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Pancake Land Act 2: A Tale of Happiness or Horror
Last time in Pancake Land...
[A portal opens on a dark night. Leading to another world opens with PK right next to it...]
[As people gather PK offers each of them words of encouragement!]
"How does a night at a castle sound?"
"Seems a crowd is packing. Increasing survival chances in case PK turns out to be from a wasteland, eh?"
[However when they enter they are greeted not by a prosperous landscape, but a ruin of a former kingdom.]
[Kagura the Black Knight, meets with a group of orphans and discusses the Tyranny of the Pancake Guards, eventually fighting a Pancake Captain in an honorable duel.]
""The Hero that will unite the Land", that sounds good."
[Senri the apprentice Phantom Thief, heads out into the streets and meets with an old man, hearing about the tale of how Pancake Land fell, by a terrible power of "Persona" wielded by Waffle Land. She was told to seek out the Elders to find out where they might be...]
"I'm afraid I'm not necessarily the "Knight" you're looking for. But... I'll gladly be a liberator."
[Mara the machinery mastermind, follows PK into the woods. Stumbling upon a legend of a knight that will reunite the 4 lands, comforting PK through his bubble of sadness. What may come from this knowledge is a mystery...]
"“Peasant? Baker? That’s Blasphemy you hear! The hell you talking you that you’re not a knight when you are a knight through and through..."
[Mal the sharply dressed, stalks a Waffle Spy and discusses a ploy to free the denizens of Pancake Land by killing the Pancake King over a meal of waffles and syrup. Will she follow through?]
"So sit tight, I'll be sure to take extra special care of you."
[Soon the party converges at the castle and meets with the sickly king of Pancake Land. Being sent to the pits. Unable to convice him otherwise...]
"I see no reason to keep outsiders that berate me in my dream..."
[With the adventures of the past catalogued. Now act 2 may commence. What lies in store? Find out now.. As the writer will now write the intro.]
[Meanwhile a person hunched over a computer watches the party and their escapades, laughing to themselves]
How interesting...
The past adventurers find themselves in a dank holding cell, dusty and dark, the only light there are a few sporadically placed torches in the hallway, which they can see through the rusty metal bars. In the cell itself lies a wooden bench and chains among the walls. Dry with crusty orange blood. While they gather their senses, a familiar Knight walks down into the dungeons and greets them through the metal gates
"Oh! Are you all awake now? That's great news! Unfortunately I don't have such good news..."
--
Meanwhile in the Nexus. Another portal opens up, a one way one to be exact. Leading into the cell that the others are in. Any brave adventurers that would enter would fall through a tight hole in the corner of the cell and appear next to the rest of the party.
(Bumpo! Let's try this again!)
Zero enters the land of Pancakes as he sees PK greeting him,
"Hey, long time no see, PK"
Senri sighed as she sat silently in the corner. Imprisoned? figures she'd end up in jail, some way or another. All true revolutionaries get the shaft before their golden hour, though...
Mona couldn't come for her this time. She had to find a way out on her own... She noted the bars,
which looked rusted... Maybe she could do something about that... Luckily, the jailer wasn't smart enough to take her katana. She smirks and unsheaths it, before seeing a familiar face. She waves to him casually from behind bars.
Oi, PK! fancy running into you here. Your kingdom is crazy, dude. Worse than my own country.
Whatever bad news you have can probably fixed with a riot or two. Probably.
A man with blonde hair and golden eyes would be walking back after a trip to a rare candy store. Lately he noticed how much more diverse he, as well as his siblings, had become and had noticed his dear brother, Tsukiya, was having trouble coming up with new menu ideas for desserts.
Although Tsukiya always has a knack for creating things his creation still seemed to be limited by his own mind or whatever you may believe to be his mind. So Kouki like the caring brother he is decided to try and find new sweet flavors for his dear brother to discover.
That would be when he encountered the portal. A strange thing like this was something he felt needed investigating, especially since it didn't seem to be a dark portal like one of the Crawling Chaos' doorways. After thinking it over a while Kouki would walk through the portal quite casually after placing the bag of sweets in a secure location.
"A prison? How strange, I wonder why that portal lead to a place like this. Excuse me! Guards? There seems to have been a mixup."
PK eyes the new participant entering and waves at them,
Ho there! Good to see you here! Its been a little while! But no matter!
PK then sees Senri pull out her weapon and motions for her to stop as he speaks up, hopefully they could resolve this without a break out
Wait hold on! Before you try anything let me explain! Something is definitely wrong here! Pancake Land isn't typically like this, and a riot would only cause more blood shed! That's last thing I want! But I've got a solution! Just give me a second to explain it alright!
PK then perks up when another one appears in the cell, motioning to quiet down as he looks over his shoulder, although it is for naught as he yells right back at him
Ah! Another adventurer appears! Sorry for the portal! My name is Pancake Knight! At your service! You've arrived in Pancake Land! My home world! Unfortunately it isn't in a good state right now! Your being kept here because the kingdom isn't exactly keen on Outsiders unfortunately! It's in ruins! But no worries! I've got the solution to solve everything! Just calm down first!
Senri blinks at PK's adherence. This was PK, after all, so of course he'd be overt to her tactics...
It would be wise to hear him out, though. She knows nothing about the politics of this land, after all. Still, why wasn't he helping them immediately...?
Senri decides to put away her katana and look to PK seriously.
Alright, then. Explain.
Without a second thought Kouki would smile calmly and find a place to sit within the cell. From seemingly no where he'd pull out a bottle of whisky with a strange label on it before also taking out a cup. He'd pour the drink into the cup and begin taking small sips.
"All right, I'd be more than patient enough to see what you have in mind. I'm not the violent type anyway so there is no need to worry about me."
"Morgana" wanders around the nexus due to being bored as all hell. One his long walk, he notices the portal.
A strange portal, hm? This could be dangerous.
He shrugs.
Fuck it, let's go.
He enters the portal and looks around.
A prison? Greaaaat, this brings back some... Memories.
Zero stares at Senri for a moment, slightly baffled at how she was acting, but then again, he's seen people like this before. His hand tensed and quickly went to where his Z-saber was sheathed. After seeing her step down, his hand relaxed and went away from his weapon, returning to its usual position, and crossing his arms.
"I don't have the mind to harm anyone right now, but if she goes to be hostile, I'll have to use dire measures..." he states.
PK smiles and clasps his hands together, nodding at all the gathered companions, and the newcomers. Reaching into his pocket, pulling out his phone and scratching his head as he stares at it for a second before slamming on it before showing the screen to the party. What is shown is a red screen with a bright red eyeball at the top of it, 3 bars with various letters and symbols are shown, however what stands out the most is the bottom of the screen
[Pancake King]
[Pancake Land]
[Fairy tale]
[Target Found]
So! In my absence I've found that our King has a palace! I hope you all know what that means! If not I'll give you a little run down! It means that our tyrant has distorted desires, if we enter their world, and steal their treasure, we can fix them and thusly help out this world! Hopefully if the King turns good then Pancake Land can begin to heal!
Kouki was amused by this idea to say the least. He had never ventured into the metaverse. It had never been a priority but he wondered what form his powers might begin take in a world where one's reality could be easily changed by changing their perspective. He would put the whiskey bottle away quickly as he finished the rest of what he had poured into the cup.
"Sounds reasonable enough. Very well, you have Kouki, the Golden Wing, at your service. I may normally be a bartender and manager of Wings of Gold but I see no reason not to assist in the endeavour if you would allow it.
My skills as a bartender may be more useful than most might presume."
Senri nodded to PK. Being Mona's apprentice, she already knew the rundown on palaces; the rest was simple elementary.
In Senri's personal opinion, monarchs should be overthrown all together, but she decided to go along with PKs plan. It's the first time she was able to properly steal a heart, after all.
Hmm. That sounds interesting, indeed. I'll accompany on you on this mission, PK. You can consider your problem fixed.
Senri smirks in confidence, but no one but her knew the reason for this confidence.
...She eyed Kouki and his bottle of whisky with wide eyes, like a child who wanted a piece of candy.
...May we toast, to our comradery on this mission?
"Mona" smirks.
A palace, eh? This should be ea-
He eyes the bottle of whiskey as well.
Yeah, a toast would be appreciated.
Kouki would once again bring the bottle out from behind his back. Setting it down he'd bring out four glasses as well before pouring the liquid into each glass.
"Well, I couldn't call myself a bartender if I came unprepared. A toast it is then, now, would someone like to do the honors?"
A young woman in a black suit of armor stares at the portal, 3 jars of insects line her belt at the moment. Wasps, black widows, and finally some fire ants. Beyond that, an electrical stun baton rests on her left hip. She sighs to herself and walks a bit closer to the portal.
"Wonderful, first night out in this crazy place and I'm finding insane portals to places I don't know... Can't use my swarm at whatever range that is, so sending them through first won't do me any good. Come on, you can do this..."
With an unsure look on her face Skitter gathers up a swarm of the local insects above her head,
she's got a few but more to work with, in the event this place is lacking won't hurt right? All told,
there's not much dangerous above her head but she's got about 1000 small biting and stinging things, and some gnats just in case she'd want to be subtle. With that, the girl walks into the portal along with her swarm. Upon emerging into some prison cell full of people, she'd look around in shock as the bugs above her head begin buzzing and even turning toward those nearby her.
"Wh-what the hell is this place? Who are all you people anyway? I. Listen I don't know what you're doing in this cell, but I want to get out, and um hopefully you all just stumbled through that weird door and aren't some evil masterminds or something..."
Smooth, if they're evil masterminds they won't say it, and this costume doesn't exactly make her look friendly either. Regardless, for now, she simply focuses upon keeping the swarm above her head under control rather than lashing out at anything slightly dangerous seeming and reaching out with her power to search for other insects nearby.
"A-anyway, I guess you guys can call me Skitter, nobody seems to bother with the secret identity thing here but uh I don't feel okay giving out my name, sorry. That aside, I really really hope there's a way out of here, I uh, Don't like being locked up, at all."
Even under her armor, it's easy to tell how uncomfortable she is with the whole thing, there's a slight shiver as she looks around the cell a bit more. Unable to help considering what might happen if she doesn't get out..."
(edited by Taylor-Herbert)
Senri smiles and picks up her glass before raising it to a toast. She eyed the "Mona" looking figure. Them again... She wondered how related to Mona he was, exactly. Regardless, she raises her glass.
To this dirty fucking prison, and to changing the heart of a bourgeoisie bastard~
She gestures to the girl calling herself Skitter. Senri didn't seem alarmed by her, surprisingly, despite her appearance. She know a freak when she be one, after all.
Oi! hey there. Nice outfit. It'll come in handy for where we're going. There ain't no other way out of here that apparently won't result in a breakdown of social order here, so, you should probably stick around. As for evil masterminds, well, I guess you'll have to find out~
As his 3 companions agree to help him, PK's face lights up like a lightbulb with a giant smile.
You don't know how much this means to me! Saving my world for no reward whatsoever is such a favour! I'll be sure to repay it in any way possible when this is over! Thank you all!
PK then turns to the new arrival, there sure were alot of new people! This one was pretty strange though, but hopefully they can help!
Ho there lady! There is nothing to fear! I am Pancake Knight and these are my companions! We were just about to set off and steal a treasure from an evil tyrant to change them for good! Hopefully you'll be content with joining us as I have no idea how to get back to the Nexus other then a portal that only the King controls! Even then in his current state you aren't getting his approval! But with our bonds we can change his heart! I am ready when you are! I shall transport us to the Metaverse when you are ready!
"Mona" notices this "Skitter" person, but doesn't really react to them. He picks up a glass and raises it.
To getting this over with and going home.
Ta- Skitter turns over toward Senri, she'd eye the girl with something between fondness and concern... That tone, the cheer at being morally questionable at best, the whole thing screams of Lisa really. And she hasn't got a clue if that's good or not.
"Wait and see huh? Well, I guess even if you are some so-called villains aren't really that bad... Or so I think anyway, but that's a talk for another time. Where exactly are we going?"
Upon asking that however "Pancake Knight" answers her question already, the King of Pancake land... Changing hearts? Metaverse? Even for a Parahuman like her, this is utter madness. Maybe if her superpower were being smart she could figure out what it means, bugs, however, are no help in reading people so she'll have to go with her own best guess instead.
"I have no clue what half of what you just said means Pancake Knight, but I do know that I'd like to call myself some kinda "Hero" so I guess I'll try to help out. Evil tyrants aren't high on my list of favored people, and these bugs are pretty good at scouting so if nothing else I can help you guys with the layout."
Despite having barely any clue what she's dealing with, she's still going to do her best here...
Bugs might not be a fancy or cool power but damned if she hasn't found a few ways to make good use of them regardless. That in mind, she'd walk up toward PK and attempt to sound friendly, despite the rather large swarm of bugs hovering above her body.
"I haven't got any idea what this place is, but I guess that I'm ready to go into the "Metaverse"! Geez, I only found out magic was a real thing here yesterday, and now I'm diving into it headfirst..."
It shouldn't matter if you understand it or not! I barely understand it myself! All you need to know is that we enter the palace and steal the treasure! Here we go!
PK then presses the button and the world begins to distort for the party, the bars and walls begin to melt away into nothing as it gets replaced by a vibrant atmosphere, bright blue walls and bursting yellow torches, straight out of a children's book, as for the prison it cleans itself up, devoid of dust and other dirty scum. The bars of the cell seem to disappear as stairs leading up to the outside appear at the end of the hallway
Aha! Let us continue friends! Onwards! For Justice!
"Wh-what in the hell is this? Some... No, this is real, or at least real enough to hurt us right? Anyways, wait up a bit I wanna see what my bugs can gather before we rush out there."
Skitter holds up a hand to them, about 30 bugs from the swarm above her head would break off and rush up the stairs, at that point, they break into 3 groups of 10 going forward, left, and right. All the while Skitter herself would lean on a wall and observe through the eyes of her minions. Searching mostly for any doors, stairs, or movement.
"I can see through their eyes, so as long as we're careful we shouldn't be walking into an ambush while I'm along for the ride yeah?"
Assuming that her little search didn't reveal any threats to them she'd begin walking up the stairs, hands reaching down for the stun baton on her waist and raising it to a ready position as she does so. If she found a threat, however, Skitter would inform those around her of it and hang to the back, keeping tabs on things with her swarm from a safe range rather than take the lead in a fight.
Senri Suzuko, changing with the distorted world, has morphed from her normal form into the armor of the Black Samurai before everyone's eyes.
Ahh, the Metaverse... My home away from home...
Hm. So this is what a palace actually looks like... There are notable differences, as I've recieved from my intel... Indeed, this place must reflect the state of the monarchs heart. It's quite... Fairy tale, is it not?
The Black Samurai drops her glass, as she can no longer drink it through her voice-modulated helmet, and advances forward, being mindful of her allies and the surroundings. She noted the abilities of Skitter and her allies as they would present their abilities, and plan accordingly.
Kouki would seem to glow a little brighter now that their in the metaverse but other than that nothing had changed. He would stay behind everyone else as they ventured on almost like he was trying to play an observer role rather than anything else.
Keeping his hands behind his back in a formal manner he would walk forward curious to see what this world might have in store.
Finally, he would decide to begin more thoroughly examining his fellow party members. The method for this was simple. His powers revolved around cognition and illusions. To him the mind was the greatest weapon humans could offer so he would test their intellect.
It would be much more simple if Mimi was here as she could simply determine details about someone by looking into them but Kouki was limited in this regard. He knew only the good that existed within others.
Subtly raising his arm forward as he walked he'd create torches on the walls directly ahead formed from a strange bubbly clear liquid that would be hard to notice for most. It would stick to the walls before taking in a torch-like form.
Finally he would look to PK directly and ask a simple question.
"Pancake Knight, correct? Tell me, have you ever drank before? If not that's alright. For example if you commonly partake in something else, even with the slightest mental effect, I'd be intrested in hearing about it. Even tea could be an example of such a thing. I'm not looking for a dirty secret or anything like that."
The man would retain a calm smile as if it's almost glued to his face.
As the bugs move forward, they see a sprawling courtyard filled with majestic plants and fountains, with benches and a plethora of flowers and bushes, all lined with gold and silver, with a giant statue of the Pancake King himself in the center, with a cape, crown and royal accessories, no dangers can be seen just yet.
The rest of the party walks towards the courtyard and emerges out from an opening in the wall, seeing the scene described above, as they move PK responds to Kouki
Drinking? Me? Never! A Knight must be staunch and stay sober! That way they can defend from evil at any moment! However! I do enjoy pancakes with a side of maple syrup! Or even any breakfast food! Hopefully that answers your question!
Finishing up his little talk, PK moves around and investigates the flowers, noting their color, however before he can speak, the statue barks out an order to the Party
Come close to me and I shall reveal the truth. Why I have become such a tyrant. Hopefully with these visions you can provide me with a good ending...
The girl glances around at the flowers, they're all quite pretty but... Something feels off about the whole thing, her eyes aren't showing any bugs despite all this plant life, it's disturbing enough that the girl would instantly begin searching for any insects here that aren't in her swarm. Something like this should have them, right?
"Geez this place is weird, usually wherever I go I can always find more bugs... But for some reason around here, so far I've found none. If there's any proof we aren't in reality that'd be it for me."
She turns over to PK and the blonde for a moment, her buzzing swarm absently noting what the two had been saying to each despite Skitter herself being over by the odd statue. She'd actually laugh a bit upon hearing PK's response, heh so he's that serious about this stuff then? The statue she's right by suddenly yelling at them, however, warrants a reaction of rushing backward and sending her swarm up, the bugs would carefully watch it from all angles as she prepares to dodge. Sure, it says it wants to help but there's no telling in some madhouse like this.
"Visions huh? Well, I guess that we can take a look at this stuff, that doesn't sound like a horrible idea... Right everyone?"
At that, she turns to the others with a questioning look. Even under her mask, the tone alone is enough to say she's got no clue if her words are remotely correct.
Kouki would simply maintain his calm nature. It was almost as if nothing bugged him even in a strange situation like this. He would glance back at the Knight before giving the girl a glance as well.
He wondered what reasons they could have for acting the way they do. Was it out of a pure desire for good or something rooted much deeper? Questiins he couldnt yet fullt answer as he lacked the proper insights.
"I'll leave that up to you. Forgive me for not taking initiative but it's in my nature to try to play the role of the observer. Do not worry though, when the time comes I will offer my support as well."