Adventure: Excitement
Sunset decided the best way to go as far as making a ruckus was to make her way to the Sky Dock, as that would give her a good look at everything that was going on so she could address it. The problem there was that the Sky Dock stuck out the edge of the Fortress, since it was where young Cloudrunners learned to fly. The only way in from within the Fortress was in plain sight of anyone walking along the Dock...so if she was to approach unnoticed, she would need to crawl along the underside of the Dock before going along the edge, peeking up over the edge whenever she could risk it.
Moving quickly but carefully, Sunset made her way there before gripping the edge of the platform extending out from the Fortress, only empty sky below her until the edge of the mystic shield that contained the atmosphere that protected the Fortress. Huh, she thought curiously as she looked that over. The Krazoa must have designed these portions to separate like this if the Spellstones were removed. They really did plan ahead. Guess that's why Gatekeepers are needed to get in and out of these sectors when the planet separates.
Turning her gaze away from contemplating ancient magitek, she peeked over the edge of the platform. Seeing a Sharpclaw pursuing an infant Cloudrunner that was just barely keeping itself aloft, Sunset grabbed the Sharpclaw's tail as it turned away from the edge, yanking back hard and sending it falling away with a despairing scream.
"Shut up, Wilhelm!" another Sharpclaw snarled before turning back into the Fortress.
Glancing down, Sunset watched as Wilhelm fell to the edge of the atmosphere...only to burst apart as he left the boundary and went from one atmosphere to zero instantly and all the air in his body tried to escape all at once. Swallowing convulsively, Sunset thanked her lucky stars that it was far enough away she did not see details, and prayed she would never be close enough to examine the phenomena in detail.
The young Cloudrunner landed happily, making happy cheeps Sunset's way. Sunset quickly gestured for it to stay put, and it did so. Moving around the platform, she found three other young Cloudrunners being similarly tormented by Sharpclaws who sought their capture. Those that moved close enough to the edge of the platform, she calmly jerked off the platform to let them fall, not looking down to see what happened to them when they reached the edge of the area. Two of them were being tormented in areas without such drops, however, and Sunset was forced to improvise.
The first one was in the central area she'd been in when General Scales had captured her Dad, being pursued by two Sharpclaws. While there was nothing she could use to finish them off quickly, their position did allow for a way to get the kid to safety. Ducking behind some rubble, she charged a fireball between her hands, focusing it until it was nearly solid. Waiting for her shot, she arced it around so it struck one of the Shapclaws where his tail met his back, sending him leaping forward from pain and kinetic impact. He slammed into his compatriot, knocking them both off the platform and to the level below. With a few quick gestures, she sent the young Cloudrunner to join his brothers on the outer platform.
The next one was on an upper level of the entrance area of the Fortress, being tormented by three Sharpclaws who sought to capture it. Rather than confront the Sharpclaws directly, she made her way to the top of the domed entrance above the area they were struggling in, and drew the youngster to her by imitating the voice of a Cloudrunner, making the sounds to call a youngster.
Once she had all four young Cloudrunners gathered, she looked them over. Despite them all being smaller than Tricky, she could see that they were siblings and aware enough to think critically, even if their vocal chords weren't developed enough yet for the Dinosaur Language. That meant she could talk to them, even if they couldn't talk back. She sat back to figure out what to do next...and sat up in shock as slipping into her magic revealed Gatekeeper energies in all four of them. "You're the Queen's kids," she breathed in shock. "Do you know where your Mom is?"
All four pointed one wing towards a central area...one that had only one path to it that wasn't by flying, and where all walls were in plain sight of patrolling Sharpclaws.
Sunset frowned, biting her lip as she looked it over. "Not sure how I'm going to get there..."
The four youngsters hopped up onto her. One gripped each of her arms, and one gripped each of her legs. All four began flapping frantically, carefully lifting her off the ground.
Sunset's eyes widened in shock. "Okay...did not see this coming!" As a wide grin crossed her face, she focused her magic to levitate herself. Not enough to illuminate her whole body and draw attention, but enough to lessen her weight so the four youngsters could carry her to the Royal Quarters, where she saw the Queen's perch had been transformed into a cage.
The Queen smiled broadly as she caught sight of Sunset. "You have done me a great favor, young Sunset," she greeted warmly as her children took perches around the cage. "But where is your father? Is he not with you?"
"Last I checked, he was in the prison as bait for a trap for me," Sunset pointed out thoughtfully. "Though I'm sure he's broken free by now. He's clever, too." Focusing her magic, she pulled the pillar beneath the perch/cage down, collapsing the floor and letting the Queen fly free.
"I fear he may be in danger, then," the Queen observed worriedly, tilting her head as the youngsters cheeped at her. "Massive explosions rocked the prison very recently, and one of my children saw a Sharpclaw leaving there heading for the Wind Lifts. I fear he may be up to mischief." She then blinked against a blaze of light as Sunset vanished. "...I did not know she could teleport..."
Fox moved carefully along, the holographic disguise Slippy had sent him making him look like a rather short Sharpclaw. He'd managed to get out of the prison with a few well placed explosive fuel barrels, and had managed to figure out how to get to the Wind Lift controls and found the keys needed to reactivate it. He now moved to do so warily. After all, once he did the Sharpclaws would know that he had escaped and would be hunting him actively, and without Krystal's staff he had no way to protect himself. He just hoped he found Sunset before too much longer- "WAAGH!"
His thoughts were interrupted as something slipped between his legs out of nowhere, sending him tumbling before feeling a hard strike right to the small of his back that sent him flying, slamming into the wall with his arms pinned as he felt the point of a staff at the back of his head, the crystal digging in. "You have ten seconds to tell me what happened to the prisoner before I send enough lightning through this staff to leave you a vegetable," Sunset growled angrily.
Chuckling, Fox managed to disengage the disguise. "Those hand-to-hand lessons did you good, Sunset," he managed to croak out. "I should have paid attention to them."
Sunset gasped in shock. "Dad!" she cried out before throwing herself at him and pulling him into a crushing embrace.
"Gack!" Fox gasped out. "Sunset, that's where you just kicked me!"
"Sorry!" Sunset squeaked out, though she didn't let go.
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BWHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA! GENIUS TATS!!!
Awesome way to fly!
Dawwwww! and poor Fox, sunset is brutally effective when she wants to be.
Ah the classic scream. Great reference and now father and daughter are reunited.
Short and simple, but sometimes those are the best chapters. And now that family has reunited, the Fortress is about to get rather lively!
8692499
And still looks adorable while performing in proper form
Fox must've gotten a kick from being able to meet up with Sunset so quickly.
Don't sell that disguise short yet Fox as it also fooled your own daughter quite well.
Even if they could speak I doubt those 4kids could dub themselves clearly.
Oh Sharpclaw Wilhelm, we hardly knew ye.
8692564
Yet he makes sure he is remembered
Great call-out to a classic trope!
8692545
Ouch, I don’t think that there is enough ointment in the World for that burn.
Can't blame her for not wanting to watch the second one, sounds like a nasty messy way to go.
8692668
Indeed, getting Spaced is never pretty, though it is Highly effective and unlike other executions it doesn't leave bloodstains on the floors/walls and the body is already disposed of.
On a less morbid topic, the scene with the four kids carrying Sunset reminded me of the bit in Dark Souls where you get carried to Anor Londo for the first time. I know Tats has said in the past that he has no interest in Dark Souls, so I know it was unintentional, but the feel is still there.
Yay, reunion!
8692564
He'll live on... in stock audio.
Gonna have to admit it, I love a good reference to that classic sound effect.
Poor Wilhelm....
8692828
Survival in Space Unprotected Is Possible--Briefly (But don't linger in the interstellar vacuum, or hold your breath)
Still not pretty, especially if you don't have a fancy suit designed to protect and insulate you. The thing with vacuum chambers, is that they take time to depressurize and remove the volume of air, meaning you have a time buffer to fight with before you hit a point of no return and our bodies are adaptive enough to adverse conditions where that time is enough to give us a chance, especially if we have help and training to deal with the situation.
Getting "Spaced" is instant or near instant, explosive, and violent. There is no slow depressurization, you either just shove someone into an airlock, seal the inner door and blow the whole contents of the airlock into space, atmosphere and all, or in the case of what Sunset did, shove them over whatever barrier is in place to keep the atmosphere in. Either way, the victim is going from +/- 14.5 PSI atmospheric conditions to 0 PSI in seconds rather than minutes in the former case, and effectively instantly in the latter.
The effect of this rapid decompression is much more pronounced than a gradual decompression, and while it may not be enough to explode a human unless they were previously in an atmosphere with much greater than a normal atmospheric pressure, if the body is recovered you're still holding a closed casket service.
Also, the Sharpclaws aren't human, so what's to say that there isn't something about their anatomy we are unaware of that makes them more susceptible to the effects of rapid decompression?
Sunset, daddy's little ass-kicker.
8693019
8692960
also
magic loves dramatic flair
you cross the atmo barrier around the Cloudrunner Fortress,
the atmo barrier has no qualms adding a little 'oomph' to your depressurization.
older magic has more personality, and krazoa magic be celestia++ old.
8693785
This is true, and overall much more possible than some biological reason I'd think. Hadn't thought of that.
This read like a Splinter Cell mission. Pretty awesome.
Fox, don't you think you are a little short to be a stormtrooper?
Erm.... People don't explode like that. Decently sure living beings in general....
FUCK!!!!! I'M CAUGHT UP!!!
8698475
See this comment 8693785
Willhelm scream. Nice reference.
8693785
Cool