//------------------------------// // 298. Cross-Dimensional Phone Calls. // Story: Baa-Ram-Ewe! // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Equus, Abyssinia, Palicoast, Jaded La Perm- “So…” I started to wonder if Tianhuo was going to be alright after I asked a rather unusual question. I had many friends, stallions, mares, my new brother Gallus, his friends I helped kidnap to go on vacation to the beaches in Abyssinia which were nice this time of year and among my friends one was functionally one of the most competent guards I’ve ever run across in my life. Tianhuo was not the perfect guard, since no one could be out and out perfect, but she was flexible on being friends with me as long as I was not performing anything she considers illegal in front of her. She knows I do illegal things, like just about everyone does, but it’s catching me doing them with evidence to support a conviction that is ridiculously hard to do. Finally, Tianhuo responded with a sigh as she looked to me. She got along so well with Fizzy ‘The Tempest Queen’ Berrytwist La Perm and I wondered how well she’d get along with me when I wasn’t being an active roguish jerk. I gave her a wide eyed, lip quivering, cute kitty assault with my clawed hand clasped together. “Fine, I will join you in your therapy sessions.” Nice to have you on board Tianhuo! “If only to help you stop from being a nuisance to everyone.” “Why would you ever make me stop being a nuisance? I’m close to being the world’s best security consultant, being annoying is a part of the job!” I knew Anubis was going to be quite angry with me when I bring Twilight into the next session after putting a small wedge of cheese and a tortilla over her horn. Some extra distractions couldn’t hurt with Anubis the god of Death and Psychological Health, the jackal was very much friendly with his pastime with talking people into living longer. Nicest god I know, next to Sekhet anyway, when he wasn’t running around with a nightmare parasite. “Besides… I know what it’s like watching someone be in danger and not being able to do anything about it.” Considering I had to watch Fizzle lose her horn when she was filly… while I was basically wandering around as what was basically a disembodied ghost for thousands of years. I’m just glad Fizzy went the angry villain route instead of the sadder route. -Airship Mauled, Paprika- “So how’s the pregnancy going Paprika?” It was Oleander calling me on a crystal ball, it was so nice to hear from one of my friends that probably needs a hug because they can’t find Pom. “Meep.” I answered. “Yes, I miss you too, though I think Fred might still be a bit wary of you. How goes the inability to get near your wives?” That was the sad part about all of this, I couldn’t touch them until I had my child. “Meep!” So much to say and so little time. “Well the socioeconomics of it alone seem fairly okay from a standpoint. Though I think it would destabilize things further so I would say no, that’s not a good idea Paprika.” I considered Oleander’s words carefully and nodded. “Do not try to help the world economic problems and let them stabilize on their own. I think general madcap antics will just make things far worse, also please remember Jaded La Perm rule three in the ‘Jaded’s so bad at math that we’ll all die if it was required from her for any reason whatsoever’ pamphlet.” “Meep?” I questioned. “I’m sure you’ll do fine as a mother Paprika, you could always talk to yours. Your biology only stops you from approaching your loves, it doesn’t stop you from approaching the rest of your family. They can even come to you to help out.” Oh, that’s an idea, I could talk to mommy and daddy she could help me with having a cria given she’s done it so many times! “I’d run it by Doctor Bones first before attempting any traveling, also don’t some alpacas live in Airship Mauled. I’m sure they or Ratatoskr would be able to get into contact with your nomadic tribe Paprika.” “Meep!!” I stated jovially. “Nice talking to you too… now if you’ll excuse me… DIE PIZZA MONSTERS!” Turning around Oleander blasted a monster made of bread and cheese that was slowly encroaching upon her with dark magic from her horn. Her friend Buttina, in a large bipedal machine, was slowly being overwhelmed by giant pizza slice faced monsters and blasts noises were happening every other second. “I know you belong here in Dimension X, but I’m taking you out of this world!” “These guys are worse than the xenomorphs Oleander, there’s cheese everywhere and it’s clogging my ride armors servos!” Oleander’s friend Buttina screeched. “I’d actually prefer the molecular acid to this!” That’s when Fred grabbed the crystal ball and the call ended. My friends were always so busy doing fun things. I knew it would take a long time, but I didn’t know it would be so hard to take care of a life inside me and carry it for so long. I gently wrapped my belly in a hug, I wasn’t able to do fun things, but soon I would be doing the most fun thing of all… raising my cria. Now I needed to write to my mother, father and maybe my brother the snow cone king. Maybe they can help with Velvet? She’s been getting rather cranky that Arizona won’t fight her because of her condition and Arizona is upset that she can’t give Velvet the kind of exercise she actually wants. Arizona doesn’t mind being abused violently, but she was understandably quite afraid to give as good as she was currently getting. At least Tinsel has been a big help, he was a very good ice sprite. Even if he was focusing more on Velvet than me, he still made and set aside time for me. Once I get my cria out of my belly, I’m a hugging machine again! Oh… wait… maybe I should have told Oleander that we know where Pom actually is? Ah well, I’m sure she’ll hear about it eventually and will join the Tambelon Mission once Pom is finished with the stuff she’s currently doing. -Ransei Region, Violight Capital, Violight Castle, Castle Dungeons, Jail Cell, Pom- At least they let me keep the Arceus device to contact Tianhuo with and our Digi-vice’s. They didn’t know what the devices did, but the Pokémon guards of our cells decided they weren’t weapons or armor. Not to mention my travel bag or satchel was also left to me after they searched it. “I’m kind of upset that they put Lit in a jar… it would have been quite cruel to do to the little guy if there weren’t holes in the lid.” Dolly had made her opinion on this situation known quite loudly multiple times and verbally. Despite the time disparity caused by the digital world, the communication device Arceus gave me basically had charged only the same amount as the time we’ve been missing. As could be expected from the amount of 'real' time involved. I think our Digi-vice had more charge for calling Dolly's home than Arceus's device did, then again this device didn’t have an interconnected world to use to make the energy cost far less than the crossing of dimensions it took for me to speak to Tianhuo. “You can call them you know… I’m sure we’ll get out of this situation if we just be calm and reasonable and talking to some of your family members might calm you down.” What I was more worried about is the fact that Skull Chaosdramon X might breach into this world far easier than he would into the digital one. It was a possibility, but I think it would be easier to fight Skull Chaosdramon X in a place of weight and a lack of energy the Digimon needed to be at their full capacity where they would be stuck moving around on the ground. “Frizzle and Sami have been rather quiet.” “I think the they realize and acknowledge that the situation is a bit tense and are likely not adding to the possible trouble their presences might cause.” Sideline was at least put in the same cell as Calumon, having been the only other one to take the paralyzing electrical attack well aside form Lit. He calmly let it happen as there was no way he could fight off every single Pokémon guard in this castle by himself. “My support abilities are going to be heavily limited in this world, they are most effective on machinery and digital entities which this world seems to lack in significant amounts. My full dog transformation, aside from an increased tracking ability, is slightly better in physical combat prowess but it denies me most of my Digi-bot forms support capabilities. I am sorry to say that I am not going to be of much use here, my abilities are all based in the parts that I’m equipped with. If we can resolve this situation peacefully without hurting anyone, then I will remain calm as I am able ma’am.” “This place doesn’t seem very nice.” Calumon whined from the cell Sideline was in. “I think Calumon is referring to the fact that they have your friend Dazzle currently muzzled.” That was somewhat understandable Sideline, they probably don’t want her spewing poison around even if she wasn’t going to do anything. To be fair Dazzle had told us that Salandits and Salazzles were feared and we’re seeing some of that fear openly here if they’ve muzzled her. I couldn’t exactly see how they muzzled her from this cell, but Sideline had no reason to lie. “At least they don’t seem as worried about your friend Canard.” “Yeah, I’m okay… mostly.” Canard muttered. “At least the air here is fresh and real, though I could do without all this static energy in my feathers. Also I could use some clothes. Any ideas?” “None at present Canard.” Though we would be best at talking our way of this situation… barring that I could squeeze my way out of the cell and we could fight our way out, but that would mean we wouldn’t be welcome in Violight ever again and we might need to come back here. Also there’s the fact that they had paralyzed us so easily making escape a problem. “I’m hopeful things will work themselves out, because otherwise we’re stuck in here.” I hoped they would at least feed us, aside from that I was just going to sit here waiting for my device to be ready to call Tianhuo about this slight setback and several other things. Right now though… Dolly could still call her family, well the rest of her family that wasn’t already present. “Going to call your family? I mean, we have little else to do at the moment. So might as well talk to someone right?” I was glad for that pizza from the last digital realm night currently sitting heavy in our stomachs, not to mention the light breakfast we had before setting out. Dolly took a deep breath and then exhaled before putting on a weak smile. “Yeah, okay, might as get my one call right? Maybe get my family working on getting us connected to Canard’s friends at least.” Yeah, Dolly hadn’t taken getting shocked into immobility very well, also they considered her skateboard and helmet armor and weapons. Dolly pulled the Digi-vice from under the Pecha scarf the guards allowed her keep. “Uh… call Dalmatian family?” “Calling family, connecting… please wait a minute or two for cross dimensional communications to occur.” Yggdrasil.sys apparently had multiple copies of herself, one in each Digi-vice at least considering the one in the digital realm said we’d be cut off from her. -The world where dreams ‘can’ come true, Camden Town, 101 Dalmatian home, Deepak- “Meow-wow-wow-wow….” All was peaceful, all was… some loud ringing disturbed my peace and I flopped off the couch and onto my face and looked at the tablet. Perhaps it was Bentley calling Dawkins to discuss technology again? Who else would be calling us? We do not have many contacts aside from ones with several hero teams and the Mcduck Family, Rufus of Team Possible did sometimes call to discuss meditation techniques with me given he has incredible control over his incredible mystical monkey powers. I quickly padded over to the slab of technology and answered the call, much to my surprise it was my prodigal elder sister that has left on her journey on the other side of the portal that was the screen and I can see some… bars behind her? “Dolly, it is quite nice to hear from you, have you come back from your journeys?” I asked calmly, though the sight of bars was significantly worrying, my sister was clever and attentive to her surroundings. “Deepak… so it worked? I’m calling from an alternate reality, how cool is that! Anyway as you can kind of see things have gone a little… bad… recently, also I learned that I could make interdimensional calls on the device Domarch…” My sister suddenly became very quiet and disturbed, it still tears at her what happened to the youngest accepted member our family has had to date, besides Dorothy who was happy and healthy even if she misses Dolly greatly. “Left… behind…” Why the Caper Canine plush toy was Dorothy’s knew favorite toy given the immense resemblance to Dolly, quite a few of our siblings had one thanks to Hunter Dalmatian’s contributions to our family. “Hey Deepak, Dolly could use some calming down and I wanted her to talk to you guys. We kind of need your help with something.” It was nice to see Pom too, even if her face looked like a slightly smashed grape, something we dogs have to avoid due to the lethality of the fruit to us, and she had obviously taken a rather nasty injury lately leaving it severely bruised. “I will help in whatever capacity that I am able, although I am not exactly the greatest dog when it comes to technology. Also I do not believe I have the capacity to transfer across dimensions so my form of help is most likely to be spiritual.” I knew Technology was brother Dawkin’s thing. Innovation and sights always set on the future, but never missing living in the present given the rest of us are making sure he doesn’t. “If there anything I can do to help you, then I will do it if it’s within my capabilities. Maybe some meditative chanting or a chance to talk to anyone in our family?” “Yeah, there is something you can do to help, but it’s nothing urgent at the moment. We’re kind of in a prison cell in an alternate dimension in a country full of electric creatures that zapped us and then threw us in here after a rather relatively easy escape from a strange reality connected to this one. I really doubt there’s much you can do on your side of things. We’re not going anywhere fast.” Dolly seemed to want to move forward regardless of her feelings being a bit on the lower side of things, she still kept her optimistic personality that things will work out. That was nice to see despite the pain she was holding onto in her chest. “I just wanted to do some talking and get my mind off the situation we’re currently in, I’ve seen a lot of weird stuff since leaving our world. Anything you want to ask about Deepak?” “Are their meditative practices in other worlds as well?” I was moderately curious, given my sister is calling from another place and time. “Sure thing, but you know me, I’m not exactly really going to ask around about that kind of stuff.” It seems my sister was the same as always, but she could meditate as well as I did if she put her mind to actually doing it. “Just need to pass some time… say are you still in contact with that gang of thieves? We need to contact that hockey team of vigilantes, the ones with the uh…” “Hockey as a religion thing Dolly, Canard basically lives and breathes it. Deepak we need you guys to get into contact with the ‘Mighty Ducks team of Anaheim’. As Dolly said, it’s not immediately urgent, but we need you to tell them we’ve found their lost friend ‘Canard Thunderbeak’. I’m sure they’ll have some varied reactions to that, also tell them that Wildwing will still be team captain if he can make it back through whatever hoops we’ll likely be jumping through. They’ll certainly want to hear where he’s been.” Pom answered because Dolly tended to forget some things she considers unimportant at times. “Aside from that I’ll let Dolly continue to talk with you, she kind of needs a bit of a pick me up talk with family, outside of me I mean. Nice to hear from you Deepak.” “Nice to hear from you too Pom.” I said with a jovial manner, it swelled my metaphorical heart to know and hear that Pom was taking care of my sister as much as Dolly was taking care of her. “Pom-wha-the.. gah… don’t tell him that!” Snorting at Dolly getting embarrassed, I started giggling. “I have all the time in the world for my sister at present. I can also get some others in on this call if they are not too busy as needed or requested.” If I were a betting dog, I would even say Dolly would want to talk to Dylan to harass him into having fun. Dylan has been recently training extensively for the space program, he still wanted to be the first dog on mars and the McDuck Clan were willing to make that happen for him. “Everyone has been doing fine Dolly, do you want to talk about how things are going for you?” “Fine, let me tell you how we ended up in these jail cells…” Dolly rolled her eyes, but I could tell she was happy to hear my calming voice. “Well it started when we first came into this world, apparently Pom and her friends have a thing about ending up in valleys a lot…” -Elsewhere in Ransei, ???, Skull Chaosdramon X- With a roar the monster flopped into a mass of snow having breached into Ransei and started slowly stomping forward on its legs to hunt for its target, the lack of digital world energy making it slower. It looked towards the sky in the direction of the moon, where on the far side of it the Moon Cell commanded it to continue the hunt. It didn’t know which direction to go in, but any sign of civilization was its focus now. -Violight Castle, a few hours or so later, Jail Cell, Pom- “So we escaped that realm and ended back up here in Ransei, yeah I certainly feel better getting that off my ches… whoa.” Dolly finally noticed that her brothers and sisters were listening to her with rapt attention. “I still got it huh?” “That you do Dolly!” Deedee said happy to see her older sister. “Yeah, except this story is much better because it is all real!” Dizzy echoing her sentiments. “We don’t mind you exaggerating stuff Dolly, but in this case the actual truth is quite farfetched and really hard to believe… if it weren’t for our ancestor’s friend being a zombie chicken and you have several people with you that can confirm the story.” Dawkins motioned to Spot who was relaxing off to the side with several of the puppies. “You have an electric tick and you’ve been letting it live on you?!” Yeah that seemed like the thing Dylan would get hung up on entirely, even I was a little iffy about Lit being a large tick at first. “Hey it’s an alien tick and Lit is a really cool little guy… who’s currently been trapped in a jar for a while now.” We heard loud squeaking of sadness in the distance. “Poor guy… so did you guys write that information you needed to deliver to the Mighty Clucks guys.” “Its ‘ducks’ Dolly… also yes I’ve written it down. We’ll take care of it and see if we can relay you to them the next time you call. The tablet is about out of power so you might want to end your call now.” Dylan had all the puppies around him whining about that. “Don’t worry guys I’m sure Dolly, Pom and their friends will be fine, I mean they’ve made it this far together right?” “Bye guys, I’ll try to call again when my situation is a bit better than being stuck in a prison cell. I’m sure we’ll get out of this soon enough one way or another.” Dolly was a lot more chipper as she listened to the sound of ninety plus puppies saying bye to her. She then turns to me as she attaches the device back to her the band on her neck. “So… going to call Tianhuo?” “Yeah, it’s about time for me to do so anyway.” If there was one thing that could make me calmer, it was talking to Tianhuo. “Just a few more minutes to wait.” -At this time, throne room, Ginchiyo- “Approach.” One Eelektross floated forward, the two limbed eel bowed his head to me and waited for my go ahead. “So… what do you have to report of the strangers that have appeared in the castle?” “We have several reasons to believe that they did not get past the guards and our defenses in question were never breached Queen Ginchiyo. It seems they came from elsewhere through a portal of unknown make, not related to any Pokémon could be capable of making. As such it is safe to say we are not under threat of invasion by Ultra Beasts.” That was a comforting bit of news to received, but I would not let up my gaze just yet. “Among their things we found only a few things that could be seen as weapons or armor. If you wish to bring in someone to interrogate the Joltik, then might I suggest the psychic Raichu we have on retainer. Otherwise a number of them appear to be outsiders and one of them was carrying a rescue Team Badge.” “Any signs that the rescue team badge was stolen?” Though why someone would bother with stealing one was on my mind. “No Queen Ginchiyo, it does not appear to be stolen. The scents on it point to the wooloo like outsider being the holder with no other strong scents other than those who have been around her.” Well my guard just gave me a point in the favor of letting them go, but they still arrived in a curious fashion within the center of my domain. “The badge itself seems to belong to her.” “Have any mystery dungeons appeared nearby?” It would be terrifying if natural disasters started occurring in Ransei, I had to be sure of this bit of information. “I have sent out scouts to check, but it doesn’t seem to be the case Queen Ginchiyo.” That was one less problem and stress off my mind, but it seems the Eelektross wasn’t done reporting. “Now as to about the Salazzle’s presence, a Salandit was seen in the presence of the wooloo outsider earlier this very day in Voltsburg. It has apparently since evolved, its unnatural size notwithstanding among the many oddities our prisoners present… the Salazzle might be a royal and a ‘Noble’, but not strictly a part of Viperia.” “There was some news of a runaway princess heading for Ignis, she has apparently found asylum and friendship. If this is her then I may wish to speak with her eventually… very well remove her muzzle, but warn her of taking any rash actions before doing so. As for the Joltik have our Psychich Raichu come in and carefully find out what has occurred from as much as the Joltik can remember without harming him, I can easily recognize one of the citizenry that so feeds off our lovely lightning towers.” I turned to the other Eelektross that was acting as a personal guard for me in case an assassination attempt was oncoming. Now it seemed that the intruders were only here by happenstance or for otherwise benign reasons, at least it would appear that way. I still had some room for doubt. “You, follow me, I wish to speak to the prisoners personally.” I got up from the throne and started making way towards the dungeons. Either they were innocent of any ill intent or they were very good about hiding a vile plot. I was beginning to believe it to be the former if a Rescue Team was here in Ransei and not for the constant disasters in other parts of the world with the labyrinthine mazes of the mystery dungeons. I’ve been in two, one was part of my ascension rite to the throne where I had to battle the thunder beast Raikou. -Jail Cell, Pom- I looked at the floating metal spheres with magnets, dull eyes and screws sticking out of them. They were interesting and didn’t seem to be focusing on much, they were definitely Pokémon and a little weird biologically speaking. They probably wouldn’t do anything to us as long as we stayed in our cells, rarely saw them move or do more than blink, the blinking pupil thing was a bit disturbing though. Now I had to call Tianhuo and I would only have ten minutes to tell her how my time disparity days have been. “Okay…” I called Tianhuo and she immediately picked up. “Pom?” Tianhuo said with a smile that turned into a frown when she saw my face, she was apparently on a beach? “Are you alright?!” “I’m fine, the swelling is going to take a while to go down.” Her concern for me always left a warm fuzzy feeling in my chest. “No permanent injuries so far Tianhuo. Also I’m in a jail cell right now because some things happened.” “I can tell.” Tianhuo said while staring at me with a continued hint of concern. “Instead of talking about that, have you ever been concerned that I don’t have a formal schooling diploma.” The boggled looked I that that was my current concern and not being stuck in a jail cell awaiting judgment for appearing in the middle of a castle unannounced like we did was a bit silly. She seemed to be quite ready to talk on the subject of choice. “It’s never exactly come up in Huoshan that I haven’t been to a school since I was a little ewe.” “I haven’t necessarily been concerned personally, for you are a very bright individual and have learned every lesson with high marks when it comes to guard training.” Okay yes, there didn’t seem to be any issues then Tianhuo, but I’m surprised nobody questioned my lack of ‘professional’ schooling. Not that lambkin schooling was professional, but we did have the books required for advanced learning. “That you are allowed to teach guards how to work with canines in the HCD should tell you that it is not much of a concern in Huoshan and you are a trusted member of the community, as long as you can show you that have an education of some kind or a greater knowledge of a subject then it is a moot point to have a piece of paper telling you that you are smart. Though getting a formal diploma would be a personal goal to seek after you have returned to Equus. What is your current situation and how did you become imprisoned.” “Long story short, I ended up in a realm that is connected to this one. It has some time disparity issues and we came out about three hours after going in and spending days in there. Unfortunately our exit point was not the same as our entry point.” Which leads to our current situation with being imprisoned, I’m actually quite understanding about being in a jail cell really. “We came out in the middle of one of Ransei’s castles and the guards had an insanely impressive reaction time, since while we were still getting our bearings they paralyzed us with electrical energy immediately, surrounded by at least twenty guards and well… here we are. That and the queen was where we appeared, so they definitely had the right to detain us considering the fact that we could have been hostile forces. My face isn’t a result of them taking us down, they were surprisingly gentle in that regard.” “Were we to have those guards in Huoshan, then we would likely never have to worry about Jaded stealing anything again.” Tianhuo got me giggling quite a bit, despite how much it hurt to laugh at the moment. “Heh, no, I think Jaded would still try and find a way… she would even wear a rubber suit if she had to. It would certainly absorb the shock waves that stunned us.” I could see a gentle smile on Tianhuo’s face and sighed. “I can tell that things are going to get worse before they get better, but at least I’ll take this as a decent break.” “I too feel stressed, do not believe that I don’t when it comes to your safety. Which is why I am on a beach with friends who can ease my worries, but the worries are still there knowing you are not where I can be by your side to face the troubles ahead of you.” Tianhuo was of course talking about the fact that Arceus probably wants me to do something huge. “We are as prepared as we can be on our end knowing what’s coming, what else would you like to talk about?” The small talk afterwards was the most relaxing part about all of this. I said my goodbye to Tianhuo and the call disconnected after we declared that we loved each other openly, I heard a throat clearing behind me. “Who would that have been I wonder?” The large quadrupedal lynx like cat with black and blue fur with accents of yellow throughout beyond the bars was sitting patiently. Ginchiyo had quite a stern look on her face as her body sparked with lightning energy. She looked like she could stare right through me with her red ringed yellow eyes. “My wife, of whom I love dearly and only get ten minutes of time to talk to a day.” I answered flatly with a snort. “I thank you for not interrupting our conversation as we have much to say and so little time to say it in.” After a moment Ginchiyo blinked, then looked ready to carry on as if what I said hadn’t caused her to pause for a second. “Then you’re welcome to keep your devices as long as they do not interrupt the security of my realm, it seems to have a tint of the divine of a legendary to it and aside from it, the Rescue Team Badge speaks greatly of your character.” That was nice to know Ginchiyo, but where were you going with it when it comes to releasing us? “However, I wish know how you came to be here and I will have one of mine corroborate your story via psychic powers, I do not wish to be deceived by good impressions. To that end we will interrogate the Joltik, I wish to get a picture of a possible threat to my kingdom if there is one to be found. You will be held here for a few days, but you will not be treated poorly, I swear this on my honor as queen of this kingdom. Now… what was your purpose here Salazzle, what did you and your comrades come to my kingdom for originally? None of your comrades will speak up on this matter, I want to hear it… from you.” “I was just traveling with my friends and wish to return to simply Aurora after we were done making sure nothing horrible was happening here.” Dazzle answered, they had recently removed her muzzle. “Trouble has been sprouting up in Ignis, Aurora, Greenleaf and Fontaine. Greenleaf has had recent internal issues, but apparently they resolved that on their own. Aurora has been plagued by Riolu and Lucario banditry, but that has been stopped due to the efforts of many of the normal types. Ignis is in the middle of a volatile civil war that threatens to spill over into other territories. Fontaine recently had a monstrous vampiric creature draining people of their blood and torturing them, they even had dynamic maximizing capability while controlling the minds of many of Fontaine’s soldiers.” “Hm… so you are not a lover of Viperia I take it, understandable though curious that you grew so large. Would all of you be more comfortable in a single cell together?” After asking that we all had an obvious answer to Ginchiyo’s query. “Yes!” We all said at the same time, even Dolly matched the sentiment with her emotions. “Very well, guards, blankets and pillows for our guests and let them share this cell, except for the Joltik. Keep him seperated from them. They are not as of yet esteemed as far as guests go, but I am a little less concerned about their presence in my kingdom and more concerned about something happening in my kingdom altogether… if, they are telling the truth. Make sure that they get fed.” With that Ginchiyo turned about and walked off. “I will have several envoys confirm those happenings you speak of and will personally see if your story corroborates with the Joltiks. The bad happenings occurring in various kingdoms seems to be of an epidemic quality, which is of great concern to us as well given that we have not heard of such issues happening down south. Quite concerning indeed... I'm only being more lenient because you did not choose to be here, but you still trespassed upon my castle intentionally or not.” Ginchiyo stalked away from us looking thoughtful.