog.
Pacifica dug herself out of the sand and caught up with the Ace. She shot the chains of her right hand directly at him, to which he grabbed them in his Aura Hands. However, the chains of her left burrowed underground and caught his legs, dragging him up to his head. While he was buried, Manic used his drums to create another earthquake and disorient Vine's insides. An Aura Fist burst out of the sand and sent Manic flying. Vine stretched Aura Legs to propel himself out of the sand, followed by Aura Hands to push himself toward Pacifica. She shot all chains directly at him, but Vine managed to swat them away before smashing her beneath one of his hands.
Sonia and Bunnie got on opposite sides of Marrow. "Stay!" He froze Sonia, and when Bunnie stretched her mechanical arm at him, Marrow clashed against it using his bladed boomerang, Fetch. Bunnie grabbed his pants and pantsed him, dropping his hold for Sonia to escape and kick him in the jaw. "?!" However, they immediately noticed his blue canine tail as he tried to pull his pants up. "You're a Faunus!" Sonia exclaimed.
"Yeah, I am." Marrow turned his boomerang into a rifle and fired. Sonia withdrew her synthesizer and countered him.
"Then why the heck are you on their side?!"
"Look, our assignment is to root out secret Kremling affiliates and to contain KND operatives. General Ironwood promised he wouldn't let Schnee take things too far."
"Sounds like they've got you on collar!" Sonia spun a sand cyclone, and when Marrow tried to stop her, Bunnie grabbed his arm in her mech hand. Sonia caught Marrow in her twister and slammed him into a rock. Marrow swiftly recovered, bent Fetch into a boomerang, and threw it to strike both girls before it returned to him.
Carol and Ciel were currently crossing the bay area. "Looks like they found some tough ones." Carol observed. "AH!" Seven soldiers dropped down and surrounded them, each armed with two high-powered squirters.
"OPEN FIRE, MEN! I MEAN, WATER!"
"KUAAAH!" Ciel gagged as most of the water was focused on him, though Carol struggled to stand her ground against them as well. "Bloody hell, it's salt water!"
"Cough, pleh! I should've worn my swimsuit!"
"That's all you care about?!"
By the time the troops stopped, Ciel felt too weak to stand, trying to hack the water out of him. "AH!" A tan-skinned girl with golden eyes zipped over and grabbed Ciel. Wearing the Atlesian uniform, she was Ace Op Harriet Bree. Her dark-brown hair was shaved on the sides, and she had a platinum-blonde tuft on the front. Using super speed, Harriet treaded far across the ocean and threw Ciel into it before speeding back. "Cough! Kah! Huff!" The young demon was helpless in the ocean's waves.
Carol was terrified as Harriet came speeding toward her, readying a punch with her mechanical armwear. She quickly opened her laptop to generate a Game-and-Watch trampoline. "UUUG!" Carol was punched directly in the gut, bending as she coughed blood. The momentum threatened to smash her against the cliff behind her, which is why she downloaded the vertical trampoline. She bounced against and rammed the unsuspecting Harriet, but it made little difference as the soldier grabbed her afterwards, leapt, and threw Carol into the sand. "Kuh…note to self… if you're gonna bring Invincibility Insurance… make sure it stays with you."
"We've studied your strengths and weaknesses." Harriet planted her sneaker on Carol's stomach. "We knew exactly what to do with that demon boy, and you can't hold your own in a real fight. AGH!"
She was pushed away by a neon streak. Neon Katt whipped out her bright cyan glowstick nun-chucks and swiftly attacked the soldiers. "You again!" Harriet hissed.
"Ready for Round 2, Baldy Streak?!" Neon snapped.
"Thank you, Insurance!" Carol beamed.
In the sky, Raleigh and Halinor received the distress cues. "We better go help them." The Azoth Prince said. "HUH?!" To his bewilderment, a pair of tan feet with white wraps were planted on his windshield, using aura roots to stand firm.
"Say, this is a nice ride." Elm Ederne smirked. She was a tall and beefy woman with brown hair and the Atlas uniform. "'Shame I have to total it." She grabbed a mechanical hammer, Timber, and began bashing the Limo$uper.
"Please don't do that!" Halinor shot bullets at the Ace, but she withstood them and kept denting the limo.
"Magnemite, get her off!" Raleigh tossed his Pokémon outside. The Magnemite struck lightning at Elm, but she leapt off in evasion. Elm landed on a hoverboard and used her power to root herself to it. Rockets ignited on the back of her hammer as she flew toward Halinor, sending her plane flying out of control with a powered swing to the wing.
…
Weiss shot Gust Bullets that Clover dodged with ease. The Ace leader flicked Kingfisher, but Weiss deflected it with an upward strike—the hook wound up snagged on the bottom of a passing transport ship. "Whoa!" As the ship pulled Clover off his feet, he managed to catch Weiss between his legs. "LET GO OF ME!" She squirmed for a moment and slipped free, but the ship had carried them above a hut in Kuana. Weiss fell through the roof right between some unsuspecting soldiers, her dress and skin riddled with splinters. "For crud's sake!"
"GRAB HER!" The soldiers quickly pulled her wrists behind her back and slapped chi-blocking cuffs on.
"HEY!" Weiss managed to slip from their grasp and ran out onto the boardwalk. Unfortunately, Clover caught her ponytail in his Kingfisher, pulled her over, and KO'ed her with a swift punch.
"Like I said. Lucky guy." The transport ship returned and hovered above them. "Take her to General Winter." The troops saluted and raised Weiss to the ship.
Vine expanded the size of his Aura Hands and balled them into fists: he rapidly pounded the ground on the way to Pacifica. She sent her chains underground to try and pull his legs, but he used the fists to suspend himself high off the ground. Manic surfed above on his hoverboard and rammed Vine's bald head, but the soldier whipped up his right hand and swat him out of the sky. Pacifica shot chains at the elevated Vine and slingshotted herself into him, ramming her boots into his jaw. Vine dispelled his Aura Hands and expanded his shield to escape her chains. Pacifica linked her wrists and shot all 10 chains close together, blasting Vine back with their combined blunt force.
Vine grabbed and ripped a nearby boulder out of the sand, throwing it at the Northwest. She dodged, but Vine propelled himself with a push of his Aura Hands, afterwards extending his legs above her. Both legs flattened Pacifica against the sand, KOing her. He saw Manic weakly recovering, so he dealt another fist to knock him out. He grabbed both operatives and threw them up to a transport ship.
"MANIC!" Sonia screamed. She desperately wished she could move, but Marrow had her frozen, while Bunnie was KO'ed.
"Now you know why they call us Ace." Marrow said. "AWOOL!"
Antoine sliced the dog Faunus with his Spin Blade Ball Attack: his body was curled into a spinning ball, a technique common among Mobians, except Antoine's sword was outstretched. Antoine uncurled and remarked, "Vell, I zink I aced that."
Sonia grabbed Marrow and spun into her cyclone, whirling him rapidly before slamming him headfirst into the cliff. Marrow passed out in defeat. Sonia looked up in despair as the transport ship began to rise; and Vine wasn't likely to let her get Manic's hoverboard.
"HOLD THAT FLIGHT!" Arrastra pounced from the cliff and into the transport. She quickly KO'ed the soldiers with her Windlass, grabbed Pacifica and Manic in her arms, and jumped out. Sonia beamed in delight. "You owe me one!" She began to fight Vine. Sonia picked up Bunnie and Pacifica while Antoine carried Manic.
"Come on!" Sonia ushered him to follow her to town. "We still have to find… Weiss?" To her horror, Clover alone was walking their direction. "Hey! Where's Weiss?!"
"Going back to her family."
"No! Antoine, we gotta split!" They retreated the opposite way.
Clover considered chasing after them… but he feared the shadows at his back wouldn't allow him. "Looks like somebody freed the princess. Talk about unlucky."
While Harriet's speed surpassed Neon's, the cat Faunus managed to freeze the Ace's legs with her nun-chucks: they were filled with Ice Dust. Harriet tripped, and in her weakness, Carol downloaded Game-and-Watch to bash her with his frying pan. Harriet channeled kinetic energy in her legs until the ice shattered. Neon skated and tried to freeze her, but Harriet was already on her feet, zipping behind the Faunus and punching her in the back. Harriet chased as Neon's body flew forward and swiped her nun-chucks, freezing Neon with her own weapon. She then ripped the chucks in half and chucked them in the sea.
Harriet then faced a fearful Carol. She zipped over and sent Carol several meters back with a stomach kick. Harriet made some distance before returning with a left hip kick. "Ugh! Carol, you just gotta focus and listen!" She prepared a download, and when she heard Harriet coming from the back-right, she commanded a single Game-and-Watch octo tentacle to shoot out in that direction. Harriet yelped as the tentacle grabbed hold of her, shoving Harriet upside-down into the sand. Carol then commanded Game-and-Watch to use his Judge attack: it landed on six, burning Harriet.
As Harriet pushed herself back to her feet, she decided to confront Carol directly with a bombardment of her Fast Knuckles. The Masterson thought fast and downloaded octopus tentacles to wrap around herself like a shield. The tentacles were slowly derezzing from Harriet's pummeling, so Game-and-Watch dealt another Judge attack; it landed on 7 with minimal damage. The tentacles shattered as Harriet sent Carol flying with a solid punch. She landed several yards away, too weak to stand, but she had enough strength in her fingers to type. Harriet was charging again: Carol trusted RNG to save her, so Game-and-Watch countered her with Judge-5, electrifying the speedster. Worse was that Harriet was standing ankle-deep in the water, and Carol made sure to crawl further from the waves to avoid the effect. After the shock wore off, Game-and-Watch KO'ed her with his frying pan.
"Phew…!" Carol quickly forsook her own relief and rose to her feet. "CIEL! CIEEEEL!" Her friend was nowhere to be seen in the sea. She was too late… he had already drowned-
"Heyooooo!" Until she glanced further right and saw Sun the monkey Faunus. He was clambering back to shore, carrying Ciel on his back. "I think I'd make a pretty good lifeguard!"
"CIEL!" Carol rushed over as Sun lay the earl on his back. He pumped Ciel's stomach to push the water out of him.
"Kuh…cough! This is why I bloody hate the beach."
Elm pursued Raleigh and Halinor on her hoverboard. Her hammer converted into a launcher to shoot rockets: though the pilots dodged, the rockets exploded ahead of them and blotted their vision with smokescreens. Elm loaded more rockets into Timber, returned its hammer shape, and lunged at them with the rockets. She hammered the back of the Limo$uper and sent it spinning, during which time she rooted her feet to its bottom. "Raleigh! Underneath you!" Halinor tried to shoot her down, but Elm shot a rocket at her in turn. She then hammered the limo.
"AUGH!" Raleigh yelped from the impact. "Slurpuff! Use Sweet Scent in that tube!" ("Slurpuff!") His Pokémon blew a pink gas into a gas tube. The exit end rose from the bottom of the car and shot it into Elm's face. The soldier was dazed by the smell, so Halinor was able to shoot her off. Elm was saved by her hoverboard, shaking her head from the feeling. She soared directly up to Halinor and rocket-launched, hammering the engine of her plane and sending the half-Seedrian falling toward the sea. Raleigh steered toward her and had Magnemite shoot electricity; she used a rocket launch to evade them and planted her feet atop his car again. This time, she shattered Raleigh's windshield and hoped the next blow would knock him out. "Bronzor, use Iron Defense!" Raleigh's Steel-type shielded him against the blow. "Togedemaru, use Zing Zap and Nuzzle!"
"Toge!" The roof window opened as the pudgy, steel-furred rodent climbed out. Togedemaru electrified its body and rammed into Elm. "AAAAHHH!" The intense force didn't detach her feet from the car. Togedemaru then began nuzzling its electric cheeks against her, eventually making the soldier pass out. Her power dispelled as she fell toward the sea.
"Don't track footprints on new limos." was all Raleigh could say to her. (End song.)
The sectormates all rejoined on the beach. Arrastra had been knocked out: Clover and Vine picked up Marrow and loaded him onto their own transport craft, taking flight across the horizon. "Well, that got out of hand." Clover sighed. "At least we got the heiress."
"What do you think they'll do to Harriet and Elm?" Vine asked.
"The KND aren't cruel. I'm sure they'll keep them safe. We'll just have to prepare for their next attack."
The KND used the army's spare chi-block cuffs to bind the two Ace Ops. They were approached by a black-haired girl with cat ears and amber eyes. She wore an open white jacket, black top, and matching pants. "Um…on behalf of my people, thank you for saving our island."
"Hehe, you're welcome." Carol smiled.
"Ugh, that formal talk doesn't suit you." Sun remarked. "Just be yourself, Blake!"
"Can it, Sun."
"That's more like it."
"This here's the island's princess." Sonia explained.
"Yeah, but just call me Blake. Seriously."
"But… was Weiss really captured?" Raleigh asked.
"Afraid so." Sonia bowed. "I have no idea where they're taking her."
"Boy, you guys are really hopeless." A kiddish voice responded from their comms. "How could you let Weiss get kidnapped? She needs more babysitting than Raleigh."
"Kokichi!" Carol exclaimed. "Where have you BEEN through all this?!"
"I was trying to set up my big show with this hunk of junk! But now it won't be any fun without Weiss! 'Guess I'll just have to go get her."
"You mean you saw where they flew?" Ciel asked.
"Nah, but I can make a gamble for it. What could possibly go wrong? Wahahahahaha!"
Carol sighed. "Well, we need some time to recover. You might as well go ahead if you want."
"Look… why don't I help you guys out?" Blake asked. "You saved us, so… only fair, right?"
"Awe, you're such a sweetheart!" Sun put an arm around her, sparking annoyance. "But yeah! We gotta stick it to President Sneeze, anyway!"
"Let's check in with our other party first." Carol said.
Near Golden Hive Colony
"Hahaaaaaa!" Sheila was in love with her new waterbike-airplane hybrid! Why didn't she even think of this before?! Her new Sunny Zoomer whisked her and her mates across the planet with ease. Best of all, it was built with GPS to prevent her from getting lost on the way to Golden Hive. "Oi, if only Mum could see me now!"
"Better than swimming, that's for sure." Maddy was still bonking water out of her ear, and was otherwise kicked back with her legs hanging over the side.
"At least you ain't scared of water, anymore." Mason replied. "Heh, brings me back to the good old days."
"Yeah, yeah."
They flew over a forest as a city of beehive buildings rose into view. Its defining landmark was the palace, a structure layered with three hives of red and gold colors. The sides of the palace had four stinger-like protrusions, there were two emerald gems along the center, and one at the very tip. The city was surrounded by Atlesian ships and tanks as smoke rose from the ruined buildings. "Those drongos…" Sheila said in anger. "They're ruining MY ADVENTURE!"
"Darn right they are." Mason remarked.
Sheila parked and hid the Zoomer on a small plateau in the forest. The three jumped down, and as they approached the colony, they found a tiger Mobian prowling on all fours. "Uh…excuse me." Mason waved at him, finding the tiger's demeanor odd. "Are you, uh…a person? Or something?"
"Growwwwlll!" The Mobian drooled at the tasty meat samples. "GRAH!" It pounced, Mason screaming, but Maddy quickly smacked him several meters away. She tried to make him pass out with Conqueror's Haki… and though it seemed to work for a moment, the beast recovered and came at them again. Maddy KO'ed him with a more firm punch.
"'kay, this guy's a little primitive!" Mason said. "Was he… still Reverted?"
"I don't know…" Maddy noticed a hint of purple on the tiger's tongue. "I'm sensing similar auras around the city. Sheila, we better split up and cover all corners."
"That was me plan from the start!" (Play "Honey Marshes" from Spyro 4!)
Act 3: Golden Hive Colony
The town streets were not only honey-colored like most of the buildings, but they felt sticky to walk on. A group of five soldiers were trying to suck bee Mobians into a large vacuum. Sheila punched Light Fists to break the vacuum, but the soldiers themselves merely absorbed any fists directed at them. "More solar panels!" Mason exclaimed. The soldiers used the harnessed energy to zip around at high speed, slashing Mason and Sheila with knives. Sheila merely gave them direct beatings, reacting to their speed with her own. Three swift hits on each soldier would K.O. them.
The duo jumped down a broken chunk of street that had fallen in the sewer, using floating pieces of the road to cross the honey river. "I bet that water's not just yellow 'cause of the honey." Mason figured. There were vertical slabs composed of three honeycombs that Sheila could punch down, breaking the combs into spread-out platforms. They would also have to hover around honeyfalls pouring from pipes, Sheila using her tail and Mason a light Gas Rocket. After landing on a stable foothold, two savage rhinos burst from the walls and charged at them. Sheila grabbed one's horn, slammed the rhino around the ground, and threw it into the honey. Mason fired a Gas Bomb that blew his rhino through several walls of rubble, paving a path for them.
A crumbled stairway allowed them to climb out of the sewer. They saw combat taking place on a nearby rooftop: the side of the building in question was honeycomb-patterned, but there was no visible way to climb it. "Oi know!" Sheila sent Light Fists to push in the honeycombs, denting enough in to make a path, while leaving the honeycombs beneath them intact to serve as narrow platforms. Her idea allowed them to jump up the building and observe the situation: five savage vultures were swooping down against a badger girl.
The badger dodged the birds and threw a boomerang between them to briefly daze them. She then whipped out a crossbow to shoot them, but the vultures withstood the pain and swooped down again. The child ducked… but when she looked up again, the vultures had mysteriously passed out. "Sniff, sniff…" She sniffed the air. "I smell… salt! And soda! And gas that smells like soda!" She faced Mason and Sheila. "What monsters has the government sent at me now?"
"HUUUU!" Sheila gasped loudly. "MASON! IT'S ME MUM!"
"WHAT?!" Now that Mason looked closely… she did look like a child version of Marine the Raccoon. She had orange fur with brown parts on her head, with very thick pigtails. She had blue eyes and wore a top and skirt made of a gray, stitched fabric, and tan, fur-skin, but mismatched boots.
"Holy mackerel!" the badger gasped. "You're Sheila Frantic! Wait… I'm your mom?! That can't be! Unless… I time-travel in the future!"
"Okay, okay, just forget we said that." Mason said. "We're here to help. Do you know if Princess Cinder is still around?"
"Yeah! She's my pack leader. Or, what she calls, a 'sector.'"
"Well, wanna help us look for her?" Sheila asked.
"I dunno… how do I know you're REALLY Sheila Frantic?"
"Uh…" Sheila twisted a finger in her ear. "How do I know I'm not?"
"Good point. Let's go ask Cinder. Name's Sticks, by the way! Sticks the Badger!"
"Hehe, Oi got a good feeling about you, Sticks!"
More savage vultures came flying from another rooftop. Sticks dazed the first one with her boomerang: Sheila picked her up and leapt to jump off the vulture. Sticks threw her boomerang at the next incoming vulture, and would keep up the pattern as Sheila carried her across them. They reached the next rooftop as three ninja soldiers ambushed them; Sticks whipped out a pair of nun-chucks and battled one. Sheila used speed to match the other two, but they used Substitution Jutsus to swap with small beehives anytime she punched them. …However, these hives were nurseries to baby bees: they buzzed out in anger and began to swarm the ninjas. Because of the constant stinging, the ninjas wound up in nonstop Substitution Jutsus.
Leaving them to their fate, the trio hover-jumped down a series of honeycomb platforms. They reached an active street, in which giant non-sapient bees were carrying passengers away in large honeycombs. There were lights dangling on the bottom of the cars: Sheila could latch Light Chains onto them and swing across the street. Carrying her mates, they had to swing against the flow of the aerial traffic, all while dodging around spiked pillars standing around the street. After swinging far enough, they saw a dense cloud of smog along a road to their left.
It seemed a large, mechanized soldier was spraying the smog at some helpless bee Mobians. "HEH HEH HEH! Did ya know I used to be an exterminator?! Those pesky Minish buildin' nests outta peoples' homes! I'm payin' them a visit after this!"
"HEY!" Mason bent the smog away from the bees, condensing it into a tight ball. "Leave those poor bees alone!" He threw the condensed smog as it burst like a bomb, toppling the soldier back.
"Oh, you made a BIG mistake messin' with Stan Beals! Let's see how ya like THIS!" Beals fired mousetraps, three of which snapped Mason's nose, ear, and finger. Beals leapt skyward and tried to crush him, Mason dodging as he pried the mousetraps off him. Beals charged and tried to kick Mason, but he jumped and thrusted his palm at the mech: parts of its suit burst off as Mason willed the gas inside to combust.
"Hey, an opening!" Mason glanced up at a tiny Mobeean. "I'm going in!" The bee buzzed inside.
"Hey! You get outta here, you little—OW! AH! GEEEE!"
"Heheh." Mason took advantage of the distraction, drank some Green Flurp, and pumped his own gas into the suit. The robot burst into pieces as the cockpit opened: there was a very short, misshapen man with a goatee and black hair. "…Heh. Haha. Someone didn't graduate preschool."
"I'LL PRESCHOOL YOU!" Beals jumped out and tried to kick Mason's shin, but his leg was too tiny as he wound up flipping himself onto his rear. "AAAAHHHH!" A swarm of Mobeeans assaulted the exterminator, chasing him uptown. "YOU DAMN BEES! I'M STAN BEALS!"
"Haha! Thanks for the help, little dude!" Mason said to the bee that helped him.
"No problem! Whooooa! Are you Sheila Frantic?!" He buzzed directly up to Sheila's eyes. Up close, the bee wore a yellow helmet, orange shoes, and gray vest.
"Oi sure am, little buzzah!"
"Holy cow! The pirate legend is here!"
"That there's Prince Charlie." Sticks said. "One of our packmates."
"Crikey, Ah wouldn'ta guessed!" Sheila remarked in surprise.
"Hey, Miss Sheila, can I… sting your cheek?"
"…Eh, wot's the harm? A wee li'l bee can't hurt me!"
"Okay!" Charlie expanded to toddler size and PIERCED her cheek!
"YIPE!" Sheila's cheek swelled a lush red. "That… kinda hurt."
"Good thing I brought Haruka's swelling cream." Mason rubbed some on her.
"Sticks, Cinder and the others are up ahead! Follow me!"
They followed Charlie toward a gigantic, multi-layered honey fountain. There were squirters around the sides of each layer, but one squirter on each shot up platforms. They rode up the first batch, and the second batch was close on that layer, and there was a stable platform to rest on the third layer. Each of the squirters on this one shot platforms, but they were in the trajectory of floating, spiked honeyballs. The trio would have to race counterclockwise along the squirting platforms before they would hit the spikes, until one of them would launch them safely to the top. The giant squirter at the top would send them flying into the palace's courtyard. The experience left them sticky… so, Charlie ate the honey off them. Ew.
They saw an explosion of blaze up on a balcony. Five soldiers were blown off. "That's her!" Sheila grinned.
"And that's BAD!" Mason drew attention to the savage moose charging toward them with a huge pair of antlers. Sheila effortlessly stopped its charge by holding palms forward, pressing them against the antlers, and kicking the moose upside the jaw. A herd of savage warthogs charged next: Mason burst a huge cloud of gas and stunned them, leaving Sticks to knock them out using a bō staff. "Phew. You're really handy with weapons, Sticks."
"That's 'cause I don't trust that techy junk all you other ops use. It's gonna get into my brain, I know it."
"That's what Ah'm talkin' about!" Sheila patted Sticks' head. "Now how we gettin' up there…" They noticed Charlie stinging some flower devices and making honey bubbles rise. The friends exchanged smiles and bounced their way up the honey bubbles.
"I'm starting to understand Winnie-the-Pooh." Mason said. They used the bubbles to reach the first balcony. It seemed entirely empty… until an elephant burst through the doorway's wall! It was another savage Mobian, though an army soldier was riding it, shooting a minigun at the operatives. Sheila used a giant Light Palm to block the elephant's charge, but the soldier landed a few rounds against the captain. Thankfully, a dozen bullets or so weren't enough to make Sheila bend.
"AROOOOO!" The elephant bellowed when something sharp began to ascend its hind leg: a red and orange spiked hoop. The soldier turned his weapon to it; the hoop leapt and struck the soldier before unraveling. She was a sungazer lizard Mobian with orange and gold attire. She KO'ed the soldier with a few more kicks, leaving Sheila to send him and the elephant plummeting off the balcony.
"Alright, Trip!" Charlie cheered as the sungazer landed beside them.
"Strewth!" Sheila chirped. "You another one of Cinder's mates?"
"EEEK!" Upon noticing the strangers, Trip threw a bronze helmet over her head.
"Uhhh…" Mason was confused.
"She distrusts strangers." Sticks said. "She's smart."
"'ey, you don't gotta be scared o' us." Sheila assured, knocking Trip's helmet.
It rattled violently from the gesture, only causing Trip to shudder more. "Sh-She's just shy. Don't worry." Charlie blushed. "Hey, Trip, this is Sheila! THE Sheila!"
"I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I…I know."
"Shyness increases a hundredfold around celebrities." Mason said. "Don't worry about us. Let's just keep going."
"Um…I-I-I'll help." Trip used her spiked wheel form to climb the side of the palace, carving out a complex streak of it to reveal sticky honey underneath. The others began climbing, but to their worry, swarms of savage bees had them in their sights.
"Hey! Those are my palace guards!" Charlie exclaimed.
Sheila swat them out of the air with Light Tail, Mason gas, and Sticks her boomerang. "What's wrong with all these Mobians, anyway?!" Mason asked.
"Night Howlers!" Sticks hissed. "Night Howlers did this!"
Sheila gasped. The carved honey path was divided in segments, requiring them to jump and hover in-between bee waves. The operatives eventually made it to the blazing balcony: Cinder the Silver Cat sent five more soldiers to their doom. (End song.)
"'ey! Cindah!"
The feline princess perked up hearing the familiar Australian accent. "Sheila! Mason! When did you get here?!"
"Eh, about five minutes ago." Mason shrugged.
"Princess Cinder!" A chipmunk Mobian rushed out of the palace. She had red hair and light-brown fur, wore a blue top, matching boots, and black shorts. She also wore glowing blue wristbands. "I've subdued the last enemies inside the palace."
"Thank you, Sally."
"Oh? Seems we have visitors."
"I'll introduce you later. We still need to deal with the ships and tanks outs-"
However, the tanks surrounding town were being slammed into each other. Whatever was doing it was grabbing their ammunition and throwing them into the airborne ships with the force of a cannon. "Eheh…don't worry." Mason blushed. "She's got our corners covered."
All soldiers and savage Mobians in town were rendered unconscious and disarmed. "Hoooooooo!" Maddy gave her arms a well-deserved stretching and flexing. "That's a decent workout!"
"Hoo boy!" Mason winced from the smell of her armpits. "Yeah, I can smell it!"
"Hey, Sheila's worse than me, get over it."
Cinder giggled. "Well, without further ado… meet Sector SOL! But I suppose you already have."
"I still don't buy if she's REALLY the REAL Sheila." Sticks said, looking over the captain with one eye.
"With them here, victory's as good as ours!" Sally punched the air with vigor. She possessed a British accent.
"Hey, Cinder…" Sheila began in a serious tone. "Is the army really usin' Night Howler?"
Cinder frowned. "I'm afraid so."
"Oh…" Mason remembered. CP10 once used Night Howler to make Sheila's mom go savage. "That's messed up. How can Schnee just get away with that?"
"Most of the victims are actually criminals that Jacques had collected from prisons. But some of those soldiers infected the city's guards with it."
"At least it wasn't us." Sticks said.
"You're plenty savage already." Charlie remarked.
"This kingdom was a victim of the Kremlings' weapon… and it had barely finished recovering." Cinder said. "We're really glad you were here. Soooooo…" she clapped hands, "you deserve a honey buffet!"
And what a buffet it was! The operatives enjoyed peanut butter and honey sandwiches, without the peanut butter! Honey apples! Honey oatmeal raisin cookies! Honey pie with whipped cream! Beehive-shaped lemon cake! Spiced honey pears! Creeping Charlie Tea—Charlie's personal specialty! Honey gingerbread with soft white powder on top!
"And now we know what war is good for~" Maddy said, her mouth awash in satisfaction.
"Carol needs to have THESE for car snacks!" Mason said. "Speakin' of which, we better call them."
"Yoi-yoi," Sheila mumbled while chewing a large mouthful, "Uu'll git rhn't nn'it."
"C-Cinder," Trip mumbled, "th-the medical operatives are on their way w-with some Night Howler antidote. B-But Bunny Burrow needs time to develop more samples. I just hope it'll be enough…"
"From the behavior of these victims, I fear this Night Howler was modified somehow. The usual cure may not be strong enough."
"Then maybe Haruka can help." Mason replied. "I can get her to meet with your doctors."
"That would be kind of you. Hm?" Cinder's phone rang. The caller ID listed Gardon, her castle's head guard. She answered, "Gardon? What's the emergency?"
"Princess, it's your mother! Queen Blaze was taken by the Galactic Army!"
"What?!" Her friends overheard him. Their enjoyment of the honey buffet was gone in an instant. "But how?! Mom would never lose to them! What about Dad?!"
"Your father… he was knocked into the ocean… and we've only just fished him up. …He's dead, Your Highness." Cinder's silver face grew pale. "The culprits were… a silver-haired human woman and a large gorilla. Even with the Sol Emeralds' power, the queen still lost to them."
"A silver-haired woman…" Maddy whispered in familiarity.
"…Thank you for telling me, Gardon." Cinder hung up. Her teammates, though silent, offered their sympathy. "…You three… I must ask you for something else." She combusted into flame, her friends jumping back with a start. "REVENGE!"
Mason, Sheila, and Maddy narrowed their eyes. "You got it."
"Um, aren't we supposed to try to convince her revenge is wrong?" Sticks asked.
"NO."
"Okay, just wondering."