Single piece finales are still rare, although they’re becoming more common. This one, being a mini mission, was designed for a single piece Finale.

Even so, it’s a pretty lengthy piece. It’s time to deal with the penguins.

 
By Dash, much assistance by Aleena

Sebastian Dash noticed the sensation of static in his head.

It wasn't quite a feeling he could describe in any other way and given the circumstances, it didn't matter, anyway. What mattered was getting in contact with Aleena. Moments earlier, she'd dropped them off half a mile outside of the outpost, with Aleena staying aboard her ship as she planned to enter suborbital space to attempt to let her people know she was still alive.

"Sebastian?" Aleena's voice came clear in Dash's head, cutting through the throbbing ache in his head.

"Slight problem," Dash 'thought' back at her. In his mind, the scene replayed itself for Aleena's benefit. As Dash and displaced Honorburg hero Cyber Sunset were rounding a hill, they found themselves under an assault by blurs of motion. The blurs moved fast enough to initially negate both Dash's superior reflexes and Cyber Sunset's ability to teleport. Even so, the two were able to recover from the initial attacks to put the attackers on the defensive. The streaks came together in front of Dash. No surprise there- the ratlike Muri-Dan creatures stood, taunting Dash and Sunset. The replay of the brief battle was interrupted by a voice that would have made the hairs on Aleena's neck stand up, except that her race had no noticeable body hair.

The Jester King of Beasts stood with the insidious Black Paladin to his side. Worse, the two held hostages.

"Ah," came Aleena's voice as the scene caught up to the present. "I'll join you shortly."

Dash shot her his understanding, and an image of the hostages. Jester King was holding Katherine Swift. Black Paladin had an unconscious Prince Blahking over his shoulder. He also held an unconscious Fluffy Hamster in his hand, not gently.

"MUST you try my patience?" warned the Jester King. "Drop. Your weapons. Now."

Aleena continued to monitor the two via her nanite induced communications with Sebastian.

Dash looked towards Sunset, giving a nod nearly too subtle to be noticed. Sunset resisted the urge to smile, but that, too, Dash picked up. Having a sense of Dash's thoughts, Aleena sensed the sentiment being relayed between the two. Lure them in, something will shift the fight to their favor, although Sunset was likely unaware of what that would be.

The two swordsmen knelt over to drop their swords. Dash's movements were jerky and uncertain. Sunset copied his movements. It was a ruse to draw attention to themselves. The Elite 7 members watched the two wearily, providing Katherine the opportunity to break free of the Jester King's grip. She kicked him in the midsection before he could register what was going on. In that very same second, Dash rushed forward. Faster still, Cyber Sunset vanished, reappearing with a tinny sound and a flash of light behind one of the Muri-Dan. With a smile, Cyber Sunset sliced at Jerome. Another Muri-Dan, Mortimer, warned him. Jerome managed to avoid the attack by focusing his chi, which allowed the dangerous creatures to move with superhuman speeds.

Sunset hmph'ed. "I know a little bit about dealing with speedsters."

"About time you showed up," Katherine said. Dash managed to move quickly enough to cover her retreat to his side. Although possessing the minimal magical abilities of most of kingdom born, Dash was left to rely on only his broadsword, experience and skills, rather than the flashy magics or extensive weapons of some of his allies, much like Katherine relied only on her whip and wits.

Despite that, the two were formidable warriors on the battlefield. Jester King eyed them silently. Black Paladin hopped off his night black armored horse, circling the two.

"Sorry," Dash finally said. "Was busy having the ride of my life. Jealous?"

"Mhmm."

"Oh, just shut up and kiss, you two!" Jester King called out as he rushed them. He had a sword with him, though he was clearly no master. "Or better, shut up and die!"

Katherine dodged back as Sebastian parried the block, sending the sword from the Jester King's hands. Jester King shrugged, still smiling that insidious smile of his. He shuffled from one foot to the other, than swung out, catching Sebastian's sword arm at the elbow with a vicious kick. Dash winced in pain, forced to drop his sword. Katherine swung at the Jester King with her whip, intent on taking him out of the fight.

Jester King simply backflipped to avoid the attack, almost seeming to float from the ease of the maneuver. Sebastian Dash rushed forward with a battle cry, hoping to catch the Jester King off balance. Instead, the horse of the Black Paladin slammed into Dash's side, sending him rolling violently over the terrain. With a yell, Katherine lashed out with her thorned whip, catching the horse with several lashes, forcing it to backpedal, before the Paladin himself grabbed the whip, easily pulling it free from Katherine's grip.

Sunset took a quick breath, focusing his senses. He wasn't lying when he'd said he'd battled opponents who could move at unrealistically fast speeds before. Even so, Trinity meant facing three opponents. Stewie, Jerome and Mortimer surrounded Cyber Sunset, toying with him.

Mistake. They didn't realize what they were up against. Sunset's eyes looked from one of the humanoid rats to another before his eyes settled on Stewie, who looked to be the most dangerous of the three. Stewie expected he might teleport in to attack.

Jermone, now behind Cyber Sunset, figured Sunset would teleport forward to attack Stewie. That made him the perfect victim for Cyber Sunset, who teleported backwards instead, popping in existence behind Jerome and slamming the sword across his back. Jerome sensed it and rolled at the last second, so the blow wasn't fatal, but it sent him spiraling to the ground in a blur of blood and fur.

The move took the other two Muri-Dan by surprise but not for long. They moved to attack, immediately cutting the space between Sunset and the two to nothing. Knowing the attack would come, Sunset threw a handful of taser darts in the air towards them. Two of the tiny electrical weapons found home on Stewie, digging into his skin and discharging a powerful electrical attack which brought the second Muri-Dan to his knees. Sunset managed to block a few of Mortimer's shots, but several of them got through. He would often teleport out of the way of one attack, only to be nailed by another attack. A kick seemed to come out of nowhere, nailing Sunset in the back of his head and sending him crashing to the grassy grounds.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Dash had been put on the defensive by the Black Paladin, who's every move seemed designed to force Dash to either take a massive hit or get further separated from Dash's main weapon, his broadsword. Dash wisely chose to avoid taking a massive hit. With that armor, and his wide assortment of weapons, Black Paladin was the wrong choice to go up against unarmed. On the edges of his vision, Dash could see Paladin's horse preparing itself to charge. Unlike Dash's own horse, he knew Paladin's beast served as an ally to Paladin in battle, though Dash wouldn't venture a guess on how intelligent the creature actually was.

The Paladin didn't rush in. It seemed to Sebastian that the silent warrior was weighing his options rather than becoming overly aggressive. He suddenly dodged, swinging his sword in an arc that halted suddenly in the air with a puff of sudden breeze and a clang of steel on steel. Aleena's ship faded into view, then shot into the sky again, almost taking the paladin's sword with it.

The Jester King's bones popped as he moved ever faster, catching Katherine Swift with a kick to the face that sent her crashing into the ground. Even as she rolled with the impact, her hand caught a hold of her whip. She came to her feet ready to attack. Although she was still off balanced, she snapped out an attack with the whip. Much as Sebastian Dash had been trained for the sword as the two grew up, her main interest in life had been learning to master her whip, using it as if it were her extended limb.

Jester phased through her attack, and jumped at her, turning solid just in time for his fist to connect with her jaw. She reeled and lashed out again. No good. And again, Jester connected with a solid blow. Katherine wisely rolled with it, neutralizing most of the impact. She dropped to the ground, crouching defensively.

The Jester King cackled with delight. "Ohhh, and such a shame too. You almost put up a good fight, little girl. But allow me to let you in on a secret. I never lose. I'm too clever to be outsmarted and - AHHHH!!"

Jester King stumbled forward as fire engulfed him from behind and fell flat on his face. Katherine didn't have to look up to see Prince Blahking standing behind him, thick smoke rising up from Blahking's outstretched hand. She'd known he'd recovered and that the pompous Jester King would likely leave himself open to whatever attack Blahking came up with.

That attack was the Prince's blast of fire. Blahking looked down at the fallen Jester King.

"You talk to much," Blahking said, kicking Jester King as he passed. He turned his attention to Katherine, checking to see if she was alright. Meanwhile, Cyber Sunset was finding fighting off three super speedsters problematic. Fortunately, although they moved and even reacted faster than Sunset, his experience on the battlefield allowed him to defend himself and even get in several hits on the Muri-Dan. But they were starting to adapt to his tactics, and it wouldn't be long at this rate before they neutralized and than overcame his advantages.

Meanwhile, after seeing Sebastian's body again slammed to the ground, Aleena brought her ship in for another run. Thanks to the mesh of magic absorbing armor covering his body, the ever silent Paladin betrayed none of his emotions, assuming he had any, though it was with pure malice with which he turned to face the ship which approached at nearly blinding speed. Undeterred, Paladin produced and threw several chained balls, each with a handle at the end which made them suitable melee weapons. Ignoring their intended use, Paladin threw four of them at the ship the split second it was in range. It slammed into the ship, unleashing its great magical energy. Paladin dodged to the side, avoiding the ship's carefully plotted attack. Coming to his knees, he produced another weapon - a crossbow. From that, he fired several crossbolts at the ship. Each found its mark. Like the maces, they sparkled and cracked with malevolent magic.

Paladin had calculated right. The magic attacks damaged Aleena's ship, forcing it to spiral out of control before righting itself. Aleena dropped out of the ship, reforming her cysuit to absorb the impact of the twenty foot drop. She'd discarded the idea of using wings, as flying would leave her open to the very same ranged attacks which had damaged her ship hardly a moment earlier.

Meanwhile, Sunset put his hastily assembled plan into action. The Muri-Dan's backs were to a grove of trees, in the spot he'd lured them to. Knowing this'd take split second accuracy, Sunset spared the briefest of glimpses towards his comrades. Dash had pushed himself to his knees, while the Paladin had turned his attention towards Aleena, who looked ready for a fight.

The Muri-Dan started to move. Within a blink of an eye, they reached the area where Sunset stood, but he'd already teleported away. The three avoided crashing into each other and quickly spun around to see Sunset standing there, smirking at them. Sunset again teleported behind them, backing himself purposefully against the tree.

Unaware that Sunset had already teleported twice, or the purpose of the teleport the ratlike creatures had missed, the Muri-Dan rushed at him, moving so fast Sunset's eyes could barely follow them. Not that it mattered; his hands were already in motion. A split second before, he'd pilfered several pieces of Dash's flash paper. Sunset knew they could be ignited through the inherent magic found in most of the world's creatures, and they responded eagerly to Sunset's nanotech as well.

The pieces of paper caught each of the Muri-Dan, blinding them easily. Deprived of their sight and moving at an out of control speed, they were easy victims to the teleporting cowboy's attacks. In turn, each was thrown against one of the large trees, where their bodies crashed to the ground in defeat.

Aleena landed moments ago with ground shaking impact. Dash clearly wasn't ready to fight, although she was sure if given a moment, he'd be back in the fight. Fortunately, the Paladin seemed more interested in her at the moment.

"I recognize you. The ephemeral Black Paladin is it? When I'm through with you, you'll just be black and blue."

Paladin gave no response or acknowledgement to Aleena's comment and stalked towards her. His horse rounding to her side. Paladin raised the whip overhead and then brought it around, aiming his attack at her midsection. It did him no good; Aleena's cysuit protected her from the simple weapon with ease. Aleena suspected the point to the attack with Katherine's weapon was for show.

Paladin confirmed her suspicions, throwing the whip to the side. Aleena raised her arms as her suit grew twin blades attached to her forearms and wrists. Meanwhile, Paladin drew forth an ebony crossbow. Aleena correctly predicted he would go for more of his magical arrows, of which she was sure he had no shortage.

He produced two arrows, one of which cackled with electricity, a bolt that would likely hit like a lightning bolt. The other smoldered with a hot red glow. Given the Paladin's wide arsenal, Aleena wondered if they were specifically designed to pierce her armor.

As unlikely as the thought seemed given the two had never engaged in battle, Aleena took no chances, rushing forward with a graceful, otherworldly ease. She avoided the fire bolt easily. The lightning bolt knicked her shoulder, but her suit adjusted quick enough to absorb most of the electrical discharge.

Paladin fired another electric crossbolt at Aleena, or so it seemed. When she caught it midair, she found it burned in her hand. She threw it down. Paladin swung an axe, looking to cut her in half. Aleena just barely dodged it, still holding her hand. Since the arrow seemed to be another electrical attack, her suit had prepared her for another discharge of electricity. As it was instead burning hot, her suit was unable to respond to it in time.

Paladin swung again at Aleena, who ducked low, looking to sweep his legs. It did her more damage than it did him. The sound of steel on steel alerted the Black Paladin to an attack from behind. Judging from the near deafening sound of Dash's broadsword attacks, he was clearly quite recovered. Aleena recalled he often carried island herbs which helped heal all sorts of medical problems.

"Two on one," Aleena said as the two circled the Paladin, who leaped higher in the air than one would expect from such a heavily clad warrior. Simultaneously his horse rushed forward, forcing Aleena and Dash to lunge out of the way, least they be tramped by the war horse.

"Two on two," Dash said, pulling himself to his feet as Paladin and the horse turned around to charge again. A metallic twang and dull blue flash announced the arrival of Cyber Sunset, teleporting to Dash's side.

"Three on two." Hearing a rustle, he turned to see the Muri-Dan starting to recover. They looked ready for a fight. "But not for long. Get ready, Aleena."

Sunset signaled his plan to Dash. The Paladin rushed back at them, holding the large axe over his head, but Dash threw several bolas at the horse's legs. Thrown with Dash's expertise, any one of them would have sent a normal great beast crashing. The black steed's legs were too powerful to be trapped, but it did cause the warhorse to loose balance. Simultaneously, Sunset teleported mid-air, aiming his broadsword at the base of the Paladin's helmet. The normally lethal blow simply loosened the helmet, allowing Sunset to kick it, even as gravity set in. The twin attacks of the broadsword masters was enough to throw horse and rider off balance. Aleena turned her cysuit into long tentacles which she used to further entangle the horse's feet. Although the force pulled Aleena with, the horse crashed, thrown too far off balance to correct itself. The Paladin crashed ahead of it, desperately holding onto its helmet, barely keeping it on. Dash and Aleena moved in for the kill but Sunset warned them off.

"We have to deal with the-" Sunset started, but a shrill inhuman whistle cut them off. The Jester King, kneeling, smiled vindictively, then phased downwards through the ground. The Muri-Dan sped in as if to attack but pulled back at the last second, vanishing into the distance.

Sunset was the first to return his attention to the Paladin, but the black armored foe was already on the horse, riding into the distance.

"Thanks," Dash said to Aleena.

"No problem." She leaned in as if to kiss the man on the cheek but thought better of it. "My ship needs to recover, and we're close enough to walk to the outpost. I'd like to see what's going on. Shall we?"

Dash and Sunset nodded. Blahking explained he, Katherine and Fluffy were on the way to the outpost. He promised to join the others later. After he tended to the wounded Katherine and Fluffy Hamster.

After deciding to be stealthy about it, the three traded expectations and war stories as they set out for the outpost where Konall and Sir Fumblies outside the outpost, waiting for the penguins to arrive to "negotiate" a settlement.

Fumblies sighed. "Are you sure wearing a suit made of penguins is such a good idea if we're supposed to do business with them?"

"It'll intimidate them and make negotiations easier," Konall answered. "Plus it's comfy. I'm thinking about making pj's with slippers out of these ones if this doesn't go well."

Six penguins walked into view, striding with a purpose. Although it was hard to distinguish the birds from each other compared to other races, Sir Fumblie's keen mind placed him as the same penguin Fumblies had run into when he arrived to the KOL outpost, intending to stop there only briefly. Once he realized what the mafia group was up to, he adjusted his plans. Konall had arrived soon after the initial confrontation.

Now, the two stood side by side, facing down six dangerous looking penguins. No doubt from the way they held themselves, they were experts with their melee weapons.

"We appreciate that you're able to see the wisdom in meeting with us," the head penguin said. He looked over Konall's outfit, likely made of his former associates, but gave no reaction at all. "I see your companions in this foolish endeavor are inside. Wise of them. So tell me, Viking, who volunteered you as the sacrificial lamb?"

"I volunteered us," Konall said. "Figured it'd be safer for you if we kept them inside."

"We're in charge here now," Fumblies said, glaring. "And if you continue the attitude, I'll summon four Knob Goblin brutes to turn you into paste."

"They get rather annoyed when you threaten their home, after all," Konall said, continuing his thought.

Fumblies mistook the statement somewhat. "Actually, the brutes are always in an agitated state, but you're right, Konall. Threatening the outpost while it's under our protection isn't very smart."

Konall clarified. "I was referring to our allies in the outpost."

"Oh. I meant my brutes."

The head penguin, the consigliere from earlier, glared. "If you're done stepping on each other's toes in your attempts to threaten us, we should like to get to business. We offer you twenty five thousand meat on the fort. We'll also allow your continued presence under our protection for a modest fee."

"How about this, penguin? We allow you one store here, heavily taxed, and you promise your 'protection,' by which I mean you keep your noses out of our business, as a bonus." Konall glared. It was a true Viking glare that promised villages would be raised and body counts would rise to critical levels if you crossed him and his ilk.

"Orcasi."

"Pardon?"

The penguin's glare shifted to rest firmly on Konall. "Orcasi. The name's Brutus Orcasi. Not penguin. And we summarily refuse your offer. The less civilized might take it as an insult."

"Regardless, we'd like you to leave," Konall said. "Now."

"Is that a threat?" Orcasi asked.

"Not a threat, a.." Konall started, but Fumblies held a hand up while simultaneously interrupting.

"Of course it is," Fumblies said, repeating it again to make sure he was heard. He pointed to the distance before continuing. "When our backup arrives, you'll be in a world of hurt. Unless you think you can survive a simultaneous frontal and rear attack, that is."

"What're you.." Konall's eyes narrowed as he got Fumblies's plan. "Oh, yeah. Them."

Konall didn't bother trying to hide the disdain for his voice as he recognized the large group which had just appeared in the distance, obviously being lead by Catrina Whiteclaw and her Feline companions. Though it was hard to make out individual faces at this range, but Konall could reasonably conclude the black garbed figure was his estranged sister Kadlin, as if was far too small to be the Black Paladin. Further, the feminine figure seemed to be walking, almost floating, whereas the Paladin would have been either horseback or walking with the horse by his side.

"Come on, boys," the second in command said. He was clearly of the emperor penguin status, as he was quite large. "Let's go take care of some business."

Fumblies smiled inwardly, but something was wrong. The lead penguin Orcasi held a flipper to one of his associate's chest, then whistled, obviously in code. "Buchchi, you're with me. The rest of you, take care of our intruders. Meanwhile, I suspect something's up with these two, so I'm gonna beat it out of them."

"Right, boss, I.." the large penguin started to say, only to be interrupted by a familiar metallic twangy sound and a dull flash of light. Cyber Sunset appeared slightly to the side, already in the middle of an attack. The attack barely knocked the penguin's steelish skin but that was more than anything other than the finest blade would have accomplished. Nevertheless, the penguin staggered back from the blow.

"Guess it's time to .." Konall started to say. He paused as something pushed by him. A blur of motion rushed into attack, nailing the first attacker with a spectacular kick to the head. "Zed?"

"Of course," Zed said. "I'd hate to miss the fun."

Another penguin dropped Zed from behind with a flipper, causing Konall to fly into battle, battering it with his haxxor attack. Sir Fumblies let out a sharp whistle, which told his small Knob Goblin army to attack. Though Knob Goblins were generally allied with the Feline Empire, Fumblies found several who were willing to throw in with his lot.

Sebastian Dash and Aleena arrived in time to join the battle.

"Didn't see you two coming to help," Konall said.

Dash grinned. "That's the point to being 'stealthy.' The three of us are quite good at it."

"I just wish I'd have gotten my hands on that grinning fool," Aleena said, wishing she'd been able to finish off the Jester King of Beasts once and for all.

Awakensun would join before it was said and done as would others, driving the Penguins to a swift retreat. Fumblies and Konall declined to press the chase on the Penguins. They ran into another group further to the south.

"Looks like we have company," Cattaras said. The Feline Empire approached boldly from the west, making their presence clear. Catrina had gathered Jester King and Black Paladin. The Muri-dan wisely avoided being detected by her army.

Becky suddenly ran off upon seeing the penguins. Cattaras exchanged a worried look with his sister Catrina and then took off after her.

"Hi!" Becky said to the penguins, who looked in a sour mood. "We're here to watch you and Fumblies's's's friends fight, cause, cause we wanna see how strong their defenses are! Isn't that.. OWWW!!"

Becky yelled in pain as a penguin thug slammed a a kneecapping stick into her stomach, bringing her to her knees, crying. Incensed, Cattaras rushed forward, but as fast as he moved- greased lightning would be a good way to put it- Kadlin's magic acted faster, throwing the Penguins away with hurricane force.

Cattaras didn't let it stop him from attacking the flightless birds midair. Though even his razor sharp claws proved little help against their hard penguin skin, Cattaras, fueled by the fury or their needless attack on Becky, drew blood. They surrounded Cattaras. Though still on her knees holding her stomach with one hand, Becky Joy found her resolve steely enough to blast them with a snowstorm, which Kadlin complimented from the other side. Her focusing device, a toy yeti, crackled with the cold magic. Meanwhile, Kadiln spotted trouble in the distance.

There was a group of penguin archers moving in. Obviously the mafia's backup plan.

"We need to fall back!" Kadlin ordered. "There's no longer a point in this. Our objective is already lost."

"I'm in charge here, wench!" Catrina said with a hiss. Nevertheless, she roared. "Fall back! We'll finish this fight on our terms."

Kadlin had brought a pair of mages specifically for the occasion. On her orders, they created a smoke-storm to cover the Feline Empire's retreat. Catrina glared, disappointed the Penguins had failed to take a better measure of the Third Faction. It didn't matter.

They didn't need to take the fight directly to the Third Faction or KOKOL. Not when they could bring Hey Daze itself upon their enemies.

As Catrina laughed ominously to herself, Konall extended a hand to Cyber Sunset.

"Excellent fighting," Konall turned to Dash and Aleena.

"You've got some good moves on the battlefield, Zed," Aleena said. "Dash, this's Zed. Zed, Sebastian Dash. Konall, you remember Cyber Sunset, right?"

Konall nodded.

"Yeah, big Vikings are hard to forget," Sunset said.

Dash smiled. "Glad to see you can still handle yourself on the field, Konall."

"Thanks. I'm guessing you're not here to conquer us, so you're welcome to stay for dinner if you wish."

"Sounds great," Sunset said.

"I'm okay with it," Aleena said. "We've much to discuss, anyway."

Konall nodded as Gail and her stench wandered back from the battlefield. Konall set Olin to prepare a meal worthy for their victory and guests. With Prince Blahking, Fluffy and Katherine joining them soonafter, itt was truly be a feast to remember!

A satisfying finale! It’s hard to tell, but the third faction took this mission, with the Feline Empire coming in somewhere at the end. So of course, the faction keeps the outpost. The penguins are defeated, although the Empire retreats during a separate conflict with the Penguins.

And interestingly enough, the scene is set for Aleena and Cyber Sunset to depart in the next mission, Holiday. Which by the way, ended up being a huge success.