A devastated cafe greets Puelle. Windows shattered, tables broken, coffee makers on fire, customers not caring about their surroundings...
She can't help but think of that mantis bitch again.
She makes her way to table 7, tackling and planting something on her nefariously...
...A slightly injured Puelle enters the premises.
"Imma call it. The mantis at Table 7, right?"
The injured mantis is quick to clear her name. "Oh, dear! That was yesterday! I promise I didn't~"
Puelle snaps her fingers emotionlessly, detonating the mantis.
"Yeah, right..." Puelle replies.
"Nope, someone else wreaked havoc this time." Zachary replies, wiping the counter clean of debris.
"Mister volunteer here decided to save the lives of many... and ended up not sparing the cafe." He added.
"...Uh, are you complaining, 'cause I feel like you are." Iggy concerningly says.
Kay retorts the claim. "Look, we can survive the explosion just fine, but this cafe? Oh, it ain't coming back until tomorrow. No wage earned, all losses accounted for, and it's all your fault~"
"Wait, what? You can't say that!" Iggy complains to Kay.
"You aimed at him first, child labor kid."
"Alright, enough." Zachary shuts both Iggy and Kay down.
"You're not from here, are you?" Zachary says, sweeping the floor.
"You have ulterior motives~ but those motives side with us... does it now?" He added.
"...We're tasked to fight against that monster before he kills anyone he deems uncreative or boring." Pickle answers from the stomach.
"Well, this place is never boring, why the hell should we worry?" Kay asks.
"Let the kid talk, Kay."
Silence...
"...oH nO. i'M bOrInG, oOo." Kay savagely responds as she returns to the kitchen to get a broom.
Puelle intervenes in the conversation.
"I think I heard that from the news... If I recall, The Industry sent a few hundred creatives here a few days ago..."
As Zachary sweeps the floor, he stares out at nowhere.
"If the Industry sent you here, then perhaps we're up against a really dangerous being."
He looks back at Iggy.
"In that case, that guy shouldn't even be welcome here in the first place..." He added.
"I know a dream guy who lives with a dwarf somewhere on Pragma Mountain. He can fill you up with what's going on in Timeline-2; he's a cop, after all."
"Do you know where he lives?" Iggy asks.
"...Follow me."
"Road Trip!" Pickle happily replies.
"We're walking."
"Aww." Pickle says in dismay.
"I'll be off; Can I count on you guys to clean up this mess?" Zachary tells both Puelle and Kay.
Puelle starts tidying up by chewing rubble. "Gwot it, bwoss!"
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Kay sports a broken face at her.
"What will I ever do with you..."
Iggy and Zachary make their way out of the cafe.
"Wait, you're not going to make the customers leave?" Iggy curiously asks.
"They'll leave at their own pace. Besides, this cafe has been their second home for years now." Zachary replies.
"...Even the mantis bitch?~" Pickle asks.
"No~ not her, she's a recent occurrence."
"Oh."
An endless rendezvous rock Iggy, Pickle, and Zachary.
> "You sure you can trust those two? That girl was just chewing rocks recently."
>
> "Puelle and Kay may be too much to handle, but they can always get the job done."
They traverse through the ravines...
> "You have a brother?"
>
> "That does seem to come off as a surprise."
>
> "I remembered him getting involved in a fight, and they ended up talking about shiny fancy pants and math equations."
>
> "Man, he's one dumb~"
>
> "You don't get the right to say that, Caffeine."
Through the vines...
> "So that mantis was entitled?"
>
> "Somewhat like that... Of course, Puelle took care of detonating her outside yesterday."
>
> "Haha, She sure made a lot of customers impatient...:
Through the rocks...
> "So, you don't know any other info about the dream guy?"
>
> "All I know is that he's a cop, and he's a dream creature. That's all."
>
> "How are you sure that he's gonna be able to help us?"
>
> "Intuition."
And through the groves.
Alas, the three of them arrive at the Farmer's market; a place filled to the brim with exotic items and common produce.
"Okay, I'll be leaving you kids here. Since you're from The Industry, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to fend for yourselves from now on." Zachary says.
"Now, to find that cop, you just ask around if the people here saw a tan-colored big buff dude with sunglasses. Got it?"
"Tan-colored big buff dude with sunglasses. Got it, Zach! Thanks!" Pickle replies.
"I'll see you around." Zachary leaves, waving his hand as he walks away towards a merchant selling coffee beans."
Silence...
"So, uh, where do we go from here, Pickle?"
"I dunno. Go grab a pair of binoculars or something!"
"Hmm..." Iggy thinks to himself.
From a distance, a merchant is selling a pair of old binoculars.
"I think I got an idea."
MINUTES LATER...
The same binoculars have been enhanced with advanced tracking features...
Thanks to the power of 1KX, no doubt.
"Good thing they had this pair of binoculars in the Annihilator franchise..." Iggy says, peeking through the lens.
The binoculars had received a prompt: Searching for a tan-colored big buff dude with sunglasses.
It surely didn't take long until such a criterion was met.
Meet Pie, a dwarf with a passion for drawing, and Louie, a therapist policeman. Things even the narrator can't describe, in short, they're a duo that needs as many mental health hotlines ready as possible.
...The binoculars spot Louie, sporting a checklist and a gold-laced peacock quil, tracking every single move Pie makes in the most uncomfortable way possible.
"Bingo." Iggy says.
Pie, holding a shopping bag, looks at her surroundings. Louie stops, freezes, and checks some things in his checklist using his quill.
"He sure has a weird-looking pen for a policeman..."
She continues walking, with Louie closely following her.
"And it looks like he's stalking a girl. A short one at that..."
Louie pops up from behind Iggy, closing in on Iggy's ears.
"Did you just say something mean-spirited about my client?"
"AH!" Iggy exclaims.
"No thank you kid~ that's a no-no!" Louie gestures.
"Sorry, I... kinda influenced the guy." Pickle admits to guilt.
"Did your... stomach... just talk?" Louie points at Iggy's stomach with swag.
"Yeah, His name's Pickle. S~ Sorry about that, I didn't intend for it to be mean." Iggy exclaims, scratching his head.
"You're short." Louie randomly blurts out to Iggy.
True story, Iggy is in fact, short.
Silence...
"There we go~ now we're even! I'm Louie, nice to meet you!"
Louie offers to shake hands.
"Iggy. It's nice to meet you too~"
"Mr. Louie, can you carry me home?" Pie exhaustedly says from a distance. "My feet aren't exactly, working for me anymore."
So it goes, Louie carries Pie on his back; Iggy, silent, follows suit.
Pie looks back at the person following Louie.
"What is that?" Pie says, pointing at Iggy.
"My new fan!"
"Add him to my kill list." Pie says with a tiresome face. Her out-of-service brain works in her favor as she asks another curious question...
"...Why is that kid following us?"
"He probably has a purpose. Let's ask him!"
He immediately looks at Iggy with unintentional contempt in his eyes.
"What is your purpose in life?"
Iggy stands there, frozen. "I, uh~" He points.
"Does following and assassinating a genocidal man... count?" Iggy shrugs.
"Following... and assassinating..." Louie thought to himself.
...
"Ah, so you're sent here by The Industry!" Louie utters in excitement.
"Pie, you have space for one more takoyaki?"
"...I guess?"
"Then it's settled! Follow me, Iggy!" He walks out.
"Well, that was easy..." Pickle whispers to Iggy.
"I never knew he'd be easy to get along with..." Iggy replies.
Back at the cafe, Puelle and Kay had finished cleaning up the cafe's mess.
Still chewing rubble, Puelle exhaustedly rests on one of the chairs. "This is the fourth time this week..."
"Yeah, and it's getting on my nerves." Kay replies.
"I hope things change for the better next time..."
Kay continues sweeping the floor.
From outside, there's an angel, her halo glowing gold.
She looks at the torn-down cafe...
"It's time..."