”Or run, we can all just run!” Harper.

“Run? Here?”

Her voice swayed and nearly broke when she said that. Leila looked over her shoulder to see the approaching - whatever that mechanical monstrosity is supposed to be called - and then at her feet, and then back at Harper. Soil, water, and organic material that was already decomposed beyond recognition formed a thick layer of a mixture that felt equivalent to having her boots submerged in a solution of cornstarch.

Then behind her she heard the explosion - and, after a few more seconds, the ruffling sounds branches and leaves made as they scraped through the nearby mass of vegetation as a tree fell to the ground.

Leila jerked her left foot out from the ground and ran.

As close as she could get to running when the ground felt like it was made of glue, at least. She found great difficulty in each step as she failed to anticipate how much the boot will sink, or in which direction more than the others - resulting a rather wobbly sequence of steps with splattering of dark coloured organic goo being splattered around her trail and onto her clothes.

To make things worse, it seemed certain that the gigantic robot was not about to give up pursuit just yet, as its heavy steps echoed through the nearby forest (is that thing on legs? On this terrain? How does that even-).

Soon it was clear that she simply wasn’t running fast enough. The robot was drawing closer, and luck wasn’t going to be relied on forever dodging what seemed to be more cannonballs than paintball rounds.

She turned around to check on the status of the robot, and staggered -

“-weeeh?”

Leila felt something grabbing hold of her by the ribs, and her feet being lifted off the ground. Lesley tossed the girl onto his back and darted forward once again. Leila wrapped her hands around his neck and clutched hard onto his shoulders to avoid falling off as Lesley switched directions with each step he took forward. "Shoot while I run Leila!" he commanded.

Scrambling, she drew her gun and, gripping it with both hands, aligned it with the direction of the robot. Lesley’s footsteps made it harder to maintain aim, but making decisions fast enough she managed to find a window and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

The paintball shot hit the robot very much right in the face with no notable effect.

Meanwhile, Leila - and likely Lesley - realized that having one of them carry the other while firing a firearm probably wasn’t the best of ideas. The recoil that was easily managed when she was standing on the ground herself had a much larger effect when she was in such an unstable situation. Immediately after the round was released through the muzzle Leila had to grab back onto Lesley’s neck again so that she didn’t topple sideways. Her gun, in the mean time, was flung from her scurrying hands and landed with a plop nearby in the mud. The initial reaction Leila had towards the gun slipping out of her grip was to claw in the same direction in an attempt to retrieve it, which - incidentally - pulled Lesley even further away from the support his feet provided.

The two suffered a particularly miserable collapse onto the ground. For Leila, a few rolls followed and she found herself struggling to stand up, disoriented and covered in dirt and decayed fragments of leaves. The display, partially covered in mud and foggy everywhere, blinked a faint 68%.

She scurried to get off the ground, pressed by the imminent threat of the approaching robot. In the meantime she grabbed the paintball gun from the gun and pulling the triggers a few times with it pointed towards the mechanical giant, in vain hope to slow it down a little to earn herself some time to escape, even though she knew perfectly well that the shots would land but do nothing at all.

It turned out she was wrong. The shots weren’t even fired.

“Uh - ” she panicked, “- someone - does anyone know what I should do when -”

Letting out a disappointed whimper at the jammed weapon, she grabbed it and finally managed to stand up and take a few steps forward, only to then find the robot in immediate proximity and a laser dot pointing into her face.

Leila wasn’t even actually thinking strategically when she let out a yelp and darted forwards, towards the robot instead of away from it. It was just that it seemed like she every other potential route of escape ended apparently in immediate death (at least in-game - she wasn’t sure how well the force field thing was exactly supposed to work, and she didn’t really want to find out either). When she was grunting and lying face down, hands over head to protect herself from all the matter splattering outwards from where the point of impact of another of the robots pain-cannonballs, one that left a crater in the moist soil where Leila was just a moment ago; it only then occurred to her that she had placed herself in a position that was - quite paradoxically - one of the safest.

Loosing track of the signal of the human that it was just hunting after, the robot paused in its path - perhaps to re-calibrate itself to seek and follow new targets? And Leila lay still, suppressing her panting as hard as possible, hoping the robot won’t notice where she went, while staring at the bottom and back of the robot, where coils dangled and steam poured out of exposed pipelines…

…wait.

Was that actually a good idea? Leila didn’t know, but she decided to find out. Tossing aside the now malfunctioning paintball rifle she pulled out the pistol tucked in a holster strapped to her waist - thankfully she remembered to take this backup - and fired two shots into the opening in armour on the backside of the left knee joint.

The robot, irritated, lifted its leg and shifted a few steps around. Leila barely evaded being stepped on by one of the metal feet. Yet it seemed that, despite its best attempts, the way in which its aiming system and weapons were mounted, that the robot couldn’t take aim too close underneath it.

“...people? I think -”

She didn’t finish the sentence because she knew the others couldn’t hear her words clearly above all the noise the robot was making. Instead, she raised one arm to shield her eyes from the shrapnel and steam, and holding the weapon in the other hand - despite feeling a bit bad for such a sophisticated piece of technology - she emptied a magazine into the linkages that composed the machine’s hip joint.

Ooooh, finally some action!

After that barrage of bullets, Est and Breeze hid together behind another fallen tree. The merchant went after Lizbeth, which left Aiden to Est, and the cheerful nobody really seemed to enjoy himself as he waved his partner goodbye.

“Good luck, Bweeze! Give ‘em heck!” He chirped then moved away to the other direction. A few strides further into the forest he heard somebody- month’s worth of pay it’s Aiden- screeching and while it was pretty funny to listen to, the noise attracted one of those giga boss robots that nobody really wanted to mess around with.

“Aw man, the humans are going to die,” Est whined under his breath and then returned to the previous area. Just as he expected, it was a huge cluster of chaos and bullets. He even got sniped on the side of his face! And again! It was totally Red and Blue vs. Pink and Orange in here! By the time he had downed enough players to give a hand to his and Aiden’s team, his suit was a brightly-colored abstract painting.

“Look at me, I’m so pretty!” The soldier hollered, waving his hands in the air, and then rolled behind a tree when the boss robot turned towards him. It gave the others an opportunity to attack and also for him to realize that his health was down to a measly 60%. Lovely. However, when he peered over and began shooting at the synth, he realized that…

“Oh, you! Leila! The heck you doing!?” That girl was a member of Aiden’s team and he wasn’t even looking out for her! Est sighed and covered for her, at least jarring one of the robot’s hand as it tried to scope her out. Unlike what he expected, she didn’t run for cover and instead pretty much wrecked the giant machinery. He almost felt sorry for the synth as it died down and collapsed onto the ground.

“Cool beans, that was quick thinking!” Est chirped, resplendent in the bright pink splotches all over his armor, as he hopped over along with the others who came to marvel at Leila’s ‘kill’. A thoughtful and amazed silence fell over the two groups, at least until Est raised his head and his gun then shot Aiden in the face. “Oh- what- OI!” The other soldier fell on his butt and this made the Blue Team “leader” to guffaw, patting his knees and laughing louder until Aidan got up and shook his fist at them. “You’re going to pay for that, Berit!” He howled and a match of point blank firing soon commenced.

"Toby! We have a keyAGHG!"

"Eh?"

The boy looked up to see his friend barely miss a dodgeball to the face and burst out laughing at her reaction "Riley! You almost got knocked out!" He briefly stared at her, blinking ignorantly as the gears in his brain began to turn and he realized he found his friends. "RILEY! It's you!" Toby spun to the side in the air as he changed directions and sped towards his friends. Namine scolded the boy as she was forced to make a sharp turn to keep up with him. "Hey! What's the big idea speeding off like that huh?" Toby turned and looked at Namine with a bit of embarrassment, the sight of the others excited him and he accidentally forgot about her for a moment. "Those are my friends!" he shouted, pointing towards Riley and Niran "The brown guy is Ranny Ran, the ginger girl is um, Riley Smiley, um my friend Ace the basket case isn't with them though. Oh, and I don't know any of those guys over there-oh geez!" People were suddenly chasing the two with desperation in there movements. "Oi! We're not the ones with the key y'know!"

Soon enough, Riley was dragging Toby towards the Thunder Dome. The boy waved at the other competitors with a dumb smile on his face, "Hello, bye bye! Have a wonderful time! I'm proud of you people, you're all winners in my heart!" The Thunder Dome itself was more of a straight forward path compared to moving throughout the city in search of the keys. Even so there were numerous amounts of obstacles and buildings all over the path itself, this leg of the race was certainly not going to be a simple straight forward shot, quite a lot of maneuvering would be required to survive.

Announcer Goomba said Folks, it looks like we're reaching the end! We are now inside the thunder dome! Mazes, obstacles, and traps, which of our competitors will make it to the end without wiping out! Let me hear a cheer!"

Toby soared in the sky alongside his friends as the crowd roared with anticipation and excitement, just as the boy's stomach fluttered with butterflies feeling the same emotions. It was difficult for him not to relish in the fun and attention "Riley" he said softly, tugging on her sleeve as he admired the sight of the audience's energy "This is, marvelous....I feel like a gladiator in ancient rome or something," As exciting as the sight was, the race had already begun and the boy was flying through the menacing Thunder Dome. Various platforms suddenly appeared with the same steambot mounted on a gatling gun which began to rattle intensely as pies of different flavors were being shot from the guns at rapid fire. Toby yelped, barely ducking in time to dodge a pie, and began to spin about as he regained his balance and simultaneously avoided the flying desserts. "Ah, gosh, what a waste of pie"

SPLAT!

Pie right to the face. "I just got hit" Toby attempted to shout as he spun out of control, however the words were incomprehensible and muffled, due to the pie in his face as well as the spinning. The boy spiraled down for a moment before wiping away the dessert. His eyes grew wide and he yelped once more at the sight of a building before making a hard turn to the right, avoiding the hard concrete only to collide face first into an item box. "AGH, Geez!" grabbing onto the box he watched as the slots came to a stop and smiled with curiosity at the result. "This looks cool," he murmured. All of a sudden a soft machine like growl could be heard. Toby lifted his head up, gazing at what was before him. "Oh, hey there,"





Landon and Yves whizzed through the Thunder Dome a significant distance ahead, maneuvering gracefully though the hectic course. "All the garbage has finally been washed out, however we should keep an eye on that Lavi fellow, if you don't recall he was last years winner. We should deal with him as soon as possible." Landon declared and sounded somewhat biased in his suggestion, almost as if he wanted to eliminate Lavi. He and Yves were no longer moving through the course casually but even so it still appeared as if they were dodging obstacles left and right with ease. The two moved with finesse. "Those humans are still here Landon, stay alert, if the opportunity arises we should dispose of them as soon as possible. They'll only waste our time."

"Speaking of wasting our time, looks like your streak of luck just came to an end at the worst of times," Yves quickly turned to look behind him, not wanting to be distracted for too long. "Oh! Wonderful, the sponsors appear to not be in favor of our lead." Yves stared back at the Crawler speeding towards the pair. It's legs moved up and down with unbelievable speed on the buildings and obstacles they almost appeared a blur. The creature would occasionally leap greatly from one to the other and sometimes hover momentarily using the same mechanics as the hoverboards. Their heads twitched side to side as it examined the path before it and moved with purpose through the Thunder Dome.

Shoutcaster Jake said The first of two crawlers have been dispatched, and it seems this one is making a dash for those in the lead, Crawlers have been the demise of many competitors, keep your eyes on those two because this could be the end for- oh, oh my, whats this?!

"TOBY! WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING?!!"

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOO,"

Toby laughed like a maniac as he balanced himself on the crawler, gripping a metal limb tightly, wearing a glowing glove on his left hand. "Hya! Hya! With haste my magnificent steed, In the name of Queen Delirium, charge!" He shouted in a lighthearted tone as the crawler let out a machine like battlecry.

Shoutcaster Jake said A human has acquired a crawler's gauntlet, and he's dashing through the course for the lead! It seems he activated the crawlers by acquiring the gauntlet, this is a huge leg up for the competitor and quite the opposite for those in lead

"How interesting," Landon remarked at the sight of Toby commanding the crawler. "At least it's not a competitor with experience operating that insect." Yves crossed his arms, observing the two. "We need to do something about this now, that brat surely doesn't pose a threat but the crawler will." Yves turned back around, his arms remained crossed as his eyes analyzed the course before him, eventually locking onto an item box in the distance. The nobleman zoomed downward and began speeding in the direction of the item box, moving left and right, up and down around pies and obstacles with expertise. Yves scooped the item box from the air and shot upward as he began to gain altitude. Within moments he was approaching Landon and slowed his pace to match his partners. Yves presented the item box with one hand as the slot machine slowed to a stop before transforming into a metal wand with a glowing tip. "Mm, this will have to do i'm afraid,"

"For Nowhere!" Toby screamed, the boy was gaining on the duo with great speed. "Don't be an IDIOT!" Namine shouted. Yves faced the boy and swung the wand, a sharp whistle could be heard as a firework whizzed through the air, nearly hitting the crawler as it exploded into bright and beautiful colors. Yves continued to swing the wand at Toby, firing one firework after the other whilst avoiding the various obstacles in the Thunder Dome. The crawler leaped from building to building, avoiding each explosion. The nobody relentlessly continued to swing the wand with anger as he began to grow impatient. "Two bugs, what a damn nuisance,"

He gripped the wand tightly with both hands, focusing on increasing the brightness and size of the glowing ball of light, located on the tip of the wand. As the ball of light grew in size it looked as if it were becoming unstable and could explode at any moment, and was even causing the wand itself to shake. Just as Yves seemed like he was about to lose control he fired the wand. The firework beamed through the air towards the crawler. "Oh fudge" Toby flinched, shielding his eyes as the firework lodged itself into the crawlers chest and exploded, the sound echoed throughout the Thunder Dome.

Announcer Goomba said Oh! That was a critical hit! That crawler doesn't look to well, this may be the end for not only the insect but also the competitor

A small chunk of the creature was blown open and sparks constantly began to generate, even a mechanic limb or two was now missing. "Agh, NO! You did it again! You ruined my ride again! You're so annoying, and you dress stupid! Awh man," The crawler leaped off of the building and began to glide, gradually descending downward. "C'mon, we were so close! Why do you have to break, you're made of metal and crap" The crawler let out what sounded like a painful shout. A worried expression overcame Toby's face as he observed the machine. "Oh, you're not doing so well, are you buddy?" The crawler responded with a mechanical whine. The boy sighed for his companion, crouching down he rubbed it's metallic head. He could only hope a busted crawler wasn't expendable, and would be repaired. Not thrown to the dump like his previous hoverboard. "I wouldn't have made it this far without ya friend. No worries, we'll go down together, I had a ton of fun anyways." He plopped down and sat criss cross on the crawlers head before pointing towards the ground, "Onward to paradise we go!"

The crawler let out one more whine, this time with a tone of affection rather than pain. Suddenly a trap door opened beneath Toby, who shrieked as he disappeared into the opening. The door closed and the crawlers mouth opened wide as a cannon extended outwards from it's throat, the boy's head popped out of the hole, his face a frown "Hey, don't be puttin me in cannons and stuff all of a sudden like, y'know!" Crawler squealed in response, Toby laughed softly at the noise "It was nice to meet you, ummmm. You need a name," his eyes looked over the crawler for a moment, "Dunder. It was an honor to fight by your side," He began to make himself comfortable whilst inside the cannon before squinting his eyes and spotting Yves in the distance. "Ready!" he shouted, "Take aim!" The cannon began to adjust it's sights on the nobody. One more battlecry from Dunder was the signal.

"Fire!"

Landon and Yves continued to maneuver through the Thunder Dome with finesse and focus. "Shouldn't be long now," Landon declared, "We're still quite the distance ahead, we should arrive to the third leg shortly," Yves squinted his eyes as he observed the path ahead of him. "There's still one more crawler about, and the only other competitor we've encountered has been taken care of. Don't let your guard down."

"FOR DUNDER!" Toby screamed, Yves turned around only to watch as Toby bolted through the sky and collided into his abdomen, wrapping his arms around the nobody as he tackled him off of his hoverboard. Toby, Yves and the hoverboard all began to spiral downwards to elimination. "You IMBECILE! What have you done!" The boy giggled incessantly, squeezing the nobleman tightly as the two made their journey to the net and out of the competition.

Ran watched in awe as Toby deftly took down one of the veterans. He never knew the teen was capable of such bravery! Tobs certainly deserved a medal. The only thing spoiling the dramatic, anime-worthy moment was the fact he wasn't even sure who Dunder was. Trust the boy to make friends everywhere he goes. Ran yelled down towards his plunging friend.

"You sure make Dunder proud! See you in a bit!"

Now all he had to do was find Riley, and help her as much as possible. It'll be nice to finish the race even if they had no chance of winning. Making it into the Thunder Dome was a miracle considering their rather haphazard performances. A bright neon blue beam flashed across Ran's eyes. He gulped. He brought his hand to his face and yelped. Celery cheese nibs! Static electricity!

Announcer Goomba said "That's something we haven't seen in a while! The sponsors sure are generous this year."

Ran froze. The beams were crisscrossing everywhere. He can't move backwards. The only way out was to go forward. He tried to memorize the pattern without success. The bright lights were causing his eyes to water. Where were the rest when you need them? Riley!



"Hot fudgy fudge sundae! Hold still you stale crouton!"



"You ain't no sugar cookie yourself. You keep pulling me back."

"Look if one of us falls, we both fall."

Based on the shrieks and petty arguments, Ran hoped neither of them had a weapon. He didn't fancy becoming crispy calamari. Slowly he raised his hands up as he remaining standing with his back towards them. "I can jump off the board if you like. Just don't shoot."

The bickering pair stopped as they sized up the human standing pathetically with his hands in the air. Ellie smirked as he tilted his head towards the switch at the center of the electric field. Nympha opened her mouth and shut it. She winked. This was perfect! They might just manage to dodge elimination by sacrificing this gormless jawbreaker.

"Oh that's right! Keep your hands in the air, human." She commanded.

Ellie surpressed his desire to laugh manically. "Now, now Nympha! We can both shoot him, or make him an ally."

"That blundering jello? He will have to prove himself first."

Ran felt his heart lift a little. Ally? Okay that doesn't sound too bad. Compared to being hit by multiple whatever it is they were holding. "What do I do?"

Nympha nodded to her partner, and Ellie spoke up. "See that huge mechanical block at the center of the field? There is a red buzzer at the top. Press it to disable the trap."

"Are you nuts!?! I don't want to be french fries."

The oldest of the lot rolled his eyes and snorted. "A spry whipper snapper like you? Just be faster then those lazer doohickeys. Keep your eyes peeled and trust your instincts."

"Right!" Ran answered though he wasn't convinced. They were pros and he was barely an amateur. A couple of hours of experience max.

The devious duo watched with bated breath as the human channeled his inner gung-ho. It was anything but awesome. The poor noob was flailing and staggering in between occasional bursts of speed and elegant pirouettes. Nympha was willing to bet the audience were hiccoughing by now.

Announcer Goomba said "I don't believe it! I mean... the human! He has reached the deactivator!"

Ran breathed a huge sigh of relief as he pressed the red button with both hands. All the beams deactivated. He removed his hands. Gradually he became aware of an odd ticking. It sounded like one of those attached to a....a ... BOMB! Ran panicked. He took several steps away, only to back into an invisible wall. The timer beeped. He crouched down as an unknown force pressed down. Ran couldn't even wiggle because the space was so tight. The silence was starting to get to him. His heart beat was too loud and his breathing too fast.

He took several swallow breaths and banged against the wall. Each thud was more desperate than the next. On the fifth try he felt himself catapulted from his prison. He fell downwards screaming. What was it with this race and cannons?

Announcer Goomba said "Looks like there is only one human left. Let's cheer for her!"

Ellie set his sights on the beacon shining from the distance. The finish line was two blocks away. He clenched his jaw. A little more and this forced friendship will be over. He gave Nympha a pained smile as they continued forward. Nympha froze. She thought she heard a strangled cry and several shots close-by. The hovercrafter gulped. Just how many of them were left?

A piercing melody from behind caused both of them to freeze. They stared wide-eyed at each other. Ice cream, lollipops, sugar sticks and everything cinnamon! They just picked an oreo without filling! Judging from the faint smell, they were gonna be crushed jam doughnuts.



Ri smirked. She tucked the key she was wearing round her neck into her pocket. Miss Competitive blew one her smoking gun before she lowered her five barrelled dart gun. She targetted Nympha's hoverboard. "Sorry lollipops. I'm the new sheriff in town."

The self-proclaimed sheriff pulled the trigger. Two elecro-darts hit Nympha's hoverboard. The lights flickered warningly before the vehicle went berserk. It shuddered violently before it shot forward without any warning. Ellie was pulled overboard. The motion caused Nympha to fall off hers as well. The gun-totting Nobody laughed as her opponents disappeared through the cloud cover. So who's left?

Announcer Goomba said "Annnd... we are left with Ri, Lavi, Namine, Landon, Riley.... annnd Jay!"

Shoutcaster Jake said "Wow wheeee! You can't get a more competitive group than this. Who knows maybe we'll crown a winner without anyone crossing the finish line!"

Announcer Goomba said "Welcome back Jake! The crowd certainly approves. Boy are they loud! I can't even hear myself speak."

Inadi continued shooting towards where the shots were coming from and was doing his best to try and figure out where the opponents were located. Yet his blind offensive didn't stop him from being shot a couple of times in the arm, dropping his health down ten percent. After that Jasper took a shot right on the head and that made him feel even worse than the previous shot he watched her take. Inadi desperately wanted to get a hold of the opposing team and just end the contest right then and there, but with how little vision he had in the swamp it was unlikely he was going to get good shots on whoever it was that was shooting at them, and it was suicide for him to just charge ahead like a fool.

A little later on Inadi heard some small footsteps heading over to them. The nerves in his hands began quivering as he knew what it was. They were trying to force them out of their cover. And once they did, whoever this group was would probably put them all down. Judging from the sloshing sounds it seemed like it was three people in all. At that point Inadi deduced it was the rest of their group playing the game. Yet another sound wiped away his concerns and made brand new ones as a giant shaking crash caught his attention. Apparently it also got Harper's attention as he began suggesting a quick get away.

He turned around to see a giant robot with artillery to match. It was clear that this thing was gonna cause some kind of problem for all of them. Just as he was about to start firing on the robot, Jasper grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the log. Quickly regaining his balance Inadi kept up the pace with Jasper and some of the others as he tried to blindly fire behind him at the robot, hearing a few plops here and there from the paint. The robot returned fire and luckily just hit a tree, but the tree sadly turned into a stump afterward. This made a little bit more adrenaline find its way to Inadi's legs as he began blazing through the path in front of them.

Soon after the robot was chasing after Aiden it seemed and it was at this point Inadi finally caught his breath. This whole little game had turned into some kind of nightmare. Who would have thought this was just a fun past time when on the outside looking in. Definitely not him. As Jasper and Harper began talking truce, Inadi started firing away at the robot even before the pinky swear was made. Inadi took a couple quick shots back in response but he was able to only lose about another 15% to his overall health. He still had three quarters left in the tank, and he figured that was more than enough to win this out.

Aiden then began chuckling at the sight of another enemy team in the forest. Pink by the looks of it. Inadi watched as Aiden and Lizbeth both took care of their targets and Jasper finished off hers. She was a lot lower in the health bar situation than he was, and when another pink member showed up he quickly took aim and barraged the last player with a spray of paint. Two shots in the chest, a couple in the legs and more than a few in the head. A quick elimination, though looking down at his own chest Inadi saw two pink shots splatter on his gear. Looking at his health bar he saw it was now 65% as a whole. Shaking his head in disappointment he looked over to Jasper with a chuckle. “Somehow I get the feeling that we won't be doing these kinds of things professionally.” He joked with her as he returned his attention to the others while reloading his gun.

Again, they made the temporary truce to take out the robot and with the sudden shooting between Est and Aiden it was clear the truce had lived out the purpose it needed to. Giving a quick nod to Jasper, he picked up the sight of his weapon and began raining paint back on Lesley, Harper and Leila. The quick screeches from them made him almost feel bad about the sudden about face, but oh well. Somebody had to win and it certainly wasn't going to be Lesley if Inadi had anything to say about it. As an added joke, Inadi landed a shot on Lesley's head and began running for cover. “Hope you like my new color suggestion for your hair Les! I think it fits you better than that pink get up anyway!” He laughed as he quickly found a large boulder to hide behind. Inadi began scouring the field to find a trace of Jasper, and while he did so he noticed he was already down to 45% on his health. He was shocked that he lost another 20%, but he figured that with him running and looking for cover it gave somebody a great opportunity to get some shots on him. He just hoped that the others were about as worse off as he was after the rain of paint he brought down on them.

Eventually, the Leila and Lesley duo collapsed into a muddled fall. As the adrenaline rush toned down for a couple of moments, it was then that he realized how low his heath bar had become. It was now at 60%. Looking down at his legs, arms and chest, he spotted a couple of paint splatters and sighed, getting back up onto his feet. Seeing as Leila was going bullet crazy at the giant robot, he joined in on the shooting right by her side, aiming dead center on the metallic linkage at its hip. In no time, the thing tumbled down in a heavy pile of burnt out iron and screws. Giving Leila a pat on the back, it was then that the truce was broken and everyone was taking on each other. Most of the other teams had already been wiped out by the robot too so it would make their jobs a whole lot easier.

Aiden dashed for a tree to gain some coverage as he scoped out Est. Flicking up the safety and clicking the trigger, he sent out a couple chest shots at the soldier and managed to land at least one or two. "Oh revenge, my weet revenge!" He snickered gleefully as he rubbed his hands together before slipping another round of paintballs into his gun. Maneuvering behind a boulder, he found another one of the pink members hiding there and he knew right away the poor girl had poor health already. sending multiple shots at her backside, it only took three bullets till she buzzed out. waving at her in apology, he grinned as he eyed Est who in turn was staring right back at him. "You see that?! That'll be you a few minutes from now!" He threatened playfully as tried to focus the crosshairs on him.

Reloading his gun and ducking for cover, Inadi fired a shot smack dab at his forehead lowering the bar to a mere 50%. "Shoot! That lil' turd is gonna pay!" He screeched whilst he jammed back the paintball canister and aimed at the running doofus. BAM!BAM!BAM! Lesley fired three bullets at Inadi and hoped at least one of them landed some damage. Catching sight of Jasper a distance away from the group, he stalked after her, but stopped a good couple of meters away in the thick greenery. Shooting her down with a spray as he finished off a mag, he knew that she had the least amount of life left compared to her other teammates.

Giggling to himself, he was definitely taunting Inadi to come and fight a little harder.

First Ace, then Toby, and now Ran was out of the competition too. How the hell was she still flying? The girl shook her head and laughed weakly, "don't worry, guys! I'll avenge you...maybe, hopefully—crud no!" A tin of steaming mango pie knocked the wind right out of her and soon Riley was swatting away at the yellow substance. It clung to her coat and burned her fingers, "ow, ow, ow, SHIT." She dove down, zipping through the air unpredictably. It made her hard to hit, but it also made her feel queasy.

It was pure luck, and Riley knew that it would be running out soon.





"Eh, you're still here? How is a clown like you still flying?" Ri didn't even bother wasting her bullets on Riley. "If you run into Lavi, tell the slowpoke I said hi." The nobody bumped into the girl, nearly tipping her over, but before she could lean forward and fly away, a force crashed into her and Riley ended up half-lying on her board. "Geddoff, you're not exactly light," said the nobody.

"I can't exactly win, but if there's one thing I can do, it's prevent a certain Nobody from winning." Riley was trying to get on the board and pull Ri down with her but the Nobody had a boot in her face and her grip on the board was slipping.

Ri scowled, "get off before I give you a face full of leather."

The human managed to wrap her fingers around the nobody's boot. "Gah, your feet stink!"

"They do not, now shoo!"

"Shoe, haha, that wasn't half-bad. Now prepare to get booted off!" Riley reached for the nobody's knee but the hoverboard jerk to the left and she nearly slid off, her fingers wrapped tightly around the board's end. "Fudge," the board tilted and the wind whipped wildly at her face.

Ri smirked then noticed cruising towards them, "it's the end of the line for you and for him. Send him my regards!" She gave the human a playful salute then pointed her gun at Riley. She wasn't planning to shoot the girl, but she did get her desired result. As soon as Riley noticed the gun, she let out a yelp and Ri leaned back, throwing her off the board and straight at the approaching Lavi.

Being the gentleman that he was, the nobody caught her with a surprise yelp and they both fell off the board and onto the net.

"My, my, that was quite the cheap trick." Lavi turned to look at Riley with creased eyebrows, "are you alright, human? If not, I assure you, Ri will be paying for the medical bill. She can be a little rough and too competitive for her own good, but she's not a bad person...I think." He laughed a little then offered her a hand, "you humans did a fantastic job. Really, I am quite impressed."

Announcer Goomba said Last year's champion and all the humans are out, folks! Tunas and tomatoes, it looks like this cycle's champion is going to be a fresh face. Three nobodies are racing towards the goal and..."

Fireworks shot out towards the sky, trumpets blared, and the crowd went crazy.

The screen was focused on a smiling Ri. She waved cheerfully at the crowd then blew a flying kiss in Lavi's direction. Apparently, she had won the race and was to be crowned this cycle's Hoverboard champion.

Lavi laughed a little and Riley fell into the net with a groan.

Back at the Museum's entrance:



He was covered in paint. His white shirt was no longer white at all, and his hair was more blue than black, but he didn't really care. At the moment, Harper was standing beside Leila, gushing excitedly about the explosive last stand that the red and blue teams had pulled together. "Lesley and Inadi were amazing, I think I felt the heat between them, especially after Jasper was shot, but really, Leila," if it were possible, he'd probably have stars in his eyes. "How did you and Lesley make that robot fall over?" He grinned from ear to ear, admiration obvious in his gaze. "Piggyback shooting, I've never seen anything like it."

Harper wasn't the sort who enjoyed guns and glory, but the game of paintball they had played would be a memory he'd treasure.

Everything had been amazing. From the robots that came out of Nowhere to Aiden's and Est's name calling as they ignored the rest of field and focused on finding each other. It was hard to believe they were soldiers and Harper found the duo's company refreshing. They were a little reckless, but thankfully Breeze and Liz were there to make sure everyone came out of it okay.

"And that last stand," Harper turned to face Jasper and Inadi with a grin. After the pink and orange team came charging in, they all teamed up. "We put up a really good fight, didn't we?" He wrinkled his nose then laughed. Jasper had managed to shoot a poor soldier in the face and he ended up crashing into an angry paint bot, it was a silly sight.



"Lesley, you're even more colorful than I remember." Riley approached with Ace, Toby, Ran, and Japhet. She was grinning from ear to ear despite the bandage that was wrapped around her left hand. "What happened to you guys? Arts and crafts store?"

"Hm, not exactly," he smiled. "Ask Leila, she blew up a robot." His eyes landed on her hand and he frowned. "What happened to your hand?"

Riley chuckled, "competitive nobody stomped down on it, but no biggie, it's a battle scar."

Japhet eyed the museum then noticed the few soldiers that were talking worriedly outside. "They haven't given you humans the USB yet?" Strange, Lt. Falkner was always trying to get things done as fast as possible.

"Hey Est, Breeze, everything here alright?" The humans might not have noticed it, but some of the soldiers on duty looked quite uneasy.

From somewhere inside the musuem a loud yell followed by a poor soldier's sobs were heard.



"WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT ISN'T HERE?" Someone was slammed against a wall, "I leave to patrol outside the gates and come back to this? Really, I expected a little more from this platoon. And you nobodies call yourself soldiers, this is unbelievable."

There were a couple of muffled apologies. Japhet didn't recognize the poor soldier's voice, but he was familiar enough with Lt. Falkner's yelling to know that she was the one terrorizing the poor nobody.

He turned to look at Est and Breeze with creased eyebrows and a frown. "So, who's brave enough to head inside?"

A red-faced soldier scurried out of the door, mumbling apologies as he left. He stopped right before the humans and the guides and gave them a shaky salute. "Pvt. Fenrir reporting for duty. A problem came up and..."

The door flew open and an angry Lt. Falker came marching out, she had a young soldier's collar in a death grip and dragged him along.

The Nobody in front of the humans flinched then looked pleadingly at both Est and Japhet, as if he were asking for backup. "Y-Yes, something came up and we d-don't have..." as soon as a hand landed on his shoulder he zipped his mouth and stared at the floor.

Lt. Falkner let out a sigh then turned to face Breeze, Est, Japhet, and the humans. "The USB has been stolen."

She pressed a crumpled piece of paper into Japhet's hands and he scrunched up his nose in confusion. What was this supposed to be? It looked like a third grader's failed attempt at writing a letter, most of the handwriting was bad and it was done entirely in green crayon.

Letter said How do I start this thing again? Fear, dear, rear? Oh—deer! That's right :D

Deer, I thought you were our neighbors, but then Sacha reminded me. You're that group that's trying to complete the list, the bunch of weirdos we ran into at the Lake and in the forest. Do you wanna join us for tea? Sacha is one hell of a cook and I can buy some of Mr. Cuddle's tarts if you come. I promise I won't let Gargar go anywhere near the food. Her cooking really sucks...

Anyways, we have that weird information stick you want, so yeah, join us for tea? Gargar drew a map to where you can find us!

There was a badly drawn picture of five people in green hoods and attached to the letter was an equally badly drawn map. Thankfully, written on the same piece of paper and in good handwriting were actual directions.

Japhet gaped, "the dark side?" He then turned to the humans, "does this make any sense to you humans?"

He looked at the paper again.

Letter said P.S. We'd love it if you joined us for tea.

- C

For a few minutes, Ace decided to sit up in the tree and watch one of the large screens. It was partially because it did kind of hurt to fall in a tree. The medics came in to make sure she was alright, and ended up taking her on a floating stretcher. Ace was fine, but they wanted to be sure. Seeing Ri win made her frown, but she sighed. "Oh well. Guess Lavi will have to beat her next race." She saluted Jay and Lavi as she hopped off the stretcher. The medics managed to bandage a scratch on her leg before she ran off.

"That's one strange human."

"They're human. What do you expect?"

The redhead hobbled to her friends, draping an arm around Riley and Toby. "That was amazing!" They walked off to the museum and Ace laughed. "You three had some crazy flying going on. You nearly killed a couple of people, but all in all, fun!" They met the other group, paint stained and all. With a teasing grin, she looked at Jasper. "The color suits you. All of you at that." She laughed and took her hat from Japhet, settling it back on her head. "Thanks for watching this."

While they all regrouped to talk about their time together. "I was so close too! I could've had a hoverboard to keep. Stupid EMP dart fried the system." The sudden yelling made Ace turn her head. Seeing the terrified nobodies made her raise an eyebrow when the Lieutenant stomped forward. "Someone's a tad feisty..."

Next thing the group knew, the soldiers were telling them that the USB thing was stolen. Whatever it was, it was important to them. "Way to go guys. Our job just got more complicated." She grinned and stretched her arms over her head. "Play time is over then. Know who stole it? And where we can get some weapons...since Inadi is the only one that got to keep his staff. Which is still not fair." She huffed but pushed it aside for the time being. They wouldn't let her keep a weapon anyway. Something about being 'too dangerous'.

The letter they pulled out was all crumpled and hard to read thanks to the green crayon. "Have tea? Do you think they'll have cookies too? I mean...even though they'll probably attack us. Again." Ace then tilted her head as she read the instructions. "These are the same hood wearing guys that keep trying to stop us right?" She shrugged, not caring either way. "Alrighty people. We can't just stand around here. Let's go get the UBS- er, USB thingy. Information thing." As usual, she planned to bound forward, until she realized she had no idea where they are going.

"Soldier guys, lead the way! We're wasting daylight!" They had finished their games after all. If they were planning on sitting around after, Ace knew she'd get bored fast.

Something then dawned on her. "The dark side? You mean that place we were in that was dark all the time and had dead things and a witch and a haunted mansion and various other things that might freak the others out if I keep talking about them? That dark side orrrr is it somewhere totally different?" Either way, going to somewhere with the tag of 'dark side' sounded as if they'd need weapons. And having her amulet again sounded like a fun deal, unless they came up with something even more interesting.

"That was amazing! You three had some crazy flying going on. You nearly killed a couple of people, but all in all, fun!"

Toby's eyes shot towards Ace as the five of them made their way towards the museum entrance. "So much fun! My head is still dizzy from that fall to the net! There's still some pie in my hair too," He ruffled his hair with both hands which had become not only blonde but also purple and red in some parts thanks to the face full of dessert he had received during the race. Even his jacket had a stain or two, he had taken it off and tied it around his waist around the time Ri had crossed the finish line.

As much as he wanted his friends to win, he wasn't too upset over the results. Yves had been eliminated, by him of all people. That was enough of a win for the boy. "Oh yeah, and, and-" Toby couldn't help but bend over, holding his stomach as he let out a hearty laughter at his own thoughts. He stood back up and attempted to speak as he laughed.
"R-Riley, Riley had that girls boot in her face!" Toby bent over in laughter once more, "It totally looked like that scene in the Lion King!" The boy stood back up, still trying to contain his laughter as he spoke, "Ri must have looked at Riley, a-and, and been all like; 'Long live the King'"

Toby lowered his voice and tried to keep a straight face as he quoted the movie only to burst out laughing the moment he finished the line. It took about a minute or two for the laughing to dwindle down into a light giggle. As the five of them continued onward he couldn't keep the image of a boot to Riley's face out of his head. After a while the museum was in sight, along with the paintball group.

"LESLEY!" Toby shouted before sprinting off towards the museum entrance and colliding into Lesley from behind, wrapping his arms around him and squeezing tightly for a hug. "I missed you guys!" The boy released his grip, "You should've seen it! We all were racing on these hoverboards through the sky, and a bunch of cannons were shooting at us and there were like a million people watching us, and we made it all the way to the Thunder Dome and, and um I got shot out of a CANNON!" Toby's arms flailed about and his eyes shot everywhere as he summarized the events of the hoverboard competition in an excitable tone,

"Ace knocked out like, fifty people in one move, and Ran like, pressed a button or something, and he shout out of a cannon too! Then Riley was kinda like hanging onto somebody's hoverboard and flying through the air all cool like, and then-" He bent over, laughing just as he did earlier, "Riley had some girls boot in her face! It was really funny....hey, wait a sec" Toby's face turned to a blank expression as he briefly observed each of his friends, barely noticing the paint that was on each of them.

"What happened to your clothes and stuff? And why isn't your hair pink?" He pointed towards the pieces of dessert in his hair, "I totally got pie'd. Like a pie hit me in the face, it was kinda cool now that I think about it, the flavor might be strawberry or something, what flavor is your pie?" The boy leaned forward towards Lesley, sniffing a blotch of blue on her arm before scrunching his face up in disgust at the smell of paint, "Yuck!" He squeezed his nose, "This pie smells nasty. Did someone eat this nasty pie and then throw it at you guys because it was so gross?"

He observed his friends once more, it was kind of funny seeing paint on their faces. As he scanned the others the sight of Jasper marked with paint was peculiar to him. Her skin was naturally white but the blotches of color made it seem like she was a natural canvas. "You look like a walking easel, you could dress up like that for halloween or something, and tell people that your costume is a piece of art" was what Toby wanted to say, but he wasn't sure if it would come out offensive or not. Plus Inadi was right there, so if it did, things would probably get awkward.

Just as the boy was pondering whether or not he should speak his thoughts, some shouting could be heard from inside the museum. He watched as a soldier made his way towards the humans. He looked like he had seen a ghost. Toby grabbed a few strands of hair between his index and thumb fingers. Pulling them downward in front of his eyes he stared at the strawberry that remained, looking back and forth between the strands and Pvt. Fenrir attempting to explain what happened. It didn't take long for another soldier to stomp through the door, pulling another soldier by the collar.

Apparently the USB had been stolen. The thing must have been of some importance. "Oh!" He released his grip on the strands of hair, "That's why we're here," He had forgotten some time ago between the hoverboarding and Riley's boot face exactly why they came to the city of Cogs and Gears. Slowly he crept beside Japhet as the guide began to read the mystery letter aloud.

"Tea isn't all that great," Toby declared, "I could really go for a milkshake though, can we write a letter back and see what they think?" Japhet mentioned the dark side, and immediately asked the humans what it meant. The letter also mentioned them in a paste tense, so apparently this must've been somebody they had met. The boy wasn't quite sure what was going on, nor did he care much for tea.

"Have tea? Do you think they'll have cookies too? I mean...even though they'll probably attack us. Again."

"Again?" He frowned at Ace's words, "Cookies and violence should never go together," Toby perched his lips. Things felt kinda sketchy, he looked around for a moment before sidestepping towards Niran. "Hey Ran, do'ya know what's happening? Um, Ace said these guys were wearing hoods and attacking us but I don't remember anything like that. They sound like assassins." He frowned once more.

"I don't really feel like being assassinated."

The battle ended with a Harper and Inadi shoot out and despite having only 30%, she was one of the last players standing. Lesley had managed to barrage her with bullets and finished her off, but Inadi, rather inflamed with rage, shot him down right after. In the end, she was unsure of who took victory, but the match was indeed a wonderful experience... for everyone besides Jasper. Upon removal of their armor, she was delighted to find that some paintballs were shot from a range close enough to impact hard enough to leave little circular bruises all over her arms, back, and legs. Cringing slightly, she imagined that it could have been a whole lot worse. saying their goodbyes to the opposing teams, especially to Aiden and Lizbeth, the made their way back to the museum. 'I wonder how the other group is doing?'

They met up quickly and the first group looked at much higher spirits then they did. Riley, Toby, and Ace were gushing with excitement, but then again, she guessed it was just part of their personalities.Eyeing Riley's bandaged hand with worry, she was wishing that she still had healing powers so she could fix it right up.
Near the building entrance, yelps and apologies could be heard entwined with angry shouts which were seeping through the spaces in the doorway. Some soldiers guarding the door looked quite worried and were whispering about the USB. Soon enough, the museum doors flung open as Lt. Falkner stomped out with a poor soldier getting yanked along after her.

"The USB has been stolen"

Japhet was handed a scrunched scrap of paper following the shocking announcement and Jasper's stomach began to do flip-flops. Scanning the letter from over Japhet's shoulder, the turned away holding her stomach. "Who are they? And why are they doing this to us?" She questioned through gritted teeth before breathing in a sharp intake of air. Ace on the other hand was already asking the soldiers to lead the way and she nodded uneasily in agreement. The faster they get the tea party over with, the quicker they could get back to the Queen and cross off another item on the list. Although at the mention of "the dark side" she was really not up to the task, her sweltering longing to return home forced her to kneel down and go along with things. Bad memories clouded that particular place and being reminded of them would take a toll on their emotions.

"I have a terrible feeling about this. I bet the tea party is code phrase for bloodbath.." She mumbled towards Leila who looked distant as usual.

How many ears does captain Kirk have?

Three. A left ear, a right ear and a final front ear lol geddit

Breeze had to be half supported by Est as they made their way back to the museum. It wasn't because she was hurt, oh no- it would take a lot more than paint bullets to bring this girl down. It was rather because that she was giggling too madly, trying to wipe paint off of Est's face with her sleeve. It had been one of the most intense games she'd played and that was saying something, especially since the time that they had played a free-for-all against prototype robots that shot what could only be barrels of paint at them was also on the list.

The suits had protected them against the worst of the splatters, but even the extra protection couldn't save them as every single person had ended up what would be most aptly described as a lake of paint. Aiden and Est had been targeted on sight, with every single pink and yellow raining fire down upon them. They had thought that there would be no clear winner to the fight, until a chubby soldier in pink had climbed out of the bush he had been hiding in whooping and hollering with 10% health left. All in all, the humans had been more impressive than she could have hoped for. Who knew they would be able to bring down robots?

Eyeing the splattered outfits of the humans, she bit back a grin wondering when exactly they'd remember a certain mermaid. Even in the City of Cogs she'd heard of Marti's temper, and those were her designs they were wearing, weren't they?

Her laughter had died down considerably by the time they had reached the museum.

"Looks like we're the first ones here! Yes! Japhet owes me luuunch!" She gave a fist pump, then walked up to the nearest guard. It was quite unexpected how nervous and rather scared he looked, with wide eyes and stiff shoulders. The puzzled merchant opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, but was interrupted by the arrival of Japhet's team.

"Hey Est, Breeze, everything here alright?"

"I'm not quite sure myself," Breeze narrowed her eyes at the sweating soldier, who seemed to start shaking in his boots when muffled thuds came from the inside of the museum. His fears were understood when a familiar yell echoed inside the museum, followed by loud sobbing by whatever poor soldier had pissed off the lieutenant.

"I volunteer Est." She nudged the Private towards the door in response, only for everything to halt when Lt. Falker strode out, dragging the poor soldier with her.

"The USB has been stolen."

Ah. That would explain her anger. She peeked over the woman's shoulder at the letter while trying to discretely loosen her iron grip on the weeping man's collar. The paper was handed to the humans who quickly began discussing amongst themselves. The merchant rubbed at ther chin. "I've heard about these hooded figures, but it looks like you guys have actually met them, hm? I've heard that they were harmless... But then again some say they're a group of monsters that has everything from a hobbit to a giant! And the dark side is certainly no joke. Lieutenant, what should we do? Est?" As much as the humans were good at paintball, those weren't going to do much against monsters hailing from the bad side of Nowhere.

Post by Ryver:



The nets felt springy. A little like tofu noodles. Ran relaxed a little as he began to enjoy being rocked. Somehow down here, a couple of hundred feet below the races, everything was peaceful. He smiled a little as he closed his eyes. He hadn't felt so relaxed since... like... since that time. Gosh he was yawning for a second time. The man rolled to his side, and before he knew it he was snoring. He didn't even here Jake and the camera crew approaching him. All he heard was garbling similar to the murmuring of a small stream.

"J-j-just how long was I asleep?"

Ran continued yawning as he trailed behind the rest of the humans. He took another sip of the drink the Nobodies from the medical tent offered him. This was definitely not Ise's goop, and it sure isn't coffee. The thing tasted like cough syrup mixed with red bull and a few drops of mint. How was this even supposed to help? He bravely took another sip before chucking the whole thing into the nearest bin. Truthfully, he needed coffee or sleep, whichever came first. He blinked blearly as he saw two Tobies darting around. Niran rubbed his dry, blood shot eyes.

"Oh hey! I think they are having some sort of sale at the museum! Look at the Nobodies..."

He smiled a little, and shut up. Yeah he was well aware that he was spouting nonsense. Still notjing was clicking. Something about USBs and tea parties and the dark side and beating up people.... Weren't gangsters too rough and tumbled to enjoy drinking with the pinkies out? He murmures something incomprehensible in a mix of Japanese, English, Thai and Arabic.

His mind blanked out again. Wow those kids seem to ... oh wait there was something he finally understood. Tea parties? Of course! This was Wonderland. They always have to have tea and probably a guillotine. Oh well, where was the Cheshire Cat?

He laughed randomly before speaking up. "I do fancy some scones! Shall we buy some for our lovely hosts?"

Lt. Falkner had placed them on another airship, and with the soldiers they began sailing towards the dark side. The ride was quiet and tense, and the soldiers spoke among themselves, their conversations hushed and confidential.

At first, it was all sunny skies and smooth sailing but the longer they remained in the air, the shakier the ride became. They didn't know it, but their engine had been sabotaged and just as they crossed the borders, the red warning lights began flashing and the ship rumbled loudly. Because of this, they had to land a few kilometers away from the border. The sky above was a pale lavender and skeleton-like trees were scattered around them.

"I can't believe it," Japhet ran a hand through his hair, a scowl plastered onto his face. "For Celery's sake! They destroyed the fruitcaking engine! This is state of the art tech and they just destroyed it! The motherboard is soaked in flipping HONEY." The mechanic snarled then looked to both Est and Breeze, "can you believe this? It's a good thing those warning lights lit up when they did."





Riley peered over the mechanic's shoulder then frowned. She made her way towards Lesley then nudged him softly with an elbow, "hey, Lesley?" She waited for him to pay attention. "Do you think it's them? Y'know, those guys who rescued us from the Lollipop farm?" She scrunched up her nose as memories of Vincent and how the three of them had gotten to Nowhere together came to mind. "The ones who saved Vinvin from those angry farmers? What to do you think they want? I never thought of them as villains or anything..."

Meanwhile Harper turned to Ace and Inadi, "do you think they're after the rest of our items?" First the witch's heart, and now the USB. He couldn't help but worry. Was this tea party some sort of elaborate plan? Were these troublemakers planning to take the rest of their items? "We won't be able to leave if they do," he sighed, "you guys think we'll be able to take the witch's heart back?" This situation was certainly tricky, if they played their cards right there was a chance they'd be walking away with all their items, but if they messed up, who knew what would happen.

Japhet cursed loudly, "looks like we're going to be walking the rest of the way." Wiping his honey-coated hands on his jeans he turned to Est and Breeze. "Looks like we're going to play babysitter, eh? Weird, it's been awhile since those troublemakers showed up anywhere near our city." He eyed the humans one by one, "stick close, it looks like it's pretty far away, but eh, it's hard to tell...the map isn't very well done."

At first, they took forever to get moving. Too much hesitation and worry with them. It always was... But eventually, the soldiers led the way and they were back on the airships. Easing their minds for most of the trip, she told an intricate, and finely detailed story about the race from her point of view. Little did the crew know, she was pretty good at storytelling. It was an easy thing, but to be able to engage everyone into listening, including the nobodies wasn't quite easy. It made her remember the stories she told to younger children she bothered stopping to entertain during her travels, resting in parks and the likes.

"And when it was over, I believe the Ri girl one. Too bad to. But that was our adventure. Well, mine. My favorite part was knocking all those guys off their boards. Too bad I couldn't keep the hoverboard." She gave a sigh before plopping down on a seat and then resting upside down. She rested her hat on her chest, letting her sprawl upside down. Some time during the trip, Japhet was yelling about honey and busted engines. She had no idea what he was rambling about but did end up tumbling off the seat when they crashed. "Yeesh, these guys need to learn how to land properly." She stood and put her hat back on before looking to the ones that were in charge.

As they were getting off the ship, she stood in between Harper and Inadi as the former spoke up in worry. "Well of course they're trying to take our things. If they took a witch's heart and the USB, they're bound to try it again." Her fist hit her palm and she grinned. "Oh but don't worry. They will be giving all of it back once we're done with them." Her grin turned mischievous as she thought of the many ways they could end up crashing the party. "Whatever you do though... Don't drink the tea. I remember this one time, the boss decided to invite his an ally of his over for drinks and ended up poisoning him. It was quick and in seconds the guy fell over. He told us something like 'keep your enemies close and your friends closer'." She shrugged and reverted back to the topic at hand.

"Long story short, the tea could be poisoned. Too bad though....cookies sound really good right now..."

Ace whistled and shrugged again as of it was nothing. She turned her attention to the nobodies. "We don't need babysitters! Just... someone to get us there." Her gaze went over to the forest. "We've been through dark forests before, this should be a breeze." Of course, when Japhet spoke of sticking close, Ace was the first to wander off ahead. "This should be a breeze guys. All we have to do is go in and get it. No magic involved. Just a group of clueless people wanting what we have. This should be easy. We've faced dragons for pete's sake- whoever pete is- and you tamed one Leila. No reason at all to get scared over a group in hoods." They would realize, that Ace wasn't speaking to anyone in particular. In fact, she was just rambling away. At least it was motivational and nothing too annoying for the group.

As it got darker, she crossed her arms and looked around. "Flashlights might be useful though. Wouldn't want to run into any branches, or fall into any holes. You soldiers have any lights on you?"

Inadi walked side by side with the other humans with nothing but a scowl on his face. A very small portion of him was agitated about the whole losing the paintball match. Inadi truly felt that Lesley had cheated a little bit towards the end of the match, using Jasper as bait to lure him out. He tried to go out and get Jasper out of danger when he saw the others begin to surround her, and ended up getting shot from every single angle imaginable after that and quickly saw his bar just disappear into nothing. It seemed like Lesley was still planning out his little victory request, but that was the least of Inadi's concerns.

The hooded figures. Now they showed their stupid intentions with drawing them out to this dark side of Nowhere and it was clear this was not a place for the light hearted. From what he was told by the others it was a very dangerous place and it was not a place that you get invited to without some dark intentions being the purpose. And Inadi had a feeling that whatever the hooded figures were planning it had something to do with the list. They already stole two pieces they needed, no doubt they were looking for the rest. When Harper asked him that question, he turned to him and nodded in response. "No doubt about it. But again, the question shouldn't be 'will they steal our list'. It should be 'why do they want it anyway'?" He told Harper as he began walking out ahead of the group, scouring for signs of the Hooded Figures.

Once the ship landed after an engine problem, Inadi gripped his spear and walked ahead of the group. His breath was quiet, his brows furrowed. He knew deep down this was a meeting where heads were going to roll. Ace's story didn't tell him that. The history of this place didn't tell him that. Just the feeling in the air gave him the idea that this was going to be one hell of a fight. He looked back at the others and gave a quick jerk of his head to tell everyone to stay with him.

Then the soldiers got involved saying they needed to be watched. As one got closer to him he quickly stared him down until he got the message. Inadi wanted nothing to do with these extra soldiers getting in the way of his fight. He wanted these guys and he wanted them bad. Especially when he thought about how they said they would serve the bear's treats at the event. It was clear now that Mr. Cuddles had something to do with these people and it wasn't just a misunderstanding.

Looking back at Lesley, the person he found that newspaper clipping with all the way back at the Midnight Man's house, he gave him a quick shout to get his attention. “Hey Lesley! Do you think the bear is going to be there? They said they would have his sweets on the menu anyway,” He asked as he continued walking forwards in the strange area. If Mr. Cuddles turned out to be waiting for them at the spot Inadi wasn't sure he would be able to keep himself from taking the bear out too. Perhaps he was telling them where they were going each time and that was how they got the jump on them back with the witch. “I'm starting to wonder about that walking rug's allegiance anyway.” He said finally with a scoff at the end of the phrase as he gripped Kain tighter.

After a little bit more walking, Inadi began growing frustrated. The whole area seemed like a paradise for the lost. He couldn't tell where he was going and where they needed to be in the first place. Quickly going back to where the map was supposed to be, he peered over the shoulder of Japhet as he tried to make it out. It was crude and it was clear that if they were making head way it was impossible to tell. Slamming the dull end of his spear to the ground Inadi walked off frustrated towards Jasper, hoping her presence would calm his nerves. “This whole place is just waiting for us to get ambushed and I have no clue if we are making progress walking,” He told her with a angry sigh while he rubbed his eyes to try and relieve some of the tightness he began feeling in the back of his head. Looking over at Harper and Riley he shrugged towards them. “I honestly have no idea what in the world we should be looking for on this stupid hike.” He growled out with an annoyed tone. Looking around he still had no clue where they were in relation to the map. At this point he would welcome an ambush. At least then he would know they were close.

And it was a really good day too…

The minute they returned to the museum, Est knew that something horrible was up. Did that kid from earlier come back and mess with the synth? Did somebody puke all over the floor? Wah. Well, whatever the case was, it seemed as if they took the wrong time to come back. “Maybe we should’ve stopped to eat at the deli for a bit,” The soldier whined under his breath before a very, very familiar voice reached his ears… and made him quake in his boots. How could he not recognize Lieutenant Falkner’s voice!? Just the mere thought of her speaking to him was enough to rouse nightmares from the deepest recesses of his mind!

As such, Est pretty much hid himself behind Japeth and Breeze, especially as the former read the crappy letter that the hooded figures sent. “Wow, talk about bad artistry,” He joked but then shut his mouth when the Lieutenant gave him a harsh glare. Meh, it was true anyway. He bet he could make better drawings than whoever drew this map… thing. And look at those figures! The horror! Their heads were far bigger than their bodies! Granted, he may not have considered that whoever drew the five hooded people was aiming for the “chibi” style, so Est thought it was horrible all the same. Surely the neck couldn’t support that much weight…?

But anyway!

“Wow, so we’re going to the Dark Side now, huh? I mean, yeah, we are! I’m going to get the USB back, of course! Ha ha,” Est gulped when Falkner, after hearing her underling’s cheerful tone of voice, immediately shot yet another withering glare at the poor soldier and his other comrades. Thankfully, one of the humans told them to lead away and he quickly did so. “Off to the ports then!” They were going to have some trouble finding a pilot who would readily fly them into the Dark Side, but whatever. Anyway, it seemed like it wasn’t these humans’ first time to go there… Interesting. He was sure Queen Delirium had her guests stay in the bright, sunshiny place.

Fastforward to when they landed.

“Fruitcake shiminee jim!” Est howled after Japeth, far more incensed than the other soldier about the sacrilege done to the state-of-the-art aircraft machinery. “That’s it, Imma slap a ‘hooded figure’, whatever they call themselves!” He swung his fist in the air and shook it like an old man reprimanding a bunch of hooligans. Again, that spritely girl who suggested they get going earlier took the initiative to lead the group, though a few soldiers trailed behind her. They flipped on their flashlights as the sky grew darker and the trees got more gnarled and twisted, their dark boughs pinned to the ground as if their wizened branches were held down by some invisible fruit. Nobody seemed happy about the event, with Inadi really being a surly butt to some of the soldiers, so Est just kept quiet as he scouted ahead. He wasn’t going to talk unless spoken to, and didn’t really think he had anything to say to these humans who seemed to be more or less more invested with each other than their nobody companions.

As the humans bickered over bears and sweets and whatnot, Est sidled closer to Japhet and peered over the map. Agh, crappy drawing. It was better to refer to the other illustration. “I think we should turn left on that tree,” He chucked the end of his rifle towards a particularly large tree towards the end of the path they were trodding upon. You know, it really felt like something was watching them...

Leila spent most of her time on the airship sitting in a corner, anxiously tapping her heel repeatedly on the ground and biting her fingernails in attempts to suppress an imminent panic attack.

The dark side.

It had become one of those things that they didn’t talk about - and Leila herself refused to even recall her experiences back at the Stone of Sacrifice. Through her couple of months’ stay at the Queen’s place, her physical wounds had healed entirely, but despite her best efforts to stash them somewhere they could never be seen again, what she still remembered from her encounter with the witch refused to fade away as other memories did in Nowhere.

She didn’t dare react to any comments or conversation directed her way in fear that it would distract her from defying the urge to scream and run away.

But then again, they were on an airship. There’s just so far you can run from anything when you’re carried by a giant craft of metal hovering at the rim of the clouds.

As she looked out of the window, Leila nearly hoped that the airship would be forced to land, somehow, somewhere.

On second thought that was not the best of ideas.

* * * * *

Some commented that you get less afraid of something once you accept that reality that you have have no choice but to deal with it. Leila did not agree as that anxiousness only worsened after they landed, casting sight again upon the woods that marked their entrance to the dark side of Nowhere.

Leila breathed heavily as she stayed alert for any possible motion within the woods, stressing her focus on her sense of hearing as much as her sight because she really couldn’t see far into the darkness. Actually she was afraid to even look into the darkness.

Exposed on all sides, and everything looks the same. It didn’t take much to get horribly lost around here. That was a large part of why she was afraid of this kind of environment.

The constant chattering in the group made it harder, and her much more nervous.

“...Guys? Can you please not -”

She whispered, but decided halfway through that given the fact that a many members of the groups weren’t in good moods to begin with, she probably didn’t want to risk anything that would provoke even more hostility. She looked down at her feet and carried on walking, keeping her irritation and insecurity to herself.

Some soldiers turned on flashlights, leaving Leila wondering why they hadn’t done so earlier. And then she wasn’t exactly sure whether it actually made things better - being able to see a few steps in front of them came at the cost of eyes that are adjusted more to brightness and less to peering into the woods, where dangers potentially lay.

Leila tried persuading herself not to worry because they were travelling with experienced military personnel. They could be trusted. They were going to be okay.

That make her think about Avian and she suddenly felt like vomiting.

Leila gulped and took a few faster steps forward to catch up with Est.

“I think we should turn left on that tree,”

Est said as he jolted the end of his weapon forward in their path, towards a mass of crooked twigs and withering leaves.

That tree looks terribly familiar.

“No.”

A few in the group turned to look at her.

“S-sorry.” Snapping back to the present surroundings, Leila hastily apologized as she tried her best to shake the last remaining mental images of Leon temporarily out of her head.

She did not want to go near that tree. She did not want to go near anything related to the dark side, actually - but it felt like they were hours of hiking into the woods and there was terribly little she could do.

The surrounding forest fell eerily silent when conversations died down.

A chirpy whistle came from Niran as he trailed behind the group. The sweet, syrup-like drink one of the crew gave him really soothed his nerves. It was so good that he couldn't stop drinking after his first sip. Boy was he glad the Nobody was kind enough to give him a whole canteen full before they began their trek! Ran took another swig as he felt his spirits lift once more. Nothing was remotely scary anymore. Everything looked beautiful. He pondered about the different colors he noticed. The shades of blacks, purples and greys would be awesome if done using acrylic paint. He coughed a little and then burped.

"Cuse me!" He said jauntily. "Phew... my breath smells like I've been drinking."

He chuckled to himself while Est and Japhet study the map. Gosh he wished he could help everyone lighten up. Maybe offering them some of this awesome drink would help? He noticed the soldier indicating a particular tree with a rifle. Ran blinked blearly and nodded. The human wished to know how far they had to go before they reached their hosts' place.

Lelia said "No."

The older man wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders and smiled. Poor Lelia! She looked positively freaked out ... by something. Perhaps a little distraction would be good. Ran noticed a patch of brightly colored candy-like flowers growing. He released Lelia's shoulders and squatted down. He plucked a tiny pink bud and sniffed it. The smell and texture reminded him of a gum drop. So cute! The man put pastille into his mouth. He was savouring the sweet strawberry and cream flavor when someone whacked him at the back of his head.

Little Witch Nympha said "You meanie! Those flowers didn't do anything to you."

Ran choked and gagged as he clutched his throat. Finally after struggling for air, he managed to spit out the offending sweet. He rubbed his head tentatively as he turned to look at the cutest person he has ever seen. He wanted to reach over and pinch her cheeks. No matter how she tried to look angry, she was just soooo adorable.

"Sorry, little miss. I thought they were wild flowers."

Little Witch Nympha said "Little MISS!?! I'm evil I tell you. EVIL! If you aren't careful Imma gonna hex you."

One of the soldiers dropped his rifles accidentally and Nympha squealed. She bolted behind Ran. She peered nervously over his shoulders and ducked down again. Ran blinked. Evil... witch? The poor Nobody reminded him of a little child trying to be fierce. Almost like a chihuahua. She even eeeped when she caught sight of Lelia.

"If you say so..."



Nympha puffed up her cheeks once more. "I'm AM evil."

The walk through the woods was anything but pleasant. The airship's engine was destroyed, the soldiers were upset, the humans were upset, and crows flew above them eerily. Harper shuddered as memories of the witch came flooding back. One of the crows cawed loudly and he flinched, nearly stomping down on someone else's feet. His friends began to talk and the boy turned to look at Ace, "wait, you knew someone who was a murderer?" For a moment, he thought it was just a story, but then he remembered, it was Ace.

Back at Siren Lake, Ace had taught Jasper and Harper a thing about breaking and entering, and for a moment he stared at her, wondering what sort of life she lived back on earth. Ace was secretive when it came to her life before Nowhere, and he made it a point to ask her about her other adventures when he had the chance. "Ace is right," he didn't think the hooded figures would poison them, but then again, he didn't think Hakuren would die before him either. He gave both Toby and Ran a worried glance, then turned back to face Inadi. "Maybe we can get some answers out of them," he gave his friend a smile and recalled their promise to make sure everyone got home, Harper would have said more but he paused when Est mentioned turning at a tree.





"Don't slap them all, I want to get my hands one of them too," Japhet grumbled angrily beneath his breath. The last thing he wanted to do was babysit humans in the darkside. This place was dangerous and if some monster jumped out of nowhere, he doubted they'd be able to protect everyone. This was where witches lived too, right? He felt a shiver run down his spine, "we need to make sure they face the wrath of Breeze as well, that'll teach 'em to mess with state of the art tech." He raised his head and stared at what everyone else was staring at. The nobody arched an eyebrow in question, "Est,that has got to be the ugliest tree I've ever see—HOLD ME AND NEVER LET ME GO!" There was loud thwap and Japhet practically leaped into his fellow soldier's arms.

Harper gave Leila a reassuring smile, but as soon as Japhet yelled he reached for a sword that he no longer had.

There was no monster, no witch, just a strange nobody that had ducked behind Ran and a paler than usual Leila. He let out a relieved sigh and nearly sank to his knees, really, his frayed nerves couldn't take much more of this.



"Oh Japhet, look how the mighty have fallen!" Riley swung an arm around Jasper's neck, grinning from ear to ear at the poor Mechanic.

The mechanic was wrapped around Est like a blanket, his face several shades of red. He glared at the girl then gave Breeze an awkward chuckle, "please do not mention this to anyone in my platoon. I'll buy all your wares, I swear, just not a word...not a damned word." He walked back, put on a straight face (it was still as red as an apple) then turned to look at Nympha with a glare. Riley was still snickering and his hands clenched into fists.

"If you are evil then this is our lucky day," this was her fault! "We're part of the army and evil people get arrested!"

Nympha let out a shrill shriek, "NO! I didn't do anything!" Japhet took a step towards her and she ducked behind Toby and Leila, wrapping an arm around each of their necks. "Stand back! These are my hostages!" She wasn't dangerous at all and her choke hold felt more like a hug. She was shaking in her own shoes and Harper's expression shifted from one of worry to one of pity. "Hostages!" Nympha hissed.

Riley shook her head then turned to look at Jasper, "well, this is really, different."

Japhet wanted to slam his head into a rock, "Est, Breeze, who is this fool?" He pointed his flashlight at her face and she instantly let go of Toby and Leila. "Either you leave us in peace or I will FOR CELERY'S SAKE ARREST YOUR SORRY BUTT!" This was the last straw! He'd had enough!

"I'll curse you all!" She was shouting angrily, "I saw a turtle dragon not too far from here! AND I'LL SUMMON IT!"

Harper walked forward, making his way past the fuming Japhet. "We can ask her for directions," he felt sorry for the Nobody and he didn't want to see much more of this. "She might know where the hooded figures live," he approached the nobody but she leaped to her feet, yelling about how much of a powerful witch she was.

Riley rolled her eyes, "Harper, she's obviously crazy. We should just keep walking, right, gramps?"

"Turtle dragon!" She yelled as she threw both her hands forward.

"Uh, yeah, no." Riley looked at Est, ignoring the Nobodies yells. She was yelling turtle dragon repeatedly, each word louder in volume than the last. "So we turn at that tree, right, Est? It looks kind of like the tree on the map, so we might be on the right track. What do you think, Jasper..."

The ground beneath their feet shook and somewhere deep within the forest was a low guttural growl.

Nympha darted straight into Breeze, "I told you, the turtle dragon is coming." The ground shook again.

Harper turned to look at Est with wide eyes, "do turtle dragons actually exist?"

Another growl echoed through the forest and Riley looked at Leila, "no way..."

"I thought those things were extinct?" Japhet was fishing for his pistol, but what could a pistol do against a turtle dragon? Was it even a turtle dragon? "You, human with the spear," he was yelling at Inadi, "I want you to take the lead! Est, left flank! Breeze, take the right, I'll watch everyone's backs."

This was really happening, Riley bit down on her lip then forced a smile, "ready to tame another dragon, Leila?"

"RUN! RUN!" Nympha was yelling, and soon Japhet was joining in.

"You heard the crazy witch, run!" He waited for everyone to start moving, the growls grew louder and he ran too. The mechanic didn't know what they were running from, but he wouldn't be sticking around to find out.