Starbits

The Scourge of Maximilia

After sleeping snuggly in a warm bed, the snow slowly stopped falling. Wysteria, and the little buddy club are dressed up in their warm, heavy coats and snow gear to embark on the journey to help their new friends Kalee and Pocka find their missing friend, Amazi. "Keep to the beacon trail, don't go messing with any long dead barrows and... if you see any of the frozen remains of those who have attempted to traverse these lands before, keep your eyes down. Spirits get lost up here, and can potentially become corrupt after a great length of time. Should a spirit become hostile, make as loud of noise as you can, they are intimidated by sharp loud sounds." Says Maiar. "Loud noise, got it! Wysteria is loud so we shouldn't have a problem." Wysteria looks over, unimpressed. "Oh HA. HA. HA." Wyst laughs mockingly. Kalee looks concerned. "They couldn't have taken Auntie all that far, but... where do we start?" Maiar answers. "Hand me your ring, Dream Jumper." Maiar holds up Kalee's large ring weapon, he stares deep into the diamond. After staring for a few seconds, he hands it back to Kalee and says. "Follow your gut, it will not lead you astray... but also head to the ruined temple in the south. The beacons will lead you to it. I will be here, preparing the Sky Babies for their ascent, but I will be watching the skies should you all run into trouble. Take this." Maiar hands them a magical flare. Everyone thanks Maiar and his family for their hospitality. Moon Moon signs a loving message as Valar hands them a satchel filled with snacks and drinks. Tess leads the charge as they follow the beacons. After walking for a bit, Wysteria's curiosity gets the better of her. "So, what exactly is a dream jumper?" Kalee looks at her magic ring, and thinks to herself for a moment. "Uhm... sorry, hehe! no one has ever asked me that before. Sometimes when I fall asleep, I wake up in other worlds or dimensions as the old guy put it. Like this one!" Glimmer asks. "So how did you become one of those? It sounds like a rather specific kind of ability." Kalee smiles. "Auntie always said. 'You don't choose to be a dream jumper, the goddess chooses you.' So I guess I was chosen." Tess chimes in. "Oh! So it's like a fate thing or something?" Kalee laughs a kind giggle. "Yeah, something like that!" Pocka floats over to Kalee. "You know, you don't have to tell them everything, we don't know them very well." Wysteria bumps him with her hips. "Oh loosen up a little. If we had any bad intentions don't you think we would've acted on them by now?" Pocka looks extremely annoyed at her. "That may be true, but she still needs to understand when it is ok to speak and what she needs to keep quiet." Wysteria rolls her eyes, angering Pocka even more. "You have a real attitude problem, you know that!" Wysteria smirks. "Yeah... what are you gonna do about it... old man?" Kalee giggles but quickly covers her mouth as Pocka looks angrily at her too. Pocka grunts and says. "Youngsters like you learn to respect your elders in our dimension! You wouldn't last two days in our world." Wyst grins, knowing she is about to get even further under his skin. "Oh no! I wouldn't last two seconds in your Boring, retirement home!" Pocka becomes even angrier as Kalee again giggles. "Why you little Florasaur! You need a good spanking! You know that!" Wysteria bumps him with her hips again. "OH NO! Don't threaten me with a good time!" She says. Kalee bursts with laughter as Glimmer finally says. "Leave the poor guy alone, Wyst. You are getting him way too flustered!" After getting to know each other and sharing even more adventure stories, the club comes up on a large frozen creature. Heeding the words of Maiar, they keep their heads down and walk past the long frozen corpse. "What was that thing?" Wysteria asks. "Who knows, all I know is I have no interest in finding out." Glimmer answers. As the group enters a large icy trench, they are all startled as they hear Tess sharply say. "Get down!" They all take cover anywhere they can find something to get behind. A strange zombified creature walks near where they are. The scans the trench, it doesn't see any of them and begins making its way through the ice covered tunnel. As it passes the club, they sneak out behind it, but unfortunately there is no way to walk quietly on snow. As they attempt to escape, the creature quickly turns around and gives chase! "RUN!" Glimmer yells! "Aren't we supposed to be loud!?" Kalee asks. Wyst looks back and says. "Let me try! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Somewhere nearby, a spirit hides at the sound of Wysteria's powerful lungs. However, The creature in pursuit is unphased by Wyst's scream. "Ok, maybe that was only for spirits." She says. Pocka picks up Wyst who fell slightly behind, his hands unintentionally grab her butt. "Getting a bit grabby back there, aren't you, old man!" Pocka simply yells. "HUSH YOU BRAT!" Wysteria makes faces at the monster as they catch up to the rest of the team. "There is the exit!" Tess shouts. Pocka looks up and notices an icy arch hanging over the exit. "Kalee! Blast that arch!" She aims her ring and fires an air blast into it, causing it to start crumbling as they run under. The gang makes it out just before the debris crushes the zombie creature behind them. "Noice." Tess says. Glimmer gets a serious tone in her voice. "These guys don't look so nice though..." a troop of nasty looking Stampas surround the club, as they ready themselves for a battle, they hear a mischievous giggle. "Hehehehe! Hello hello, Dream Jumper!" A small jester floats up from out of the ground. "Lolina..." Kalee says quietly. Wysteria looks over. "You know this little twerp?" Kalee nods and says. "Unfortunately, yes." Lolina jumps down, face to face with Wysteria. "Little!? I'm taller than you! And I am much thinner!... but I have no reason to argue with you. Kalee! You and your friends are in a whole world of trouble here! We already have your precious Amazi, and now all we need is this." She reaches for Kalee's Ring, but her hand is slapped by one of Wysteria's vines. "OWCH!" Lolina looks angrily at Wyst, who doesn't say anything. "Where have you taken Auntie?" Kalee demands. Lolina laughs. "Well now, and why would I tell you that? We don't need you, we only need that ring. With that said, I think I will just have my guys pick it from your bones! Men!...*" She is cut off as an enormous Ice Wraith crashes through the rubble blocking the trench! One of Lolina's men attempts to fight the spirit of the ice, only to be picked up and swiftly devoured by the creature! The other big fuzzy henchmen snatch up Kalee and the others at Lolina's command! "We have to get back to the ship! We can deal with these...children, there!" She shouts. Glimmer and the other little buddies know they best not fight back, these large fellows can run much faster than they can and they are likely taking them to the place Amazi is being held. "A ship? Why would there be a ship all the way up here?" Glimmer asks. "Maybe this was under the ocean a long time ago?" Said Tess. "Maybe it's Aliens?" Wyst says, receiving funny looks from everyone else. "Hey, it could be!" They make their way to this unknown ship with the large icy specter following closely behind them.