Annd here we are! This one wraps up active roleplaying for the mission.

And what a way to wrap it up, too! I'd call it a rather epic fight scene. Catrina arrives just in time to lend a much needed hand to Dash and Swift in the final roleplay of the mission.

Note: It should be Katherine Swift, not Katherine Quick.

Slight strong language

There's a lot of books in Degrassi Knoll. Of course, more of them are donated to be burned than are purchased, but there's still a surprising amount of literature considering how many of its inhabitants are either incapable of reading, unwilling to, or just very bad at it. The "Degrassi Book Shop" is actually located in South Degrassi. There's also a book depot up north. There's also the Hagnark's School for Young British Wizards, traveling magic book salesmen, and a few other oddities.

"Seems pretty quiet for a supposed yeti stronghold," Katherine Quick commented to her ally and once-friend Sebastian Dash.

"Well, if it’s intelligent, there's no way to really predict where it might reside, and how subtle it's capable of being," Dash observed.

Quick's cheek twitched with annoyance. "I realize that, I've heard about it, you know? But a yeti's still a yeti, intelligent or not.. Or supposedly intelligent or not, in this case."

"We have to assume it is," Dash answered, not liking the tone in her voice. They cautiously peered around another building, ensuring the night was as quiet as it seemed to be.

"I don't know," she said, probing the door to the book shop with long, experienced fingers. Knoll locking mechanic hardly impressed her. This one was a little sturdier, so it actually took her a few seconds to work over, but it wasn't long until the locking mechanism let out a familiar click. She slid the door open slowly, scanning the area around her. "I think you just need to relax and stop playing it safe all the time."

Dash let it be the final word for now, as they slipped into the lobby. A few perpetually burning magic candles kept a warm, dull glow in the place throughout the night. Or maybe they were sufficiently advanced technology, who could say?

Dash looked around, getting bad mojo with every step. It was quiet.. yeah, let's be honest, it was too quiet.. not for long. Dash knew this luck wasn't going to last.

"I bet you were thinking your luck would last longer, huh, punk?" A Knob voice cried out, apparently forgetting how much we HATE that joke!

A confident, rather beefy Penguin Mafia member strolled into view.

"Oh goodie, a warm-up." Quick give her thorn whip a quick crack. "You really should leave now, short stuff."

"Oh, I don't think so, and I'm pretty sure my ally here would be of agreement on the general statement." The penguin cracked it's fingers.. er.. it's wing flap. "Not to mention his other associate, who will likely say Yeeeeouch!"

No, that wasn't the line he'd planned, but rather his reaction to Katherine's thorn whip being wrapped around his fin and pulling him forward, straight into a precision strike by Dash's broadsword. The penguin fell to the side, holding a rather obvious and nasty looking wound.

"Great, just great," another penguin voice announced, as it blitzed onto the scene. "Get their cheap shotting human asses!"

Two more of them, and they were more prepared than their friend! Kathy went to whip the new Penguin, but it moved with surprising speed. There was a rather large penguin, a full 4 inches taller than the average penguin. The third penguin wore a pair of v-shaped silver glasses, spouted stubble and had a foot and a half long hammer, which it swung maniacally at Dash. Dash parried the first few swings with his sword, which didn't work well at all. Dash leaped over the next swing, catching the penguin in the back of his head as it passed.

It stumbled forward into Katherine, who snagged it around the neck with her thorn whip and sent it flying into its larger partner! Dash sliced at the Penguins, who scattered to avoid the shot. Katherine flung her knife into the underbelly of the larger thug, who pulled it out with a grunt, dropping it as it subsequently found her vine whip around its throat. As it struggled with that, Dash took a nearby chair and prepared to smash it over the head. Dash found himself stumbling forward, however, as the stubbled penguin had rammed its shoulder into Dash's lower back. (Which it had to jump to reach.)

It charged full speed at Katherine, who barely avoided it. Turning around, it slung a chair at her. She kicked it out of the midair, to prevent it from hitting Dash, who was behind her, likely recovering. It left her open to the penguin's vicious attack. Soon it was standing over her. A split second later, it fell to the side gasping, with a large wound in its body.

"Pathetic," a booming voice called out. Dash and Katherine looked up in awe, seeing the creature standing over them. It was huge.. a true yeti, and it shuddered, as if in pain, before kicking the penguin to the side. It looked at them as if it might eat them.. but refocused it's attention on Dash.

"So it was true.." Katherine pressed her back to the wall, wanting to get to her feet discreetly.

"So you have come seeking me?" It asked, snarling with every word. Dash looked around briefly, confused. He was on one injured leg now. "Yes, you've discovered my plan to kill the Penguins. I, lord of the yeti, have risen to my position through ruthless determination, and my amazing ability to speak! Bwahaha!"

"I thought it was an elected position," Dash asked smarmily.

"Your witty banter shall not impress ME, a true Yeti!" It boasted, even as Katherine flew through the air, twisting and turning from the distracted Yeti's blind side. Which wasn't so blind, since a forearm sent her over his head. She crashed to the ground, as Dash, realizing the seriousness of this situation, unleashed his broadsword, ready to kill.

"Alright, maybe we underestimated you, but you won't get me that.. URGH!" Dash's bravado was interrupted as the creature leapt forward with blinding speed and grabbing Dash’s sword with both hands. Dash fought to avoid being beheaded by his own Bad Beats broadsword, but he was already trapped up against the walls, struggling against a far more powerful foe.

"Sorry to interrupt," the beast said, it's lips no longer moving with it's voice, "But I think it's time you got... cut off.. permanently!"

An evil, nearly familiar laughter filled the air from everywhere at once....

 
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Interlude

 
Catrina Whiteclaw moved up on the 'prey' she had been tracking for so long, coming right up on the horse and stroking it on it's broad neck. "Hey, hon. Where's your boss?" She giggled at Espanola, then her ears flicked at the sound of battle nearby. "Nevermind... Think I can guess." She then creeped closer to the battle only to be surprised by a Goblin crashing though the foliage. She took the gob out with a few quick strokes of her Katana and burst into the clearing. She didn't have long to make sense of the scene as another goblin attacked her and she was hard pressed for a moment.

The gob soldier- an Elite now that Catrina was unfortunately close enough to notice, pressed Catrina back against the wall with his shield, plainly hoping to hold her there until help could arrive. Catrina couldn't have that and lifted her knee into him, purring as she felt the contact of a well executed rack to the Goblin, causing him to double over and back away. Catrina pressed her luck and cut down, causing the Gob to scream and drop to the floor, unmoving. Catrina then ran down the hall of the bookstore- following battle noise and the scent of her Dash.

 
End Interlude

 
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Dash struggled, feeling his own blade being forced back into his throat by the overpowering might of the yeti. Still pinned to the wall, Dash only had one last desperate option.. his timing had to be perfect. Forcing one knee up into the Yeti, forcing it back ever so slightly, gave Dash just enough time to let his body go limp. His own sword got slammed into the wall at the very spot Dash's head had been a quarter of a second earlier. Dash turned to see Katherine stirring, and ducked under the polearm of another Knob Goblin Lt guard. Dash turned and sent it into the yeti, who'd dropped Dash's broadsword Bad Beats in his rage.

Katherine forced her way up, staggering towards Dash to help, a dazed, confused look in her eyes. Catrina entered a wide open lobby and roared, seeing her Dash being threatened by some bitch with a Yeti. She charged at the bitch, blades at the ready.

Katherine locked eyes with the new threat.. this catwoman had to be related to the felines Dash had mentioned earlier! She pushed the daze out of her eyes, thorn whip in one hand. The other hand pulled out one of her twin knives, which she expertly hurled at the stranger's head!

Catrina saw the throw and screamed. "DASH! LOOK OUT!!" She then moved- moving past Dash and the flying knife to stop in front of the bitch and engage her with her katana. Dash turned, seeing the blades fly several feet away from him, implanting in the wall- then he noticed Catrina and Katherine about to enrage in battle.

Oh come ON! Dash thought to himself, and he started to cry out, "No! Don't- "

He was cut short as the nearly forgotten yeti grabbed him by his arm, nearly yanking it off as he flung Dash to the side. The other Knob Goblins had them surrounded, but seemed too confused by the chaos to attack. As Catrina closed in on Katherine, she found the thorns of that damned vine whip digging into her skin. Katherine had managed to entangle both of Catrina's wrists! Katherine expertly gave a tug on her whip, causing Catrina to fumble her katanas to the nearby ground as Catrina was forced a step forward. Catrina roared as the thorns dug into her wrists and she dropped her weapons- she then followed her stumble and turned it into a full charge, lowering her shoulder to try to tackle this bitch to the ground!

Katherine rolled, pushing herself to her feet. She hadn't expected that. She started to go for her last knife, only to notice something in the distance. She purposely held the knife up in front of her, making sure to let it catch a shaft of light, then flung the final knife at Catrina, who easily dodged. Catrina moved in on the bitch. Her wrists were bound together but that didn't stop her as she swung them like a club aiming at her opponents' head even as Katherine's blade hit home several feet later- in the back of the Yeti. Katherine rolled to the side to avoid Catrina's attack. "Sorry, kitty, but I think I'll tend to your partner in crime first!" As the yeti let out a scream, Katherine grabbed her knife, embedded in its side, and jammed it in even deeper!

She then turned to prepare for what she'd assumed was an inevitable attack from Catrina.

Catrina growled as she prepared to swing again. "Sorry to see you missed and got your pet, hon. But I'm not gonna let you touch my Dash!"

"Your.. YOUR Dash?!" Katherine scowled. This beast woman?! But there wasn't time for that. "Then HELP me save him!" Katherine had to hope this catfighter got the point. She turned, yanked her knife out, and avoided a massive sweep of the arm from the yeti. "Come on, ugly, try talking your trash now!"

Catrina's eyes went wide. "You... YOU'RE helping him?" She went to pounce the Yeti- but as her wrists were still bound, so she lost her footing and fell to her back before she could do any damage. This left Katherine with two potential problems. The yeti could turn on either Dash, who was still trapped between the Yeti's body and Katherine. Or it could try to take out Dash's friend before she could recover.

Katherine chose the latter, kicking the yeti in the back of its knee, and taunting him, before quickly turning to help Catrina get free of the thorn whip. Katherine knew how to make the whip move like she wanted better than anyone, after all.

"There you go," Katherine said, slipping Catrina's wrists free of the whip. "Name's Katherine, by the way."

Catrina rubbed her wrist. "Catrina." She then wasted no more time, pouncing the big beast again and setting her claws to it.

"Catrina?!" Katherine called out in disbelief. "Seriously?!"

Catrina growled. "Yes. Seriously. Don't make me regret not gutting you," She said as she tried to gut the Yeti.

"Okay, don't get catty!" Katherine answered, striking out with a nerve strike that caught the Yeti from behind, unaware. "Er.. sorry."

Catrina switched between clawing the Yeti's body and clubbing him in the back of the head with her arms. But she knew this was gonna take some time. She glanced around and spotted where she had dropped her katana, but Dash was a step ahead of her. Still on his knees, he slipped his boot under the hilt of the katana, and sent it flying to its owner. As Dash forced himself up with the hilt of Bad Beats, even as he found and returned her second sword to her.

Catrina purred as she saw her two swords flying at her, thanks to her Dash. She reached out to grab for them, and then sank them into the Yeti's shoulders, striking deep on each side of its massive head. It let out a screeching loud yell, hardly even noticing Katherine's thorn whip wrapped around its leg. Dash pulled his broadsword over his head, diving at the yeti, which suddenly threw its body to the side, sending Catrina into Katherine. Dash's attack hit the beast's body, and bounced off like steel, even as the yeti continued to scream in pain.

"HAHAHA, you pathetic humans! Is that the best you can do against me?!" it taunted as Dash rolled to a ready position, unable to believe the yeti had that much fight left.

"Is it just me," Katherine asked, "Or is the voice suddenly not matching the beast anymore?"

Catrina managed to roll with her landing, coming up in a crouch and growling. "Oh HELL no!"

Dash smirked, scanning the area around them. "Alright, cards are on the table now.. and I think we know the 'King' in this deck, Cat, don't you?"

"More like the Joker hon- care to cut?"

The yeti fell, as if its strings had been cut. In a sense, they had. Katherine looked around confused- and suddenly the three were under an attack by the Knob Goblins, who'd simply been watching the fight until that point. "What am I missing?" Katherine wondered aloud. "Or do I want to know?"

"You haven't missed nothin' honey!" Catrina cut through gobs left and right as they attacked. "This piece of work is a real pain in my tail!"

Dash sliced through a Knob Goblin of his own, and then formed a fist around the hilt of his sword, slamming it into the next oversized Goblin. A sidekick to the ribs sent a Knob Goblin accountant behind Dash down, holding her now broken ribs. Dash turned as a mysterious force blasted aside both Katherine and Catrina. Within a second, Dash was face to face with his foe.

"Ahh, yes, you've seen through my guise, and now you're face to face with your greatest enemy, Adventurers. The Jester King of Beasts!"

"Not impressed." Katherine retrieved her second knife, attempting to plunge it deep into the heart of the Jester King, only to find herself inexplicably passing through it!

Catrina growled. "NO hon.. You can't attack him directly he...mmmff!" There was suddenly a red ball in her mouth, with a strap around her head holding it in she struggled as a wave seemed to move through the Goblins massed on her.

The Jester King of Beasts laughed and waved a finger at Catrina. "Uh uh UH! Now that would be telling- wouldn't it?"

Catrina struggled underneath the weight of all those goblins- then moved to clear air- and wished she's stayed where she was. Gone was her usually skimpy leather bikini, replaced by thin leather straps, covering her no-nos... and especially her nos. She growled at the JKOb. "prvt!"

The three starred down the Jester King of Beasts, just knowing this fight was only about to begin in earnest.

End chapter

Jester King of Beasts is always fun to use, by the way. I'm glad to say we'll see even more of him in the near future.. including the mission Finale, which kicks off next!