Here's the final part of the Finale; part III!

Three is usually the part we end the Finale on, and this one has humor, action, and some potential ramifications for the future of AIL. So read on, fine readers!

 
Shadows from the forest fell long in the late afternoon, stretching into the north and west as if trying to flee from the forest itself.

"Something's wrong." Bob realized as the words left his mouth he needn't have bothered given voice to the obvious.

His bird familiars had just returned from scouting the forest and proceeded to fly around Bob and the others, squawking wildly and making sure to stay behind Bob and the others in the group for protection.

Bob knew the others craved the excitement and adventure although it wasn't a sentiment Bob shared. He could barely wrap his mind around the desire.

"No surprise there," Alys commented. Bob glanced over at the wood elf, dressed as she was in her snug earth-toned leather outfit. At the start of the walk, she'd been so sick she could barely walk on her own. She seemed to have shook that off now. Tough girl, Bob figured. Alys noted, "I can hear the fighting even more intensely now."

By comparison, the brunette had loose fitting clothes. Though likely the youngest of the group, Mary was their leader- and she'd insisted Bob go with the group on their mission.

"Stay careful," Omar warned them again. He was one of the two sailors accompanying Mary, Alys and Bob. The two sailors had earlier insisted on taking the lead. Bob certainly wasn't going to object to the idea. Omar continued. "We have no idea what dangers might lurk in these woods. Naomi and I would be honored to guard you with your lives."

"'Honored' might be stretching it," Naomi answered. "But we'll do our duty. You're lucky to have someone as brave and strong as Omar guarding you."

"Well then," Mary answered. "Hopefully our luck will continue and we'll find the bird before we find the battle ahead."

"I don't know," Alys teased Bob. "I could go for a nice battle, couldn't you?"

Bob shook his head. "I'd rather go for a nice nap."

Mary laughed. "Maybe after we find the bird?"

"And what bird would that be?" a voice called out from behind them, startling the whole group. Omar and Naomi drew their weapons and rushed to the other side of the group but the bird casually floated around the group before they could get in position. "Hey, jerks, watch where you're aiming those things."

"The Toot Oriole!" Alys and Mary called out, eyeing the bird.

"Ohhh!" Bob finally realized what was going on and cheered. "Yay, I guess."

Bob isn't a very good cheerer, I don't think.

"Well," the bird answered. It flapped around in a strange sports jacket. "Close."

"I didn't think the Toot was so.." Bob paused. "Plump. No offense."

"Hahaha, shut up!" the Toot answered. "No, just yankin' your feathers. It's cool, that about sums it up. Name's Toot. Tor the Toot."

"Great," Bob whined. "We got a bird but it's the wrong bird then."

"Hey now!" Tor responded. "I ain't some street bum bird, ya know? I got street cred here. I'm the Toot Oriole's student! His protege, if you wanna be classy about it! Show a lil respect!"

Mary asked, "Do you have any idea where the Toot might be then?"

"Course I do," Tor answered, belly laughing. "What, ya think it was just luck I flew by your ship? But once I got here, I figured out things were even more dangerous than I realized."

"We already hear the sounds of battle," Alys answered. "I'm not afraid."

"I am," Bob meekly offered. Shelldor snapped at his heel, hoping to get him to show a little backbone. It just made him whine.

"Oh, man up, Bob!" Mary turned to Tor. "Thank you for the warning, but I think we are clear on the danger."

"Not sure ya are, hot stuff," Tor answered, flapping his wings. "You'll be up against a demon. A rather.. powerful demon."

Mary's tanned face turned a little more pale as she looked at the Toot with a puzzled expression. "A.. demon?"

"Cool!" Alys's face lit up. "Dangerous but cool."

"Don't worry kiddos," boasted Tor. "Uncle Tor's got your back. Just fly with me and. . . oh wait, you're dirtbound. Well, walk and try to keep up alright?"

With that, Tor flew ahead, with Bob asking Alys how a demon qualified as cool and Alys, of course, yelling him into submission in response. The group didn't get far before they noticed something burst out of the woods in the distance.

"Now that's the Toot Oriole!" Alys called out.

"You got that right!" Tor the Toot answered.

 
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Sebastian Dash and Catrina Whiteclaw examined the console.

"Hmm.. I don't see a keyboard. The Council of the Fifth used to have some.. weird technomagic device that could scan fingerprints, but I don't see one of those. What do you think, Catrina?"

Catrina flicked her tail in annoyance. "I've mentioned before I don't know anything about this kind of thing, right? I'm starting to think you just ask me about it to be annoying."

"Perish the thought, kitten." Dash turned to Aleena. "Hmm.. I wonder if something could interface with the back here. It almost looks like.. well something I've seen in Honorburg. Aleena, do you mind using your cysuit and hooking up with this thing? Maybe you could take control of it remotely."

"No," said Aleena. She shivered and hugged herself.

Dash tried to hide his surprise, but couldn't keep it out of his voice. "What? Oh.. is the magic elements of it too dangerous?"

"I don't think so." Aleena paused. "Dash, you were there. I saw you! Don't you get it? I can't touch their stuff!"

Catrina flicked her tail again, trying to focus on the console in front of her as Dash turned to Aleena.

"But," Dash asked, "that was just an illusion right? Something they made up to torture you?"

Aleena crouched, feeling incredibly vulnerable and scared. She couldn't help herself as she cried, remembering the visions she saw, the results of the utterly impossible. "No! No. You don't understand, they'll kill us all, you see? I can't do anything."

"They can't hurt you," Dash answered. "Right? Why mess around with the illusions if they've got anything that can hurt us? You're fine."

Dash reached for her, wanting to comfort her or.. something..

The elf fought back a sob, tried to center herself for an explanation. "These 'bugbears'. They've merged magic and technology. They've infected me with something, I'm sure of it. Maybe it's finished, maybe it's not. Magic-powered tech has broken our security. Nobody can do that. It's like… nevermind. I've put my cysuit to sleep. If I try to use it, it might kill me. Or it might be able to contact other elves, spread through our empire and kill us all."

Aleena fell over, curled up. "Dash, you can't trust me. Tell me you've untrusted me!"

That only confused Dash. He kneeled by her, comforting her. "Why would I do that? I'm not even sure what you are talking about."

"I can't do it for you, Dash. You need to open your certificate repository and delete my public key. And you need to tell everyone to do the same."

"We need to get out of here first," Dash answered. "Fine. Walk me through it."

Aleena turned put her hand on Dash's shoulder, a sudden morbid thought occurring to her. "Dash. You should put your cysuit to sleep. In case you are infected too, now."

Dash closed his eyes for a moment. "Already in sleep mode. Now what?"

Catrina answered instead, pointing to the distance, where an unidentified number of bugbears and Muri-dan were quickly approaching. "Now we either run or fight."

Dash put a hand on Catrina's shoulder. "Maybe not. I'm not sure they're coming for us, actually. They seem to be interested in something else."

Aleena turned to the console in front of them and sighed, cracking her knuckles. "I guess we'll be doing this the old fashioned way."

 
By Aleena and Dash

 
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"Demons are dumb." Todd chuckled between the pants after he'd caught up with the others. Sure he'd outwitted Larry but he didn't just walk away from it- he ran! He quickly came across the rest of his group who were also rushing to get away from the demon.

"Great job, Todd," Wildfall said, keeping his voice low as he scanned over the distance. "Question is, what now?"

"Tacos!" Gina yelled out "helpfully."

"At a Twisted Irondeath concert!" Wilma chimed in. Air guitar duet!

Todd looked at the girls, then laughed. "I was about to say 'more running' but I like your idea better."

Gina looked at Wilma, dejected. "Dude, I forgot about the demon!"

"How do you forget about a demon?" Wilma asked. Even she wasn't that daft.

"Out of sin, out of mind?"

"Anywhoo," Wildfall chimed in. "The Toot's wandering off anyway. We gonna follow?"

"Dudes," Wilma yelped. "We just gotta keep the Toot from having himself get himself killed by the demon, and you two are historically.. um.. designed for that."

"That only proves you haven't seen me naked, hon." Todd smirked. "Takes a lot of help for this fox to save the day."

"No, you two got this!" Wilma said. "You're totally Gina's hero, you know?"

"Really?" Wildfall asked. "What?"

"Seriously," Wilma said. "I think she got a crush on the fox one after reading about him."

"Shut up, doofus!" Gina answered. "Besides, I was like, twelve when I read it."

It took a second for Todd to get his brain around how someone this hot could have read about him when she was twelve and not be… well, jailbait.

Once he made it past that he concentrated fully on the task at hand, taking the scents as only he could- well, from this group he was the only one… Nevermind, he brushed that thought aside and concentrated. Todd ducked out of the way as a black adder snake jumped at him. Todd then jumped back as a black panther devoured a black beaver and then turned to Todd, growling.

Wildfall looked from one threat to the other as Wilma commented, "I thought you only had to fight one of those things at a time in this world."

"So did I!" the bard exclaimed as the pair began to circle himself and the ladies. "Want to let them in on that rule?" He slowly unslung his axe, finding himself moving between the beasts and the girls.

What do you think you are, some kind of hero?, he chided himself, glancing at Wildfall.

Wildfall almost facepalmed. "How do ya wanna handle this, Todd?"

"Get help!"

Wildfall nodded. The others were still trapped between the black snake and the blacker panther, but Wildfall sneaked off and then broke into a full run, eventually running into Sassy Snake.

 
By Todd (Cat) and Wildfall (Dash)

 
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Shelldor went along with the rest of the party, secure in Bob’s backpack. He had heard the elf mention the sounds of battle, and that caused his mind to drift to past battles.

His mind drifted to one in a forest much like this one. The thoughts became vivid, almost like he was back there. Back to the strong, powerful warrior he once was, a blade in his hand. A comrade stood next to him, but he couldn’t quite make out their face. For some reason, he couldn't quite place this memory. He felt a feeling of dread. When was this memory? Is this how he met his end? Damnit, why was it so fuzzy? Damn, he missed having hands.

 
by Shelldor

 
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Over in the woods, Wildfall ran up to Sassy Snake and her crew and came to a stop.

"Hey Sassy," Wildfall said, taking a moment to orient himself.

"If you are chasing the demon," Sassy explained, glancing back at the still burning trees. "You just missed him, although if he's running, I would suggest just letting him run. He's too dangerous to take on alone."

Wilde shuddered at the thought, then laughed it off. "Heh, no kiddin' right?"

"What? Where is kid?!" Linger asked, looking around. "Kid in where? Kid in woods?"

"What?" Wildfall blinked.

"No," Sassy said. "He means kidding like joking. Not a kid in the woods. Right?"

"Right," Wildfall answered.

"Oh," Linger answered. "I know that word. Haha, I get it now."

"Anyway," Wildfall continued. "I'm tryin' to get the bird so we can get it away from the demon. We're after the Toot Oriole."

"So are we!" Icy answered. "Isn't that the oddest coincidence?"

Bristle laughed. "Well, it is a mission from the Council, and from what Sassy said and what we saw at the Oriole's Nest, there are plenty of adventurers out after the Toot."

"Well that's a good point," Icy conceded. "Isn't Bris just the smartest? The perfect combination of brains and brawn."

Bris flexed and started to say something cheesy but Wildfall spoke first. "Great, did ya guys happen to see the Toot? I got split up from Todd and a couple gals. Now I'm not seeing the Toot either."

"Right," Sassy answered. "We need to find the Toot. But avoid the demon. This way, then. I think I can get us there, but we'll need to hurry. Luckily, I think I've got a plan."

"What's that?" Wildfall asked, following her. The group was already moving through the woods with Sassy leading.

"I'll explain when we get there," Sassy answered. "And I figure it out. I just hope it works the same as it does on our world. We need to find Todd though. Maybe we'd better split up and look for him as well."

"Oh that's no problem." Icy smiled. "Bris and I can track your friend Todd down and let him know what's up."

"Should be easy," Bris said. "Then we'll look for you."

"Start there," Wildfall said, pointing where he came from. "Obviously."

"Linger," Sassy asked. "You can come with Wildfall and me. Just be careful; we're dealing with a dangerous demon here, okay?"

Linger nodded. "Linger dangerous too."

"See you soon, Sass," Bris said as he and Icy walked off to find Todd while Wildfall, Sassy and Linger rushed to find the demon and the Toot.

"They seem cool," Wildfall commented as they rushed through the woods.

"They are," Sassy answered. "I've known Bris since my days in my home dimension. And I might be teaching Icy about gathering herbs and potion ingredients in the near future."

"Probably smart," Wildfall conceded. He rushed to keep up. He'd forgotten how fast this girl could move when she wanted. "There's some dangerous stuff in this woods, I hear. All kinda poison and stuff. Specially if ya get the wrong mushrooms."

"That's true," Sassy answered. "In fact, I was just thinking how I could probably make some useful poisonous mixes here."

 
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The Fumblies Mobile Command had been pressing itself to move at double pace towards the unfolding scene to the south, having seen a flying ship explode to the south. Unfortunately, they ran into a sort of a roadblock in the form of a rather large and dangerous looking army.

At the front of that army stood a sole figure (Kwadlin) with two other figures standing behind him - Bones and Blake Cutler. Several skeletons and thugs stood behind him.

"Ahhh, Sir Fumbles," Kwadlin said, boney fingers grasping a silver staff. "I knew the explosion would attract your attention. Now prepare to meet your doom."

"I don't think so!" Sherri- half of Blackeagle- called out to the figure. "Blake, we've got unfinished business with you."

The other half of the duo, John, looked the group over. "We don't have time for this. We need to look for survivors. You must have seen the ship being destroyed. We've got to see if there are wounded who might need medical assistance."

"Yeah!" Becky Joy yelled, clutching her focusing device, a small blue toy yeti. "You gotta get outta our way or I might get mad and make you feel sad!"

"Oh, I don't think so," Bones replied. "We have no intentions of letting you pass."

Kwadlin just smiled a cruel smile.

"You might think that," Sir Fumblies responded with an air of confidence. "And yet I have an entire platoon while you simply have skeletons and thugs, and you might remember, I'm perfectly capable of stealing control of your undead as I expect you're going to see momentarily but forget about that now. Becky, Blackeagle and Zap, you four will kindly go ahead and take care of the wounded, please. In the meanwhile, the rest of us shall deal with this distraction."

Zap just nodded.

"I am no simple distraction," Kwadlin warned darkly. "And you might find I've taken precautions against your necromantic tricks this time."

"Are you sure you'll be okay without us?" John asked.

Fumblies nodded. "Yes, go. We'll join you soon."

"We shall see about that," Bones and Kwadlin said at the same time while Becky Joy, Blackeagle and the lightning mage Zap made their way towards the wreckage in the distance.

"We might be in luck," Zap pointed out as the group quickly moved to the south. "At least in the sense that it seems the big fight has scared off other potential confrontations on our journey."

"Good," Sherri answered. "Because I can see the wreckage in the distance. At least, I think it is. It's certainly smouldering so it must be hot. We'll have to be careful of noxious fumes too."

"Becky could use her ice winds," John suggested.

"Yay!" Becky clapped happily as she skipped along, careful not to accidentally get too far ahead of the others. "I can be helpful!"

"You sure can," Sherri answered. Before long, the four were close to the wreckage. Unfortunately, the heat prevented them from getting too close.

"Becky," John ordered. "You'll have to use your mastery of cold to try to cool this off so we can search for survivors. Zap, do you think your lightning abilities can power the ship if we need to power it up?"

"I seriously doubt that." Except the voice answering wasn't Zap but rather an unfamiliar female voice. Blackeagle turned to the new voice, ready for a fight, and saw a space elf standing there with a tiger-like furry. Blackeagle calmed down when Becky rushed up to hug the tiger-man.

"Cattaras?! Where'd you come from?!" She said, hugging Cattaras and then the space elf. "Did you superspeed Princess Jen in? Hello Jen!"

Cattaras smiled proudly. "Sure did, squirt. Blahking and Daisuke are still coming. They didn't seem too keen on being chi-sped here, so I figured they could walk."

Jen answered John's unspoken question preemptively. "There's no one in the wreckage. It's just a shell we used to test the bugbears' defenses. The ship should be working to repair itself and contain any radiation. I don't think lightning would do much to power the ship, though. Also, I think the pink goo that destroyed it is going to complicate - or prevent- repairs."

"It seemed like a longshot," Sherri said, sounding serious. "Should we get back to the fight with Fumblies?"

"Or should we focus on the missing trio?" John asked.

Cattaras flicked his tail. "Are you talking about Catrina, Dash and Aleena?"

"Yup!" Becky jumped up and down. "Queen kitty! Queen Aleenie! Where are they?! We gotta help!"

"That's the plan," Jen answered. "We tried scanning the shield but you can see the results here. I wanted to scan the wreckage up close but the main objective remains the rescue of my Queen Aleena and her allies."

"Something's going on.." Cattaras paused and pointed south. "There. See it? A distortion in the field."

"Really?!" Becky looked excitedly and then pouted. "I don't see it though."

"Yeah, I'm sensing something going on," Jen said. "We should get down there."

"We're here," Daisuke called out. "What's going on?"

Just as he said that, Cattaras took off, chi-speeding into the distance and taking Becky and Jen with him.

Blahking turned to Daisuke and sighed. "That's starting to get really old."

 
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The Toot Oriole flew at full speed as he exited the clearing. Next thing he knew, he was flying beak first into the demon Larry.

"So we meet again." The Toot pulled back from Larry but didn't yet bother trying to escape. No point in leaving himself open to one of Larry's infamous fire attacks.

"For the last time," Larry answered. "Cause I'm gonna kill you now!"

"I kind of inferred that."

"Good for you," Larry responded. His hand started glowing. His eyes lit up. His hair went straight up into the air. And then.. he started yelling "Stop it! OW stop it!"

Wait, what was that? Ohhh, I see . . .

That was Larry's reaction as he found himself under assault from three birds. The snow owl scratched the back of Larry's head while the fist turkey snapped a fist into Larry's face repeatedly. Larry yelled but the birds kept attacking. . . for a few seconds. Then Larry sent them flying back with a flame burst.

Luckily the exotic parrot was there to protect them from most of the elemental attack but it still sent all three birds flying through the air.

"My birds!" Bob shouted, rushing ahead of the others. Larry walked towards him and yipped as something bit his foot and again when it bit his ankle. He turned around and gave Shelldor the turtle a hard kick, sending him flying.

A couple arrows impaled themselves in Larry's back. He pulled them free, turning to look at the new source of irritation. Alys fired a few more arrows at the demon, who melted them midair. Alys kept firing.

"Don't you learn?" Larry taunted. He flash fired the next two arrows she fired but these were specialty arrows. Instead of burning, they exploded, releasing a thick gooey sap which covered the demon, momentarily dousing his awesome flames as the sap covered about half his body.

"Black forest poisonwood tree sap gets nasty when you heat it up, so thanks!" Alys winked and fired another pair of specialty arrows - this time razor tipped. They sliced through Larry's shoulder and arm, drawing further demonic screams. She followed it up with a couple of regular arrows, but before she could unleash any more attacks, Larry landed and rushed at her, taking her down physically and sending her flying back. Luckily Wildfall and Bristle were there to catch her as she flew back.

The demon Larry floated up in a random shaft of light which seemed to hit his horns just right.

"I'm short on time," Larry explained. He landed dramatically on the ground in super heroic fashion. "So I'm just going to kill you all and get back to work. Nothing personal. Oh wait.. it's very personal.. HAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHA!"

Larry again doubled over in pain. This time, it was due to Todd Blackpaws who was blasting Larry with a futuristic holy metal song. Those two strange rocker girls, Wilma and Gina, stood behind Todd, whispering in his ears. "What?" Todd asked. "Why would I.. but.. that doesn't make.. alright, if you're sure, I'll try it."

"HELLO DISTANT WOODS!" Todd yelled as he strummed again, using the holy chord to force Larry back. "This is your awsome bard Todd Blackpaws, and we are rockin' that holy tune, Makeover at Earth's End with a special shoutout to my girls Wilma and Gina, what's up girls?!"

Tood paused and mumbled, "This feels seriously out of character. Ohwell.. might as well go with it."

"STOP that INFERNAL racket!" Larry yelled, holding his gut in pain.

"Ohhh, sorry," Todd answered, cranking it up. "We don't take requests from demons."

"DEMON?!" Larry yelled. "I AM A MAN!!!"

With that, he rushed over and slammed his fist into Todd's midsection, doubling Todd over and briefly causing him to turn red. He turned- right into a powerful right cross from Mary Kate! The demon staggered back as Mary kept the assault up, nailing him with expert kicks and punches.

"Two can play at that game!" Mary cried out, continuing her assault.

"Three!" Naomi joined Mary, punching and kicking until Larry finally managed to shove them both flying back. Naomi pulled a bootleg boot knife from her boot and hurled it at the demon. Mary likewise produced two throwing blades from her baggy sleeves and hurled both at the demon Larry.

"Keep on him!" Sassy Snake yelled. "Stick with the plan!"

"Plan! BS!" Larry yelled. "Here's the plan. I kill the Toot. And you idiots just keep getting in the way! It's no fair!"

"No whining now," Bristle called out, firing his slingshot at Larry. Several well placed rocks caught Larry off balance, sending him stumbling back for a moment, due in part to Larry having been weakened by Todd's amazing holy-infused music. Nevertheless, Larry fought through the assault and started advancing on Bristle, who kept firing shots from his slingshot, even as Bris backed away.

Looking to help her friend Sassy, a large black adder jumped out at Larry, striking his leg with a poisonous strike. Icy, though scared, was determined to protect Bristle as best as she could. She struck out with her cudgel and caught the bridge of Larry's nose and he staggered back. Omar slashed at the demon with a cutlar.

"Hold him still!" Sassy called out desperately. She had a bag in her hand, which she had converted from the rubber-like octweed, a rare plant found in the forest. "Once we get the bag over his head.."

"I don't think so!" Larry cried out, catching Omar's sword, flipping Omar over Larry's shoulder, and sending Omar crashing into Bristle and Icy. Larry sniffed the air. "Hmm.. smells like holyroot. With a definite delicious hint of nutmeg. But still holyroot. I think I'd rather rip that pouch apart, thank you very much!"

Larry approached Sassy, intent on attacking her when he found himself under the assault of Bob's birds and snakes friendly to Sassy. He shoo'ed them (and Shelldor) away, only to find himself under another sword attack, time time from Alys. Todd fired another round of music at Larry, while Mary moved into attack again.

"ENOUGH!" Larry yelled, using a small area of attack fire blast to send the attackers flying back, smouldering. Larry panted for a moment, clearly out of breath. "Just you and me now, little miss snake charmer."

"Not quite, pal!" Wildfall leapt from a nearby tree, landing on the demon's back. "Your lil fire trick looked good from a distance, but it missed me.. and it drained most'a your energy too, didn't it?"

The demon thrashed back and forth but Wildfall had his trademark wooden shillelagh around the demon's throat. The more the demon thrashed and bucked to get Wildfall off, the worse it tightened Wildfall's grip, choking the demon out. Even if it didn't need air to survive, the tactic was weakening it.

"Now, Sassy!" Wildfall yelled. With Larry weakened, Wildfall was able to hold him still while Sassy tried to slip the bag over his head.

"No way!" Larry flipped out and flipped Wildfall over his shoulder, sending him flying into Sassy. "Now, where's that stupid bird?!"

"I dunno," Linger said as he aggressively body checked Larry, tackling him and send him flying back into the nearest tree. As Larry stumbled to his feet, Shelldor again bit his leg, this time taking a chunk out. He stumbled forward, being punched and kicked by Naomi and Mary Kate. He then found himself blasted by another tune from Todd which weakened him further. Alys and Omar slashed at him with their weapons. The demon still tried to fight back.. until Wildfall blasted him in the throat with Wildfall's solid oak shillelagh and Sassy shot him in the shoulder with her crossbow before finally shoving the bag over his head.

He fell to his knees and vanished into smoke as dramatic music played in the air.. oh wait, that was just Todd with a victory melody, meant to increase the experience gain from the battle.

I'll leave it to your imagination weather the heroes did a dramatic pose during it or not.

 
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Cattaras came to a stop well outside of the force field, not wanting to tempt fate by getting too close. Still, they could see the disturbance in the shield as the images behind it fluctuated and waned.

"Yeah," Becky said. Her eyes crossed as she tried to make it out. "That is weird."

Cattaras chuckled. "Careful, little one. Your eyes will get stuck like that."

"EEP!"

While Becky tried to uncross her eyes, Jen focused on the image. "For a second I thought I saw.. Yes!"

She started moving forward.

"What?" Becky asked, rubbing her eyes. "What'd I miss?"

Cattaras pointed. "We saw a flash of my sister and Dash. It must be an illusion, but is the illusion what we're seeing now or the flash of our allies?"

The others moved towards the shield and saw a couple more flashes of activity.

"Watch out!" Jen turned, warning them to get back. Blahking and the others would be to the shield soon.

"What?" Cattaras asked. "What is it?"

Cattaras caught sight of the explosion in the corner of his eye, using his extraordinary chi-focused spee to move them out of the blast radiance before they ended up caught in it.

 
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Moments earlier

Catrina Whiteclaw gripped her twin katana tighter as she looked up. "They were heading the other way. Now they're turning towards us."

Dash rolled his eyes. "Wish they'd make up their minds."

Aleena frowned. "I think I tripped an alarm and so far, the only thing I've managed to do with this old fashioned hacking is some impressionist art on the shield holographic display system. So let's try plan B."

"Plan B?"

Aleena pointed to a smaller box with wires running from it, half buried in the ground.

"Catrina, you see that machine there? Cut the red wire. Then we run like hell. It'll blow like a grenade. It should blast open a hole we can use to escape."

Catrina smiled widely, her swords flashing in the air. "Sounds like a plan to me."

 
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Cattaras and Jen watched as smoke poured through the hole in the shield, quite surprised as three figures rushed through after. Complete surprise in Jen's case as she recognized the figures, knowing something was very seriously wrong.

Behind them, Becky Joy watched, confused but smiling as she spotted the big cat. And behind her, the couple known as Blackeagle watched, observing silently and capably as always.

Cattaras rushed over to check on his sister, Sebastian Dash and Aleena.

"That's weird," Jen said aloud to the others. "She's offline. What could possibly have kept her offline? But.. my scanners are confirming that it's really her."

She rushed off to join them, surprised to see Aleena dressed in her magic-smoke princess gown. Becky, Zap, John and Sherri all just looked at each other and shrugged before moving in to help.

"Finally," Catrina called out. "Freedom!"

The others gathered around them, checking on them and asking questions. It was enough of a distraction for the muri-dan to pour through the hole in the shield and attack!

Energy blasts from bugbear guards sent Aleena and Cattaras to the ground. Jen immediately reformed part of her suit into a shield, forming a sword in the other hand and attacking the enemies as they poured out of the hole.

Blackeagle sprung into action next with Becky's ice attacks and Zap's lightning magic providing cover. Cattaras forced his way to his feet and took out a couple of Muri-Dan.

"Sorry, guys," Dash said, parrying an attack with his trademark broadsword "Bad Beats." "There's a lot of them."

"More for us to beat up!" John proclaimed. His incredible physical power and fighting combat made him ridiculously lethal with the spear he'd taken from the Knob Goblin thugs earlier. The same could be said for Sherri.

"Yeah!" Becky yelled, pouring on the ice attack. It was enough to force some of the bugbears back through the force field, even as Sherri soared through the air to nail a group of muri-dan with a drop kick and Dash parried a blow from a space bugbear thug and booted him in the head.

"That's it!" Cattaras cried out, noticing how the others reacted to Becky's attack. "They're closing in around the shield. They don't want us invading. Jen, is there some way you could... use.. the remains of the ship to scare them into retreating and sealing the shield?"

"Sorry," Jen answered, although she seemed to almost enjoy taking on the endless army. "The goo's making it impossible to pull the ship together at the moment."

"You bad guys ain't gonna take my friends no more!" Becky yelled out, her anger making her ice attacks all the more potent, especially with Zap following her lead. Soon enough, Prince Blahking arrived to help pour on the magical attacks.

For not having powers and relying mostly on unfamiliar weapons, Blackeagle - John and Sherri - were kicking quite a bit of butt themselves. They found themselves joined by a near-crazed Daisuke who tore into the biggest and baddest of the bugbear thugs.

"Get what you can from the remains of our ship!" Cattaras yelled, moving to protect Dash and Catrina, who, in their injured and exhausted state, were on the verge of being overwhelmed.

"Try to bluff them with part of the ship." John laughed. "Good idea. . ."

Jen just nodded, still trying to figure out why Aleena had gone offline and why she wasn't using her cysuit at all, even for defensive purposes. To her surprise, Jen found she could maneuver part of the ship away from the goo which even now seemed to be trying to cover it.

"It's working!" Jen called out. Thank goodness too as Dash and Catrina were back to back in front of Aleena. All three were clearly exhausted from their ordeal. The remains of the Morlencir ship - at least part of the remains of the ship- crawled towards the bugbears, who panicked under the combined assault of the heroes and the incoming threat of the ship's remains. They began to fall back even as the heroes moved away.

Jen kissed Cattaras and then turned her attention to helping the queen. "Great idea, tiger."

"Great execution, babe." Cattaras winked to her as he and Daisuke went to help his sister. Meanwhile, Becky and Zap used their elemental magic- lightning and ice- to cover the group while Blahking, Sherri and John helped Sebastian Dash.

Thankfully, the bugbear forces decided to fall back rather than pursue. The shield would later repair itself and seal itself off from the rest of the world once more.

 
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With the demonic avatar Larry defeated, Sassy, Wildfall and the others came together to try to figure out where the Toot had gone.

"Now that that's done.." Wildfall started to say. "How'd you sneak away from the snake and panther, Todd?"

Todd laughed. "Tell you later, mate."

"Where's the Toot?" Mary asked, looking around. "Must have ran off."

Icy shrugged. "I don't really blame it with all this chaos."

"We might as well split up and look for it," Todd suggested.

Sassy asked, "Are you sure that's safe?"

Todd and Wildfall shrugged. "Well," Wildfall pointed out, "the demon is gone. And we can all take care of ourselves."

"Besides," Todd pointed out. "The Council did promise a reward to whoever turned in the old bird. After all this work, I wouldn't mind that."

Sassy laughed. "So a friendly competition?"

"Bye friends!" Bob said, grabbing Shelldor and running off.

"Hey, no fair!" Alys yelled after him. "I guess we'd better split up and get looking."

"Good idea, Alys. We can cover more ground," Wildfall responded. "Plus we won't have to worry about fighting over the bird if two people find him at the same time. Right Mary?" Wildfall paused as he realized she was already walking off. "Shoulda seen that coming."

 
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Bob slowed to a crawl as he approached the Toot, whispering to Shelldor, "Now all I have to do is sneak up on him with this bag I found in the woods just now. Then I can capture it and I'll have a new familiar?"

Shelldor looked up at him, staring, wondering Wait, why is he talking to me? He thinks I'm just a regular turtle. Why does he think that small bag is big enough for a bird? Does he realize it has a hole in it?

Bob started to sneak up on the Toot and jumped, missing him as the Toot flew off, pausing only to let Bob know, "You do know I could hear you talking to yourself, right?"

Shelldor just rolled his eyes as the Toot flew off. To the shock of no one. Is it just me or does that bird's voice seem a lot higher than before?

Not far away, the Toot suddenly swerved as a crossbolt missed him by a few feet.

"Hey, watch it!" the Toot cried out, looking around to see who fired it. The Toot's voice seemed deeper and gravelly this time. "Very important bird here, ya mook!"

"Sorry," Alys answered with a smile. Sadly, she didn't whisper "Not sorry" afterwards. Instead she said, "Don't worry, though. It wasn't even close; I'm a better shot than that. I just wanted your attention."

The Toot perched on a tree, looking down. "Ya got it. What ya want?"

"Just a little help," she said happily. "I figure you could help me track down the otherworldly space elves. I'd like to see if they've made any progress finding the connection between my people and their species. Then we could go down to the Council and say hi. How's that sound?"

"Sounds great, so yeah." The Toot flew off. "But nope!"

Alys chased after it. "Hey, come back here!"

Alys should have been able to follow the Toot easily with her knowledge of the Distant Woods and yet, it somehow was able to lose her fairly quickly. However, he intentionally stayed in the forest'y area, flying around until something caught his attention. The next "something" to catch his attention? The soothing sounds of jazz. Curious and eager to hear more, the Toot quickly located its source and flew to it.

"What be this?" the Toot asked, coming upon the source of this music. This time the voice was neither high nor low, but perfectly.. baritone. Very different than earlier. "T'is music of the highest of calibre, pure as angels and strong as youthful oxen. Thee, there, truly, thou doest master melody quite expertly."

"Thanks," Todd said with a grin. "Why don't you come with me back to Seaside Town? If you like that song, I have a couple that you'll love. It always melts the girls' hearts."

"Would but that I could," the Toot answered. Floating closer. "Sadly, it would seem that thou shalt be remaining, as it were, a solo act for now."

It then fluttered out of sight. The next thing to catch his attention? Bickering.

"Jarlsy, seriously!" Mary Kate called out, laughing but still sounding serious. "This is my section of the woods to search for the Toot in. Go find your own."

Wildfall smirked as she gave him a light push, nudging her in return. "Told ya, you can't 'own' your own section of the woods. Gotta play fair now."

"I didn't say I own it," Mary answered, folding her arms across her chest. "But I did get here first, so find your own spot!"

"You find your own spot!"

"This is my spot!"

"Oh, then go find me a spot and you can have it instead and I'll keep yours." Wildfall smirked and looked around, but the Toot ducked behind a tree.

I'll let them sort this out in peace.

 
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KA-BOOM!!

That was the sound of a tree falling or, more specifically, the sound of Linger crashing into a tree at full speed, which lead to it falling. Linger had instinctively tried to catch the tree which ended up being a bad idea as Linger accidentally pulled the tree on top of himself.

"OWW!" Linger yelled, yelling in pain. "Get off me, tree, I don't wanna play wrestle! Owwch."

Linger struggled to get the tree off of him, but he didn't have much leverage. He struggled for a few minutes when Sassy came along and noticed his predicament.

"Oh, Linger!" she cried out, leaning down to help. "Are you okay? What happened?"

Linger wasn't in pain and so he didn't sound in pain. "Heh.. They no make them trees sturdy as they did anymore. I sort of ran into it and pulled it on top of me. Linger will be fine."

"Let me help," Sassy said, although pulling at it didn't do much.

"It's okay," Linger answered. "It my own mistake. I can push tree off, just need a minute or three minutes. You should go find byrd 'fore someone else find it. I push tree off, catch up soon."

"Oh, it's okay," Sassy said, pushing with all her might against the tree. "It's just a silly search for the bird. We can look together after I make sure you're okay."

"What about prize?" Linger asked.

Sassy shrugged. "Maybe we can split that. I'll figure that out later. Making sure you aren't hurt and that you don't have any infections is my first priority. Linger, are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Linger shh'ed her, then tried to subtly point at a spot behind her. He whispered, "Byrd."

Sassy looked up, just in time to see the Toot Oriole float down and land on her shoulder. "Hello there," it said in a voice that sounded almost softer, with a bit of a drawl. "I couldn't help but notice the way you put your friends before the search for me. That's very admirable."

Sassy smiled. "Well, I am just doing the right thing. Do you mind moving so I can help get this off of my friend?"

"I'll do what I can to help," the Toot said, flying over the tree, sinking its talons in, and trying to help pull it free. "And then when we're done freeing your friend, would you accompany me to visit with the Council? I expect they'll have a gift for you as your reward."

"Thank you," Sassy said, smiling at her good fortune. "As soon as we get Linger free, that would be lovely."

It wasn't long til they were on their way to the Council and hopefully a generous reward.

I'm quite fond of the mix of action and humor in this one. As you can see, I didn't bother spelling out which bits went with which quest this time, so it has a bit of a different vibe from earlier split missions. (Note: The first two-quest split mission was Meet the Council, which was way back in late 2008 / early 2009.

I'm quite fond of the last couple scenes and especially the bit with Sassy, who won the mission in very Sassy-like fashion. It also fits the idea of the Toot as a wise mentor who would be impressed by her selflessness. Then there's the battle with the bugbear forces, which we don't see much of early in Season 3 - although I expect they will be seen again sometime in 2017 or 2018 latest. (What can I say? Some things in the game move slowly.)

There's also Shelldor's flashback as well as Aleena dealing with her cysuit being potentially compromised. We're already seeing the horrific result of the bugbears compromising Aleena's cysuit in the next mission and I'm sure we'll see ramifications as AIL moves along. I don't know when or if we'll see more from Shelldor or his flashbacks - but I have a feeling we will pick up on that thread at some point.

This mission and the next sees a lot less roleplaying from former mainstays of AIL, but we also see pieces from newcomers like Shelldor, Sassy Snake and Blackeagle, as well as increased activity from characters like Sassy Snake and Wildfall, who have both been around since the Return to Mirrorworld mission, but have really stepped up their game in the new seaon. This's also the last time we've seen Fumblies to date in AIL, sadly.

To be honest, I really enjoy having something of a new 'face' of AIL for the third season.

That's it for me! Hope you enjoyed the mission! - See ya at the next one! - J/ Wilde