Here it is. Part two!

This one had a good deal of handlers helping but I don't want to spoil it here, so please.... enjoy the Finale part two of two, good readers.

 
Mysterious Co-write *

As the Council of Loathing hadn't expected adventurers to show up so late, Cheatum was the only council member available to meet with the larger group that had just showed up in Degrassi.

"Ahh, I figured you, of all people, would show up. I would have thought you'd be one of the first people we'd be dealing with, though, not the last."

A gruff, deep voice answered. "We were not made aware of this meeting until just earlier, which annoys my employer. But we'll settle that with the people responsible later. I understand you've hatched a deal with the Penguins."

Cheatum fidgeted. "Yes, of course. We're sure the penguins will honor their word."

"Uh-huh." Same voice again. He seemed to speak on behalf of the army under his boss's command. "And the resistance?"

"W-what resistance?"

"Please," the voice answered. "Spare us. You might not be as familiar with their key members as we are but you've always been the perceptive one of the group. You know who we mean; the underground movement."

"We don't think they'll be a problem." Cheatum didn't sound all that convincing.

"Problem? It'll be an explosion! And chances are, we'll have to clean up the aftermath. Unless, of course..." The gruff voiced one turned to his boss, perched atop a war horse.

"Are you so sure this won't end up with a battle?" the figure on the war horse asked with a tone that spoke of his doubt of a peaceful resolution based on current handling.

Cheatum responded in a petulant tone, "Well, what exactly would you suggest we do about this little nuisance, Mr. fancy faraway land?"

"Send an envoy to maintain the peace."

"Who?"

The horsed figure chuckled slightly as but had nothing immediately to say as Cheatum thought things through..

 
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The shadows fell deep over the guardian walls around Seaside Town as Jen and Cattaras settled the group into position, gathering them around. Ulf and Olin stood with them and the others, Bob and Rayvon included, gathered around.

"The penguin guards mostly move in huddles," Cattaras said. "For protection, I suppose."

"Makes sense," Olin noted. "It may be an old tradition back from they lived in colder climates. To keep warm. Probably just carried over to their modern day mafia ancestors."

"Indeed," Jen agreed. "Thankfully, we won't be waiting long. We'll move in, groups of two or three at a time, to avoid drawing too much attention from a distance. If you see any signs of trouble, try to avoid it or stay out of sight. If you can't, fall back to the nearest group and re-strategize. Once we get a enough people near the town..."

Cattaras flexed. "I'll use my chi to help get us all in. It'll be so quick, we won't have to worry about being seen. But I'll have to find a building or a spot big enough to keep us out of sight until we're ready to spread out."

Olin noted, "Just remember, we're not attacking immediately." There was moaning from the Vikings and Rayvon though Bob seemed quite pleased by the news.

"We share your frustration," Jen said.

Cattaras grunted and nodded in agreement. "But we got a plan, meatbags, so we're sticking to it. Otherwise, me and the lady here might get displeased. And if that doesn't intimidate you.."

Jen's suit manifested a small laser at the tip of her wrist, which she used to silently blast a heart shaped symbol into the nearest oversized rock, with a "J + CW" in the middle. The Vikings and others ooooh'ed and clapped in appreciation, but they got the point.

Especially since Cattaras now had his claws out for effect.

 
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After much fussing, Sassy Snake had finally procured passes for her and her group with much help from Todd Blackpaws. After processing, they were basically set free into the city, passes in hand. Sassy, of course, travelled along with Brindle, Icy and Belinda the troll, whom she had nicknamed Linger.

"Finally," Sassy said as they walked past the gates into the open entry area of Seaside Town. Bristle glanced around, taking in the town. Penguins dotted the normally bustling entry area, hanging out with Knob Goblins. A few scattered citizens watched what was going on, but kept their distance. Sassy quickly realized they were trying to avoid drawing attention to themselves, with a couple of Gnollish sitting around, trying to look like they were relaxing, even though they kept nervously glancing around when they thought no one was looking.

"So what now?" Sassy asked. "I supposed they'll want to put us into investigating the dimensional breaches as soon as possible. Fortunately, I think we'll have the advantage in finding them."

Todd shrugged. "You never know what the penguins'll put us up to. From the sounds of it, they'll probably want us to help them out first. Just play along, we'll.."

"Blackpaws, Blackpaws, old buddy!" a faraway voice called out. Todd flinched slightly as the others looked up to see a penguin waddling towards them. I mean, even by penguin standards, this was a waddle. This penguin sported a red smoking jacket and a fat cigar to match his girth. "Good to see you're finally back in town. Really, it's been too long."

"It hasn't been that long," Todd pointed out. "And you still owe me some lucre that I haven't gotten after you told me to get lost."

"Yeah, water under the bridge," the penguin said, throwing a fin around Blackpaw's shoulder. "Which we now own, since we own this town. And since you're in town, that means you're obligated to help the penguins out if they ask for help. And this one isn't asking, he's demanding."

Bristle couldn't help but ask, "And who are you to be demanding anything of us?"

"He's right," Sassy chimed in.

The penguin stepped back and pointed a flipper. "And who exactly are they?"

Thinking quickly, Todd answered, "Backup band. You'll have to pardon them. They're a bit protective of me. But as I told them, we're just here for business."

"Alright then.." The penguin seemed to consider things and then turned. "Then let's get to business. I can get you set up and fill you in on the payment model immediately."

"Sure," Todd replied, cutting off Sassy. "But let me talk to my band first and we'll meet you there. Band stuff, you know how it is."

The penguin hrmp'ed. "Alright, you know where the place is. Five minutes. Don't keep me waiting."

Todd's tail flicked as Todd turned to 'shh' the others until the fat mafia member had waddled out of sight.

"What's going on?" Icy asked. "Why'd you tell him we're a band? I don't think any of us knows how to play an instrument!"

"Well," Sassy corrected. "I've got my flute, of course, but I am a little curious too as to what you are up to, Todd."

"Sorry, babe," Todd answered with an apologetic smile. "Trying to avoid making a scene. The penguins are in power, and we're supposed to be here to help, so we should play along. Antony there might be crude, and a cutthroat, but he runs the bar well enough. Pubs are always good places to get the lay of the land, so to speak. Plus, he makes a mean pizza."

"Well, then I guess we'd better come up with something," Sassy answered, hoping she could think of a better solution to this problem in the meantime. "I hope you three are ready to be in a band!"

"I'm in the band!" Linger said, jumping for joy. At his size, it made quite the ruckus. "Linger the drummer! I like!"

As he continued jumping up and down, drawing a crowd, Todd smirked. "Sure big guy, we'll get you a couple trash cans. You can use them for steel drums. Heh."

 
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(Interlude by Shelldor)

Shelldor, the other familiars, Bob, and a handful of Vikings made their way around the train tracks south of Seaside Town as they attempted to sneak in (not helped by Bob’s constant moaning). Since the Viking meeting, Shelldor had been trying to piece his thoughts together, trying to remember the details of his demise. Near them was a Viking whose shield bared a striking resemblance to his (former?) shield. Seeing it brought a strange swell of emotion to Shelldor (Sadness? Regret?). He knew it wasn't the same one, because honesty, it wouldn't have stayed quiet this long.

Shelldor considered the heroes he had seen at the meeting. Had they been at the battle he met his demise at? Had they fought beside him, or were they perhaps involved with his death? Despite his best efforts, he simply couldn't remember.

 
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Alys and Wildfall: The Big Scene; co-written with Aleena

Wildfall tossed his solid oak shillelagh in the air, letting it flip in the air a few times before catching it. "Just one more list on the name, so it figures we can't find him.. do you think it's a him or a her?"

"I'm probably bored with the quest," Alys sighed. "I had a good fight though, so it wasn't a complete waste of time."

"At least one fight," Wildfall answered with a smirk. "But ya know what they say, right? 'When you're bored with the quest, you're boring with the quest.' Anyway.. we should just find the last girl on the list.. I think it's a girl. What kinda name is 'Blacque' anyway?!"

"I dunno. Let's go find her," Alys replied. "Sooner we get through this, the sooner I can go back to looking for the space elves."

"Meh," Wildfall said with a shrug. "why would ya wanna do that?"

"Because I think maybe I'm one of them," Alys answered.

"Do ya got a cysuit?" Wildfall casually asked.

"Well, no. But I think the ancestors of my tribe might have come from them."

"Wouldn't they have cysuits then? And presumably pass them down to you? Or at least go, 'Goodnight honey. Your great granna came from space. Sweet dreams,' at night?"

Alys rolled her eyes, then glared at Wildfall. "You seem to know a lot about them, don't you?"

"Nope!" Wildfall said. "Alright, you said you wanted to get down to business, so let's get going!"

"Fine, keep your secrets then. Let's go."

"No secrets!" Wildfall called at her as they walked along. "I've only met them a few times and they creep me the heck out."

Alys shrugged, not really buying it, and walked along.

 
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Ulf tentatively raised his hand as he looked around the building. He and the two Vikings with him were the last to make their way into the building, and most of them looked puzzled. "What are all these spellbooks? Is this a cursed mage's den?!"

Displeased murmurs went through the crowd, but Cattaras quieted them down with a roar. "No, meatbag. It's a library. LI-BRARY!"

"You know," Olin explained. "Like a Gnollish book deposit. But.. not. Anyway, no one looks here since it's very hard to find, so we should be safe.. if we keep the noise to a minimum."

"Ha! Good one, Olin!" Ulf responded. He was about to slam his fist on the table when Cattaras interrupted with a stern glance and a loud growl.

"He wasn't kidding, idiot."

"Who are you calling an idiot?!" Ulf responded but Valison put a hand on his shoulder.

"Fellas, we are on the same side." Valison turned to Cattaras. "He might be an idiot but he is our idiot, which makes him akin to a brother. I would simply ask that you treat him as such."

Cattaras looked ready to press the issue but simply nodded.

"Anyway," Olin says. "Our victory relies on you keeping quiet in the library while we get to work. Any questions?" No pause for possible answers. "No? Good, then let's start assigning tasks. To begin with, we'll be starting with a few select groups to scout out the town while most of you stay behind..."

 
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Todd had a bit of a smile on his face, Sassy noted, as he walked out of the bar. Not his usual confident smirk, though. If anything, he looked relieved. He walked to the other side of the street, then down the street a bit before talking. "Heh.. can't believe it worked that easily, but I told ol' fatfins there we had to grab a meal first. It'll give us a little time to think of something, hopefully." Sassy looked towards the bar, concerned. Todd chuckled. "Don't worry, babe. I made sure no one was following close enough to hear. This isn't my first racket, after all."

Sassy answered thoughtfully, "Don't 'babe' me, but that's a good start."

"So," Icy asked. "Where are we heading to eat?"

"It was just an excuse to buy us time," Todd admitted. "But we could get something at the Market Square. Plus, it'd be a good place to start sniffing around and trying to figure what is really up with this town."

"Oh, alright," Icy answered, understanding now. They walked down the alley with Bristle and Linger taking point in case they ran into any danger. Which, of course, they did as soon as they turned the corner.

"Todd," Sassy asked worriedly. "Can you smell that, too?"

Todd focused for a few seconds, sniffing. Suddenly, his nose scrunched up. "Almost missed it, babe, but yeah.. if I concentrate, I can smell something rotten..."

"Me too, and it's.. " Sassy started. She suddenly ran up to Bristle and Linger. "Everyone stop! I feel it too! Do you feel it, Todd?"

"Ummm, no?" Todd asked. "Just smells like someone hasn't bathed in a while, but I just figured I was downwind of Linger or something."

"What means.. 'bath?'" Linger asked, confused.

"There's going to be a portal somewhere," Sassy said, looking around frantically, trying to determine where.

"What?" Todd frowned. "You can sense those?"

"Yeah and.. too late, though. Here it comes!" Sassy covered her ears, expecting an explosive sound, which is what she usually heard. This one sounded more like air being sucked in but.. digitalized somehow.

Not that any of them would know what the word 'digitalized' meant, especially since it isn't a real word. Todd spoke up. "Oh man, that sounds familiar. We might be in a little trouble here."

"What is it, Todd?" Bristle asked, readying his trusty shiny new slingshot. Before Todd could have answered, several weird looking.. things.. poor through the portal. Some of them dark bluish, they flew through the air on pixilated wings. Pixelated, like the small army of beasts pouring through.

"Way back when, whoa!" Todd ducked under a keese who flew right at him. "Don't let them touch you, it hurts like heck. We fought these things back when Konall, Becky, me and a few others got sucked into another dimension. Looks like they decided to do an invasion story for the sequel."

"Owww!" One of their wings brushed Linger, who stumbled back and nearly fell on Sassy and Icy before Bristle caught him. "Dey do hurt! Hurt a lot!"

"They've got us surrounded! We're in trouble!" Icy said. She lashed out with the crudgell Sassy had gifted her earlier, hitting one of the flying batlike creatures. It vanished in a puff, leaving behind a single large black pixel, which fell into her hand. "Maybe.. not that much trouble?"

Todd smirked, blasting one of the brown creatures with arched black digital eyebrows and equally pixelated brown fur. Two such creatures were headed towards Todd, who blasted them both with a single ray of death music, courtesy of Todd's "axe" aka his guitar. A tiny "100" popped up above the first one's head, and a same-sized "200" popped up over the other's head, as the creatures also vanished into pixels, leaving behind two brown pixels for Todd. "Minor enemies. We got lucky."

More poured through before the portal closed itself up with a satisfying "ding." Linger lashed out, destroying one with a single punch. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt Linger's hand. Once Sassy's squad had taken out a few more enemies, however, the others turned, split up, and escaped throughout the city.

Icy moved to follow one group but Todd waved her off. "Forget them, they're not a threat. Let's focus on the mission at hand."

Sassy nodded in agreement and the crew continued towards the Market Square.

 
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Olin suddenly had a new appreciation for librarians, especially the one in the region of his birth. In the interest of keeping the invasion force secret, he'd broken up three brawls, two yelling contests in the making, and an out of control belching competition.

Fortunately, by this point, the Vikings had settled into amusing themselves. For a few, this meant reading. For most of them, however, it took the form of taking turns pretending to be a stern librarian and "shhh'ing" the others.

Things would have gone smoothly, except one small problem was about to prop up. In fact, this entire chapter would have likely been too boring to include, except for the small shimmer of light in the middle of the room, which indicated a portal was about to open open.

Of all the Vikings, only Valison took any note, and he had no idea what to say about it.

 
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From the time she saw the other girl at the meeting, Sassy had dreaded the possibility of this meeting and unfortunately, as she, Todd and the others walked past the Gourd Tower on their way to Market Square, it came to a head.

Specifically, they ran into Rolf's group, with Rayvon, Ulf, and one more Viking beside. Of course, as soon as she saw Sassy, Rayvon broke from the group and went over to her "old friend." She kicked a defenseless possessed can of tomatoes to the side as she walked over.

Todd was the first to spot her. His spirits initially lifted at the sight of her. "Well, this is a good sign. A cute girl walking up to me for a change. Hey, babe, something I can help you with?"

Rayvon, however, completely ignored the bard. "Hey, it's sissy Sassy snake charmer. I'm surprised you had the guts to show up in town, sissy Sassy."

Sassy stood her ground. "Enough of that now. We're just here to help so you can very well just go about your business and let us be."

Todd seemed a little surprised by her open hostility. "What's with the attitude, babe?"

Rayvon turned to Todd, sneered, and then back to Sassy. "Did you get a new pet, sissy Sassy? How long did it take you to train him to talk? He must be less stupid than those pet snakes of yours."

That was enough for Bristle, who stepped in front of her. "I asked you last time not to call her that. It's getting old and getting old fast."

"What?!" Rayvon challenged him. "Are you gonna shove me again?! Well, my new Viking brothers might not like that! In, fact I might have to ask one of them to take care of you permanently if you don't apologize right now."

"What is your problem?!" Todd asked, letting out a low growl.

"Enough!" Rolf called, finally stepping in, pulling Rayvon back. "We are here for a job, not to solve your personal disputes. So let them go about their business, and.."

A deafening crash from nearby interrupted Rolf's "suggestion," causing all to look over to see Linger pulling off large chunks of the gourd tower with Ulf cheering him on.

"ULF, are you serious?!" Rolf cried out. "What in the Bjorn is wrong with you?!"

Ulf laughed louder than he had been laughing. "I dared the big troll here to find out how many pieces he could take out of this meaningless tower before it falls! It turns out it might not be that many! Keep going, mighty frost troll!"

"Knock it off, you two!" Sassy, Todd and Rolf all cried out at once. Linger immediately stopped and turned to the others, hiding a large piece of wood from the tower behind his back as he stood there, whistling and trying to act innocent.

Too late though, as a squad of about six mafia penguin burst through, along with four more penguin enforcers.

"What's going on here? Wait.. who are you?!" He glared at the Vikings.

"Oh, we're just here for..." One of the other two Vikings started to say but Rayvon was already interrupting.

"We're here to get you stupid birds out of town!" Rayvon proudly declared.

"What's that, lil missy?" The head penguin stepped forward, with two of his enforcers, bigger stronger dumber penguins, stepping behind him. "You got something to say?"

"Yeah, we're gonna mmm mrmmrph mmm!" Whatever she was saying was muffled by the large hand pressed over her mouth, courtesy of Rolf. Judging by her reaction, she didn't care for the action nor the smell of the man's unwashed yak leather gloves.

"She means, 'Yes, sir, we're going to fill our end of the bargain with the Penguins in order to fulfill your agreement with the Council.' You'll have to pardon her. She gets ornry when she hasn't had a drink in a while."

Rayvon tried to bite his hand, but the leather was too tough, and he grabbed her other arm rather hard. She stopped trying to bite.

"Yeah? Izzat so?" asked the penguin, though most of it was obscured by the sound of an explosion coming from not far away. "What the heck?! Town's under attack!"

"No it's not!" Olaf said, realizing the sound came from the wrong side of the tracks, meaning it came from near the library where the resistance was holed up. Not a good sign, but definitely not something they wanted the penguins to look into. With his hold on Rayvon loosened, she slipped away and scurried behind a different Viking.

The penguin didn't buy it. "No, pretty sure it's an attack, pal."

"Something's definitely wrong," Todd said, unaware of the hidden resistance. "Near the wrong side of the tracks."

Rayvon couldn't help herself. "Something's gonna be wrong.. for you penguins, anyway."

"Whazzat, missie?!" One of the penguin enforcers asked.

"Forget her," Sassy said. "A portal opened and it's a really big one. I can feel it from here; the vibrations almost knocked me off of my feet. We need to work with the penguins and Vikings in order to figure out what is wrong here. Do you agree?"

Rayvon fumed but the head penguin nodded.

"Yes, of course," Rolf said, realizing it would be best to play along for now. Rolf bit his tongue as Sassy and Todd took the lead, following the sounds, sensations and new scents.

Todd growled as he sniffed the air. "I'm getting a set of demons, too."

Rayvon and the three Vikings fell behind the others as they approached, with the feeling of impending trouble growing as each realized they were coming towards the library as they followed the others. (Rayvon probably thought of them as her three Viking stooges.) All four prepared for battle, knowing even without something that smelled like demons, that the penguins were going to react to this aggressively.

As they approached, bums rushed past them and spiders fled on the walls, over rooftops and even underfoot. (Those spiders mostly got squashed despite being several inches long. Creepy lil buggers.)

Smoke started to bellow from the library and nearby buildings, out of which fled more hobos and bums.

Rayvon whispered to Rolf, "We should attack now."

"Nay," Rolf answered. "Let us see how this plays out before we play our cards. We hardly have a strong hand in this position, anyway."

As if to dramatically emphasize his point, Valison's flaming body crashed through the door, rolling down the steps. He purposefully kept rolling, trying to snuff the flames out. Several demonic looking bugbears (or maybe bugbear looking demons) rushed out the doors, pouring through. Right then, Wildfall and Alys also arrived for the action!

"We can attack them right?" Rayvon asked, readying a nasty looking arrow with a barbed tip for her oversized bow.

"By all means," Rolf answered with a smile. "Vikings, attack!"

"Enforcers," the head penguin said before turning to the other penguins. "Gentlemen. Show them out of our town."

"Guess that includes us," Todd said to Sassy. Alys opened with cover fire, blasting the demonic bugbears while Wildfall tore into them with his solid oak shillelagh.

Moments earlier, inside the building, the shock of the sudden portal opening up had taken the Vikings off guard. Three unnamed Vikings had reacted quickest. They had given the others time to regroup but gave up their lives while granting the others a chance to fight back.

Most of the invaders were bugbears in mystical looking robes, who started throwing all sorts of elemental attacks out. Some of them started summoning the aforementioned demon looking bugbears. (Or were they.. well, you know.)

Bob's origami towel crane took the lead on defending the others as well, with the potato moving faster than a potato should move. (Which isn't saying much; potatoes really should be motionless.) It quickly tripped up the first set of invaders.

However, the Vikings inside were still on the defensive by the time they throw Valison through the doors after setting him aflame. Meanwhile, Tatter, the mysterious familiar whose type was utterly unknowable, lit several of the bugbears on fire, returning the favor, nailing them with flame blasts and scorching fire bomb type attacks.

Outside the library, a firebolt flew towards Sassy, who saw it too late to avoid it in time but fortunately, a blur purred her to the side. She looked up to see the face of the one who had saved her. Cattaras Whiteclaw!

"Careful, little one," Catt said right before tearing into action. "You wouldn't want to mess up that pretty face of yours."

Sassy blinked and then blushed before pulling out her crossbow to rejoin the battle.

As the penguin-lead attack on the demons spilled into the library, the counterattack against the mystical robed bugbears spilled out of the mysterious hard-to-find building. The crossfire proved an effective way of dealing with the mystical bugbears and their summoned demons, especially with Jen and Cattaras back in the fight.

Bob tripped over Shelldor as the two watched Bob's familiars providing intelligent, dense meatstack level protection against the interdimensional invaders. They were in trouble briefly, except the very thing that was causing that trouble - being attacked from two sides- immediately turned up problems of its own.

After all, the penguins realized the Vikings were in their town without proper permission and the Vikings had come for a chance to fight them anyway. The two sides quickly turned on each other and a three way battle immediately started to favor the bugbears' invasion.

Wildfall, Alys and Sassy Snake found themselves in the middle of it, with Bob's familiars stretched thin, trying to defend his "allies" and Bob as well.

However, as the demons started taking advantage of the infighting, the mysterious stranger was making his way through town as well along with some interesting backup.

"That looks chaotic," said the head of the group as they approached. Wolf turned towards his boss, Sir Fumblies. "What now?"

"Well," Fumblies answered from atop his war horse. "We're here to keep the peace between the resistance and the penguins but that doesn't include these alien bugbears so let's take care of that first."

* Editor's note: The earlier Mysterious Co-write was written with the assistance of Kris, handler of Fumblies

With that, Wolf nodded and called to the brutes for backup and then transformed into his werewolf form, leading the fight. Meanwhile, as they did, Fumblies called on both sides to turn their aggression towards the bugbears, which succeeded in quickly running them off. However, things continued to be tense as it seemed the two sides would soon resume their battle.

"Enough!" Fumblies called out. "This fighting has to stop! We're here to see that a battle doesn't break out, which is why I've brought a very special guest."

All eyes turned towards Fumblies as he surveyed the situation, determined to stop the infighting and as he did, Council of Loathing member Howe stepped into view, clearly not comfortable being this close to the action.

"Yes.." Howe said, clearly ready to defer to Fumblies. "The Council wants a peaceful solution here, which is why we proposed this alliance in the first place. So let's work towards that, people. Help a Council member out here!"

"We got an unauthorized presence, Council member!" the head penguin called out.

"So let's make them help with a solution!" Wildfall suggested. "We just gotta work together."

Alys looked sternly at the Ireacan Wildfall. "Well, that takes trust and sometimes, you need to build that trust up rather than constantly straining it."

Wildfall looked over, giving an apologetic shrug, but Todd stepped up on his behalf. "Hey, he might be a bit annoying and an eyesore sometimes, but you can trust my man Wildfall here. He's a good guy."

"Wow.." Wildfall seemed surprised. "Thanks Todd."

Todd nodded. Cattaras, however, seemed more annoyed. "So what's your plan, Fumblies?"

"Well," Wildfall said while Fumblies thought it over. "Not to interrupt, but wasn't the plan to deal with these annoying portals? That's why we came here, right? The penguins said they're a problem and it's pretty obviously not going away on their own."

"I came here for some action," Alys answered in a frustrated voice. "Which those stupid portals interrupted."

Cattaras let out another low growl. "Frankly, I'm just here to get these penguins out of town."

A couple of the enforcers moved to get in Cattaras's face, but Wildfall stepped between them.

"Wait, guys, we're.." Wildfall paused, looking from Catt to the penguins and back. "Wow you're all kinda big. Anyway, that's why we're here. Resolve the portal issues and the penguins leave, right?"

"You ask us for trust," a powerful, authoritative voice came from down a street. The big boss came, with four even more powerful looking henchmen along with. Also, a penguin shoe shiner. "And yet you would attack us openly?"

The penguin who had (until this very moment) held the designation of head penguin bowed down and called out, "Don Pygoscelis!"

"I object!" Olin called out. "This was not an open attack. There was great planning and much subtlety put into this operation. We didn't do all of this 'sneaking around' for an open attack. Believe me, you would know if a Viking lead an open attack on you, by the shaking of the ground, the fire in the sky, and the uncontrolled quaking of your liver, heart and spleen, sometimes accompanied by mild indigestion!"

Don Pygoscelis glanced around at the penguins surrounding him, then glared at the Viking. "Considering the number of my associates in this very heavily fortified city, I would suggest the only thing that would accompany an attack would be mass Viking graves, my friend."

"Please," Jen said. "I've got the backup of a space faring kingdom. And this stud." She pointed to Cattaras. "You really don't want to get into a game of bigger armies."

"Fair enough," the Don said. "And yet clearly, your empire does not wish to engage in an all out war with the locals, which somewhat dampens your threat, although I appreciate the effort."

"We need to focus on a solution," Sassy said, chiming in finally.

"Anyone got any ideas?" Councilman Howe asked. "We're about desperate enough to do anything. OW!"

Alys watched, amused, as the turtle snipped at Howe's shoe and then dropped a glowing red mushroom at his feet. The turtle then turned, oddly, looked at Alys. She figured if he came over and bit her she'd dodge, but instead, the levitating potato snapped her butt with one of its vines to get her attention! "Hey! What the.."

Another vine from the potato shoved a glowing mushroom, pulsating white and black, into her hands. "Gee.. thanks."

Meanwhile, Tatter gave Cattaras a hotfoot to get his attention and threw a smoldering mushroom, wrapped in a black cloth, at Cattaras. The potato then ran for his life.

"Watch it, you lil creep!" Cattaras growled. He then held up the mushroom. "What in the world?!"

Wildfall looked from one of the mushrooms to another. "Well, that's crazy, but.."

"What is?" Sassy Snake asked.

"You mean other than the fact familiars are handing out mushrooms?" Fumblies asked with a smirk, curious as to what was going on.

"Alys," Wildfall asked. "Have you ever heard of it.. oh what was it.. an elven Daddyarad teleportation.. something?"

"What?!" She paused. "Ohh, yes, I forgot about those. If you mean the Dryad mushroom circles, they were often used by powerful archetypal elven mages in the past to create short range mass teleport fields. Some believed a powerful enough mage could even manipulate time or other dimensions. Heady stuff. I hadn't thought about that in a while."

"Could you reenact the spell?" Sassy asked.

"No," Alys said. "Well, I could, actually. We've got most of the ingredients. But it wouldn't do anything. It'd just be for show. We might see some lights if we're lucky but nothing's going to be teleported. And besides, we're trying to close down teleport gates, not open them up."

Todd's eyes lit up. "Except that maybe Jen could analyze it with her cysuit?"

"That actually kinda makes sense," Cattaras said, turning towards Jen.

"Sure," she answered. "We can give it a try and see if we can come up with a solution. I might need a few things to analize this all, but I have a feeling it might actually work."

Alsy gathered the ingredients and turned to Jen. "Let's go somewhere a little more quiet so we can start, then. I've been looking forward to meeting you, by the way.."

"And then," Sassy said, smiling as the two walked off. "I guess it'll be time to give Seaside Town back to its rightful owners."

The Don stood his ground. "There's still the matter of these invaders. I'm not sure sure this doesn't invalidate the agreement, regardless of if we deal with the portals."

Cattaras and Fumblies moved towards the Don, whose guards looked a little unsure about confronting the two. Cattaras growled and Fumblies asked, "Are you really sure you want a war with all of us right now?"

"Guys, guys," Wildfall suggested, trying to keep the peace. "Maybe we can work out a win/ win here. Somehow."

"Oh!" Sassy asked. "Maybe the penguins could have some representatives on the Council's board?"

Wildfall chuckled. "They're due for an update, anyway."

"No!" Howe said, shaking his hands dramatically. "Horrible idea, I hate it! Absolutely not!"

"I would accept this," the Don said. "Or possibly this Council member's disembodied head. Either one."

"We'd love to have you on the Council!" Howe said, changing his tune without missing a beat. "Absolutely wonderful idea. Consider it done!"

Fumblies chuckled. "I guess that is that, then."

"Lil anti climatic," Wildfall said to Todd. "But I'll take it."

 
---------------------------------

 
Bonus scene!

 
Some of the opening written by John and Sherri's handlers

John and Sherri found themselves in a strange new world. They looked around, taking in the scenery and noting certain things, including a couple adventurers riding in the distance on some impressive looking steeds. As John and Sherri watched from the cover of distance, the adventures hopped off the horses, left them tied to a tree, and proceeded on foot into the woods.

John turned to Sherri. "The horses over there. See them?"

Sherri nodded. "Right, let's grab em and ride."

As they were walking towards the horses, from out from nowhere came what appeared to be bandits, common thugs and possibly more.

Sherri commented, "Reminds me of gangsters in South Central." They got into a fighting stance to prepare for battle. Suddenly one of the thugs pulled out what appeared to be a knife and lunged at them.

John quickly grabbed the thug's wrist and tore the knife away, then delivered the thug a swift kick knocking the thug back. Another thug lunged and Sherri sent him flying onto his back. The third thug pulled two knife-looking things and lunged at them both. Sherri dodged the thug and John swung around kicking the thug in the back, putting the thug on the ground.

They both looked at each other. Sherri said, "That was easy."

John replied, "Too easy."

The leader of the thugs smiled, although neither John nor Sherri had any idea it was the treacherous necromancer, Bones.

With that, Bones glanced towards the other thugs surrounding John and Sherri. A couple skeletal figures, armed with old rusted swords and shields, pushed their way through the others, shambling awkwardly up towards the other-dimensional couple, who turned their attention to this new threat. It caught them off guard for a moment, but only a moment.

Sherri quipped, "Guess they don't feed all of their thugs?"

John chuckled, ready to take on the new threat. "Guess not."

The skeletons attacked the couple with swords but John and Sherri easily dodged. John lashed out, determined to relieve the nearest skeleton of his shield with a kick. However, the skeleton easily held his grip on the shield and swung his sword at John, who effortlessly avoided it but found himself backpedaling. Meanwhile, Sherri attempted to sweep the legs of the other skeleton but as quickly as she moved, it anticipated the move and leaped up, landing on her legs before the maneuver was even finished. She cried out in pain, which immediately got John's full attention.

He cried her name out and immediately ignored the threat in front of him, rushing to the skeleton standing over his beloved. The skeleton held the shield to guard against any attacks, but the now enraged John simply grabbed the shield, and pulled it, along with the skeleton's arm and part of its upper body, clear off. Without thinking, John threw the shield, still attached to part of the first skeleton, at the second, sending it crashing to the ground.

"Are you okay?" He offered her a hand, which she accepted, letting him help her to her feet.

"Yeah, if that's the best they go," she answered with a smile. "This should be easy enough. Let's finish off the others."

"Looks like they want a little more," Sherri said, pointing to the two skeletons as they stood up, untangling from each other. One was missing an arm.. but that arm had attached to the other skeleton's ribs, giving it a third arm with a second shield. "Also: Ewww."

"Stand down," a voice confidently called. The skeletons obediently backed away as the new figure, dressed in a black duster, stepped into the field, motioning the others back. A painted mask, seeming to radiate cold, obscured his face yet revealed the figure's silver hair. "Name's Blake Cutler. I'll be your executioner for the evening. Let's get started, shall we?"

John shot an "Are you crazy?" look at him. "You're kidding, right? You want to take us both on alone? Did you miss the part where we've slapped everyone else around so far?"

"Nope." Blake smiled thinly. He slipped a pair of knives out of his sleeve. "Maybe you'll be a challenge for a moment. Doubt it."

Blake rushed forward at John, intent on cutting him but John ducked and avoided each swipe, though he found Blake much faster and more dangerous than the other thugs, forcing John to backpedal. Sherri moved in, intent on hitting Blake from the blindside but he sensed her coming and lashed out at her, nearly slicing her throat. As she dodged back, he took the opportunity to roll to the side, throwing a knife at Sherri and another at John. Sherri ducked one, while John just barely avoided having the other knife go through his shoulder.

"Nice try," John started. "But now you've gotten rid of your only.."

He stopped as Blake turned around, holding two daggers in one hand, and a razor between each finger in the other. Blake's smile was confident and cold. "You were saying?"

"Spoke too soon, Sherri," John admitted. "He's got spares."

Sherri nodded. "Guess we'll have to relieve them of them, John."

"Like hell!" Blake rushed at them both, intent on finishing them off. However, the two were working as a team now, dodging to either side and launching an assault against Blake. While Blake turned to focus on parrying off John's attack, Sherri leapt back and jumped midway up a nearby tree, impressing all who watched with her amazing leaping ability.

Meanwhile, Blake caught John off guard, slicing his cheek with the handful of blades. John jumped back. Blake stabbed at John, but John caught his arm and dropped down, countering the attack with a takedown. John tried to hold the arm long enough to at least break it, but Blake pulled free. Outspeeding even John's amazing reflexes, Blake caught him with a boot to the midsection, staggering him.

By this point, Sherri had leapt back from the tree, having pulled a rather large limb free, which she was now using like a bo staff for a relentless attack on Blake. It forced him back and kept him off balance enough for John to grab him from behind. Using his amazing strength, John simply flung Blake into the distance over the other thugs, aiming him at the robed figure who was their presumed leader.

Blake's surprised scream of frustration turned into a moan of agony after he crashed in the distance, unseen. John felt confident. "Would you all like to run now?"

"Hear that, boss?" asked a rat like beast standing next to the robed figure. Night black fur (except for the creature's dirty snow white colored hands, face and feet) and dressed only in red shorts with white buttons, the rat, well muscled, stood confidently. "He asked if we want to run. Well, I want to run at them. Can I?"

"Yes, Mortimer. Please do."

"Run away," John warned him. "Last chance, boys."

Mortimer just laughed and whistled a familiar tune. "T'was right before combat, right where we're at. All the creatures were stirring, except this little old rat. I'm quite well hung."

Sherri answered, "I really don't care."

"Be sure not to blink, I'll soon be.. " Mortimer pointed behind the two. "There."

Sherri laughed it off. "I'm not sure."

But as Mortimer moved forward, he turned into a blur.

He seemed to vanish from sight. They heard his voice behind them ask, "Awww, what's the matter?" And he swept the couple's legs from under them; they fall to the ground with a clatter.

John spun on his back, trying to return the favor, but Mortimer again seemed to vanish out of one spot and appear in another. A hard kick sent John flying several feet. Before he'd even landed, Mortimer was already raining punches down on Sherri at blinding speed. As he did, the two skeletons shambled up to Mortimer. Then they grabbed him as the one with three arms used two of them to start punching the ratlike figure.

"What're ya doing, Bones?!" Mortimer asked, but that's all he got to do. John slammed a fist hard into the Muri Dan's midsection and the manrat fell to the ground, wounded.

"What's going on?!" Bones asked, outraged.

"That guy.. hits harder.. than Daisuke..." Mortimer cried out, withering on the ground. A few seconds later, though, he sped himself well out of range of the battle to recover.

"Just us," a nearby voice cried out. "Ruining your plans as always!"

Sherri and John turned to see a tough looking muscular cloaked stranger nearby who immediately transformed into a wolf! The thugs started to move towards the strangers, only to be immediately attacked by the mutated skeleton.

"Sorry," said a figure on top of a warhorse - Sir Fumblies. "The skeletons are under my control now. Or haven't you figured out that I'm a stronger necromancer than you'll ever be, traitor?"

"Confound you!" Bones cried out. "Retreat, my dark forces!"

"I'll never run!" Blake cried out, still aching for a fight. However, this changed as he saw the others retreating, even as Fumblies and a set of Knob Goblin brutes started making their way towards him. "Well.. just this once. But I'll be back! Like your worst nightmare! Or maybe a cough that keeps coming back! Or maybe a.."

Whatever else Blake said was lost as he vanished into the distance with the others. Meanwhile, John and Sherri turned towards the newcomers in preparation for a possible attack.

However, the werewolf, having finished attacking the straggling thugs, shifted back into his more human form.

"Don't worry," the stranger on top of the warhorse said. "We're not here to fight you. I'm Sir Fumblies of the Blood Clan. I'm guessing you could use a little debriefing on this situation..."

There it is, about two and a half times as big as part I.

I almost left a couple parts out of part II but luckily, I had notes to go by to double check to make sure it all got in. I think most of the writing was dedicated to getting everyone in place.. heh.

As you can see, John and Sherri debut! Yup, they're players. Their team name is Blackeagle, but you'll learn more about them as we go, hopefully. They're an adventuring duo. We've also got Sir Fumblies showing up for the story. He didn't roleplay this mission but it seems like a fitting compensation for the last few missions, some of which he roleplayed for but was barely used in the Finale if at all.

Anyway, there it is. The finish to Season 3's mission zero. Oh, I sort of ignored the fact Rayvon's name was spelled Ravyn this time around - mostly because I didn't notice it til I did this archive. I can't really speak much about what happens after, because we just started the next mission. But Sassy's already the first one to roleplay for this mission, too!