//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4: Out of Alight 
// Story: Homeward Bow 
// by Someguy458 
//------------------------------//

The ship touched down on a very dark red-and-black plateau shaped like a triangle that was curving to one side.
“Well, let’s get searching!” Bowlina said, and they all split up.
Ruby noticed a resident, a pumpkin-headed white-robed biped. She noticed something white in his bag. “Are those skulls in your bag?”
“Yeah, I was just about to stick them onto some stakes and plant them outside my blood-colored house."
"Oh great, we've landed in the Edgy Kingdom..."
A shriek interrupted them. Ruby turned around and saw an origami-like robot chasing a girl (who was clutching a moon) down the street.
"Wait! I was gonna give this to Lord C, I swear!" She cried out.
"Ariel Dean, you are guilty of harboring a moon illegally. Your punishment: immediate termination."
Ariel screamed, but she was cut off by the robot shooting out a laser beam that immediately turned her to ash.
"All others, get back to work." The robot grabbed the moon and left.
Bowlina looked at Ruby, who seemed traumatized. "Ruby, you alright?"
"I just watched someone get turned to ash..." she replied numbly, "This really IS the Edgy Kingdom..."
"What do we do now?" asked Pan, coming over.
"Why don't we pay a visit to this 'Lord C' character?" Bowlina suggested.
"Oh, that's a very bad idea,” interjected a resident, “he doesn't take kindly to visitors."
"Well, what else are we supposed to do?" Bowlina asked.
Pan said, "We could always go back to the Bowser Kingdom-"
"NO!" Both Ruby and Bowlina shouted.
"Well then, we'll have to go meet with him."
“Fine…”
Bowlina went up to a resident. “Excuse me… where does Lord C live?”
“In the castle on the hill.”
“Thank you.”
“No, thank you.”
"What for?"
"For providing us with more skulls."
Bowlina stared wide-eyed at the resident, and slowly backed away.
She rejoined the others, and they trekked up the plateau to the castle.When they arrived, they hid outside the entrance.
Pan began to plot, "Alright, now here's the plan: we -"
"CHARGE!!" Bowlina shouted, rushing in.
"Wait, no!” Pan screamed, then they chased her in.
“YAAAARGH! Lord C, your reign of terror ends now!”
They all yelped as a cage dropped from the ceiling, trapping them.
“Great job, Bowlina! You got us captured!”
“Well, there wasn’t a big X on the floor, so I thought it was safe!”
Ruby face-hoofed.
The lights on the far end of the room turned on, revealing a cloaked stallion. “Well, well, well… If it isn’t Ruby and Bowlina… and, a third one...”
“Lord C, is it?” Ruby said.
“How do you know most of our names?” Bowlina asked.
“I’ve heard a lot on those reports on the radio… You’ve had quite the long journey. but now, I’m going to put a stop to all that you’ve worked for… Just like you did to me all those years ago!”
“What are you talking about? We’ve never met you before, right, Bowlina?”
“Right!”
“Well, I suppose you might not recognize my new voice...” He then threw off his cloak, saying, “Dramatic reveal!”
Ruby gasped as she recognized him. “Comic!?”
“Wait, you DO know him?”
“When I was fifteen years old, he wanted to be my boyfriend. He spent nearly all his money trying to impress me, but I turned him down.”
“Why’d you do that?”
“Because he’s a lunatic! The last time I saw him, he swore that he’d make me fall in love with him, then he ran off. But that was over seven years ago, and I never thought he was capable of this! If I did, I would’ve stopped that nutcase the first chance I got!”
“Who are you calling a nutcase?”
“You, you nutcase!”
“No, YOU’RE the nutcase! Who in their right mind would pass up all this?!” He gestured to his lanky and unkempt body.
“Eww…” They all said.
“I’ll admit, I’ve let myself go just a bit…”
“ ‘Just a bit’? You look like a walking, talking, rotten raisin!”
He growled, then breathed to calm himself.
“Now, I suppose you’re wondering what I plan on doing with you…”
“Not really…”
"I'm so glad you asked!"
"See what I mean?"
"I'm collecting Power Moons to power a machine I built!" He pulled a lever, and the machine raised from a hatch in the floor. "I call it The Love-Is-In-The-Air-Inator!"
Pan said, "Really? An 'Inator'? That's really cliché!"
"Quiet, you!”
He then started a monologue: “My original plan was to aim it at a satellite so it bounced off and hit you at your house, but now you've come right to me! Once I fire this laser, you'll fall hopelessly in love with me!" He laughed maniacally, then stopped. "Well, as soon as I get the last Moon I need to power it up." 
The robot that had killed Ariel came in, holding a moon "Your Excellency, I have found a Power Moon that one of the citizens was hiding."
"Perfect timing! You get a promotion! Meet me in ten minutes so we can discuss the terms."
"Thank you, Your Excellency." He bowed and left.
"Well, at least he's appreciative of his employees." Pan acknowledged.
"Now, I just need to put this in here, and wait for it to finish charging..." The machine dinged. "Finally! Now, behold as you become hopelessly attracted to me!"
He aimed the laser at Ruby and fired it, but Bowlina intercepted it with a mirror.
"What?!"
But instead of reflecting the beam, the mirror absorbed it.
Then it started talking: "Comic! I can't believe I'm saying this, but... I love you!"
"What the hell!?" He was disgusted.
Bowlina looked at the mirror. "Okay, that is not what I had in mind, but alrighty… Sic 'em, girl!" She set the mirror loose, and it started to chase him.
Bowlina then opened the cage door, which had some how become unlocked.
"How did you get out?" Ruby asked.
"Well, it's obviously because I always keep a lockpick up my -"
Ruby was looking with confusion at her sarcasm.
"I turned incorporeal while he was monologuing."
"Oh..."
Comic was now fending off the mirror. "Guards! Seize them!"
The robots then surrounded them.
"We're surrounded!"
Bowlina looked around, spotting a Pokio nearby. "Quick! Capture that conveniently placed Pokio!"
"What? No! I already said —"
"This really isn't the best time for a morality discussion! Just capture the damn bird!"
"I said no!"
"Okay, if you won't do that..."
Bowlina and Pan tried to fight, but the guards were too well-built. Ruby couldn't even dent them.
So they ran.



The three made it back to the ship, panting.
"You nearly got us killed!” shouted Bowlina, “And all because you wouldn't capture that Pokio!"
"I told you, I'll never take over anything living! That's just messed up! And I’m not the only one who’s to blame for all this! Your only concern is getting home; you’ll barely give any time to anything that doesn’t concern that!”
“That’s not true!”
“Oh really? Then what’s my name?”
“It’s… Erm… Rose?”
“Ruby.”
“Well, how was I supposed to know? You never told it to me!”
“I’m pretty sure I, or any of the other characters to address me by name, did! And even without that, my point still stands! You threw us right into that trap, and you’re so focused on getting yourself home that you aren’t concerned at all that I’ll never be able to go back to mine!”
“Didn’t I say you could move in with me?”
“You uprooted my entire life to the point where I can’t even enter the COUNTRY without being arrested on the spot! Why the HELL would I want to have ANYTHING to do with you!?”
Bowlina gasped, tears now coming out of her eyes. “Fine! I can get home without you! Pan, come with me!”
"I'm sorry, Bowlina, but I’m gonna have to side with Ruby on this one..."
Bowlina looked at him, shocked, then sniffed. "Fine! Who needs any of you?!"
She then boarded the ship, and took off.
"What'll we do now?" Pan asked Ruby.
"The only thing we can do..."



So Bowlina went off on her own, holding back tears.
Meanwhile, Ruby and Pan waited until Officer Sergeant caught up with her in her hot air balloon, and they were taken into custody.








Then Comic's phone rang.