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Sylanwood, Diremaw, Time: 8:00 AM
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"Thank you so much for your hospitality," Ace stated, grabbing his bag. It seems our heroes are preparing to set off.
"Oh, we should thank you more! Saving our daughter and playing with her might be the best thing you all could have done for me," Leo exclaimed. These heroes saved their lives, so he's even more grateful than them.
"Make sure to visit Elowen once in a while, you guys!" Seraphina said, with Elowen running up to James.
"Would you visit us again, Mr. James?" Elowen asked, and James got on one knee.
"Yup, and when I come back, we will be playing a lot!" James pulled up his pinky to commence a pinky promise.
Elowen took it, smiling brightly, and James returned the smile. Somehow, generating a light aura around them.
"The light...! It's too bright!" Mianne shielded her eyes, and Ezra seemed to growl at how bright they were being.
Dyssorath let out a small roar to get Mianne's attention. She stared up to see both of his biological parents flying above them.
"I guess this is goodbye for us..." Mianne held Dyssorath by his hand. "You should get back to your parents, Dyssorath."
Dyssorath tilted his head in confusion before flying up to his parents, letting out a question. His father let out an accepting roar as Dyssorath flew around for a bit before coming back with a pink and purple hibiscus flower.
"Dyssorath?" Mianne was confused before he picked the flowers and put them behind Mianne's ear. He let out a cheering roar.
"I think they accept you into the family, dear," Leo stated. "My father used to get those hibiscus flowers once a week, so I think their parents gave you permission to let him travel with you." Leo received a hibiscus flower from Dyssorath's parents as well.
"I see. Well, I promise I will take good care of him." Mianne looked to their parents who nodded before flying off, leaving Dyssorath in Mianne's hand.
"Well, ready for more adventure, Dyssorath?" Mianne asked as he let out a cheering and playful roar. "Great! Ready to move, James?"
"Of course, we need to go catch that train." James then turned to Leo, "I heard there's a train station nearby, but which direction does it head?"
"It's in the furthest south of Sylanwood. It wouldn't take long for you to get there," Leo pointed out, with The Lucky Inquisitors nodding.
"Alright, guys. Let's go!" James led the charge as everyone followed him.
"Come back soon!" Leo shouted out, waving at the heroes who saved their humble town.
In the shadow of the alleyways, Sugar was drinking liquor in the morning as he watched them depart. He quickly finished it.
"Lads! After them! Haha!" Sugar led the charge as Toodies drove the golden captain in the direction.
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Sylanwood, Path toward The Train Station of Sylanwood, Time: 8:50 AM
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The Lucky Inquisitors were walking down the path to reach the train station and hitch a ride to Tarrabria, which is in the northeast of Sylanwood.
"Here ya go, Dyssorath." Mianne fed him some biscuits which he happily ate up. He started to beg for more as Mianne fed him.
"Well, I will be keeping half of our new budget in my bank so we don't spend it all," Ace stated. He wasn't going to let this money be spent all in a day.
"Awwww..." Mianne was about to shower herself in outfits day after day, but that could wait.
James decided to bring up a certain situation, "I've been wondering something, so I want to talk with you guys about this." James nervously played with his thumb.
"Well, spit it out if you could," Ezra stated, a bit irritated.
"Well, Mianne and I fought these two guys, and they seemed out of place for Glacial Vigorous..." James stated before taking a breath and continued, "They are a robot and a demon... I don't know how they popped up, but they seem to be after the charm that Mianne is wearing."
Everyone was quiet for a bit before Ace spoke up, "I see... maybe the charm must be important for something..." Ace didn't know what to say but looked over to Ezra, who just turned away.
Ezra sighed before speaking up, "Ace is right about something, but it isn't our business to deal with. I suggest we should just keep our guards up." Ezra spoke cryptically, feeling like he was hiding something.
"I see... but we have each other's back, right?" James stated, trying to boost their morale from this tension.
"Of course, we all have each other's backs!" Mianne reassured him, putting her arms around his shoulder with a bright smile.
Ace smiled before turning to Ezra, who just kept walking without muttering a single word. Something was up with him. Ace could feel it in his skin; he might need to talk to Ezra about this.
Meanwhile, 10 kilometers away from our heroes, Sugar's Enterprise was slowly following behind them.
November decided to share the most important info, "It seems they might be catching onto us." November leaned back against the chair, glad that the wagon was spacious enough for them to sit around in.
"What?!" Sugar quickly ran up to look at the monitor; the audio hearing of The Watcher JR was not the best, but they could hear their conversation.
"This is bad! How am I going to sell more of my wares now if they catch on even more?!" Sugar's eye inched against the monitor; November kindly pulled him down so he wouldn't hurt his eyes. The yellowish filter could hurt your eyes a lot if you stared at it for too long.
"Alright, you two. How are you holding up?" Sugar asked Sinnodal and Cefie.
Sinnodal had a white cloth around his head with his body bandaged a little. "Yup. Feeling better, alright..." He was cranking his arm to stretch his bones a little.
"My body is 98% intact, missing some of the cogs for my leg joint and two toes on my left foot," Cefie stated. Their church robes were knitted together with some heart and kitty stamps.
"I do want to state that C.E.F.I.E records the fight and learns from the fights they engage in. It might be handy if we ever want to study our target," November informed, causing Sugar to gush for a bit.
"Ah! That's such an impressive feature! You outdid yourself this time, November!" Sugar was excited; this could be game-changing for them. "You will get more lunch money than other people today!" Sugar stated, causing November to giggle with malicious intent.
November threw a smug smirk at Rosco and Dy'va, causing them to glare at her. "Maybe I could buy those music discs, hehe."
"Oh, come on!" Dy'va growled while Rosco looked at her in anger.
This caused someone to wake up, "Jeez, you bunch are in such a bad mood." It was Chris as he rubbed his eyes. It took the gang to discuss something, not a bunch of item shelves landing on top of him.
Chris stretches and cracks his neck, still looking a bit sore and groggy from getting conked out by falling debris during that last disastrous fight.
"So what'd I miss while taking an unplanned nap?" he asks grumpily, shuffling over to peer out the wagon window. "We still on these magic brats' tails?"
"We sure are!" November confirms cheerily. "And thanks to my brilliant upgrades, next time we tussle things are going to go very differently!"
She proudly pats Cefie on the shoulder as the robot continues projecting data analysis of the Lucky Inquisitors across their lenses.
Rosco scoffs from his corner. "Here we go, tech doll bragging again. Meanwhile, some of us get our own hands dirty doing real work..." His knuckles crack ominously. "...while others take little beauty naps instead."
He shoots a pointed glare at Chris who bristles. "Hey, I was gathering vital goddamn intel when your shelf avalanche knocked me cold! Maybe if someone stacked merchandise properly I wouldn't have..."
"Boys, that's enough!" Sugar interrupts firmly before another shouting match erupts. "I want solutions, not petty squabbling! Honestly..."
He looks exasperated. Dy'Va pipes up supportively, "Yeah! Boss's right. We just gotta use all our talents together as a team!"
Sugar smiles at the sunny changeling. "Exactly! Now then, on to business!" He claps briskly and turns expectantly to November and Cefie. "Let's see these analyze firsthand just what we're up against..."
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Sylanwood, Ironbark Tracks, Time: 9:40 AM
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The Lucky Inquisitors arrived at The Ironbarks tracks. The metallic slick walls and floors reflected with visible gear cogs, beautifully decorated.
"I will go buy the tickets; you stay right where you are, okay?" Ezra stated, and everyone nodded. Ezra decided to join the line with Ace, James, and Mianne sitting in the front row of the train station.
Sugar's Enterprise arrived, with Sugar disguised as Goda again and everyone else in trench coats, except for Cefie, who had a paper bag over their head. Chris and Sinnodal dressed in their usual attire.
"Thanks, God, we could put The Golden Captain into your pocket dimension, November," Sugar stated, relieved he didn't have to abandon his ship at the train station.
"It's my pleasure to serve the finest, Professor," November replied, and everyone sat on the other side of the train station to avoid suspicion.
Ezra and Sugar walked in line, and Ezra didn't notice Sugar was behind him as the hour passed and the line grew smaller.
The conductor greeted Ezra, "Hey, lad! Where ya wanna go?"
"Four tickets to Tarrabria, please," Ezra stated, handing about 40,000 gold in a bag to the conductor.
The conductor wrote on their tickets before handing them to Ezra. "Have a safe trip, lad!"
Sugar stepped in front of the counter, counting on his hand.
"Eight tickets for Tarrabria, please," Sugar stated, handing about 80,000 Gold to the conductor.
"Have a safe trip, rich family!" The conductor handed the tickets to Sugar, who took them and left.
Several hours passed with everyone from both teams bored out of their minds until they were startled by an incoming horn—the train was coming.
"Alright, guys. Time to ride!" James declared as the train arrived in front of them, and everyone got in.
"Quick! Get in before our fresh target gets away!!! Move, grandpa!" Sugar yelled as everyone struggled to get in before the train was about to close, and Cefie's arm got stuck.
"No, let go, you inferior machine," Cefie stated, trying to pull their left arm out before it snapped, leaving it behind.
"I am now what humans possess in their nature, depressed."
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