The Budder King, the Snow Princess, & an Outcast

Village

Chapter 28

Flame's P.O.V. (Hey! It's been a while since we've heard anything about these guys!)

I looked around as we rode the horses - we had bought two more horses while in that town, to make travelling faster and easier. It was mostly silent. Something about Jolene not being here changed the whole mood of the group. Maybe because it was squids who had taken her, or was it because we were more wary of our surroundings?

We had managed to avoid some squid patrols that were out on the roads as we followed the map Jolene had left behind in her room. We were ready to get everyone back for good. Though I may not know who these people from Team Crafted are, I don't like the fact that the squids are keeping them prisoner. Even more so, I hate the squids for taking Jolene.

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Olivia's P.O.V.

As we neared a small village that was still with the territory of Adam's kingdom, we heard a squid yelling something. Strangely enough it seemed to be yelling in a mocking tone. I focused on the words as we neared.

"What do you say to that? Huh commander?" Anger seeped it's way into the mocking tone.

"I don't believe you!" A female voice spat. It seemed strangely familiar. "Sky would never abandon us! He's always there when we need him most!"

The squid laughed. "Say that when your precious capital is taken over. As we speak a large mass of the squid army is headed for there now. I believe they'll be sending an extra special troop to join the ranks before they attack first though." There was a smug sound to it's voice.

"The recruits will fight back! You'll never take the capital!"

"Oh, but don't you see? This special troop wasn't born a squid, or a squid hybrid. It was turned into one after it had been raised to fight for it's very survival against people." Was the special troop Jolene?

I glanced over at Adam to see his mouth twisting into a slight frown. "I'm going in there." He whispered.

"What?! No!" I protested softly.

Adam simply ignored me and turned to look at the others from his saddle. "Watch my back. I'm going in." They all just nodded and followed Adam's lead as he spurred Alfred on. I sighed and followed - having no choice in the matter.

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Cake's P.O.V.

We followed Sky as he lead the charge into the village. We headed straight for the center. I could hear a female voice as we got closer and closer. Sky seemed to have a determined look on from what I could tell, with his sunglasses on and such. It was unusual to see him like this.

Bursting into the center I saw a tank of water on wheels with some squids in it. There were also some squid hybrids standing guard around some people who were tied up and forced to kneel before the tank. The people didn't seem pleased, and ready to jump up and destroy the squids, but they knew they were outnumbered.

Sky drew his sword as he made Alfred run into the center of the commotion. I spurred Seabuscuit around the edge of the area, scaring the squid hybrids inwards. The others did the same and we closed in around them before they seemed to realize that they had weapons. A couple pulled out bows, but most of them drew swords as the came to attack us.

I was about to draw my own bow when Flame raised her hands into the air. At first it looked like she was surrendering and most of the squid hybrids went in her direction thinking that was the case. However as they drew close, fire erupted from Flame's hands. The hybrids shrunk away from the hungry tongues as they leaped away from her hands and began to circle around all of them. Slowly but surely, the squid hybrids were soon all huddled together off to one side to try and avoid the fire as it danced around them.

"Well, that was easy." I mumbled. It made sense though. After all, the opposite of water was fire. Flame was the perfect person to fight squids and squid hybrids when we were on land. I doubt that she'll want to go into any water though. After all, I do remember her once mentioning that she enjoyed swimming in lava...

"Sky!" I snapped out of my thoughts at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. "Er... I uh mean... Your Majesty I'm so glad you're here!"

Sky, who was sitting on Alfred in between where the people, and the tank of squids were, looked down at the people with a small chuckle. "Good to see you too. No need for the formality, you know how little I enjoy all the formality and stuffs that come with my position."

"Of course sir, uh, Sky." The same person respond, at least I think it was the same person. Unless multiple people had similar sounding voices, it was the same person.

Sky turned to face the squids as a scowl moved to his face. "I will give you the chance now to leave and never return to this village! If you do I will have you hunted down and brought before me so that I may personally end you!"

There was silence for a moment and Olivia made Snowflake carry her near to where Sky was perched upon Alfred. She held up her hand as her eyes narrowed towards where the squids swan in the tank. A snowball formed above her hand, then changed into a shard of ice, and then it began to change in between those two forms.

"If you're sure that you don't want to leave this village forever, then I guess I could just freeze you in that nice tank of yours while the fire over there takes out you're hybrids. We might be kind enough to let one go free so it can tell the others what became of you. Only if you're sure you don't wanna leave." Olivia spoke in quite a sweet sounding tone for such a message as she sounded like she was replying to someone.

It took a moment before Sky suddenly turned around and waved at Flame. "Put the fire out and let them leave!" His voice was commanding as he looked at the blaze hybrid. She nodded and put her arms down, letting the band of fire that had trapped the squid hybrids disappear.

They quickly scrambled towards the tank and began to push it away. We all hopped off of our horses and pulled the bindings of of the people who had been prisoners minutes before as we watched the squids and their hybrids leave. I'm not sure why Sky let them go when it would have been so easy just to put them out of the picture.

As Sky freed one girl, she sprung up and wrapped her arms around him. I noticed that she had golden fox ears sticking out from her scarlet hair - I wonder if that's how she got her name. A golden fox tail was poking out from under the jacket she wore and was swishing back and forth in a seemingly happy way. "I knew you would never abandon us! You'll never let us down!" She cried. "It feels like it's been forever since I last saw you!"

"Calm down Scarlet. What would Alesa think?" Sky laughed.

Scarlet pulled away with a stupid grin on her face. "It's just been so long since I've seen you. Plus people back in the capital and the more populated and in touch areas all know that nobody had reported seeing or hearing from you since you left to meet the Snow Princess over here." She motioned at Olivia. "Everyone was worried about you and Seto. Say, where is Seto anyway?"

"That's kind of a long story..." Sky trailed off.

Scarlet looked at his sunglasses. "You'll have plenty of time sharing that story and the ones about these new people here as we head back to the capital. Are they new recruits?"

"We're not going back to the capital yet." Sky shook his head. "It has to do with everything else going on around here though. Could you tell me what's going on around the kingdom that you've heard of though?" Scarlet just seemed too shocked to even reply. I think we might need to explain everything to get her to talk.

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AN

I take too long to write these things... -_-