Stage 1 - The Massholes!

[ +- ] 😺 ¥¡¡ Shop

Ye Olde Snippet Shoppe

[ +- ] 🧧 - Extra Joy

In a combat round, if your first action uses the 🕹️, you may take an additional action.

• both actions must be different
• if your actions are 🕹️DEF and ㊙️DEF, the first action is self-defense and the second action is defend-a-friend.

[ +- ] 🧧 - Button Mash

In a combat round, if your first action uses ㊙️ or ☢️, you may take an additional action that also uses ㊙️ or ☢️.

• both actions must be different
• if your actions are ㊙️ATK and ☢️ATK, the first action determines the attack type and if it lands, the second action is a combo-finish (or it triggers a combo-breaker against you on a 💢MISS.)

"Thank you! Thank you!" Emoticat says as he accepts the membership fees.

"And really, you joined just in time! I got an order of Snippets on the way, and I’m so excited I can barely retract my claws! …that’s sort of a cat thing."

Emoticat scratches his head and lets out a nervous chuckle, then his gaze turns to Gemini.

"Money must be really heavy for you, but Snippets are weightless! Isn’t that a fun fact?" He gestures to the choice of Snippets that are optional yet complimentary with the ¥ii Shop membership. "Like whatchya see?"

Gemini had been distracted by the sky when Emoticat had looked up. Clouds were a radical thing, with all those shapes and the lazy days without a care. It would be nice to be a cloud, but then if she was a cloud she wouldn't be able to skate which wouldn't be grand. Still, her eyes drift over to Emoticat and she taps her chin thoughtfully.

"That Extra Joy sounds stacked, if you've got any going." She gives a soft smile.

😻

Emoticat

"Giving you Extra Joy brings me joy!"

Gemini feels a surge of power, like there’s more flit in her flutter. It’s weird how a Snippet can do that…

---

With shopping out of the way, April (The Mother) follows her feelings and leads you toward her daughter May (The Maiden).

It’s an hour-long walk to the base of a hill. In the way up, you enter that area on The Mother’s map she had labeled LeMonster. You keep moving… it’s only a mile’s walk to the hilltop.

Facing east, you can see a grand view of the Massholes. Craters dot the distant plains. Somehow, this hill was spared. Its ancient trees only bear a single fresh wound: a nail.

WANTED!
~DEAD OR KO’d~
[🧝🏻‍♀️]
THE MAIDEN

REWARD:$1.

👩🏻‍🎤

The Mother

"I can’t imagine what offense my daughter could have caused. But my mom and I will match this reward if you rescue her."

A whole dollar is a lot of money. Even split a quarter each, you could improve your life or become more powerful with that kind of money!

🪙
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You move on, but as you descend the north side of the hill, Murasaki and Gemini sense a darkness. It’s distant, but like The Mother, the meditative heroine and the fairy can sense or feel the darkness the way a magnet can "feel" North.

In this case, northeast.
@Eltesla,@Tickettbror,@Dmbrainiac,@Totes_McGee

"You feel that as well, don't you?" Murasaki asks Gemini. She looks at the rest of the group. "Please wait for a moment as Starfire-san and I scout ahead. I will take the ground."

Murasaki places her hands together as if in prayer and begins to hide her presence. The cycling of ki through her body slows as she becomes translucent.

Secret Move #0000: Stealth Mode

Going past translucency, she hides herself thoroughly enough to become invisible to the naked eye! Keeping her steps light, she goes ahead to get an idea of what might be waiting for them.

Murasaki heads down ahead of the team, descending into the valley and deep into a scorched forest. Ahead of her is a tunnel constructed of large bricks.On top of the tunnel isn’t a rusty, broken down train. And seated on the train is a troll so big, he’d have to crawl through the tunnel!

You’re pretty sure he’s guarding it.

While her friends scout ahead, Lacey decides to question The Mother. Rescue missions were rarely simple (see: "Sorry, but your princess is in another castle"), and she still hadn't learned much about the three generations of women she was helping.

"What can you tell us about your daughter, Mother? Didn't you say something about The Maiden being rebellious?"

"And what...uh...happens when she's not a Maiden anymore? I don't want to alarm you, but as a former damsel-in-distress myself, I know that men can be...."

She trails off, because The Mother had seen the fight back at the airport. She didn't need to be told that men were "eager for intimacy." In fact, Lacey probably shouldn't have mentioned her daughter's potential non-maidenhood at all...but it was too late now.

👩🏻‍🎤

The Mother

"Men are no different now than they were nineteen years ago." She gives Lacey a knowing look. "I was the rebel, in that sense. But if not for my misspent twenties, there would be no May. She means more to me than the magic I gave up."

Her mood lightens as she focuses on her daughter. "May is more of a free spirit than a rebel. She has the power to purify the land, and the magic is strong because she is pure. There’s more to it than maidenhood… she truly loves nature. Even what’s twisted, mutated… she somehow finds the good in it.

"I don’t know who could possibly hate her so much they want her dead, but even now as I’m tracking her… it’s her feelings, her emotions, that guide me."

The Mother reaches her left hand in the same northeast direction Murasaki went to scout.

"I feel her fear, but no… anguish. Mostly, she pities her enemies." You get the feeling The Mother would personally rip the heads off her daughter’s captors, if she could. "If she’s still so naïve, then they haven’t…"

She trails off, perhaps for Lacey’s sake as much as her own.

That is not a fight to rush into alone. Murasaki thinks upon seeing the massive troll. However, she is curious as to why he's guarding the tunnel. She quietly stalks through the tunnel and gets a look at what's beyond the other side.

After that, she'll escape to relay her findings to the others.

Inside the tunnel, it’s pitch black. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and if Murasaki looks back, the west exit (where she came from) simply appears as another light. Once close to either exit, the world outside the tunnel becomes distinguishable.

It is safe to move close enough to the east exit to look out. What Murasaki sees is a jungle with a pinkish-purplish sky somewhat obscured by a lush green canopy. Dangling vines sway gently, presumably from a light wind.

(Murasaki can neither hear nor feel the wind, nor can she feel the temperature or hear any sound at all but her own footfalls while in the tunnel. Should she dare to speak, her voice will echo throughout the tunnel.)

The trees here are surely ancient, as if this part of the world was untouched by Man and War. Pink flowers, the same vivid hue as April’s hair, are in full bloom on either side of the footpath leading away from the tunnel.

Murasaki is fascinated and more than a little perplexed, but she decides that she's gathered enough information for now. If she remains any longer, she risks unveiling herself. However, she does pluck one of the pink flowers before leaving. She figures it could possibly be important.

She makes her way back to the team before dropping her invisibility. "I have returned. Up ahead, there's a troll guard posted on top of the brickwork tunnel. He is quite big. I estimate him to be about..." She pauses. Being unfamiliar with units of measurement, she tries to get it across in another way. "Ten O'haras stacked on top of each other would only reach his shoulder. In other words, not a foe to be taken lightly."

"There's also the matter of where the tunnel leads. When I went in, I saw a lush jungle at the other end. The sky was an unnatural pinkish-purple hue, which made me feel as if I was looking into some other world. Mother, would you know anything about this?" Murasaki asks. "I also brought this back." She presents the pink flower.

"Good job, Murasaki! That stealthiness is incredible! Maybe I'll find a power-up that does something similar, and we can sneak around together...."

She glances at the flower, and considers Murasaki's description of this jungle. Had the Maiden created or enhanced this strange place? She supposedly could "purify" the land....

The Mother could better answer that question, so Lacey instead focuses on the troll.

"What about the troll? Was it alert, or one of those dozing types? I'm wondering if we can all sneak past, or if a fight is inevitable...or maybe we can lure it from its post with a distraction...."

She begins digging through her purse, hoping to find something useful.

---

👩🏻‍🎤

The Mother

The Mother examines the pink flower. "I’ve never seen such a—oh!" Loose strands of her hair rise as she holds the plant. Her arms are covered in goosebumps. April is almost giddy. "I thought I lost this kind of…"

She quickly drops to her knees, digs into the scorched soil with her left hand, and inserts the flower’s stem into the hole. It’s only inches deep, yet the touch of the plant seems to soften the soil. And the plant roots itself into the ground, right before your eyes.

There’s another transformation happening as well. The plant’s stem starts to grow thorns, and more thorns rise around it.

The Mother seems satisfied.

"I’m afraid I know nothing of the tunnel, or what’s on the other side, but somehow my daughter created a plant that responds to me..! I… don’t know why she did."

The Mother seems to be struggling with this.

"I don’t know how best to deal with the troll. Only one way to find out…"

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•
🧌 CHARLESTON CHOO-CHOO
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You approach with a plan—but the troll is far more alert than he appears!

"WHO GOES WHERE?"

He hops off the train and stands before the tunnel! He casually rips a leafless tree out of the ground to arm himself.

@Eltesla,@Tickettbror,@Dmbrainiac,@Totes_McGee ROUND ONE…

FIGHT?

"Hey dude, I'm just chilling." Gemini, who hadn't been present for the discussion due to scouting, hovers in front of the now active troll.

She'd intended to call out to him before, but the wicked mystifying colours on the other side of the tunnel had kept her attention. She'd finally managed to snap out of her trance when the troll started to move, and she drifted down to be roughly eye line with him.

"Watcha up to?" She leans back as though sitting, and unrolls a picture of May. "Me and my crew are looking for someone, don't suppose you've seen her?"

@Eltesla,@Dmbrainiac,@Totes_McGee,@Tickettbror
Gemini notices the troll’s brow twitches as he glances at the wanted posted she’s holding.

"HEY. LISTEN, LADY-BUG. YOU GOTS LIKE THREE SECONDS TO BUZZ OFF."

The troll neither budges nor admits to knowledge of The Maiden. His eyes flicker from the road to the fairy fluttering in front of him.

"Words are wasted on a brute like him," Gong-Ju observes. "This calls for mermaid magic!"

Without waiting, Gong-Ju leaps forward with a war cry! She attempts to drive her trident into the troll's bulging belly, then activate the bubble prong of her magic weapon. Maybe if she fills his tummy with bubbles, it will make him light enough to lift off the ground--just enough for the Bombshells to rush under him and into the tunnel!