-Elhorn, The Far North, Abandoned Submarine, Shanty-
“Calm down Shanty, it’s going to be okay. Pom… will be… okay…” Ocellus poked her head out of the gaping hole in the submarine while resting a hoof on my withers. “Even if we have absolutely no idea where currently she is or what happened to her last night. We can all clearly see that something happened, but at least our camp wasn’t disturbed. All our supplies are still here, so we definitely haven’t been robbed at least. They never made it by Dodo.”
Dodo warbled halfway proud and the other half was mournful.
We managed to sleep the entire night undisturbed, wouldn’t Pom be waking us to help with the danger? The camp was as we left it when we be waking up, so they not be getting even close to getting inside the submarine.
“Yeah Shanty, Pom is a survivalist and she’s got her canid magnetism going for her… so ‘if’ she has been captured by anyone from Yellow Dog, I seriously doubt they’d kill her. If she hasn’t been captured and is lost, then she’ll likely try to find a way to the mines.” Walking out into the sunlight to get stuck in the deeper snow, Smolder flew up and over to the five machines that were being damaged badly. There were patches of frozen red crystals everywhere a fair distance from the submarine. The only reason they were visible in the snow was because of the sunlight reflecting off of them. “So she had a big fight last night… during a blizzard… where she apparently took off her cold weather gear to blend in with the snow and we have said gear right here. Also that’s a lot frozen blood.”
Dodo be feeling sad thoughts about Pom not returning, he be slightly injured and apparently was a part of the decent scuffle last night that was muffled by all the snow.
He stayed here to keep watch over our camp and is making sure that nobody got by him to us.
“Is that blood hers?” I asked worriedly.
“No, genetics show only Mobian canine descendants thus far, no ‘outsider’ genetics detected nearby. Pom didn’t bleed near here whatever she was doing last night, but I seriously do not understand how she could take out those mechs. Despite their small size being relative to Dodo, they are still quite dangerous with their ability to deflect energy based weaponry and are primarily melee range machines.” Wait… did Nicole just say something I could be understanding? “Is my translation software sufficient? In other words, did you understand me and is it working correctly?”
“Yes, I be understanding that.” I was quite thankful that none of that was Pom’s blood, there be a lot of it all over the place. “Do you be understanding us now as well?”
“I could get the gist of it by body language alone before, but I am a quick study and have been listening to your conversations. I apologize if that comes off as a bit… un-settlements.” Nicole stated while her glowing screen eyes flickered to make it look like she be blinking. She be sleeping too, but did machines really need to sleep? That being strange to me. “Does Pom naturally have the capabilities of taking out those mechs? That demon and Axel Gear didn’t seem like effective measures for Pom’s true capabilities… though I have noted her being unnaturally durable by taking multiple explosive devices to the body.”
“No, but she didn’t have to take out these mechs… just their pilots.” Ocellus answered while curiously looking over the toppled mechs. “It seems as if most of the damage done to them was done by the claws of the other mechs themselves and not directly by Pom.”
The mechs in question were green, small bodied and had spindly limbs… the legs be longer than the arms. The limbs were kind of like the ones of the bomb spitting Gedol land striders.
The machines also have a cylindrical head with two red orbs that had room for one pilot in a small seat, smaller than the seat Dodo had. Aside from the long limbs they weren’t exactly big or threatening looking bipedal machines despite being a bit taller than Dodo.
“I concur.” Nicole ran some of her blunt metal fingers under what passed for a chin for her, the light dying in the top half of her eyes be making her look thoughtful as if the absence of light was her eyelids. It be a neat effect. “Given she hasn’t returned, she might have gotten lost in the blizzard. We won’t be able to track the aggressors if capture is her reason for being missing. If she is lost, then she may have led them away from us and can’t make her way back swiftly. We need options on what we can do.”
Nicole be pretty lively like Dodo and really cool looking, now she can also be talking to us in our language too.
“We don’t know where to start looking, but Pom knows the general location of the mine. She should eventually be able to navigate her way back to us and knows where we’re heading.” Ocellus seemed to be think about doing something. “I don’t want to leave her behind... we still don’t even know if we’ve met a faction yet or if they were just bandits.”
“We can’t stay here and wait for Pom forever.” Would object to that Smolder, but we be having no idea of where to look for Pom and can only hope she’s alright.
“I… don’t want to leave, but maybe it being better if we do.” I think Pom be stronger than a bunch of mountain wolves, she did be causing them a lot of trouble last night. We can see it in the snow. “People be knowing that we were here. It not being safe for us to be staying stuck in a corner, I’m no coward and you be saying that Pom will be okay and I believe you!”
That didn’t mean I was going to stop worrying about her, Pom was being special to me… as were Smolder, Ocellus and Dodo.
“Right, continue the original plan until we can find some form of civilization.” Ocellus turned to look at the others in thought. “The faster we complete our mission, the sooner we can form a search party to go out and find Pom.”
-Two hours later-
Pom not be showing up after we packed up the camp and be eating breakfast. Dodo was alright enough to pull, but he not be fighting up close with his injuries. Nicole is knowing what she is talking about when it comes to machines like Dodo and I be listening to her about not putting too much stress on him while he was still healing.
We also be waiting for Ligstrun to get one of the mechs operational and Colleen got put to the task of piloting it to follow the wagon. It be walking funny and its arms be slightly floppy, but we were reassured that Colleen had it under control.
We set out at a slow pace and watched our surroundings warily, including cliffs above us as we headed northwest towards the mountain where the mines are supposed to be found.
Along the way we saw a few exceptionally weird things alongside the snowy pathways.
Upside down trees, an entire forests worth of them with their stumps in the air. Someone be taking the time and effort to turn an entire forest on its head. Even Colleen was perplexed, Ocellus translated her words that Yellow Dog territory didn’t have things this bizarre when she left it.
We be finding a single circular campfire that someone obviously slept in the middle of, even I be knowing that that not be being very bright thing to do. Who would be being stupid enough to surround themselves with fire to sleep in the middle of it?
Well Smolder could be an answer, but she is not being stupid and she would actually be enjoying heat.
What came up next was number of frost or snow covered bushes that had been painted entirely bright red or bright neon pink.
“Why would anybody be painting bushes out here?” I asked Ocellus with my head tilted. “The color is being a bit eye searing.”
“The base color of the bushes is brown and the snow flowers should be white… and… I haven’t the foggiest why anyone would go to all the effort of painting entire bushes that color.” Answered Nicole. She is being very smart, if she is not knowing then it is doubtful that anyone else among us would be figuring it out anytime today. “It seems illogical to paint a bunch of random bushes in the middle of nowhere, especially in neon pink. It's like why anyone would bother with turning all the trees in a forest upside down.”
The next oddity in the mountainous region had me questioning things.
“Is that thing being real?” I asked bluntly. “Can I be reassured that I not be just seeing things?”
“Yes, I think it is…” Ocellus muttered as we looked at a sign that read ‘obvious trap’. Said sign had an arrow pointing to a ridiculously obvious trap that only a true idiot could be falling for. The trap looked like it could close on a hoof or leg in a painful manner with spikes.
“I can detect no other traps around.” Nicole stated quietly looking at the sign while her ears rotated in place while pointing straight up.
“Let’s just go aro… Dodo!” I yelled, Dodo quickly pulled his head back from the trap looking sheepish.
“Well Dodo is definitely dumb enough to be a familiar.” Smolder stated flatly. “So we’re heading higher up to find the mines right?”
“Yep, we’re not likely to run into anything too odd as what we’ve seen so far.” Ocellus was proven wrong five minutes later when she became upset at what we saw next. “Come on, why a cement wall that’s only five feet wide and half a foot thick?! It’s not going to stop anything from going around it, it’s not even in our way to begin with! Who built it and why here!”
“Calm down Ocellus, this is actually not that weird.” As we passed by what looked like a freshly kept wall, Smolder looked back at it and blinked. “Okay… maybe it is…”
Everyone started looking at what Smolder was staring at, what was behind the wall we didn’t even have to steer around.
Most importantly, what wasn’t there.
“Is that being normal?” I asked to Nicole. Something very screwy be going on here.
“No, that is decidedly not normality.” Nicole’s eyes flickered and seemed to grow brighter as if she just blinked and widened her eyes. She be very expressive for a robot. “It makes me wonder what Yellow Dog has been up to with technology in this region. I… want to study this for a bit.”
We went back and stopped next to the wall.
“If Pom has been captured… is she living in a nightmare?” I asked Ocellus as Nicole started to look at the wall, it be about time I be giving it some thought.
“Maybe, but Pom didn’t have a problem with catching up to us coming from the chasm in the Valley of Peace.” Ocellus be avoiding the question. “We’ll find out soon enough either way Shanty.”
“Not the result of a hologram, what is this?” Nicole muttered in our language as she prodded the wall’s front and side and then scrutinized the backside, wary of touching it.
I moved to look at the wall from an angle to see both the back and the side at the same time. I could see the side of the wall and my gaze slid to the space where the wall was supposed to exist, but wasn’t there. It was like the backside of the wall didn’t exist or was see through.
“Not see through, not technology based… what am I missing?" Nicole was being a bit too slow for my taste, I ran forward. "These are odd readings.”
“Why not be touching it?” I moved forward. “Like…”
“No, wait!” Nicole dove for me and my hoof made contact with where the back of the wall was supposed to be.
“This.” The wall came into focus and I blinked and noticed that my friends weren't around, also my surroundings were entirely different. “Where did everyone be… going?”
The clacking noises of multiple wolves brought up what looked like paw held miniature cannons to point them at me. That be a lot of yellow fur, I guess that be why Yellow Dog is being a thing… also several mechs like the one Colleen is piloting be flexing their claws.
One of the wolves be pointing at me and shouting something, I be picking up the gist of that quickly enough.
“I be in trouble!” I quickly turned and clambered up the wall and was chased by sparks of hundreds of energy bolts slamming into it behind me and following me upwards.
I tried to prop my right hoof on top of the wall only to realize the wall had no top, I fell forward and lost grip of my left hind hoof as I pivoted into the nothing and then slammed into something solid.
Soon I be finding myself flipping to land on my back in the snow.
“Oof?!” I looked up into the surprised face of Smolder.
“What the…?!” Smolder be leaping away from me. “Shanty, where did you come from… where did you go?”
“Where did you come from Doughnut N’ Joe~!” Ocellus sang cheerfully with a weak grin.
“Now’s not the time for jokes Ocellus, Shanty just disappeared and reappeared from out of nowhere!” Smolder grunted out angrily.
“I was just trying to lighten the mood...” Mumbled Ocellus while looking away as I rolled onto my hooves.
“Right there, something just caused a second… oh…” Nicole looked me over, the lights dimming on the upper outer corners of her eyes. “Are you okay?”
“I be thinking that I not be rushing into any more unknown things again anytime soon.” That was being close, very close.
I like being foolhardy, but I be needing a few days off from it.
“I think I’ve figured it out, this wall is a quantum entangled object. Touch the sides that’s not there and you appear at the location it is at.” Nicole intoned quietly, Colleen came over to crouch down and start sniffing me before asking Nicole something.
I be turning to Ocellus, as did Smolder, and began ignoring the other conversation. If it was important than Ocellus would be telling us.
“Quantum entangled, isn’t that like… really bad for physics?” Ocellus finally asked once Nicole was finished discussing something with Colleen. “You know, for a single object to be in two places at the same time?”
“Normally it would be, but that’s only if it’s a single completely whole object in two places at once, this is parts of the same object being in two different places… that being the wall. This could be caused by experimenting with magical teleportation technology, which Eginasem, Devotindos and Yellow Dog have been noted as having in thankfully limited quantities.” Nicole looked to me and tilted her head. “Again, you okay Shanty?”
“There be a lot of yellow furred dogs and wolves wherever I was and they be shooting at me with their weapons, but yes, I am being fine.” I quickly went over to Dodo. “Dodo, help me up, we be going now!”
-An hour later-
It be snowing and we were getting closer to the mines, we not be seeing any dogs, wolves or anyone. That not be making me feel any safer.
“I’m getting some interference from the area ahead.” Nicole said as she came walking back to us, she was unique enough that nobody could be possibly copying her appearance. Well maybe Ocellus, but she not wanting to be trying to transform into a cobbled together machine. “Also, you should see this…”
A minute later we came across another oddity, these mountains are being really quite strange.
“To think we thought the submarine being up here was odd.” Smolder walked forward out onto what looked almost like thin shimmering air In front of us.
What it really was, was a vast portion of the landscape was entirely see through… even the snow that be freshly landed on the ground became see through shortly afterwards. Everything was being ridiculously transparent throughout this area and a fair distance down.
Dodo be warbling warily as we moved forward over the transparent ground and be eyeing it suspiciously. The river of reflective red liquid looked neat, I can be seeing myself in it.
“The other side of this area should be where the mines are.” At least Ocellus hopefully be following the map, I not be a great navigator even if I’m being good at many other things. “Don’t honestly know if Pom can handle the kinds of madness going on in these mountains.”
As we be moving forward I be looking down into the cave systems that were visible below us through the transparent ground. I wouldn’t want to be in those transparent cave systems.
“Well if Pom was down there, we’d be able to see her.” Nicole stated calmly from next to me. “Though hearing about the destruction of the ark under the command of these canines… I can’t help but think that they might be messing with things they shouldn’t be.”
“Only ‘might’, it is actually pretty much confirmed at this point even if we don’t know the whole Generalissimo Lioness story that’s been mentioned to us multiple times!” With all the bizarre things we’ve been seeing Smolder, it might not all be only Yellow Dog’s doing. “I hope we can find Pom quickly, because all this weird stuff and nobody around… aside from whatever people Shanty saw on the other side of the quandary tangled wedgie thing… is actually freaking me out.”
It wasn’t long before we be finally finished passing over the transparent landscape and were on an upward incline that we finally met someone, well at least someone who wasn’t being an immediate threat to us.
“Halt, who goes there?!” The dog was holding one off those miniature cannons and aiming it at us from higher up the path. Dodo be narrowing his eyes, but he be waiting on us to make a move.
Colleen be moving to the front of the wagon and hopped out of her melee mech while raising her paws into the air.
-Colleen-
It seems Yellow Dog territory was far more messed up than usual, thankfully I knew this dog.
“Husker Exile?” I tried carefully. Husker Exile was a husky with ice blue and white fur, ice blue eyes and was pointing his weapon at me and away from Dodo. “It’s… it’s me… Colleen, been a while since I’ve been seen in the mountains, ocean or continent to the north connecting us to Eginasem. We heard that Yellow Dog has fallen into factions, which one are you currently a part of if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I do mind, but I wonder… what faction are ‘YOU’ with? If you went to the pigs, then we’ll have a lot to talk about as they aren’t very welcome around here.” Exile didn’t lower the gun, but I wasn’t afraid of him. He wouldn’t shoot me with that rifle unless I gave him a reason to. “So are you angling to be a rocket knight and did you just come through Transparent Turn?”
“Oh no, I just happen to luck upon this rocket pack on my back, its decent equipment. As for Transparent Turn… is that what you called that weird area where the ground is all weirdly see through? What is happening up here Exile?!” It didn’t help my nerves that he didn’t ease up on his curious gaze at the weight of the cylinder pressing into my back, he growled at me a bit and I stayed my ground and kept looking him in the eyes. “I’ve been through a lot, but I went for mercenary work and I’m currently with Zebulos working with one of their courier teams.”
“Which team? We have a lot more information on what’s going on in the south than people possibly do with what’s going on up here.” Exile rolled his eyes and snorted loudly. “Even Wulfgar has his people watching those darn lizards in the south, though why he bothers when they are not likely to attack up this way at all I’ll never know. Lizards don’t fight well in the cold. Any approach without machine assistance wouldn’t make it up this far. Anything with machine assistance, we’re prepared for.”
“The White Knight Couriers unit.” After I said that, Exile lowered his weapon. I think Exile might be with Cooler’s faction, which should be nice for us at least.
“The unit that escaped Axel Gear and gave him a metaphorical black eye? Hah, I think you might actually be somewhat welcome around here for that, but you have to introduce me to everyone that came up here with you.” Exile stalked down towards me. “I’d like to also know why you are back here in the Yellow Dog. I sadly thought you might have perished under those stupidly harsh conditions Colleen and if you had managed to survive, that you would never want to come back.”
“We’re on a mission to trade for supplies, barring that… do some mining for them personally.” I motioned the wagon forward and Dodo came up to my side, he was eyeing Exile with cheerful curiosity. “To start with this is Dodo, our… oddball land strider friend. Oh right... I can’t introduce you to everyone.”
“Why not?” Exile considered Dodo as he warbled in a halfway friendly tone and kept looking down the mountainside for something, maybe Pom.
“We lost one of our people in a nightly wolf raid. We have no clue what happened to them, but it’s a general consensus that they are alive out here.” I knew Pom was quite a tough being, also quite adorable and sweet. “There’s something quite special about that particular one, but you’d have to see her to believe it. Guys, this is Husker Exile, he wants to know who you are. He goes by Exile. My mech was something we fixed up from the raid on us.”
“Why are you traveling around with a lizard, a frog and a pig?” Exile asked as they started piling out of the wagon, his curiosity went even farther with Shanty, Ocellus and Smolder. “You’ve been living in weird times haven’t you? I don’t exactly trust the pig, the lizard gets a pass because he doesn’t look like much and the rest is just odd.”
“Oh trust me, that feeling is always mutual with Bruno... still handed me his sword when Axel came after us. Felt like a rocket knight for a short while when I traded blows with Axel." I rubbed at the armor over my stitched wounds slightly. "Axel damn near killed me when we fought.”
“What’s up with the other machine…?” Exile asked while pointing his gun at Nicole Beta. “And can I shoot it?”
“My name is Nicole Beta, I believe that I have information that might be of interest. I wish to negotiate a trade for the White Knight Couriers if we can be amiable to an agreement.” Nicole tried to sound as unthreatening as possible.
After a minute of silent staring into Nicole’s eyes coldly, Exile stopped aiming his gun at her.
“Fine, come in to the checkpoint ahead.” Exile shook his head and started back up the mountain path. “I’ll be watching your machines carefully Colly.”