Goombella blinked at his response. Not because he was calling her out, but because it sounded stupid. But... That was the point, wasn't it? She shifted her view, not responding for a moment. Which was a good thing, probably, as he had more to say.

"I guess you're right. What's he going to do, lynch us?" She said, somewhat jokingly, but then paused as she considered the fact he might actually try that. Nobody would actually let him do that, right? Right?

growl...

'Ugggghhhhhh.'

"W-Well, regardless..." She trailed off, having tried to change the subject, but stopped as she realized that she had nothing to really talk about with Mr. L. Now it just felt awkward.



"That's great, Guts!" Sans replied, watching eagerly as Gutsman was up to his antics. As he talked, though, Sans realized Gutsman might just not have the best... Views, for this situation. Sans' expression changed for the worst as Gutsman pulled out the tree. "G-Guts, that's not-" Sans stopped as Guts put the tree down, quite gently. Listening to the robot's retort, he sighed in relief. "Of course not! You wood'nt hit someone with a tree! ... Right?" Sans questioned, though, Gutsman was already doing his magic. Man, was he strong. Stronger than Alphys, even! Except without the awesome axe.

"What did you do?" Sans asked, stepping back. All he got was a "You'll see" look. He was concerned.

As the water shot out, Sans flailed his arms as he recoiled back, startled. "WHAT?!" He yelped, watching as the water descended towards King Pridemoore. Sans had to admit he was a little wet behind the ears when it came to this stuff, so maybe Guts had a good idea. But, at that moment, Sans came to a realization: He didn't have ears. So maybe this was actually really, really bad.

Only one way to find out.

Just before Jibanyan could voice his agreement with Fuma's idea in seeking out a good meal, his ears perked up as he similarly caught the faint sound of distress and the hard snap of metal caused him to flinch. The forest had been nothing but bad news for the cat Youkai. Between the strange beings that seemed to regularly emerge from it to the crazy frilled lizard 'Youkai', whose name was Skaarl as he had learned after another close encounter with its just as violent companion, Kled, Jibanyan considered the place to be nothing but dangerous.

It was then that Fuma brought his attention back to the hunter as the latter gave him a gentle pet, a kind gesture Jibanyan happily responded with a contented smile and a soft meow. It helped him relax, even if only a little bit. "I don't need anything, nyan," Jibanyan replied and shook his head, clearly not expecting anything in return for doing the man a favor. Pausing for a moment, Jibanyan glanced at the forest. Come to think of it, it had been sometime since he actually stepped foot into the forest and he thought that it was nigh time he actually went and had a look again, just to make sure that nothing funny, or scary, was making its way to the village.

"Actually, can I come with you, Fuma-san?" Jibanyan asked Fuma, looking at the hunter inquisitively. For a Youkai so small, Jibanyan wasn't actually lacking in courage, only the motivation for using it. "I want to make sure nothing strange is happening, nyan. Besides, with us going together, I can watch your back, nyan!" Jibanyan knew there wasn't a lot he could do for Fuma and that he was a capable warrior on his own, but he wanted to help his friend no matter what. Still, there was still a small part of him wondering if it would be wise for him to enter the forest considering its infamy.



Jinx couldn't argue with Amethyst on that point. Kled was a legitimate force to be reckoned with, compared to the ineffectual Pridemoor. Even the Noxian Yordle's ride had more natural presence than Pridemoor. "Good point," she casually replied, a manic grin on her face. "At least he knows how to have fun!" Jinx contentedly sighed as she recalled one encounter with the hillbilly Yordle and giggled at the images of Skaarl fleeing after Kuro decided to 'show some sparks' and Kled's angry gibberish as the poor Yordle was, to put it politely, promptly deserted. With Kled and Skaarl, Jinx normally had very few reason to play nice and that was why she rather liked them, though it didn't seem that everyone else shared the same sentiment about the cantankerous Yordle and his trusted steed.

The redhead's train of thought soon came to a quick stop when she felt the black familiar on her head start chewing on her hair, a sign that it might be time to grab a bite. Pushing herself off the wall, Jinx turned to Amethyst and gestured with her thumb towards the general direction of the center of the village. "Think we should check on our beloved Sheriff?" she asked the purple deputy. "Knowing him, he's probably busy doing his thing... whatever that is, or he's just making tacos again," she added dismissively. Shiro, still resting on Amethyst's head, then piped up with a thought to which Jinx responded with a grimace.

"Yeah, I hope not, unless he wants a food poisoning outbreak during the royal birthday..."

His eyes flashed open as he rose off his back. He sat in a world of darkness, no light to reflect on his golden armor. The man scanned his chest: it was clean of broken taco shells and ketchup. Before he could rejoice however, gray clouds parted before him as a horrofic monstrosity floated through an ethereal light.



"Alright, champ, come on," It waved it's scythe at Pridemoor as he scooted away in fright, "I'm a busy man."
"W-What?! I can't die! My birthday is in two weeks!"
"... call today your 'Deathday' then? Last guy had a cupcake, I mean, you can have it."
Pridemoor, in denial-fueled rage, jumped to a stand as he prodded a finger into the spirit's chest. "You're telling me I died because I tripped on dirt?"
"No. From embarrassment."
"What?!" The king's voice raised an octave as he reeled back from him, "That's not- That's not even possible!"
"Yeah it is." The spirit sat on it's scythe. As he did so, his form rocked back and forth like it was a swing. "Increased heart rate. Too much sugar from all the Ketchup. And, more prominent, the feeling of actually wanting to die. You know, the moments where you spew food all over your date's face and you're like, 'good golly I just wanna die!'. You think those requests don't get heard? I'm busy but I also keep an ear out."

"Well, I don't want to die!"
"... sigh, come on man. I brought out the scythe and everything."
"I don't want to die!"
"It's really hard to get it out. I have to float like into three other dimensions to pickup the thing."
"I don't!"
"You were french-kissed by a robot, dude. Do you want to go back to that?"
"I DON'T WANT TO-"

"Fine," The spirit rolled its sockets as it flipped through a large, gray dusty book, "We'll just say you passed out from the trip. Good for your character, right? This was all a hallucination anyway."
"It was?"



Right as he regained consiousness, he was thrown into a tumble by a large blast of water. He slammed against the side of the building, and when it ended, slid down it like a rag doll. It cleaned his armor of the mushed-up tacos at least. When the water weakened to a drizzle, he secured his helmet over his mouth frantically. "How dare you! I-I j-just- Give me my cape!" Pridemoor marched across the drenched soil, draped his soggy red robe over his shoulders, and stormed down the path.

Where Pridemoor was struck against the wall, a gooey, wet, brown blob stuck mushed next to it. There were dots of color in it, like sprinkles, and sticking out of it was something resembling a candle.

With how his mustache bristles it can be safely assumed that something as provoked the thief's anger (or more likely irritation).

"Are you for real?" Mr L snaps at the heroine glorified sidekick. "'Xactly how long have you been skipping meals? For someone whose an egghead you sure are dumber than a Twhomp. You got rocks for brains, ya little Chestnut? Are whatever diplomas you got just for show? Ya gotta eat or you're more useless than a... what do ya call them, podoboos? Firefoxes? Lava bubbles? You know, those living balls of fire that keep skippin' around in the lava. More useless than one of them in the middle of a snowy mountain!"

He fishes out one of his spare Shroom Shakes. The container marked with a stylized blue Mushroom might look a little dinged up from use but they're cleaned compulsively both before and after each refill and consumption. There will come a time when they cannot be reused but until then the human is going to get as much use out of each before rendering them to scrap. It is thrown (not tossed, thrown) at the lady Goomba.

"You owe me for this. Shrooms ain't exactly hard to come by if you know where to look but there's a lot of time and effort put into these drinks." That infuriating cocky smirk is back. "I'm a damn sight better cook than any of you losers. I could just let you starve but then someone who don't know what they're doin' would wreck that pathetic collection of books you got since I got better things to do than clean that place every day."

"..." Goombella looked down at the not-so-faraway ground, listening to him go on. He wasn't wrong; She couldn't really stomach Sans' food, and had a difficult time finding it herself. She didn't really like asking for help, considering herself independent. But at this point, she figured her back was against the wall. "Firefoxes," Goombella said instinctively, identifying the creature Mr. L spoke of. The guy wasn't wrong, though he was harsh; Overall, it was a surprising thing to hear from the likes of him.

Suddenly, he threw something at her! She yelped as the container dinged off of her hat and fell to the ground. Opening her eyes, she began to realize what it was as he explained. But now it was on the ground, and she was supposed to grab it. without arms.

Looking back at the man, she didn't want to give him the chance to see her try to pick it up. He'd laugh, she'd get mad, and then he'd probably snatch it back. But... She had no alternatives, aside from asking him to pick it up and actually hand it too her; Which he for one, wouldn't do, and two, he'd make fun of her more.

As she did what slight bending over a Goomba could do to open the container, Mr. L was still talking. But, instead of giving him much notice, she had picked up the container in her mouth and looked up to the sky, chugging the shake down. 'Finally, something edible!' She thought, having to admit it was the best thing she'd had since getting here. After she was finished, she dropped the container to the ground, gasping. A momentary smile of satisfaction crossed her face, before looking back up at Mr. L.

"That's... Fair." She replied, skeptical of what he'd want. His reasons weren't the best, but he still gave her the shake. She had finished it too fast to even think of backing out of his offer, so now she was a bit... Trapped.


"You're alive! Thank goodness!!" Sans exclaimed, though quickly became silent as Pridemoor stormed away. Sockets widening, Sans looked at the wall. Unsure of what it was, his first instinct was to walk over to it, and smell it. "Smells kinda' old." He admitted, before pulling a bit of the brown off the wall, and shoving it into his mouth. "Wow! It tastes so good!" He said, amazed, as he ate more.

And more.

And more.

After practically cleaning the wall, the candle fell to the ground, and Sans turned, satisfied. "I wonder if he had any more of that! I wonder if I could make some! That would be gr-"

Suddenly, Sans paused. He stood there, eye sockets empty. He began shaking, and his bony fingers twitched.

There was a moment to just watch, but it wasn't long enough to do much of anything before he shot to life. His eyes were brighter than ever, and suddenly, he ran back inside his house at speeds nobody had seen from him before.

For those that didn't know, Sans was a very hyper individual. Hyper enough that his energy seemed almost endless. And when someone added something sugary, such as cake, or honey, to his diet... He couldn't handle it.

"MUST. REPLACE. TACOS!" He yelled, almost like a battle-cry. In his kitchen, he was flying from counter to counter, cooking faster than ever before. Before anyone knew it, all of the tacos Pridemoore had destroyed were replaced. And once they were, they, along with all the other tacos, were bagged up.

And Sans bolted.

"HereyougoGutsmanthanksforthehelpbye!" Sans said in a quick, almost impossible to understand voice as he passed the foreman multiple tacos as he passed by, zooming down the road. Strait past King Pridemoore, who also had been given some tacos.

"Mustdelivertacostoeverybodytheymightresorttoeatingsomethingnotmadebyamastercheflikemyself! THEHORROR!"

Flying down the road, he whisked past Goombella and Mr. L, causing the former at least to spin in circles. Nearly toppling over, Goombella shook herself and looked past Mr. L with raised eyebrows.

"What just happened?"

At first since Jinbanyan seemed a bit too innocent to witness the dangers of the forest and in his Fuma's mind traveling with him was out of the question. However Fuma reasoned with himself that Jinbanyan though he outwardly looked like nothing more than a mere child was a Youkai, he might've been even older than Fuma's ancestor for all he knew. As another confirmation he knew that Youkai themselves held more than enough power to survive on their own and if he allowed the cat youkai to accompany him his chances of survival would be tenfold. The key reminder here to Fuma was to not judge a book by it's cover. He had made that mistake once in his adventure and was not about to make it again. Breathing in Fuma smiled once again, a look of duty covered his eyes. "Yes you may, we'll have better chances if we stick together! Afterall, I didn't complete my adventure alone." Fuma remembered his older brothers and their sacrifices, though they were gone they were with him in spirit.

"Hop on my back. We will go into that forest with high hopes and emerge victorious! Besides, as a child it was a requirement for every memeber of the Getsu clan to make their way through Jukai." It would take more than a cavalier and a beartrap to scare the hardened warrior. Fuma wouldn't let the scariness of the forest get to him and it would be cold day in hell before he would let a friendly Youkai such as Jinbanyan meet his end by a maniac. Fuma looked toward the forest, he could smell the scent of spiritual energy. Something was there, and something was hurt. The sooner he left for the forest with the cat youkai in tow the better. If they ran into the maniac bear-trap placer they'd deal with it the best they could. His resolve strengthened Fuma took a deep breath and smiled a big smile.



Seeing the Sheriff go into a sugar filled haze Gutsman simply smiled. Cake was the best medicine for disappointment after all. In the second that he thought about it he had a whole bunch of tacos in his hands. He was elated, these would make great energy crystals! "Thanks Sheriff, you have a good da- Oh. He's gone." The robot watched as the skeleton eagerly bounded down the road in almost what seemed like a flash of light. Gutsman looked around for a half-minute and then realized that his tree contraption was still present. He grasped his chin and then a small cartoonish light bulb lit up above his head. "Alright! I've caused so mch property damage which is kind of upsetting for a foreman!" He said it to himself, it was time to do something productive today. Quickly he ran over to where the tree had been placed and began to dig a hole around it with his super arm.

About 10 minutes later Gutsman had dug a sucsessful moat and had placed begun placing the leftover wood from Sans fence in it. He then pondered once again and with some chutzpah ran quickly towards a pile of rocks that had been placed by Fuma a day earlier. He began placing the stones in places all over the area he had created and after another 10 minutes he had created a perfectly circular pool in which water began to pour in. He took out a small clipboard and began writing a note. Once done he smiled and walked off towards home, it was time to take a power nap!

The note read, "Hey FUMA can you cut this in the shape of the Sheriff? Thanks!" - Foreman Gutsman, your friendly neighborhood- y'know.

Happy to receive a chance to prove himself, Jibanyan nodded and climbed onto Fuma's leg, then crawled his way up his back and onto his shoulder where the Youkai rested the bulk of his light weight. His flame-tipped tails flicked with excitement and his yellow eyes remained bright with courage as he looked at the ominous forest. With Fuma by his side, Jibanyan felt that the forest wasn't as frightening as it was before. His desire to assist Fuma in his self-appointed mission seemed to have given him a boost in confidence, though it remained to be seen whether or not the little Youkai could translate that rise in morale into meaningful contribution in battle should push came to shove.

"Let's go, nyan!" Jibanyan replied and raised one paw in the air. "We're ready to take on anyone and anything, nyan!" For now, whatever plan he had in mind could wait. An adventure and a mystery awaited in the woods beyond and Jibanyan was ready to tackle the challenge. No Youkai-eating lizard would scare him now. At least, that was what he was trying to tell himself over and over again.



No sooner had Jinx suggested that she and Amethyst check on Sans than the redhead picked up a distinct, yet faint, noise of someone running like the wind, followed by a somewhat more audible noise of the word "taco" being repeated at high speed. "Hey, Kuro, Shiro! Did you hear that?" Evidently they did, judging from how the black and white familiars started looking around from their perches, wondering where the noises came from. It was only a bit later that the three noticed a blue, gray and white blur moving towards them. Before Jinx could even get a word in, the redhead yelped as the blur flew past her and Amethyst, nearly throwing Kuro off her head and Shiro off the purple gem's. "Hey, watch it!" Jinx yelled, clenching her fingers and waving whatever she was holding at the blur that was already off in the distance.

... Wait.

It took Jinx a second to realize that she was actually holding something now, that something being a small bag of tacos, enough to feed her and the two familiars for the morning. Putting two and two together, the facts finally sunk into her mind. "... Was that Sans?" she asked nobody in particular, an incredulous look on her face. Kuro's chatter seemed to affirm her guess. After all, only Sans was obsessed enough to actually consider tacos and only tacos to be a good breakfast meal. Then came another question, courtesy from Shiro. Sans was a cheerful and energetic individual, but even the white familiar thought that he was a tad more energetic than usual and she wondered if something had happened to him. Kuro certainly didn't know what had transpired, judging from the light shake of his body. "Yeah, I have no clue," Jinx concurred, sounding just as curious, before immediately deciding on what to do.

With a wide, manic grin, she tossed the bag of tacos towards Kuro, letting the latter hold said bag with his jagged maw, before taking a sprint to go after the runaway Sheriff with Shiro and Kuro following suit. Turning to Amethyst, the redhead waved and shouted "Catch you later! We'll be having a nice chat with good ol' Sheriff!" With that, Jinx bolted down the road while Shiro turned around to wave Amethyst goodbye before catching up with the excited redhead.

If Mr L was honest with himself he can't exactly ping why he was so bothered by her hunger. The noise was irritating but he could always walk away or taunt Goombella by eating something in front of her. That he gets to watch a Goomba try (and fail) to grab items is amusing in itself. The bozos that joined up around when the Count snagged the Chaos Heart aren't exactly talkers... or interesting for that matter. That Mr L gets to hold it over her it fun and a debt owed is fantastic! It's not like he's a nice person and wants to help her out of the goodness of his heart. (Ha! Goodness.)

He was about to say something when a blue thing went barreling past. "Whatever it was, it's the wrong color to be an oversized rat." Mr L mutters in a daze. Like Goombella he had been spun around a bit but his luck held out and he regained balance rather quick. "I dunno about you but I don't got much interest in finding out what it was. Just... keeping far out of its way. Like with a Chomp that got free from its chain."

Wait. Since when did the thief get something in his hand? Is he going klepto? It's... He turns almost as green as the scarf. It's a taco. There's only one dumbass in the area that Mr L knows thinks these are the best thing in the world. Only one brainless idiot that thinks his cooking is any good. Only one numbskull whose pantry actually made him sick.

Mr L throws the taco away with a yelp commonly associated with touching hot oil or a static shock. "WHAT ARE YA TRYIN' TO DO, KILL ME WITH YER BAD COOKIN'?" he screams after the (long gone) Monster.

Sans in his current state wasn't what anyone would call 'stable'. He was acting on every thought, and that was it. When he noticed Jinx was after him, he looked ahead and blushed with embarrassment. "She must want more tacos!" He assumed, worried. He didn't have enough made! There were still people who hadn't gotten their tacos today! And as much as he liked Jinx's HiJinx, he couldn't just leave a friend without food! He had to get away, and find those few who were left that were tacoless. According to the list in his currently messed up mind, Jibanyan and Fuma were the only ones left.

But where were they?

I'msorrrrrry!" Sans called back, picking up the pace and moving just a bit faster. His bag flailed wildly behind him, as he tried to figure out how to manage to get farther ahead with houses quickly approaching him. Then he had a brilliant idea.

Just by the sheer thought of them, his two Gaster Blasters swooped from the sky, and to his side. They both looked sort of nervous about his current condition, but weren't going to argue. Sans gestured for them to fly in front of him; And as they did, he jumped on top of the two Gaster Blasters like rollerskates. Only, these skates had one very extra feature.

The two Gaster Blasters turned, glaring back at Jinx. Though not intended to be aimed at her, they opened their mouths, and the small skull-looking devices fired lasers. They approached Jinx at an alarming speed, and sent Sans jetting forward faster than ever, the skeleton not even able to think strait enough to realize he just attacked someone. Unintentionally attacked, but still.

As he soared ahead, all that could be heard was a triumphant laugh of "Mweh Heh Heh!"



Noticing Mr. L's reaction to the tacos, she looked down and noticed she had some at her feet. Noting she was fine, she sort of just decided... To ignore them. That'd be for the best, she was sure. "Well, judging by the... evidence." She notes, mildly grossed out. "It seems Sans is a little more off the handle than usual. I mean, when did he get that fast? I have to rewrite my log now." She seemed to not care that Sans was flying around giving people tacos; Instead, editing her Tattle Log with his new speed was more important.

"I... Maybe a stray animal will pick these up, or something? Is that cruel to nature?" She pondered, hesitantly looking at the tacos. She wasn't picking it up; she'd die first. By something super terrible she wouldn't describe.

Though, this thought was taken out of her mind as she heard an explosion in the distance; causing her to look in the direction of the noise. "Now what was THAT?" The Goomgirl questioned, both concerned and intrigued. She just hoped whatever it was, Sans wasn't involved. Though, now that she thought about it, considering the odds...

"Oh, Sans.." She muttered, head shaking. "Just what kind of trouble did you get into...?"

What happened next was a blur to Amethyst. Shortly after Jinx said they should meet with Sans, a blur past by, dropping countless tacos in it's wake. Amethyst stared at him as he passed by in awe, excitedly shouting "Ahhhh yeah!" and raising a fist in the air. If it was Sans, he was certainly acting different than he normally did, which in and of itself was saying something, though she couldn't quite place her gem on it. It was only after Jinx had left that Amethyst took notice that there were several tacos on the ground from San's escapade, and she picked one up from the ground, immediately eating it whole and licking her lips before grabbing another. She had eaten several before she let out a loud burp, patting the area that would be a stomach on a regular person.

"That was good, he even put rocks in it!"
The rocks had come from when Jinx ran off, having kicked several onto the tacos as she left. Wondering what to do now, Amethyst got an interesting idea to say the least. Her body glowed and began to morph with only her gem being distinguishable as anything in the light, and when she finished, she appeared as a purple version of Sans, with her own color scheme of course. Her scarf was now purple, her shirt white, her pants black and finally her shoes purple with her gem located directly under the scarf, visible to all. Deciding she looked rather good, she began to run off in the direction that Sans and Jinx had, wondering if this would cause any confusion. Probably not, seeing as the bones were purple instead of white, but it could lead to something interesting, right?

As he walked along the stone path with his youkai friend Fuma stared around at the entrance of the forest. He could hear almost everything, the sounds of emerald greens tapping ever so gently against the bark of elder wood trees, a babbling yet tiny brook and finally the sound of cold metal snapping once. But after it did, there was nothing that made a sound. Had one of them gone off randomly? Fuma thought for a moment, he readied his Hadoken and slowly entered the forest. Using his sense of direction he ventured straight down a simple path that led straight towards an underbrush of various plants, mushrooms and logs. As he rounded a bend of an elder wood he sensed something, stopping in his tracks the young warrior peered his head around for a quick moment. If anything would pop up he would holster himself and wait for an opportunity but after four minutes of waiting nothing did. He peered around the corner once again, there in a beartrap was something that Fuma had never seen before. Slowly he walked over and inspected what he had laid his eyes on.

He was sure it wasn't what made the cry earlier, as it was too large to have made such a high-pitched cry. What he saw was a demon from his world, to be exact it was a monster known as an Axe Ox. It had been dead for quite sometime as it's skin had been paled out due to lack of air. It's head was no longer pulsating with read as normal and Fuma inspected more the beartrap had trapped the Ox by the leg. It had bled out afterwards because it had tried to pull itself along, Fuma noticed a crudely tied rope that was tied onto a metal stake that was pounded into the ground. Whoever was placing these traps meant business and now it was starting to show. A grim situation but Fuma was used to it, the outskirts of Oni Islands had Inunaki Village where atrocities went on daily. "Don't look at it too much Jinbanyan-kun, we need to find that creature. My guess is that it's still alive, if it was crying out some more it would've meant that it struggled and didn't cauterize the wound it was given by the trap."

Fuma looked around once again, scanning the horizon. The maniac could be upon them now, the best bet for him was to find the creature, potentially save it and then come back to the village before the forest's resident knew what hit them. "Don't be afriad my friend. Let's press on, we need to find that creature and then leave." Fuma said with a serious tone.



Whistling to himself as he passed around town looking around for things to do Gutsman idly stamped around the cobblestone path. In the distance he saw two people talking, wasn't the one on the right the historian? Ah, he needed some new blueprints! Perhaps she could provide him with some, after the fiasco in the Sheriff's yard the human mind couldn't possibly think about how he would shatter expectations this time. With a tilt of hat Gutsman walked down the path waving his hand when he noticed that the blue blur bolted by with a bunch of tacos falling down. He needed more compost anyway, his eyes darted from every which way so that he wouldn't get knocked over next by the bolt of blue. He had been on an E-Tank rush before and Dr. Light documented "DISASTROUS RESULTS" so he wanted to steer clear. Now it was back to meeting the two people a little ways away from him.

In the most eloquent way possible Gutsman went into a nearby shop and in no time at all came out with a big piece of lumber that he would later use for making a giant mailbox for the town. He winked at the screen and did a thumbs-up and what followed was some comedic laugh track. He walked along the stone road waving to the historian and going to the scene of tacos everywhere. Quickly he tipped his hat again, "Good morning you two, lovely weather we're having although I suppose the forecast called for-" he picked up a taco off the ground and inspected it, "-Bell Peppers with a chance of Queso." The studio audience laughter echoed again, "Besides that, good day Ms. Historian! What were you and the L'ster over here talking about? Something important?"

Being carried meant that the cat Youkai had no control over where the warrior decided to go and poor Jibanyan had to look away from the remains of the Axe Ox that Fuma had stumbled onto lest he threw up the remains of his stomach content all over his friend and ally. The sight alone scared him and the pungent smell of the remains of the demon wasn't exactly pleasant either. In hindsight, at least it seemed that it was only him that had been spirited away to the unknown land. He didn't dare imagine how things would have been more different had other Youkai from his world been put in his place and he shuddered to think of how savage the forest dwellers had to be.

As Fuma moved on to seek out the source of the noise, Jibanyan's paws held onto a piece of his armor. "L-Let's hope that the lizard Youkai doesn't find us, nyan," he said to him, the cat now spooked, but still determined to be of help to the red-headed warrior. His ears twitched as he intently listened to the faintest of sound: the crunch of grass under Fuma's feet, the rustling of leaves and the calm breaths of the man carrying him right now. "Fuma-san, what do we do if we find what we're looking for?" Jibanyan asked, hoping to get some idea as to whether or not the creature Fuma wanted to find was friendly.



Jinx narrowed her brows when Sans suddenly apologized out of the blue. She hadn’t even had a chance to call him yet and he was already bolting down the street like there was no tomorrow. Her confusion was promptly answered when the skeleton’s trusty weapons descended from the sky, allowing him to ride it with ease. Jinx found the Gaster Blasters to be rather cool-looking, though Shiro and Kuro still had that special and irreplaceable place in her heart, had often thought about how exciting it was to watch them fire their lasers at their target.

She didn’t like it when they fired at her though.

She was fortunate that one missed on the account of striking a spot just inches away from her feet, but the other laser beam scored a target, hitting her point blank before she could dodge and sending her flying with a yelp. Jinx could certainly take a beating or two, but she’d prefer to be prepared to actually take said beating.

Hissing in pain as the redhead pulled herself up, she glared at the dust cloud that was settling down from Sans’ burst of speed. "Oh, so that’s what you’re sorry for..." Jinx’s casual voice promptly took a more menacing tone. Kuro angrily shouted and chattered, clearly not too happy about his partner being the target of San’s Gaster Blaster regardless of the Sheriff’s intent. Dusting herself, Jinx balled her hands into hard fists, therefore proving that she's not down for the count, and turned to Kuro and Shiro.

"Kuro, Shiro, change of plans," she said to the two familiars as a bright red hue began to emanate from her body and engulf her whole being.

When said light dissipated into a burst of stars and glimmering glitter, Jinx looked down the road where Sans had left, now dressed in her gold-and-red-accented Star Guardian uniform: a white and black top with a big red star in front of her top symbolizing the power granted to her by the First Star, accompanied by red shorts, black knee socks and white shoes. On her left arm was a white armor gauntlet that reached her elbow while her right arm was adorned with long black fingerless glove. Her pigtails now had additional tufts of hair held by the uniform’s circlets.

"Time to give the Sheriff a wake-up shot," the redhead said, her grin now holding a clear hint of excitement. The black familiar, eager for a fight, shifted into a big black cosmic rocket launcher, though one that substituted actual rockets with bolts of red star energy, and was immediately primed and ready to fire. With that, Jinx bolted down the road, Kuro in hand and Shiro flying by her side. Now she finally had the perfect excuse to have fun for the day.

Unlike Goombella, the thief just can't believe that Sans's speed is anything natural. No. The dumb bag of bones is probably using a boost. Can't be a Super Star or everyone would be dead. Wrong colors for Rainbow Star. No ice so not the skates. Dash Pepper? No, he'd look more like a Red Bones then. Slow Flower? Academics aren't the only ones with near-encyclopedic knowledge of useful items and the world at large. Adventurers and thieves alike should know these things if they are any good. "Then again who knows what kind of crazy crap is coming from everyone else's worlds..." In the end while mostly useless the thought exercise helped to calm Mr L from 'justified' outrage to merely annoyed.

The human gives the scholarly goomba a bit of a look as she scribbles in her handy dandy notebook (that he really has to go through sometime to see if there's anything useful to him in there). "Who cares about some dumb animals? If they can't tell the food's toxic, that's their problem. And if you're worried about Mr Naive Children's Cartoon Character, don't. Whatever shitty Power Up he's using will wear off and he'll be back to his usual annoying self."

Speaking of idiots, that giant robot stomped into their vicinity. He's not as bad as O'Chunks but stars above he's... Ztars and curses, what's with the huge chunk of lumber? "It was a good morning until everyone else woke up." Mr L grumbles. Between Pridemoor and Sans the morning has been pretty much ruined. Here's hoping noon is - ... okay yeah, if the morning is any sign things are just going to get worse. "First of all: why you got a laugh track going? This ain't a sitcom. Actually, I don't really care so don't answer that. More importantly it aint L'ster. Mr L. Mister. L. Not L'ster. Not Luigi. Mister L. Why's it so hard for any of you to keep my name straight?" The hypocrisy is not entirely missed by him.

Sans liked to consider himself fine, as of that moment. He just jetted ahead; There was no way she'd gain on him after that, right? He could give her more tacos later, she had to wait for now! He could make as many as she wanted, but for the moment, he had a job to do! The skeleton continued ahead, but, when he looked back, he noticed Jinx was gaining on him. And she was holding something very, very, scary looking.

Sans began to sweat nervously. Whatever Jinx had, Sans knew one thing for sure: It'd make something go boom. "What is she doing?!" Sans asked himself, in a panic. But then he grinned idiotically, realizing what was happening: She just loved his food that much! That she was willing to shoot him down just to get more! "Mweheh... I-I'm so flattered!" Sans said to himself, blushing a bright blue across his face. He placed a hand upon his chest, feeling his very SOUL reacting to such love for his five-star cooking expertise! "What is this feeling...?" He muttered to himself, clenching his shirt.

This passion! The wish to feed her as much as her heart desired! Could this be the legendary emotion... Love♥?

"I've got to find them!" Sans said to himself, more DETERMINED than ever. "Do not fret, my taco loving love♥!" Sans shouted, laughing with his hands on his sides. "The Sansational Sans will shower you with as much food as you desire! Just consider the others first~♥"

Sans continued ahead, heading towards the forest now. He hadn't seem them anywhere on the streets; So that was the next best place to look! Sure, Scary Ol' Kled was in there, but Sans was sure a taco would fix his attitude right up if it came down to it!



Figuring L had a fair enough look at it, she had to wonder what exactly sent Sans into his current state. But it was hard to think, with Gutsman's generic laugh track. "Oh, good morning, Gutsman!" She greeted, glad to at least have one of the more polite villagers around today. Guts had a few loose bolts, but he was quite the gentleman when he wanted to be! If it wasn't for him, she'd never have gotten those bookshelves repaired.

Rolling her eyes at Mister L's comment, she opened her tattle log momentarily, flipping through the pages until she reached "L".

Luigi went by many names from many people; Mostly due to most people not knowing who the poor guy was. She had learned quite a few over her interactions with the Brothers, and was glad she wrote them down, as they occasionally gave her things to use back whenever he was an insulting jerk (Which, was pretty much always.)

"Right, as if anyone is going to giving what you do to us, 'Mister Greenie.'" She retorts, looking back at her book. 'All of these have the word 'green' in them. I guess that's all they had to identify him with, huh...?'

Suddenly, she snickers with laughter, looking into the tattle log with her face turning almost pink-ish. 'I forgot all about this one!' She thought to herself, tears forming.

It was a very old nickname Luigi had been given. This was way before she came into the picture, but it amused her, nonetheless.

"Pffft... Long John Spaghetti...!" She says aloud, trying to not burst into laughter.

The deeper one entered the forest, the quieter it got. Sunlight would dim, sounds of nature would cease, and the trees grew closer and closer together. The only source of illumination came from needle-thin beams of light that found it's way past the endless sky of leaves. Even the more darker, vile creatures of the forest seemed no longer present. It was as if the forest was as empty as the town they lived in.

"CHAAAAAAAAAAARGE!!!"

Only a few yards away from the duo, camouflaged within thick trees, a shadow twice the size of a man staggered back before them. The hulking monstrosity swatted the air in front of itself, like a bee attack. But ultimately, the beast fell with a quaking defeat, trembling the ground around it. With it's form motionless, the small creature continued to drive its axe into the monster's chest. Again and again and again and again. Finally, the axe stayed in, its attacker finally through with his pin cushion. Silence filled the forest once more, save for the faint panting of the tiny warrior. He sat crossed-legged on the limp arm of his kill, wiping away the blood that got on his hat.

Then his gaze, or his good eye, met with two other figures hidden in the trees. His back erected. Two shadows. Two intruders.

Fuma heard the sound that most Onis used to yell, "Deeeennnnnnnkaaaaaa!!!" (Charge!) he used to here it all the time on the isles when he entered the caves. He saw it charge forward and take down what Fuma recognized to be a demon from another world, a Giant Golem. It took the duo no effort to take it down, Fuma knew that without the Hadoken's full power there was no way he could take this maniac. Realizing his odds were against him Fuma began to plot while doing the thing he had been trained so well to do. "When in danger stay calm." The words of his older brother echoed in his mind. He looked back at Jinbanyan and in an instant, hushed him, "Be quiet. Don't make a sound and please do not cry. Simply stay silent and I'll get us out of this." Fuma began to take off his large Taiko drum from his back and turned turned around ever so slightly, scanning the overgrowth for anything that could be used when he saw it. There was a large, but noticeable brass charm hanging on a tree nearby, perfect. Fuma began to rear back his hand and with a fell swoop he banged the drum as loud as he could. An echo of noise resounded through the entire forest as an image of noise flew from the drum and hit the chime square in the center. The loud noise it made at such a frequency would probably distract the mount for just about enough time.

"Hold on tight!" He yelled to Jinbanyan as he readied half of his strength in his knees, once he was sure the cat youkai was on tight he jumped upward and span around. The Demonic Spinning top was working it's magic as Fuma leaped above into the canopy. Quickly he began jumping from tree to tree, still hearing the faint cries as the hunter made his way past the brush. He looked behind him to see if anyone was giving chase, so far it looked like no one. He was nearing his goal as he could see faintly ahead towards another clearing. He finally laid his eyes on it, standing with her leg caught in a bear trap was a creature from Fuma's world that was well known for aiding on his quest. A Jiangshi, with black hair and pure white skin. She was kneeling but was still conscious, not skipping a beat Fuma rushed over to her with Hadoken in one hand and some tape in another. "Jinbanyan-kun, keep checking her vitals. I need to fix this wound quick and if you hear anything, tell me immediately. I'm not about to let us both die out here, and I'm not about to let that maniac kill another innocent creature!" What Fuma was doing right now surely seemed crazy towards an outsider, a human helping a monster who could probably snap his neck in one blow- all the while a determined maniac general and his mount were rushing towards them. But Fuma knew his duty, he knew his code, he had to uphold his sense of dignity. As the feeling of dread washed over him, his armor began to rustle a little bit and a pair of eyes began to dart around it's surroundings.

Putting aside the loud scream Jibanyan let loose as he soared through the canopy on Fuma's shoulder, the cat surprisingly managed to keep some of his composure intact as the redhead came to a stop. In front of him, he could see an injured Youkai and Fuma promptly wasted no time in tending to her injuries. Jibanyan knew there was nothing he could do about the trap or the injured Youkai, so he did as he was told and kept his ears up, staying as close to the Jiangshi as possible. At the very least, he hoped that the presence of another friendly Youkai could prevent her from lashing at him and Fuma.

Being a cat, Jibanyan was gifted with superior senses in line with his feline ability and one of those senses was his hearing. The Youkai listened intently for the slightest rustle of grass, hoping that he and Fuma wouldn't be ambushed in the open plains. So far, it would seem that Kled and Skaarl hadn't caught up with them yet, but it would only be a matter of time until they got here, so the cat Youkai couldn't help but feel anxious. Glancing behind his shoulder, he flinched and quickly turned away from Fuma as he caught sight of the eyes of his armor moving around, a sure sign that Fuma was absolutely on high alert. "That armor always scares me, nyan," he muttered to himself, sounding more crept out than outright frightened.

True to his fears, it was only a matter of time before Kled and Skaarl finally gave chase and Jibanyan could hear the lizard dashing on its two feet. However, it wasn't the fact that they were giving chase that caught Jibanyan by surprise. "They're way too fast, nyan!" he exclaimed in a fit of panic, realizing that the sounds of Skaarl's steps were coming towards their direction faster than he had anticipated. Turning to Fuma, he wasted no time panicking. "Fuma-san, they're coming, nyan!" the jittery Youkai alerted the warrior.



As she raced down the street with Kuro on her shoulder, Jinx couldn’t help but mutter a baffled "Huh?" after Sans made it clear that he was completely out of his skeletal mind. Shiro chirped and chattered, sharing her sentiments with the redhead. It seemed that she wasn’t alone in thinking that something must had happened to Sans’ sense of perception, along with his already considerable ego.

"Agreed. The sooner we knock some sense into him, the better, hopefully before he kills anyone with his food or his toys," Jinx remarked, eyes focused on the skeleton. By tapping into her Star Guardian power, she managed to keep apace with the runaway Sheriff for now, but she was on her feet while Sans was on his Gaster Blasters. In times like this, she wished that she still had her power of flight; she could have easily kept up with him had that been the case.

It was then that she passed three familiar figures. Though she wasn’t too close to them, she was in good terms with at least two of them while the third one made good target practice from time to time.

"Hi, Miss Goomy! Hi, Gutsy! Hi, Mr. L-ame!" Jinx greeted in quick succession as she ran past, Shiro waving at them as she flew past before turning back to following Jinx head-on into the forest. It wouldn’t be the redhead’s first visit into the mysterious forest anyway and, should they encounter the cantankerous Kled and scaredy Skaarl, they were prepared for mayhem.

Glancing back, Shiro then noticed a purple figure going in their general direction and wondered who it could be, but she didn’t exactly had the time to ponder. For now, her focus should be on keeping an eye on Jinx and Kuro and so she turned her sights on the path ahead.

Luigi was loath to swear and would become quite embarassed if he let his temper get out of hand. So he developed a habit. One his brother would chide him from time to time (but he hardly any better). He swore in Italian rather than plain English. Between this and dropping into Italian for somewhat private conversations with his brother during his adventures, Luigi was quite lucky that most of the Mushroom Kingdom either never picked up on the language or chose to ignore it.

"Salto da un dirupo, brutta castagna ebete!"

So it may come as only a slight surprise for Goombella when Mr L suddenly slips into Italian. Or possibly more since he's bothering to use another language to sling insults.

Before Mr L can continue to tear into her for using a name he has no idea why it ticks him off so much, Jinx makes herself a wonderful target for the human's rage.

"Tornare qui si ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ con i capelli rossi!" he roars after her, left hand sparking with blue-white electricity. "Imparerete che è il perdente!"

Well, he wasn't at his house. So he's gotta be in here somewhere..." Sans muttered, talking to himself.

The skeleton looked back, sockets opening up somewhat at the realization Jinx was still after him. "Oh, man! She's still keeping up!" He spoke with a worried tone, looking ahead at the woods. "S-She doesn't get tired?" Sans stuttered, feeling a small ping inside his SOUL. Now that he thought about it, he was starting to have a slight bit of difficulty staying fully aware. He wasn't sure what was up, but he continued pushing forward anyways.

"He has to be in here somewhere!" Sans said to himself, shifting between trees as he entered the forest. However, due to either just poor navigational skills or clumsiness, one of the Gaster Blaster's rammed into a tree; Recoiling from it, as Sans lost his balance on the other one and was sent tumbling to the ground, rolling a short distance before stopping in a small cloud of kicked-up dirt.

Groaning from the pain, Sans sat up, rubbing his skull. "Ouch! We need to be more careful than that!" Sans lectured, before realizing he was still being chased. Jumping to his feet, the skeleton quickly ran back and scooped up his injured little Blastie before turning and continuing to run on foot; Allowing Jinx to gain on him somewhat, but Sans wasn't leaving anyone behind even if it was risky.



Goombella paused, looking at Mr. L while blinking. She hadn't expected him to slip out of english, but at the same time she wasn't entirely surprised. It was Luigi, after all. An Italian. "..." She stared momentarily, simply letting him get it out of his system; The mad man (Who was also a madman, don't get her wrong.) was having one of his tantrums. Goombella wasn't impressed, and simply turned away, blocking it out as he thought about everything that was happening.

"Oh, hi Jinx." Goombella greeted casually, before realizing she was carrying around a giant weapon.The Goomba stared as the girl ran off, eyes wide. "WAIT! What're you doing with that?!" She questioned, startled. But didn't take action; As she instead cringed from Mr. L's anger as he blew up at Jinx for calling him L-ame. Goombella quickly turned to her Tattle Log, taking notes on that one.

"Oh, yeah. That one is flawless." She said to herself, snickering at the man's expense. She felt kind of bad for him when he got teamed up on; But he was a huge jerk, and deserved it. She noted she probably shouldn't push him further; As she owed him a favor, and who knows what he'd end up trying to get her to do if she made him TOO mad.

Sighing, the Goomba turned, noticing most of the trouble was disappearing from her sight. It was just another day in town, honestly. And she was fairly used to it. But that didn't make their violent tendencies any less terrifying.

-oops, wrong section! Ignore this-