Ship In A Bottle (A Monkie Kid Reader Insert)

Chapter 4: Coastal Chains

"Were you looking for this, little girl?"

You turned around, seeing the stone embedded on the handle of the princess' fan. You froze. Only now, did it cross your mind that there wasn't a single fleck of gold that appeared on your way here.

Only now did they actually did. Three or four phantoms behind you, only appearing when the princess summoned her fan.

The shard glowed on the fan's handle, almost pleading to be freed, while the phantoms warily observed the princess, like a pack of wolves watching the trespasser as she cornered you, their young.

"Now, I don't know what my son said that made you discover about this shard, but I won't let you take it like that child did to the staff. But..." The princess summoned the gauntlet on her other hand. "As much as I want to take care of you as well, I believe I can still put you to good use."

"As well?" Another bead of sweat rolled down your forehead. "So you're saying MK was caught?"

"Aww, such heavy news that your friend fell into his fiery doom." The princess taunted you. "All that effort into getting this shard, for nothing."

Right as you were about to retort, you closed your mouth. Gibby looked at you in sympathy.

"I-I'm sorry-"

'No.'

"H-huh?" Gibby looked at your stern face.

'Sure, MK was a good kid. But the death of someone I met just some hours ago won't be enough to turn me into a raging, sobbing, mess.' You spoke through your mind, numbness shadowing over your eyes.

'She's obviously trying to piss me off to make me more vulnerable. But it doesn't matter if MK's dead or not. I won't let her have the satisfaction.'

That was it. What you wanted to say. What you chose not to, since the last thing you wanted was to get into these phantoms' bad side. After all, you only known their living counterparts as complete strangers.

Gibby, completely distraught, looked at you with tears in her eyes. "But...you looked so happy when you two were delivering those noodles. And, you risked being found when he was caught. You can't just tell me you didn't care about him!"

'He was more tolerable than a lot of people I know. And looking after troublemaking pet cats just makes you more protective. Force of habit.' You argued back. 'One I'd want to get rid off, to be honest.'

"At a loss for words, little girl?" The princess kept taunting you, only for you to roll your eyes, furthering Gibby's disbelief.

"Show me the body, or I'm calling bull."

Princess Iron Fan chuckled. "Such big words for a little girl." She then vanished via gusts of golden wind, only to grab you from behind. "But maybe you'd rather hear it from your friends."

And with the same gusts of golden wind surrounding you, you were suddenly back in the surface. A more...wrecked version of it.

The city was completely destroyed, the skies were a deep red, and bull clones were everywhere, including the valley Princess Iron Fan teleported you to, who waited as if she was expecting something.

And sure enough, something happened. A food truck drove nearer, running over clone after clone. Avoiding each and every exploding barrel thrown at them. Right before they could run over the princess, she shoved you in front of the bright headlights, causing the vehicle to halt with a screech.

"Jellyfish girl!" The girl you met at the beach yelped, presumably the Mei who gave you your new clothes. Right as she was about to open the door, Princess Iron Fan squeezed you tighter, holding her fan against your neck.