(Wednesday, 7th of Dancing Fool Moon, 2021)
Jack was at the dock, with James and Mary preparing their rather beautiful looking ship. Jack had no idea what else to do, so he was helping the two siblings by mopping the deck of the ship. Meanwhile, Mary was inside the ship cabin and James was busy doing a maintenance check below the ship. The rest of the teammates for this mission were Thor, Valerie, Ned, Gaia, Milunka, and Adrian. Of course, Simo and Jojo were coming along as well, Jack had a three for one deal going on!
"Simo, what are you doing?" Jack sniper was on the main port, putting some kind of oil on his guns.
"I don't want my guns to rust, so I'm using Saorise's oil to make them completely immune to water." Simo explained while Jojo laid flat on her stomach, letting herself slide with the waves rocking the boat. "Where are the others?"
"They should be arriving at any moment." Jack answered whilst looking at the pathway to Sanctuary, just to see Milunka and Adrian walking down the path. "Hey you two!"
"Hi!" Milunka greeted Jack enthusiastically while Adrian merely gave a nod of his head. "I'm so looking forward to our first mission!"
"Be careful, this one's a high ranking mission, so it'll be hard." Jack shouted from his spot on the deck. "That's why there's so many of us on this mission."
"I know, but finally we get to do something other than rehab." Milunka walked from the stone piece and onto the elevated dock, allowing her to jump onto the boat with Jack, then Adrian followed suit. "So when do we depart?"
"When the others show up." James came out from beneath the deck covered in black soot from the machinery, and he was cleaning his hands with a white towel. "Thanks for cleaning the deck, Jack, it helps when dealing with the fish smell."
"No problem, so where are we going to sleep?" Jack asked out of the blue, and James shrugged. "...Please tell me this mission is only going to take a day."
"Might take three at least." James informed Jack with a smirk. "Don't worry, the pantry and storage rooms are large enough that you can sleep in there if you got a sleeping bag.
"Greeeeaaaaatt..." Jack let out a sigh as he finished mopping the deck, and then took a seat on a nearby crate.
"Thor has arrived!" Thor jumped onto the deck of the ship, holding a small hammer in his hands.
"Thor, you must calm yourself, we must carry ourselves with dignity on this mission." Valerie flew up onto the boat using a pair of bat wings protruding from his back.
"Looks like I'm the last person on board." Ned got on board, and Jack saw that he had holstered dual revolvers on either side of his chest, while a lasso remained at his side. Wait, Jack noticed a banjo on Ned's back? "I'm not sure why I was chosen for this mission, Seabiscuit can't run on water, so I'm fucked on this mission."
"Maybe it's because the Headmaster wants you to use your own legs for once." Mary walked out of the control room and onto the deck of the ship. "You're always riding that horse around."
"That's because Seabiscuit and I have a special relationship." Ned slapped his legs. "He's the legs, and I'm the guns. Besides, I'm a cowboy, being on a horse is one of the main things."
"Correction, crowd control is the main thing." Valerie made her wings disappear from his back and landed both his feet on the ground. "Wait, where's Gaia? Did someone pick them up?"
"Yeah, they're in the control room of the ship." Mary informed the vampire. "Not sure how they expect to fight, but I'm sure Gaia will come up with something.
"I think y'all are forgetting Gaia is a potted plant." Jack watched as Simo stepped onto the ship deck with the rest of the group.
"Hey, they must have gotten in somehow." Ned rubbed the back of his neck.
"You know, children, some things need a little bit more information to uncover."
Jack didn't recognize the voice, nor did anyone else on the ship. Instinctively, everyone pointed their weapons at the mysterious voice. Jack summoned Father Time, Ned upholstered one of his revolvers, Milunka aimed her grenade launcher, Simo aimed his rifle, James grabbed a cannon, Mary had a deagle, Thor began spinning his hammer by the leather strap at the end, and Valerie summoned three bats. The person's voice came from above the control cabin, and there stood an elderly woman.
"Now now ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to be accompanying you on your mission." The elderly woman then gave a bow. She kind of looked like a grandma pirate. "My name is Cheng, and I was a classmate of old Herakles and Geppetto."
"Then why haven't they mentioned you before?" Jack asked, and he didn't know about all of Herakles' or Geppetto's former classmates.
"Because what kind of rogue would I be if everyone knew of my existence?" Cheng smiled before jumping off the roof and landed in front of the group. "Mary and James Kidd, set sail, we haven't a second to lose!"
"CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNGGGGG YOOOOOOOUUUUUU MOOOOOOOOOOOOTHEEEEERRRR FUUUUUUUUUUUCKEEEEEEEER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Herakles' booming voice could be heard from the main building of Sanctuary, and Herakles sounded pissed.
"That wouldn't happen to be related as to why you're in such a hurry, is it Cheng?" Adrian asked whilst watching an explosion of dust envelop the academy. "What the hell?"
"Oh shit Herakles must be pissed at me for putting bugs in his sandwich, we gotta move." Cheng ordered, and Mary started the ship's engine, allowing the ship to leave the dock. "SET SAIL AWAY FROM THE PISSED OFF HERAKLES!"
With that said, Mary guided the boat out into the open ocean, just as the massive cloud of dust arrived at the dock. Jack picked up Jojo and looked at the dock from the back of the ship, and he saw Herakles standing on the docks, waving his hands furiously as he yelled. Herakles stomped on the dock, and it shattered apart after a single stomp. The dock fell apart from the strength of Herakles' stomp, and the man fell into the water below the dock. Jack let out a small laugh as Herakles' shouts in anger were almost muffled by the waves. Jack was tempted to record the whole scene as it got farther and farther away,
"So what's our mission?" Jack asked the person behind him, who was Simo. "I didn't read the report."
"Our mission is to retrieve the Regnbogaávöxtur, or the Rainbow Fruit, from an island far in the North, close to Vita Bergen." Simo told Jack the mission. "From the description of the country, it's closely similar to Finland and Greenland, meaning I can use my full ability there."
"I'm sorry, 'full ability'?" Jack asked his sniper, who nodded. "I'm honestly not sure what that means.
"Well in my previous life, I lived in Finland, a place with snow almost everywhere." Simo went on about his previous life. "I was a soldier there, so I'm used to fighting in cold environments."
"So I should have reserved you for missions in the arctic or something?" Jack questioned the sniper, who thought for a bit.
"I mean, a gun is still a gun even in the desert." Simo answered before Cheng and Mary suddenly began walking towards the two.
"Hey Jack, just a heads up, we'll need to run by Atitihad to pick up some supplies that we forgot at Sanctuary thanks to our abrupt exit." Mary informed Jack. "We'll also be visiting an abandoned island that Cheng wants to visit for whatever reason, but my main concern is Atitihad."
"Why is your main concern is Atitihad?" Jack asked whilst following Mary around the ship.
"Because you're kind of banned from that country since they figured out you kicked Dorian's ass and prevented the arranged marriage." Mary had her hands in her pockets. "Good news though, the leaders of Heliosia and Atitihad did sign a peace treaty instead of marrying their kids together, so that's a plus."
"Dope, only had my memories for a couple of months, and I'm already on a country's black list." Jack felt oddly proud of that little accomplishment. "So this Regnbogaávöxtur, who and why are we getting it for?"
"It's for a client somewhere in Hajaar, something about wanting to make a medicinal curry." Mary opened a door on a wall on the ship and went inside it, revealing a kind of storage room with a window. "This is where you'll hide when we port in Atitihad's harbor. There's another storage room in the opposite side of the ship that we'll load stuff into."
"Got it, hide in here and play games on my phone until we leave Atitihad's port, understandable." Jack pulled out his phone. "Say, is there a charger down here?"
"Yeah, come on, this is the ship where James and I grew up in, it has to be able to function as a home." Mary had her hands behind her head. "Don't get too comfortable just yet, I think we may need your help below the deck. Or maybe not, but it's safer to check."
"Alright, I'll follow you down." Jack began walking alongside Mary, and Simo climbed onto the top of the ship to get a better view.
Out of nowhere, Jack began to wonder what Billy the farmer was doing.
You know, the catfish man in Christus.
It feels like forever Jack has seen him.
Jack hoped he's doing well.
(Meanwhile...in a certain rural area of Christus)
The sun set over rural Christus, and the only person who took the time to appreciate the sunset before him was a certain catfish man driving a tractor. The tractor harvested the now golden colored wheat in the field while driving his tractor through the golden fields. The catfish man looked out at the setting sun and turned off his tractor's engine in the middle of the field. The man jumped out of the tractor and stretched his arms into the air whilst smiling at the sight of the setting sun.
"Nothing like a hard day's work!" Billy smiled as he exited the tractor and began walking to an old truck that sat on the end of the field.
Billy entered the old truck and turned on the engine. A puff of smoke shot out of the exhaust pipe whilst the engine screeched to life. With a push of the gas pedal, Billy's truck was sent down the dirt road that led back to his home. Clouds of dirt were sent into the air as the car drove past the harvested fields of wheat. Billy passed by the pastures that were full of green grass and fat yet healthy cattle grazing on the green grass.
"Man, thanks to those guys, business has been boomin'!" Billy cheered to himself in his truck. "I wonder how those guardian fellers are doin'. I should invite them to a barbecue sometime!"
Billy soon arrived at his rural home that rested atop of a grassy hill, and the farmer parked his car outside the rural shack that was his home. Billy exited the truck and closed the door to the truck. He looked at his quiet home as darkness began settling all around him. Weirdly enough, he saw that none of the lights of his humble home were on, even though his mother should still be home.
"You, farmer, give me all your cattle."
Billy raised both of his hands in a surrender motion the moment he felt something cold and sharp press against his back.
"Turn around."
Billy turned around to see a tall woman with a dark aesthetic and a thick sword pointed at Billy's throat. Her height surpassed Billy, so he had to look up at the woman, exposing his neck further. Billy began sweating out of fear of the woman, but he was also sweating because he was tricking to figure out who this woman was and what he's done to deserve this. The woman looked down at the catfish man, as thought she was debating how she would kill him.
"W-What's g-going on?" Billy had tears begin leaking from his eyes, while the tall woman kept her stone cold expression on her face. "W-Why are ya d-doing this?"
"I just told you, I need all your cows." The tall woman's voice was cold and emotionless, sending chills through Billy's spine with every word. "The cows my master's son stole before weren't enough, so we require more."
"Y-Yer m-master's son?" Billy then remembered that his cattle were once under attack by a mysterious bacteria. "It was ya who made the bacter-whatever on my cows ain't ya?!"
"Joan is not the one who made the virus, I am." A man cloaked in darkness and glowing amethyst eyes appeared behind the tall woman, named Joan. "Joanie merely a pawn who released the virus upon your livestock."
"Why the hell would ya bastards do that?!" Billy shouted in rage before Joan reminded him of his situation by pressing the blade against his throat even harder. "Dammit...you can hurt me, but leave my ma alone!"
"Brave soul, especially for a lowly beast man farmer such as yourself." The unknown man snickered. "Tell me, how is it that a lowly beast could garner such courage?"
"Because I met someone crazy enough to challenge the world with a missing leg." Billy answered flatly while glaring at the unknown man. "So answer me this; what the hell have my cows done to you?"
"Nothing, but they could do something for me thanks to that virus." The man in darkness smiled whilst looking out at the pasture. "You see, those cows will serve a greater purpose other than going down the people's greasy gullets."
"And that purpose is...?" Billy looked at the man clad in darkness with the intent to kill, but the inability to do so.
"To bring about the destruction of all of humanity and take back our home!" The man clad in darkness shouted triumphantly. "These people create borders, religions, and all kinds of labels just as an excuse to kill people that are different from them! While those like us are forced to hide in a cursed land, unable to return to our home."
"So you're just planning on killing everyone?!" Billy asked, and Joan pressed the blade harder, this time drawing blood. "You're mad!"
"Nay, the people are mad." The man clad in darkness began pacing. "With their destruction, we can finally return back to the surface and rule Desponia like we were destined to. Then there would be no wars, no more senseless deaths, and it would be a Utopia. And everyone else shall become our slaves."
"Yep, mad." Billy smirked. "You have the resources to destroy all of mankind, yet you won't use them to uni-"
Billy was suddenly cut off by Joan using her blade to cleave through his neck, sending his head flying through the air before his head landed on the ground next to Joan's feet. The man clad in darkness cleared his throat, getting Joan's attention and making the woman turn around to face him.
"I didn't order you to kill him yet, Joan." The man clad in darkness scowled whilst watching Billy's torso collapse onto the ground. "Oh well, it was merciful of you to send that fish to meet his mother in the next life so soon, so I guess you earn some points in his book."
"Shall I set up the transportation magic circle, master?" Joan questioned the man clad in darkness.
"Of course, and make sure to burn it into the fields, I want to leave a message that the war is back on." The man smiled whilst walking away from Joan, who summoned a black ball of fire in her palm.
"Yes master."
"Go ahead and explain this, Herakles, we'll finish Lucy's will and there's nothing you can do to stop us."
"Sir, Herakles isn't here?"
"Let me be dramatic, all BBEG's need to be dramatic."