Hidden within the line of the dwarf planets, no larger than Pluto lays Planet Arithe. Arithe is a small, round planet with teal blue and tan brown swirls tattooing its body. The planet is home to over a billion different fascinating specimen, both magical and non-magical, though magical beings only make up a small percentage.
Sitting high and mighty, shining in all of its glory is one of the largest and possibly the only habitable land on Planet Arithe called Holiday. Five different borders makeup Holiday: In the northwest resides the Summer border, the northeast is the Winter border, the southeast is the Spring border, and the southwest is the Fall border. Though these are important, they are not where this story takes place.
No, our story lies in the center of it all, the fifth and final border known as Mid-Holiday. There are five countries, that form the shape of a flower.
The country Ivory is the center of this large flower, being the biggest country in the border. Ivory is Mid-Holiday's kingdom, being home and shelter to the great King Yamchi, his family, and Mid-Holiday's army.
Surrounding Ivory are the other four countries, the petals; Evonne resting up north, Fleur on the eastside, Clover down south and Jasmine rearing up the west.
Now that I've bored you, let's get to our real story which lay in a town in Jasmine known as Berlim; Home to many civilians and two guilds. This town is always lively, whether it's from daily events, festivities, or the guilds raving antics tearing up the place. Though every guild has their own quirks and faults, none can compare to the troublesome bunch Berlim has come to hate and will come to love known as…
Dove Clan
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Opening theme: Helena, My Chemical Romance
2
The Mission
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"YOU DID WHAT!" a deep voice roared out, shaking the guild's main hall and making people look at them. "Mind running that by me again?"
After leaving the bank, the duo decided to go home and tell the truth, getting it out of the way then rather than later. Though Rockie was reluctant, Belle was positive it'll blow over. She couldn't have been more wrong.
Towering over a nervous Belle and nonchalant Rockie was a brown skin man. He stood like a giant, with big muscles. He had a black buzz hawk cut which was faded in the back and dark brown eyes. He also had four arms, two on each side, with a jagged two-claw scar on his right shoulder. His black guild sig. lay on the back of his second right hand. He wore a camo muscle shirt, black stretchy pants and camo boots.
Rockie rubbed the back of his neck and let out a nervous chuckle as his eyes wandered elsewhere, "Well... you see, there were these robbers-"
"I heard what ya said ya lil shit!" the man yelled out, cutting the ginger off.
"Then why'd you ask?" Rockie yelled back, raising an eyebrow.
"It was rhetorical."
"No fair. I don't even know what that means."
"Guys, calm down." Belle intervened, gesturing with her hands for them to simmer down. She then looked directly at the man, "And Ace, you know we didn't have any other choice. What were we supposed to do, let them rob the place in front of us?"
Ace turned his attention to Belle. "Oh you had a choice. You could've spent your own damn earnings."
"If we had any to spend," Rockie mumbled and Belle elbowed him.
"True as that may be, we were under a lot of pressure." Belle quietly stated and turned her head to the side, an embarrassing blush forming. "I was just ready to get out of there."
"Man Ace, it's just earnings. You'll just get some more, no biggie." Rockie threw in, latching his hands together behind his head.
Ace glared at Rockie and then pointed at him, "Listen here carrot top, unlike you who could care less about earnings, it's important to those who need it. And they're my earnings."
"Just give it up Ace. You know that the kids are always right." A soft voice cut off the bickering. They looked to see a brown skin woman walking to them.
She had honey blonde hair cut low with dark brown eyes. On the left side of her neck was her white guild sig. She had a hour-glass figure and stood taller than the average man. She wore a long-sleeve purple and cream dress with gray tights and purple fur boots. She had three piercings in each ear.
"So you just gone take they side over yo own flesh, Shar?" Ace growled, crossing both set of arms.
Sharmaine chuckled and walked up beside her big brother, rubbing her hand up and down his arm soothingly. "Of course I will." She said, giving the kids a sneaky wink, causing them to smile. "The good thing is that you two are okay and safe. Mama Nar will have happy dreams tonight because of that."
Belle nervously scratched her cheek, "Yeah, about that. Please don't tell her about this. You know she'd go crazy knowing me and Rockie got into an altercation, especially one involving guns."
Sharmaine laughed and gave Belle a reassuring smile, "Your secret's safe with me."
"But not with me," Ace said. "To make up for my lost earnings, ya'll can take up my mission for today." He tossed Belle a rolled parchment that she grabbed in mid-air. "It's nothing major, just a clean one for ya'll to wipe up. And take K.O and Maya with. They owe me too."
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The next morning...
"So what's the mission again?" K.O asked as they stood outside of the guild with light backpacks on.
A maroon beanie covered his blonde hair with a bang over his right eye. He had tan skin with green eyes. He wore a tight black v-neck and dark blue baggy jeans with black shoes. Attached to his pants were tan suspenders that rest at his sides. His dark red guild sig. was on his left arm.
Belle unrolled the parchment and looked at it. "The man who requested us name is Arius Sebastian. He wants us to travel to a place called Jewel Mountain and search for the Eshire Crone."
"What's that?" K.O asked, placing a green sucker in his mouth and shoving his hands in his pockets.
"It says here that the Eshire Crone is a ruby shaped egg completely bedazzled in diamonds." Belle read, her eyes continuing to scan the parchment.
At the sound of diamonds, a red head perked up. Her hair was in two french braids hanging over her chest with two white ribbons on the ends. She also had a huge white ribbon on top of her head. She wore a white button down, the sleeves cuffed at her elbows, a black vest, a red plaid skirt, and red, black, and white knee high shoes.
"Diamonds?! As in real diamonds?" Maya said, not really looking for an answer and stated dreamily, "Diamonds are a girl's best friend. That egg gotta be worth a fortune."
"It is, and that's why we must be careful when we find it and take it to him." Belle said, returning the parchment into her kitty print backpack.
"You'll think with a finding like that, he'd want to find it himself. Something valuable like that, how can he trust to hire someone?" K.O said, playing with his sucker.
The others stared at him, blankly thinking over what he'd said before Belle said, "Yeah, but then we wouldn't have a job."
"Whatever. So this is nothing more than a simple search and retrieve mission?"
Belle nodded.
"Ugh, that's borrring," Rockie groaned crossing his arms and puffing his cheeks out.
"What don't you think is boring." Maya rolled her eyes.
"The first real mission we get and it's a stupid retrieve one. That's wack."
"Simple jobs are good. You get to work your way up." Belle said.
They started heading out.
"Where is Jewel Mountain anyway?" Maya asked, placing her hands on her hips and swaying them as they walked.
"The objective said it was located pass Granger Town, which is only three towns over." Belle answered.
They carried on walking through Berlim for a while until they reached an arched sign with stairs leading underground. The sign read 'The Ferry loot'. The group took to the stairs. The underground area looked a lot like a subway compartment, more colorful though, but instead of rail tracks, there was shallow water and small boats. These boats travelled to various stops throughout Jasmine.
The four walked up to one of the counters, seeing a man standing behind a plastic window. When he saw the children, his face lit up.
"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. How may I help you?" he asked cheerfully.
Belle stepped up, "I would like four tickets to Jewel Mountain please."
"I'm sorry ma'am, but we don't have any stops in Jewel Mountain. It's a dry run you see. The closest I can get you is Sigaport, the town beside it. From there, it's a 30 minute walk." the man offered.
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Belle hummed and nodded. The man typed on his blue swirly shell and grabbed the tally that popped out.
"Your total's 240 yamchi specks, miss."
Belle took off her bag and searched through it, pulling out a small brown baggie. Inside were the earnings Ace gave Belle. They trusted her more than the others, but if they heard that the guild would never hear the end of it.
Belle placed the baggie in a opening in the window. The man grabbed it and counted the currency then handed her four tickets.
She took the tickets and they all went onto the boat.
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...
The ride was smooth, moving at a reasonable speed and calming with the water splashing against the sail. Blue lights lined the walls of the dark tunnel.
K.O was leaning against the railings looking aggravated as he watched Belle pace back and forth. Rockie sat criss cross with his head on his right palm trying to hold down his nausea and Maya stood with her arms crossed.
K.O sighed, "Okay, what's eating you?"
Belle continued pacing, "I'm just starting to worry about the mission is all."
"What is there to worry about?"
At that, she stopped and let out a deep breath. She turned to the blonde. "Do you remember that time when we went to the bookstore to get a cooking recipe for Muffin?"
"Yeah and?"
"Do you remember what happened?"
K.O looked up as in deep thought, "Yeah,... Rockie grabbed the wrong book and the shelves fell over."
"And that time Ms. Trimbal asked us to find her cat, Whisky?"
"The cat ran up a pole and got electrocuted…"
"Falling down, breaking all three of his legs-"
"But he lived though," Rockie shouted defensively.
Belle glared at him, "That's beside the point."
"What is your point?" Maya asked, shifting closer.
Belle's face became serious, "My point is that trouble and destruction tends to follow us, especially him," Belle pointed at the ginger, "everywhere we go, whether it's getting a book or finding a cat… even going to the bank-"
"Ey!" Rocke jumped up, balling his fists. "Those weren't my fault."
Belle sighed softly, "I know Rockie, but it's true and that worries me. This is our first major mission outside of Berlim. Maybe we aren't-"
"Are ready," K.O cut in, "And FYI, there's no such thing as bad lu-"
Before K.O could finish, a giant gator leaped out of the water and landed on him.
"Holy shit!" Rockie and Maya yelped, leaping back a step.
The gator snarled at them, showing its large teeth. Rockie and Maya tried to run at it, but it swiped its large tail and knocked them back into Belle.
"What… the hell?" K.O grunted as he struggled to turn over on his back with the gator's weight on him. He finally turned and got his feet firmly against its belly. Air gathered around his feet and then he kicked it up. The force sent the gator slamming into the ceiling at great speed and crashing back into the water with a splash.
"HA HA HA," K.O burst out laughing, still laying on the ground. He slowly sat up. "Wow, well that shit just happened."
"Don't worry girlie," Maya said, grinning over at Belle. "No bad luck's going to stop us from completing this mission."
"We'll get through easy peasy." Rockie chimed in.
Belle looked at her 'fearless heroes' and chuckled. "You guys are going to be the death of me one day."
K.O smiled, "At least you'll die happy."
"Aaggghh," a gurgled scream had them turning around to see a gator engulfing their boat pilot and going back into the water.
Silence
"Well that was unfortunate." Belle gulped.
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...
Reaching their stop, they had a moment of silence for the eaten man and went on their way. Climbing the stairs, they approached a 'Welcome to Sigaport' sign. Sigaport was mainly a fishing town, surrounded by the Great Ocean. Boats lined the port and small living huts were scattered about.
"It should be a 30 minute walk from here, so I guess we should get someone to point us the way." Belle said.
Walking around, the mini doves spotted a man fishing who pointed them between two rock walls.
Shortly after walking the trail, flat mountains started peaking in the distance and the group sprinted the rest of the way.
"Whew, finally." Rockie breath out as they took in the area.
It was mostly flat, only having sharp rocks jutted out in random places. Nor were there any jewels or golems awaiting their wild imagination. It was just… boring.
"Why do they call it Jewel mountain? I don't see where a egg would be hiding out here." K.O stated, throwing away the sucker stick and replacing it with a blue one. "There's really nowhere to look."
"Yeah, nowhere with our eyes apparently." Maya huffed crossing her arms. "We have to actually look now which makes it harder," she sighed, then looked at her hands, "and I just got my nails done."
"Girls," Rockie and K.O mumbled.
Belle spotted three people a short distance away. "Hey guys, maybe those people could probably help us. They may know the area." Belle said before she ran towards the group with the others following. When they reached them, Belle smiled.
"Hello, my name is Belle. My friends and I are new here and we seem to be lost. Do you by chance know your way around?" she said getting a good look at them. There was an old man, a young man and woman.
The old man gave her a wrinkled smile, "Not really. We were actually about to explore it."
That comment had Belle's gut stirring. Something didn't feel right.
"Explore? What are you, adventurers or something?" K.O asked, getting a chuckle from the old man.
"Oh no sonny, we are treasure hunters," 'couldn't be' "and we've come to seek out the Eshire Crone."
Damn
The doves stared at the man in disbelief, all except for Rockie, who smiled big and chuckled.
"Really? We're actually here searching for -" Belle quickly threw her palms over his mouth and crushed the small boy to her chest, not missing the raised eyebrows they got from the group. The lady squinted her eyes at them.
"And what exactly are you here searching for?" she asked pointedly.
Belle mouth started opening and closing like a gaping fish before Maya jumped in. "Uh, we heard this place was haunted, so we came to check it out." she said, shrugging her shoulders.
The group eyed the doves warily, then the old man cocked his head with a smile. "Huh? This is our first time here and I haven't heard of that news. Well aren't we glad to know that. Oh, where are my manners, I am treasure hunter Daniel Speed. This is Alijah Crasby and the beautiful lady is Iilane Mitchell. They are my guardians."
Guardians? Some guardians they were. They surely didn't look the part. Alijah was tall and skinny with his black hair pulled in a ponytail. He wore a white shirt and black pants and shoes. Iilane had golden hair that waved down her back, wearing a pink tank top, white shorts, and brown boots. She too was skinny. The only thing they would be guarding was the old man's tools.
Belle sent them a fake smile, "Well it was nice meeting you all, but would you look at the time. We should really get going." she said as she sped pushed K.O, Maya, and Rockie away.
Daniel waved to the retreating bunch. "Alright then. Hope to see you again."
Belle pushed the doves until they were stationed behind a tall rock. She then bent over to catch her breath.
"Nice save, even though they didn't believe it." K.O told Maya.
"Why thank you sir. I do try." Maya said, giving a small curtsey.
Belle stood up straight, "Anyway, we need to focus on what's more important and that is finding this egg before those hunters do."
"More important than that is where to start looking for it," K.O said. "Speaking of, does anybody else get a weird feeling about this?"
"Feeling about what?" Rockie asked confused.
"Yeah, something does feel off," Maya added. "I mean somebody should really tell that lady that those boots do not go with that top."
"No," K.O face-palmed. "I'm talking about the mission. How those hunters are "searching" for the "same thing" we are."
"Ooohhh," Rockie and Maya sung together.
"Come to think of it, a lot of things aren't adding up. I mean, did the same man that sent us send them too? You think it's a trap?"
"Probable, but unlikely." Belle answered eying the blonde, who looked at her skeptically. "He wouldn't have sent treasure hunters to search for something this valuable and trust they'd bring it back. I know I wouldn't." She clapped her hands as she got back focused. "Anyway, the egg… places to look… suggestions anyone?"
"Maybe we could try the rocks." Rockie suggested seriously.
Maya rolled her eyes, "If you say something about Rockie rocking the world, I swear I'll break your jaw."
"No no no, I'm being for real. With this boring, flat mountain, the egg can only be inside one of these rocks," the group stared at him, amazed at his suggestions. Not really because of the suggestion, but hearing him say it. "I bet a golem is holding the egg while in the form of a rock. Question is, which one?"
The other three sighed slumping their shoulders.
"Enough about the golems," Belle said. "I know one thing, we must not let those hunters get there first."
"Pfft, I ain't worried 'bout them." Rockie chuckled, waving his hand.
"Yeah, I'm with shorty on that one." K.O agreed placing his hands in his pockets. "They'd probably break lifting a pencil."
"But that blonde was hot though." Rockie said.
K.O nodded along, humming in agreement. "Oh yeah. Did you see those legs?"
Maya frowned, "Please, she wasn't that good looking."
"Jealous much?" Rockie laughed, wagging his eyebrows.
"Of who? That skinny bitch. No way." Maya snipped. "I'd rather lick my own foot."
"Don't seem like it." Rockie sung lowly.
Before they could start fighting, Belle interrupted. "If you guys are finished with your social gathering, I'd really like to get back to the mission."
She paused as they mumbled under their breath. "Alright, so this is what we're going to do: Maya and I will search the west side of the mountain. As much as it pains me to say this, I must admit you two work good together incase something goes wrong, so K.O, you and Rockie will take the east. Put all playfulness aside and be serious. If you find out anything, anything at all, call us. Are we clear?"
Everyone nodded their heads. "Okay, move out."
The group broke off and went their designated ways.
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Three pair of eyes watched as the kids separated to search aimlessly around the mountain from above.
"I think they're lying," Iilane gritted out, her brown eyes piercing the kids from a far.
"I know they are," Alijah growled out with a thick accent. "What idiots do they take us for, giving us a ridiculous story like that. I wonder are they here searching for Eshire as well?"
"Or something," Iilane snarled, her manicured nails biting into her biceps. "They're here for something which doesn't bode well for us."
Daniel chortled at the two, his beady eyes still watching the kids below, taking pride from their empty findings. "Yes, they do seem problematic, but we have something that they do not." His eyes sparkled at the curious expressions his guardians gave him.
Reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a folded piece of paper, he unraveled it and the paper grew in size. On the paper were black and red squiggly lines with a blue circle marking a spot. "We have a map. This encode shows me exactly where that egg is located." He refolded it and put it back in his pocket. He then gave them a pointed look, his grin still in place. "If they get in the way…. Do what you have to do."
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Seconds turned to minutes and minutes were nearing an hour, however their search only gave them rocks, more rocks and dirt. Belle sighed. This mission was starting to weigh her down. They knew nothing of the egg except for a written description, and yeah, that was helping out a ton. Her hands were sore from digging through rocks and her brain rattled from hearing Maya's non ending complaints about her nails. She didn't know how much she could take.
"Has it dawned on you that maybe this egg is just a bust." Maya asked as she stood beside Belle, wiping sweat from her forehead with a grimace.
"I highly doubt that someone would request something that's not even here." Belle responded still rummaging through rock debris.
"Well, maybe he got his mountains mixed up. Maybe it's somewhere else." Maya tried to reason and planted her hands on her hips. "I just don't see where it could be here."
Belle clenched her jaw, trying to hold back her tongue, but it didn't work. "Well if you would stop complaining and actually help look for it, maybe we could get somewhere."
Maya gaped at her, her brows furrowing together. "Well, if you would get your fat ass off that freaking high horse and stop being-"
"Ah, my butt is not fat."
"Why do you have to be so uptight and bossy and controlling huh? Being the mature goody two shoes that everybody hates. Why can't you just dig deep and try being normal for once."
"Dig deep," Belle mumbled to herself.
"What? Out of everything I said…" The rest was drowned out as Belle started to think. If it wasn't out in the open and it wasn't under the rocks, then maybe they weren't digging deep enough. Deep enough?
"That's it," she exclaimed and before Maya could ask, a boom followed by a strong current took them off of their feet and sent them tumbling. Rock debris was flying everywhere.
Groaning in pain, the girls slowly sat up, coughing from all the dust around them, but when it cleared away, they were faced with a grinning Iilane. The ground around her was broken apart.
"Sorry to have to rain on your party darlings, but your trail sadly ends here."
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Rockie and K.O glared at Alijah as he stood calmly before them. Rockie was rubbing his bruised jaw he'd been kicked in.
Alijah shifted on his feet with a sigh. "It saddens me to have to waste such effortless time on bugs such as yourselves."
"Bugs?!" K.O growled, clenching his fist tight.
"Well," Alijah spat on the ground and kicked at the dirt. "Let's get this over with shall we?"
K.O and Rockie shared a glance, then glared back at the man.
"Finally a fight. That's what I'm talking 'bout." Rockie chuckled. "Let's rock it."
"Dude, that was so lame." K.O sighed.
"Shut up!"
... Brain Break ...