Tora, Poppi, and Queen Sectonia
Level 8 Tora (76/80),
Level 8 Poppi (49/80), Level 6 Sectonia (holding 1 level up) - (14/60) +3
Location: Sandswept Sky - Sweet Canyon - Parnasse
Word Count: 3489
Try as she might, Sectonia couldn't really find a mirror. No one seemed to know where one was as they were all turning in and the sugary made furniture of this village didn't help matters. While there was the occasional unbroken 'mirror' Sectonia could find, they weren't actually mirrors but slabs of sugar crystals that kind of reflected images, but not super well. And most of them weren't in the best shape, being quite fragile.
"I swear one of my minions here was handy..." Sectonia thought to herself. Well, that could wait for the morning. It was getting quite late and thanks to that fairy Midna had rescued, everyone could easily be brought to a place where they could get some shut eye. Perhaps it was a good thing that Sectonia's size had shrunk a bit, because even at her new, slightly smaller size, she had to take to one of the biggest beds in the village made out of some kind of... Spongey kind of baked good. If this is what they meant by sweet dreams, she wasn't sure if she liked it or not as the scent of all the sugar really influenced her dreams. At least it wasn't hard to find a place for alcrmeie to sleep, the pokemon being quite small and able to sleep pretty much on a pillow.
The morning came soon enough, Sectonia having a little bit of an embarrassing 'situation' of having found her tongue digging into the bed, trying to find its gooey center.
"Ahem... alright then..." Sectonia said, realizing the situation and correcting it, getting up off of the bed and waking up her new little friend. Said friend didn't feel like getting up however, so Sectonia put them on her new tophat like crown and made her way back to the city square where the others were to be found after they also got their beauty sleep.
On her way over to the meeting spot, Sectonia was still on a small quest on finding a mirror. A bit of sleep did help her think though, and it made total sense. That little puff ball Tora could make robots, so why not a mirror? Thankfully since he was the first one to turn in, it wasn't all that difficult to find his little workshop, Sectonia seeing Poppi on the way.
"Poppi? I take it Tora is up as well?" Sectonia said.
"Mhm!" The machine girl pointed back the way she came from, toward a waterlogged stretch of ground. "He trying to upgrade Mech Arms, so Poppi doubt he move."
"Thats fine. I just need a mirror. None of these sugary ones work." Sectonia said, questioning why they'd sleep there of all places.
"I just hope he isn't sticky."Poppi shook her head. "On contrary, Tora much cleaner than before!" She gave Sectonia a farewell wave before skipping onward.
"Ah, very good. Later then." Sectonia replied, stopping herself from tipping her hat and causing her new minion to fall off. There probably something else to unpack there, with Poppi being so happy and all, but now wasn't the time to think about that. Hovering over the wet patch of land, made her way to the door, making her presence known
The Queen would have knocked if there was a door to knock on, but instead she found only the fragmented remnants of a door subjected to high internal pressure. It permitted a view of a sodden interior, quite bereft of Nopons. In the perplexed quiet that followed, however, she heard the industrial noises of an electric drill from the side of the house, and followed the sound to find Tora sitting on an icing-free patch of cakey ground with his toolbox and his Mech Arms in front of him.
"Well, this is certainly... something." Sectonia said, looking through the house. She supposed someone who was 'handy' really wouldn't be the neatest of things. The house itself was fairly quiet, at least, until sounds of a drill could be heard outside the house. Finding her way there sectonia noticed Tora working on one of the parts of the robots they had defeated yesterday. The loud sounds coming from the area Tora found himself in managed to wake up Sectonia's new little friend, the cake 'mon a bit grouchy at being woken up by sounds of industry. Sectonia patted them on the had just the same and spoke up.
"Ahem, Tora" She said, trying to get his attention.
Though by all means one to embed himself so thoroughly into his work that he was nigh unreachable, Tora had neither the time nor comfort to do so, so when Sectonia tried to get his attention he glanced up from his tinkering. His look of annoyance morphed into one of wariness, as he wondered what the killer queen might want with him. "Oh, Sectonia?" His greeting left some enthusiasm to be desired. "Hello."
"Hello Tora." Sectonia said, giving him a more curt greeting, looking over what the nopon was doing.
"So your working on an upgrade for Poppi?" Sectonia asked. Tora would notice that unlike before, Sectonia was a lot less 'harsh', and a bit more relaxed. While her new appearance didn't change her face around too much to what Sectonia knew, to Tora she looked a lot more 'chipper' compared to what she was before. If that was due to the occasional jagged red mouth Tora could spot if he was looking hard. Of course Sectonia only moderately noticed these changes.
Surprised to see Sectonia taking an interest in his doings, Tora shook his head. "Nope. Well, sort of, meh. Those robots from last night have cool rail fists, got Tora wondering if could copy for Mech Arms. That way, both Tora and Poppi stronger!" At the moment, of course, he'd barely begun an inspection to see if such a thing were possible, and even then things weren't looking good, but he didn't need to tell Sectonia that.
"Ah I see. Quite handy." Sectonia said, unaware herself of the pun she just made.
"I myself would like to acquire a mirror. I still have very little idea of what I look like after absorbing that spirit." she continued. Seeing as the two hadn't interacted much, Sectonia wasn't entirely sure on the best course of action here. While not a user of technology herself, she knew it could be quite useful, as her palace had quite a bit of it incorporated into its design.
The odd request left Tora thinking for a few moments. He was a handy engineer, sure, but he couldn't be expected to make
anything. Making mirrors, or even just glass, was an art form quite beyond him. To avoid outright telling Sectonia he couldn't do something, however, he fell back on visual description and no small amount of flattery. "Well, you have hat inside crown, flippy collar, cool wing cape, super big jewel! Sectonia now big classypon." He glanced back down at his project, and realized he could see himself in the Mech Arms' metal. "Oh, here! You can see self in shiny weapon surface!" Helpfully he picked the gauntlet up and turned it so that the backside of the missile pod, a flat surface, faced his acquaintance head-on.
Sectonia took a look at herself in the reflective metal. It was giving a much better quality picture of her new appearance than she got in any of the candy mirrors. While not the mirror she was accustomed to, Tora did a decent job of shining this metal up and she could clearly see her new appearance. Much like one would do in front of a mirror, Sectonia started posing a bit, getting an idea of what her new wings could do, and finally noticing that if she opened her mouth wide, that her mouth had transformed into this strange red jagged mouth. Which, if she stuck her tongue out, looked like something out of a horror movie, yet still regal. In fact, after a few more poses, she was a bit surprised at how good she could look, and how scary she could look the next second.
"Hm... I suppose the spirit fusing process isn't perfect, but I still look quite regal all things considered. Although I'm not sure if this method of intimidation is my thing..." She said, pondering to herself. Still, with her ability to now retract and expand her wings, this gave her quite the ability to demand attention whenever she wanted it.
"Thank you. Have you thought about making anything for the others? I don't think some of them made those weapons themselves..." She said, her request done and now thinking of her other minions.
As Sectonia perused her new features, Tora continued to hold the makeshift mirror up for her, his patience running out bit by bit with each pose. Finally she seemed satisfied, and the Nopon let his tired wings down. He asked if he'd made anything for the others, which earned her an odd look. Was that expected of him or something? "No? Others know Tora is busy with Poppi, and Tora already take many beatings in place of friends without even asking praise. That seem like enough, meh?" At about that time he mentally gave up on his project with the Mech Arms, and instead waddled in a circle around Sectonia to get a better view of her changes himself. "Hm! Tora definitely like Sectonia better like this. Definitely not as scary."
Sectonia shrugged at Tora commenting at how his contribution was just getting hit so others didn't have to.
"Fair enough. I suppose there are spirits for that anyway." Being so distracted from his work, Tora got up, seemingly giving up on it for the moment and instead taking a closer look at Sectonia, moving around her to do so. She didn't mind, and just patiently floated there waiting for him to finish, although her eyes did follow him just the same. After getting his eyefull, he commented saying that this form wasn't scary, unlike her previous form. Laughing a bit, Sectonia said.
"Does royalty intimidate you Tora?"Although she could have easily taken Tora's offhanded remark poorly, Sectonia accepted it in good graces. Her laugh helped set aside any lingering uneasiness, so the Nopon answered her with fewer reservations. "That not it. Back home Tora travel alongside friend Zeke, who actually prince of Tantal. And Tora get along with Peach-Peach just fine." He still needed to crane his head upward to look Sectonia in the face, but somehow she cast a less menacing shadow.
"A prince and a princess aren't nearly as regal as a Queen. They're still jouvinilles." Sectonia said. Although she figured that her being a queen wasn't the real reason he said that, guessing it was something about her previous appearance. Her unrestrained beauty probably had him flustered or something to that accord. After all, he did look at the other ladies and was often berated by Poppi for doing so.
"Ah. Anyway, Thank you for the mirror, makeshift as ti may be. I should let you get back to your work, I assume we'll be moving out soon. Just don't turn your arm into pastries again." Sectonia said.
With a proud look Tora held up his little arm, fully back to normal without even a trace of confectionery. "Tora arm all good now! Happy that whatever that was wear off pretty fast." He gave the Mech Arm a last look, trying to calculate the time. In the end he shrugged his arms in a
what-can-you-do sort of way. "Meh, not enough time. Tora hate starting something just to get torn away again. Really need to sink in whenever get anything done." He scooped up the weapon and put it on his back before he looked over at Sectonia once more, curious. "So what fusion like? Tora see lots of friends try, but...Tora not so eager to try."
Sectonia had to think about this question a bit, as even she noticed she was being a lot more talkative than she used to be before the transformation. Yet this didn't bother her all that much when she thought on it, seeing as it lead to greater power.
"Well, as you have seen, its a bit of a... process. I was surprised I found a spirit that was even remotely close to my standard of beauty. And you get a bit of what that person was, I suppose. But it doesn't feel 'wrong', or I assume it doesn't if you fuse with a spirit that is fairly close to what you are. Midna would be the better one to ask about that, shes the one who fused with some weird looking spirits." Sectonia said after thinking about the whole situation.
"Plus, while I am a powerful mage, Its surprising what other strong beings have as well. For example." She started, pulling out her red scepter. After a slight flash of light, Tora would feel like his perception of time was slowing down, with only Sectonia moving noramlly for him. But in actuality to anyone else looking at the pair, they were just moving really fast.
"First space, and now time!" She said, laughing.
More than a little disoriented, Tora shook himself as if to dust off the clutches of time. Nothing bad seemed to have happened to him, but the trace of indignity in his manner suggested he did not appreciate being subject to magic out of the blue, so he didn't sugarcoat his pronouncement. "Well, whatever new spirit was, it definitely help. Still look sort of like baddypon, but at least not as mean."
"Mean? Why would you say I was mean? I've done nothing but help my minions." Sectonia said, a bit indignent, her hands on her hips as if she was an overbearing mother.
Instinctively Tora shrank away from Sectonia's annoyance, but just for a moment. His journey, after all, had been one of growth, strengthening both his body and his will. Now was as good a time as any to set this be straight. "We not your minions," he told her, looking determined. "Tora understand you big important in own world, but as all long way from home. It not like we obey you anyway. And fighting alongside not mean friends." The Nopon's gaze turned inward as he remembered his conversation with the Courier. He had been meaning to talk with his teammates one-on-one to strengthen their relationships, but he doubted that this would count. Searching for his words, he tried to dial back the criticism. "Meh...well, it just that Tora learn that recently. Friends only happen when people get to know each other. If someone proud or selfish or annoying, people not want to get to know. This first time we speak after all, and only because you want me make something." He hoped that he was illustrating his point without making the giant insect upset, but he was no wordsmith. His eyebrows rose as he considered something else. What if
he was the reason why?
What Tora wasn't expecting was Sectonia to take his defiance candidly, merely shrugging at his proclimation that he wasn't one of her minions.
"Of course your all my minions, and if I want strong loyal minions, well, its best to know all about them. Its just how things work." Now, much like Tora, Sectonia wasn't very good at the 'friends' thing either. Heck, if it wasn't for the recently absorbed spirit, this spurn of 'getting to know her minions' probably wouldn't have happened so soon.
"But fair. All I've known of you is you can make things and take a punch. You don't really talk much about yourself outside of 'I am makerpon.'" Sectonia stated, laughing a bit at the end.
The engineer couldn't help but furrow his brow when Sectonia insisted on the others being her minions. Either she must be rather egotistical, or have a very broad interpretation of the word. Tora certainly didn't consider himself 'loyal' to her, but if she didn't demand anything in particular of him, he guessed that he didn't mind this arrangement continuing. When she offered to get to know him, however, Tora perked right up--that was just what he was looking for! "Meh meh meh, sure thing!!" he sang, waddling over to the porch of the candy house to sit down, where he remained for a quiet, slightly awkward moment as he collected his thoughts.
"Well, Tora suppose first thing to know is that Tora is Nopon. Most Nopon live quiet, trading, farming, doing business. Do very good, too! But Nopon not resonate with core crystal well, so most Nopon never have Blade, meh." He held up his wings, using their fingers to outline a diamond. "Grampypon Soosoo, daddypon Tatazo, and Tora all have same dream: to have Blade companion. Since we not awaken on our own, Grampon start project to build artificial blade. It take many years, and in the end Tora all alone, but dream finally become reality." With a grin he clenched his little fist. "And so Tora join Rex-Rex, Pyra, and others on grand adventure! Traveled all across Cloud Sea, had many fights. Time of Tora's life." More than ever he missed his lost friends. As the emotions surged back to him, he found himself unable to suppress tears forming in his eyes.
Sectonia listened to Tora say his little life story. Obviously Sectonia had no diea who these people were, and this really barely went past that 'builder' comment Sectonia had mentioned earlier, but having Tora speak about his past seemed to whirr his emotions, going fro happy, to pride, to happy, then sadness at the loss of his adventuring friends. After hearing him finish his story, Sectonia patted him on the head.
"Well thats why we're getting rid of that little lightball in the sky. Speaking of sky... Was the planet below your "Cloud Sea" shaped like a star by chance?" This was a bit of a longshot, but Sectonia was no stranger to living in the sky, her kingdom of Floralia being high above Popstar itself.
"I live in the sky as well. Although I don't have a 'family' legacy such as yours. I just rule Floralia. We were finishing up the circus district before all of 'this' happened." Sectonia said, making a bit of small talk, gesturing to the ball in the sky with a bit of annoyance.
The prompted question left Tora shaking his head. "No, only thing under Cloud Sea is water. And Morytha, but doubt that what you mean." He didn't know exactly what she meant by living in the sky as well. After all, he lived on Gormott. Still, she managed to rouse his curiosity about her own home. "So the place you are queen of called Floralia. What that like, meh?" At the very least, he could keep an eye out for any location that Sectonia might be familiar with.
"Hmm..." Sectonia thought to herself. Given Tora's shape, Sectiona thought that maybe he'd be a Dreamland resident as well, as many of them were ball shaped but apparently not. He then asked Sectonia what Floralia is like and yes, she never explained her kingdom.
"Its quite lovely and beautiful, just like me." Sectonia started. With a flap of her wings she explained how Floralia was a group of floating islands, mostly dominated by flowers. There was the odd factory district, the volcano, the 'being constructed' circus, but it was mostly flowers as far as the eye could see, with her palace being high enough that eternal moonlight shown above it, the moon being so big in the sky that it could fill most of one's vision if stared at directly.
With wonderment Tora tried to picture the place. The best he could do was a re-imagining of the Leftherian Archipelago, blanketed in flowers and awash in moonlight. Though he had no reference for 'volcano' or 'circus', he said nothing to suggest as much to avoid looking dumb. "That sound pretty," he told her. "Tora would like to see it someday. Already this world show much more than Tora ever thought possible. Rolling plains, dark space, huge sand...even sweetyland! Adventure is tough sometimes, but just seeing what lay over next hill makes Tora a happypon."
"Well, if we find parts of it I'll point them out. As for now though, I think we should meet up with the others." Sectonia said. With a tip of her hat, her Alcremie now awake and able to hold on, Sectonia made her way towards the center square where the others would be congrigating. Tora followed close behind, glad to have made some progression on his secret mission at last.
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