"What are you doing here?" The person of the crew shouted as they headed towards Norbert position.
Taking a step back, Norbert felt his back hit against the railing. He looked back down again, wondering if he should lean back and fall off, hoping he would last the landing. A hand gripped his coat and ripped him forward, away from the edge, as he was picked up and tossed about.
Unexpected by the action, Norbert landed in a pile near the centre mast. All eyes were now on him as they stared at the unexpected newcomer. Getting to his feet, Norbert looked at the faces staring back at him for a moment before they continued with what they were doing. One of the people scurried off into the housing, not continuing with whatever job they were doing previously.
The one that dragged him from the side, staring him down, making sure Norbert wouldn't try any other actions of escape or suicide.
A moment later, the door banged open, smashing on the wall next to it, as the man Norbert assumed to be the captain of the vessel stepped forward, looking down the railing at Norbert and the man who was keeping an eye on Norbert.
"Get back to work, Schmidt!" The voice boomed out.
The person watching Norbert gives a salute before running off. Norbert loses track of the person in the sea of constant movement around him. Norbert turns back to the captain, gives a half-hearted salute, and walks towards the edge again.
He could only take the first step, and only a staff member was trained down at him. Sighing in annoyance that he couldn't just easily walk out of the situation, Norbert looked towards the captain, whose wand was pointed at Norbert—the blue hexagonal crystal lit up the area around them.
"Not letting me just walk out of here?"
Norbert received a growling look from the captain, hiding the wand within their clothes they shouted down to Norbert "How did you get on our ship!?"
"I followed a traveller here for a meeting. They ditched us here quite unceremoniously," Norbert replied. He looked around to see if there was anything close to them that he could leap onto, still hoping he wouldn't need to fall and crash through a building. He tried to mentally remember where the river was located and how long it would be until they were over it.
"Find that hard to believe" The captain grimaced at Norbert.
Standing there, Norbert waited to see if the conversation would continue. Not seeing it doing so, Norbert looked across at the edge once more before turning back to the captain "Names Norbert, if you could stop my curiosity and say where this vessel is headed for that, you won't let me leave. That would be much appreciated!" Norbert shouted back, the ship starting to rock under his feet as it picked up speed. Looking up, the giant balloon, allowing it to float, started to glow as runes popped up around it, their white runes popping and fizzing in the air.
"Long trip towards the Frosters, now sadly, from what you may have seen—" the captain started monologing to Norbert.
Not wanting to see where the conversation would go anymore, Norbert ran to the railing. Leaping over it, he felt something grab at him. Falling down, it clutched at his foot, causing him to flip upside down. Looking up, seeing a blue tendril around his leg, Norbert kicked out against the ship.
Hearing the wood crack under his foot, Norbert pulled it back for a second go, only for weightlessness to hold onto him as the airship quickly grew smaller. The wind lapping at his clothes, Norbert spun his body around and spread-eagled, hands out, trying to stabilise himself. It was not his first time falling through the air like this.
Looking out at the sparkling city, unable to see any large body of water, Norbert directed himself towards a street, hoping to not at least completely destroy a stranger's house. Pumping energy around his body, his eyes darted open with clarity, the energy naturally forcing itself in them, the world sparkling open as he looked about.
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Positioning himself outside the city walls, Norbert saw the land drop away. Hoping to use it as a way to roll down and not splat into stone like his original plan, Norbert changed his body for the new course of action. Hearing the shouts of the guards on the wall as he raced by them, Norbert hit the ground, spinning off the side as he started down the hill.
Dirt somehow got in his mouth as his arms and legs started to bend the wrong way before they were ripped back in ly for the next landing to push them into the wrong place again. Each impact got less and less until he just carelessly rolled down the hill, groaning to himself as his body popped itself into the right place once more. Norbert felt his body getting to his knees, confirming his pouch was still where it should be.
He breathed a sigh of relief, a relief that quickly dashed away as he looked towards the hill he landed on. The large chunks had been blasted away from him, the line of craters and dirt that scattered about the place.
Turning towards the gates, he was happy that there wasn't a stream of guards charging out, scouring the landscape, looking for Norbert and holding him responsible for the destruction he had caused. Groaning, Norbert came to his feet, walking back the way he had come. His energy felt mellow after its immediate use of trying to protect Norbert from his skydive.
A black and white speckled object hurtled towards Norbert before pulling up and landing on his head. Patting Obsius with his hand, Norbert began the trek back to the wall and the city of Elysium beyond it.
***
Norbert looked at the dark entrance of the Pink Pair's. The sign hanging over the doorway was the only thing blazing, and the lights on the street were the only thing blazing. He was not expecting it to have taken him so long to find after going to the other side of the wall. He was thankful at least that the guards didn't give a single worry about the damage that he had caused to the hillside.
Walking up the steps, Norbert quietly rapped his knuckles on the door. Hearing a bell inside tinkle with the noise, he stopped. Not wanting to disturb any of the neighbours, he waited to see if there would be any response from inside before attempting again to call out to them.
Raising his fist once more to knock on the door, Norbert heard movement from within. A light bounced around one of the windows as someone approached the noise Norbert was generating.
The door clicking unlocked finally as it was only slightly opened, the light from the lamp dancing on Norbert's head as he looked down at what was creating it. There stood the mother of one of the pink pairs. Seeing her wipe the sleep from her eyes she looked at Norbert for a moment, not recognising him at all.
Norbert could see her brain start to warm up, and still, she couldn't remember where she had seen Norbert before.
"Aren't you supposed to be in the tournament?" she asked Norbert, looking back and forth down the street to see if anyone else was following after him.
In response, Norbert gave a half-painful laugh and looked back over the street, confirming that there wasn't anyone following him as well. Obsius jabbed him on the head, and Norbert looked up, seeing that the woman had stepped away from the door, allowing him to enter.
He saw the dimly lit shop, still the same as the last time he entered. To the back of the room, Norbert saw a little girl standing there, looking out from behind the frame, and on her shoulder, a white fox.
"Is that who I think it is?" Norbert asked Obsius as he pointed towards the fox.
Seeing the next tail appear then disappear, Norbert's thoughts were right as it jumped off the little girls shoulder, her pink hair in a swirl of movement as it was kicked up into the air, before lightly falling back around.
The fox walked on top of the tables, making sure not to hit any candies onto the ground as it continued walking towards Norbert. Standing on the closest table to Norbert, the fox jumped onto his shoulder, wrapping its tail around Norbert. Hearing vibrations from its chest as it came down around Norbert.
"No fair, that took me ages!" The little girl shouted across the room.
Norbert looked at her as he smiled, thankful she was still the same as he last remembered.
"Sorry to inconvenience you at this time of night. Finding your shop again took me much longer than I thought it would." Norbert stated that he would not let his voice grow too loud and possibly disturb some of the neighbours, only the faintest echo being heard around them.
No one gave any more information, so Norbert went into his jacket and pulled out the candy.
"Can you see why this candy can cure a disease and possibly replicate it?" Norbert asked.
The daughter came forward and stared up at Norbert. "I know where you're from; you got all the candy before," the daughter said gleefully.
The shop owner clicked her fingers. "That's where I knew you from. I had the old brain working there for a moment," she said, reaching down and taking the candy out of Norbert's hand.