Ami was cheerfully glitching from place to place as she gave a tour of Daydream. The Aztec architecture was a sight to be sure. People of all different races filled the streets, much like most kingdoms. Yet the horsemen could sense that this place was, much like the denizens of the Iris themselves, masking a growing sense of unease.
But every question the five asked about the city that was remotely negative, Ami simply side stepped and glitched onto the next locale. Avis hadn't seen her sister in twenty years, but even still, she knew her better than most.
"And t-t-this is a temple we built i-in my name! I-I know, p-pretty cute, right?" She said with a genuine smile as she blinked onto the palm of the statue of herself. It was admittedly a nice statue, even Min had taken a liking to it... But the real Ami looked nowhere near as heroic as the statue.
The oracle had suddenly appeared in Avis's face, playfully flicking her sister's hair. "So... What d-d-do you think s-so far?"
"I dunno, haven't seen much." The Harpy snickered. Despite the joke, Avis was actually using her ego to at least get a rough idea of what the place looked like and she wasn't exactly impressed. "I-Is it n-not up t-to your standards? I-I could change it, i-if you like?" Ami was quickly shooing a crowd of people away in a desperate attempt to make it look neater.
Say what you will about the girl's stuttering, she had defiantly gotten more confident. Yet Avis just wanted to find Peni first before she and her sister got to reunite properly. "You still haven't said where Peni is. So... Like, where is she?"
"Peni? Who's Peni? S-She doesn't e-exist. T-That's for sure. Now look at this b-bakery, it has the best bread in Daydream!" She quickly glitched herself to the doors of a bakery across the street, motioning the five to go inside and get themselves some food.
Despite Min's pleas to be let inside, Lamb stopped him so they could try and get information about Peni. Yet as the horsemen got more and more insistent, Ami was getting frustrated. Avis could tell that Ami was about to lose her marbles and probably do something reckless.
So she did what she always did when Ami was young. She played along. "Forget Peni for a bit, let's just get some bread." Avis sighed, heading for the door only to be shoved by Min, who was practically barking like Arlo for food.
As the four decided what to order, Ro bought herself a simple white loaf, Arlo had purchased a sweet seeded bagel, Lamb had decided to go with a good ol' cupcake and Min just kinda bought one of everything and stuffed it into his bag in a wild mess.
As the horsemen were busy eating, Avis and Ami sat at a counter together. This was probably Avis's best shot at lowering Ami's guard for a bit, and decided to just reminisce. "Remember when we had to work at mom's old café?"
"O-Oh yeah... S-So much fun." The young oracle said sarcastically... Well, she tried to be sarcastic, she wasn't very good at it. "Come on. You loved baking. I may be blind, but I'll never forget that cake you made me for my 18th." The harpy snickered.
Ami seemed to go red in the void of what her face was, remembering the cake. "You a-a-all got food p-poisoning... D-Dad was o-on life support for a week b-b-because of it."
"Eh, whatever. He lived, didn't he? I mean, he WAS already dying." She sighed, leaning forward to counter the weight of the guitar on her back. Ami began glancing over Avis's new guitar and noticed the Desire's sub-mind the harpy had installed into her instrument.
"Why d-do y-you still have that thing?"
"The sub-mind, my jacket or my hair?"
"The m-mind, o-obviously."
Avis gave a light shrug, looking somewhat thoughtful for a moment before pushing her rounded sunglasses up despite being indoors. "Because this thing changed my life. It's like a reminder to kinda keep going."
"But... W-W-What if you d-don't have a reason a-anymore?"
"Then..." The harpy took a moment to think before snapping her robotic fingers. "You make one. I mean, look at me. Do you think I wanted to be a bird girl in her forties? Mollia, no. But I just kinda decided to give myself a reason to live. I decided to give myself a goal and do it. When we get the city back, I'm gonna be the biggest name there. I'll make even Arachne jealous."
"So... I-I h-have t-t-to f-find a reason to continue?"
"Eh. You can or ya can't. Not everyone can have a reason, most of the time you end up drifting... Then, next thing ya know, BAM. You're dead."
"S-So... W-What's the point?"
"There isn't one, Ami. You just do what you want until life says ya die."
Ami seemed to think on her sister's words. "W-Wow... You t-truly a-are wise beyond your years."
"I'm forty four you snarky little- Oh, you were being nice." Avis snickered, creating a light breeze with a wave of her clawed hand. Once she was able to get a good read of her surroundings, she got up to leave, only to be stopped by Ami trying to reach her and miserably fall off her seat.
"P-Peni left m-me..."
"Left you? Like, you broke up?" The harpy snickered, though Ami wasn't exactly laughing. Avis sat back down, leaning on the counter with a smile on her beak. "Go on then, tell your sister ALLLLLL your worries."
It was as if Avis had opened the flood gates as Ami began recounting the past few months in boringly long detail. It was to the point that Min had actually managed to finish every bit of food he bought within only half the time it took for Ami to finish.
But in short, after everyone had gotten split up by Iyu using her power in the original explosion, Ami and Penumbra had found themselves stranded on the island. With Ami trying her best to keep both Peni and her own spirits high, they settled into the city rather well.
Yet Penumbra was soon lured to the deep of the ocean by a siren's song. One that offered her a way to reclaim her power. She practically jumped at the chance and found a new vessel, one with a more aquatic taste to her.
It seemed Ami was rather lonely without the eldritch god with her, yet Avis understood her sisters plight. "Well then... Why don't we get her back?"
"R-R-Really!? O-Oh t-thank Mollia..." She sighed.
As Ami went to pay for everyone's food, Lamb noticed that people seemed to be running in fear of something outside. She was instantly put on guard, quickly telling the other horsemen to steel themselves in preparation.
While Avis was calmly sipping on some tea as Ami walked back over to her, Ami yelled for Avis to guard them. Quickly, the harpy pulled out her guitar and created a dome of protective feathers around everyone in the bakery. A loud explosion of plasma destroyed the roof of the store in a matter of seconds.
Ami was put in a panic as Avis lowered her dome to get a look at what was causing the destruction.
BZZT
A loud noise crackled through out the ancient city as a soft yet sharp feminine, condescending tone spoke out from what seemed like a far off distance.
"Hello? Is this thing, like, on? Ah. Okay, we're like, super online. Greetings, inferior humanoid species of this super boring star. You guys can call me Giyugi. Anyway, so like, I'm here to sort of wipe out your pitiful existence. But if you guys surrender the one they call... Uh, what was her name again? Oh, I want a Miss Penumbra Vincula in the next hour or else I'll totally bomb you guys to oblivion. Toodaloo."
The voice suddenly ceased yet in the far off distance of the night, a large white laser cannon with glowing purple wires slowly rose from the watery depths. It was completely alien in design, yet everyone figured very quickly that the cannon was for them.
Vinea stood on the deck of the ship with Senshi, who was absolutely in love with the super weapon that was off far in the distance. The centipede rushed up Vinea's arm vine, yelling at him in the most serious voice she had ever heard from her that surprised even Arachne;
"GET ME OVER THERE NOW! I WANNA SEE HOW THAT BABY TICKS!"
It wasn't long before the Royal Fortune was forced to launch once more, yet the ship wasn't even allowed to take off before a familiar hound headed woman with an overdramatically long cloak appeared standing on top of one of the masts.
The hound let out a hideous laugh as her eyes locked with Nvr and Grey, a dark green electric was sizzling in the air as her fit continued. "Come on. Don't think we're letting you get away this easy, anomalies!"
Nvr and Grey were most likely bound to this conflict almost as much as Vinea was as a rough man wearing what resembled a biker outfit came crashing onto the ship with a hovercycle of seemingly alien design.
"Nice bike, dick." The vined king smirked, watching while the biker reached into a container on the back of his bike.
"Yeah, don't get cocky, plant. Call me Shaki. I'll just keep this brief and say I'm a Bounty hunter." He said before pulling out a nearly unwieldy decorated shotgun that he held like it was nothing. "And this is Bab." Shaki said as he trained his shotgun to Vinea's head.
Meanwhile, Senshi and Arachne quickly scuttled below deck, trying to hide out in the medbay... Yet the spider always knew when a camera was pointed at her. "Dodge!" She screamed, shoving Senshi forward with a web as the door to the bay suddenly vanished.
"Aww, damn it. I thought this'd be easier than the crew..." Ave mumbled, looking to his sister with a face of mock disappointment as he tossed what looked like a voodoo doll into the medbay. Eva gave a light sigh in response, holding up her microphone and counting down from three.
"Two."
"One."
"Good evening our darlings. It's your favourite twins back at it again. I'm sure some of you out there have heard of Eido? Well, tonight, you get to witness her death at the hands of your favourites! Any words to the multiverse, you two?" The flashily dressed sister asked as she held her microphone up to the two bugs.
Arachne was a bit fearful at first, but upon hearing that the multiverse would be watching? Well, she was an idol after all. "Yeah. Buy my songs, remember to sing along and these two are going down!" She smirked, doing jazz hands with all six of her arms.
Ave and Eva quickly swapped positions as the brother took the mic. "Wow, those are fighting words! Well, let's see who wins in this big battle royale!" He yelled, putting his face right up to the camera before tossing it in the air as the twins screamed their catchphrase for their audience;
"AND REMEMBER TO LIKE, FOLLOW AND SUBMIT TO THE UNIVERSAL WILL!"
Avis, Ami and the horsemen were already running towards the ship, yet the sisters where quickly intercepted by a robotic foe. The two were instantly trapped in a suddenly appearing circus tent that sent the horsemen flying directly to the board walk.
"Let's just go." Arlo barked, running ahead, only to be sent flying back. From behind a wooden crate, out walked a sharply dressed penguin in a suit. He adjusted his monocle with a flipper, seeming somewhat annoyed. "Denizens of this world? My... I suppose I'll have to get a bit dirty."
Lamb looked slightly to her right, spotting Lucy's shark fin slightly dipping out of the water. It seemed her wailing had died down, yet she was asleep. All it would take is one loud noise and the leviathan would be awake.
And that was something the penguin had accounted for, quickly setting up a sound proof cube around himself and the horsemen.
"Let's do things proper, shall we?"